Tuesday, December 25, 2007

X-mas show and tell...

christmas isn't so bad...

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The Lure of the Local by Lucy Lippard

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Eva Hesse by Lucy Lippard

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My Wicked Wicked Ways by Sandra Cisneros

sydney eat your heart out.

by the way...Elly I have something for you and Lauren I have something from the land of Ire for you...

...ohhh listening to 'Salvation' by The Cranberries God bless the 90's.

Monday, December 24, 2007

lovely.




Robin Rhode...very hot. I still do not know how to post a link.

http://www.perryrubenstein.com/artists/robin-rhode/#

Sunday, December 23, 2007

A Toast...

"Will we go back to past blogs and delete lame posts so that our internet icons remain...cool?" Inane posts are part of our Nesbit progress. To delete these would be establishing a pretense.

So Raise your glasses high, I present a toast!

To those posts which are written in a state of confusion or clarity, inebriation or sobriety, embarrassment or ego, heartache or triumph. May we never edit, delete, or second-guess those words which are hammered out on keyboard, now and forevermore, Amen.



Saturday, December 22, 2007

Happy Day!

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happy birthday to Lauren.
Regarding my previous post on reading material, I wish we could create some sort of link list to the books we love.

TO: LAUREN MC.....hey!

Subliminal messages. Zombies. The world.

When I was kindergarten I started a covert society called “The Tick Tock Crazy Clock” Club (I’m not sure why I named it that it was probably because those were the only words I could spell correctly). I made flyers, Annabel was in it, and we kept it (outside of our secret handshake, code words, and meetings under lunch benches) very hush hush. Now…being a part of Nesbit, I never thought of it as some big ‘thing’ (or whatever) but apparently I had placed Nesbit in my mind next to the fairly vacant shanty that was once “The Tick Tock Crazy Clock” Club (“The Tick Tock Crazy Clock” Club AKA TxTxTxCxCxC soon dissipated after Leah Mark started her own club and somehow my purple teddy bear got taken out of my cubby). That being said, this past week I have had several folks mention the blog and how they view it often. This is almost as odd and flattering as your scary uncle hitting on you at Christmas. Then I started to wonder what if this knowledge…that others give a damn about Nesbit…could be harnessed to some sort of power. Subliminal messages. Zombies. The world. Then I got to thinking that this knowledge was not good power at all…but rather, very very bad power that is working very (need a new word for very) much against us. What I am saying, is that while Nesbit has always been available to the wider public I never considered the mediator (the internet) as something that would cause me to blog (verb) with certain expectations outside of Nesbit in mind. For example, my earlier ‘TxTxTxCxCxC’ comment was written completely to get a chuckle out of Jeff Rau, none of my fellow Nesbiters were expected to catch the reference. I had never done that before tonight. Perhaps you all (this is now to the Nesbiters) have thought of this and I again have proven myself to be a douche bag…I just never considered it in that way. I blame our generation. Every picture we take now goes from camera to myspace (there must be picture frame grave yards). We function in terms of computers. Tonight at a dinner party, someone mentioned amongst laughter, “I think I feel a blog coming on”. And here I sit. And that’s another thing! Will we censor ourselves now? That pervious fragmented sentence was originally… “And here I sit , alone in my underwear.” Will we go back to past blogs a delete lame posts so that our internet icons remain…cool?

Were they ever cool?

Something to ponder.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

yes.





Painter Gerry Bergstein, professor at School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. This is one of his works titled "What Should I Paint"and detail image.
Yes. I could not agree with this work more. Also, I am still researching graduate schools, has anyone done any interesting research recently?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

pictures

can everyone send me some images of their work to put in a show...spank you very much.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Jamie, you are not alone...I will be joining you shortly.












Nice thing about blurry photos is that they make really bad situations look like the circus!

Just wanted to say A) Hello B) Sydney has left me the last remain Nesbit in the educational system C) I just watched Mona Lisa Smile and love being female.

Thank goodness for Mary Heilmann, Hilary R. Clinton (though we may not agree with or even like her) and our mothers for raising us well.

PS: The last day in January is a Thursday. Shall we crit again then? I need some sort of a due date...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

New favorite, thanks to Mary Heilmann...

For CAT I have been researching/carefully looking at a painting by Mary Heilmann titled Carmelita....and according to google there is a song with the same title that I believe it may be named after....
The song is by Warren Zevon (great name!) and he is pretty amazing. He never reached huge fame or success but was well respected and had some pretty witty, ironic lyrics...check him out here.
Love to you all-

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Book Review

I am going to purchase some new reading material. Suggestions? I have not yet read "Who's Afraid of Post Modernism?" Sydney, this is your time to shine.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Weekend Goodness

So I had a really wonderfull time this weekend and am soooo glad that I was able to be with you all. Lauren, you were with us in spirit (hopefully you got our totally spastic voice mail this morning....). Sydney, congratulations again on your show: you are amazing. Amazing. I really don't have the words. Maybe in a few days I will be able to better express my wonder.

Alright, a few things. First: we received a really great compliment from Dan today. He was talking about how he reads our blog and loves to keep up with what we are making and looking at and talking about. He said that he uses us in his classes as a second model for post-grad art community and continuing production (the first model being the rented studio experience of Jon, Kurt, etc.) I liked how he was saying that we are the sort of "new" model because we have taken it to the internet. Our experience (unlike that of students past), lends itself to everyone, not just those who can afford a studio. A blog is free, and we don't all have to live in the same area. Anyway, he said some good things about Nesbit. Go us! And yay Dan.

Second: Dan was also asking when our next crit might take place. I am guessing that with Sydney just having finished her show and Elly now working toward a spring exhibit, we might look at having a crit in a couple months (not too soon, not too far). Maybe it can go hand-in-hand with our Nesbit t-shirt thing. Think about it. Yay!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Jealous

I don't even know what to say about this.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Oh my tripe

This, this is just craziness. It is so beautiful and perishable and really just weird. I love it.







The artist is Pinar Yolacan. She's just 23 years old! Read more about her here.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I still suck...

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I broke it off with neil...

Sunday, November 25, 2007

fishy indeed...

These are some images I pulled from dearada.typepad.com "Mapping" or utilizing geometry whilst investigating the intricacies of flora and fauna. When I see artworks such as these, I can't help but feel that I accidentally stumbled into a swiftly moving river of trend. Much of my work a few months ago was spent in a similar vein, and now I find myself at a standstill. Where to go from here?





Friday, November 23, 2007

fishy...

A quilted piece of Ian Hundley's that Lauren posted on her site...




A collaged piece of Mark Bradford's that I am researching....

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Google: "Thanksgiving, art"



Happy Thanksgiving!!! No art making for at least one day...

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

all my lovin'...i will send to you



"You want beauty? I'll give you beauty!"
--Mary Heilmann

Sunday, November 11, 2007

kindred spirit.


I believe we have been neglecting nesbit....this is sad....let's get going!
With that note, I believe I have found Jamie's soul mate. Ursula von Rydingsvard-she had an interview on Art21. Her cedar sculptures are baroque and incredibly muscular, worked, yet lyrical.
Also, you all need to listen to a recent This American Life (thisamericanlife.org) titled "Mapping." Beautiful conversation, incredibly enlightening, especially the comment on mapping the pools of light created by street lamps....

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Beautifully absurd bookcases

Can you believe this? I love it.





Thursday, October 18, 2007

Pez, Remixed

Look at these funny, sometimes ugly, and often politically incorrect pez dispensers:

From "Sweet World Pez"





And this, my favorite, a nod to Christo and Jeanne Claude:

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

OMG



Tuesday, October 9, 2007

The Guest Critter speaks!

Alright ladies....

Your friendly neighborhood critter is finally showing his face! :)
I have been carefully observing... taking time to consider my responses...

And... I should note that for many of you I have no prior point of reference for your work. I have only seen a couple of Jamie's and Libby's works before this, so I was sort of waiting to see a little of what you had to say about each other before jumping in without a compass.

So here we go...


Jaime...

First off... Bravo! ...on the crazy-obsessive time consuming process front.
I mean that as a compliment! It is a testament of your commitment to the work!

The swarm (such a great word... swarm!).... a writhing mass moving, not aimlessly, but with direction... Lots of tensions!!... Are they chasing the lead?? Or has the lead been forced out ahead of the pack, a sacrificial avante garde pushed forward to explore new territory?? ... the light paper plane is covered in heavily grounded house paint... free forward movement tethered by threads... suggested motion arrested and frozen... weightless flight weighed down by heavy mass... And perhaps... the implied future to come contrasted to a history traced in thread...


Even the title is full of tension!!
An urgent cry for escape and relief followed by a staid statement fact... or a play on two states of being ("The plane is..."): "...on fire" - full of action and change; "...paper" - a still and stable nature... I like tensions; they provide endless hours of contemplation! ;)

However...

Among these tensions, the weight and the stillness usually wins out... I like exploring these tensions, and to really hold you there I think it could have been even better... In this regard, I agree with Sydney that "the front half (flying upwards) is much more successful than the portion piling on the ground." I, like Sydney, also have the feeling that the upward momentum could have worked all the way from the ground up "if the planes were pooling more on the ground, spilling out and then forming into the object." I think this would help hold me in these tensions for longer, instead I feel resolved on the weight too quickly.

And lastly...

What genius of a photographer took your photos?

Cause all I gotta say is... DAMN HE'S GOOD! ;)



Libby...

I have been continuously impressed with your innovative use of materials! And specifically using them in a way that is very sensuous. The constructions do not necessarily appear to be particularly delicate, but they almost seem to possess life; accordingly, I want to handle them delicately for fear that I may hurt them and somehow they may feel the pain!

I felt this previously with your heart and hand pieces, and I feel it again with the piece that Sydney called the "caterpillar." It feels so organic as to possibly be alive! I think a whole community of these caterpillars could be super interesting! Perhaps they could inhabit and interact with the pods that you have discussed making! (Which by the way I think you should definitely make them! You've tackled human life and "caterpillar" life so effectively, why not tackle plant life next!) The one item of this "caterpillar" that I don't really like is the tinselly pipe cleaner at the top. It ruptures the soft organic quality of the rest of the piece... that kinda bugs me. :/

As for the other piece...

I'm not so sure that I'm diggin' it... Certain elements of it are nice... the sewn paper has a nice quality to it, and the color relationships of the oranges vs. the paper feels nice, but somehow the rest of it fails to capture me... maybe it just feels unfinished, maybe it could be a part of some bigger whole like Sydney suggested... I'm not sure...

On the whole question of abstract vs. "realistic" objects... I think your skill is in "lifelike"... whether they be abstract or "realistic" is perhaps inconsequential... for example the "caterpillar" is not exactly a realistic representation, and yet we cannot help but relate to it as though it has some life quality, and I long to either interact with it myself, or to observe it interacting with others of its kind... This reminds me of the Surrealist painter Yves Tanguy, his paintings are generally viewed as "landscapes" of a sort that are populated by "figures" but neither the landscape nor the figures have any recognizable "realistic" representation, they are all abstract forms but they seem to possess a lifelike quality and they seem to interact with one another and with their environment in ways that we can identify with. You could perhaps create the same types of "figures" and "environments" of sculpture. Abstract, but lifelike!



Sydney...

The great variety of materials and surface treatments is really interesting overall... but generally... I like the pieces from your "1a" posting better than "1b"... I think that 1b feels very disorganized... the colors are nice, and the surface is really interesting to explore (looking at the larger resolution photos and detail image I liked it much better than the small representation), but all in all I don't sense much of a movement in the piece it kinda feels haphazard (at least to me).

On the other hand... I love the sense of movement and connectedness among the forms you posted in 1a! These are much more engaging for me... they still have the same variety in surface texture and treatment, but with much more organized forms... I love it! :)



Elly...

Regarding the self-portrait... Libby put it best when she said "the 'self study' didn't surprise me when I first saw it (save for my continual awe at your sheer talent woman! You can draw!)." Damn girl! You got skillz! Not a real ground breaking sketch in my estimation, but executed excellently! To engage with some of the comments others made about it... Sydney mentioned your giving the figure a lot of room on the page, and Libby talked about the highlights on the face (her comment was desirous of more depth in the face)... I think that the space around the figure and the bright highlights on her face contribute to a very isolated feeling... I think this works well, and it leads me to interpret the stern expression as the focus of perseverance in the face of opposition (after all, judging by the interrogation light you are enduring, it is some other force that has isolated you). In this context I read the doll as a source of comfort for you as you are bracing against exposure of some sort, but of course I know nothing of the history with the doll that Libby alluded to, so I could be way off. All in all... I like it.

But I like Pink Line even more!! YAY!!! I love the structural organization, the repetition of forms, though often these repeated shapes hold a slightly different relationship to other forms in each occurrence. Do the forms on the left represent the same figures multiple times, or are they each representing a different set of figures, what is the relation of the figures (it seems very familiar, or rather familial)?? ... and what about the forms on the right?? ... are they floor plans?? ... different possibilities for the same space?? ... maybe one massive interconnected space?? ... or maybe not even floor plans, but a mechanical schematic representing a machine of sorts... and under this mechanical interpretation, are the figures to the left the product of this machine??


It reminds me of mechanized production (perhaps relating it to familial production/reproduction), or maybe the corrupt nature of memory (altering slightly at each remembrance). Maybe you have created a memory machine that plays off of both these ideas?! In any case... there are systems at work here... relational systems, spatial systems, mechanized systems... oh my! ... we could explore for hours! YAY!!


There we go... That's my 2 bits... I hope you like it!


Thanks for inviting me to participate!


Jeff.

p.s. - Please feel free to disagree or comment on my comments!
I don't like to make declarations, I much prefer 2 way discussions! :)

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Sydney's Response...

Hello all,

Here is my somewhat scattered critique of the work posted. I did not read anyone else’s comments and I tended to go for more “constructive criticism”-you all know I really enjoy your work so I figured I didn’t need to do any “fluffing.” Please feel free to comment on or question anything I say...okay, here we go:

Jamie-
In matters of form I believe the front half (flying upwards) is much more successful than the portion piling on the ground. I think I would be satisfied with most of it cut off. I am not getting much of a thrust, or directional force, from the bottom, it starts more in the middle for me-the rest seems impertinent. I think it would also work better if the planes were pooling more on the ground, spilling out and then forming into the object.
As I contemplate this piece I am also wondering why such thick paint application...? When I think of paper planes I think of a lightness, an airiness, ready for liftoff. These planes seem to be struggling and I am more aware of the gravity pulling them down than the space they are circling into...perhaps this is a good thing...?
I think this piece is successful in that you have an intriguing form from far away and then as you approach, you are drawn in by the details-the millions of planes and thread. Very well done.
However, I am not sure that I am sold on the haphazardness of the colors, they seem too random, I could use some order.....but that may be because I am a judger....
All in all, this piece was a huge undertaking and successful-I am intrigued to see what comes out of it.

Libby-
I will begin with the orange pipe cleaner piece; I am more interested in the second photograph taken of the piece because the form seems more contained. Seen in its entirety, I do not think all areas have been fully considered (i.e. the way the paper trails off and since there is so much hanging thread it just seems like you didn’t have time to trim or take care of it.) I also think the pipe cleaners could do something beyond curving back up the wall; maybe that would be simply one more curve or an extension into another material etc... With this piece I get the sense that you laid it all out for me-there is nothing surprising after the first look...I need something more to come back to and wonder at.
I am going to call the next piece the “caterpillar piece”...the yellow seam is really working for me-it is an interesting detail that reminds me of the handmade and calls attention to the craft. The color palette is harmonious yet strange and the sparkly pipe cleaners poking out the top provide a nice little punch. I would like to see ten more of these arranged in relationship to one another-perhaps hanging from the ceiling, or moving from the wall to the floor/ceiling. I think it would also be more successful if you made of curve of the cylinder more deliberate.
As for the bean pods i think they are an interesting subject matter and you should explore them. I would try making them very delicate and then also really heavy, depending on the materials...experiment! Make ONE HUNDRED! Go!

Eleanor-
I think your self portrait would be pushed further if you combined the pencil lines with the wash over the paper. That sort of liminal space, pushing back and being pulled up could be interesting. I know this is just a study but I think it could be worked more; what would happen if you vigorously erased? I would also like to see a more up-close view, more cropped...you tend you give your figures a lot of room-why?
As for the pink/line painting the areas where the lines overlap and intersect make me want to look closer. Otherwise I take one look and understand that those are figures...But the surface is not worked enough for me to comment very much-you should be more aggressive in layering the images, and experiment with blocking in areas....go at it!

And that is all, for now.

Monday, October 1, 2007

...and go!

so uhh we're supposed to crit each other now.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Critique #1b: Sydney M. Van Orden




New Works: 24 x 24 in. acrylic and fabric on wood panel

Critique #1: Elly Clemmons

Self Study 1. Graphite and acrylic on paper. September 2007.






Pink Line. Graphite and acrylic on canvas. September 2007.





My recent works and thoughts deal with memory; self-orientation by way of experience, exploration and experiment.

Critique #1a: Sydney M. Van Orden




Friday, September 28, 2007

Critique #1: Libby Stokes

So let's start with some stuff from June:





The piece above was just an experiment. It started with sewing paper and pipecleaners and just grew.

I then tried sewing fabric and pipecleaners.





I really liked these little experiments and got really positive feedback. Although I don't know where I would take them next, the fact that they are totally intuitive and spur of the moment should tell me something... But if anyone has any specific suggestions/directions, all is welcome.

These are some drawings of an idea I have for some fiber-made bean pods.







I have always been drawn to growth and plants and have particularly had beans, bean pods and germination on my mind for the last couple of years. I started by painting pods, then I did the yarn-wrapped bean pods. Now I am thinking about creating pods out of felt or some heavy fabric or wool. I don't know what will go inside for seeds (maybe real seeds, maybe something else?). I know I have been creating some objects lately that have been models of real things (the crocheted heart, hands...) and so I guess I want to know if this is ok or good. I do want to explore the abstract objects, but are the realistic objects worth continuing as well?

critique #1: Jamie Uretsky

"The plane's on fire! The plane is paper"
2007
columnar paper, house paint, wood, poultry netting, hot-glue, embroidery floss.
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