Response to Lecture(Candy Depew)

Some people were unimpressed with Candy Depew.  Some thought she wasn't talking about studios at all, but instead they thought all she did was talk about herself and all this cool stuff she did.  Well thats bullshit.  She talked about so many different ways in which one can use a studio.  She showed us a lot of her work, I think because she wanted to give us a sense of what can be done in a studio.  She discussed residencies a lot which was awesome.  All artists need to know about that, because that is a whole different kind of studio.  She also discussed the networking aspect of being an artist and residencies.  It was similar to what the guy with the mohawk was saying about your network being another layer of your studio.  I found her work REALLY interesting and kind of a breath of fresh air.  Also her information about working as an artist was very valuable.

Text Drawing Assignment

This assignment was to make three different drawings using only text. One representational, one abstract, and one expressive. I had a very difficult time because I'ver never used Illustrator before.

Peter Hanley

Peter Hanley seemed like a very interesting fellow, although his presentation was a big abstract and sometimes hard to follow. His overall message was quite compelling, in that his idea was that your "head" is your first studio. I agree with this notion. He is a multi-talented artist, representing mostly the computer aspect of his art. He focused a great deal on networking, which he spoke of as a layer of a persons studio, along with their head. Layers of life are layers of ones studio according to him, and I like the idea of this also.

Response to TED Video

In response to the TED video that we watched in class, I loved everything that guy was saying. He was right on point about technology and young people. The only disagreement I have with him is when he spoke about the remixing and recreation of already created sources. I think there are a lot of amazing things out there that have been directly inspired, influenced and even sampled from other sources. However, in my book there comes a point where someone is skipping the first step, which is the initial light bulb. The glimmer of original creation. Some people solely base their creative endeavors on things that have already been produced, creatively, and even things that have already had their hay day and seen the limelight. There is SO much new technology and media today that it is hard to one to think for oneself. It is a world that soaks up so much creativity, yet is not re-creating it's own.

Response to Bauhaus Lecture

The presentation given by Pr. Glahn about the Bauhaus was supremely interesting. The idea of breaking away from the traditional school of art at that time must have seemed absurd! I've always been more interested in creating accessible art, so that people who may not generally be able to enjoy it, might be able to recognize that they are enjoying it. This might not be quite on topic, but I truly appreciate the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia for this reason. The more and more I explore some of the city's less favorable neighborhoods, I continue to find these huge murals painted on the sides of buildings. Maybe the people in these neighborhoods can't afford to go to the art museum, or maybe they aren't taught to think about art. They may not even know what First Friday is, but if there is a huge painting in their neighborhood, at least one person is bound to look up and admire a piece of art. That is accessibility. Back to Bauhaus. I also love the idea of functional art, to an extent. When it becomes mass produced then it is no longer as interesting because it becomes the norm. I think a piece of art should be one of a kind, or very rare, which is something the Pr. Glahn talked about.

A phew phun philly phinds.

Washington D.C. and Week One in Philly

The weekend before school started, my friends and I took a day trip to Washington D.C. to see the Allen Ginsberg exhibition. We found out there was a massive rally being put on that day at teh reflection pond. As we pulled into town, we just happened to find ourselves driving one street parallel with the counter march. We went to the National Gallery, saw the wonderful photographs taken by Ginsberg, depicting personal and frozen moments with such geniuses as William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso and so many more. We decided that since we were in the nations capitol, we would stick around and be straightup tourists. So we did the whole drive by the capitol building, stare at the White House in hopes of an Obama sighting, pretend to stroke the Washington Monument, take pictures of it reflecting off the pond, blabla bla bla. It was good for me, I hadn't been there and done the tourist thing since I was a kid. One of our mates had a killer toothache which climaxed in hell one our way home. We had to stop at a random dive bar off the highway so he could take a shot of whiskey. I don't think it helped.