ARTSWAMP on HIATUS

Thanks for reading over the past year.

NOCCA Students respond to P.1 follow up

Thank you so much to the NOCCA students who submitted their writings to the blog. Their work makes me think about what I like in art essays: the writer discovers something unexpected through the act of thinking deeply and writing about a specific subject. For me personally, the meaning held in this kind of writing is much more satisfying than the typical art review. The best art experiences take you somewhere else - a journey is taken - and one moves forward from a new place. Congratulations to these students and the journeys they shared with us.

Arts Writers Grant Program

Online application form opens - Monday, April 27, 2009
Application Deadline - Monday, June 8, 2009

www.artswriters.org

The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program supports individual writers whose work addresses contemporary visual art through grants ranging from 3,000 to 50,000 USD.
Writers who meet the program's eligibility requirements are invited to apply in the following categories:
* articles
* blogs
* books
* new and alternative media
* short-form writing

We regret that due to legal constraints we can only fund U.S. citizens,permanent residents, and holders of O-1 visas. For guidelines and additional eligibility requirements, please visit www.artswriters.org.

ART WRITING WORKSHOP

The Arts Writers Grant Program is pleased to announce a new writingworkshop offered in partnership with the International Association of Art Critics/USA Chapter. For more information, please visit www.aicausa.org

Transforma mini-grants due Monday April 27th

All materials, digital and physical, must be received by 5pm CST.
Physical materials are be mailed or delivered to:
Transforma/NPN
900 Camp Street - Second Floor
New Orleans, LA 70130
There will be a labeled box at the front desk of the Contemporary Art Center, where applications can be dropped off.
More information available at www.transformaprojects.org

Part 5 NOCCA students respond to P.1: Amber Lyons on Beatriz Milhazes

Kaleidoscope Eyes by Amber Lyons
Gamboa by Beatriz Milhazes
The U. S. Mint Louisiana State Museum

“Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world,
for I would ride with you upon the wind
and dance upon the mountains like a flame!”
– The Land of Heart’s Desire by William Butler Yeats

Often as a child I found myself day dreaming about an empty hardwood floor stage, flooded with bright warm lights before a sold out audience. Perfectly poised with pointed toes, I am graceful, the music and my body acting as one. Lilac chiffon skirt layers drape over my sculpted legs, the magenta nylon/spandex leotard a disposable layer of skin over my chest and torso. Freshly bloomed pink rose ribbons and slippers—an image of grace. In these dreams I am a Prima ballerina assoluta. Of course, I realized that I will never be a Prima ballerina assoluta or even a ballerina because I lack the grace and poise, not meeting the height requirement by a foot and two inches. Never has this subject been more painful then when I first looked upon Gamboa by Beatriz Milhazes.

Continue Reading...

Craig Baldwin at Zeitgeist

Craig Baldwin is practically as institutional as feature-length experimental media gets - and I mean that in a good, no, great way. I best know his film Sonic Outlaws, which documents the lawsuit that the band U2 brought against the intrepid sound artists Negativland. The film solidly goes through the ins and outs of fair use, first amendment freedom of expression, and intellectual property issues while entertaining us with Negativland's, and his own, creative processes. I'm also a fan of ¡O No Coronado!, a revisionist docu-drama of sorts of Spanish invasion of Mexico. Craig is alive in person tonight at Zeitgeist, with his new film Mock Up on Mu, about Scientology! Film buffs should also check out OtherCinema's website as well, a venue established by Baldwin. Wikipedia has it that he studied with Bruce Connor...

Mardi gross

submitted by Slade
---------------------------

A friend and I have been playing with a thesis that mardi gras is one of the downfalls of contemporary visual arts development in new orleans. The thesis follows two points: that visual artists spend a lot of time and money on costumes, and potential art buyers spend a heap of money on costumes, parties, floats and throws. Although there may be some truth to this premise, it certainly doesn’t describe the whole situation. And who here wants to turn down the party for the possibility of some questionable wall decorations? However, looking at the trash swamped streets of canal and st. charles after the parades, I wonder if perhaps there is another way. A way that would cut the amount of refuse and put money into the hands of local visual artists and therefore back into the local economy.

The decorated shoes that are made for the muses parade are perhaps an example of this idea. We think it would be excellent if organizations commissioned local artists to fabricate throws. In this time of belt tightening, this would put the money where we need it. It would give artists a chance to put their ideas out to a larger group. Of course, there would have to be a shift from quantity to quality. In theory, these throws would be more desirable, and perhaps fewer would end up in the garbage trucks at the end of the night. I would think that we have enough beads to keep the krewes in throws if we kept them recycling through the system ( recycle beads at the arc).

I know I’m not the first to put these ideas forward. I seem to recall an article by Doug MacCash about artist created throws., and there were certainly others.
Since I wrote the above (during mardi gras. I’m a slow poster), several things have been brought to my attention:
Of course, the documentary mardi gras made in china
Krewe du craft has rolled twice with handmade crafts
Doug’s article last year
And Doug’s short form synopsis from this year

I don’t mind being late on the good idea trolley. I guess I should read the paper more often. Hopefully, the members of the krewes do. Can we somehow make this happen?

exciting news from NOMA

Jennifer Odem's upcoming show at NOMA was enough excitement for me, but now I see there's a new dedicated place at NOMA for video art?!? The place has gone wild! Come to the reception for new exhibits and check it all out. Here's the info:

Wednesday, April 15, 6-8 p.m.— Join us to celebrate the openings of two special exhibitions

Women Artists in Louisiana, 1825-1965: A Place of Their Own. Co-organized by NOMA and The Historic New Orleans Collection, Women Artists in Louisiana highlights the work of female artists from the Bayou State in a variety of mediums and styles.

and

A Discourse in Abstraction: Jennifer Odem and NOMA’s Permanent Collection. A Discourse in Abstraction showcases new work by the emerging New Orleans-based sculptor Odem juxtaposed with 20th-century art owned by the Museum.

This event is part of the Mid-Week in Mid-City series of public programs on Wednesday evenings and is open to the public.

Jennifer will also be unveiling an AORTA project on May 9th.

Update on Jeffrey Cook memorial and services

Tonight is the memorial, tomorrow the service. see more info here

City One Minutes Meeting Monday April 13th

Janneke has flown in from Amsterdam to locate local mediamakers who want to participate in City One Minutes, an effort to document 24 hours in the life of cities around the world. Makers can sign up to condense one hour of a day in New Orleans into one minute. These works from all the cities participating will be compiled and screened worldwide. See examples at the website and drop in to meet Janneke in Room 220 at Colton Studios tomorrow, Monday April 13th, between noon and 4pm.

Part 4 NOCCA Students respond to P.1: Daniel Hoppes on Skylar Fein

A Punk with Spunk
by Daniel Hoppes
on Remember the Upstairs Lounge by Skylar Fein
Contemporary Arts Center

What is so appealing about “a punk with spunk”? That phrase is faded into one of the photos hung on the wall in Skylar Fein’s Prospect.1 installation Remember the Upstairs Lounge, a piece inspired by the New Orleans Upstairs Lounge which was burned down in 1973. The piece is composed of an entrance alcove, a hallway, a large rectangular room, and an exit. All around the main room are enlarged photographs of blurred punk rockers, aged wood signage advertising adult-male bookstores and depicting numerous homosexual symbols, and lit-up bar signs. Though Fein sets the various pieces up democratically so none takes precedence, for me a certain portrait stands out.
Continue reading...

Fundraiser @ Antenna

this Saturday night, a "sleep concert" curated by local ambient composer Tanner Menard- read more about it at nola.comand at Tanner's website.

rest in peace Jeffrey Cook

Here's Doug MacCash's article on artist Jeffrey Cook's death
and a good review from Art in America, dated 2000.
News is that Jeffrey Cook's memorial will be next Wednesday at Ashe Cultural Center. Viewing: 9-11 am, Memorial 11 am.

Part 3 NOCCA students respond to P.1: Angelica Robinson on Leandro Erlich

A Hopeful Structure by Angelica Robinson
Window and Ladder—Too Late For Help
Leandro Erlich
Lower Ninth Ward

We were on a field trip, riding around on a yellow bus and stopping at numerous Prospect 1 sites in the Lower Ninth Ward. We would stop at one site, look at it, take notes, take pictures and briefly discuss the piece of artwork. At the time I couldn’t really focus on what was in front of me. A couple of weeks earlier my Creative Writing instructors sat me down to discuss my grades. They informed me that I was failing. I had an F average in my test grades, which brought my overall grade down to C- average. If I didn’t bring my grade up by the end of the semester I would be kicked out of my arts school, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. I knew what the problem was. I hated reading the books that we were assigned and also had a part time job. I had been having these problems for quite some time, but I just always came through some how and slid by.
Continue Reading...

Part 2 NOCCA students respond to P.1: Monique Thomas on Fred Tomaselli

Like Beads on a String by Monique Thomas
Flipper, Abductor, and Hang Over
Fred Tomaselli
The U. S. Mint Louisiana State Museum

If art is a look into the artist’s view of the world, to experience it is to see as someone else sees—if only for a moment. Collagist Fred Tomaselli uses hundreds if not thousands of tiny magazine cutouts, Styrofoam shapes, leaves, and pills to create larger images which feel unworldly due to their enormous size, and which, through their vivid detail and color, redefine what is natural and beautiful. In Flipper, Tomaselli creates huge waves that overlap and intersect with each other, while maintaining symmetry across each of its three panels. Abductor depicts what seems to be a raging tornado either whipping through or exploding from the base of the piece, releasing hundreds of little pinwheels. Hang Over shows a tree overflowing with beads.
Continue Reading...

BECA call for outdoor ideas

The BECA Foundation is now accepting proposals from artists and curators for temporary outdoor exhibitions: http://www.thebecafoundation.org/global/submissions.html

State Arts funding cut over 80% last week

Jindal seems to be taking an axe to arts funding in Louisiana. Not surprised but please visit this link before April 2 if you want to take some online action.
submitted by Melissa Roberts

NOTES ON HUNGER, A FILM BY STEVE MCQUEEN (2008)

Note: producer Madeleine Molyneaux kindly offers these notes she wrote for the film Hunger for the 2008 Festival Nouveau Cinema in Montreal. Hunger screens on Tuesday, March 31st at Canal Place Theatres as part of Patois: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival.

Northern Ireland, 1981. Maze Prison, ten miles outside Belfast. IRA prisoner Bobby Sands and nine others go on a hunger strike to protest hellish conditions and the refusal of the British government to restore their political prisoner status. Noted Brit visual artist and Turner Prize recipient Steve McQueen, awarded the Camera d’Or at Cannes for this “hardcore, artcore” debut (a new description for an old genre) is a fierce talent to be reckoned with, and Hunger is a worthy successor to the poetic, visceral cinema of Jarman and Pasolini. The prison sequences are exquisitely photographed and rendered, and the narrative often takes on the tropes of performance art. (Indeed, the film is almost dialogue-free, a remarkable approach in this day of the wordy biopic). Uprisings and protests erupt with frenzied precision and possess a balletic violence that is part Clare Denis (the choreographed rituals of Le Beau Travail) and part Sam Peckinpah. The final devastating scenes of the dying days of Sands (a miraculous transformative portrayal by 31-year old Michael Fassbender, who starved for two months in preparation) are haunting semblances of iconic religious tableaus. McQueen has made the ultimate character study of the character of conviction, sacred and profane, certain to resonate on a universal level.
--Madeleine Molyneaux
(Originally published in the catalog for the 2008 Festival Nouveau Cinema, Montreal)

transforma grants call

Transforma issues a call for their 3rd round of grants. Due April 27th. See the call at their website.

Street Art, Part II at Louisiana Artworks

On Tuesday, March 31st, 2009, at 7:00 PM Louisiana ArtWorks presents "Street Art, Part II", the second of two panels dealing with the contemporary role of Street Art. The discussion will examine this artform's beginnings, trends, and why sometimes getting your work out there is as simple as literally "taking it to the street". Four artists whose work is performance-based will discuss the definitions of their medium and the different approaches they take to create their work and share it with an audience.
725 Howard Avenue at Carondelet.
T: 504.571.7373
info@louisianaartworks.org