I have attended Bethel University in Saint Paul, MN for two years and have never know that they have two art galleries. But somewhat in my defense I am only there once a week for night classes. There are two small galleries there that are about the same size in when our class went to the Ausburg Galleries. I liked the Lee Walton exhibit more, so I would like to describe some interesting artworks I discovered there.
Lee Walton named his exhibitMomentary Performances and Things That Last Longer. The first piece I checked out was, "Twin Cities Momentary Performances, 2009. During September 18-December 13, 2009 Walton choose seven different places to hold a "momentary performance". For example, for Momentary Performance #1, one week prior to the performance at Cuzzy's Grill and Bar in Minneapolis he painted on the blue building, "Friday, September 25th at 6:00pm, 2009 Person wearing a white hat pushing a bicycle stops to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich". Walton's intentions are to "highlight the subtleties and beauties of everyday people and actions. Considering these mundane micro-gestures as spectacular" (Bethel brochure, 2009). At first I thought this was really weird, but now I am kind of disapointed I missed out on one of the performances. It would be fun to see a bunch of people together, exited and expecting this ordinary task. I like how Walton's art literally goes out into the community.
Another interesting installment piece was called "Fluctuating Floor Sculpture Determined by Rounds of Golf". Walton made a list of instructions for someone else to follow to make the piece that reflected Walton's score in a series of golf rounds. The objects had to be bought at Target, total less then $100, be on the floor away from the wall, not exceed a 5' by 5' square...So in Walton's first round he scored 5, so fived slippers were vertically lined up heal to toe on the floor. In the next round he scored 7, so 7 Dorito bags were vertically lined up next to the slippers. This went on for 18 rows. I thought the piece was comical and fun to have set rules, but still the art piece was all up in the air depending on chance and skill in a game of golf.
Lastly, I liked the "F-book" (Facebook) video. "Using Facebook status updates of his friends and family as scripts, the artist creates daily videos depicting scenarios that are taken to absurdly literal extremes" (Bethel brocure, 2009). One example is, first, it will say, "Billy Lanch is playing fetch with the dog while trying to study". Then it showed a man reading a physics book at the table while with one hand throwing a stick, then it it thrown back up on the table as if the dog is throwing it up there. I personally found this comical because I think some people's facebook status's are just odd or I don't care who is "driving home from work". I like how Walton took these status to the extreme.
Check out information on Lee Walton here: www.leewalton.com
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Goldstein Museum of Design
This week I visited the Goldstein Museum of Design on the St. Paul U of MN campus. The museum is small, in just one room, but it holds lots of information. Before going to the museum I thought designers designs were basically to please the eye and be stylish, but they are so much more than that! Sometimes furniture needs to be made in a way that is affordable and capable of being mass produced. The designer has to know materials and how to form them, because not all materials are workable. Furniture in the office has to be comfortable, space-friendly, and promote the function of the company. Furniture design has a lot of science and social science behind the scenes. Ultimately, I learned, that furniture can change a culture.
Designs by Charles and Ray Eames are featured in the museum. Check out lots of information on them here http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/eameshome.html. There designs in the 50s helped to modernize postwar America (Library of Congress, 2005). I noticed their designs at Goldstein are modern style; they are sleek, not much detail, functional, and some materials often are chrome and plywood. Their plywood chair was named "Best Design of the 20th Century" in 1999 by Times. Today, I still see their designs used. I see many similarities in some Ikea designs: modern style, easily mass produced, simple materials, simple designs, and still comfortable.
George Nelson's designs are also very interesting. He designed some very functional and unique pieces. Such as the roll top desk designed with Robert Probst. It had a roll top to cover a messy desk, a foot bar to use when standing at the desk, and no sharp edges to work at the desk with comfort. The communication table, also designed with Robert Probst, has sound absorbing panels for the person on the phone all day. At first when looking at one of his designs I thought it was a nice cabinet, then learned the door dropped down for a desk. I liked how he took sleek looking furniture and made it so functional. And if anyone has a desk like me that it un-neatly loaded with papers and various objection, it would be nice to just hide it.
Check out this youtube video by Herman Miller www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpdvEWEWETk&feature=related. A saying pops up,the overall message, "The authentic designs from the original designers". As mentioned before, I see some of these styles in Ikea furniture, but the Ikea furniture is not the quality furniture like Herman Miller has. Once I really liked a chair at Slumberland then saw it again at Schneidermann's for much more money. A sales associate heard me saying this is the exact same chair, I am going to buy it there. She explained that the Slumberland chair has a cardboard backing while theirs is wood and built with much more care and durability. Knock-offs are everywhere, but nothing is going to match up to the "real thing". And good design will offer comfort and durability. If the furniture at Goldstein were not durable and functionable, they would not be around today and featured the way they are. A mass produces Ikea chair will not be in a museum 50 years from now.
My favorite element of the Goldstein museum was the feature on the "ergonomic chair". I had to look up the definition in the Oxford dictionary of ergonomic meaning, "intended to provide optimum comfort and to avoid stress and injury". I learned so much about designing and the importance of an ergonomic chair. It is once of those things I take for-granted each day, the thought that went into my comfortable chair and how it allows me to do my job in an efficient way. There is a lot of science and research that goes into ergonomic chair design that the museum thoroughly covers; such as different gender proportions, sizes of people, spine curvatures, promoting function ability...
The second element, part of the museum I enjoyed learning about, was office layout and cubicle design. Layouts in an office with many desks can be traditional where desks are lined up with hallways or they can be more sparatically spread around the floor space in a "landscape" style. Each layout will affect the culture and function of the company, so therefore is very important. The cubicle design has to optimize space use and help the employee to be more productive. Component needs to be easily assembled, installed and rearranged.
And third I also like the small section of info they had on importance of office textile design. Alexander Girard was director of Herman Miller's textile division in 1952. His "sence of color, geometry, and humor into the fabric collection complement[ed] the modern designs from Nelson and the Eameses [for] environmental enrichment" (Goldstein didactice). An office would be boring with all gray textile, but a bright design could give a person energy to keep them in a good mood and be more productive.
Designs by Charles and Ray Eames are featured in the museum. Check out lots of information on them here http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/eameshome.html. There designs in the 50s helped to modernize postwar America (Library of Congress, 2005). I noticed their designs at Goldstein are modern style; they are sleek, not much detail, functional, and some materials often are chrome and plywood. Their plywood chair was named "Best Design of the 20th Century" in 1999 by Times. Today, I still see their designs used. I see many similarities in some Ikea designs: modern style, easily mass produced, simple materials, simple designs, and still comfortable.
George Nelson's designs are also very interesting. He designed some very functional and unique pieces. Such as the roll top desk designed with Robert Probst. It had a roll top to cover a messy desk, a foot bar to use when standing at the desk, and no sharp edges to work at the desk with comfort. The communication table, also designed with Robert Probst, has sound absorbing panels for the person on the phone all day. At first when looking at one of his designs I thought it was a nice cabinet, then learned the door dropped down for a desk. I liked how he took sleek looking furniture and made it so functional. And if anyone has a desk like me that it un-neatly loaded with papers and various objection, it would be nice to just hide it.
Check out this youtube video by Herman Miller www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpdvEWEWETk&feature=related. A saying pops up,the overall message, "The authentic designs from the original designers". As mentioned before, I see some of these styles in Ikea furniture, but the Ikea furniture is not the quality furniture like Herman Miller has. Once I really liked a chair at Slumberland then saw it again at Schneidermann's for much more money. A sales associate heard me saying this is the exact same chair, I am going to buy it there. She explained that the Slumberland chair has a cardboard backing while theirs is wood and built with much more care and durability. Knock-offs are everywhere, but nothing is going to match up to the "real thing". And good design will offer comfort and durability. If the furniture at Goldstein were not durable and functionable, they would not be around today and featured the way they are. A mass produces Ikea chair will not be in a museum 50 years from now.
My favorite element of the Goldstein museum was the feature on the "ergonomic chair". I had to look up the definition in the Oxford dictionary of ergonomic meaning, "intended to provide optimum comfort and to avoid stress and injury". I learned so much about designing and the importance of an ergonomic chair. It is once of those things I take for-granted each day, the thought that went into my comfortable chair and how it allows me to do my job in an efficient way. There is a lot of science and research that goes into ergonomic chair design that the museum thoroughly covers; such as different gender proportions, sizes of people, spine curvatures, promoting function ability...
The second element, part of the museum I enjoyed learning about, was office layout and cubicle design. Layouts in an office with many desks can be traditional where desks are lined up with hallways or they can be more sparatically spread around the floor space in a "landscape" style. Each layout will affect the culture and function of the company, so therefore is very important. The cubicle design has to optimize space use and help the employee to be more productive. Component needs to be easily assembled, installed and rearranged.
And third I also like the small section of info they had on importance of office textile design. Alexander Girard was director of Herman Miller's textile division in 1952. His "sence of color, geometry, and humor into the fabric collection complement[ed] the modern designs from Nelson and the Eameses [for] environmental enrichment" (Goldstein didactice). An office would be boring with all gray textile, but a bright design could give a person energy to keep them in a good mood and be more productive.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Walker Art Center
This week I went to the Walker Art Center. I went on the free Thursday night and it was so much fun there. Many people were coming to attend the British Advertising Awards.
First, I jumped on a tour of the exhibit Events and Horizen; it was given by the museum's curator! I am really glad I took the tour, because I learned so much about the selected pieces and the layout of the museum. All the art in the museum is beautiful, but because it is so contemporary and new ideas I liked to have someone explain the artists intentions of their work. Such as the piece "3 Pass-stucke (3 adaptives)" by Franz West. West took molded white gauze into three different lump shapes and attached them to iron rods. The curator let people pass around the pieces, hold them and touch them. West's intentions is to break down the barrier between thinking art is precious and non-touchable. He intended for people to carry around these odd objects to reveal their own creativity and psychiatry. On my own I would have never guessed what West's intentions were, I would have looked at the gauze lumps and been grossed out. But it was interesting to see people's reactions to when they first held the objects (very timid) to when they started to have fun with it. Check out the art piece here www.artsconnected.org/resource/88778/3-pass-st-cke-3-adaptives (Sorry I had problems trying to hyperlink the sites).
The curator explained how a person never wants to put too many pieces of alike work together. It is better to mix and match it to keep the viewers on their toes. She said, "I have an envision for people to move a certain way through the museum and you people never go through it the way I want you too."When all the artwork was together, the curator was surprised by how many red pieces of work there are and the artworks of hands. On the night before the opening of Events and Horizens, the curator decided to move the large illuminated photograph "Morning Cleaning, Barcelona" by Jeff Wall into gallery two. It took the movers till 3am and she said it was worth it; Before the room was dark and dead, the illumination helped to brighten up the room. Check it out here: www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/jeff_wall/selected_05.html
The photograph by Jeff Wall is of a man cleaning windows at the Mies van der Rohe pavilion in Barcelona Spain. It shows the everyday life at a place with such significance. Interestingly, the curator explained, that the photograph is a "near documentary" meaning it was staged. A cleaner here would never leave mop heads on the floor or let soapy water drip on all the windows down the line. Sometimes to make more of an impact or to make it more noticeable to the viewers, the artist may need to add in extras to get their point across.
The first art piece a person sees when entering Event Horizen is a very large photograph about 5 feet high by 7 feet wide taken by Andreas Gursky in 1955 called "Klitschko". The photograph is taken from a high angle of a sports arena holding a fight. What is amazing to me is the detail in the photograph, usually the bigger the picture or further distance away it looses detail and focus. But one could see a logo on a t-shirt on the other side of the arena from where the picture was taken; it is so crisp and clear. It is true accuracy of "catching an event". The viewer can look at each person in the photograph to see how he or she is responding to the event. Check it out here: www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/klitschko-81kz4cijh9-0-m-342vc36qt9
One of the other very interesting art pieces in the exhibit I liked is "Konvex/ Konkav (Convex/ Concave) by Olafur Eliasson. The piece is of a mirror of about 3 feet circumference. A pump/motor system on the bottom slowly convexes and concaves the mirror. It does it so slowly one has to stare at him or herself in the mirror for a long time to notice it, while the pump makes sounds like breath. The artist intended people to stop at the piece, slow down, and force them to stare at themselves in the mirror. I liked this meaning behind the art piece, that people need to stop once in awhile and truly, deeply look at themselves. Check it out here:http://collections.walkerart.org/item/object/11283
Next the curator walked us to the exhibit Benches and Binoculars. Because the tour was not supposed to include this part she did not say much, but just wanted to say a few things because she was so proud of putting this together. The exhibit shows over 75 pieces in salon-styles; the artworks are almost frame to frame and floor to ceiling in a tall room. It was how art was judged by an academy and place accordingly to on the walls. I really liked the layout of this. It helped to see so many different styles of artwork and to compare them next to each other (and to also catch many similarities). The room was packed and everyone in there was having fun pointing out pictures and looking through the binoculars. It gave people a chance to put down their reserved guards int he museum and have fun; to point out "Ohhh, I like that one". Check it out here: http://visualarts.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=5306&title=Current+Exhibitions
Next I went to Heugue Yang's Integrity of the Insider. While it is interesting to see installation art and how people portray their ideas, when looking at the pieces I don't get it. I can try to come up with my own ideas, which is an important part of art to have my perception, but I still just wonder, "What were they thinking?" I like how the piece "Yearning Melancholy Red" affected my senses in so many different ways. It had fans for sound and feel, infrared heat for feel, the moving red lights gave a mysterious feels as I walked through the maze miniblind rows. I want to go back to see for the tour of this exhibit for clearer understanding of it. Check it out here: http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=4668
Lastly I saw the minimalism exhibit Elemental. My one line response would be, "Interesting to see and experience, but do not care if I never saw it again." It was neat how simple an art piece can be. But it did not evoke any real feelings for me.
First, I jumped on a tour of the exhibit Events and Horizen; it was given by the museum's curator! I am really glad I took the tour, because I learned so much about the selected pieces and the layout of the museum. All the art in the museum is beautiful, but because it is so contemporary and new ideas I liked to have someone explain the artists intentions of their work. Such as the piece "3 Pass-stucke (3 adaptives)" by Franz West. West took molded white gauze into three different lump shapes and attached them to iron rods. The curator let people pass around the pieces, hold them and touch them. West's intentions is to break down the barrier between thinking art is precious and non-touchable. He intended for people to carry around these odd objects to reveal their own creativity and psychiatry. On my own I would have never guessed what West's intentions were, I would have looked at the gauze lumps and been grossed out. But it was interesting to see people's reactions to when they first held the objects (very timid) to when they started to have fun with it. Check out the art piece here www.artsconnected.org/resource/88778/3-pass-st-cke-3-adaptives (Sorry I had problems trying to hyperlink the sites).
The curator explained how a person never wants to put too many pieces of alike work together. It is better to mix and match it to keep the viewers on their toes. She said, "I have an envision for people to move a certain way through the museum and you people never go through it the way I want you too."When all the artwork was together, the curator was surprised by how many red pieces of work there are and the artworks of hands. On the night before the opening of Events and Horizens, the curator decided to move the large illuminated photograph "Morning Cleaning, Barcelona" by Jeff Wall into gallery two. It took the movers till 3am and she said it was worth it; Before the room was dark and dead, the illumination helped to brighten up the room. Check it out here: www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/jeff_wall/selected_05.html
The photograph by Jeff Wall is of a man cleaning windows at the Mies van der Rohe pavilion in Barcelona Spain. It shows the everyday life at a place with such significance. Interestingly, the curator explained, that the photograph is a "near documentary" meaning it was staged. A cleaner here would never leave mop heads on the floor or let soapy water drip on all the windows down the line. Sometimes to make more of an impact or to make it more noticeable to the viewers, the artist may need to add in extras to get their point across.
The first art piece a person sees when entering Event Horizen is a very large photograph about 5 feet high by 7 feet wide taken by Andreas Gursky in 1955 called "Klitschko". The photograph is taken from a high angle of a sports arena holding a fight. What is amazing to me is the detail in the photograph, usually the bigger the picture or further distance away it looses detail and focus. But one could see a logo on a t-shirt on the other side of the arena from where the picture was taken; it is so crisp and clear. It is true accuracy of "catching an event". The viewer can look at each person in the photograph to see how he or she is responding to the event. Check it out here: www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/klitschko-81kz4cijh9-0-m-342vc36qt9
One of the other very interesting art pieces in the exhibit I liked is "Konvex/ Konkav (Convex/ Concave) by Olafur Eliasson. The piece is of a mirror of about 3 feet circumference. A pump/motor system on the bottom slowly convexes and concaves the mirror. It does it so slowly one has to stare at him or herself in the mirror for a long time to notice it, while the pump makes sounds like breath. The artist intended people to stop at the piece, slow down, and force them to stare at themselves in the mirror. I liked this meaning behind the art piece, that people need to stop once in awhile and truly, deeply look at themselves. Check it out here:http://collections.walkerart.org/item/object/11283
Next the curator walked us to the exhibit Benches and Binoculars. Because the tour was not supposed to include this part she did not say much, but just wanted to say a few things because she was so proud of putting this together. The exhibit shows over 75 pieces in salon-styles; the artworks are almost frame to frame and floor to ceiling in a tall room. It was how art was judged by an academy and place accordingly to on the walls. I really liked the layout of this. It helped to see so many different styles of artwork and to compare them next to each other (and to also catch many similarities). The room was packed and everyone in there was having fun pointing out pictures and looking through the binoculars. It gave people a chance to put down their reserved guards int he museum and have fun; to point out "Ohhh, I like that one". Check it out here: http://visualarts.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=5306&title=Current+Exhibitions
Next I went to Heugue Yang's Integrity of the Insider. While it is interesting to see installation art and how people portray their ideas, when looking at the pieces I don't get it. I can try to come up with my own ideas, which is an important part of art to have my perception, but I still just wonder, "What were they thinking?" I like how the piece "Yearning Melancholy Red" affected my senses in so many different ways. It had fans for sound and feel, infrared heat for feel, the moving red lights gave a mysterious feels as I walked through the maze miniblind rows. I want to go back to see for the tour of this exhibit for clearer understanding of it. Check it out here: http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=4668
Lastly I saw the minimalism exhibit Elemental. My one line response would be, "Interesting to see and experience, but do not care if I never saw it again." It was neat how simple an art piece can be. But it did not evoke any real feelings for me.
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