Stumbling

Artist Banksy using the all to famous quote from Picasso.

I have overheard the following statement a number of times in response to my question "so what are you thinking about doing for this assignment.
"I found this thing online, its really cool, I think I am going to do that." 
I know a number of students that consider fumbling through stumbleupon as "research" and although a practice that can get creative juices flowing I do not believe it is a healthy practice for idea searching.  Ideas can be found anywhere but the catch is that they need to be authentic in a larger hope of being something original.  What I am talking about is totally different than the current exhibition in the Anne Wright Wilson Gallery by Black & Jones. It is not using things that are previously generated as new raw material for an original idea.  It is students that see no problem with finding "their ideas" in someone else's and representing that "idea" through the use of their or someone else's work.
            I know how easy it is to see something or hear something and think "That is exactly what I was thinking/believe/what to communicate".  That is ok to think that but students need to then use some moral discrepancy not only in the area of copyrights and plagiarism but in their artistic integrity. You should want to make something new, not just something someone has not seen before.  I often have a laugh at Evelyn Fuson (a current senior in our art department). She will often find things and share them with me and I have seen them before so it became a fun game where she would try to find things I had never seen.  It also made me look a lot since I didn't want to "lose".  I give the example of a class I taught a number of years ago entitled paperworks.  The first exercise was to make a paper airplane they had never made before.  I did a simple google search and made the first 10 I found. Then did the same for the searches "best paper airplane", "Crazy paper airplane", and "unique paper airplane".  I came into class and had the students share their airplanes then I displayed some of the top hits I had found. It was obvious that students were all doing the same "research".  I had them do it again and once again they displayed theirs and I shared from the second batch of searches and only one had something different then I had found in a simple search.  Many forms of research exist, make sure to make the best use of your time and efforts in how yours is conducted.

You Know You Want it...

Art Topics and Other Courses of Interest....

Advising begins on Monday, 10/31.

Consider these fine courses,

among all the art offerings, this spring:

ART 170/FDN 112 The Grand Tour: Ancient Greece T/R 8-9:15 am & 9:30-10:45 am (two sections) Taught by Prof. Zakic

FDN 112/ART 170 The Grand Tour: Ancient Greece is designed to reinforce skill development from Foundations 111, but the work will be modestly interdisciplinary, engaging a variety of topics. The outline of the course follows the standardized itinerary that includes the ancient sites of Athens, Delos, Olympia, Delphi, Corinth, Epidaurus as well as other sites beyond the Aegean or Greece proper. These are major centers through which art, architecture, ancient travel, archeology, ethnography, geography, literature, myth and history came to define all that we came to understand as “classical antiquity.” While the primary lens to the material is through a traveler of Ancient Greece, the comparative analysis of its relationship to subsequent periods, Hellenized territories and affected powers, such as its Roman rule, will unavoidably be explored as well.

ART 330:A Performance and Installation 1:00-3:20 T/R Taught by Prof. Graham
(note course number ART 330:A )
This course is an investigation to the mediums of performance and installation. In this class we will explore various techniques, materials, ideas, and experiments centered on the body and its relationship to communication and the physical world. This will include but will not be limited to collaboration, conceptual brainstorming, manual labor (hands on making) and field research (getting out of the computer lab and studio). We will use projects and experiments designed to encourage the development of: an exploratory attitude, conceptual and technical ability, personal expression; and an understanding of the formal and visual language found in performance and installation. In all work, emphasis will be placed on finding imaginative solutions to the problems presented, on developing skills with a variety of processes and materials, on increasing your knowledge about the attributes of the body and craft. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you are doing that is all part of it. Prerequisite: none

ART 370: A Brand Identity 3:30-5:50 T/R Taught by Prof. Shields People fall in love with brands, trust them, and believe in their superiority. Students will learn to combine typography, color theory and layout to form a cohesive brand identity and apply that identity across multiple platforms. Brand identity process and best practices will be explored. Prerequisite: ART 234 or permission of the instructor. Software: Students may choose to use any combination of the following: InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver or Photoshop.

ART 470: A The Art of Collecting 2:00-3:15 M/W Taught by Dr. Decker
The artist, the collector, the art, the dealer: four aspects of artistic exchange that might yield modest as well as magnificent results. This course examines these four criteria with the goal of understanding a history of collecting. While the primary focus remains art collections, and, in particular, private art collections, other assemblages are within our purview. Particular attention will be paid to the stunning body of works created by the New English Art Club, and other 19^th through 21^st-century works, in the collection of John Milward. Students enrolling in this course have the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Decker and Laura Stewart, co-curators of the exhibition “A Passionate Pursuit: The Milward Collection,” an exhibition celebrating and documenting this collection. The exhibition opens in the Wilson Gallery on March 2, 2012.Prerequisite: one art history course or by permission of the instructor.

ART 470: B New Museum Theory 4:00-5:15 M/W Taught by Dr. Decker As Earthwork artist Robert Smithson noted, “Museums, like asylums and jails, have wards and cells—in other words, neutral rooms called ‘galleries.’” Smithson’s rejection of the museum and his assessment of the gallery as a dead space is not the only critique of museums and their spaces. For example, Fred Wilson, Andrea Fraser, Mark Dion, and others have critiques the museum from within. Beyond these commentary and actions, authors, critics, curators, and scholars have further questioned the museum. This course investigates the charged space of the museum, the history of museums, and the key theories and practices at play in museums today. Attention will be paid to the role of the object, its placement, and its impact on the viewer as much as the institution. Building upon these discussions, students undertake several experiential projects, including one that incorporates Web 2.0 technology. In addition, students develop case studies of galleries and their spaces. Students are charged with the questions: Can museums change? And, do they? Prerequisite: one art history course or by permission of the instructor. However, please note: this course is not primarily focused on art museums, but rather on object studies. Students from all majors are encouraged to enroll!

Guest Post from Italy: Elizabeth Metcalfe

As a freshman in Dr. Decker’s survey class, we discussed and studied Brunelleschi’s famous dome in Florence, Italy. If you had told me then that in just 2 years I would see this dome in person, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here I am, spending a semester in Italy (my first time outside of the United States!) and walking past the enormous Duomo every time I step outside.

It’s almost unfathomable to me that buildings like the Duomo, built before America was even discovered, are dispersed throughout contemporary Florence. In Florence, I get to live life with one foot in the 15th century and the other in the 21st. The street I live on is referenced in letters written by members of the Medici, a powerful Renaissance banking family and patrons of the arts, but today bustling tourists walk the same steps of the Medici with guidebooks and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Here in Italy I have become acutely aware of the vastness of human existence. It’s one thing to read about Renaissance works in Stokstad, but it’s an entirely miraculous and humbling experience to be actually standing before the works I read about in class, especially considering the Renaissance is relatively recent in terms of the entire history of art. I wonder if Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo, and other Renaissance masters knew how widespread and lasting their legacies would be.

Though the Florence of today is incredibly different than the Florence of the Renaissance, there is still so much to love about it:

1. the art—almost every week I am traveling to museums for class to see works of the Renaissance firsthand. The art in Florence isn’t just limited to the Renaissance either! There are many small contemporary galleries, and it’s impossible to walk through the city center without passing street artists or seeing guerilla art.

2. the sounds—whether it’s the clinking cups in the espresso bars, the street musicians, or the emphatic sounds of the Italian language, I love walking around and just listening to Florence.

3. the people—through passing the same street violinist on the way to class each day and being recognized by the vendors at the market, Florence is becoming more of a home to me. I love when I get to have conversations with Italians on the street, on the train, or in restaurants because they are so friendly! Plus, it’s an excellent opportunity to practice my Italian.

4. the food—everything in Italy is so fresh and delicious! I have a feeling caf food is going to get old really quick when I return next semester.

5. the travel opportunities—not only is there so much to do in Florence, but there is so much more in Europe BEYOND Florence! My school sponsors several trips around Italy, but I’ve also discovered upon coming here that it is extremely easy to travel to other countries. By the end of the semester, I will have gone to Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and several regions of Italy. One of the wonderful differences between America and Europe is that in Europe, so many different and rich cultures are so close together!

Needless to say, studying abroad has been wonderful so far. It is definitely something I believe everyone can benefit from, even if just for a summer or winter term. There is so much to see, and every day I experience something new. It’s now the halfway point of my semester abroad, and despite the noisy neighbors downstairs who are always on the terrace either passionately fighting or casually singing opera, I conquered a week of midterms. Time has flown by and although I will probably be excited to return home, there are so many things I will miss about Italy. I can’t say it enough—STUDY ABROAD if you can!

Feel free to follow my travels at elizabethmetcalfe.tumblr.com. I hope everyone in the art department is having a great semester and I’m looking forward to seeing you all in January!

sure to please

Please Call Stella opens Thursday, October 27 with a RECEPTION from 5-7pm in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery.  Artists Kell Black and Barry Jones, both professors of art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, will TALK at 5:30 (NEXUS).  Learn more about the artists' backgrounds and this video installation show here and here.

In addition to meeting Black & Jones during their time at GC, please welcome media arts students from Elkhorn Crossing School (Scott County), who will be visiting the galleries and art department on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning this week.

Last week, we had the pleasure of spending some time with artist and Hollins University art professor Jennifer Anderson.  Don't miss her cut-paper works on view now in the Cochenour Gallery.

Prof. J. Daniel Graham and artist Jennifer Anderson recall days at U. Ga.

Jennifer Anderson guides GC Women's Studies students into her work.

Factory Square show

 The Exhibition by Ledelle Moe and Robert Fronk was fantastic. Here are some images from the American Can. The show is up until December so if you get a chance, go see it and if you are up there you should go to Mr. Genes Dog House for a chili cheese mett. It was a heart stopper but amazing.  (seen after the jump)
Got a chance to talk to both Ledelle and Robert, both were great individuals.  Ledelle especially was super down to earth and very motivational.

Opportunity: AmeriCorps in museums!

Check out this posting for the Ohio Historical Society. Great opportunity for recent grads interested in working with objects.

Join me@.NO Gallery, Sat.10/22, 1-5pm

.NO Gallery is located 251 E. Houston, (btwn. Norfolk and Suffolk) on the Lower East Side in NYC. (take F-train to 2nd Ave, closest stop). See full program HERE.

Noah Becker: "… Authorship of ideas is fluid in the current online environment with ideas and images distributed like a digital wild west. We are still moving forward at a rapid pace with no sign of slowing down. When the paradigm shift in the art world began (from print to digital) things began to change. Whitehot took a drastic step at that juncture bringing in a large number of new critics, artists and curators forward. This involvement will hopefully provide the reader with a disconnect from the massive amount of cyclical commentary and intellectual pollution that is characteristic of our time." (from: The Letter from Editor, Monday Jan. 10, 2011. See: http://whitehotmagazine.com/documents/about)

Franklin Evans: "… Are we the Make It Bigger Generation? I think we are past that (possibly linked to recent economic decline). … Nothing felt like Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipses, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, or even the maquette for Jeff Koons’ LACMA Train. The recent economic past may be a harbinger of what’s to come (slow decline of economic hubris and transition to more moderate lifestyles) and in ways it may be seen in some of the GNY work. Matt Hoyt’s strange work wonderfully relates (and more than just this) to what I suggest as the current social attitude digesting the socioeconomic decline of America." (from: Greater New York Roundtable by Richard J. Goldstein, Sep.7, 2010)

Vanessa Albury: "…The light, the image, once you’ve reached it, it consumes the space and cascades before you. You are surrounded by images on top of themselves. A montage of a white lily, black lace trim, dust & sand in a mirror. I send my images back upon myself in reflections on dusty mirrors & on glossy glass windows. I send these images on to you." (from: http://www.vanessaalbury.com/2statement.html)

Tanja Thorjussen: "… One thing that is specific to the Norwegian art market is its multiple grants for artists, this sets the economy of those Norwegian artists that receive a grant in a different light than the American artists that do not get grants to the same extent. We will not be able to sidestep this comparison. I will therefore briefly explain how the grants are built up and how this influences the way many Norwegian artists work." (from an email correspondence with Boris Zakic, Oct.11, 2011)

Inger‐Reidun Olsen: "… Through the physical body, sound and simple scenographic elements [RE-ACTION] is reflecting how these power structures affect us and the way in which we have power over our own lives, in relation to other people and the world around us." (from: http://irodance.wordpress.com/main-projects/)

Volunteer: Spring

Kentucky Crafted: The Market is celebrating its 30^th anniversary and is moving in 2012 to Lexington where it all started! The Kentucky Arts Council needs your help! It takes many hands to put on such a large event. This year’s Market will be March 1 – 4 at the Lexington Convention Center in Lexington, Ky. We have openings for Wednesday – Sunday and a range of specific hours from which you may choose. We are asking for volunteers to work a minimum 3-hour shift. To volunteer, please register at the following link. Volunteers receive free admission to the Market! Contact Charla Reed for info: charla.reed@ky.gov

From the object to the non-object

Above: a view of Georgetown College from 1892. Below: the Cochenour Gallery, the Dr. Donald L. and Dorothy Jacobs Collection, and the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery, three exhibition spaces on the Georgetown College Campus.

In the Curatorial Studies class over the past few weeks, we've moved from curating objects to recording information to be placed on the smartPhone app "Take it Artside!" that we helped bring to life last year. (The app was launched in 2010 and GC art is one of the founding educational partners. See info here.) The third part of this transition is to move from the object and its record to the non-object and its story, that is, the oral history. Well, truth be told, the oral history is an actual object, in that it exists in a digital file, but its essence is truly the conversation with others. And readers of this blog will hear more about this project in the coming weeks.

As we transitioned through these projects, though, we engaged in a discussion about "the object." We asked if art, science, history, or any museum needs objects. We read Rainey Tisdale's attempt to answer this question. We mentioned Steven Conn's recent query articulated in a U Penn podcast where Conn points to museum experiences and, in our "museum age", the blending of culture, politics, and commerce, when we venture into a museum and purchase a replica or memento experience in the gift shop!

In museum circles, there is a divide between those who feel the object is essential and those that do not. Take, for example, Google Art Project. Truly, seeing John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral via GoogleArt affords me the opportunity to see a digitization of the canvas. I can see evidence of Constable's brushwork in a way that I cannot, even when I am standing directly in front of this magnificent work in the Frick Collection. There's an enhancement to my experience when I see the canvas through the monitor or screen of my computer. But, this is not a substitution for the painting. I have seen Constable's painting first hand and, after several views of it, I feel I can begin to know about it. And, I can appreciate this opportunity to view a digitization of the painting. But, I also know that this digitization is not the painting itself.

So, you might heed caution against using an app as a substitution for the work of art (or other authentic object). The object - the painting, the sculpture, the installation, the work itself -- is necessary in order to live the experience in most cases. Unless you're David Hockney.

To move from viewing art to educating us about it, I think that one of the most interesting applications of technology to the museum experience is as this type of enhancement that we see hinted in the Google Project. Recently, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has connected works of art -- through technology -- to educational purposes. Their fantastic new app affords viewers "a multimedia exploration of Warhol's art and life, combining archival materials, letters, images, film, video and audio clips. It sheds light on more than 50 works that span the artist's career, including Silver Clouds, Sleep, Mao, The Last Supper and Self-Portrait. See information on the Warhol app here.

So, to return to the question above: is the object necessary? Given some of the information above, what do you think?

From Analog to Digital...and Back Again

This Friday I'll be participating in the UK Art Department's PhotoDay. Twelve Georgetown students will be exhibiting works in the Kentucky Next Show. I'm also hoping to see a number of our students in attendance. From my experience last year, I believe it will be a worthwhile event.

Part of my time will be spent doing portfolio reviews, looking at student work and providing feedback and insights. I will also be presenting a lecture on the idea of incorporating both digital and analog methods in the production of photographic work.

This methodology has been on the forefront of my mind in recent days—so much so that I have begun to design ART 120, Photography, around the concept. It has become a large aspect of my own personal practice and has provided me with a relatively unique and definitely refreshing way of working.

I heard a statistic recently that there are 1,000,000 photos uploaded to Facebook every two seconds. This is only a symptom of the ubiquitous nature of digital photography. My main concern is that there are so many people with good digital cameras that great exposure, color, contrast (the technical aspects which used to be difficult to attain) are a given. This makes it all the more difficult for your work to stand out these days. But what's not common are traditional analog methods, whether it be in capture or in print. And the rich (although somewhat brief) history of photographic processes can be accessed to create unique and authentic works.

If you have the opportunity and would like to find out more, I'd certainly love to have you join me for my presentation at PhotoDay; better yet, enroll in ART 120 and invest your time this Friday in attending other great workshops and lectures.

DK

Photo above: Blessed Are Those Who Are Invited (I shot it with a twin lens reflex camera using medium format b&w film, scanned with a film scanner, edited in Photoshop, digital negative printed on Pictorico OHP from an Epson R1800, final print is a toned cyanotype on the back of "recycled" Ilford fiber based paper)

opportunity: Scholarship for Women Divers

Thanks to Dr. Singer for passing this along: http://www.wdhof.org/scholarships/scholarships.shtml

a cut above

Don't miss artist Jennifer Anderson during her visit to Georgetown College this week!  The exhibition, Fragmented Faces: Cut-Paper Works by Jennifer Anderson will open with a reception in the Cochenour Gallery from 5-8PM on Thursday, October 20 (part of Georgetown's monthly Antiques and ArtWalk) and, Ms. Anderson will give a lecture at 5:30PM (NEXUS). 

Postcard design by GC Art's own Ryleyanne Vaughn.

On Friday morning at 9AM, art, art history, and women's studies students and faculty are invited to attend a coffee chat with Ms. Anderson, also taking place in the Cochenour Gallery. 

Event listing...Weds!

Megan (Parker) Compton, class of 2008, invites everyone to this fantastic event on Wednesday, October 19 from 6:30-8:30 pm. The event is a reception and book signing for Mariana Cook, photographer and protege of Ansel Adams, in celebration of her new book, Stone Walls: Personal Boundaries. [The book was reviewed in the NY Times recently.] The event is at the Bodley-Bullock House, 200 Market Street, Lexington. I'll be there--hope you can make it!

Also, reminder about the Headley-Whitney's event that evening, also. Art After Hours is from 6-8 pm at the Headley. Info here.

Factory Square Fine Arts Festival!

If you have nothing to do this weekend, and if you have something to do this weekend (this will be better). Come see The Factory Square Fine Arts Festival.  Put on by ParProjects in Cincinnati, the event will be two days of Art installations, public interactive pieces and large scale gallery shows. Billed like a music festival it is being headlined by Ledelle Moe (see image below). With works by Robert Fronk, Jonathan Monaghan, J. Daniel Graham, UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), Leah H. Frankel, Celene Hawkins, Mike Hoeting, Alexandros Lindsay, and Meg Mitchell. 

To see links to all of the artists work and further information visit the festival site HERE.

The festival will also include live music, food, and the "city flea". The large gallery shows and The City Flea (a city wide flea market) are held in the "American Can". The American Can the old factory responsible for casting all of the american can goods cans.  (They still have all of the old molds on display, as an entire wall piece).  Ledelle Moe will be in the main floor of the factory. So make sure to make the time to come up and see some fantastic work and mingle with some great artists. 

Experience!

One of the chief comments that I receive from recent alums is that they wished they had more "real-world" experience before they were out in the field seeking employment. In fact, that's what employers also seek! EXPERIENCE! To gain such field work, consider volunteering time at a local gallery or exhibition space. ArtTigers is a fantastic example of one such opportunity on our own campus. If you're interested in participating in this "student guide" program, please see art gal (aka Laura, our Gallery Director and Curator of Collections).

In addition to our galleries on campus, Scott County has a local museum, several arts spaces, and other cultural organizations that seek volunteers. Further afield, the International Museum of the Horse is particularly seeking volunteers to work in the galleries for their new exhibition "The Horse." Where are you interested in seeking experience? I bet there's an opp (as in "opportunity") for that!

In case you need convincing, consider that volunteers can connect people with art and objects in many ways: they provide one-to-one contact with visitors to galleries and they also engage with viewers, monitor the areas, and often provide important information (either informally or through an "official" tour capacity).

Please consider helping out your community by volunteering. Many times, if this project has a lasting commitment and involves an educative component, you may be able to seek academic credit for this internship/volunteer experience. Questions? Contact Dr. Decker

image from: http://www.mmfilmfestival.com/?page_id=4

UK PhotoDay 2011

Friday, October 21 will be the UK Art Department's second annual PhotoDay. Beginning at 9 AM and going until 9 PM (or later) there will be workshops, demonstrations, alumni presentations, vendor demos, portfolio reviews, and much more. I'll even be giving a presentation/workshop entitled Analog to Digital...and Back Again discussing processes and concepts for utilizing both traditional and contemporary methods of photographic image making.

If you're interested in photography at all, I would highly recommend you attend at least part, if no the entire event. Best of all, it's free. You can download a current schedule HERE. For directions and parking, click HERE.

Included with PhotoDay there will be a photography exhibition of student work. Again, don't miss this opportunity. Students may submit one matted work for inclusion in the "Kentucky Next Show." There are no application fees and all works will be exhibited. This would be a great investment for you and the Georgetown College Art Department as well. The deadline for submissions is the Monday after Fall Break. If you have work you would like to submit, bring it to me (Prof. Darrell Kincer) by 3 PM on that Monday and I will deliver it to UK for you.

To find out more about UK PhotoDay 2011, click HERE.

Hope to see you there!

look harder

I read an article over the summer which applauded the Metropolitan Museum of Art's study into what visitors really examine when they gaze at a work of art.  For "Get Closer", the Met used cell phone technology (what else?) to create a contest where viewers were asked to take and send in a photo of a detail, along with a photo of the full work, and a 50-word description of why they shot what they did.  Five winners were selected and pictures posted.  The author of the article, Judith H. Dorbzynski, believes the Met's experiment was "worthy"; its employment of social media to get people to spend more time with art is one she feels "should not only be repeated at the Met, but also replicated at other museums."

Thierry Geoffroy/ Colonel, “WE MUST “RETAKE THE RIGHT TO REREAD AND REORGANIZE THE REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD”, 2011 Venice Biennale. Copyright Thierry Geoffroy.

Yesterday, I saw a notice for Photography Calling,  a project exhibition on view now at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany.  Among other things, it said:   "Museum and artists should not let social media dominate the field of collecting the history, images, feelings and interactions of human activity."

These two takes on museums' and artists' use of social media seem at opposite ends of the spectrum.  I am very glad to know that like Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel and myself, there are a few contemporary artists and museum folks willing to engage in the debate, rather than dive headfirst onto the "facebook, twitter, youtube, etcetera is unquestionably great" bandwagon.  It is interesting to note, however, that social media is being used to market this exhibition as evidenced by the exhibition notice's front and center links for easy posting.

Piggy and Flashback

What seems like yesterday but was a few years ago now Darrell and I took 15 students on a graduate school tour on Fall Break. I would echo Boris's comments on this being a great time to visit graduate programs.
Our trip a few years ago went to SCAD in Savannah Georgia, UGA in Athens Georgia, and Clemson in South Carolina.  SCAD was Darrell's Graduate program and UGA was mine.  We got to tour around all the towns and programs giving students an experience that would help not only make decisions about their future, have some bonding time outside of Georgetown, but also they got to see an insane amount of art and design work.  This year SODAH's (the Georgetown Chapter of Kappa Pi) trip is going to be in the spring much like last year.  Hopefully next fall we will take another whirlwind grad school program trip for all those that can make it.

A little walk down memory lane.

first floor tour of a Design building at SCAD

Liz and Ada Beth trying not to get blown away on the beach in Savannah.

Student work (silkscreen and letterpress)

Everyone getting a look at Martijn Van Wagtendonk's installation called "headway" 

You can click HERE to see a video of the piece in action.

Georgetown BA Clemson MFA Kara Renfro sporting her Georgetown pride.  

Ciera looking around the upstairs of the clayton street gallery in Athens.

Fall Break plans: Consider visiting a graduate program?

Fall is a great time to visit that MFA or PhD program you have heard good things about. See about its former alums, faculty, the scene and locale. Let me suggest New Orleans for the upcoming weekend, not only because of my ties to the University of New Orleans (UNO), which I will briefly showcase below, but for all the cultural offerings this city presents, given the resuscitation efforts and the related magnet-effect, in terms of attracting visual artist, it has produced. At the New Orleans Museum of Art, for example, Wayne Gonzales show opens tomorrow, Ogden celebrates its 10th anniversary, see the "Art for Arts Sake" programing all over the city's art districts, and that's just for starters--

UNO MFA badge buckle, designed and produced by an alum sometime in 2003-04 (Tim Hailey)

Obviously, graduate experience is situational, ongoing and will only grow fuller, or for some, let's be honest, lesser. Here are a few "must see" artists, with their recent work:

Christopher Jahnke http://www.chrisjahncke.com/

Michael Greathouse http://www.michaelgreathouse.com/

Dan Tague http://dantaguestudio.com/ (some of you may remember Tague's Visiting Curator Lecture in 2006)

These three are my peers, but please see others (link here). I would gladly discuss any of them further with you.

Long-time Painting Professor Jim Richard (pictured center left, next to me) at his NYC exhibition in 2006. Many UNO alums were in attendance, representing various generations: Gonzales (on far right), for example, the early-80s and Halley (left), the period of only a few years earlier. Many, not just the ones mentioned above, have either taken their work to great heights or carved-out distinguished paths otherwise, which, either way I suspect, could hardly match the art ambition one might have had driving-up Elysian Fields or Lakeshore on their daily commute.

Enjoy the break!

Fall Break plans?

Looking for something to do over fall break, consider these opportunities:

Opportunity #1: Air Fest 2011 is in need of your community support! This will be a fabulous day! Join the fun & volunteer! As a volunteer you will view the show & activities for free, receive a T-Shirt & have access to the VIP hanger for food & beverages! Volunteers will work in shifts so you are not working all day & can enjoy the show! You do not have to work as a group..you can come alone or bring a friend! Gain volunteer hours for yourself! There will be many areas to work in such as; parking, volunteer registration, VIP area, etc.To volunteer please contact: Laura Green, Manager, Georgetown-Scott County Chamber of Commerce, 160 E. Main St. Georgetown, KY 40324, 502-863-5424 or Cell: 859-338-2633

Opportunity #2: Photography fans, come to the U of L for a day of lectures and discussions on the nature of photography as history and document. Brought to you by the U of L's Center for arts and culture partnerships (the same hub that coordinated last spring's public art and the city...yay) This program asks: "What are the relationships between photography, history and documentation?" The conference brings together authors, photographers, curators and scholars to explore these connections and more at an October 14th University of Louisville conference. The event is in conjunction with the Louisville Photo Biennial. Speakers include Shelby Lee Adams, longtime photographer of Appalachia; Pulitzer Prizewinning photojournalist Lucian Perkins; Matt Wrbican, Andy Warhol Museum archivist; Tom Rankin, director of Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies; and Molly Bingham, photographer and filmmaker noted for her work in Iraq, Rwanda and Eastern Congo." Info online here.

postmodernism is...

...dead (as of September 24, 2011), according to Edward Docx in his article of the same title for Prospect Magazine.  How so?  Well, it was a week or so ago that the Victoria and Albert Museum opened the exhibition, "Postmodernism--Style and Subversion 1970-1990".  So, if you're like me and have had difficulty for years trying to understand exactly how to define postmodernism, then you're in luck because it's apparently over and an esteemed museum will pinpoint exactly when it started, ended, and what it was.

Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, 1917

 

 

 

 

 (Interestingly, Docx suggests that Duchamp, among other modernists, planted the seed for postmodernism, so perhaps the V&A's title timeline is a bit off.)

Seriously, to my mind, this article is a great read; it outlines some of the ideas behind postmodernism, which like so many other "styles", (in art/architecture, dance, music, literature), was a reaction to previous one(s), namely modernism. Per Docx, "Postmodernism was a high-energy revolt, an attack, a strategy for destruction."  Yet because it attacked everything, folks became increasingly bewildered and in doubt as to what constitutes great art.  And, as Docx argues, using artist Damien Hirst and his diamond skull, For the Love of God, 2007 as a prime example, "artistic success has become about nothing except money...".  In other words, postmodernism's removal of criteria results in the market being the only thing left. And this notion leads to Docx's point about what has replaced postmodernism now that it's dead:  "The Age of Authenticism."

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, 2007

The rise of new media and digital art forms seems at odds with this assessment; however, I for one am right in there with Docx's argument that social media has resulted in "...a secondary reverse effect--a universal yearning for some kind of offline authenticity."  

Thoughts?         

New friend in town

I would like to introduce a new friend to the Sculpture Shop at Georgetown College.
Through years of grant seeking and writing I am happy to annouce we are the proud owners of a SawStop Table saw. For those that dont know what this means...you can watch the video below.



The SawStop table saw can tell the difference between wood and your hand. It is the safest tool in the shop, which is a good thing because table saws are often perceived as super intimidating.  This neat trick is not one that can be tried or displayed. Each time the saw is stopped (like in the video above) it requires a change of blades ($90) and a new brake system ($80).  So no parlor tricks or messing around. It is based off of a simple principle of current control. If something absorbs electrical current i.e. your finger/hotdog/wet wood/metal it will set off the brake.
         As far as I know we are the first educational institution in the state of Kentucky to have a SawStop.  It also doesn't hurt the excitement that it is such a beautiful tool.  To see the real deal tested on a finger you are welcome to watch HERE (3:50 is the action) no cut whatsoever. The hotdog was the first generation and the cut could be covered with a bandaid now they dont cut you at all! Amazing. So be sure to drop by the shop and check out the new kid in town.

Fresh off the truck

Fully assembled with the help of Daniel Cantu and Terrell