Krzysztof Wodiczko

I'd like to blog about numerous artists that we discussed in class. I'm happy to have my resources expanded and to learn about many new artists. I decided to choose one of the last artists that we looked at in class to discuss - Krzysztof Wodiczko. His work is really amazing and the examples that the documentary showed really related to some of my personal knowledge.

When Wodiczko showed the women in Tijuana I thought of a friend who went down there, ignorant to the world of sex tourism and trafficking. I knew it was horrible when he went, but after learning about trafficking, as mentioned in a previous post, I realize that it's probably much worse than I thought over there. His work shed light on some of the atrocities. I hope that his work reaches people like the guys I have come in contact with that support dysfunctional sex tourism, and inadvertently support trafficking, without thinking of the women involved.

Living in Japan, I visited the building that is still standing after the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Going to Hiroshima was an intense experience. We visited that building, went to the museum and saw the exhibit of the cranes... one origami crane for each child that died. The museum showed how people were walking down the street melting. It looked like a fictitious horror movie. When people were talking about their experiences I thought of one of my first students in Japan, who is now a facebook friend, Itchitaro Suzuki. He was one of my oldest students and a retired teacher. One day we were doing a lesson on past tense and one of the prompts had students tell the group about kindergarten. He burst into tears. I didn't understand what was going on. Finally, he said that's when the bombs came. He survived the bombings in Tokyo. I had no idea Tokyo was bombed during WWII, but actually Kyoto was the only place that was not bombed. We set off two atomic bombs, but dropped regular bombs over the rest of the country.

I think that Wodiczko's work moved all of us in class that night and must have reached so many people with each of his shows. He lets people explain why these aspects of our societies should not exist. It's really amazing.

Head Games: Engaging Popular Visual Culture - Reflection on Reading

The article "Head Games: Engaging Popular Visual Culture" really interested me. I wish there were pictures to go along with the article so that we could see the project. The article is by a doctoral student, David Darts, who conducted his research with his high school students. David's research was focused on students' visual literacy and awareness of visual popular culture. They analyzed well known artists from history, as well as contemporary artists, who are socially engaged. They then created sculptures using donated mannequin heads from a hairdressing school with found object and cultural artifacts. They used collage and assemblage. The sculptures communicated social issues that were important to the individual student. Through the process the doctoral student tried to show them that they are active participants in their world, rather than passive, and quoted another article, "that they have a role in the making of their world and that they need not accept positions as passive spectators or consumers" (Trend, 1992 via Darts, 2006 inside Duncam, 2006).

The students chose the location for the installation, offering students the opportunity to actively participate in their everyday visual culture. They chose a gathering space that often held public rallies and protests and, inspired by artists included in their studies, they chose not to inform city officials that they would display their art. Some chose to stand next to their sculptures and engage in conversation with people passing by and others chose to blend in with the crowds or sit far enough away to photo document the experience. Students expressed their positive experiences later on and felt pride from having people interact with their sculptures. Some even expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage in conversation with strangers about their work and about social issues.

When I read this it felt like a story of a teacher who had a very successful unit, more than doctoral research. Then again, I guess that's what some doctoral research is. I would love to do something like this with my students and put the book that the article seems to come from, Visual Culture in the Art Class Case Studies by Paul Duncam, on my Amazon queue. I also googled David Darts and he seems pretty amazing. I'd love to take his class at NYU. Even more so, I'm just jealous. I wish I was that successful doing something related to what he's doing. He even seems to have had most of his schooling paid for - http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/faculty_bios/view/David_Darts.

Thinking of my own path, I'm looking forward to teaching and hope I am very successful. I'd love to master my job and keep up my own work. I look forward to finding what is possible. I hope that it works!

Visual Culture Friends - Behind the Scenes

Perhaps it's my own personal choices and interests that draw people of like minds, but many of my friends have chosen to focus their careers on some aspect of visual culture. My two closest friends both have careers in visual culture fields (graphic design and film). Most, or all, of us started with a desire to create and to have a decent paycheck at the same time. I'd like to talk about the career paths of three of these people who are going through some changes that offer insight into the lives of people in these fields.

My friend Eddie went to SVA for illustration and taught himself to be a web/graphic designer for extra income. He currently has two websites - www.ashworld.com and artcharger.ashworld.com After 10 years of freelancing odd jobs, getting by, but not very comfortably, he is thinking of going to teach in Japan. I helped him write his essay today, which explained the influence Japanese visual media has had on his life. It was cartoons, anime and video games that sparked his interest to begin drawing at a young age. He never stopped and devoted his life to drawing and art. Unlike artists of traditional media, he decided to go towards technology. Still, without being a corporate office worker, he has struggled for many years.

In America, it's more often American visual culture/media that draws people in and offers dreams that may never be fulfilled. My friend Yaniv, from high school, wanted to be an actor. He stuck to it for many years, acted in movies like Toxic Avenger IV and then got a job with Desperate Housewives in the production department - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0788979/ - He kept his dream that one day he'd be able to be an extra on the show, but it never happened. Last month he called me and told me that he got fired for speaking inappropriately. A woman on set had a baby girl and he jokingly said, "When she's 18, I'll date her." Inappropriate yes, but worth being fired... I can't agree. He thinks that corporate America is getting more conservative and notes that he has been working in corporate America.

Like Yaniv, my friend Pam also loves American visual culture and gets lured in by celebrities and film. Pam wanted to be writer, but has also always wanted to work in film. In addition to her short stories and a novel, she wrote a screenplay, but nobody with power ever looked at it. Instead she worked her way up the film hierarchy from a production assistant to a production coordinator, with a few jobs in the art department. If she keeps moving up she may one day be a producer. She actually got fired from her last job. It was the first time she got fired and it was mostly due to personality clashes and unrealistic expectations. Pam described this last job as working in the movie Devil Wears Prada, but it was film instead of fashion and the Devil Wore New Balance.In between jobs she spends her time making cards and small polymer sculptures.- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1061975/

The list can go on... The last roomate I had before living with my husband was a movie editor and made a few of his own movies (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0596392/). He freelanced and worked all the time. All he did was work on his movies, but finally had one show on HBO last year. He might be the most content of all of these people that I mention. Then again, he comes from Connecticut (privilege), has a mom who was an art teacher and a sister who is a somewhat successful actress (Gretchen Mol - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001543/) A friend from college who is a photo retoucher who started out by working for a porn magazine, retouching breasts to take away scars. I remember when he was living in a one bedroom apartment with two roomates in his living room. Now he works office jobs as n art director and is fine with that, but he's still does his own photoshop work on the side. I can also talk about my close friend who is a graphic designer for Library of America and does fine art on the side, and a friend I met in jury duty who is a photo editor for Fortune magazine and hates her boss... the list goes on.

Art jobs are sexy... so sexy, many people go for an MFA and end up without work. Still, this option is not open to everyone. I remember when I first got my BFA. I wanted to go for an MFA, but I did not have enough money, even with a loan. So, I moved on. For many people who can do it, it's worth the gamble when you see the way of life when you are successful creating you're own work... what a great life that would be... to just do art and nothing else. It's like you're not working. However, many people end up compromising, going for commercial art jobs and/or forgetting about it all. Some people have more drive, more artistic talent or more of a need for stable living conditions. People are also starting from different places in terms of social support, knowledge, skills and financial support. I think that there are many, many factors that go into the career choices of people who are interested in the arts and many many factors that go into the result. This post is just a glimpse of the paths that a few creative people decided to take.

Children's Imagination

I was walking down the street when I saw a little girl. She was at a distance from the adult she was with, so you could imagine her being alone on the street. She was turning around and saying, "I'm a pixie." She had a pink tool on which resembled that of a faerie. She seemed so comfortable in her element. She was able to freely speak her imagination on the corner of the street in the Upper West Side of NYC. She was adorable.

This experience reminded me of why I want to go back to teaching. I love the imagination little kids have. Just like when I went to see Leah and those kids were able to enjoy the idea that their paintbrush was named Beverly and to paint you made her hair dance. How cool is that? When I taught elementary school I worked with kids who had a hard time using scissors. I would tell them to think of the scissors as the scissor monster whose most favorite treat in life is to eat the line. Then I'd make eating noises as it chomped the line and the scissors cut on the line. The kids would love this and they would ask me what flavor it was. We were able to talk within the world of imagination. It's a really fun place! :)

ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL - CHILDREN OBSERVATION**

I walked into the building and it felt like a regular public school. I walked towards the office it was very quiet with large posters in the hallway and I noticed a room with couches. I went to the main office which was much more informal than a regular public school. there was just a few desks and not that large counter separating the staff from the visitors. Finally, I was escorted to the art room.

Leah's art room is very large and everything looks brand new. It looks like it has been renovated. Two walls are filled with windows which gives a view down an East Village street and a view of a rooftop next door. All the furniture is new and the chairs and tables are wooden, not like regular public school furniture. The room is arranged nicely. She has drying racks, cabinets, a white board and a small stereo to play music. Below one big window is a cushioned bench and below the bench are cubby holes for storage; which is all part of a larger cabinet unit. I am in a charter school.

Leah explained to me that the charter school was created to model a school in the

Hamptons that infuses culture into all subjects and is very supportive of the arts.. The school in the Hamptons is funded by some owners of Time Warner, or something similar to that idea. So, the school in the East Village has a very large budget to work with. On the website it says that they were developed in collaboration with NYU. I went to observe a first grade class.

I came early and helped Leah set up. There wasn't too much to do. I helped her cut paper and she showed me around the room. She contemplated what lesson to do and decided to continue with what she was doing with the other students. She had them draw a spiral and then paint inside the lines.

The kids came in and sat down. They seemed happy to be there. They were eager to know who I was and Leah had me introduce myself. We told them exactly what was going on. Leah goes to school to be an even better teacher than she is now and I am in her class. I will also be an art teacher. They were surprised that she went all the way to Brooklyn to go to school. One boy said that he went to Queens College in the summer for a program. They were adorable.

She elicited what the spiral was called. The kids had lots of names, but needed help remembering the word spiral. They spelled it out, drew a spiral in the air and got started. Once the kids were painting, they seemed to get calm; at least initially. Towards the middle of the period Leah asked for quite for 5 minutes and put some music on. It was nice.

I helped give out the paint and went along with Leah's explanation that the brush is called Beverly and she dances on the paint with her hair. The kids like that. One group later discussed the different colors of her hair and laughed. They all painted their spiral in different ways and as they were finished they were able to get a new paper and "free draw".

As they finished, the few closest to me were showing me their work. I'd ask a question and/or comment. I'd ask how they got a certain color, tell them that I see LOTS of colors. One girl painted her spiral with the same colors as her shirt so I pointed out how it matched. I think they enjoyed talking to me because as they finished they kept coming to me showing me their work. I had to start cutting paper to give them new ones of the same size and they were the same size and at this point they were just coming for another paper. I sat for a little while and then it was time to clean up. I helped the kids who were lagging behind to clean up their tables. I didn't do much as there was not much to clean up. The paints were paint cakes and each child had a cup of water with a brush or two.

Soon it was time to go and they lined up and left with their teacher (who was a sub for the day). They were able to take their work with them or leave it behind. Most took it home. Leah complimented one girl and told her how much she loved the painting, "I love it so much I almost stole it from you." After a minute or two the girl gave Leah the painting and said, "It's for you."

Free Jazz in Harlem!

Tina's sculpture sparked memories of that J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere's work and last night her presentation sparked memories of going to Marjorie Eliot's apartment a few months ago. Marjorie Eliot is a jazz pianist that loves to perform for people in her home. She invites other performers and opens her doors to friends and strangers and does not charge a thing. An article in the Daily News quoted her in 2009 saying, "I get more than I give."

A friend brought me up to her apartment for a night of jazz in January or February. At first I couldn't find it and felt annoyed at the out of the way location and the weather. I like jazz, and there is some jazz that I love, but sometimes I have a hard time getting into it. I didn't know what to expect.

When I finally got there, the apartment was packed. There were seats all the way to the front door and I was able to stand right in the entrance way next to the front door. It was uncomfortable. I was late and it was cold and raining. I wanted to go home. I listened to the jazz from the crowded doorway and thought how nice it was that she does this. The break came and I moved closer for the second set. In the room where they were playing, the lights were blue. I was able to sit next to the radiator and sit close to my friends.

When the second set began I was right in front of the jazz players and close to Marjorie. The music filled the room and it sounded great. It was played with passion and love and gave off a very positive energy. They played classics that I knew and a few songs that I didn't know. They came in and out of the during solo parts, taking their performance seriously and adding something playful to it. Everyone who played looked like they were really enjoying themselves. It wasn't about money or about being in a spotlight. It was about the music. It was also about remembering her son, who was a jazz musician. "Marjorie started the concerts in 1994 to honour the memory of her son, Phillip, who died of a kidney infection. She has not missed a weekend since. 'Back then, I just prayed for the doorbell to ring,' she said. 'Please let it ring, it means people want to come. So every time the doorbell rings now, even in the middle, my heart skips a beat.'" - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article408282.ece

The visual culture piece of this experience was the setting combined with the music. The visual aspect of her performance, her home, makes this experience like no other. The crowd is also a variety of ages and ethnicities/races (but primarily black and white). I looked around and the room was still full. There was an older couple in front of me that held hands as the woman looked at the man with a smile and when one of the classics started. I thought it would have been a perfect date for me and my husband, but I have not gone back yet.

At the end of the show she thanked everyone for coming and with sincerity. She acknowledged the Chinese New Year and said a few extra words for MLK's Birthday and the gratitude she has for what followed after his work. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes jazz.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/03/09/2009-03-09_marjorie_eliot_of_washington_heights_hos.html

http://www.harlemonestop.com/organization.php?id=84

A blog about blogs

One of the last movies I watched was Julia and Julia. My husband felt mildly tortured as I watched such a chick flick. As we watched it, it felt so sappy and unrealistic that we both were really surprised when we found out it was a true story. The woman blogged about cooking every recipe in one of Julia Child's most famous recipe books. It had 500 pages in it and she cooked at least one recipe a day. People actually noticed her blog, she got fans, got work as a writer and even had this movie made. I was a little in shock. I wonder how many people have gotten any fame from their blog and I wonder how many people actually make a living off their blog.

I don't think anyone would be interested in reading my blog aside from my professor. I decided to google visual culture blog and the first one that came up is actually posting some really cool things - http://www.oberholtzer-creative.com/visualculture/ - so I'm stealing some of the images for this post. I loved the gory zombie stationary, the organic cheat sheets (would love to keep those in my wallet!) and the drum umbrella, which is a new korean invention. The blog has been created by a design firm, which would explain why the blog is so design focused.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine invited me to a blog party and I actually got to meet a few people who have started blogs that are successful and have followers. The blog party was for two blogs... www.hyperallergic.com/and www.artfagcity.com - the woman who does artfagcity was a friend of my friend and she was sharing the workspace with hyperallergic and the party marked their 6th month anniversary in their office space. (http://hyperallergic.com/5603/launch-party-photos/). They were having video screenings, so I thought I'd be able to count it as an observation for class. However, there wasn't much that inspired a blog except for the conversation.

So, since these are art blogs, there were artists at the party. Although I love fine art, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I kind of agree with Lukova's point of view on the contemporary fine art world. Fine art is often linked to pretension and an over-privileged crowd. I enjoyed the party, my friend's company and her friends as well, but this party fit this idea. At one point in the night, the conversation led to where people were from and there was a self-proclaimed conclusion that the party was filled with over-privileged white kids. It makes sense. Who else can afford a lifestyle like the ones many of these people lead.

When we first got there, my friend found a friend and they started talking. This left me with the friend of a friend and we did not start talking. Another guy came over and his first question to me was "Are you and artist?" My pretension radar went off and I could not help but to answer, "What do you mean by artist? People who make their living off of art can say they are an artist but after then aren't we all artists and aren't children artists?" He just looked at me, so I said, "Are you an artist?" He said, "Yes" and walked away. The friend of a friend and I started talking.

I love art and I think it's great to be an artist, but this privileged, pretentious culture makes me feel punk. I just want to fight it. The only way I'd ever survive within it would be if I was so gifted and talented that I would surpass the bullshit and head right for the top. That life must be amazing. However, I will embrace it all and stay positive.