my students had their first critique today. i think these folks have ceramist blood because they brought amazing food for our potluck and gave really useful and thoughtful feedback. more pics to come.
natural history museum drawing field trip part 2: birds
the specimens in the bird section are preserved as “study skins” and not (usually) as taxidermy specimens. the bones and organs are removed (except for the skeletal structure of the legs and wings). the wings are kept folded, the body cavity and head are stuffed with cotton and then the specimens are allowed to dry. it was out of control to see all those beautiful specimens lined up on trays. some people joked “i want them all!” i don’t know what it is about the translucent color, the old fashioned patterns. i ended up drawing an extinct flicker (relative of the wood pecker).
unfortunately i didn’t get a picture of the ostrich skeleton kalina was drawing.
living with art at st. croix apartments.
st. croix apartment complex houses about 10 of uf’s mfas/recently graduated. Last night they opened their doors and invited the public into their homes to look at the art that they “live with” on a daily basis. some apartments transformed into pristine gallery spaces and some transformed altogether.
i started at the door which had the biggest crowd when i arrived. gleefully that crowd seemed to shift organically around the the complex through out the night. galen olmsted’s monolithic wooden structure covered in porcelain poops stood surrounded by kalina winska’s large ethereal paintings.
next i moved upstairs. drew avakian’s cut and reassembled, structured pots contrasted nicely with donna flanery’s soft, painterly cups and teapots. rob kolhouse’s futuristic busts held court alongside them.
back downstairs i found that varian wolf and charlie cummings, both big advocates for the florida springs, had filled their apartment with water and fish in order to allow us to experience life under the water for ourselves. luckily we were able to enjoy it without getting wet from the comfort of chairs outside, where we could observe the underwater goings on through the front windows. their projections of spring life at times presented compelling narratives that we wouldn’t otherwise be privy to.
down a ways, in jen clay’s apartment, large, long legged birds had taken over the everyday living room scene. they seemed to be jumping on everything, their blue, white and black feathers leaving a puffy trail. In the kitchen, one of clay’s “friendly unknowns” seemed to be having a fit over spilled milk and dry cereal. though clay’s apartment itself was the least changed, her creatures inhabiting the space transformed it into a wild unknown.
kate helms’ door was closed but in her absence she had placed a sculptural replica of herself, complete with overalls and a conductor’s cap. one of her works memorializing the cabbage palm was also displayed.
lastly, i visited the apartment of one of the organizers. several 2d works were hung, and when you ventured back into one of the bedrooms turned gallery you saw Jessika Normington’s light and string installation. The bright cacaphony of color and light against a fluffy white cotton clouds turned x-mess lights into firefly crackles of electricity.
after popping our heads up into the light scape some of sat on the floor and chatted. eventually the night died down. doors closed. a pie-zilla and coke showed up upstairs. good times were had by all.
unfortunately i didn’t get pics of everything but here are some pics from galen’s facebook.
nice night team st. croix!
intervention
My collaborator and I plan to intervene in this space in some way this week. It’s currently a large ashtray/garbage can with a very attractive bench attached. Our survey shows that people spend time there waiting for class to start and perhaps reading. Survey also says that nothing has been reported to grow in this space for quite some time. Some feel it would make a good garden. One soul has attempted this task planting what looks to be a small avocado tree.
huge crowd outside, waiting for the doors to open.
in january i had the good fortune to see tavis smiley and cornel west speak in pugh hall at UF. i showed up about an hour early, not knowing what the venue was like or what kind of crowd there would be. thank goodness i got there when i did because the place was packed. i was extremely lucky to get a seat, as some folks were diverted to an auditorium where they were streaming the talk live. not only did the stream not show up well but the auditorium, i heard, was packed as well.
tavis smiley introduced cornel west. it was clear in his presentation that he greatly admired dr. west and he seemed to set the stage for him to speak. this was my first time to hear cornel west speak and they made a great duo, smiley with his clear cut details, and sassy asides and dr. west with his theatrical way of speaking.
they were there to talk about poverty. as in, 50% of americans are in or near poverty. really depressing stuff but when i got up to leave, i didn’t feel depressed. they said what they had to say in a way that lifted the audience up.
looking down at my notebook, all i see are scraps of phrases, statistics and quotations. it doesn’t make much of a picture. but what i remember is a particular feeling of elation every time west spoke of a movement that needs to be multi-racial, multi-cultural, and inclusive all all genders, ethnicities, sexual identities, faiths (including athiests:)). it goes without saying but i LOVE that he didn’t let it. i loved that when someone brought up racism happening in the occupy movement, it didn’t phase him, simple, white supremacy and male supremacy come up in progressive movements, we just have to help each other out, push each other to be better.
after the talk i went up to shake their hands, it was a huge crowd, and i think if i hadn’t been alone i may have easily been talked out of it. but i felt so touched and i wanted to shake cornel west’s hand and tell him that the book race matters had significantly impacted my life. it’s so easy to get bummed out, to think that their is no way that equality will ever prevail, that things are always getting worse, but one of the points that resonated with me from race matters is that the one thing you can always do, the one thing that will change the world, is to create love and foster connections.
as it turned out, by the time i got to the stage, he and smiley were being encouraged by their assistants that it was time to leave. west reached down a hugged a few of us left waiting, tavis smiley shook my hand, i said “thank you” and headed out.
(un)contained by galen olmsted.
friday i checked out the first warphaus show of the semester. galen olmsted’s installation of ceramic components seems to be taking over the gallery, generating out of the floor and toppling anything in the way. i love the wall of storage containers hemming in the uncontrolled ceramic material. they give you a clue as to where everything may have come from and, should someone try, where the bedlam may be contained.
studio shots
school is in full effect and it was a great first week back. i’m really amped about all my classes. they are all studio courses (ceramics seminar, sculpture seminar and performance and installation a.k.a. intervention).
i had a great meeting with my professor to talk about my research plan for the semester. as mentioned earlier i’m planning to tackle philosophy of aesthetics and beauty. i also plan to explore the idea of wonder and how it relates to art and science. i’m getting really excited to read about what all of these great thinkers believe and eventually be able to articulate my own position.
for my intervention course i’m going to be working collaboratively on several projects, one of which we hope to be able to share with people at nceca…..will keep you posted.
as for sculpture seminar, which is focusing on relational aesthetics, i’m not sure quite what i’ll be tackling. i’m interested in challenging myself to work outside of the ceramic medium and….. i signed up for a february 1st crit so…….i’m going to get cracking!
drawing at the museum of natural history.
today i went to the museum of natural history to draw items from the invertebrate collection. one of the post doc students who’s been working with the creativity in the arts and science events has organized a series of drawing days. we’ll be doing birds next.
i felt like i was in the ministry of magic in harry potter, all the rows and rows of jars and lockers of dry specimens.
check out this crazy squid. the collections manager informed us that there was a 24 foot giant squid in the collection. unfortunately it was housed off site:)
this slightly blurry image is of a sea cucumber (in ethanol). i love how the pattern looks like crystalline formation in glaze.
they mentioned that sometimes the pigments in animals is alcohol soluble so it leaches into the ethanol. i don’t know if this guys purple stripes will leach out but in the mean time it was quite beautiful to see.
love these interlocking patterns. they are organic and random but they still seem to fit together.
this armadillo was displayed up front. there were several displayed but this one’s glistening, perfect, pentagon shapes were stunning.
this was my messy drawing of a strawberry urchin. they actually took them out of the jar for us to draw. i was able to feel the ends of the protrusions and they were fuzzy! like flocking! thanks carrie for pointing this little guy out:)
cats!
remember these little cuties?
it’s go time
i’ve been anticipating this moment with excitement and trepidation. though i’ve had plenty of time to prepare, my syllabus and assignments are approved, demo materials are pretty much prepped and my class blog is all set up, i’m still a little worried. that’s normal right? mostly though i’m excited to dive in:)
i’m planning a speed building activity tomorrow to help everyone get comfortable with the clay before we tackle any content associated with the first project. we’re going to do timed relays pinching, making coils, coiling and slab building small items. has anyone ever tried anything like that before?
my goal is to get everyone hands in clay without any worry or anxiety as to whether their thing will be “good” or not. after we finish we’ll fire the objects and use them as test tiles through out the class.
i’m going to play this song for them.