Theory of the Derive

I went to the building behind the music building and went up the stairs and felt the hollowness of the space. It was a very open building where you could walk up, down the hall, and right back down the stairs. There were no doors or windows, just open air and a constant light breeze. I observed the corners of the space, the open architectural balance between man made structures and nature. My eyes were parallel to the mid green lush of the trees. The main hallway was the main direction for the wanderer to go through, where the main breeze swept through. This reminded me of a quote from the reading,

"Within architecture itself, the taste for deriving tends to promote all sorts of new forms of labyrinths made possible by modern technology of construction."

Though the air and space were light and hollow, I felt that the rectangular space acted as an open cage to capture the wanderer and captivate them. There was only natural light shining through, so the long hallway was dark in the middle, as if it was meant to catch you. Or in the depth of the hall, was where a main realization came or a definite visible direction.

Jackie Battenfield Lecture

This was my first lecture of the semester that I attended and my first reaction that it was fairly informative and I enjoyed how excited she seemed. After I went to a few more in the semester, I could see why this lecture got much criticism. Battenfield wrote the book, "The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What you Love." Her lecture was just a basic summary of her book and how things came to be for her. She did not show any of her work or give any new insight. Most of what she said was already clearly written out in her book. Not only that, but she seemed to go chapter by chapter through her lecture as well. I would have been more interested, I think, if she would have added more of a personal twist and discuss more of her work rather than simply talking about her paintings as foreign objects. Personally, I went to the lecture not looking for great details on how to make a living by selling art solely but by doing it as something on the side. I would have liked to hear more than just the struggle of her other work and kids. I felt like she was talking more about her personal struggles than the true struggles that came through her work. She did not mention much about the criticism she got from her work either and how she handled it. Maybe because it was more of a book lecture than a true artist lecture, everyone was automatically more disappointed because it wasn't truly about her personal inter-connection with creating and doing what she loved as her occupation.

Jason Sloan lecture

I was really impressed with Jason Sloan's lecture and overall works. This was the first lecture I've been to hearing the inside scoop on combining digital sounds with their work to recreate the space. He worked in many mixed digital media such as using sounds, installations, performance, sculpture, and video together as art. He explained the process of how he went to school as a painter and jumped right into performance. He entered into using video to experiment getting his work out there to others who are limited not to get a more sensual experience of his works than just photos. One of his earliest videos was him wrapping a roll of tape around his face continually until it was covered. My favorite part of his work was his minimalist music that he created. In fact may other fans began to know him more for his music than for his art, which is why he stopped. "I am an artist not a musician," he said. He examines the need for transcendence beyond the body through a vehicle of visual ritual and sonic stimulation. He later combined his own music and installations and other effect (fogs and lighting) to completely recreate the space he was using. This was something I was really blown away with, the last exhibit he showed I felt he pulled off very successfully. Most of his performances are routine motions, like continually placing and replacing objects in separate piles. A lot of his performances went on for many many hours, a few more than 12 hours. He mentioned that one simply knows when the performance has ended. The focus of his work is to take a non-dogmatic approach of artistic and intellectual inquiry that explores the basic human need for some type of spiritual alignment or wholeness.

Rebecca French and Andrew Mottershead lecture

Within the week that the two visiting artists were here and organizing a campus wide participatory show, they had a lecture about their work and their bigger projects. They explained their processes, how they planned, how much was left up to chance, and what they've learned from it all. Rebecca French and Andrew Mottershead create art that specifically explores ideas of identity, social ritual and the everyday public and private realms in which they are played out. Through participatory works, they subvert sites and engage people complicitly in the creative act. As Art Monthly states, "For once it is art that actually achieves the popular ideal of raising your awareness of everyday life." They have traveled all around the world to set up specific situations though things never go as planned. They will stay at a place for their bigger projects usually for a month or two and build relationships with the people there. They explained how much apart of it that the community really is and how much they're really trusting that they'll do their part. After experiencing a small scale of it for myself, I can see the relationships it can easily build and how much it grows a community together. In London, they had each guest pick up a card out of a deck that had many silly tasks written on that the guests had to perfom and then place the card where they performed it. For example, if a guest had to stare at someone's shoes while talking to them and then place the card on the table where they had performed the task. It gets people to interact together and to enjoy and be aware of the social norms and cultural realms we are existing in together.

"French Mottershead" participation

My friend Nipa and I went to speak with the collective "French Mottershead" to be apart of their project. They assigned us to go out around the school to look for three main criteria that they were looking for that is publicly displayed. The first was to find any official rules and regulations, for health and safety rules for example. The second was any handwritten notes claiming their possessions, like putting your name on something in a group cafeteria. The final thing they were looking for was any unwritten known rules that are possibly broken or anyway you can document that known regulation and have it communicated. The exhibition was mostly of photographs from all students who participated. The artists had a map and explained how they split up the area and which areas they were waiting to get permission to enter. I had taken a few photos around the Art building (the painting sinks with all the handwritten notes) and a "No Swimming" sign that was placed around a murky, trash ridden pond. My friend Nipa had documented the Biology labs to take photos of health hazards with toxic chemicals whether they were verbal warnings or visual ones. They were only here on campus for the week and kept everyone informed through the social network, Facebook online. There was an exhibit at the end of the week in the Oliver Gallery of all of the students' collaborative efforts. It was a great social mini-project that the two artists put together for us and was a wonderful opportunity overall. I was very impressed with how they organized a social project with such simple ideas of thinking of the realms of private/public space and hidden regulations.

New Weather

I attended the art show that collided with the musicians' response to New Weather. I felt like the entire experience was incredible and a great success. There were many different sections of the night, it was not only a change in music but I change in performance. I greatly enjoy the mix of music and art together to aid to one anothers' meanings. The pieces took on a life of their own, from the depth and mystery of the charcoal drawings to to the impulsive gestural abstract paintings. The two artists fit very well together for the show in showing a controlled and hesitant approach and ease to a fierce and primitive manner. Yet the two artists worked so well together with the same music in the background. The large charcoal drawings were hung right to your eye level, where you stand face to face with these massive grey sea figures. I felt like they produced a tone so eerie and mysterious. I loved this work the most. The style of it was so intriguing on a formal level, the viewer is immediately drawn. As the viewer observes and reads the title, they can easily read into the artist’s subtle decisions for themselves. It was an interesting choice to place the statue that stood in the first room, with the many triangular images that stacked on and on in different scales, because it would have paralleled well with the abstract paintings. Just like the spiraled dress statue would have paralleled more with the charcoal drawings, but the curator must have placed them in the space as such to compliment and unite the artist’s works.

Art House

In response to ArtHouse, I feel it was an overall success. Though I have heard much criticism about last year's event being more successful than this year's. I cannot compare because I was not at last year's event. Without seeing the comparison, I though the entire event was well organized and full of excitement. There was much going on, unfortunately some at the same time. Our class and the other concept's class put on the childhood/adulthood maze (for lack of a better title) which I felt was very successful. The space was well fulfilled with each section creating a very different tone and mood to the viewer. Each guest was well directed, with the exception I know a lot of people did not realize the continuation past the nap room. Everyone lounging in the nap room must have caused some confusion at times and they circled back around. I wish we could have worked and cooperated more with the other class to better collide our ideas. I noticed some people entering had a choice whether to go right in the nap room to skip the playground area and some people simply directed them straight to the playhouse. I think next time if we had a mandatory meeting to simplify the overall ideas of the experience, that way they could have been more effectively brought fourth. It was a very relaxed setting overall and everyone seemed to enjoy their selves.

ROUSE

Knowing a lot of the professors in the show, I tend to automatically think more positive things. Having Ariel Baron-Robbins for two semesters has made me understand a bit of her work and her intentions. She worked a lot with psychogeography to capture the feeling of a specific space. Her work was very abstract and constantly covered and layered over or added onto the page. I heard many complaints about the great boxed sculpture with all of the letters covered and the grass panorama inside. I definitely enjoyed the interaction with the work, that the artist encouraged you to step inside. The works in the other room were a bit more extreme and shocking. I felt like the artist who did the great elephant statue was going for a more comical take on the spectacle. The statue was very well rendered and proportionally correct. While it was very graphic, I felt it was less uncomfortable to look at as the work on the wall about the dragqueen. The artist invited you to her world and set up different installations or images to bring you into this reality. My friend greatly dislike the virtual world set up in the back corner. I do not know much about this work, and was more fascinated by the concept of interacting with an online world than noticing formal aspects that I was already unfamiliar with. He felt that the artist should have stuck with what he was already familiar with instead of doing "a half ass job" on this idea. I disagree with this, while I am still unfamiliar with digital works I think the artist successfully rendered and set up their alternate world for us to engage in.

Complicating

I went to the exhibit Complicating by artist Kim Millspaugh :] in the Center Gallery at the Marshall Center. The artist explores the process of artmaking through the domestic space. She used a mix of installing the works of bundled knitted yarn on and around thin wooden formations. She used photography and paint in comparison next to each other. She also compared her own knitted shapes to other fabric either hung in the closet or out on the floor. From what I recieved, I felt like the artist kept referring to the process of artmaking using a variety of materials, thus exploring the vast possibilities of what art could be. The colorful clothes together took on a bright motion of its own, as the pieces were all formally successful. As I was walking by, I overheard her say the the living room is her studio and felt the pieces shifted even more so into the domestic sphere, where the process was being taken place. The comparison with her daughter and her kitten added an innocent feel to the entire exhibit and complimented her color choices well. The child could represent a youth in the process of artmaking or it could simply be what the artist sees and uses inspiration from to create.

"Seasonal Affective Disorder"

Artwork

"Self Portrait" Ink and charcoal, March 2010

Video Project

I like the choppyness of this movie overall and the personal connections they withhold in their conversations. It is a very comfortable environment and they relate and open up to the viewer their true thoughts and support for these thoughts rather than vague and harsh statements.

Train of Thought

http://www.gbtc.com/phantomt.jpg

http://stereogum.com/img/qydj-bon_iver-landscape.jpg

http://girlartindex.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/9.jpg
http://www.booooooom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jillian_tamaki_04.jpg

http://www.signatureillustration.org/illustration-blog/wp-content/virgin1.jpg

TOUCH

Nicolas Bourriaud’s exhibit TOUCH revives many social topics that were more popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It addresses a new sense of connection between the artist’s exhibit and their audience. He allows the viewer to pick up what they want from the display and bind it together themselves to their own understanding. The bottom line about the show is about relationships. Jorge Pardo’s Portrait of George Pocari is a large bookshelf with multiple books stacked in the very specific order to suggest meanings and characteristics about the owner. The book shelf provides many objects left behind as clues after someone is passed. This connection between death and leaving clues explores an entire different spectrum of observing one’s footprints to form a relationship. These relationships like writing down immediate thoughts in Signs That Say What You Want Them to Say, Not Signs That Say What Other People Want You to Say recreate bonds that can exist through time and space. The history of these relationships are endless through the traces we leave behind.

Project Proposal

VISUAL ARTS ALLIANCE, P.O. Box 130703, Houston, TX 77219-0843
April 29 through May 28, 2010
Williams Tower Gallery
2800 Post Oak Blvd., Houston, TX 77056

Dear Keith Carter,

I am writing to introduce you to my works. Enclosed in this letter is my background information, documentation of my new "Disconnection" series, and my artist statement.

If you are interested in my series or want to see more of my work, I would gladly send you additional contact information or arrange a meeting whenever is convenient. Thank you for taking the time to look at my pieces.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Fronsee

Brooklyn Museum

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you for being in touch about Kiki Smith's work. The webpage on the Museum's site has some great resources, which it looks like you have already found. You Tube has some other videos that might be of interest to you in your reseach about Kiki Smith's art making process (search: Kiki Smith). If you are on Facebook, I recommend becoming a friend of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art's page. We post regularly with links to materials about the artist and have a few press links and videos posted already, and will continue to do that throughout the run of the exhibition.

All Best,
Sarah Giovanniello
Research Assistant, EASCFA




fromFronsee Fronsee
toinformation@brooklynmuseum.org

dateMon, Feb 22, 2010 at 11:38 PM
subjectExhibition Information
mailed-bymail.usf.edu

hide details 11:38 PM (2 hours ago)


Hello,

I am writing to you out of my great interest in Kiki Smith's work. I am working on my BFA in Studio Arts at the University of South Florida and am referencing her for my current project. I am inquiring about your current Sojourn exhibit. I really enjoyed the behind the scenes videos of her installation and Catherine Morris's curating process posted on your website. I was wondering if you had any more information about the exhibit or Kiki Smith's process that you could send.

Thank you,
Rebecca Fronsee

Peer Critique

I discussed my project with Kathryn Davis. She is using used clothes from the thrift store to sew together her work. She is creating a sort of cycle of the seasons of one's life with the universal and personal meanings they can represent. I really like her idea and the patterns that she picked out. I think it would be interesting to see this cycle come together and have some circular effect (to emphasis the cycle). Because of the formatting of this project I think she can best do that with creating patterns in the different merges of color and lines. I think I'd have a stronger opinion of her work once I see her start to sew them together and can really visualize the outcome.

Summaries

The first chapter was all about the artist Bonnard and the mark he made in art history. The chapter starts out discussing Picasso’s parroting views after Bonnard’s death. Picasso questioned his ability as an artist to seize the power from nature. The rest of the chapter goes into Bonnard’s life experiences, specifically his intimate relationships. Much of his later work reflects his relationship with his wife, Marthe. Bonnard always compared her to a bird in her liking for water, her startled look, and her weightlessness/fragility from her poor health. Bonnard had two known affairs with models during their relationship. He greatly considered leaving Marthe for one woman, but couldn’t bring himself to do it and eventually came back to her. The woman tragically killed herself and Bonnard painted an old unfinished painting of her through his memory. Marthe had him destroy all of his paintings of her except this last one (Young Women in the Garden). He began to describe himself daydreaming while painting and forever portraying his aged wife in her prime. Marthe and him always lived modestly for the income he had coming in. Eventually Marthe passed away in 1942, and his works began to incorporate happiness with decay. He even painted her many years after she died in the tub. I think this chapter successfully goes into the depth of his work and how he could represent a figure that is only half there, a ghost of the present. In Bonnard’s work things don’t happen, they are implied.

In the ninth chapter, The Art of the Pilgrimage is stressing the importance of seeing art in its original intended live state. There is an immense different in seeing a photograph of a piece than if you were to see the depth, texture, space, and organization. The author goes into much description about the many examples of historical and contemporary live experiences from these works. From the experience through the space and scale of the work to the reactions and emotions that are ignited by your other senses. I definitely agree that there should be a bigger push for the movement to visit more work in their original contexts than online images.

Dream World

I felt this project turned into a social experiment, because of the patterns in reactions. It seemed for the most part people who were alone did not seem at all as curious or intrigued as those who were in groups. There were many people who did not know if my friends were real. I was very surprised to find that someone had the reaction that is shown in the clip below.

Overall, I was very satisfied with the various reactions I recieved, all still holding the passerby's attention. In a public setting, I was very pleased with the turn out of this piece.

Three References

I have decided to change directions a little bit with my project to representing the beauty and advancements technology has brought us, but also how it distracts us and the necessity for a balance between the two in our society. Marcel Dzama created this masked woman titled "Soon to Change." I liked the idea of her being hidden, her senses are being covered and dulled. The dull tones she uses and her choice of offsetting the face in the painting brings a great sense of unknown to it. I will be playing around with this sense of mystery throughout my project.








Years ago, I made a friend that lived in another state over the internet through a social networking site. We talked often and I was able to share much with him more easily than friends I had in person. I had a dream about him one night, and because of the great mystery in the reality of our friendship- my dream turned into one of the most surreal and precious experiences. I want to convey that eerie sense of mystery and unknown in an elegant and orderly visual. I want to expand on the idea of the many precious relationships that exist in a different reality than the natural world. Suzy Poling uses photography and the inspiration of Science Fiction films to convey this eerie feeling.










Ree Treweek created this image from pen, ink, and photoshop. This is an example of what I was thinking to illustrate on my bubble. I want to make a design that blurs together in a collage of the sea. I am thinking of creating this on the "bubbles" that represent the experience of the relationship. I will be wearing a bubble over my head and will be attached to others.

memory

There is a very faint, yet distinct memory when I was with my father as a child (around 6 or 7 years old) that is very dear to me. I was going to work with him that morning. He drove as the sun was rising in our old van with maps and trash stuck on the dashboard. I remember very specifically the warm feeling of the bright morning sun and the reflections of burning light. He stopped to get donuts that morning (which was exceptionally rare) and they were sitting in my lap. The half hour drive to his office in Tampa was much more of a day long road trip of pure anticipation. My dad and I barely spoke. I just watched as the golden dew drops raced each other on my passenger window, as he concentrated on driving. Looking back, it is a very dear and happy memory of my father and I on a very mundane occasion. To be honest I am unsure if there was trash and maps on the dash, because it seems very unlikely as the type of people my parents are. I am aware because of how faint this memory is that there is much I have subconsciously altered, including how I felt. It is a memory of happiness between my father and I, but it is very possible I was silently looking out the window with the sun in my eyes. It could have been just like any other day going to his office with him, except that no one else was with us.