One week from yesterday: HoverCraft!

One week from yesterday, Laura Gorzek and I will debut our current venture, The Living Photo Booth Project! We will pack up our suitcases and head over to the Bay View Brew Haus for HoverCraft, an event that combines crafts, bands & local businesses to showcase the rad people that make Milwaukee.

HoverCraft

When: Sunday, December 5th.   

Location: Bay View Brew Haus 

Crafting Time: 12 - 6

Music Time: 8- Midnight

Milwaukee's newest artist collaborative studio space

This past Saturday I spent my evening with Sean Bodley at Studio 420b, Milwaukee's newest artist collaborative studio space. In addition to Sean, artists Lindsay Marx, Fred Kames, Mark David Gray, and Asher Gray call Studio 420b their creative space.

The idea of a collaborative studio space has always intrigued me, but I never pictured such a large collaborative space. Immediately, I asked Sean how he felt about sharing a studio with a bunch of other artists. He answered, "The main reason I enjoy it is because I always have someone around to give feedback and critique my work. Its nice having that after graduation."

Sean Bodley's studio space

Among the plethora of paintings, I still managed to find the few photographs that call Studio 420b home.

Located just south of the 3rd Ward, in the 5th Ward, Studio 420b is a great place to stop during Gallery Night and Day. Having the chance to check out an artist's studio is a real treat, especially when they display in progress work. Being inside a space of pure creativity makes me feel energized, excited and inspired to create.

From drab to fab!

Amidst my recent internet explorations I discovered an industrial design artist that struck my fancy. Patricia Weusten, of The Netherlands, designed an interactive 3D coloring book, which requires children's imagination and creativity to function properly.

"City in a Box is a series of three toy boxes with each its own theme. The themes are three of the worlds capital cities New York, London and Paris. When the City in a Box is opened it can be unfolded into a play city with the city’s most famous buildings, monuments and streets. It also includes play elements for children. When done playing the city can be folded back into a box for easy storage. City in a Box and all it’s accessories are made of cardboard which make it cheap and easily disposable." - Patricia's website

City in a Box invites children to color or paint the city in order to rid it of its drab cardboard box color and transform it into their own city. This has inspired me to develop an "Our City" project that I will implement in the upcoming weeks with the kids I work with.

unpredictable moments

Sometimes I don't know why I photograph the things I do. I can never predict when something will hit my eye in just the right way. 

2010

Sneak peak!

While running a few errands today, I decided to stop by the UW-Milwaukee Union Art Gallery and check out their current show. Unfortunately, they were in the process of installing a new show, but a friend of mine, Sean Bodley, works there so I got a sneak peak of the upcoming exhibition. Venerate: Collectors of the Human Condition features two-dimensional drawings and paintings as well as three-dimensional sculptures from found items, this exhibition of mixed-media work by Loren Schwerd and Marco Zamora looks to collections of memory and nostalgia.

The work of Loren Schwerd immediately caught my attention. She uses human hair extensions found outside of St. Claude Beauty Supply in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in her commemorative sculpture work.

Check out Loren Schwerd's work in Venerate: Collectors of the Human Condition between November 18 and December 17, 2010. The opening reception will take place this Thursday, November 18th from 5-7pm. She will give a gallery talk on Thursday, December 2nd at 7pm!

The Living Photo Booth Project

I spent the better part of my day creating props for The Living Photo Booth Project with Laura Gorzek.

For those of you who do not know, The Living Photo Booth Project was Founded in 2010 by Laura Gorzek and myself, with the hopes of providing a live photo booth experience from start to finish. The Living Photo Booth Project is a great addition to any type of party, gathering or event. Give us a theme and we will show up with an appropriate backdrop and box of costumes, take fun photos of you and your guests, and print a take home photographic token on the spot for a small monetary cost.

Keeping the physical world in touch, our mission is to remind the public of the joy of interacting with one another and holding onto a printed photograph in this digital and disconnected world.

You can catch The Living Photo Booth Project at HoverCraft MKE on December 5 at the Bay View Brew Haus.

Carousel: The Fourth Annual Milwaukee Invitational Slideshow

Tomorrow evening a unique event will be taking place at the Woodland Pattern Book Center. For the fourth year in a row, Naomi Shersty and Carl Bogner will curate an evening of slideshow images/artworks. This years artists include: Emily Litgens, Stephanie Hutin & Florencio Zavala, Jon Horvath, Patrick Wodsinski, Ken Wood, Annushka Peck & Julia Swanson, Renato Umali, and Matthew Rethaber.

When: Friday, November 12 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Where: Woodland Pattern Book Center -

             720 East Locust Street.

             Milwaukee, WI 53212-2547

Cost: $4 at the door - free wine & cookies!

It's not the destination, it's the journey...

Today was one of those non-stop 12 hour days that I have been craving for quite some time. To begin the day, I headed to RedLine Milwaukee for the 4th Annual Emerging Arts Leaders Summit presented by Arts Wisconsin. I have always loved summits/conferences because they leave me inspired and ready to create. The topic of today's summit was It's not the destination, it's the journey, which lent itself nicely to the situation I currently find myself in... an artist with a part time job, plenty of ideas brewing, and a few projects in the works. However, the lack of steady income has led me to question whether or not I should continue down this path. Fortunately, the wonderful insights and comments shared by the panel has inspired me to keep plugging away at what I'm doing.

After leaving the summit, I headed to work to make the money to pay for the summit. As an Arts Coordinator for the Zilber Boys & Girls Club, I have the ability to practice teaching the skills I have been developing since I was little. Today I worked on primary and secondary colors with the 1st graders. Some day I will be looking back on this as just a small piece of the larger picture of my journey.

Post painting results - an attempt to mix all the colors

The final event on my agenda was a Professional Development workshop: "Blogging your A.W.E. Project" with Artists Working in Education. For all the times I have refused to sign up for Twitter, Troy Freund really made it seem like a good idea. The next Professional Development workshop with A.W.E. will be on integrating math concepts into art lessons. Based on MPS math scores, I think this workshop will be of particular importance to my art curriculum at Zilber.

From time to time...

 Lately, my dad has been telling me that I should take photographs of beautiful things because people actually purchase those types of photographs. Every time he tells me this, I cringe. Why would I want to photograph objects and moments that represent beauty in the most traditional sense? Is this the role of a successful modern day photographer? Why can't I take photographs of things people don't normally associate with beauty and make it beautiful! Wouldn't that be more of a challenge than photographing existing beauty? 

 

 Despite these feelings, I still feel compelled to photograph something beautiful from time to time. Sure, I bet another passerby has already snapped this exact photograph, but as a photographer there are just some opportunities you cannot pass up.

Process Art

Process Art, an artistic movement of the mid-1960's, has always been an interest of mine. Process Art is defined as a creative sentiment in which the end product is not the principle focus, and quite often the process is apparent in the end product. I have always found the journey more rewarding than the outcome. All discoveries and new ideas are created along the way.

William Kentridge, a recent feature on Art21, is a man of process. He is best known for his animated films, which are an obvious representation of process. However, William also shows process with his drawings. The constant drawing and erasing marks are apparent, but represent part of his creative process.

 

In the Art21 film, william kentridge: anything is possible (2010), William takes the viewers into his world of process. Like any artist, his process is unique. A piece titled "Black Box" caught my attention for its interaction of serious and play. For this piece, Kentridge created a miniature theater with mechanical characters performing behind a screen. The use of miniatures to express serious themes such as war, death, violence, etc. is fascinating to me. Kentridge also invites the viewer to enjoy the process behind the piece by allowing all mechanical aspects to be seen.

Trailer for william kentridge: anything is possible: 

(full version can be viewed on Art21 website)

 

On a black and white kick...

I've always liked Sally Mann's work, but I suppressed this fondness in my early years of school because it seemed like a cliche admiration seeing as I knew very little of the larger world of fine art photography. After being introduced to new photographers on a daily basis, her work got lost in the mix until junior year, when I began research for my senior thesis. This is when I saw What Remains, a documentary film on one of Sally Mann's recent bodies work and it blew me away!

What Remains was inspired by loss of life and what happens when we pass. Sally's literal interpretation of the topic shows her dedication to exploring this topic without boundaries. Based on this work alone, Sally has returned to the top of my list of all time favorite photographers.

 

Every time I view this work,  I regret not taking a large format class in college and I think about how much stronger my work could be.

Daydreams.

A few images from a recent trip down south. I wish more of the images turned out the way I saw them through the view finder. That is the last time I take only a Holga with me on vacation.