Avant-Guardian Musings

Location| Budapest and Vienna: Season's Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 12:29:00 +0000

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year from beautiful and wintery Europe! Here are some selected Instagram photos to give you a feel of what we are experiencing here in my family's hometown of Budapest, along with some images from our side trip to Vienna (only 2.5 short hours by train). Christmas markets, outdoor ice skating, hot mulled wine, family dinners, the opera, and of course, lots of art to enjoy and provoke discussion. Enjoy and see you in 2013!

Writing and Not Writing About the Art Market: The Fallout

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Screen grab of the article that started the conversation...

A few weeks ago while surfing my Twitter feed, I noticed a tweet from documentary filmmaker Ben Lewis, producer of The Great Contemporary Art Bubble, citing a "bombshell" announcement that Sarah Thornton was no longer reporting on the art world. He quoted her statement that summed up quite simply: "the art market is too corrupt to report on and I quit." I was immediately intrigued and being a huge fan of Thornton's writing I followed Lewis's link to an article Thornton published in the October edition of Tar Magazine titled "Top 10 reasons Not to write about the art market."I have summarized her points in a list here below:

1. It gives too much exposure to artists who attain high prices.

2. It enables manipulators to publicize the artists whose prices they spike at auction.

3. It never seems to lead to regulation.

4. The most interesting stories are libelous.

5. Oligarchs and dictators are not cool.

6. Writing about the art market is painfully repetitive.

7. People send you unbelievably stupid press releases.

8. It implies that money is the most important thing about art.

9. It amplifies the influence of the art market

10. The pay is appalling.

Sarah Thornton became well known for her study of the
institutions making up the art world in her wonderfully written
Seven Days in the Art World (2008)
Image courtesy: Canadian Art

Bravo I thought. Finally someone speaking the truth that so many of us struggle to make sense of when approaching the baffling world of today's art market. Indeed, Thornton goes a long ways towards explaining through her ten points just why it is that the bubble Lewis described so well in his film has not burst (in fact, it just keeps getting bigger). Following since the discussion and comments about her abrupt departure, it is clear that the lack of real political mass in the wake of Occupy and many of the protest movements witnessed over the previous year is partly fueling this position. To be honest, I really can't blame her for the decision to stop reporting on the market, and especially after reading and thinking about Martha Schwendener's follow-up article on "The State of Political Art"-- an article I blogged about last year when pondering these issues through a series of Philosopher Cafe's I was hosting on the topic of artist activism. Schwendener's depressing conclusion after studying a number of exhibitions mounted in the year since the protests is that contemporary art, however political or subversive its intent, relentlessly suffers the fate of institutionalization and the money problems that come with it.

Moreover, Schwendener's observations only reinforce Thornton's ten points:

"What all of these shows do, however, is return protest and activism to the white cube and institutions funded, as Occupy Museums points out, by the very people the art work theoretically rails against. "Stop using my art to wash your money," one participant said at Momenta. But this happens all the time…Like other fields, art has a serious money and institution problem that reached a breaking point under neoliberalism. What past art movements taught us is that changing the medium or the definition of an artist doesn't help."

Christie's auction of a Renoir painting in October-- it wasn't even over and
the price was already well over $4 million.
Image courtesy: UK Telegraph

Not surprisingly, the response from art market insiders has been both dismissive and condescending. Case in point is billionaire art collector and art critic for the New York Observer, Adam Lindemann, who posted an article "Writing About Not Writing About the Art Market" offering a point-by-point rebuttal of Thornton's original article. Having very little to add to the critical discussion, the article ironically enough proves all of Thornton's points by offering an example of the kind of writing and approach to art and its institutions that does little to question anything other than the status quo. For a billionaire collector, who is also an art critic, this should not be so surprising (this is the same man, after all, who infuriated his neighbours by planting a giant phallic Franz West sculpture on his property). But if this is the best kind of reporting we now have on the art market, it is hard not to be discouraged.

As a final note, I absolutely love this 2011 interview with Thornton posted below. Here, much like in her recent article, she offers up candid, honest, and valuable assessments concerning the art world in straight-forward and concise language. In particular, Thornton convincingly argues that too much time is taken up talking about whether people "like" particular kinds of art versus understanding the way art is deployed as a potent form of cultural capital (Ah yes-- this really *is* the task of any good art historian afterall). She also describes how and why she decided to combine her skills in sociology and art history to arrive at her eye-opening accounts of the mechanisms, interests, and power mongering within the contemporary art world-- a fascinating topic in and of itself. But in the end, and despite any misgivings she now has about the subject she has spent so much time invested in, Thornton does share one pearl of wisdom that I think is worth repeating here: "A successful artist is one who doesn't feel bitter." Words to live by, in my humble opinion, whatever your profession.

Further Reading:

Horowitz, Noah. Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market. Princeton University Press (2011).

Thompson, Don. The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art. Palgrave Macmillan (2010).

Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. W.W. Norton and Company (2009).

Quick Compare | Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler, and Vogue Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:43:00 +0000

Cindy Sherman, Self-Portrait for French Vogue (2007)
Image courtesy: Artobserved

A few weeks back in my art theory course, we were reading excerpts from Lea Vergine's 1974 groundbreaking book The Body as Language and discussing how female performance art has transitioned, changed, and sometimes stayed the same in connection to the shifting discourse around feminism and beauty. Interestingly, while researching material for this class, I ended up juxtaposing Martha Rosler's 1982 video art performance Martha Rosler Reads Vogue with Cindy Sherman's editorial work in French Vogue in 2007, where she assumed the persona of the "fashionista" that Rosler had offered critical commentary about 25 years earlier. After reflecting on the class discussion, it is quite amazing how well these two works stand in tension with one another. In Rosler's performance, that familiar deadpan voice (the one many of us recall from Semiotics of the Kitchen) poses the relentless question "What is Vogue?" while offering a close reading, and unpacking the cultural language offered, on page after page of an actual edition of the popular and iconic fashion magazine.

Here, Rosler anticipates the emerging post-feminist position that has been unwilling to fully interrogate (or at least come to some reasonable terms with) the resilient and seductive world of commodities targeting female consumers. One need only point to any episode of the popular "Real Housewives" franchise to see this phenomenon in action. Indeed, it is hard not to notice Rosler's fingers caressing each page of the magazine as she works through her monologue. This of course is at the core of the performance's powerful statement. With Sherman, we see Rosler's radical critique morph into a situational and fully postmodern intervention that dramatically positions the artist on the actual pages of Vogue. It is important to know that Sherman was invited and encouraged to produce her own performative fashion shoot using the very commodity items and media forms that had been a source of Rosler's critique. In the end, Sherman's difficult to categorize pictures (one wonders if the irony of the images is lost on Vogue readers-- Sherman does not really comment on this issue in her interview and discussion of the editorial below) further highlights the problematic and contradictory forces that inform present-day feminist politics.

Interestingly enough, and to add to the complexity surrounding these related performances, Rosler's video was recently screened as part of MoMA's contribution to the "Fashion Night Out" event that happens annually during New York Fashion Week. In November Rosler will have her much anticipated first solo exhibition at MoMA and is planning a large-scale version of an American style garage sale where she will display and sell second-hand goods to visitors. Rosler is also soliciting donations and, as the ad for the video screening promises without a hint of irony, "contributors will receive a 20% discount at the MoMA store!" I have no doubt that Rosler knows exactly what she is doing-- stay tuned.

Screen grab from Martha Rosler's upcoming solo exhibition at MoMA-- a live garage sale is planned.
Image courtesy: MoMA

New Courses for Spring 2013: Topics in Modern/Postmodern Architecture and Avant-Garde Film

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:18:00 +0000

As registration for Spring 2013 academic courses begins soon, I wanted to provide more information about new courses I will begin teaching in January. Please see detailed descriptions below including a new special topics class in the History of Architecture (1700-present), and the History of Avant-Garde Film. If you have any specific questions that are not answered here or in the links I provide you to the registration for the courses, you can contact me directly. I look forward to another rich and engaging semester with both new and familiar faces.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Mondays 4:00-6:50pm, Room Fir 3414)

ARTH 3100: Special Topics-- History of Architecture, 1700-present

Norman Foster, Reichstag interior, Berlin (1993)

This course traces the history of architecture from the period of the late Baroque in the eighteenth century through to the postmodern architectural styles associated with the contemporary present, approaching architecture as a unique medium with its own visual vocabulary and spatial codes. The various formal languages, designs, and theories that have shaped the history of architecture will be explored through the close examination of select buildings and spatial environments set within specific cultural, social, political and economic contexts of their planning and construction. The broader purpose of this course is to provide students with the ability to critically evaluate and recognize how the history and theory of architecture, especially as it evolved through periods of emerging nationalism, industrialization, urbanization, and modernism within the framework of a broader global visual culture and art history, continue to impact our collective spatial, visual, intellectual and cultural environments today.

All of the buildings under examination (which will introduce and cover aspects of architecture, spatial planning, and styles associated with the Baroque, Neo-Classical, Gothic Revival, Arts and Crafts, and Art Nouveau movements in Europe and North America, together with radical breaks seen in the turn to globalizing Modern and Post-Modern architecture in the practices of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Venturi, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry and others) will be related to their original contexts, but also raise questions about the range of functions that architecture might fulfill within different societies. While the primary focus of the course will be on Western architecture and culture, the architecture of the Middle East, Asia, the Americas and Africa will also be explored through targeted readings and lectures. The course will therefore not just be about following a chronological and progressive trajectory of “great buildings” and “great architects” but will instead address broad issues related to political power, gender, sexuality, race, and the formation of individual and group identities. In this way, the ideas raised in this course will also draw attention to the dynamics and ongoing debates concerning what it means to make a building and design a space in any cultural context.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Tuesdays 4:00-6:50pm, Room Fir 3414)

ARTH 3100: Special Topics—History of Avant-Garde Film

Andy Warhol, Screen Test (Edie Sedgwick) (1964)

The avant-garde movements of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been determining forces in shaping collective ideas about artistic practice and culture, social history, and subversive intent. Not surprisingly, the technology of motion pictures has provided avant-garde practitioners with a dynamic new medium to explore a range of themes and philosophies, linking filmic experimentation with important ideas emerging in the modern and contemporary art of the past century.

Beginning with an examination of film’s critical role in the development of modern art and the history of the avant-garde, this course will draw from existing issues and debates concerning art history and the expanding field of visual culture linked through a number of filmic subgenres (such as abstraction, collage, Dadaism, appropriation, surrealism, structuralism, duration, parody, camp, autobiography and expanded cinema). In this way, the course also offers a critical examination of selected films in connection to key theoretical and historical turning points in art history and critical theory and will roughly follow the history and theory of visual arts as it moves from the emergence of the modern period in Europe through the demise of modernism following WWII and into the areas of post-modern intervention leading to our contemporary present. Artists and filmmakers under examination include, but are not limited to, Germaine Dulac, Marcel Duchamp, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Cocteau, Hans Richter, Man Ray, Jean-Luc Godard, Stan Brakhage, Akira Kurosawa, Shirley Clarke, Robert Smithson, Chantal Akerman, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, David Lynch, Doug Aitken, Stan Douglas, Doug Aiken, Matthew Barney, Pipilotti Rist, Kenneth Anger and Matthew Barney.

Weekly Twitter|YouTube Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Ai Weiwei goes Gangnam style to the delight of audiences worldwide
(see tweet and YouTube video below)

Another week done and we find ourselves over the midterm hump and ready to dive into the meaty part of the fall semester. I have been doing a lot of marking and evaluating this weekend along with enjoying the best of the Halloween season (i.e. scary movies and treats). Take a quick break and enjoy some of my picks from around the Twitterverse. As a new feature, I've also decided to add some of my favourites from around YouTube land into the weekly mix-- now that there are so many more art-related videos popping up on my subscription feeds, I want to pass along some worthy picks to compliment the Twitter links. Enjoy and have a safe and Happy Halloween this week!

Garage (Art) Sale: Martha Rosler to fill the @MuseumModernArt with 12,000 donated objects to sell for charity

New film technology may be the death of Vancouver theatres

Art exhibit in Seattle replaced all work by male artists with work solely by female artists for new exhibition

100 ideas that changed art

I would just like to point out that @metmuseum has put hundreds of PDFs of out of print art books online. #gratis

UbuWeb has just added over 150 films

Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style' in video tribute to Psy

Focus on Research | How to Write A Lot.... (or Enough to Meet Deadlines)

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 01:39:00 +0000

All good writing begins as a draft. Start creating more of them with some useful tips.

Writing, like almost any other activity that is worth doing well, takes practice over time. That is as cold a reality for the first year university student as it is for the seasoned graduate or professor. Here are ten tips and bits of advice that can help ward off procrastination and get you on the path to writing lots and writing well.

P.S. Not surprisingly, most of these tips can be applied to making lots of any other kind of creative output (art, music, dance, film) etc...

1. Write a little bit every day: This is my most often repeated advice regarding writing. Think of it this way. If you are working out, does it make sense to go to the gym 2-3 times a week for an hour or once a week for 6-9 hours? Which approach is manageable and realistic, and which approach guarantees burnout and failure? Too many people look at their calendars and try to set aside multiple hours and even entire days to produce writing, especially on a deadline. This is a recipe for procrastination and failure since it sets up tremendous pressure and an unrealistic expectation that you will be able to write vast amounts of words consistently over that shortened time frame. Instead, set aside a reasonable and achievable amount of time several times per week to get your written assignments started and/or completed. Remember, good writing takes practice and works on day-to-day momentum. It is simply not a weekend warrior kind of sport.

2. Set a timer: Following up on the previous tip, get yourself a simple egg timer and/or download an app for your smart phone or computer to set a limit on your writing for the day (I use this old school app for the computer). Returning to my workout analogy, setting a limited time to write produces the expectation that you will in fact begin writing (the biggest hurdle to writing itself) and that the activity will have a firm endpoint. When I write blog posts, for example, I schedule a certain set amount of time to produce my text. If I don’t, I probably won’t actually get to writing, or I could be sitting and writing for far too long and unnecessarily over-editing and overthinking the process. Case in point, the failure to establish a time to write my blog posts resulted in far fewer posts this past month. Once I set the time in my schedule--voila!--posts begin to appear as if by magic. For more focused days that I schedule writing, I write in 40 minute sessions and for no more than 2-3 sessions a day max. This was true even when I was working on my dissertation. You see, the secret to understanding this tip is to know that a bolt of inspiration will seldom spur you into writing on a regular basis and for a protracted period of time. Bolts of inspiration do come (see Tip #9 to be prepared for this), but if you actually want to complete a writing goal or assignment, you have to plan time for and not overdo it.

3. Don’t edit…yet: This bit of advice is important if you are writing for a larger assignment or project and want to be able to have something good to work with. Students especially seem to believe that they have to create perfectly edited sentences or well thought out ideas when they sit down to write. The reality is that a good piece of writing comes out of rough drafts of writing, which requires the ability to get ideas down on paper quickly and without too much overthinking. Bottom line, start writing and start writing without the expectation that it will pour out of you in perfectly constructed sentences and paragraphs. You can then dedicate every second or third writing session to editing what you have produced (or split your writing session into two parts: part one, write without editing; and part two, edit what you have written).

4. Disable the Internet…no, seriously: In our present culture of perpetual distraction, this is a critical tip that many people instinctively know but seldom put into good practice. You must disable your Internet to get any decent (and non-plagiarized) writing done. If you need to have some wonderful article to refer to, download it and have it on your desktop. Need some reference to a great website or image? Take a screen shot and do your best to paraphrase what it is you are referring to. There are countless ways that disabling the Internet leads you to better writing, but the simplest one is that you will remain writing and not be tempted to engage in web-surfing, email or social media with the access cut off. There are many great applications out there to shut down your Internet access when you get down to some serious writing, but I think the easiest one is to simply TURN IT OFF.

5. Create carrots and a few sticks: Like all of you, I enjoy the pleasures of life and cannot imagine balancing my writing without a reward system. For example, I try to schedule my writing session ahead of some pleasurable downtime activity, like going out for a walk, watching a great TV show, catching up with friends on social media, or any other task I am looking forward to. When writing in more intense sessions (more than once a day), I make sure to create breaks between writing to relax my mind and recharge my mental battery through some form of play. On the other hand, you may also have to build in a few “sticks” to stay on task. If I am facing an especially strong bout of procrastination, I will simply not allow myself to check email/social media/my phone until I complete the session. I have even gone as far as telling myself that I cannot go out or take a shower/put on makeup until I am done my writing session. That is very strong motivation, no?

6. Park your ideas on a downhill slope: This is a bit of advice I picked up from a professor mentor some years ago. The idea here is that you have a much better shot at getting into the momentum of your next writing session if you leave off your last session with either a partially completed sentence/idea that you can pick back up when you open up your document, or if you give yourself some bullet points or notes on where to get going next in your assignment. Once again, this is simple physics in action—an object in motion tends to stay in motion, while the energy required to get a stalled object moving is much more daunting. Help your future self out and park your writing on a downhill slope at the end of each session.

7. Establish soft deadlines to make firm ones possible: This is another of those tips calculated to avoid the dreaded specter of procrastination that will inevitably hit if you see days of non-stop writing in your future to make a looming deadline. Simply break down your writing task to manageable chunks. For research papers and bigger projects, you can use a calculator like this one, or you can make your own system of getting parts of the whole completed over a reasonable amount of time. Students often balk at the idea of completing a paper over 4-6 weeks, but this is really the secret to becoming an effective student (especially if that student plans to succeed at the upper undergraduate level and beyond). I also schedule in the writing of outlines and other bits of descriptive writing (like describing images, preparing bibliographies and footnotes) into this system so that my writing moves between different types and different levels of difficulty over the life of the project.

8. Create an elevator pitch for your project: This was an idea I developed over the course of my graduate student days when people would inevitably ask me what my dissertation was about. The “elevator pitch” is an idea that actually comes out of the world of screenwriters who often get less than 1-3 minutes to sell an idea to a producer in passing (usually on an elevator during a brief encounter—it seems to happen a lot in the movies). The basis of the elevator pitch is that it reduces to understandable and plain language what it is that you are actually writing about and arguing in your written projects. The best way to know what you are writing about is to speak it aloud, and preferably to someone who knows nothing about your topic. This guarantees the level of clarity and plain language you will be seeking in defining and writing the thesis/main idea/main argument of your project. Another tip is to record yourself when you are describing what you are writing about to someone else. Silly as it seems, I started doing this when I stopped myself during many conversations with the thought, “So THAT is what I am arguing—wait, I have to WRITE THIS DOWN.”

9. Carry a journal and prepare for ideas to “hit” you: This is a tip that I often share with students who are attending especially engaging lectures and classes with many “big ideas” and theories as part of the curriculum. But also, you have to have to think of how many times you have been riding a bus, driving home, watching a TV show, or simply talking to a friend or catching something on-line when you make some major connection to your work. Bottom line, we are self-absorbed beings and when you are actively working on a written project, it seems everything is related to your topic. This is truly when inspiration can hit and you must be prepared by carrying a little notebook and pen with you wherever you go. Bring it to class, tuck it in your purse or backpack, have it beside you when you casually Internet browse and even when you sleep. You just never know when a good idea is going to hit you!

10. Establish a writing group: This is a final tip that can go a long way to helping reinforce and establish the first nine tips outlined above. Make it a point to work with like-minded students, friends, or colleagues to achieve your mutual writing goals. Sometimes the simple idea that someone else is working on a writing goal and will hold you accountable the next time you meet is enough to motivate you into action. I have worked with both real life and online writing groups to get my writing done, and I have also acted as the “coach” to friends who have enlisted me to hold them accountable and check in with them. The benefits of working in groups are many, but the best part is that you get to share and receive feedback on your writing while learning from others about their techniques and approach. You also get to feel a lot less isolated in the task of writing, which can be one of the loneliest activities that we do.

Newton's first law of motion is critical to writing success.

Focus on Tech | iAnnotate and Why I Finally Bought an iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:10:00 +0000

iAnnote is changing how I grade and comment on papers-- also making
the whole process a lot less painful (screen shot from my iPad)

I know, I know, to call a software application a revolution is a bit sensational, but I seldom get excited by technology like back in the good old days when these sorts of things were a lot fewer and farther in between. Flashback to the early 2000’s when I first got my hands on the bibliographic software EndNote and completely transformed the way I tracked and did my research. iAnnotate is right up there in that category and is essentially moving me to a near 100% paperless relationship with my students while enabling me to mark up and interact with my drafts, research documents, and other essential paperwork in more dynamic and intuitive ways.

What is iAnnotate exactly? Well, according to their own website description, “iAnnotate's intuitive interface and comprehensive, customizable set of features let you annotate, manage, and share documents from your iPad. People use iAnnotate as their "go-to app" for taking notes on lecture slides, annotating important business documents, revising screenplays, grading papers, and much more.” In short, the application allows you to do with a tablet computer what you would normally do with a pen and paper, only you can manage the task more efficiently, back up all your edits, and keep all of your documents in one virtual place.

iAnnotate was also the reason I purchased an iPad. For all of my railing against Steve Jobs and his closed Apple ecosystem, I was unable to resist the lure of the device and this app when I first encountered a grad student at a conference at NYU earlier this year marking up a document on his iPad while he sat next to me. What immediately caught my attention was how quickly he was adding comments and circling material while scrolling through a long document with very little effort. At the break, he gave me a demonstration and revealed to me that he was in fact marking an undergrad paper (yes during a conference, it happens) and that he was carrying 20+ more on his device to turn around by the end of the weekend. From my perspective, I was immediately intrigued. I cannot tell you how many times I have lugged student papers and other assorted documents for review on and off airplanes and back and forth to university campuses over the years. Once I came back home, I decided to make the transition over to the paperless system for the fall semester.

Hundreds of papers all at my fingertips. That cool
stylus is also magnetic and sticks to your iPad cover.

Flash forward to three weeks ago, when I finally made my peace with RIM and gave up my Blackberry Torch and Playbook tablet for an iPhone 5 and iPad (that is a whole other long story—if you know me, you know that this was a very difficult decision to make). The very first application I purchased was iAnnotate, and I have now spent the past several weeks marking up my first batch of student assignments. One of the first things I did to figure out a quick workflow for the app was to consult a post that another professor using iAnnotate had created, linking the capabilities of the app with the cloud based storage system Dropbox. In that tutorial, I learned how to back up the files and manage a virtual archive of student work for quick access in the future (this is also a very useful thing to have on hand when students come asking for references and you need to be reminded of their written work for the best possible letter on their behalf).

I have produced here as well a few screen shots from my iPad to show just how I use the tools on a sample document. Notice that you can mark up using both hand written notations (I recently purchased this stylus to do this more precisely, but you can use your finger as well); highlight and add more extensive comments via virtual sticky pads; scroll through the document quickly with the touch of a tab; add stamp annotations of a letter grade or your own personally created annotations; and (here is my very favourite feature) voice record comments! This last feature has literally saved me hours in terms of writing out comments by hand and also allowing me to offer far more detailed and specific feedback to students. Now, each of the papers I grade has a small speaker icon next to it which directs students to a personal voice message from me. Research shows that students nearly always ignore the handwritten corrections on papers and value the professor’s comments at the conclusion of the assignment. Now, I can actually offer far more in that respect than ever before.

Notice all the ways you can mark up, comment, and grade a paper.
I am also using voice recorded comments to enrich and personalize further the final feedback.

For students and others looking to use this app, I have found that the editing and annotating functions work beautifully for marking up assigned readings, distributed notes, and drafts of documents (both your own and others). I am also finding ways to use iAnnotate in meetings where I add in comments and reminders while working through an agenda. The uses are quite limitless really (it could also work well to edit docs in groups for example), and I will be curious to hear back over time from others how they are utilizing this kind of software tool.

iAnnotate is available for both the iPad and Android tablets and costs $9.99. For me, the iPad’s size (roughly that of an actual piece of standard letter paper) makes it ideal for the purposes of marking. Hopefully the novelty effect of this will not wear off any time soon!

P.S. As of October 24^th, iAnnotate has updated the software to a new version supporting WordDocs and PowerPoint (to date, I just convert mine to PDFS): “Version 2.3 introduces several new features including the highest-quality reading and annotating experience for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents on an iPad. Just tap on a document and Branchfire’s new cloud-based processing ensures the document is presented exactly as it was meant to be seen. In order to take advantage of this exclusive feature, you’ll need to register for a FREE Branchfire account at www.branchfire.com/account. “

Unpacking the Fashion/Art Divide: Some Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:45:00 +0000

One of many photos circulating this past summer showing Christina Eastwood
destroying an Hermes Birkin bag (at least we were lead to believe it was a real Birkin).

Is burning a Birkin a work of performance art? This was a question posed to me by a student over the summer when news and photos leaked onto the internet implicating Christina Eastwood (daughter of Clint Eastwood) as the perpetrator of what many thought was a criminal act—deliberately destroying one of the most prized objects of consumer desire, some say a work of art itself, the much coveted Hermes Birkin handbag. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that Eastwood’s boyfriend, photographer Tyler Shields, had created the project as a kind of working commentary on the consumer obsessed culture around elite designer handbags as art object commodities. On the one hand, I was indeed impressed and thought that this would certainly fall under the category of engaged art. But later, when further news leaked about Eastwood’s upcoming reality show, I became more skeptical about the motivations behind the project.

NARS released a special collection of Andy Warhol
eyeshadows and accompanying cosmetics with the consent
and support of the Andy Warhol Foundation
(photo courtesy: tmagazine)

A few months later, another question emerged about the collaboration between the Andy Warhol Foundation and cosmetics giant NARS set to coincide with the opening of a huge Warhol show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. What can we make of Warhol’s artworks superimposed in pigment for sale as cosmetics? Indeed, the project seems perfectly suited to Warhol’s legacy as the master of the multiple. As one news release explained further “"For Warhol, makeup was an arrow in the quiver one could use to embody his democratic approach to beauty best embodied in his own words when he said, 'If everybody's not a beauty, then nobody is,'" Still, there is clearly a disconnect between the world of contemporary art with its precious and unique art objects and the world of fashion merchandising with its notions of the infinite copy. In this sense, the massive block sculpture of red Yves Saint Laurent lipstick by artist Fabrice Hyber, currently on exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, perhaps comes closer to a traditional notion of art.

Fabrice Hyber, Rouge Pur Couture No 1 (2012)
(photo courtesy: styleblazer.com)

It is all so very confusing, perplexing, and fascinating, and leads me to the following question: At what point does a cosmetic or fashion item become legitimized as art, and through what means do we unpack the uneasy connections between the worlds of art and fashion? Are we in fact looking at active examples where the separated realms of determining discourse are exposed as artificially separate?

Take as another recent episode Lady Gaga and the much anticipated launch of her perfume Fame (marketed as the world’s first black perfume that sprays clear-- what you see is not what you get-- get it?). The official launch took place in September at the Guggenheim Museum in New York as a carefully executed work of performance art called “Sleeping With Gaga.” After the screening of a Steven Klein directed short film, the audience was invited to engage with a sleeping Gaga inside a massive Fame perfume bottle—many were seen on the video documenting the event reaching in and touching her body in attempts to wake her from a deep slumber. Exhibition goers from among the elite of the art, fashion, and celebrity worlds co-mingled in the spectacle, including among others Yoko Ono, Marc Jacobs, and Lindsay Lohan.

It is also hard not to raise an eyebrow when Brad Pitt puts on his best 'serious' artist face and lends his acting abilities and persona (as a true patron of the arts-- remember how he helped hype Documenta?) to promote Chanel No. 5 perfume. I'm sure you've heard about it-- it was all over the news this week. There was something both absurd and awkward, but also ironically perfect, in the attempt to cast Pitt in the minimalist aesthetic frame that Coco Chanel and the brand have become known for. In the days since the launch, many spoofs of the ad have surfaced—most notably on Saturday Night Live this weekend, where they poke fun at how the discourses of art are used to sell items ranging from designer perfume to fast food and condoms— further revealing a recognition of the ongoing tensions between the overlapping worlds of art and fashion. For Chanel’s part, the company has attempted to manage and uphold the legacy of Coco Chanel through a series of carefully crafted and 'artful' film vignettes reminding people about the avant-garde legacy that frames the fashion house’s rich history.

As a result of all of these examples and a number of others I have blogged about over the past year, I’ve been thinking a great deal more about the intersection of art and fashion, and it seems that I am not alone. Most recently I have noticed an increased attention to the complicated entanglements of these two highly policed realms of discourse and also to the large gap in understanding and theory that has marginalized the conversations and research on this rich topic area. Two particular books that have caught my interest, both published this spring, reveal just how complex and historically well-established the links between artists, fashion designers, and the institutions that help support them truly are. Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas’s edited volume of essays, Fashion and Art, is perhaps one of the most significant attempts to cover an entire range of theory while complicating notions of exhibition, the avant-garde gesture, performance and conceptualism, among others. In a similar vein, Alison Bancroft’s book Fashion and Psychoanalysis: Styling the Self, approaches the intersection of fashion and art through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, arguing that the problems of subjectivity and finding coherence for the fragmented self are played out through the world of fashion-- on a grand and communal scale, and on an individuated and highly personal level. Both studies take into consideration the rich tradition of fashion photography, haute couture, and gay subculture to further illuminate points of overlapping discourse. My prediction is that this is only the beginning of a more engaged discussion that is well overdue and of interest to a large cross-disciplinary audience.

Weekly Twitter Round-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 01:33:00 +0000

If only I had the time to devote to this Halloween costume prep....
Watch the step by step instructions below in the tutorial by YouTube user goldiestarling

I suppose it is time to start making admissions about the serious lack of time I have had to devote to my blog. I hate it when I read this kind of thing on other blogs I regularly frequent, so I will spare you the "dog ate my homework" excuses and simply state that I have over-reached and underestimated my time commitments since the beginning of term. I was told by other veteran bloggers that this would happen about year two of the blog-- something like the seven-year itch for marriages-- and it seems to have actually transpired. Still, like I tell so many of my students who have fallen behind on their assignments and personal projects, just get back to it. And so I am.... here are a selection of favourite tweets for my round-up from the past week. I look forward to writing more in the coming weeks (I have lots of ideas floating out there needing a home) and getting back into the routine of a more consistent blog. Stay tuned.

“If you enjoy it, you understand it.” Gertrude Stein on understanding and meaning in rare 1934 interview

Exhibit presses the newspaper into artistic service

The facade of this building looks like it's folded like an accordion

Gerhard Richter painting owned by guitarist Eric Clapton sells for record $34.2m at Sotheby's, London last night

One is not enough: Why creative people need multiple outlets

Do artists do research? How is research taught in PhD programs for artists? Here's my best effort to summarize...

Fluxus Audio Anthology, originally consisting of eight cassettes, recorded between 1962-92 [MP3]:

Vancouver International Film Festival: 20 Selections

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 16:41:00 +0000

It is that time of year again!

The Vancouver Film Festival is in full swing and I have managed to catch the first few of about a dozen or so films that I will be attending over the remainder of the event. With so many choices out there (380 over 75 countries!), I have put together a list of twenty films with a short synopsis straight from the VIFF site, a quick rationale for the choice, and a film clip or still. Just click on the title link for each film for screening times and locations. Overall, these are films that have been on my radar or caught my eye when the program landed, many of which I will see at this year's festival and/or plan to catch in the coming months when the best of VIFF and select films get a wider release. So here, in no particular order, are my selections. Enjoy!

Something in the Air

"After the mammoth artistic triumph that was Carlos, Olivier Assayas switches gears to tell the loosely autobiographical story of Gilles (newcomer Clément Metayer), a high-school student in early 70s Paris who is torn between his artistic inclinations and the political activism favoured by his friends, especially the volatile Christine (Lola Créton)."

I adore Assayas’ cinematic vision (especially after Carlos (2010)) and have been looking forward to his latest film centered around the student movement of the immediate post-1968 era. In my lectures concerning the decline of modern art and the dematerialization of the art object in the early 1970’s, I often attempt to capture the energy of this time and make connections between the world of art and the world of political activism. This is the kind of film that I hope a new generation of artists go and see to get a better sense of how transformative this time actually was (and without all the bad hippy stereotypes that so many filmmakers end up referencing!).

Cartoon College

"This bittersweet, charming documentary introduces us to some of the world’s greatest graphic novelists, and the extraordinary college in White River Junction, Vermont, where the comic artists of tomorrow get inspired and get to work! Chris Ware, Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly and Scott McCloud are among the many artists to take us into their imaginative inner lives and craft. The fabulous soundtrack includes an original score by Jason Zumpano."

Graphic novels and the turn to figurative art via cartooning has been a very dynamic and evolving area of art production over the past decade, and especially with the advent of cheaper and more mobile forms of digital and analog circulation. This film caught my eye right away in this year’s program and seemed especially fitting as one of my colleagues, Nancy Duff, is offering a graphic novel special topics studio course at Kwantlen. I keep hearing how much work that class is, and I think this film will help explain why that is.

Occupy Love

"In early 2011, inspired by the massive demonstration in New York City, people the world over came together to demand an inclusive redistribution of social and economic power. Going straight to the heart of the Occupy movement, Velcrow Ripper’s hopeful documentary chronicles this global paradigm shift."

The Occupy Movement has been in and out of the headlines for the past year, and on the heels of the first anniversary of the first occupation in New York, this film explores an intriguing dimension of the community spirit and shared experience of love and friendship that has become so pivotal to the sustaining energy of the movement. I have been hearing great things about this film and hope that it can shift the conversation around Occupy into a more action-oriented and positive direction.

The Angel's Share

"Upon discovering that whiskey distilleries make allowances for evaporation, an ex-con schemes to (quite literally) skim a little off the top of a premium cask and sell it to an unscrupulous buyer. A relaxed yet fully realized work from the venerable Ken Loach, this is "a freewheeling social-realist caper… an unfashionably uncynical and unironic kind of comedy…"—Guardian. Winner, Jury Prize, Cannes 2012."

Every year, I try to pick a film that will be fun to watch around the Thanksgiving festivities. This year, the Jury Prize winner from Cannes caught my eye as the perfect film to watch ahead of Thanksgiving dinner. It also has a Scottish twist which is just perfect since my sister-in-law Robyn has family roots in Scotland. So while the turkey is in the oven, this will be the film that we will be heading out to see with the family!

Portrait of Wally

"Seized by the Nazis in Austria in 1939, Egon Schiele’s titular painting reappeared in New York’s MoMA six decades later and instigated an alley fight in the art world. Andrew Shea’s documentary "isn’t just about stolen art: It’s about cultural skullduggery, political sleaze, institutional hypocrisy and the virtues of persistence."—Variety"

The controversy surrounding Schiele’s famous painting of his mistress, and the many hands that have traded the art object since, is an example I often raise in class discussions concerning the underground art market, big art institutions, and the battle over issues of provenance and ownership in the art world. I have been looking forward to seeing a film about this topic for a very long time.

Tomorrow

"The avant-garde Russian art collective "War" has been a persistent thorn in Putin’s side, and Andrey Gryazev’s immersive documentary on these political provocateurs more than shows why. "An oddly stirring, gripping and thought-provoking piece of work about a group of artists… whose art-actions have exposed them to arrest and beatings, and attracted the support of fellow artists from Brian Eno to Banksy."—Screen"

Simply put, one of my must-see films of VIFF, and a topic area related to more recent avant-garde art activism in Russia in the aftermath of the Putin crack-down on cultural expression in the country. I imagine that interest for this film will only grow with the recent publicity surrounding the arrest and detainment of members of Russia’s female punk rock group Pussy Riot.

Museum Hours

"When a foreign visitor (the inimitable Mary Margaret O’Hara) enlists a museum guard as her private guide to Vienna, Jem Cohen’s film becomes a multifaceted exploration of an iconic city and the evocative power of art. "Full of charm, intelligence and dry humor… an absorbing argument that dusty old artworks have plenty to tell us about contemporary life…”—Hollywood Reporter"

This is the kind of film art historians geek out over and I already anticipate I will be working to unpack the image/narrative connection for days and months after I see it. I will also be spending time in Vienna this Christmas, so I am looking forward to a preview of one of my favourite European cities.

A Late Quartet

"Where once there was harmony amongst a celebrated string quartet, there’s now only dissonance. Consequently, their 25th anniversary performance might just be their swan song. Drawing stellar performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken, director Yaron Zilberman uses the complexities of classical music as an inspired metaphor for the intricacies of long-term relationships."

One name—Philip Seymour Hoffman. I will literally go see any movie that this man is acting in and/or a part of. I also love Christopher Walken and think this story-line is most intriguing.

Beijing Flickers

"Four twenty-something Beijingers claim the city as their own in award-winning Chinese director Zhang Yuan’s new romantic youth drama. Three guys, a violence-prone unemployed dreamer, a parking attendant, and a transvestite performer-poet, meet sultry singer-songwriter Youzi, and share their dreams, frustrations and unexpected adventures."

This film caught my eye as a kind of extended context surrounding the current state of social transformation in China, especially among the youth. I teach many students from China (and Beijing specifically), and the conversations we have about the shifts and tensions on the ground are fascinating. I am hoping to get a better look at these themes through this film, and also gain some understanding around the repressive nature of the government when it comes to open artistic expression.

In No Particular Order

"Suspended in post-adolescence, twenty-something Sarah alternates between hedonism and ennui. Urged on by her newlywed sister, Sarah awakens to the possibility that life could be different. Directors Terry Miles (A Night For Dying Tigers, VIFF 10) and Kristine Cofsky achieve a pitch-perfect portrait of a quarter-life crisis."

In a similar sense to the previous selection, I enjoy getting inside the head space of younger people and see the world through their eyes. This film is from a Canadian female director to boot, so I think it will be a good pick.

Reality

"An about-face from Gomorrah’s Matteo Garrone, who exchanges hard-edged drama for blistering satire in this tale of a lowly fishmonger with a burning ambition to be a reality TV star. "A perceptive, unpredictable and frequently very funny critique of reality television’s ability to elevate irksome nobodies into infinitely more irksome somebodies…"—Telegraph."

I have been hearing about this film a lot since it won the Grand Prix at Cannes, and since I am something of a closeted reality TV show watcher, I can only imagine how fantastic this satirical look at the world of the genre will be!

Side by Side: TheScience, Art, and Impact of Digital Cinema

"Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, The Wachowskis, Christopher Nolan, Ellen Kuras, James Cameron, David Fincher, Lena Dunham, Danny Boyle, David Lynch and Michael Ballhaus are just some of the artists interviewed in Keanu Reeves (host and producer) and Christopher Kenneally’s thorough and fascinating documentary.

Any film that features a line-up like this is already worth taking in, but I am especially intrigued with the topic of digital cinema’s impact since it shapes a good deal of discussion in my Intro to Film Studies course. Yes Keanu Reeves hosted and produced it… what can I say… I will still go and see it.

Ape

"No longer content with simply firing embittered salvos from the stage, a misanthropic stand-up comedian adopts an extreme approach to the concept of "bombing." Joel Potrykus unforgettable debut plays like "a twisted version of Louis C.K.’s FX show Louie…"—Indiewire. Winner, Best Emerging Director, Filmmakers of the Present, Locarno 2012."

This film intrigues me. I think it has a lot to do with how I am thinking about the potential for today’s underground films shot on phones and small devices, but I am a sucker for finding out what a “a twisted version of Louis C.K.’s FX show Louie” looks like on the screen.

Antiviral

"Brandon Cronenberg’s (yes, son of that Cronenberg) debut is set in a dystopian near future in which obsession with celebrity has reached such neurotic levels that fans get themselves injected with viruses and diseases that once lived inside their idols… Amazingly controlled and confident for a first film, Antiviral marks Cronenberg the younger as one to watch."

I will probably not go see this movie since the trailer completely creeps me out, but I am very interested in the screenplay and associated cinematography of this film. Something about the culture of celebrity as it morphs into the future world of bio-politics rings true to me, and so I think this is a good pick for the festival (and hey, it is a film by Cronenberg’s son, so that only adds to the appeal and irony).

Midnight's Children

"Salman Rushdie did not just give Canada’s Deepa Mehta (Water) permission to adapt his epic novel—he wrote the screenplay and supplied the first-person narration! The story of Muslim and Hindu babies—born at midnight on Aug. 15, 1947, the day of India’s independence from Great Britain—switched at birth conjures images and characters as rich and unforgettable as India herself."

This film has already sold out all of its screenings, so I will have to wait to see one of my favourite director’s film on its wide release. I have not read Rushdie’s popular book, but I am trusting that Mehta’s vision of it will be divine. Also, if you enjoyed Mehta’s previous films exploring Indian history and Indo-Canadian relationships, this will be a must-see.

Renoir

"Based on fact and gorgeously shot in the South of France by cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bin (In the Mood for Love), Gilles Bourdos’ wonderfully acted, lyrical period piece examines what happened when the sprightly teenager Andrée (Christa Theret) entered the lives of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) and his soon-to-be-filmmaker son Jean (Vincent Rottiers)."

I think this will be a wonderfully escapist, pleasurable, and beautiful film to enjoy…. Nothing too deep, just like a typical Renoir painting.

Garden in the Sea

"VIFF favourite Thomas Riedelsheimer (Rivers and Tides, Touch the Sound) returns with another visually transfixing exploration of art and nature, this time chronicling the efforts of Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias as she installs an environmentally enhancing and aesthetically daring sculpture in the Sea of Cortez at Candelor Bay."

I have heard about this artist’s work for some time now and look forward to seeing how her installations come to life on the screen. I am also finding that some of the best documentaries being produced today concern the life and work of contemporary artists, so I think this will not disappoint.

Reconversao

"Thom Andersen (Los Angeles Plays Itself) portrays 17 buildings and unrealized projects by 2011 Pritzker Prize-winning Portuguese "starchitect" Eduardo Souto Moura. Political engagement vies with a fair amount of Andersen’s dry humour as Souto Moura’s reconverted ruins and Andersen’s visual style come together in a Vertovian dialectic."

As I am teaching a History of Architecture course over two semesters this year, this film was on my radar from day one. I cannot wait to see the work of this fascinating contemporary architect on the big screen!

Krisis

"With a devastating economic and social crisis laying waste to Greece, documentarians Nikos Katsaounis and Nina Maria Paschalidou dispatched 14 photojournalists to uncover the stories overlooked by the traditional media. In this visually arresting mosaic, artists, intellectuals and ordinary citizens desperately try to make sense of the chaos gripping their country."

I really enjoy watching documentaries on current and unfolding events, and this film concerning the Greek economic meltdown is right up my alley. We spent some time in Athens last summer and I recall thinking that this topic deserved a better treatment than the scattered sound bites that surround this very complicated and pressing situation at the centre of the world economy.

Crimes of Mike Recket

"Bruce Sweeney’s (Dirty) moody mystery is a rich, moving thriller in which character psychology and suspense are seamlessly merged. Watch for very strong performances from Vancouver’s Gabrielle Rose and Nicholas Lea."

I love Bruce Sweeney films—they evoke Vancouver AS Vancouver and seem warm and familiar. I cannot imagine going to VIFF and not seeing one his latest offerings.

So You're Thinking About Graduate School?: Some Dos and Don'ts

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:17:00 +0000

Truer than you think--trust me.
Image courtesty of PhDComics.

Extending the undergraduate university years is something that many more students are thinking about today. And really, who could blame them? With all of the grim employment statistics for youth globally, together with the widely circulating idea that today’s undergraduate degree is equivalent to the high-school diploma of 30 years ago, there is a tendency for many students to view graduate school as some logical move in their academic journey. More seems to equate to better. It is a conversation I have at least once a week with a student in my office, and a continual reminder with the requests for grad school referee letters that are a routine part of my job. But the common misconception about graduate school as a continuation of the undergraduate experience is one that warrants some serious consideration before accepting the major commitment and challenges that go along with another 2-10+ years of further education.

I first encountered this dose of reality when I began making my own plans to attend grad school in the final year of my undergraduate program. I was lucky enough to be given very honest advice and suggestions by my professors. At first, what was most striking was how often I was actively discouraged from applying without a clear financial plan and alternative road-map, underscoring the reality that completing grad school in no way guaranteed me a job. I must stress that this is rare advice when it comes to weighing your grad school options and was a valuable lesson when I grasped the full reality of the graduate school undertaking as more about expanding my intellect than collecting a better paycheque. Even so, the journey can indeed make financial sense (see this Grad School Calculator to see for yourself). In the end, I have no regrets whatsoever with going the full distance and completing a masters and a doctorate degree, but I know many more people who do. Many many more. And so what I present below are some Dos and Don’ts I commonly go over for students seeking advice about grad school (and the application process to a humanities/arts based grad program in particular). Remember, these are only guidelines and are not applicable in every case.

Bottom line, it is a life-changing decision to pursue graduate studies and one that many people decide without very careful assessment. Just ask anyone with an advanced degree, and you will likely get a mix of war-stories and open reflection about how the journey changed the trajectory of their lives. As one favourite prof said to me in those years I was deciding: “Is there anything else you would like to do besides complete a PhD? Well do that. Only go to grad school if you are passionate about learning and there is nothing else you can imagine doing with your life.”

DO:

Seek out and talk to graduate students already enrolled in a grad program, especially the ones you are interested in applying into. Attend conferences at local universities with grad programs to get a sense of the grad school culture. Call-up and/or contact via email graduate students who are affiliated with the program you are interested in attending.
Apply to multiple grad programs and across a wide range of university types. The reality is that you will not always get acceptance into your first choice, and if the time comes to decide between multiple schools who offer to take you, you will have some leverage in making schools compete for you with further offers of funding/jobs.
Research and find out who you would like to work with as a potential advisor. The key to getting a spot in a program is being a good “fit” with a particular faculty member. Find someone whose publications/work jibe with your own interests.
Find out what the funding sources and distribution are for the programs you are interested in. Teaching Assistantships are great, but they are not the same as receiving a scholarship or getting the time and space to research and produce projects
Ask for letters of reference well in advance of your actual application. I would suggest up to a month’s notice with your letter of interest attached so that the referee can say the right things in their letter of support. The best idea is to schedule a meeting to discuss the letter in person.
Look for clues about the culture of grad programs by taking a very close look at the program’s website. Do they offer up lots of info about current students and/or where their alumni are today? Are there regular updates on department activities? If not, you should be cautious.
Talk to a wide cross-section of professors (older and newer) at your current institution about their graduate school experience. You may be very very surprised at what you are told!
Plan to finish grad school in a timely manner and consider passing on job/volunteer positions to accomplish this goal. You will never again have that much free and uninterrupted time to focus on your projects—consider what other time-drains you can give up to focus on the goal of completion.
Consider the pros and cons of attending a Canadian versus an international graduate program. This is especially true if you have your heart set on becoming a professor and want to teach in a particular part of the country and/or a particular kind of university.
Familiarize yourself with the realities of the job market, especially if you are interested in becoming a professor of your chosen discipline. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news here, but the sooner you understand the darker side of the academic labour market, the better off you are in weighing your career goals. I suggest starting here for some sense of the landscape.

DON'T:

Be discouraged if you are turned down upon your first application to a grad program—this is far more common than you think and the reasons for being turned down are usually related to a lack of good fit in the program (with potential advisors, the direction of the program, the general cohort) and not your aptitude or skill set. In other words, do not take a rejection letter personally. Consider that it may take more than one academic year to get into a school.
Apply to grad school as a way of sheltering yourself from a bad job market. Believe me, this is a very short-sighted approach and may result in both serious debt and major regrets later on.
Underestimate the importance of your application letter. It will likely be the most important document you have ever written to date and it requires no less than 2-3 other sets of eyes to refine and perfect before you send it off in the mail. The letter must also be tailored for each program that you apply to and list a range of your accomplishments and goals.
Worry that anyone will hold you to the project or research ideas that you outline in your application letter. Having stated the previous point, graduate programs expect that your ideas will change and evolve in the first year of the program.
Apply to a graduate program that lacks a clear mandate and/or disciplinary path. This is very important, especially if you are interested in going on to teach in a particular area. Make sure that the program you are applying to has an established reputation and record of alumni achievement.
Send your application last minute and/or forget important deadlines. It is always best to send an application several weeks and days ahead of the deadline. The application packages are often looked at as they come in, and you have the advantage of being flagged early for acceptance. Last minute applications also tend to suggest less interest in the program and/or a last minute decision to apply.
Forward a less than stellar application to a grad program. This is for obvious reasons, but note also that the academic world is small, and if you send a crappy application, chances are someone may remember your name and/or have heard of you if you apply somewhere else.
Call and inquire about your application once you have sent your application. Don’t bug the administrative people with your questions. If you are accepted, believe me, they will contact you. The process also takes weeks longer than you imagine in your mind, so stay patient and distract yourself with other activities.
Overlook related and/or specialized graduate programs in your field of interest. Think outside the box. There are many professional degree programs for example (i.e. for curating, becoming a librarian/archivist, or in computer studies) that could compliment your interests .
Lose sight of an equally acceptable Plan B. Always have a Plan B and NEVER rely on your graduate program to find you a job. They won’t and you should hear that here first.

And for some fun, check out what Hennesy Youngman's thoughts are on grad school (applied to the Visual Arts specifically). Remember, he offers but one opinion:

Weekly Twitter Round-Up (Back at Long Last!)

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:05:00 +0000

My inbox these past few weeks has been FULL!
Meet my assistant, budding art historian and my new kitten Banksy (yes, he is quite a bad-ass)

Perhaps it is because the summer weather is still with us, or more likely the avalanche of responsibilities, appointments, meetings and events accompanying the beginning of term, that I have delayed blogging as long as I have this term. For whatever the reasons, this past few weeks has been especially busy and full of unexpected time drains. Finally, with the weekend drawing to a close and some much needed rest, patio sunshine, and down-time accumulated, I am happy to share some favourite tweets from this past several weeks. Normally, I attempt to share items from just the past seven days, but I have reached back a bit with a few of these selections as I get back into a more regular routine of checking Twitter. Much of the buzz on my feed the past week has dealt with a range of news from the Toronto Film Festival, the last days of Documenta, and New York Fashion Week, to the renewal of the Occupy Movement, ongoing American election news, and of course all the buzz surrounding the iPhone 5 launch (a long time RIM fan, I finally decided this weekend to pull the plug on my Blackberry and try out the new iPhone and iPad and test the Apple waters-- it is a bittersweet decision, but I have grown tired waiting for the launch of BB10). I trust the next week will bring a bit more calm-- grab a cup of coffee and enjoy these links:

What the era of phone photography means for the evolution of visual culture and how it all began: http://j.mp/zHi4IS

great piece on the depthlessness of "innovation" rhetoric funny how we look for edgy ideas from the centers of society

Video: 'Silver Linings Playbook' named Toronto film fest fave #TIFF12

Is Bansky's javelin the most iconic image of these Olympics?

Marcel Duchamp "The Creative Act" (1957), read by the author, 7 mins. 17 secs [MP3 link]:

= conceptualism in the wild: actors read Yelp reviews

nice infographic about social media: software studies initiative

New Semester Checklist: Are You Prepared?

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Welcome back! A new semester, a new set of classes, and a new set of goals and expectations. But do you have a plan for how to navigate the messy first few weeks of class? Many of the tips featured below are not new, but I wanted to pass them along once again because I know it will save at least a few of you some headaches. No doubt that the energy of the first week will help many of us make it through the uneasy transition to sitting in the classroom, but this checklist should also help organize those pesky new term details. In addition to my featured checklist, be sure to check out some other new semester survival tips I found both amusing and quite relevant at HackCollege, including a list of Five School Supplies You Don’t Need, 11 College Tips From a Senior, and 4 Freshman Tips You Probably Have Not Heard About. Good luck and remember to soak up the remains of summer while they last!

1. Check your classroom listings: this is imperative to do, especially if you attend a large university or have classes that take place on more than one campus (yes, I always have students at the beginning of each term who make this mistake). It never hurts either to take a dry run finding your listed classrooms ahead of time and even scoping out the most advantageous seats and plug-ins for laptops. It sure beats the frustration and rushing around on the first day of class to make sure you find the place you are supposed to be. Online campus maps are also terrific for pre-planning, so Google your university’s name and map to begin the process.

2. Read over syllabi carefully: A syllabus is like a contract and establishes the mutual expectations for a class between student and professor. One of the first things you want to check immediately is the dates for any midterms and finals. These dates are written in stone, and if you cannot make them because of other plans (and no, a trip to Hawaii or a friend's wedding are not legitimate reasons to miss an exam), consider dropping the class. Remember, deadlines are your responsibility. Also, make sure to check your syllabus before emailing your professor with a question about the course. I cannot tell you how many questions I get each term that are clearly answered by the syllabus. Consider keeping a copy with you or downloaded on your laptop or phone whenever you attend the class.

3. Get your books (eventually): Ask any senior undergraduate or graduate student about purchasing books, and they will no doubt tell you what nobody ever reveals to you in your first year-- wait to buy your books. Yes, I said wait. And although some of you might find it really tough to resist the urge to line up with hundreds of other students and spend hours to buy books during the first week of class (something that always amuses me), you will have the luxury of shopping in relative peace and quiet and perhaps save some money if you do. First, it often helps to wait until after you go to your first class and find out if you need all of the books listed at the bookstore (many times, you don’t). Another option is to wait and check the titles and prices of the books at the online university bookstore and see if you can find them for better prices elsewhere. I have seen students make ridiculous savings buying textbooks on Amazon, Chapters or Abebooks.

4. Check on-line course material: Almost all courses these days have an online component through tools like WebCT or Moodle where professors post links, images, class material and provide discussion boards etc... Make sure to check either on your syllabus or through a quick preview of your personal university homepage to see if your course also has an online component. Most institutions have a personalized portal which links you directly to any online connection to a class. Make sure to check the online material frequently and take note of any additional information related to assignments and/or exams that are often posted there.

5. Note important dates and deadlines: Along with the syllabus, it is important to bookmark or make a copy of your university’s dates and deadlines so that you are clear when add/drop dates, holidays, tuition deadlines, registration deadlines, graduation deadlines, final exams, etc.. etc.. occur. I usually just cut and paste these deadlines directly into my day planner or check them periodically to make certain I do not show up to teach a class during reading week J

6. Double check your registration: The saddest thing is when a student finds an “F” on their transcript at the end of the term because they erroneously remained registered for a class that they “meant” to drop. Be warned, not all universities will listen to your tale of woe, so do yourself a favour and double/triple/quadruple check your registration before the final add/drop deadline to make sure you are not registered for classes other than those you are actually planning to attend.

7. Purchase school supplies: I admit that this is my favourite thing to do each term. And yes, I was that geek in grade school who was happy in August when the school supplies showed up in the stores! Remember too that you can charge a killing if you are that one student with a mini stapler on the day assignments are due in class.

8. Look into taping your lectures: I encourage students who find it difficult to keep up with note-taking or enjoy having another listen to ideas raised in classroom lectures and discussions to consider taping lectures. Some things to keep in mind—first, make sure to check and see if it is OK with your professor before taping the first time (you need their permission); and second, see if your professor is already having the service done by another source. Some universities provide a lecture taping service and playback for large lecture courses. You can also check my blog post on this topic for tips and different approaches to the task.

9. Make a transportation plan: You might be surprised how easily and affordably you can create a carpool or learn about better ways to get yourself to classes by talking to fellow students and/or checking with your university’s website for resources (many schools help arrange car pooling). Also check your transit provider's website for routing plans-- many of them give alternative (and shorter!) suggestions getting from Point A to B.

10. Pay your tuition: Don’t forget—it is crazy how many students do.

New Term, New Beginnings, New Opportunities...

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 02:40:00 +0000

The late August mantra of students the world over.

Ah yes, the new term is almost upon us. Even the weather seems to be signalling the transition to fall. And secretly I know many of you are actually quite excited about the prospects of a fresh new year. I know, I know... many more of you will not really be in the head space of a new term until after the Labour Day long weekend, but I thought I would reemerge from my own self-imposed blogging hiatus to begin the transition into the reality of the 2012-2013 academic year. Over the next week, I will begin a series of posts that will catch up with some of what I was up to this summer, along with some topics students have requested I write about ahead of the new term. I am also happy to start up the weekly Twitter round-up again that so many of you seem to enjoy-- I had more than a few emails asking what had happened to them (and from people I know actually dislike Twitter!). While I wait along with you for school to begin, here is a quick snapshot of some of the posts I am working on for the coming weeks:

An overview of the best of Documenta and many highlights from the Paris Field School's visit to Kassel (we could have stayed another week!)
An academic survival kit for the first few weeks of class-- you will certainly be needing one with all of the information being thrown your way in a new term of classes.
A post related to the anxiety inducing topic: "So Your Thinking About Grad School?" and a no-holds barred response that I often give to those who ask me my advice on the matter.
A post highlighting some of the cultural events, festivals, exhibitions coming our way this fall.
Catching up with some of the controversies that erupted in the art world over the summer.
Information about the new field school planned through Kwantlen Polytechnic University for New York and the Venice Biennale in Summer 2013 (start planning early!)
An overview and tour of the revamped blog and where to find the stuff you are looking for if you are either registered in one of my classes and/or looking for past resources.

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Faculty Member Dorothy Barenscott

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:51:00 +0000

Meet Dorothy! Resting and daydreaming at the Tuileries Garden in Paris
(photo courtesy: self-portrait by Dorothy Barenscott)

Tell us a little about yourself—your teaching areas and interests and/or your background and how you became connected to the Paris field school?

Walking and talking with students every day was a higlight of the trip for me.
Here I am chatting with Courtney-- Kenny to the right
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Bonjour! My name is Dorothy and I work as an art historian and researcher in the field of modern and contemporary art history with interests in film/photography history and theory, urban studies, avant-garde movements, and the expanding field of new media studies. In a nutshell, I enjoy thinking and teaching about how techniques and technologies of seeing and art-making impact the way in which individuals and groups produce meaning about themselves and others. I am also very interested in helping students and artists understand and make sense of the dynamic visual worlds they inhabit and bring critical awareness to the history of art as a constructed body of knowledge—one in which they can intersect and leave their own mark. My blog (and the field school blog) have become extensions of these interests and attempt to reach beyond the classroom into non-traditional circuits of information exchange. I am also a lifelong traveler and organizing the Paris Field School was the realization of a long-standing dream I have had to travel with a group of students to one of the most influential art centers in the world and experience both the art and architecture of the city first-hand. The side trip to Documenta was icing on the cake and allowed students to immerse themselves in something that is truly special and one-of-a-kind in the world of contemporary art exhibition.

What was unique or memorable about experiencing Paris with a group of students already interested in and/or practicing art making?

I cannot tell you how happy I am that this moment was captured! It literally made my whole experience in Paris.
Our group standing in front of Jacques Louis David's Oath of the Horatii (1784)
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Watching students experience works of art they have studied in the classroom is among the most rewarding parts of my job. There is something profoundly unique about watching the individual faces of students light up when they come face to face with an art object recognized from a textbook or especially memorable art history or studio class. It is in fact one of the reasons I became an art historian! Many of the students on the trip were also visiting Europe for the first time, so Nancy and I felt a real sense of responsibility to help them get the most from the trip. I have shared the story on my blog of being a grade 12 student dazzled by my Western Civ teacher’s passionate tales of summer travel abroad, and it has remained a cornerstone of my professional goals to engage students more directly in the study and understanding of art through travel of this kind. There was one very special moment on this trip, when we were all gathered in the Louvre and standing in front of Gericualt’s Raft of the Medusa, that I literally felt overcome with joy. I am so glad this moment and others that day were also photo-documented thanks to Kyubo! Seeing a powerful painting like that come to life through the eyes of students is a beautiful thing and I know that it is an experience none of us there that day will soon forget.

How did you see students connecting what they were learning about the art and history of Paris during the time of the Impressionists with their writing and studio projects?

Nancy and I sit and chat with students outside the Architectural Museum
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

The connections started early in the pre-trip classes at Kwantlen where students were assigned an individual artist and artwork to research and negotiate in both their art history and studio based assignments. The final projects were remarkably strong and well-conceived taken the compressed time frame of the three weeks of summer classes before departure to Paris, but there was the additional excitement and enthusiasm of knowing that the work that was being completed ahead of the trip would only serve to enrich the time spent in Europe. Once in Paris, the students were assigned daily questions that pushed them to probe and revisit ideas and theories they had learned about in their studies and experimented with in their studio projects, but this time with the embodied experience of walking, breathing, and living in the urban context they had been studying ahead of the trip itself. I am very proud of what the students were able to bring to their writings, studio projects, and journals. I know many of them will continue to work in a creative and critical way with the ideas gained through the field school for many years to come.

Which of the activities during the trip stand out to you? Any special highlights or memorable moments for you?

Every day brought unanticipated highlights! Who would have known that the Paris Metro would have been such a source of excitement and focus for so many of us? We had as much fun getting to the many different activities of each day as the activities themselves. Shopping daily and selecting from all the amazing food choices at local markets for meals, sitting outside sketching in many of Paris’s most beautiful parks, and learning about everyone’s unique talents and abilities over the course of our travels are among the day-to-day highlights of the trip for me. Nancy’s ingenious idea to create the moveable feast and start a tradition of nightly Salons was also instrumental to the real bonding and creative excitement that was fostered over the course of our field school. Other stand out moments for me include the much anticipated visit to the Orsay Museum to finally see the assigned Impressionist paintings; the Gerhard Richter retrospective at the Pompidou!; the wonderful group dinner in the Latin Quarter where we ran into the “flashmob” White Dinner Party on the way home; meeting up with past students Andrea and Jen at different points in the trip, the journey from Paris to Kassel (imagine moving 25 people with too much luggage through cobble stone streets, two metro stops, and two train stations!); the Kassel beer gardens; and of course, every moment of Documenta!

Another fun moment-- meeting a Courbet lookalike on our biking excursion!
Those who know this painting will get a big laugh.
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

We really feel that this is just the beginning of a signature element of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s B.F.A. Degree and we now have plans in the works for another 6 credit (3 studio credits and 3 art history credits) New York and Venice Biennale Field School in Summer 2013! (I visited Venice last year and blogged about the exhibition here). Of course, an undertaking like this does not happen without a great deal of planning and support. I am especially grateful to my co-field school leader Nancy Duff (Department Head for the Fine Arts Department) for supporting the early idea of this field school and enthusiastically agreeing to plan and execute the first trip. I also want to thank Nancy and her partner Corrie for being such patient, adventurous, and fun travel companions—for anyone that travels a great deal, you know how important these qualities are! Important acknowledgements and thanks also go to Sandra Schinnerl and Andrea Reynolds in the International Office—without all of their logistical support and experience, the field school would not have been realized. Thanks also to the student fundraising efforts spearheaded by Stephanie MacKay—you leave a fantastic legacy for future field school students to follow! Overall, I feel privileged for so many reasons to have traveled with this specific group on our department’s inaugural field school adventure. Each and every student on this trip contributed to the success that it turned out to be, and I am proud that this blog project will allow these memories to live on and inspire future participants.

Experiencing Documenta-- priceless and hard to describe. This picture says it all!
Here I am with students (and past students who joined us in Kassel): Tina, Jen, Andrea, Mitra, Tessa, and me
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Faculty Member Nancy Duff

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:59:00 +0000

Meet Nancy! Working away on the Documenta itinerary while enjoying a few drinks in Kassel, Germany
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Tell us a little about yourself—your teaching areas and interests and/or your background and how you became connected to the Paris field school?

I have wide ranging art interests and expertise, and my teaching reflects this. I teach all levels of Drawing, Painting and 3rd and 4th year Open Studio, together with 2nd and 3rd year Cultural Theory and a variety of other 3rd year studio seminars, including Subversive Art, Public Art – and coming to a classroom near you soon: tada – The Graphic Novel: Sequential Storytelling with Critical Content. Currently serving as Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, my goal is to contribute to making our BFA program rigorous, unique, and highly desirable – with an excellent national and international reputation.

What was unique or memorable about experiencing Paris with a group of students already interested in and/or practicing art making?

Nancy poses at the moveable feast for Kyubo in a contemporary
update to the barmaid in Manet's infamous A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882)
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Experiencing anything in a group is like seeing through insect eyes that have multiple facets. Watching students respond to art that they have only seen in reproductions, watching them experience a new cultural environment, and helping them operationalize a disciplined approach to reflecting on these experiences visually and in writing has been most enjoyable. I, too, had a unique experience seeing the world through their eyes, especially as we sat together drawing. A very memorable experience was the moveable feast, for which we had divided the students into 3 groups, given them money to buy food for appetizers, main course and desserts. Seeing how they worked together to shop, prepare, present and host the meal and coming as guests with wine pairings, was loads of fun. Bed runners had been converted to table décor, cots had been turned into sofas; the food presentation was highly aesthetic and also delicious!

How did you see students connecting what they were learning about the art and history of Paris during the time of the Impressionists with their writing and studio projects?

In the instructional half of the course that was based at Kwantlen, the students produced very interesting and well-conceived and executed projects in relation to aspects of Art Historical Modernity that they were learning about. They installed two exhibitions in the Kwantlen Art Gallery and the Arbutus Gallery, both of which garnered much positive response from the Kwantlen community. For the Field School half of the course, without studios or facilities, the students were asked daily to respond in writing and visually to specific questions based on our itinerary. Of course, these sketchbooks were very experimental forms, and much more reactive than analytical, reflecting the being-in-the-moment of the experience.

Nancy planned and organized two exhibitions at Kwantlen Polytechnic University of student art work
based on the combined themes of the two field school courses prior to our departure to Paris
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Which of the activities during the trip stand out to you? Any special highlights or memorable moments for you?

On our first day in Paris, Dorothy and the students colluded in a crazy surprise: my sister, Jane, and her partner Maria, were at the pyramid entrance to the Louvre, when I had been expecting to meet with an administrator. Jane had secretly celebrated her 50th birthday in Paris, and on this, their last day, we invited them back to the moveable feast where they got to meet the students they hear about all the time. I was very lucky to have my partner, Corrie, join us in our 2nd week abroad. A former emergency room nurse and nurse educator, her expertise always brings a sense of relief to any unanticipated health concerns. Having completed the readings for the Art History course, she really enjoyed seeing Paris through the lens of this particular history, and she was also very impressed by the student work, as an invited guest to the critiques. In Paris, we spent a couple of lovely afternoons on our own: one in the Place des Vosges, and another in the Marais where, on a sunny outdoor terrace, we ate actual French onion soup! The drawing salons, being on the Paris Metro with the students joking around – getting to know them a bit better – was quite delightful. I really appreciated seeing them spontaneously help one another. We had a fabulous group, and despite a few inevitable dramas, the group became close, cohering as its own entity. These kinds of experiences change us, in how we look at the world, at art, at each other. Hopefully they make us more open, curious, analytical, friendly and compassionate.

Nancy, Corrie, and Dorothy stopping traffic along the Champs-Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe
in the background. (photo courtesy: kind stranger using Dorothy's camera)

On the strength of a personal connection (thank you Annetta Kapon at Otis in LA!) we made contact with a highly respected art school on the outskirts of Paris – Ecole Nationale Superieured’Art Paris-Cergy (the school from which Orlan recently retired!!)-- with whom we hope to develop opportunities for student exchange. They invited us to a student exhibition of work based on a similar concept to what our students had been doing in the course: a conversation with specific works from a particular art historical collection. I think our students were very interested to see the work of their contemporaries, and they subsequently made themselves at home, participating happily in some performative projects – perhaps even contributing to the success of the event.I feel very fortunate to have been able to help develop this paired offering at Kwantlen, and for it to have been so successful. This was largely because of the students, who I admire and respect. Also, I owe a great deal of gratitude to Dorothy Barenscott, who did so much research for our itinerary, and was a great traveling colleague (whose husband Brian was unfortunately unable to join us). Our friends Andrea Reynolds and Sandra Schinnerl in the International Office were a great help in organizing our accommodation and travel, and we had the pleasure of spending some time in class and in Paris with Andrea, who now has a much better idea of what it is we do.

Nancy's much anticipated "salons" were well attended by students looking to sketch, chat, and reflect on their
activities at the end of the day. Nancy and others sketch Shannon as she performs a butoh dance
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

With the success of this 6 credit, 3rd year Studio/Art History offering, we hope to develop an annual Field School that will become a signature flagship of the BFA degree. Next year: NYC and Venice – here we come! For 2014, perhaps Chicago and Berlin …

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Shannon Nixon

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 01:03:00 +0000

Meet Shannon!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hello Paris Fine Arts Field School followers. My name is Shannon Nixon and I am currently in my third year of studies for my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Last summer, when Dorothy first mentioned that the school might be running a field school in Paris, I immediately began saving. Not only was it a great way to earn 6 credits towards my degree and travel to Europe for the first time, it was also a great opportunity to practice speaking French. I was in French immersion from grades 6-12 and since graduating high school in 2006, I haven’t had any chances to use the language outside of the classroom. I even took a beginner French class at Kwantlen last semester to brush-up on the vocabulary I lost over the past 6 years. Those three reasons were more than enough for me to apply to the Paris Field School.

Shannon hanging out by the Seine.

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

As soon as we arrived in Paris I was eager to begin conversing with the locals in French. I would try to distance myself from the group in order to not stand out as a tourist. My attempts to blend in as a Parisian only seemed successful until I began speaking. People could instantly tell by my accent that I am not a Parisian and that French is definately not my first language. Sometimes it was so obvious that when I would ask someone a question in French, I would get a response in English. Although this made it slightly discouraging to continue practicing French, I still kept ‘truckin on’.

Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

Gustave Caillebotte, Rooftops in the Snow (1878)

Before the trip I was assigned Gustave Caillebotte’s, Rooftops in the Snow (1878) (or its French name, Vue de Toits (Effet de Neige) as my central focus for studying artworks from the Impressionist period. This work is currently at the Orsay in Paris and after closely studying it for a month through online representations I finally got to see it in person. Rooftops in the Snow, along with many other works by Caillebotte and the Impressionists (Renoir, Degas, and Manet just to name a few) are located on the very top floor of the museum. The gallery space resembled an old attic that had been transformed into a place to exhibit art. I found this interesting because after the Haussmanization of Paris in the 1850’s, the very top floors of buildings were commonly inhabited by artists and people of lower status. In addition, Caillebotte’s Rooftops in the Snow is an urban landscape that predominately depicts these spaces. To place the Impressionists work in this space speaks to the ways in which their group was rejected by the institutions in their time. After seeing their work in the Orsay, I would argue that they are the most highly regarded in the museum today. I found these rooms, even though quite large, were filled with the most viewers.

As I mentioned earlier, I spent a month studying Rooftops in the Snow before coming to Paris. When I first came across the painting I was amazed with how much texture there was in the way Caillebotte painted the snow. His buildings appear to be painted with very thin layers of paint while the snow appears to be smothered on with a palette knife. The results were that of an urban landscape that had just been blanketed with a heavy layer of snow. Suddenly the French title, Vue de Toits (Effet de Neige), made sense to me. When directly translated into English it means ‘View of the Rooftops (Effects of Snow). Caillebotte successfully portrayed the effects of snow in this piece with his contrast of thinly painted buildings and thickly painted snow.

Today’s activity was located around Documenta. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Our hotel at Documenta has been hosting large groups for decades-- memorabilia from past exhibitions
was on display throughout (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Enough about Paris and the Impressionists. After our two weeks in Paris a few students went home while the rest of us hopped on a train to Kassel Germany. Documenta 13 was our reason for this little side trip. For those of you who are unfamiliar about what Documenta is, it is the equivalent to the Olympics of contemporary art exhibition. It showcases works from artists all over the world and only happens every 5 years. We planned for 2 days to be spent at Documenta and at first I thought that would be too much time; I quickly discovered that was hardly enough time. All the works are scattered over the city center and after 2 days I had only explored about half of the works, many of which I wish I could have spent more time with.

Andres and Rosaura making their own imprint on Documenta outside the main exhibition hall.

One work that really struck me was in a large tent that presented the work of Paul Ryan and his invention of Threeing that he created in 1973-1976. People were invited to enter the tent (provided they removed their shoes) where volunteers were assisting in teaching the ideas of Paul Ryan’s "Threeing." When I first arrived, a German woman was explaining to three other German women how Threeing worked. Because I cannot understand German, I stood off to the side and tried to understand what they were doing based on their body movements, a video that was playing, and some instructions that were written in terrible English. Just as me and a few other students in our group were about to leave, we were approached by a woman named Sara who spoke English. She explained to us in clearer form what Paul Ryan’s concept was around Threeing. She explained the different roles of the three people involved: the first person’s role is to be spontaneous while the second person’s role is to be reactive to the first. The third person is the mediator and their role is to mediate the actions of the first and the second person. The three German women were doing exercises in three through body movements. Sara showed us how you can also take this practice and apply it through drawing. I believe this exercise could be useful to art students as an aid in collaborative art making.

Overall I have really enjoyed both Paris and Kassel. A few of us have decided to stay and continue our travels around Europe. I am off to Munich for a couple days then finishing up my trip in London where I hope to go on a guided tour of all the street art. I fell in love with street art after seeing Exit Through the Gift Shop and I even bought a book about the myths and legends surrounding Banksy while I was at Documenta.

Canadian artist Geoffrey Farmer's epic collage was another art project that garnered a great deal
of attention at Documenta (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Rhea Paez

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:26:00 +0000

Meet Rhea!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Rhea taking photos at Versailles
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

When I heard about the Field School trip to Paris, I leapt at the opportunity to be part of it. Paris is one of the major arts and culture hubs in the world with a large history in connection to the arts, so I knew that it was going to be something I could take away from. Being able to experience first-hand the history I was taught, in the space and environment that the history happened, has definitely reinforced what I learned in school, especially since it will now correlate with my physical experience of it. Text book pictures and projection slides alike are no match for seeing the actual art pieces in their physical form. No post cards, mugs, posters etc.. can ever replicate the phenomenal sensation of seeing a Toulouse-Lautrec, a Manet or a Courbet for the first time. I am a fourth year Fine Arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University completing the fourth year of my degree, and this experience, by far, has been absolutely memorable and life changing. For as long as I can remember I have always been a creative individual who has a thirst for making art. I started out painting, drawing and working with ceramics, but being in post-secondary school has made me branch out to using other mediums of art such as video, installation, sculpture and print media. At times I have been be discouraged while making art, especially in school, but what I’ve learned is that your experiences are sometimes one and the same as some of the artists you learn about, which then becomes an inspirational and catalytic element in creating new art.

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

Rhea, Courtney, and Kyubo atop the Eiffel Tower

Aside from the art I had seen, it was the row upon row of Haussmann buildings, heavily decorated in their ornate design that made quite an impression on me. If you were above ground, let’s say at the third floor of the Opera House, looking at the city from the balcony, you can easily drink in Paris’ stunning aesthetical experience. The best view I have seen of Paris, as cliché as it sounds, is from the Eiffel Tower. You can see the entirety of Paris’ layout being able to spot all of the monumental buildings. At street level, you will notice the small boulangeries where you can order your daily baguettes, the butcheries where you order your deli meats, and patisseries where you grab a pastry treat for the day. Paris is also littered with coffee shops that allow one to flaneur while drinking their Café au lait, or their Nissoit outside the shop. My most favorite part about the infrastructure in Paris is their Metro layout and network systems. It is the most efficient metro station I have ever experienced, especially having over ten lines, not including their RER commuter rail system. At one point in the trip I had to leave my group behind because I had forgotten something important back at the hotel, so I informed everyone I would meet them at our destination, only I had never ridden the metro on my own because I had been following everyone else beforehand. Quickly looking over the metro map I was able to hop onto a train and make my transfers with no hesitation at all, not getting lost once. It was quite an achievement for me. The convenient thing about their metro system is that their fourteen lines plus their RER rail cover the city of Paris, which makes for convenient travelling across the city without a vehicle.

Pierre Bonnard, A Bourgeois Afternoon (1900)

I was assigned Pierre Bonnard's A Bourgeois Afternoon (1900), which I got to see at the Orsay, and after having seen it I was quite impressed by it. It was more saturated than I had imagined and as I had mentioned earlier, text book pictures and slideshow images do not do paintings any justice. The image was also not as flat as I had imagined it because of how saturated it turned out to be. The cool palette choice gave it a bright but subtle illumination because of the array of colours chosen. It was also quite large in size being around seven feet wide and five feet tall. Being so large I noticed other details that I had not expected to be there such as an extra cat or dog, and extra figures in the back ground in the garden, such as a child holding onto a large potted plant, or two other smaller children off in the distance. They were hard to spot, but none the less, they were very much present. Clearly they are difficult to see and in the background because they are insignificant to the overall theme of the image, yet they play a major role in contributing to the image’s narrative. The painting is littered with symbolism towards the bourgeois attitudes of family leisure in country homes. There is so much going on in the painting especially with what you see on the edges, such as figures entering the house in the background or figures inside of the house peering out, it is clear why I was able to miss such details. To be honest, it is not one of my favorites by Bonnard because previously before seeing The Terrase Family I had run into a small exhibit of Bonnard’s lithography, drawings and paintings in a separate wing on the bottom floor of the Orsay. Those overwhelmed me and gave me a whole new appreciation for the artist. Perhaps the frustration of not being able to find my assigned piece because the Orsay was so large slightly tainted my view of the image and had I seen it prior to any of his other work I might have been more impressed.

Today’s activity was located around Documenta. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Yan Lei's Limited Art Project captured a great deal of interest at Documenta. Each day,
the artist will have 3-4 of the 360 canvases painted over for the duration of the exhibition.

At my first day of Documenta the word “overwhelmed” describes my entire experience of it. I had first ventured into the Documenta Halle building where there were works from such artists like Gustav Metzger, Etel Adnan, Julie Mehretu and Nalini Malani. The first one in that building that I thought was interesting was Yan Lei’s installation called Limited Art Project. The installation was made up of over a hundred paintings, some displayed and some filed in this large storage area. Every painting was different, and each one was a copy of an image he had found browsing through the internet. The images are random and are of ones that had caught his attention while surfing the internet. Every day he paints over a few canvases, eliminating them from the rest of the installation, yet it is still displayed to indicate its removal. This piece comments on the facile entertainment and the consumption of art. In painting over his paintings, he “slows down the audience’s consumption” giving his piece a fleeting ephemeral quality. The interesting thing about this piece is that if I had seen this any later in the month, many of the images would have been eliminated and thus would give me a completely different perspective of the piece.

After the Documenta Halle, my friend Shelly and I decided to see all of the pieces scattered throughout the park, which we realised, at the end of the day, was quite a long and exhausting process. Mind you I am extremely happy that I decided to see the outdoor installations that day because the next day it rained quite a bit. Anyhow, after having spent ten hours looking at the outdoor pieces, I was only close to a third of seeing everything. Most of the outdoor pieces were housed in these little cabins that made for a more intimate experience of each piece. Walking through the park, Shelly and I were crossing out each piece we had seen on our map, and making up short titles for each one so as to easily remember them. We made sure not to skip any of the pieces, but with the limited amount of time we had, we missed a handful. From what I had seen that day at the Documenta Halle, the Orangerie and pretty much the entirety of their outdoor installations, I was thoroughly impressed. Two days is not enough to see all of Documenta’s brilliant artists but it gave me a taste of something I’m sure to come back for in five years time. Hopefully one day my work will show in an exhibition of that calibre, or in Documenta itself.

As Rhea describes, Documenta is as much an outdoor as an indoor experience.
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Amanda Powell

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 23:20:00 +0000

Meet Amanda! (photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Amanda enjoys sketching in a Parisian rose garden.
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Bonjour! My name is Amanda Powell. I am a third year student currently doing a French major at Simon Fraser University. After completing the coursework for this class, I am now considering doing a Fine Arts minor! In my spare time I enjoy listening to live music, spending time with my family, and watching films. I am one of the few non-studio students on this trip, but I am definitely an art enthusiast. I enjoyed participating in the sketchbook activities given each day; it was a new experience for me to sketch en plein air like the Impressionists we studied! I wanted to take this trip because:

1. I am interested in art and art history.

2. I had never been to Europe (and was keen to see it under an artistic lens with like-minded individuals.)

3. I wanted to practice speaking french.

This trip has been an absolute whirlwind for me; I've learned a lot and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Europe.

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Kassel (Germany) so far?

The difference between Paris and Kassel is astounding. We went from being in a busy city with lots of people to a smaller town with lots of greenery. The one thing I really notice here is the language barrier. In Paris, I had little to no trouble communicating with the locals because I can speak, read, write, and understand French. In Kassel, however, the majority of people speak German, a language of which I know very few useful phrases other than: "My name is Amanda," and "Hurry up!" Most of the young people are proficient in English, and the others try very hard to understand you with a giant grin on their faces. Because of this language barrier, Kassel feels a lot more foreign to me than Paris, even though all of the trees and friendly folk remind me of home. In terms of Documenta, the whole exhibition has far exceeded my expectations. I was surprised at how much there is to see! I pictured it being in one big museum, similar to what they have in Paris. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the exhibitions were scattered around the city (especially in the park!)

Erin, Tessa, and Kyubo sort through an interactive installation of "Occupy Kassel" featured at Documenta.

Georges Seurat, Landscape with Puvis de Chavannes' Fisherman (1881)

When I saw my assigned work in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, I felt a little blasé about it. My piece was entitled "Paysage avec "lepauvre pecheur" de Puvis de Chavannes." I think my reaction was mostly due to the small scale of the work (for some reason I expected it to be larger!). The colours of the piece were more vibrant than the dull pixelated image I had studied online all semester, so that was a highlight. The room it was displayed in was very dark, but the lights they had pointing at each artwork made the paint shine, which was a nice touch. I think just the fact that Seurat touched and painted the exact work I was looking at was what made the experience better for me, also, being able to see the work Seurat was inspired by (Puvis de Chavannes' Poor Fisherman) and know that Seurat was once in my shoes, looking at this particular work of art.

Today’s activity was located around Documenta. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Documenta is one of the most important
international art exhibitions, held every five years
in Kassel Germany.
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Today I ventured out into town with a few others to find some of the many Documenta exhibits. We got lost trying to find the main building, but we stumbled across some smaller venues along the way. My favourite ‘accidental’ Documenta discovery was a tent made of blankets in a corner of a park. They invited us into their space, we took off our shoes, and we sat on small benches and were offered tea. A nice volunteer informed us of the plight of the people living in the Western Sahara and the work of Robin Kahn, who made a cookbook of recipes on behalf of the women living there. I left the tent feeling enlightened, and mentioned the tent to a few others along the way, insisting they also go and visit the oasis in the corner of the park. Around noon, we met some locals, who insisted we try the German dish called döner. At only three Euros, it was filling and absolutely delicious (with vegetarian options to boot!). We spent the rest of the day looking at art with our new German friends, as they were also here for Documenta, and ended the day at the local biergarten, Fiasko, with our peers and teachers. What a lovely day it was!

Many nights were spent as a group at the Fiasko beer garden in Kassel-- excellent schnitzel!
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Kyubo Yun

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Meet Kyubo (center, with Rhea and Courtney)-- a rare shot of the man perpetually behind the camera!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Kyubo taking notes at the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Pompidou
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Hello, my name is Kyubo, and I am a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. While art history was never one of my strongest subjects, I joined this trip because I saw the importance of training myself to read and write more effectively. I love to travel, and I’ve spent over two years traveling throughout Asia prior to coming to Kwantlen. I’ve never set a foot into Europe before, so this trip has surely been an eye opener for me. Seeing and being in the same presence as the paintings and works I’ve studied is one way of learning, but being with a group of intelligent, like-minded individuals was another great way to create conversations and learn.

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

Everything! The richness of culture, it is amazing what a city can offer that is much older than Vancouver. I was very much used to the narrow spaces of cities, but here in Paris, the narrow spaces and streets opened up to huge expansive open areas, parks, and squares. It was an experience that I’ve never felt in any other city that I’ve been to. I also loved touching the bricks of cathedrals with the date and a name etched into them, and trying to imagine the number of people that had passed by before me. It’s not very often for me to be in the presence of these structures and paintings and get a real sense of history and the passing of time. It is surreal.

Kyubo has helped create the visual story of our trip through his many photos and character studies of the field
school participants. Note the many photo credits to Kyubo throughout these blog posts.

Frederic Bazille and Eduoard Manet, Bazille's Studio (1870)

I was assigned L'atelier de Bazille [Bazille's Studio] by Frédéric Bazille and Edouard Manet. Upon getting past the lineups and bag checks at the Orsay Museum, the area opened up to an overwhelming space that I couldn’t take in all at once. It’s a feeling that I’ve never had in a gallery space before. My assigned work was with the Impressionists on the 5th floor. The Impressionists room was rather difficult to navigate due to the mass popularity of these paintings. Many groups surrounded the larger and the more famous paintings such as Manet’s Déjeuner sur l'herbe, while my chosen painting sat in a corner beside it, humble yet dignified. I somewhat enjoyed the fact that it was the lesser known of the paintings, as people took a quick glance, and walked past it without too much thought. I was given the opportunity to comfortably stand in the corner and observe the painting without much disturbance from the mass crowds that surrounded the nearby paintings. What I found the most interesting about my painting was that much of the information about Manet’s involvement in the painting was removed from the title card. I’ve only read that Manet painted him in judging by his style of painting, but when I saw the painting in person, I was able to see that the brush strokes of Bazille in the center was cross hatched while the rest of the painting was very smooth. The different style of painting was undoubtedly visible, and perhaps by removing the involvement of Manet from the title card, it would draw even more attention to those that didn’t know about the art work. The different strokes of the painting would not show in photographs, as they had to be seen against the light to notice the difference. Overall, the placement of the painting in a corner beside the greats played off as a supporting role of the Impressionist movement, and it reflected the fact that Bazille did support his Impressionist friends when it was needed for them to achieve what they have since accomplished.

Today’s activity was located around the Eiffel Tower. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

A majestic view of Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower-- notice the Haussmannized streets.

I left early in the morning to go see the Eiffel Tower with Rhea and Courtney before my time was up in Paris. From below the tower looking up, I wasn’t particularly amazed, possibly due to the number of images I had seen prior to coming on the trip. The line-up wasn’t too bad in the morning, it took only 15 minutes in line and we were walking our way up to the first half of the Eiffel Tower. As we climbed higher up into the tower, the Haussmannized streets of Paris became more and more apparent of. At the peak of the tower, which we had gone up by an elevator, we were amazed to be able to get a visual map of Paris. I had realized that I wasn’t able to get an idea of what Paris looked like, because we had traveled on metros throughout my time here. I was able to point out all of the buildings and places we had been to, and I got a much better sense of what this city looked like. Overall, I felt that I probably wouldn’t go up the tower again, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who visits Paris for the first time.

Courtney looking out of a telescope over Paris.

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Andres Perez Castro

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 19:37:00 +0000

Meet Andres!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hi my name is Jose Andres Perez Castro and I am a Kwantlen Polytechnic University student. Currently, I am on my second year in General Studies, and my main goal is to transfer to UBC and apply to the Bachelor of Environmental Design program. My dream is to become an architect and I have dreamed about it since I was very little. My Mom and Dad have always designed and built houses when we lived in Mexico, and I can still remember when I was around 6 years old how I began to do little sketches and drawings of how I would design a room of the house, normally mine. Being able to participate in the Paris field school has inspired me even more to continue achieving my goals. I find the architecture here in Paris very astonishing, I was amazed with the grandiose and impressive architecture of the buildings at the center of Paris especially. Besides the huge inspiration for my future career goals, this field school has also helped me experience a totally different culture and to put in practice my French language skills. This trip has been a great experience for me and has created a stronger relationship with everyone in the group-- I do not think I see everyone as friends anymore, but instead more as a family.

Andres having fun at the Palais de Tokyo (notice his much beloved scarf!)
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

The city of Paris is a very photogenic city no matter where you look. The architecture is very impressive in the center and also in the modern suburbs. When I first arrived in Paris, I found that the people were very aware on their appearance and the way they would look and show themselves to the public. I found out that fashion is a very important and crucial concept here in Paris. I really enjoyed my stay here in the city because I think it had a huge impact on me and on the way I dress as well. One of the first things I bought here in Paris was my scarf and when I first wore it I began to feel more like if I belonged to the city. Another thing that I found very interesting was the transportation and the way the whole city is connected through the usage of the metro. It is almost like there is a metro station in every square inch of the city. I found that traveling on metro was actually pleasant, especially when there were musicians playing during the ride.

Paul Cezanne, Gustave Geffroy (1895-95)

On June 5^th we were able to go to the Musee d’Orsay where I was finally able to see my assigned artwork for real and within just a few centimeters away from it. The name of this magnificent portrait painted by Paul Cezanne is Gustave Geffroy. I found the painting to be bigger in size than what I had actually in mind, even though I had known the dimensions of the piece before. Being able to stand in front of the painting was a great experience for me because I was able to observe some of the actual brushstrokes and the way the paint was applied onto the canvas. I noticed the colors to be brighter and sharper everywhere on the piece, especially on the background and the bookshelves, which were the parts of the painting that Cezanne had spent most of his time on. Gustave Geffroy is a painting that Cezanne did not complete, and on some areas of the painting such as Geffroy’s face and hands, it is noticeable to see how Cezanne would sketch and apply the first layers with several different tones such as warm reds, yellows, blues, and browns.

Waving hello from the Opera House
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

The painting was positioned in a corner of the room, however the painting occupied a whole wall just for itself. When Cezanne painted Gustave Geffroy, he tilted the desk towards the front of the composition in order to create an illusion, so the viewer would become more connected to the painting. The museum took in consideration the original intentions of Cezanne and therefore I find very incredible how the painting was hung at a certain height so that the viewer would experience the whole painting to its best effect. I find very interesting too how when I was analyzing the painting up-close and taking notes on my journal, this painting that nobody would stand for longer than 5 seconds in front of would become so crowded just because of the fact that I was standing in front of it and writing my notes.

Today’s activity included a bike tour of Paris. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Our group bike ride through Paris was a bit wet.... to say the least.

The Eiffel tower "twinkles" at night and is quite
a beautiful sight from the bike tour.

On a fresh morning on June 15th , Erin, Tessa , Rosa came jumping, and skipping, and rushing to my room to wake me up. - Knock! Knock! Knock! - I heard. 'Who's there?' I said in my mind. I stood up and walked towards the door, and as I opened the door slowly, there was nobody on the other side. 'Fair enough then' I said 'I'll just go back to sleep just for a little while.' Suddenly I just realized I had to meet with them to go shopping. I rushed and as I opened the door again, I saw Rosa walking on the hallway. 'Let's go!' I said, and off we went for shopping to La Defence. Later on that evening, we began our trip towards the Eiffel Tower where we looked forward to our amazing and kind of wet bike ride. I felt the experience from the ride was incredible as I was able to see what it would be like to ride the center of Paris. The streets, I found them to be more congested than when we first arrived to the city. However, the streets turned out to be in fact more comfortable once you became a conductor instead of a pedestrian. During the bike ride, I was assigned a very important and crucial position for the group, 'Le Derrière.' My job was to stay behind the group to make sure everyone ahead of me was doing great. I was able to experience the city in a very different way during the bike ride because I felt like if I was a regular citizen who rides their bikes in the city. Some of the knowledge gained during the bike tour was very impressive, such as the history of how Paris was formed and the appearance of the Notre-Dame before when it used to be completely black. I believe that the connection between me and Paris grew stronger during this bike ride.

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Yvonne Lee

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Meet Yvonne!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

My name is Yvonne Lee, and I have lived in Canada all my life. I have visited the United States several times, a few times to Hong Kong, and have been to Japan once. After hearing about the possibility about this trip from my teacher Dorothy, I realized I had to be in this class. I have never been to Europe before, and I always wanted to go. I wanted to go to see the artworks I have been learning about from art history in person, and this field trip was the perfect opportunity for me. I am in my 4th year at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and I am aiming for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I often work in digital media and paintings. I have always been intrigued by the traditional paintings and artwork, but I also keep an open mind towards contemporary art. What I wanted to get out of this trip is a better understanding of traditional art within the context of contemporary art. I also wanted to get inspiration, or at the very least some ideas of what I want to do next for my artwork.

Yvonne and other students had fun with the task of photographing Kwantlen's
mascot Quentin against Parisian backdrops
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

In the beginning, what surprised me about this trip was how much I enjoyed some of the exhibits. The Orsay and Pompidou museums were quite interesting for me since there were many art movements represented that spoke to me. In the Orsay, I discovered Symbolism, which was an anti-realistic and anti-naturalist movement, and focused on imagination and spirituality. What I found interesting about this movement was how similar it is to the fantasy and sci-fi art I also enjoy. The Symbolists painters used mythology and dream imagery for their works, but painted paintings that were more personal to them. They would use symbols they would only understand themselves. I am really grateful for being able to see this exhibit, and my only regret is not spending more time at the Orsay to absorb more of it. The other exhibit featuring Gerhard Richter at the Pompidou was amazing as well and gives me hope to keep pursuing digital work. His paintings were hyper realistic, but each one had their own narrative. What I found interesting about his work was how he made the painting look blurry or show a motion blur. Something else that surprised me was some of the artwork looked smaller or bigger then I have imagined and there were some details that I had never noticed before when I looked closely at them in person. There was this Byzantine art piece called Cenni di Pepe, which had patterns in the back of the painting and portraits of people in the frame. There were also several large paintings where we discovered something new about them, because we were able to see the details of the painting instead of looking at it through a slide. I would love to come back to Paris to visit the other museums I have missed. I think being in Paris is a good opportunity if you are an artist. Even if you do not like the traditional art, there are other artworks to fit every genre and approach.

Paul Gauguin, Artist with a Hat (1893-4)

I was unable to find my assigned work, Paul Gauguin's Artist with a Hat but I did find a self-portrait of Gauguin that struck me; another self-portrait titled Portrait of the Artist. The colour palette is similar to his self-portrait with the hat: faded olive green on his shirt and yellow in the background. The brushstrokes outline his facial features, but the colours are quite faded. The style is similar to his other works where he aims for the painting to be more “primitive” looking. The painting was started when Gauguin went to Tahiti to escape modernism. Gauguin was very anti-modernist and wanted people to not forget where they came from. He saw that Paris was modernizing itself very quickly, and he needed a place to escape. Therefore he went to the French Polynesia and stayed there to create his art. Gauguin has made several self-portraits there, but what struck me about this painting was this is the first time Gauguin was looking away.

Paul Gauguin, Portrait of the Artist (1896)

There were no other self-portraits like this on display, so it made me wonder why he painted himself like this. Perhaps it was because he no longer wanted himself to look at the audience, or perhaps he was commenting on how others look at him. It is difficult to tell if he used a photograph or not, since it is possible to draw a side-view of yourself with a lot of mirrors. This does go back to the question of why he did this. Since this was originally created after his Tahiti show was rejected by art critics, the painting could reflect the kind of emotions he wanted to convey at that time. He was disappointed with how the art critics did not like his work, and perhaps he wanted to document himself like this.

Today’s activity was at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. What were your impressions? What will you

take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Today we entered the cemetery in Pere-Lachaise. What I first noticed was how crowded the graves were in comparison to the ones I have seen in Vancouver. There were several graves that were an inch apart from each other. I first visited the artist Daumier to pay my respects to him, and it took some time to find. To my surprise, Daumier’s grave was nothing spectacular like some of the other graves. His grave was simple and undecorated. Daumier died poor so his family must have not been able to afford much for the funeral. Although, it looks like the top part of the grave was recently added. The bottom part of the grave had lots of moss, yet the block above it was clean. It was interesting to see Daumier’s grave amongst the other graves, since his was plain in comparison. What surprised me even more then Daumier’s grave was Max Ernst’s grave. There was no tombstone or sculptures to remember him by, instead it was a plaque, just a plaque on the wall just like everyone else. There was nothing special about it, and I had almost missed it because I assumed the grave was going to be special. All there was on his plaque was his name and when he died. It shocked to me that an artist who helped create a famous movement was treated this way. I then realized that perhaps this also shows how insignificant Ernst may have been during his time. I saw several new graves of people who died in 2000-2012 with large tombstones who I did not know, while a man who was trying to make a difference in his community was given a plaque.

Plaques along walls at Pere Lachaise mark death in a less grandiose way than the large gravestones
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

The group dinner was a special night for us all!

After the cemetery, we also got to have our big group dinner. The restaurant was this cute hole in the wall kind of place with two great musicians. The staff were also very friendly and patient with us. We danced, we sang, and we laughed. It was probably the most fun experience I had on this trip as a group. My table with Yvonne Littlewood, Jess, Tessa, Erin and Amanda was crazy. It was so much fun. And Jessica has a beautiful voice. She gave us a small opera performance and everyone was just quiet as she sang. Andres was also quite the dancer. He was not afraid to show off his moves. To make things better that night, as we were walking home, there was a “flash mob” near the Notre Dame. It turned out to be an annual gathering of picnickers around the Notre Dame, something that happens the third Thursday of every year in June. It started out with a couple doing a late night picnic and has since grown to over 20,000 people celebrating this annual event. It was quite inspiring, and some of us have discussed wanting to do something like it back at home.

We happened upon Paris's famous Le Diner en Blanc in front of the Notre Dame cathedral on the
way home from our special group dinner. At first, it looked like a massive flash mob!
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Holly Brooks

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Meet Holly standing atop the Arc de Triomphe!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hello! I'm Holly Brooks, a student finishing up in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I signed up for the trip because I really wanted to experience culture outside of the west coast of North America. Europe is especially interesting to me as so much modern fantasy is based off of European elements. It's been quite the experience to see historical things in person rather than rely on descriptions and representations. As well, I wanted to experience being in a place with a vast history tied to it. It really drives home how young Canada is.

Holly walking the city with Yvonne (Jessica in foregrouns, Kenny in the background)
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

Paris has been a wonderful experience. I think the most surprising thing is how volatile the weather is. I think it's rained almost every day I've been here, it will be sunny one minute and rainy the next. I mean that quite literally. British Columbian weather has nothing on how quickly the weather here shifts. Another curious feature is it seems all of the stairs here are spiral staircases. I've always thought of them as being archaic castle architecture, it's interesting seeing them in modern buildings. Walking through a city not laid out in a grid is also quite a different experience for me, I enjoy how narrow streets wind off the main path. It makes the city seem more sculptural. I also really appreciate how I can walk and take transit everywhere. I hate the west coast's car culture, I get excited every time I hear talk about expanding the Skytrain out further into the Lower Mainland. Taking the Metro has really shown me what we're missing out on.

Claude Monet, The Coal Workers (1875)

The artwork I was assigned to research, Monet's The Coal Workers (1875), wasn't actually on display in the Orsay! I've been debating what to write about instead, I've seen so much amazing art over the last week and a half. As much as I'd love to write about Daumier (a favourite artist) and the Crumb retrospective (at the Paris Modern Museum), I'm going to talk about something not really mentioned in art history classes: bizarre art at the Louvre. Boltraffio's Pala Casio (1500) has the goofiest looking cherub. It's floating at the top of the painting in a thick miasma, or perhaps it's a hole in the sky? It's hard to tell, the placement of the cherub's arms and head suggests more body should be visible given how small the cloud is. Which leads me to the next part-- The ukulele it's holding. Yes, I'm serious. I'm sure it's supposed to be a lute or guitar, but the creature's proportions to the instrument make it far too small to be either. I love the cherub's arm placement, its right arm seems to hover disconnected from the rest of its body. And if the right arm is that big, where is the left arm? There's certainly not enough cloud there to hide it! The rest of the painting is much more competent, it really makes me wonder how much of an afterthought this cherub was. The Death of Cleopatra by Giampetrino probably stands out in my mind as the most surprising painting--it shows a snake biting Cleopatra's nipple while she stands there with a coy smile on her face. It's absolutely hilarious. The painting looks good, it's painted quite well. Her pale body is framed by a dark background, giving it emphasis. With her gesture, you know she reached into a basket and picked up the snake (that it's not just a snake happened to leap on her). But it's impossible to really get over the disconnect between what is supposed to be happening and what is being shown. It's a good example of how history was used as an excuse to paint hot naked babes, with the pretense that it's tasteful because there's a reason for her being unclothed.

Today’s activity was at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

Picture from inside the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Today's activity was to visit a nearby graveyard. Nancy explained there's a culture of graveyard tourism, in fact we were able to get maps of the graveyard to locate famous people who were buried there. I was surprised to find out this was the graveyard Daumier was buried in! For some context, Daumier was an amazing French artist who worked primarily in lithography in the nineteenth century. He experimented in painting and sculpture in ways that were completely against the grain, predating many of the artists we associate with modernism. He struggled financially, especially late in his life after going blind and no longer able to earn a living. Off the top of my head I believe his funeral was paid for by the government, and one of his contemporaries wrote about how outraged he was that so few people attended the funeral of such an important man. I located his grave. It's quite humble, but in recent years someone must have paid for it to be cleaned up. There's a newer base to it with an elegant fence, black poles with chain surrounding the grave. The original stone is far more weathered, it's pitted and stained where moss likely once grew. The portion of the graveyard his grave is in is filled with ruins. Untended graves, broken and fallen over columns, a sizable tree growing out from a grave with tombstones leaning against it. This is all in sharp contrast to the graveyard near the Catacombs which seems to be higher class, there's a lot more ritzy mausoleums and sculptural graves in it. The only ruins I noticed were posts knocked down here and there, and they would be simply put on top of the tomb they belonged to. Some graves were covered in moss, but they were fewer in number.

New life grows from the old.

Dorothy also wanted me to talk about some of the souvenirs I've purchased while here. There was a yard sale type event in the streets of the neighbourhood we’re staying in, and so I bought a few things and researched their history. One is a dagger with a beaten scabbard. I spent an entire evening trying to figure out what it is and who may have owned it. It turns out it's a Georgian kindjal, likely made in between 1890-1915. The sword possibly came out this way due to exotic item collection. For example, think of all of the Japanese and African pieces that were being imported for their exoticness. Another thing I bought with history to it is a beret with a military pin on it. The pin gives the date 1935, the symbol on it signifies being part of the Foreign Legion 2nd Parachute Regiment. The beret it is on is red, likely signifying being awarded a red beret by the British Special Air Service. While the Red Berets were officially recognised in 1944, I'm left with the impression the berets were being awarded earlier than that. It's certainly something I have to research more.

Exploring Pere Lachaise, the largest cemetery in the city of Paris
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Tessa Nickel

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 18:52:00 +0000

Meet Tessa!

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Hey there, my name is Tessa Nickel and I am a Bachelor of Fine Arts major at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. As long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an artist. I remember specifically when I was seven years old drawing myself, with a paintbrush in hand, and although my facial features were in direct proportion to that of a Picasso guitar, I proudly stated, "when I grow up, I am going to be an artist!" Although I don't think I really knew what that meant at that age, here I am studying the works of some of the most well-known artists in the world, in the very place that they practiced their craft. I came on the trip for this exact reason. Sitting in a lecture hall with a slide projector at times made me feel so detached from the art works I was viewing. To come to this beautiful city and be close enough to touch the works of Van Gogh or Monet has been so surreal for me.

Checking out the view of the Haussmann buildings from the Opera. Left to right:
Andres, Yvonne, Jessica, Rosaura, Rhea, Courtney, Tessa, Kyubo, Amanda
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

The biggest thing that surprised me was the kindness of the people. I had constantly been told how rude Parisians were and that as an English speaker I would be treated terribly, but I haven't found this at all. These people are proud of their language and take pride in their city that is so full of history and culture. They demand respect for it from people who visit and so what people sometimes take as rudeness, I see it as their right. If you treat the people, their space, and their environment with a sense of quiet observation and avoid the mentality of a bull in a china shop, they will pay you the same courtesy. However, if you are obnoxious, loud, butcher their language, and don't apologize for any of it, I see it as an okay for them to mock you a bit in their Parisian fashion.

Tessa capturing the action along a busy Parisian boulevard
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

Vincent Van Gogh, The Dance Hall in Arles (1888)

There is something about Van Gogh that I have felt connected to as a person. Now I am not saying that I am about to take hard to drugs and alcohol and cut my ear off, but I feel like his heavy struggle as an artist is something any of us art students could relate to. On the second day of being in Paris when we went to the Orsay and I finally got to see my assigned painting The Dance Hall in Arles in person, and it was a lot more emotional then I had expected it to be. The colours of the work were so much more cohesive and rich then when I viewed it in a book. When seeing this work in person and in an amazing environment like the Orsay, it was so entirely different then viewing it in any classroom at home. His thick and gestural style of painting onto the canvas gave life to the work. I could see his perfections and mishaps all just inches from my eyes. Being able to see his work so closely made me feel closer to Van Gogh, as I could visualize him working and I was so close to something that he had poured his soul into. I never thought I could feel a connection like that to another artist that had lived 100 years before me.

Today’s activity was at the Palais de Tokyo and the Paris Museum of Modern Art. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

The "Intense Proximities" exhibition was made even more ironic with the presence
of African museum attendants around every corner. While not an intended part of the show,
they were very much part of the conversation students had at the Palais de Tokyo
(photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Today we went to the Palais De Tokyo, a contemporary art museum that I had never previously heard of before today. After this past week, where we had spent every day at a different museum, where they seemed to grow larger and with bigger, more beautiful bodies of work, my brain (and my particularly angry feet) felt entirely spent. I didn't know if I could handle another museum. I didn't expect a lot walking in, but this has been my favourite gallery we have been to so far. It is so unique from anywhere I have her been. It was so much more interactive then any of the museums masked with "do not touch" signs we had already experienced. Many of the pieces invited you to walk within or among them, to walk into a pitch black room and view them. You gained a connection from their accessibility and the modern issues they challenged you to stare straight in the face of. The environment of the three floored gallery was also amazing. The building on the inside had an unfinished industrial feel that itself was an installation as opposed to the stark pristine white walls of a classic gallery. They also allowed you to view the process of the future shows being installed, which is something people rarely get to see in a gallery, which was one of my favourite parts of the experience. The one thing I would have a criticism about were that the security guards were almost all African. In a gallery where a large percentage of the works were based on racial issues, I had originally thought that it may have been part of the show. After speaking with Dorothy however, she had informed me it was not on purpose. The irony of this issue being within a place questioning racial issues particularly baffled me, but I made a conscious effort to not let this affect my view of the art work being displayed. These works were really in a place I hope to work toward in my art practice, and an amazing introduction of what is to come when our group heads to Kassel, Germany for Documenta to see an international exhibition of some of the greatest that contemporary art has to offer.

Political graffiti was a prominent part of the downstairs exhibition space in the areas undergoing
renovation at the museum (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott)

Location | Paris: Meet Field School Blogger Rosaura Ojeda

noreply@blogger.com (Avant-Guardian Musings) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 03:17:00 +0000

Meet Rosaura! (photo courtesy: Andres Perez)

Tell us a little bit about yourself—school, background, major, reasons for taking this trip, anything else interesting you want to share.

Rosaura (far right) with Andres and Charis at the Opera House
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

It all started with a little girl who enjoyed art class a little bit more than anything she was ever assigned to do in school who goes by the name of Rosaura Ojeda, also known as myself. I was born in Valencia, Venezuela in 1991. At the age of three I moved to Kortrijk, Belgium, which allowed me to travel all over Europe and visit a lot of different countries, even though I hardly remember anything. Three years after, I moved back to Venezuela. At the age of eighteen, I moved again with my family to Surrey, British Columbia, Canada in search of a better life. At the moment, I'm studying General Studies at Kwantlen Polytechnic University but hoping to transfer to another program to become an architect in the next few years. Even though I feel like I've moved around a lot, my way of thinking hasn't changed: art is still the highlight of my studies. My interest in art has always been somewhat spontaneous and without background, as no one in my family has ever had the same interest in art as I have. This has always made me feel not confident enough about my knowledge and left me thinking that I don't know enough about art and its history. Because of that, I've been trying to catch up on that and what better way to learn about art history than in such a historical and artistic city as Paris?

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about Paris so far?

The most contemporary architecture of Paris can be found in the section of the city known as La Defense
(photo courtesy: Kyubo Yun)

I think that what has surprised me the most of this trip is not something that we encountered in the museums or exhibitions, but on the streets. The immense monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe, have left me speechless while standing right next to them feeling completely small. The Eiffel Tower, in particular, made me scream when I saw it that close, as I was turning around the corner of the Architecture Museum, which blocked my view of it. It was as if I had completely forgotten the tower existed and I was seeing it for the first time. Another thing that has surprised me a lot is the classic look that the city is still able to maintain and pull-off without people thinking that the city is not taken care of enough or is not modern enough. All of the urban environment has been planned and distributed so that the most modern buildings are all located in one area of the city (La Defense), not overshadowing the older buildings of the city, which Parisians seem to take much more pride in than the modern ones.

Berthe Morisot, Young Girl in a Ball Gown (1879)

In our visit to The Orsay, I came across my assigned painting Young Girl in a Ball Gown by Berthe Morisot on the 5th floor in the Impressionists Exhibition. The painting is average sized and positioned in the left corner of the third room from the entrance, with soft but colourful tones, and seemed to radiate for me as I impatiently looked around for it. I didn't like where she was positioned because I think it is an amazingly beautiful painting that deserves a lot more recognition than it has been given by placing it on a corner and next to a painting of flowers. On the other hand, I was surprised to notice that the colours were a lot brighter than I was expecting based on the internet images. I also noticed that the texture was incredibly thick especially on the dress where you could see some extreme relief on the flowers, which I'm pretty sure was intentional as it only appears in that region. The brush strokes were very obvious, which made the looseness with which the Impressionists painted very visible. I was able to see Berthe Morisot's intention of going against The Salon's idealistic techniques a lot more. I was also able to see a lot of different strokes and details that I couldn't see on the pictures, such as a red stroke or line on the right side of the background, which made me wonder whether it was an accident or Morisot intentionally wanted that line there as well as other little details that could be argued or be seen as mistakes by others.

Today’s activity was at the Palais de Tokyo and the Paris Museum of Modern Art. What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience? What, if any are the memorable moments for you?

One of several Dana Wyse packages designed to
solve culturally percieved "problems" with a simple pill

Today the group split into two groups, some of us went to Palais de Tokyo's Intense Proximities contemporary exhibition and others to the Musee d' Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris for the Robert Crumb retrospective exhibition. Intense Proximite addressed several ideas such as the crisis of universality, cohabitation and coexistence and linked them to race and ethnicity. The first impression I got from the exhibition was that everything was very well spatially placed. There was a perfect spot for everything, which made me wonder if the spaces were built around the art works or the art works were built to fit the space. The first floor was full of performance/video art that strangely and, maybe unintentionally, interacted with each other; however, they also addressed interesting subjects that in and of itself were interesting enough. Everything was bright and colourful surrounded by white walls. The underground floor had a very different feel to it: the whole floor was under construction and everything was very dark and somewhat scary. After walking around it for a bit, it made me wonder if they intentionally wanted the space to look under construction or it was something they couldn't help and decided to go with it. Similarly, the stairs hid art and history in them, filled with graffiti and some art pieces that I'm not sure if were there because they couldn't fit in the exhibition spaces or the artists intentionally wanted the pieces to be located next to the stairs. Everything seemed confusing and fascinating at the same time. I started to think that every single square inch inside the Palais de Tokyo was part of the exhibition and not just the exhibition rooms. When I reached the Bookshop, as we were about to leave, I realized my theory was right as another hidden art piece struck me by surprise. Dana Wyse's Jesus Had a Sister Productions has to be my favourite project featured in all of the exhibitions. Her art work, camouflaged as products that can be bought in the bookstore, consist of pills and other altered random objects, such as cigarettes and coins packaged in small little bags with labels that assure consumers that life could be made a lot easier by simply taking a pill and instantly solving extremely sensitive problems of contemporary society.

Rosaura and Amanda enjoying themselves at the Palais de Tokyo.