History as Art, Art as History

It's been a long weekend of packing, driving, unpacking, packing more, driving more, and unpacking more. My boyfriend and I are almost completely moved in and now I can get back to my daily routine.

First, I would like to comment on Dipti Desai's lecture at UW-Milwaukee as part of the Artists Now! Lecture Series. Dipti's lecture was based on a book that her and two other women wrote: History as Art, Art as History: Contemporary Art and Social Studies Education. Within this pedagogical resource, they discuss the usage of art as a way to teach history and how to look at history through a visual lens.

In her lecture, Dipti highlighted art and history as subjective interpretations of culture and the past, and when looking at either, one must keep the creator/author in mind.

Dipti focused heavily on the role of the modern day artist. Here are a few of her comments:

• Contemporary Artists are interpreters of the past
• Many artists make art only after rigorous historical research
• Artists reframe our understanding of historical research and methods

One of the more interesting topics she brought up was photographs as primary historical documents. In my opinion, this is far from the truth. Even in the early 1900's, photography was being used as propaganda, especially during the war. Photographs were being framed and staged with a certain motive in mind, rather than strictly as historical document. Of course, this is not true to all photographs and photographers, but because it is true of some, how is one suppose to know which ones are real primary historical documents? Would this be a case of art as history or history as art?

 

Artists Now! Lecture Series revisited.

While attending the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I was always a fan of the weekly artists lecture series: Artists Now! Guest Lecture Series, which featured artists such as Nick Cave, Faythe Levine, Betsy Damon, Nathanial Stern, and Paul Berger. However, I admit that ever since graduation I have failed to take advantage of this great, not to mention free, resource until now!

Tomorrow evening, the lecture series will feature Dipti Desai, an Associate Professor of Art and Art Education at New York University. In this lecture, Desai will explore the historical methods used by contemporary artists in order to understand the past and the ways this might inform how we teach history and art in schools. She sees art for more than its visual qualities, and recognizes the connection art has to social, cultural and historical processes in society.

Desai received both her M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison, but has also studied at Columbia University and Diploma National Institute of Design in India. She has taught art and art history all over the world and is currently the Senior Editor for the Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education.

All lectures take place at 7pm in the Arts Center Lecture Hall on the UWM campus. FREE and open to the public.

Simple delights.

At breakfast this morning, a few friends and I discussed our delight in rainy weather. I found it appropriate to post a photograph that I took in a small town along the Menomonee River earlier this fall. There is nothing more serene than the gentle sound of light rain on a quiet river.

Shot with my Mamiya 645E, Provia 100F Film

Duarte Amaral Netto

Filipa. 2007 | 46 x 60 cm

I stumbled upon Duarte Amaral Netto's work through Many, a collective blog project exhibiting fine photography found by fine photographers. His body of work titled, Do que nos lembramos quando nos lembramos de nos, speaks of lost and fading memories. Pieces of the photograph transfers are missing, symbolizing the way pieces of memories get lost in translation over time.

Na relva depois do almoço | 110 x 142 cm 

 

a Gallery Night review...

Gallery Night October 2010 ended better than it started. With it's reputation for exposing established and up and coming Milwaukee artists, the Mary Nohl Fellowship Show has always been on my list as a must see. However, this year's exhibition seemed a bit more about the artist's relationships than the art itself. Unlike past shows where each artist's work is designated by a specific area or labeled appropriately, this year's show seemed like a conglomeration of unrelated art randomly placed next to each other. The John Riepenhoff Experience is one of the few pieces that left me thinking, however, I have seen it before. For this piece, John chooses an artist to create a miniature gallery exhibit inside of a white box that has a hole cut out of the bottom. The viewer must climb a latter and stick their head inside the hole to see the miniature gallery scene.

The next show on the list was Clemens Weiss at RedLine Milwaukee. Based on the press image (which I posted in my Gallery Night Guide post) and show description, I was expecting a body of polished drawings heavily influenced by writings of some sort. To my surprise, the drawings were expressive and raw, and most of which were displayed in handmade frames with handmade mattes. The writing aspect was nicely incorporated with newspaper articles and hand written text. The newspaper articles were used as mattes in some cases. The interaction of handmade elements and raw, expression drawings brought an emotional connection to the audience.

My last stop of the evening was the Milwaukee Art Museum for RunUp to the Runway. Here, Shannon Molter and Miranda Levy teamed up for a third time to show their latest couture designs. Shannon's work had such beautiful, intricate design elements, but much of that was lost when viewed from the standing section. I can only imagine how great it looked from the front row. In contrast, Miranda's line was a very simple, yet cohesive body of work. The over-sized elements and drastic cuts were a great reflection of her influence, Metropolis by Fritz Lang.

Work by Miranda K Levy

Floating through the afternoons.

 Today reminded me of fall 2005. It was the perfect day for drinking hot apple cider, wearing a hoodie, and crunching leaves under my shoes.

when it is over - archival inkjet print - 2010

My guide to Gallery Night - October 2010

Since I missed the summer Gallery Night, I am more than excited to embark on an evening of art adventures throughout Milwaukee. 

Work by Clemens Weiss

First, I will be stopping at RedLine Milwaukee to view the work of Clemens Weiss. New York City based, German born artist/philosopher Clemens Weiss exhibits extensively through Europe and the United States. His work moves from writing to drawing to sculpture, pushing viewers from merely seeing to real thinking. This Exhibition begins Clemens' two-month visiting residency at RedLine.

Studio 420b is next on the agenda. Here, a friend of mine, Sean Bodley, will be displaying new paintings along side drawings and paintings by Mark David Gray, Steve Luban, and Lindsay Marx. Urban art by Fred Kames and Kari Borchert.

Work by Harvey Opgenorth

My last stop before heading to the Milwaukee Art Museum for MAM After Dark will be at Inova, the Institute for Visual Arts at the UWM Peck School of Visual Arts. Artists Peter Barrickman and Harvey Opgenorth (Established) and Kimberly Miller and John Riepenhoff (Emerging) report in a year after being selected as 2009 Nohl Fellows as part of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Mary L. Nohl Fellowships for Individual Artists program. The exhibition brings together new work in a range of media by four of Greater Milwaukee's most talented established and emerging artists.

As my final stop of the evening, I will make my way to the Milwaukee Art Museum for MAM After Dark: RunUp to the Runway. Two fellow UWM Peck School of the Arts Alum's, Shannon Molter and Miranda Levy, will be showcasing their individual couture designs for their third RunUp event together. I am excited to see what they have been working on for the past few months because they never cease to amaze me. Recently, I saw a sneak peek of what Miranda is working on and I must admit that I was quite impressed at how much she has grown as a designer since her first RunUp event. Good luck ladies!!

Kick in the Grass Arts & Crafts Fair!

I will be spending my weekend with other Southeastern Wisconsin artists and crafters at the Kick in the Grass Arts & Craft Fair. As a long time soccer enthusiast and player, I am excited to spend my weekend on the fields of the Uihlein Indoor Soccer Park, home of the Milwaukee Kickers. Feel free to stop by... Saturday and Sunday from 10-4pm, admission is free! 

Here is an example of an item I will be selling (additional colors are available):

Other items for sale include the popular knitted circle scarf (not pictured above) and arm warmers.

Anything but traditional...

Last night Laura Gorzek and I had the honor of running a photo booth at Heroes in the Night : Inside the Real Life Superhero book publishing benefit. It was our trial run at doing a nontraditional photo booth, and we succeeded! We raised money for the book publishing and had a great time doing so.

 Check out the rest of our photographs on Laura's flickr.

Two for the Road blog

For a while now I have been following Two for the Road, a blog that takes two images from flickr and places them side by side as an experiment based on the similarities that can be found when photos are presented this way. I enjoy the pairing choices made by James Turnley, especially when the photographs appear very similar, but convey contrasting messages. Artists are invited to submit their work via flickr or email.

A lovely example...

and so the fun begins...

Today was a long day, but it was one of those that flies by and helps you sleep through the night. The best part by far was starting a six week grant writing course at Alverno College. Grants have always intrigued and intimidated me, but I think it is time I learn how to tackle them, not only for my sake, but for the sake of Guildess.

Although this photograph was taken during the summer, 

it reminds me of how the sun felt on my face today.

North Star Camp, Summer 2009

buy art and support great charities

While discussing the future of Guildess, I learned about a few successful art and charity collaborations: Collect.Give & The Working Proof. Although both of these are strictly internet based, the success of each organization is proof of a simple idea with great supporters. Collect.Give donates 100% of photography sales to wonderful charities chosen by the photographers themselves. The Working Proof donates 15% of art sales to charities of the artist's choosing, as well. Each organization has a great collection of art that is worth checking out! 

Here are a few photographs from Collect.Give:

 Photographer: Sonja Thomsen

Photographer: Allison V. Smith

And a few prints from The Working Proof:

 

The Messenger by Natalia Czajkiewicz

We Are Connected by Danna Ray

Antique treasures

Over the summer I visited a rather large antique store in Duluth, Minnesota. I explored their collection for about an hour before finding the camera/photography section, which was full of beautiful, old expensive cameras including a few brownies. After drooling over these for quite some time, I decided to stop torturing myself and just walk away. To my surprise, I walked right into a table filled with boxes of old photographs. For those who know me, you can imagine my initial delight, and then contemplative sadness towards these photographs of memories and people who no longer exist. I tried imaging the stories behind each photograph and how the individuals in the photographs felt at the time they were taken. Before splurging to purchase all the photographs, I moved on to the next table where I found something even more lovely... a box full of stereographs! Oh how I have loved these treasures ever since I learned about them in a History of Photography class. Now, I could not pass up the opportunity to own a few of these since I have never seen them sold in any capacity other than on the internet. After a while of indecisiveness, I settled on the following three:

 

I feel connected to each of these for a different reason and love the fact that they are from 1897, 1902, and 1899.

 For more information on stereographs, visit: 

American Antiguarian Society

A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes

Riverwest ArtWalk 2010

Spent the better part of my day at the Riverwest ArtWalk! This annual art walk is organized by the Riverwest Artists Association as a way to introduce the public to the way artists live and work within a local community. My first stop was at the Jazz Gallery to pick up my ticket and a map. Then onto the Feed Shop space located next door where a friend of mine, Laci Coppins, was showing a small collection of her photographic works created while in residence at RedLine Milwaukee.

My favorite part of the day was touring a few artist's studio spaces. Gallery shows are lovely, as always, but there is something more exciting about being able to peak into the life of another artist and see in progress work strewn about their space. Of particular note was the Studio 731 gallery space. Here, there was a diverse collection of work from MFA grads of the UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. Kristin Haas's studio was open to the public and I was quite impressed by the variety of work she is able to create within the context of her technique. An example of her work:

 You can check out more at her website.

In addition, Leah Schreiber was in the midst of a minimalist performance piece that gained the attention of a little girl who insisted on participating herself:

The Riverwest ArtWalk will be going on Sunday, as well, from 12-5pm. (I apologize for the quality of the photographs, they were taken with my cell phone).

Silent Auction Dilemmas

Yesterday I submitted my piece for the America SCORES Milwaukee Inspired Art Project. I put a lot of time and effort into making it look as professional as I would for any other art show that I participate in. Now, seeing that this piece will be used in a silent auction to benefit the organization, what is fair way to value your work and set a minimum bid (keeping in mind I chose to receive 20% commission)? Do you value your work just the same and set a minimum bid at 1/3 of the value or do you value your work higher as a way to increase the bids? But, if the minimum bid is too high you risk the chance of no one bidding despite how much effort and thought you put into the piece.

This is a bit ironic after having read the chapter on a Christie's auction in Seven Days in the Art World. Here, some pieces sell for one million dollars easily and all that money is headed straight to the pocket of the artist (well, after the dealer has been paid).

nostalgic for spring

AmeriCorps 2010