Sunday, April 29, 2018

Installation: Spell of Sensuous Responses

"Caught up in a mass of abstractions are attention hypnotized by a host of human-made Technologies that only reflect us back to ourselves, it is all too easy for us to forget our carnal inherence in a more-than-human Matrix of Sensations and sensibilities"



"Repeat and explain what they had said in other words by getting us to listen to and ponder their own speaking"



"Thus the written letters bring that was done but only "The Conceit of Wisdom" making men seem to know much when in fact they know little"




"This Earthen vessel this reveals aspects of its presence to me only by withholding other aspects of itself for further exploration"





"Language in this view is rather like a code it is a way of representing actual things and events in the perceived world but has no internal non-arbitrary connections to that world and hence is readily separable from it"





"The diverse forms of the earth still speak and offer guidance to humankind albeit and gestures that we cannot always directly understand"

Sculpture: Re-contextualizing objects

"That One Dark Night"

The use of a tan painted space heater was in hopes of turning the object into more of a being by a unifying color with no labels or logos. Used shoes with wear and tear show duration and also makes the object feel lesser. Warped metal and broken bulbs would hope to hold a narrative of a past experience that in-turn caused it to break. The plug lays in front of the heater with a bent metal tip rendering it useless.


Materials: Space Heater, Paint, Shoes
Size: 1.5' x 1.5' x 1'

Sculpture: By Chance "Collapse"

"Collapse"
I wanted to portray an off balanced object that seems partially destroyed and looking as it should collapse at any moment through weight perception and composition. During the time this piece was displayed in the hallwaysomeone had knocked it over due to its balanced weight.




Materials: White paint, Black Paint, Grey Paint, Foam, Wood, Screws
Size: 3' x 2' x 1.5'



Sculpture: Materials and Context

"The Steak is a Lie"

The amount of antibiotics pumped into the animals we eat is beyond that which we administer to humans.. I chose to make a steak and have a friend paint it, so that during my critique I would lie about the color and style choices of the paint, having everyone believe that I put the time into painting the fake steak and never revealing to them the truth. I placed emoji icon bandaids on the fake steak in an X. The use of bandaids were to give the idea that the steak had just received a shot or wound and is being covered. 

Materials: Magic Sculpt, Acrylic Paint, Bandaids
Size: 14" x 9"



Installation: Site Specific Outdoor

For my site specific outdoor installation I chose to highlight social rights activists by creating a replicated podium that was used by Martin Luther King Jr at his most know "I have a dream" speech. I placed a bluetooth speaker with an audio track on loop of a an expert of MLK's I have a dream speech and an audio recording of MLK speaking to the owner of the lodge restaurant in St. Augustine. Where MLK held a peaceful protest in response to segregation in restaurants and was later arrested for his action of protesting. On top of the podium i placed a printed excerpt from part of the I had a dream speech ... and ... which i felt are very powerful statements when thinking about the time the words were said. I then chose the site of the Fredrick Douglas Memorial on St. George Street in St. Augustine Florida. The day this took place was on the First Friday Art Walk so  St. George street was packed. I set my podium up and sat half a block away while watching people interact and observe the piece. An hour and fifteen minutes into the piece being up, two police officers showed up. I was sitting further away so i played it low key and waited to see what they would do. They realized i was involved because of my book bag and camera bag as well as talking with the person they had just questioned wether it was theirs or not. They told me there is nothing allowed to be set up on St. George street so i said i would take it down. I asked if i could take a few pictures and they said yes. I took some pictures then left with my podium.




Materials: MDF, White Paint, nails, wood glue, Led light, bluetooth speaker
Size: ~ 4.8" tall, 3' wide


I then decided to take the podium to a location in Lincolnville, St. Augustine where MLK stayed, on King St.







RESEARCH: Source; St. Augustine Historic Society

Research began in Free masonry and secret societies, changing to social rights and events taking place in St Augustine












Friday, April 20, 2018

Artist Residency Post 9

This was my last visit to SJYA. Prior to visiting, i talked with Madi about what i should do on my last visit. We both came to the conclusion that bringing snacks and hanging out with the guys would be a good way to end it. By hanging out and letting them express ideas and thoughts about the class. When i arrived I gave the staff the name of the group of guys that had continuously been in my class that were most involved in creating work and being engaged. When they arrived in the room i handed out pieces of paper and asked them to write down what the class gave them, whether it was an escape from the place they were in, emotions they felt when working with clay or overall what the class was like for them. They all wrote notes expressing the feelings of relaxation and a release from stress and negativity. After they wrote i rewarded them with snacks as a parting gift and continued to hangout and talk with them. I was able to speak one on one with some of the guys since a few would walk around and talk about the music videos they had playing on the TV. I listened to what some of the guys had to say and encouraged them to follow their dreams and goal, and gave them bits of knowledge that i have learned throughout my life when i would stumble. When i went to leave they all shook my hand and thanked me for the class, snacks, and wished me well as i did the same, expressing to them that i beloved in every one of them and that they could achieve greatness if they put their mind to it. I left with a good feeling that i might have made an impact on a some young individuals future actions through the decisions they make and mindset/thoughts they have.



Monday, April 16, 2018

Installation: 30 Minute Outdoor

"McDonald's Kills"

Do you want to die, someone choose your time, to be hung by your ankles, throat slit, only to choke on your blood while your screams and cries are ignored?. "But thats why God put them on this planet, for us to eat, its natural" *stuffs mouth full of processed foods while watching tv in an air conditioned house*.. We breed them to eat them, whats natural about that. Go hunting if you they're here for that purpose, go kill them yourself.
Would you kill the cow yourself? Would you hang it by its ankles, slit its throat until it and watched until it stopped thrashing for another breathe, only to choke on its own blood, skin it, clean it, cook it? Nah, lets pay someone in a far away place to do it for us. Dissociation of reality when you pull up to a speaker to order that pleasure you so much crave. "hmm should i get a number 4 or 7..?" Drive up dead cow in a bag, how convenient. "DON'T FORGET ABOUT TIMMY, Get em a "Happy" meal with a cool toy inside." The price of that toy isn't in cash but in life, the life of a cow to condition little Timmy that you get a toy whenever mommy and daddy buy you a kids meal. What if your kid had to watch the cow be killed before they were allowed to eat there "Happy" meal, what if you had to watch it when you were a kid?. Strongly doubt you'd be excited about that little red box and golden arches. THINK!









Sunday, April 15, 2018

BA Week 12

RESPONSE (Christian O.)

Being alone but not lonely, solitude can be feared and ignored with the need to feel accepted in a society. What's wrong with knowing yourself, understanding your thoughts, questioning thoughts. I don't think it is intentionally ignored, just feared, or seems lonely.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity. 
-Albert Einstein

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man. 
-Thomas Wolfe

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. 
-Marcus Aurelius 

Without great solitude no serious work is possible. 
-Pablo Picasso

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Artist Residency Post 8

I planned on this being my last week at SJYA but was injured over the weekend and had limited mobility and stayed resting my knee. I plan on attending SJYA this upcoming week for the last time

Sunday, April 8, 2018

BA Week 11

WORK










RESPONSE

“The point is that you learn how to make your work by making your work, and a great many of the pieces you make along the way will never stand out as finished art.” Pg.6
“You make good work by (among other things) making lots of work that isn’t very good, and gradually weeding out the parts that aren’t good, the parts that aren’t yours.”  p. 26
1.   What work have you made that seems most yours? Why?

- The work that i have made that seems most mine would have to be what is above this post, the sculpture with kinetic movement. I believe it is most mine because it came from my thoughts with little inspiration in terms of shape/form from others. It was most mine because during its process, i learned more than i have during the creative process of building and creating the mechanics, overcoming challenges and setbacks in process with expression of my character and reaction to said setbacks. I learned about myself during the creating of this piece, and how i would react to things that looked right on paper but ended up challenging me once taken into the physical. It is most mine because i reached a place of contentment in its completion that i have not felt in a while when creating. Its custom form and the way it is assembled is connected to how i approach situations when creating and thought processes of custom work/work that is most me.


“Chances are that whatever theme and technique attract you, someone has already experimented in the same direction. This is unavoidable: making any art piece inevitably engages the larger themes and basic techniques that artists have used for centuries. Finding your own work is a process of distilling from each those traces that ring true to your own spirit.”  p. 103
2.   Who are artists that are making work that relates to you?  Are there other influences? How are these other influences connected to your work?

- I have found influence through the work of Anthony Howe, using kinetic motion (wind power) to allow his sculpture to come to life and have a sense of being. He creates original works that are symbolic of forms, movement, and shapes influencing and allowing thought of the viewer to be less constrained. Something i want to explore more into which is allowing the perception of the viewer to answer what is present in front of them rather than a set standard of perception seen in a lot of work.


“And while a hundred civilizations have prospered (sometimes for centuries) without computers or windmills or even the wheel, none have survived even a few generations without art.”  p. 104
3.   Discuss, in your own words, why you think this is so.

-I believe the need to create and express is the pinnacle of existence. To create something from scratch allows expression of the artist and true exploration of the mind in attempts to find and create the true meaning of that person. An expression and connection of their senses through their environment that is true to that person. To think we were created, from dirt or some substance, our inner drive or desire would make sense to be that from which we came, through creation, expression. Lack of art and creation would seem to me as an oppression of true thought, life, and lack of freedom.

“Art is something you do out in the world, or something you do about the world, or even something you do for the world. The need to make art may not stem solely from the need to express who you are, but from a need to complete a relationship with something outside of yourself.”  p. 108
4.   Which of these ideas resonates most with you? Why? If they all resonate, how do they differ?

- It all resonates with me, it differs through individual perception nd expression. Some individuals look and create from within themselves and their thoughts while other express from societal influence or actions. For the needs of other or for the selfish desire to create what one sees when they close their eyes. 


“Making art depends upon noticing things-things about yourself, your methods, your subject matter.”  p. 109
5.   What do you notice about yourself? What are your methods?  Subject matter?  The answers do not have to be limited to art related topics.

-I notice that i have outlandish ideas that would take risk to produce, and for some reason i hold back on a lot of this ideas. Though i have been getting better at expressing and creating this ideas, i need to become more confident and take risks. I notice i take a lot of time, in trying to make the idea or work perfect. I tend to stress over time not spent on working on my art when i am unable to or have pre planned things like work. My methods include starting in a  direction that i could see how the idea would work only a few steps ahead, then once i reach that step, plans sometimes change and i adapt the project to whichever path i plan on pursuing in creating it. Other methods would be just doing it, starting whatever i am making without a clear route then through that i process i granite towards future ideas and choices and act upon them. Subject matter would be more symbolic shapes with movement and an perception of simplicity though time and effort has been put into the work. simplistic in form yet holding a complex mood. 


“The only work really worth doing- the only work you can do convincingly- is the work that focuses on the things you care about.”  p. 116
“All this suggests a useful working approach to making art: notice the objects you notice.” Pg.101
6.   What do you care about? The answers do not have to be limited to art related topics.

-I care about people, wanting more for those who don't know there is more. I stress and become anxious for others because i can see an answer when it is hidden in plain site. I care about wanting to be the best version of myself that i can be and producing art, not just art but everything i do, to my best ability which sometimes drains my batteries and creates separation from people and relationships. I care about animals, any and all. The ability to be, express, and eventually reach greatness through hard work and preserving in faith. I care to become someone, not just "that guy from ___ (insert local bar/restaurant/shop)" but actually someone who is known for great things, impactful things. I care about wanting to be change in a world that is ever so stuck in its destructive, manipulating, and lying ways. I care for the people.



INSPIRATION

1. https://hyperallergic.com/397105/calder-mobiles-whitney-museum-american-art/

2. https://hyperallergic.com/316520/the-wind-powered-kinetic-sculpture-pulsing-behind-the-olympic-cauldron/

3. https://hyperallergic.com/228426/bringing-latin-american-masters-of-kinetic-and-light-art-out-of-obscurity/

-Detail of Gyula Kosice, “Habitat hidroespacial, maqueta R

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Artist Residency Post 7

3-4-2017

PROJECT: Free form and Glazing

This week at SJYA I brought back bisque fired pieces to the guys with a water color pallet of underglazes and clear glaze, with intentions of letting them add color and design to their clay forms. This weeks class was fairly small, i think some of the guys had got in trouble though i'm not sure. One of the returning guys had made a few bisque pieces that i brought and he began to underglaze them. The other in the group was a new guy and ended up making things in clay while we glazed. I joined one of the guys in glazing, and colored a bowl i had made there a while back. Conversations were geared towards music since we were in a room with a tv in it, which they ended up playing youtube on the tv and listening to music. We discussed some spring break adventures and continued to glaze and make clay. Jake and i spoke before the class on our car ride over in ideas of how to make the class more engaging and conversed over our last experience there. We ended up implementing a Claymation project and the guys were really involved and intrigued  by it. Allowing them to come up with the scenes and characters, and the actions the characters would take. When we left, Jake and I were discussing how successful the project was and how involved the guys were in it. Jake plans on printing out the stop motion into little flip books. I also plan on bisque firing the rest of the clay work the guys have made and get some things glazed that some of the guys that have left the academy have made.