Silver Overcast, balloon detail, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
I am seriously regretting not swiping the HUGE commemorative plaque to "Randall" from the Randall School. I walked past it regularly to get to my space. I remember looking him up when I first moved into the building, now I can't remember his name.
So I've posted the novella I sent to Lenny Campello about the end of the Randall School. While I've had numerous occasions to call myself a 'part-timer' in the past few weeks, honestly, I have been thrown for a loop by loosing the studio. Twice I've left the house and accidentally driven 1/3 to a 1/2 of the way to the Randall School before I've remembered that I don't have a studio at the present moment.
So I've posted the novella I sent to Lenny Campello about the end of the Randall School. While I've had numerous occasions to call myself a 'part-timer' in the past few weeks, honestly, I have been thrown for a loop by loosing the studio. Twice I've left the house and accidentally driven 1/3 to a 1/2 of the way to the Randall School before I've remembered that I don't have a studio at the present moment.
I've only had time to look at one place, that lo & behold, was right for the price, but it was big enough that (surprise) - I would have had to become the landlord and set up sublets. I have some other major priorities at the moment: school, DCAC and getting running water back in my kitchen, I can't be collecting security deposits. With that said, read on....
Mr. C, thanks for giving us the incentive to speak our minds. This is a little long - I could not resist a "Dylan Thomasy" sort of response, considering my feelings for my time at the Randall School.
You mentioned that DC's lack of affordable studio space was a factor in the deal with the Corcoran to include space for practicing artists in their plan. While no one would argue that financial and real estate issues have touched everyone in the past five years, personally I think that the Randall School community of artists and our cultural presence is of equal importance in explaining what lead us into this Jonah & the Whale scenario.
When I saw the artists that were residents in the building when I was a prospective renter 3-4 years ago, I knew I had to get in on this space. There were a number of artists that I really respected by reputation and work that had just recently cut the graduate school cord and had taken DC by storm. There were artists that I knew as bastions of the Downtown Art Scene in the 80's and 90's, that had had their studios over the porn and wig shops across from the National Portrait Gallery. Back in the day, this group had put on events of smaller scale but greater intensity than almost anything that's been seen at Art-o-Matic. Not surprisingly, many of these people now work their asses-off to make Art-O-Matic's possible.
Lastly there were plenty of people like me; not legendary, not the toast of the town; but with work ethic and solid bodies of work that appeals to some little niche otherwise we would not keep doing it.) Really, at the core that's what almost every resident of the Millennium Art Center (MAC) was, that kind of community is often harder to come by then available space.
Unfortunately when I became a renter at MAC the future of the building as studios, let alone an art center, was already on shaky ground. I was lucky to have my studio in one of the older parts of the building; Randall is a beautiful and old building and honestly it would not have lasted much longer without a deal like this happening. I hope the developers are held to refurbishing as much as they are allowed to demolish.
I had tried to rent studios in the preceding years and had not been successful. I once lost a space to a former employee because the landlord said his voice was on his answering machine before mine. The competition for individually leased spaces was and is high. Most artists are not willing or capable of taking on a lease and responsibility for the bankroll and slum-lording it takes to get the rent paid for an entire floor of a mid-century office building or an unused warehouse, let alone a 6.5 million complex of school buildings. Income statements, credit reports are as much a part of getting a studio as a "regular" person renting or buying a house or apartment.
There is studio space is out there, but there is sorry little initiative out there from investors and agencies that could afford to cut up larger spaces and offer them for fair prices. This was what was on the table at MAC, the opportunity for renting a studio - not having to become a landlord too.
While I've barely left the building, I'm nostalgic for the neighborhood already. Many of the remaining artists had been tenants for close to ten years, I can't imagine how they feel. I'm concerned that this project is a positive move for the neighborhood. There is a lot of public assistance housing in the neighborhood and it needs an art center that is going to reach out to the community more than anything.
Many other mixed use development projects seem stalled in this neighborhood and the Corcoran has not been very forthcoming about exactly what's going on with their project. I'm concerned that this project gets off the ground and doesn't become another shipwreck in the "Corcoran Triangle". Like the large historic church that sits behind the Randall building, it could end up sitting there boarded up for a decade which would break a lot of hearts.
There are only a few entities that can presume taking on a building that fills a city block and a leadership role in supporting a community of more than thirty artists and at least two non-profits; think about it, that's bigger than most graduate schools.
Private entities and city governments come to the top of my mind as good candidates.
The Corcoran has already put some roadblocks in the way of establishing good relations with the artists and the SW community. With the Gehry building not happening, it's hard to say what they have in mind.
Given that these are my feelings at the present moment, why would I presume that the Corcoran would be open to truly working in consort with the community, the government and private investors to create a truly visionary art center that could eclipse the Gehry or a ubiquitous mixed-use development. Outstanding not because of what it looks like or how financially good it looks on paper but in the positive and supportive impact it has on the community and the city. I know that running a museum or any arts organization is not a cakewalk, but I wish I could have more faith in the Corcoran assuming a role that maximizes the leadership role by at least trying to bring in the resources and a spirit of community and communication and could really make something happen.
I am willing to admit, itÂ?s a little unfair to saddle our Â?localÂ? museum with this huge responsibility when they really do need to fix their school. Sadly, I think it took this bleak lack of faith to spur the Ex-MAC community get organized. If itÂ?s not prudent for the Corcoran to do it, listen up isnÂ?t there Â?someoneÂ? else out there that sees what I am talking about and can step up to the challenge? Stay tuned. Ex-mac'rs will hopefully be having a celebration of some sort in the spring in the hope that we can galvanize much more of the DC community to support art, artists and the positive investment that art is to the city as a whole.
Thanks.
Karen Joan Topping
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005
OK so it's been more than a year and half since I've posted. oops. The good news is I have been totally using my studio, the two other artists I collaborate with and I have made leaps and bounds, we have a website for Kiosk dc our collaborative entity, and we have a show opening at dcac with major new work. hot damn - it's so excellent!
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Well, I never got around to reporting this months ago, but I am sharing a studio with two other artists at the Millennium Arts Center now. It's been a bit rocky, I've never enough time to go over there and I am still not really all the way moved in which makes it hard to work. I have taken slides-thought I still need to edit and dupe them. Taking this space was a huge step, but it's criminal the way time flies.
I feel a victim of myself, I have kind of let all my blogs slide, I update the calendar on groupiegirldc, then don't write anything, because I am lucky to get to one show a month for lack of money or time. There are a number of new bands and new to me bands I would like to go see, yet my energy wanes. The other groupiegirls and myself all see the correlation as when you stop going to shows and energy does wane and it puts us in foul moods and them we have to battle back at ourselves and hit the music. If only I hope things turn around soon, I miss the night and the clubs and the new people and NEW MUSIC!
Likewise with The Big Eye Blog, it gets hits, especially in the Summer when the press release came out that Steinhilber got Directions and again now that the show is open. I would love to be able to write something insightful about it. I'm quite pleased with the art banter and the shows of the last few months, I want those that have put in a lot of hard work to know they should keep it up. I've made a point to keep up with many of the shows that Steinhilber has been in DC. I missed my chance to meet him at the Transparent opening, having thrown my back out pretty bad that week (post 6 flags, doih), but can you just see it...Me, the Ducksauce Detractor, crawling into the slickee clean Numark like Quasimodo, being like, "Hi, Dan. I know I wrote this crappy little screed about a few of your pieces but I only did it because I care. I think your work is really sublime-I just think there were some bad choices made in showing certain pieces-it could have been a curators/gallery owners fault, but rarely does the blame fall to them."
Anyway, the other thin I don't want to forget about is the similarly crappy City Paper feature on why Fugazi is to blame for DC being uninteresting-I can't find an archive link though it was a feature in October '03. His observations on going to a club in DC and the denizens and dilettantes in them was right on the bobbing-no-dancing and strict grunge prep thing, etc. etc., but what that has to do with Fugazi is a long shot. If your talking to me, it all fits into the book idea - the 60's & 70's f'd this town & the people in it up.
I feel a victim of myself, I have kind of let all my blogs slide, I update the calendar on groupiegirldc, then don't write anything, because I am lucky to get to one show a month for lack of money or time. There are a number of new bands and new to me bands I would like to go see, yet my energy wanes. The other groupiegirls and myself all see the correlation as when you stop going to shows and energy does wane and it puts us in foul moods and them we have to battle back at ourselves and hit the music. If only I hope things turn around soon, I miss the night and the clubs and the new people and NEW MUSIC!
Likewise with The Big Eye Blog, it gets hits, especially in the Summer when the press release came out that Steinhilber got Directions and again now that the show is open. I would love to be able to write something insightful about it. I'm quite pleased with the art banter and the shows of the last few months, I want those that have put in a lot of hard work to know they should keep it up. I've made a point to keep up with many of the shows that Steinhilber has been in DC. I missed my chance to meet him at the Transparent opening, having thrown my back out pretty bad that week (post 6 flags, doih), but can you just see it...Me, the Ducksauce Detractor, crawling into the slickee clean Numark like Quasimodo, being like, "Hi, Dan. I know I wrote this crappy little screed about a few of your pieces but I only did it because I care. I think your work is really sublime-I just think there were some bad choices made in showing certain pieces-it could have been a curators/gallery owners fault, but rarely does the blame fall to them."
Anyway, the other thin I don't want to forget about is the similarly crappy City Paper feature on why Fugazi is to blame for DC being uninteresting-I can't find an archive link though it was a feature in October '03. His observations on going to a club in DC and the denizens and dilettantes in them was right on the bobbing-no-dancing and strict grunge prep thing, etc. etc., but what that has to do with Fugazi is a long shot. If your talking to me, it all fits into the book idea - the 60's & 70's f'd this town & the people in it up.
Monday, July 07, 2003
Wow, It's been a long time since I've written anything, I've been a bit distracted. Doing tours at the Phillips Collection undoubtedly enriches my thinking about art, but it takes an awful lot of time that I do not have. There was Margaret Bourke White, who I never liked-however I had fun with the tours-as the show only covered the first decade or so of her work, the information was audacious yet to the point. And I did not know about her being the first journalist in Russia (or the 'new' USSR in the late 20's ( trips in '29-'30 &'31, I think). Just goes to show that there is a six degrees of separation when it comes to research and celebrities too-look into something more that one or two layers and you'll find someway to apply it to yourself.
Now there is the Marsden Hartley show. Refreshing my reading on him is making me resent doing the tours, which I find funny. Talking about photographer exhibits or mishmash shows, things like 'Surrealist Still Lives of the Rich and Famous', has become second nature, easy to puke up the predigested on the tourist (though to toot my own horn a little, I often include subversive comments about conceptual art and it's modernist roots that occasionally get me in trouble with the tourists ) Now, when I have to talk about an exhibition on one specific painter, I start identifying and sympathizing with the artist and start resenting doing the tours BIG TIME. On a personal note I should teach, I really really really should. Doing this Hartley research has opened up new information about his early work done in Europe,and the Berlin work and the abstract portraits. Hartley was a "Big Eye" striving to observe his present-I've always liked his work and have now read quotes from his letters where he says things like he's got "No use for making his thoughts apparent in painting, but instead wants to show a true intuitive observing of the present." He loathes artists that are always explaining their work with theory and expect him too. He catches on early, from the 1913 trip to Paris and throughout his life, that there are a lot of artist's commodifiying their work. I can't help but think about the present state of affairs and the direction I am headed in exactly that-a-way, commodifying my skills, selling myself to sell my work-it's scary. I am going to have to create a thought puzzle about this, who are our contemporary Steigliz's & Hartley's
On a personal note when it comes to my work, I was reminded of all the PAINTINGS I've got laying around from back in the day, I've been moving away from them (the paintings) at semi-breakneck speed doing sculptures, finding quotes left and right from living artists about wanting to make 'things' that inspire other people to want to make things. It's all very stream of consciousness, not about money, very 'game-theory' economics, to win sometimes you don't destroy other people but protect and inspire them, even if it means you starve.
Of course in the a larger sense I am not going to starve and I wonder at these turn of the century artists who would go without food. In the contemporary U.S. I can't imagine starving, it's losing my health insurance that I live in fear of that keeps me tied to my pathetic job. I better stop writing now, I could whine about this more and I will.
Now there is the Marsden Hartley show. Refreshing my reading on him is making me resent doing the tours, which I find funny. Talking about photographer exhibits or mishmash shows, things like 'Surrealist Still Lives of the Rich and Famous', has become second nature, easy to puke up the predigested on the tourist (though to toot my own horn a little, I often include subversive comments about conceptual art and it's modernist roots that occasionally get me in trouble with the tourists ) Now, when I have to talk about an exhibition on one specific painter, I start identifying and sympathizing with the artist and start resenting doing the tours BIG TIME. On a personal note I should teach, I really really really should. Doing this Hartley research has opened up new information about his early work done in Europe,and the Berlin work and the abstract portraits. Hartley was a "Big Eye" striving to observe his present-I've always liked his work and have now read quotes from his letters where he says things like he's got "No use for making his thoughts apparent in painting, but instead wants to show a true intuitive observing of the present." He loathes artists that are always explaining their work with theory and expect him too. He catches on early, from the 1913 trip to Paris and throughout his life, that there are a lot of artist's commodifiying their work. I can't help but think about the present state of affairs and the direction I am headed in exactly that-a-way, commodifying my skills, selling myself to sell my work-it's scary. I am going to have to create a thought puzzle about this, who are our contemporary Steigliz's & Hartley's
On a personal note when it comes to my work, I was reminded of all the PAINTINGS I've got laying around from back in the day, I've been moving away from them (the paintings) at semi-breakneck speed doing sculptures, finding quotes left and right from living artists about wanting to make 'things' that inspire other people to want to make things. It's all very stream of consciousness, not about money, very 'game-theory' economics, to win sometimes you don't destroy other people but protect and inspire them, even if it means you starve.
Of course in the a larger sense I am not going to starve and I wonder at these turn of the century artists who would go without food. In the contemporary U.S. I can't imagine starving, it's losing my health insurance that I live in fear of that keeps me tied to my pathetic job. I better stop writing now, I could whine about this more and I will.
Friday, April 04, 2003
Mama Mia, I have been busy, but that's OK. woohoo. I have been working on (and continue to work individually on PR for) and installation at 14th & G Streets, NW in Downtown Washington, DC for The WPA/C (Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran). The show is going be the name "WPA/C's CornerViews Gallery: To Be Determined". Here's a bunch of text and stuff that led up to my being in this "little do" with three other artists.
(and by the way, my piece is NOT titled do you want to play a game? anymore. Its called the longest march
.
THE LETTER
February 7, 2003
Dear Mr. Beers,
Please consider the following package proposal for the old Hahn Shoe store at the corner of 14th and G Streets, Northwest. It¡¦s been very exciting putting this together and I thank you and the WPA/C for the opportunity. The piece is entitled Do you want to play a game? and is intended to be very response to the space, the neighborhood and current events.
Please find enclosed my application to the WPA/C, the written proposal and two pages of drawings. I am prepared to meet all the requirements listed in the submission guidelines. I would hope to be notified by the 23rd of February in order that I could have all the materials assembled for the installation.
Thank you for your consideration.
THE PROPOSAL
Mixed Media Installation Proposal
For Old Hahn Shoe Store
Window Display at 14th & G Streets, NW
Spanning 3/23/03 to 5/17/03
Sick of working in a dead end job? Tired of repetitive day to day tasks that feed the bureaucracy? On autopilot? Feel like someone else it calling the shots?
Do you want to play a game?
This installation proposes to invigorate the conveyor belt like retail window space that wraps around the corners of fourteenth and G streets by presenting at least twenty four robots made of hand sewn crystal clear vinyl. They march in the same direction, blindly following each other.
The only differentiation one notices in these robots is that within their clear bodies, half of the robots have office implements and other objects of professional career climbers inside; business suits, neckties, and high heels, pens, staplers, newspapers, current periodicals, paper clips, staplers, disposable coffee cups and lunch containers. Each of the down-to-business robots is filled with a jumble of these items, looking like a typical office desk or back seat of a commuter¡¦s car. In contrast the other half of the robots are filled with toys, games, dolls, stuffed animals and children¡¦s drawings, like the typical wake and eddy of any child engaged in playtime.
Juxtaposing objects of childhood obsessions with the implements of adult workaday reality is intended to provide surprising visual stimuli that challenges passersby to reflect on how they feel about their life at the present moment. The see-thru, human-size, robots, once icons of a future filled with luxury, stand in line like drones, seeming like they are marching up and down the display platform in an endless circle. This is accomplished by suspending the robot receptacles from the walls and ceiling with fishing line, like marionettes. Individuals are free to enjoy their memories of childhood, embrace the installation as a metaphor for their own life, or challenge their opinion of the future they imagined for themselves. These are just a few of the many possible responses.
In the artists opinion the most that can be hoped for is to live life more creatively and purposely, less like a robot, more like a child. It gives a visual voice to everyone¡¦s artist within.
DISCLAIMER
This project is pretty much complete, I do not need any more stuff.
THE COLLECTION LETTER
Hello kind friends and art enthusiasts,
I am happy to announce that I had a proposal accepted the WPA/C for an art installation in the window of the old Hahn Shoe store at 14th & G Streets, NW. The piece¡¦ working title is Do you want to play a game? And is to be installed on March 23, 2003, less than two weeks from now, and will run until May 17, 2003.
I desperately need your help to make this project happen. You may be pleasantly surprised to know that I am looking to help get junk off you hands. I was informed late of my participation in this project. I have only a very short amount of time to construct and fill as many robots as I can. I will need a large amount of stuff to in order to fill up these lifesize robots. In addition, I am looking for items in two specific categories.
The following is a list of specific items that I need you donate or save for me. I will not be returning any items, but will make every attempt possible to reuse, recycle or donate to an appropriate charity everything that you give me.
Career Climbers
* Men¡¦s and women¡¦s business suits
(or parts there of, vests, jackets, pants)
* High heels and dress shoes
* Used makeup/cosmetics
* Non-functioning computer equipment (mice, external drives)
* Old office phones, cell phones, headsets
* Junk computer disks, cd-roms or software manuals
* Staplers, tape dispensers, pens, paper clips, rubber bands, file folders headed for the trash, no stealing
* Trade periodicals or promotional materials (like tote bags, desk clocks, lunch bags and esp. from the law, technology, banking & publishing sectors)
* Front page of the Washington Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal , Newsweek or Time Magazine
* The disposable cup from your morning coffee and upscale deli/salad bar takeout containers (rinsed out please-no organic materials allowed)
* anything with the ¡§Whitehouse¡¨ on it
Children
* board games
* dolls
* action figures
* fast food children¡¦s meal toys
* stuffed animals
* children¡¦s drawings
* puzzles
* stray game pieces
* used crayons, markers and coloring books
* toy trucks & other vehicles
* pre-school toys like blocks and big books
* toy guns and soldiers
* toy jewelry and dress-up costumes
* child lunch boxes
DISCLAIMER
This project is pretty much complete, I do not need any more stuff.
(and by the way, my piece is NOT titled do you want to play a game? anymore. Its called the longest march
.
THE LETTER
February 7, 2003
Dear Mr. Beers,
Please consider the following package proposal for the old Hahn Shoe store at the corner of 14th and G Streets, Northwest. It¡¦s been very exciting putting this together and I thank you and the WPA/C for the opportunity. The piece is entitled Do you want to play a game? and is intended to be very response to the space, the neighborhood and current events.
Please find enclosed my application to the WPA/C, the written proposal and two pages of drawings. I am prepared to meet all the requirements listed in the submission guidelines. I would hope to be notified by the 23rd of February in order that I could have all the materials assembled for the installation.
Thank you for your consideration.
THE PROPOSAL
Mixed Media Installation Proposal
For Old Hahn Shoe Store
Window Display at 14th & G Streets, NW
Spanning 3/23/03 to 5/17/03
Sick of working in a dead end job? Tired of repetitive day to day tasks that feed the bureaucracy? On autopilot? Feel like someone else it calling the shots?
Do you want to play a game?
This installation proposes to invigorate the conveyor belt like retail window space that wraps around the corners of fourteenth and G streets by presenting at least twenty four robots made of hand sewn crystal clear vinyl. They march in the same direction, blindly following each other.
The only differentiation one notices in these robots is that within their clear bodies, half of the robots have office implements and other objects of professional career climbers inside; business suits, neckties, and high heels, pens, staplers, newspapers, current periodicals, paper clips, staplers, disposable coffee cups and lunch containers. Each of the down-to-business robots is filled with a jumble of these items, looking like a typical office desk or back seat of a commuter¡¦s car. In contrast the other half of the robots are filled with toys, games, dolls, stuffed animals and children¡¦s drawings, like the typical wake and eddy of any child engaged in playtime.
Juxtaposing objects of childhood obsessions with the implements of adult workaday reality is intended to provide surprising visual stimuli that challenges passersby to reflect on how they feel about their life at the present moment. The see-thru, human-size, robots, once icons of a future filled with luxury, stand in line like drones, seeming like they are marching up and down the display platform in an endless circle. This is accomplished by suspending the robot receptacles from the walls and ceiling with fishing line, like marionettes. Individuals are free to enjoy their memories of childhood, embrace the installation as a metaphor for their own life, or challenge their opinion of the future they imagined for themselves. These are just a few of the many possible responses.
In the artists opinion the most that can be hoped for is to live life more creatively and purposely, less like a robot, more like a child. It gives a visual voice to everyone¡¦s artist within.
DISCLAIMER
This project is pretty much complete, I do not need any more stuff.
THE COLLECTION LETTER
Hello kind friends and art enthusiasts,
I am happy to announce that I had a proposal accepted the WPA/C for an art installation in the window of the old Hahn Shoe store at 14th & G Streets, NW. The piece¡¦ working title is Do you want to play a game? And is to be installed on March 23, 2003, less than two weeks from now, and will run until May 17, 2003.
I desperately need your help to make this project happen. You may be pleasantly surprised to know that I am looking to help get junk off you hands. I was informed late of my participation in this project. I have only a very short amount of time to construct and fill as many robots as I can. I will need a large amount of stuff to in order to fill up these lifesize robots. In addition, I am looking for items in two specific categories.
The following is a list of specific items that I need you donate or save for me. I will not be returning any items, but will make every attempt possible to reuse, recycle or donate to an appropriate charity everything that you give me.
Career Climbers
* Men¡¦s and women¡¦s business suits
(or parts there of, vests, jackets, pants)
* High heels and dress shoes
* Used makeup/cosmetics
* Non-functioning computer equipment (mice, external drives)
* Old office phones, cell phones, headsets
* Junk computer disks, cd-roms or software manuals
* Staplers, tape dispensers, pens, paper clips, rubber bands, file folders headed for the trash, no stealing
* Trade periodicals or promotional materials (like tote bags, desk clocks, lunch bags and esp. from the law, technology, banking & publishing sectors)
* Front page of the Washington Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal , Newsweek or Time Magazine
* The disposable cup from your morning coffee and upscale deli/salad bar takeout containers (rinsed out please-no organic materials allowed)
* anything with the ¡§Whitehouse¡¨ on it
Children
* board games
* dolls
* action figures
* fast food children¡¦s meal toys
* stuffed animals
* children¡¦s drawings
* puzzles
* stray game pieces
* used crayons, markers and coloring books
* toy trucks & other vehicles
* pre-school toys like blocks and big books
* toy guns and soldiers
* toy jewelry and dress-up costumes
* child lunch boxes
DISCLAIMER
This project is pretty much complete, I do not need any more stuff.
