Josephine Halvorson

Shutter 3, Shutter 1, Shutter 4, Shutter 1, 2012, oil on linen, 55 x 30"

Drops,  oil on linen, 2012, 20 x 15"

Halvorson's images viewed close up and painted on site offer intimate portraits of common objects.  Halvorson feels they "look back," suggest a closeness and shared experience with the environment and the world.  

Shutters stand tall, silent, and inviting. Secrets hide behind the dramatic repetition of lines.  Placed side by side they lean and support each other.  

Drops run down bricks that stand firm holding memories, emotions, and years of silent vigil.  They do look back at us.   Bricks block us from seeing the other side.

sikkemajenkinsco.com; josephinehalvorson.com; princeton.edu

Artist Statement for Skeleton 2/4/2014: Orbs

Orbs

Orbs in orbs, open enough to breathe yet protected by arcs of gentle curves.  Tightly twisted twine morphs the wire uniting ambiguous, bending shapes of protection.  Some softly woven twine balances the tightness of the twist.  Nesting on the softness, the small orbs pause.

 Carolann Hall

  2-4-2014

Artist Statement May 8: Magenta Swirl

Magenta Spiral

      Delicate flowers spin out from the mandala center.  Creating a circle of unity they tap into the subconscious and evoke a unique experience for each viewer weaving stories of oneness leading back to the center. The ephemeral releases beauty back to its origin.

      This mandala borrows ideas from Portia Munson's floral mandala photographs and Andy Goldsworthy's ephemeral outdoor exhibits.  The original intent was to build a flat mandala but materials did not cooperate so the work took on a more three dimensional form.

      All of the items in this piece are natural.  After class this display of nature's wonder will be dropped into the Boise River to return to its origin.

Carolann Hall

May 8, 2014

Richard Tuttle

NotThePoint (artist's book) , 2009, 18x13", mixed media

Five hand bound books on handmade paper arrange themselves on handcrafted holder of sycamore wood.  "Each of the five books focuses on the source of each color's origin within the ideal context of human experience."  The texts were written by the artist.

This small installation begs to be picked up and explored.  The tiny, subtle books hold stories to know.  Uniform geometric line from left to right emphasizes the little books.

art net.com

Muybridge inspired time - based project: Acconci, Goldsworthy & Kentridge

Muybridge  was a leader in two fields of photography - motion pictures and his photography of Yosemite. In Yosemite he considered different angles and times of day to show light and shadow.  He then went on to observe movement of objects as time passed beginning with animals and progressing to people.  He expressed change over time in anything he photographed.  He also did urban scenes, framing them to capture cultural and social relevance.  In other words he used photography to express change.  The three artists below also use their art to express change.  And all of them are eccentric in many ways or to put it differently they are the few who express more than is usually seen.  They challenge reality.   

Vito Acconci

Instant  House, 1980

Vito Acconci created Instant House pulled together by ropes by the viewer inside.  The panels combine performance with installation.
He often uses sound in his work and in the 1970s his presence was only know by his voice.

mona.org; core77.com

                                                     Andy Goldsworthy

Dandelions with Hole
                                                           

Incredible serpentine tree root

Goldsworthy does environmental, site specific installation and sculpture.  He's done many variation on leaves, flowers, feathers and other natural items arranged in beauty in the outdoors and then allowed to disintegrate by the elements of wind, heat, cold.  

In his Shadow  video he laid on the ground until coverd with snow.  Then he got up and left.  The snow covered the bare spot... a reminder of nature's continuing cycles.

morning-earth.org;

William Kentridge

                                               I am not me, the horse is not mine

                                                     Breathe, Dissolve, Return

Kentridge moves things around demonstrating change in patterns, in pictures, in stories.  His performance art is part theatrical, part lecture and part installation.  I am not me, the horse is not mine explores Russian modernism and the idea of the artitst;s control or lack of it through the presentation of multiple selves.  He superimposes himself in film so that he appears three times.
 Hs says that art is the way we understand who we are.

In 2008 he performed Breathe, Dissolve, Return.  Small pieces of torn black tissue swirl and fall making patterns.  A singers breathing conducts the movement.
Disslove shows Kentridge conducting with the singer bathed in reflections of water where images ripple and dissolve.
Return shows Kentridge's sculpture rotating first abstract then a clear image.

mariangoodman.com; moma.org; sfmoma.org


My ideas will include something using Goldsworthy's ideas of building something in nature.  I might us some superimposing or pulling with string as well.

William Wegman

Hansel & Gretel, 2007, 24 x 20', Color Polaroid

Cher ( Dog in Wig)

On Set, 1994

Wegman's video artist, conceptualism, and photography, humorously juxtapose dogs and people.

Hansel and Gretel look out inquiringly at their surroundings.

"Cher's" frontal stare and lengthy face balance and emphasize the long stands of black hair.

A foreshortened dog looks longing out waiting for the day to end On Set.

wegmanworld.com; art net.com

Kiki Smith

Wolf with Birds III, 2010, bronze with gold leaf, 44 x 54 x  2", Pace Gallery

Everywhere (Sitting Fawn), 2010, ink & etching on paper & collage, 19 x 29"

Rabbits and Rosebush, Installation, Gallery Fortlaan 17, Belgium

Smith uses sculpture, prints, installations and other forms to express ideas about gender, politics, spiritually, nature.  She focuses on nature, fairy tales, women, and the spiritual power of myth.

In the Moments of Clarity  show in Munich  the Fawn, oblivious to the viewer, curls up looking gently out toward the light.  Stars send curling streams of light from the eyes, evoking tender mystery.

Wolf with Birds uses simple bronze forms recombine in poignant images.  Smith says ideas are often as stubborn as shy animals.  Quiet, simple forms offer powerful contrast in animals of dramatically different natures.

Rabbits and Rosebush humanizes rabbits as they study the rosebush sculpture with interest.  One point perspective draws the eye along the line of rabbits toward the sculpture.  They stand silently viewing the piece, heads inquisitively cocked to the side.

Symbolic, fleeting ideas and Smith's ability to look closely define and deepen ideas she presents.

artspace.com; mona.org 12-2003 to 3-2004, huffingtonpost.com