Persian Cat Handbags

I was watching Cats 101 on Animal Planet and saw what is quite possibly the strangest thing I have ever seen. Danelle German is a cat groomer who has taken up spinning the hair of Persian cats into handbags (which sell for over $100). The idea came to her when she was shaving Persians for the summer weather. German said that she just hated to waste such beautiful fur and set out to find a use for it. People off of the street were interviewed for the Cats 101 show and they seemed to be divided as to whether this was creepy or cute. Many people seem to think this is a great keepsake of a beloved cat while others think it is strange and gross. While I adore cats, I have to say I'm not sure about carrying around a purse made of one.

Worlds Largest

Here is a collection ow "Worlds Largest" items that I found online. Much like the previous post about installations compiled of collections of everyday items, these items wouldn't be anything special if they weren't so HUGE!


This is the big guy that inspired my search for large things. This is a Capybara, the worlds largest rodent. I saw one on Animal Planed that a woman is keeping as a pet. As pets, they are apparently much like dogs. They can even learn many of the same tricks as dogs. Capybaras love to swim and, strangely, only use the bathroom in water!



This is supposed to be the worlds largest cheese wheel. It is a wheel of Gouda weighing 1,323 lb!

Here is a picture of what is supposedly the worlds largest burger. There are many restaurants that claim to have the "worlds largest" burger but this one was the largest that I came across online.

This is allegedly the largest ball of foil. Its accompanying Craig's List advertisement is quite humorous. Apparently the owner of the foil ball was being forced to sell the item by a lady friend who refused to visit unless the ball was removed. The post also mentions that the ball was created after a mysterious incedent involving over a miles worth of foil. I can't even imagine!

A collection of collections

Here is a collection of some beautiful installation pieces that I found online:

Bloom by Sam Spenser

Doris Salcedo's Chair Art in Istanbul.
This piece uses thousands of wooden chairs to fill the space between two buildings.

The thing that these pieces have in common and I think the thing that drew me to them initially, is that they are each made up of many of the same item. They are in a way collections in themselves. None of these items, a chair, an umbrella, a Christmas ornament, would be anything spectacular on its own. It is when they are displayed in hundreds or thousands that they become special and beautiful.

Thousands of strands of Chinese Christmas balls come together to form this colorful installation in La Havre, France.
Cormier says that this piece was inspired by the impressionist movement.

Grand Pergola by Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc.

I am also intrigued by the fact that these pieces are in outdoor, public spaces. I am always curious when I see outdoor installation pieces what the process is of getting permission to put it there. I like to imagine that Doris Salcedo simply filled up this space between two buildings without asking anyone. I’m sure there are permits, etc. for pieces like this but the idea of someone just doing this is funny to me. Imagine walking out your door one day and seeing the alley completely full of chairs!

This piece is made up of thousands of clay sculptures of people.

Asian Field by Antony Gromley.

I am also intrigued by the sheer amount of time that it must take to compile a piece like this. Particularly one like Asian Field which is made of thousands of hand made clay sculptures.

Collections

This website has a list of the strangest collections on the web including this very interesting collection of belly button lint.

To label or not to label...

Our class discussion today about the Dion piece got me thinking about the idea of labeling items in museums and titling art pieces. I loved visiting Eclectic Electric however, I found myself wishing that the items were labeled. I would love to know what all of them are, when they were made and even where they were found by the family. While it was obvious what many of the items were, many were quite obscure. Also, because most of the items were so well preserved and some had even been refurbished (particularly the fans) it was difficult to guess their age.
While I believe that artifacts in museums are probably best viewed with labels and historical information, I am not sure that the same goes for art. I very rarely title my paintings. I feel that it will limit the audience and tell them what they should take from the piece or what feelings it should evoke. I like the idea of provoking thought and questions. Titling a painting might answer any questions upfront. For example, I often include old family photographs in my paintings. I like to keep people guessing about who the people are and what their relationships are rather than giving a piece an obvious title like "Sisters."

Collages

Here is the collage that I made for our Ray Johnson inspired project. I used acrylic paint, newspaper, magazine clippings, potato sack etc. The magazine clippings are from a 70's magazine. I noticed that the magazine featured quite a few advertisements for woman's beauty products, particularly hair die and stockings. I included the potato sack pieces to mirror the fishnet stockings, however it is not entirely visible in the scan. I was thinking of adding some text on the right, I feel like it needs something but I'm not sure. Comments would be appreciated.





These are some other paintings that I have done which have some collage elements. I'm not sure if they would be considered "collages" because they consist primarily of paint but do include some pictures and other materials. Most of these were don in high school for my AP art class. I haven't really been able to take many art classes at VCU as a psychology major which has been really disappointing. It actually makes me sad to go in the art building and know that I can't take art classes...

(pictures to be added)

Mail Art

In reading the section of The Accidental Masterpiece about the artist Ray Johnson, I was interested to discover that he was particularly active in mail art. Mail art can be described as art in which the act of mailing becomes a medium. Artists typically mail items such as post cards, trading cards, hand made stamps etc. which are often collaboratively altered. It has been said that mail art began as a way to pull away from the classical art world and gallery setting. It has been seen as a way that anyone can get involved in art.

I was particularly interested to learn about Ray Johnson's involvement in mail art because I have participated in a couple of different forms of mail art myself. In high school I joined an online group in which members exchange artist trading cards. These tiny cards are the same dimensions as traditional playing cards. Each month the group would have a different theme for the cards. I would make a certain number of cards to send out and would receive the same number in return. As a student I thought of this as a great free way to collect some art. It is really fun to see different people's interpretations of the same theme. Themes were often very broad such as a particular color so that they would not be overly limiting. Here are a few artist trading cards that I made using mixed media and printing techniques.

Another form of mail art that I engaged in was the 1000 Journals Project. This project started with 1000 journals being sent to different people who had signed up online. They were passed around from person to person until they were full and they were then sent back to the anonymous founder of the project to be scanned and uploaded online. Sometimes the journals were worked on by one person at a time but some were also placed in community locations such as coffee shops to be worked on collaboratively. The project has grown to include far more than 1000 journals. Today, anyone can start their own journal to be passed around and upload their own images. I started a journal for a class that I took, Art and Community. Most of the people in my class added to it but I haven't been brave enough to mail it out to people I don't know yet! If anyone would like to add to it please let me know in class or in a comment.

Touch

I came across a video piece online called "Touch," by Janine Antoni in which the artist appears to gracefully walk along a horizon where the water and sky meet. Antoni spent months learning to walk on a tightrope and eventually had one set up over the horizon across from the house where she grew up in the Bahamas. With the camera perfectly angered, Antoni appears to walk across the horizon and touch it each time the tightrope sways.


Touch Video

Interview

Lothar Meggendorfer

Lothar Meggendorfer was a German artist who is most well known for his elaborate pop up books, the first of which was published in 1862. Meggendorfer started out as a writer and illustrator for a humor magazine but eventually began creating pop up books after making one as a Christmas gift for his son. He ultimately made over 200 books which were published in German and English. Meggendorfer constructed the original books along with elaborate plans for workers to reproduce them. Workers actually hand painted most of the early books but later began using lithograph.

Wikipedia

Sketchbook

This link contains images from Meggendorfer's sketch books. It is particularly interesting to see the sketches that appear to be of characters from later produced pop up books. There is a sketch that resembles the character Kasperl which is included in BibliOdyssey.

Thoughts on Lewis Hyde

The Lewis Hyde lecture that we attended was very thought provoking. It brought to mind questions dealing with ownership, copyright, and originality. Specifically, how should we deal with these issues in the growing digital age?

I was particularly interested in Hyde's mention of Bob Dylan, one of my favorite artists. Until now, I knew nothing of the fact that he apparently "borrowed" many of his melodies and lyrical styles. It turns out that Dylan freely admits to taking melodies from other songs and formulating them into his own. This certainly doesn't change my love for Bob Dylan but it did bring to mind an umber of questions. Where the line is when it comes to borrowing vs. stealing. Why was Bob Dylan allowed to do this? Was it that he changed the songs "enough" or were the rules just different then? People today actually get into lawsuits if their songs sound remotely like another one.
I was watching TV last night and a similar issue came up on a show called The L Word when one character allegedly steals another's idea for a screenplay. After a heated argument, she justifies this by describing how writers gain inspiration from a common "idea well."

“…it’s something called the idea well. There is a well.
All the writers drink from the same fountain. BUT,
it takes genius, talent, craftsmanship to take a kernel
of an idea and turn it into a sellable screenplay.”

This makes me wonder, again, where is the line? Sure, given the same idea or inspiration, we would all have a different interpretation based on our own talent and creativity. But when does borrowing ideas or being inspired by the work of someone else become stealing?

I also wonder about how this ties in to blogging. I'll admit that I am new to blogging and I have no idea what the correct protocol is for using pictures found online. Dr. Rosenbaum mentioned that when using ideas from other websites, it is courteous to provide a link. But are there steadfast rules like there are when writing scholarly papers? If you don't cite something in a paper it's plagiarism. However, it seems that when it comes to the internet, the lines are a little blurry.

Salvation Mountain

I read about Leonard Knight's salvation mountain several years ago in the book Weird U.S. For some reason I have always been strangely fascinated with this piece. Apparently it was originally built on a riverbank with cement, sand, paint and trash found at the dump. The original structure eventually collapsed because too much sand had been mixed with the cement however, Knight worked to build a new and more sturdy Salvation Mountain using adobe clay, straw and donated paint. The mountain has been an ongoing project for 23 years.








Salvation Mountain Official Website.

Unusual life

Sun Tunnels

Our conversation in class about the relationship between science and art made me think of a piece called Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt. Nancy Holt seems to merge art and science through a number of her installations, many of which are outdoors. Sun Tunnels consists of 4 concrete cylinders placed in an X shape in the middle of the Utah desert. The tunnels feature holes that allow each tunnel to react differently to the summer and winter solstice as well as the sunrise and sunset. Constellations can also be viewed through the holes.

I first heard about this piece in an art history class in which our teacher played an NPR clip of a group of friends visiting the sun tunnels for the first time. They seemed overcome by a since of wonder which I don’t think can felt by simply looking at pictures of the sun Tunnels. Like we mentioned in class, looking at a picture of the Grand Canyon isn’t quite the same as actually seeing it in real life.

The NPR clip also includes a conversation with a man who actually lives in solitude in the middle of the Utah desert near the tunnels. He points out that the Sun Tunnels are captivating for anyone, even if you aren’t particularly interested in art. He notes that the piece blends science, art and even religion.

Nancy Holt has worked on a number of similar outside installations including one in Arlington Virginia called Dark Star Park.

NPR Sun Tunnels

Sea Heart

Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder got me thinking about some of my own items that I have collected that might inspire wonder. My family has been going to Ocracoke Island in North Carolina since I was little and over the years I have collected tons of shells and other items that I found on the beach like buoys and bottles. One of the most interesting things that I think I ever found was a strange kind of seed pod. It was about as bit as a half dollar and dark brown and shiny. I can remember being so intrigued by what this enormous seed could be and how it wound up on the beach. The locals told me that they call them sea hearts and that they float all the way from Brazil. As a kid, I was amazed at the idea that this seed had traveled so far and that I actually found something so rare. I actually still have the heart on my night stand as a kind of good luck charm.

I did some research and found that the sea heart is actually called a Entada gigas and they come from Central America. They are also referred to as monkey ladders because their long pods dangle from the trees. The pods can be as long as six feet. Millions of the seeds float through the ocean, sometimes for years, before washing ashore.

Map of common drift patterns.