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| 2012: all smiles Dana, Evey, and April |
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Art Majors Party: This Thursday @ 5 pm!
All GC students who have declared a major in ART are welcome to join their faculty and peers at a year-end picnic on Thursday, May 1 (the last day of classes)! The festivities begin at 5 pm. All art majors—all class years are welcome! First year students: it's not too early to fill out that paperwork to become an "official" art major!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Edward Hopper's Movie Debut
I'm not quite sure how I stumbled on this but I am so glad that I did.
'Director Gustav Deutsch brings 13 Hopper paintings to life in his film, Shirley - Visions of Reality, the story of a woman whose thoughts, emotions and contemplations lets us observe an era in American history.'
Intense set design and research was conducted to create each vignette of this film to perfect the exact Edward Hopper scene.
The results of painting to film are completely unbelievable.
The film synopsis:
Shirley is a woman in America in the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and early ‘60s. A woman who would like to influence the course of history with her professional and socio-political involvement. A woman who does not accept the reality of the Depression years, WWII, the McCarthy era, race conflicts and civil rights campaigns as given but rather as generated and adjustable. A woman whose work as an actress has familiarised her with the staging of reality, the questioning and shaping of it; an actress who doesn’t identify her purpose and future with that of solo success or stardom but who strives to give social potency to theatre as part of a collective. A woman who cannot identify with the traditional role model of a wife yet longs to have a life partner. A woman who does not compromise in moments of professional crisis and is not afraid to take on menial jobs to secure her livelihood. A woman who in a moment of private crisis decides to stick with her partner and puts her own professional interest on the back burner. A woman who is infuriated by political repression yet not driven to despair, and who has nothing but disdain for betrayal.
Shirley, an attractive, charismatic, committed, emancipated woman.
For more information click here.
'Director Gustav Deutsch brings 13 Hopper paintings to life in his film, Shirley - Visions of Reality, the story of a woman whose thoughts, emotions and contemplations lets us observe an era in American history.'
Intense set design and research was conducted to create each vignette of this film to perfect the exact Edward Hopper scene.
 | |
| This is a sketch of Hanna Schimet, the set designer, for a particular scene. |
The film synopsis:
Shirley is a woman in America in the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and early ‘60s. A woman who would like to influence the course of history with her professional and socio-political involvement. A woman who does not accept the reality of the Depression years, WWII, the McCarthy era, race conflicts and civil rights campaigns as given but rather as generated and adjustable. A woman whose work as an actress has familiarised her with the staging of reality, the questioning and shaping of it; an actress who doesn’t identify her purpose and future with that of solo success or stardom but who strives to give social potency to theatre as part of a collective. A woman who cannot identify with the traditional role model of a wife yet longs to have a life partner. A woman who does not compromise in moments of professional crisis and is not afraid to take on menial jobs to secure her livelihood. A woman who in a moment of private crisis decides to stick with her partner and puts her own professional interest on the back burner. A woman who is infuriated by political repression yet not driven to despair, and who has nothing but disdain for betrayal.
Shirley, an attractive, charismatic, committed, emancipated woman.
For more information click here.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Um WOW "watch" this
Amazing craft and blend of contemporary technology and traditional craft. I think one of my favorite bits is at 2:13 with the little set of the minute hand…just wonderful.
Ive always had a familiarity and affinity with and for time pieces. I grew up with a number of my days being spent in the clock shop of my grandfather. My office looks a bit like his shop I'll try and dig up some photos. There is just so much to look at and ask questions about. He is a true fix it man. If you ever see the grandmother clock, or coo coo clock in my office they belonged to him. Something about moving parts and how things work has always followed me. I also have always enjoyed precision, something about making something as best you can is fulfilling and somehow essential.
I think back to my first years in art school where there was constant phrase "if you can't make it good make it big, if you can't make it big make it red". It was thrown out as criticism and a joke as well as sometimes advice. I always love when people make things small. That takes courage. All of its flaws and craft are available, it cannot often hide behind scale or anything else for that matter. Anyhow enjoy the video, hopefully it makes you think of how you make things.
Ive always had a familiarity and affinity with and for time pieces. I grew up with a number of my days being spent in the clock shop of my grandfather. My office looks a bit like his shop I'll try and dig up some photos. There is just so much to look at and ask questions about. He is a true fix it man. If you ever see the grandmother clock, or coo coo clock in my office they belonged to him. Something about moving parts and how things work has always followed me. I also have always enjoyed precision, something about making something as best you can is fulfilling and somehow essential.
I think back to my first years in art school where there was constant phrase "if you can't make it good make it big, if you can't make it big make it red". It was thrown out as criticism and a joke as well as sometimes advice. I always love when people make things small. That takes courage. All of its flaws and craft are available, it cannot often hide behind scale or anything else for that matter. Anyhow enjoy the video, hopefully it makes you think of how you make things.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Undergrad Research
As noted earlier, Lynsey and Rebecca were invited to present two papers at Asbury as part of the National Council on Undergraduate Research's "Undergrad Research Week." The GC students made their presentations and took questions from the audience of about 25 students and profs. Some of the questions were challenging—but they helped our students to broaden their discussion and to think about their topics in another way.
Thank you to our hosts, Professor Patrick Adams (whose work you can check out here) and Dr. Linda Stratford, for inviting us to join them. Lynsey and Rebecca presented their work on contemporary art and the "end" of art, as noted in an earlier post here.
Thank you to our hosts, Professor Patrick Adams (whose work you can check out here) and Dr. Linda Stratford, for inviting us to join them. Lynsey and Rebecca presented their work on contemporary art and the "end" of art, as noted in an earlier post here.
Dear World
Photographer Robert X. Fogarty starting a community photography project titled Dear World in 2009 in the aftermath of the devastation in New Orleans. He invited survivors to be photographed with their 'love letter' to the city.
Robert claims "We aren't changing the world, we are taking pictures of people who are." Through the years Dear World has become a 'social experiment, an art project, and a business.'
The team has photographed cancer survivors, citizens from Joplin, MO who are picking up the pieces after tornado wreckage, New York after hurricane Sandy, celebrities with positive world messages, and other high powered humanitarians. But what I want to highlight is Dear World: Boston Marathon Survivors + First Responders.
A little over a year ago I was in my office with a live stream of the marathon minimized on my computer screen and all cued up to receive text message updates. Why? My brother-in-law, a former professional marathon runner, was coaching a friend of his in preparation for the race. At the last minute Ben decided to run with Adam as a pacer. Ben was convinced that Adam would come away with his best PR and qualify (again) for the Olympic marathon trials. My sister and niece and Adam's pregnant wife were all in attendance in the grandstand.
Our department had an end of the year meeting and just out of habit I brought my phone with me. Though on silent, I could see out of the corner of my eye my phone crazy lighting up. All I could think was WOW these guys are really kicking it. You receive these text updates at check points along the course. They must have been flying. The next time I glanced down I had a text from my cousin. We aren't super close so it was a strange message to get. She said something to the affect of ... 'I just saw what happened, I know Jen and Ben are there... are they OK?
PANIC!
I tried calling my sister, Jen. Then my mom, my dad. Then my other sister. Then instead of live updates from a happy healthy event I was getting live updates from tragedy and terror.
Thankfully, Adam DID run his best PR that day and qualified and Ben wasn't too far behind him. They were safe. So was my sister, niece, and friend.
Seeing these survivor images from Dear World really hit home for me. Those people could be my family and friends. They could be my brother and sister. These powerful images of strength, resilience, and love overcome the fear and terror that was forced upon this peaceful event.
As a society we see violence on TV, in movies, on the news even. We get jaded and numbed to humanity. When you see images. LOOK. Stop just seeing: Look. Who are these people. What is their story, struggles, pain, happiness, love, peace....
Robert claims "We aren't changing the world, we are taking pictures of people who are." Through the years Dear World has become a 'social experiment, an art project, and a business.'
The team has photographed cancer survivors, citizens from Joplin, MO who are picking up the pieces after tornado wreckage, New York after hurricane Sandy, celebrities with positive world messages, and other high powered humanitarians. But what I want to highlight is Dear World: Boston Marathon Survivors + First Responders.
A little over a year ago I was in my office with a live stream of the marathon minimized on my computer screen and all cued up to receive text message updates. Why? My brother-in-law, a former professional marathon runner, was coaching a friend of his in preparation for the race. At the last minute Ben decided to run with Adam as a pacer. Ben was convinced that Adam would come away with his best PR and qualify (again) for the Olympic marathon trials. My sister and niece and Adam's pregnant wife were all in attendance in the grandstand.
Our department had an end of the year meeting and just out of habit I brought my phone with me. Though on silent, I could see out of the corner of my eye my phone crazy lighting up. All I could think was WOW these guys are really kicking it. You receive these text updates at check points along the course. They must have been flying. The next time I glanced down I had a text from my cousin. We aren't super close so it was a strange message to get. She said something to the affect of ... 'I just saw what happened, I know Jen and Ben are there... are they OK?
PANIC!
I tried calling my sister, Jen. Then my mom, my dad. Then my other sister. Then instead of live updates from a happy healthy event I was getting live updates from tragedy and terror.
Thankfully, Adam DID run his best PR that day and qualified and Ben wasn't too far behind him. They were safe. So was my sister, niece, and friend.
Seeing these survivor images from Dear World really hit home for me. Those people could be my family and friends. They could be my brother and sister. These powerful images of strength, resilience, and love overcome the fear and terror that was forced upon this peaceful event.
As a society we see violence on TV, in movies, on the news even. We get jaded and numbed to humanity. When you see images. LOOK. Stop just seeing: Look. Who are these people. What is their story, struggles, pain, happiness, love, peace....
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Three Art Events: Stations of the Cross, Gallery Hop, LAL Spring CSA
As the semester winds down, art events and happening continue to be in full swing. If you're looking for a few opportunities to be involved, here are three coming up in the near future.
Stations of the Cross Pilgrimage (tonight!)
There will be a walk this evening beginning at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Lexington at 6:30 tonight that will travel across town to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. I and group of other local artists have installed artworks to accompany the 14 Stations of the Cross as part of Holy Week. The project has been spearheaded by Mark Davis of First Pres and Brian Cole of Good Shepherd, along with Becky Alley of the Lexington Art League. For my part, I was responsible for Station IV, Jesus is denied by Peter (pictured below, located at the corner of Spruce and 2nd streets).
Link to the map of the walk:
Gallery Hop (Friday)
Come out this Friday to enjoy and celebrate the work of regional artists during the semester's last Gallery Hop in downtown Lexington. It runs from about 5–8 PM and includes a variety of venues. I always enjoy visiting Mary Rezny, Ann Tower, and the Bread Box. Mary will be featuring The Art of Structure (image below).
Lexington Art League Spring CSA (next Friday, April 25)
LAL will be holding its 3rd CSA Harvest Party. This is a Community Supported Art project that allows anyone to purchase a share of artwork from 9 featured regional artists. (Daniel and I were featured in the first and second harvests last summer and fall.) The event will be from 6–9 at the Loudon House and will included food, music, and a ART!
Stations of the Cross Pilgrimage (tonight!)
There will be a walk this evening beginning at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Lexington at 6:30 tonight that will travel across town to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. I and group of other local artists have installed artworks to accompany the 14 Stations of the Cross as part of Holy Week. The project has been spearheaded by Mark Davis of First Pres and Brian Cole of Good Shepherd, along with Becky Alley of the Lexington Art League. For my part, I was responsible for Station IV, Jesus is denied by Peter (pictured below, located at the corner of Spruce and 2nd streets).
Link to the map of the walk:
Gallery Hop (Friday)
Come out this Friday to enjoy and celebrate the work of regional artists during the semester's last Gallery Hop in downtown Lexington. It runs from about 5–8 PM and includes a variety of venues. I always enjoy visiting Mary Rezny, Ann Tower, and the Bread Box. Mary will be featuring The Art of Structure (image below).
Lexington Art League Spring CSA (next Friday, April 25)
LAL will be holding its 3rd CSA Harvest Party. This is a Community Supported Art project that allows anyone to purchase a share of artwork from 9 featured regional artists. (Daniel and I were featured in the first and second harvests last summer and fall.) The event will be from 6–9 at the Loudon House and will included food, music, and a ART!
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Art History @ Georgetown College
The visual art major allows students to develop an emphasis in studio art or art history. The students, as part of their capstone experience, participate together in an exhibition/research presentation each fall and spring (during each student's last term of enrolling in art courses).
This spring, two senior art history majors participated in the senior thesis course: Rebecca and Lynsey (shown below on the very balmy opening of the thesis reception). As part of their theses requirements, each of them presented their research findings at the opening of the senior exhibition and took questions from a packed audience in room 104—minds curious about contemporary art. A second portion was the construction and reasoned analysis of primary data (in the form of surveys and data analysis by Rebecca and data compilation and analysis of auction records by Lynsey). The third portion is the writing of a thesis (meeting a 30 page minimum, with the use of 30 sources). [Current junior art history major, Catherine: you have your work cut out for you!]
Thursday, April 10, 2014
AAM MAP
These past few days in the gallery we welcomed Zinnia Willits, Director of Collections Administration at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, SC and her shadow, Lauren Silberman, Program Officer for the Museum Assessment Program through the American Alliance of Museums.
About nine months ago, Dr. Juilee Decker and I wrote a Museum Assessment Program (MAP) grant that is sponsored by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) to specifically assess our collections stewardship. The grant was long and laborious and I learned a lot of institutional knowledge (thanks to Dr. Decker) that I had not know. When writing such a grant you learn a lot about your institution as well as the distinctive writing style and skill it takes to apply for a grant.
The Georgetown College Fine Arts Galleries was awarded the grant though our writing did not stop there. Once we received word that our application was selected, we then needed to complete the necessary workbook. This series of questions reflected our day to day operations, our polices and procedures, and our hope for the future of the Galleries. We had three goals in mind: to strengthen our operation, to plan for the future of Georgetown College's collection, and to continue to strive to meet national museum standards.
The past two days Zinnia met with students, faculty, administrative staff, the CFO, and facilities. It was a wonderful experience for me to have a mini conference centered right around our collection and Galleries. Ideas were shared as well as concerns. But overall, the reception of these meetings was positive and I GREATLY appreciate all who were willing to participate.
Over the next month or so Zinnia will complete her report. This report will reflect how the Galleries are function now, if we are on the right track in turns of national standards, and how to improve. We have a lot to think about for the next few days as we combine all of our own thoughts on the subjects that were discussed.
I am so glad and honored with the opportunity that the Galleries were awarded. This will be a wonderful examination in how the Galleries continue to function and how to better serve the Georgetown College and its community.
(I wish I had a picture to show you!)
About nine months ago, Dr. Juilee Decker and I wrote a Museum Assessment Program (MAP) grant that is sponsored by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) to specifically assess our collections stewardship. The grant was long and laborious and I learned a lot of institutional knowledge (thanks to Dr. Decker) that I had not know. When writing such a grant you learn a lot about your institution as well as the distinctive writing style and skill it takes to apply for a grant.
The Georgetown College Fine Arts Galleries was awarded the grant though our writing did not stop there. Once we received word that our application was selected, we then needed to complete the necessary workbook. This series of questions reflected our day to day operations, our polices and procedures, and our hope for the future of the Galleries. We had three goals in mind: to strengthen our operation, to plan for the future of Georgetown College's collection, and to continue to strive to meet national museum standards.
The past two days Zinnia met with students, faculty, administrative staff, the CFO, and facilities. It was a wonderful experience for me to have a mini conference centered right around our collection and Galleries. Ideas were shared as well as concerns. But overall, the reception of these meetings was positive and I GREATLY appreciate all who were willing to participate.
Over the next month or so Zinnia will complete her report. This report will reflect how the Galleries are function now, if we are on the right track in turns of national standards, and how to improve. We have a lot to think about for the next few days as we combine all of our own thoughts on the subjects that were discussed.
I am so glad and honored with the opportunity that the Galleries were awarded. This will be a wonderful examination in how the Galleries continue to function and how to better serve the Georgetown College and its community.
(I wish I had a picture to show you!)
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Collections Stewardship
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| logo by Cailley |
Thanks to a grant from the American Alliance of Museums, Lauren from the American Alliance of Museums (based in DC) and Zinnia from the Gibbes Museum (Charleston, SC) are on site Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the Museum Assessment Program’s “Collections Stewardship” peer review.
Zinnia is visiting and conducting the review of our collections; Lauren is
shadowing Zinnia in order to see the process as it unfolds at a smaller
organization/institution such as ours.
This
site visit is part of a two-year review that we have undertaken in our Art
Department to assess our collections and our care of them. This is akin to an academic department undertaking
self-study and a site visit from a peer reviewer.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Field Trip: GSCM
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| Photo by Museum Director David Rice |
Thank you to Mr. David Rice, Director of the Georgetown & Scott County Museum (GSCM), for welcoming us to their space last week. Students in the FDN 112 "Engaging Objects" course had the opportunity to learn about the museum and to explore the collections on their own. Some photographs of our time there and our "favorites" are below, including Pete the Crow!
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| Director of the Georgetown & Scott County Museum, Mr. David Rice, welcomed our group. |
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Creative Placemaking
This past Thursday I attended a symposium in Lexington on Creative Placemaking presented by LexArts' Art Means Business Forum and the Gaines Center's Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues.
There was an earlier presentation in the day presented by Anne Gadwa Nicodemus who works as a consultant at Metris Arts Consulting, has co-authored, Creative Placemaking (2010) and authored, Fuzzy Vibrancy (Cultural Trends, 2013).
The symposium was set up as a round table discussion of the 'movers and shakers' in Lexington as well as business professions, a lawyer, a professor, and financial guru for Downtown Lexington.
Since 'creative placemaking' is still in the early stages of being develop as a term and accepted in the world of art history as well as community, there was a very interesting beginning discussion about what this ACTUALLY means. Many phrases were thrown out like: organic collaboration, highlighting assets of a community, cultural, heritage, and cross-sector organization.
Ms. Nicodemus' defines it as this: In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.
This discuss took me down many different roads of what this 'placemaking' can be. We discussed not only PLACE but RITUAL such as WaterFire in Providence, Rhode Island where the community comes together at random times to light lamps along the river side and other coordinating events.
All of this discuss has got me thinking about Georgetown College's Create Places --- do we have any? if so, where are they? if not, how do we make them? what people are involved?
There was an earlier presentation in the day presented by Anne Gadwa Nicodemus who works as a consultant at Metris Arts Consulting, has co-authored, Creative Placemaking (2010) and authored, Fuzzy Vibrancy (Cultural Trends, 2013).
The symposium was set up as a round table discussion of the 'movers and shakers' in Lexington as well as business professions, a lawyer, a professor, and financial guru for Downtown Lexington.
Since 'creative placemaking' is still in the early stages of being develop as a term and accepted in the world of art history as well as community, there was a very interesting beginning discussion about what this ACTUALLY means. Many phrases were thrown out like: organic collaboration, highlighting assets of a community, cultural, heritage, and cross-sector organization.
Ms. Nicodemus' defines it as this: In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.
This discuss took me down many different roads of what this 'placemaking' can be. We discussed not only PLACE but RITUAL such as WaterFire in Providence, Rhode Island where the community comes together at random times to light lamps along the river side and other coordinating events.
All of this discuss has got me thinking about Georgetown College's Create Places --- do we have any? if so, where are they? if not, how do we make them? what people are involved?
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Study Photography Abroad: London & Dublin Meeting
I will be leading a photography course abroad through CCSA next winter term for two weeks to London, England and Dublin, Ireland. The topic will be landscape/cityscape photography and culminate in the production of a self-published photo book through Blurb.com. (Here's an example of my book from a previous trip.)
While there we will make photographs on the city streets of London and Dublin, visit major museums, tour landmarks and historic sites, travel in the region, and perhaps take in a show or two. There will be plenty of opportunity to shop and enjoy local cuisine, as well as celebrating the new year on the Thames with Big Ben if you like.
The trip flies out December 26 and returns returns January 8. Coursework (in terms of editing photos, online discussion, and production of the book) will continue into the beginning of the spring semester.
Application deadline is September 26. Course costs are $4295 (including airfare) or $3295 (excluding airfare).
There will be a brief informational meeting on Tuesday, April 15 at 5:00 PM in the Wilson Art Building, room 104. Come and find out more if you may be interested, and bring a friend!
See you then,
Prof. Darrell Kincer
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