Community Arts and CAPE

The first article on Community Arts caught my eye. Jean had told us recently about her work with prisoners, so I was drawn to the book "By Heart". When I read the excerpt, I was first floored by the vivid language and wanted my lit review to sound like that. Thinking about my lit review, I began to wonder why the use of words makes me so nervous. Sometimes writing almost seems like a punishment, but really, words are a kind of power. They let us better recognize nuances in how we see the world and communicate those to other people. Maybe I should resent writing assignments a little less. I hope I can acquire a love for writing and words like this. I mean sometimes when I write it works out, but it's usually a happy accident that I'm not sure how to replicate.

How is SAIC affiliated with CAPE? it sounds like we totally stole their philosophy on teaching...

OH DEER!

please use this space to let me know how you think the two Bambi's got to the 7th floor?

Collaborative Project Seeks Participation

somewhere in the 7th floor lounge.

AREA Chicago, Chicago Art Dept, and Stockyard

AREA Chicago is awesome! All free, all published online. I do wish there were PDF's. I'm not sure how to cite these things in APA format and I wanna use some of it! If you have any ideas, let me know. I can do periodicals, and websites, and web articles, but what exactly is this?

Chicago Art Dept. The videos bother me a bit. Mostly because my computer isn't really capable of playing videos anymore. If there were a nursing home for computers, she might hafta go, but it still functions for the basics, so I can't see buying a new one...Kinda like I can't figure out WHY a functional refrigerator would be headed to the dump in the first place, but way to go project Re-Fridge for being logical about the situation.

Stockyard reminded me of a super upscale and professional version of a project I worked on in PGH. Ours was through a class, but it was called Tent Show at the time. I think it morphed into Waffle Shop. They aren't one and the same, but the same artist/prof was involved with both. I don't know if he's still involved or if it's pretty much student run now, but it was an initiative to make our "art in context" classes actually happen in context. The semester I was involved, we opened an at-cost coffee shop and had an open call talent show (its harder to get performers than you would expect!) Now it seems like waffle shop is hosting talk shows and has a blog and wow. But anyway, Stockyard is great. Walks the border between art and life. It's art because it proposes a different way of life?? Not that it matters what we label it or anything...


okay, I tried to put them in as links, but it just disappeared altogether. Any suggestions?
http://www.tentshow.org/
http://www.waffleshop.org/

Doris Salcedo

is an amazing artist. Her lecture was beautiful. Wonderful thoughts on the impotence of art. Check out the pod-cast. It should be somewhere on the SAIC website. Though that's clearly helpful.

NWA

I love NWA (Neighborhood Writing Alliance) These writers are brilliant!!

Love

I might be in love with badatsports.com i don't know what makes this so different from the other blogs we've looked at, it seems less professional or institutional somehow. It seems like its coming from the perspective of a real person who took it upon themselves to become an art critic outside of the elite art loop. There are shock stories, and weird art, and all around weird stuff (I need to see this talking piano for real! Does that fall into the category of robotics/programming/art? the person who made that happen is a GENIUS) I think that must be what it is. This doesn't sound like a museum. It sounds like a person. And yay for videos and the setup just bouncing you back to the main page. I can navigate this.
I might also be in love with storycorps. i'm a sucker for sentimentality. I know I should probably be more critical, but these stories are beautiful. I think I have a new e-addiction. Okay but not more than three in a row, I think I'm crying.
for a museum site, i can't complain about the mca. it leaves me whlemed, not overwhelmed. i'm not afraid of it.

Art of the Steal and other news

Why do we have class on Wednesday???? I want to see this really badly. Until I read this blog, I had no idea this was going on. I never liked Philly or Ed Rendell, but this has taken it to a whooooole new level. At the same time though, I wonder about the price per ticket if it were to move to Philly, at the Barnes foundation now, it's $15. Why does art have to be big business? It makes me really sad. I showed in a gallery one time, and they told me I had to increase the price so as not to undercut the market. I'm sorry, I didn't know there was an elite art market in Harrisburg. Also, why should there be? If anyone can explain the logic of the art market, please chime in.

Sasafrass Tea

If you ever decide to make it, use the roots of the tree, not the leaves. The leaves are toxic to humans.

Deleted

LionShare (we are so CLEVER!)

Blythe Lancaster & Brittanie Wine
CyberPed-Museum Interactive Proposal

“Don’t stay in the gallery longer than your child’s interest can be sustained,” warns the video on how to make the most of your museum visit with a small child. But have you ever been to the museum with a teen or even an early twenty-something who was not an art student? We are not entirely sure that their interest can be sustained much longer. This proposal is probably a little out there for the Art Institute of Chicago, and for issues of both legality and reputation, they would likely have some trouble implementing it, but we propose it as an alternative and possibly less intimidating way to interact with art and other museum goers.
We give you (drumroll please) LionShare, the Facebook or Myspace for the works in the Art Institute of Chicago. This is a website, accessible through the already established website for the Art Institute, and it would be available to computers outside of the museum as well as on the kiosks within the museum. Users have the option to create a profile and log in as a member, or to post anonymously, signed in as a guest. For those who wish to set up a member profile while in the museum, the kiosks will incorporate a photo-booth feature, allowing visitors to take a quick picture of themselves and superimpose it on a selection of “backgrounds” (artworks from the museum’s collection). Members or guests will view a live-feed homepage of comments and will be able to sign in to post their own.
Each work in the museum’s collection will have a profile page, much like a person would have on Facebook or Myspace. These would be created by highly paid interns from the Art Education Department at SAIC. They will include the information that would typically be found in the wall text that accompanies the work, but this is as “museum” as it gets.
From the live-feed page, members or guests can post a comment directly to the page without referencing a specific work. If a person chooses to reference a specific work, a thumbnail image of the work will be posted to the left of the comment. When others view the page, they will be able to enlarge the thumbnail and click on it to go to that particular artwork’s profile.
Comments that reference a specific work will also be posted directly to the artwork’s profile. Once members or guests are on the artwork’s profile page, they can engage directly in dialogue about that specific work with other site visitors at home or in the museum.
Best of all, there is no overseeing museum censor. Of course, there will be a terms of use agreement, but comments can be quick, personal, humorous or angry. Conversation is sometimes discouraged in a museum, with the notion that it should be a place for study or silent introspection. Perhaps, there is a certain embarrassment to make a “wrong” interpretation out loud in public. We propose a site for silent collaborative and organic meaning-making—it will not disturb quiet visitors and provides a low-risk space for conversation. Perhaps, if people are less intimidated and enter the work though a site that could be entertaining, as well as informative, more people, specifically teens and young adults will be willing to engage with the art. Hopefully this format will be more inviting to people who would do not feel comfortable conversing in the physical museum space with its rules of appropriate conduct and commentary.

Side note

Fiesta Ware butter knives are insanely sharp. Any suggestions for fun band-aids? I'm partial to neon if anybody knows where I can get them, since it's not 1993.

I think I have a problem

I enjoyed exploring Craig's blog. Lots of resources. He's like the 411 for art ed online. The portal and CPS...hmmm historically my two absolute FAVORITE sites. (note the dripping sarcasm)I'm getting used to the portal, as long as I only have to use it to download readings or post for class discussions, but if we're using the Ning for that, and it works better, I'd rather just phase out the portal so I only need to remember to look in one place. And I hate SAIC e-mail. I mean, sometimes my e-mails are received and sometimes not. It was a problem as I was applying for a TA position this summer and three weeks went by before I realized they never got my resume. Nice. And on CPS, I remember trying to find schools in which to observe as a person new to the city. The school search by location feature was pretty helpful, but I kept imagining what it would be like to be a parent who just moved to the area and was trying to find a school for a child. It's probably reflective of the whole setup, but talk about information overload!

Now, back to my problem. I think I need to just start visiting all of the blogs on the syllabus a couple times a week, starting now. I'm really overwhelmed when I try to explore a site in one sitting. Facebook took me three years! I tend to just read today's posts, or down to where I stopped reading last on any of the blogs I follow. I do find myself addicted after that but I think I need to build a relationship with the sites that way, instead of trying to cram before class.