Fabulous designer Iris Apfel. Image: blog.mawi.co.uk

From March 1^st through March 4^th the National Art Education Association will hold their annual conference right here in New York City. Over 3,000 art educators from all levels, including myself, will descend upon The Hilton and Sheraton hotels in midtown and have the opportunity to attend hundreds upon hundreds of workshops offered by colleagues from close to everywhere across the country.

Here at Art21, we have a few very special things planned….

On Friday, March 2^nd at 8:30am Art21 is proud to present Janine Antoni’s keynote address, “Circuitous Path”, in the Hilton Grand Ballroom. As many of you already know, Janine Antoni employs a variety of mediums including performance, sculpture, photography and video. Her primary tool for making has always been her own body and she is known for using extreme processes and unusual materials. As an educator, Antoni is interested in teaching people ways to develop their individual creative process and will discuss her own art making as an example of the circuitous journey that one travels to arrive at a work of art.

At 12:00 noon, I will be co-presenting an offsite workshop at the Museum of Art and Design with Catherine Rosamond that focuses on teaching with contemporary art on film and in the museum gallery. While the workshop is already sold out, it never hurts to inquire at the NAEA information desk about any cancellations if you want to be in on the fun. Last year’s workshop with a similar focus at the Seattle Art Museum was wonderful.

Later Friday afternoon, at 3:30pm, we are excited about the “supersession” titled “Sown Within: A Performative Workshop with Janine Antoni” at the Sheraton’s Metropolitan Ballroom East. This workshop, led by Janine herself, will focus on the body as a tool for exploration and certainly promises to be a unique event!

To cap off Friday, Art21 is proud to participate in NAEA’s film salon and offer preview screenings of two new season 6 episodes. “Change” and “History” feature artists Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui, Catherine Opie, Marina Abramović, Mary Reid Kelley, and Glenn Ligon. All screenings will take place at the Hilton’s Concourse G- Lower Level. Check it out if you want a sneak peek at some of the segments before national broadcast.

On Saturday, March 3^rd at 9:00am in the Hilton Mercury Ballroom, Lois Hetland will moderate a conversation featuring a few of our outstanding past and present Art21 educators including Julia CopperSmith, Maureen Hergott , Anna Dean and Jocelyn Salaz. Participants will discuss case studies they created and changes in their teaching practice since taking part in the Art21 Educators program. This should be an excellent way to become familiar with the program for anyone interested.

Then, starting at 11:00am and continuing through 4:00pm on Saturday, Oliver Herring will kick off a huge TASK party in the Sheraton’s New York Ballroom East. Join Oliver and fellow educators for an unprecedented collaborative art experience. TASK is an improvisational, open-ended, participatory event with a simple structure and very few rules. It creates almost unlimited opportunities for a group of people to interact in a given space. TASK parties have been held throughout the world at museums, galleries, and schools but this will be the first-ever TASK event at an NAEA conference. Stick around afterward with Oliver and guests (including Dennis Greenwell, Karen Melvin, Kendra Paitz, Emmett Sandberg and Jack Watson) for a conversation moderated by our own Jessica Hamlin that focuses on “What is TASK and what can you do with It?” Teachers will share their experiences both participating in and organizing TASK events.

Finally, on Sunday, March 4^th at 10:00am in the Hilton Gramercy Suite A, artist LaToya Ruby Frazier will discuss the collaborative work with her family over the past nine years as well as her role as daughter, photographer and filmmaker. LaToya Frazier is currently featured in Art21’s new documentary film series, New York Close Up.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in just a few weeks…

"So, Three Thousand Art Educators Walk Into a Room…." originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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Survey staple, the Woman of Willendorf. Just don't call her Venus....

Although I’d taught in the galleries at the Guggenheim before returning to school, when I began my academic program I also began my pedagogical baptism by fire, aka my teaching fellowship. I began where all other newbies start: with that strange, polymorphous beast, the art history survey. After my first semester, I realized that reinventing the wheel by writing each lecture from scratch was both time consuming and demoralizing, but that there was no standard, centralized pool of resources at CUNY that I could turn to as I learned the ropes. I had a great supervisor and generous peers (one of whom, Saisha Grayson, is co-developing parts of the this project) who could help out when I asked, but I began to imagine a permanent resource for all survey teachers that went beyond the supplementary teaching materials offered by Stokstad and Gardener, one that could be a dynamic, two-way street that built a community around it as it grew. How could everyone who was going through or had already passed the same initiation rite of teaching an art history survey (especially at CUNY colleges, where classes can be large and students are often ESL) help each other out, and leave resources for those who would follow in their footsteps?

My new home this semester

So, new spring semester, new classes, and an exciting new project finally coming to fruition: AHResources, a peer-populated platform for sharing resources for teaching the art history survey. It’s something I’ve been working on for about a year, and I’m now affiliated with the New Media Lab at the Center for Learning & Media at the Graduate Center. There, I’m developing a website this spring where CUNY art survey teachers can both request and share survey lesson plans, PowerPoints, assessment materials, and more, helping each other through the often challenging first few years of teaching. There’s also a series of workshops beginning this semester, offering newer survey teachers the opportunity to join a master teacher who will walk through a succinct play-by-play lesson plan for the areas where a Western-emphasis education leaves some of us struggling. This spring, we’re lucky enough to have educator Joseph Loh and curator Soyoung Lee from the Met Museum offer templates for lectures on Japanese and Korean art, and professors Genevieve Hyacinthe and Karen Shelby guide us thorough African Art and creating meaningful writing assignments, respectively. (I’m lucky to be mentored by Karen at Baruch College, where she is pioneering an innovative Teaching with Technology grant project to bring museum spaces into the classroom via video).

It’s still tough to fit the arts of one continent into a single lecture – and hopefully the forum will invite debate on the value of what to leave *out* as much as what to include – but the object is to relieve the initial terror of the unknown. My hope is that, much like what the awesome Smarthistory.org and Khan Academy have done for both teachers and students in the classroom, my new project (no-so-snappily titled Art History Teaching Resources) can support emerging art survey teachers at home, at 2am, when they have a lecture on Oceanic pottery due the next day and are feeling a little overwhelmed. It’s where everyone starts, yet no one needs to feel like they have to invent a new written language to do it (unless you’re a Bronze Age Sumerian – an inside joke for those who teach the early part of the survey).

Sneak preview of the new Art History Teaching Resources site

So, to that end, I’d be really interested in hearing (anonymously or otherwise) about experiences in teaching. What resources do you wish were available for early teachers of the art history survey? The Met’s Timeline is fantastic, but I’m talking about specific, synthesized-for-survey classroom teacher resources. Ready-made syllabi and detailed chapter-by-chapter lesson plans seem to top the list so far, but what else? I’d like to link or collaborate with whatever exists already, so are there excellent resources you turn to for lesson plans, ready-made PPTs, or great assignments? Are new online models for sharing materials with students – like Coursekit, for example – or the anti-plagiarism Turnitin.com an improvement on new teachers trying to wrestle with Bboard? What models do you think would work best for sharing art survey teaching resources (and I’m sticking with the survey for now as there’s less concern over “giving away” one’s work when it’s the same survey everyone else does)? And most imporantly, can you think of a better name than Art History Teaching Resources…..? As the website develops and the workshops occur this spring, I’ll report back here. If they don’t work, they’ll get refined or rethought as part of the overall experiment of teaching. If they do, the results will get shared as widely as possible – in the spirit of collaboration on which this enterprise is founded.

"Open Enrollment | Calling All Art History Survey Teachers" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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Students in Maureen Hergott's class transform the space

Last week when I shared an interview with Julia CopperSmith and Maureen Hergott, two of our current Art21 Educators, one set of quotes particularly struck me. At one point I was asking about whether they both had an “a-ha” moment during our summer institute together and how that moment has influenced their teaching. Allow me to rewind for a moment:

How has that “a-ha” moment affected the year so far?

Maureen Hergott: Rather then designing “projects” for our students to make, Julia and I have been trying to develop lessons that allow our students to have contemporary art-making experiences.  We try to give them the foundation and confidence to be able to explore a variety of materials and make artistic choices on their own.  We want them to have a sense of pride in and ownership of their artwork.   Often times, we have the students working collaboratively so that they can share ideas and learn from one another.

Julia CopperSmith: I see my students once a week.  As an adult it is easy to forget that for an elementary school student a week is a long period of time. It has been helpful for my teaching to begin lessons by showing my students video clips from the prior week’s lesson. Using documentation as a starting point for discussion has assisted my students in building upon their prior learning experiences.

Maureen and Julia both make important points in this part of the interview and I wanted to highlight two of them this week…

First, if we want to truly transform art-making experiences for elementary age students and move away from step-by-step craft projects that are more about following directions than being creative, then we have to construct experiences for young students that allow them to think and behave like artists. For example, less “Here’s is how we are going to transform our space” and more “How can we transform our space?” Giving students the opportunity, not to mention power, to make creative choices is extremely important as we begin to expand on what elementary art education can be.

Second, Julia’s point about using video documentation to inspire discussion is an fantastic suggestion. There are literally tons of ways to take, make and share video at this point, and using video to bridge the often gargantuan gaps between elementary art classes can be a wonderful way to maintain continuity. Students don’t need to rehash the entire previous lesson, but a few minutes of reflection, discussion and planning can go a long way. And is it any surprise that students would love to see themselves in order to inspire themselves? I mean, really.

Many thanks once again to Julia and Maureen for agreeing to the interview and for sharing their perspective with us!

"Teaching with Contemporary Art in the Elementary Classroom" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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Julia and Maureen sharing a laugh in the classroom

This week I want to share a conversation that took place between myself and two of our current, amazing Art21 Educators…

Julia CopperSmith and Maureen Hergott teach elementary art education at Scott and Westdale Elementary Schools in Melrose Park and Northlake near Chicago. Their work has been inspiring to all of us here at Art21 so far this year, especially since they are finding ways to work with contemporary art and engage some very young students in the process. Since we will soon be accepting applications for year 4 of Art21 Educators, I am happy to post this interview which was just wrapped up last week. Enjoy!

Joe Fusaro: First, could you both talk about why you applied to be a part of the Art21 Educators program? Did one person convince the other? If so, how?

Julia CopperSmith: I learned about Art21 in college after watching an episode of Art in the 21st Century in an undergraduate studio foundations class. Art21 really impacted my thinking; I thought it was a really exciting program. I remained abreast of Art21’s programs, educational resources, and read Art21’s blog. I learned about Art21 Educators through the blog and immediately informed Maureen about it. Maureen and I had already been collaborating on lesson planning and attending other professional development activities together. We already had a great collaborative practice and parallel views about elementary art education. We were already focusing on teaching using contemporary methodologies and practices, and had both used Art21 artists and films in our lessons. So we thought this would be a perfect experience to participate in and hoped it would enrich our teaching practice.

Maureen Hergott: 
I remember being so excited and a little nervous when she first forwarded me the information.  While we had participated in several local contemporary arts professional development activities, this whole Art21 thing seemed like so much more of a big deal! I had seen a few Art21 episodes throughout the years and really enjoyed them, but never used the many resources Art21 had to offer in my nine years teaching art. Julia and I decided right away that we would be thrilled to participate in the program, so we embarked on the daunting application process.  I say “daunting” because, well… it IS daunting. Daunting yet do-able.  Actually, the application process turned out to be quite a learning experience for both of us.  We never really experimented at any length using iMovie, and we did just that to make our application videos.  We basically started learning some of the skills that would be required of us throughout the year as soon as we began the application process.

JF: What were you hoping to get out of participating when you first applied?

JCS: We wanted to have more of a conversation about how to incorporate contemporary art and art making practices into the elementary classroom. We had been discussing this topic between ourselves, and we wanted an opportunity to have this discussion with other teachers as well. We were also excited to meet other educators and hear about what they were doing with their students. We liked the idea of being in a community of educators, and wanted to see how they successfully incorporate contemporary art into their curriculum.

MH: In many of the other professional development workshops we attended together, there was a strong focus on how to teach with contemporary art at the high school level.  We felt (and still feel) that it was just as important to teach using contemporary art and art making practices with our elementary students.  We wanted to further expand our knowledge of using contemporary art in our classrooms.  We were also hoping to meet other art teachers with similar interests who wanted to teach in ways that might inspire our own teaching practice.

JF: Describe any kind of prep you did in order to “get ready” to come to NYC last July. How did that preparation assist with your experience?

JCS: We reviewed some of the Art21 artists and resources. We had many conversations about going to New York- we were curious about what we were going learn, who we were going to meet, and what we were going to do. We were very excited to go to New York and were up for any type of adventure.

MH: Julia and I were absolutely ecstatic when we found out we were going to get to participate in the Art21 Educators program. There wasn’t really very much prep work to do BEFORE we started participating.  Most of the work happens AFTER the program begins!  But, we did the required readings and answered the survey questions sent before arriving in NY.  We took the time to look into the Art21 websites and familiarized ourselves with some of the Art21 artists.

JF: What did you enjoy most about the Art21Educator institute this past summer?

MH: It was wonderful to be able to spend a week with other educators who were so dedicated to the task of evolving their teaching practice.  At times, the summer institute felt overwhelming, but knowing that we were all in it together, helping one another, and learning from each other—I had never experienced a professional support system like that.

JCS: The institute inspired me to structure my curriculum in a more connected and dynamic way. Creating a unit for Art21 Educators inspired Maureen and I to alter the form in which we planned our academic year. The institute also inspired me to think about how my students can participate in more in-depth discussions in class. It made me think extensively about the students’ art making processes and provide opportunities for students to make more thoughtful choices within their art making. Neither of us expected to reevaluate the way we structured our entire school year. It is very exciting for both of us to revisit past lessons and redesign them to create a more meaningful learning experience for our students.

JF: Could each of you describe an “a-ha” moment from the summer institute- a moment where you thought, “This is going to change the way I teach.”

MH: I did some serious reflection and re-evaluation of my past teaching practices before and during the summer institute.  Most of my “a-ha” moments came when I began asking myself, “What have I really been teaching my students?”  By designing “projects” that had clear end results, I noticed that I had essentially removed my students from the most important parts of the art-making process.  I was making many of the artistic choices for them when they should be the ones to make those choices.  This was not how I wanted to continue my teaching practice and that was a huge “a-ha” moment for me.

JCS: The introduction of video as a reflection and instructional tool was an “a-ha” moment for my teaching practice. When I incorporated documentation as a method for the students to gain perspective in their art making processes, the classroom became a more active learning environment. Allowing students to use cameras as they work as a means for reflection on their art making process has significantly changed the way that I teach. Being able to review how they created their work helps my students to think about why they make the choices they do in the classroom, as well as recall the experiences they had from week to week.

JF: How has that “a-ha” moment affected the year so far?

MH: Rather then designing “projects” for our students to make, Julia and I have been trying to develop lessons that allow our students to have contemporary art-making experiences.  We try to give them the foundation and confidence to be able to explore a variety of materials and make artistic choices on their own.  We want them to have a sense of pride in and ownership of their artwork.   Often times, we have the students working collaboratively so that they can share ideas and learn from one another.

JCS: I see my students once a week.  As an adult it is easy to forget that for an elementary school student a week is a long period of time. It has been helpful for my teaching to begin lessons by showing my students video clips from the prior week’s lesson. Using documentation as a starting point for discussion has assisted my students in building upon their prior learning experiences.

Julia and Maureen show off some characters...

JF: What are you most proud of at this point in the school year?

MH: There have been so many moments when I look around the art room and each and every student is totally engaged in their artwork.   They are not gossiping about other students and they are not talking about what they watched on TV last night.  They are sharing ideas, problem solving, and helping each other experiment with the materials.  They are actually being artists.  Those are the moments when I am truly filled with a sense of pride.

JCS: I am proud of the evolution within my teaching practice. Being a part of Art21 Educators has made my collaboration with Maureen more cohesive. We are both dedicated to a continuous growth within our teaching practices. Teaching with fresh, contemporary methodologies and art making processes have fostered more lively and engaging lessons. We are teaching our students in an active manner that provides mores choices and opportunities for self-direction and conceptual development.

JF: As elementary art educators, which artists have been your favorite to work with so far?

JCS: Artists that I have incorporated in my curriculum so far have included Oliver Herring, Matthew Barney, Arturo Herrera, and Allan McCollum.

MH: And Julie Mehretu!

JF: And which season 6 artists are you looking forward to?

JCS: One of the artists I am looking forward to is SarahSze. I already have a lesson in progress that uses her work as a point of investigation for my students. In addition, my 4th graders this year have constructed projects dealing with the use of everyday objects in site-specific spaces. Introducing Sarah Sze’s work can help further expand upon that exploration.

I am also looking forward to viewing David Altmejd’s feature. I think my students will be interested in his large-scale anthropomorphic figures. The transformations within his sculptures and the supernatural aspects of his work will provoke some lively conversation.

Finally, I have always enjoyed Lynda Benglis’ use of materials in her practice- particularly, her bright latex floor pieces and her large-scale sculptures. I’m excited to see her interview in Season 6.

JF: Any words of wisdom for future Art21 Educator applicants?

MH: The Art21 Educators program is a yearlong endeavor.  Be prepared to be refining and rethinking your teaching practices as well as actively participating on the Art21 Ning site throughout the year.  Also, for those applying to the Art21 Educator program, I (we) highly recommend staying in the NYU dorms.  After a long day of discussion and reflection, it’s really valuable to be able to come back to the dorms and continue the conversation in a more relaxed atmosphere.

JCS: I would tell future applicants to be open to the idea of expanding your teaching practice. There is great potential in learning from the other participants in the program.  In addition, be prepared to document your teaching practice and share classroom experiences with the other members of the program. I am very thankful to be participating in the Art21 Educator Program!

"Talking with Art21 Educators: Julia CopperSmith and Maureen Hergott" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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This is the first January in a decade that I am not returning to a full time work schedule, and I am rediscovering the academic limbo that is winter break. Most schools will not reopen their doors to students until late in the month, and after spending nearly every day with something due the next one, I was feeling symptoms of withdrawal. As a creature of habit, I craved some structure. By stroke of luck, I managed to secure a teaching assistantship with Daniel Shiffman, the renowned guru of processing. He is teaching a two-week intensive course on programming and code-based art to a group of NYU Abu Dhabi undergraduates, and I get to sit in to occasionally help.

Daniel Shiffman, "Swarm," 2002. Courtesy the artist.

I am, by far, getting the better end of the bargain. I have taken two courses with Shiffman already, and his teaching style never ceases to amaze me. He takes on very difficult concepts on algorithms and programming and can explain them for both the experienced coder and the technophobic artist in one entertaining package. He is also one of the nicest people I have ever met, and one specific benefit of that is he has many talented friends. Two of them, Jer Thorp and Marius Watz, gave a guest lecture.

Although Watz and Thorp made their mark as artists who use code as their medium, they are moving towards new territory by using the very same digital tools to create work for the physical realm. Watz’s study of Victor Vasarely’s Op-Art, for example, have leapt from the screen and onto laser-cut plywood. And Thorp, who is well known as the New York Times’ Data Artist in Residence, has filled his Flickr stream with images of his latest work, a software loom that weaves patterns based on mathematical techniques. He plans to collaborate with a textile artist (his mother) to bring these creations to life.

Jer Thorp. "IW - Process," 2012. Courtesy the artist.

Shiffman splits the course into two parts. The first half is devoted entirely to the basics of object-oriented programming. But the second half, on simulating the systems of nature in software, is where he really shines.

To better understand why it’s important to create digital worlds, he took us to the American Museum of Natural History. There, Senior Project Manager Stephen Quinn took us on a behind-the-scenes tour of conservators restoring the dioramas of the Hall of North American Mammals. Quinn has been working with the museum as an artist, exhibit designer and field naturalist since 1974. Dioramas were an attempt to recreate an authentic experience of nature in order to better understand and connect with it. Before the days of photography, these dioramas created a “virtual” sense of reality for generations of New Yorkers who did not have access to the natural world. Watching the artists, craftsmen and designers at work painstakingly restoring these historic works made me appreciate them even more.

Matt Parker. "Lumarca," Jan 12 - Feb 4, 2012 at Eyebeam.

In order to see how digital tools are being used in a contemporary art setting, we met with ITP alum and Eyebeam resident Matt Parker to see his and his collaborator Albert Hwang’s 15-foot cubed volumetric sculpture, Lumarca. The system works whereby a projection of pixels are mapped onto yarn hung in a specific pattern. Through clever coding and planning, viewers are able to see three dimensional images and motion. There is poetry in the simplicity of the piece — yes it takes many hours to set up and tons of mental anguish to create. But the creation of such wonder using common materials and readily available tools is even more impressive.

I was also very giddy when I entered Eyebeam because Slava Balasanov, another Eyebeam resident and ITP alum, was exhibiting his works in the lobby. The first item on view was his and Corrie Van Sice’s anus chair — a project that I saw them create.

Teaching can be hard, but I’m finding the virtues outweigh the difficulties. I get to review the basics, force myself to maintain good habits, and also discover the extent of my knowledge. I feel like I have found a new passion. Although it’s great to make swirling balls appear on computer screens, it’s even better when you teach novices how to do it, and see how their approach significantly changes the aesthetics and interaction of the piece.

The upcoming months will be a little uncertain for me. As I am finishing my graduate school experience, I have to face the reality of deciding what happens next. I will keep in mind what Jer Thorp shared with us in class. He didn’t set out to be the NY Times‘ Data Artist. He was doing what interested him, which was using the Times‘ data, and at some point people took notice of his work. Passion leads to opportunities. But then, there is also the responsibility of taking care of oneself. One metaphor I will carry with me is found in Dan Shiffman’s own work. When simulating natural occurrences of flocking, Shiffman notices the best behaviors are those that result from a conflict of rules. A flock of birds that need to stay cohesive but need to keep themselves separate from each other, for example, is more interesting than the ones who only follow one rule. It’s often good to have a little conflict.

"Open Enrollment | Nature and Nurture" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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Ai Weiwei, "Sunflower Seeds", 2010 installation view. Image: dezeen.com

In just a few months there’s going to be a lot happening here at Art21…. Even more than usual.

On April 13^th, we kick off season 6 of Art in the Twenty-First Century on PBS with the Change episode featuring Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui and Catherine Opie. That alone has us smiling.

But fast-forward to July and we also get to launch year four of Art21 Educators. If you know a little bit about the Art21 Educators program but would like more details, read on!

Art21 Educators is an intensive, year long professional development initiative designed to support K-12 visual arts, language arts, humanities, social studies, and media arts teachers who are interested in bringing contemporary art, artists, and themes into their classroom. The program serves to help teachers broaden their curricular focus to include inquiry into contemporary issues and questions that demand cross-curricular knowledge.

Our fourth year begins in early July with the Summer Institute here in New York City. For that first week participants work with Art21 staff, visiting artists, and guest presenters to develop their familiarity with contemporary art and artists, as well as learn strategies for planning and teaching with big questions and an interdisciplinary focus. Accepted educators explore ways to use Art21 films and educational materials in the classroom, consider new documentation strategies and participate in collaborative reflection.

All participants (that’s right- everyone) receive a complete set of Art in the Twenty-First Century DVDs, related Educators’ Guides, Companion Books, a video camera, and an introduction to a variety of online media resources and strategies for teaching with contemporary art. Participants design and develop curriculum related to their own classrooms, watch and talk about films, visit museums and galleries, and get to talk with artists and other educators. Teachers return to their classrooms with a unique unit of study that they have designed to teach during the school year, as well as lesson ideas and resources generated by fellow participants.

Sessions this summer will include:

• Contemporary Art in Contemporary Classrooms
• Exploring Contemporary Questions
• Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Contemporary Art
• Curating the Classroom
• Interdisciplinary, Thematic, and Postmodern Practices in the Classroom
• Technology tutorials
• Studio visits and guest presenters

For application information, stay tuned to art21.org for details in the coming weeks. And for an inside scoop on what the Art21 Educators program is like, check out the Teaching with Contemporary Art column next week when I will interview two of our current educators, Maureen Hergott and Julia CopperSmith.

See you then.

"Join Us" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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Paul McCarthy, "White Snow and Dopey, Wood", 2011. Image: artobserved.com

Up until recently, I was unaware of how difficult it is for some students (and perhaps adults) to reach into their memories and use a past event, sound, place or even scent to influence the development of a work of art. A few weeks ago as part of a larger sculpture unit exploring how memories can be represented, I asked one of my classes to sketch two different memories in three different ways for a total of six small drawings. The three ways included:

1. Sketching the actual memory as best they could- no shading or intricate details necessary at first
2. Sketching an abstract representation of the memory using shape, color, texture, etc.,
3. Choosing a word that somehow describes the memory and then finding a way to draw or design the word itself as a representation of it.

Getting students to think about the two memories in three different ways, I had hoped, would allow them to explore what they recalled in more detail. But I was amazed- no, floored- at the number of students who “couldn’t think of a memory to try” or students who bitterly complained they “didn’t want to draw a memory.” I kept thinking that the assignment, which was part of an introduction to representing memory three-dimensionally, was broad enough to have students reach back as far as they liked in order to share a fun, funny, bizarre, bitter or celebratory memory and influence their initial brainstorming. But getting these first sketches done was pure agony for some.

Now that we’re further into this particular unit, I look back on that first week and wonder how I may have started off differently. I thought a lot about what students needed in the beginning in order to more freely explore their own memories and share them. In the end it was no surprise that I came up with basically my own advice, given to other educators many times before… Share better examples and do more “front-end” work.

While I had asked students to draw two different memories to start, I hadn’t shared very many artists at that point who use memory to inspire their own work. I also hadn’t asked students to talk with their parents or family members about what they remembered about their own childhood, just as a way to trigger certain ways of thinking. Sure, we had discussed and briefly looked into works that gave specific memories form, such as the Iwo Jima Memorial and Janine Antoni’s “Moor”. We even had the opportunity to talk about how memory is constructed and the fact that specific events can be remembered very differently by people who experience them together. But we didn’t do enough to get good quality ideas going in and as a result I have quite a few half-baked sculptures (both literally and figuratively) that explore memories even the students themselves consider inconsequential.

Looking back a few weeks, and looking forward to trying this again in the future, I would share a more diverse range of artists and art works that specifically deal with memory in various ways. I would consider sharing Josiah McElheny’s work and paintings by Susan Rothenberg. I’d (carefully) select works by Paul McCarthy and perhaps Judy Pfaff, Mark Bradford and Mike Kelley. I would even include a range of works by surrealists such as René Magritte.

Working with memory presents challenges, like many themes and ideas we choose to teach with, that are terribly difficult to get rolling without an organized, broad and juicy introduction. Still, the great thing about teaching is that we get to continuously reflect on our work and make it better for the next time around.

"Working with Memory" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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Katharina Grosse, installation view of One Floor Up More Highly at Mass MoCA. Image: ContemporaryArtDaily.com

Following up on last week’s post, I’d like to conclude with a few more shows that flew under the radar in 2011:

“Katharina Grosse: One Floor Up More Highly” at Mass MoCA. Hated this show the first time I saw it and loved it on the second and third visits. Grosse teaches us, like many artists who work with installation, that an exhibit has to work on you before making a decision about whether or not you “like” it. Spray painting directly onto the walls as well as huge mounds of dirt and Styrofoam, this show had the effect of stepping into another world. And while Grosse sees her work as neither representational or abstract, one couldn’t help associating some elements with massive piles of dried pigment or hyper-enlarged ice crystals. Another thing I really enjoyed was how the installation changed dramatically depending on where you stood in the gigantic space.

“Dana Schutz: If The Face Had Wheels” at the Neuberger Museum. As much as it kills me to admit it, especially after what I wrote about him last year, Jerry Saltz really said it best: “Given the continued imbalance in the system, for a woman to paint at all is still a political act; for her to do so in a vaguely gestural figurative style is almost insurrectionary. The show proves that like all outstanding artists, Schutz probably has an extra wrinkle in her frontal lobe.” Besides, how can anyone resist “Shaking, Cooking, Peeing” as a metaphor for…. everything?

“Richard Serra: Junction/Cycle” at Gagosian Gallery. Serra’s two new sculptures at Gagosian left me with the same reactions I had experiencing his work for the first time many years ago. While feeling a little seasick I simultaneously wanted to walk and weave through the spaces, encounter other visitors unexpectedly and run my hands along the orange-brown walls that tilted and loomed in many of the tight spaces. Getting these two pieces into Gagosian’s gallery must have been one hell of a trick and I wonder if anyone has it on time-lapse video? That would be something to share with students.

“Glenn Ligon: AMERICA” at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Stepping off the elevator and into Ligon’s silkscreened photograph, Hands, was a tremendous start to a show that was both gorgeous and provocative. In so many of the works, both  literally and figuratively, America stared us in the face and then turned away, leaving us with nothing but space to reflect on where we are in this place and time.

“Laurel Nakadate: Only the Lonely” at MoMA P.S. 1. What I enjoyed most about this show was how Nakadate experiments with meeting strangers and role playing in order to create films and photographs. It literally made me fear for her safety but also admire that ability to inject herself into very different situations in order to make the work.

Happy New Year to All and THANK YOU for reading in 2011…

"Under the Radar: Best of 2011, Part 2" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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George Condo, "Jesus", 2002. Collection of Nancy and Robert Magoon.

The past year has been inspiring and simultaneously unpredictable when it comes to exhibitions. Whether it was celebrated blockbusters like Alexander McQueen or the current DeKooning show at MoMA, there is and was plenty to see, especially for educators interested in contemporary art. Think about it… In 2011 you could have spent 24 hours with Christian Marclay or done a long, slow pour with Lynda Benglis. You could have taken it outside for Art in The Streets at L.A.MoCA or grabbed your walking (not to mention, driving) shoes for Pacific Standard Time.

But some shows flew a little under the radar, even a few housed in major museums, and they had plenty to offer when it comes to teaching. This week I wanted to share the first of two posts dedicated to some inspiring shows that made me look again this past year. Links are included to the shows and/or examples of the work.

“George Condo: Mental States” at the New Museum. Forget about any renewed possibilities for hanging a show salon style, even though that’s probably worth looking into, this show thrust Condo’s portraits of invented characters into my line of vision when I was actually at the New Museum to catch the Lynda Benglis show. Condo’s exhibit proved one can most definitely be blown away by surprise. His work, to me, felt somehow comical and compassionate all at the same time. Portraiture gone wild. Kanye West knew what he was doing.

“Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989)” at ClampArt. I had seen Morrisoe’s work reproduced before, but never in person. Looking into the Poloroids had me imagining, over and over, the stories behind the pictures (or the pictures behind the stories- one of the two). During this exhibit I realized some of the best photography first makes you wonder about the story and then… the photographer. This isn’t always the case with drawing, painting or sculpture.

“Nick Cave: Meet Me At The Center Of The Earth” at the Seattle Art Museum. Cave’s narrative about the original Soundsuits, conceived shortly after Septemeber 11^th and reproduced on the wall of the museum, had me hooked from the start. While McQueen’s threads were certainly entertaining, I still find Cave’s more energetic and compelling. Brash, infectious inspiration that isn’t just for sculptors or those interested in textiles.

Howard Hodgkin at Gagosian Gallery. This show (still on view through the end of the week) is a wild and joyous example of precision in gesture and color. Hodgkin’s painting taught me to examine the texture and juxtaposition between lights and darks in his paintings on wood. Often literally working outside the box, this exhibit encouraged a physical response, even if it was simply to sit on the benches and linger. (Imagine that? Lingering? On benches? In a major gallery with Hodgkin’s color and brushstrokes everywhere you look?). Can bold, gestural painting make you slow down and see? Absolutely.

“Day Job” at The Drawing Center. This was one of the more inspirational group shows of the year, curated by Nina Katchadourian, and featured artists who created works somehow related to their jobs or used the exhibition theme to begin a new project. I was introduced to the exquisite drawing of Pasquale Cortese and the layered constructions of Luis Romero, and that’s just for starters. Working artists left there thinking, “I can do this.” At least I did.

Next week:

Richard Serra returns.

Love it or hate it- Laurel Nakadate.

Katharina Grosse at Mass MoCA.

And more!

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday…

JF

"Under the Radar: Best of 2011" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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This past weekend was ITP’s annual winter show, which marks the end of our Fall semester. I decided not to submit any of my own work because the incredibly slick Yale Evelev of Luaka Bop made my Gamelan Orchestra an offer we could not refuse: to play four amazing nights at The Stone, John Zorn’s well regarded experimental and avant-garde performance space.

Luaka Bop Residency at The Stone, December 2011. Courtesy Luaka Bop.

Yale went to Indonesia for the first time in 1979 and was struck by the casual ambience of gamelan and wayang kulit performances in the villages of Java. “…The audience and the performers were on the same level and interspersed,” Yale explained. “It was magical for me hearing these sonorities up close without the distance of a stage and the normal formalities of a western concert.” He wanted to recreate this experience by pairing us with some amazing acts, one of which I have been following for quite some time.

I first discovered Lucky Dragons, the band/art-collective consisting of Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara, while researching fabric capacitive sensors for a touch-sensitive curtain. I was directed to their “Make a Baby” project and became hooked on their music. Lucky Dragons often require their audience to touch each other in order to complete a circuit, creating electronic sound with their interaction. This basic model effectively translates a pure human-to-human experience to the digital world.

Lucky Dragons, Courtesy Dublab.

I once again found myself next to the big gong and directly front and center to their performance. Lucky Dragons tuned their electronic instruments to our metallophones’ pentatonic scale, often blending seamlessly to our music but adding their own sonic signatures as well. After the concert, I gave Sarah Rara our big gong’s offering of flowers. She was reluctant at first, because she had heard the gongs don’t like to share. I explained our gong was very giving and that the wilted flowers would end up in the trash otherwise. She accepted them.

Antonius Wiriadjaja and Valentina Camacho, "The Pool," 2011. Courtesy the artists.

Before the shows at The Stone, I found myself with something I haven’t had in several months — free time. It was great because I had so many things to catch up on, but I ended up spending most of it passed out in bed. My final projects were time-sensitive and site-specific, a combination which led to pure exhaustion.

My Big Screens project, presenting a 12.5 foot deep pool in the lobby of a Frank Gehry building, went well. It was accepted as one of the videos to play in rotation at the IAC, which is great news, except now we have to multiply our 11,520 by 1,080 resolution video to 12,000 by 1,200 resolution, a real rendering nightmare.

Antonius Wiriadjaja, "Drop It Like It's Crotch," 2011. Courtesy Spike McCue.

My other big project, creating a musical instrument for the 10th annual ITP New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) show at Cameo Gallery, did not go as smoothly because the venue was completely packed. Three performers followed the beat of four musical loops from different genres, broadcast over FM radio. The pants I wore were embedded with piezo discs, allowing me to amplify the more subtle noise of the pants’ fabric. Some of them unfortunately broke in the middle of the set, but we trudged through anyway. Thanks to the strong performers I collaborated with, Michell J. Cardona and Johann Diedrick, the show was a total blast.

But now comes the hard question of what to do next. I can follow up on the pants project for my thesis as a case study of implementing new technologies to traditional ethnic folk theatre. On the other end of the spectrum, my gamelan orchestra is relying on me to ensure new technologies won’t interfere with their classical music, especially for our upcoming Javanese Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet theatre) show on March 16, 2012 at Asia Society. I am grateful for the break between semesters to digest what I’ve learned. Hopefully by January won’t be regurgitating false notions about new media and the traditional arts, but rather gestating a novel model for the two to co-exist. For now, I am happy to simply reflect on the amazing year I have had. There are greater things to come. But they can wait.

"Open Enrollment | The Pool, the Pants and the Performance" originally appeared on the Art21 Blog

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