An Ink Demo

 This is a collaborative piece that Mrs. Smith's class and I made today. I went back to the Felos Art Center in Stoughton to visit Mrs. Smith's class. I went to these art classes all throughout high school. I returned to the class this morning for a demo on ink drawings on canvas. I talked about what I was working on and started working on the canvas above. I showed the class, of 5 students, how I have been working with ink on canvas. Then the students tried it out on this canvas; it became a great class collaboration. They were all really excited to try it. This is a much different then what they had been working on. Below are some photos of the students as they work on their own canvases. 

Studio Progress, 15

Studio Progress, 14

 

Studio Progress, 13

MFA visit, 11/17/11

Artist name: Mark Bradford
Title of Work: Untitled, 2009
Medium: Collaged paper on printed paper
Contents: images of a band, the Rapture; advertisements found on the street

Bradford described his work as "Like those tagged up, repainted, tagged up, sanded, and repainted walls you pass everyday on the street, my process is both reductive and additive." I was attracted to this work because of the layers within this piece. I have been working with layers of text, ink, color, and images. Layers are very important to the process I am working on. I find that my studio practice has been both reductive and additive. I add layers of color, text, or image with other layers; as well adding water to take away from specific areas. I was drawn to this work because of the layers and distortion of text. Bradforad's Untitled piece requires closer attention to fully read what the piece says. I admire this aspect of the piece, because I want my pieces with quotes to have a similar text quality.

Artist name: Vik Muniz

Title of Work: Walt Disney, Pantheon (from Pictures of Ink), 2000

Medium: Silver-dye bleach print

Contents: animator's ink, image of Walt Disney

I was attracted to this work, because Vik Muniz is the artist. I really like some of his other work; specifically the film Wasteland, and the work inspired by that project. 

The main connection I have to this work is the medium of ink. I want to incorporate more portraits into my ink drawings. I like how this piece is a portrait, but the way the ink is applied makes the image look different at different points of view. When you are close to the piece, the portrait seems more distorted. Conceptually, I relate to some of Muniz's other work more. Some of his other projects have more of an awareness based concept. 

I differ from this work, because I have been working with less literal imagery. Most of my work this semester has been more expressive and somewhat abstract. The images are not as obvious as a portrait of someone. 

Studio Progress 12

The death penalty claims innocent lives. Since 1973, 138 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. In the same time period, more than 1,200 people have been executed.

Ink on canvas.

Artist Statement: Tara Donovan

Tara Donovan, "Untitled (Styrofoam Cups)", 2003.

Tara Donovan, "Untitled (Styrofoam Cups)", (detail), 2003.

Tara Donovan's artist’s statement

My investigations into the properties of different media each address a specific trait that is unique to a given mass-produced material. By experimenting with the more phenomenological aspects of a material, my process develops through a kind of dialogue that leads to a specific repetitive action (e.g. stacking, bundling, heaping, etc.) that builds the work. The breadth and diversity of the consumer landscape has expanded to such a degree that the supply of materials that can be adapted to an artistic context seems limitless. The idea that art can be manufactured or that it can radically complicate the standard notions of value attached to mass-produced objects is no longer a point of serious contention in contemporary debates. I think the new fertile territory, for myself at least, encompasses a range of practices that capitalize on the iconic identities of commercial and industrial materials by pressing them further into the realm of abstract seduction. I prefer the phrase "site-responsive" to describe the affiliation of my works to the spaces they inhabit. While this term makes a convenient allusion to the chameleonic visuals I prefer to exploit, it also suggests a dependence on the architectural particulars and lighting conditions of a given space that environmentally impact the growth of my work in terms of scale, direction, and orientation. This reliance on spatial conditions is primarily responsible for forming the understanding of my works as "fields" of visual activity, which have been compared to everything from landscapes to biomorphic forms and even cellular structures.

http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&moduleid=2&profile=people&currentrecord=1&searchdesc=Tara%20Donovan&style=single&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/3854/,/false/,/true

Scott Langley's Death Penalty Photography Documentary Project at BU on November 12

 Death Penalty Photography Documentary Project (post from the faceook page)

The newly printed Troy Davis Execution photo series is heading for its second exhibit this fall - November 4, 5 and 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina. It just wrapped up in Kansas City last weekend. November 12 it will be at Boston University. If you are in the areas of these shows, come check it out. I will be at the NC and Massachusetts showings.

Scott Langley's Death Penalty Photography Documentary Project has been hugely inspirational to me and my work this semester. The photographs from the night of Troy Davis' execution, specifically, are incredibly emotional; all the emotions of that night resurface . I stood in solidarity in Harvard Square during his hearing on Monday and his final execution night on Wednesday. Scott Langley's photos from those nights share with us what was happening in Georgia. I connect these photos to what we had on live stream from Democracy Now on Wednesday, September 21.

http://www.deathpenaltyphoto.org

I will be attending Amnesty's Northeast Regional Conference this weekend. I am greatly looking forward to seeing Scott Langley's photographs and meeting with him on Saturday. I will be co-facilitating an Arts and Activism workshop, on Saturday, with Brendan Shea from the American Repertory Theater. This workshop will be based on Prometheus Bound, how the play relates to current topics, and the expression through the arts. I will also be working with the Action for Afghanistan Kites for Women's Rights. For this action, we are creating designs for kites with messages in support of women's rights in Afghanistan.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/afghanistan/afghanistan-kites-for-women-s-rights

Venerable Tenzin Yignyen and the Tibetan Sand Mandala

 Tuesday, November 2 (day 2)

This is probably one of the favorite events at MassArt. For the past three years, I have seen Tenzin create Tibetan Sand Mandalas in the Brant Gallery. Its a wonderful process and work, and its amazing to think this piece lasts less than one week. 
 
http://www.massart.edu/about_massart/events_calendar.html?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96787779

Studio Progress, 11, quotes

"I stand up for human rights, and for those whose voices are silenced. I shine a light on their story."

"Shine a light."