What’s wrong with hippie art and landscapes? A letter to Eugene, Oregon 2018
Tree. Moon. Animal. Landscape. The soothing images of Saturday Market and Etsy are repetitious, earnest and unchallenging. This type of art has a solid footing in the culture of the white and well-fed. I’ve lived in Eugene for 28 years and I can say that for most of Eugene’s residents, this is the only art […]
Premiere of Trophallacy
My performance art piece, Trophallacy, a critique of the win/lose paradigm, premiered on 5/26/2018 to a packed house. Eugene Contemporary Art presented the event and you can find more photos at ECA and Gray Space Project. I’m developing a version of Trophallacy to place online. Meanwhile, you can listen to an audio clip. This voiceover is a […]
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 […]
Dear Ai Weiwei, Thank you
Dear Ai Weiwei, I am writing to thank you for creating @Large, which I visited on January 17, 2015. When I returned home to Oregon, I gave a public talk about the art installation. It gave me great pleasure to share your message of freedom with people who could not visit Alcatraz in person. […]
Juried Art: The Artist Statement is Critical
I’ve edited artist statements for several artists whose second language is English. I appreciate how each of them recognized the need for an editor – as should all writers of artist statements – and carefully selected their words. A recent client was a South Korean photographer in the southern US, and she was submitting her work to […]
A Word for the Art Age We Live In: “Scenius”
“Scenius” is the collective form of genius. Brian Eno coined the term, and it was recently stolen (like an artist) by Austin Kleon in his new book, Show Your Work! The concept of “scenius” refutes the Lone Artist/ Great Man Theory, noting that extraordinary creative breakthroughs emerge out of vibrant “scenes”, where a group of […]
The Maker Movement: Cute Idea or Alternative to Patriarchal Capitalism?
During his visit to Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle, my 23-year-old friend from Los Angeles looked around at the designers, jewelers and artists and commented, “Hmm. People making stuff and selling it. Pretty cool.” Humans have been actively making stuff and selling it for millennia, but this is newly cool in 2013. Some of us […]
STEM, STEAM, and Morticia Addams
You may have heard about the STEM program in public schools. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math – the subjects highlighted in our country’s effort to revamp our education system. The STEAM movement thinks the designers of STEM have overlooked something, ah… kind of important. Art. STEM + Art = STEAM The STEM to […]
Does it feel awkward to promote your own art?
Artists, are you approaching the necessity of self-promotion with resentment, wishing for an agent or a gallery to take care of all of this annoying marketing/selling/writing stuff? Some artists think self-promotion is intrinsically icky. They can grasp the benefits of self-promotion, but they just don’t want to get involved. You may have to set aside […]
Gravid
My current state of mind can best be described as gravid. Gravid adj. Pregnant; now used chiefly of egg-laying animals, or metaphorically. My first book, ART-WRITE from Luminare Press, launches on February 1st. All the pieces are in motion; the website, the FB page, the final finally final proofed copy, my new Twitter account, the […]