Why go to art school?

Via an article on Hyperallergic I asked myself the question WhyDidYouGoToArtSchool? the other day... and I do have an answer for that. You see one of my professors asked us, in beginning drawing I think, why were we there? Was it because college is just what you do and we hadn't thought to question that progression? Was it because we were truly drawn to art education? What was our reasoning? I had trouble answering the question at the time, but after consideration I did have some answers, although not a lot of confidence to back it up. Now that more time has passed, and I revisit the question, I can say it with certaintly and a few more anecdotal details: 

As for college in and of itself - I think I did largely go because, in my family, that's what you did. Being aware of that fact at least made me be cognizant of my time, add the financial burden that landed on me in order to stay there, and I made an effort to make use of the resources that were available to me at school. I specifically chose to go to a university for the breadth of subject matter and because I am not inherently a competive person; which from my understanding was a necessary trait to succeed in the more specific art schools. 

Why Art though? I found while considering another major that I couldn't stand the thought of not making art for one. When I expressed hesitation about being good enough at art to explore it professionally, I received the answer of "that's why you go to learn - you study and train to become better." Finally, I was very very frustrated with my art, I couldn't give it up but at the same time the only feedback I felt I got was praise - even though I was dissatisfied with the work myself - so I 
needed a more constructive, transformative environment in which to seek out a new direction.

I felt I found that, and I am ever grateful for it - therefore I don't regret my decision, but I wonder what other people have to say for their decisions... I'll be keeping an eye on that tumblr. 

Facebook official

Oh hey lookit! I'm facebook official now! I decided to go ahead and put together a facebook page for my artwork and to share updates on upcomming shows as well as art articles that I've been looking at. Stop by, check it out, click like to follow what I'm up to these days at The Art of Hintz on Facebook

statement

I re-wrote my artist statement not too long ago and thought I'd post it here for posterity. So here's why I do what I do: 

As an artist I find myself entirely drawn to and fascinated by the purely ornamental and its interaction with the world around us. The infinite repetition of a pattern or how it can effortlessly change over time can create a life of its own. Sweeping arabesques form a rhythm and movement on a simple geometric substrate, dancing across the space it occupies, becoming almost magical. These dances relate to the cultural and can often represent the “Other,” whom we may never really know. For myself, my work becomes an act of curiosity, exploring the possibilities and techniques of this “other.” I hope to explore and play by becoming a mad scientist of sorts, mixing paints and using traditional methods such as silver point. While I will use some rudimentary tools, I aim to create a certain sense of spontaneity and personal connection to the work through free hand drawing. This act of carefully drawing my patterns also serves a cathartic purpose, an almost yogic experience through isometric muscle control and determination, transporting myself from an immersion in the mundane to a transcendent state.  

Eye candy!

I stumbled across a veritable gold mine of visual information a couple weeks ago... A website with so many wonderous articles and high quality images of Islamic and Middle Eastern artwork - illuminations, calligraphy, architecture, mosaics... I could spend hours on this one site just looking at stuff, it's amazing. So I thought I'd share some of that eye candy here :)

all images below from http://islamic-arts.org/ 

 

 

Oh lookie, I haven't posted anything in a while... I'm awful good at that. Well since October we lost a contract on a house, found a different house, delayed settlement three times and finally - bought a house. Then came moving in (ok I still have stuff to bring to the house and things to put away) and the holidays kicked into gear, We celebrated the holidays and our engagement (yay!) and now I am returning to normal(ish) life. So! I've begun two new paintings and I have two blank canvases waiting to be started... and a gallery show coming up in March so there will be more soon!

works in progress in my fancy home studio

Thoughts on cultural things...

This morning I ran across a blog post that railed against the idea of people wearing cultural stereotypes as halloween costumes... ok, implying that because you're wearing a turban your a terrorist is generally a bad idea - I agree - but they seemed to go further, implying that mimicking another culture (in largely any way) makes you racist. "Dressing up as 'another culture,' is racist, and an act of privilege."

wow. If that's the case then I have one messed up hobby, researching and mimicking historical cultures regardless of my own ancestral background. eesh...

I consider myself a fairly respectful person, so the idea that I am behaving in such a disrespectful manner worried me. I find myself practicing some shower philosophy... mulling this whole thing around in my head while I wash my hair.

I've run into it before, primarily in college during women's studies - the idea that some one who is from a historically priveledged background can not possibly engage with other cultures without being imperialistic and racist or sexist. I really have to take issue with this stance, it feels overly simple and just not right. I am a blonde haired blue eyed WASP, this is entirely undeniably true - I can not escape my white bread mayonaise background or the connotations that it brings with it. I get that. It doesn't change the fact that I have a terrible sense of curiosity when it comes to how people live, how they experience their lives and what gives them a sense of meaning. Sometimes in my explorations I find a tradition that really speaks to me, I enjoy it for whatever it is - a particular flavor of dance, mode of dress, hair treatment/covering, artistic practice etc - and I don't see a problem with that. I don't *think* many other people do either, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe they do.

I certainly agree that taking a holier than thou attitude in 'researching' various 'heathen rituals' is entirely awful - it's a horrible thing and it happens, a lot. It happens way more often than it should and it's a problem that desperately needs to be addressed more often than it is. But I don't believe reacting by keeping cultural practices insular and exclusive is the answer - what does it mean if we don't share it with others?

What are your thoughts? I'm curious to hear, it's something that I feel is important to think about, tell me... If you'd like to read the blog post that I found it is here.

Myself, displaying some fresh henna wearing a sari drapped in a traditional Bengali style

Last night I had the chance to go to Longwood Gardens again to see the light installation by Bruce Munro. This time I took my camera and tripod with me to take a few pictures - I went up to see the lights earlier this summer in June as well, during that visit I really took my time in looking and finding views that I knew I wanted to come back and photograph. The art installation consists of various fiber optic consturctions - adding a soft ever changing glow to some of the gardenscapes. The one that I photographed the most (and it's my favorite) was the forest walk installation, containing 20,000 glass spheres along the pathway.

My favorite image of the evening actually came from not from my favorite installation (the forest walk) but from the Water Towers - combined with the full (blue) moon.

The installation pieces will be on display at the gardens through September 29th, if you have the opportunity to get to Kennett Square to see it, I highly recommend it. Just to be able to walk around and spend time with these magical creations is quite the treat. I'm going to try to go back at least once or twice more before the end of the month. 

While at the Pennsic War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsic_War) this year I decided to do a little documentation of one of the somewhat typical severe storms that roll through. As the storm broke and the sun was setting we were treated to some wonderful cloudscapes.

it's kinda grey and threatening rain today so here's a little some color to add to your saturday. Enjoy! (Nina is a dancer in the baltimore area whom I've had the pleasure of taking a few classes from, she is wonderful and so is her troupe Aubergine)

I haven't posted any kind of updates in a long long while.... so I feel it's about time that I do so :)

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! I'm finding that my pace of work has slowed since graduating university and getting a full time day job, spending on average about a year on a painting (at least I work on 3 or 4 at a time usually). The trade off is that I feel like the work has gotten more elaborate and detailed and I've been really happy with where I'm going and I'm dedicated to continuing.

Lately that progress has been a bit derailed by circumstance, namely a major fire in the apartment that I was living in which lead to my current temporary living arrangements and gearing up to buy a house - at which point I'll leave my rented studio space and set up shop in my new basement. I have paintings (and eveything else really) to clean, moving to do, and 3 freshly stretched and gessoed canvases ready and waiting.... oh what fun I have in store for those clean white surfaces....

Jen

Summer time...

So I've been a bit absent from the internet over the past few months. Kind of hard to believe in this current day and age I'm sure... But we've had a beautiful spring here in the Mid-Atlantic and the summer has begun full force with a serious heat wave the past few days. I have to say it's just what I wanted after the cold fierce winter we had. Since my last post I've gone on vacation to San Diego, opened my etsy store, and finished a few paintings. I thought I would post a few pictures here so you can see what I've been up to. Enjoy!

Research

Research is a good thing... I've been moving towards Persian rugs lately. The motifs are often similar to the ones that I've found while looking at mosaics and illuminations, but the styles and particularly the history of carpetry seems a little more robust to me. I'm particularly drawn to the idea of the Tree of Life carpet designs - it could make for some interesting symbolism. But for now, I'm just beginning to look.

Mid-winter thoughts

The holidays are done, and a few days ago I saw a headline on the News Journal website that I hadn't seen in a long time. "Local Muslims Fear Backlash" I was a little busy with enjoying the company of my brother who came from out of town and just doing the normal holiday 'holy crap my brain can't take anymore work' relaxation thing - so I wasn't really paying attention to the national news until a while after the whole underwear bomber thing occurred. Was I surprised that someone tried to do something stupid? No - not really. I think it would make a really good Darwin Award actually.

What I was surprised to hear was the suggested methods for increasing our airport security soon after. I actually had to listen to a close family member argue in *favor* of racial profiling to prevent fundamentalist Islamic attacks. Of course this particular family member is a fundamentalist Christian. Not long after that, its body scanner talk all over the place. I'm planning on flying in about a month, and I will not stand in front of one of those stupid things. But I'm also blonde haired and blue eyed with very pale skin. My name is about as White Bread and Mayonaise as it gets. I probably won't be given any problems. All I know is that I think that the local Delaware Muslims who inspired that article are right to be scared. Because there are people out there who are arguing in favor of racial profiling.

When will other White Bread and Mayonaise people learn that its ok to have a little variety in your culture? Avoiding racial profiling is not being "politically correct" its an effort to find more accurate and efficient methods.

Carpet Miniature

gouache on paper

2"x3"

Protest

I watched an episode of PBS' Art21 program today because I found myself in need of some direction. Being out of the art centric environment of school can be a bit challenging, actually I remember being told by professors that continuing to make meaningful work is the biggest downfall of art majors. And I look back at pictures and memories of myself being immersed in my art and how much I loved it, now I have to continue to make without being immersed. Bills have to be paid after all, I didn't have someone else to pay for my schooling, its all on my head.

So I watched the episode of Art21 that focused on artists who's work functions as a protest... because its something that I consider fairly often. I don't consider myself a protestor in the general sense of artist creating volitile or repugnant images that make you realize what we're doing is wrong. I like pretty things, quite a lot really, and I see nothing wrong with wanting to make things that are beautiful. I often feel that focusing on the negative and pointing out the wrongs is a good way to create apathy and depression. Those emotions don't usually get anything done. Instead they result in people tuning out, getting drunk, getting high, sleeping all day, staring at mindless tv (has anyone seen the latest animal planet craze of pet talent show competitions?) or whatever other escape they can create. In short, nothing happens.

This doesn't mean that I don't see the value in protesting or pointing out the wrongs. By all means people should be aware. But it becomes overwhelming. And so my mind brings me to my so-called solution. Beauty is all too often ignored. Ansel Adams brought reform by photographing the beauty of wild and virgin American lands. Its not an unheard of approach.

Culture is often beautiful and often misunderstood. Its long been the practice to consider the "other" to be wrong or ugly or horrifying. Culture is also often destroyed by conflict and the desire to force one's culture on another. I was horrified that day in March in 2003. I was a distraught teenager who's mother was knocking on the door asking why on earth this event upset me so much. I couldn't really answer her... I was just scared. Years later, the war continues, and I know a little more about what there is to be so distraught about. Mosques have been destroyed, landscapes scarred, people killed and chased away from their homes. Politicians can spew their purposes all they want, but a culture is slowly being erradicated. The more I looked, the more I realized that its much larger than the war I originally protested and mourned, its much larger than any one event. Its really a lot larger than I can even comprehend, so I'll take my bits and pieces and put them together so I can understand.

This leads me to a way of working, culturual cut and paste... Middle class white american mom's making scrapbooks of their kids, intellectuals recreating historical painting methods and mediums, historical art movements and Islamic art. Its a whole lot of what happens to catch my eye. But within that selection, a pattern of two cultures who are trying to kill each other with astonishing similarities comes out. I'd like to think that the familiarizing the people around me with the beauty that can be found and combined from two seemingly rival sources can be a protest. I'd like to think that familiarizing the "enemy" creates empathy. And when the "towel heads" or whatever rediculous horrible name they've created this week become familiar, we won't be so quick to think that they need to be erradicated.

Some day, I'd like to see the mosques of Iran and the mountains of Afghanistan, and I think its a little messed up that its currently not safe for me to do so. And that's largely why I work with the particular patterns that I do.

Fragility

Its a thought that I have often, what happens when something breaks? Eventually it happens, paint cracks, someone left it in the bright sun, there was a fire, the pottery fell off the shelf, etc, etc. Having a (slight) background in conservation, specifically for books, it irks me. I avoid clear scotch tape like the plague, I'm not even sure I own any at this given moment. Masking tape makes me cringe just a bit too... its one of those things that after you've seen what 50 year old plastic tape does, you just don't go back.

However part of me sees a great deal of value in fragility, you can't take it for granted as easily if it disappears with the next rain. You can't cling to it and ignore the rest of the world if it will shatter. I have a fascination with sand mandalas and the ritual process of destroying them. It puts much more focus on the process and less on the finish product, and at times when there is too much stuff and too little space to live in it just seems like a good idea.

I suppose I could attempt to decide between the two, but I'm not much of a decision maker.

What I can say is that I have watched a few paintings fade away because the ink wasn't light fast, as the artist its not a pleasant feeling. I've broken more than a few of my ceramic pieces as well, one quite recently which has gotten me on to this thought path. I think I'd almost like to be less attached to the finished products, but if I wasn't attached I'm not quite so sure who would be. Either way, I want to make something that will disappear on purpose...

A job has been started and a move completed. The studio in Elkton will be up and running at least until the end of October. Now its time to get some work done. I have a few cockamamie ideas and have been rethinking why I bother doing what I do and specifically the subject matter that I focus on. I think regular blog posts will be attempted to have out on monday nights. Its good to write, even if I did hate doing it for classes.

Keep an eye...

Manifesto

I am for an art that is meticulous, beautiful, painful, obsessive-compulsive, masochistic, rewarding, and satisfying. I am for an art that is purposeful even if it is only selfish. I am for an art that is in motion - circular and rotating, spiritual and personal. I am for an art that cannot be understood, even by myself. I am for an art that explores my thoughts on my surroundings and myself - meditative. I am for self-medicating and cathartic art. I am for exploratory, playful, curious art. I am for escapist and thoughtful art. I am for resourceful art. I am for an art that doesn't use clear scotch tape because it gets brown and brittle as it ages. I am for art that doesn't know if its a student, a graduate, or a master... it just is. I am for an art that shouldn't quit its day job but is more than an occasional hobby. I am for an art that is in touch with its history, its ancestry, and its culture. I am for an art that doesn't know its just a dream. I am for imaginative art. I am for an art that is hard to catch. I am for an art that can never be quite as blue as the sky on a clear day, but it tries anyway. I am for an art that talks to itself. I am for an art that branches out like roots in the dirt and reaches out and sways like an old red oak in the yard. I am for an art that is only a few steps away from the laughter of the elementary school playground waiting for a turn on the swingset. I am for an art that knows more than you do. I am for an art that is fresh as an autumn tuesday at noon time. I am for an art that can't stop thinking, even if it wants to. I am for an art that scrambles for the deadline, even if the deadline doesn't matter or doesn't exist. I am for an art that is easily distracted. I am for an art that doesn't want to know its credit score. I am for an art that doesn't care for grammar. I am for an art that doesn't really have a stopping place. I am for an art as tasty and familiar as a bologna and cheese sandwich. I am for an art that's as foreign as the depths of the ocean. I am for an art that favours British spelling. I am for an art that doesn't need a degree to see that it has grown.

In the beginning

Welcome welcome... 

This will be a new place for me to write about and share my art. Stay tuned for future updates and images!