time to form synergistic bonds....

a horoscope for the New Year....lots of reminders about teachers, friendships, listening, and learning...all good, knowing that I need to write a thesis and come up with a thesis show this spring....I'll keep you posted.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): For years, French painter Edouard Manet and
French poet Stephane Mallarme hung out with each other every day.
Mallarme referred to their relationship as "the most complete friendship."
They influenced each other to become better artists and human beings.
I'm guessing that in the coming months, Taurus, you'll thrive on that kind
of stimulating companionship. Having such regular contact with a like-
minded ally might even be an important factor in ripening your
intelligence. At the very least, I predict that soulful friendship will be a
crucial theme in 2014. You will attract blessings and generate luck for
yourself by deepening your ability to cultivate synergistic bonds.




Smiles,
Michele

yuppers

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Mike Finnigan is a veteran keyboardist and
blues vocalist who has toured with more than 20 major acts, including
Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Leonard Cohen, and Los Lonely Boys. There's a
primal quality to his singing. It's gritty and fluid and tempestuous, almost
feral at times. I understand perfectly why Bonnie Raitt has called him a
"tall drink of bacon." The sound he makes with his voice is that lush and
tasty. Can you guess his astrological sign? It's Taurus, of course. I'm
naming him your patron saint this week because you yourself are as close
as you have ever come to being a tall drink of bacon.

endings.....

unbelievably, the term is coming to a close. The work has been stop motion animation with mirrors and sky and chickens. Performance art has included baking bread as dad and the gingerbread wall.

from stop motion animation scenes

there is focus....beginning focus.....in turns out that I am creating unconventional self portraits. I have known for a while that the work was about my identity, but as the semester has evolved, the mirrors continue to show up, the outdoors, performance, all manners of telling a story about myself, a self portrait per se, for the audience.

until next time,
Michele

MIDTERM!

sooo midterms have found me, well, hopefully NOT slumping but in the calm before a storm. There is so much to learn, still, and forever....the work has evolved to sculptured hens, continued mirror studies, chicken wishes, and thoughts about mother. There's thinking as well, thesis thoughts and professional studies thoughts, to go, you know, with the degree.

chicken sculptures (there's 21)

chicken wishes

mirror studies

mirror studies: stream

this mother

chicks arrived in the mail

chicken pinata

one of many gingerbread walls

Is it really?

The summer intensive has passed; here are some images of work that occurred!

detail; altar cloth

one of many broken mirrors

the "before"

"those were the good old days, huh mom?" paper/ink/stitch

detail; curio cabinet

mirror studies #7; projection video, 7 found mirrors, 7 plinths

detail; Hansel and Gretel 

Kate Gilmore! Me!

I decorated a gingerbread house in front of an audience

light studies digital photograph

Mirror Studies digital image

mirror studies #3 light reflects 

mirror studies #8

pm2 digital image

detail; mirror of a witch

detail: gingerbread house witch

so, there was a lot happening!
Michele

another quote that will be useful

"The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible."

Alan Kaprow

Performance Art Cont'd

"Performance art does not present the illusion of events, but rather presents actual events as art."

Joan Jonas

Performance Art

so, over the past weekend I participated in an endurance piece created by kate gilmore ( http://www.kategilmore.com/) which was transformative, amazing, focusing, meditative, and an experience of a lifetime. I walked for two sessions of 5 hours each over sets of stairs that surrounded a monument in Portland, ME.  The piece was created by but not defined by kate, and she asked audience to get what they wanted from viewing the experience. For myself, the stairs were in sets of seven up and seven down and I totally counted my way through the five hours and was in every moment of my time spent climbing. The stairs weren't aerobic, but there was an aftermath of a sore blistered toe and really tight calf muscles just now subsiding.

I wrote a note to kate to thank her for the experience, and here's what she wrote back:

michele,
thank you for being so fucking amazing!
you blew me away (and everyone else for that matter).
maybe we can fly you around the country to do this!
i loved working with you.  i hope we can do it again soon!
good luck with the rest of your summer... (and your mom video).
xxxx
kate

also, it turns out that I am the oldest woman to ever perform an endurance piece for kate, as well as one of only two women out of the group to perform all 10 hours. Pretty badass, right?

I can't help it, another horoscope!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "There are some things you learn best in
calm, and some in storm," wrote the novelist Willa Cather. According to
my reading of the astrological omens, Taurus, you're in a phase of your
cycle when storm-learning isn't your priority. The educational experiences
you need most will unfold when you're exploring the mysteries of peace
and serenity. In fact, I suspect that the deeper you relax, the more likely
it is that you will attract life-changing teachings -- lessons that can
transform your life for the better and fuel you for a long time.

The answer?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "How many years can some people exist
before they're allowed to be free?" asked Bob Dylan in one of his most
famous songs, written in 1962. "The answer is blowin' in the wind," he
concluded. Many people hailed the tune as a civil rights anthem. Thirteen
years later, a hippie cowboy named Jerry Jeff Walker released "Pissing in
the Wind," a rowdy song that included the line, "The answer is pissing in
the wind." It was decidedly less serious than the tune it paid homage to,
with Walker suggesting that certain events in his life resembled the act
described in the title. "Makin' the same mistakes, we swore we'd never
make again," he crooned. All of this is my way of letting you know,
Taurus, that you're at a fork. In one direction is a profound, even noble,
"blowin' in the wind" experience. In the other, it would be like "pissing in
the wind." Which do you prefer? It's up to you.


dammit I love this horoscope guy....

Be in the Questions

"I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

Rainier Maria Rilke

There are a lot of questions in this art life. What am I talking about? How can I show but not reveal too much? What does it mean to be a contemporary artist? Is this important? How do you make that? What does it reference? What did you use to make that? Where is the work? 

I am going to dwell in the questions.

Ideas....

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the course of your long life, I estimate you
will come up with approximately 60,000 really good ideas. Some of these
are small, like those that help you decide how to spend your weekend.
Some are big ones, like those that reveal the best place for you to live. As
your destiny unfolds, you go through phases when you have fewer good
ideas than average, and other phases when you're overflowing with them.
The period you're in right now is one of the latter. You are a fountain of
bright notions, intuitive insights, and fresh perspectives. Take advantage
of the abundance, Taurus. Solve as many riddles and dilemmas as you
can.
A good message for a morning after meeeeeeeetings where ideas are squished....another good message; steer the course keep the focus.

Smiles for now.

Images of Images

I created an image of the broken mirror with an image of the broken mirror.

I think I'll go make some more.
Perception, Text, Conversation, Narrative, Identity.
maybe that's where I'm going?

the heart and the head

My Horoscope...again on the mark....."You may even have to be a mediator between your own heart and
head, or explain the motivations of your past self to your future self. You
can't be perfect, of course. There will be details lost in translation. But if
you're as patient as a saint and as tricky as a crow, you'll succeed." Rob Brezny

I presented my work for 5 minutes this morning, and it felt like the worst thing ever even though I had been waking up early in the morning telling jokes and enjoying myself totally when I was "rehearsing" 

stage fright, lack of clarity, many directions

but there is commonality. 
I am Talking. And Creating. 

come together, peeps!

welcome

here I am, relishing in the changes that have occurred for my life and art since this time last summer! There's work to share, direction, and a trueness to discovering the artist in me that is now a compass rather than a sketchy map.
Go There! says the compass, and I am. Going.

 detail; "looking" 2013

art as an experience

In one of the micro-essays, titled “Miraculous cures and the canonization ofBasquiat,” Eno revisits the subject with a sentiment Greil Marcus would come to echo in his fantastic recent SVA commencement address on “high” vs. “low” art. Eno writes:

Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences. (Roy Ascott’s phrase.) That solves a lot of problems: we don’t have to argue whether photographs are art, or whether performances are art, or whether Carl Andre’s bricks or Andrew Serranos’s piss or Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’ are art, because we say, ‘Art is something that happens, a process, not a quality, and all sorts of things can make it happen.’ … [W]hat makes a work of art ‘good’ for you is not something that is already ‘inside’ it, but something that happens inside you — so the value of the work lies in the degree to which it can help you have the kind of experience that you call art.

from brainpickings 2013

storytelling

At the heart of Perry’s argument — in line with neurologist Oliver Sacks’s recent meditation on memory and how “narrative truth,” rather than “historical truth,” shapes our impression of the world — is the recognition that stories make us human and learning to reframe our interpretations of reality is key to our experience of life:

Our stories give shape to our inchoate, disparate, fleeting impressions of everyday life. They bring together the past and the future into the present to provide us with structures for working towards our goals. They give us a sense of identity and, most importantly, serve to integrate the feelings of our right brain with the language of our left.

[…]

We are primed to use stories. Part of our survival as a species depended upon listening to the stories of our tribal elders as they shared parables and passed down their experience and the wisdom of those who went before. As we get older it is our short-term memory that fades rather than our long-term memory. Perhaps we have evolved like this so that we are able to tell the younger generation about the stories and experiences that have formed us which may be important to subsequent generations if they are to thrive.

We need to look at the repetitions in the stories we tell ourselves [and] at the process of the stories rather than merely their surface content. Then we can begin to experiment with changing the filter through which we look at the world, start to edit the story and thus regain flexibility where we have been getting stuck.

from Phillipa Perry: How to Stay Sane 

This is giving me ideas regarding storytelling....the telling of Hansel and Gretel, as a story that ends positively despite it's sad beginning, a new filter by which to regard the past.

authenticity is powerful!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In *The Book of the Damned,* Charles Fort
revealed one of the secrets of power. He said that if you want power over
something, you should be more real than it. What does that mean? How
do you become real in the first place, and how do you get even more
real? Here's what I think: Purge your hypocrisies and tell as few lies as
possible. Find out what your deepest self is like -- not just what your ego
is like -- and be your deepest self with vigorous rigor. Make sure that the
face you show the world is an accurate representation of what's going on
in your inner world. If you do all that good stuff, you will eventually be as
real and as powerful as you need to be.

http://youtu.be/yDuZHtsxp3s take a look 

Okay

I'm going back this summer, I received the official letter that I am invited back. This is going to be good. What a different picture I'm painting this year.

image from mirror studies 2013

oh horoscope

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You may have only a dim idea about how your
smart phone and computer work, but that doesn't prevent you from using
their many wonderful features. While you're swimming, you know almost
nothing about the physiological processes that are active inside you, and
yet you have no problem making all the necessary movements. In that
spirit, I'm not worried about whether or not you will grasp the deep inner
meaning of events that will be unfolding in the coming week. Complete
understanding isn't absolutely necessary. All you need to do is trust your
intuition to lead you in the direction of what's interesting and educational.

it's been awhile

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In 1921, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev --
born under the sign of the Bull -- premiered his opera *The Love for Three
Oranges* in the United States. Here's how *The New York Times* felt
about it: "There are a few, but only a very few, passages that bear
recognizable kinship with what has hitherto been considered music." It's
possible, Taurus, that you will get a similar reaction when you debut your
new approach or endeavor. And that may disturb you. But I think it would
be a good omen -- a sign that you're taking a brave risk as you try
something innovative and unfamiliar.

thanks again, horoscope guy. 

from mirror studies 2013

the joy of not knowing

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "All my best ideas come from having no
answer," said pioneer filmmaker John Cassavetes, "from not knowing." I
hope that testimony cheers you up, Taurus. As hard as it may be for you
to imagine, you are on the verge of a breakthrough. As you surf the
chaotic flow and monitor the confusing hubbub, you are brewing the
perfect conditions for an outburst of creativity. Rejoice in the blessing of
not knowing!

that's good news, thanks horoscope guy. It seems to be all happening at once...lots of video footage, working on a soundtrack for performance art, taking mirrors out into the snow (yes, april snow) to video them. 

learning about media, breaking mirrors, experiencing "anger" for pieces. 

it's all good. 

and I don't know anything ;o)

circles and philip glass......

http://youtu.be/ch-R1aIM-C0
just thinking about things.

good ole horoscope

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don't you just love to watch the spinning of
those wheels within wheels within wheels? Aren't you grateful for the way
the ever-churning plot twists keep you alert and ready to shift your
attitude at a moment's notice? And aren't you thrilled by those moments
when fate reveals that its power is not absolute -- that your intelligence
and willpower can in fact override the seemingly inexorable imperatives of
karma? If you are unfamiliar with the pleasures I've just described, the
coming weeks will be an excellent time to get deeply acquainted.

What to do, what to do, when it's a snow day?

oh, make a movie why doncha?

http://youtu.be/xSjKoAJPwpY

softsteps.....

some thoughts

hello.
I was recently challenged by my advisor to find 10 ways to depict anger that are NOT cliche. Wow. I started to think about it, and realized that I don't express anger very well or often, AND that has been one of my therapy themes since, like, forever AND I actually think that expressions of anger are cliche....in general....
So what to do, what to do.

I've started a collection of anger. To keep in a box.

So, I'll keep you posted, as "they" say.

a little film about the culture of self by Foucault

http://youtu.be/a593iSwvR5w

film....

http://youtu.be/ztxuCv5-4D4

watch this.

um, rubber chicken

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your power animal is not the soaring eagle or
the shrewd wolf or the brave bear. No, Taurus, it's the rubber chicken. I'm
serious. With the rubber chicken as your guardian spirit, you might be
inspired to commit random acts of goofiness and surrealism. And that
would reduce tension in the people around you. It could motivate you to
play jokes and pull harmless pranks that influence everyone to take
themselves less seriously. Are you willing to risk losing your dignity if it
helps make the general mood looser and more generous? Nothing could
be better for group solidarity, which is crucial these days. (Thanks, Gina
Williams.)

more winter parade!

http://youtu.be/SvYhZKbyvLA

Winter Parade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNMzPUv0ocI

winter parade 2013 a collage of photo and sound 

Work with Mirrors

family portrait 2013 found mirror, urethane glue, hammered mirrors