New Blog

I am doing a new blog with DAILY entries to develop my character for my work... I literally just started it today, follow if you'd like

Day By Dabecco

-Liz

Print Club~~~~

Dear Students! Our Print Club is ready to challenge 2012 with some amazing prints. I would like to invite you to our first meeting on Monday, Jan.30th @ 2pm (401 Sprowls Hall). New members welcome, always!I hope to see you there- please if you can't make it, share this info with your friends in the department.

FINAL

I can't believe this is the end of the semester.

It was wonderful to work with you all. Please, stay in touch!

APPLY!

http://sgcinternational.org/students-2/student-awards-fellowships/

final post of the semester!

It's hard to believe it's that time of the year! I feel a little extra push to make this post count.

So after my last post about getting back to the basics of what drives me to make work, it makes sense to follow up with some classic, personal inspirations.

I believe that it is my job as an artist to make visible the art that already exists in the world. Even though I tend to kind of be scattered during the weekdays, I am still always inclined to stop and look a the patterns that my coffee grinds have left on my filter. I still view my daily lists as drawings, examining them compositionally and aesthetically, rather than fully on what these lists patiently wait for me to complete. My art is always examining these ephemeral, frequently overlooked artifacts of daily experiences and trying to figure out how to prompt others to appreciate these aspects of their lives as well.

I believe that the best art is that which cannot be created by the artist. Just last night, I was working on another version of the hymnals piece for class (actually this is the one I originally set out to make-- the one from the last crt took a different path) and I cut the spine out of one of the books with a utility knife. I noticed that all the tightly stacked pages was incredibly beautiful; they implied so many things that interest me all at once: the likeness to skin and the body, the ephemeral nature of the paper itself, the pages that would be beautiful one page at a time, but take on a whole new beauty as a whole, the aesthetic of time passing, memory. But I think what made it especially beautiful is the fact that I didn't plan for it-- although I cut the papers, I didn't plan to make something beautiful. It was unexpected and unforced. I know that art that combines some element of chance (or maybe something else) always has the potential to be stronger than something I have planned and fully manipulated.

Reading books such as Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life by Allan Kaprow and The Reenchantment of Art by Suzi Gablik have been especially helpful and interesting. Kaprow's book is a collection of his essays over the decades that all relate on the connection between art and life, and Gablik's book makes the case that art needs so become integrated with life, rather than being autonomous like during the Modernist era. (If you're interested in Kaprow's work MOCA has a great site: http://www.moca.org/kaprow/index.php/2008/05/13/documentation-of-18-happenings-in-6-parts/#more-230)

Well I guess that's about all for now! Have a great break everyone and happy art-ing.

why i make art.

The end of the semester always brings confusion for me. I like to try lots of different things in my art, so naturally I set myself up for some struggles. My hope, though, is that those struggles end up helping me in the long run. They have so far!

So when I get confused I try to "simplify simplify." (Thank you, Mr. Thoreau) Why is it that I make art in the first place? I realized that they also serve as inspirations in a way. These points are like close friends that you can always go back to when the going gets tough:

1. Art is a verb.

I believe that art is an action, not a thing. I don't mean process art, but rather that they way we see things, experience the everyday, be in the moment as they occur naturally in life etc.. They are all art in its purest form. As an artist, I recognize that I will never be able to replicate that art, and that's okay. I believe it is my job to help others to see life in this way through my work. Art isn't based in skills, it's a way of being.

2. Connect with others

Art does not have to be esoteric to be successful. Maybe that distance that people feel towards contemporary art is something that we have perpetuated over the years. Maybe the best way to make art is in a way that people don't realize it's art. Then, it may have potential for broad impact.

3. Everything is temporary

Make the most of every moment. Cliche, but true. I try to do this through my work, and I hope that it also facilitates viewers to do the same.

Nice and simple!

Dovima with elephants by Richard Avedon.

Richard Avedon always uses opposite things in his photographs: big and small, thin and heavy, dark and light, subtle against the rough.They make me become more thoughtful about my paintings.

"Elise Daniels with the Street Performers," Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon's photos make me want to look more because they contain images that are so unexpected.
They seem both beautiful and ugly at the same time. The women's clothes are dated, yet the black & white
compositions give them a timeless feeling that I like a lot.

DOVIMA & BORZOI DOG 1955,PHOTO RICHARD AVEDONT

his photo touches me because of the image of the woman - she seems to be thinking and looking intensely at the same time verses the dog's hair and expression. The dog seems not to care at all, but is funny all the same.

The difficulties of translation..

It's the end of the semester and I have officially run out of steam, ideas, and inspirations. I suppose I always go back to my original sources, and hope to find new ones as time goes. As a reminder, my go to's are always more on the traditional/impressionist/classical/some surrealist side of art. Monet is what caused me to change my major from general studies to art. Kathe Kollwitz is what made me want to understand perspective and be able to communicate my thoughts from an emotional level that's accessible to viewers. Anders Zorn helped me to approach etching with a strong sense of value and line. Dali taught me how to expand two dimensional space. And in terms of contemporary art, well.. I tend to rely on Juxtapoz Magazine, friends, old instructors, good design work, and what's happening around me.

As I've stated in the past, I tend to view art as another form of language. Whether people like it or not, it's a form of communication. One of my instructors told me, "Design and composition are the poetry of visual language-something is focused upon and emphasized by the artist using the design elements (the language). It's the same thing that separates verbal poetry from prose, some things are emphasized, certain things are left out." (Thanks Pat). I've signed on to this understanding of art for some time. As I learn who I am, and what I want to make, I will use this language to try to translate what I want to say. So if my work seems oversimplified (i.e., not abstract enough/too "direct"), or too accessible, it's because I want it to be.

The difficulties of translation come in the form of experience. It is really hard for me to sit down and read the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and understand without first understanding Hebrew culture and their experiences within that culture. It is difficult for someone to understand what I want to say without first understanding my experience. I suppose it all falls apart at that point of reasoning. Why do I make work? I'm not sure, but I think I'm attempting to bridge the gap between my life experience and the viewer's interpretation of what they see.

How about that art show? I was really excited about the turnout, and excited to see so much work. Thanks Martyna for giving us the opportunity to have a show. I love putting together/participating in shows because of the excitement and end result.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Theres Gum Arabic in my Newmon's Own queso!!!!!

I'm going to shame everybody (except Cory) for not going to see Meredith's talk on Thursday night. It was the best things I did all semester. Seriously. I didn't expect to see a direct connection from photographs of people and my interior space paintings, but she doesnt shoot people in front of green screens, so I was looking at people in their own spaces! I've been making paintings of spaces of fake and plastic spaces, and whats missing is the evidence that people actually live there. She told me afterwards that she will take things out of a space and add things back in to complete the photo. Even though she's a photographer, she is influenced by painting, and in her presentation included some paintings about interiors, so it was really cool to hear her thoughts about my interior paintings.

At any rate, I have new ideas about where to take these interior paintings, and its going to start with photographs. Would anyone be willing to let me photograph their living spaces before break? I'm trying to find the exact opposite of neat, tidy spaces, so theres no need to be self conscious about how messy it is. And if it'll make you feel better, you can come take a peek at the disaster area that is my grad studio.

Speaking of my studio! I made a drawing on the wall in the cubby next to mine, and I would love cool people to come and look at it sometime. If you think of it, grab me. I love to talk about the things I'm excited about.

PS - PRESSDRAW was phenominal, and all the cool kids totally rode in my van.

1) John Muir. John Muir has been called the father of conservation in america. He is responsible for the care put into Sequoia Vallery,Yosemite National Park,and other areas. He spent alot of time traveling and camping in the mountains and wrote about his environment and sketched alot of it too.He said alot, He said this: When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the universe. I think you can accept that metaphorically or literally. Hes probably one of the most important people who have been in this country, and i can guarantee the soil speaks highly of him.

2)respect between man and environment, when i was in arizona, the cacti would step aside to avoid poking me.

3)St. Anthony. was one of the earlier monks or ascetics who was known for journeying into the wilderness to seek holy experiences. this must have been after a time whenever people didnt know to do that anymore, and so he was thought to be one of the first. He is also thought to have eaten strange things to aid in his experiences.I enjoy imagery of him as well.

bef

1. Crits. So I have gotten some AWESOME feedback from the grads and from our wonderful visitor on Thursday. SO HAPPY THAT HAPPENED! I will be starting my own blog. I am also, for the first time, being pushed to understand why I make my paintings. I have an idea behind my print work but my painting/drawings have a very slim idea behind them. So that is awesome.

2. PRESSDRAW. I have been getting an awesome feeling from these shows I'm finally forcing myself to be a part of. IF YOU DON'T SHOW, NO ONE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE! You get contacted with people! I spent a half an hour talking to Linda (the owner) last night. What a great contact I have now! So that's exciting!

3. MARTYNA matusiak. http://www.martynamatusiak.com/drawings--prints.html
so... martynas work has inspired me since I first saw it when she was in grad school. I can remember Nayda taking us down to her studio and I was amazed at the detail (possibly stalking) that she had committed herself to in her work. That is still very important to me. Also, I remember seeing her photograph transfers in her print work that are now on the iup fine arts website http://www.iup.edu/art/default.aspx

1.Sketches Of Frank Gehry Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9orvtStdY

I like the way Frank Gehry's drawings become buildings. His drawings are so free and loose, and they they turn into buildings that are sculpture it is like some kind of magic. I want my paintings to somehow progress like this.


2.Mystery of Picasso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHlTvE-AI3Q

The scenes in this movie surprise me a lot, how intensehe looks while drawing, yet the figures and animals havea strong sense of humor. I think the music also goes with the images very well.


3.Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5qrE_rBrJQ

This scenes in this film made me think about what art is in a different way. How the entire world can be made into art by anyone who has the imagination to do that.

I got nothing,just checking in.

New York City, 44 caliber rifles, and watches

1. NEW YORK CITY

Obviously, I went to New York City over break. Myself and three others hopped in my car (Rhonda the Honda) and hit the road. I haven't been since I was 12 so it was all pretty new and pretty awesome. There's no way in hell I'd live there but it sure is a nifty place to visit. I saw more art in one day than I have seen in two years. In some ways it was discouraging, but in other ways it was a boost. Some of the stuff I saw was terrific. Other pieces were totally lame. In one gallery we couldn't figure out what the piece actually was.... it was the ceiling tiles. Price: $15,000 for ONE tile. Yeah right. So anyway, there was other stuff. There was some inspiration. I saw a cat climb up a twenty foot ladder. Crazy city cats.

2. Guns!

I went to see my dad at camp over Thanksgiving. We drank some beers and shot some guns. Pretty much a super fun time. My dad has this one gun, a 44 caliber rifle. Oh my, it is so pretty. Nickel plated with a nice medium stain on the stock. What a beaut! It fired so nice, aimed just right and did I mention how freaking beautiful it was. Delicious! So yeah. Guns can be beautiful machines. Society often places a stigma on their dangerous capabilities. If you are using them safely and not like a tool bag, it can be a lot of fun. Safety first kids!

3. Watches

I love a good watch. During the summer I take off the watch. During the school year I need to know what time it is. But I love a watch with a face you can just barely read. I want a face with no numbers, a face that's distorted, one that tricks you every time you want to see the time. I will never wear a digital watch on my wrist. The digital watch.... I'll spare you the rant. Just learn to tell time like a grown-up okay? Frankly, I find a watch with hands much easier to navigate. If I have to be some where in forty minutes, it's easier to look at the watch face like pieces of a pie (visual visual visual) than to do some stupid subtraction problem in my head. If I liked math I wouldn't have had to D/F repeat it. So watches. I'm taking wood in the Spring. I think I'd like to dabble with time pieces.

Steve Jobs, Sesame Street, Assasins Creed and the Nazis

So, some of you may be aware that I gave a lecture in Dr. Ciganko's art appreciation class for freshman non majors before we left for break. It was about art and pop culture. I talked about Steve Jobs, Assasin's Creed, Sesame Street and the Nazis.

I talked about how Steve Jobs' interest in the Bauhaus influenced the design of Apple products. After he recently died, I started hearing all about him, and I'm reading is biography at the moment. His insistence on beauty even on the inside where people couldn't see makes me want to take better care when building my paintings. Also, did you know that on the inside of the Mac, the names of the people who worked on it are engraved on the inside of the system? I guess its not just visual artists that sign their names on something they worked on and are proud of.

I played a clip of Bert and Ernie talking about the ptg George Washington Crossing the Delaware River. (in 1988, there was a movie called "Don't Eat the Pictures", where the Sesame Street crew gets locked inside the Met after Big Bird goes missing. The title of this movie is a song the Cookie Monster sings when he's told that he can't eat Cezanne's fruit). Anyway, Bert tells Ernie that Washington "didn't stay in his warm, toasty bed, or stay home to open his Christmas presents. No, not the father of our country!" And Ernie goes on to ask why he didn't just do what everybody does, "and take the George Washington Bridge?" Another fun fact, this painting is the image on the NJ quarter.

I talked about Assasin's Creed because one day while Jonathan was playing it, I walked through the living room and saw that while Lorenzo deMedici is giving you contract kills, you can collect Renaissance ptgs. I got so excited, because I was studying these ptgs at the time, and they were in the game! When I was talking with Cory about this, he told me that you can actually walk up to the baptistry doors and see the bronze relief sculptures. Thats so cool! While I'm typing this up, the movie Angels and Demons is on the background, and I wish I had talked about that, too, because the last time Jon and I watched it, I kept interupting to point at all the art in the Vatican.

And I talked about the Nazi's, because I wanted to talk about the Great German Art Exhibit and the Degenerate Art exhibit. The Nazi's looted German art galleries and museums to hold a show about modern art, which they considered to be fundamentally anti-German, and held a concurrent show made by party loyal German artists who celebrated the superiority of the Aryan race. The point that I wanted to make was that many of the artists included in the Degenerate show are considered the most important artists of the 20th century, even if the Nazis tried to eradicate the work that they made. (Another fun fact, the Bauhaus was a school that voluntarily closed its doors before the Nazi's could force them to do so).

So these were the things that I'm thinking about.

Videos

On The Subject Of Depression from Scott Benson on Vimeo.

What can I say? I'm not a huge fan of the holidays...

For brighter stories.. check here. Think I posted this last week:

And rethinking the meaning of words. I feel like I'm surrounded by people who may never understand what it is like to be poor. I work in an upscale salon where I watch people walk their purebred dogs up and down the street and rear-end one another's cars without leaving a note. They get to tell me about all of their travels, their money, their money, and their money. I get to listen to naive and obviously uneducated students rant about how people on welfare are taking their tax money, as if they really understand what's coming out of their paychecks. Or as if they understand that they are paying just as much for the war we are in and the oppressiveness we participate in as a country as they are on healthcare for single parents. Or they criticize folks on welfare while they gladly accept grant money from the state.

As Americans, I doubt we will ever understand true poverty, but if I have to hear one more comment from someone applying their judgment to a person on welfare, I may scream. Guess what? Not all of "them" are scamming the system. Some of "them" may need serious help. All irritation aside, I think we would do well to get to know one another before passing massive amounts of judgment.

So rethink your words:

On an encouraging note, I ran across this quote from Thomas Merton and am applying it to memory: "Keep me from loving money which is hatred, from avarice and ambition that suffocate my life. Keep me from the dead works of vanity and the thankless labor in which artists destroy themselves for pride and money and reputation..."

Happy holidays. And please don't talk to me about welfare. Ever.

I'm making up for last week. I'm assuming we have a bi-week for the break. which is perfect. i need a break.

1. mary hoehl - this is my artist inspiration for the week. this is my mother. my mother is also an artist and i have grown up watching her create. my mom works in 3d and 2d. she has remodeled every house we have ever lived in. she has worked as an exhibit designer at the science center and children's museum. she has definitely inspired me to continue on with my love of art and i have been able to see that being an artist is a very bumpy road.

2. the tent- my parents have a tent in the back of the house... we keep things in it. it's strange and we are now having thanksgiving dinner with my moms side of the family coming  here. sooo we are moving everything out of the tent and painting the  things inside white... it's a process, a looooong process. but anyway, watching the tent  transform has been an inspiration for me. it's amazing.

3. thanksgiving - i LOVE thanksgiving. i love being with my family. i love love. i love turkey. i love the feeling of warmth that you get inside of your body because of the love. it's so wonderful to be with people you love and share moments with them. mmmm. love.

1.Vere Lutter's photos make me view at the city spaces in a different way because
they are very big. They is a strange look and feel because of the intense contrast in
their black and white patterns. The images feel frozen to me and I am interested in her
compositions and points of view as well - sometimes they feel like frozen music in the
way the shapes float across the page of the photograph.

Vera Lutter photographer

http://poulwebb.blogspot.com/2011/02/vera-lutter-photographer.html

http://bombsite.com/issues/85/articles/2584

2.Mitra Ghaffari is an Iranian artist and I feel her black & white Collaboration paintings with other
artists are the best works. Their energy plus so many changes in the brush works, from wet and
soft surface, to deep blacks, to transparency, much variation. I want to put as much variation in
my own paintings and drawings.


http://www.mitraart.com/

3.Stephen Greene

http://www.jasonmccoyinc.com/greene/greene_works.html

Even though Stephen Greene's paintings are abstract, there is so much feeling within the combination of his colors, shapes, and brushwork. I think this is because of all the variation he puts into the works. Some areas are smooth like velvet, others look like liquid, while some shapes show the brushwork. I think his color is unusual with many kinds of different grays, off-whites, deep reds, violets, tans, greens, and orange too. I usually don't enjoy abstract painting, but Greene's surfaces really move and seem alive to me. They are emotional too.

random

I find that random information searches always result in interesting ideas. It usually starts with a movie, then an actor/actress, then a book, and continues on until I end up on something completely different from what I started with. I also like being exposed to other artists/art at least once a day. Even if the work is similar to your own,maybe they do something just slightly different that can improve your own work or send you in another direction.