Happy Anniversary To Me

Today is my 1 year anniversary of volunteering for this organization in New York.  Monday, July 12, 2010 was my first day of work last year, and it doesn't feel that long ago!  Since then I have run countless groups, seen individual clients, taken on more hours, started an art studio in a residential facility, created workshops, helped organize events and exhibitions, presented at trainings, written curricula, and made so much art.

It just so happens that tonight I've put together an exhibition/opening event for the art studio I started.  It's a pretty good anniversary because I don't think anything illustrates the amount of work I've been doing more than an exhibition, right?

I was about to post the flyer for the exhibition when I realized the flyer has client artwork all over it and I had to delete it...  But the name of the exhibition is "A Peek in the Studio: a show of in-progress work by the artists who live in our residence."  There will be awards, art making, viewing artwork, and of course food.

I also hope this show will revitalize the studio.  We've been seeing dwindling attendance, so I hope that we will get more people to start coming once we show the studio is a fun, relaxing, creative place.

Time to go back to prepping!

(This picture is the awards I made for the participants - each one will have the number of visits to the studio they've made, and anyone who has come at least twice will get one!)

AATA Conference Booth

Here we are, selling at the 2010 American Art Therapy Association conference in Sacramento!  Of course, my ceramics didn't make it out of the kiln in time, so all I could sell was some of my watercolors.

I have a plan for combining my watercolor painting style and my ceramics... it's in the works, but it will be slow to come to fruition for sure.

Dead or Alive

Photo credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Dead or Alive, at the Museum of Arts and Design, includes Kate MccGwire’s “Discharge,” made of feathers.

By KAREN ROSENBERG
Published: April 29, 2010

Combine some of the materials in “Dead or Alive” at the Museum of Arts and Design, and you’d have a potent witch’s brew. A single piece by Tessa Farmer, for instance, makes use of a ram skull, a mummified frog and bat, bladderwort, hedgehog spikes, weasel skulls, a spider web and sections of a wasp’s nest. (Another sinister-sounding substance, volcanic ash, delayed the piece’s installation; it will be up by Tuesday.)

...

And while the art is made of things that are no longer living, the show is certainly lively. Almost everything in it will arouse some kind of curiosity, whether material, scientific or historic. The 16th-century wunderkammer, it seems, is an excellent model for a 21st-century art and design museum.

Read the full article here: nytimes.com/2010/0...


This show is no longer up, but what an interesting concept! I only found out about it a few days before it closed so I unfortunately didn't end up going. It's not quite junk art in that it isn't man-made trash, but it is interesting making art out of things that were once alive...

Check out the museum's website (with pictures of the installation and artworks) here:
collections.madmuseum.org/...

Found Object Art Month

The other art therapy intern and I came up with something totally exciting and awesome to do at our site: FOUND OBJECT ART MONTH!!!

For the month of November, we will bring found objects (aka junk/trash) to groups and encourage art making out of these lowly materials. We are using the month of October to prep by getting people excited through advertising, asking staff members to bring in (clean) junk, and one day this month we (art therapy dept) are going to take a field trip to get some unusual junk to contribute to the pile.

Also, we're going to come up with some more structured art directives using trash and invite non-art therapists to give them a try in their groups as a way of exposing more people to art making.

The end result will be a premier event at the site and then, down the line, a gallery show somewhere not on the floor. It might be somewhere else in the building, or it might be at another facility (we're working on it). Also we are hoping to do some research about art with found objects and maybe write about it for the American Art Therapy Association.



In honor of FOUND OBJECT ART MONTH, I will be posting every day in November pictures of amazing junk/recycled/found object art!




Today we began distributing the fliers, and since I love them so much I am posting them here. The photos aren't credited in these images but they will show up again in future blog posts and will be properly credited. I found the images through google-searching so please forgive me this faux pas.

Sukkah City 2010

Today (and tomorrow) sukkot are taking over Union Square Park in Manhattan! The event is called "Sukkah City," an international competition to re-imagine the sukkah. From the website:

'Sukkah City' is an international design competition to re-imagine this ancient phenomenon, develop new methods of material practice and parametric design, and propose radical possibilities for traditional design constraints in a contemporary urban site. Twelve finalists were selected by a panel of celebrated architects, designers, and critics to be constructed in a visionary village in Union Square Park from September 19-20, 2010.

Viewers get to vote for their favorite sukkah, and the winning one will stay up for the holiday week. There will be articles with professional pictures of Sukkah City so please forgive my terrible photos where I attempt to get images of the whole sukkah at angles without people. Needless to say, it was completely packed, so I didn't end up staying very long!

So, on to the sukkot.

I was really excited about this event and spent a while looking at the website (sukkahcity.com) to see the proposed designs. Here are the highlights from the day!

This sukkah is called "Repetition Meets Difference" by Matthias Karch. I love the way it looks in the sunset:


It looks like a wooden sea urchin to me, or a real-life spirograph drawing (remember spirograph?!). Matthias explains that the design is based off of a "Wachsmann knot," constructed out of wood from Israeli olive trees and American walnet and maple trees. You can really see how the different colors of wood are impacted by the light and angles.

This one, called "Blo Puff" (by Bittertang) has a really great proposal image but I'm not sure it looks like it's supposed to look on the outside.


However, the interior was interesting:


It kind of looks like a cave or a womb. I imagine it would be interesting to be in there at night when the weather has cooled off. The information sheet says that this blo puff glows in the dark, and the proposal image shows it at night. Maybe it's unfair to judge it in bright sunlight. The inside is draped with eucalyptus leaves to give it a pleasant smell... so I really wish I had been able to go inside! I also wonder if the cushions were hand made and, if so, is the shape meant to evoke something? Maybe large, soft leaves?

This interior (and maybe my favorite shot of the day) comes from "Shim Sukkah" by tinder, tinker. The outside seemed to be made of lots of wooden slats that people felt free to spin (although I'm not sure they were meant to spin). I like that the designers went the extra mile to put a matching picnic table and bench inside so you can really imagine sitting in there. Some of the others simply put tree stumps inside to act as a table and chairs. A "shim," for those of us who aren't builders, is used "to fill gaps in construction and to level uneven surfaces... the shim's typical function is to hide imperfections." Hooray for elevating ordinary materials!


Some images from the outside:



This one actually looks exactly like the proposed image, "Fractured Bubble" by Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan. I say "actually" because I am really surprised because the proposed image is pretty amazing. It looks like a large, beautiful tumbleweed.


I wish I could have gotten an interior shot because it's also interesting on the inside. Unfortunately, you see there are lots of people peeking inside, and I didn't feel like standing around in the crowd to get an opportunity for a good shot. The funny thing about that one is that it is so interesting you want to approach it, but the spines make that a pretty hazardous thing to do. I love that the schach (the roof material) is made from an invasive species of grass that grows in Queens (according to the information sheet). It's great to take material that would otherwise be thrown out and repurpose it for art!

This next was extremely different from the others and really challenges my perspective of what a sukkah is. It's called "Log" by Kyle May and Scott Abrahams and it looks exactly like it sounds.



Though it is interesting and different, I'm not sure I see myself enjoying a meal in there on Sukkot. When I think of Sukkot, I think of being in very natural environments, and glass just doesn't fit into that framework for me. Sukkot is one of my favorite holidays because it's feels like urban camping. I like their concept, though, from the sheet it says they want to invert the typical impression of a light structure on top of a solid foundation. Maybe it's just too modern for me...

The next one, "Single Thread" by Matter Practice was one of my favorites but I didn't get a good picture of the whole piece. I can really appreciate the number of man-hours (or woman-hours) that went into this work!




The curling of the thread is just beautiful. I also liked their interpretation of schach, which reminds me of Spanish Moss (maybe it was Spanish Moss, I don't know). It was very graceful and natural, even though most of the piece was made out of metal!

I like what they wrote about their piece in the information sheet:

[The process of construction] can be reversed and repeated: the wire is unthreaded and raveled back onto the spool, and transported to the next site. Each unraveling and re-threading produces new kinks and bends that will become part of the texture of each sukkah.

I think I like this concept because it means the sukkah continues to evolve over time, and they considered the implications of re-constructing the sukkah every year.

Finally, I don't have a great picture of "Gathering," by Dale Suttle, So Sugita, and Ginna Nguyen, which is a shame because I felt this piece was very well done. Though it was made of straight pieces of wood, the overall shape is very organic. I compared it to a dead seed pod that may have just floated down and landed lightly in the park - like those helicopter pods without the helicopter part.



There were many more sukkot! These were the best pictures from the adventure. If you're in New York and want to check it out, it still will be open tomorrow (9/20)!

My installation

The gallery is open now so I thought I would post a picture of my installation! This is the final piece to my thesis project, all of my work (including the poetry) all in one place. PHEW!

Sneak Peek!

I installed my piece in the show today... it took 5 hours, yes, five whole hours, but it's done. Installed and done. It looks so good. It's all of my thesis artwork and poetry in one place, grouped together and everything. If you've read my thesis, you'll understand it more than just seeing it on the wall, but I think even just seeing it on the wall will be interesting. The poetry will invite people to become intimately involved in my pieces, not just letting them view them from a distance.

Can't wait to see what everyone's stuff looks like on Friday!!!!

I-Thou Ceramics

I already posted all of this work earlier this week, but it was on display for a short time on Friday so I took a picture of it. Putting the work on display does something interesting to it, I think. I can't wait to install my pieces in the show that's opening this coming Friday!





I came up with some good ideas about my thesis topic (for future research) while I was talking about my ceramics. I've recently been thinking a lot about "I and Thou" by Martin Buber - I read it a long time ago in two separate classes ("Art Theory" and "Modern Jewish Philosophy"). I think about having I-It relationships verses I-Thou relationships with my artwork, and how that plays into the whole processing response art thing that I've been doing.

It also relates to my ceramics - I don't just make an object and then it's done. I interact with my artwork after it's finished being made: my ceramics will be used (in fact I used them at a suedah shlishi I hosted yesterday at my house), my paintings will be processed through poetry and future paintings/objects, etc. So maybe that's an I-Thou relationship.

If I remember correctly the difference between I-It relationships and I-Thou relationships is if the object of the relationship (either another person or an actual object) gives back and the "I" receives that in some way. This came up in Art Theory because we tried to figure out how someone could have an I-Thou relationship with an artwork (I didn't get it at the time) and I think it came up in Modern Jewish Philosophy because we talked about having an I-Thou relationship with G-d.

Anyway, interesting stuff, maybe too philosophical for the art therapy world but maybe not! I have a lot further to go with my thesis topic - though my thesis is done, I plan on turning it into articles, workshops, and presentations. My goal is to present at the 2011 American Art Therapy Association conference!

My Body is Political

This was my submission to a Jewish-Muslim Interfaith art and music dialogue event. It's hard to describe what the event was exactly supposed to be like, but Jews and Muslims get together and watch short films about being Jewish or Muslim, listen to some music inspired by common heritage, have some conversations, etc. This time they added an art show, so I submitted, the prompt was "your Jewish or Muslim identity," basically.

So I made this mandala (I am into mandalas lately, not interpreting them but making them, after researching mandalas for a class assignment a few weeks ago). It took me a couple of days, it's pretty large and I made it with only pen and filled in some of the spaces with marker because that would have been crazy to fill it in with pen - usually when I make smaller mandalas like this I only use pen. I wrote something about mandalas being the universal symbol of wholeness and completion, and how mine is growing and being shaped by experience.

I then put it on display at the interfaith dialogue with markers and a sign that encouraged people to participate in my Jewish identity, since I am influenced by people I meet and my experiences.

It was interesting to watch people decide whether or not to make a mark.


But then some people got really into it. There was a pretty steady stream of people adding to my work throughout the evening.


This girl spent the most time working on it, she was very serious about it.


If you step back and look at it, it really is quite beautiful. This is what it looked like at the end of the night (or, rather, when I decided to leave, I just couldn't stay any longer).


But then, look closer:


"FREE GAZA."

That person may as well have written "KIKE" on it.

So much for peaceful interfaith dialogue.

Someone responded to it on my work by writing "Love" and "Tolerance" on different areas. Someone else then saw my work as a political forum and made some references to gay rights.

And the thing that really gets me is that they put it inside a hamsa, which is a shared symbol by many middle eastern cultures including Judaism and Islam, although I wonder if the person who wrote that knew that.

It just goes to show you that art brings out the truth. Nobody would have said that out loud at the dialogue, but it was there, and it came out the instant someone was allowed to make art about it. This was the first example of someone writing text on my piece, the first time someone felt their own individuality was more important than contributing to my identity, and the first person to make a violent statement against me - on my own art.

This is how I am seen. My very presence is political. I am Jewish, therefore I am an oppressor, therefore I am racist, therefore I have some kind of power. It was a personal message to me as a Jew. I get that it was a public stunt because the ability to write was there, but this was a personal artwork about me and my Jewish identity. Not about someone else's political agenda.

I tried to go home and do other work but I just couldn't. So I made some response art (yay art therapy grad student nerd). I worked for 20 minutes while listening to music and then wrote about it:

Betrayed
I bared myself, made vulnerable
Stabbed
So quickly
So easily
So thoughtlessly.
Using me for your own purpose.
It was never about our relationship, only quick satisfaction for you.
You didn't even know me and felt free to use me.
Your presence is a sham.
Go home.
I don't have to justify myself to you,
Nameless viewer.
No wonder things are the way they are.

First Show: Israel Photography

Three of my photos are going to be displayed in a traveling photography show this summer :) The contest was called "Israel Sheli," where we had to send in three photos that represented Israel.

Here are my photos:

Ceramic Show & Inspiration

Tonight, JewishGuy and I went to see Kim Yong Moon's solo show. Kim Yong Moon is my ceramics teacher's instructor, so I guess I was kind of a kiss-ass for going, but we went. It was really nice, although there wasn't much there (he is actually still making some work that will be in the show later in the week). I think we may buy a cup or a bowl next week :)

Also, I have decided I am going to make a Shabbat lamp for my historic piece. Basically, just a regular oil lamp but with two wicks. I did some research and apparently oil lamps are preferable to candles for Shabbat, especially if you can burn olive oil (Shulchan Aruch 264:6). Also, apparently olive oil is "better for the environment" than burning candles, or at least better than any wax candles other than beeswax (according to Canfei Nesharim). In any case, I've started to make sketches and I am very excited!

We went to the clay store to pick up some clay, but they are closed early on Saturday and not open at all on Sunday. That means I won't even be able to get started until Monday, which makes me sad. I am very impatient. I want to start now!! This means I have to do my reading for class on Sunday, when I really want to make my pinch pots.