Title of Event: Under the Blacklight: Voices Revealed – Danielle Porter
Date & Time of Event: Wednesday April 27, 2022
Location of Event: Holmes Hall
Type of event: Student Art Major Senior Exhibition
Title of Event: Under the Blacklight: Voices Revealed – Danielle Porter
Date & Time of Event: Wednesday April 27, 2022
Location of Event: Holmes Hall
Type of event: Student Art Major Senior Exhibition
Title of Event: Student Art Exhibition Gala
Date & Time of Event: Thursday April 14, 2022
Location of Event: Samek Art Gallery
Type of event: Art Gallery Opening
For this assignment, I watched five videos that culminated in about sixty minutes of watch time. These included: “Kiki Smith: The Fabric Workshop,” Kiki Smith in “Stories,” Damián Ortega in “Mexico City,” “Rashid Johnson Keeps His Cool,” and Theaster Gates in “Chicago.” In both videos about Kiki Smith, she spoke a lot about process more than anything. She really appreciates the time it takes to create her works. She enjoys learning new processes and techniques and appreciates the work it takes to get to the finished product. In the first video, she decides to work with other people to create pieces she imagined but does not have the tools, skills, or time to create. Kiki likes to reuse pieces of works to create new ones; she has papier-mâché sculptures, used to create molds, that she cuts up and reconfigures to make new positions. It would be easier and faster to just make a new one, but she enjoys this process. Damián Ortega also spoke about the use of specific materials in his process. Much of his work has a lot to do with recontextualizing objects. His use of everyday objects allows for him to incorporate cultural significance into his pieces. Even if the materials are not easily seen in the finished piece, they are incorporating the cultural significance they hold. Another interesting aspect of his process is tools; he spoke about the need to sometimes create new tools to accomplish a specific goal. Rashid Johnson speaks a bit on what messages certain materials hold. He has a strong interest in applications of different materials and how they can be applied. His interest stemmed from his initial use of nineteenth century photographing materials, which have such a specific process of chemical and types of paper. Lastly, Theaster Gates deals frequently with the use of found materials. There are many things that people get rid of because they see no more use for them, but he sees how they can be used for a new purpose. When his father, who was a roofer by trade, retried, he inherited all of his father’s tools and old materials. Gates decided to use them to create art and included his father in the process.
Part 1: Choose a Topic
I have decided to focus this project around community ecology.
Part 2: Consider and clarify your topic
Part 3: Borrow a strategy
I intend to borrow the strategy of unconventional materials. Ford has chosen to use materials that look like their normal form but conform to this new shape to communicate a different message. You can tell it is a moose, but the materials are an intriguing choice because they are not supposed to make a moose.
Part 4: Sketches
I watched five interviews of five different contemporary artists: Ai WeiWei in “Change” (17 minutes), Ursula von Rydingsvard in “Ecology” (13 minutes), Mark Dion in “Ecology” (14 minutes), Pepon Osorio in “Place” (12 minutes), and Marela Zacarías’s Great Expectations (7 minutes). Each artist offered different perspectives and processes in creating art. While there can be some overlap in terms of emotional conviction through pieces, each of the artists were unique in their approach to art and their experiences. During Ai WeiWei’s imprisonment, his assistants were interviewed. They spoke of how he works in tandem with everyone on his team. They said his offers them creative freedom and makes a point to work directly with those who work for him. He also allows different types of people from different backgrounds to be involved in his process of creation. Ai WeiWei believes that art is for everyone, and he definitely conveys this in his process. It is also important to note that he conveys political activism through his art because he does not believe in staying quiet. Ursula von Rydingsvard had a very unique approach to her work. She does not believe in prep work when creating her pieces. She does not make realized sketches or models; she jumps right into her vision. Her work is very labor intensive and repetitive. This is very different than how I have been taught to create art my whole life. I felt a connection to Mark Dion because of his love for stuff and things. He often fins his inspiration for a concept through found objects or anything he has bought from a flea market. He incorporates so much history through his pieces. His work reminded me of our mold making project where we found an object and created a story or message through it. The most interesting part from Pepon Osorio’s interview was his idea of visiting artwork. In his work, he often draws form his experiences through life, especially growing up. He remembers when a religious artifact came to his town to visit, which is a common thing for religious relics to visit different places so different people can experience it. He put this concept into his pieces. He would take his piece from one house to another for it to stay with different people. Lastly, Marela Zacarías put a lot of research and prep work behind her pieces. It was a major part of the creation of her artwork. This reminded me of the processes we do in class to create concepts for our work and guide or creation process.
Title of Event: Photography and Video Art in the Internet Age
Date & Time of Event: Wednesday March 23, 2022
Location of Event: Samek Art Gallery
Type of event: Art Gallery
Assignment One:
I have decided to center my shrine on cats. Cats are my favorite animal, well domesticated animal. Beyond that fact, they mean a lot to me within my personal life. I have loved animals since I was a little girl; I would read books and draw pictures of the animals that mesmerized me. Around 6 years old, my family adopted a little black and white kitten, who we named Oreo. We picked him up behind a gas station; from the moment is first I held him; my life changed. Cats became my number one. Over the years, I built a deep connection with my little friend, who ultimately became not so little. About six years later, I adopted two more cats; they were brothers from a local rescue. Ozzy and Jif also became my best friends. I spent every moment at home with my little babies. The love that I felt for them cannot not be described. When I was 16, Oreo passed away. The pain and grief I. experienced was unimaginable; I had lost my best friend. I basically worshipped the little man, so his death was life changing. I think that moment solidified my connection with cats. Since then, I have adopted two more rescue kitties, both little girls. First, I adopted Mika, who I believe led me through some of the darkest periods of my life so far. She became an idol to me. Later, my family adopted Elsa, our little tripod kitty. Caring for her has been one of the happiest experiences for everyone in my family. My connection to cats has only strengthened over the years, so I believe there is no better choice for this project than to center my shrine around them. I want to connect my shrine to religious iconography because my relationship to cats seems like I worship them. I think I want to try to communicate my feelings toward cats to the audience; I want to show the importance of such relationships.
Assignment 2:
Assignment Three:
I am drawing my inspiration from pocket shrines. I liked the idea of this design because it conveys the need to worship in times of need. It reminds me of how I feel the need to be with my cates when I am feeling down. These shrines often include an iconographic image, something similar to a rosary, tiny amounts of holy water, and other small significant objects. I want to twist these objects to fit into things cats like; for the image, I want to create a holy image of a cat.
Assignment 4:
Part 1: Writing Assignment
I chose a set of three objects for this project. They are three pigs about six inches tall and 3 inches wide. They are made of a very weird plaster type material. Each pig has been assigned a position— one has its hands covering its mouth, another has its hands covering its eyes, and the last one is supposed to be covering its ears, but instead it was a duplicate, so I altered it to have no arms. These little pigs are denoting the concept of see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil. This concept is usually shown through monkeys— the three wise monkeys. Typically, this means that you should avoid sin. The pigs, to me, carry connotations of the meat industry and poor treatment of animals. I find the objects weird because they are cute and happy yet showing such serious connotations about sin. I plan to connect the idea surrounding ignoring sinful things to the horrors of the meat industry. I want to juxtapose the cutesy nature of these little pigs with disgusting hanging meats.
Part 2: Collage Assignment
Part 3: Sketch Assignment