Rock Hushka

Rock Hushka

Rock Hushka is an embroidery artist who was also awarded the title of art curator at the Tacoma Art Museum. Hushka began his studies at North Dakota State University and eventually moved on to studying at the University of Washington where he received his B.A. in History, his B.A. in Art History and his B.F.A. After graduating from the UW he was accepted at the University of Wisconsin Madison where he received his M.A in Art History.

As an artist he works on designs that use flowery and dainty forms. I also noticed that the colors he uses  are almost muted in some works but very vibrant and diverse in others. The simplicity of his forms are complimented by the materials as well as the relationships between the colors. 

Since 2004, most of Hushka's time has been focused on being a curator at the TAM. He has also worked on several publications regarding exhibitions that he has curated. Hushka is also interested in giving lectures at several schools around the Northwest including the UW where he taught several advanced technique classes. 

Anth Final Art Project

Mayan Calendar

This is just an update on my current progress with my Art & Society final project. I decided as an art topic I would recreate a Mayan calendar for a few reasons. Initially I wanted to recreate an art object of a pre-Columbian,  indigenous American culture but I wasn't sure what. I remembered the Mayan calendar painting that my girlfriend and I bought in Mexico last summer while visiting Chichen Itza and decided I would recreate it in wax since I had the access and experience with it.

Using a circular piece of wood, I slowly poured hot wax over the surface several times to form a layer about a centimeter thick. After it cooled and the edges were trimmed I mapped out the general form of how I would carve the calendar. Using several images online of Mayan calendars, I recreated the central image as well as started on the several months written in hieroglyphics.

As a side note I was really surprised and somewhat disappointed in the amount of Aztec calendar results I received when searching online for "Mayan" calendars. Almost 80%  of the search results were the Aztec calendar with the sun god in the center. The Mayan calendar has a man bearing gifts/tribute on his back while he kneels.

I'm actually pretty impressed with how the sculpture is looking so far and I am looking forward to having the finished product. Here are a couple pictures of what I have so far. Once I finish all of the details I will go back and clean it up as much as possible, redefining faint lines and collecting loose wax.

Artist Research: Jim Mai (Painter/Printmaker)

James Mai

For this artist research I decided to choose another artist from the painter section. It didn't take long to find another artist who caught my attention. This time it was Jim Mai who does mathematical art works that focus on geometric composition or illusion as well as color relativity. He is currently a professor of art at Illinois State University where he both teaches his theories and continues to produce works of his own.

This style of art was very fascinating to me at first because I've always had a slight interest in math and using algorithms to create art work. Here, Jim is using several series of complex organization patterns to unify his work. Unfortunately he uses such complex mathematical systems that I don't find a whole lot of aesthetic significance in most of his works, due to lack of understanding. I'm sure most of these particular works are brilliant and required lots of planning in order to have it all work out logically. But for me, it would take much too long to figure out the whole scheme of things.

I do enjoy the employment of geometric shapes and vibrant colors in Jim Mai's work. Some of his works don't need a mathematical explanation in order to be visually appealing. But others can be rather dull without some sort of explanation that there is a lot more going on in the image than one would suspect. Normally with such minimalistic paintings I would shy away because of how little work was involved, but with Jim Mai's work, there is so much work involved that I can't comprehend it all.

Revised Artist Statement

Artist Statement

I make works thoughtfully so people question topics that they normally ignore or take for granted. The American lifestyle is so conditioned and scheduled that I want to challenge people to view subjects from multiple perspectives, and to question everything. By analyzing things that I would imagine most people don’t think about, I hope to create things that inspire people to question the same ideas. 

These questions could be as broad as society or authority, or as specific as current world conflicts. We live in a very interesting age in terms of technological advancement which also consumes a lot of my thoughts. The rapid advance of human technology contrasted by the underdeveloped of the human spirit is a main subject I would like to bring into more works. 

For me, life is a careful balance between logic and emotion, science and art. Even when it comes to an art studio class, I like to bring some function or scientific principal to the work as well. Sometimes this is required in order for a work to be structurally sound for example. This duality of nature is another theme that I like to express on many different levels through different works.

Comedy as Performance Art

Stand Up Comedy

Stand up comedians perform a very interesting type of art. It's definitely a performance art where timing and rhetoric are huge factors that define certain artists/comedians. Although they all may seem to do the same thing, there is a huge variety of stand up acts with many fields of subject matter. Comedy is sort of a strange profession that doesn't fall into any one field of interest specifically.

Philosophy is also a huge part of stand up comedy as it usually pertains to subjects that most people can relate to or have experienced themselves. The most successful comedians hit topics that are most relevant for their audience. They normally take these subjects and put new light or force a new perspective on them, all in a humorous fashion. Most of my favorite comedians have bits about the human condition and where we are headed as a society.

Coachella Art & Music Festival

Coachella 

Going on right now is the first weekend of the ever famous Coachella Art and Music Festival. I was able to attend last year which was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had. Unfortunately this year my sights are set on a couple other festivals and I wasn't able to make it down for Coachella 2013. Luckily they decided to steam several live sets all weekend for people to watch at home, so that's what my weekend has entailed so far.

Being at Coachella last year I had no idea what to expect as far as visual art. The installations were massive and thrilling to look at. They also served as a good meeting place for groups since they were so large and distinct. At night, many also took different forms as their lights were more vibrant or they emitted flames.

I was also really impressed with the visualizers for a lot of the artists, especially the EDM artists. The geometric, vibrant, sharp color designs are right up my alley in terms of visual interest. It's amazing how much the light shows contribute to the overall experience. Listening to music at home is almost half of the show that each artist puts on.

Seeing all of the diverse and affecting visualizers somewhat inspired me to think about it differently. I am curious as to whether or not I would enjoy making some myself, considering I already have such an interest in visual arts and music. It also makes one think about how many people, besides the artist, who collaborated to create the one unique experience for each show.

MFA Gallery

MFA Show

After walking through the MFA exhibit in the art building a few times I was really impressed by a lot of the works done by students here at WSU. The gallery definitely had a great variety of works that one might see in an art studio somewhere else. I would post some of my favorites and least favorites but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of the art works, which is understandable.

But from what I remember there were definitely a handful that I really liked. I thought that the plaster sledgehammers, & plates were really interesting. Especially the video under the table of each plate getting smashed. The baseball cards were amazing as well. I was really impressed with the amount of detail that the artist was able to put on each card. Especially for how small and accurate the print had to be. I also really enjoyed the ceramic ribbony objects that were draped over several pieces of furniture. They had a shiny gloss to them and seemed delicate enough to break with your finger which overall created an interesting effect.

I wasn't a huge fan of the works that seemed to be random collages of colorful material. Personally I don't understand the significance of those types of pieces. It must be something that is going completely over my head, because most of the time when I look at those pieces I think to myself that I could have done just as good of a job putting together random bits to create an overall piece. Its just really hard for me to find any meaning or skill behind what the artist is doing.

Final Project Progress

Plaster Sculptures

Since I started my project, I've been evolving my direction for it as I go. Currently I am finishing up the first five of my plaster carvings. So far I have a sphere, a cube/rectangular prism, a pyramid, an arch, and an arrow. I plan on adding a diamond shape to the collection as well. Once I get the basic shape down for all six, my plan is to clean then up as much as possible and make them look almost machine manufactured.

But after finishing these six I'm not exactly sure where I will go with it. I could continue making more and more complex shapes out of plaster and finishing them up to look very accurate, but that would be somewhat boring. I liked the idea that Eric gave me in class which was to attempt to recreate all of the "perfect" shapes simply by hand. Instead of using tools to help set up the plaster and instead of using tools to carve into it once it has dried, I would be shaping it entirely by hand as the plaster dries. I can see the sphere coming out well, but the other shapes might prove to be a little more difficult.

As of right now I like this idea so I will run with it and see what results I get. If it doesn't turn out so satisfactory I'll probably continue changing my idea. I do know though that I want to stick with plaster as a medium in order to stay consistent as well as the fact that I'm learning a lot about using it in general. 

Color Blindness & Appreciation

Color Blindness

I noticed recently how fascinated I am with vibrant colors. The art pieces that really grab me and hold my attention are those that utilize bright colors in a unique way. But what is interesting about this is that I have always been red-green colorblind.

Most people who aren't color blind who hear the term don't fully understand it's implications. Some people assume that if you are color blind than you can only see in black and white. Although I am sure there are some cases of this, it would be extremely rare. There are a few types of color blindness which all affect how people see color combinations. So for example I mentioned that I am red-green color blind.

This doesn't mean that I can't detect the colors red or green, but it just means they can get confusing at times. For me, its when these two colors start to turn different shades that I get confused. Seeing a dark red and a dark green might confuse me as to which color it is. Same with a pale green or a pale red. As long as the colors are vibrant enough I can tell the difference. It's when different shades and hues get involved that colors get tricky.

But I do think it is interesting how my color blindness hasn't influenced me to seek out other themes in art such as form and shadow. It's almost as if being color blind has caused me to be more appreciative of the colors I can see vividly.

Art & Society Project Update

Mayan Calendar

For my final project in my anthropology: art and society class, I was struggling initially with finding a culture and art subject to analyze and recreate. Over the past week I was brainstorming and considering many different options. I finally decided I would recreate a 3D mayan calendar, using plaster or wax.

I have always been interested in the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas. They seemed to have a very strong motivation to mesh both art and technology or symbolism and function. For example the pyramids they built had many different symbolic meanings that also interacted with the sun during different times of the year. But they were also very important functionally. They housed the temples of gods as well as functioned as a city center that united the people in the area.

Along with having an interest in these cultures, I am especially interested in their astrological knowledge which allowed them to create such accurate calendars. I find it absolutely astounding that the calendars that they developed are still more accurate than the ones that we use today, even though we have much more advanced tools than those of the Maya or other pre-Columbian cultures. I never really took the whole Mayan apocalypse theory too seriously, but I still think it is interesting how well they were able to predict eclipses and other astrological events much farther into the future. Overall I think it would be a great art piece to recreate and explain, as I already have some background knowledge and a lot of interest in the subject.

Artist Research: Isaac Julien (Video/Digital)

Isaac Julien

Isaac Julien currently works in London, England where he was born. He studied painting and fine art film at St. Martin's School of Art, where he also co-founded the Sanfoka Film and Video Collective. He is most known for his audio-visual instillations but has also worked on a number of films as well. One of his main goals within his work is to dissolve the barriers that separate the many diverse fields of art. He combines areas such as film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpture to create a final product that is visually powerful.

One of his most recent and popular installations, Ten Thousand Waves (2010), uses nine different screens to intertwine stories of China's history. The videos mostly focus on journeys of people across lands, especially those unfinished. After four years of production, Julien finally pieced together a work that has won him much acclaim. Attempting to break down barriers yet again, Julien enlisted the help of several influential Chinese artists including singers, calligraphic artists, music composers, cinematographers, poets, and more.

Zeds Dead Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1

Zeds Dead

As of the past year or so I have become increasingly interested in djing/mixing as well as EDM in general. I find it fascinating how different songs can sound when cut and spliced together in a new way. I've been exploring djing as a hobby for myself but I find it really helpful to listen to mixes and sets created by other artists in order to get inspiration or ideas.

Normally I go through lots of different mixes and have lots of different attitudes toward them. Some can be extremely flat and repetitive while others take you on a roller coaster journey though many generes and tempos. Recently I found one that I can't get sick of. It's a 2-hour Zeds Dead Essential Mix though the BBC Radio 1 network.

I enjoy this particular mix so much because of how successfully they bring variety to the mix. One of the hardest things to do in the EDM world of djing is to have a diversified and unique set. Many djs are lazy and string together songs with little flare, but there are still those out there who try and make each transition unique. Zeds Dead is a duo that has been together for some time now and listening to their music over a year or two shows how much they have evolved. More recently have I seen them using a lot more diverse sounds and genres, with a huge collection of remixes as well. I'm hoping to see a set from them again pretty soon.

Art and Society

In my art and society class we have a final project where we must take a culture that we haven't studied thus far and analyze a particular art form from that culture. After we analyze the art form and its context within the society, we are to create our own rendition of said art form and present it to the class. I still have very little idea what I will be analyzing and creating but I do have a couple of things in mind.

Ideally I would like to create something using the skills we've learned and the materials available in sculpture class. This could end up being pottery maybe, or a statue of some sort. But ideally it would be a 3D object that wouldn't take too long to create from scratch, and that exemplifies the art form well.

As far as cultures to study and analyze I am thinking about choosing a tribe of indigenous peoples from the Americas. I have always been interested in these types of cultures as well as their clash with colonies from Europe. As I come up with more ideas and progress with my project I will post updates and progress reports.

Jin-me Yoon

Jin-me Yoon

Jin-me Yoon is an internationally known artist who emigrated from Korea and now lives and works in Canada. Through her works, and especially her early photographs, she touches on issues of race, gender, nationality, etc as a means of identifying oneself. Her more recent work has shifted towards artistic videos and film, and exploring the relationships between bodies, cities and history. It doesn't take an expert to notice that much of her work deals with social commentary and using subtle humor or irony to express her feelings about a particular subject in our rapidly shrinking world.

Many of her works use simplicity as a means of mystery. I find it hard to really pinpoint the exact messages that she is trying to send to her viewers. It is also a lot more difficult to understand the context of these images and videos considering I am from a younger generation who hasn't seen a lot of these historical events first hand. Most of her works touch on some sort of crucial moment in history, many of which are not directly relevant to me or my life.