Art Institute of Chicago Imaginations...

Web Fantabulousness!

I love the Chicago Artists Resource website. It's an artists dream. Time to take the time to actually use some of these resources. When's the last time I've applied for a grant, or residencies, or exhibitions, or internships, teaching position, it never ends..... Chicago has so much to offer for practicing artists, sometimes I forget. Thanks Ray for the reminder!

http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/

That's What I Thought!

As I Walked Down Cyber Lane I Found.....

So we know that the Art Institute of Chicago has an amazing collection, and the photography collection I can't get enough of. I could switch off living between to photo gallery, the miniatures room, the quilt gallery, and the museum gift shop.

The site, (although not as enhanced as MOMA's or the Whitney) is a great example of digital image cataloguing. Very well organized, easily assessable, well, you feel me...

But what I REALLY love is the little link on the AIC webpage that wisps me away to the Gene Siskel Film Center! I cannot wait to attend the Chicago premiere of House (Hausu) 1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi, Japan. I'll be there wearing my 3D glasses, (this film is not in 3D however). Check out the GSFC website for showtimes. SAIC kids get $4 admission!

Check the synopsis and preview:

Since first being unleashed on unsuspecting American cinephiles last summer, this 1977 Japanese haunted-house movie has erupted into a cult phenomenon whose utterly uncategorizable mixture of Grand Guignol, kiddie TV, psychedelia, and softcore nymphetphilia has had critics grasping for comparisons (a few examples: "An episode of Scooby Doo as directed by Dario Argento" "RINGU on a Pixy Stix-fueled hug-a-thon" "Sid and Marty Krofft meet Salvador Dalí"). Pouting over her widowed dad's new fiancée, teen princess Gorgeous takes her pals Melody, Prof, Kung Fu, Mac, Sweet, and Fantasy for a getaway at her aunt's gothic mansion, but both aunt and mansion have a voracious appetite for nubile girls. In his first feature, former experimental-film and TV-commercial director Obayashi uses blatant artifice, startling transitions, postmodern japes, and a pre-digital arsenal of goofy-gory f/x to concoct a film that is unsettling, enchanting, inventive, and relentlessly astonishing. In Japanese with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)

Not a Fan of That, But I am a Fan of This

"America Face to Face With Itself"

Hello World!

So I really do not enjoy the "Museum 2.0".... at all.... (a blog that discusses participatory museum experiences between visitors and museum spaces)... at all..... I'm not sure what I find so frustrating, is it the dull layout, the dull page design. But I do know that I need more color in my Museum 2.0 experience.

So I clicked a link that led me to the magical BRAVE NEW WORLD blogspot. A splash of color, and an intro that read "I followed a museum into the 21st century.

Check it!

http://tsheko.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/follow-a-museum-a-day-flat-museums/

"Oh What a Relief!"

Had a ball introducing the students at Gwendolyn Brooks High School to a foam core printmaking process. Got great feedback from the young people and my professor, and really learned a lot. I love being back in high school (as long as I'm not enrolled back in high school!)

These students are already incredible amazing artists. The work they have been producing during the semester rivals that which is produced as SAIC.

So grateful and blessed to be surrounded by such inspirational creativity. I love my life!

John John in '83. I Miss Him! Where Might He Be Now?....

Oh Happy Frigid Day....I Live on an Iceberg

I'm up and looking forward to what this day has to offer. Must run to the Tattoo Factory to buy a spacer for my nose ring; must remove for Monday's workshop at Gwendolyn Brooks High. As if the students don't know what's up, but I'm willing to put aside my beliefs for a cause greater than myself.

Madeline Rebecca (my rabbit) is driving herself crazy trying to chew herself out of her cage so I must find her an alternative chew toy. I used to give her cardboard toilet paper rolls until I realized she was digesting them. Rabbits will eat anything. Who new?

Looking outside my window at the beauty of Lake Michigan. Full of chunks of ice that looks to me like miniature glaciers.

Listening to Mr. Mister on Pandora radio...So take these broken wings, and learn to fly again...learn to live so freeeeeeee.....

Back in the 60's I used to plays for the Bears....

3:45pm And The Day Has Only Just Begun

Have you ever had the feeling that when the day should be winding down, it isn't even close to half-way over? I'm sitting here with my lady, whose studying for the Illinois Bar Exam while I prepare for my evening graduate course. Whoever said art school was is a breeze has not entered the School of the Art Institute Master of Arts in Teaching program.

Thesis question: What influences the 50%/47% high school drop out rate of young Black American men/women in the United States, and more specific, in Chicago? Why can I not find qualitative phenomenological evidence that explains the social, emotional, political, environmental and psychological issues that influence this epidemic from the mouths of those adversely affected. Again, I am on a mission...to listen to silenced youth voices of color.

Will they discuss these issues with me? After all, why should/would they? What is my point of entry? Who are my allies and what are my resources? I am on a mission. I am a freedom fighter not the savior of our young people. I am filled with compassion and love and support for my people. I want change.

I am consumed with questions.

I am consumed with excitement about my new riding boots.

And now this freedom fighter must go back to work....

In the Beginning The Earth Was Brown

And so it all began, forcefully recruited into cyber-land where I communicate my life through a keyboard. click.....click....click....

I welcome myself and I welcome you into my fabulous world filled with vibrant color bursts consumed by velvety shades of brown. I'm a lady on a mission, and while I figure out just where my final destination will be, I will eat this lovely Kit Kat bar.