Homecoming Week!

It's Homecoming Week! Show your support of your fellow students and art faculty by attending the events slated for this week. On Friday, October 15 12:00-2:00 join us in the Cochenour Gallery for "By the Book: Rules, Regulations, and GC Student Life". This gathering affords us a reception, but will also allow friends and visitors the opportunity to discuss the exhibition with students from the Curatorial Studies class who researched and created the exhibition from the treasures and documents in the college's archives. A special treat will be the Fireside Chat (beginning at 1:00 pm) featuring Doc Birdwhistell and a few alumni. You won't want to miss it!

Later that day, join us in the Wilson Gallery at 5:00 pm for the reception in conjunction with "imPrint", an exhibition coordinated by Daniel and Darrell. In this new venture, we see studio faculty taking on the roles of exhibition designers and coordinators. The show addresses typography through a variety of traditional printing methods.

In addition, on Saturday, October 16, beginning at 9 am, Daniel will offer a printmaking demonstration, in conjunction with the exhibition. A hands on children's activity will begin at 9:15 am that morning.

By the way, if you've not already seen it....check out the SongFest banner created by our art students. Nice job, everyone!

Boris’s 6th: Liverpool cont’d

CONTEXT vs. CHAOS: Weltschmerz-weights Round Two

Context is an oft desired intellectual shelter among art-goers but not necessarily required for the mind’s sure-footing. At the first installment of the Chaosmos in 2006, when artists were pressed hard enough (by the presence of camera or otherwise) about the idea of chaosmos, one reply was “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it, in a way.” This was not far from the overarching sentiment of the entire group. Truth is, now as it was then, it was not necessary nor at any great deal of service to contextualize here. So why get caught up? In fact, one of the differences this time around, is here we seem to come to an unspoken understanding, and I will give a try at “how” at the later post, that there is no need to ache over extrapolating. It is as simply comprehensible as please excuse the chaos and here is the context for our excuses; chaos-for-the-sake-of-context type of attitude.

So two things. First, I am pleased to announce that the Chaosmos Initiative 20TEN has a new lease on life with dates extended through the second half of the Biennial. What’s more exciting, is that this new installation on the 2nd floor of View Two Gallery has phrased itself, as I don’t think anyone but the happenstance itself could have curated it more aptly, somewhere between the Reactionary (Stuckists) and the Modernist (de Lillo). Cheers to these circumstances, to the gallery staff, to the curator and the 20+ artists and writers for this re-consideration, as most of us may find it more difficult to distil than set-up the exhibition display first-time. Here is a case furthermore where all three shows have much to gain by the presence of the other two. Second, in light of all this, as an involved participant, I sketched out few reflex-notes on the exhibition, as if I had to interiorize this art initiative into a conventional essay, something for which most participating artist would castigate me for attempting. This show is clearly at odds with these confines and better served by scraps of thoughts floating around in blogosphere. Therefore, as hinted earlier, I will post the rest of them in the coming weeks.

Also, I hope everyone has a safe and productive Fall Break--

more on Art In Liverpool link: http://www.artinliverpool.com/index.php/maingalleries/view-two/4029-v2-chaosmos-2010

(dates extended, through Oct. 30^th at View Two Gallery, 23 Mathew St. Merseyside)

post revised: 10/12/2010

Fall Break Post: See Art!

Fall Break is upon us! I wanted to use this post to put a shout out to some of the art events in the area, in case you find yourself with time to spend in pursuit of visual pleasure.

• Andy Warhol at the Speed, Louisville
• Louisville artist, Julius Friedman at 21c, Louisville (and there's always Text Rain)
• Reflections on a Louisville Landmark at Louisville Visual Art Association
• Portraiture through the eyes of Gainsborough (British artist, 19th century) at Cincy
• Kristine Donnelly's amazing paperwork at Taft
• Glass artist Dale Chihuly at the Frist (note, the Impressionist show opens soon, too!)
• Panoramic photographs of Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, opens 10/9 at UK
• Workshop at Georgetown's Yuko-En on Saturday!
• Scott County Arts and Cultural Center

OR:

• Pick your own spot to investigate by perusing this listing of Louisville and Lexington spots

Enjoy!

Found in Translation

The ART 120 Photography class had the opportunity to visit the President's House on campus for class Tuesday. The purpose was to explore ideas and techniques for lighting, along with location, in conjunction with our third project, "Capturing the Portrait." One idea discussed was how dramatic the resulting portraits looked by comparison to actually having been there and observing the shooting conditions. There was a remarkable change between what we saw and what the camera revealed. Ciera, above, is an example of utilizing a speedlight with an umbrella bounce and a little bit of ambient light control with shutter speed. The results are quite dramatic.

We began with single, existing light conditions. Above is a photograph of Sam near a large window on the shaded side of the house, producing soft, glowing light.

When exploring the house, I came upon a large window in the dining room draped with a thin curtain and realized this could make a dramatic silhouette, as seen with this shot of Trey above.

One more with Brandon using existing light, but this time not quite so diffused. The strong direct light, color, and pose remind me of something out of Gregory Crewdson's "Twilight" series (which can be found in the LRC, TR647.C74).

Two more photographs of Ciera, this time illuminated by hot lights. The first with a soft light from the top right, and in the second with the addition of an accent coming from behind on the left.

All in all, a good time experimenting with lighting techniques and ideas that might inform our decisions about how to photograph a thoughtful portrait.

Special thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Crouch for generously opening their home to us, and to Judy Rush for helping us coordinate the event.

Old Department Laptops....Share the Love

In the mood for a gently used Mac laptop...from iBook to PowerBook to MacBook Pro? $100 will get you a previously-owned-by-our-awesome-faculty-and-gallery-director-laptop. We have four of them and they are going as is. No warranty, no returns. Nothing. See Dr. Decker Monday, October 11 beginning at 4:00 pm. First come, first served. Share the love: Limit one per person.

Opportunity: Internship (web)

From Holly in Internship office:

1) Revamping her website ( simplifying & organizing)

2) Assist with the completion of her 1028 application, writing her mission statement, business plan and creating a PowerPoint.

You can view her web site at http://www.straightshotinc.com/

Create, Relate, Evaluate

While working as a museum educator, I learned about DBAE, or discipline-based art education, the development of which is often credited to the Getty Center for Arts Education.  In the 1980s, DBAE was identified as a method (one of several) for teaching in the arts, one that examines the arts through four lenses:

- production (creation)

- history (role in culture)

- criticism (interpretation and analysis)

- aesthetics (the nature of art and judgments about art).

All of these areas might be used to formulate "talking points" about art, and indeed, DBAE has been adapted by several states to develop curriculum standards for teaching in the fine arts, including dance, music, theatre and visual art.  

Often when I write about a work of art, I find it helpful to try to incorporate some or all of the DBAE ideas.  I might discuss art as a creative product, place art in context, speculate about possible meanings for art, and theorize about art.  You may also find it helpful to remember the "talking points" with this nifty catch phrase:  create, relate, evaluate.  

Space savers and watches

   There has been a real trend in recent years for space saving furniture.  Not just furniture that is smaller however, it has to be able to transform into multiple forms. This used to be the role of people that needed space such as a murphy bed that could go into a wall since your bedroom and living space were the same thing.  There has been less of a need for space rather a trend (as towards all things) to find a balance of economics and efficiency.  The following videos after the jump are just a few of the crazy fun things that are going on inside this trend.  Ironic as is it these items do not come cheap.
   There is another note I would like to hit here and that is the currents generations obsession with multi-functionalism.  There is a great TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson (see it HERE) (and if you enjoy it watch his other ones which are great as well) where he talked about the use of a watch, not as much for fashion but as a tool.  He makes an observation that people under the age of 25 do not wear watches since they have the time on their phones and other mobile devices. His daughter makes fun of him for having a single function device.  I wonder if this drift in technology can also be seen in multi functional objects such as furniture.  I know a number of people will remember last generations first reinvention of this idea (pictured above).  At least those were cheap and did what they said.  But I often wonder if the space savers of today are more for novelty and status vs actual space.
 All the videos that are amazing and worth watching after the jump.

Bringing something new to the table

Live at Design Miami: Wouter Scheublin’s Walking Table from Designer Pages on Vimeo.

"Innovative," "fascinating," and "creepy" are just some of the terms that I've read used to describe this table, which was exhibited at last year's Design Miami. It's beautifully executed and yet, at the same time, there's something almost rudimentary about the monster-like animation of the table. It's functional but also seems overly-designed. I kind of love it.

Check out the artist's other walking designs in his portfolio here.