Elaborating on distractions: Durian by Alex Himmelbaum

"Durian is a fruit native to a few regions of southeast Asia. It is large (between 1 and 16 kilograms), green and covered in hard needle-sharp spikes. Though more people fall victim to being crushed by falling Jackfruit, death by falling Durian would be much more gruesome and bloody. The large kidney-shaped fruit pods found inside are fleshy and absolutely delicious...if you like the combination of delicate sweetish, oniony flavor, with an alcoholic tinge and a texture like Camembert. Due to the high sulfur content in this unique and wonderful fruit, it gives off an odor reminiscent of fermented farts and creatively mouldering garbage. Like conjuring essence of burnt donkey sphincter. To those of us that appreciate the glory that is Durian, there is practically nothing as delicious. Make sure to get a perfectly ripe one as under-ripe Durian is as foul tasting as it is offensive to the smell."

More Lady Gaga!

The Summer of Lethal Breasts

MRI Fruits and Veggies

Inside Insides

Looking into the soul of fruit with MRI scans

Meetings for August 4th

9:00 Michele
9:15 Andy
9:30 Christine
9:45 Matt
10:00 Sean
10:15 Lauren
10:30 Jess
10:45 Renee

The Jerry Saltz Recap

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/jerry_saltzs_work_of_art_recap_5.html

More about our favorite show

http://www.artsjournal.com/anotherbb/2010/07/work-of-art-so-you-think-whos.html

Great Job!

Thanks to all for a remarkably smooth editing process today! I read some very strong pieces and think we're going to have an excellent Criticism Seminar Newsletter this term. I look forward to finishing things up next week. Remember for Friday I will be bringing in some artists' writings for us to read and comment on in discussion. Bring your coffee.

Again, many thanks for an great showing on this project - now on to the last project...

Editpalooza, Wednesday 7/28

Here's the drill for tomorrow's newsletter editing meeting:

• You should show up with your completed article (no more than 1000 words) in hand. You should have a digital file (on a laptop or a flash drive) of it and a hard copy for a classmate to read. Ideally, you will have proofread your piece before you arrive to remove any obvious errors. Come to M4 and be there at 9am.
• Tom and Gerard will make a few general remarks and we'll begin editing by 9:30am. You'll be assigned a partner to read and edit. You may use M4, the Grad Lab, or any convenient and nearby space to accomplish your editing review.
• From 9:30 - 10:30 you and your partner will work on your writings. The idea is not to change the idea that are there, but rather to bring them into focus by adding that which is needed for clarification and removing that which makes them hard to see. 
• Once you're done with making the editorial changes, you'll bring a revised copy to Tom or Gerard for final review. We'll make any suggestions and get the piece ready for final publication.
• The essays will all be moved over to the designer's office at 12noon.

Looking forward to an exciting reading day!

Not everything is for everyone

So I wanted to talk about writing for a minute. I came across an interesting little kerfuffle online this weekend as I read ArtFag City. It seems that Paddy Johnson has been mixing it up with a writer who posts as Tremblings. At issue is Johnson's sense that Tremblings' writing engages in "linguistic privilege — the practice of using big words as means of ensuring the reader (and typically the author) doesn’t know the essay lacks substantiated ideas".

In an effort to restrain this sort of excessive privilege-taking, Johnson proposes changes, and asks a 'friend in academia' to propose further edits. In the process, words are changed, avenues of investigation are pared down, and whatever they essay's original content was is redirected in the interest of some unarticulated ideal of 'readability'.

Johnson's bias against academic writing is so obvious (the story ran under a headline "The Problem with Academic Writing Isn't Big Words") as to be not worth discussing. What is interesting is the notion - proposed here by a writer in a popular media - that an idea occurring in writing should be accessible to readers. This is opposed to another idea - that what is being written should be understood by those for whom it is written. Tremblings gets at this fine distinction in a very interesting passage:

I have to be incredibly specific in the words I use because remembrance means 35 different things to the scholars in my field. Same goes for memory, repetition, performance, etc. I have to take the time to say more than what might be necessary in some circles in order to not be perceived as misrepresenting the people I cite or the theories I believe in.

Much of this semester, I have tried to wave the banner of readability and be an advocate for prose that engages the reader. I have recited the journalistic dictum, "You are writing for an educated and curious reader who has no idea what you're talking about" as a model to which one might subscribe. But that model applies well to criticism, especially of the journalistic stripe, and not so well to other forms of academic writing.

I spent much of the day fuming about this problem inclusive and exclusive writing because it is so easy to attack exclusive practices as elitist that their value has become obscured. At the end of the day, not everything is for everyone. Some writing is for 35 peers and colleagues who are going to take issue with the ideas it contains and use those as grist to teaching seminars of 10 - 15 graduate students. Subsequently, those 350-525 graduates are going to go into their profession talking about these ideas and their audiences, students, and peers are going to form opinions about them. Gradually, the idea will move through the culture, growing and diminishing in importance as it does. All too rarely, a truly gifted scholar (a Louis Menand or Lewis Hyde or Lawrence Weschler, for instance) will figure out how to communicate directly with a larger community.

Communicate - which is to say, figure out how to make subjects relevant to that larger community so they will engage in discussion. Honestly, when is the art world going to be okay with the fact that there are differences among our interests and that not everything  is okay with everybody? Somethings may never be relevant to some people (I am struggling to figure out why Marina Abramovic, whose exhibit at MoMA started the Johnson/Tremblings argument, matters in the first place).

So what we have in academic writing (aside from the obvious allusion to Cool Hand Luke) is an opportunity to define and address one's audience, to think about community in narrower terms than the art world usually does (a dear friend of mine laments the way the artists always say 'community' when 'industry' is more appropriate) and to speak to the people who need to understand what you're doing because they're invested in the same conversation. Academic writing is not intended for everyone, but when it's done, its ideas can be examined, evaluated, disseminated, or critiqued. It is - in the most real sense - writing for a community because communities have boundaries, shared interests that place them in genuine opposition to other communities' interests. Such writing requires precision, insight, depth, and conviction.

Readability can be helpful, too. But there's a time and place for it.

the gap between art & entertainment

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-lasarow/art-versus-entertainment_b_658792.html

commentary on art, the entertainment industry, and audience

Maxine Manges says: "You musn't shit on your own doorstep."

Ok, tentative connection with that quote, but I just really liked when she said that.

http://theartblog.org/2010/07/book-reviews-‘vox-populi-we’re-working-on-it’-and-‘communities-of-sense-rethinking-aesthetics-and-politics’/

So I read this because I'm interested in how a thriving art collective in Philadelphia sees itself in the greater world of art collectives/art/Philadelphia/life. Seems relevant especially to conversations we've had in Professional Practices this summer.

I also read the second thing about aesthetics and politics. I felt pretty great about the last paragraph because it made me feel better about having to fight off glazed-over-eyes-time when even reading a summary of the volume. I appreciated her acknowledgement of the contradictory nature of the authors' point of view and use of language.

The Critical Debate over Inception

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/movies/25scott.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1280149280-peT9+qwUZLjvMimtitXQHA

Article by A.O. Scott in the NY times about how the critical debate over Inception formed itself (and informed itself) before the movie even opened.

New Magazine That I Love

I went to Borders today and found an AMAZING magazine Elephant: The Art and Visual Culture Magazine. I haven't had a lot of time to go through it and point out all of the reasons why I like it (so don't ask Christine), but I wanted to share it with you all. It's quarterly, and the issue on the stands now is only the third issue; the first came out this past November. Subscriptions are available in print or digitally...it's very cool.

Toward a Gay Criticism

Jacob Stockinger
College English, Vol. 36, No. 3, The Homosexual Imagination (Nov., 1974), pp. 303-311
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/374841

Review: Vox VI

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/art/Vox-VI.html

Worth reading. Who has seen this? I've been meaning to get there.

Also by Roberta Fallon in a recent Philadelphia Weekly: Review of our friend Tim Ead's show at FLUX Space.

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/art/A-Legitimate-Waste-of-Time.html

You think researching your thesis is a drag?

Clarification About My Newsletter Review

I just wanted to clarify my ideas about my review and get your response. My idea is to review the "Food for Thought" lecture series based on the artists' presentation styles and how each disseminates information and whether or not his/her communication is effective, rather than critique the individual works. Is this okay?

Also, can you shoot me some dates and times that would be convenient for you to meet with Sean and me next week. Our schedules are more flexible than yours, so we are happy to work around your available times. Thanks!

Jean Sara Rohe - Why She Said What She Said

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-rohe/why-i-spoke-up_b_21358.html

Video's for Art Journal

http://blublu.org/

If you liked the video in class today. Check out more here.

Online Reviewers Cultivate Super Status - Philly Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20100721_Online_reviewers_cultivate__super__status.html

Article about people who are elite yelpers or super reviewers on Amazon.  More (free) "criticism" from the masses.

The Level Playing Field

Several times Williams points out how the perceived separation of the audience and the artist/performer affect the degree to which someone gets heckled.  In sports, where professional athletes have more known about their lives than ever before, they are being heckled more often.  In music, where in one season of American Idol you can go from a regular joe to a singer with a record deal and a built in fan base, there is a sense of a more level playing field.

Since I mentioned it before in pro prac, love him or hate him, Simon Cowell gives pretty straightforward and fair minded feedback on American Idol.  Because he doesn't sugar coat it, he has a reputation as overly negative.  I would argue that we are coming out of a period where we were so obsessed with political correctness and self esteem, that any negativity sounds like a lot of negativity.  I do think that even the people that boo Cowell respect his opinion, and he has helped make it ok to give negative criticism.  There will always be those who take that and tell comedians to die, which is hardly helpful.  I've learned that my students can take negative criticism when it is warranted, and they know when I am feeding them a line of crap and don't respect that.

More on What I Said Before...

Also, if you can get a gig on an art-related reality TV show, you can get a solo show at Brooklyn Museum...gallery not necessary...talent not necessary.

Heckle the hecklers

The movie Heckler seems like an appropriate response to the rise of the takedown. Fevered Swamps-style.

IMPORTANT FYI

The internet system will be shut down for the entire day in Anderson on Friday, August 6th. Maybe we will need to find an alternate classroom on that day...maybe Terra?

How Relevant is the Studio>Gallery>Museum Model Today?

When reading Carrier, I began to question the relevance of the studio to gallery ~ gallery to museum model. I'm not entirely sure that today the gallery or "middleman" is as necessary as it was in previous years with regard to being shown in museums. For example, the Guggenheim is in the process of curating The World's Most Creative Videos exhibition via YouTube. Also, I'm not altogether sure that the ultimate desire for artists today is to be shown in museums, especially since there are so many public forums available.

Heckle - Word Origin & History

"To question severely in a bid to find weaknesses," 1788, transferred usage of hekelen "to comb (flax or hemp) with a heckle," from M.E. hekele "a comb for flax or hemp" (early 14c.), from M.Du. hekelen , the original sense of which was "to prickle, irritate," from P.Gmc. *khakilo- (related to hackle ). "Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates" [OED].

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heckler

Agenda for coming weeks

Hi all ~ Sorry for the change in plans this morning, but I a family matter that required attention. On Friday, July 23, here's the plan:

• Weekly Criticism Round-Up
• Discussion of Carrier and "The Rise of the Take Down"
• Turning attention to Final Projects
• Distribute your profiles of one another with written comments

We will need to be done with our newsletter contributions by Wednesday morning, July 28 ( Had thought it was the 30th, but I was wrong). I have ommented on the pitches that are on the blog, but I have not heard form everyone. PLease tend to this matter as soon as you can so you can get to work.


That morning will be a peer-editing session. We will work with Tom's section. You will be assigned a partner to read and comment on in preparation for publication. You must bring a hard copy for a reader and an editable electronic copy of your essay to class. We will work in the lab, but you may prefer your own laptop. If your review is not in hand by the end of class that day, read by a clssmate and ready for publication, you will not be included in the final newsletter and your grade in this seminar will suffer greatly.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience while this morning, and I look forward to focusing on the completion of our class.

Other talking points

"I will walk the fuck out of this room."

"We should go eat lunch."

"I'm really having a breakdown."

"Let's go to Philly Flavors."

"Oh that hurt."

"We need to eat ice cream."

"Is that going to be productive with everyone in that class?"

"No."

"Shut your computers."

"Just let it trickle down."

"Smartest thing we've said all morning."

*sound effect*

"I want tacos."

"Isn't thursday taco day?"

"I'm really good with identifying Koreans and Southeast Asians. I think I have a knack for it."

"I think it's actually owned by illegal Mexicans."

"That lady lays down the shit."

"They do have a flan."

"No that's a bad idea. I'm going to stab you."

Proposed topics for 2010 newsletter

Michele: Criticism of "Food For Thought" Lecture series in the style of contemporary food criticism.

Christine: Criticism of the show at the Philadelphia Art Alliance

Andy: CEVA: "From the Archives"

Jess Cohen: AxD Gallery "Queer Art?"

Rene: Review of performance, "The Artist is Rachel Manson"

Sean: I would like to look into the fact that no one in the art world talks about the similarities between Mathew Barney's Creme Master cycle Jorowosky's Holy Mountain. I would like to talk about the 'replications' of style, content, and references.

Lauren: The plan for the paintbrush sculpture at PAFA, political background and relationship with the greater scape of Philadelphia public art and the clothes pin.

Other talking points:

Effective ad for thesis show

Direct and simple design concept

Online edition on manifesto-ish?

Editing process and peer review? Who and how? Michele and Sean both want to be in charge.

Coordination with the other class?

Reminder! Carrier and Williams will be talked about FRIDAY!

Friday, okay?

Newsletter Proposal

After reading Michael Kimmelman’s essay “The Art of Making Art Without Lifting a Finger” from his book The Accidental Masterpiece, I wrote a personal essay on how my choices, thoughts, and experiences fuel my engagement with storytelling and my desire to reveal narratives within my work. I wrote this my first year here as a smaller part of a research paper for Carol. I would like to propose to use a reworked version of this piece for the newsletter. Although it has already been written, it would require a great deal of reworking and editing to stand on its own enough to meet the standards of your class and of myself.

heckling and criticism

I think there is a monumental difference between a written piece of criticism and what I think of when I hear the word heckler. I think there is a need for criticism. When it is in the form of a piece of writing and published somewhere it means someone took the time to consider what he or she was criticizing. When I hear the word heckler, I think of harassment, impulsive and a hole. Writing about a comedian not being funny and giving reasons why is completely different from yelling, “You’re not funny” as his or her performance.

Food heckler--wait, I mean reviewer--leaves the Philadelphia Weekly

This semester I have been following the food reviewer Adam Erace, mainly his column in the Weekly, but also I have perused his blog.  After reading the article on heckling, it made me think of Erace's work, his writing style, and the reactions from readers.  Erace has a very unique way of putting together adjectives and descriptive phrases that make me want to visit the restaurant (even if it is Bobby Flay, whom I can't stand).  However, it is usually the negatively connotations that catch my attention.  I'm drawn to the cut-downs; I wouldn't read his column if he just gave thumbs-down.  But when he describes a food establishment, and uses phrases like this:

Loose, lumpy and tobacco-brown, [the jägerschnitzel] tasted burned and looked better suited to a restaurant called Brauhaus Shits. (Brauhaus Schmitz, Oct. 6, 2009)

I feel bad for the place, but . . . I'll admit, I will want to read more.  However, it makes me wonder, should our right of freedom of speech allow us to humiliate others?  The Alicia Estrada scenario in the article and the experiences of Kathy Sierra are drastically different.  Where, or how do we cross the line?  

Check out the article on Adam Erace leaving PW; there's an example of the heckler getting heckled:

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/food/PW-Says-Farewell-to-Food-Critic-Adam-Erace.html?page=1&comments=1&showAll=

Not about Art Criticism

David Carrier writes on page 158, that the critic should see and write about relationships between contemporary art and historical art. As a writer, how do you avoid making the same mistakes as the Whitney did with Picasso and the African masks?
Museums are structured with, "Artifacts from Africa, China, India, and pre-Columbian America become art alongside the paintings and sculpture of Europe and contemporary art."
Is this the same problem that McEvilley wrote about?

Skeletons in the Closet - No, Really. On the serendipitous circumstances that led to an MFA.

I would like to write a short piece about my experience working for the Foundation Dept. here at the university while attending this program.
Lacking a BFA, I’ve always considered my employment within the department an essential component to my art education. I’d like to write about my non traditional educational path, it’s costs and benefits.

Studio Art Phd

James Elkins writes about the Studio Art Phd Degree.

What happens when the EPA gets into art criticism?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/us/17artist.html

A New York Times story talks about the environmental impact study of Christo's proposed project on the Arkansas river in Colorado.

Criticism Newsletter

I would like to review "From the Archives" at CEVA

July 12 - August 3, 2010
"From the Archives" Featuring Career Development Program Fellows Maria Anasazi, Leslie Atik and Diane Savona

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists 1521 Locust Street, Lower Level, Philadelhpia, PA 19102

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 22nd 5 - 7pm. Transforming archival materials such as books and microfiche, Maria Anasazi’s work deals with issues of personal and collective loss through sculpture, installation, video, and performance. Leslie Atik considers the metaphors common to language and textiles in her installation works. Drawing on a variety of written sources, Atik creates a chalkboard on which the marks of the chalk, tags, threads, and map pins reveal the inherent elegance of the grammatical patterns that are integral to the meaning of the selected texts. Diane Savona embeds domestic objects between layers of cloth to form fossil-like impressions, which can be read as hieroglyphic symbols. Combined with apron images, Savona’s stitched markings suggest cultural maps.

Newsletter- "QueerArt?" at AxD Gallery

I will either write about one or more artists in the show or about the show in totality.

AxD Gallery, 265 S 10th Street Philadelphia 19107, http://www.a-x-d.com/gallery

QueerArt?
"In conjunction with QFest 2010 AxD gallery presents a group exhibition that explores what the state of the 'queer sensibility' in art might be today, and into what it could be evolving. QueerArt? Features the work of these eleven LGBTQ identified artists: Michael Biello, Michael Brodweick, Paul Davis Jones, Laureen Griffin, Larry Wood, Randolph Husava, David Lunt, JD Dragon, Ashley Payne, Doron Langberg, and Susan DiPronio."(http://maps.theartblog.org/)
Opening was on 7/9/10

Newsletter pick!

For this summer's newsletter, I am considering one of the current exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance.  Vanitas: Contemporary Reflections is a group show highlighting the work of five artists: Candy Depew, Myra Mimlitsch Gray, Katherine Kaminski, Audrey Hasen Russell and Gae Savannah.  According to the website, "The summer exhibition will highlight examples in contemporary craft of a Vanitas theme."  This show's description includes topics that I have previously explored in my research and/or artwork, such as themes of nostalgia and remembrance, exaggeration, and distortion.  Artists participating in the show address ideas of decoration and appearance, which are parallel to comments made in my work.








http://www.philartalliance.org/exhibits.htm#1

Newsletter Article

I went to the current show at the Seraphin Gallery, Let's Go Enjoy Nature! and also went today to the talk with the curators.  One of them, Jesse Smith, writes for an online magazine from Drexel called The Smart Set.  He writes about "mediated experiences of nature", which is pretty much how everyone in this country experiences nature these days.  The other curator is Robert Goodman, who has shown at Seraphin Gallery in the past and uses elements of landscape in his work.  I talked with them about the show and also about my work, and invited them to come and visit my studio at some point this summer.

For my essay for the newsletter I would like to write something related to this, either about the show or some sort of interview based piece.

The Creativity Crisis

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

This is the link for the Newsweek article about creativity and teaching creativity.  It has some interesting things to say about what is happening in the brain when an artist (a musician in this case) is asked to do a creative task as opposed to a non-artist.  This goes to Sean's question of what changes when the act of making, and the maker, is put into an "art" context.  For those of us who are art teachers:

Overwhelmed by curriculum standards, American teachers warn there’s no room in the day for a creativity class. Kids are fortunate if they get an art class once or twice a week. But to scientists, this is a non sequitur, borne out of what University of Georgia’s Mark Runco calls “art bias.” The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded. When scholars gave creativity tasks to both engineering majors and music majors, their scores laid down on an identical spectrum, with the same high averages and standard deviations. Inside their brains, the same thing was happening—ideas were being generated and evaluated on the fly.

Schedule for Wednesday July 21st

9:00 Michele
9:15 Andy
9:30 Christine
9:45 Matt
10:00 Sean
10:15 Lauren
10:30 Jess
10:45 Renee

Meet back at 11:00 for class

Clark Clark Flag

Do you think it was correct to remove this image?
I would be interested in your interpretation. What do you think the controversy is about?

Oldenburg in the Park

Here is a diagram of the PAFA Park.

More questions than assertions - or questions as assertions; - or questionable assertions.

How does the depth of contemporary art knowledge affect our perceptions of art?
Is there a tipping point where, as an audience, we demand a certain level of sophistication and reflexiveness based on the knowledge of the artist (outsider artist vs. MFA artist)?
Are we constantly searching for the fictional lost innocence of making?
Are these disinterested objects?
Is this any relationship between the Primitivism show, the Kalina article and writing a thesis paper?
(i.e. questions regarding the contextualization of objects a priori versus a posteriori)

Primitive, Vernacular, Outsider...Oh my!

While Thomas McEvilley's "Doctor Lawyer, Indian Chief" was necessary at the time it was written, McEvilley seemed to make righting the wrong of "primitivism" and slapping down Modernism a personal crusade. In another article "Royal Slumming: Jean-Michel Basquiat Here Below" he claims that Basquiat was trying to emulate “primitivism”: “This black artist was doing exactly what classical-Modernist white artists such as Picasso and Georges Braque had done: deliberately echoing a primitive style…He was behaving like white men who think they are behaving like black men” (95). Thus it would seem that he is just as guilty of the same kind of bias that he accuses William Rubin of committing.

For some reason I thought that McEvilley's "Doctor Lawyer Indian Chief" would also address the use of the words "primitive" and "primitivism" as a construct of white post-colonialism. Clearly "primitive" holds a negative connotation of "lower class" which can be seen resonating from Richard Kalina's article "Gee's Bend Modern" when he states, "While it is possible to understand the Gee's Bend quilts in the context of vernacular art, outsider art or craft, they are more than that (106). He illustrates with one sentence that he believes vernacular art, outsider art and even craft are lower artforms.

Blue Jeans

I remember hearing about the Gees Bend show at the Whitney. Folks were saying how amazing the quilts were, that they were more than just quilts, that it was worth seeing. I never ended up seeing the show, but I remember for a chunk of time I kept hearing about it. What was most interesting about Kalina’s article was the description of the various materials, particularly the use of workman’s jeans and the stains of the land and quilts that were sometimes made up of so much of the jean that they almost took the form of the wearer. Its neat to think about the darker blue lines revealed from opening seams that had not been exposed to wear and tear. It must have been incredibly impactful seeing these pieces on the white gallery walls, when they were made to stand out on a clothesline.The show really sounds great, however, no matter how you put it.. no matter how many labels and names and descriptions there are, folks are still going to be viewing the work out of context through an outsiders lens. Maybe these things help us to get closer to the work and form a deeper appreciation or understanding of what we are looking at. But in the end, its true… we really will respond to the objects themselves and how they succeed or fail in their ability to draw us in. The Gees Bend quilts seem to be sort of in that gray place between historical objects and art objects. As historical objects it’s important to know about their life and place and context, as art objects they enter into a different sphere. It’s like the whole thing about whether or not we choose to read the label when we look at a painting. Do we want to suck in all that we can just from our visual experience or expose ourselves to the artists intentions, name, title, materials. Sometimes these things lend to the work, detract from it, or are completely forgettable and unnecessary to our appreciation.

Gee's Bend quilts: first impression & second thoughts

This article continues the everlasting discussion--or debate--between art and craft, and what makes something art.  As much as Kalina refers to the quilts as "remarkably powerful" and "compelling visual statements" that "declare themselves viscerally," I can't help but think about the intention of the quilters during the sewing process.  It is detailed how much quilting was not a hobby.  It was a necessary task, a chore like feeding hogs.  Prissy Pettiway admits she was "too tired to do no sewing," but did it because to stay warm in her old, drafty house.  

With specific venues such as folk art museums and craft museums, what is the likelihood that exhibits like this will occur in the future?  I wonder how one of the Pettiway ladies would react if they visited the Whitney and toured the exhibition.  Would they appreciate the privilege of showing in such a distinguished, iconic American art museum?  I imagine the quilters (or, ahem, artists) standing around at their opening reception, daintily balancing plates of crudites, sipping  chardonnay.  Ladies discussing their influences of "Paul Klee architectural fantasy" and how they decided to use work clothes for an "extremely subtle interplay of hue and value."

But perhaps I am too quick to harshly judge.  Upon searching for color images of the quilts, I found that Sports Illustrated cover girl turned home furnishings guru Kathy Ireland has designed (and I use that word loosely) a series of Gee's Bend home accessories, ranging from lamps, to rugs, etc.  Her company states that they appropriately compensate the quilters.  Also, many quilters have gained gallery representation from the success of the touring museum show.

Power and Victimhood

It struck me how similar the tone of McEvilley's review and the Croce review were. It seems that in times of power struggle between different parts of the art world, the same sorts of rhetorical devices get pulled out of pockets.

It also seemed that Kalina's article about the quilters of Gee's Bend could almost serve as a perfect example of criticism of victim art. There was not a single negative thing posted, not about the work, not about the hanging of the show, not about anything. I also couldn't get a sense of what the quilts looked like from the black and white printout, so here are a couple of images:

Criticism Seminar Summer, 2010: UICA Interview: Chad Curtis

Criticism Seminar Summer, 2010: UICA Interview: Chad Curtis

A small scheduling adjustment

After class, people started drifting up to me and made a compelling case for your 500-word profiles of one another being due after, not on Friday. So now they are going to be read in class on Wednesday, July 21.

Here's what I'd like to do to make this work a little more fluidly and not lose a day I was thinking I had...

Can I get them by Tuesday evening, July 20, at 5 to review so I can have comments prepared when we read them in class? Please send them electronically. Please also bring a clean copy (on your laptop is fine) to class on Wednesday. I will be assigning some short readings for Wednesday so you have time to budget your tasks, so wathc this space.

Thank you.

UICA Interview: Chad Curtis

Elkins' Last Chapter

Three steps to be engaging as an art critic

1.   Be ambitious.  Compare your work with past work and previous writings.  Allow yourself to show off the fact that you are familiar with literature and the work of others.  You can “acknowledge complex ideas . . . given the short formats . . . of newspaper publishing.”

2.   Reflect on your own writing.  Be serious: offer your judgements and take time to think about your words.  “Why did I write that?” or “Who first thought of that?”

3.  Criticism should be good enough to be counted as academic writing.  The ideal world would have a two-way street between critics and art historians.  Galleries’ catalog essays would “be cited in art historical monographs published by university presses.”  Read everything, “have an endless bibliography;” read until the words blur together.

Wordle image based on Peter Schjeldahl's "Surrealism Revisited" article

Peter Plagens

On page 17 in Elkins book he mentiones Peter Plagens when reflecting on other ways to divide the varying types of contemporary art criticism.
Above is a picture of Plagens Novel "The Art Critic" published on artnet "in 24 installments"(Halasz)
Below is a link to a review of the novel by Piri Halasz at artcritical.com
http://www.artcritical.com/halasz/PHPlagens.htm


"The “book” is about a slightly cranky male critic of a certain age who has seen enough and done enough in the art world to call it just like he sees it. The writer clearly has the home court advantage on this one, and readers can look forward to some straight-up acerbic commentary on contemporary art"(Szántó)----http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/08/summer-reading-the-art-critic/

Crit presentation

Crit presentation

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Yay I figured it out.. sorry for being so late. Hope this is where this is supposed to go.

Quote...

"It is the will of God that we must have critics, and missionaries, and Congressmen, and humorists, and we must bear the burden."

Mark Twain, in his newly published autobiography, dictated a century ago (qtd. in New York Times. Saturday, July 10, 2010)

Food & Art Criticism

I found this article online. It begins to address the differences between food/drink criticism and art criticism. I don't think it's a great article, but it shows that the topic is being tossed around and that art and food criticism are being compared. http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/06/critiquing-the-critics-why-food-differs-from-art/58683/

Interview with Dave Hickey

The following is part of an interview with Dave Hickey conducted by Ilana Stanger of TheArtBiz.com that was posted on NYFA.

What is the role of the art critic within the art world? How much of an effect do you think critics have on what is being produced and sold, and is this positive or negative?

You need to remember that the art world is just a lot of people who buy, sell, exhibit, think about, talk about and write about art. Within this world critics are interested observers who document their interests, as distinct from scholars and journalists, who are purportedly disinterested observers. The simple truth, however, is that the art world is a small world that runs on talk. As a consequence, most of what a critic writes about art is not written for the art world at all but for people who are interested in the art world and want to know what art people are talking about. Critics over the course of their careers build up a reputation for being right or being wrong about things; people trust these reputations but not much; if power is defined as the power to make something that is not interesting interesting, critics have no power at all. Art has power.

How would you characterize the relationship between artists and critics?

Extraneous. Critics write about art; biographers and personality journalists write about artists.

Art=Vomiting?

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/2010/07/06/work_of_art_glen_helfand

My favorite part of this article:

Jenn Graves, art critic for Seattle’s Stranger, emphatically concurred: "The show was horrible. Really, truly awful. Critic Jerry Saltz was the biggest disappointment for me: Is it the editing, or does he really believe that the mission statement of art is, 'Art is a way of showing the outside world what your inside world is like.' So is vomiting."

San Diego wants their art critic back

This was posted on ArtsJournal.com since the San Diego Union-Tribune laid off their art writer.

http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/2010/07/san-diego-wants-its-art-critic-back/

Resource for James Elkins discussion on Friday

In my section of What Happened to Art Criticism?, Elkins refers back to this article by New Yorker writer Peter Schjeldahl.

Surrealism Revisited by Peter Schjeldahl

Critics/Historians

This is an article that ran in May from the Las Vegas Sun about Dave Hickey and Libby Lumpkin, both art critics, who are joining the art history department at University of New Mexico, a situation that is touched on in the Elkins book. Is it possible that more art critics are finding their way into art history departments?

American craft presentation

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American craft presentation

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Critical Sources: Ceramics Monthly

Colby Ceramics Monthly

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Critical Review of Leonardo

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What good is the thesis?

I sent out an email to a few of alums of the UArts MFA program to get a sense of what they got out of doing the thesis exhibit and writing, and I wanted to share the responses I got with you:

Like many artists, writing about anyone's art, let alone your own, is a chore and a very daunting task. But I have to say, once I figured out my approach and structure of my thesis, it just came pouring out and I ended up writing the best piece of text that I have ever done.  As cheesy as it sounds, writing my thesis has given me the confidence to go on to write more decent papers and not have that overbearing feeling that I need to struggle through another tedious assignment

Lee S. Millard, Painting, 2005

Writing your thesis establishes your work in a context that can not be accomplished in any other way.  If you want to continue to stumble around aesthetically blind in the art world then don't write a word (and never read).  But, when you are ready to turn your flirtation with art into a profession, using text will lead to vision" 

Denise Vandeville, Ceramics, 2006

I would say there are two main aspects of writing my thesis that I've found to be most valuable.  The first is perhaps more obvious and involves the role of thesis writing in helping me to research and articulate my own ideas about my artwork, both for personal and professional benefit.  On a personal level, my studio practice is still grounded in regular research and reading -- it helps flesh out my ideas and often sparks new pieces.  Professionally, I continue to rely on topics from my thesis as the foundation for exhibition proposals and artist statements, as well as for artist talks at shows.  Frequently, so much of the creative process is internal and introspective, but in submitting proposals for shows or grants, you HAVE to be able to communicate about your work.  So the thesis writing process, with its research, drafts, revisions, conversations with professors, presentation to the committee, etc., requires you to think through how other people will receive your ideas and provides a foundation for you to talk intelligently about your own artwork. 

Second, for me a major challenge in my thesis writing was crafting a document that in itself reflected my artistic process as completely as possible. I didn't think that a standard research paper had anything to do with the way that I approach art-making, so I looked for ways I could work within the structure of writing to make the writing feel like my artwork.  Not just the words, but the style and format and flow of the content.  It became an artistic process in its own right, and I think ended up being very good representation of my concepts and processes.  So part of the value of writing a thesis in art school is also to be able to push the boundaries of what it means to write about artwork in the first place. 

Melinda Steffy, Painting, 2006

While preparing my thesis paper, my home/studio became  station X. The paper was project Ultra. I felt like a WWII  code-breaker. Somewhere, in the imposing heaps of data I accumulated was a logical system to my making. (Seriously, every chair, corner and table in my house was stacked high with xeroxes, books, drawings, maquettes and every note I took during my undergrad thesis. The fridge doors were completely obscured.)

I became a version of "Mrs BB." She was the woman who managed to work out how the Enigma machine worked long before anyone else did, however her theory was far too simplistic and was dismissed entirely. One of The Women of Blechley Park. Ralph Erskine reports it like this: “Mrs. BB suggested the Germans wired the A key to the A rotor, B to B and so on through the alphabet -- a theory dismissed as too simplistic, but one that proved correct.” 

I discovered I wanted everyone in my mix to be allies. So, I had a huge summit meeting and began connecting wires. I  arranged a flow chart of couples and imaginary families of my influences. In the end, the thesis paper became a nifty decoder ring that helps me figure out how I assimilate information. It is sort of a Frankenstein potion that helps me combine seemingly disparate information and process it into words and images.

This here Tom Waits interview with Mike Douglas sums it up!

Terri Saulin, Ceramics, 2006

I'll post more of these as they come in. In the mean time, I urge you to go through a few of the stronger examples of recent thesis papers that are on file in the Graduate Resource room or the library. The faculty will post a recommended list later this week.

Make a note. Or 500,000 of them. | Evernote Corporation

Make a note. Or 500,000 of them. | Evernote Corporation

Since I have a PC and can't use the Notebook software, I found this little site. You can set up an account for free and get a certain amount of free storage per month. It's not exactly what the notebook program does, but you can put a plugin on your browser to make notes of websites, upload files, or make notes.

Call for Papers, readings assignments

Hi all - thanks for an interesting discussion in class earlier today.

Here is a link to the SECAC/MACAA website, which has a call for papers on it. It is a PDF 23 pages long. I encourage you to review the panels beginning on page 11 ("Art History and Studio Sessions") as they are the ones most germane to our research. This weekend, I will also post the PDF document on the readings page of the class website. Do not freak out over the final assignment yet. There will be a time for freaking out, but it's later. For now, get a sense of for which of these you might be a reasonable applicant, and we'll discuss our next move on Wednesday after presentations.

Here is a list of who is responsible for what at our regular Friday AM Criticism Round-up:

Local Beat (Philadelphia Inquirer, Weekly and City Paper): Michele and Christine
ArtBlog: Renee
Artsjournal.com: Jessica and Lauren
New York Times: Andy
The New Yorker: Matt
The Chicago Tribune: Sean

Here is the lis of who is presenting on what publication

Andy - American Craft
Lauren - Bomb
Matt - Leonardo
Renee - AfterImage
Jessica - American Ceramics
Christine - Ceramics Monthly
Sean - Flash Art
Michele - New American Painting

Just a hint about these presentations - think of it as a teaching moment. Something that will help me write a recommendation on your behalf later. You may wish to use handouts or other construct your presentation with this in mind.


Finally, my place is at 9. N. 9th St., Apt. #203. See you at 6pm on Wednesday, July 7.

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New York Times Article about New Curators Page 1
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Homeskooled

One of my favorite projects in Philadelphia, Homeskooled Gallery, will be setting up shop in a new space at 535 South Street with a reception on Thursday, July 15, form 5-11pm. Mark your calendar!

For Friday, July 2

Tomorrow in class we will:

• Do our first Criticism Round up. You should be a piece of art-related journalism for discussion. The idea here is to get a sense of what outlets cover what ideas and who the major voices in these outlets are. I expect this to take about 40 minutes.
• We'll decide who's summarizing what publication for class next Wednesday, July 7. Please be sure you've read the assignment so I can clear up any questions. 
• We'll also divide up the James Elkins book for discussion on Friday, July 9 in class. 
• We'll discuss the two remaining major writing projects for this class: the newsletter and the critical analysis. Again, I intend these to be a useful, practical exercises that reflects what you said you wanted to get out of the seminar. So if you have concerns, plan to address them.
• We'll begin our research in the library for your presentations.

If you've decided that you'd prefer to go to Tom's section, tomorrow is the last day such a switch will be possible. Tom asked me to tell anyone who wanted to make a switch:

we will assemble at 9:30 on Friday at the Pine St entrance of the Hamilton building in order to take the van to the PMA

I am planning that the week after we next, we'll focus our attention on something that came up in yesterday's class: the construction of authority in criticism. I will assign some readings form the CD I gave out yesterday. If you're having trouble with it, let me know tomorrow when i see you and I'll go over how to navigate it (otherwise, I assume you know how to do it and will get grumpy and short-tempered if asked again...)