A short sabbatical..

Well here I am at my 100th post! I have been spending much of my extra time lately working on planning Guildess' upcoming year. Until we have the ball rolling on that, I will have to take a short sabbatical from my personal blog and direct readers to Guildess' page: http://guildess.wordpress.com/

Guildess is a Contemporary Female Artist Guild. Our mission is to increase women’s involvement in the arts through exhibitions, outreach, education and community service. Unlike guilds of the past, Guildess is an association of women who are involved in arts advocacy. Together, we raise awareness for female artists and expand arts programming to underprivileged women and children in our community.

 

Thanks!

blogs I'm currently following.

I'm always on the look out for interesting and substantial blogs that focus on showcasing contemporary artists. Here are a few that I am currently following:

A Matter of Aesthetics

1

Women: Superior, Yet Inferior

Compared to men, women commit fewer crimes, hold more graduate degrees and are better long-term investors. But women earn less than men and more live in poverty. How long will women tolerate an inferior status?

Last week I sat in on the filming of an episode of 4th Street Forum, "Women: Superior, Yet Inferior". The program touched upon a wide variety of topics associated with women's equality both in the public and private spheres. 


4th Street Forum is a nonpartisan program, which promotes public discussion of political and social issues that are of concern to our community. Each week, a panel of experts presents their views on a chosen topic and explores solutions with the audience and the 4th Street Forum moderator.

Identity: Lorna Simpson and Vivian Maier

With the onset of spring, I have found myself incredibly busy with planning for future Guildess projects, starting a new residency with Artists Working in Education, and developing art programs for the Boys & Girls Clubs. However, I have still managed to find time to learn, explore, and create.

On April 2nd, a friend and I took a trip to Chicago to attend a lecture by Lorna Simpson at the Museum of Contemporary Art and view the recently discovered work of Vivian Maier at the Chicago Cultural Center. Of Simpson's entire lecture, I particularly enjoyed her comments on identity within her new series LA-57 NY-09, which draws upon an archive of photographs from the 1950s. In this body of work, Simpson creates self portraits that mimic portraits of an unknown woman from the past. As she dresses up and poses, Simpson begins to blur the notion of historical identity by challenging our views of culture, history, and contemporary times.

My questions are: How can one emulate the identity of someone simply by viewing a photograph of them? What can we learn about someone through a series of self portraits?

This brings up an interesting connection to Vivian Maier. As an avid photographer, Maier left behind 100,000 negatives, 600 undeveloped rolls of color film, and several hundred undeveloped rolls of black and white film from the 1940s and 50s. Unlike the archive of self portraits Simpson emulates, Maier predominately photographed her surroundings on a daily basis. To this I ask, does one get a better sense of someone's identity through a collection of self portraits, or through a collection of photographs that they have taken of the world around them?

In my opinion, the latter of the two scenarios holds more truth. Although we can get a basic sense of the physical identity of an individual through countless photographs of themselves in simple settings, to actually see the world through the "eyes" of someone else is an unmistakable reflection of who they are. After viewing a small collection of Maier's work at the Chicago Cultural Center, I can imagine her being curious, compassionate, secretly humorous, and a bit reserved.

*Lorna Simpson image courtesy of Lorna Simpson Studio.

*Vivian Maier images courtesy of John Maloof at: http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

"Living history" right around the corner...

Last weekend, Guildess hosted a Zine Workshop at Foxglove Gallery in honor of International Women's Day. Participates were encouraged to create a portrait of a woman who has influenced their lives and write a short blurb about why. During the workshop, I was informed of a local project that caught my attention. QZAP, the Queer Zine Archive Project, is headquartered in Riverwest and aims to build an archive of all queer zines.

"The mission of the Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is to establish a "living history" archive of past and present queer zines and to encourage current and emerging zine publishers to continue to create. In curating such a unique aspect of culture, we value a collectivist approach that respects the diversity of experiences that fall under the heading "queer."

The primary function of QZAP is to provide a free on-line searchable database of the collection with links allowing users to download electronic copies of zines. By providing access to the historical canon of queer zines we hope to make them more accessible to diverse communities and reach wider audiences."

While waiting for Guildess's zine to make its way to Foxglove Gallery this week, check out QZAP's website and see what they are all about!

The Living Photo Booth Project at Jackpot Gallery

This Saturday (March 12th), The Living Photo Booth Project will make an appearance at Jackpot Gallery during an exhibition opening (6-10pm). We will be taking a classic approach to the traditional photo booth and featuring a few new props inspired by photography itself.

HoverCraft - Dec. 2010

The exhibition, "Fabled", features nine local tableau photographers that explore a variety of topics with a narrative approach. Artists include: Amber Schwalenberg, Lindsey Mueller, Michael Goelzer, Amber Blanchard, Ally Santiago, Jessica Farrell, Jean Yang, Cassandra Hansen and Brian Slawson.

Jessica Farrell, Discovery, 2010

Michael Goelzer

Come enjoy photography on the walls and in your hands. Browse for a bit and then step inside The Living Photo Booth for a printed image to take home.

Vivian Maier: An Untold Story

Self Portrait

Francis Ford, a local portrait photographer, brought Vivian Maier's photography to my attention a few weeks ago. For those who do not know, Maier was an American street photographer during the 1950's and 60's. She worked as a nanny for 40 years, and on her days off she would wonder the streets of Chicago with her Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera. Apparently, she did not show her photographs to others, and often neglected them, herself. She left hundreds of rolls undeveloped when she passed away. 

In 2007, a Chicago historian, John Maloof, discovered Maier's 100,000 negatives, 600 undeveloped rolls of color film, and several hundred undeveloped rolls of black and white film when they were for sale at a local auction.

As her story continues to unfold, Maloof maintains a blog of Maier's wonderful street photography. Some 90,000 negatives are still waiting to be scanned.

Currently, Maier is being honored with a one-woman show at the Chicago Cultural Center. "Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer," is on display until April 3, 2011.

*Images courtesy of http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

"G" is for Garrett.

A product of my Saturday night.

After seeing some of my illustration/drawing work, a friend encouraged me to create a book of illustrations. He suggested a comic book, but I think I'd rather make a book of simple illustrations with a dark message. I always refer to artist/writer Edward Gorey when creating a collection of drawings. The simple drawings and morose phrases of The Gashlycrumb Tinies always make me laugh.

 

In other news, the traveling art collection daydream is one step closer to reality. A friend of mine owns an assortment of hand crafted crates for shipping art and she is willing to sell a few to me.

beauty in decay

I thought I'd share a few images that caught my eye today. While listening to an interview with Sally Mann, I spent a few minutes researching her series "Proud Flesh". I really love the mystery and vulnerability of these images taken of her husband, who is suffering from muscle dystrophy. 

 

"Trust your eyes and instinct" - Herb and Dorothy

Yesterday, I watched Herb and Dorothy, a cute documentary about an ordinary, middle class couple who built one of the most extraordinary contemporary art collections.

Throughout the film, Herb and Dorothy really stress the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships with the artists from whom they buy. I really admire their humble approach and decided it might be time to start my own art collection of friend's work. Start small, but dream big, right? 

Coincidentally, I recently discussed starting a traveling art show of friend's work with a fellow artist. Aside from the obvious annoyances of packaging and mailing artwork, it has potential! As a way to keep the collection growing, each artist would be asked to contribute a new piece before sending it to the next person. Just another idea to add to the "must do" list.. as if I have room to add more.

grandmother's wrinkles

Topographic maps, like wrinkles, map surface contours. In my investigation of topographic maps, I found that early topographers used stereoscopic images of the land's surface to guide their drawings.  

Below are a few examples of the stereoscopic pairs I have been working on...

Stay tuned for more to come, including the very beginnings of my handmade stereoscope!

Is the process just as or more important than the final product?

On Friday, I stopped by Foxglove Gallery, a new independent Milwaukee gallery where a few local artists, Beata Chrzanowska and Mathew Gasparek, were showing recent bodies of work. After perusing for awhile, a friend and I got to talking with Beata about her work and how to stay productive. She had a lot to say about dedicating time each day to creating and how process is a huge part of being an artist. At one point we were discussing the pros and cons of blogging. I told her I love blogging as a way to stay on top of my art interests and local happenings, but I have a hard time posting my own work because I don't want to show it until it's complete. To that, Beata politely disagreed. She went back to her discussion about process and how people, both artists and non artists, really enjoy seeing the manual labor that goes into each piece of work. Valid point, right? Personally, I love going into an artist's studio and looking at their work when they are right in the middle of a piece. Plus, you sometimes get to see aspects of the piece that don't make to the final edition. So thus, I have decided to post some in progress work, despite still feeling a little uneasy about it.

Test image - April Heding

This is just a preliminary test of the two camera system of stereoscopic photography. Subject matter is not what the final subject matter will be, I just needed to get some quick test shots. I am still messing with how to make it completely 3D. Without the stereo viewer, one may cross their eyes and look at the two images. An image in the middle should appear and it should be 3D. Again, I am not sure if this one works, but I have figured out what to do differently for round two!

the simplicity of winter

During the process of creating and experimenting, I always find myself venturing down new paths. The path I currently find myself on is full of scientific exploration and a lot of trial and error. Amidst these lengthy processes, I have regained the joy of simplicity.

 

 

  

Kodak T-Max 400

Minolta X-700

ArtWorks for Milwaukee's unique approach to employment

As part of Gallery Night and Day, ArtWorks for Milwaukee unveiled two separate projects created during their Fall 2010 programs, "Positive Influence Project" and "Safe Place Mural". Each project conveyed positive youth driven messages, including anti-gun/gang/drug and residents who make a difference.

Beyond the messages in the art itself, ArtWorks for Milwaukee sends a strong message to the teens they work with on each project. Their mission is to prepare underserved teens to enter Milwaukee's workforce by utilizing the arts as a method to teach employability skills.

ArtWorks for Milwaukee believes...

• Strong employment supports strong communities.
• Underserved teens who develop employability skills contribute to strong communities.
• Utilizing paid internships is an effective way to engage underserved teens and train highly transferable job skills. 

Image Courtesy of 88.9 Radio Milwaukee

To date, with over 50 successful diverse arts-based programs being completed by over 250 Interns since 2001...

• 75% have gone on to complete high school
• 51% have secured gainful employment
• 23% have successfully applied to other Internship projects through ArtWorks

Keep an eye out for ArtWorks for Milwaukee's upcoming spring and summer projects!

In Akkadian, Sabû means “To Paint.”

"Surviving solely on art in today's society can be extremely difficult...As a pack it will be easier for us to stay strong, thrive off our work, and flourish in our creativity." - creator of Sabû Collective.

Image courtesy of Nick Hartley (blog contributor)

A local artist, Sean Bodley, has developed a communal art blog, Sabû Collective. Launched in August 2010, the Sabû Collective is a community of determined artists. Together, they seek growth in their technical and conceptual skills as working artists. Their strength lies in their ability to share ideas, inspire each other, gather information and resources, document their progress as artists, and have a blast doing what they love doing, making art. 

As part of the collective, each member must make two blog posts each much that relate to art. In addition, each member is required to maintain a professional profile, where visitors of the blog can learn more about the contributors.

Check out Sabû Collective at http://sabucollective.com/

a few tid bits

Yesterday I met with a friend for coffee and a regular catch up session. We got into a rather deep conversation about the current state of our careers and our instinctive abilities to take on as much as we can. He is holding four jobs, working on commissioned paintings, managing a successful collaborative blog (Sabu Collective), creating his own work, and somehow still managing a social life. Although we confessed this lifestyle is somewhat unhealthy at times, I know its part of who we are.. organizers, motivators, creative problem-solvers, visual researchers, entrepreneurs, and sometimes, downright crazies.

I left the coffee shop feeling motivated to take a step forward with my current work. I purchased two cable releases and began photographing stereoscopically. For those who are not familiar, stereoscopic photography is a technique that simulates 3D vision. Two images are taken of the same object, one from the view of the left eye and the other from the view of the right eye. When viewed through a special viewer, the two images become one 3D image.

Traditional stereoscopic cameras:

Image Courtesy of Rick Soloway

My camera set-up:

Yevgeniya Kaganovich at the Ploch Art Gallery

Yevgeniya Kaganovich has created a site specific installation in the Ploch Art Gallery. The primary medium of this installation consists of sheets of latex that drapes from the ceilings, extends over the walls, and transforms the space. Kaganovich, in writing about her own work says, "inhabit/infest implies that the Center is more than an edifice for art and culture; it is a living organism that we too are a part of."

Image courtesy of the artist's website

Words from Kaganovich's website: "inhabit/infest is an intervention into the unusual interior architecture of the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center for the Arts. The Center’s art gallery is carved out with rectilinear shapes and columns that are unconventionally interspersed with small nooks and alcoves. This site-specific installation connects its ceilings, walls and niches with a system of organic forms.  Here large and misshapen latex tubes, elongated and inflated volumes, originate from, project towards, and interweave with, the building’s irregular anatomy."

inhibit/infest will open this Friday and continue through Thursday, February 24, 2011.
Location: Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Ploch Art Gallery - Brookfield, WI
Opening Reception: Friday, January 14, 6:00-8:00pm
Slide Lecture: 5:30-6:00pm

"Tiny Furniture" utilizes new technology..

"Tiny Furniture" is one of the first feature films to utilize a HD SLR still/video camera, the Canon 7D, for the entire film.

Story: 22-year-old Aura returns home to her artist mother's TriBeCa loft with the following: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her Youtube page, a boyfriend who's left her to find himself at Burning Man, a dying hamster, and her tail between her legs. Luckily, her trainwreck childhood best friend never left home, the restaurant down the block is hiring, and ill-advised romantic possibilities lurk around every corner. Aura quickly throws away her liberal-arts clogs and careens into her old/new life: a dead-end hostess job, parties on chilly East Village fire escapes, stealing twenties out of her mother's Prada purse, pathetic Brooklyn "art shows," prison-style tattoos done out of sheer boredom, drinking all the wine in her mother's neatly organized cabinets, competing with her prodigious teenage sister, and desperate sex in a giant metal pipe. Surrounded on all sides by what she could become, Aura just wants someone to tell her who she is.

Trailer

World's largest photograph...

The Legacy Project, a non-profit documentary project, is dedicated to producing comprehensive documentation of the shuttered El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The project, which began in April 2001, will continue over the next decade as the park is created and will employ photographs, video, and oral histories to provide a unique record of an extraordinary development in the history of Southern California.

In the summer of 2006, the six photographic artists of The Legacy Project unveiled the world's largest photograph, The Great Picture. The special reception took place inside the camera that created the world's largest photograph, a gigantic airplane hanger converted into a camera obscura, 44'-2" feet high by 79'-6" feet deep by 161'-6" feet wide. The photograph took 35 minutes to develop!

The Great Picture has been declared the world's largest photograph by The Guinness Book of World Records. It measures three stories high by eleven stories wide and cost $65,000 to produce. The best part about it is that it is, in fact, a silver gelatin print!

Kodachrome's last remaining roll developed

A friend of mine brought this to my attention and I thought I'd also share...

According to BBC News, the last remaining roll of Kodachrome has been developed in Kansas.

Since Kodak announced it was discontinuing Kodachrome, the number of labs that process the film has declined dramatically. Because of its difficult process and required attention, Dwayne's Photo in Kansas was the last remaining lab up until a few days ago.

Check out the full story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12095771 
 A tribute to Kodachrome: http://1000words.kodak.com/post/?id=2388083