Excuses, status and amazement

The days and weeks are continuing to pass with the doppler shift being the main attention grabber.

We found my husband at work as photographed above. It was the end of the day. It was, he admitted, the second day he had worn these shoes this way. While both are, indeed, brown they are completely different shoes. I rest my case. Perhaps we have come to the point of transcending details, only able to discern or process them once they have passed. There is a body of work in this but I'm too tired to grab on to it at the moment.

You'll never believe what just came in the mail...

A Pink Slip! Because of the crappy economy and my inability to find work, I decided to do what any smart business person would do--I laid myself off. This is the letter I just got from my formerly financially stable self. You can click on the image to get a closer look.

But seriously, the N.E.A.'s recent report, mentioned above in my pink slip letter, does paint an extraordinarily grim picture of what life is like for American artists during this recession. If you are an unemployed artist, like me, and have some extra time on your hands, become an advocate. Write a letter to your legislators encouraging them to support art programs. Tell them that the arts are an industry, like any other, and that when they allocate money to the the arts, they are creating jobs. Here is a link to Americans for the Arts. They have a great page that will give you all the information that you need to find your legislators and get started.

Also, if you are a teaching artist, performer, writer, or musician, then sign up for this University of Chicago research project. The researchers are studying how artists who are not employed full-time get by. The results will be used to advocate for better benefits and wages for this often overlooked and underpaid group of creative educators.

This was posted by Shawnee Barton, an artist who keeps a blog on other people’s blogs. If you have a little nook of cyberspace and are open to welcoming a guest poster, please email her at shawneebarton@gmail.com. She will be grateful. To see where she is headed next, check out shawneebarton.com.

From the Management: I could get used to this! Thank you Shawnee! Mel.....

Abe's Penny

I am still in over my head concerning day to day life but wanted to post on Abe's Penny. At the end of April I received an email from Anna Knoebel, Editor of Abe's Penny. She wrote:

"Collectible and temporal, Abe’s Penny is like a flash card – quick to experience – and taps into a pre-email love of receiving mail. Each volume contains four postcards that subscribers receive one by one, once per week, for one month. Each postcard features an image and a few lines of text. The full set of four postcards is a full story. Our idea is to keep it short and frequent."

and went on to say that if I would send my mailing address she would send me May's edition(s). Let me state right here and now that I CAN be bought. Let me further state the the concept and execution of this micro magazine is absolutely wonderful which is why I want to let others know about it (and subscribed to keep the stories/photos/poems coming). I am not even close to keeping up with this (or other) blog and email. I am beyond tired of bills and junk in the mail. Subscribing to Abe's Penny assures a tangible bright spot in the mail box once a week. I am taken with the serial approach to the images as well as the narrative text unfolding over a month's time. I think this is a brilliant, somewhat retro, approach to publishing.

You can view the first two editions here (1.1) and here (1.2).

P.S. I have a few more weeks of mayhem and then hope to get back to regular posting. Be well.

Niigata (Not Niigata), Japan

Andrew Phelps

"My way of working is a bit like making a poodle or a swan out of a shrub. Small bits of the mess are snipped away until some sort of form starts to take shape. The fine-tuning is thus the most difficult, and great plans often fall away to luck and circumstance. A bit of vision is required, but paying attention as I move along is infinitely more important. I stumble with a map, make a wrong turn and bump into someone who gives me a half hour of their time or points me in a new direction. In the end, if all goes well, I end up with something that may slightly resemble a poodle or a swan. But it’s definitely neither a poodle nor a swan, and it is certainly not Niigata."

Sado Island, February 2009


Andrew Phelps has made another beautiful book, Not Niigata, through a commission by the European Eyes on Japan festival. While the release is not set until fall you may now order a Special Edition which will include a print of any image of your choice from the book. I can tell you from experience that the only thing more lovely than his books are his prints, so this is a win/win proposition. I wouldn't put it off until late summer, the exchange rate may go up.

No crisis is too

Much for baseball. It's also an easy post to make from my phone.

Due to circumstances beyond

beyond my control I find I must put the blog on hold while I help out in a family crisis. Talk amongst yourselves, but not anything too interesting because my reading will be as limited as my writing.

Under I 95 debriefing

Zoe Strauss' Under I 95 event is unlike any other. On the first Sunday in May hundreds gathered in the rain to view, experience, buy, and pull down a collection of photographs which speak to humanity and inhumanity, community and individuality.

Culture, landscape and structure are all examined. I felt very familiar with the work having collected several prints as well as the book, America (not to mention having printed the 3 photographs censored by the printer), so was unprepared for the feeling of reverence which accompanies seeing these pieces in what I have to consider their natural setting.


White walls and bad wine are not the background for this work. The pillars supporting the cars carrying people, the noise of the interstate, the rain leaking through is the setting which allows her images to fully realize themselves.

Over breakfast Monday morning she told me the homeless man had asked her if she wanted him to leave. She told him "No, you live here." This was, in fact, his gallery.

At 4:00 PM, just like at a Phillies game, a wave started from Front Street rolling back two blocks with people taking down the prints, holding them delicately to protect them from the damp as well as due to the adhesive. Treasures with bits of paint adhered to the back.


The 2009 iteration of Under I 95 was finished. Zoe still had at least an hour's worth of signing, greeting and hugging to do. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be there. An "Art" event unlike any other. It deepened my understanding of her process and work. It deepened my understanding period.

It was my very good fortune to spend time with Mike Macfeat, Justin Reed, and the divine
Ms Strauss. I see that I missed meeting a whole lot more, much to my disappointment. The size of the space and crowd intervened. I am hoping to make the trip for the final Under I 95 next May.

I would get

Right on it. I will have a more complete post tomorrow when I get
home and don't have to do it from my phone.

(if this is confusing see previous posts)

You now have

364 days to plan to be at the 10th and final Under I 95...

No sign

Of Ms Strauss yet. Could she still be printing?

A day late

But better late than never

Somewhere over

Eastern Pennsylvania

Is this similar to...

W.C. Fields' quote, "Last week, I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed."?

Something about it raining there. We get to try again at dawn tomorrow, although I believe it is supposed to rain tomorrow too. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the current state of travel?

Updates as they occur.

If you need me...

in the next couple of days I'll be hanging out Under I 95. I'll post updates as they become available.

Perception versus reality

Another example:



You can read more about Jennifer Jacobs' performance piece here.

The Sunday comics

The Neitzsche Family Circus allows one to while away another rainy afternoon. Just hit refresh for random pairings.

Perhaps not as wry as Mike MacFeat's Sluggo series, but interactive in a push the button sort of way.

Dawoud Bey

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of viewing the Class Pictures exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum as well as hearing Dawoud Bey speak on his work.

His formal, directed portraits gently insist that the viewer engage with the subjects and open the door to the social and cultural activism which motivated his picking up a camera. The teenagers in Class Pictures are empowered by the unsentimental, respectful gaze by which the camera allows us to consider them as individuals, rather than marketing demographic or news story. Their words and countenance ennoble them, and therefore us.

He reassured me that What's Going On will have a new installment soon. I enjoy few things more than having an encounter with an artist be as informative and nourishing as their work.

April rain

Do you hear that tapping sound? No, it's not the sound of the rain. It is the sound of my foot as I wait for decent spring weather to arrive. I mean above 38 degrees.

Turkeys are done

Done Manifesto

I couldn't help but think of the grammarian rule stating that "People are finished, turkeys are done" when I saw this post from Wooster Collective asking for people to answer the question, "When working on a piece of art, how do you know when it's done?". The question can certainly apply to a photographic series as much as an individual painting/drawing/sculpture.

I find I have more difficulty with leaving something unfinished than going on and on and on.

My favorite answer? Victoria's "10 years later."

Depletion by deletion

Square America's subsidiary site The Boat Lullabies points to our loss now that the delete button is ubiquitous. Our "mistakes" are often our most complete story.

Lost in a Moment

A lovely little video via It's Nice That. Simplicity itself.

Peep show

The winner of the Washington Post 2009 Peep diorama contest. Well done!

Intersections

I received an email from Amazon the other day, one of their "Based in previous purchases..." notifications on the release of my friend Jane Hamilton's latest novel. I looked at the cover and thought that either they had commissioned a piece from Thomas Allen or had totally ripped him off. I was glad to confirm with Jane, before she headed out on the book launch tour, that the publisher had commissioned it.

Pretty much takes Thomas Allen's work full circle.

This year

2008 Milwaukee Brewers World Series tickets, unused

It is opening day. This is a day of hope and possibilities. Winter is a season to be survived. Spring, summer and early fall are days to be savored. Long hours of light. Warmth while not here is, at least, proximate. Maybe this year.

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970

The same can be said of a camera.

At the moment we're up by a run in the bottom of the 4th. Hope and possibilities.

Pixel Battle

The G10 throws down with the iPhone. Fair? I never fight fair!

Photos taken simultaneously March 31, 2009.

How to Save a Fish From Drowning

Screen shot, embedding not available

Synopsis:

How To Save a Fish From Drowning is about the death of white rural America told through the voices of three old men fishing on a frozen lake. In a landscape cloaked in snow and hovering in a bright nothingness, they escape their wives, chew the fat about neighbours in their town as they wait…

The Scottish Documentary Institute is my favorite find of the week if not the year. How to Save a Fish From Drowning is a beautiful video equivalent to the FSA photographs of the 30's. Interesting that it takes the Scottish to do this work.

I also recommend Butterfly. I can't watch it without thinking of Tanyth Berkley's Grace.

Other short films are available here.

Grant Ernhart gallery talk

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Grant Ernhart's gallery talk in MIAD's Perspectives Gallery. It is more than a little surreal to attend an event held via Skype but an excellent way to overcome distance and finances.

He was more than generous in sharing his inspiration and process for the Gustine series with the photography students. He was more than generous in sharing his questions and doubts as well. I think this is invaluable for undergraduates, particularly in Milwaukee with our somewhat limited opportunities.

He has posted installation shots on his blog. Unfortunately the Gustine series does not appear to be on his web site but the rest of his portfolio is well worth a visit. Grant is included in Humble Arts Collectors Guide to Emerging Art Photography.

More Collecting Opportunities

Anchorage, AK 2009 Zoe Strauss


Frog Todd Deutsch

1. Zoe Strauss has posted the 2009 prints available to support the 2009 iteration of her I 95 project.

2. Todd Deutsch seems to be having an early mid-life crisis and is offering c prints at ridiculous prices.

Never let it be said that I hog all the good stuff for myself. It may, however, be said that I post after I have placed my order.

To Helen!

page 85, Slide Show Helen Levitt

"I wanted to be a photographer because I wanted to be an artist and I couldn't draw."

What a wonderful thing, to live to be 95. To have made a body of work which not only stands the test of time but can be discerned as seminal. Still collected, still taught. Slide Show is a testimony to her spirit, unbroken by circumstantial hardship, as much as her artfulness and skill. She received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation in 1959 and 1960 to make color photographs of the New York streets and neighborhoods she had so thoroughly caressed in black and white starting in the 40's. In 1970 the majority of that work was stolen from her apartment and she had to start again. What a wonderful thing to start again. What a wonderful thing to have left us an image of implied abject sadness consoled by a gentle hand. Inviting us to attend (unlike the men in the distance) to the fragility being played out, with the advertisement with the hand holding the egg serving as scenic backdrop to this moment of human drama. A long life and a long career, what a wonderful thing.

Improvised City: Helen Levitt's New York, an article from the November 19, 2001 issue of The New Yorker by Adam Gopnik is a highly entertaining and enlightening way to offer a toast.

500

This is my 500th post. As we all tend to do with nice round numbers (why not 498 or 503?) I suppose I should mark the milestone (interesting word choice since a milestone is exactly as it sounds. A stone placed along a roadway at regular intervals to mark the distance traveled from, or to, a location in order to give the traveler reassurance and establish their bearings.)

I saved this piece written by Andrew Sullivan for the Atlantic last November for just such an occasion. Why I Blog is a wonderful examination of the phenomenon and form as well as his experience of it. As he establishes the etymology of the word log, he writes,

"As you read a log, you have the curious sense of moving backward in time as you move forward in pages—the opposite of a book. As you piece together a narrative that was never intended as one, it seems—and is—more truthful. Logs, in this sense, were a form of human self-correction. They amended for hindsight, for the ways in which human beings order and tidy and construct the story of their lives as they look back on them. Logs require a letting-go of narrative because they do not allow for a knowledge of the ending. So they have plot as well as dramatic irony—the reader will know the ending before the writer did."

Cigarettes and Purity has taken on the role of making me mindful. It serves as a series of bookmarks for the information that I take in as well as thoughts, ideas and events which I experience. I fall well outside the statistics of bloggers and certainly outside the niche of fine art/contemporary photography blogs. Almost daily I think that I am finished, that I have nothing of interest to say (there are those, no doubt, who would heartily agree). Perhaps there will be post 501?

Mad matting/framing skills

In a concession to the fact that the inflow of prints has totally overwhelmed the cash to have them framed I bit the bullet and purchased a mat cutter and necessary accoutrements. Here is a display of my first foray into framing. A vertical, a horizontal, a double window and a weighted bottom. I am quite pleased with myself. 4 down, 60 or so to go. I hate having them just sit in the flat file.

The pieces above by (left to right):
Sonja Thomsen
William Lamsen
Kevin Miyazaki
Susanna Raab