I want a piece of that (does anyone see that I keep making cake references in my titles??)

Finally, In the Making gives me an article and an artist I like and can understand!

What I have believed most about art is that it is firstly, and mostly, personal. Art is something that should be appreciated but is not (I think) created for that sole purpose. However, I have also found that looking at art, especially art created with more than a desire to make a pretty picture, but with a passionate message, has always felt a bit intrusive. I am looking at images from someone's soul. The art isn't something that was seen by many (or more than one person), like a photograph of someone on the street. There must have been other people on that same street seeing that same person. But a painting or a drawing or a sculpture that came from the artist arranging objects or posing a person or just pictured in their head was something that no one else saw or thought of and now I'm looking at it without even asking.

Now there is an artists whose main objective is take your tools and suggestions to heart and make something beautiful, useful, natural, and eco-friendly (in the good way, not in the awful ways that Cradle to Cradle makes eco-friendlyness sound)

Skip Schuckmann is the first, and only artist I know, to have not only his own vocabulary. but a personally invested goal to make a committed relationship to the people who want his artwork. "The relationships are often sustained for decades. The nature of work expands when it is based upon an 'until death do us part' commitment" (p 38). But its not just his dedication to a sustaining relationships that keep the communication and interaction going, but also that the nature of the work is meant to constantly evolve with the nature that the art comes from. Every twig used as a support beam in the underground house is a reusable support beam in the above ground ruins collage (or something). "Even an elaborate configuration that he has just constructed, and that his clients have just paid him for, always remains catalogued as a raw material for succedding manifestations" (p 38).

My favorite part of the article though was the ending glossary of Schuckmann lingo. My favorites were

Unlaxing- the design of a lifestyle in which work is so satisfying that vacations and retirement become undesirable.
I like this word because it is something we should all want for our lives

Emotional Velcro- The greed and laziness that make us stick to our ideas about ourselves
This is a favorite because changing, even for the better, is so hard

Protocolic- The discomfort that ensues from excessive politeness
Who doesn't hate super dupre pleasantries all the time?

At-onement- The physical and mystical interconnectedness of all things
I love this word because it makes you see the similarities we all share and that can help us overcome the differences we do have and eventually, hopefully, possibly, lead to understanding

ps) I think we should do the black-eyed thing, just because it's more artsy BUT I like the message behind the napkin idea, so someone else vote so we can get started =)

pss) I don't think I will ever enjoy Cradle to Cradle; does that make me Republican?

"Work makes work" --Richard Serra

Cradle to Cradle is intelligently written. As I hold this small text in my hands, I feel as though it is talking down to me. I do understand the severity of the situation but this a major guilt trip. By comparing the two types of bookmaking, one is highly advanced while the other dematerializes quickly. Both are making an effort to help the environment, just in different ways. With the two comparison of two types of lawns as either natural or civilized, I can blend the two ideas together.

We should be a natural civilization. Now, who is going to listen? Are huge companies reading this same info or even caring?

In the Making discusses Betsy Damon as an activist who questions what we are drinking in our water. This is an interesting concept because when something goes wrong, we say "There must be something in the water." Without water, we will not survive. It's a vital and natural resource for our own human sustainability. Damon believes that water as the source of all life can be a foundation to bring us all together.

When it comes to the environment and the art making process, I feel strange. Painters use expensive and toxic materials to paint an image. Sculptors require the most material and produce a lot of waste in order to create a piece that will make a statement while pushing down the grass. I try to recycle material but is it enough? We dwell in toxicity. We use these mediums to make a point. But are we really understanding it?

Damon allows water to become the main priority as it trickles and bubbles in the outdoor environment as flowing forms. This was a great project but there's just something about it that's not cutting it for me. When the artists discusses how the piece is about itself and not the success of the artist, I felt a bit blah. Artists and art majors want recognition.

Sure, fame and fortune are great but I feel as though that some are romanticized with the process without taking a second glance. At the end of the day, the artist's name is attached to the work. Success comes in different forms. At times I feel like artists are conditioned to have these ideas about making art about the art. We care so much about the environment but are we part of the cure instead of the disease?

With Cradle to Cradle, it reminds me of Freakonomics, which sounds like a business model for our lives. I just wish that In the Making gets down to the process and craft of the works rather than focusing on the intent of the artist. I guess I just need more details.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Is it just me, or is anyone else really frustrated with the "Cradle to Cradle" text? I'm truly upset with it. It seems more like a rant than a solution to anything. When I began to read chapter three and it started talking about the book not being made out of paper AGAIN, I was like, "This book is going nowhere." But, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm not getting it.

However, I have found that I enjoy the other text "Art in the Making", immensely. Especially this week's section about the artist, Betsy Damon. Here is someone who is concerned about the environment and it actually doing something about it. The article talks about how she was a conventional artist, one that was concerned with "income, number of solo exhibitions, and mentions in the art press" (p.356), and how she transformed herself into an activist artist.

Her main concern became the world's water supply as "the living bodies we have inherited, and the recognition that our DNA is immutably dependant on water." (p.356)
She created a nonprofit organization in 1990 called Keepers of the Waters, which brought many people together from many different fields to create water-treatment systems. Damon and her organization put on performances in the city of her focus, Chengdu, China, to show the citizens just how dirty their water was. Her efforts led to the construction of a 'living water park' which she designed, to educate people about their precious resource.

I love how this woman made herself a part of the solution instead of just talking about a problem. She went above and beyond by going to the people and making things happen. I hate it when people write books, hold campaigns, make films, etc. that accomplish nothing. I feel that to get anything accomplished, you yourself have to get out there and make it happen. Like the old adage in my title, "Actions speak louder than words."

Is cake even good for the environment?

Again, and unfortunately, Cradle to Cradle brings up the point that eco-efficiency or any attempt it seems, does nothing but prolong our inevitable and eminent death of the world. From our houses to our books we are doing damage, if not immediately then for the future. I know that the goal of this book is to inform the masses (or whoever happens to read the book) of the destruction we do everyday in our simple activities. Even reading!!

I hear their solution for the books. But the work that goes into it, and the money that is spent, and the jobs that are lost, just (well not just) for a book to be biodegradable, or simply reusable, are not for me good enough reasons. I want to save the planet. I really do. But I will not take a job away from a man or woman in need of that factory position. I will not cut a tax that might go to education or health care, for solar power implementation. I will not.

To become eco-friendly-efficient-effective-harmless, there is still so much left to think about and to research. I will listen, truly listen and want to apply the ideas of McDonough and Braungart when they tell me what will happen to the people who lose their jobs, to the people who have to totally redo their buildings in the name of eco-ness, to the people who can’t afford to change their habits.

In the book we are compared to ants, who “collectively their biomass exceeds ours” (79). Good for the ants that can live off leaves. The world is compared to a cherry tree who lives off the nutrients of the ground and are able to feed people with their byproduct. If we could live of photosynthesis and rain water, I’m sure obesity would be down and raccoons would have less garbage to plunder through. Regrettably we are not these things. I’m still looking for Cradle to Cradle to give me something plausible, something I can get behind without worrying about the harm that it can do to the people. We can save the Earth, but if in that process we hurt the people living on it, what good do we actually accomplish?

A Bug's Life

The first two chapters of Cradle to Cradle were pretty cool. For a book that's not made out of tree, I was actually impressed. I wonder if this affects the overall cost because for a smaller text, the price is a little more than average. I was tempted to spill something on the pages to test how waterproof the book was.

I know that all this info can be overwhelming but I found out towards the end of Chapter 2 is that our perception tends to be depressing. I think this drags us down and ultimately to do nothing. However, any small action to reduce our carbon footprint is definitely worth it. We have to ask ourselves: Am I truly doing the best I can to resolve the situation?

The common conclusion is that the problem will not be solved. It's just that we're buying time. I find this to be an interesting concept because we know we're not doing enough and yet we continue this cycle of wastefulness. I try to do different things to help the environment but should I feel like a hypocrite if I want to buy a Hummer? Is it my fault that I feel adventurous and want an awesome vehicle to go off-roading? It's like you can only go so far and then you're stopped because there are some things you can't compromise.

I enjoyed reading about Yanagi's interpretation of a natural line by following a single ant with a red crayon. He is able to distinguish how religion or ethnic groups cannot identify the individual but rather that the self can control this through behavior and the pursuit of freedom. It makes you realize how similar humans and ants can be. Although we vary in size, we both spends hours of our lives waiting and walking in a line.

Finally, I can relate to something.....

Since the beginning of this class, I have felt very lost and confused. I don't know that much about art or social action, so I have had trouble trying to make connections between the two. From the first article we read, I made little constructive opinions. I had shallow reactions towards them and was not able to get under the surface to the meaning of the art. I also felt an overwhelming negativity surrounding the subjects and I could not appreciate the things I was learning. And even in the following week, when we discussed the film "An Inconvenient Truth" and the article about the "Mud Man", I was still like "So what?" I had already known about global warming and the impending doom our planet will face and I was very unimpressed by the artist known as "Mud Man." It is only this week's reading in "In the Making" that I found something to be remotely interesting and carried a positive message, for once.

This week's artist featured in "In the Making" was Yukinori Yanagi. When I first started reading the short biography on the artist, I was bracing myself for disappointment. But instead, I was meet with a pleasant suprise. This man's artwork revolves around ants and various metaphors to life and people that he attaches to them. Now, this may not seem so impressive, but the things the artist accomplishes with common insects and the deep meaning that results is nothing less than fascinating. On the opposite page of the bio, we see the artist crouching in a large square with various red-orange markings throughout. This may not look like a masterpiece to the human eye, but that is because it was not created by a human, but by a single, miniscule ant.

I am completely blown away by what this artist has done. He has taken something so ordinary, and made it unbelievably extraordinary. He has found ways to bring concepts to life in social, political, religious, and natural realms. How powerful is that? I especially liked his piece entitled "Asia Pacific Ant Farm." In the piece, Yanagi links together many different ant farms with colored sand in them, making them resemble nation's flags. As the ants move about and in between the farms, they create trails by dragging the colored sands everywhere they go, thus uniting all the farms/ nations. Isn't the concept represented by this piece truly astounding? That all people are united, as demonstrated by ants? All I have left to say is "Wow, that is so deep."

second helping of KAKE

The world is going to end and it must be my fault. That's how I felt after reading Chapters 1 and 2 from Cradle to Cradle. While it brought new and interesting information to my attention, I felt that it offered no viable solution except to wait to find one in the mist of the pollution we will obviously continue to make.

This morning as my suite-mates and I sprayed our aerosal spray cans of hairspray and threw away non-biodegradable plastic make-up containers I couldn't help but recall the chapters and what was going to happen--what was happening--to the planet as our hair became stiffer and our trash cans filled. The o-zone holes were getting bigger and land-fills were piling up with plastics that would remain there until they were burned.

Reduse, Reuse, Recycle(Cradle to Cradle, 53). I GOT IT! I GOT IT! But apparently, no matter how much I recycle, reuse, or reduse, it will never be enough or even begin to undue the damage started with the Industrial Revolution. The chapter explains the harm in almost every attempt to become more eco-friendly. We cut down the amount of oil used to for heating and cooling the average home by more than 95% and are left with poor polluted air in our houses (63).

I want to be part of the Strategy of Change not Strategy of Tragedy (44), as coined in Chapter 1. But if what I'm doing now isn't enough, I need to know what will be. I felt enlightened after reading and knowing more about the state of our planet, but five seconds later I felt deflated, realizing how little I difference I can make, if even eco-efficiency is still so damaging. "Eco-efficiency only works to make the old, destructive system a bit less so" (62) so where, oh where, is the solution?

Hopefully in the following chapters.

Where's the snow?

Group Project #1: Glacier National Park

Issue: At the current rate of retreat, all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by 2070.

Audience: A political action committee (PAC) on environmental issues in Richmond, Virginia.

Glacier National Park
GNP Centennial Initiative

glacier KAKE

Hey dude and dudettes
I've been thinking about the project, and while I love love LOVE the idea of a glacier cake and everything, I'm afraid that's its not serious enough for our assigned audience or our teachers in general. I'd like to keep the cake idea for sure but I think there needs to be more to it. I'll look stuff up, but do you guys have more ideas or suggestions or anthing you disagree with?? I'm also writing the manefesto tonight and I'll hopefully have it emailed to you tonight or tomorrow, but feel free to email me changes, suggestions, additions....subtractions(?)!
-Kelsey

Group Contract (PLEASE READ OVER!)

Please read over this group contract because it is due tomorrow in class. I will not be able to make a revised copy because I'll be in class all day but feel free to make comments or suggestions. I'm open to new ideas or adding anything on the back if needed. I want this group to have fun and feel free with each project we work on.


AVT 309: Art As Social Action
Group Contract
Group #6: Kayse, Asma, Kelsey & Ed

At the next class meeting, a group leader will be announced and any other roles as necessary. Decisions will be made by a vote where all members can agree, concerning meeting times and responsibilities for each project. Each member must be satisfied with the decision. It is recommended that cell phone numbers and schedules should be exchanged to prevent any conflicts when deciding future group meetings.

The purpose for the group is to complete and excel in each assignment and to involve each member. If one member fails to meet expectations in either participation or responsibility, the remaining group members will need to meet with a third party, which should include either Professor Lynne Constantine or Professor Suzanne Scott.

If the problems persist, the consequence will include a lower or failing grade for that particular project. Group members are highly encouraged to speak about problems before they become conflicts via email, blog or phone with other members.

The group does acknowledge that problems and conflicts do occur and that the group will accommodate them accordingly. However, a mandatory meeting time will be scheduled prior to due dates to ensure that all members are completing tasks on time before deadline.

All members are encouraged to express new ideas and different opinions. Each member has a right to speak without interruption in order to engage in a democratic dialogue. No one should create assumptions or feel intimidation when it comes to expressing his or her political or spiritual belief, opinion, bias or claim. The purpose of the course is to at least consider all points of view even if we cannot understand them right away. For each subject matter, evidence is required in order to draw a correct conclusion.

If one member decides to drop the course, the other members will work together to complete the assignment to the best of their ability. By signing below, the members of this group have read and acknowledge the terms of this contract and will follow accordingly. If necessary, revisions can be made to this document if decided by all group members.

Signatures:

x______________________________

x______________________________

x______________________________

x______________________________

Date: 9/11/2007

A few convenient truths

As far as the previous readings, I felt as though the reading about refrigerators was intriguing. During class when we discussed If These Refrigerators Could Speak, I wondered about an emergency situation where you had to leave your home immediately. If you were able to go inside and grab the most precious item, I’m sure you would either run for your family photos or favorite stuffed animal after you realized that your family was safe. But does anyone ever think about the purpose of a refrigerator? We use magnets to post our daily reminders and achievements on this magnetic canvas to bring a smile to our faces everyday. It is something that is overlooked as an ordinary consumer object despite its appearance every breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can also learn so much about people by looking at the outside and inside of their refrigerator. I’m basically saying that when the refrigerators were thrown in a pile for display or lined up in rows, it felt like they became tombstones. Each fridge was making a final statement about a person’s life, whether it was solemn or sarcastic.

After watching An Inconvenient Truth and doing the readings over the weekend, I have to admit that I feel worried about the future. After watching the DVD, I realized a few things about the current situation of our world. Basically, the glaciers are melting substantially and the polar bears are drowning. I’m definitely into helping but at times it feels overwhelming.

The end of the film was great because it gave information about the little actions that can make a difference. I feel better knowing that at least telling others to care is making a step towards helping the environment. The song at the end credits by Melissa Etheridge was powerful too, which made me realize that there’s just something amazing about rock music and social commentary that blends so well for me.

From the reading in the textbook, In the Making, the discussion about Kim Jones displays his interesting transformation from himself into Mudman. Jones does a great job of combining past influences of sickness and military experience into an organic creature made from industrial materials. The simplicity of the materials and application make his performance more understandable. It shows how society can ostracize an individual that appears different.

I went by the bookstore yesterday and bought a few items including two texts, (It’s Easy Being Green and the green book) about sustainability and the environment. They both look like quick and interesting reads. Growing up, I’ve always learned not to waste things either out of respect because of the blessings we were given or in order to be economic by reusing materials. Now I’m excited to know that my small actions everyday are actually making an impact for the better.

Anyways, green has always been my favorite color. :)

Asma

first helping of kake

I also am a little bit--completly--out of my element in this class; I would be lying if I said I wasn't. However, despite my feeling of complete unprepared-ness, I'm excited. The most refreshing day was the second class meeting where everyone got to the core of what the class was about.

Art I believe is another word for expression and action. In the articles "If These Refrigerators Could Speak" and "Artists Repaint Baghdad" the operation of action is clear and compelling. Refrigerators showed how grassroots efforts to portray a region's...maybe almost a nation's...feelings about the Katrina situation could make such a statement and impression without going to violent means. Baghdad exposed the two sides with a nation in dilemma. The artists had the difficult task of beautifying the walls that kept their people trapped. The objective was to distract but it might have drawn more attention to the barricades. Many people felt that there was more important things to accomplish than prettier barriers. And that presents the catch-22 in art. There are social actions a person can make that change the world around them immediatly, and there are social actions that make the statement that incite the immdiate changes. I think art is the latter category of action, and a necessary step to influence more people. It is bold and loud and honest.

My favorite piece for the week though, was "Antiwar Art in a New Medium: Paintball-on-Web" because the interaction that the web gave made it more personal because you watch your on addition to the artist's statement. I think that the collaborative contributions that strangers could make generated on the spot how war in general was a collective decision and experience. I think that article was the defintion of art as a social action.

This is gonna be an interesting class....

I signed up for this course not knowing completely what I was getting into. I do not have a background in art or social action, which I am sure, also correlates to activism, and was a little worried about what I may encounter this semester. After attending the first couple of classes, read the readings, and observed class discussion, to be honest, I feel a bit in over my head.

Even from those few articles, my view of art has been greatly challenged. Not only was I shocked by the actual art pieces, but also by the messages they carried. I had no set definition of art in my mind beforehand, but I am guessing that it had much to do with aesthetics. Within the articles, I found nothing beautiful and nothing that instilled a feeling of joy or inspiration in my being. All I discovered was ugliness and bitter messages encrypted in the art. I know that these are pretty strong feelings, but I really don't see how anyone could come away from reading these articles and have any good feelings. But maybe, art doesn't always have to make you feel good?

The one piece that disturbed me the most was the refrigerators filled with rotting meat and maggots. I actually had to read over that article a couple of times just to figure out what it was talking about; I found the material so foreign and inconceivable. When I finally realized what the refrigerators were and what they stood for, I was completely disgusted. How could they be called art? How could anyone admire that, for its beauty or its message?

I know that I have so much more to learn about art and its meaning. I also possess little knowledge about social action. Hopefully, I will begin to understand them both more fully and their interaction and importance to each other.

Let's get posting!

Just a reminder to everyone that we will need to complete the blog entries before 9 AM on our Tuesday class day.

Please keep up with your readings and post to the blog ASAP, so that you don't forget!

Previous readings + info:
-"What Does Democracy Look Like?"

Available on beauty.gmu.edu server:
-"Artists Repaint Baghdad"
-"If These Refrigerators Could Speak"
-"The Comedy of Capitalism"
-"Antiwar Art in a New Medium: Paintball-on-Web"

• Also, if you attended the Visual Voices lecture with W.C. Richardson, that might be interesting to bring up.

The readings/viewings you should talk about are:
-In The Making, pp. 208-213
-"Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis"
-"Explore the Green Museum"
-"An Inconvenient Truth" DVD

I am currently out of town but I will make a post later today.

Thanks!
Asma

TEST POST

Testing :)