VCFA Studio

...graduated!!

2010-08-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

August 7, 2010... graduated from the VCFA MFA program in Visual Arts with classmates who are the best people imaginable.

...starting a new studio journal blog [post-graduation].

http://workinginthedigitaldivide.blogspot.com/

Spaces of Social Lo-fi - Inside/Out at the residency (inside gallery, video surveillance installation)

2010-08-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Spaces of Social Lo-fi - Inside/Out at the residency (outdoor audio installation)

2010-08-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

post cards... & finally a title for the project

2010-07-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

some installation clarity...

2010-05-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

Some great dialogue today, with my artist-teacher, provided some much needed clarity and direction.

For the exterior bench installation, I am going to focus on the installed audio and abandon use of the windows. I feel this is a good decision, as the windows are a distraction from the audio (and the audio experience is the point of this project).

I am very excited about furthering my explorations with audio and collecting more noises.
I already have some very interesting and connective audio "threads" which I am excited about. More posts to come. As always, much more to do.

installation trials

2010-05-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sound is the dominant component of this work. Collected social noises flowing over a public space meant to allow a certain degree of introversion and solitude [bench]. For the past several weeks, I've been performing a certain degree of surveillance... collecting a wide variety of public and social noises from places such as: Mall of America, restaurants, grocery store, and amusement park. I am interested in the way in which individuals interact with one another in various public spaces.

In addition to exploring these various social & public noises, I am also working through various sculptural arrangements for the installation. I've been using a variety of collected windows, playing around with lines of sight, placement, and gesture. There is still something lacking in this arrangement. I'm going to print some imagery on mylar to adhere to some of the window glass. I will also be experimenting with materials to create visual distortion. More work. Much more.

surveillance of a chicago street block- audio_ captured (unedited)

2010-05-02T08:34:00.000-07:00

I am currently collecting surveillance-type noises & video which contain evidences of either mass socialization or operational public interactions between individuals. Through trials and reworkings I am now experimenting with collecting noises and audio which contain evidences of mass socialization from public places. Below is a 16 minute track of collected audio from a linear street block in Chicago. This week I will record various interactive noise from restaurants and a mall. Next week I will record airport noise and applause from a performance.
I will then try out this new audio collection with the park bench installation (at a public site) for documentation and critique.
My hopes are to present passerby's with a multi-layered experience of displacement (socially, bodily, spatially) of sensory input and expectations. Through this use of displaced audio (in conjunction with the park bench) those engaged will need to work to reconcile notions of public and private as well as introverted spaces and spaces of surveillance. The windows set into the ground in front of the bench (at varying positions and degrees) are meant to operate as metaphors of social constructs -- as frames or evidences of architecture, community, industry and civilization (in various states of flux, operation, and existence).

blubs about Bench [exterior/interior] project

2010-04-19T18:18:00.001-07:00

Bench [exterior/interior] is a two part project centered around two site specific architectural fixtures (one inside, one outside) at the Wood Gallery at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Both parts of the work are related in the sense they will both contain at least one window and one bench. In both works the bench operates in a utilitarian manner; as public seating and as positioning mechanism. There is something very public about a bench. No manner where they are installed, people generally feel welcomed to use them. When we sit on benches, we sort of assume their accumulated spaces within our own, creating an instant familiarity which borders on momentary ownership. As passerby's and viewers engage with work (by sitting on the bench), they are presented with multiple rifts with which to seem. The confrontations begin.

The work itself does not rely on the positioning of viewers on benches for operation. What the benches do, is offer viewers alternative experiences to navigate different rifts and antagonisms (for the sake of forming new meanings and associations). As both benches are positioning device within the work, viewers will most likely be looking for visual cues, within their position, as to what they should be looking toward or looking at. For the exterior bench, viewers will look out toward a small gathering of windows coming out of the ground (at varying degrees). The exterior bench will also have a pole mounted speaker set directly behind it, lowly playing sounds of people socializing and laughing in large groups. The windows set into the ground are meant to operate as metaphors of social constructs. Simultaneously, they also operate as metaphors for democracy, industry, and civilization within the displaced setting of sound and exterior public space.

The interior bench will be placed directly in front of one of the gallery's 3 x 20 foot rear-facing windows. Within the window sill will be an etched piece of glass. On the glass will be a projected video of a sequence which illustrates the obscurity of activities which occur within interior spaces. The window in this part of the project works in two ways: as utilitarian framing device (to watch the video), and metaphor for the liminality which exists between culture manifest and culture understood. The video sequence operates as fetishistic documentation of spectatorship as well as trigger in assuming a comfortable distance from culture as spectacle when received through video media.

working plans [bench]

2010-04-14T19:56:00.001-07:00

Below is a rough illustration for the upcoming work I will be setting up in Vermont for my graduate exhibition. The plans include an audio track which will run on a loop through an installed outdoor speaker. The bench is a pre-existing public structure outside of the Wood Gallery.

Below is a very rough version of my audio track. I plan to re-record the train noise as well as the crowded room noise for another version. Click play to hear the work in progress.

Throughout the planning process, many ideas have come and gone. Here is one of my favorite mistakes. It is a gaudy interactive intrusion to a public space - obnoxious yes... but changes public space into spectacle, with complications. Difficult to see from the crude illustration, the bench is upholstered with soft red velvet in the sculptural manner of a large peony - petal like. Underneath the bench are installed bird barbs.

architectural fixtures

2010-03-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

In the everyday grind and grid of cell phones, www, ipod, digital tv, email, facebook, twitter we are connected more than ever, right? - but at what level and what loss? As human beings we work, play, and dwell among one another within physical spaces, some of which are in nature, others constructed to varying degrees via the disciplines and practices of architecture and construction. I like to think of architecture as an artistic practice which places organizational emphases on the meeting of two needs within society; the physical/spacial and utility/function. Both of which are vital to addressing daily needs of being human and possessing a concrete sense of self. To have no understanding of one's physical or spacial is to be purely metaphysical or metacognitive [which is altogether impossible and it denies us of the physical part of ourselves]. This brings me to wonder about societal utility and function. These words are wholly descriptors of physical tasks. Within a building an elevator is constructed and installed to carry the physical self up and down within an elevated structure. A chair is built and made to provide a comfortable seat for a human body. All things considered, our world is full of historical fixtures and practices to support the needs of the physical self. Why then, are we so incredibly addicted to the new virtual realm of digital, simulation, and virtuoso? What is it satiating within us that is worth the denial of our analog selves?

I'm asking myself these questions as an artist because I'm feeling a loss or void of my physical self and all that is grand about the physical world - anything that is still "real". I'm feeling a need to make work which evokes an appreciation for bodily sense of self. An articulated sense of real vs simulation [in compared to... or perhaps within the context of...].

I'm currently working to alter a window and a bench as a way of working out these issues. This work will also be part of my graduating MFA show. Wish me loads [lots of them] of luck. This is a very tall order.

Some highlights from the residency

2010-02-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

Artist in residence lecture by Carlos Motta

http://www.icaphila.org/exhibitions/motta.php
Carlos Motta at ps1 in NY

Guest artist lecture by Lisa Sigal
Lisa Sigal at Whitney Biennal 2008

Faculty workshop (photography and nostalgia) by David Deitcher

Faculty lecture (History of sound art) by Dont Rhine

Faculty lecture by Michael Minneli

Faculty lecture by Mario Ontiveros

Final Semester Begins... graduate show approacheth

2010-02-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

And so it begins... my final semester, graduate show, process paper. During the last residency, we chose our spaces in the gallery for the upcoming graduate show in August. Space was very limited (due to the fact there are 17 of us).

I chose two small spaces; an unusually tall, old, arched window inside the gallery and a bench which sits in front of a walkway and large fountain directly outside of the gallery main entrance.

For this exhibition, I am interested in exploring the social spaces of introversion and what these spaces represent within the social sphere. I plan to create a series of sculptural, installation works which further explores this notion. Recently, I have come to an awareness of my own introversion. Since coming to this awareness I have become consumed by the constructs which make these spaces manifest and how they operate within culture.

My friend David, loaned me an article which highlights the significance of windows in some historical works of art. I am anxious to read this, as I feel that much of the space we create socially has to do with perceptions.

Performativity of the Body; Body Mechanics [Video Studies]

2010-01-12T15:21:00.000-08:00

Swing Arm from Ulik on Vimeo.

Rear View from Ulik on Vimeo.

Birdie from Ulik on Vimeo.

Semester 3 Installation [version 1]

2009-12-28T02:19:00.000-08:00

Revised installation...

stamenesque, sculptural forms of reverie and the process of making

2009-10-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

a>
I am in the process of making several related works, in response to the three Dickinson poems, which explore the role of the bee as performer (and the audience/viewer as bee). I am playing with the idea of scale, making large stamen-like forms which hang from the ceiling. Above are some of the hanging sculptural forms [stamen] I have been working on. I haven't photographed them all together yet, but my intention is for them to hang a few feet apart so that viewers/participants are able to navigate around them. There is still much tailoring (sewing and fitting) to be done to the exteriors. Additionally, I am working on three large drawings of clovers and poppies which will accompany the forms. Below is a sketch of my planned installation.

Reactions to Emily Dickinson

2009-09-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

Dickinson's work appears simple in its everyday context. It is striking for its accessibility and openness, making its relevance uniquely suitable to its reader. I've selected three specific poems to work with. I've selected them based on their connectivity to one another and heavy connections I've formed with them in connection with my own work. So much of her work seems to be heavily grounded in introspection, yet she is so clever and mature in the associations she makes to nature, sexuality, love, sense of self, and the emotional realm. It is this "ownness" that interests me. It is a surety which transcends loss and void and it is remarkable.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

His oriental heresies
Exhilarate the Bee,
And filling all the Earth and Air
With gay apostasy

Fatigued at last, a Clover plain
Allures his jaded eye
That lowly Breast where Butterflies
Have felt it meet to die-

A Bee his burnished Carriage
Drove boldly to a Rose-
Combinedly alighting-
Himself-his Carriage was-
The Rose received his visit
With frank tranquility
Withholding not a Crescent
To his Cupidity-
Their Moment consummated-Remained for him-to flee-
Remained for her-of rapture
But the humility.

some gallery pics

2009-08-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

There are many fantastic works in the student gallery this residency.
Here are just a few...
Scott Cantrell
Dennis Hart
Susan Holt
Kate Renner
Tariq Gibran
Some other residency pics...

Residency Lectures

2009-08-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

Guest artist (and CalArts professor) Shirley Tse, lectured about her body of work and talked about her studio practices and creative processes. It was a profoundly interesting lecture, as Shirley unraveled the deep impact and connection between manufactured materials, globalization, and foreign exchanges. Here is a link to Shirley's website. http://shirleytse.net/

Lecture by guest artist, Mary Lum. Mary talked about her creative processes, involving collecting various things, shooting photos which reveal relationships, and arranging. Here is a link to some of Mary's work. http://www.frederieketaylorgallery.com/2009Jan.html

A fascinating lecture by our artist-in-residence, Leslie Hewitt. Leslie spoke about her work with 3rd cinema, Project Rowhouse, and some of her photographic works, such as her Riffs series. Here is a Whitney Biennial 2008 link showing some of her work. http://www.whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_hewitt

Faculty Contemporary Art Historian and Pomona State (CA) professor, Marie Shurkus lectured on the topics of Relational Aesthetics and Affective Labor. Truly fascinating. This lecture was very profound for me and for that reason. I will be shifting away from feminist studies this semester and toward relational aesthetics and affect. I am interested in exploring how the role of the viewer in art occurs as both performer and audience to produce affect. By doing so, the viewer's body becomes part of the form of the work. To investigate this further I will be extensively studying a specific work by Felix Gonzales-Torres. More to come on this topic... no doubt.

Faculty, artist and CalArts professor, Ashley Hunt walked us through his current video project. It is a project which explores and gives voice to the tragic loss of forgotten prisoners during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. As the video progresses, it becomes apparent that the prisoners were not the only ones forgotten...
Ashley narrated the video in person while sitting at a desk in the front of the room. This "in room" narration was very powerful and added to the meaning of the work. Here is Ashley's website. http://www.ashleyhuntwork.net/

Faculty Art Historian and International School of Photography professor (NY), David Deitcher, lectured on artist/educator Tim Rollins + K.O.S. Here is a Crown Point link to check out more. http://www.crownpoint.com/artists/rollins Here is Tim Rollins website link. http://www.diacenter.org/kos/

opening reception

2009-08-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

Last night was the opening reception of the gallery spaces here at the residency. There are so many intriguing works to see and interact with. This is my first time exhibiting work which falls under the umbrella term of "installation". The video projection is difficult to see in the photograph. It is a projection of combined three sequences and web-appropriated images which run on a loop.
More pics of other works from the gallery coming soon....

20 hours of road with the pink, furry man

2009-07-29T19:55:00.001-07:00

Boxed pink, furry man... heading for 20 hours of road... then installation begins. I tested out the projection. It works... which is always good. more to come.

The Atlantic Highlands One Minute Film Festival 2009

2009-07-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

exécution de baiser, (my performance kiss video) was selected for the Atlantic HIghlands One Minute Film Festival on July 18th in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Visit Film One Fest for more info. To see the video on archive.org click here> http://www.archive.org/details/ExcutionDeBaiser

pink, furry man (and his girl) go on a road trip

2009-07-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today, I brought my installation to the U of M West Bank Arts Gallery (Minneapolis) for a working crit with my mentor, international artist & professor Andrea Stanislav. Andrea's crit was really great. She has phenomenal conceptual insights, technical experience, and contemporary knowledge about art to offer. I have been very fortunate to work with her this semester. Because of it being summer, the gallery in the arts building was empty so I was able to set up my work in there. Many good advantages to setting up work in a gallery-type setting. It allows for the simplicity of the work to be taken in wholly.

Still many last minute technical things to finish up on the pink furry man's casted parts and some video to put together to project. I am looking forward to working on new directions for this project and finishing it up for the showing in Montpelier in August. Andrea and I talked about including some domestic items in the installation (allowing viewers to fully enter into the experience as an environment). I will be including items, making them white in color... creating an emphasis in the two figures and their engaged actions. I will be bringing a 6' x 6' white, shag rug along as part of the installation... as well as a small white table, a white ipod and headphones (for viewing a "gaze" performance video sequence... and listening to a specific playlist of songs), a white pillow or bean bag chair, and a small white, metal vanity. I plan to play with the arrangement of these items when I arrive at the residency. Largely, much will depend on the space I receive in the gallery. The installation will be titled, "My Big, Pink, Furry, Pony" - suggestive of both; typical American girls' toy and female fetish object.

pink, furry... phase one

2009-07-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

I've put together my pink, furry installation figure to check for issues relating to balance, etc. Much more to do....

Casting with Bondo

2009-07-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

After much failure casting with spray foam, I have decided to carve down my foam figure parts and re-cast them inside my molds while casting the parts with Bondo. This has worked much better... although Bondo is quite nasty (toxic) to work with. The only unfortunate issue is the added weight on the figure.... hoping it will not throw off the balance.

modeling the face for the installation figure...

2009-06-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Still much to do in tweaking the face model before mold making and casting. I will be making a two-part plaster mold and using spray-foam to make the casting. Hoping this will work well as I need something lightweight, rigid, fairly durable, and paintable.

... casting with foam has been a bit challenging. The venting in the molds doesn't work as predictably as with metal casting... lots of air bubbles. I'm on my fourth set of castings, in search of better results. Today I tried using Bondo to fill air holes. Tomorrow... sanding begins. More to come....

Learning How to Shoot

2009-06-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Learning How to Shoot, combines tragic news reports [IRIN Radio] with a close up shot of my mouth glutonously eating a banana and nectarine. The main audio was taken from an IRIN Radio interview [2008] with a captured and enslaved Ugandan girl. The interview is overlaid with another less dominant track from today's date from Afghanistan. This is the first version. I'll be shooting other alternate footage clips to go along with the audio... just to see what comes of it. I'm hoping for more thought provoking imagery... as the audio is quite powerful.

Audio is an important component of this video so you may want to adjust the volume on your computer. If you'd like to read more about the Ugandan story visit IRIN Radio: http://www.irinnews.org

Installation figure...

2009-06-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

The figure for my installation, "Subjugated Gaze" is progressing. I am nearly finished with the internal wire frame. Next will be to experiment with foam casts for the hands and face. Then... time to cover the wire structure with the pink faux fur.

Initially, I had cast a masquerade type mask from iron to use with this installation and planned to have a second figure [made from barbed wire]... but now I have decided to keep the installation more simple... less convoluted with diverging concepts. In order to keep my intentions direct, I have decided to include only the male [voyeur] figure engaged in looking at the female, nude intaglio [subject]. My intent is to explore the historic-female subjugated gaze and sort of reenact it through understandings of visual pleasure and how it plays into our identities.

... more to come...

... the actions of identity gestures

2009-06-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Continuing to explore identity / gesture relationships. I am using my macbook pro camera to document typical and random gestures... working to develop a particular type of portraits related to gestural /obscured imagery. I have been using myself as subject for the sake of functional utility and convenience... foregoing the pains of finding willing subjects/models to act out my intended narratives. Hoping to someday try this as a video project. I think it would be interesting to capture the process of identity-related, semantic translation between artist and actor.

documentary photography / drawing... irises... side track

2009-05-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

...charcoal drawings worked up from some of the digital photos.
... a few days ago I gathered some irises to put in a vase. Since then, their figurative forms have haunted my dreams. ... decided to investigate this dream-imagery through documentary photography. A bit of a side track from my current project... oh well.

Construction of the installation figure begins...

2009-05-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

I am creating a wire and aluminum rod armature of the life-sized male figure for my installation. I have been using a fine gauge poultry netting and a variety of thin wires to sew the molded form pieces together. I have aluminum rods which will be inserted into the form grounding its balance in cast cement [inside a pair of men's dress shoes]. The majority of this figure will be covered in long, pink faux fur. I am not yet sure how to present the face and hands. I am thinking about casting them. Also, I have a cast iron mask. Not sure if I will have the figure wearing the mask or holding it in hands. Much to do. More to come...

exécution de baiser [performance kiss]

2009-05-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

This version of exécution de baiser is about 5 minutes. I shot the film very quickly [only one take]. The film sequence documents a performance kiss from an extreme close up perspective. I slowed down the speed to approximately twenty percent of the actual speed of the shot footage.The film was inspired by Yoko Ono's fluxus film "eye blink". It's a silent film showing [close up] the striking of a match in slow motion. it's one of my favorite short films. If you know me, you'll see that I have put my own twist on the concept.

photo booth documentary - alone in chicago

2009-05-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've been using photo booth for photo documentary [in relation to identity-based imagery]. These photos were shot while I was alone in Chicago for a visit to the Video Data Bank. These shots reveal a narrative which I find interesting... especially in relation to other more domestic, identity based shots I've taken while cooking and doing laundry.

more photodocumentary pics

variation and process of installation

2009-05-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

I am working out variations of media, content, and arrangement for my installation. This arrangement would be comprised of three life-sized panels, hung from the ceiling [separated by 1.5" of space] depicting a version of self [self-portrait] engaged in a gaze with a sculptural figure.

The first panel is a large digital negative [printed on mylar] depicting a version of self or self-portrait, the second panel is a series of digital prints of making up the depicted figure. This figure is a digital photo, overlaid with digital imagery [montage]of documentary images [identity-related actions, tasks, and events], the third panel is an intaglio etching of the depicted figure.

All three panels will be hung from the ceiling with approx. 1-2 feet between them. A few feet in front of the panels will a large figure covered in long, pink fur... gazing at the depicted image in front of the display. There may also be a second figure [made of barbed wire], wearing a cast-iron mask.

mask for installation figure

2009-05-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here is how my mask turned out from the iron pour last weekend....still a little more grinding to do to clean up this iron-cast mask. then I'd like to either rust it or apply a patina. more to follow.

Iron Pour today... last aquatint tomorrow

2009-04-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

Today I'm pouring a small two-part sand mold in UW-L's Pele Iron Pour hosted by artist/professor of sculpture, Cam Choy. I made the mold from an eye mask (similar to a lone-ranger mask). The mask will be worn by the life-sized female figure made of barbed wire in upcoming installation.

Tomorrow evening I'll be etching my last aquatinting phase before running all 4 plates as proofs. If all goes well I hope to run a final life-sized print sometime this week.

Behind "the gaze"

2009-04-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

My current project is a life-sized print installation aimed toward exploring "the gaze" and how it relates to identity and visual pleasure. It will be comprised of a simple, life-sized, line etch of an idealized self-portrait, which will be hung on a wall for viewing. In addition to the print, there will be two life-sized figures engaged in looking at the print (as spectators of the image). One of the figures will be male, and covered in long, pink faux-fur. The other figure will be made of barbed wire and will be wearing a cast-iron children's mask (just covering the eyes). The figures will be placed somehow in front of the print, as to convey the act of gazing or connecting with the identity of the print... and not with the human being. Viewers of the installation will be able to interact with the figures as equal participants of the viewing experience; focusing on the etching as the intended receiver of the directed "gaze".

My intent in working on this project is to question a specific form of human identity through an understanding of visual imagery/ visual pleasure. I am particularly interested in "the gaze" and how it works within the realm of instincts (such as ego/narcism and sexuality) to satisfy needs and negate self-perceived deficits. I am further interested in the relationship this phenomenon creates between self and the manners in which we play, relate, and interact with others.

sitting in Chicago...

2009-03-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in Chicago waiting for my appointment at the Video Data Bank... pondering about the issue of Phallocentrism. It keeps coming up in everything I am reading lately [no pun intended]. It seems to me that the manner which phallocentrism is played out in film and in visual art has everything to do with the gender identification of the director, or artist. As viewers, its meaning changes at our acceptance or denial. When "death of the author" occurs [as Bathes puts it]... the viewer is in control of directing the interpreted meaning and experience. Other questions.... is there a female version of this concept?... does it really matter??

finding out Freud is both stunning and lacking...

2009-03-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

more to come on this... I'm right in the thick of reading Freud's "3 essays on sexuality" and 'Instincts and their vicissitudes". There are so many interesting dissections within his writing, yet much is lacking in regard to female sexuality. My thoughts are reeling trying to make sense of it all. Perhaps he should have studied a broader audience of women (not just women diagnosed with forms of hysteria).

some great women to check out (who have worked to question and expand on Freud's writings and this topic about female sexuality) are: Karen Horney, Luce Irigaray, Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman.

Imagery of desire, pleasure... fettishisms

2009-02-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

I'm researching historical imagery relating to desire and pleasure as it relates to identity. Identity is often most understood within the context of relationships. It is an understanding of ones self tied inherently to a type of relational-comparison. For example... one may not truly understand who they are until they are confronted by someone who seems oppositional.

Historically in art, women have been depicted in a fairly typical manner conveying a dialogue within the context of identity and relationships. These relationships of male/female and subject/other have always defined one-another and satisfied certain visual pleasures. I am interested in furthering this language to include fettishisms; playing with new forms of visual pleasure and its inherited language.

semester 2 begins... what are my intentions as an artist?

2009-02-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

... so semester 2 begins and my brain is still reeling from the residency. I have been repeatedly asking myself, "what are my intentions... what is my intent as an artist?" I keep coming back to this exploration of identity aesthetics or rather the pleasure in gaining understanding about one's identity.

It is my intention to question the assumed unconscious actions of our minds and bodies. To question the inner workings of ambivalence within these actions in order to gain pleasure. I am looking at imagery relating to these questions... seeking a range of gestures from ostentatious to demure. How these specific areas of identity relate to one another and particular actions/rituals interests me. They represent a visual language and aesthetic which cannot be communicated by any other means.

My visual culture project [research work] for the semester is based on: Laura Mulvey's, Visual Pleasure; Freud's essays on sexuality and instincts and their vicissitudes; Luce Irigaray's book, The Sex which is not one; Katja Silverman's, Threshold of the Visible World; the film work of Valie Export; and the film work of Martha Rosler. I am also supposed to watch some Hitchcock films and visit the Video Data Bank in Chicago. In conjunction with this research I am revisiting the work of printmakers such as Goya, Kollwitz, Daumier, Whistler, and Lautrec because their imagery speaks to the nature of identity through gesture.

Gallery

2009-02-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

Work is installed in the gallery. Critiques approacheth.

Round 2

2009-01-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

I'm heading off to Vermont for round two of my mfa brawl. This has been a difficult semester for me. I have worked far outside my comfort zone as an artist; attempting fancy footwork... only to find it clumsy--cumbersome. I have had to read, analyze and confront theories and issues loosely tied to my own ideals, but very foreign in subtleties and actualities. This brawl drastically altered my work and has lead my work in very different directions; very reactive... not necessarily aesthetic. This feat has served its purpose, now I'm looking forward to a more intimate acquaintance with my work:)

Lipschtick

2009-01-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

... a short video exploring power and gender identity [based on previous intaglio "make-up" series]

2009-01-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

"Openings" Project

2008-11-30T22:40:00.000-08:00

Openings [titles left to right: Inception, Orifice, & Interstice]

project 1; openings

2008-11-22T15:34:00.000-08:00

I am working on a three print series titled, Openings. This image, Opening #2, is one of the three. The three works will be joined by a large scale sculptural form created from the rusty interior of a box spring. The sculptural form is anemone-like in form...with more abstraction.

...much more aquatinting to do on this plate. There is currently too stark a contrast...making the image too rigid. ...more subtle layers of velvet blacks are needed to make the image more sensual and soft.

Normally, I plan out my plates in great detail from beginning to end... through the use of acting, photography, digital enhancement, drawing, coloring, and much lamenting. With this image...I experimented with the creative process of "play". I let my mind swell on a central concept and worked swiftly with the asphaltum - hoping for a more innate, pure visual expression.

I initially began experimenting with this image in digital photography. Since then, I have been interested in understanding this image through various abstractions and interpretations (drawing, video, intaglio, sculpture).

Re-edited "Anemone" video project

2008-11-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

...re-edited Anemone. Anemone is a two and a half minute video project exploring the concept of victimization. I've shorted the piece...taking out some repetitive visuals, and I've increased and added some additional ones.

Representation Prints; Victimization Project

2008-10-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

These Representation prints are single plate etchings. Each print is meant to represent individuals who have been affected by sexual victimization. After running different versions of the print...I have decided to run them as inkless embossments. I plan to use the prints in an installation about victimization and how it relates to power, gender, and sexuality. In the installation, I will place one hundred of these inkless (embossed) prints on a small table near an old rusty, gnarled bed. Participants will be asked to write any amount of words on the embossed prints in response to their personal experience with sexual victimization. The participants will then be invited to hang the print on the walls surrounding the bed.

...inking studies. I tried various viscosities and intensities of black, browned-blue, and blued-brown. I used burnt plate oil and/or gel to increase viscosity.

Video Project I: "ANEMONE"

2008-10-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

...this video is highly compressed for streaming...so the quality of image and sound has been highly compromised by the compression.

Video Project I: ANEMONE is part of my recent exploration into the realm of victimization. This includes concepts and nuances relating to power relationships, sexuality, memory, and gender identity. Digital media was taken from HD video I shot in preparation for this video and found footage from 1950s archived films. All editing was done using Final Cut Studio and Sound Track Pro. The production of this video has been part of my printmaking and installation processes relating to sexual victimization. The installation will include a rusty bed amongst walls of small embossed/lightly inked sexual part intaglio prints. Visitors will be asked to write words on the prints in relation to their experiences with sexual victimization.

Installation & print_project...photo studies

2008-09-01T15:01:00.001-07:00

I am working on a studio project to learn more about victimization and agency [as it applies to female sexuality & rape]. The project is a combination of installation work, video, and intaglio prints. These are preliminary photos of some of the concepts and materials I will be using in my installation and video. The prints will be a major component to the installation and will emphasize the labor intensive and repetitive processes of printmaking as being vital to human expression and representation.
....more to come.

Visual Culture Project / Studio Work

2008-08-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

...and so it begins [semester 1...otherwise known as S1].

The semester is split into two parts; research [visual culture project], which is doing research, annotations, and analysis and studio work which is not always but can be done in conjunction with the research.

My VC [visual culture project] is centered on the following question...
How has the feminist art movement [1960's-1990's] altered perceptions of power, identity, and gender?
Bibliography for the first mailing includes: Simone de Beauvior, The Second Sex; Broude, Norma & Mary Garrard, The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970's, History, and Impact; Catherine Belsey, Post-Structuralism: A Very Short Introduction.

My studio work will be centered on the following themes: victimization, reclaiming power, maintaining identity. I will be experiementing with video creation as part of my printmaking process. I may incorporate both into an installation work which explores issues relating to vicimization such as rape, and reclaiming ones identity.