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 […]
Socially Engaged Art – Short Video
This is a 5 min YouTube video of my Art of the MOOC teachers presenting student work at Creative Time Summit NYC. Please watch it to get an idea of the concepts we’re exploring as social artists, and see some inspiring work. At 1:39 you’ll see my “Remote Control” on the beach at Otter Rock. […]
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 […]
Toni Morrison: “Writing for me is thinking”
Visual artists, did you hear that? Those words encapsulate the purpose of writing about your work. Women’s History Month reminds me how important it is to listen to women of courage and intelligence. Learning about the actions of women I admire is a tonic, an antidote really, to the poisons of force-fed witless popular culture. […]