But, baby, you'll freeze out there..

Okie-dokie. My excuse for blogging late is that I was trapped in a house in the semi-country due to the crazy weather with no power or Internet. Frankly, I thought it was absolutely wonderful.. I mean, until I realized it was in fact Saturday and since my Final Friday plans had been frozen over, I still had to do a blog. Oops. Well, anywho, back safe and kinda-sorta warm in the dorms, I'll just write one now.

I am currently enrolled in a Life Drawing class at WSU, but I attended a Life Drawing class at the Center of the Arts this last Friday morning. The atmosphere was completely different. At WSU, the model is surrounded from all sides with most of the lights (including the flourescents) on. None of the 6-8 people say much at all, whether the model is clothed or not. No music, no noise, just focus. Poses range anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty minutes with a majority of them being shorter poses. The focus is on speed; you're supposed to get as much accurate information from the model as possible before the time is up. It definitely keeps things moving along, and it definitely keeps your hands dirty.

At the Center for the Arts, only two people came--but from what I heard, the classes weren't usually much bigger. The model was lit with three lights from one source, and each artist had their own light for their paper. The three hour class only had three poses. Basically, minusing the breaks, each pose was about an hour or so long. Class was cut about thirty-minutes short due to the weather, but those were still some really long poses that allowed the artists to really spend time on details. The model was only about three or four feet from the artists, and during most of the session, all three--the model and the two artists--were in conversation. It was a very comfortable atmosphere as they talked about their own art work and how family reunions cost too much.

In general, I think I prefer the Center's version of model-artist relationships over WSU's. Then again, I suppose it all depends on the model and what they're comfortable with. But in general, the atmosphere was much more enjoyable and really made the time fly. It was definitely an interesting contrast. I think I'll go again next Friday.

-Aerica

A post for the blog

http://www.secretwalltattoos.com/

I remember coming across this site a few years ago and being extremely interested in it. Basically, people go around to different hotels or other places, and draw in areas that are rarely seen. For example: behind a mirror or under a rug. After coming across this site, I began wondering if I had ever been in one of these rooms full of secret images. From then on, I've always wanted to do something similar; create something that very few(if any) will ever see, but when someone finds it, it will have a great effect on them.

-Daniel

Let it ice, let it ice, let it ice......

Well, the weather outside is frightfully interesting with more changes to come. I'm hoping to have a field day taking pictures tomorrow after more precip falls. Not that there isn't plenty already.
Like Ann I bailed on FF. No need to leave the house. Especially when I can read and appreciate advice and commentary from fellow students.

BTW, great dream Ann! Always good to have a sense of humor. Thanks for sharing.

Will need to check out the film and web localities mentioned soon. Remainder of weekend will be spent designing and also cutting stencils for D II. Why not?

Margaret

Weekly blog from Laura

Okay first off Ann, that sounds like a really crazy dream, and I mean really crazy. One of the things that I wanted to say was that I like having Jodi as a "substitute" teacher this week, not becuase I don't like Monika, but because I like seeing and hearing advise/critics from different teachers. I mean everyone sees things differently and I guess I just like the change of pace. Okay the other thing that I wanted to talk about was this website called deviantART, basically it is like MySpace for artists. If you want to check it out just go to http://www.deviantart.com/. I love this site because you can basically find any kind of art that you are looking for. You can buy art or just look. It's fun for me because I like seeing what other people are doing and helps to inspire me for my next project. Some of the people on this site are really quite amazing. I would encourage anyone to go and take a little peak at this site.

Interesting Art and Final Friday - Emily Ritter

As for Final Friday, I have heard through email from many that several shows are being moved to next Friday. I know the Shift Space show (which I was super excited to see since I got one piece in!) has been moved to April 3rd.

Google is a wonderful thing. I searched for interesting art and came across this gem. http://lg071.k12.sd.us/Art.htm

I love the work that was done on one piece of paper. You don't usually think of those kinds of solutions. 

Another link is one to interesting art illusions. Go play around!!

http://olesiafx.com/news/archives/919

Bailing on Final Friday and Pinging Windows

Well, I'm not sure what to blog about this week because I was planning on going to Final Friday but am bailing on that, assuming it is still on. The little icy pellets pinging off my windows advise me that this is a good decision. About art. . . I've been reading quite a bit about feminism in art lately for a research project in art history. I fell asleep last night reading the Guerilla Girls Bedside Compainion to the History of Western Art and had a crazy dream. In the dream I was a black and white stick figure rotating on an imaginary axis and being sucked into a swirling vortex that eminated from the center of a Robert Delaunay painting. I thought I was going to be swallowed alive (you'd get this better if you read pages 60-61 of the book). Instead of being terrified, I felt a detached sense of humor about the whole thing and asked the painting where was its mustache. El whacko, I know but now I've started wondering about the Guerilla Girls' identities. I'm faily sure Ida Applebroog, Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, and Barbara Kruger are involved. Maybe Ann Hamilton and Yoko Ono too. Does anyone else have an opinion about who they are? Also, thanks for the moive tip, Daniel. I want to check it out. Hope everyone has a warm and safe weekend. ann

Art School Confidential

One of my favorite movies is "Art School Confidential." I found this movie at a video rental store that was closing. I figured it was only $3 so I might as well buy it. When I bought this movie, I was just deciding to go into art school. In this movie, you can see all the different art school stereotypes. I won't go into these stereotypes because I don't want to offend anyone. After seeing this movie and attending art school for almost two semesters, I can see these stereotypes, and the only thing I can do is chuckle to myself whenever something from the movie happens to me. I suggest this movie to anyone who has a good sense of humor and 2 hours to spare.

-Daniel

Reaction to Drawing From Life - Emily Ritter

My favorite section is the one about Martin Wilner. I love the parts about how what he draws is how his mind processes visual data. The time limits he has on the subway ties into our class time limits. You end up emphasizing on what your mind chooses to. 

Overall, what I got from the sections is that journals are important to everyone, no matter what occupation. Also, no matter what occupation, each journal can be considered art. Journals are a way of recording life and how each individual sees, or imagines it. 

blog

I enjoy looking at art form many different types of museums such as Modern, Contemporary, and Abstract. I was searching the Internet and found a site called http://www.moma.org/. The site name is The Museum of Modern Art. It is amazing to see how so many different artists can think of so many interesting ways to express themselves. Some of the things I see in museums surprises me because I think "How did they come up with that?" and it turn out really interesting. A Lithograph called Le Grand Nu (The Large Nude) 1906 by Henri Matisse, this piece is really simple yet very strong in a sense that it kind of relates( to me, in my opinion) to Venus of Willendorf ca 24,000-22,000. The piece by Henri Matisse shows similar attributes to the Venus of Willendorf, the piece ,The large nude, the head appears to have no face, the breasts are extremely visible, and the position of the body is somewhat sexual expressing the idea of fertility just like the Venus of Willendorf. To see the piece I was talking about go to http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2%7CG%3AHI%3AE%3A1%7CA%3AHO%3AE%3A1&page_number=41&template_id=1&sort_order=1 it will take you start to the picture of the piece.

~Lyndsey Coker

The Reading

One thing that I have to say about this reading and the book in general is that I love the fact that some of the specific people that they put in here to talk about aren't artists in their day to day lives, well they don't call themselves artists anyway. Rick Hoblitt is a a Geologist, Martin Wilner is a pdychiatrist, and Masayoshi Nakano is an engineer. Each person that I read about stood out to me, but none of them stood out in the same way. With Rick Hoblitt it was his attention to detail and his determination to get down all of the details that he could. With Martin Wilner it was a line or two that talked about when he was in medical school he stopped making art because he thought that he didn't have the time but when he stopped his grades suffered and they only picked up when he started making art again. That was fascinating because I would've though it would've been the other way around. It made me question what about art could make it possible for this man to get better grades? Masayoshi Nakano never went to the same place twice unless he had a question about the place. Which to me is interesting because if I go or see something somewhere that I find interesting I want to keep going back to that one place over and over again. But if you do go to that one place only once maybe that makes those recolections of that time that much more precious and interesting and they will stay that way longer. Still I couldn't believe that he took all that time to make his 40 some journals and then he destroyed all but one. I can't see myself ever doing that. Everyone of the people can be considered in my opinion artists just off of their journals because they make really great journals. Before reading this book I never saw the importance in making and keeping a journal. A journal or sketchbook to me was just something that I drew in when I had an idea for art, was in an artistic mood, or was bored and had nothing else to do. This book is making me want to "journal" more and more just to see how I progress.

Laura

Drawing From Life with lots of notes.

From the reading assignment, I found the amount of data incredibly fascinating. It's often easy to take notes for granted. I mean, one expects a sensation to be as fresh and vivid as when it was first experienced, but the truth is that things get lost and things are never as fresh as they were initially. So, notes are a pretty swell thing to use when recalling events.
Rick Hoblitt is a wonderful example of a living dialogue. Kinda like the hovering author in Stranger Than Fiction, (you'll have to excuse me, it's on TV right now and I just can't help myself), Hoblitt details every single event down to the very second. It almost makes one wonder how he even manages to live when every moment is scribbled down in his notebook.
I really enjoyed Renato Umali's kind of research. I mean, a day-to-day collage of events--single events--that affect him and make him. It would be amazing to look back and see how things developed. It seems like a wonderfully terrible way to see the truth of things.
Something about Hannah Hinchman's note-taking was also very endearing to me. While her notes were not as meticulous as Hoblitt's, nor as personal as Umali's, Hinchman's notes registered the simple beauty of the world around her. A simple note for each day, marking the changes in the seasons. Her drawings capture an overall feel of the area--what the scene makes her feel rather than what it may actually look like.
Looking at these notes, it makes me want to be organized with my own. I mean, fifty-two lil' notecards pinned on a tiny cork board is hardly a place for good inspiration. I guess I'm making a late New Year's resolution. Wish me luck.
-Aerica

Comments on Commenting from Ann

Hi, everyone. First off I'd like to say that Margaret is right (and will make a wonderful teacher). You learn tons reading what we all have to say. Jordon, many people think of their houses as works of art. You are right- why can't objects and structures be considered art? Fritz Hemans spends a lot of time on architecture in Survey I of art history, but I don't think buildings have to be ancient to work as art. Adrean, thanks for the web site info on the 4-yr old artist. I have sent it to my daughter who paints in a similar style. Marla's art is wonderul and so exuberant. A lot of people have made comments about any 4-yr old painting anything that doesn't look perfectly representational. For many of us, we can't get out the Baroque era visually. Marla is like a cheerful Jackson Pollock, but as Royce will tell you, when most people try to replicate his work, they can't get the same resulsts and most attempts look like colored splotches of spaghetti- it's hard. You have to really know how to draw to imitate the Cubists as well. About the term prodigy- it's easier to say than an extremely talented young person with lots of potential. I hope she will keep painting because she loves it and not to make her parents or art gallery happy.

Now, about the Journal . . . I too connected with Martin Wilner and his subway series of faces, partly because I identift with having two strong interests, in my case, art and music. When singing an aria, I approach the performance aspect by being a vehicle that brings life to the music or composer's vision. I try to become someone else, the character or the notes- anything to get away from myself (my way of handling stage fright, I guess). But no matter what, I expose a lot of my inner self in the process. When I create my own art, it also is a personal statement, but for some reason, I don't feel as vulnerable and I wonder if it is partly because with art, I create in my personal space, at least mentally, but with a live performance the creative process happens in front of others, warts and all. Anyway, I loved the accordian version of the faces Wilner created and I now notice that one of his drawings appears on the cover of our book

Drawing From Life - Reflection

Margaret says, "Read your classmates' blogs!" Laura posted one that I really wanted to comment on and did. It ties in with our latest assigned reading. That is, why and how we create what we create may change and expand as our lives develop and unfold.
Like Martin Wilner (gotta love those dream enthusiasts) I believe that the creations of an artist are, at least on one level, about the artist. The artist's own eye selects the subjects, mind processes and hands render the images. My dream studies have brought me to a similar conclusion. Everything can be interpreted on multiple levels. One or some of the levels may be more obvious than others at any given time. All are valid.
An example of the artist making choices throughout the process of creating an image in order to share some information while keeping other information personal is given by Anderson Kenny's coded images. His multimedia, layered sketches are beautifully & carefully presented on the pages for anyone to see and yet they contain personal "work" unavailable to viewers. This incomplete knowledge of the work's process in no way diminishes it as meaningful, in some way, to viewers.
As I finished reading the "observation" section I started to become aware of the lead in to the "reflection" section of the text. Journaling is a process with, as the author states, the multiple purposes of observtion, reflection, exploration and creation. The creative work invloved in producing visual and text records of people, places and things takes as many forms as there are recorders. Reviewing what has been recorded is as important as continuing to record new observations. Journalers are able to see and reflect on their own choices, processes, styles, and gain valuable awareness of themselves and their evolution/development both personally and professionally.
Whether begun as emotional outlets, event/time trackers, rituals/habits, or maps, journals become much more rewarding. Tucker Shaw's food photos prompt memories of people and events and have led him to become more aware in the moment. Idelle Weber's habit of drawing small sketches of heads has helped her through difficult periods when the creativity was not flowing freely. Renato Umali reaps the benefits of tracking and rating how his time is spent. Marcy Kentz consideers her journals to be life partners. Whether literal maps of personal journeys, like those of Masayoshi Nakano, or process maps recognized as such after the fact, our journals can and do show us our progress along the way and sometimes "the way" itself.
Happy Journaling! - Margaret R.

Blog Blog Blog

Itts spring break and I am painting my house. I would like to have to not just work all day over the break, but that is pretty much what I am doing. I think that it is interesting how often times we tend to seperate structures from art. While I am painting on my house I get the idea that alot of the principles of art exist in architecture such as our homes. The importance of something that we have to live in everyday and look at seems to be pretty significant to me. My question is why dont we consider our homes art?

Jordon May

Prodigy?

So this morning there was nothing on tv and I flipped to a movie called "My kid could paint that!" It's about a little girl named Marla who does these really bold colorful paintings. Most of the concern with this movie... is should this little girl be called a prodigy? should she be in the spot light? It also starts to criticize modern art. If a four year old can do it than any one can. She is already selling paintings for twice as much as an average adult artist.

www.marlaolmstead.com is the little girls site if anyone is interested in learning more about her.
-Adrean

crayon art

browsing through notcot.com i ran across something intriguing. a set of twigs that had been sculpted with crayon as a medium. I really like the attention to detail that is shown. here is the link to check it out

http://www.stanleyruiz.com/

RJ Carlino

Grafitti Art

I wasn't orginally planning on writing about this subject but I had the strangest dream last night. I was representing something I didn't understand and my car was broken into. The trunk was left open where the rain had ruined all of my drawings. I learned two things from this... be careful of what you represent and make known to the world but don't completely censor yourself out of fear.. and second, don't leave your art work in a vehicle where water and sun can get to it.

We see grafitti every day but hardly any of us actually sit there and think "that guy has really good technique or color choice".. instead we think "they're are destroying public property".
This website refers to these artistic crimes. http://www.graffiti.org/ You could simply google "graffiti" and you'd be amazed at all the stuff that comes up. Some facilities have even asked or paid individuals to grafitti their buildings. I just think that it is interesting because these are usually just words or signs but these graffitiers? have twisted the style to make it appealing.

This also goes along with the stencils that we are currently doing. If you look around town there is a ton of stencil art especially in the Delano district in back alleys. Here are some "political" stencils. I have been looking up what the bombs that are often represented in these work are.. but I just keep getting "bomb in peace" if any one knows... http://www.stencilrevolution.com/photopost/

-Adrean

Complications

I found myself thinking about art when I was younger. When I was little they would always just say draw whatever you want it doesn't matter just do something. Now that I'm older there are more rules. There's restrictions as to what I have to create and what I can use to create my art. Also there is more people to think about. When I was little I made my "art" to please me, I made what I liked, now they tell me that I have to think about my audience and what they like and what they want to see. Whatever happened to artists showing the world what they feel and see through their eyes? Is that lost? Anyway I was just thinking about that and they fact that art was so simple when I was younger and now it is no longer simple, it seems to me that as you learn more about something the more complicated that something becomes.
--Laura--

Collaborative Drawing Impression

I must say that I didn't really know what to expect when we were first assigned the collaborative drawing. I figured it would be like any other assignment, but I was mistaken. It was a nice change to work with other people in creating something. It was interesting to see how different people perceive things and how they approach drawing. Often times we are so busy with our own work, we don't stop to look at what others are doing, how they are doing it, and why they are doing it. Seeing the different groups' drawings was a great way to show how different everyone's influences are. When we aren't just stuck drawing a still life for class but rather something we can interpret things in our own way, it feels much more rewarding.

-Daniel

Brain Broken: Margaret R.

BOOM! Rikadika! Who is sikasika? I am I am Iam.

Now that I have your attention I do not have much to blog about. I'm not seeking sympathy and I am getting better. I'm just finding that a color description of how I have felt since yesterday morning is all I can think about...except for the fact that every time I close my eyes I see the #*! brayer and the everso lovely contours of it.
Head = intense jagged red and blue stripes through today
Eyes = barely visible black dots framed in blood red
Lips and Feet = tint of blue
Mouth = dry sand is an apt earthtone
Stomach = bright " right out of the tube" yellow
Lungs (during stomach episodes) = yelloworange, orange, redorange
That's about it. I have had some mighty strange and elaborate dreams during those few highly welcome moments of sleep. But I won't go into those here. Hope this wasn't too graphic for anyone. Tried to keep it simple.
What else? When the red and blue lines subside a little I have gone to ripping pages from catalogues and magazines in preparation for making stencils. I have chosen the " artist who uses drawing" for my presentation. Want to read, watch movies, draw and so on. Later.
I wish everyone in the pink and having a very happy and relaxing break!

8 Wonders of Kansas Art - Part One - Emily Ritter

To keep up with the theme of my previous post, here are two more of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art (the previous one was the Garden of Eden).

The Blue Sky Sculpture in Newton is a finalist for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art because it positions the viewer in a juxtaposition between the sculptural imag

ery and the natural sky.

Second are the John Steuart Curry murals. They are a finalist for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art because "Curry was one of the greatest American regionalist painters and, despite great controversy; he considered the murals in the State Capitol his greatest work!

Read more at http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/artresults.php

The lighter side of art for spring break.

What do you get when you cross a boxer with an artist? Mohammed Dali. What did the artist say when he went in to see the dentist? Matisse hurts. Ok, if you are still reading this, you may have figured out that besides being easily amused by bad puns, I thought it might be fun to talk about a few places to go for comic relief when art homework is getting a little too intense and you just need a brain break. There are several joke sites where you can find bad jokes about art but one with lots of categories is found at www.buy-original-art.com/entertainment/art_jokes. Also, if you are easily amused visually, you might try the MOBA website (Museum of Bad Art - art too bad to be ignored) at http://www.museumofbadart.org/ or try http://www.megamonalisa.com/ which pokes fun at the Mona Lisa. The MOBA takes donations and guest commentators from time to time if anyone is interested. Two movies that look and poke fun at the New York art world are Slaves of New York with Bernadette Peters (or the orignal book by Tama Janowitz) and the first vingette in Woody Allen's New York Stories. The former is a colorful look at trying to become part of NYC's underground, edgy loft space art world while the latter exposes the fragile, volatile emotional state of an established artist and egomaniac who loses his younger muse. Hope everyone has a great spring break and has fun with art in some way. ann

The Royal Tenebaums

It's a movie. A good one. Concerning plot, it's about the Tenebaum family and their lives. From paranoid widowers to emotionally detatched writers, ever-caring mothers and asshole fathers, The Royal Tenebaums manages to glide through many aspects of life in a very dry and personal way. While the storyline is beautiful in itself, what I really wanted to talk about here was the cinematography of the movie.
Colors play a huge role in the movie. The Tenebaum name is always represented in a rich green with gold accents. It seems to embody a kind of aging glory that forever remains powerful, if only older. Now rather than going through a bunch of names that you may or may not recognize, I am going to pick out a couple of scenes. The character of Margot Tenebaum is a very depressing, apathetic character who seems to hold no emotional weight for most of the movie. However, her fair skin and child-cut hairstyle contrast with her personality. She is also portrayed in very light, feminine pastels throughout the movie. Perhaps the only character about her that speaks of her utter emotional detatchment is her incredibly heavy black eye make-up. Otherwise, her overall appearance and setting embodies feminine innocence and delicacy. Her huge faux-fur coat exaggerates the youthful wonder of her character.
Richie Tenebaum is much like Margot in that he does not show a lot of emotion. However, unlike Margot, he maintains a cool and calm composure that is more socially inviting. To compliment his personality, he is dressed in blues and whites. He appears on a white boat out in the ocean and in a brilliantly blue bathroom. The bathroom is a big part of the movie, with colors I mean. The calm blue reacts violently with the red blood and dark brown hair, adding an unspoken intensity to the scene.
Basically, The Royal Tenebaums is a wonderful movie that I highly recommend. I mean, unless you're looking for action-packed sex scandals. But the movie does have drugs, several sex scandals, several financial scandals, several love scandals, and one car crash. It's good business.

-Aerica

Drawing from Life

As I began looking through this book one thing really became clear to me: the importance of a journal. Before starting college, I never really kept a sketchbook, let alone a journal. However, after looking through the pages of Drawing from Life, I think it inspired me to keep a journal/sketchbook for myself, and not just use it for school. One thing that I really liked was the following quote: "In the end, journals may show more fully than any finished piece what it has meant to be us."

-Daniel

Mel Chin - Emily Ritter

Going into Mel Chin's artist talk, I had feelings of disinterest. I got there at 4 (because I was stuck in the building and wanted good seats) with no idea what was to be said. To my surprise, Chin was there doing sound check. He came over to my friend and I and started talking to us about our work and what our emphasis is. I told him that I am fascinated by the mind, dreams, and conscience-ness. He said "Philosophy too?" I replied "Definitely." He then told me that this is what he would talk about. I was very impressed with his speech and everything he covered. I walked out of the lecture hall with the opposite feelings I walked in with. I felt like I understood him more after our ten minuet conversation. 

Now for the Drawing from Life reading:

Reading the preface made me want to search and find all my old "visual journals." While reading the required pages, so many ideas popped in my head of what to put in my sketchbooks. I think I am obsessed. Hah. My journals to me are "memory banks", to-do lists, ideas, and inspirations. Also a doodle-book. I don't date things like I should. Overall, I think it is interesting how much diversity there is with the term journal. 

Drawing From Life

I started out here by reading the posts of others because I'm interested in what classmates have to say. I do agree with several of the comments re. the small venue given to Mel Chin for his presentation. I was glad to hear about FF since I didn't make it out there last month.
The focus of the reading is OBSERVATION. Even though we are engaged in observing closely and drawing 50 different images of a single object I really have nothing further to say about that because I understand the purpose of the exercise and am experiencing growth as a result of it. It is an op to brush up on several skills, looking being the foremost.
My journals fill a bookcase and several drawers & boxes. There are old sketch books, bound journals containing text and drawing, painting journals, diaries, bright idea notes, files of ephemera, photo albums, and last but not least my dream journals. My fascination with dreams will keep those going for the rest of my life. In an earlier post to this blog I included jpegs of two of my fiberart pieces based on two dreams from 2006 and 2007. Keeping any journal is time consuming and requires alot of personal dedication. My dream journals are very important to me as references from which to make art as well as for self study. Mel Chin made mention of the importance of self examination. Journalling is a great method for tracking one's progress with that examination, or self- observation.
My journals are not like those of Rick Hoblitt or Jenny Keller, though I admire the dedication and attention to detail they give to their professional endeavors. I am more apt to produce many sketches like those of Maira Kalman. These may or may not inspire me to further use of similar images in my artwork. At this point in my life I believe I am more like Christopher Lietch. I was thrilled to find another dreamer among the journalers. I agree with his comments (and the author's) about journals being journals regardless of physical format.
After reading the assignment I got to thinking about observation. There are just as many varieties of observation as varieties of journal keeping. There is much choice involved. Do I prefer to observe many things and portray them swiftly and simply or do I prefer to focus all my attention on as many details as possible in order to produce a reasonably correct and realistic portrayal? Do I draw more or write more in order to record information? How much time do I have or am I willing to give it? What do I observe? When do I observe? Is what I observe in waking life more important to me than what I observe while asleep? Or are these observations both worthwhile? How do I observe? Do I take in the big picture, the ambience of a scene or a day or do I immediately observe small details or items as I go along my way? Where am I looking? Inward? Outward? Up or down? Back, at sides or forward? There is room for all of this to some degree. Being open to the possibilities is the main thing. It is a good idea to keep many kinds of "tools" in the old toolbox.
So, despite my personal preferences, I can add tools any time. I may want to be spontaneous with what I committ to paper ( or whatever medium) one time and another I may wish to draw from stored information to create a solid plan for a piece of artwork. Either way I need to be awake to whats available both within and outside me in order to make informed decisions.
Finally, I was struck by the repeated use of the word "process" in the reading. To me, my journals are processes, the helpful records of processes, my life and my art in process. That's one of my favorite things about keeping journals. They help me from becoming stuck with a false perception of myself and a false perception of "now". I can observe my awareness growing. More importantly, I can observe how this process is facilitated through my choices/ actions and the consequences of my choices/ actions. What am I connected to? What else? How am I connected? What do I stand for? What won't I stand for? Ongoing and unfolding questions. Ongoing unfolding life-art and art-life.
OK, I'm rambling now. I do regret choosing to attend my algebra class Thursday night instead of staying to hear Chin's whole presentation. His actions (projects) are inspiring!!
- Margaret

Two New Events!

We're going to keep adding on to the event attendance list this week. First and for most: Final Friday. While I attended Shiftspace, Commerce Street, and a few other gallerys, "For Example" really stuck out to me. Maybe it was because I knew most of the artists featured, maybe it was because of the wide variety, maybe it was because they had the best food. Either way, I really enjoyed seeing what the grad students who had taught a few of my classes were capable of. I couldn't believe how easy it was to tell who did what, even before looking at the name plate. Just goes to show that art really is an extention of the soul.

Second, but not lesser in any way, was Mr. Mel Chin. From a lovely ballad at the beginning of the lecture to his very sincere and deep views on what art is and can be, Mel Chin really opened my eyes to what art is about in today's world. His amount of research and dedication to his pieces was absolutely astounding, but I feel that his general light-hearted demeanour and humor was what made him a truly memorable character.

-Aerica Van Dorn

Observations about Observation.

Like Jordon, I too want to talk about pages 20-22, I think, about observation. I found this particularly relevant because of our 50 of one objects project. Reading how close observation of the natural world is less and less common, I agree that TV, PC's, I-Pods, cell phones and video games give us constant synthetic soundbite imagery. Monika said early on how we need to learn how to really look at something. I also found the paragraph about the vanishing silphium plant timely after Mel Chin's lecutre and how so many of his projects involve reviving the environment. I wished that I had thought to ask him if he keeps a journal. It is interesting when you think that observation is important to both the artist and scientist, and I like the obvious statement that the journal serves as a place to record observations. Also, I was talking with some friends while waiting for the lecture to start and I told them about drawing our 50 drawings. One of my friends told me about a friend of his at another school who took a drawing course where they only drew one object for the entire semester. Interesting. ann

Drawing from Life

Reading the preface and the intro to the book Drawing from life there was one thing that was crystal clear to me, the importance of keeping a journal. It is basically writing an autobiography on your life. The process of creating a journal can vary as well. Instead of directly writing in it, pictures can be drawn as a code so you and only you can understand what is going on. Very interesting altogether.

RJ Carlino

Drawing from Life

To start out I would like to say that this was actually interesting and enjoyable to read especially considering the fact that it was nice out. The most interesting thing about this reading was that there are so many different forms of a journal. I never really thought of a to-do list or a notepad as a journal but we often forget so many little things. The fact that people use different materials to create their journals doesn't surprise me cause in a way it is just another way to personalize something and art is completely personal to the artist who created it. This reading has inspired me to look beyond what I can physically see but what I feel about the piece. I also want to start a dream journal like Christopher Leitch had because I often have dreams that would make very interesting subject matter. Also, when I think of a sketchbook it is hard for me to just.. sketch. I feel the need to perfect it.

The whole time I was reading I thought to myself, "What happened to the little girl who colored on the walls? Why do I ignore the little things?" Once I finished reading I just kind of sat outside and enjoyed the things around me that if it had been any other day would've just been dead grass and dirt.

As far as the Mel Chin lecture in a couple hours... I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm not very aware of who Chin actually is. I do think that is pathetic on the part of the university that such a famous artist will be shoved in a lecture hall while Tom Otterness who created that WONDERFUL millipede got to use the CAC Theatre.

Another side note.. I watched Fantasia the other day when nothing else seemed to keep my attention and it sparked some creativity. It's an excellent film regardless and could help if you are lacking drive.

Adrean

Drawing From Life

As I looked through the Drawing From Life pages that we had to read I was focused on observation. It makes sense because the chapter is called Observation, but I digress. It seems interesting to me the different ways that people observe things and the purpose of observation for artists. In most of the observations ive done ive been focused on trying to recreate the way things actually look and im just starting to come around to the idea of capturing the ideas and things that make you think of the object, which makes me have to try harder. I think that this is the point to this section in the book, really looking at things in order to understand them as best you can.

Jordon May