Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Lauren D. Allentown Art Museum

Allentown Art Museum

Steve Gamler - Preparator

Most interesting of job and role in museum
Steve handled, framed, matted, helped curate, and prepared exhibition for the Allentown Art Museum. The most interesting part of his job is the thought of being able to hold a 20 million dollar - rare - important art historical - piece of art. Viewing the show before it unfolds also is very interesting.

Picture myself in his position? No, because I am not an analytical person. The occupation had too many rules, regulations, procedures, and math! No thank you! I think I would have incorrect measurements and would not want to put my math in the hands of a Monet painting!

Jackie Atkins - Kate Fowler Murel Smith Curator of Textiles, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions

Most interesting of job and role in museum

Jackie was the head curator of the museum. She also curated all the incoming, outgoing, and permanent collections. The most interesting part of her position was the fact she was so involved with all aspects of the museum. Curating, preparing, designing, collecting, ect. Her jobs never stopped.

Picture myself in her position? No, because again, there were too many regulations, procedures, and rules. I enjoy the aspect of curating an exhibition, but also having to organize over 5,000 pieces of art would drive me mad.

Jane Kintzner - Associate Director of Education and Programming, interim Director of Education

Most interesting of job and role in museum?
Jane was the Associate Director of Education in the museum. She conducted interactive art history information sessions, art classes, and coordinates the entire program. The most interesting part of her job was the interaction with the children of young and old spirits. I enjoyed hearing that children as young as 2 years and adults as old as 60 years enjoyed the workshops.

Picture myself in her position?

Definitely Yes! I really enjoyed listening to Jane talk about her job. Every day must be always different, creative, and rewarding within her field. I could definitely see myself in her shoes mainly because of my personality. She is running around, meeting new people, using her hands, and creative thoughts. How wonderful!

NYC Trip (studios and galleries)

When we went to John McDevitt King’s studio I was immediately drawn to their wall with all the art, his collection was amazing and I took lots of pictures. I also enjoyed his demonstration with wax and loved listening to him talk about his work and his book. His drawings seemed very empty, yet sort of peaceful at the same time. I thought that it was really cool that he collaborated with a poet and made his book, because I often find my inspiration in words, and his drawings inspired words. Also neat because I plan on having drawings with words in my show. And I have a fascination with gems.
At the Ok Harris gallery I loved the paintings of the cars and highways at dusk, The colors contrasted so beautifully with the black and it made me feel relaxed. It made me think of a long road trip and longing for home or wherever. The sculpture of twigs that created a shadow of the USA was incredible!! I don’t understand how someone could take the time to figure that out. Absolutely amazing. The bottle cap jewelry was neat too because it seemed vintage and beautifully put together.
The Garden at 4am show was really cool because it had many selections from artists allover the world. I thought it was really neat to hear Paul and Renee talk about how they had to find the art for the show. I couldn’t believe hoe expensive some of the work was, which made me nervous. I was especially interested in the snow globe, I loved looking into it and imagining that I was there. I also like the 250,000 dollar skeleton and I wondered if the bones were real. It was neat to hear Paul and Renee’s story about how they came to be where they are. I’m sure there were many struggles and much dedication.
We went to several galleries and one of my favorites was the one with all of the projected images. The cigarette room made me want to start smoking again but I’m not sure if that is what the artist wanted. I really like the hole in the wall where there was a tree and tiny house with people arguing inside. Very different from anything I’ve seen. My other favorite gallery was the one with the images of the little girl, she seemed creepy and innocent. The playhouses were neat too, I wanted to climb inside and live there, especially in the one with the cd player. It seemed like it belonged to a little girl with many issues.
The Pulse art fair was by far the most amazing part of the trip. I had no idea how awesome it was going to be. I loved how there was work from artists all over the world, it was so interesting to see so many different styles of work.

_L.Berger

Frank Mann

I was a little nervous to have my work critiqued by Frank Mann because it was obviously a new experience for me. As soon as a met him I could tell he was going to be nice and easy to talk to, and he had many interesting opinions about my art. He said that my artwork reminded him of 80’s gothic art and he also said that it reminded him of film strips. Two things I have never heard yet, but I definitely saw how he saw it that way. He also said that my first piece reminded him of things that people leave behind over the years, which was really interesting because my project was about time, and what it does to us. He told me about corrugated aluminum because it is more archival, but it is not free, like cardboard. I really enjoyed talking to him and seeing his point of view. Now I want to research 80’s gothic art, and how to preserve cardboard!

Dada, Collage and Cardboard Art

Lindsey Berger
02.25.08
Dada, Collage and Cardboard Art
Cardboard art is something that I really never thought of making before. I’ve had a box of cardboard for years and often wondered what I could make of it. Usually I would just paint on it and that would be it. I guess my ‘brilliant’ idea of how to use it came to me because I didn’t have any other materials to use. I began to tear it apart and glue it together randomly to create a new starting surface. So I researched artist who use cardboard but I also researched collage artists because I have always had an interest in collage. I also researched the Dada movement, Fauvism and many artists from these era‘s. So my series will be a mixture of cardboard, collage, and also some drawings, with a plethora of color and darkness, with deep meaning.
I found many images online of artists who have made a piece entirely out of cardboard. Most of them are sculptures or flat images using the corrugated part of the board to create and image. One artist I found is Chris Gilmour who creates replications of everyday life size objects, completely out of cardboard. It is amazing to look at all he has accomplished with cardboard, I can’t image the time he puts into each of his creations. He has made replications of automobiles, bicycles, typewriters, motorcycles etc. Although I don’t plan on using carboard in the same way it is incredibly interesting to see what other people make with it. Actually it is hard to find many artists who don’t use cardboard in the sculpture form. Other art I found that wasn’t 3-D was mostly portraits, the artists would use the corrugated part of the board as one layer and leave the rest make a silhouette of someone’s face. I couldn’t really find any artists who used the cardboard the way I am. Also, many of the cardboard art I found stayed the original brownish color.
The Dada movement began during WW1 and was a cultural movement where people expressed themselves in many art forms, including poetry, literature, art and theatre. Most artists during this era focused on anti-war pieces that rejected contemporary standards. This movement was also believed to be a protest against war and believed that bourgeois nationalist and colonialist interests were the cause of the war. Basically Dadaist’s believed that governments were causing the destruction of the world and they rebelled against it through artistic expression. Dada art was intended to offend the viewer with its anti-cultural ideals, artists believe their art would destroy traditional culture. Although there are many art forms that dada artists used, I am most interested in collage. Many dada artists used the method of cutting out pictures or words and assembling them through collage. At first glimpse you don’t realize how many different images there are, and as you look around you see something you may not have seen before. This is one aspect I hope to accomplish through my artwork.
One of my favorite Dada artists is Hannah Hoch, who is a German woman that studied that the College of Arts and Crafts in Berlin. Hoch was a passionate feminist, and was often looked down upon by the men in her life. She often reflected the idea that women are not looked at as ‘whole people’ and were expected to get married and have children. Many of her pieces were collaged picture of men and women combined, because she enjoyed women that showed masculinity. I really appreciate all of the emotion and meaning she has within her work, it definitely speaks about the time period she grew up in and how women were treated. She also used many newspaper clippings in her art to reveal what was happening in society.
Another artist I have been researching is the French artist Henry Matisse. He was a leading figure in modern art and is often considered a rival of Picasso. He was a participant in the Fauvism movement and became a member of the Fauves in 1905. This movement is described at the childlike play with bold colors. I absolutely love his use of color in all of his pieces, its so pleasing and comforting to look at. The contrast of light to dark is something that I also want to convey in my own art. Matisse has many still life pieces where he plays with bright and vibrant colors, which I think adds something so much more to the average still life. They way he uses color seems to liven up any ordinary still life. In 1947 he published Jazz, which was a limited edition book with cut out collages and written thoughts and ideas. He made this book when he was older and in poor health, he could no longer paint the way he used to, so he began cutting instead. I thought this was really inspiring because he kept making art and he adjusted his art to what he could psychically accomplish. Jazz ended up being one of the most successful books printed by a 20th century artist.
In conclusion, I want my series to reflect a number of different aspects. I know I want to use cardboard in everything, but also incorporate collage and many other found materials. I like using recycled materials and plan on using whatever I can find. I want my art to reflect myself as a person and the things I deal with in my own life. I want some pieces to be dark and gloomy, but I also want to make bright, colorful pieces also. I plan on having a section designated to the drawings I have been working on. It will probably be difficult to fit my drawings in, but I have a few ideas on how to solve this problem. I am really excited about creating my art, It feels good to know what I want to express.

altered and assembled

“Altered and Assembled”
The Beat culture began after World War II when young visual artists and poet began to ‘break the mold’ and explore new creative ideas. They called themselves Beats and offered an alternative to conformity during the Eisenhower years. The Beats thought their works of art would bridge the gap between the American dream and its uneven fulfillment. The Altered and Assembled show was a great representation of this era with its many displays of altered everyday objects. It was clear while viewing these works that most of them were made from recycled materials in a variety of creative ways. It seemed like a lot of the pieces tied together because they appeared old, rustic, torn, dirty etc. I was especially interested in the square box shaped sculpture and every inch of it was covered with anything you could imagine. I kept thinking it must have taken years to gather up all of the materials that were used. I could have spent hours looking at it over and over again and would probably see something I didn’t see before. It was very intriguing, bright, and colorful, I really enjoyed looking around it. It reminded me of my childhood in a way.
My second favorite part of the show was the books. I really liked how they cut each page in the shape the wine glass, as if it had been thrown directly through it. On the back there was love letters that were based on poems, which I thought was very clever because you wouldn’t even know the words were there if you weren’t trying to see the back like I was.
All together I think the show was done very nicely, In my opinion it would have been nice if it there were more artists displays. Many of them were displayed on pedestals, shelving, or tables, but some were hung directly on the wall. The order in which they were set up was clearly well though about, the room was inviting and brought you around in a circle. I am definitely glad to have had the opportunity to check it out.

-Lindsey Berger

Self Critique Self Portrait

Lindsey Berger
Self Critique - Self portrait
1. I guess it would have to be cardboard because I experimented with it and used it in several different ways; ripping, cutting, crumbling, and random gluing.
2. I never really used found images like this in my work before and I had fun finding them and then figuring our where to put them, and attaching them, and then painting and using oil pastel to make them my own.
3. This was inspired by many different things, but is mostly a representation of my crazy, unclear, cluttered and mostly dark dreams that I have had all my life. Also inspired by helping a friend trough a bad acid trip, and his experiences and visions. In whole this assignment represents time as being a concept that limits our minds.
4. To me it means/represents how I feel in my life right now.

Lauren D. Jenny Holizer

Lauren Doyle
Jenny Holzer

Review the truisms installation at the federal courthouse in Allentown.
a. What was the most interesting about the artwork? ( materials, content, style, location)
The most interesting point about Jenny Holzer’s Truisms installation was the security. The Allentown Courthouse Security Team’s job was to check for any weapons, electronic devices, and or cameras. This was a standard procedure to enter the building and was not for Jenny Holzer. The class arrived to the designated floor of her work and I noticed there no guards were present around the installations. I did not expect guards to protect the installation only because the installation was attached to another facility. Comparing to The Whitney’s Jenny Holzer installation, museum guards heavily protected the installation. Not even one foot could grace the installation benches. I thought the comparison was rather amusing. The Allentown guards were more worried about the cameras and cell phones entering the Courthouse! Obviously, the guards did not understand the status of the Truism benches.
b. How would you describe the artwork and what are the ideas that the artist is working with?
A sculpture installation merged with powerful political-like statements. A series of benches are placed in a space with 5 or more statements. Each statement is in alphabetical order. Her statements are powerful, inspiring, and questionable. All individuals take a their own point of view with each quote.
c. Select five of your favorite truisms and write them down for reference.
1-It’s better to be a good person than a famous person.
2- Mother’s shouldn’t make too many sacrifices.
3-Much was decided before you were born.
4-Alienation procures eccentrics or revolutionaries.
5-Being judgmental is a sign of life.
D. Then rewrite in own words.
1-You are more wise to be kind than arrogant.
2-A mother should not put her life on hold for more than one person.
3-Ideas and morals were chosen for you before you were born.
4-Loneness feeds the insane and different individuals.
5-Being picky is a sign of a goal filled life.