Project 2

Project 1

CAM Visit

So the other day, the class took a trip to the Contemporary Art Museum to check out the MFA exhibit, Rouse. I really enjoyed the exhibit! The art work was fantastic and entertaining. Perhaps it was the amount of humor that went into some of the work and the craftsmanship it took to create such precise work like that. I must say first, my favorite piece was Andrew Nigon’s Immaculate in Deed. His short biography in the show booklet even corresponded with the piece, and the irony of the title was spectacular. I commend Nigon’s approach and execution to the piece. Carman Tiffany’s There Really Is People Like This, That Really Don’t Know What the Fuck it’s About was a video loop shown in the connecting hallway. This video was several things. For one, it was funny in essence; however, the meaning was quite depressing. If you really look into the videos and title, it shows how people are mindlessly entertained by the simplest and more ridiculous things. And the video has things that everyone could relate to. It’s kind of like a reality check. I also enjoyed Victoria Lee Skelly and Jules Maisonet’s piece. The amount of rejections and troubles someone has to go through just to get one little thing done is surprising. Ariel Baron-Robbins’ paintings were interesting to look at but the subject matter was unclear to me; great skill but no meaning. Toni Danette Billick’s works were very entertaining. She used men and women dressed in drag to represent women selling their bodies. It was deep and entertaining at the same time. I loved all of the artists’ work and I hope they have a long, well-deserved future in art.

Beth Fawkes Tobin lecture

Beth Fawkes Tobin held a lecture at the Marshall Center on March 24th about taxidermy as a form of art. I came into the lecture prepared to feel squeamish and disgusted by the fact that dead animals were used as art. However, Tobin left the gross parts out, for the most part. She did include a section where she read a do it yourself book on how to properly prepare and make taxidermy. Several people groaned when she described the killing and draining but it was not that bad. She showed several works of taxidermy, including taxidermy of shells. This part was intriguing because I never thought that shells were a form of taxidermy. The amount of work that went into cleaning and preparing the shells to be used was also very interesting. I always thought that shells were simply cleaned with soap and water but Tobin named quite a few dangerous chemicals used to clean the shells, which took a few days as well. Tobin stated that taxidermy was a form of art for women to make. This was interesting because as a woman, I could not stand the thought of draining a skinning an animal. Although, the animals were not wasted; the woman cooked the animals’ flesh for meals, which I guess makes it okay because absolutely no part of the animal was wasted.
What I also found interesting was in the questions part of the lecture where a professor at the school shared information about a man who used human fetuses as taxidermy and made very controversial art work.

Pat Simons Lecture

Art Historian Patricia Simons from Melbourne, Australia held a lecture at USF on January 29th. Her lecture focused on the iconology of men in past paintings. It was quite an interesting, and witty, lecture. It was very educational and entertaining. She introduced different works and pointed out several things that represent for certain actions or objects. For example, a ladle would actually represent a phallus and any movement that creates friction would represent “heat” or a sexual act. It was interesting how the paintings were supposed to be decorative and innocent objects to embellish a wealth family’s room when the actual painting was secretly suggestive. I kept thinking about the outcome if the family who paid for the painting knew what they were buying, or if they knew at all. It was interesting to see different works from artists I have learned about in my art history class too.
Pat Simons seemed like a reserved lady, so it was shocking to find out that most, if not all, of her research was about sexual meanings in paintings, and how they shaped the men of that time. There were also certain things in the paintings that represented certain slang words in Italian during that time. It was cool to see how even though the slangs have clearly changed throughout time there are still resources that provide definitions to the slangs, kind of like a slang dictionary. If Patricia Simons were to come back to USF to give a lecture, I would definitely stay and listen to her.

The art of making art without lifting a finger

The chapter “The Art of Making Art Without Lifting a Finger” in The Accidental Masterpiece by Michael Kimmelman is shocking. It starts out with a story of a man, Ray Johnson, who committed suicide as a form of art. He was going to the notion that art is in everything. Honestly, I do think that a lot of things have a sense of artistic value to it, but there is a limit to these things. Making collages and assemblages are quite artistic if it is executed properly, but I do not see the artistic value in committing suicide. However, some people may see it as the greatest form of art. I understand how some people are certain artistic preferences, but this is not the preference for me. Johnson’s work described seems senseless and ridiculous to me. I just do not see how his art was admired. Just because he did “crazy” things like drop hotdogs all over the city does not make him a great artist. In fact, I find it offensive and degrading because it is allowing people to assume that all artists are crazy and create outlandish work because they are desperate. As an aspiring artist, I would not want to be grouped like that. Other artists were named, like Sol LeWitt who thought something as simple as a pencil line was artistic and beautiful. Scott Burton thought that a stain on a wall may have an artistic essence to it; simple, useless marks are not artistic in my opinion, unless it is purposely accidental.

pg 283-310

The reading on pages 283 to 310 in Jackie Battenfield’s book, “The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love”, discusses how to properly manage your time. She says you are the only person who will truly care for your art forever. In order to properly market your art work to the masses, you need organization. Organization is the key point to success. Even if your studio or home is messy and chaotic (to “encourage creative flow”), your time should not reflect that. Time is a great human resource and you have to use it wisely. Battenfield gives advice to create a calendar with all upcoming and future events in order to organize everything and not forget anything. As tedious as it might be, it is necessary. I can related to that advice because I am prone to writing lists and marking events in my calendars (I own many calendars and planners) because it is impossible to remember everything. Creating an outline of events, even if they only go as far as a month, is an efficient way to organize your time. It also will relieve stress and give higher quality to your work.
The first issue to address is time management. Time is a nonnegotiable factor when creating art work. If you run out of paint, you can always buy more, but once you run out of time, there is no way to change that. So, in order to achieve your goals, planning and using your time wisely is the only way. Artists are commonly known as free-spirited, timeless people, but that is not the wisest thing to do. You do not always have to go with what stereotypes say. The three piece of advice Battenfield gives for time management is keeping track of your time, assign each activity a category (like personal, work, family, finances, etc) and analyze your information.
Taking note of how much time it takes to do even the simplest of tasks is important because then you can devote a certain amount of time to certain tasks beforehand. Personally, I am constantly looking at a clock or watch because I take into consideration that some things may seem quick but once you do it, it turns out that it takes a little longer than expect and creates a domino effect of forgotten and uncompleted tasks. You also have to realize that some downtime is needed amidst the important tasks. Your schedule is constantly changing so it’s important to write down all appointments and change some things around if needed. Battenfield gives more advice on how to create records and organizing supplies and such. She also suggests getting help from someone if the tasks are too overwhelming from either an assistant or getting consultation from experts in certain fields that you do not know. Overall, this chapter is useful to anyone who chooses to manage their time. Time management is a tricky thing to do when there are countless tasks to complete but it must be done.