Coal City Moondog

12/23/12
over Coal City, IL

FOLLOW YOUR HEART signs

these signs/paintings are all over the place. Hobby Lobby is over-run with them (some of the photos below are from Kohl's too). aside from taking what might be genuine comments, in the right context, and presenting them as empty slogans, these wall-hangings become overpowering and demanding when there are more than a few.

zombie temp tats

got these in the mail today - they'll wait in my studio till i return from Chicago with a set of male mannequin legs

hand turkey "Sky Above Clouds"

Georgia O'Keeffe - Sky Above Clouds IV (oil on canvas) 1965

In a recent trip to the Art Institute of Chicago I came across some collages that were created in response to the above O'Keeffe painting, from one of the education programs that are held in the education wing of the museum. I think the collages were made by elementary school students, but I can not be certain. I do know that I have seen these type of projects in many levels, from elementary school to graduate school MFA programs.

student work on view in the education wing of the Art Institute of Chicago

Some might argue that these type of assignments give students agency in and a perspective on what might otherwise be seen as a "weird" or inaccessible painting due to its abstracted approach to representation. I believe the argument is that the students learn something about the work by copying it, thereby embodying the content for themselves. The problems I have with this project (and projects like this) is that rote copying is not based in actual experience and that this type of project is too restrictive to give students freedom to express themselves (AKA, autonomy).

On the idea of experience and translation we should look at what O'Keeffe's painting is. It seems to be a painting of clouds and they sky as they might be seen from an airplane. The extremely large scale of the piece emphasizes the grandiose and overpowering size of the earths atmosphere. The purpose of this painting seems to be an encapsulation of this quasi-transcendent experience of seeing something we see every day (the sky) from a new and surprising perspective. Where O'Keeffe is trying to give her viewers a similar experience the students in the classroom are only making a second-hand representation at best.

This project also restricts the students creative process to only the content in Sky Above Clouds IV. What if a student isn't interested in making a collage of clouds? Also, the students work will ALWAYS be second-rate in comparison to the original. Without even mentioning technical ability and artistic training, the students are working on a much different scale (8" x 10" to O'Keeffe's 96" x 288") and material (construction paper and glue to oil paint on canvas). These two problems lend themselves to student artworks that I call (in a term borrowed from Olivia Gude) "hand-turkeys." This is evidenced by how the students' work above does not show deep or thoughtful variety, similar to the traditional hand-turkeys that follow a prescriptive method which yields slight varieties on a theme. This is a sign that a project was too restrictive and thereby does not give the students, who are all different people with different lives and experiences, enough room to explore their individuality.

A better assignment would start with a class discussion about the painting, how and why she might want to represent such a scene, and what experiences (beautiful scenes / landscapes / etc) the students might want to convey to their viewers. Then the students come back to the studio, brainstorm how their experience(s) might be similar or different from O'Keeffe's, and begin to create pieces where they might use a similar formal strategy (abstract simple forms and colors) as O'Keeffe to portray their personal experience.
Thereby:
* the students learn how to interpret and discuss a piece of contemporary art
* the students take the content they learn from the artwork and discussion, and directly apply that knowledge to their own work
* the students have a personal connection to the work they are creating (autonomy in content)

This is my interpretation as an art educator.
As an artist, these 8" x 10" construction paper collages do bring a nice level of humbleness to O'Keeffe's painting - something that I often appreciate in artworks. So, these collages kinda make me like Sky Above Clouds IV a bit more, but that certainly doesn't make up for the irresponsible project.

Baltimore Police Helicopter Night: Marcus Floyd

Marcus Floyd. We're looking for Marcus Floyd. Marcus Floyd, call home or go home immediately. If you know the whereabouts of Marcus Floyd call 911. We're looking for Marcus Floyd.

-via the police helicopter that is circling Waverly, Pen Lucy, Ednor Gardens, and Original Northwood. 
police sirens in the not so distant distance, NW of us.
12/15/12 1:00am, Baltimore, MD

project notes

i'm about to switch to a new pocket notebook, so i'm writing down some of my most recent project ideas here. feel free to steal them because most of them won't see the light of day.

*****

12/12/12
Spiral
holding my computer in the woods with my webcam on (with a cartoon burning digital frame)
-spinning around (infinite loop)
-"Downward Spiral""  [maybe too NIN]

Deluge (295feet 11inches)
-title for the buoy piece (the part in parenthesis is the exact height above sea level that the installation is - 295ft 11in is my apartment)

 ! [stupid title? or stupid title!]
painted wood or acrylic map of Greenland, mounted to the wall
-museum-like
-with the summer 2012 melt data on it

12/7/12
flag/semaphore/distress signal
-from an Atmosphere (or other) song
-SEND HELP, etc

12/6/12
Cold Nights
flash photograph of a sidewalk monument at night while it's snowing
-snow will be frozen in the photograph like stars
-with people?

12/3/12
flatt/2D wind-chime cut out of wood or metal

11/29/12
recreate the neighborhood sign at Old York and 39th
-class & race assumptions, segregation, security, safety

11/26/12
Folding the Map
ocean video, radio tuned to WWV, ghost summoned by a seance

11/19/12
collage made with odd shapes from cutting a map so that it has no text (context)
-no location, only the signs of location

11/17/12
red-wing blackbird song/call poem
-written out phonetically, then changed through free association (to protection and/or talismen)

9/10/12
window iron decorative security bar(s) with cement base (like what is used for temporary stop signs)

slow onset events

'cause somethings gotta keep me up at night

the light in baltimore is always mediated

a beautiful sunset through my blinds

light reflected off of cars in parked along the street (the red is a reflection from a tail-light)

it seems like my (and our) experience of baltimore so far has been one of loneliness and seclusion. we're in a new place, most of our good friends are really far away, we don't feel completely safe here, work here has been stressful, and the art community doesn't compare to chicago. creatively i am still able to find what i need - i never have really had a problem with that - but here it is more hermetic. these two images are perfect examples of that. here are two beautiful phenomena that are caused by the outside world, but my experience of them is mediated by the one place Allie and i have found some comfort - our house. the work i've been focusing recently refers a lot to this unsettled-ness that i've (we've) been feeling. lots of allusions to security grates, wandering, protection, confusion, and dislocation have been coming up. i know how i work - either i'll work through it or we'll move before i get there. either way this new setting and brain-mode (for lack of better words) has been an ok trip for my studio so far.