Spending time in Santa Fe, NM

I have been in Santa Fe for the past month by means of the generosity of the Pollock-Krassner Foundation and the Santa Fe Art Institute where I am in the last week of my residency. I came here with no expectations of what my work would be because when I have attended other long-term residential workshops, seminars, etc. in the past, I invariably was moved to dump my plans and to work on some new idea stimulated by my environment. The environment here in New Mexico which eventually motivated me were the prehistoric Ancestral Pueblo Indian ruins.

I have visited many prehistoric sites in Europe and have been intrigued by the mystery of these silent civilizations which are NOT dead: you can feel a presence in these places if you become still and quiet, empty your mind, and enter a state of receptivity. There is an energy that pervades these sites which I  felt certain could be experienced  among the physical vestiges of the first people on the American continent. Because I have a need to connect to and to draw from this energy, I began to research and plan to visit Southwestern ruins, after I learned I would be going to New Mexico.

I continued this research after my wife, Mary  Jane, and I arrived at SFAI and settled in to our spacious, comfortable room and large, well-lit  studio where she commenced work on a series of encaustic paintings. SFAI provided all our creature needs (and much more), so we were free to work as we pleased, whenever we pleased. I bought some clay at a local supplier, thinking I would model some sculptures and have them fired. I had ideas, but none of them really excited me to the point of compelling me to work. I then tried drawing, something I do every day anyway, but, again, I was uninspired and drifted away from this activity after producing a few pieces. I was going through one of my "dry" periods, but the one interest which continued to fire my brain was Ancestral Pueblo culture. While Mary Jane worked on her paintings, I borrowed and read books from the College of Santa Fe Library (at which we had been given complimentary lending privileges) on this subject.

Eventually, we drove our rental car to Los Alamos, rented a room, and spent a couple of days exploring the nearby Bandelier National Monument, where humans have lived and passed through for 10,000 years. We hiked the Loop Trail where the ruins stand … and lay. This trail can be traversed in an hour or two. It passes two rows of canyon cliff dwellings and the largely leveled ancient Tyuonyi pueblo,which once stood two stories high and housed about 100 people. The dry heat and blazing sun were oppressive on the cliffsides, but the floor of the canyon, where the cool creek flows and the trees shade, was pleasant. The temperature in this area is very similar to that in New Orleans at this time of year, but the lack of humidity here makes the heat quite tolerable. I now understand why cowboys in those old Western movies seemed almost never to sweat: perspiration evaporates as soon as it emerges from your pores.

I learned at Bandelier  that this was one of hundreds of pueblos and other settlements that had radiated from the vast, sophisticated, and influential Chaco Canyon culture in the north, after the abandonment of that settlement in the 13th century. I decided to go there. I drove up there with Tim Best, who was also in residence at SFAI. Tim proved to be an excellent traveling companion: he is a man of action and thought, and therefore does not talk too much. He was also serious about Chaco and made interesting observations.

The Chaco park also has a loop trail, but you drive this one and park at the main sites, of which there were about half a dozen in the canyon area. Interestingly, most of these ruins were built roughly between 850 and 1200, which is also roughly the period of the early and Romanesque Middle Ages in Europe, also a time of furious building projects. Considering that this period in time was prehistoric (before written language) for the Ancestral Pueblos, their monumental and sophisticated architecture is  all the more amazing. In particular, their masonry systems --- supporting buildings sometimes four stories high and containing as many as 600 rooms --- rivaled those of then contemporary Europe.

Chaco was not primarily a residential community, but was the administrative, economic, and ceremonial center of a loosely connected culture that extended for hundreds of miles in all directions. It was largely supported by outlying clans and tribes who made pilgrimages to Chaco to make offerings, pay tribute, and participate in religious ceremonies. Chaco was, and is, a sacred place. Essential  to Chacoan religion was the kiva, a circular, semi-subterranean structure which, according to its size and significance, could accommodate from a dozen to several dozen people. It was the equivalent of a  
mosque, church, or synagogue. Largely below-ground, there is an opening in the roof, access to the cosmos. In a kiva, one is connected to both the earth and to the outer universe, consistent with Native American spiritual beliefs, and it is here that one strengthens this connection with prayer, music, ritual, and offering. Kivas are scattered throughout Chaco Canyon, indoors, outdoors, of all sizes. Partly because they were so ubiquitously  in our view, Tim and I half-seriously began talking about constructing a 21st century version of a kiva, one that would address current needs and employ contemporary building materials.


My perceptions as I moved about Chaco Canyon were mainly of the sublime and ineffable sort, but I could not lose the tangible idea of the kiva. I began designing in my sketchbook. We'll see.

By the way, the Santa Fe Art Institute is still accepting applications from New Orleans artists. Their website, sfai.org, describes the place very adequately, so I won't go into the matter here. I will only briefly say that the place is luxuriously comfortable, aesthetically exquisite, thoroughly conducive to artistic endeavors, and sensitive to the particular needs of the artist. The staff is amiable, personable, knowledgeable, and helpful in the extreme.  If anyone wants a few tips or an unabashedly  subjective "institute review", don't hesitate to email me:  garyoaks@bellsouth.net

Gary Oaks

European Residencies and Opportunities

Here is a link to the Association of Cultural Centers in Europe.  It lists the activities at each member location.

http://www.accr-europe.org/activites.aspx

Check it out!

NOVA Projects Call for Submissions

Call to New Orleans Visual Artists. Juried by Jeanette
Ingberman, Exit Art founding director. Show opens
October at Barrister's Gallery in conjunction with Art
for Art's Sake. Submission deadline August 1st, 2007.
visit www.novaprojects.org for more info and
submission guidelines.

Artists' Intitiatives Panel

Louisiana ArtWorks Presents
Art Sessions: A Series of Discussions on Visual Contemporary Art

"Artists' Initiatives: artists creating opportunities for artists"
Thursday 7-9 PM June 28, 2007
suggested donation $3.00

Moderated by:
Jacqueline Bishop

Panelists:
Erik Kiesewetter
*Constance
Elizabeth Underwood
* Art in Action
Kyle Bravo
*New Orleans Book Fair
Owen Murphy
*New Orleans Photo Alliance
Dan Tague
*NOVA Projects

Union Passenger Terminal, 1001 Loyola Ave. @ Howard Ave., 2nd Floor
(enter the main entrance, use stairs on the immediate right)

This program is supported by the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Kid Gloves, Inc.

Moderators wanted

Is there something we are missing in this blog? well, yes there is. It's YOU!
We would like you to be a guest moderator for a week. What's required? That you do one post - about an art event, a review, an interview, something you are interested in. So if ya got something to say, and we know you do, say it here!

Send an email to visualartsneworleans@gmail.com to set up a time.

Alvar Arts

Pati D'Amico Wednesday night June 20th at the Alvar Library, Alvar Street next to Douglass H.S. in the Bywater.

Fwd: Best Art Practices - International Award for young curator

06/11/07 Best Art Practices Best Art Practices International award for young curators First edition theme Projects in non-conventional spaces Announced by Italian Cultural Office of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol Curated by Denis Isaia http://www.bestartpractices.it/ The Award The Italian Cultural Office of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, next host of the European Biennal Manifesta, is announcing the first edition of the international competition Best Art Practices – International award for young curators . Best Art Practices will assign prizes to the best curator practices of contemporary art of the last five years. The theme of the first edition will focus on projects in non-conventional spaces. The Award accepts only projects that have been completed in the last five years and therefore inaugurated after 1 March 2002. Itinerant events or events taking place over a period of time will be accepted as long as all the phases are concluded by 1 March 2007. The Award is open to all curators of all nationalities born on or after 2 March 1967. Transmission of data Entries must arrive by 12 midday of Monday 3rd September 2007 by post, courier or hand delivery at the Award secretary's office. The postmark will not be considered as proof for the date of arrival of the entry and data sent by email or other means of transmission different from those indicated above will not be accepted. Prizes First prize € 10,000 Second prize € 3,000 Third prize € 2,000 Languages accepted The data may be sent in Italian, German, English or Spanish. Composition of the Jury The international Jury is composed of a Jury President and five commissioners. President: Carlos Basualdo, curator - Philadelphia Museum of Art Commissioner: Marion Piffer Damiani, independent curator; Bolzano Commissioner: Letizia Ragaglia curator – Museion; Bolzano Commissioner: Montse Romaní, independent curator; Barcelona Commissioner: Anton Vidokle, artist; New York and Berlin Commissioner: Andrea Viliani, curator – Mambo; Bologna Selection and prize giving The winners will be selected by the assembled Jury. At the end of the selection the first 8 placed will be classified. It is within the jury's jurisdiction to proclaim, for valid and justified reason, that no project has reached the winning standard. The list of the first 8 selected will be published with effect form 12th November 2007 on the website of the Award. It is also possible that a number of the projects, at the jury's discretion, will form part of an exhibition and in due course a catalogue, and that a number of the competitors may be invited to participate in a conference on this subject. Enrolment forms, prizes-giving criteria and more information are available at http://www.bestartpractices.it. Press Office Carlo Simula +39 0577 22 07 21 press@bestartpractice.it email to a friend contact subscribe electronic flux corporation / www.e-flux.com 295 greenwich street #532, nyc ny 10007 to unsubscribe click / here

"local artists still alive"

Takashi Horisaki, the New York artist who is "latexing" a home in the Lower 9th to bring to the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island, wrote a little about the New Orleans art community and the lastest Neighborhoods project show at his blog.

If you missed the front page article by Katy Reckdahl about his project, see it at
nola.com link

keep up with what he's doing at
social dress new orleans

St. Claude Gallery Hop time

Farrington Smith Gallery presents
The Amazing Technicolor Visions of
Lewis and Yseult
Show opening Saturday, May 19 from 5-9 pm
2514 St. Claude Ave.

Collaborative and solo work by Louis St. Lewis and Sean Yseult
with special guest Quintron on the turntables

This is the New Orleans premiere of pieces from the duo's show "12 Inches of Fame"- the last art show displayed at the famed CBGB's- as well as brand-new work. see our website for more information about Lewis and Yseult!
www.farringtonsmith.com

Visit other galleries in the St. Claude Arts District- also open this Saturday night! See www.scadnola.com for more information!

Neighborhoods: 2426 Bradish Place

SITE-SPECIFIC ART INSTALLTION TITLED: “NEIGHBORHOODS: 2426 BRADISH PLACE,”

TO BE HELD SATURDAY, MAY 19TH, IN THE TULANE/GRAVIER NEIGHBORHOOD OF NEW ORLEANS.

On Saturday, May 19th, 2007, 6:00-9:00pm, for one night only, the third installment of the “Neighborhoods” art installation project will be held at 2426 Bradish Place,Tulane/Gravier. “NEIGHBORHOODS: 2426 BRADISH PLACE” is a site-specific, multidisciplinary installation that will take place in the gutted ground floor of the home of Michelle Levine and Clay Thomas.

Michelle is an artist who is currently rebuilding her house and studio in the Tulane/Gravier neighborhood. Through the use of interviews with neighbors, soundscapes, live music, drawing, photography, and sculpture, this event will confront the range of issues the community is experiencing as they revitalize this neighborhood.

Visual artists include: Shannon Crane, Courtney Egan, Scott Saltzman, Maxx Sizeler, David Sullivan, Jonathan Traviesa, Elizabeth Underwood, Robert Vicknair, and Monica Zeringue; sound by Anton Gussoni, and SpartieTucker, and music by The Panorama Jazz Band.

FYI: see images from last Neighborhoods event in Gentilly at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33224774@N00/sets/72157594526756556/

Call for artists projects

MADRID PROCESOS 07

AVAM (Associated Visual Artists of Madrid) invites proposals for a
competition to select eight artistic projects for inclusion in MADRID
PROCESOS 07. This competition is part of the activities of CRAC
(Coordination of Resources for Contemporary Art), an initiative
sponsored by AVAM in order to improve the working conditions for the
production and creation of works in the plastic and visual arts.

The maximum amount designated for support is 9.000 €.

Artists of any nationality may participate, regardless of age.
Participants must present an original and unpublished project (It may
currently be in some phase of production) to be partially, or totally
completed during the duration of the grant.

The deadline for applications is May 7, 2007.
For more information please visit http://www.avam.net

Vito Acconci in New Orleans

VITO ACCONCI

Monday, April 23rd
6:30 p.m.
Miller Hall, Room 114
Loyola University
6363 St. Charles Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118

This lecture has been made possible by the generosity of Barriere
Construction Company, Linda and Richard Friedman, and Lin Emery.


For more information
visart@loyno.edu/(504) 861-5456

Jerry Saltz lecture at Tulane

If you missed Jerry Saltz speak at Tulane this past Wed. April 4th
well... sorry. The lecture was loaded with insight and optimism. His
take on art and criticism were seemingly off the cuff and not bogged
down with heavy art speak. At times this distracted from the lecture
as I felt as though I was in a Junior High science lecture by the
'cool' teacher who wanted to make science fun. "Right dummies and
prophets, does anyone know who made this piece...", this makes sense
if you were there. The patronizing became annoying at times, but only
in good Saltz fashion do I point out the bad with the good.

Over all the lecture was informative and highly entertaining. I
gathered from talking to several people that were in attendance, they
left the auditorium a better person and perhaps a little more
enlightened about viewing and creating art. I especially enjoyed his
bit about the third thing that exists between the artist and the
viewer being not only the artwork itself but the experience as another
element of communication. This element being linked to notions of the
sublime was quite interesting, and I could not agree more with Mr.
Saltz in that the sublime exists in dialogue and human interaction
rather than silence and solitude in our contemporary setting.

Please check out the art reviews by Jerry Saltz weekly at
villagevoice.com, you may even become a fan.

Dan Tague

Karen Louise Crain at the Big Top

Karen Louise Crain’s color photographs at the Big Top revolve around a central female character’s amusing and disjunctive interactions with her immediate environment. This character’s relationship to the audience and to her environment seems to change between “episodes,” or costume-changes.

First we see a woman with hair pulled back, reading glasses on, lounging in a retro-geometric mumu in a yard that at first glance seems off-kilter but not necessarily devastated. A big rocket is askew behind her, the plant next to her looks threateningly like a big dead furry spider in a pot, and the place seems to be in some sort of upheaval. But the character doesn’t care – she sits reading a magazine, deep in an escapist reverie induced by glossy pages. She appears unposed, and her mumu provides a certain kind of exuberant structure and contrast within the odd setting. She appears strangely comfortable.

Another photo in the same “episode” shows the same woman in the same yard. This time she is dwarfed by vegetation in upheaval. She wields a pair of clippers, which seem to pick at the upturned roots of a big tree ineffectually. Her cool in the previous photo is made comical by her attempts to control her environment in this image. I can imagine that this character is determined to do what she can to control the world – which is very little - and she’s not going to worry over it. Maintaining the bubble of one’s personal world and interests in the face of disaster and the suffering of others is the subject of these identity explorations. Karen Louise writes about this in her statement, posted in a comment below.

The second set’s character is much more posed, and appears less comfortable in, or less a part of, her environment. She steadfastly ignores the giant piles of tree trunks looming behind her, while she, clothed in a pretty dressing gown and little else, talks on the phone or pours her tea. The contradictions involved in maintaining one’s femininity in the midst of a giant clean-up are under inspection here. These photos seem to be played for contradiction much more than the garden photos.

The third costume change involves a character who comes off as a ploy for a one-line joke – it’s a good joke too. Dressed smartly as the chair of the garden club or some sort of community matron, she stands at the door of a flooded house, complete with giant orange spray-painted X on the door, knocking, with a “welcome-back” gift in her arms. She is aware of her environment and knows just what it needs, a houseplant. This character is full of omni-directional cheer, determined to make the best of the situation no matter how dire. As a viewer, I enjoy this humor but when the joke is over, I am drawn back to the more intense visual pleasure of the mumu lady in the garden, and her ambiguous relationship between what’s in her head and what’s in her surroundings.

The last character appears in only one photo. For her cameo, the woman in a leopard coat leans on a boarded up building, on which is spray painted in bright red “Looters will be shot.” Again she talks on the red phone. Her eyes are obscured by dark glasses, and a piece of matching leopard luggage makes her departure imminent. She’s getting out of Dodge. But Karen Louise, having just bought a house here 6 months before the storm, is here for a while. With some artists, the storm and it’s aftermath brought artwork to a standstill. Karen Louise Crain found the ability to start her art career at this moment.

Courtney Egan