Studio Research Spring 2023: Looking With Intention

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Looking With Intention - Sarah Ferreira

"Hmm?"

"It Fits!"

"Thank you."

"Untitled" - Louis Wain

These images I created were inspired by an artist I have currently been obsessing over named Louis Wain. Wain was known as the man who made cats a household pet as normally, during the 1800s, cats were seen as pests and not as pets--until Louis began to illustrate these sweet cats! I've fallen in love with his work but his life story and a recent film titled "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" is what truly made me become obsessed with him as a human being. His life was filled with such tragedies but he was able to create such joyous work during such difficult times. The final image he created during his lifespan was an image I am planning to take to heart as I suffer with anxiety and depression and it's always a nice reminder to know you are also loved and should feel happy just as your own house pet.

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DUE THURSDAY 5/10 Class in VA B07 - Presentations conclude + pizza party

*be prepared to stay late on 5/11 as class will conclude only when all students have presented.

+++READ THE ASSIGNMENT THOROUGHLY . Make sure your presentation looks great, your blog post is complete and edited and that presentations are linking correctly and can be accessed.

FINAL SLIDE PRESENTATION: RESEARCH AND PROPOSAL (30% of course grade)

MUST BE ON THE BLOG BY 3pm on 4/27 (or will be MARKED LATE)

**Presentations will begin on 4/27 and conclude on our final "exam day" THURSDAY 5/11 (please plan to stay late on this final day -- I will buy pizza for everyone)

Research: Building on Part 1 and 2, dive deep into the issue(s) that you have chosen to concentrate on for your work. Begin envisioning some possible project ideas. Looking back to your influences, other artists, historical connections, contemporary context and art examples create a picture of how this issue has been addressed, framed and tackled. Narrow down and begin to plan a way to address this research as a project. Make a list of ways you might create work that speaks to these themes and messages. Consider the ways in which this research can shape your plan for a project. What are the sources, categories and places that you can look to in your research.

Proposal: As you dive into the research create a detailed plan for a project. Drawing on the details of your research thus far, propose a plan for a project or series that you can complete in summer 2023. Be specific in the methods, materials, techniques, timelines, budget, scale, audience and exhibition. Sketch out as many details as possible. This is an important exercise as many projects must first be proposed for commissions, awards or client approval. Consider how this work fits into your larger body of work/portfolio. You must present these proposals to the class in a final presentation “pitch” to the class and guest artists.

-FINAL presentation must be linked from a post on the class blog with a short written description of 400 words + images

PRESENTATION must be15 SLIDES and must include:

-artist statement/mission (edit based on feedback you received in class)

-potential themes and areas of research for future projects

-facts and points from your research that informs your potential projects

-proposal of at least one project to complete in summer of 2023

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NO CLASS ON 4/13!!

Enjoy the gorgeous day, read the readings below and work on your final presentations!

DUE THURSDAY 4/20

READ:

How to Make Research Driven Art

https://thecreativeindependent.com/essays/how-to-make-research-driven-art/

WATCH:

Basics - DEVELOPING YOUR ART PROJECT - From idea to visual form

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd0Y4XMs9Fg&ab_channel=BrianReverman

How to Come up With Ideas Using References _ Design Ideas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjQ3qtvjBw&ab_channel=TheFuturAcademy

How to do Research as an Artist - making a digital research file

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LstqFdR3mpk&ab_channel=TomasFolan-Hasici

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DUE THURSDAY 4/6 *Class is in person in VA Building B07

We will have a visiting artist presentation by Jin Jung and Duquann Sweeney of the project We're Here JC @wereherejc

Please look through their website before class.

https://www.wereherejc.info/home

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DUE THURSDAY 3/23

SLIDE PRESENTATION 2: MISSION ARTIST STATEMENT - 15%

What is the meaning, idea, message of your work? What is the solution to a problem you see in the world? How do you communicate this visually? What is a problem that your work plans to solve? Using the class readings and building on Part 1 of the project, create a short “pitch” to the class about the messaging of your work. What is important to convey? How do you want your audience to feel? How do you imagine the work will be received? What does the work accomplish? Focus on an issue that you want to resolve/address with the project.

Write a <400 word artists statement with the guidance above. Present this statement in a short 3slide/3min presentation to the class.

READ: Crafting the Perfect Artist Statement https://artrepreneur.com/journal/crafting-an-artist-statement/

BRING A FAVORITE ART BOOK TO CLASS. *Think of this as a way to share/build a resource list.

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ENJOY YOUR SPRING BREAK!

DUE THURSDAY 3/16 * Class will be on ZOOM - see BB for hte zoom link

EDIT THE POST FOR YOUR SLIDE PRESENTATION WITH A SHORT ~300+ words statement about your work and influences. Think of this statement as an introduction/summary to the slide presentation. Post with some images of the work to the blog with the link you posted for presentation.

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT 5pts (due after break on 3/16)

Visit 2+ JCFridays venues during the Friday March 3 events. See JCFRIDAYS.com

Explore the artwork you see during this city-wide event(s), take notes, take pictures. Write about 2+ artworks that you find inspiring. Share the details of these works: artist, title, medium etc. Post 2-3 paragraphs and your images of the artworks (with captions) and a selfie at one of the events to the blog.

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DUE THURSDAY 3/2

Class is IN PERSON in VAB in room B07 (in the basement next to the auditorium)

SLIDE PRESENTATION: INFLUENCE due 3/2 on the blog

+ 3min in-person summary in class

Look to your first weeks assignment in response to art21 video library. Think about your art influences and new artists you may be discovering. Research various art movements, artists and curated exhibitions and find inspiration and connection to your own practice. In researching other artists’ work, practice and exhibition, clear standards, messaging and technical strategies will emerge to help inform project proposals, studio practice and exhibition ideas. Find five artists that you feel inspire your own studio practice at the moment. How might these connect and shape your existing portfolio/body of work or work you are aspiring to create? Create a short presentation about these artists and they inspire/connect to your own work. Be sure to take note of material, medium, process, messaging, formal and functional connections, techniques, context and content, exhibition strategies and implementation of the inspiring artists work. Consider how your existing portfolio may be influenced or connects to these. Create a slide presentation of 10+ slides to present some of the information you discover about these artists. Place this information into a cohesive presentation about how these influence your work. You can choose the focus or theme of the presentation.

10 SLIDES linked on the blog (make sure it is publicly available so we can see it)

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DUE THURSDAY 2/22

Class is IN PERSON in VAB in room B07 (in the basement next to the auditorium)

WEEKLY SKETCH ASSIGNMENT:

Create 3 small projects in response to our discussion of LOOKING with intention and thoughtful attention. You can choose to create drawings, sketches, photographs, collages, small sculptures, digital drawing or animations, audio pieces. Any medium or style. Consider these small experiments. Revisit the video of Jordan Casteel and think consider the bell hooks reading due last week. POST IMAGES OF YOUR SMALL PROJECTS to the blog with the quotes you selected from bell hooks and add the quotes from the readings due on 2/22 (see below).

Video on Looking with Jordan Casteel:

https://art21.org/watch/new-york-close-up/jordan-casteel-stays-in-the-moment/

READ pdf on Black board:

Clay Shirky, Everyone is a Media Outlet

Choose and write out 2 quotes from the reading and a short response for each quote. Post these with your assignment above to the blog.

Teens are making historical events go viral on TikTok – what does a history teacher think? | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/05/teens-are-making-historical-events-go-viral-on-tiktok-what-does-a-history-teacher-think

Choose and write out 2 quotes from the reading and a short response for each quote. Post these with your assignment above to the blog.

WATCH:

Clay Shirky | Ted Talks How social media can make history

https://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_social_media_can_make_history?language=en

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DUE THURSDAY 2/16

**Class is in-person at LEMMERMAN GALLERY in Hepburn Hall, Room 323 at 5:50pm

PLEASE BE ON TIME.

REVIEW the readings due that week:

bell hooks, The Oppositional Gaze https://pages.ucsd.edu/~bgoldfarb/cogn21s12/reading/hooks-oppositional-gaze.pdf

2 quotes and short response (do not post to the blog but have them available for class)

Tris McCall, ‘The beauty in struggle’: Danielle Scott’s ‘Ancestral Call’ https://www.njarts.net/the-beauty-in-struggle-danielle-scotts-ancestral-call-at-gallery-aferro-is-full-of-radiant-images/

2 quotes and short response (do not post to the blog but have them available for class)

GALLERY RESPONSE ESSAY *due on the blog 2/16

Exhibition information for Kinfolk by Danielle Scott

This exhibition presents the artist Danielle Scott’s dedication to social commentary and ancestral storytelling. The artist spent over a year visiting plantations in the United States sourcing materials and historical documentation in order to connect to these stories and visualize them in these works. She feels a calling to tell the stories of ancestors, of warriors, of love, of sadness and of resilience. This collection integrates photographs, delicate papers, reprinted documents, fabrics and objects to create layered portraits of the lineage of black families across generations.

Danielle Scott is a cultural explorer, activist and artist that breathes in the history and spirits of HER PEOPLE. Scott uses research to tell the unheard stories, transforming her into the storyteller, the mother, the daughter and the history of her subjects. In past work, Scott has addressed stereotypes and archetypes, systematic racism, and gun control. In her most recent collection, the BERTHher series (2019-2021), her focus was to share the stories of women through a joyful celebration of power and triumph.

This exhibition stems from an exhibition, Ancestral Call, presented by Gallery Aferro from October 7, 2022 to January 21, 2023, and originally curated by Anthony E. Boone and Bryant Small. Special thanks to Gallery Aferro directors and the artists for their collaboration.

Danielle Scott Artist Statement

“An artist has one duty and that is to tell the times.” – Nina Simone

I created this work to allure and to create thought provoking dialect. I want viewers to get absorbed in the work and to feel it as I do. I want the work to be a perfect rendering of emotion and a spiritual tugging of the whole self.

After spending 20 years of my career as an oil painter, my career shifted unexpectedly in 2018 as I walked the streets of one of my ancestral homelands, Cuba. It was my first time in the country, yet as I slept and woke, and walked, and worked, I felt a tug at my core that was both foreign and familiar. The rich art that lined the streets and walls powerfully depicted the story of Cuba’s culture and history, reflected the times and the people, in a way tugged at my soul. The art and I were in communion, my ancestors’ powerful voices whispering to my soul, their stories written into the walls. I was home.

This started my awakening. No single medium alone would ever again be enough to express all that the times were calling me to say. I was a painter, but I put aside my paintbrush. I needed more than paint. I needed paint and paper, texture and color, objects lost and objects found, metal and cotton. I needed to deconstruct and reassemble. I needed to cut and cover and color and crown. I needed to listen and to learn to speak in a thousand mediums to tell the stories that I now heard all around me, everywhere.

This body of work comes from the journey that I’ve taken over the last year, visiting places that reflect pieces of these current times, our history, and my ever-evolving understanding of my own self. Each image called out for me. Some were tucked away in boxes at the Amistad Research center. Some are my own photography, depicting things that resonated deeply with me as I planted my feet on plantation soil.

They spoke to me and so I told their stories through rich assorted papers, free people of color data, written text, actual slave stories, 200-year-old book covers, hours upon hours of research upon research, and jewelry I collected as I traveled through the US and abroad.

This exhibition illuminates that treasure which is hidden to the naked eye. Over the past year, I have been digging and digging for one of our hidden treasures which has always been our ancestry, our lineage, our community, our stories, and ourselves.

ASSIGNMENT:

Please visit the exhibition, Danielle Scott: Kinfolk, and write a response to the work in the exhibition. Be sure to read all of the label information and take images of the work. Choose 2 works that stand out to you. Please give the tile and medium of the works and describe these artworks in detail. Explain the message/meaning you interpreted from visiting the work. Include images of the works in your post. Answer the following questions: What messages do these works convey to the audience about identity, power, race, gender and social justice? The artist spends nearly a year traveling, researching and collecting documents and objects for the works. How is her research used in the work? How does her research inform the artworks?

Choose 3 quotes from the readings we have done so far (bell hooks, Susan Sontag and the Tris McCall article) and connect these to the artworks that you chose from the exhibition.

In addition to the written response please create a SELFIE in any style that is inspired by the work in the exhibition and addresses the theme of identity and struggle. Include this in your post with a short description of the image you created.

~800 words, 3 quotes from any of the readings thus far, 2+ images from the gallery exhibition + your selfie.

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DUE THURSDAY 2/9

**Class is in-person at LEMMERMAN GALLERY in Hepburn Hall, Room 323 PLEASE BE ON TIME (or early).

We will be attending the artist reception and talk of Danielle Scott for her exhibition, Kinfolk. There is no assignment due on the blog this week but please read the two readings listed below before the gallery event. In addition please read the information below about the exhibition and the gallery response essay that will be due 2/16.

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DUE THURSDAY 2/2

READ: Susan Sontag, excerpt from On Photography

http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml

2 quotes and short response

INTRODUCTION SELFIE (INSPIRED)

Create a digital self portrait that is informed/inspired by the ideas you read in the readings linked below and the work of one or more of the 5 artists you chose this week from art21 videos. Create a digital selfie (of you) that is inspired in some way by one of the artists you chose from the first week's video assignment. Write 2-3 paragraphs about yourself, the artists who influence you, any social issues that you are passionate about, and how you were inspired by the artist(s) you chose. Have fun!

**If you have not been invited to the blog (this was done in the first class meeting) please email me so that you can post this assignment to the blog. If you have trouble posting email the assignment to me through Blackboard.

POST the ME+5 ARTISTS ASSIGNMENT to the blog

INSPIRATION ME+5 artists assignment

-GO TO: https://www.youtube.com/@art21org

-CHOOSE AT LEAST 5 VIDEOS TO WATCH. You may choose from the videos I have suggested below or select others from the art21 channel that you find connect with your own art practice and your interests. Choose artists that you know you love and/or choose artists that you have never heard of. Use the search function to search the art21 videos for a specific medium or subjects that interest you most - ceramic, design, activism, feminism, street art etc. The important thing is to slow down and watch AT LEAST 5 videos with complete attention. Have a piece of paper or sketchbook next to you. Put away your phone.

-Take notes on each of the artists. Jot down things that compell you. Moments and phrases that stand out to you. These do not need to be organized but you will share these with the class. While watching, think about your own art practice. What is it that you already love to make? What do you wish you could do with more confidence. What processes scare you? How do you set about starting your own work? What inspires you? WATCH carefully and with attention and THINK about your own work.
After watching at least 5 of the videos and taking notes/sketching/reflecting, answer the following questions in a short response. You must email the response to me before our Zoom class next week.

1-Who were the 5 +artists you chose videos about?
2-What were 5+ of the themes the artists addressed about making work?
3-What were 5+ challenges the artists faced in making their work?
4-What were 5+ inspirations you drew from the artists?
5-What were 5+ things you would like to Incorporate into your own work after watching these videos?

My top Art21 video suggestions:

Wangechi Mutu: Between the Earth and the Sky | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaL8zDealmU&t=428s&ab_channel=Art21

Guadalupe Maravilla & the Sound of Healing | Art21 "New York Close Up"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OQeUMZ3jNk&t=157s&ab_channel=Art21

Michael Rakowitz: Haunting the West | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y5-KGIMN9o&t=354s&ab_channel=Art21

Firelei Báez: An Open Horizon (or) the Stillness of a Wound | Art21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RjY0hiJ5Sw&t=2s&ab_channel=Art21

Theaster Gates: Collecting | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byin7zoiiUU&ab_channel=Art21

Sarah Sze: Designing a Subway Station | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oivCLEc_jfU&ab_channel=Art21

Barry McGee: Tagging | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5byVU2nhBQ4&ab_channel=Art21

Julie Mehretu: "Mural" | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4F9scZ3idM&ab_channel=Art21

Joan Jonas: New York Performances | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6wI33GTnf0&ab_channel=Art21

Jordan Casteel Stays in the Moment | Art21 "New York Close Up"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar2s-s86tyA&ab_channel=Art21

Gabriel Orozco: "Spanish Lessons" | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWC2abuzkQU&ab_channel=Art21

Zanele Muholi: Mobile Studios | Art21 "Extended Play"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5MMcjZ6nsQ&ab_channel=Art21

Tanya Aguiñiga in "Borderlands" - Extended Segment | Art21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bDvgPOl4J4&ab_channel=Art21

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LINK TO SYLLABUS

Discussion guidelines
The course material and discussions can often be provocative and challenging. We must therefore be respectful of each other and of our viewpoints.

We must come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings. Please keep discussions focused on the readings and class materials and keep examples relevant and appropriate. If you have not done the readings you are not to participate in the discussion.