Week 4: On the way to the studio

You just never know what will happen on the way to your studio....

Natalie Bookchin is sitting in front

I got swept up in a small group to have lunch with Natalie Bookchin. She is the visiting artist from Los Angeles, California. She is well known for her work in media, and serving as the co-Director of the Photography and Media Program in the Art School at California Institute of the Arts. She is currently at work on a participatory documentary composed of intersecting video diaries made by people in the United States hit hardest by the recession and its aftermath, as well as on a multichannel video installation about the mass online retelling and unfolding of the Trayvon Martin case. She also talked about CIA's focus on instructing their student how to talk about their work...I'm realizing that the MFA program is all about conceptualizing and narrating your work....I guess they assume that skill will come with the overwhelming amount of work that we have to produce!

Lonnie Gram is centered in the doorway.

After a nice salmon and walnut salad, I was asked to go to the Contemporary Art Center and help build and installation by Lonnie Graham. Lonnie is the Director of Photography at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild (MCG), where he teaches photography to Pittsburgh high school students. His work reflects his views on responsibility to reality and the communication of human experience. This installation will be a basket and inside he recreates his grandmother's kitchen.  Joe (the one with his back to us....not his fanny) the is the Art department's head director....he is high energy and be quite funny....he announced that I'm a sculptor extraordinaire and I can do anything....LOL hmmmm I thought I was a painter but hey what the heck. I got to use a saber saw to cut shelves...but I had to pass on soldering....The opening is tonight at 8pm. Mark and I are going to go down early....Lonnie needs canned goods to put on the shelves for decoration....So I am now pestering my friends for old canned goods!