Jeffery Spalding began his painting career in nineteen seventy one. His early works consisted of abstract patterns of colours which he embedded a series of coded messaged into each canvas. For example, assigning a numerical value to each colour then layering one on top of each other forming patterns. To the naked eye the paintings would appear to be nothing more than plaid textures. He was attempting to express his own personal experiences through his paintings.
The "Black" paintings were an interesting departure for Jeffery's abstract work, and focused on applying one hundred and fifty layers of transparent colour on a canvas. The finished work from a distance would appear to be completely black. On closer inspection they would appeared almost brown, purple and would change colour depending on the angle they were viewed from. Jeffery found it particularly interesting how the alternating layers of red, yellow and blues would blend and form colours within the layers. Concealing the brush stoke and hiding the process was important in Jeffery's work. Leaving the work not framed exposing the paint on the side which allows the viewer a look into the piece rather than just looking at the surface. As Jeffery stated " You were able to see the slight differences.. they are not really black."
Jeffry then turned his attention to using the environment and existing architecture as his focus. The idea of creating a painting that is quiet and hidden, for example painting on walls, or using the paint on the walls as his inspiration for the canvas. His use of space and creating works that interact with existing architecture allowed Jeffery to manipulate the experience through the use of different colours. He admits during this time he was attempting to rationalize and control his world. He makes an interesting point in saying " This idea of control could come from a masculine place inside me as an artist?" This comment resonated with me because we often do not think of the gender of an artist effecting the choices they make. Hearing this on the other hand made me realize that our gender and the choices that follow play a big role in the making of art.
Today, Jeffery is focused on feeling his way to a solution rather than thinking and controlling it. He believes in letting the paint tell a story, and attempts to make the paint disappear or vaporise like mist. His works to date deal with the effect of light on matter. He incorporates wood and exploits the textures within. He is interested in the life cycle and seasonal cycles, creating works that are almost like dream imagery.
Jeffery's career as an artist has spanned many generations and movements with the world of art. He is quick to point out that his work speaks of a certain place and time he was in as an artist. And even today finds it hard to revert back to that place and time, in an attempt to explain and articulate his work. As an artist myself I find it fascinating to see how a retrospective collection of an artists career, really helps put in to prospective the dedication it take to be successful in the arts.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Calgary's Gallery Delema
The city of Calgary is situated beside a spectacular natural landscape the rocky mountains. Despite this the city is lacking one of the most significant symbols of any major urban center. Calgary does not have it's own stand alone nationally recognized art gallery, and from the looks of it it's not going to happen anytime soon. Now this is not to say that Calgary does not have any spaces dedicated to displaying art. On the contrary the city possess many venues for artist, but rather each of these institutions operates as a stand alone.
Jeffrey Spalding artist and curator, spoke at the University of Lethbridge. He attempted to address some of the major hurdles the city faces in bringing this idea to fruition. The idea of a single gallery representing the province as a whole has long been discussed within the community and city council for years. Politics, funding, unrealistic expectations and a lack of leadership has ultimately led to no space to date. The cultural stigma that embodies Calgary, for example, the Calgary Stampede is often seen as an attitude that the city needs to separate itself from. Calgary needs to be known for more than one event a year. The city needs to embrace a cultural renaissance and continue to promote and celebrate its diversity, while beginning to grow beyond the stampede and embrace new ideas and forward thinking.
The major problem is there is not a cohesive idea of what this space should look like or where it should be locate. Some people believe that existing spaces are acceptable, while you have others who believe there should be only a privately endorsed and commissioned space. The issue that often arises with using an existing space is its size. Usually large exhibitions that would attract the general public are often out of reach because of the lack of room. The Glenbow is a perfect example in Calgary of an existing space that is over crowded and does not have the mandate needed to commit to the visual arts. With an existing inventory of thirty thousand artifacts, the capacity to take on any new works is just not there. Another example of using an existing space was the old Telus building, donated to the city as a gift in hopes of cultivating an art gallery. In the end the lack of funding and investment lead to its demise.
As Jeffrey explained on one of his trips to Europe to the small town of Martha Heroford in Germany. Calgary needs to look no future than this town of sixty five thousand and their gallery space dedicated to the arts. This is a perfect example of the use of an existing space and the ability to breath new life into it, with an addition in nineteen ninety five by Frank Gehry.
Calgary needs to focus less on the grandiose nature of what this space would potentially look like, and more time collaborating with all members of the community. In conclusion having a nationally recognized gallery in Calgary would be a wonderful acquisition to the city. When dealing with the arts and the community, you have many different opinions to be addressed. Until they can be focused and used cohesively, they cycle of zero productivity will continue to spiral out of control.
Jeffrey Spalding artist and curator, spoke at the University of Lethbridge. He attempted to address some of the major hurdles the city faces in bringing this idea to fruition. The idea of a single gallery representing the province as a whole has long been discussed within the community and city council for years. Politics, funding, unrealistic expectations and a lack of leadership has ultimately led to no space to date. The cultural stigma that embodies Calgary, for example, the Calgary Stampede is often seen as an attitude that the city needs to separate itself from. Calgary needs to be known for more than one event a year. The city needs to embrace a cultural renaissance and continue to promote and celebrate its diversity, while beginning to grow beyond the stampede and embrace new ideas and forward thinking.
The major problem is there is not a cohesive idea of what this space should look like or where it should be locate. Some people believe that existing spaces are acceptable, while you have others who believe there should be only a privately endorsed and commissioned space. The issue that often arises with using an existing space is its size. Usually large exhibitions that would attract the general public are often out of reach because of the lack of room. The Glenbow is a perfect example in Calgary of an existing space that is over crowded and does not have the mandate needed to commit to the visual arts. With an existing inventory of thirty thousand artifacts, the capacity to take on any new works is just not there. Another example of using an existing space was the old Telus building, donated to the city as a gift in hopes of cultivating an art gallery. In the end the lack of funding and investment lead to its demise.
As Jeffrey explained on one of his trips to Europe to the small town of Martha Heroford in Germany. Calgary needs to look no future than this town of sixty five thousand and their gallery space dedicated to the arts. This is a perfect example of the use of an existing space and the ability to breath new life into it, with an addition in nineteen ninety five by Frank Gehry.
Calgary needs to focus less on the grandiose nature of what this space would potentially look like, and more time collaborating with all members of the community. In conclusion having a nationally recognized gallery in Calgary would be a wonderful acquisition to the city. When dealing with the arts and the community, you have many different opinions to be addressed. Until they can be focused and used cohesively, they cycle of zero productivity will continue to spiral out of control.
The History of Art on the Internet
Katlin Jones presented a talk on the history of art on the Internet. The Internet in terms of its use within the artistic community is still relatively new. Like any new medium some hesitation and apprehension still exists concerning its place within the artistic community. During the early nineteen ninety's North American artists was relatively behind when it came to using the Internet as a medium. Many European countries began accessing and using this new platform. The idea of sharing and broadcasting the artist experience appealed to Europeans more because of their idea of sharing the artist experience.
The artist Bruce Sterling in nineteen ninety three asked the question, "Why do people want to be on the Internet?" He used this vast unknown environment to help artist create a dialog. This idea of the "Dialog" was again illustrated by the artist Heath Bunting. His work "King Cross Phone" was a site that listed a collection of phone numbers, as well instructions on specific actions the viewer was supposed do. The results were then published online were they could be access by anyone arguing the idea of "conversation" even further.
During this time the Internet was a group of sites under construction. It was the place that every person wanted to be but still had not reached. For example, early art was created on the network. This was a place only accessible with a knowledge of code writing. The writing of code was the general way of expressing anything on the Internet through numbers and text. The artist Jodi wanted to challenge our perceptions about the Internet, made us feel uneasy by placing hidden messages and images in html code. Jodi.org is considered the godfather of art on the Internet.
The idea of ownership on the Internet was challenged by the second generation of artist in an attempt to showcase artwork outside the network. Bringing the Internet into the gallery was a challenge. The artist Cory Acangle hacked into a Super Mario cartridge and systematical recorded and edited the chip so it would only display clouds. This piece was then brought into the gallery and displayed on large screens, while leaving the hacked cartridge visible to the viewer. What made this interesting was that he documented and expressed some delight that everything he did was accessible to the public through the Internet.
Another artist who continued to explore the idea of ownership was Petra Cartright. Today with YouTube anybody can upload their own self expressions, with the click of a mouse. Before this the idea of broadcasting self expression was a new idea. In one of Petra's works she would sit in front of a camera and play with multiple images that would appear across the screen. Today this has evolved into a phenomenon of self expression with various avenues, such as Face Book and Twitter. These sites allow the ultimate experience in self expression. Contemporary artists can look back at these artists and see how they each played an intricate role in shaping art on the Internet.
The artist Bruce Sterling in nineteen ninety three asked the question, "Why do people want to be on the Internet?" He used this vast unknown environment to help artist create a dialog. This idea of the "Dialog" was again illustrated by the artist Heath Bunting. His work "King Cross Phone" was a site that listed a collection of phone numbers, as well instructions on specific actions the viewer was supposed do. The results were then published online were they could be access by anyone arguing the idea of "conversation" even further.
During this time the Internet was a group of sites under construction. It was the place that every person wanted to be but still had not reached. For example, early art was created on the network. This was a place only accessible with a knowledge of code writing. The writing of code was the general way of expressing anything on the Internet through numbers and text. The artist Jodi wanted to challenge our perceptions about the Internet, made us feel uneasy by placing hidden messages and images in html code. Jodi.org is considered the godfather of art on the Internet.
The idea of ownership on the Internet was challenged by the second generation of artist in an attempt to showcase artwork outside the network. Bringing the Internet into the gallery was a challenge. The artist Cory Acangle hacked into a Super Mario cartridge and systematical recorded and edited the chip so it would only display clouds. This piece was then brought into the gallery and displayed on large screens, while leaving the hacked cartridge visible to the viewer. What made this interesting was that he documented and expressed some delight that everything he did was accessible to the public through the Internet.
Another artist who continued to explore the idea of ownership was Petra Cartright. Today with YouTube anybody can upload their own self expressions, with the click of a mouse. Before this the idea of broadcasting self expression was a new idea. In one of Petra's works she would sit in front of a camera and play with multiple images that would appear across the screen. Today this has evolved into a phenomenon of self expression with various avenues, such as Face Book and Twitter. These sites allow the ultimate experience in self expression. Contemporary artists can look back at these artists and see how they each played an intricate role in shaping art on the Internet.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Jamelie Hassan
Jamelie Hassan was born in London, Ontario in 1948. Currently she is living and working in London. Her work deals with Politically based images expressed through ceramics, painting, video, and mixed media. Working in London early in her career, and being from Arab decent made it very difficult to gain acceptance within the academic and social community. Jamelie uses this tension in her work and attempts to bridge the gap between cultures using visual and text based images. Over the years in London she had acquired over seven studio spaces and had been evicted from all of them. As well each space was systematically torn down much to the response of the community and their inability to embrace the art community. She was given the opportunity to travel to the middle east to study her practice. She found the experience very interesting, and met another artist that she traveled with throughout the middle east, painting around sixty works and giving most of them away along her travels. The political context was a issue regarding many of her works. The work " Hong Kong" is imagery that has been taken from the store front of an old Chinese restaurant. She attempts to have the viewer recognize the physical presence to a place.
With growing up in an Arabic speaking home her traditions also played a large role in her work. The piece "Midnight children" illustrates small books of Satanic verses being burned, and also small cups or coffee grounds. Reading of the trace coffee grounds was a tradition that Jamelie had experienced many times growing up. Jameilie has had to deal with her work being protested and challenged within the art community as well as within the academics. An academic at the University of London actually went so far as to fuel a public campaign in the papers in response to a piece she had done. In response she said, "they didn't know who they were messing with" and in the larger context she believed that such publicity actually did more good then bad. In her final work she presented "Oblivion Seekers" which was a video project she studied. She used archives, race, news footage, and exclusion. The work was a collection of video clips of men and women dancing in a time when Arabs were represented very negatively. In conclusion Jamelie illustrates that taking a position within her practice has been helpful, and it only helps to further inform her art.
With growing up in an Arabic speaking home her traditions also played a large role in her work. The piece "Midnight children" illustrates small books of Satanic verses being burned, and also small cups or coffee grounds. Reading of the trace coffee grounds was a tradition that Jamelie had experienced many times growing up. Jameilie has had to deal with her work being protested and challenged within the art community as well as within the academics. An academic at the University of London actually went so far as to fuel a public campaign in the papers in response to a piece she had done. In response she said, "they didn't know who they were messing with" and in the larger context she believed that such publicity actually did more good then bad. In her final work she presented "Oblivion Seekers" which was a video project she studied. She used archives, race, news footage, and exclusion. The work was a collection of video clips of men and women dancing in a time when Arabs were represented very negatively. In conclusion Jamelie illustrates that taking a position within her practice has been helpful, and it only helps to further inform her art.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Faye HeavyShield
Faye HeavyShield received her education from Calgary College in 1980. She has exhibited both solo and group exhibitions. The images that Faye showed at the beginning of her lecture illustrated a fourteen month study of landscapes. These landscapes are very familiar to Faye as she spent many of her childhood years growing up, and experiencing these surroundings. As a young child she had fond memories of smells, sounds, and tastes that inform her work. Becoming an artist was not Faye's interest in the beginning of her studies at the Calgary College, in her third year she began to take an interest in art. She recalls sitting in many art history classes as a student, and finding it difficult to resonate with the material. Faye believes art is a "Language" and one must live, breathe, and interact with art. Her inspirations for her landscapes are triggered by visual experiences, her identity, language, and community experiences. She believes that the land and the sky are not separate visual images but rather one. Faye also attempts to break our reference to objects, such as "blood." For most of us, we think of blood to be associated with violence or a traumatic event. Faye has a child memory of a "sweet smell," and attempts to convey this memory in her work. The work "Body of land" is many portraits that are constructed of close up images of human skin. The images are shaped into small teepee's and pinned on the gallery wall. Faye is quoted as saying, " my environment includes family language and the narrative. The configuration of objects on the gallery wall is my attempt to convey the scope of this personal landscape. Each portrait is a body, knowledge, history and story both real and imagined." In 1998 Faye felt as if Calgary was really starting to commercialize art. Tired of openings and deadlines, as well the death of a friend caused Faye to take a five year hiatus before returning to the art community. Most recently on 2004, Faye was involved with an off site exhibition celebrating Samuel Duchamp's landing in Fredericton titled, "Camouflage." It was a collection of natural objects, and images glued together placed in a site specific location only to be washed away by the rising tide. Faye believes writing is a very important aspect of her practice, and recording her experiences in a journal is essential. For anybody who is interested in photography and landscapes I would recommend Faye's work.
Art Now Robin Arsenault
My name is Mark Porcina and I am currently in the MFA program in Visual Arts at the University of Lethbridge. Part of my studies this semester is writing a blog that documents Art Now. This is a series of visiting artists at the University during the noon hour. Each artist presents a series of images for roughly an hour discussing their practice and experiences within the art community. As an emerging artist myself I enjoy this opportunity to hear how other colleagues are making it in the art world. I am new to the blogging world and hope to refine my reviews. I am always interested in hearing comments and responses to anything that peaks an interest.
Robin Arsenault, was born in Grand Prairie Alberta and received her MFA in Scotland, and has exhibited both here and in North America and also Internationally. Her work predominately centers around four themes "Foley, Pathos, Abjection, and Failure." Robin does installation work, performance as well as drawing and text based images. Robin's work attempts to deconstruct relations with people and group situations. Some of her work focuses on the " Uncomfortable situations in life." She is quick to point out her idea of accepting our failures, and her work is somewhat satirical and humorous. Robin also is interested in engaging the audience through performance and theatrical pieces, Such as her piece "tapping your troubles away." It is a short two minute clip of a dancers legs tapping away to a nostalgic song. What makes this interesting is the video was filmed through a pin hole camera, which forces the viewers eye directly at the dancers legs. Towards the end one of the dancers legs breaks off and your left with the question, "is it really that easy to just dance life's troubles away?" I found Robin's work very accessible through the imagery, and text she uses in her work. I find myself wondering whether or not I should laugh or cringe, as the images seem to always possess some sort of duel meaning.
Robin Arsenault, was born in Grand Prairie Alberta and received her MFA in Scotland, and has exhibited both here and in North America and also Internationally. Her work predominately centers around four themes "Foley, Pathos, Abjection, and Failure." Robin does installation work, performance as well as drawing and text based images. Robin's work attempts to deconstruct relations with people and group situations. Some of her work focuses on the " Uncomfortable situations in life." She is quick to point out her idea of accepting our failures, and her work is somewhat satirical and humorous. Robin also is interested in engaging the audience through performance and theatrical pieces, Such as her piece "tapping your troubles away." It is a short two minute clip of a dancers legs tapping away to a nostalgic song. What makes this interesting is the video was filmed through a pin hole camera, which forces the viewers eye directly at the dancers legs. Towards the end one of the dancers legs breaks off and your left with the question, "is it really that easy to just dance life's troubles away?" I found Robin's work very accessible through the imagery, and text she uses in her work. I find myself wondering whether or not I should laugh or cringe, as the images seem to always possess some sort of duel meaning.
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