NYC and Barton Benes

During our brief visit to NYC I had to the remarkable opportunity to meet with the artist Barton Liddes Benes. I came to know his work through the UND art department and his connection to the North Dakota Museum of Art. While his work is somewhat transitioning, Barton is widely known celebrity relic pieces. Using traditional religious relic motifs, Benes transforms them with our cultures religious-like worship of celebrity. Bits of celebrity trash and other cultural oddities make their way to Barton through a vast network of friends and into his work. The diversity of relics is astounding from Frank Sinatra's fingernail to Madonna's panties, these little bits of ephemera gain importance via their provenance.

Barton has also done significant artwork on AIDS using his own blood in some pieces, failed AIDS medications, and even curing potion from an African healer complete with text for recitation.

While Barton may be taking a break from some of the relic work, he is still prolific in his work. His current work involves making mandalas out of the world currencies and prayer rugs out of varieties of stamps. UND recently completed a prayer rug edition of 27 for Barton...it is beautiful and bright.

If you are not familiar with Barton's work, a great place to start is his book, Curiosa.

This was my second visit to Barton's home and his hospitality is remarkable. I am thankful for the time I had to spend with him and for his willingness to spend some time with a few North Dakotan fans.

Photos From St Patrick's Cathedral

Friday night I returned from a 10 day trip to NYC and NJ filled with art and fun. If you follow AOA you likely know my love of St. Patrick's Cathedral. I made several visits (4 I think). Here are a few shots from my visits.

Mpls Photo Center Alternatives Invite

For those not in the art world, gallery calls for showing come in waves: typically two per year. The second is going on right now through November. Galleries are putting together their spring lineup.

This show at the Mpls Photo Center had a quick turnaround with invite and show going up at the beginning of November. One of my pieces from this past summer was chosen and will hang alongside many remarkable pieces. There is a slideshow of selected images on MPC site here.

If you are in the Mpls area please go check out the show. I will be in NYC and will be unable to make it to the opening. If you go, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.

Valley City State University Show

Later this morning, I am headed to Valley City ND for an artist reception with several of my UND classmates. Besides the two hour drive out and back, it should be a great day. I am really looking forward to seeing our work in a gallery. Our work is so distinct from one another so I am really curious how it comes together into show.

Below is the press release from VCSU.

UND Graduate Students, Meghan Duda, Ryan Stander, Patrick Awotwe, and Jessica Christy will be on campus Friday, September 24 working with the VCSU Art Students. A panel discussion is scheduled in McCarthy 356 at 2:00 pm and a reception for the artists will be held in the VCSU Art Gallery 4:00 - 5:30 pm. The VCSU community and the public are welcome to attend.

Five Graduate Students from the University of North Dakota’s Master of Fine Arts program were invited to submit work for the exhibition that sets the stage for the artists' visit. The exhibition includes weavings from Patrick Awotwe; altered photographs from Meghan Duda; monoprints / monotypes from Anna Jacobson; lithographs, Ziatypes, and Cyanotypes from Ryan Stander; mixed media lithographs from Jessica Christy.

The Exhibition runs through October 1.

In his weaving and jewelry making Patrick Awotwe creates designs using traditional symbols that reference compositions from his African culture. Mr. Awotwe enrolled in graduate school in metalsmithing and jewelry and found a second creative voice in fibers. His homeland, Ghana, is noted for unique traditional weaving called kinte but his first fiber-works were created at UND. He describes the weaving of his daughter: "The Sunrise is a damask wall hanging that was inspired by Nhyira, my daughter. The bottom part shows a silhouette of her picture with fewer details and the top shows her full portrait. Traditional Ghanaian symbols “Gye Nyame” and “Afe “were used to give it an African identity. Nhyira literally means Blessing and the Sunrise is to describe her.”

Meghan Duda is fascinated with two things, architecture and photography. She has a professional degree in architecture from Virginia Tech and teaches an architectural photography seminar in the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at North Dakota State University. Ms. Duda states, “My selected photographs are a study of cutting.” She frames her photographs around elements that can be removed thus creating negative space. Meghan has exhibited through out the Midwest and Virginia. She also has been published and received a finalist recognition twice in competitions presented by Photography's Forum Magazine.

The family farm lifestyle and the fundamentals of organic farming have been ingrained in Anna Jacobson inner self and thought process and thus is the basis of her work. Nature’s cycles and the North Dakota landscape found their voices in the color, texture, and process of her work. Coming from the flat plains of rural North Dakota, Anna learned the value of simple beauty. Her work is not filled with complex details or bright commercial colors, but rich, full earthtone colors and textured details of the great American Midwest. Anna received her BA in studio arts with an empasis printmaking from Concordia College in Morehead, MN.

Ryan Stander's interests in theology and art are rooted in ideas of place/space, memory and identity formation. Mr. Stander has a MA in Theology from Sioux Falls Seminary and a BA in Art from Northwestern College. His work included in the exhibition comes from two bodies of work. The Religion as a Chain of Memory Series draws upon his theological research into place and memory. His Ziatype and Cyanotype Icon / Altars “draw upon the interplay of memory, identity and the photographic object itself, while playing with the traditional forms of Christian iconography and devotional altars."

Jessica Christy’s mixed media lithographs are a response to mass media, contemporary art history, and family heritage. Technically her work examines not only traditional printmaking but also the territory beyond the practiced techniques. Her work has been exhibited through out the Midwest, on the west coast and in London winning numerous awards. She works with the master press at UND, as both an assistant to the master printer and as a master printer, printing lithograph and intaglio editions for various well-known artists. Ms. Christy teaches drawing, printmaking, and design at UND. Jessica is a Valley City State University alumni who graduated with a BS in Art.

Dan Attoe Visiting Artist

Two weeks ago (yes I am behind in my posting) Dan Attoe visited UND as part of the Myers Foundations funded Visiting Artist Series. Dan's visit stood out as one of the more significant for us as students. His generosity of time, energy, and encouragement were remarkable for us all. I was thankful for the connection to the printmakers so I got to spend a little more time with Dan as we printed 2 prints for him (a larger 11x22 and a smaller 10x10) for Sundog Press.

Visiting Artist: Nancy Friese

This past week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to help print with our visiting artist series. UND alum, now faculty at RISD, Nancy Friese spent the week with us putting together a 5 etching suite with accompanying poetry by North Dakota Museum of Art Founder/Director Laurel Reuter. Tumbling Time is editioned in 20.

While at times the process is chaotic, it seems to get done in the appropriate time frame. We spent likely 6-8 hours M-S putting this remarkable body of work together. I am thankful for Anna, Jess, Kim, Josh and Nancy for sharing their wisdom, patience and humor in this process. While we do a lot of precision work we also spend a good deal of time talking and getting to know one another.

Visiting Artist Dan Attoe

UND’s department of Art and Design will be hosting artist Dan Attoe from Monday, March 1st till Friday March 5^th. He will be giving a slide presentation of his work at 5:00 p.m March, 3rd in room 227 at the Hughes Fine Arts Center. His luscious, highly detailed surfaces are reminiscent of romantic painting, as he investigates the “underbelly” of American western culture. He received his MFA from University of Iowa, Iowa City in 2004 and his
 BFA from University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1998. Attoe has recently exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux, France, and Saatchi Gallery, London UK. For inquiries, email Lori Esposito, Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Lori.Esposito@und.edu

Show in Montana

I am excited to mention that I've had 3 photographs selected for the 31st Annual Southeastern Montana Juried Exhibit at the Custer County Art and Heritage Center in Miles City, Montana. The work is from the Elevator Series from this past fall. Two of the selected works can be seen under the October 23rd posting. I will be exhibiting along side of several of UND's faculty (Wes Smith, Lucy Ganje, Patrick Luber, and Don Miller).

Suzanne Gonsalez - Smith

Two posts in one day...

I post this with joy that one of my primary professors here at UND, Suzanne Gonsalez - Smith, has a gallery opening at the Center For Fine Art Photography in Colorado tonight.

"Artist and Public Reception
November 6th 6-9 pm
Show dates: November 6-28, 2009
Gonsalez was selected for the Solo Exhibition Award by the Portfolio ShowCase 2 juror, Rixon Reed.

Gonsalez series, Remains, focuses on the absence of what once was and what remains."

Click on the "Remains" link to see the images from this powerful show.

Eve gets a makeover by artist Roberta Paul - Sudbury, MA - The Sudbury Town Crier

Eve gets a makeover by artist Roberta Paul - Sudbury, MA - The Sudbury Town Crier
Roberta Paul, a UND MFA alum, is taking on a long theological heritage. According to the article,
"Challenging ingrained notions of shame, the Newtonville artist gives Eve a cultural makeover by contrasting Masaccio's famous 1427 painting "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" with her own gentler contemporary vision."

Steamroller Prints in Fargo

A few weeks ago, on a rainy Saturday morning some of us print students made a 70 mile drive from Grand Forks to the Plains Art Museum in Fargo to watch a group from Minnesota do steamroller prints...which as it sounds, uses a steamroller to make large scale prints. As part of the museums Day of the Dead series, worked with ArtOrg from Northfield, MN.

While we only saw them pull this first print of the color fields, it was fun to see this large scale operation. The next day, they were planning on printing the 2nd "plate" seen in standing in the background of the second image. Once inked, the image is wedged into the wooden runway, paper carefully rested on top, covered, and steamrolled. The drive of the steamroller needs to deftly maneuver the machine as moving more than and inch or so to one side or the other will crinkle the paper. The first print, as you can see and know if you are a printmaker, is always a test until the ink builds up enough on the plate. On a scale this large, it takes a lot of ink!

UND Recent Acquisitions Show

UND kicked off their gallery schedule this fall with a wonderful collection of its recent acquisitions funded largely through the wonderful Myers Foundation. Below is a sampling of my favorite pieces from this show, as well as the text panel for the show. Img. 2 - Kiki Smith, Img. 3 - Ben Shahn, Img. 4 - Louise Chase, Img. 5 - Helen Frankenthaler, Img. 6 & 7 - Audrey Flack, Img. 7 & 8 - Peter Kuper, Img. 9 - Joyce Kozloff.

Both the Audrey Flack and Peter Kuper were made here at UND through our visiting artist series in the semester before I arrived. UND bought the Daphne sculpture by Audrey Flack and when she came out, also did a series of prints with her featuring the sculpture as seen here.

Helge Skaanlund: Visiting Artist From Norway

A few weeks ago UND was host to Helge Skaanlund, a visiting artist from Norway. Helge is typically a painter, but has also worked in commercial printing. One of the great things about UND is their visiting artist program and the time these artists spend with students. In the printmaking area, students generally get to help the artists print as well.

While Helge was here, we pulled three different prints series. One larger traditional stone litho seen in most of the image of a Norwegian landscape. Helge worked from a painting as seen in the first image where he is checking the surface of the stone.

Helge's other images were more cartoon line drawings of traditional Viking figures. The second image, UND grad student Anna Jacobson assists with the editioning process. Generally the artist takes half of the edition and half stays with the print studio.

The 3rd image is a close up of the print which Helge later went into with a small brush and red ink to color the top of the light house barely visible on the white area that juts out into the water. The 4th image is our fine printers...Josh and Jess. And the last image is Josh and Helge sorting though the batch of prints that will make up the final edition.

This was my first time to assist and observe the nearly the whole process of working with a visiting artist. I sat and photographed most of the time, but was allowed to put both Josh's and the studio's chop on...not much but its a start as I slowly learn this world of printmaking. Its a lot of fun to see the team work together and produce work with an artist.

Manhatta by Charles Sheeler & Paul Strand

Manhatta is one of several films that Sheeler and Strand made, though only this one survives. Still images from this film show up in both artists work. This collaboration is one of Modernism's high points and predates, what in many ways has a similar feel, in Russia's avant-garde film maker Dziga Vertov's The Man With The Movie Camera (which by the way, is one of my all time favorite films. You can read a previous posting on Vertov's work here.). Sheeler and Strand's work pre-dates Vertov's film by 8 or 9 years. Enjoy this wonderful piece of Modernism with an updated Brian Eno soundscape.

Bunky Echo Hawk: Artist and Activist

UND's art program has a health visiting artist program. Two weeks ago, Bunky Echo Hawk, a prominent Native American artist and activist visited campus to give a lecture and make a few prints. I had the privilege of a short critique with him as well. Bunky's work seems to wrestle with the exchange of Native culture amidst other cultural influences and events. It seems it is always done with a perspective upon social justice as well.

Below is the first print he made. The UNDo print is a culturally poignant piece around ND these days as the University of North Dakota wrestles with what to do over its current logo. The other, seen in the first and 4th image, is a variation on the theme that utilizes the gas mask, often used by Bunky in his artwork. From what I heard second hand, is that Bunky is from a reservation in that is beset with toxic fallout in its waters, land, and wildlife from nuclear tests decades ago.

Read more about him here (Dakota Student Article) and a great Youtube video here.

Bunky's visit was well recieved and many, including myself, hope for another visit.














































Bunky (foreground) watches his prints pulled by UND's printmaking professor Kim Fink and assisted by MFA student Jess Christie.

UND BFA Shows II

Generally graduating seniors must double up to make use of the gallery for their final exhibits. During the week of April 14-16 (shortened by the Easter Holiday), Sarah Winger's weaving exhibit entitled "Intimacy" and Nikki Schempp's metalsmithing exhibit "Flourish" filled the gallery.

UND BFA Shows

With the end of the semester rapidly approaching, graduating seniors have been cycling their work through the Col. Eugene Myers Gallery on UND's campus. This coming week, we will begin with the MFA shows as well. Today I want to share a few images from Kevin Chamberlain's show entitled, "Teapot Allele" that ran from 3.30-4.2. Kevin's work is low-fired in an electric kiln with critical attention paid to glazing. Many of his works are a reinterpretation of the classic teapot, with removable lids and chambers. From what I know, his plans are to apply to a MFA program in a year or so.