RuPaul’s Drag Race: The Costuming of Emancipatory Politics
After 8 Seasons on Logo TV, it’s high time RuPaul’s Drag Race received recognition as important contemporary art. Socially engaged art often uses the structures of society as the very medium of the work, and yet Drag Race is radical enough to have fooled many into regarding the work as mere campy entertainment. RuPaul […]
Creativity and the Business of Art: Free Video Series
Artist Alexis Castillo decided to put together a free educational video series for artists, Creativity and the Business of Art. (Update: Alexis rebranded as Art Business Essentials) She found a range of experts to speak on this subject, and I’m happy to say that I am interviewed as a part of this group. Alexis and I had […]
A Call for Ageist-Free Arts in the Silicon Shire
I’d like to share a story of an experience I had in the Minneapolis airport in 2015. In my memory, I even gave it a title: Outsourced to My Decorator. It wasn’t exactly traumatic, or all that different from the usual overheard-at-the-airport experience, but for me it was a moment of ringing cultural contrast and reverberating […]
The Center for Mediocrity
The Center for Mediocrity is my invention as a homework assignment. I’m enrolled in “Art of the MOOC: Merging Public Art and Experimental Education”, a collaboration of Duke University and Creative Time New York. This week’s module is Fictions, Alternative Structures and Mock-Institutions. We were asked to make up a country, church, or organization and […]
The Virtual Cauldron
Austin Kleon wrote Steal Like an Artist. I stole from him. I like Mr. Kleon’s newsletter format, so I’m trying it out here in this blog post. His book is in its 17th printing with over 400,000 copies in print. Dwell on that for a moment; people in huge numbers are reading and thinking about creativity […]
How Artists Use Twitter (Reprint)
My article on Twitter was originally published in Professional Artist Magazine, Oct/Nov 2014. It is directed toward artists and those interested in contemporary art, who don’t “get” Twitter. In 2015, the piece won an award for best feature design, so congratulations to Art Director Kristen Schaeffer-Santoni and featured artist Marie Kazalia. (I can’t share the […]
The Collaboration of Artists Amanda Marie and X-O
On view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art: “The Many Places We Are” is a two-artist exhibition that explores the concept of emotional travel and the bonds that are developed as you move through a physical space. Amanda Marie and X-O, artists who have traveled extensively together, explore the concept by combining their signature […]
A Taste for the Real: Kenneth Baker on a degredation of engagement
Next week I’ll attend Superscript: Arts Journalism and Criticism in a Digital Age. This three-day international conference will be held at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event promises to raise questions about the role of the arts writer, and examine how the Web has changed the way artists tell their stories. […]
Nuclear Beauty Parlor: Herstory with Photos
The Nuclear Beauty Parlor was a group of women artists active in protest and prankster art of the Nuclear Freeze movement from 1983-1986 in San Francisco, California. Their name is synonymous with a music project they initiated, the 45-RPM 7″ single, The Nuclear Beauty Parlor…They are noted for adding humor and post-Punk style to a dedicated protest movement… Read More […]
Rick Bartow: Thanks for the Mysteries
An artist panel honored the phenomenal Rick Bartow today. Each panel member told a story about their Rick Bartow: their friend, elder, uncle, and inspiration. The event felt more like a celebrity roast, if celebrity roasts were loving gestures conducted by genuine friends. The dominant culture could learn a lot from how this Native artist […]