Contents for July 25, 2016
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1. Franc Palaia, FF Alumn, in Poughkeepsie, NY
2. Mike Osterhout, FF Alumn, at The Old Shul for Social Sculpture, Glen Wild, NY, opening July 23
3. Joni Mabe, FF Alumn, at Main Street Event Facility, Cornelia, GA, November 11-12
4. Scott McCarney, FF Alumn, in The New York Times, July 25
5. Lawrence Weiner, FF Alumn, at The Shed, Manhattan
6. LuLu LoLo, FF Member, at Sidewalk Café, Manhattan, Aug. 7
7. Charles Yuen, FF Alumn, now online at Hyperallergic.com
8. Barbara Rosenthal, FF Alumn, at Kardomah94, Hull, UK
9. Frank Moore, FF Alumn, now online at eroplay.com
10. Sydney Blum, FF Alumn, at Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre. Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada, opening Aug. 4
11. Emma Amos, FF Alumn, summer 2016 events
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1. Franc Palaia, FF Alumn, in Poughkeepsie, NY
Franc Palaia, FF Alumn, has just completed the largest mural in Dutchess County, in Poughkeepsie, NY. It measures 45′ x75′ and is painted in a Trompe L’oeil style. It depicts four building facades. The mural was actually a restoration and repainting of the original extremely faded image. Palaia was instrumental is saving this historic mural because the building owner had plans to stucco it over.
You can see the mural and interview with the artist on www.Hudsonvalleynewsnetwork.org for July 19, 2016.
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2. Mike Osterhout, FF Alumn, at The Old Shul for Social Sculpture, Glen Wild, NY, opening July 23
SUMMER SHUL
Mike Osterhout: ROOST X July 23 – August 7 Opening July 23 6pm
Terence Koh: טובלים את כדור הארץ ב במקווה Aug 13 – 28, 2016
Opening August 13 12pm
I own two historical buildings, a church and a synagogue (or shul), in a small Catskill town in upstate NY. I rescued them both from almost certain death and demolition and have spent many hours literally down on my hands and knees caring for each. Over the years they have become the primary context for my artwork; performative, curatorial, and sculptural. I am humbled within their creaking bones and crumbling plaster walls, always trying my damnedest to do them justice.
SUMMER SHUL is the first in a series of what I hope will be many site-specific exhibitions at THE OLD SHUL FOR SOCIAL SCULPTURE, my most recent project. The inaugural show will feature ROOST X, a new work I have designed for the space, which is opening Sat. July 23- 6pm, followed by the premiere of a new work by Terence Koh, טובלים את כדור הארץ ב במקווה, opening Sat. Aug 13- 12pm.
THE OLD SHUL FOR SOCIAL SCULPTURE resides in a synagogue built in 1920 by the Jaffe family of Glen Wild and a small congregation born out of the Jewish farm co-ops of the time. These were dairy and chicken farmers from Eastern Europe who planted the seeds for the “Borscht Belt” and what are now the Hassidic, Casino, Hillbilly, Hipster enclaves of today. The original architecture, stained glass and woodwork remain intact, in a state of beautifully arrested decay. It has no electricity and I have no plans to hook it up. Limitations and restrictions are an inherent part of the working artist’s life here in the mountains.
Mike Osterhout
2016
THE OLD SHUL is located 1hr and 45 mins. from Manhattan, 2 miles from Rt. 17, off exit 109.
THE OLD SHUL FOR SOCIAL SCULPTURE
380 Glen Wild Rd. Glen Wild, NY 12738
Drop in or by appt. 845 434 1918 oldshul1@gmail.com
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3. Joni Mabe, FF Alumn, at Main Street Event Facility, Cornelia, GA, November 11-12
Joni Mabe the Elvis Babe presents the 13th Big E Festival and ETA Competition, Nov. 11 – 12 in Cornelia, GA at the Main Street Event Facility, 501 S. Main St.
Alex Swindle, 2015 Big E Champion will perform Fri. Nov. 11 at 7 PM.
The ETA Competition will began at 1:00 pm on Saturday. Doors open at noon. Tickets go on sale August 1, call Ginger 706-499-1370. www.bigefest.com
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4. Scott McCarney, FF Alumn, in The New York Times, July 25
Here is a link to the fully illustrated article – text only follows below:
The New York Times
ART & DESIGN
SHARE
What You Collect: The
Ordinary and the Odd
By MICHELLE L. DOZOIS
JULY 24, 2016
The New Museum’s summer show “The Keeper” explores the complex relationships we have with the things we collect. Why do we amass certain objects? How do these collections affect us and those around us? When does a pleasant hobby cross the line into obsession, even madness?
Inspired by this vast exhibition, which includes some 4,000 items and artworks over four floors, created or preserved by 30 “keepers,” The New York Times asked readers to submit stories and photos of their own collections. The hundreds of responses were inspirational, delightful, poignant, shocking and disgusting, occasionally all at once. A sampling of these collections:
Absolut Vodka ads. Apple stems. Avocado seeds. Beach plastic. Branded barware. Broken objects. Chopstick wrappers. Discarded snapshots. Doll heads (“The head must be found as a separate item,” wrote Brenda Segel of New York.) Donald Duck memorabilia. Egg cups. Goddess statues. Greeting cards. “Harry Potter” books in different languages. Hotel room keys. Lucite grape clusters. Mah-jongg sets. Marijuana tax stamps. Men’s polyester disco shirts. Museum toilet paper from Europe. Nirvana posters. Oyster shells. Pockets. Potty-training books. Rubber ducks. Sand. Skull mugs. Soviet watches. Troll dolls. Typewriters. Vintage: Barbie structures, electric clothes irons, figures of the Virgin Mary, handkerchiefs, metal measuring tapes, photos of a baby and a dog in a playpen, photos of people and places named Dick, Thermoses, Western Electric telephones.
The word “hoarder” came up more than once. Some readers expressed a tinge of regret; many more, joy. And a few, befuddlement. “It started out innocently enough with a plastic banana in a Ziploc bag on the door of my apartment when I was in college,” wrote Scott McCarney of Rochester. “Before I knew it I was publishing a newsletter and collecting bananabilia.”
Here are some of our favorite reader collections, with explanations edited for space. “The Keeper” runs through Sept. 25.
Windy Chien
San Francisco
“I’m learning and making one new knot every day in 2016, using ye olde sailors’ knot tying books from the 1940s and prior. When I set out to make a knot a day, I had no idea that the way I store the pieces would itself become a thing. The knot wall is now so big I’m running out of space for it.”
Barry Harrison
Rancho Mirage, Calif.
“I collect anonymous vintage photos of men in rows. The variations on this theme are endless and endlessly fascinating to me: from standing to sitting to lying, from warmly intimate to cool and unemotional. How men interact when they line up in front of a camera says much about their times, social mores, and individual preferences. In these photos they define manhood in relation to one another.”
Heidi Dauphin
Phoenix
“One of my most unusual collections is treads from the bottom of peoples’ shoes found on hiking trails. I live in Phoenix, and our trails are extremely rocky and hard, causing soles to break down. In 2010 I was working on a project to collect a small object that represented something I did each day. On the first few hikes that year I picked up some rocks from the trails I was hiking. Soon I noticed tiny pieces of colored rubber on the trail and I couldn’t resist picking them up. I kept on hiking and kept on picking up treads. I have never counted the pieces, but I imagine I have over a thousand. I can’t resist the array of colors I see and different textures, markings, and logos each little piece holds.”
Betty Schwartz and Alexander Wilensky
New York
“We have a novelty pen collection, between 300 and 500 pieces (our best guess). The criteria for our pen collection is that each pen should have a fun novelty element – it should either move, light up, talk or make sounds and, of course, it should write! Some of the pens can project slides on the wall, make soap bubbles, record voices and even function as a one-armed bandit! We started to collect the pens in the 1990s and still continue. The collection is a happy respite from the digital world.”
Lisa Wood
San Francisco
“I tend to collect objects that are overlooked, discarded or rejected. I also tend to focus on children’s toys because I love the juxtaposition between the sweet and the forlorn. I call them my ‘Loved to Death’ collection. Being a misfit myself, I have always been drawn to anything out of the ordinary. I think most people don’t understand my attraction to these objects, but there are a few out there that appreciate the search.”
Constance Thalken
Decatur, Ga.
“For one year, at the end of every month, I collected and saved the contents of my vacuum cleaner. I simply dumped the contents into a plastic grocery bag, labeled the bag with the month, and placed it in a dark corner of my attic to incubate. After the year passed, I opened one each month and was mesmerized by what I saw. I was moved by the hair shed by my dog Tyner, now entangled in its own dark, dusty beauty. I saw how the ladybugs that gathered on the sun-drenched living room windows in the summer had transformed in death into enameled shells of spotted amber. My usual fright of the wasps and bees gave way to tenderness; their frozen poses now elegiac and wistful. The dense clumps of pollen from April made my throat tighten.”
Clayton Timbrell
San Francisco
“As kids, our dad began flying flags of different countries, states and flags relevant to special moments in history. He used to change the flag on our flagpole everyday, and at dinner time we would discuss what flag had been flown, and why it was relevant, which would often offer us insight into world politics and history. Today I continue the tradition, flying flags from my house in Nob Hill, San Francisco.”
Skip Richards
Westborough, Mass.
“About 29 years ago my 7-year-old daughter decided to collect different paper clips. I started to bring her any I found, and soon she lost interest and I was hooked. I now have over 10,700 different paper clips displayed on the walls of three rooms.”
Carolyn Eckert
Florence, Mass.
“My artist friends talked passionately about their collections of objects they kept for inspiration – everything from feathers, round rocks, tiny statues and postcards to old photos of kids on horses – and I started to wonder why I didn’t collect anything. If I didn’t collect, was I an artist, was I worthy? I started to think about things I loved, and realized a lot of these items were in my closet. I have a closet full of vintage clothes, some on the edge of costumes, and over time have developed a diverse collection of polyester pants. I love the odd colors, patterns and groovy looks, and that I can wear them for all kinds of occasions.”
Perry Casalino
Chicago
“I work in real estate. In 1999 my company bought a house to be torn down in a Chicago suburb. Among the debris I found an album which held some ‘real photograph’ postcards of early Chicago. The internet and eBay was just coming into popularity and I looked to see if these photos were worth anything. To my surprise eBay listed hundreds of beautiful early 1900s images of Chicago and the surrounding Midwest area. I quickly bought any image of a neighborhood I recognized and soon acquired a few hundred images. Other older, established bidders soon became annoyed with my reckless bidding. Flush with 1990s cash, I bid at will. Eventually, one bidder contacted me to strike a truce. We met, and I came to realize the commitment of each individual in this group of collectors and the importance of the historical value of these images. I decided to bring these former rivals together to share our resources and compete constructively. I held annual meetings, cataloged each member’s collection, scanned our images into a database and mediated disputes. With our newfound cooperation, our once fragmented group with hoarded postcard images now had a powerful resource. We have shared our images with authors of book projects, blogs and historic preservation groups, who use our rare street views to restore homes in landmark districts. Together, our group has made accessible thousands of early 1900s images of Chicago, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, southern Michigan, and northern Indiana.”
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5. Lawrence Weiner, FF Alumn, at The Shed, Manhattan
Here is a link to the complete illustrated article (text only follows below): HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2016/07/20/ARTS/DESIGN/THE-SHED-ANNOUNCES-ITS-FIRST-COMMISSION.HTML
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ART & DESIGN
The Shed Announces Its First Art Commissions
By ROBIN POGREBIN
JULY 19, 2016
While the arts center on the Far West Side now known as the Shed – formerly Culture Shed – has been on the boards for some time, its content has remained unclear. Now some of that programming is beginning to take shape.
On Tuesday, the Shed announced the first of its commissions, starting with the conceptual artistLawrence Weiner, who is producing a new work that will
And the Shed, which is nonprofit, has started a three-year collaboration with Reggie Gray, also known as Regg Roc, and the D.R.E.A.M. Ring (short for Dance Rules Everything Around Me), forming a free, citywide residency program for young people. This collaboration, FlexNYC, will begin in this fall.
“I wanted to start our work in and around New York with young people,” said Alex Poots, the Shed’s founding artistic director and chief executive. Since Mr. Weiner once worked on the docks, Mr. Poots added, “I just felt like he understood the past, present and future of that part of the city.”
Currently under construction where the High Line meets Hudson Yards, the 200,000-square-foot Shed will present performance, visual art, music and multidisciplinary work. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, the building is due to open in spring 2019 and has so far raised more than $326 million toward the total construction costs of $425 million.
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6. LuLu LoLo, FF Member, at Sidewalk Café, Manhattan, Aug. 7
LuLu LoLo Sunday August 7th @ 5:30pm Boog City 10 Boog City Poetry, Music, & Theater Festival. LuLu LoLo will be performing the work of John Trause and Christine Choi
Sidewalk Cafe
94 Avenue A
The East Village
Directions: A/B/C/D/E/F/V to W. 4th St.
Directions: F/V to 2nd Ave., L to 1st Ave.
Venue is at East 6th Street
LuLu LoLo
Website: lululolo.com
Facebook: LuluLoloProductions
Facebook: Where Are the Women?
Twitter: @FabLuLuLoLo
Instagram: TheLuLuLoLo
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7. Charles Yuen, FF Alumn, now online at Hyperallergic.com
Dear Friends,
I am honored to have been interviewed for this series with wonderful artists: “Beer with a Painter”, by Jennifer Samet on Hyperallergic.
Thank you.
Charles Yuen
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8. Barbara Rosenthal, FF Alumn, at Kardomah94, Hull, UK
Barbara Rosenthal’s video this week in HULL, UK, come see my video PATHS TO FOLLOW in the 75 Second Films Screenings, continuous looping with all the other great shorts:
Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 July,
Daily 10am – 6pm
Kardomah94’s intimate theatre.
Free admission
Kardomah94, 94 Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AN
If you wanna stay home, here it is on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/160455087
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9. Frank Moore, FF Alumn, now online at eroplay.com
Frank Moore, FF Alumn, featured in a new episode of the web video series about his life and art, LET ME BE FRANK
Let Me Be Frank
Episode 3 – Art of Reshaping Reality
Let Me Be Frank is a video series based on the life and art of shaman, performance artist, writer, poet, painter, rock singer, director, TV show host, teacher and bon vivant, Frank Moore.
The series is partly a biography, but also a presentation of Frank’s philosophy on life and on art. Twenty-plus episodes have been planned based on Frank’s book, Art Of A Shaman, which was originally delivered as a lecture at New York University in 1990 as part of the conference “New Pathways in Performance”. Each episode will feature readings by people who played an important part in Frank’s life, either as friends, lovers, students, artistic collaborators or supporters of his art.
Episode 3, “Art of Reshaping Reality” features reading by Michael LaBash, graphic designer and producer of the Let Me Be Frank series with Linda Mac. Mikee was Frank’s all-around “tech-guy” since 1987, when he melted into relationship with Frank and Linda, living together until Frank’s death.
Let Me Be Frank presents Frank’s exploration of performance and art as being a magical way to effect change in the world … performance as an art of melting action, of ritualistic shamanistic doings/playings. Using Frank’s career and life as a “baseline”, it explores this dynamic playing within the context of reality shaping.
The series is available on Frank’s website at http://eroplay.com/letmebefrank/ and on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/channels/letmebefrank.
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10. Sydney Blum, FF Alumn, at Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre. Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada, opening Aug. 4
ICARUS – COLOUR – SPACE
at the Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre
August 4-28, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday August 4, 7-9pm
31 Creamery Rd, Tatamagouche, NS B0K 1V0, Canada
by Elizabeth Spence
The last time I spoke to sculptor Sydney Blum about her work she was preparing for her show in New York called “Fuzzy Geometry.” This was at a Tata Talk two years ago, and since then, she has moved on from synthetic hair and boxy wire grids and straight lines, to heavy cardboard, snippets of wire, undulating painted grids and sinuous lines. The multi layers of the “Fuzzy Geometry” pieces drew you in, forcing you to try and make sense of the pulsing flux of colour and form. The new works are shaped rather like a wing, suggesting a continuum of time and space, and the ways in which the grids, colours and shapes are composed this time make you feel as if you are about to take off.
This is where the title of the exhibition, Icarus-Colour-Space, comes in. Icarus is, of course, the figure in Greek myth whose father fashioned wings of feathers and wax so that they could escape imprisonment on an island. Icarus, young and full of life, skateboarded through the sky, as it were. Yet in spite of his father’s warnings, he flew too near the sun, the wax on his wings melted, and he fell to his death.
Sydney Blum has used the idea of Icarus flying towards the sun as the impetus of her new work. Here, she attempts to describe and create the motion and sensation of flying but in solid form: an incongruity that is not lost on her. She juxtaposes and distorts colours and lines and shapes in such ways as to produce seemingly contradictory vibrating waves of energy in our consciousness. We see the form, the suggestion of a wing, a shield, an expanding and contracting grid underlaid with gradations of colour. The flight that draws us through this complex undulating interplay of colour, shapes, shadows and light takes us somewhere else. Towards the sun, perhaps. Into the unknown, certainly.
There is a much stronger sense of precariousness, adventure and, indeed, of the future here than in the “Fuzzy” series. There, we were guided to an inner world of uncertain boundaries of colour and space, while this series describes a movement outward, upward. The mechanics are quite visible and intentionally evident as one moves around the pieces cantilevered from the wall. Perhaps a collaboration between Icarus’s father and the Wright Brothers. It is strangely optimistic.
For Sydney, the creation of a piece of sculpture is an exploration. The development of the process, sourcing the materials and designing the structures are only a part of the whole undertaking . She examines a large selection of computer programs and websites in her research into earth energies, the vibrations of colour, grid formations, oscillation, geometric theory, seismology, interference patterns, dowsing, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, shape theory and metallurgy. It is quite evident that she is deeply interested in subtle energies. For the new series, she has also had lengthy discussions with printers who produce the raw materials for the pieces, and she has worked closely with a metal machinist to design the movable mechanism holding the sculptures out from the wall. All this is in addition to thinking deeply about the meaning and implications of her work, manipulating the materials, and engaging her creativity and imagination throughout every aspect of the project.
link to photos: http://kimfostergallery.com/sydney-blum/
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11. Emma Amos, FF Alumn, summer 2016 events
Emma Amos’ work is in this show at the Newark Museum which opened on June 18:
Current shows:
Modern Heroics
curated by Tricia Laughlin Bloom
Newark Museum, Newark, US
June 18, 2016 – January 8, 2017
Material Issue
curated by Joey Yates
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, US
July 1 – September 2016
Curated by
Joey Yates, KMAC Associate Curator
Aldy Milliken, KMAC Executive Director and Chief Curator
Artist include: Emma Amos, David Adamo, Lisa Alvarado, Cory Arcangel, Radcliffe Bailey, Sarah Briland, Susan Collis, Tacita Dean, Ben Durham, Adrian Esparza, Mike Goodlett, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Toyin Ojih Odutola
http://www.kmacmuseum.org/#!material-issue/ck5f
Upcoming:
The Color Line: African American Artists and Segregation
Curated by Daniel Soutif
Musée du quai Branly, Paris, FR
October 4, 2016 – January 15, 2017
Recent:
EMMA AMOS
Honoree alongside Faith Ringgold and Lorraine O’Grady
Studio Museum in Harlem
Spring Luncheon 2016
New York, USA
Thank you!
Natalia de Campos
studio manager
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Goings On is compiled weekly by Harley Spiller
