8th Artist Review

11/30/09 Art Lecture with Felicity Hogan

Felicity Hogan is a curator in New York and in 2006 was a guest Curator at Dumbo Art Under the Bridge Festival. In the lecture, Hogan described a "curator" as an artist who has ideas for a show. Their role is to look at the space and think how the audience will respond to it. They are communicators of how one should react to the dynamics/context of space.

Hogan says she felt the "galleries grew because I have been well trained/educated, and I'm very playful when it comes to projects." Everything she does is very diverse and she also runs studio programs.

Hogan is recently working on 4 pieces. She paints abstractly first, and in addition takes photos and incorporates them into her paintings.

One student asked her "how she went from an artist to a curator," and she responded that she made suggestions on which artists looked good in shows, and slowly the curator role developed from there. Also Hogan said she is attracted to artists who do work, that maybe she wanted to do, but didn't have the skills or talent to do so.

Overall, Felicity Hogan seems to enjoy her career as a curator-"I get the same high as a curator, as I would when I finished a really good painting."

7th Artist Review

USF CAM

Artist: Diana Al-Hadid

I REALLY like Al-Hadid work because it reminded me of architecture. What first came to mind was "Is she related to the famous female architect, Zaha Hadid?" But I looked it up and she's not. Anyways, my favorite structure she did was the Forever (Blank) Matter, 2009. It is constructed from steel, polystyrene, plaster, wood, resin, and wax. Her inspiration for this piece came from Breughel's The Tower of Babel, and the labyrinth on the floor of the Chartes Cathedral. I have no idea how she even put this piece together, but I absolutely love it! I admire her exploration if various kinds of materials, and I will probably do more research on her work in the future, to help me with my models.

In addition, CAM now has this cool phone system, where next to the piece of art you're looking at, there is an index card with a phone number on it. If you want to know more about the piece, you call that number, and a recorded message of the artist explaining their work plays right on your cell phone! It felt like Al-Hadid was standing next to me the whole time. I thought this was a pretty neat feature.

6th Artist Review

USF CAM

Artist: Robyn O'Neil

I remembered Caitlyn talking about O'Neil's work in class, and I thought it was very interesting that she only used mechanical pencils in most of her drawings. When I went to checkout her work in CAM, I was shocked at how big her drawings were! I thought they'd be on 8 x 11 1/2 paper! Instead, most of them were on 60in x 60in paper.

The drawings that stood out to me the most were Come All That Is Quiet, Something Vanished Over, and The Minds of Others.

O'Neil has won many grants and awards, including the Hunting Prize in 2009, and the Joan Mitchell Grant in 2008. I really enjoyed her art work because it stood out from other forms of art that I am use to seeing, like painting, and sculpting.

5th Artist Review

USF Centregallery

A Semblance
Works by Kaileen Schleith

Digital Topography
sketchbook,charcoal, glue, ink
2008
I like how she used a regular black sketchbook to make the laptop, and then she printed a map off of Google to place it as the screen. Very Creative.

Immokalee, FL
dollar bills, paint, glue, cardboard
2008
Here she cut out a geographical shape of the world in cardboard, and overlayed it in dollar bills. Then she painted a scene of migrant workers laboring in the fields. To me I felt the work was trying to get across that these people do not get paid enough for what they do.

Made In...
clothing, tags, metal, blood
2007
The piece looks like an american flag with blue shirt tags as the square in the top left hand corner of the flag, and then white tags dipped in blood for the srtipes. Very patriotic, but at first I was a little freaked out that she used maybe her own blood, but I asked the receptionist and she said she was pretty sure it was blood from a butcher shop...that's cool then.

Model for Exponential Growth in a Finite World
wood paper, phone books, mesh, paint
2009
I really liked how she painted a scene of the phone books on a kanvas, and then brought them out to life by laying out actual phone books in front of the painting.

Methods of Mass Production
cardboard, paint, metal, plastic, glue
2009
The analyis process of various types of manufactued products was well thought out. The work included cereal boxes, beer cases, McDonald cups and bags, cigarette boxes, food wrapers and bottle tops.

Soft Sculpture/ Music Project

The song that I choose to do this project on is Broken by Lifehouse. How the title is appropriate to its meaning and content is it is about a "broken clock stealing all his time". It is subtle, so you have to listen specifically to the lyrics. The mood of the music is a gloomy/hopeful mood. The mood is created by the lyrics and the "slow moving" music notes.
The song was the last song to make it to their new record album. It then was used in the soundtrack of The Time Traveler's Wife. I think it has definitely gained value over time through it's exposure. The meaning is personal but it has various interpretations. But I don't think what I hear would be the same of what some others would hear, because people can interpret it in different ways.
Jason, who is the main singer of the band, came up with the song. He went to visit his friend in Nashville who needed a kidney transplant and he spoke some words that affected Jason deeply. These are now the words that are used in the chorus of the song.
What the song means to me is there are a lot of tough times we human beings go through in life. And that's just how life is. But it is always comforting to know that I can leave all me worries to God to take care of, and He will heal my pain.

4th Artist Review

The Draft-Sheridan/Sheridan-Draft Collective Exhibition (USF Centre Gallery)

The art that stood out to me the most were:

Thumb
Artist: Jeff Sheridan
Graphite & Ink 2009

The picture is of a fingerprint which looks like the patterns of oak trees, when they are cut through the middle. The thumb stands alone, and blends in with the surrounding trees.

Monolith #2
Artist: Jeff Sheridan
Graphite & Ink 2009

I thought this piece was very interesting. The poles that hold the power lines together, look like trees coming up from the ground, and they form a cross. I also liked how the frame of the picture was made of wood, with nails sticking in it. I thought this gave the work a more sacred touch.

Untitled Collage #1
Artist: Scott Draft with contribution by Chelsea Gorslone
Mixed Media 2009

I felt this piece brought a new meaning to the word "collage." It starts off with a photo in a frame. Some parts of the photo are covered with white poster board, which is then colored on with colorful markers and ink. Then the glass cover of the frame is put over the work, and the artist outlines the picture with a black marker on the glass. This gave it a layering-effect.

3rd Artist Review

USF Polytechnic Campus Design Presentation: with Architect Santiago Calatrava

USF is constructing a new Polytechnic campus in Lakeland. They have hired architect Santiago Calatrava to design this project. Calatrava is known for many famous buildings like the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Light Bridge in Jerusalem, Israel. Calatrava presented various models and drew some images that expressed his concepts behind the polytechnic campus. He said that it was an honor to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern University, and that is where he gained his inspiration for this project. At the end, Calatrava showed a video on the 3D model of his design, and it just brought everything to life. His work is truly a master piece, and his presentation really inspired me. This 45 million dollar project will open in Summer 2012.