Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
more on the creative process
this is a new piece of public art on Maple Street in Evanston. I don't know who the sculptor is but it is very, very striking.
So I am at a Ragdale artist residency, trying to sink into the creative process. It is not so easy to empty oneself and be open to whatever muses offer themselves up. It is often a struggle (see 2 posts earlier). I feel that one of the purposes of this blog is to offer up any helpful hints that might help cultivate your creative process...
so here it goes.
I have been reading some of Bill Viola's Reasons for Knocking on an Empty House. The writings are taken from his notebooks of the past 25 years. I bought the book a while back and am only just now delving into it.
In 1979 he writes,
"Landscape can exist as a reflection of the inner walls of the mind, or as a projection of the inner state without. Flat open vast space lends itself to a cleaner monitoring of the subjective inner world...Removing all cues, from the outside, the voices of the inner state become louder, clearer."
My studio is situated on the prairie with with lots of light permeating the room.
It feels so vast and expansive. It is a privilege to live in it for 2 weeks, watching the light change throughout the day. Years ago I worked with ice in the depths of the winter and decided to explore it once again. I am most productive when I take myself out of the equation, when I can empty myself and just wait and see what the universe offers up.
For those of you interested in an artist residency, I highly recommend it.
You can learn more about it and obtain the Ragdale application here.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
from Mark Strand
I woke up this morning and the first thing I read was this poem by Mark Strand...
The Idea
For us, too, there was a wish to possess
Something beyond the world we knew, beyond ourselves,
Beyond our power to imagine, something nevertheless
In which we might see ourselves; and this desire
Came always in passing, in waning light, and in such cold
That ice on the valley's lakes cracked and rolled,
And blowing snow covered what earth we saw,
And scenes from the past, when they surfaced again,
Looked not as they had, but ghostly and white
Among false curves and hidden erasures;
And never once did we feel we were close
Until the night wind said, "Why do this,
Especially now? Go back to the pace you belong;"
And there appeared, with its windows glowing, small,
In the distance, in the frozen reaches, a cabin;
And we stood before it, amazed as its being there,
And would have gone forward and opened the door,
And stepped into the glow and warmed ourselves there,
But that is was ours by not being ours,
And should remain empty. That was the idea.
The Idea
For us, too, there was a wish to possess
Something beyond the world we knew, beyond ourselves,
Beyond our power to imagine, something nevertheless
In which we might see ourselves; and this desire
Came always in passing, in waning light, and in such cold
That ice on the valley's lakes cracked and rolled,
And blowing snow covered what earth we saw,
And scenes from the past, when they surfaced again,
Looked not as they had, but ghostly and white
Among false curves and hidden erasures;
And never once did we feel we were close
Until the night wind said, "Why do this,
Especially now? Go back to the pace you belong;"
And there appeared, with its windows glowing, small,
In the distance, in the frozen reaches, a cabin;
And we stood before it, amazed as its being there,
And would have gone forward and opened the door,
And stepped into the glow and warmed ourselves there,
But that is was ours by not being ours,
And should remain empty. That was the idea.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
A few updated images from New Orleans
I returned to New Orleans this past December, 2 years having passed since my last trip. I found a few locations I had photographed in 2005...
Much to my surprise, the "Broken Steeple" church in Algiers was still broken with just the facade intact. The steeple was resting on the grass, patiently awaiting its return to glory.
this is the original photograph taken in 2005
This church had been completely demolished.
After driving around I found its new, second location.
Here are the Make it Right homes that have been reconstructed in the Lower Ninth.
There are definately pockets of construction and activity that were not happening on 2007, including the Lower Ninth Village and the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development.
Things keep changing. No, it won't ever be the same, but then what is?
Much to my surprise, the "Broken Steeple" church in Algiers was still broken with just the facade intact. The steeple was resting on the grass, patiently awaiting its return to glory.
this is the original photograph taken in 2005
This church had been completely demolished.
After driving around I found its new, second location.
Here are the Make it Right homes that have been reconstructed in the Lower Ninth.
There are definately pockets of construction and activity that were not happening on 2007, including the Lower Ninth Village and the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development.
Things keep changing. No, it won't ever be the same, but then what is?
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Body in Transformation ~ Anne McDonald
Anne McDonald is showing an amazing "body" of work tonight at the Ad Hoc Gallery in Brooklyn. The images are unique prints on roll photo paper and made without using a camera-the bodies are life-sized. I can only imagine the fun she had while creating these works. It is so refreshing to see photographic materials stretched beyond their original intent. This work inspires one to get in there and play!
Body of Light
detail, made by sprinkling powdered bleach onto developed photo paper, 50 x 111 ins.
The Metaphoric Body
detail, Contact print of small objects, 50 x 130 ins.
Disease and Decay, the fragile skin
detail, Made by making a body of glue, and digging down through it with chemistry, 42 x 96 ins.
Body of Light
detail, made by sprinkling powdered bleach onto developed photo paper, 50 x 111 ins.
The Metaphoric Body 
detail, Contact print of small objects, 50 x 130 ins.
Disease and Decay, the fragile skin
detail, Made by making a body of glue, and digging down through it with chemistry, 42 x 96 ins.
Monday, January 04, 2010
the transformative power of art ~ lauren e. simonutti
If you ever wondered what it is like to struggle with a mental illness, just take a look at Lauren E. Simonutti's work. She has been featured on LensCulture, Shots Magazine, and will be having her first solo exhibition titled "8 Rooms, 7 Mirrors, 6 Clocks, 2 Minds & 199 Panes of Glass" at the Catherine Edelman Gallery, opening January 8th. The work is stunning, incredibly raw and courageous. Giving full expression to the tormented psyche is a gift to us all as we peer into our collective humanity.
The Devil's Alphabet: V (2007)
Edelman states:
"Mental illness is not something easily understood. Most of us only hear about it through television or the cinema, which tends to sensationalize the condition. Rarely do we meet a person truly afflicted with mental illness who can explain it. In 2006, Lauren E. Simonutti started hearing three distinct voices in her right ear, the ear she lost hearing in years prior. After numerous hospitalizations and mis-diagnoses, Lauren was finally given a name to her illness, rapid cycling, mixed state bipolar with schizoaffective disorder, and given proper medicines which allows her to function with great clarity on a daily basis.
Tomorrow is My Birthday and All My Friends are Here (2006)
Taking pictures since she was twelve, Lauren turned the camera on herself, photographing within the confines of her home, which she has rarely left since 2006. The result of this self-imposed isolation is a haunting, honest body of work about mental illness and a testament to her resilience and need to confront and understand her condition."
As she says in her artist statement:
"Madness strips things down to their core. It takes everything and in exchange offers only more madness, and the occasional ability to see things that are not there....The problem with madness is that you can feel it coming but when you tell people you think you are going crazy they do not believe you. It is too distant a concept. Too melodramatic. You don’t believe it yourself until you have fallen so quickly and so far that your fingernails are the only thing holding you up, balanced with your feet dangling on either side of a narrow fence with your heart and mind directly over center, so that when you do fall it will split you in two. And split equally. So there’s not even a stronger side left to win.....Over three and one half years I have spent alone amidst these 8 rooms, 7 mirrors, 6 clocks, 2 minds and 199 panes of glass. And this is what I saw here. This is what I learned."
— lauren e. simonutti
"As for my working technique: All work is 100% digital free. Any manipulation has been done either in camera (occasionally), or in darkroom (usually).
Let me clarify that I have nothing against digital. I do not desire to disparage, denigrate or disrespect it. I simply prefer to get my hands wet.
Nearly all my images are large format (4x5 or 5x7 inch negatives) contact prints, exposed under a 100 watt bulb, then selectively bleached and toned. I apply the chemistry with brushes.
While I have my preferred techniques, (sepia, selenium and silver bleach are my main palette), there is always the element of chance. Chemistry does not always react the same, water does not always run in the same direction. I have been known to spill things. Each print is different.
For some reason I only listen to music in the darkroom. I find watching clocks tiresome so I time film processing by music — I have a range of songs of the proper length. Film goes in, music goes on (Tom Waits, Bowie, Bauhaus), song ends, film comes out.
I don’t time prints, I print by inspection. My favourite papers have both been discontinued to date, (Azo & Bergger contact printing papers), so at some point I will have to adapt my working technique, as I have virtually no supply. I am curious to see what will happen."
The Devil's Alphabet: V (2007)
Edelman states:
"Mental illness is not something easily understood. Most of us only hear about it through television or the cinema, which tends to sensationalize the condition. Rarely do we meet a person truly afflicted with mental illness who can explain it. In 2006, Lauren E. Simonutti started hearing three distinct voices in her right ear, the ear she lost hearing in years prior. After numerous hospitalizations and mis-diagnoses, Lauren was finally given a name to her illness, rapid cycling, mixed state bipolar with schizoaffective disorder, and given proper medicines which allows her to function with great clarity on a daily basis.
Tomorrow is My Birthday and All My Friends are Here (2006)
Taking pictures since she was twelve, Lauren turned the camera on herself, photographing within the confines of her home, which she has rarely left since 2006. The result of this self-imposed isolation is a haunting, honest body of work about mental illness and a testament to her resilience and need to confront and understand her condition."
As she says in her artist statement:
"Madness strips things down to their core. It takes everything and in exchange offers only more madness, and the occasional ability to see things that are not there....The problem with madness is that you can feel it coming but when you tell people you think you are going crazy they do not believe you. It is too distant a concept. Too melodramatic. You don’t believe it yourself until you have fallen so quickly and so far that your fingernails are the only thing holding you up, balanced with your feet dangling on either side of a narrow fence with your heart and mind directly over center, so that when you do fall it will split you in two. And split equally. So there’s not even a stronger side left to win.....Over three and one half years I have spent alone amidst these 8 rooms, 7 mirrors, 6 clocks, 2 minds and 199 panes of glass. And this is what I saw here. This is what I learned."
— lauren e. simonutti
"As for my working technique: All work is 100% digital free. Any manipulation has been done either in camera (occasionally), or in darkroom (usually).
Let me clarify that I have nothing against digital. I do not desire to disparage, denigrate or disrespect it. I simply prefer to get my hands wet.
Nearly all my images are large format (4x5 or 5x7 inch negatives) contact prints, exposed under a 100 watt bulb, then selectively bleached and toned. I apply the chemistry with brushes.
While I have my preferred techniques, (sepia, selenium and silver bleach are my main palette), there is always the element of chance. Chemistry does not always react the same, water does not always run in the same direction. I have been known to spill things. Each print is different.
For some reason I only listen to music in the darkroom. I find watching clocks tiresome so I time film processing by music — I have a range of songs of the proper length. Film goes in, music goes on (Tom Waits, Bowie, Bauhaus), song ends, film comes out.
I don’t time prints, I print by inspection. My favourite papers have both been discontinued to date, (Azo & Bergger contact printing papers), so at some point I will have to adapt my working technique, as I have virtually no supply. I am curious to see what will happen."
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