Engagement or Chaos: The Role of Art in Post-Modern Society

One feature of the Phantom Galleries Project, and especially our Red Interactive project, has been an attempt to engage the public. For our open house in September we invited people to wear red and bring something red that could be used in a collaborative sculpture. It thrilled us to see the interaction that occurred as the show visitors engaged in the making of that 3-D red expression.

Today the office-space-turned-gallery at 1410 Tower Avenue will be opened for an hour to discuss questions about the role of art in society today. John Heino and I will be moderators of this brown bag lunch public event titled “Engagement or Chaos?”

The main object of the discussion will be to get clarification on what appears to be a problematic dichotomy in the arts. Is anything and everything art? Or is art only considered art after it has been “blessed” by the appropriately certified critics from on high? Another way to break this out will be to explore these two apparently contradictory propositions.

Perspective 1
This idea that anyone with materials and an impulse can make art is just nonsense. More engagement? Maybe, but it’s a slippery slope to chaos. There are still very valid roles for art critics and art historians and that is to ensure that there always remains something legitimate about what gets to be called “art.”

Perspective 2
What is the art elite protecting? There never have been absolute criteria for determining what is and isn’t art. Now, more than ever, we need to foster engagement and not be overly concerned about what “passes for art.” Would the world end if a piece of non-art avoided detection? It hasn’t yet. Engagement is the antidote for elitism.

According to John Heino, photographer and co-founder of the Red Interactive project, “This is not a mere intellectual exercise. If we agree that some form of art is a desirable component of human existence, then we ought to be concerned about accessibility and practice as it relates to the entire population, not just a smattering of insular cults that are intentionally or otherwise incomprehensible to ‘average’ folks.

I, too, have questions. Is aesthetic appreciation innate, automatic and universal or something that also must be learned in order to be valued? If the latter, can this be part of why elites sometimes disdain the common to some extent? Is there a place for high art, high culture?

The dialogue is intended as a starting point for future discussions about the relationships between the arts, culture and commerce. Red Interactive is a sanctioned project of Phantom Galleries Superior.

Phantom Galleries Superior (PGS) is one of six Phantom Gallery initiatives in the state of Wisconsin supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. PGS is a unique partnership between Superior Public Art Creating Community Environments (SPAC2ES) and Superior Business Improvement District (BID), the property owners, the artists, and the community. Use of properties is generously donated by the owners. Additional support comes from multiple artistic resources, the BID, and the Morgan Fund of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

For more information about Red Interactive visit our on online interactions on Facebook. In the meantime, let's keep the dialogue rolling.

Engagement happens.

Ten Minutes with Artist Tonja Sell (Part II)

Yesterday began an interview with Tonja Sell, a painter and mixed media artist. What I liked about her work when I saw it last summer was how she incorporated found objects and miscellaneous materials into her designs. The effects were sometimes astonishing and the pictures here do not adequately convey it. Do take time to click on the images to enlarge them. And enjoy Tonja's commentary on various facets of the artist life.

Relationship to Color

TS: Color was very frightening to me for a long time. I used it but never felt very confident in it. I have so much to learn! I combine color currently with a lot of curiosity in the process. Hmmm, what if I do this...? Since I have started working again fear really hasn't been an issue. Not that I feel I have mastered anything, but I am embracing color and choosing to explore it's possibilities without fear! I am approaching everything in my work that way. I don't care if things are "successful" or not. I am much more concerned about the process and what I can learn through and in it. It has been very liberating.

A Dreamlike Style

TS: I think glass exposure has been an influence here. Glass is so fluid and the color layering and patterns that evolve in the process of glass blowing likely shows up in my work more than I realize. It's hypnotic to watch. There are definite similarities there. I am a collector of images. Not always physically, but certainly mentally. I am always making note of patterns, interesting marks, fabric samples, flowers, leaves, etc...So they are very much filed in my mind and come out as I am working. Occasionally I will include specific images that come from a collected reference, but more often they simply develop in the space as needed.

Ornamentation

TS: I am very much drawn to patten, texture and color layering as seen in the work of Klimt and Van Gogh, the mood, details and drama of Mucha, the beauty and grace of the Pre-Raphaelites and Vermeer. The exaggeration of figure of Egon Schiele, So many things about so many artists that I love. I live in Rural Northern Wisconsin now and find birds, natural patterns, flowers, pets and my kids show up quite
often... It makes sense I suppose, as it is my life.

Are many of your paintings self-portraits? If so, what is the appeal of working from yourself as a model? Do you work from models? Photographs? Internet images?

Many people wonder if I use myself as a subject. I find it very interesting as I rarely do intentionally . I will often refer to my face or the faces of my daughters if I am working out a shadow or specific color, but I usually have the pose or facial features worked out before this point.

I much prefer working from life than photos and hope to be able to do that more and more. The difficulty comes in finding willing and able models that work cheap! My kids are usually somewhat willing and always available. I will use what suits me at the time. I don't have an aversion to photo images as I know artists some do, I just find it easier and fresher to work from life.

Tell me a little about your process, from start to finish. What drawing or painting techniques are particularly important in your process?

I am drawn to simple poses. Moment in time settings, almost like you walked in on someone and caught them unaware. I will often observe a pose and file it away in my mind until I need it. When I prepare to work I often just look at my canvas or paper for a while and see what "appears". It sounds silly but it rarely takes more than a moment for something to begin to take shape- very loosely but still a direction.
I will then usually set up the pose using family or friends or look for a magazine image or reference that is helpful. I have a pretty good grasp of the figure so I am mostly working out color or light and shadow issues. Once I have the figure placement pretty much worked out in a loose sketch I begin to work the whole piece at once, working from the outside in. I am very much considering the entire composition as I go.

The negative and positive shapes are very important as well as the possibilities of what is happening inside those shapes. I almost never work on one area for more than a few minutes before moving around the space. I find that I am careful to repeat colors as well as patterns around the whole piece. I want the eye to move around the piece coming to rest on the intended focal point. I am rarely thinking about it as I am doing it, but find it usually happens in the works that I am most please with.

Often it will begin very loose and aggressive. Fast, loose and bold strokes, patterns and bright color. I am learning the importance of the under painting in my work. I love to have the unexpected show through and that only seems to happen through significant layering. I am intentionally working quickly, trying not to labor over specifics. Learning from a piece and moving onto another. I figure I can always paint over it!

Most of the things I am doing now are done in a day or two, working as I can fit it in. I also home-school my children so days are still full.

Recent Shows

TS: I have recently rejoined the Art Resources Galleries at the Galleria in Edina, MN and International Market Square in Minneapolis, MN. They are currently the only gallery where my work is being shown.
I am looking for other galleries where my work may fit. I used to be very timid about approaching a gallery but have found it worth the effort. If there seems to be a place that carries work of the same caliber as yours and you think your work may fit- approach them, why not, what do you have to lose. If they consider your work --great, if they reject you, respectfully ask why. You may get a very helpful critique out of the experience and that's always useful!

I always have the gallery set price of the piece. They know what they can sell for in a given area. They know their market and have always been happy with the outcome.

The Business Side

TS: I have been involved in commercial free-lance illustration, children's book illustration, art fairs and gallery representation. Commercial illustration paid well but was very high pressure production and very difficult to do with a young family.

Art fairs can be enjoyable or a nightmare. So many factors are a play. Weather, advertising, reputation... I do one outdoor festival that has existed for 40 + years. The artists are treated very well, it is well attended and is a pleasure to participate in as long as the weather is cooperative.

Galleries are my favorite setting. The exposure potential is significant and with the event of the Internet only growing. They are usually able to secure prices that can be hard for artists to otherwise attain.

The Internet holds so many possibilities of self representation. I am very interested to see the opportunities for artists on all levels.

Resources

TS: I am a veracious book collector. I love children's books, anything cheap with great illustrations, also magazines, I will often take 10 minutes and tear through a magazine pulling anything that stands out for any reason. Some I will save in a box if they are small or put them into a categorized three ring binder with clear sleeves- faces, hands, birds, fabric....I have several binders full! While I rarely work directly from them they are invaluable!

I have recently discovered Etsy and am enjoying exploring it very much! lol! I find inspiration in the oddest places and Etsy has so many interesting things every day. I have created an Etsy page with my kids where they sell things they find from our woods. It's a hoot! I am just beginning to explore the Internet as an inspiration resource. I would love to have a list of great sites passed on to me!

Present Projects, Future Plans

TS: I am currently working on a large painting that was inspired by a quick study. It is unique for me as I have incorporated some collage elements into it. I am curious to see if it works. It is typical for me to have multiple projects going at once. Right now I have 4 paintings and 5 drawings in various stages of development, as well as assorted fused jewelry projects, glass mosaics and felted scarves. I am also preparing the sketches I do during the drawing group, that I meet with weekly, for a show that will be held in that space. I just intend to keep working and experimenting and see where it leads, enjoying the process as I go. Life is a breath- live it with intentionally and with gusto!

Other Creative Endeavors

TS: My husband and I are considering opening a java/art/cafe in the nearby town of Brule, WI where we would provide opportunity for emerging and local artist to show their work and a place to offer art classes. I would love to create a comfortable environment where artist and those who appreciate art can come together to make, learn, buy and sell. We shall see!

Ten Minutes with Artist Tonja Sell (Part I)

Summertime in Duluth is a season of tourism, activities and events. One of these events that's near as reliable as the season is the Park Point Art Festival which this year had 122 exhibits of creative expression from photography, painting and sculpture to fiber art and jewelry. One artist who work stood out to me this summer was Tonja Sell. I chatted with Tonja and aimed to interview her later this summer but as many good intentions go, summer slipped away and I'd misplaced her contact information. C'est la vie.

Last week it happened that while re-arranging some of my paintings at the Red Interactive Phantom Gallery Superior I ran into Tonja again as she was painting in Kathleen Kollodge's Tuesday painting class there in the New York Building. Once more I was impressed by what she was working on, and this time followed through with the interview questions.

Instead of replying to the various questions I asked, she sent back this interview which she had done for another artist newsletter, promising to answer my questions as time permits. She is a mother as well as artist and busy juggling all the other responsibilities of a household. Here's Tonja, talking about various facets of her life as an artist.

Roots
My father was a builder and currently a full-time glass-blower and my mother was a high-school art teacher, so I grew up in a very creative home. It was evident early on that making things was very much a part of my nature. I most of my childhood in a very rural part of Northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior where winters are long and brutal but the landscape is stunning! I was continually building forts, making mud sculpture. One of my earliest memories of "making art" was from the age of about four, a young friend and I painted automobiles in a apartment complex parking lot with house paint that we had discovered. From about six on I drew all the time. If I wasn't exploring the 80 acre woods we moved to, I would be found drawing.

Making Time for Art
Upon high-school graduation I received a scholarship to attend MIAD (Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design). Since I was a lousy waitress, and needed to pay for art supplies, I chose to sell the fused glass jewelry I made from a cart in downtown Milwaukee that I made with my father from old bicycle parts. That was my first "professional" art experience!

After college I married my "product/industrial designer- now pastor" husband of 22 years and moved to the Phoenix, AZ area where I did freelance illustration, some murals and worked on some minor book projects. I also taught art to children and adults and did glass fusing that I sold at street fairs.

In 1994 we returned to Northern WI to raise our family and build the home and studio where we currently reside. I continued to work as I was able while raising and home-schooling 4 kids, now ages 17 to 6. I had drawings and paintings in a few galleries and continued to make glass jewelry.

My repertoire includes fused glass, metal-glass-oil painted sculpture, felting, printmaking, photography, pottery and ceramic sculpture, watercolor, acrylic painting, mixed-media, sewing, charcoal, pastels and oils with a few other odds and ends thrown in.

Though I have been able to work some, I haven't worked seriously until jumping back into it in 2009.

Subject Matter
So much of the art community seems to emphasize the shocking, odd social commentary, the ugly or strange for the sake gaining recognition. I think an artist is a social reporter whether or not they are trying. It seems so many people try so hard to become a certain type of artist that they often aren't being very truthful. I focus on what moves me. Usually it's simple, beautiful things. That is the world that is mine. It's not that I am oblivious to the ugliness in the world I just don't feel the need to focus on it. I don't care if I am "discovered" I just love the process and activity of making things.

I like art that draws me into someone’s experience. A point in time, a moment, that I can become a part of. I have a harder time connecting with completely abstracted images for that reason. I can appreciate them on a certain level but They lose my attention very quickly.

The human element is important to me. People are the reoccurring subject for me- usually women- after all it's what I know best as I am one.

Though I am interested in nature themes and landscape I find it more difficult to interpret it in a way I am comfortable with and find it doesn't hold my attention the same way the figure does. My landscapes tend to be very quick studies.

Media
I am in experimental mode right now. I am interested in so many things it can be difficult to focus. I love to work and have multiple things going at once. Drawing is my first love, I love the feel of the paper, the noise the tool makes as I am working it, the motion of it. I am pretty aggressive as I work. I just love making marks!

I am learning to paint. I only had intro painting exposure my first year of college so I am finding my own way. I started with acrylics and now am experimenting with oils. I have found acrylics to be frustrating since the dry so quickly. I am very much enjoying oils but have much to learn.

Collage is quite foreign to me I love the idea of layering images and using found objects that tell a story but there is much about technical application that I do not know. Glass fusing is collage with color, layering to achieve unexpected results. Glass has also been an income staple for us. I have been able to easily incorporate into a busy lifestyle in a way that I could not with painting and drawing previously.

Developing the Craft
I personally believe drawing is vital. It is the starting point. If someone cannot interpret image with line and shadow it's evident in their other work as well. If you can, anything else done will only be enhanced by that knowledge and skill.

My daughter dances ballet so she made a lovely study model as I began to work again. Dance lends itself so wonderfully the drawing process. I try to draw daily now and have joined a local drawing group that meets weekly. We meet for fellowship and inspiration. It is a time where I can work uninterrupted by family activities.

TO BE CONTINUED
Click images to enlarge.

Where the Jobs Are

His opening line in the contact email he sent me was, "I'm so glad that someone else reads books." He'd found Graham Greene in my profile, one of his favorites. He then asked if I read Steinbeck. A yes, naturally. We corresponded. Turns out, his job is to persuade bloggers to link to his company's site.

Serge Lavange is an account manager for Jooble, a job search firm with offices around the world. Its head offices are in Kiev, Ukraine and Limassol, Cyprus. The concept behind the company is to be a type of Google site except that whereas Google helps feed you information but anything and everything, Jooble feeds you info on jobs.

Well, I decided I'd go for the ride if he let me ask a few questions.

EN: What is the current perception of where the best jobs are?
Serge: It depends on the location and of course on a company you search the job at. But if you take a look worldwide market we can tell you that IT specialists are in high demand right now mostly in every company, even if it is not IT related company. Let us explain what we mean here. Internet lets its roots to almost every industry and most of companies are trying to expand their activity on-line (social networks, on-line shops, on-line advertising, etc). Of course engineer related jobs are also in demand.

EN: I get the feeling more people are moving outside of their countries to other places than ever before. Are there stats on this? Where are the places more people are moving to?
Serge: There is a saying: “It is good to be there, where you cannot be right now.” According to statistics we see that permanent migration into OECD countries fell by about 7% in 2009 to 4.3 million people. It is the second consecutive year of decline after a decade of growth.

EN: If you leave your country to go somewhere else, where are the easiest places to find employment?
Serge: Every country has its peculiarities and we cannot say that it is easy to find a job somewhere. Unless you try of course. But we think it all depends on the candidate’s qualification. If you have a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree and have fresh ideas in your head then you may feel free to apply for a job to any company you dream about. It may be Google, Apple or any other company. You may reach your goals if you work hard and of course believe in what you do.

EN: How big is Jooble as a company and how long have they been around?
Serge: There are 50+ people working at Jooble. The company was founded in 2007 with offices located in Ukraine and Cyprus. Now Jooble operates in 44+ countries and we permanently develop our services to other countries.

If you would like to find a job in other locations you may try to search jobs in:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Chilie, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia , South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey , Venezuela, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

EdNote: Serge wasn't sure whether this information would be relevant to this blog, but he stated that my articles were interesting and easy to read. That's the second time I've heard that in a week. Serge especially liked my post "Moneyball Worth More Than the Price of Admission." Maybe you would, too.

Cynicism's Consequence

Are there more bad things happening today than there used to be? Is there more to be concerned about? Is there more now to worry about? Or is part of the problem that we have more access to it all via the media? It's hard to tell. I know that these questions were being discussed ten, twenty, thirty and forty years ago. Everywhere we look in the newspapers and on the TV and now on the Internet, we read stories of crises and injustice and abuse and violence.

The net effect of all these negative stories is an increasing weight on the shoulders of our souls. After a while this weight can become crushing, and we drift from being idealistic about the future into a smothering fog of apathy or stained by a corrosive cynicism. Both mindsets are a paradigm shift from the youthful zeal we once waved like standard-bearers marching into a future made better by our confidence and energy.

What happened?

Cynicism has been defined as "an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others."* The comic strip Dilbert capitalizes on this attitude in a workplace environment. Gossip rags fill their coffers by unearthing the dark side of the celebrity circuit. Washington pundits shine a light into the corners of peoples' hidden agendas, liaisons, mixed motives... or by suggestion the implication of such.

Crime, craziness, crackheads, creepy stalkers... betrayals by those in authority... the uncovering of hidden agendas... These things are not what make us cynical. Cynicism happens when we allow those external events to come inside us. We have no control over all the stuff that is happening out there, but we do have control over our response to it. If we allow ourselves to be poisoned, it is our own fault.

Jesus once talked to a woman about an inner well filled from within by streams of living water. Too often we let the media pollute us with streams of contaminated water.

I was recently watching a Western film where the wagon train had come across a pool of water that carried the sign "Bad water." As thirsty as they were, they would not let their horses get refreshed there and they had to move on. We need to be vigilant about the water we're drinking from. There's poison all around.

Resist the temptation to give up or give in. Let's each do our part, as much as within our power, to make this world a better place.

*The Free Dictionary by Farlex

That Used To Be Us

The other day I began reading Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum's That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. The book's aim is to be a wake-up call to re-capture the qualities that made America great in the first place, a clunk in the head to say, "Don't give up. As pervasive as our problems are, we can still fix them." Whether we will or will not waits to be seen, but for sure our nation is sliding down a slippery slope.

The authors begin by pointing out how our total focus on winning the Cold War blinded us to the the way globalization, information technology, deficit spending, and excessive energy consumption would eventually come back to bite us. The world was changing in ways we did not pay attention to.

Like many such books he uses specific anecdotal details to draw us in and make us aware of the problem. The title itself comes from an experience in which one of the authors was blown away by the sweeping modernization of China. The cities were expanding and ultra-modern buildings were being created as if overnight. The thought entered his head that "that used to be us." America used to be the country whose cities were thriving, whose construction limitations were unbounded.

Friedman zeroes in on one of these Chinese mega-buildings, something like a Grand Central Station for the Bullet Train, and shares how it was built from scratch in eight months. By way of contrast, two broken escalators in the Washington D.C. equivalent have taken more than six months to repair. Whazzup?

Do you ever notice those large cranes that you see at building construction sites? Every once in a while you will see one here in Duluth. It means jobs. It means commerce. A friend of mine was in China and the city he visited had between fifty and a hundred of those cranes at work. Everywhere he looked there was activity. That used to be us.

The title of the book is written with typical American optimism. It contains the phrase, "And How We Can Come Back." But will we? Can we?

Friday while flying home from Ohio I sat next to a man who pointed out to me the nine leaders of China are very different from our own. Eight of their leaders are engineers and the ninth a geologist. At least a third of our Congressmen are lawyers. Law is good, but the way it's being implemented today turns common sense on its head.

I wish I could be as optimistic about America's future as Friedman and Mandelbaum. Our politicians tend to avoid frank talk so that the real problems can never be addressed. Votes have become more important than truth. (Yes, these are generalizations.)

One of my favorite activities when it comes to movies and books is to read the reviews by others. Many reviewers are quite insightful. In this particular instance I recommend the lengthy critique titled Important Topic, Confused and Misleading Analysis which can be found at Amazon.com.

As much as I like advice like Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy," I find myself more often leaning on Intel founder Andy Grove's notable observation which became the title of his book, Only the Paranoid Survive.

Photo: Cover of this week's The Economist

Occupy Wall Street? Then What?

I received an email from my son this week asking what I thought about Occupy Wall Street. I guess my first thoughts were that I have not been following it closely enough to have an opinion. By this I mean, a "thoughtful opinion." I know that knee-jerk opinions are out there in ample quantity.

It is my understanding that the group behind the Occupy Wall Street movement is Adbusters, an anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in Vancouver, Canada. I have read some of their magazines, and even agree with some of their aims. Extreme consumerism is what has led us into the enormous debt we see our nation mired in. Personal debt is encouraged in every direction you look, all for the sake of having more things than one can afford or even appreciate.

Because I make a living in advertising, however, I see things a little differently than some might. Many in the anti-advertising camp complain that people who make bad spending decisions and get into debt buying all these expensive toys are helpless victims, as if they have no personal responsibility in the matter. It's as if consumers have been manipulated against their will to own cars they can't afford, etc.

One of the problems of the current situation in America is that we're uneducated about how things in the economy really work, and have contradictory desires. For example, we want more jobs and better jobs, but when we find oil and natural resources in abundance within the borders of the U.S., we pass laws forbidding anyone to dig or drill or mine for these things, which would produce jobs as well as wealth.

Another example. We complain about billboards being an eyesore, but guess what? Those billboards exist to help commerce, which puts paychecks in peoples' pockets. Not only do the businesses buying billboard space benefit, but the billboard companies benefit as well. Ted Turner's roots were in a family-owned billboard business which he parlayed into ownership of the Atlanta Braves and a huge media empire. His personal businesses have provided salaries for tens of thousands of people, entertainment for millions and generous quantities of charitable giving.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has gained momentum because there really is injustice in the world. But what solutions will we see offered up by these people? Anarchy and revolution are hardly solutions. Hate is not a solution. It is an infection that does equal damage to the hater. Hate blinds people so that they are more easily manipulated.

America's problems will not go away soon. Maybe the good part of Occupy Wall Street is that is reminding us that there has been a lot of discontent roiling under the surface in our contemporary society and its causes need to be more seriously examined, not simply brushed aside and jawboned by pundits.