TIM BURTON - MUSEUM OBSERVATION*

This must be one of the most crowded exhibitions in history! I went to the museum in the beginning of January for a film and didn't even think to check out this show then because the museum was such a madhouse. This time I made sure to go during the day on a Thursday. Perhaps it was spring break, but I'm not sure. The rest of the museum wasn't as crowded as the Tim Burton show, and when I went inside it was completely justified.

Outside the exhibit there is a wall that documents Tim Burton's milestone accomplishment and they can fill the wall. Inside, you can see so many of his sketches, drawings and paintings. There were sculptures, props and fashion displayed as well. Of course, there was video too. There is just about every visual art medium exhibited. His work is completely mind blowing and I really loved the show.

The sculptures were my favorite and I was so impressed to see the credit given to the artist who created them. Of course, at this point in his career, Tim Burton cannot be creating everything he does and it's impressive if he's still doing a decent amount of it. Anyway, these sculptures were mostly made out of Sculpey, which surprised me. I normally think of small sculptures when I think of Sculpey, but these were pretty big. They were all in his usual style of fantasy creatures. There was one wooden house with a window that you could bend down and look in to see one of his human-like creatures next to a Christmas tree with a bright red light. It had that touch of goth that his art usually possesses.

I thought about how often very successful contemporary artists often show work in more than one medium. Saturday night I went to see an aerialist performance. It was the dj, the aerial performance and the costume design that came together to create the experience. All elements were equally important. My last post talked about Siouxsie Sioux and referenced Lady Gaga. Musicians that use visuals to enhance their concerts really seem to stand out. Fischerspooner is another example of musicians using visual performance art as part of their work. I guess this is natural in film. In film, there needs to be attention paid to fashion, dialogue, sound and image manipulation. Tim Burton has really perfected the art he creates and can communicate his ideas in a variety of media consistently.

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - CHILD OBSERVATION**

The first thing that I noticed when I walked into the Museum of Natural History on a weekday afternoon, was that the whole building felt like it was filled with young students. The younger the students are the more close the group is in physical proximity. The youngest children have partners with whom they hold hands with while walking in a line, usually guided by two or three adults, one in the back and one in the front. The older elementary school children still form a double line, walking around the museum, but it seems a little looser. A few girls stopped to look at some animals as one said, "Eww! It looks real!" and then an adult in the back of the line reminded them they needed to keep moving. The teenagers seem to form their own smaller and are even more loosely organized. They're conversations are louder and there were even a few girls skipping in a line through the photography exhibit depicting Aztec culture in Peru. The adults that escort the older students are not always easily found.

The youngest children seemed to be most easily amused and the older children seemed to notice that some things caught there attention more than others. All the students seemed happy to be there and seemed to be enjoying themselves. I observed the children in the photography exibit as well as in various animal exhibits. There was a group of children waiting to see the butterfly exhibit, but I did not go inside.

There were almost no groups of children going to the Silk Road exhibit. This exhibit told the story of the history of silk and showed how it is made. There were even live silkworms on display. A group of girls with burkas escorted by a few adults were outside this exhibit, but none inside. Inside I was able to observe three girls with their mother. They were of different ages ranging from about 5 or 6 to about 13 or 14. They were all very interested to learn and read about the exhibition. They discussed what they saw as they walked through it and asked their mother questions. It seemed as thought the individual attention of the small group and the family connections inspired an interest to gain deeper knowledge of what they were looking at. It made me think of how important context is. I would love to have taken a group to visit this exhibit during a study on textile design and thought about ways to build up context and relate it to studio skills. I also thought about how important the relationship between people involved in studying is.

YouTube - Souxsie!

I could easily say that Siouxsie and the Banshees is my favorite band and has been since I first heard them when I was a teenager. I recently looked at her videos and interviews on YouTube. I am just as fascinated by all of it as I would have been if YouTube existed when I first heard them. After collecting all of her music and listening to it for years, I can easily sing along as I click on each video, including a few videos I knew and a few I didn't know from the late 70's when she was more punk than goth. I was able to find two interviews that took place in America, one was 8 minutes and the other was 2. I missed those ten minutes of television when they aired. Through the interviews I can better grasp Siouxsie as British pop as well as American underground goth. It's really amazing how many videos she did and how many of her concerts were filmed. Without YouTube I would not have access to these clips.

Siouxsie Sioux is known to be the "Goddess of Punk" and the pioneer of goth. She could easily be classified as a leader of feminism as well. She transformed the conventional feminine beauty of blonde hair and smiles into something darker, cooler, more intelligent and stronger. She was heavily involved in fashion and the visual aspect of art. She challenged female sexuality by portraying her sexuality abiding by her own rules, similar to Madonna in that way (not as raunchy though). She incorporates aspects of global culture in her work by commenting on Israel and Hong Kong in her songs, having one CD called Juju, a West African word for supernatural object (derived from the French word joujou meaning toy), as well as naming herself after a Native American tribe. You could even say her make-up resembles iconic images of Cleopatra and, in one of her interviews, she explains the Flamenco influence incorporated in the music of The Creatures (a side project with the bassist and her husband, Budgie).

Her influence carries on today and it's the element of Siouxsie, or punk, that I saw in Lady Gaga that inspired my first post. I think many critiques would gasp that I would even suggest such a thing. Lady Gaga is often criticized for not doing anything innovative even though she is looked upon as an artistic pop star. I see why they say that. However, I don't think any musical artist can compare to Siouxsie. She really had an insatiable energy and almost magical creative stamina that carried her through the past 30 years. I can spend hours clicking around YouTube to see her live performances, array of music videos and interviews. There is such a variety posted on YouTube; it's hard to choose what to post here.

An old concert clip -

(Yes that is Robert Smith from The Cure on guitar - he filled in for a year or so when they had problems with getting a stable guitarist)

A French Christmas Carol -

"In November 2006, within a year of its launch, YouTube was purchased by Google Inc. in one of the most talked-about acquisitions to date."

AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW OBSERVATION*

The Association for International Photography Art Dealers had its annual show last weekend at the Armory located in Manhattan's Upper East Side. I originally thought it was purely an exhibition and then I realized that it an exhibition specifically geared towards dealers. There weren't any under $1,000 except for a few small prints on tables, that went as low as $700, sold in a matte. I didn't think that photographs were worth so much and I began to fantasize about life as a photographer.

Photography may be my most favorite medium. I do not agree with people who question photography as an art form. Painting is expected to alter the reality of perception, but photography is often assumed to capture the real thing. Two people who photograph the same thing easily produce different photographs. Photography is an expression of one's point of view, if nothing else. However, photography can elicit emotions in people to the same extent as other mediums.

My favorite work at the AIPAD show was by Kendall Messick. He was there so I was able to speak to him. He said that he went to SVA and then ICP, two of the top schools for photography in NYC. The work he was displaying showed his house after it burned down. At first, all I noticed were the textures. I love visual texture and he did such a great job capturing them. His work was flawlessly printed with vivid contrasted colors in framed squares. I fell in love. It's obvious that his house burned down was not as romantic as he depicted it. Some of his images are below:

I also attended a panel discussion featuring some of the members of the Photo League (http://www.moma.org/collection/details.php?theme_id=10464) and learned that the photo league members were the first group of photographers known for social documentary. The Photo League eventually closed due to the Communist scare and rise of Marxism in America. It goes to show how impressive photography, and art, can be and how much of an impact it can make on people. One of the photographers, Arthur Leizpig, laughed about how little he sold some of his work for. He said that he was looking at some vintage photography in the show and one piece was 300,000 dollars. Then he turned it over and on the back it showed that it was originally 10 dollars. Below is some of are two of his well known photographs.

It's interesting to see the two different styles, depicting two different time periods, two different points of view; yet, both are documenting life in the New York, New Jersey area.

Teenage Girls Explore Their Lives Through a Camera’s Eye - NY Times Article

I love the idea of giving students a camera to photograph their lives. It's great to see that the photographs of a group of teenagers were recognized in the New York Times and displayed in the Studio Museum in Harlem. The group was comprised of high school girls who were assigned to photograph their life as a part of their involvement with the photography program at the Studio Museum in Harlem. The expression of their lives gives valuable insight into the city we all live in and I think many adults in this city, especially those who are not in the field of education, often overlook.

This article makes me wonder if photography is a medium that surpasses obstacles teenagers face with expression in other mediums and let these teenagers express themselves with a camera the way a six year-old would with painting. I love the freedom that little kids have when they paint. Six year olds enjoy paint with little inhibitions. As children get older, if they do not have consecutive arts education, they usually do not continue to develop their skills and become self-conscious and inhibited. However, the images and the expression of these teenagers feel freely expressed. It would be interesting to learn more about the education program at the Studio Museum in Harlem to see what type of instruction and direction these girls received and in what social context.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/arts/artsspecial/18STUDIO.html

HIGH SCHOOL HANG OUT - TEENAGE OBSERVATION**

Today, there were some high school students hanging outside the school for a little while. This is unusual because, as I posted earlier, they are usually chased away by the police officer(s) who works at the school. Today I as able to observe about 7 male students relaxing in the gorgeous spring weather. They were all black or hispanic. One boy came later, who could pass for white, and was teased with the name "gringo" before he chased one of the boys away from the group.

They talked quietly among themselves about someone named Pedro and other things going on in their life. One sat on a parked car and a few leaned on a parked car and a few were standing. They also had a few basketballs so they were bouncing them and started bouncing them together a little bit before they were told to leave. Two police officer/security guard soon came and told them that they had to leave. One said that he was waiting for his mother, but his comment was ignored as if it wasn't true. She repeated, "You can't stay over here." The police officers stayed after the boys left told others to keep walking. I soon heard the male police officer yell again, "You have to get out of here." The female officer said, "Common' let's go" after another minute or two passed.

Observing those boys made me think of what it was like to be in high school when we were able to sit outside with a large group of people the same age and just talk. I did that so much when I was their age that, as an adult, I often wish I was doing something more productive. Looking at them today made me appreciate that experience and think about how rare it is that we do that as adults. I guess we may plan to meet a group at the park or barbeque in summertime, or inside in a nightclub, but it's planned. It's never spontaneous like that because we don't have the time. When we do have the time our friends may not.

I wonder if adults working with kids often come across as not understanding the value of such interactions because us adults have an agenda and are getting paid to educate, not to foster hanging out, or chillin'. I guess as a teacher, you try to incorporate this bonding experience in various ways, such as school trips and group work. Research says that the arts also support positive socialization and I think art class is often an outlet for students to continue creating the bonds having positive social experiences.

RENAISSANCE CHARTER SCHOOL - CHILDREN OBSERVATION**

My observations with DreamYard, an arts organization that is a client at work, include the Bronx Arts Learning Community (BALC) Festivals. These are works that are exhibited by teaching artists, art teachers and their students. The art, whether it be visual arts, music, dance or theater, is at a level where you can notice the work behind the final product. There may be a choreographed African dance performance where a narrator explains the origins of the dance or maybe a chorus mimicking Broadway hits in a way that is very impressive.

Last year I also observed school-based arts programs throughout the city for the NYC DOE in an investigation to gain more clarity on their annual arts survey. There was one junior high school in particular that was just mind blowing. Their arts instruction enabled students to get an early preparation for a professional life in the arts if they choose. I remember sitting for a practice dance performance that felt professional. Many of the children were only getting instruction from school, but it felt like they were all dancing it since they were toddlers.

Last night I went to see The Renaissance Charter School's (TRCS)talent show. The Renaissance Charter school has a very good reputation, but not because of it's arts programming. I'm not sure about the music program, but the visual arts program consists of one art teacher for 12 grades. Although I remind myself that I went to see a talent show that was put on by the social worker in which the students created the show, it was interesting to see the difference between this show and the shows that I have seen as a result of arts education.

TRCS is located in Jackson Heights, Queens, and the student population reflects the diversity of the borough. There is a criticism of charter schools in which they say that public schools show a decrease in motivated students because charter schools attract the most motivated students. I think this must be true for TRCS. There was an aura of motivation the auditorium. There was a great turnout with support in the form of audience engagement, cameras and video cameras. Performers were confident and praised by adults when they got off the stage. All members of the audience showed respect and all students in the room seemed well taken care of.

The students the performed at TRCS really did exhibit great talent, however, the production was lacking. Except for the two dance performances, there was almost no attention to the visual aspect of the performances. Most children who performed sang, two played the piano, there were also two dance performances. There was no theater or visual arts work. The music was almost all pop music. One piano player played classical and one dance performance was to dancehall reggae, but the rest included pop music such as current top 40 hits, Michael Jackson's Billy Jean and Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly. Overall, the talent show was a great success for those who put it together and the audience who went to see their loved ones perform.