Eye Level

"Getting my art on . . ." at Luce

Tierney — 2012-02-09T13:22:42-05:00

Kristina Bilonick demonstrates how to silkscreen at a recent Luce Artist Talk.

"Getting my art on . . ." That's what one visitor said she liked to do when she comes to American Art's Luce Foundation Center. On Sunday, January 29, she was in the right place. Local artist Kristina Bilonick shared her work as part of the Luce Center's ongoing Luce Local Artist Series. She also did something a little unexpected. Bilonick led a hands-on screen printing demo and visitors printed their own tote bag featuring a pixilated version of the museum's beloved Black Hawk Horse Weathervane Pattern.

Bilonick began by talking about her interest in folk art and how she likes its edge, use of everyday materials, and sense of storytelling. She mentioned a lot of different artists on view in the Luce Center and noted that Howard Finster was one of her favorite folk artists. She told visitors that she focused more on the design and lettering when looking at Finster's piece ST. LUKE 5-20 AND WHEN HE SAW THEIR FAITH. HE SAID UNTO HIM. MAN THY SINS ARE FORGIVEN THEE than on what it actually said. It's amazing the number of things one can focus on when they look at a piece of art.

Throughout the talk, Bilonick made connections back to her own work. She told visitors how she recreated her grandmother's kitchen from memory using everyday objects, much like folk artists. She quoted artist Jimmy Lee Sudduth about his aspiration to be famous: "I'm gonna be fay-mous, fay-mous! I didn't learn much in school--Just learned to write my name--Jim. But I believe I'd rather be famous, than rich or smart." She said he captured her childhood enthusiasm about fame. She showed images from a series, Feeling Famous, in which Bilonick inserted an image of herself as a young girl into examples of pop culture. Much of her work is inspired by memories of her family and childhood, and often include a hint of humor.

Her humor was especially evident during her quick and dirty guide to silkscreening, or a "cooking class version" as Bilonick described it. She hammered together a screen, stretched fabric, pretended to apply the emulsion (a neon green substance that made me think of Slimer from The Ghostbusters), described how to transfer an image, until . . . a screen appeared ready to print! Bilonick helped visitors with the printing process, instructing them how to hold the squeegee (at an angle) and checking to make sure there was enough ink on the screen. A few visitors even wandered up after the talk and tried their hand printing a tote. And everyone was successful, even me!

Do you like getting your art on? If so, the museum has a lot of art making opportunities coming up. Tuesday, February 14, the Renwick will be hosting Handi-Hour. And the Luce Center also hosts a weekly Draw & Discover program on Tuesdays. Keep an eye on our calendar or sign up for our e-mail alerts, for more demos to come!

Annie Leibovitz's State of the Union

Howard — 2012-02-07T09:01:19-05:00

Annie Leibovitz, Plano, Illinois, 2011. © Annie Leibovitz, 2011

On Tuesday, January 24, a couple of hours before the President delivered his address to Congress, Annie Leibovitz presented her own state of the union to a sold-out audience at American Art's McEvoy Auditorium. Hers was a photographic pilgrimage--a meditation on the poetry of place--that took her across the country as well as overseas. Leibovitz, who spent her high school years in D.C., says that the first place on her "to visit" list was the Washington Monument. The rest as they say, is American history. Lincoln led her to Marian Anderson to Daniel Chester French, who designed the 16th president's memorial. Also on the journey, Georgia O'Keeffe, whose beautiful box of handmade pastels can still take your breath away, as well as Val Kill, the Hudson Valley home of Eleanor Roosevelt, and The Evergreens, the Amherst, Massachusetts home of Emily Dickinson's brother, Austin.

Leibovitz, who followed her introductory comments with a slideshow, presented images that included Emily Dickinson's fragile white dress, Elvis Presley's motorcycle and bullet-shot television (apparently he wasn't a fan of Robert Goulet; sorry Bob), Niagara Falls (an image so beautiful you feel you may go over at any minute), as well as Henry David Thoreau's wicker bed, Ansel Adams' darkroom, and a page from a journal belonging to Bronson Alcott, who poignantly traced his daughter Louisa May's hand in his right on the page. It, too, is one of those quiet moments that stuns you with its beauty, and may lead you to contemplate a list of your own: where would I stop on my own pilgrimage?

And so as not to disappoint fans of her commercial work for Vogue and Vanity Fair, Leibovitz drew the evening to a close with images of Joan Didion, artists John Currin and Rachel Feinstein, and a handful of Lady Gaga mostly dressed to the nines, except for one, where she's not very dressed at all. She's posed with crooner Tony Bennett and his expression is priceless as he deals with more Gaga than he probably expected.

With time for questions at the end, Leibovitz answered one from a woman in the audience, who, like Leibovitz, is a mother of three. She wanted to know how the woman on stage balanced work and home, to which Leibovitz gave her thoughtful reply, "You don't have to go out to take pictures...I always thought that you could do the seven wonders of the world in your room with a camera..stay close to home and photograph the people close to you."

The evening was a great opportunity to get to know a photographer whose work we've all admired for decades. And where else can you go from Emily Dickinson to Lady Gaga in sixty minutes flat?

Watch the webcast. Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage runs through May 20, 2012.

The Making of The Art of Video Games

Georgina — 2012-02-03T09:00:00-05:00

Fabrication is underway for the 20 "genre kiosks" for The Art of Video Games exhibition.

The Art of Video Games exhibition opens in less than two months (on March 16, 2012), so things are getting a little hectic around the museum! Early in January, the exhibits team did a round of testing for the 5 "playable" games that will be in the exhibition (Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower). The most challenging aspect of these games is that we are running them through original hardware and/or operating systems, including an authentic Pac-Man circuit board!

Fabrication is well underway for the 20 "genre kiosks" that will showcase 80 video games through screen captures and video footage. These are the 80 games that won the public vote in 2011. We were very excited to see how these were coming along! You can see more photos of the game testing and kiosk fabrication on Flickr. We'll continue to add images as we get closer to the opening, including photos of installation in the galleries.

Picture This: The Winners of the Renwick Postcard Contest

Georgina — 2012-02-01T12:00:54-05:00

Top: the winning postcard of our Renwick 40th Anniversary postcard contest by Becca Kallem. Bottom: Our runner-up entry is by Joanna Barnum.

American Art's Renwick Gallery is celebrating its 40th year—40 years of the best in American craft, decorative arts, exhibitions, and programs. To commemorate this milestone, we challenged our visitors to design a postcard to help us celebrate.

The Postcard Design Contest wrapped up on January 17, 2012. The staff of the Renwick Gallery met and reviewed the entries. There were many submissions and it was a tough choice. The group debated for a long while before deciding on a winner. Becca Kallem’s simple but beautiful watercolor of building’s façade was chosen. The winning postcard will be available for purchase in our Renwick Shop.

The Art of Video Games: Announcing GameFest

Georgina — 2012-01-26T12:06:31-05:00

Join us for the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

To celebrate the opening of The Art of Video Games exhibition, we will be holding three jam-packed days of events and activities from Friday, March 16 through Sunday, March 18, 2012. The schedule kicks off on Friday with panel discussions that include industry pioneers such as Don Daglow and RJ Mical, as well as innovative contemporary game designers such as Kellee Santiago and Ken Levine. Following this is a keynote presentation by Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and often considered to be the father of electronic gaming (please note that this program is sold out). On Friday night, join us in our cool courtyard for a special screening of the original TRON, during which our cafe will remain open for drinks and snacks.

Saturday and Sunday will be filled with open play on historic and contemporary game consoles, craft activities, live action game play, and music. Saturday night brings you the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and includes a special treat after the screening, when curator Chris Melissinos will host a discussion with the documentary stars Walter Day, Brian Kuh, Billy Mitchell, and Steve Sanders. For the full schedule of events during GameFest, please see our website! Note that all programs and activities are free, open to the public, and do not require registration, but will operate on a first-come first-served basis whenever space is limited.