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Time is up my dear printmakers.....

Blog #2- Jody Servon

For this blog assignment, I choose to write about the new gallery exhibition at Haas. The current artist showing work is Jody Servon. Her exhibition consists of a series of photographs that are displayed around the room. Each photo is of an object that someone had save from a deceased loved one. All are photographed with the same stark white background, that seems to make pieces almost 3-d even though they are photographed. In this way, each piece is tied together even if the objects are very different from one another.

It is hard to pick just one piece from the installation to talk about. They all seem to be linked together. Although each are important together, the added poetry effect brings life to each individual piece. One piece that really caught my eye, was a photo of a fake leg. This one, like the rest is photographed with the same pure white background, but it stands out to me, because it seems way creepier then the rest of the objects. Also, the way the leg is positioned, makes it seem to have something more interesting to tell then some of the other photos.

The meaning behind the piece, is the same as the rest. It is about the objects we keep from deceased love ones. It's about memory, and how certain objects can trigger certain feelings and emotions. It's also just about stuff. We all accumulate stuff, and we all die, so why hold onto objects? I believe it's all about the human emotion that goes into the pieces. This is represented by the poetry written about the pieces. On their own, the images just seem like stuff. With the poetry, they seem to come alive, and hold a greater meaning.

Sorry I did not get a picture of the piece.

TidBit of FYI

Ok sooo I put space to make "3" paragraphs but it didn't post like that...anywho, there's 3 there.

Jessica Chappell Assignment 2

The ArtWalk-In was a total success! It felt wonderful to be apart of something so important to the people in this area and their art. Bloomsburg needs this. From growing up in the area, art isn't exactly the choice career path for the "workin' man". People can be very close-minded and naive in thinking art is just for fun, a childhood hobby, and then you grow up and get a real job. Well I say poop on that! There were arts of all sorts: huge wall hangings, jewelry, pottery, printmaking, blue grass music, balloons, and lots and lots of food! It really touched me that so many local restaurants and establishments donated food to the event. Usually, in today's society, you have to pull an arm and a leg to get anything for free, and the fact that they graciously donated time and delicious treats is greatly appreciated. I think my favorite part of ArtWalk-In was, and don't take this the wrong way (because I loved everything and I love seeing what's going on locally in the art world-perfect place for that), was the room where the kids could draw and paint. To me, I saw the Moose Exchange really making a difference; really utilizing what they have been given, and sharing the opportunity with the community. Inviting people back, in a small way. My friend Eric sat in their the whole time with a 4/5 year old boy...he's 32. : )

The bowling pin installation was great! I'm not going to lie, its not at all what I was expecting when I first heard they were doing it. I saw this huge conglomerate piece of funky pins and I don't know, stuff. Any who, it turned out super duper. Some of the work was crazy, all the tiny intricate pieces of cardboard used to frame the "pin". My friend Ralph went on the opposite spectrum of that and used huge pieces of cardboard to create a hollow space in the center to resemble the bowling pin. Yes! Everyone worked really hard and when put in that environment of an actual bowling alley; a bowling alley deprived of life for a number of years, and brought back to life through art, pretty cool stuff man!

I interviewed Keith and Nemi, Ink Finger minus Mike (couldn't seem to locate him). Material-wise they, "...use stuff, everything; little bit of this, little bit of that." Definitely collaborative group work to make their pieces. No soul responsibility in creation. They work wherever, anywhere and everywhere. These guys are inspiring, there's noo doot aboot it (Canadian style). Ey? Art is a lifestyle, their lifestyle without a doubt. They walk it, eat it, breath it. They work all the time, they work hard. It's exciting because I think they're going to make it, ya know. Whatever "making it" means, but I think they have a shot of becoming genuinely known for their art. Props to them; word up homie G.

I was very shocked when I went to the Art Walk-In. I wasn't expecting it at all to be in as big as a space that it was. I thought it would be one floor with just a few pieces so I was really taken aback when I saw everything on all the different floors. I thought it was really cool having live people play while everyone walked around and looked at the art, it made everything feel more comortable and you could really talk to the artists and people around you. Whenever I think of an art gallery for some reason I think you have to be proper and quite but this experience totally through that out the window.

The installation in the basement was awesome. At first I didn't even see the pieces, I really thought there was free bowling. Once I saw all the pieces themselves though I realized what it actually was. I enjoyed how everyone had such drastic differences in their specific piece, but as a whole the installation came together really well. I especially liked how a couple of them seemed to be made out of cardboard. It was really cool to see how they transformed something so rugged and straight into a bowling pin, which is much more smooth and curved.

During my time at the walk-in I spoke with a man named Larry Ney. Most of his pieces were different paintings dealing with floral images and landscapes. I asked him how he gets his ideas and he said he'll usually pick if he's going to make a floral image or a landscape but from there he'll just start marking around the canvas with a certain color and eventually branch off. The amazing thing was he said he never went to school or had any educational background dealing with art, he just liked it and kept with it. His pieces were really painted well for not having any artistic background. All in all I was really happy with my time at the art walk.

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my dear students, time is up.

Rachael Graham: Blogging Assignment 1: Kim Banister

Kim Banisters exhibit was the first gallery visit I was actually, honestly fully interested in. Banister's pieces were just visually appealing to me because of the major drawing aspects involved in every piece - I thought that the figure drawing was perfected, not in an accuracy sense, but in the sense of an emotion felt by the viewer. I have always loved drawing over any other media/technique in the art world - Therefore, I was naturally drawn to Banister's work. Also, I was initially and totally perplexed at the dripping-like color effect in each piece - Before the gallery visit, I had seen a poster for the exhibit, showing the lone woman resting her head on her knee, with a red, dripping pigment, concentrated in areas which made me think of a kind of darker theme - but as I got to view and take in the other pieces, such as the two people who are wrapped up together in some way, made me think that there was a lighter mood to all of the pieces and kind of just made me feel that she was trying to capture and play with the beauty and rawness of figure drawing.

My favorite piece, or pieces, were of the (seemingly) man and woman intertwined - These pieces just kind reminded me of love, no matter how cheesy it seems - Just the way that
the figures were drawn together so smoothly and the warmness of the colors used in the drippings gave me a warm feeling - It was just, one of those drawings, because of its smoothness and coloring, and arrangement, with line and the composition, which evoke an emotion, which was definitely of the warmer/happier emotions upon viewing the piece, such as the emotion felt when receiving a hug, or becoming happily content.

Sitting through Banister's lecture was intriguing - in a way that I found that the works that were in the gallery were so experimentally involved - In my own head, before the lecture, I was thinking that there was going to be a huge amount of depth to the nudeness of the figures, the color red used in the piece that was on the postcard, etc. Kim Banister clearly stated otherwise - In these pieces, she was experimenting with just the beauty of the "rawness" of drawing the nude figure and what you can make of it - Also, she was experimenting with linseed oil and types of transferring for the dripping color which appeared in each piece - This was amazing to me - Banister had just clearly explained, and amazingly demonstrated through her exhibit, that experimentation is in fact, so crucial in the art world. Banister explained that she had started working with figures and figures in the nude some years ago and experimenting to just see what she could do - Experimenting and just letting yourself go at your art in a free-flowing way is always something I have wanted to do and am trying to work towards - Just seeing beauty in Banister's pieces in the gallery and how much it coordinated with her lecture about the importance of experimentation and practice inspired me so much more to work at being open and experimental with my art, and realizing that so much practice and an open, free mind is very important in making art and making something of yourself, was amazing.

Becca Vernon: Assignment 1

Kim Banister's exhibition in the Haas Gallery this part week had a great impact on me. I really enjoyed the processes she used overall. The way the artwork was setup around the gallery worked nicely. I didn't feel rushed to go to the next piece or pulled to stay at one too much longer than another. I think that was mostly because the works were all generally the same size with similar hues. Overall, the exhibition was cohesive and I don't think I would have set it up much differently had it been my artwork.

Contemplation 2 was one of Kim Banister's pieces that featured a woman. She has her arms wrapped around one leg, and is sitting on the other. It appears that she's naked as well. When I first saw this piece, I thought she used some kind of watercolor, but later learned she used a process that involved colored dust and a kind of oil. This process really has me interested. I think the colors Banister uses flow extremely well together. She uses variations of reds and blues in this particular piece but some element of the color makes them soften and muted enough that they work very well. The thin lines of her body add movement to the piece as well.

I very much enjoyed Banister's lecture to us. I think that her work does communicate what she wants as far as the processes and how she described how she works. One big thing I really too away from the lecture was when she said that we, as artists need to stop thinking about what we want to do so much and just do it and let what's going to happen, happen. I think that directly applies to how I begin my pieces and I think that will be a great help. The most interesting thing I found in her work was her way of actually making the art. I found the processes to be much more intriguing than the actual works that were hanging, and I think that was a lot of her point she was trying to make.

Assignment 1

This show was Evolving by Kim Banister. The show itself was very cohesive, since it included works all done in the same style: figures, created with mixed media, including charcoals, various pigments, and linseed oil. I feel that the pieces were all interesting to look at, and I found myself staring at them for a long time to take in all of the drips and the line quality of the charcoal. I was surprised that all the pieces were so similar, because the last few shows I saw here consisted of varied works by the artist. I think doing a show in this way could be boring, but that it succeeded in this instance. I think I was able to appreciate the subject matter and process more because I was surrounded by it.

I chose to focus on Reclining Female Figure:

This piece was an orangey/brown, rusty, burnt color, had charcoal outlines for the figure, and dripping, just like all of the pieces (except certain ones that were more red and blue). I could not figure out what materials were used, as they were only labeled "mixed media", but the artist statement clears this up a bit. This technique is accomplished by drawing with charcoal (attached to a stick, to allow a full view of the piece from farther away), then linseed oil is splashed to dissolve the image away somewhat. Various pigments are thrown on, along with more charcoal drawing until the piece is finished.

Unfortunately, I missed the artist lecture, so I did not get a chance to hear her describe her work in person. My own uninformed reaction was that the pieces seemed very sad. The figures were thoughtful looking, and the dripping quality made it seem as though the pieces themselves were crying. I was drawn to the above piece because, whether the artist intended it or not, I felt very thoughtful while viewing all of the pieces. I also felt that many of the subjects within the pieces were thoughtful as well. I think this piece captured that feeling the most efficiently, because the figure is alone, and could easily be staring off into space and lost in thought. It also seemed sad because she seems to be holding herself, and the dripping quality evokes sadness as well. As for the title of the show, I could not figure out how evolving related to these pieces. My interpretation was that it was maybe an evolution of self, of the artist or subject changing through life. Upon reading the artist statement, it becomes clear that the evolving refers to the drawing process itself. Using linseed oil she allows the charcoals and pigments to crawl down the page, and it keeps changing and altering, both through her actions and the materials' independent movement. In this way, Evolving makes perfect sense.