Exit through the gift shop

Great documentary!! How could anyone who is interested in the arts (myself) have not known about the success of these street artists?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/

Sculpture - Paper Dolls

For my sculpture project I chose to create paper mache dolls. I hope to continue and refine my craft. As for now, these images show 2 of the 5 dolls I made and my statement is as follows:

When I was growing up, it was always cool to be somewhat of a tomboy. Many feminine things were labeled “girlie” and had unspoken connotations of being frivolous, weak and/or annoying. I grew up with a single father and that further enhanced my distance from typical “girlie” things. The only dolls I ever liked were Cabbage Patch Kids and stuffed animals. I think I had 2 Barbie dolls that I never played with. I didn’t know what to do with them. I would have rather played kickball or with shrinky dinks.

As an adult I have more of an affinity towards dolls. I am not interested in dolls for entertainment media or traditional collectible dolls, but I am really drawn to “art dolls”. I particularly like the work of Virginie Ropars, a doll artist in France who went from being a graphic artist to becoming a 3D modeler and illustrator. She shows her work regularly in Europe and America. Dolls are loaded with gender concepts as in the work of Greer Lankton, who was born a man but led his life as a woman and used dolls to express his perceptions of gender in his installation art. Both of these artists have inspired me. (http://vropars.free.fr/ARCHIVESGALLERY_1.htm and http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/morton/morton1-26-07.asp)

This work celebrates the doll and the defining feminine side of women that is different from men and that we should celebrate in this post-modern world that aims for equality. They also represent the dolls I never had.

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."