Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems' speech Thursday night was very entertaining and a little odd in comparison to the usual sort of lecture we find from an artist. Weem's work showed a wide span of ideas and political interests which mainly seemed connected through the bodily means by which she approached the pieces.

Her pieces have both a designed produced feel to them while very strongly conveying personal messages to the viewer (often affecting the viewer's awareness of their own viewership). Her pieces often use text in a way that projects ideas on to the viewer as opposed to the more commonly expected relationship in which the viewer projects their personal associations onto the art object.

Her pacing was very interesting. She seemed to have a somewhat slow and deliberate way of talking things about work which was still filled with energy. It gave the lecture an interestingly casual feel. It seemed as if she were talking more to a room full of peers than lecturing to students. It was a very nice change up. She also avoided over-explanation of her ideas in a way that seemed more trusting of the audience's understanding than oversimplification.

I was a little dissappointed that the lecture's Q&A section was so short. I feel it would have been interesting to hear her talk about her work a little more

good cova letta

Dear Mr. Smith:

I am responding to your advertisement in The City Tribune (dated 1/20/00), regarding the Pharmaceutical Representative position.  Please find enclosed my resume showing my education, experience, and background.

I have over 7 years experience in the sales and marketing field, and 3 years experience as an LPN staff nurse.

Throughout my sales and marketing career I won top sales awards, and trained other sales representative’s specific sales techniques to increase their sales. I enjoy working with the public, as well, demonstrating products, and educating others in their uses. I believe I would excel in pharmaceutical sales because I truly find sales a challenging and rewarding career; as well, my nursing background offers an advantage in better understanding the products I would sell.

May I arrange an interview to further discuss my qualifications? I am available for an interview at a mutually convenient time.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Bad cover letter

The purpose of this letter is to express my interest in the job opening you advertised. I have lots of experience as an ad account managar and i think I would be good for the job.
Ads that I have designed have been in many different newspapers and i have gotten a lot of awards for mywork.
Enclosed you will find my resume. Please get back to me about the job.




Im pretty sure its obvious why this sucks.

Lester Merriweather Lecture Notes

Lester Merriweather's lecture last Thursday definitely set itself appart from the previous lectures in class. Where other lecturers had usually prepared a presentation, Lester decided to go for a more conversational route. This in itself is not at all a bad idea. However, the informational part of the lecture seemed a bit lacking.

Upon entering he immediately sat down, physically placing himself on our level. The talk he gave however seemed to contradict that. It came off a bit "look at how awesome I am". That said, Lester is quite obviously seeing success in his career as an artist. He has a fairly solid formula for success. It is also one that honestly left a bad taste in my mouth. His main advice seemed to really just be about how everyone is a potential resource to be used. Although he encouraged politeness and a helpfulness towards others, it seemed only with the intention that it would be somehow paid back later.

Maybe however, the short time that we had to talk with him has given me a false impression of his intentions.

Tracy Lauritzen-Wright

Last week Tracy Lauritzen-Wright came to visit and talk with the class. She works for the National Civil Rights Museum. She spoke to us about the progression from the point where she left school up until her current life. Interestingly, although she explained the process as at times being purely based in luck, she explained pretty thoroughly the things that she did to help improve her luck. It seemed in this case more like the message was to try and prepare as much as you can. After a certain point, it sort of always comes down to luck. Persistence really seems to be the key.

            She also talked of art related jobs for a little bit. She recommended that we consider these sorts of jobs too. She highly recommended interning at a museum, which sounds pretty interesting to me. I definitely think that I will try to pursue some art or music related job when I get out of school which will help pay for my art/music habit.

cover letter

I am continuing a series of documentarian portraits that allow the viewer in on private and largely unseen moments in the life of the subject. I have been exploring these portraits through printmaking and collage. Each portrait is depicted in the process of preparing to go out in public, usually in front of a mirror. These moments of preparation are moments in which the individual fabricates part of their public identity. The audience experiences a voyeuristic moment in viewing a private moment of the formation of the subject’s public identity. The viewer however will inevitably consider their personal routines in comparison to these portraits. With the facilities I would have access to at Bemis, the series would have time and space to develop through mixed media processes. I plan on moving the work towards an installation project.

Wayne Edge and Anne Siems at David Lusk Gallery

Wayne Edge and Anne Siems are currently exhibiting work at the David Lusk Gallery. Each artist has about half of the space with Wayne Edge in the front part of the gallery, and Anne Siems located in the back half of the gallery. There is a very strong division between the two halves as Anne Siems’ work consists of paintings where Wayne Edge’s work consists of more sculptural forms

            Anne Siems’ paintings depicted somewhat creepy somewhat kitschy figures with doll-like faces, placed in front of very classical landscapes. Many of the paintings included ornate patterning either on the figure or surrounding the figure. The juxtapositions were interesting, but aesthetically, the paintings didn’t do too much for me.

            Wayne Edge’s work involved sculptural forms reminiscent of constructivism with a stone age twist. The forms had a strong emphasis on tension and motion. They juxtaposed geometric, obviously man made (or altered) materials with organic forms such as rocks and twigs.  Many of the more linear elements had sharpened rocks or broken glass affixed to the ends making them resemble spears and arrows. The same sorts of fastening methods were used at the intersections of linear elements causing the whole piece to fight back and forth between man and nature.

websites n stuff

things im cool with
http://www.thebirchfoundation.com/
http://www.gavinworth.com/painting.html
http://www.trulyamelia.com/
http://debbie-smyth.com/jubilee-bridge/
http://www.stephangeyer.com/


things im not cool with
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcum/
http://mistermourao.com/
http://www.syntxrrr.com/rrrdr.html
http://finchfight.tumblr.com/
http://www.galeriemariskahammoudi.com/lee.html

Don Estes

Last Thursday we went to Don Estes’ studio to talk to him about his art and how he makes money at it. I found the visit somewhat frustrating in that there was again the sort of “it just happened”/ “right place at the right time” answer as far as monetary success through his art. He didn’t really give us much new information about the gallery process and had very little experience with residencies.

I found his work very interesting and the ways in which he talked about it even more interesting. I felt it was very smart of him to talk of his abstractions in the context of landscape-based work. His paintings were very interesting and showed a progression of ideas. I was impressed with the ways he talked about starting projects and working through ideas.

His studio space seemed very nice. I was pretty damned envious. Unfortunately, the whole story of his career seemed very tailored (not unreasonably) to him. It just didn’t seem very applicable to my life as an artist.