LAUNCHED!
www.tiffanycarr.com
So for awhile I have been working on updating my website (or rather bothering my husband, the web designer, about updating my website). Although it is not quite complete (there are still content issues that I am working on), it is newly launched! www.tiffanycarr.com
www.inchey.com
I also have another new website. Inchey is an experimental project that began with my students and I am trying to spread throughout communities. By leaving incheys and little notes with direction in community place to be picked up I invite strangers to particpate in the exploration of their everyday surroundings. Check it out. There may never be any response, who knows, but the fun is in the trying. www.inchey.com
Practitioner: mapping and indexing
And so another school year begins
Another school year begins with promises of fantastic projects and creative students. As I sit in my room all set up and ready for the kids to come next week, I am grateful for my position. I love teaching art and am excited for another great year.
I came across this video the other day and thought it was a cute little ditty and a fun reminder of the wonders of art for the begining of the school year.
An evening with Sharon Bridgforth
Last night I had the privilege of attending Sharon Bridgforth’s performance of loveconjure/blues at the Iowa City Public Library. Her combination of readings and film vignettes, her different voices and different characters, all within her unique jazz aesthetic painted a story of place, time, and attitude that drew the audience in.
I am always interested in speakers, whether it be performance or lecture, that can transition between the upbeat inclusiveness of humor to a heavy somber monologue. Ms. Bridgforth did this many times throughout her piece effortlessly.
As I am working on a film for class, I found myself more interested in the films and the questions of aesthetic they arose.
The discussion afterward shined insight onto her creative process. One that is reflected in her work. Showcasing “rough drafts” to friends during dinner parties. By doing this she not only was able to “feel” the work out, but also gained more material for future performances. Sharing unfinished work is a brave endeavor that pushes an artist’s editorial eye. It takes confidence in the idea and pursuit behind the project and it is a practice I hope to employ more often.
Who Will Win in the Battle of Artist vs. Reseacher?
I have been working a lot in the unfamiliar medium of film.
The experience has been good. I find there are certain mediums that bring out a bit of obsessiveness in me. I can now say without a doubt that video is one such medium. In most mediums there is a point of no return, like melting off, painting over, sawing away, etc. In video there is always the opportunity to add something back in and try it a new way. To go over and over and over minutia. This is where I find myself today.
I also see how presenting research through film would create an attachment that writing a standard research paper might not. By adding a piece – then watching it, adding another – then watching it, taking that piece back out – then watching it (you get the idea) one becomes really committed to what is in and what isn’t.
This also leads to the conundrum that I seem to be in. I found all this great information and work that people had done (albeit none in the age group that I work with) However, in a 6 minute (nearing 7) film it is difficult to present method let alone prior research, analysis, interpretation, etc. Therefore my inner editor is on full alert cutting out seconds and scenes and questioning the importance of just about every part. Currently I am working to balance creating a video that artistically is interesting (for my first stab at film) and research that shows the intentions and process of the study. I know that if this were a project for publication, dissertation, or really anything on my CV I would accompany it with a hefty paper steeped in pedagogy and standard research protocol. But for a first attempt at art-based research I am glad I chose video as my medium and am also quite enjoying my inner struggle between artist and researcher.
Below is a flash video I found on psychogeography (sort of “surreal-noir”…yep, I just made that up). It is a design student’s final project and an example of how to use an artistic method to portray information to an audience. This is the best quality I could find (it’s worth at least a glimpse I think).
A visit to the Archives
I had two boxes of zines pulled for me at the archives. The employee who greeted me upon my arrival was very helpful and after filling out a couple of forms I was left to explore my boxes. They were already set out on a table, but right away my eye was drawn to the large weathered book at the table behind me-perhaps the oldest book I have ever seen. My mind wandered to what sort of book it was and how old it could be.
Although I am a fan of digression, I did eventually refocused onto the boxes in front of me.
Inside were wonderful examples of zines. The subjects of many of them revolved around strong political and social issues such as gay rights, feminism, and war. Although, some focused on lighter topics like the music scene, having the “worst TAs ever”, and underpants. Most of them were American made from the ’80′s to early ’90′s, but there were exceptions with some a bit older, some from other countries, and some published into the early 2000′s. One thing that all of them had in common is that they were unique and beautiful. The juxtaposition of font and image in zines is not found elsewhere in such one-of-a-kind ways.
Some examples of what I saw:
Page with what appears to be a silver screenprint over the printed page
A little zine about underpants.
Excellent example of zine text/image design.
One of the most well-known zines
A very well-printed cover.
I very much enjoyed my trip to the archives and could envision loosing hours and hours there pouring through their boxes of treasures. The zines inspired my inner-revolutionist hidden under my cardigan-clad teacher exterior.
Making Lemonade
When Life Gives You Lemons-Make Lemonade
It is now less than a week from spring break, the snow is melted away, the warmer weather is beckoning us to come out of our winter hibernation, the birds are chirping, and the children are growing restless.
All of this does not make a great formula for students redoing a project over and over again, but that is exactly what I am having to do at one of my schools.
Yesterday marked the second time that I have opened up my kiln to see the wreckage that once was the 5th graders’ clay project (this time with the 1st graders’ clay as well). My kiln is very glitchy (to say the least) and to fix it, during these difficult economic times, is deemed “not a priority” by the school district.
Oh the horror!
So the theme of yesterday…”When Life Gives You Lemons-Make Lemonade“. After discussing what the phrase meant (while trying to soften the blow of the inevitable production of clay masks for the 3rd time) I pulled out the less-sharp shards of clay. The pieces were placed in a flowerpot I labeled “Lemons”.
Our Lemons
When students completed their clay project (again) they could help themselves to some “lemons” and paint them to create jewelry. Next class we will gloss, wire wrap, and string up the pieces to make unique handmade necklaces, bracelets, and rings.
Our Lemonade
So to all of my peers already on spring break- enjoy, while my students and I enjoy our lemonade.
Methodologies
In the Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research, chapters 21-24, methodologies that use art to convey research are explained . The different methodolgies- photography, collage, sculptural writing, and installation. I could envision myself using all of these in one way or another…and yes I am including sculptural writing.
Photography-the narratives inspired me to relook at some “mystery photos” of my own. I can see how using narrative in photography could become a powerful set.
Collage-I find collage more and more useful, not only as a final product, but often as a begining as well.
Ahh…Sculptural Writing- I do think that there is a way in which this could be thoughtfully used, maybe not as research, but as an artform that helps to better express research.
Installation-If only my head was a museum, because there are some grand installation ideas up there. But seriously, installation has the abilitiy to include the audience in a way unlike other art forms.
Curiosity of the Street
I have always been drawn to modern art. I remember vividly a retrospective of Lichtenstein I visited in my youth as well as a unit on conceptual art in high school. This pull led me to take two semesters of modern art history in my undergraduate studies. By this time I was very much interested in Art Brut and artists such as Jean DuBuffet whose work is inspired by the untrained and/or insane. I believe it was during this time, in a late 20th century art history class that I was formally introduced to the works of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
I think what stood out to me the most about Haring and Basquiat’s work was the accessibility. Their work as well as their demeanor was not for the critics, but for the people. I was particularly drawn to Basquiat, reading biographies of his upbringing and venture, albeit sometime reluctant, into the art world.
Both artists began in the streets as graffiti artists and transitioned into fame in the 1980’s. Their work encouraged me to be more aware of my surrounding, often photographing the sides of building and trains- when before I may have walked by.
Toward the end of my undergraduate studies I designed and taught a unit in my secondary art methods course on graffiti art. During my master’s thesis work on connections between art and social consciousness I included both Basquiat and Haring as examples of socially minded work presented to the participants.
In recent years I have become increasingly interested in the positive influences street art can have on one’s environment. I have begun to ask more questions about the process and affects of street art. The work of Keri Smith and July and Harrell Fletcher are linked in my blog roll.
There has been a widening of acceptance of what is considered street art to include work beyond spray painted graffiti and installation such as knit tagging, light graffiti, situational graffiti, and seed bombing- to name a few. These new forms of street art lend themselves to other art forms that also center on the awareness of our surroundings like culture jamming and psychogeography.
There are many directions I could go with street art as my inspiration. For the moment I am continuing to collect information and more questions.
Canada
Perhaps its the excitement in the air from the Olympics or maybe it is that the majority of this week’s reading seems to be Canadian, but the Great White North is sounding pretty wonderful.
With Kathleen Vaughn’s chapter detailing the SSHRC and research/creation competitions in Canada, Karen Scott-Hoy and Carolyn Ellis meeting at the “Autoethnography Workshop” in Canada, and Dwayne Donald’s narrative based in Canada, does anyone else feel a bit of a yearning for the North?
