colors

Also at KBIS (national kitchen and bath show) I saw another interesting presentation given by Doty with Benjamin Moore Paint Co. Her job at BM was to color forecast so that her company could know what colors to produce each year, and be ahead of the game. She started out by talking about history and trends. She believes that whatever happens in the next ten years as far as technology advances and other events will strongly define the future 21st century. The feelings of our society cross over into our everyday decisions of course, more than we think. If we look back into art history this is clear. Art imitates life!! She gave examples of this, one was that right now we are experiencing problems related to our world, and the growing pressures that we are placing on it with the increase in population, and everything that results from that. Thus, our society is currently interested in "green" design or sustainability options. This transends into some of the reasoning into her color forecasting and BM reacts to this need by creating colors that reflect nature. She says that a lot of color trends start in Milan and Cologne-sp? BM sends her there every year to see what new color trends emerge. Some of the current trends seen there were black,,, a kind of charcol black. A homespun look...something that looks like it was created with care and attention, patterns-bar codes, strings (linear effect), animated organics, tatooing, Orange/tangerine, yellow/greens, neutrals, printed glass, bubble effects on glass and fabric, also the use of LED's to cause a translucent affect. All of these colors, of course in-addition to colors from nature,-morning, mid-day, and evening light that is reflected off of the surfaces of nature-hillsides, flowers, sky etc....... I guess well see if she's right.

Trend Forecasting

I recently heard a presentation given by Robyn Waters, who is a former vice president of Target. When she worked for Target, she worked with 5 others who speacialized in trends, design, and product development. It was really interesting to hear her speek about trend forecasting. I dont know how many of you have noticed the change in Target from about 5 years ago (maybe more.) But I dont remember caring too much about that place too much myself. I pretty much felt that Target was synonymous with the word tacky and cheap. Needless to say that it was not my favorite place to shop. Trend masters in the industry however, realized that there was a need to provide a kind of middle-ground for products. People no longer were willing to pay outrageous prices for designer clothing and were instead interested in paying a whole lot less for middle-of the range clothing and products that could offer comparible quality and uniqueness. Her team would work on strategizing new ways and twists to every-day household items. This is how Target reclaimed their market and at the same time, created a whole new niche' in the market by offering their own unique product line. Kind of neat. The attached website is a link to her and she has some pretty good ideas in her book about how to overcome design doubts and set backs and how to train yourself to open yourself up to new ideas, let your designs flow, and realize trends when you see them. This is one of the things that I was thinking about today in our lecture of Christo and Jeanne Claude... now those were a few trend setters!

Performance Art

I had never really considered performance art, in the context we talked about in class, to fall under the art category. Intrigued by this new idea I did a little research to find out some of the basic facts. I learned that it is difficult to sensor many of the performance art pieces because they are all new ideas and most are things that have never been tired before. The issues are all very current and have relevancy of today’s topics and media influences. Performance art can involve and audience with taste, smell and sounds not available with electronic media and not practical in a regular theater. Most of the audiences are small with around 30 or so that at times interact with the performance. Many of these performances are short, approximately fifteen to twenty minutes long. Performances range from very upscale to being very causal settings. They cost very little to produces and are all based upon the creativity of the director. After find out these basic facts I am able to better understand how these performances function and are seen as another type of art form.

Oswego Lake Gallery

This weekend, I was lucky enough to visit a few museums and galleries, of which Oswego Lake was one. Walking into this calm, peaceful setting, you get an immediate feeling of movement. The fluidity and lines of the glass made this gallery an inviting and enjoyable place to go. They primarily include blown glass and carved glass works, but there is also some wood and metal work as well. If you're ever up in the area, I highly recommend this gallery, especially is you're interested in glass (which I'm actually not).

Does art work get graded fairly?

Art is a hard subject to have graded. Many times but not always, it depends on the taste of the professor or teacher that you have. After being in the art program here at oregon state for 2 years now I have come to find that the grade you want really depends on the teacher you have. For example, Margaret Graham, previous Art 115 teacher, does not really like work with bright colors. Muneera Spence wants to see images cropped for meaning, if it is not cropped, you can forget about the A. Andrea Marks, she likes to say "less is more", meaning the more simple the work is, the better. If you were to do a piece of artwork and have it graded by 2 professors. One might say "definetly an A grade!" and the other might say "without a doubt C" grade because of the different tastes they have in art. Sometimes I wonder how pieces of artwork with just a few splatters and nothing else made it to gallerys in NYC, but a piece we spend hours and hours putting detail in gets a B. I guess the key is here is to just pick the teachers that you know like your style if at all possible. And always do a piece of art the way you like it, not how others like it.

Keith Haring: a life to be remembered

Keith Haring was a artist whose life not only stood out for the work that he accomplished but for the life that he experienced as well. At the age of 31, Haring died of AIDS. Before he died however, he spread the awareness of his illness to not only the community, but organizations and children's programs. He was also invited to help other famous artists and performers with projects. Madonna, Andy Warhol, and Jenny Holzer were a few people that collaberated with him. Haring touched many lives by expressing his life and his artistic accomplishments to everyone around him. Keith Haring will forever stand out for not only his artistic ability and outstanding work with line and bold color, but the short life he lived because of his illness.

Tips for Graphic Designers

When you think of graphic design, you probably think of art created on the computer. After hearing a lecture by two designers that are married, I realized that graphic design can be completely fine art. Skolos and Wedell used their photography skills and they artistic abilities to create amazing posters out of scraps of paper and images they had created with lights and 3D objects. After hearing this lecture, I was reminded that when I get stuck on the computer and can't find what I need off of photonica.com or some other source of images, that it is okay to go back to the "fine art" world and create a graphic design project by hand. Sometimes it turns out alot better than anything you could create on the computer, and it can be alot more fun! A GREAT BREAK FROM THE COMPUTER LAB GRAPHIC DESIGNERS! :)

Performance Art... Now This is Far Out!

A recent topic in Art206 lectures involved performance art. No, not theatre, this is a very unique and interesting form of art in which a single, unusual act is made by the artist with his/her body to either A) make a finished recognizable image, or B) make a statement through the act, and the act itself is the art. This is very unusual to me, and I didn't know it actually existed until I had taken art classes. I'm sure many of you have heard of Chris Burden, a man who had himself shot, crucified to a car, run over by a car, and burned all for the sake of art performance. To me, this is art to the extreme; this is an underground art that a select few know about and appreciate. I myself, feel that the work of Chris Burden was unnecessary and vulgaristic, and I'm glad it was self-inflicted. I have this feeling that if I were to walk by and see him making his "performance art" in the street, I would say to myself, "Ok, I don't get it, but if you want to do that, man, go ahead and make a fool of yourself... ." But, the point I would like to make is, do any of you agree with my statement that performance art is "underground" and very unheard of, perhaps unpopular? Or is it that it is just very unnaccepted, and will someday reach a level of importance and be worthy of reverence? Responses welcome.

Is Cell Animation Doomed, or is it Just the Next Oil Painting? Does it even matter?

After looking over all the recent "What is art?" posts, I was tempted to do something along the same lines, but decided I would go for something a bit different to add a little variety to the blog. Recently (starting around the boom that Shrek caused) many animation studios have been making the switch over to computer generated animation and ignoring the more classical cel animation approach. Disney recently rid itself of many traditional animators and focused on opening up their own computer generated (CG) animation studio. At first CG was able to capture the hearts and wallets of many people, but as of late we are starting to see a handful of the "cash cow" CG movies pulling in less and less at the box office. As you may see this isn't exactly a world of black and white, and the argument over CG vs. cel may be rather moot in the end.

CG isn't necessarily the only type of animation done on a computer these day as even "traditional" animation is being brought over to computer and pumped out by "animation grunt houses" for the television world. Computer have made animation quicker to produce and more cost effective. The real meat of the situation may come down to how exactly the characters are created. On one hand we have people drawing each character, coloring them, designing backgrounds, etc., and on the other we have people who create the characters, and then hand them over to "high tech puppeteers" who proceed to move them around to fit the need of the story. I have seen arguments that go heavily in depth to who is "really" doing the animation, and I have read arguments by supporters and critics for both sides. Preference aside, money is obviously a big player in this situation. Why would big businesses continue to animate in a way that would cost them more, when they can continue to please people in a way that costs them less?

This brings me to my point. Oil painting has been around since the dawn of art, yet even after all these years it is still a current and practiced form of art. Is traditional animation the next oil painting? Will it continue to be practiced for years to come, or will it disappear completely at the hand of CG animation? In our current day, even with the advent of computers there are still huge communities who develop art both on and off the computer. Certainly there will be people who wish to continue traditional animation for nostalgic and preferential sake, but could it become an "art movement" that almost entirely wiped out by the onslaught of technology? Also adding to the confusion is the fact that the majority of art of animation is produced for entertainment consumers.

Is this really the issue though? There are harcore advocates for both side, and it can be argued that certain styles of animation just "fit" - for example The Simpsons would more than likely not have the same look and feel if it was switched over to CG-modeled animation. It really ends up coming down to a battle of preferences and money making power. In the end it appears that the real issue may not be how this type of art is produced, but how solid of a foundation rests on it's underlying art. It is reasonable to assume that whether something is done via either CG animation or cel animation, it must first have a solid base of character and setting design, and story crafting. In the battle between CG and cel, this may end up being the real solution.

I hope I brought up some discussion worthy points - go at it.

Tito Gomez

My girlfriend and I recently visited Jamaica. We travelled to Montego Bay, which is on the Northwestern coast. During our stay, there was an art auction, where we were able to nogotiate with the auctioneer about a certain piece that never received any bids. We watned a piece entitles "Faces" by Tito Gomez, a famous artist from Cuba who paints in the Cubist style, as well as the Abstract Expressionist style. If you get the chance, you should check out the website i have provided. I think you'll enjoy much of his work. Also, art auctions are a FANTASTIC way to see works by artists you might never hear of otherwise!!

The Gates

In class we have been discussing some Site-Specific art. I am sure most of us has heard of Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's very recent "The Gates" in New York City's Central Park. 7,503 hanging saffron (orange) colored panels were suspended from the horizontal top part of gates that reached 16 feet tall and hung down to 7 feet above the ground. These gates were placed at 12 Ft intervals on 23 miles of pathway through central park. This display was up for 16 days and could be seen from very far away through the trees blowing in the wind. When taken down all parts were recylced.

But my question for my fellow bloggers is I still have not heard or figured out the concept behind this piece towards its point and purpose of effect. I understand that 151 years ago there were gates that surrounded the park with an entrance and exit that no longer exist today. The plans for new ones were not liked and never built. Was "The Gates" just an artistic temporary solution to this effect or was there more to it?

Thoughts on Thursday's lecture

On Thurs., our class got into a discussion on repetition. We focused on the question, "If a certain piece of work is repeated, or seen repeatedly, does it make the effect less important?" John brought up the example of the twin tower's collapse. For many of us, we were exposed to the graphic image of the planes crashing into the towers, people running, debris falling from the sky, etc., not only once, but multiple times, as the news flooded the media. For each time we view this horrific tragedy, does it make it a little less shocking each time, or does it have the full-blown impact every time? I know each person is different, so we cannot expect that each person would have the same reaction, but this is an interesting behavior to observe and ponder on. On a similar note, we also questioned if art would have the same impact if it was advertised multiple times in commercial products. John questioned our class, "If you found an image you thought was art, reproduced millions of times, is it still considered art?" This is a question we face each time we witness famous pieces of artwork reproduced on socks, shirts, etc. Reprinting art pieces on miscellaneous items makes it possible for people across the world to get a glimpse of these famous pieces without having to spend hundreds of dollars to travel to a museum. With these multiple prints, each one of us can bring a little Monet into our homes. However, on the flip side, art is a valued profession, and the works of Picasso, Monet, and Van Gogh are all we have left to remember these great artists by. To shamelessly make copies and unlimited prints of their works is in a sense mocking the artist's talent and takes away from the awesome experience of seeing firsthand, the original, and I do mean ORIGINAL, art. There is nothing like the experience of seeing a great artist's masterpiece before your own eyes. This is something to consider if you are thinking of forking out $50 to get a Picasso tatoo.

Salvador Dali Museum

I wanted to say a few words about the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Located on the bayfront in downtown St. Pete, it is a great place to stop in while enjoying the sights there.

I would highly recommend visiting this museum if given the chance. It is very inexpensive ($5) and is really amazing to see these paintings. The museum itself is not very big, but the paintings are HUGE! If my memory serves me correctly, some are about 10 foot by 20 foot (maybe bigger). The works on display are permanent.

Dali's work is so much better to see in person. My appreciation of his work is greater after seeing these paintings. If you are ever on the west coast of central Florida, don't pass it up. Instead of going to visit the Florida rat (Mickey),
do something of value instead. Your time and money is better spent elsewhere!

MoMA in San Francisco

I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the new MoMA in San Francisco. When did it go up? Is it still fairly new? I saw it is downtown, and am wonderin how I missed it last time I was there. Has anyone been to it?

Conceptual?

I have a hard time understanding why the performance "The Monotone Symphony:, is considered conceptual art. I do not really see any deep concept being represented. It seems fairly random, well excpet for the fact that a man chose three naked, beautiful, models, as his subject...weird. What was so meaningful?

F is for Fake

I watched a movie last weekend called F is for Fake. It's about this guy who spent his life making fakes of various modern artists like Matisse and Picasso. The film brought up some interesting questions in my mind about the use of such practices. For example...can a masterpiece be a fake? According to this movie, many of the pieces that we see in the museums were done by this guy and the museums all considered them authentic.

My question to the other bloggers is...what is it that makes an art piece famous? Is it the artists hand itself or is it the concept? Let me give you one more quick thought to ponder...

My friend said that even though this copy artist forged what looked to be a Picasso it is still a Picasso piece because it is his conceptually....this sounds harsh but do you remember in class when John Machado said that there was a museum that held the work of a famous minimalist artist...it was just a line of bricks. The bricks were returned to construction sites when the show was over. Later the museum wanted that piece in a permanant collection so, instead of paying $3 but a bunch of bricks they COMMISSIONED the artist to install the piece again!!!

Salvador Dalí Foundation

As I was looking around online, I found the home page for the Salvador Dalí Foundation. I think that its mission is pretty interesting: "to promote, boost, divulge, lend prestige to, protect and defend in Spain and in any other country the artistic, cultural and intellectual oeuvre of the painter, his goods and rights of any nature; his life experience, his thoughts, his projects and ideas and artistic, intellectual and cultural works; his memory and the universal recognition of the genius of his contribution to the Fine Arts, culture and contemporary thought." This foundation was set up by Dalí himself to serve this purpose. There is a conservation department of the foundation whose sole purpose is to preserve Dalí's works. They do this by restoring his works, organizing exhibitions, exc.
It seems to me that Dalí was very smart to set this up - the foundation ensures that his works are seen and maintained, but also that his name, his style of work, and what he stood for are preserved. This is a brilliant way to make your name and works live on.
There are also some pretty cool pictures of the 3 Dalí museums on this website. It talks about how many of the rooms and the works in them were set-up by Dalí himself to be viewed as a whole experience. He wanted to provide a way for people to view his world as he saw it. Very cool. You guys should check this out.

Art of the Undone- New York Times

In lecture we spoke of those pieces that have been created but have never been seen by anyone but the artist... this article speaks of those that were never even created.... some of them sound quite amusing.

Reflections on Thurs. lecture

Our professor, John, asked this question of our class last Thursday: "Do we have artists [here in class] who did the [art] work and never showed it to anyone?" There were plenty of hands that went up, since it is realistic to presume that many artists in the world choose to keep their art out of the public eye. Is it right and moral though, to bring an artist's "private" collection out into the spotlight after their passing? It is hard to know where to stand on this issue. If Van Gogh had requested that his widely acclaimed painting "Starry Night" stay hidden, would his request be honored? It is no doubt that his painting serves as an inspiration for all, and most importantly, documents the talent of this great artist. Without its presence, there would most definitely be a void in the art sphere. After pondering this question, I then thought, why WOULD an artist want to keep their work hidden? The first reason that comes to mind is that an artist may not perceive their work to be worthy of showing the public. They may believe that this "lower quality" work may decrease the value of past pieces on display. Furthermore, the content of the piece may have been intended to only be viewed and understood by the artist himself. Are we doing the artist an injustice when we choose to ransack their art studio and publicize their work after their death? Or is it worth it, because, in the opinion of one, or perhaps a few people, a quality piece of art does not deserve to be packed away in a dusty box?

Portland Art Museum - Sunday May 29, 2005

Two art majors from U of O and myself are going to see the WALKING DREAMS: The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites on Sunday May 29th at the PDX Art Museum. They have three passes, so if anybody wants to go let me know. Thanks!

Adam

In Response to a Previous Post

this is a response to the post called "In Response to Tuesday's Lecture".

You do raise an interesting point in that if you take the ideas of modernism to the extreme conclusions you do very much destroy the principles of the movement. How can you get more nonrepresentational than Jackson Pollock? How can you become increasingly less engaged in the arts than the minimalists and conceptualists?

If one continues to walk down the path of becoming increasing nonrepresentational or increasingly minimalist you will begin to end up with things like modern conceptual art which is essentially a sign on the wall of a museum that says something like "white sink with soap and toothbrush" in which you are to envision those objects in your own head. Sometimes doing things for the sake of continuing the line of art history is just a bad idea. It destroys art. And thank God that the next generation of artists said "ENOUGH!!!" and brought a newness to art again...not by creating something new and unique but rather by developing styles that the artists enjoyed. It is no longer a competition to be the newest thing as in the case with Pollock. It is freedom to be the artist that you want to be.

am i right or am i wrong? At least that is the way I look at it all.

Reflections on Tuesdays Lecture

I thought Prof. Machado brought up an interesting point in class on Tuesday, that I was wondering what anyone else might have had an opinion on.
When we were talking about Pollock he said that the reason it (Pollock's drip paintings) was art was because Pollock had the idea first, and the gall to carry it out. It wasn't that anyone could or couldn't copy it, but that they didn't carry it out in the first place. Interesting, although then my question is, does that mean that the only way in which to be different is to make increasingly abstract and basic pieces of art? This currently seems to be the trend. If the only way to be successful is to be the first to do something "different" then it seems we walk a fine line in the art world. I mean to its logical extreme this could be very dangerous territory. Also, even though some artist were the first to create their type of art, is there really any higher value for anyone in a piece if they could just as easily make it themselves or have a friend make it for them? Is it possible to be subjective to the point of being destructive?

Great Magritte Site

I found this site when playing around on the internet the other day and htought someone else might enjoy it too. It's probably one of the best Renee Magritte sites I've stumbled across. The timeline of images (by era) is very nice and shows you some work that is commonly overlooked.

Live Art work!Pub crawl to become live art work

Pub crawl to become live art work

People taking part in the pub crawl will discuss art over their pint
An artist is organising a pub crawl with as many people as he can get to take part - all in the name of art.
Barrie J Davies, 27, has emailed more than 900 people inviting them to the event in Cardiff, to share ideas about art and for him to take photographs.

The pub crawl is designed to be a 'live' conceptual art work.

Mr Davies said he thought up the idea after discussing works of art with friends in the pub, following visits to exhibitions.

He said that he was inspired to organise the event to get people together to talk about art and ideas.

"Ideas can be pieces of artwork," he said.

"It is a conceptual artwork - it's about getting people together to talk about art."

Mr Davies, who lives in Cardiff, said that although the ideas discussed by the drinkers were "art" he also planned to take photographs of the event as well.

The crawl on 27 May starts in City Road in Cardiff - an area with a high student population - but Mr Davies said it was open to everybody.

"Ideas are the beginning of any art work - this is somewhere where people can talk about their ideas," he said.

"There are quite a few pubs along City Road and we will probably end up in town at the end of the night."

But for anyone thinking that there will be free beer on the pub crawl, Mr Davies had this message:

"I'm not buying the drinks, they buy their own!"
.


Performance art is where the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time, constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. I think performance art is one of my favorite concepts. Live-art is life in all it's glory, everything around us can be considered some form of art right? Designs on food labels, cars, paintings, sculptures, buildings, landscaping. All art, and something like this just is a nice reminder that art is always around us.

Larry Flynt

I watched the people vs. larry flynt this weekend and it raised some interesting questions for me. For those of you who have not seen it, it chronicles the life of Larry Flynt, the creator of Hustler magazine. He ended up fighting a lot of legal battles to keep his magazine legal and himself out of jail- he wasn't always successful. In the end though, he went all the way to the Supreme Court where his lawyer gives an excellent arguement about free speach and artistic satire. I am not an advocate of pornography, and believe it to be the most obvious form of mysogyny available today, however, the lawyer makes a strong arguement about freedom of speach, which I also firmly believe in.

I was definately reminded of the reading we did earlier in the term by Susan Satong about photography and its function in our society. During a speach, Flynt brings up the idea that murder is illegal yet it is not illegal to take pictures of murder. This is something we talked about in terms of photography as non intervention- the photographer chooses to take a picture of a crime rather then intervene and stop the crime. Is the artist then in no way responsible for the crime?

Pornography however is different because sex is not illegal in the US- at least not coital, heterosexual sex. However, we culturally view these pictures as more perverse and wrong then pictures of murder, which we have socially condemned as a crime. This is an interesting standard to me and I wonder if porn were seen, on a cultural level, as artistic rather then perverse- would it carry as much power as it does? Does calling something art take away its ability to strike up a heated debate?

Obviously this can't be true, if you think in terms of such periods as Dada when toilets were being signed as works of art. There were definatley heated debates over whether or not you could call a toilet art, but did this concept change our society at all? In the same way that pornography has?

And where do we draw the line between nude photographs and porn?

I think it's critical to question our social standards and seek out what influence they have on our lives. If you would like more information about porn as violence against women you should look up Andrea Dworkin, she recently died, but while alive she wrote extensively about the sex industry from an anti- porn, feminist perspective.

Modern Architecture - "The Barn"

I found this example of a home built in the modern style of architecture and thought it was pretty neat. It is a good example of the use of the idea of minimal ornamentation in more recent times. The home was built in the 1970's and designed by an architecture company in Oakland. It has no extra ornament at all, and just boards and metal were used in the design. It is referred to as "The Barn" due to the shape of the roof and its general design and appearance. Turns out, it was actually built "in memory" of a barn that used to be located on the property, and was described as creating a "wholesome, back-to-nature" feeling for the people who owned the home. It is very simplistic and unique in design, and the theory behind it somewhat incorporates the idea of a building as a continuation of nature as we saw in the example of "Fallingwater." I thought this was interesting - you guys might too.

Stereotypes

The above link takes you to a small gallery from Eric Myer; a photographer with a fun and interesting view on people, and the stereotypes that exist among them. Play around with the different photos, selecting the top of one of the portraits and the bottom of another. Not only are the combinations you can create fun and humorous, but they also help to show the similarities and differences between all differents kinds of people, whether those differences be sex, race, style, or size.

The rest of his gallery is impressive as well. The man has a great eye for setting up shots from interesting angles, especially for how professional he is with his subjects. (see numbers 5, 7, and 8 from the Editorial section) I also really enjoyed just how happy he was able to capture his subjects; what appears to be genuine smiles. (see numbers 1 and 3 in the Corporate section, and numbers 16 and 17 in the Advertising section.

Number 5 in the Exibition section; that's just a rad photo.

Anyways, enjoy the whole site, beyond the incredible Sterotypes gallery; you won't be disappointed.

Light and Solidarity

Susan Plum is challenging the Mexican government’s massive failure to effectively investigate and halt the killing spree in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, which has taken the lives of more than 370 women in the past 12 years. Plum, an artist who lives and works in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, has decided to shed light on the mysterious string of female abductions and murders—one candle at a time.

Last summer she began circulating via e-mail the idea for “Luz y Solidaridad” (“Light and Solidarity”), an art project that calls for people everywhere to help her “bring light to Juárez, especially to the mothers and the families of the young women and girls who have been murdered.” The installation exhibit and performance, set to open February 4, 2006, at the Museo de la Ciudad in Querétaro, Mexico, will incorporate photographs of votives that have been lit all over the world for the women of the Mexican border town.

According to Amnesty International, 137 of the 370 murders in Juárez and the surrounding area of Chihuahua, have involved sexual assault. Additionally, somewhere between 70 and 400 women and girls remain missing.

Many of the women killed have been abducted near their workplaces—the maquilas (factories) located on the outskirts of Juárez. Kari Lydersen writes in her new book, Out of the Sea and into the Fire, “They disappear while waiting for or leaving the buses that take them to and from work, or after visiting the bars that are popular with maquila workers on Friday nights.” Pervasive machismo and a culture that demeans women are also to blame for the pattern of violence. As National Public Radio’s John Burnett reported, “It’s a common joke [in Juárez] when two men see a provocatively dressed woman, for one to elbow the other and say, ‘She better watch out or she’ll end up in the desert.’”

President Vicente Fox claims that the unsolved murders in Juárez are among his administration’s top priorities. His special prosecutor, Maria Lopez Urbina, has reviewed the state’s prosecution process and found probable cause for criminal investigations into more than 100 Chihuahua state public officials for negligence, omission and related offenses. Despite these findings, the Fox administration maintains that it does not have jurisdiction to preside over official investigations—the cases have been returned to the prosecutors and courts that mishandled them from the start.

To protest these governmental failures, Plum is asking people to join her in a simple gesture to show support for the victims. “In lighting a votive for one of these young women and girls who have been murdered, we will help illuminate a path so that their spirit can move out of darkness into the light.”

Lighting a votive also serves as a solace to the victims’ mothers. “These women stand alone, feeling invisible and abandoned in their community,” says Plum, who this past summer met with three mothers through the Mujeres de Juárez organization. “I feel and hope this act of kindness, compassion and depth will give them a sense of empowerment.”

Plum’s artistic and humanitarian mission is to collect printed and personally signed photographs of everyone’s candles and assemble them into one installation. She intends to showcase large hanging brooms in the space, along with other objects that possess symbolic significance. “Mexico has a long-standing tradition of sweeping,” says Plum. “Women, mostly, sprinkle water outside their doors and sweep the front of their homes and street.” Plum hopes to build on this power and energy of the feminine, by having the mothers, who will be dispersed among performing sweepers, play bullroars— sacred pre-Columbian instruments.

“There is no justice for these women, and my intention for ‘Luz y Solidaridad’ is not only as art-activism but as a moving and shared experience for both the mothers and the audience.”

“After initiating the first e-mail,” Plum says, “I was getting about 30 e-mails a day.” Because of this encouraging feedback, she plans to link “Luz” with a local political event focusing on the women of Juárez. When the show opens next February, she would like to organize a conference at Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro.

“Combining the experiential with the political-educational,” she says, “is something I want to strive for.”

Perhaps the light emanating from Querétaro will help expose the injustice and spark a serious investigation.

To participate in “Luz y Solidaridad” and light your own votive, contact Susan Plum, luzysoli@yahoo.com.

From: IN THESE TIMES by Erin Mosely May 13, 2005

Bruce Beasley as opposed to OSU

The other day I found in a magazine the work of a rather well known west coast artist. His name was Bruce Beasley and he makes sculptures. These sculptures are abstract and fairly interesting, and Beasley thinks of himself as a modernist. They atracted me mainly by thier proffesional quality and construction. They were the work of someone who had put in time and effort into the making; every detail pollished and waxed. I was looking at these sculptures and thinking of the quality of work that the Oregon State art students make. The coparision sadded me. I was not thinking of the sculptures when I thought of all the flowers, sunsets, zebras and poorly composed work I'd seen, of how so much conceptualization seems to be slight deviations from an overused subject, of the trends in blatant copying of other works and passing it as orrigonal, the overuse of those thick strecherbars, more importantly maybe the altogether lack of effort that so many students put into their work and their distinct disintrest in the outcome. Quite frankly I shoock my head. Although, as I'm sure I'm angering some, I will stop now. I just wish that this univercity could boast better.

Today's FLW lecture!!

I wanted to ask a question about today's lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright. I know that he conceptualized all of his architectural designs, as well as most of his interiors, but i wanted to see if anyone knew if he did his own decorative work, or if he had it commissioned. We discussed how he was influenced by Turkish ornamentation, and then showed the design he used for the Cutts House, but i wa wondering if that was his own design, or someone else's he used in his architecture. Does anyone know the answer to that?? Also, there is a reoccuring theme of the materials he used in his designs, and was wondering if it was simply red brick on the exteriors, or some other type of stone?? This can be seen with the Robie House, and well as most of his Prairie style. Thanks for any input!

HARSH WORDS FOR HARSH TIMES

i'm struggling with ideas involving some of the contemporary art that is taking place. I have read in art books about art that is basically a program for things like giant clean-up projects and stuff like that. For example there is the project in New York that is cleaning up the dumps outside of New York City. What I will say next I'm not directing at this dump-cleanup project but i thought that i would give you an example.

I understand and embrace the idea that art is a very wide word that encomasses many things. As one of my teachers said though, it's wide open for "better or for worse."

I think that somehow (and I might be a heretic for saying this...please don't kill me...maybe i'll change my mind soon...maybe i'll receive some sort of revelation and everything will make sense) the idea of art has not so much been made wide open as it has been destroyed.

I think that because anything and everything could be considered art there have been people who take advantage of it. I spoke with a friend who said that she wonders if some of this social work art would still occur if the currators weren't recognized as artists...and this point creates an extremely important question...what is the motive behind some of this social work? Are people cleaning up, building houses, creating change because they are compassionate towards all people and desire to see their neighbors succeed or do they want to be recognized as "cutting edge" artists.

It seems to me that many of the students here at school have these questions gnawing at the back of their mind but are to afraid to say anything because that would not be accepting the whole "art is sooooooo open" notion. Is it important maybe to redraw some boundaries as for what we should consider art, or should we just let any person do whatever they want and give art a bad name?

Michelangelo...a fraud!?!

"One way to show that something does not belong to a series is to show that the series has characteristics that the work does not share," he said. The "Laocoon" is very similar to other sculptures dating to that time, he noted.

Despite criticism, Catterson does not think her idea will meet the same fate as the other Michelangelo discoveries.

"We have always looked at the "Laocoon" as a Greek or Roman sculpture, but now there is an alternative context in which to consider it," she said. "It's unlikely that it will be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt either way, but this is not going to fade away so quickly because it's such a spectacular object."
-------------------------

I just found this article online today and found it very interesting. To think that such a famous artist would be forging works for profits? The story she tells makes sense to myself that Michelangelo was having financial troubles at the time. If you know about his "Cupid" (In 1496, Michelangelo made a sleeping cupid figure and treated it with sour earth to make it seem ancient. He then sold it to Cardinal Riario of San Giorgio, who later learned of the fraud and demanded his money back. However, Michelangelo somehow managed to keep his money.-Wikipedia), this story sounds even more believable. What are your guys thoughts on this? Is it okay that he forged a piece- or is it forgery? We all get inspirations for our own art from things, places, people, other art works out there- is it wrong?

Artists and Their Illnesses

I was thinking about how some of the greatest artists of our time created magnificent works of art through different diseases, sight impairments and numerous other disabalizing illnesses. I recently have been sick for the past week, unable to attend classes, pretty much unable to get out of bed and have been struggling to get my simple are projects done let alone call them works of art. I've asked myself the question "How did these guys do it?" "How did Renoir paint with his crippling arthritis?" "How did Degas and Monet and Van Gogh create their amazing pieces of work when they could hardly see?" I found this website that has some information about some of the famous artists and their health conditions. When looking at some of these artists work a person thinks that it is pure genius. They must live in a fantasy world and have so many beautiful things in there lives. When you learn about their lives you find that fantasy isn't the case at all but that they do live in the real world and do have medical conditions, but despite
their illness they've created some of the greatest works of art in all of history.


Van Gogh "Wheat Field Under Clouded Sky"

Renoir "Apples and Flowers"

Edgar Degas "Dancers in Blue"

Go to a Museum!

I would like to mention a couple of museums I have been to, each more than once. The Nelson Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City, Missouri and all of the museums on the mall in Washington D.C.

The Nelson Atkins is such a great place to go for enjoying art in a very pleasant and well planned out museum. I could (and did) hang out there almost all day long, strolling about the master art
works. There are too many artists and works too mention, but believe me, there is a great collection of artwork there. Check it out online and see for yourself.

If you are ever in Washington D.C., you would be very glad to have visited each and every museum that lines the mall right in the center of it all. Just about every type of art from all over the world is packed into a very few blocks, at many unique and separate museums! It is easy to see most everything in a couple of days, but in my opinion, that is pushing it. Ideally, I would spend a week and explore only around the mall area and also be able to enjoy the monuments and great historical sites there as well. Summertime is packed with tourist and incredibly hot and humid, I suggest going at a different time of year!

Brandon Bird

I really enjoyed this guy's galleries. He takes pop culture, and puts insane spins on his subjects; it's all very engaging. Definately have a look and tell me what you think.

Female Artists

I have noticed that there is very few female artists mentioned in the Stokstad book. I would think that there would have been more than just a handfull of influential female artists. Where female artists just diregarded because they were females or what?

Picasso's Blue Period

I was reading an interesting article about Picasso's Blue Period, and what is speculated to have been the cause of his predominantly melancholy paintings during this time period. One idea is based on the fact that Picasso's closest friend, Casagemas, committed suicide over a lost love. This event is said to have triggered the Blue Period. Another is that of the artist as an outcast from society. At the time of the Blue Paintings, Picasso was far from any family, living in extreme poverty, and feeling unrecognized in his work. A friend of his was quoted as to writing: “Picasso believed Art to be the son of Sadness and Suffering…that sadness lent itself to meditation and that suffering was fundamental to life…If we demand sincerity of an artist, we must remember that sincerity is not to be found outside the realm of grief."
It is further believed that once Picasso found recognition, gained a studio, and found a lover, his mood changed and in turn his subjects for painting did as well: Hence, the Rose Period.
I thought that this insight into his mindset at the time of these works was interesting. Thought you guys might as well.

Dali at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

I just got back from seeing the Salvador Dali exhibition, the biggest ever in the U.S., at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and it was AMAZING!!! It's such a better fulfilling experience seeing art that you really appreciate in real life, rather on paper. I really got to feel what Dali was expressing in his paintings. I've heard many people say how demented and narcisistic he is, but i've found that i feel he was depressed and lonely in life. That's the impression i got. I loved the works, Raphaelesque Head Exploding, and the Ghost of Vermeer. My advice to anyone is that if an artist whom they really enjoy is having an exhibition, it's SOOO worth flying across the continent to see it!! You won't regret it.

Alan Lee: "Treebeard" 

Jackson Pollock: "Silver Over Black" 

Artistic Skill

I would like to bring up something perhaps a little controversial, but worthy of mentioning on Tesserae. This has to do with artistic skill. And I would like to bring up artists on different extremes: Jackson Pollock and Alan Lee. These are both artists from the modern 20th/21st century that have been respected and revered for their works. Jackson Pollock is noted for his "drip" style paintings where he loads a paintbrush with paint a sprinkles and drips paint on large canvases sometimes larger than 12 feet across. Here is a link to a site with his paintings for a visual example - http://www.postershop.com/Pollock-Jackson-p.html . Alan Lee has been a fantasy realist artist who depicts images of ghouls, goblins, dragons, treemen, horse riders, and medieval type subject matter. He draws and paints with distinct realistic detail that many other fantasy artists are known for doing. He uses defined edges and lines to depict the shape of the charcters and colors them according to how they may appear in real life. His most famous drawings were those done for The Lord of The Rings series. Here is a link with some visual examples - http://fan.theonering.net/middleearthtours/lee.html . Now I think I have presented two very distinctly different artists, but I feel that the difference lies in skill. I myself am not an aspiring artist, but I have had some hard practice with oil painting. I know it would be "easier" for me to sprinkle drips on a canvas and shape it into something I perceive as art (although I am not attacking Pollock's work). I know that there is a distinct level of hard practice and skill involved in realistic painting and drawing, perhaps that is why I may be partial to it. I was wondering how the Tesserae students feel... I don't get it, how can such abstract works such as Jackson Pollock's drip paintings sell for such large sums of money while other artists slave away for realism and perhaps get nothing for it? Should they give up and reach for abstraction, or is realism considered boring and out-of-date? Responses welcome.

Graffiti Art?

It is my understanding that a more recent form of "art" has been identified in the 20th/21st century. That form of art is graffiti. Although graffiti has been around centuries before such as in cave paintings, and public displays of artistic vandalism on property around 18th and 19th century around all parts of the globe, it seems as though it has taken on a new form of appreciation just recently. Whereas before, graffiti was seen as vandilism and a public nuisance and needed to be eradicated immediately. However, "taggers" are now being realised as true artists by means of their displays of colors, text writing, and cartoonish-like characters. I have heard of grafitti conventions where these ex-vandalists have taken to the canvas and displayed their works there for public view, rather than illegally on buildings and bridges. Graffiti may have taken on a new appreciation and categorization that may place in in the textbook as a modern form of art. Do you agree with this? Responses are welcome.

Local Artists

I think it is a great idea to support local artists in our area. There is First Thursday every month in Portland where galleries have openings for the public, and so does Corvallis. A friend of mine was recently offered a five year exsculsive at The Attic, which is Portlands oldest art gallery, and has been known to make some of Oregons most celebrated photographers. I would like to invite anyone intersted to see Doulgas Remington's show if you are ever in the area, or visit his site online at http://www.douglasreminton.com/. Doug is a skilled photographer who finds beauty in nature both simple and vast.

Mural in Cascade

Rachel Parsons and I (Erica Dorondo) are painting a mural in Cascade building. The mural is located within Printing and Mailing Services. If anyone would like to stop by and see the work in progress, we will be there from 2-5 every friday. To find the mural, walk in through the front entrance of Cascade and proceed straight through the hallway between the bathrooms and the office. Take a left and enter through the double doors. the mural is on your left. We are doing the mural because Printing and Mailing services donated note card sets to the Montage Art club where all profits went to aid tsunami victims. So stop bye and see the mural, we call it- under the sea. -Erica

The Process involved in art

One of the things that I like about art is the creative process that goes on when art is made. Or more to the point, I like the mental struggle involved in art that leads to solutions which are surprising, and very often unexpected. What I mean by this is that somehow in making art the resolution of a piece in derived in a way that in unexplainable. In printmaking Yugi would call it a happy accident. What is even stranger to me is that these accidents were brought on almost willfully. Looking and seeing that something is not working and then just trying different things to fix it. Trial and error really. A piece goes under numerous trial and error experiments in which most are unsuccessful but few result in something which strikes the artist as almost great. After numerous almost greats and even more trials, the piece starts to look done, resolved and pleasing to look at. This is why I also find it funny that some would have art all pre-conceptualized on paper, before work begins in the actual medium. In this way I would say work loses allot of its power. In the process, constant thought and time are spent in the making and art becomes so much more if the artist does not remain true to their original conception. This is another reason photography can never and will never be as much as the fine arts.

Pearl District

Above is a link for the Pearl District. The Pearl has some great galleries that everyone should go and discover if you have the time. The Lawrence Gallery has an awesome collection of Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso's copper etching and sketches. These are for sale, so if you would prefer to own some great art over a brand new car, here is your chance. There were some great local artists on display as well. Parking can be difficult (as it is NW Portland), but it's worth the time trying to find a spot. Also, this Thursday, is Portland's First Thursday, where all of the Portland galleries stay open late and let people come enjoy their works on display. Just a fun thing to discover about the wonderful city of Portland.

in addition...

I just wanted to follow up on that last posting with some more examples of art coming from the video game world.

Yoshitaka Amano - a phenomenal artist who owes much of his fame to the illustrations and designs he has done for video games, notably the Final Fantasy series. His work draws a lot from Art Nouveau and Viennese painters like Klimt and Schiele, as well as traditional Japanese ukiyo-e painting.

Masaya Matsuura - probably the most innovative game designer working today. He had an experimental pop band during the early 90s, then he turned to the video game industry and started making games that combine interactive music with whimsical, avant-garde visuals. His games include Parappa the Rapper (1996) and Vib Ribbon (1999), the latter in which you maneuver a wire-frame rabbit over a landscape that rhythmically changes according to what music CD you put in the machine. The link provided takes you to the (Japanese) site of his newest game, Mojib Ribbon, which combines music, Japanese calligraphy and electronic folk music.

The Super Madrigal Bros. - Oliver Cobol creates 8-bit, Nintendo-esque versions of classical madrigals and baroque music compositions. His partner Fashion Flesh then re-produces the songs into bizarre electronic sound experiments. Their albums feature both versions of each song for your listening pleasure. Check out their site and give a listen.


Vib Ribbon

Overlooked Art?

Last week I posted on the topic of official art and unofficial art. This week I am covering what I believe to be one of the most all-encompassing and also the most overlooked forms of art in the world today : videogames. I know many of you are already cringing at the thought of the stereotypical male giving up all his free time in pursuit of something you’ve vaguely heard referred to as a “halo” or maybe even visions of a more rotund figure spending the next 48 hours of his life hyped up on Cheeto’s and Mountain Dew partaking in a bit of Everquest and reaching for his next mythical piece of elfin armor – but hear me out. Last year the videogame industry surpassed the amount of money amassed by the movie industry – like it or not, videogames are here to stay. Many pass videogames off as merely the latest form of entertainment, but are they more?

The average videogame these days requires not only people to code the game, but people to write a story, direct cinematics, create art to be used as textures, design spaces (levels), and a bevy of other jobs. In our modern world we consider writing, painting, film, composing, etc., to all be forms of art – so why not videogames? As I discussed last week perhaps it is that videogames are still deemed “unofficial” art. Perhaps videogames were seen as strictly an entertainment-based industry right off the bat and have not been able to make people consider otherwise. The majority of non-gamers I come across still see videogames as the original Super Mario Brothers or the “Grand Theft Auto everyone always plays”.

Videogames not only bring many artistic disciplines together, it also involves the viewer in a way that is impossible with other art forms – inviting them to take part in a story or even create art on their own. They are also an amazing way of being able to express ideas and emotions. For example, game series like the Legend of Zelda and Pikmin are stem from the creator’s childhood experiences and imaginations. The Myst series not only mentally challenges players, but has also been a front runner in some of the most artistically impressive and imaginative game environments created. Game series like Metal Gear Solid may appear to be a typical Hollywood action movie in interactive form, but are really social commentaries on the proliferation of nuclear arms, the threats of the information age, the censoring of the daily flow of information, one’s identity, and even the meaning of life.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons we aren’t able to enter the Portland Art Museum and see art presented in videogame form is both the limitations of people and time. For example, although a multiple hour long movie could be shown to an audience of multiple people, a videogame experience of multiple hours can usually only be enjoyed by one person at a time. Videogames also ask people to devote more time than most other art forms. When it comes to time, even some of the longest forms of video art barely compare to videogames that can take upwards of 10 or more hours to complete.

As we even recently learned in class, it is sometimes many years before a certain art form is truly seen as a work of art and accepted as such. We’ve seen more and more forms of art accepted over the years – we now cover graffiti in our art classes and colleges are offering classes on comic books as both art and literature. Could it be that we’re currently experiencing the eve of the next great art movement?

Discuss.

Art that gets under, er, on your skin

I would like to know what you all think about tattooing as art. Do you respect it as much as other mediums? Is the tattooing the art form, or is it merely the illustrations and preliminary drawings that make the artist, the artist. I hold the tattoo gun on the same level I do a paintbrush. And human bodies merely become the canvas. Canvas' just don't bleed as much. So for those of you who have tattoos; did you feel as though a piece of art was being put on your body? For those of you with stock skin; do you think tattooing is art? Are tattoo artists, artists?

Here are some links to some of the better tattoo artists and shops from around the country. All of the galleries are definately worth checking out.

Blackheart Tattoo

Thidemann Arts

Dave Fox

Jeff Zuck

Independent Tattoo

Enjoy!

Cheers.