Sol Lewitt, RIP

Read more here.
Sol Lewitt's Sentences on Conceptual Art

portrait postcards by Ray Johnson

LEFT: Emily Dickinson RIGHT: Jean Harlow + Marcel Duchamp

Ray Johnson, father of MAIL ART!

article on Ray Johnson
In the early ’60s, Johnson turned his back on convention and gave his art away to anyone who interested him, via something he called the New York Correspondence School. He set up the tongue-in-cheek institution, infuriating dealers and delighting the friends and acquaintances who received the works. By sending his pieces through the mail, he created an international network of collectors and shattered boundaries in the art world, meanwhile remaining its best-kept secret.

“Johnson formed a complex, ‘pre-digital’ creative network,” notes Donna De Salvo, curator for the Whitney show and curator at large at the Wexner Arts Center at Ohio State University. Indeed, before there was an Internet, there was “Mail art, ” an unorthodox movement, currently in its fourth decade, that hails Johnson as its “Grand-dada.”

“Johnson’s mail-away art can’t be bought or sold but only received,” the late critic David Bourdon once remarked.

repetition

Cassandra C. Jones is an artist who manipulates images in-camera and using the computer. Check out her flamingo and cheerleader wallpaper at this link.

I always had this idea that doing art was just a masturbatory activity, and didn't really help anybody.

Interviewer: What led you to become an artist?
JB: I always had this idea that doing art was just a masturbatory activity, and didn't really help anybody. I was teaching kids in the California Youth Authority, an honor camp where they send kids instead of sending them to prison. One kid came to me one day and asked if I would open up the arts and crafts building at night so they could work. I said, "If all of you guys will cool it in the classes, then I'll baby-sit you." Worked like a charm. Here were these kids that had no values I could embrace, that cared about art more than I. So, I said, "Well, I guess art has some function in society," and I haven't gotten beyond that yet, but it was enough to convince me that art did some good somehow. I just needed a reason that wasn't all about myself.

LINK TO MP3 CONVERSATION OF BALDESSARI AT THE HIRSCHHORN MUSEUM, DC

Art & Art History department lecture: Heather McGuire on John Baldessari
Wednesday, Feb 7th, Library 321, 4:30
Heather McGuire was graduated from the University of Virginia (B.A. English) and VCU (B.F.A. Crafts). She worked as a curatorial assistant on the Hirshhorn's Visual Music exhibition and curated several gallery shows in Richmond, VA. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Art History at VCU and beginning her dissertation on John Baldessari's Blasted Allegories. Visit http://www.1708gallery.org/ and click on Exhibitions: Current for a show Heather curated of 2 contemporary artists.

audio project due 7/8 Feb

31 Jan/1 Feb: written proposal due
7/8 Feb: final project due for critiques

The concept for the sound art project is to create a JOURNEY from one place to another. These could be imaginary places or real places, but you will need to have them defined before you start working. Consider the wide range of choices, from the planet Mars to the St. Mary's River. Brainstorm the possibilities for sounds that might represent your places, and what the listener will experience along the way. See http://soundtransit.nl/book/ for inspiration, as well as the links to other projects that address SOUND+PLACE, below.

Technical Requirements:
1-The piece must use at least one 10 second (or longer) clip of a sound that you recorded yourself, either vocals or concrete sounds.
2-The piece must use at least 3 tracks.
3-No songs or music unless you recorded it yourself.
4-You may use additional samples from Freesound, but you may not add any clips that are not under an appropriate license (no copyrighted material).
5-Final mix-down should be at least 1 minute long, but no longer than 3 minutes.
6-Burn your piece as a playable (not data) CD, and bring your project folder with all work files on flash drive. Include one version of your mix-down as a WAV.
7-Post an MP3 version of your project to your blog.

SOUND+PLACE links for inspiration:
Sonic Postcards
Location-Dislocation
Listening to Nature
Falling Echos - Bill Fontana
I am Driving Through Sound Space
Silence of the Lands
Sound Transit
Sonic City
Audiomobile
LocoSound
Broadcast your Podcast

schedule for 24/25 Jan - 7/8 Feb

W/Th 24/25 Jan
-Bart Simpson audacity tutorial due. Unless you are working from home on a PC you can skip the part about installing the program.
-blog about one of the sound art projects listed above, under "sound art links"
-in-class: intro to audio principles slide show and digital basics, continued

M/Tu 29/30 Jan
Mon. Jan. 29, 4:30 pm LIBRARY 321 - Lance Winn: drawing, robotics, sculpture
exercise 1 due: an audio re-mix using 3 samples from The Freesound Project. You will need an account to download the audio files. Requirements: You may only use .WAV or .AIFF files - no MP3s. Final mix-down will be at least 30 seconds long, with at least 2 tracks of audio. Bring your WAV/AIFF file and the original 3 files to class saved to your flash drive. The attribution aspect of the Creative Commons license requires you to give credit to the original authors, so you will need the names of the users who provided the files for your project. The easiest way to keep track is to make sure that you don't re-name the files you download from Freesound.

W/Th 31 Jan/1 Feb
-writen concept summary + proposal for audio project due - post this to your blog
-Lynda.com tutorial fee due

M/Tu 5/6 Feb
- Gather sounds for your project. Equipment may be checked out from Media Services for recording.
- Post to your blog about the Janet Cardiff radio interview (#1 below) and respond to how she uses the three-level spatial structure in her piece (#2 below). This is described on the class handout. Do not multitask while you do this. Treat it as if you are studying an essay. Folding your socks is possible, but trying to write email or do other homework while you listen is not OK.
-in class: discussion about Janet Cardiff & studio time to work on projects
1- radio piece about Janet Cardiff
2-her project for Whitechapel Gallery in London

W/Th 7/8 FEBRUARY
final audio project due (see post with project description)