research for the movie

New WEBSITE AND TUMBLR

2011-05-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

Autobiomagical.com

Check out my new website and my tumblr located on the front page.

I guess I still need to be updating this thing... or post enough onto tumblr that people start to follow me there.

philly

2011-02-09T12:53:00.001-08:00

one of the cutout works from the show at Pterodactyl

2010-07-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

New Library Mural

2010-07-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

Just finished the work on a new mural for the DAAP University of Cincinnati Library. It is back in the office of the new director... She is more than willing to let you walk in and see it, although it can be seen (with a bit of wall in the way) from the computer lab.

Our Giant Toy Project

2010-05-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from the DAAP University of Cincinnati Art Foundations Project where the groups of students had to rebuild toys out of cardboard.

I feel so bad because I didn't get any photos of these projects... Thank heaven for the internet. Seems like a bunch of people on Flickr really enjoyed the project. Can't wait to see what happens next year.

Student work from my Photo Workshop

2010-05-19T07:27:00.001-07:00

Thought people might like to see these... and see some of my assignments from Digital photo workshop I do every spring for 2 weeks.

Abstract film without actors (SPLIT SCREEN)
For this film there are no actors, only images, the screen is split and movement happens, details are shown, we read into it a loose narrative of a place, of a time, of color, form, relationships. You will make a diptych, meaning two photographs butted against each other to form a new relationship both in content and composition. Something should inspire you; perhaps it is the metallic gray of a sky with the close-up of a shovel. Or the circle of a tire covered in mud and the dust on the cover of an antique watch.

The INTERVIEW
What moment in the interview are you documenting, what was said, why, what are the emotions, where does it take place, what is the drama. What objects are with the person? Are you showing both people, just one, why?

One-Minute Sculptures/ Hunting for Gabriel Orozco
This is a moment in the film where something odd is happening, a woman’s hands are on a man’s body with five pencils balanced and pressed against his chest, the light outside is fading, there is activity in the world around this, but we are wondering what is happening? Make your own one-minute sculpture, or build your own moment like Orozco that has reshaped the world.

Staged performance/ Tableau photograph
This movie has been extremely visually powerful but it has a complex and difficult fantastic narrative. This movie requires you to take a leap of faith. There is a man standing in front of the open refrigerator at midnight, the lights are out in the room, there is a pool of milk on the floor and for some reason a tent with children in the kitchen reading by flashlight. Make your own scene, which speaks in the language of fairytale, modern myth, or alternative reality.

The scene after the incident
Everyone is tired, and wrapped in blankets, the car door is open and a girl is pacing on the phone, she is screaming for an ambulance, the headlights point at an old man who looks lost standing in his bathrobe. He is looking at something we cannot see but know he is upset. In this project something has happened that will forever change them. Give us clues.

studio days

2009-10-22T11:35:00.001-07:00

I just put in two hours at the studio... kindof happy about this one.

2009-09-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

images from herron..

2009-09-20T21:10:00.001-07:00

I'm just putting this up in any order, and will edit soon.

GALLERY OPENING

2009-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Exhibition: 3X3
June 30 – August 8, 2009
Eleanor Prest Reese and Robert B. Berkshire Galleries
OPENING: June 30, 2009; 5:30-7:30pm
Meet the Artists & Curators: July 16, 2009; 12:00-2:00pm

3X3 is a unique exhibition experience: three regional curators were invited to select one artist from their city. Treated as three solo shows within the galleries, all three artists have constructed site-specific installations filling the 3,600 square foot space.

From Cincinnati, Maiza Hixson, assistant curator of the Contemporary Art Center has selected Ryan Mulligan.

From Maiza's essay in the catalogue:
RYAN MULLIGAN: Making Self-Help Easy
Inspired by his life as a teacher, TV junky and self-appointed product engineer, Mulligan combines education, entertainment and invention in drawings, sculpture and performances designed as “objective” solutions to real and imagined problems. The artist draws inspiration from personal sources of anxiety over something as irrational as monsters under the bed to the legitimate horror of discovering his father’s penis pump. His art-as-solution straddles the line between parody and sincerity. . . It is an idiosyncratic universe where the goal is not to sell us anything but to query the relationship between art and the prospect of a better life—maybe even the good one. . . Mulligan mines the best and worst memories of his life in drawings, paintings, sculpture, and installation that resonate as sketch comedy culled from a personal hell. They are as funny as they are sad. . . The pastel palette and cartoon-like use of line, reduce the severity of his subjects, casting them in a playful, even apologetic light. It is as if in order to help his life, Mulligan cannot take art too seriously.

GALLERY INFO
Herron Galleries
Herron School of Art and Design
735 W. New York St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 278-9423
Monday - Friday, 10 am - 5 pm
Saturday, 1 pm - 5 pm
Closed Sunday

some work from this year

2009-06-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

"Pee Pump" Gouache on MDF
and "I'm so glad my income isn't connected with the art market" gouache on Art Forum page

I had to scan some of the work for the publicity materials for the show at Herron this summer. Most of the work I wanted to scan was just too big for the flatbed... can't wait till I hire a real photographer to document my work.

2009-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

back wall

Will and I'm glad we no longer talk (and lots of other works)

Sandwich drawings

The grid stuff.

Images from Exhibition

2009-05-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Egon vs. Stalin

L to R Cajun Things, Clean Floor, Hippy Girl, Lone Ranger Theme, and Projector

Install shot of Museum of Stress Hair Loss (with new yoda Cave on the right)

No Review

2009-03-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit sad that there was totally no press about the show at 1708 "Rain or Shine." The opening was amazing, with over 2,000 people there. Part of me wonders if I was supposed to be the one to actively be hunting down for someone to write about the show. Honestly the two reasons I wanted to do the show was for press, I need press and so do two of the other artists in the show. Kate seems to be doing fine, but she could always use more. The other reason was I wanted to see all the work I made this year up, and hanging. The second part of my wishliss made me happy. I haven't heard from any of my former teachers about what they thought of the show. That scares me a bit.

I have been back in the studio prepping work for my next two shows, one at Herron College and one at the Weston Art Gallery here in Cincinnati. It is hard being in an empty studio again, trying to make sense of what happened at the last show, what was working and what wasn't working. Part of me doesn't want to admit that I am really conflicted about what work I need to be working on; were the drawings stronger, or the painted objects? Do I still need to show so much work to make it relate to each other? Is any piece strong enough to live on it's own? This is where I am at now, and think I am going to be dealing with this issue for a while.

1708 Rain or Shine

2009-03-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

Got back from Richmond on Sunday night after a super fun weekend of eating my self silly, giving too much tip money to the valet, and seeing over 2000 people come through the gallery. My favorite part of the night, was continually moving the Gallery shark... That thing kept biting peoples feet! The show looks amazing, everyone's work really stood out, I think the gallery artist talk was good, I should have asked for questions, but didn't want to steal Sarah's Time. Dinner after was awsome, I adore Black Sheep, and love me some CheerWine! Thanks pete for the suggestion and Shawn for frontin the bill.

Stacy took these two shots of my wall. I will have more to come once I get home and download the images from the camera.

Just found this!

2009-01-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I posed for a painting that was hanging at the entrance of the art building for about a year. Every day, everyone in the whole school got to see my naked backside. The best part.... The title of this painting by Johnathan Weston is
"Sorry God." I told my wife that there used to be this huge, I mean this thing was so damn big. I am lifesize in that little corner there!

Anyway, I guess I wanted to say that Johnathan is a great painter, and an amazing guy. I'm glad I posed for this painting, I'm glad it sold, and that someone somewhere has this in their home, and I hope that my students will life their lives in school to the absolute fullest, and if someone says, I need to paint you naked, you always say yes! Provided that you have seen their work first. I have a funny story about that, but that one will have to wait.

Working in the studio these past few days, I have been so much happier. I really am like an addict, without my art fix I get crabby, and just mean.

Teaching

2008-11-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have decided to post a huge post on all of my favorite assingments I have given this past year.

If anyone teaches art foundations, feel free to steal some of these, as I have stolen one or two or three as well.

This is to the best of my ability to remember all the projects I have done with students. I have many more that are more about specific skill sets and don’t really push creativity such as Color Wheel Analogous Mandals, Color Logo recreation using complementary color palettes, (actually that one might be interesting to you. They repaint the logos using the real color of the logo on the left half, then the right half is in the complements of those colors. It leads to a nice conversation about the power of colors related to consumption)

Sorry it is so long, and the spell checking has not happened.

Cutest Robot in the world.
Students will draw the cutest robot in the world, then each robot will battle each other in crit mode, and we will determine the top two robots. WE will then translate the small 8 by 11 drawings to 15 foot drawings using a grid method, then we will build them out of cardboard, pipes, and various materials to be able to stand at 15 feet tall. All 8 robots (2 per class, 4 classes, will be displayed in the third floor area)

Cape Project
Design a logo for a cape using felt, glue the logo on your cape and wear it for a day. Write about what happens, and the feelsing and thoughts that occur.

Heroes and Villains Pageant
Students are asked to come up with a superhero identity for themselves that contain something about their own life they are either extremely good at, or something they want to overcome. After which they have 2 to 3 weeks to generate a complete costume that they wear in public parading around the campus protecting the university from EVIL.

Reason to Draw (assisted living community)
Students are invited to go as a group to an assisted living community. They then are paired up with a resident and invited to do a portrait of them. Through the process of observing them, conversations will happen. Generally speaking the residents are extremely open about their life and have countless great stories for the students. Which lead us to the next project. One version of the next project was to ask the residents about artwork that they felt was missing from their room. The students then generated those works and had s show at the home and then donated them to the people living there.

Elder Stories (zine about, by, and for our elders and the next generation)
The other version of the second half of the project was to compile the stories, collect photographs, scan them, and generate new drawings turning them into a book for the residents which enough were printed for everyone to have one.

Color inventory
For this project students make three copies of a historical work of art, cut them up using exacto’s and generate a bar graph of color for one, a new collage for the other, and use the third bits to recreate someone else’s historical project.

Boring Landscapes
Students bring in 3 photographs of the most boring landscapes possible. I enjoy the ones with extremely muted tones of the spaces between strip malls. Recreate each image at least 3 times trying to match the colors as close as possible in a scale of 3 by 4 paintings. Start with the smallest brush possible and then move up in brush size with each successive painting, the goal is to start to generalize marks, and work within more difficult abstraction of spaces.

Thrift Store Painting
Have students look through the book “Thrift Store Paintings” by Jim Shaw, every students needs to write out five subjects from the paintings that they feel should be in a good thrift store artwork, place all words in a hat and then have them pull out 5 to use as their source material for their own thrift store paintings.

Kara Walker Fear Project
Students will generate large scale black cut out silhouettes of a life fear that is extremely personal yet can speak to a broad audience. Scale, craft, content, and clarity are our major concerns as well as execution and cleanup.

Graphic Novel Single Page
Students will generate an inked black and white graphic story that possesses elements of the uncanny, fear, psychological tension along with visual tension and interesting compositions. Story, clarity, enjoyment of reading and stylistic inventiveness are our goals.

CAC Project
Students write out a dream, have them google image search each word, collect one of the first 10 results, pull into illustrator and generate new “liquid archives of designs” by redrawing the images and combining them into new forms, each new picture sentence should be labled at the bottom with the corresponding sentence.

Photo Principles of design
Students will use digital cameras as well as simple design exercises to demonstrate a knowledge of 2-D principles.

Tableau Photography
Students will investigate the work of performative photography and generate tableau photographs that deal with psychological spaces and social constructs.

Obsession Project
Students will mine their own guilty obsessions to construct a project that will be graded based on teachers’ impressions that they might be crazy. The goal of this project is to push both the content and the craftsmanship to demonstrate an OCD approach to making art.

The one page description of eating the apple
This should be roughly a 500 word description of eating an apple. The purpose of this project is to have them carefully observe and record stimuli all around them.

The monster project:
Students are asked to print out 30 photographs of objects in the world. These are usually extremely uninteresting images of trashcans, telephone poles, benches and other various objects in the public places. They are then asked to turn those items into monsters. This can be done on the actual photograph, or on the actual object in the world and then re-documented.

Foam Core Reality
For this project students are asked to re-create an object in the world at a 1 to 1 scale using only foam core. The goal of the project is to paint and distress the item so that it looks completely seemless and appears to be real in space.

Mystical Properties of Playdough
After looking through the book of works by artist Genus TOM FRIEDMAN students are asked to respond to his playdough pill project, and his junk drawer playdough piece by working collaboratively to generate a new collection of ojects and bits each under 2 inches in size of real everyday junk in the world

Self Portrait series
These are self portrait projects that go beyond the everyday, and force the artist to be extremely inventive. Usually they will have a mirror and a few photographs of themselves, at least one should be of their whole body.
Self portrait as your arch enemy
Self Portait as your evil Twin on a soap opera
“ “ as a teddy bear
“” as a super hero
“” in the job you are glad you never had
“ “ in the job you always wanted
“ “ as one of your parents
“ “ after being attached by a bear
“” as a ghost
“” as a warewolf
“” in armor
“” in the dark wearing sunglasses (this one is fun to actually do with the lights out and everyone is wearing sunglasses trying to draw themselves looking in mirrors)

Mail Art ALA Ray Johnson
Students watch part of the film How To Draw a Bunny about the life of ray Johnson and then generate mail art to send to people pulled out of the phone book.

Found Gray Scale
Searching for scraps, junk, etc students are asked to generate gray scales that represent 10 value changes using only found materials.

Line in Nature
After watching the documentary on Andy Goldsworthy
Students are asked to go out into nature and generate 8 colaborative land art projects. With a class of 20 this usually means they have to take direction from different people as their leaders.

You needed this
Students are asked to find a sign in public that is hand made by someone and generate a new sign for them that helps to improve their message, the clarity, readability, or simply fix the spelling and or design. They are then to freely give them to the owner, or put them up beside the original if the owner is unknown.

Find your Own Carl
Carl works on the top floor of the tower at UC, he is extremely interesting and people need to know more about him. Make an information poster about a stranger that you meet this week, design the posters around a similar aesthetic and post them in groups.

Make a poster about your day (from Learningtoloveyoumore.com)
Print 20 and hang them around your neighborhood or where you work.

BOOB TUBE
Stand behind your television set with a camera, wait for your loved one, family member, or friend completely forget that you are there, this may take a while. Wait until they are totally engrossed in whatever is on TV and then when they are no longer “alive” photograph them.

Group Portrait in a pointless location
Photograph a group of people in a public place. Restrictions, you cannot know any of them, and you must ask them to all group together face the camera and arrange them so they are all centered in the frame and not cut off. Just like you had to do in elementary school.

Bus Ride to Enlightenment
Ride the bus till the end of the line, write in your journal about who came on and off the bus, what happened on the bus, what you saw out the window. At the end of the line, walk slowly and deliberately around the new location. Photograph a simple shrine that you set up to celebrate this new location.

Marble Project
Make a marble move for exactly 30 seconds and then have it come to a complete stop. Prizes are awarded for the people who get it to come within 3 seconds of 30. You can only do one action to start it. (Best solutions so far attaching it to a cell phone which the person calls and then hangs up at exactly 30 seconds, dropping the marble into a tube containing a thick oil that slows it’s fall to 28 seconds, dropping it into a homemade rube Goldberg machine.

The Found Expert
Students have 15 minutes to go find someone to teach the class something, these people have to not be friends or colleagues of the person, bring them back to class and each person will have 3 minutes to teach us something new. (my favorite expert taught us the first word he learned in sign language, both his parents are deaf and he learned sign language before he learned to speak.)

Recreate a poster from your teenage room from memory
Idea from Learningtoloveyoumore.com

Recreate a dollar bill from Memory
This is interesting and actually extremely good as an icebreaker because there is so much to talk about here.

Protect this from Dust
Design a book jacket for a library book that you felt was extremely influential in your life, add the call numbers etc to the jacket and design it to fit on a real book in the library, secretly insert it into the collection. (this is something I want to do on a grand scale at a public library)

Sign of Great Importance
Construct a temporary sign for a public sight of importance that currently does not have one. This can be a sight of some event of your life, or some event in the news that you feel people should know about.

Your name in lights
Students are asked to sign their name in the upper right hand corner of the page, then enlarge that signature exactly to scale of one to 4. I.E. if their name is 3 inches long the recreated name must be 12 inches long. Their usual first move is to just re-write their name bigger, but hey have to measure each section, and every curve to re-create it exactly in scale.
After they have re-drawn their signature they are then asked to turn it into a neon light using pastels… Realism is the goal of this project.

Perspective changes
Students will spend 4 hours drawing a still life from 15 feet away, using organizational lines, contours and gesture, at teach 30 minute mark they are to move 3 feet closer to the still life. Every time they move things change and they have to rework the drawing from a closer position. This works best with Vine Charcoal and chamois cloth because they can be quickly erased.

Jim Dine School Of Drawing
Jim Dine believes that you can not teach drawing, only seeing. His students work on a fully realized still life for an entire period, and then are asked to erase the whole drawing at the end of each session. Durring the final session they will be allowed to use new media and eperemental media to work into the history of their drawing, and not focus on observation of the objects in space, but on the residue and the marks that have been accumulated.

TV Light BOX
Use your TV as a light box and record informational marks and notes about a specific show.Generate multiple drawings that can then be combined into a new artwork map of that information.

Periodic Table of _______
Build an informational map in the style of a periodic table about a specific subject. (Examples periodic table of all the deaths and means of death in Friday the 13th)

Basic Drawing
Something to think about

Some of these might be repeats from before. Sorry.

The Basic Drawing class has always been a full quarter of study of still life. I have no issue with this, if you have no issue with this. However, students, in my opinion, need exposure to more than just observational drawing. They need motivation, and creative problem solving opportunities.
One approach is to keep the general design of the course but add a small think tank project at the beginning of each class period.
An old professor of mine made us do a self-portrait every day. So we were asked to bring a compact mirror with up to class every day. The portraits had odd instructions, or awkward prompts forcing the students to think creatively.

Ex. Self Portrait as your archenemy
Self Portrait as a teddy bear
Self Portrait as a robot
Self Portrait under water
Render your face while wearing sunglasses and the light s out
Why don’t you have a job? Why don’t you have a uniform?
Etc.

Beyond the still life
It is also a valuable experience for students to draw things beyond the still life. That means that the homework assignments can be more creative. Draw the scene after you finished eating your dinner, marks should reflect opinions of the food. I have always taken my class to an Assisted Living Community in the 7th or 8th week of class. You will have to arrange it ahead of time with the community, but the students come to draw and then leave the portraits of the folks living there with them. This re-enforces art’s potential for positive impact in the world.

Also looking at alternative mark making is a good idea. This can be land art, folk art, Obsessive Marking, Action Drawing etc.
Collage is a good way to get students to re-look at their work.
I always try to do at least one homework where they learn something more about themselves. Like an illustrated inventory of every object in their bedroom. This is a hard assignment, but can yield beautiful results.

Drawing Assignments
Multiple Sources
Drawing for four hours of a still life every day is extremely difficult for anyone. I recommend you use the last hour to two hours of one class a week to begin one of these homework assignments. They should be open enough for students to find their own solutions, but the problems need to be clearly stated.

HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS
11 by 17
Students will draw in situ at the museum, multiple versions of one work of art, approached from different angles showing the frame, and the artworks relation to the floor and walls in perspective.
Taking all those variables of the artwork to their bedroom they are then instructed to find the same angle of wall/ceiling/floor and add the famous work of art to their private collection of furnishings.

SELF AS INVENTORY
For this project students will draw an entire inventory of one type of thing they own. Perhaps it is every piece of cooking utensil, or every pair of shoes. There needs to be at least 10 items to draw. The most difficult task will be determining how best to present the collection? What is the composition of the items, are they all drawn overlapping each other, are they gridded out, are their multiple angles used? Are they close up cropped images of each item? What type of drawing best presents the information?

WHO DONE IT
Multiple 4 x 5 or Letterbox
Students are to examine an area where they experience some daily ritual and illustrate a dramatic story of a crime(ex. Brushing teeth when a robber entered the room and fled through the open window).
In a series of 4-5 fully realized drawings with full range of values students will tell the story of what happened like a crime scene. Without illustrating any figures, we are to understand by angles, dramatic shadows, interesting croppings, etc what might have happened.
One possible solution would be to stage the events and then document with photographs and translate those into drawings.

WONDERFUL USELESS OBJECT
Art works are wonderful useless objects, they do not feed people, cure cancer, or save the planet. They are gestures of an inner desire, of something innately human.
For this project you will take the idea of a wonderful useless object and make it a reality.
Perhaps the new material the object is made of will make it too heavy to use, or perhaps the surface will be dangerous and threatening. Be inventive, go beyond the clichés!
Start by making a list of objects at your disposal to draw and then look for variable ways to make them useless. (Ex. Gun made of bread, Couch made of granite)

SOMETHING LIVES DOWN THERE
As an interesting alternative to the normal, draw your room assignment, now we are moving into the realm of childhood fears. Lift up the dust cover and look beneath your bed. Shine a light from a side vantage point and when you think you see it hiding back in the darkness, draw it in wonderful rich dark shadowy tones.

It is best to start with a medium gray ground on this drawing, and then to erase in the high lights. If you have nothing under your bed, make a still life and borrow someone’s stuffed animal and hide it in the cracks of boxes and shoes.

WHO’S TELLING THE STORY
For this assignment we will investigate perspective in an alternative manner.
Write a short conversation you had that ended badly. Something from your past.
Now you are going to illustrate it from the other person’s point of view. That means you will draw portraits of yourself being looked at, etc. This can be done after looking at Storyboards or Multiple Graphic Novels. I suggest Paul Hornscheimer, Art Spiegelman, Jimmy Corrigan smartest boy in the world, and Frank Miller.

DRAWING FROM FILM
Here we look at time as a marking strategy. Take a Hitchcock film, something unfamiliar to the students and play the movie. Have them illustrate the scenes on top of each other. On one single sheet of paper. After five minutes Pause the film and let them catch up. Start it again, and go for another 20 minutes. Now have them work with the marks, the areas they have drawn in and make something new and exciting that combine observation with the emotional state of the movie.

JIM DINE SCHOOL OF LOOKING
Get the video Dine on Dine from the library. It explains his strategy to get students to not think of their drawings as precious. They draw the same figures for four daylong sessions. At the end of each day they erase the drawing (made in charcoal) and start again the next day from the same spot looking at the same pose, drawing on the same sheet of paper. Everything will have changed. Now the paper has a patina to it, and their perspective will always have shifted if even just slightly. For this project I have them draw the still life Monday in class, then for homework, then again Wednesday, and the final version is the one they keep.

STORY of Birds
Using perspective and observational drawing, generate 8 –10 views of birds on power lines or on the ground or on trees. Use multiple angles and compositions, (Zoom in and out). From those observations drawings now build a one page graphic story of the birds. What were they talking about? Do you even need to show words, or do the images tell us enough about whom they might be? Perhaps they are discussing how much they hate people wearing hats because they can’t poop on their heads?

Boxes become a city
Arrange multiple boxes and/or cd cases on a large surface. Students should make organizational drawing of these shapes. After which they will use Mylar and use the original drawing for inspiration for a new civilization. What is the social situation of the city? How do you inform people of over population without showing any people? Has this city undergone a period of depression or a return to nature?

Negative Shadows
Using one or two objects have students generate a composition that focuses almost entirely on the cast shadows. The objects should take up only 1/4 of the whole image and the shadows should be the focus.

I can fly into the new century!
After students learn to draw through cylinders and boxes, have them generate an imaginary flying machine from the 1899. Use rulers and organizational lines to completely draw through the solid shapes. Start from some research into historic flying machines, and use those for inspiration in multiple thumbnails sketches. Final drawing should be completely rendered.

first time using illustrator

2008-10-13T14:04:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know I am not good at this, but I'm really proud that I pulled this out in an hour. I had to do a demo for my students.

The freshmen are going to be doing a big project at the Contemporary Art Center on October 27th. Where they produce google image search illustration collages a'la Carlos Amorales and his Liquid Archive.

They write out 8 sentances of a recent dream, and then translate each word into image, then make an illustrator image of said sentance, print out double sided pages, and at the CAC people can come and build their own dream image archive book.
Each teacher has to make a cover for the project. So people can pick which cover they want for their book when they saddle staple them.
My sentance was: There was a rabbit in Hell. For some reason I got an image of Indiana, Billy Ray Cyrus, Paris Hilton, a Rhino, and oh yea, A Bunny. The lines are my version of Billy ray and paris' hair exploding.

Work from ARTWORKS

2008-09-26T07:25:00.001-07:00

The piece is called "The museum of stress hair loss," and hopefully will become one section of a bigger work that I want to make for the show in Richmond in the Spring. I can't wait to show the image of the records I have been making for the faculty show. They are more cute than a bear and dear hugging in the woods at sunset.

HOly Crap I'm Hitched

2008-09-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, it is still really wierded that I am married. Our photographer has some great stuff of us over on her blog.
Tracy Turpen Wedding Blog

And aslideshow with even More photos! She gave us over 600 to chose from for our album. This is going to be a tough choice.

School starts in a week, and I have mucho to prepare, setting up each weeks projects, coordinating with all the GA's and Denise, who is back in the saddle teaching foundations, which is going to be great for our students!

Anyone want to guess what happened this weekend?

2008-09-02T19:10:00.001-07:00

Ryan and Catherine's wedding adventure, originally uploaded by pjbaldes.

I can't believe it either! So now we are off to San Juan to celebrate and relax after the crazyness.

Peter has lots of photos up on his flickr account, our photographer should have some images up on her blog in a week. www.tracyturpen.com

Thanks to everyone, ESP. Vaughn, Marc, Dennis, and Peter for heading down so far to see us get hitched!

200th post!

2008-07-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that today is my 200th post. That seems like not that much, but I guess now that I have a job, posting on the blog has gone to the wayside.

Just went over to the studio this morning and got lots and lots of shots. Here are some of my favorites. These are part of a new piece I am doing at Artworks in Cincinnati, for the group show Paper Chasers!

The wall text on the left of the piece is going to be a better version of this diagram of my hair.

This is going to be part of the 10 examples of the various types of asteroids and how drunk they each are.

I think these are the lakes that my Dad slept beside when he rode his bike around florida. I have to decide that later.

The "tooth" is actually the biggest door stop I have ever seen in my life.

The top painting is a haz mat type suit guy, or maybe my dad as a space captain outside of the ship. The bottom one is a diagram of how asteroids have sex.

(if you scroll down you can see the bad photoshop picture I used for this one.

I was thinking that this would be the picture of myself/my dad when he became a captain in space. I had this whole other idea about the show before I realized that I wanted to make a museum that lives inside of a hair that fell out of my head.

this is the final arrangement of the protest for the movie 50 first dates.

little detail of the picket signs

I was thinking about doing another set of clipboard drawings. The format makes hanging so much easier, plus it adds to the antiquarian museum feel.

not sure If I am going to use these in the show or not, I just made them yesterday and really only like the Wookie show. I thought for a second that I was going to add some kind of circus look to some of the objects, like the dragon tooth, but then realized that having it look like a shitty museum would be better.

Today I have to work on the bar graph on a cardboard tube that demonstrates my psudo-political affiliations from 1985 to present. I think it is going to look like a core sample of the earth.

Older work

2008-07-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of links to some older installations I have done. A few people have been asking me to put this all together, and I need to anyway, because in a month I start working on my new website.

The piece Autobiographic Romantic Comedy over at David Rosenthal's Gallery (scroll down and click on the photos for much bigger versions).

No One Wants to be a Hero which is the second version of a work that happened to be in Mike Martin's Gallery down in Knoxville, TN.

Meyers Gallery, University of Cincinnati, here is the overview and window of Every Known Disease

Here is some more from The Cure for Every Known Disease

You can check out shots from my OLD Stuido In Scioto Hall. This link is kind of a mother load of lots of close ups of work. Thanks a lot to Chad for taking these pics before I moved out of that place when they started remodeling. I'll post the new studio shots today! Can't wait for everyon to kknow what I have been making.

2008-07-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

Ummm.... so I guess this is my future.

I'm working on a new installation and I was going to make captain's portraits of myself as my dad, so I needed an image to work from. I found this old one and took off my hair. Man that is beyond scarry. When I was in Undergrad at James Madison I shaved my hair into male pattern baldness one night, and then went to see my girlfriend, who at first thought it was just a bald wig. But then when she felt it, she started screaming! So far I'm only thinning, just a bit on the right side near my hair line. Soon I will have to investigate the short hair, clean cut look. But for now, I'm keeping my Jimmy Neutron hair!

studio work

2008-06-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Back in the studio... I moved back into the studios of the grad students here at UC. By the way, I GOT THE JOB!!! They rehired me to be tenure track running the foundations program. I can't believe it, I mean I believe it, but sometimes I think, I am way too out there for this place. Sometimes I have to hold back my ideas and do the "mild" version of whatever I am thinking. The good news is I have gained a lot of respect from the other faculty in my time here, so making adjustments will be easier. The other good news is, and a clean sign that I am doing good, is that the Contemporary Art Center wants to talk with me again about designing a project for the students to do at the CAC once more. I guess that the America Starts here Picnic was a huge deal to them, and they loved how inventive my projects are.

Studio work is slow, as everyone who paints knows. I am working on two big painting projects for the summer. One is a collection of hand painted paper pieces that are the names of every artist I have ever told a student to look up. I am going to put them in record sleaves and have it be a flip through archive for the students to use when they need advice of who to look at. I like the fact that it works as both a teaching mechanisim, and artwork, and a service for my own memory.

The other project is a massive wall piece about my father (big surprise!) It is about his adventure in space trying to stop the evil beer barons who are sending drunk asteroids at the planet gatorade. I know it doesn't make any sense, but I get to paint on the wall again, and maybe this time make some sculptures to go with it. Maybe a cut away meteor with the inside showing the geothermal layers? ANd a space ship and a heart re-starter machine.

I did a few paintings for the lecture performance, that turned into slides. I love them. This is the first time I have performed the same lecture more than once and it was really odd. The energy from my excitement wasn't there. I didn't feel like a carnival barker, I felt tired, and empty. But it was more somber, and sincere. So glad that the music was there again. It really helps the work. The director of the CAC came to this one. And she was amazed at how different the energy was from the first one where over 250 people showed up! This time there were less than 20.

BIG BIG SHOW

2008-05-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

I will be performing my new piece "I invented a restaurant that only serves side dishes" at the Contemporary Art Center as part of the big, big exhibition American Idyll. I couldn't be happier about being part of this great show.
If anyone is in Cincinnati, please come to the opening this friday! I perfrom from 8-9, and you get free pasta salad after!

This will be the first time I am using a musician for one of my pieces, it is certainly different, but man, why didn't I think of this before? I mean having music that changes with each section, something to help me keep my energy up, my speed, something that lets me take breaks and not feel worried that it is so silent in the room. This is why people could listen to Spaulding Gray for so long, he had back up music that let him just do his thing.

I got a quote in one of the local weekly rags "CinWeekly." It was actually a great quote, and I am extatic that they used my words.
American Idyll and Cincinnati Loves Ryan I am happy to have my fifteen minutes of fame this way!

missing him this week

2008-01-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

There are really good days when I don't think about the fact that he is gone. And then there are days when I drive home from work and talk to him. I ask him if he can make it any easier on me here to get re-appointed to my job. I think these past years of not being able to have him talk back to me on the phone actually prepaired me for this. I just talk, telling him what I am feeling, thinking, and going through. He doesn't say anything back to me, but I know he is listening, maybe even crossing his leg and hoding his knee with locked hands. Sometimes I think he is rubbing his stubble with his thumb, thinking about how proud he is of me, wondering if there really is any advice he has to give me that I don't already know.

I had this idea last week to get an answering machine hooked up to a phone line. And leave a message for dad. I know tht is morbid, but I just want to leave him a message.

In the closet is the stuffed animal dog I was going to give him for christmas. It was a white siberian husky. I put a note in the box to instruct Shawn, who was going to give it to him for christmas, that if he needs help squeezing the hand, to please show him how. I recorded my voice in the store. It isn't that clear, but it says "Hey dad, thanks for the hug, I love you."

I'm supposed to be working on my application for the job here in Cincinnati. Applying for the job you already have is a bit confusing. Having to write out what qualifies you for it is some kind of meta-problem about who am I, and why am I already here.

I know I will do a great job as Foundations Coordinator. I believe in my heart that there is more to teaching students than just giving them techniques and basic skills in drawing. Maybe some of my assignments aren't that reflective of a foundations program. But I want them to make art, and I believe that they have to try to get closser to the complextiy of art making from day one! I am getting all the bad habits out of them in the first year, and the other faculty should thank me that the students already know what a trite piece is.
The show Maiza and I curated comes down this weekend. There is a plan to travel it over to Louisville. If that works out it would be great, but I am not resting my hope on anything like that for now. I have to get back in the studio, work on my art, and get over this emotional hump that is paralizing me from working on art. How do you give time and energy to being creative when you feel like any second, you might not have a job. I need to re-frame that notion and move past it.

2008-01-16T11:40:00.000-08:00

I think if you look carefully you will see this one woman in two of these shots. She was inspecting everything with extreme deep gaze! It was kindof scary actually how much she was into this show.

more photos

2008-01-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

opening images

2008-01-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

shot of the text wall as you enter the gallery. The image on the left is a painting by Maiza's Dad, and the one next to it my Dad drew. This was his first work ever in an art gallery.

A random image of me looking busy. I actually was just nerviously walking through the room, thinking of everything that I would have changed if I had more time.

Jim is inspecting George Ferrandi's amazing installation. He had great things to say about the show!

(images from Chad Henley)
So the opening was a huge success. Lots of great responses, and some of the work might actually have sold! We are planning a private party in the gallery for some people who are movers and shakers to get them interested in the next show idea, but more on that later.

Now I have to get the images all together of the work, and get Maiza to finish her essay and we can put together the catologue for this thing.

So gald it is all done, and up and still here for students if they want it.

Weight of the World

2008-01-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

I am hype about this show. It is nice to have something exciting to do after all the crap I had to do this past week.

a quick peek

2008-01-02T07:38:00.001-08:00

a quick peek, originally uploaded by anne:made.

Anne took this great shot at the Catfish place my Uncle Murphy (actually my great uncle) took us all to after Dad's service. We were in a special room to the side, and someone's kid kept on trying to watch the people outside eat. the whole resturant was empty when we showed up but after a couple of hours of storytelling, it was beyond full. I guess they really needed to use our room.

I have never been one for catfish, but Mom's family loves the stuff. I can't believe how many family members and honorary family members I met while down there in Arkansas. It was great to have my cousins help with holding up Dad and taking him to the grave. I want to write about everything, and I guess that is what I will be doing while I have this week off from work.

In the photo is Mimi and Gene, and my Maw-Maw (seated).

Goodbye Dad

2007-12-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

This past wednesday my dad, David Dwight Mulligan, passed quietly into the night. The nurses said it was like he let out a sigh, and then didn't pull his air back in. One of the four with him was reading to him from Psalms, which I know he was thankful for. The service will be in Forrest City Arkansas. There is a plot there for Mom and Dad, right near her Father. I don't remember it at all, but supposedly it is a lovely place.

I am heading down there on the day after christmas. Taking care of things with mom and the brothers. Hopefully walking the Dogs, giving Kathryn hugs, and spending lots of time with my family. I have missed them this Christmas, and know that they miss me too. But you can't be two places at once.

I asked if I could talk in the service, and Mom said, keep it under 10 minutes. I think I did it. I am going to post it when I get back to Cincinnati. I have some more touch up's to do.

Coping Strategies

2007-11-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

Peter Baldes, Maiza Hixson, and Myself are curating a big big show called "Coping Strategies." You know you love that title! The idea is that these artist have either made us cry upon seeing the work, or they are using art as a strategy of coping with some heavy stuff in their life.
Here are the artists that I have been thinking about including so far. I am not puting photo credits below the work, only the names, everyone is online, and can be searched for quickly. If I knew more html I would put links. Well perhaps I should try anyway.

First off is
George Ferrandi

I first saw George Ferrandi's work in lecture format at VCU. I cried afterwords, and I don't know how I convinced the faculty to let me get to talk with her. I was a sophmore in undergrad, but they let me talk to her! She was so motivational, and upliffting and just made me feel ok to make the work I was trying to make. We both cried durring our talk, on the floor outside of a critique room where someone else was setting up. I will always remember that gift of time she gave me. Her work is honest and deals with some pritty heavy stuff, all layered in wonderful solitary narratives that mute the pain while celebrating the lovely imposibilities of hope after loss.

The next is SEAN SAMOHEYL. I saw his work first at the Bizare bizare in richmond. Next thing I know this guy is huge in the world, making tons of these little objects. I have one that is totally a prized object in my office. For this show I am hoping to get some more figures from him, maybe a painting or two, and most certainly the AA meeting piece he did. I don't know his relationship with AA, but when I heard about the fact that he did an AA sculpture I lost it.

Next up is RICHARD ROTH, head of the Painting department. The piece I want for the show is a small group of shots from his work, "Grief." These are framed cut out photos from the New York Times of people crying. I didn't know he made it at the time, but thinking about it now, of course he did. It has a sensitivity and real interest in the world shown through a dedicated modernist system.

I curated CHRIS BARR before in a drawing show. In fact I never sent his work back to him. I totally forgot that I left it in my mother's house in Virginia. Chris' project deals with tragedy directly in his life. You have to read about this work online. If I even start to talk about it I will have to just quit writing this post.

Kristen Beal, apart from being one of my favorite people, is also one of the smartest ladies I have ever met. For this project she was working with the issue of time management. She drew while doing her daily exercise, a way of making sure she was productive and in good shape. I think every artist will hit their head and go, "oh, man, I should have done that." And sometimes that need to cope with a life problem makes the work that much richer.

I don't have an example of it online, but there is a drawing my dad did of a large ship. I am going to put that in the show in ther personal things that make us cry section. I think and hope that peter and Maiza are also trying to collect things outside of art that made them cry.

And last but most certainly not least I want to show work by Kate Bingaman-Burt, the Burt part is new, but the work is solid gold and all Bingaman still! Kate has a problem with shopping, and she wants to understand it more than any of you could belive. She is going to have a seriously huge show in February, so we won't be getting the mega gold that normally happens when Obsessive Consumption comes to town, but we will have some. And I can tell you know, it solves so many problems, and creates just as many more!

Dave

2007-09-06T13:32:00.001-07:00

Dave @ Yuma Proving Ground 02-24-61, originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

man I love this photo of dad.

Whoever took it I wish I could hug them and say thanks. This is the only photo of Dad that I see myself in.

2007-09-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

David Rosenthal just sent me some images from the show he put together at Junior Gallery. Looking back at this piece now, I could have done more. That seems to be a constant feeling I have with the painted work recently. The projects require me to get more active in the painting. My outlines look week now, like I need a thicker brush to get quality strokes. The idea was a picknick with shooting asteroids. And for some reason there are 28 protest signs resting on the wall. I need a better aesthetic on these pieces. Better contrast, or at least new paint and not just use the reject colors from Home Depot.

Thanks Basement Gallery

2007-08-02T04:59:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to Mike down in Knoxville for having me down for a great show.

Here is the overview of my half of the gallery.

2007-08-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

picked up some more images from the gallery down in Knoxville.

No one actually purchased anything, but I left four paintings and two objects with Mike. Gave a lecture on my work yesterday and found some amazing connections to older work. Funny how talking outloud can make you see what really happened.

Checking in

2007-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Just finished checking in with a Grad Student who is teaching the second section of Painting to Non-Majors this summer. He showed me his course outline. Every thrusday is a crit and a movie. Ending the week with a film about an artist who is not clasically trained but who works with prolific abandonment.

I was thinking about this as a strategy for my students, becoming a stickler to mamouth amounts of drawing, reworking, revisiting etc. I thought about a teacher a few years back who made students draw one object for an entire semester, on one sheet of paper, every day. Something liberating about that notion. Something about a singular focus, and breathtaking sense of discovery through knowing something so well. I was thinking about my sketch books from back in High School. Man those things were amazing. Why did I stop working like that. Why did I stop drawing all the time, and get so tight, loose my sense of abandonment and be happy with my mistakes. Why did I have to have everything so precious and good and well concieved that all the time I am trapped in a fear spiral?

I don't want to have my students ever say my course is too academic. I want to teach with the ideas of DADA and Fluxus, strictly demanding craft conducive to the message, but fostering excitement and drive. I want to get my idealism back and I want it back today!

The Why in Art

2007-07-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing conversation today with a fellow faculty member about what are we actaully teaching people. Too often we both leave the classroom angry, upset, and feeling insecure with our abilities as teachers. In part this is due to our personalities, but thinking after the conversation it might be in part to the structure of validation set in place with College Art Education.

What if we bypassed the what and went straight for the why. Looking at Art Self Help books in stores such as Michael's, one noticies a common language of, fun, enjoyment, passion, and emotions. People outside of the art realm get into art to say something. This summer working with non art majors I have found a striking passion for real messages, though their use of imagry, or sence of composition, design, and motifs might be a bit nieve or trite, they do have messages and concepts inside them to express. Why then is that desire submerged in freshman art students when it could be fostered along side a growing sense of the conditions, and aesthetics of art. Why is the personal, the private, and the meaningful disregarded for the cool, the disigned, or the well executed.

What would happen if art and art history were taught from a perspective of now what, but why. Why are these artists actually using these brush strokes, why are they painting those figures that way, why does red look so boring when it is in it's pure color form on a girls face. Why have we seen those motifs over and over again? Why do you want to hold your pencil that way. Perhaps if we did a bit more explaining of the reasoning behind our exercises, filing them with content beyond busy work, drilling, or exercises we might see some real results.

I miss teaching students to use photoshop to make zombies out of figures.

I really miss teaching content.

Questions

2007-06-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

I love my class this summer. The extremely hardworking, motivated, enthousiastic drive of non majors is delightful. No big questions of why do we have to draw like this, why can't we just shade things, what is the point of this project. They just want to try everything. My metaphores are coming in handy in the classroom. Top five are:
1. Observational drawing only works when you look at the road and stop playing with the dial of the radio.
2. This piece of paper isn't the "one ring of mordor!" Your whole stack of paper isn't even in Lord of the Rings.
3. In my class we drive with one foot only, none of this gas and brake at the same time. So if I even see an eraser until the last week I will pull this class over and hop the backseat to give you a whoopin'.
4. Not every day will be suicides and free throws,, but count on enough to make you better.
5. Drawing is just like riding a bike. Eventually you hit someone and have to decide to ask yourself what happened, or you try to ignore it.

FOTC

2007-06-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

(photo from BBC2 comedy online)

Last night was the premiere-asaurous rex of Flight of the Conchords on HBO. I left the room typing away at my sylabus to go downstairs and watch the show. After a constant belly busting night watching their Stand-Up hour special the night before, I had no idea their sitcom show would be able to compare to the deadpan delivery of two bumbling fools on stage. But seeing the two gangly Kiwis arguing over which was better to have gotten with girls back home, or to talk about getting with girls in New York (If the girls are hotter you are talking about it means you are moving up!) they proved their skills. The oustanding cameos by people as briliant as Eugine Merman among others was a wonderful treat. His short bit in the elevator about a broken faucet was outstanding.

Part musical, part sitcom, and completely nervious the show is a rough intensified version of the two real characters with simple problems solved in halariously stupid ways. Filming their music video with a camera phone, singing about how the hotest girl at the party could be a part-time model, or wondering if it is more awkard for a girl to be startled by someone flicking on a light in the dark, or if that someone happens to be her ex. Everything was delivered with dead-pan seriousness verging on effortless and "it doesn't actually matter" style. The posters in the New Zealand consulates office are amazing. I hope they sell those on the HBO store. I would buy them all for my office. If you didn't see the show, watch a couple of the videos on the HBO site and then swing by Youtube and see more.

Back in the Kitchen

2007-06-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Oh Top Chef, how I missed you. And now with another great chance to relive the same drama of season one and two I give you my perdictions on how the year will turn out. Just like in season one and two we have a wonderful villan and loveable yet overly demanding thirdplace bitch.

Our villan for this season: HUNG, an almost exact copy of Marcel but with an Asian Twist. Now that it isn't ok to think the french wine lovers are better than us, we have to pick a new target, Asians. Great job casting directors, he even knew last seasons bad guy. I feel certain that the only way this person will not be in the final four is if too many critics catch on to the exact storyline repeat of seasons 1 and 2. Look for more over-confidance, extra sauced lovely plates that scream "I know what cooking is about and you can't get into my club!" Best of luck Hung, and maybe the producers will let you change the generic storyline and let evil win. Who knows.

Our third place, sore looser with amazing talent will either be one of these three

Howie, an extremely talented chef who will certainly deliver some NEUH YOURK TUDE. What he most certainly learn durring this season is how to soften up and be a leader, and everyone will be so surprized at how he has changed and grown so that when he is kicked off the show some viewers will cry out at the televisions and bawl.

Winner of the first Quickfire challenge, Micah will win us with that lovely South African Accent and become a real bitch until she finds a soft spot in her heard for this season's newest hearthrob:

Ahh Chris, you will wow us with your stories of overcoming cancer and find a real voice in complex sauces and delightfully optimistic garnishes. Just wait this guy is going to use more citrus juice than "orange julius" used.

If Sara doesn't make any mistakes her proximity to MIami Quisine will give her a real edge with the seafood centered menu that will most likely show up this year. However I fear the viewers might start leaving if there is too much fish on the show. Take Iron Chef Japan as your guide on that one. Viewer demographics were always less on days with sea urchin, squid, and whatever other exotic food you might present.

The Winner of Top Chef hasn't shown off yet, and I have a sneaking idea that the one change the judges have planned is that it will not be Tre.

But perhaps I am giving too much credit to the producers. They have found a formula and if "The Real World" is any indication, things aren't going to change, it will just become more drunken fights, a (cross your fingers) major knife accident, and a romance. It seems the only ingredient not added to the stew yet.

As far as judging goes, it was great to see Anthony Bordain back in the hot seat dishing out insults and swearing at the worst of the worst. I just picked up his book and am excited to read.

2007-06-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the shotout Knoxvilleartblog over on myspace.

The image is from that blog.

Over on the right side you can see the piece of metal that superman bent without his glasses on. Even leaned up against the wall in a more sturdy fashion it was knocked over. In fact the soal of John Legquizamo was almost let loose in the gallery when someone kicked it over. I don't think they were intending to let out the destroyer of the future, but it was a tight turn to have to take around the hole to the center of the universe, the bag of everything, and the shelf with poor choices of meals and door jam paintings.

Great Show!

2007-06-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Sleeping for three days in a gallery with no air conditioning was worth it to get the show of Sarah Hollis and myself up and installed. Kathryn flew down, and I kept Tucker the dog with me in the gallery, he was a great friend to me, and helped me get up at 6 every morning and start working. Picked up around 7 big prints from the most amazing letterpress shop in the universe, Yee Haw Letterpress. I am extremely proud of my new DADA print. Can't wait to find some wall space for that one.

Met Dolan and Ali for fried chicken in Kentucky, great meal, lots of overstuffing and ramblin conversations. Much needed boost of energy after an exhausing show.

Here at the school senior students have their work up all over three floors of the building, and I think outside my office is a fountain built by one of my students.

Working tonight on a massive piect for Insulation, a show curated by my office mate David Rosenthal.

Just found out my little write up is on the citybeat blog. "The lunchroom of the Art World." Got to go and sell these summer classes to students in about thirty minutes. Hooray!

Unions

2007-05-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

(The Bearcat painting a wall with red brush is a registered trademark of UC and faclities management of the University of Cincinnati. I have altered the image slightly so as to not get fired.)

The DAAP building is getting a new fresh coat of paint today. Eisenman’s giant exploded baby shower cake of a structure is starting to take on the visage of it’s old self with fresh layers of awful colors and a complete removal of any signs of life. I look at the structure as a memorial to learning, each hallway was carefully designed to make you lost, confused, and sheepishly give up. But no one can see you give up, because if you turn around and walk the other way everyone around you decides that is just how you get to the bathroom on the sixth floor.

But with a fresh coat of baby blue and pinkish-desaturated bubble gum comes a torment of wet paint signs. These posters contain the phantom bearcat with red brush in hand on a rampage through the city, ready to scare small children as he attacks the walls of their bedrooms with snarled mouth.

Personally I love these stupid posters, but they are everywhere, and no one is taking them down five days after the paint is dry. Last quarter at the school I volunteered to repaint a room that had grown gray from flying charcoal. I was informed by the building’s super that no one could paint the walls of any surface in this building because of the painter’s union. I asked how much it costs to paint a single room and no one could tell me. First the Forman would have to come out and inspect the room personally to give me an estimate, and then we could negotiate and then I would be mailed a formal quote, or some such nonsense. I honestly was too shocked that I wasn’t allowed to work to help the school that employed me. With that in mind I would like to suggest that we establish a wet paint sign removal union. After each paint application on campus we would inspect the still taped walls and scattered signage to determine a fair and just quote. Once a number is agreed upon we can bring in the equipment to begin the difficult process of removing tape from walls without peeling off the fresh paint, and pick up the signage while only dry wiping the floor. If we have to mop the floor we will need to renegotiate the deal. If one of the painters happened to tape the image to the floor an emergency override can be authorized and we can Windex the masking tape residue off the floor careful not to over spray onto non-wipe-able areas of the building.

2007-05-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

I wrote an amazing post last night, but lost it somewhere in computer land.

Trust me it was good. It had something to do with Art, Cincinnati, and the fact that my students are too cheap to spend money on printing photographs. I saw a group of students this morning try to open a door but get locked out, I bet they give up and walk back home thinking school is canceled.

Today my students build robot babies.
I answer questions.

photo of last quarters color theory class work up on the worst painted walls in the universe.

First preview article

2007-05-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

I just finished my first preview article for CITYBEAT alt weekly mag here in Cincinnati.

Enjoy the preview of the preview
I took the image down because I forgot who took the shot of Winterhalter's paintings, and don't want to come out the gate making anyone upset.

Guy Debord proposed that time is “made of qualitative leaps” existing as choices connected by familiar spectacle. Joseph Winterhalter's "Leaving the 21st Century" acts as a romantic and preparatory look at lived spaces hinting at the uncanny. A subscriber to Derrida and The Situationists, Cincinnati born Winterhalter believes "Anything I ask of a painting is a hell of a lot more than most makers of things should ask."

Through physical and meticulous applications on massive scaled canvases Winterhalter seductively fabricates known spaces with the potentiality of otherness. Representational minimalism and layers of industrial colors scraped back trapped in coats of encaustic wax, paint, enamel, and guttural marks, these abstracted patinas quietly shimmer in melancholic moments. In much the same way that Jasper John's re-enlivened populous imagery by focusing on painting's object-ness, these thirteen intensively worked canvases recall, at times, institutional spaces yet allow the materiality of paint to fall within the seams of perception resting virally in our collective fringes. Residuals of history literally wrap the surface, rewarding viewers through exquisite material dexterity. We may not see the end of the 21st century but these "terminal boundaries" become delightful spaces to investigate. Show runs June 22 - Aug 31 Opening reception June 22 at THE WESTON ART GALLERY. Downtown Cincinnati!

never enough

2007-05-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

I'm at school today, trying to get a master plan on how to enroll students in the DAAP Non-Major Art classes. Nothing seems to be working. Getting ready to just call all the colleges and get them on board.

My students finished up their photo performance class. This two week workshops went extremely well. I love teaching photo, if you couldn't get that from the last post.

The school is trying to get rid of the major problem of Bathroom Graffiti. NO one knows how to combat this issue. At UC the walls must be painted by the painter's union. I ran into problems with them when I was repainting the art foundations room in the winter. How silly of me to try to do some free work for the school and get the extremely messy room back in order. What was I thinking? Last year I wrote an article for RVA Mag about bathroom graffiti in the art building. I wish I could find a copy of it in my files, but I think I erased it sometime ago. Sorrys go out to everyone.

Working on about 10 new pieces for the show in Knoxville at The Basement Gallery. (I don't remember the website, but google it.) Finished my first write up for CITYBEAT Magazine. Did a preview of Joseph Winterhalter. I hope it gets people in the space. I hope it gets published, and I hope I get some more assignments.

Trying my best this week to not turn on the TV, but yesterday I caught an amazing insider's guide to "Good Eats." Alton Brown gave his secrets and tricks on how the show gets made. No it is not his actual kitchen, but in season two we are welcome to see life from the kitchen of his producer and director of photography's house. Durring that season a cease all actions was issued and they had to rebuild the entire kitchen in a set, but it turns out that the fake walls behind the appliances made for an easier filming environment. I loved learning that his Microwave was actually a working microwave without the dangerous and food cooking beams of light. Instead it just turns and lights up, but no ions are transmitted.

A while back Julia sent a letter to Good Eats asking if there was a chance for me to do an internship with alton. The people suggested I apply to be "the next foodnetwork star." I'm still on the fence if that is a good idea or not. I mean Alton's show is perfect in everyway, I would never be able to do something that good.

Thinking about pricing my work tonight. I guess everyone has the same issues of determining value to something that rarely ever sells. Most people I know who show one to three times a year say the same thing. "I'm just happy to get a show." The artist I will show with in Knoxville said something extremely interesting to me in our meeting today. "I love to buy my students work, it makes them feel so special. But they are so timid, they never know how much to price it. I always tell them give me a price and I will write you a check or laugh in your face. It's that simple."

I have never sold a piece for over 200 bucks. I would like to do that someday soon. Maybe by December.

I think the new paintings, and drawings are up to snuff and hopefully people will see the value in them, and the value in me. Because quite frankly aren't those two things intertwined. Aren't they also buying a bond of faith in me and my ability to creatively investigate materials?

Worked on my bills and budget in the gallery for Reed's Performance Show. I figured out my long term goals, and realized I spend way too much eating out.

This was my old studio door.

Students are getting smarter

2007-05-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

I love teaching photo classes. The work is always surprising. I always try to get them to do at least one Zombie Piece each year. The award for best zombie on the fly photo goes to this group.

2007-05-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

here are a few more shots of the installation over at the Meyers Gallery on the UC campus.

Maiza at the CAC came to the Gallery Talk. She didn't realize I wasn't doing a performance. Hell I don't even think she knew I made things that weren't performance based.

I sat before the whole crowd of students actually there supporting friends in a group show in the back room. I felt like a turd doing a gallery talk when all these students and parents actually just wanted to eat the food I forked out money for and look at their own work. But they listened and I got some great questions about humor, honesty, and why make personal work, or paintings when there is so much else that is going on in the world. I tried to explain that being funny and goofy is a defense against the forces outside of your control. That painting actually acts the same way. No one paints to cure cancer, they paint to not have to think about cancer and cure some micro problem on a dirty piece of fabric that holds that success in the fibers long after the strugle is forgoten.

But what I actually said when sitting in front of those students was, "I paint wookie mcnuggets and asteroids and spaceships taking medicine to a planet rulled by steve martin because I am so sick of looking at art, talking art to students, and trying to get students to be smarter every single day. I just want to enjoy my studio enough that I won't leave to go to a meeting, or a committtteee, or grade papers. If I keep giving to you kids the same way without ever getting something back just for me, I will find a baseball bat and smash out every single window in that stupid exploded baby shower of a building."

(My first version and my actual statements were not that poetic, there was a lot of Um's and So's, and of course I swore)

Show

2007-05-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

I think these are images from my show on campus at UC. Not sure actually if I even saved them on this computer or not. Yes I saved them. I remember that day. It was right after teaching and I had to take the show down. I had paid a graduate student to shoot images of the installation, but he never got back to me to let me know if it went ok or not. I actually haven't seen that grad since I took the show down. I think he is avoiding me, but I'm not pissed. I never get good shots of my work up in galleries. That is most likely why I am not famous yet.

The show was a revamp of the work that I cranked out in my studio for a month back in January. I did 7 new paintings for the show, redid the wall asteroids, time warp, wermer holes, smoke trails, space dust, and a great little magical piece over by the fire detector.

In the new re-revamped version I am doing for Knoxville I am going to include my new collection of Ex Girlfriend Door Stoppers, hand painted and weathered! And a stunning new mix of bad paintings, worse painted objects, and really bad puns.

Mark Harris has some great shots from the opening. But I can't get them from him till after his opening up at the Wexner Center for the Arts. That opening is Friday, which means I will have to miss the reception for Sarah Hollis, who I will be showing with in June at The Basement Gallery in Knoxville. Only two great things from Knoxville, Johnny and Timothy Michael Martin. I mean that guy's name sounds like a country singer, but nope, the best dern newfangled gallery owner in the southland.

Great Writing

2007-04-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

I just read a few old and new posts from my old roomate and best friend in the world, Vaughn Garland.

Check out his writings, the house fire story, the new post about feelings on Virginia Tech, and the awsome writing on the death of college professors.

His work is also amazing and I want to curate some of the drawings in a show I am thinking will be called "Hush Hush said the railroad."

filming

2007-04-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Just found this image from the Set of John Adams I worked on over a year ago.
Filming is now going on in Hungary I think. Anyone in RVA have an update on what is happening with it all?

Lecture

2007-04-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the extreme joy of hearing Bruce Davidson talk about his life and work. This guy has done it all. After winning the only major high school prize from Kodak for photography, he then goes on to win the first NEA grant for photography, become a major player at Bresson's cooperative photo agency: Magnum Photos. Frelanced for Life magazine, served in the army, was a fashion photographer for Vogue, and basically produced one of the major bodies of work that chronicled the poverty of Spanish Harlem. Once that book was published the US Senate took up the issue of overpopulation of East 100th Street and began to finally help that rich in cluture and dignity area that just needed some care.

One of the best, if not the best visiting artist lecture I have ever witnessed. Why no one was filming it will remain a mystery to me. After sweeping through twenty or so images with a carefully constructed monologue about his early life, he points up at a photo and says "that was lefty, I met him a few years later." The image on the screen is of a youth showing his tatoos to the camera. Davidson: "He's now a police detective. This guy, Chuck, we lost him a few years ago in prison." Every time he stopped the slides he would talk about reconnecting with the people photographed. Being invited back to block parties and engagement parties on East 100th Street.

The life of a great photographer and more importantly a wonderful man is something to celebrate. The magic of his photographs comes from his attitude of giving dignity and hope through his images. For four years he rode the subway to Central Park with "a bag of Cheese sandwiches for the bums, nuts for the squerels, and feed for the birds." He would approach people with kind and genuine intent of getting to know them before taking a photo. When he got to a masterful image of a woman in fur with two dogs on either side, he said "I don't go to people and say, can I photograph you. I say hey, what kind of dogs are those, and ask if I can pet them." This simple elevation of the subject is uncommon in the world around us. Part of the reason he claims to lack any ability to do news photojournalism I think comes from the fact that the photographer is not supposed to form a relationship with the subject. The Hypocratic Oath of photography makes young students feel as if they have to keep secrets and hide from the subjects. Well if you don't actually converse with the subjects, or establish some relationship why shouldn't they be suspect of intent.

Last quarter a student of mine began a project photographing in her terms "white trash" of Covington, KY. Her blurry photos from the window of her pasing car gave a feeling of survalence, fear, and something inapropriate. I posed the question, why didn't you get to know this woman wearing a Tweety Bird Shirt. And I was informed that the lady was mean looking, and didn't want to talk to anyone. Again I asked her, did you get out of the car and shake her hand? To which the student replied, "it wouldn't be good if I actually liked the person."

In my short time as an educator I am troubled by the concept that everything is a game revolving around power. The photographer must, in student's minds, have power over the subject, power over the painting, power over observational drawing, power over the ironic content. When will they let the world move them to awe? When will they let images wash irony and sarcasm away and refill their minds with potentiallity, connectivity, and humanity?

In this Art Department the students act like animals in a Pound. When a warden approaches to take them to be put down they bark, howl, and show their teeth for fear of no longer being a dog. When someone comes to look at buying them they coo and lick and attempt to be as pitifully loveable as possible. But never do they take responsibility for the other side of their behavior. Never to they get to the truth. That they are an animal scared of making mistakes and will not let go long enough to experience the freedom of who is actually inside them.

The image above was taken on a Sunday in the morning before church. The woman asked him why he wasn't going to church. He said this subway is my church. To which she responded, "maybe, but you still need to get to church." I hope my students find their churches eventually.

2007-03-15T06:32:00.001-07:00

mine, originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

the wall behind this one is just house paint and guache and the outlines are guache, gesso, and water. I'm using a sign painters brush in the next one. But the smoke/entrails aspect of the drawing makes me so much happier than the original smoke I was going to do.

2007-03-15T06:30:00.001-07:00

dust, originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

space dust from battle of ETA (evil twin asteroid ) the one with the eyepatch and the mighty hutka shovel fighters.

I have to actually draw the batttle otherwise no one will get it in the show.

2007-03-15T06:28:00.003-07:00

couch_pro, originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

couch protection mixed media on paper.

2007-03-15T06:28:00.001-07:00

call, originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

pen, colored pencil on cardboard

2007-03-15T06:27:00.001-07:00

asteroids, originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

asteroids that were broken up by the mega freedom fighter space ship. When I do the installation again the asteroids will be where the rulers live, and then you will also see on the space ship all of the freedom fighters, like Mr. Miagi, and Beetlejuice.

fish_tent

2007-03-15T06:23:00.001-07:00

fish_tent
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

from the studio

2007-03-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

"Wart" drawing on paper, cardboard, paint

more from the studio

2007-03-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

The whole installation is about a private space adventure that has asteroids and evil twin asteriods as the protaganists, the drawings on paper are either zoom in or zoom out views of the emotional actions. It was the best way to make the drawings relate to each other was to add a second narrative that wove another layer into the already playful and akward work.

Studio Shots

2007-03-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

I miss my studio that I worked on. They are renovating it this month, so I had to take these shots to remember what I made.

2007-03-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

another shot.

Making a show

2007-03-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

I just finished a new performance today. Only 15 or so people in the stands, not as many as last time. But I guess students weren't interested in this one as much because there was no free food. Trying to hold on to the words Alex, my independant study said to me,"This one was great, it was serious, but I think they got it." I really wished the curator from the CAC could have seen this one. Maiza said she was coming but I guess had other things to do.
Didn't as with almost everything, get any documentation of the work other than a bad video clip of one of the less amazing parts to me, and some photos that Alex took. He was a good helper.

Built onto a chair to fix it up for a performance object. I want to keep working on the chair and add on more and more bits to make it a completely fancy object that I can perform with for a few more works.

I have to try to re-transcribe what I did for this one.
Starts with a conversation about balance, and trying to stay away from the speaker of the karaoke machine, then goes into other parts, and then to just words through a tube that I read for a boy in Covington who has a machine that speaks for him.

That really happened by the way, and I hope people understand that who were in the audience.
The Chair of the program, sorry Director, Mark Harris came. He smiled and said some nice words. I think he missed the first two sections, but that is still better than nothing.

Going to my final meeting of the quarter about Color Theory. Learned so much about how I want to teach in the future.
Can't believe they re-hired me for next year. What were they thinking? I got a great image to scan in and post in a few days, but until then.

Knee Video from years ago

2007-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

Test

2007-01-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

Opening tonight

2007-01-19T05:50:00.000-08:00

Two big big shows tonight! One at the university gallery, The Meyer gallery I think, and one downtown at the Weston. I hope lots of students go even with the snow starting to fall.

Went out and purchased lab coats for my Art and Tourism class two days ago. Can't wait to show the students. I'm sure it will mean a lot for their big big projects.

The photo is from the opening of Episode Gallery, when my student's of New Media showed their awsome finds.
That banner I painted for the opening, I should have saved it.

Not Sick

2006-12-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

I am not sick, I am fine actually. News from Richmond side of life is that Red Door Gallery is doing just fine. Jerry seems to be getting along just well without me. I couldn't be more proud.

News Natti Side is that I will be teaching Color Theory to freshmen in the winter quarter. Which means I have to learn Oil Paint. Yes that is right Color at UC is in Oil. How perfect. I hope I am not alergic to oils. That would be a big shame. NO news yet if the job is going to be one that can be re-uped for next year. No one knows if there is any money or anything to hire anyone at all.

Getting the resume back up to speed to send out for more jobs. Fear is back and I am begining to question my skill sets again. But hey at least I will not be able to add oil painting to my list of pointless skills.

Going home for the break, after my apointment to an alergist. Tired of everything in the world making me sniffle, milk, dogs, cats, smoke, fire, people, pollen, cheese, and almost everything else.

Posting work soon from the studio. I hope everyone likes it.

sick

2006-11-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

I am sick. My body feels crappy,
I sleep now and have to go tonight to find a doctor at a group clinic place.

want to punch the planet. crapyness is all over me.

standing up

2006-11-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning wnating to stand up for my job. Took my ideas and my passion to the Art Director's office and had one of the best conversations yet about what it takes to be here. I stood up for my ideas and didn't give in. Picking my battles this year will be an adventure.

On saturday my students are showing over at Episode Gallery in Cincinatti. If any people from Cincinatti are reading this, well congrats. If any people from VA are reading this, I miss you. All of you.

I am working on myself this week, cleaning my room into a place where I can breathe easy, and talk to myself, and perhaps make some things.

Must make things.

Fresh-man-ville

2006-10-31T11:34:00.000-08:00

Went to the CAC yesterday to an event of freshman paper art works. It was for the mentoring program which I guess I am in charge of now. Set up the big old master list of mentor to mentees, although the secretary forgot to give me two faculty names and now they are both upset with me about it.

Learning the ropes here, trying to figure out how to be the best teacher I can, while listening to the advice of older faculty. NO one wants waves here, but everyone seems to think there needs to be change. My boss understands this, and I am trying to get a real grasp on what exactly the educational experience of college is all about, and more importantly what should an art program be when it doesn't like playing third fiddle. No one can give me a straight answer.

I've become addicted to Coney Dogs, the wonderful food of choice here with a half pound of cheese atop sickly sweet chili like substance, and tiny proportions. I would like to work at Skyline, if only for one day.

I miss so many people back in Virginia. And been hearing through the grapevine that the gallery I helped to get started is about to open it's doors to the public. So please go check out an amazing show over at "The Red Door." I know you will love it!

hardcore

2006-10-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

hardcore
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

this was at the Episode show in Cincinnati. I forget this guys name, and I feel sorry about that. He is an amazing greaser. Serious about his hardcore stature. I have never not seen him look like he stepped out of Ponyboys crew.

db_vader_sm

2006-10-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

db_vader_sm
Originally uploaded by marisaolson.

found this on Marisa Olson's flickr account.

I have never met Marisa, nor talked with her, but she knows peter, and she used to be in a band with Marc, so I guess that is enough to be able to steal her image for my post.

Totally wonderful meeting about digital foundations educatio here at UC. The art students mix with design students, mix with planning students, mix with architecture students for an hour and a hlaf lecture, and a 2 hour lab each week. They seemed really interested in how we do things at VCU, and I told them. We, Ha! Like I am still there or something.

Sitting in the meeting I realized that making things happen in college is like tying an ant to a log and saying "Mush!" It isn't going to work. A little birdy told me to keep smiling and keep my mouth shut, happyness and lack of information is the name of the game.

I am almost to the point of throwing out my ideas about the new media class this semester. Three weeks in and I haven't seen anything. Monday is a work day and the monday after that is a critique day, so please lord let them have something. I think the quarter ends right around thanksgiving so that will be a blast. What about christmas? How much time do I get off for christmas? I wish I knew.

me in front of DAAP

2006-10-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

me in front of DAAP
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

it was warm a few weeks ago here in Cin-City.
Now the coldness is running through my air conditioner in the window and I must pull it out to save myself from the nightly chill. Saturday it is supposed to snow here. How sad is that.

lecture over!

2006-10-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

Just finished my new performance lecture at UC today. Super success. I think the Contemporary Art Center might be talking to me in the near future to get something else going with them.

Big big event if you ask me. The auditorium was filled mainly with foundations students, a few grads, and I didn't see a single teacher out in the audience. I take that back there were two people from design out there, but art wise I didn't recognize anyone.

Bit audience participation on this one, people were heckling me in the good way, and I played along with it. When I said Worchestershire was the cousin or great nephew of Anchovies, they asked who was the mother of Anchovies? It was a blast.

The hypothetical sounds of buildings falling went over well also. People participated with it as well, although I don't know if the sounds were what I expected, but it was nice that they tried to play along.

An older woman from the CAC said it was "Info-tainment" which I kindof like as well. We talked about residuals of the performance, how I needed to document it better, and objects that could be sold through the event, or in a gallery setting.

All in all I counted 65 people in the audience, my largest yet for any of my performances, hopefully the next one will be just as big, people will be expecting a lot and I think the word of mouth will only help the next work.

I am a little bit sad right now because I just finished something so massive and I don't know what to do with myself. Part of me doesn't even want to take the herbs and everything home right now, which is fine I guess, although the office is going to stink to high heaven. Maybe I will just take the dishes back.

Leaving comfort

2006-09-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

TOday I move out of my Aunt and Uncle's house and over into the city proper with the great luxury of being within 5 minutes walk from the university. This is actually an extremely sad day. I feel like I am moving away from a great period in my life, short, yet extremely comfortable. For months before I moved up here I woried about staying with them, keeping my feelings of independance from my family, finding my own way, and being able to do what I wanted to do.

Right now, today I realize that family that understands the need to be solitary, understands the need for privacy, and respect are the ones who will let you keep your identity and not ask questions. THis is something I have not seen before in my family, and something I will strive to exemplify when I deal with other people.

If I wanted to not tell them a single detail of what I was doig they would not have made a fuss about it, one bit!

So after breakfast I head upstairs to pack my belongings and refill my car up to the brim with pointless things that I haven't opened out of their boxes yet, so why do I honestly need them?

I can't believe I have to move out, there is a part of me that kindof wants to just stay here the whole year. I mean I would save a boat load on food!!! ANd always feel wanted.

A brooha of Cincinnati

2006-09-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am working from My uncle's older than dirt, which is actually my aunt's computer. Not my aunt who is married to my uncle, but the other aunt who lives in VIrginia and likes to blow things up. After eating extremely well here in KY, and crossin the river many times, I am getting used to thinking of myself as the youngest new faculty at UC. My first class teaching wise starts tomorrow, and I hope it goes extremely well. So far I have no key to my office, not a sign of a computer nor do I have the ability to print here at the uncle and aunts house. However with 7 cups of coffee in me today I can not sleep and well that just has to be fine. Images of this new place super soon. I promise.

Happy Last Day of Work, and Birthday!

2006-09-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day of work, and my birthday. How amazingly smart of me to roll those two into one. I recieved goodbye and birthday cards in one, and food, because it is a big deal.

Last night after I finally fell asleep, I work up in shock thinking that I would miss my alarm this morning and miss my last day of work. Like I am that important here.

No one showed up for the tour today, and I escorted my new trainees around the building pointing out all the finner things that need to be shown to remain "on message."

Tonight I celebrate with my closest crew. The people here who I cry about when I think about leaving this city.

Who I wish to include to my party if I had a big one at my house.

The guy who works in the Indian Express Market who always calls me "Hollywood." He was a good friend and a good man.

The guy whom I walked down to Jail a few years back.

All of my teachers from every single class here that meant something to me. Sange, Seipel, Roth, Film History, etc.

All of the artists who will be showing in the new gallery I helped set up with Jerry Shapiro. (Please give that space a chance Richmond. He means really well!)

The lady who owns Halcion. She always remembers me.

The waitress at 821 who gives me a mug with my name on it.

All the grad students I graduated with.

I know there have to be more out there. I just can't think about who else.

Oh, All of the wonderful people I have met through knowing Julia. They have become my friends because they love me as they love her. (sorry I left you guys out until the end)

My Dad. I wish he had the ability to drive again, eat again, and talk to all my fiends about all the silly things I did as a kid. That would have been nice one more time.

Over The Rhine

2006-09-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

Over The Rhine
Originally uploaded by MsCantBWrong.

Found this awsome photo on flickr as I looked up info about the neighborhoods I might be living in. Working the front desk in the afternoons now on my last week of my job at VCU. Trying hard to keep selling the school, keep the energy up, and doing everything in my power to not take on another task that will not get finished.

A few minutes ago another mother emailed to get an official fax sent to her daughter's school stating that, "yes she came on a tour, and yes you should excuse her from class." Back in my hometown you recieved three excused days for hunting and only one for visiting a college. I thing this relates to what Vaughn was talking about over on ourgoblinmarket.blogspot.com but this particular lack of support works only for the rural kids.

Can anyone name a building other than Chop Seuy Books that has allowed graffiti? Any that is good? Would this type of project encourage students creative skills? Yes.

Yuu can't just leave!!!

2006-08-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

I was yelled at today for leaving with my tour group of two familes before 1:30. Oh heaven forbid that a family that shows up twenty minutes late would not get to tour with us. I just wanted to get it all over with before three oclock. But even without going to the AFO building we still didn't finish everything until 3:30. Two buildings two hours and no first welcome speach.

My pinky is hurting so my mind of course wants to type words with p's those semicolons, and other things that require enter to be pushed.

They had the usual questions, portfolio, requirements, wanted to see computer rooms. DOn't people get tired of looking at computers? I mean we all know that the school will have computers. What is it, do you want to see how much space is between them, know exactly how many will be in the room your student will be in their fourth semester of their education? WHy do you need to see computers. Have you never seen one before? Is it a strange mythical machine that confounds you? What school have you ever gone to that said, sorry we don't use computers here. Those things are the devil's work!

After the oversided caculators, I usually show them the letterpress studio, which looks like a turn of the century printshop, but with hot pink prints instead of boring newspapers. Next we sneak into the Design Center. My treat for people who come durring the summer. Because durring the year the Design center is like fort knox. Today I actually saw someone in the Interior Design department sitting upstairs at one oclock. What a great day indead!

Finished up the interview with Stephen Vitiello for "Studio" magazine. Can't think of anything to write for RVA for this deadline, other than the giant compendium of info I have to put together for whomever they hire to replace me.

Julia is almost in town in an hour, I can not wait to talk to her in person about everything that has happened in the last few day. Most importantly the job. It will be easier in person to talk about this, more real.

DAAP Building

2006-08-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

DAAP Building
Originally uploaded by AnDy631.

just found this great shot of the building where I will be working. Holy cow! Eisenman has pulled out all the stops.

Leaving Job, Leaving Richmond

2006-08-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

The new contract is in the mail. I will be the newest faculty at the University of Cincinnati, if only for one year. Job interviews at this school have already begun to replace me, and I have one month to educate someone on how to be nice to strangers, convince them to come to school here, and make them feel wanted, respected, and vital to the success of the Arts Program.

With all of these changes happening I have been instructed to make a conpendium of what I say to people, this feels extremely odd. I have given the same speach for over 5 months now and have some form of it down to memory. I try to mix it up each time, add new jokes, take old ones out. My staple jokes are just loosing their punch. New information is added each time, old statistics drop out, and the numbers continually get mixed up in my head. 85%, 87% 92% go on to a job within 6 months of leaving the school. It is all relative. I have to be able to read people, what type of student do they seem like, would they care if we see the painting department even though they say (everysingleone) graphic design. And what will happen to the key? Who will have the power to unlock all the secret doors and retieve the information about the departments. Not me anymore.

This is an excerpt:
After you inform the performing arts students about what is happening you ask the others to join you in the Projection room.

Let everyone get settled then welcome them again by introducing yourself and telling a little about how you got here.

“First off the bat I want to say how completely excited we are that you are looking at VCU. It continually surprises us how many people are interested in our programs. And more importantly how many students want to pursue an extremely rewarding career as a professional artist or designer."

"So with that said we are a liberal arts university, publicly funded, that means that 1/3 of your total education at VCU will be general education. We believe that students should have universal skills and communication abilities that reach well beyond the arts. We are training life long learners, people who are excited by the world around them, who are passionate problem solvers and visually literate."

2006-08-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, that's an interesting option. Two weeks and it will be a bumpersticker. Can you copyright protest slogans.

Last week a man came to the school asking for someone to draw his inventions. It took an hour for him to explain exactly what he needed. His inventions it turned out were memorial ribons that combine everything, N.A.S.A. 9-11, WWII, etc. He wanted to cover all the bases and get the most bang for people's bucks. He also explained a surfboard with a radio built in to listen to music on. I thought about informing him of how much this sounded like something Carot Top showed in a concert back in 1994 in Roanoke, Virginia, but decided it would just make him stay in the office longer.

A few years back I made a bumper sticker that read "Power of Humility" with the American Flag on it in the same design as the "power of pride" stickers that seem to only be on trucks and moving vans in Richmond. Julia and Vaughn both recieved notes on the windshield asking where they got them, but I never went into mass production on them. It was an art work. How silly of me to try to make art out of something that needed to be for the masses. I'll never do that again.

2006-08-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

My brother just went to see Tom Waits in N.C. I want to see these guys. An amazing idea, something that I want to try to get to come to richmond. Pop culture, children, phenomonology, and my love affair with magic all together in emo Rock Style!

Harry and the Potters is a band like many others, "they might be giants," comes to mind first, but these guys have found the always mysterious niche of "public Libraries concert series." I wish them well, and can not wait for next years tour. Gallery five should do a partnership with the City Libraries to get them to richmond.

Big, Big news

2006-08-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

So the family is extremely excited about Taylor David. I am an uncle, most likely the cooler of the two uncles in 'the mulligan boys.' Chris is a father, his life is now second to someone else. I wish him super god speed!

And with much less amazingness (is that real?) I might be the newest faculty member at University of Cincinnati (just learned how to spell it) in the DAAP. That means art program for those outside of ohio. Looking online at student work has made me super excited about it, plus it is like number 1 in Interior Design, 2 in Arch-a-ma-tecture and wants to make the visual arts as good in the super near future.

I am completely on pins and needles. I can not think about saying goodbye to Richmond, my great job, my awsome roomate, fantastic appartment, and most importantly having a long distance relationship become an extremely long distance relationship. But full time teaching jobs do not grow on trees and this could lead to a surprising new path, a wonderful journey, and some beg exciting changes.

2006-08-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

I thinkI have found the perfect person for OCTOBER's SHOW!!! NYC artist Brian forget his last name. (scroll way down)

P.S. The Basement Gallery just had it's first show. Congrats all you fellow VCUites. I miss all of you.

SO hot in here!

2006-08-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

Ahh, everyone out there is making posts about the heat. Vaughn loves it, Judy doesn't even have it, and now I am going to talk about it. Why are these people coming to tour the school when it is 101 degrees outside? I had two families call yesterday to make sure the tour was still happening. One other prospective wanted to have a portfolio review. What a silly boy.

The good thing is I have learned the magical art of wiping my brow with a handkerchief while not looking overly southern. We also have encouraged shorter discussions of the outside buildings, and longer meeting with the individual departments in the art school.

Yesterday was the first day I met the new recruiters for the department of Forensic Science. They both looked like blonde Mulder's. (Or is it Skully's?) I never got into that show. But these silly TV shows actually predict how enrollment will change. Look at Project Runway for instance, durring the months that project runway is on the air I have a much larger precentage of students wanting to tour the Fashion Department. I wish there were actual records of past tours for the last three years, but I am sure the number of applicants wanting to go to Parson's has at least doubled.

Two more days of Full time desk work and then a large break and starting August 15th I become a full time worker. Not sure if posts will increase or shrink completely off the map. These things come in spells.
And I just found out about a good food blog. HOORAY for eaters!

bad writing

2006-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

here is my sad article that I can not finish. any advice?

I am having an extremely hard time writing a review for “Lady in the water”…. This is what I have so far.

So the Narf needs a circle of hands and a prayer according to the cereal boxes. Yet, this must be done extremely soon otherwise a renegade Scrunt will break the Tartuniks laws and destroy this Queen Narf’s chance of riding the Great Eagle. On top of that no one has found the Guardian yet According to most critics M. Night Shamalan’s latest personal project Lady in the Water is a watered-down fairy tale with poor writing, silly plot twists and no big pay off. I couldn’t disagree more!

The point of every Shamalan film has nothing to do with the plot, nothing to do with the complex world of magic, mystery, and amazing twists at the end. Shamalan makes movies about families ability to reconnect. Signs is about forgiving one’s self and placing faith of family. The Village is about always trying to protect people you love and realizing in the end you will be forced to let them go and walk through life alone. The Six Sense is about leaning on family after trama and letting go of the past to more forward. Unbreakable is about the lonlyness of not knowing your place in the world and re-kendling love once you find that place.

Although Lady is a fairy tale told to Shamalan’s children it is a moralistic tale with wonderful metaphors about believing that every single person has a purpose in the world. Not in the Steve Martin Jerk type purpose. Coinciding with the release of the film a children’s book is being produced with magnificent illustrations. The product description by Hachette Book Group truly explains the purpose of the film version as well: “LADY IN THE WATER is an imaginative reading experience that inspires readers to observe the world around them and consider their purpose on earth.”
After extensive internet searching this universe of Shamalan’s devising shows only moderate appropriation from other source material. Perhaps viewers were expecting a new fable, a new lesson never before told. But bedtime stories exist to reinforce ancient laws rules and lessons.

2006-07-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my fifth Black Hawk Mom. These constantly circling mother's never allow their children to speak up about what intrests them. Over and over they have been shut down vocally and now only mumble and whisper faint excuses for excitement. Today I see another. You can tell by the detailed examination of forms, brochures, and pull pens out of their purse. These are also the mothers who read the text on billboard signs as they pass at sixty miles an hour. Black Hawk Moms don't have anything on Year End Report Fathers.

Year End Report Fathers never ask about happyness, joy, opportunities for self discovery, they only want to know the bottom lines: jobs, emplyment opportunities in a 50 year plan, course offerings, scholorships, money concerns, and statistics. After writing notes from every major college prep book that resembels a stock report page in the Wall St. Journal, you would think 1984 had happened.. They could care less about the energy of facilities, and more about numbers of chairs per room. These are the dad's who don't want to know about programs like glass blowing. How archaically impractical in todays fast paced society.

Five more minutes till my tour, five more minutes till I have to make this place look good. Everyone else gets to eat, all the families bring their drinks with them, I on the other hand get a nervious stomach before these presentations, every single time I get nervious.

Time to ask what people want to know about. Time to face reality. Four familes today, not looking forward to this. I need a recharge.

2006-07-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

RVA Mag has a new article up. University PIMP! I wrote it, but now am extremely scared it will get me fired. A full month and a half ago when still living in the pit of dogs, having articles of clothing ripped to shreds, killing giant cockroaches on a daily basis, I wrote a little thing about my job as a tour guide for the art school. It was on a whim, and nothing I really wanted to have published. But I submitted it thinking that I would be moving to another city, working another job, and or never seeing this place again.

But like everything you plan, things change. I still work for the school, I still live here, and I am now going to have to stand behind what I wrote long,long ago.

2006-06-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

After a long talk last night with Vaughn about what happened in his relationship with "The Folksy Satan" we discussed the reality of who you are now is who you will be, and what you have now is what you will have later.

This concept was completely foreign to me until a few weeks ago when Julia threw it out there to cook like an egg on the ground (runny). It appears that this is all I have, right now, this body is how I am going to look, only older, someday later I will either be more patient or more opionated, in a few years I will have a collection of things that resemble very closely my current collection of things, and I will be eating the same foods that I eat right now. I will not begin to enjoy drinking more because I drink only a few times a year now and that will most likely continue at the steady, you can get me drunk off of two glasses of wine rate!

LIST TIME!
1. I will watch t.v. way too much for the rest of my life.
2. I will not finish books, but continue to buy them instead of check them out from libraries.
3. My gut will stay around the same size as long as I keep active at my current rate.
4. My hair will fall out starting from the right side first, and next will be a steady loss from the left side of the brow and the bald-spot dome that is onlyhinting at it's full potential this year.
5. I will most likely continue to cook the meals I eat for the rest of my life. Most of them will cost more than I should spend, and as such I will not eat the leftovers that make it affordable.
6. I will eventually have to say goodbye to my father. Deffinately sooner than I want.
7. I will learn to do my taxes, and become more comfortable with money, but continue to blow it on things I don't need.
8. I will have friends.

House of the DEAD

2006-06-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

jan23 011
Originally uploaded by julia aurora.

One of Julia's kids make this absolutely fantastic drawing.
I want it, and then I want to make it again and again, and make a million of them. It is so good. Look at the hand prints of the dead on the drawing about the dead!

The maps and codes are so wonderful. I have found my new inspiration for making art again... Thank you julia for taking this picture.

Making BBQ this weekend

2006-06-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

Vaughn just anounced to me his intentions of making BBQ this weekend. Something we haven't done since the old house in The Fan. The one that now stands empty and with no construction activity We could have stayed there for an extra two years. Hmmm. Good thinking Bandazian!

But making BBQ is not a high artform, it is just a simple thing that takes time. Cooking over a fire and making meat taste good just requires a few tests and a few mistakes and eventually it happens on it's own.

Some years back I worked as a host at "Famous Dave's Barbeque" in Richmond. The second Famous Daves in town, but not the last it seems now. This high end BBQ trend is beyond upsetting to me. One evening a young group of upstarts ordered the "All American Feast" which comes with a bottle of DOM! Or bling-bling juice as I like to call it. at $125 for 4 people it is nothing to laugh at. They ordered 5 feasts that night...Drunk and wet with spicy Texas sauce, everyone continued the celebration outside and the check cleared and the waitor of that table didn't even know what hit him.

My second meal in this fair city was with my Mom and Grandmother at Double T's, another b-s barbeque place that thinks it's farts don't stink. (even this review makes it seem like eating cooked meat will give you divine sight) Overpriced and underserviced everyone else in my family was happy as hell. I couldn't stand the smell of Hickory then and I can't to this day.

But every now and then I forget I don't like barbeque. I really don't like Barbeque chicken. And more than that I hate people who do frequent barbeque places. The current clients of Buzz and Neds are sunglass and mini skirt U of R grad, people with money to blow on looking white trash. Trailer Class someone in LA would call it. Or some other made up word to make it look cool to lower yourself to the food of "the people" whatever that is.

Maybe I am missing something but BBQ doesn't have to cost 5 bucks a sandwich, and 2.50 a side for enough to feed a three year old. I thought this was the stuff of fat people? Do fat people go to Bill's and the rich people stay skinny at Buzz's?

So now I have to make BBQ? I have to make a sauce and cook up a big butt of pork (shoulder actually) in a thick rub that has been soaked in brine first. I have to chop the meet and mix while still hot otherwise the flavor will be lost.

The point to all this? Once a year I completely forget that I want barbeque, and one other time a year I forget that I hate making barbeque. It is tradition and that is why it is so expensive, either in the wallet or on the psyche.

The Wrap UP

2006-06-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

So the show went well, I love that Peter, Chris, and I are all standing with crossed legs and happy baby fat smiles. Thanks to Vaughn for the shot of this great event.In other news, Martin is super happy about William Pope L. venturing down to Artspace. A few years back my brother saw his big retrospective in Seatle and realized that art needs to smell bad to make an impact.

Lastbutnotleast, this is Junior's piece in the show. I miss it now.
I also want to start wearing a uniform to work, something clean and simple. Make my choices easier.

New Artists for the Gallery

2006-06-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

Still setting up the schedule of artists for the gallery, trying to getsome smart artists interested. These are a few of my favorites.
On Monday I start my new contract as "prospective student Director," because we don't want to say recruiter.

Hooper Turner, remakes found images in paint. Most of them are images that is is extremely uncool to paint. Like the Land's End Catologue.

J.T. Kirkland makes holes in wood, and they drive me nuts!!!

Dolan Geiman, one of the smartest artists who wishes he never went to school so he could honestly call himself a folk artist.

Douglas Witmer, a seemingly nice guy who matches loose application with clean active lines. Reductive looks at systems.

new job

2006-06-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

Every week something new pops up. This week, I have been offered two new jobs. One full time, one part time. Three hours ago I was on the phone with four more artists for the new gallery, which I am going ahead and calling Shaprio Gallery.

One hour ago I was being asked to send materials to 1708 gallery for review into membership. Twenty minutes ago I recieved an email about having a show in Mike Martin's new gallery down in TN. Why? Why is everything happening right now. Did I do something right? Or is it just what happens to those who wait long enough.

I have been thinking more and more about this recruiting thing, selling the school. Pimping education as I call it. For the first time I feel it is something that comes naturally to me; amiable, likeable, and honest. Over the past few months of recruiting I have recieved over 15 thank you letters and two presents, a bowl and a small print. All of this without ever giving out my email address to anyone. what would it be like if I had bussiness cards?

Now the word on the street is that the recruiting will be running hand in hand with the development team. People who know how to get investors aare going to put their heads together to try to get students. I hope it works. This year our numbers dropped by a significant number. Graduate departments all had their highest candidate pool ever, but undergrad departments were significantly down.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened, and what I can learn from being thrown in the middle of this thunderstorm.

The bad news,other than that some teachers might not get to teach if they do not have enough classes, is that the president of the university checks the enrollment data every single day. If a certain department drops on a continuous slope, the red phone is dialed and hell is to pay.

Jen Bandini

2006-06-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

Jen Bandini
Originally uploaded by Jen Bandini.

I want to show this artist in the next exhibit I curate.

She is out of University of Georgia, and just finished her MFA. These are all from film stills as far as I can tell. Either from homemeade movies, or from classics.

Trying to get in touch with her is difficult however.

Thank Heaven

2006-05-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

I didn't get to watch the show last night, and when I say the show, I mean the only show that matters on TV right now. NO it is not Idol, it is the death-defying drama of Top Chef.

Harold has beaten the Curly-Haired Monster. Amen!

On the Top Chef judges blogs much debate is happening about the finale #1 where Dave was eleminated. I have to side with the critics on this one. Poor move for the show, no one ever cared about The Curly Demon. I honestly think if Dave was in the final episode I would have made an excuse to stay in richmond and not miss the show.

(joking)

But I am sure it will be on again soon, like tonight, and I can give the play by play two days late!

Well Done Harold, well done!