Climbing, the cold, and yo mama's house...I mean Judy Chicago

1. Judy Chicago

Judy Chicago has been making art for over 50 years. She describes herself as an artist, intellectual, educator, feminist and author. Chicago has several bodies of work spanning a half century, many including vivid colors and feminist undertones. Although her work as an artist interests me, I am additionally interested in her pedagogical approach to women in the arts. Although I am not myself a feminist, nor do I believe in the plight of modern day feminism, I find her interest in inspiring young female artists to strive towards the top nevertheless inspiring. What is important to understand is Chicago has been working since the 60's. As we all know, several progressions occurred for woman's rights since that time. Despite all the headway, it may never be enough for some women.

Notable work would be 'The Dinner Party.' A large mixed media project featuring a triangular shape with place settings representing women from history, from goddesses to notable sociopolitical figures, showing the long progression of women throughout the ages. More notable for myself within 'The Dinner Party' project is a collection of curriculum aids for teachers who wish to include more aspects of woman's history into their classroom. I think we all need to do a little digging to expose our students to female artists and historical figures.

Additionally, the rest of her body of work is quite interesting. Spanning from minimal sculpture to paintings of our interaction with cats to the distribution of power, Judy Chicago might just have something for you too. Plus she just looks like a hard, smart old broad.



http://www.judychicago.com/image-gallery


2. Cold Weather

I love Fall, but hate Winter. Each winter I make a terrifying psychological descent into either a depression or some sort of art induced psychosis. This year I'm working towards art psychosis. The contrast between warm sunny days and cold, bleak Indiana winter weather is devastating to my psyche. If I ever am able graduate I will move, post haste, to somewhere devoid of snow and temperatures below 45 degrees. It does not help matters that my apartment is freezing. Yesterday I could see my breath... inside. Nevertheless, this year I will try to be less of a weenie and more of a psychotic artist. Maybe I'll try to bring in influences such as my perpetually cold, red, runny nose. Who knows? It could go either way. So bring it on Indiana winter. You are actually the absence of an inspiration. I look forward to shoveling my car out of 4 feet of snow and huddling for warmth against a tiny cat body. Electric blanket snuggie anyone?

3. Rock Climbing



Much less depressing than winter weather is rock climbing. Aside from biking and running and blogging for this class, rock climbing is one of my total favs! Dig? Since we all know Indiana is nearly devoid of joyous activities, of course there are no proper facilities to rock climb, nor any really acceptable boulders to play on. So I built up this little area of rock climbing in my 'studio/climbing/garage/bike shop room'. Of course my ceilings are only about eight feet high, so the ascent cannot be one of great length. Much of my interest focuses on the bouldering niche of the climbing community. Less about how high you go, more about horizontal, technical movements (oh and no messing with ropes). Aside from being a physical activity, climbing forces you to use your mind as well as your body to maneuver through a series of moves. This series of moves is referred to as a 'route'. In bouldering they are rated using a 'V' scale. V0 being the easiest and numerically ascending to V16, the hardest. The sequence, the moves, the thought process, the control. All good things. Possibly most inspiring about climbing is the focus on the self. Like art, everyone is at a different level, and that is what we are all here for. No one can instantly make you a better artist. Just like only time and practice will make you a better climber. There are a lot of conditioning parallels between art and the body. I think I might like to explore that further. Please stand by...