Eye Candy Friday: Lost? Never. Just Found, pt 2 *with bonus audio.

This week's ECF is a belated stream of consciousness addendum to the ECF of the week before last  in praise of the found object.
Our recent Art Book Club (ABC) selection was W.J.T. Mitchell's What do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Images; a really astute investigation of images (totems, fetishes, idols) and their presence and power society.  It's well worth a read, or two.  It's one of those reads that asserts itself as framing overlay for how you (I) relate to images.  I also surmise that it's a book that due to the subject and structure is timeless in its relevance; it added a layer of insight and reflection on recent events in Egypt, Libya, Japan and the National Portrait Gallery and more distantly Iraq, as well as the even more quotidian visuals we encounter without noticing.
Mitchell articulates the essence of the found object in a way that I meaningful and recognizable, noting the very finding of which is, by nature a 'fortuitous circumstance'. 

What better place, though, to locate the roots of the found object than in the foundling, a poor, orphaned creature that might just amount to something.  The moment of finding the found object is the moment when one feels oneself to be pregnant or about to adopt something (which comes to the same thing).  This is, I think quite distinct from the moment of finding the lost object (fetishism) or the sublime object of ideology (the idol), neither of which are capable of surprising anyone or of binging newness into the world.

The excerpt above, paired with a portion of  a conversation I captured between Angelika and Peter Iannarelli as part of the Beacon Art Salon's Contemporary Artists on Contemporary Art series, in which Peter talks about his penchant for claiming authorship of found objects..even when those objects aren't lost crystallized the thought in my head that in some way, the studio is a place where conditions can be set in such a way as to create an instance - one that approximates that sensation of an object found.



I don't work in an overly determined manner in the studio.  In fact, I leave a lot of room for randomness and automatism in the pursuit (unconsciously) of the found object.  I don't think he'd agree, but when I visit Peter Iannarelli's studio, I see the mechanism found object cloning at work.  But then, we're all just trying make personal discoveries...
So, slightly appropos of nothing other than through the stream of consciousness and fortuity of time, we come to the visual portion of your Eye Candy Friday serving.
Today's images come from the pre-MAYKR photo archive that I happened to be perusing through recently.  I came across these images of an installation that Peter Iannarelli did in his studio at Spire Studios back in 2004, when Spire was still very much the beating heart of Beacon's art life (to my mind).  This installation probably stands as the high water mark of  Peter's Walmart phase.  His studio was bedecked as a crazy post  big box rave, complete with strobe lights streamers and giant shopping bag windsocks.  Come to think of it, if I'm correct, it was a rave that sported only the sound of oscillating fans and rustling plastic.  I was a majorly cool visual experience, and I treasure these photos of it.  I feel fortunate that I uploaded these images two weeks ago since my external hard drive crashed to the floor last week, and possibly along with it, a substantial chunk of the unpublished MAYKR photo archive (along with a boatload of other data).  I haven't yet had the stomach to really try to investigate what might be salvageable.

BTW, if you're looking for other treats in the  found object category, look no further....yes, indeed, look further, but don't miss looking at......than Joy Garnett's Unmonumental series of images.

Art21 preview screenings in Beacon, NY: Oct 3 & 10 at the BCC and Oct 6 at the Beahive.

"Compassion" will be screened on Oct 3 at 2pm at the Beacon Community Center, and on Oct 6 at 8pm at the Beahive.

Art21, the Peabody Award winning series of documentaries on art and artists in the 21st Century is coming 'round again for its fifth season in October.

Since 1997, each Art21 season features a handful of themed hour-long episodes that present segments on three or four artists, in their own words, describing the nature their work and the issues behind it.

This season's 4 episodes are organized around the the four themes of Compassion, Fantasy, Transformation and Systems.

Over the years, the scope of Art21 has developed and amazing set of educational material and programs around the documentaries.  As the featured artists respond to and incorporate various political, social and personal issues into their work, The material has the position of demonstrating how to use art as a tool for their student's comprehension in all other subjects.  Additionally, the Art21 blog features a rotation of invited guest bloggers to chronicle aspects of the artworld most significant to them.  Daniel Fuller , a former Beacon resident, who is now the Senior Program Specialist at the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative was one of the  guest bloggers over the Summer.

An initiative that has grown over the past two seasons Art21's program of Access Events where the program teams up with institutions and groups internationally to host preview screenings and events to accompany the series on PBS.

Several screenings are planned in the Hudson Valley including Newburgh, New Paltz and Kingston.

I have scheduled Preview screenings of Episode 1 (Compassion) on Oct 3 at 2pm and Episode 2 (Fantasy) on Oct 10 at 4pm both at the Beacon Community Center at 23 W Center St.

The Beacon Art Salon and the Beahive will be screening Episode 1 on Oct 6 at 8pm. 

Episode 1 "Compassion" highlights the work of Carrie Mae Weems, Doris Salcedo and William Kentridge.

Episode 2 "Fantasy" features Cao Fei, Florian Maier-Aichen, Jeff Koons and Mary Heilmann.

Beacon has a rare distinction for a city of its size as it has had ties to many of the artists who have been highlighted in the documentaries over the years through the presence in town of Dia, Minetta Brook, Tallix and the Beacon Cultural Foundation.  In the case of the episodes we'll be screening at the BCC,  Jeff Koons who's in episode 2 had many of his highly polished steel sculptures fabricated in Beacon at Tallix.  The Beacon Cultural Project brought Carrie Mae Weems, of episode 1, to Beacon for an exhibit at the Beacon Project Space in 2002 and supported a project by her that was conceived as a series of interviews in a Main St storefront called the Record Shop, and concluded, in 2005, in an exhibit for the BCF in the Library Gallery of Bulldog Studios called Sited for the Record.

"Fantasy" will be screened on Oct 10 at 4pm at the Beacon Community Center.

This event is part of Art21 Access ‘09, a celebration of contemporary art and Season 5 of Art:21-Art in the Twenty-First Century sponsored by Art21. Art21 Access 09 is held at over 300 museums, schools, libraries, art spaces, and community centers and is organized in collaboration with Americans for the Arts’ National Arts and Humanities Month. Visit art21.org for more information.

Beacon FilmFlam, Saturday, Sept 13 noon-10pm

Billed as "An arts-crafts-puppet village and outdoor film festival", The Beacon FilmFlam will be taking place on Saturday, September 13 from noon to 10pm. Taking place in the grassy lot on the corner of Main St. and Cross St (across from Hudson Beach Glass), an arts village with arts and craft vendors, music and puppet shows will be inhabiting the space until 6pm. The film festival is scheduled to take place beginning at 7pm (dusk). All the pertinent information can be found at the website above. FilmFlam is a cooperative effort of the Beacon Artist Salon and Fovea Exhibitions.

Submission deadline for Film Flam Film Fest nearing

The Beacon Art Salon and Fovea Exhibitions Gallery Beacon are sponsoring a film festival in September. Deadlines for film submissions and vendor registration are coming up. Here are the details:
The Beacon Art Salon & Fovea Exhibitions presents
The Beacon Film Flam
An arts-crafts-puppet village & outdoor film festival
Saturday, September 13, 2008, Noon – 10:00 pm
At the lot on Main Street’s West End at Cross Street
Arts Village: Noon – 6pm Film Festival: 7pm (dusk) – 10 pm
Fine arts and crafts vendors will sell their wares throughout the day. Music performances, puppet shows and film showings are free to the public. Featured fine arts include photography, painting, art gifts, ceramics and more.
The film festival will include a video presentation by Fovea Exhibitions (tba), followed by a screening of selected short films by both emerging and established filmmakers. Featured films will include art films, animation, comedy, drama, docu-drama and student work.
The Beacon Film Flam is September 13, 2008

Deadline Reminders:
Artist-Vendors Registration = Friday, July 25th
Film Submissions = Wednesday, July 30th.

ARTS
If you are an artist interested in selling your art or craft during at the Beacon Film Flam arts village, the deadline to receive your registration is Friday, July 25th.
Print out a registration form here:
http://www.giraffeandturtle.com/files/FILM_FLAM_Call_for_Artist-Vendors.pdf
FILM
If you are a film maker and would like to submit a short film (30min & under) or a short short film (10 min & under), the FINAL deadline to receive your submission is Wednesday, July 30th.
Print out a submission/info forms here:
http://www.giraffeandturtle.com/files/Film_Flam_Info_Submission_Form.pdf

For more information visit http://www.giraffeandturtle.com/bas.html or contact Stacey Ward Kelly at 845-401-8798.

On tap for this weekend - here and there

Open Space is hosting a book release party for "Beacon Soul" a hardcover book celebrating the first anniversary of the Beacon Art Salon. The party will be held tomorrow, Sunday April 27 from 4-6pm

For your today's activity calendar, Mr. Matthew Kinney sent me this information on Art Throughout the Orchard Apple Blossom Festival. The event is a fundraising event for a 12 year old boy in Clintondale named Adam who is dealing with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer.
There are various activities for the whole family and I understand sculpture sited around the orchard - some of which is Matt's. Here are the details:

Saturday April 26, 2008
(rain date April 27)

Liberty View Farm
340 Crescent Ave, Highland NY 12528

12:00-5:00 PM Family FUNdraising Festivities
Featuring:
Live Music ~ Silent Art Auction ~ Children's Art Gallery ~ Hands-On Children's Art Activities
Bake Sale ~ Yard Sale ~ Cookie Decorating ~ Penny Social ~ Raffle
Frolic with the goats and chickens at the Certified Naturally Grown Apple Orchard!

6:00 PM "Going out on a Limb" Awards Presentation
honoring community members and organizations who make Ulster County a better place
Sponsored by The Social Awareness Committee of the New Paltz Social Society

Suggested Donation:
$5 per person/$20 per family

For more information, contact:
Billiam Van Roestenberg (845) 883-7004 http://libertyviewfarm.biz
or Loretta J. Lynn (917) 607-6262

Let's Get together now

The Beacon Art Salon is meeting tonight at 7pm at Muddy Cup.

To observe the changing of the season, Hermitage is hosting an evening of folk Music on Saturday, April 5 beginning at 7:30pm. The line up includes This Frontier Needs Heroes, Zachary Cale , Andre Karpov, and apparantly more, all for just $5.

Beacon Art Salon Meets, Feb 7 7pm @ Chthonic Clash

The Beacon Art Salon meets every first Thursday from 7 to 8:30pm at Chthonic Clash Coffeehouse at 453 Main St.
Update 2/5: Venue Change. As Cthonic Clash will now only be open until 1pm on weekdays, BAS's Thursday meeting will be held at Muddy Cup, 129 Main St.
BAS's February meeting will feature an Artists Books/Sketchbook Workshop hosted by Audrey Chibbaro:

If you have any sketchbooks or journals that you'd like to share with the
group please bring them. As important I'd like everyone to bring anything
that inspires them, it can be words, pictures, an object, anything you'd
like to show and talk about.I'll be facilitating a group project using the
sketchbook as a spring board for creative inspiration.Supplies : sketchbooks
( or paper )pencils or drawing and writing toolscreative inspiration.
Poetry, photos, objects, etc.P.S. If you are interested in attending please
e-mail the group so I have an idea of how many are going to be there.
Thank You!!! Audrey Chibbaro (audrey524(at)earthlink .net)

BAS is incorporating an Artist Dialogue Series into every monthly meeting. The final hour of every meeting will focus on a particular topic that will be open for discussion, or additional hands on workshops like the one above. For more information on BAS and the monthly meetings, visit www.giraffeandturtle.com

Rakin' it in

December is here and along it comes the annual program of a multitude of small work group shows cooked up to serve art in buyit sized portions meant to tease some attention from your wallet.

It's a fanciful idea. It's an idea that entices one covet a little more that low hanging fruiart just within the reach of a little coin. And it's an idea whose ubiquitousness just softens my stool. Please, do go to a mall for crying out loud.
It's not a big deal, but each December, I'd really like to hear more about shows that may very well be unattainable or unaffordable and at the very least unpandering to one's panicky sense of purchasing before a deadline. That's why, at least on the face of it, this exhibit feels particularly refreshing and timely. I haven't seen it yet, but I will do so when I finally make it back home....Here's Jerry Saltz's giddy review of Urs Fischer at Gavin Brown's Enterprise.

So, anyway. Next weekend is Second Saturday, and I'll miss it as I expect to be somewhere in the Central Time Zone traveling in an easterly direction. But here is what I know now:


Ann Polashenksi, Japanese Interior Obliteration.
Go North will be having an opening for a group exhibit called Evolve/Dissolve. Although this is a group show, in December, the press release contains neither the word "gift" or "affordable." The press release does include the words "Fallujah, " "underpinnings" and "debris stream." Happy Holidays. The artists included in the exhibit are: Jonathan Allen, Aaron Sing Fox, Julie Anne Mann, Sarah Moran, Anne Polashenski and Stacy Seiler. Go North is located at 469 Main St. The reception will be happening from 6-9pm.

Jennifer Ruell-Huckell, Spellbound, mixed media.
Also opening on Saturday: The Cult of True Womanhood: Reliquaries, Rituals, and Remedies by Jennifer Ruell-Huckell at Zahra Studio, 496 Main St. Regarding the piece Spellbound:

This piece is a play on old wife's tales and witchcraft and the desperation felt to find a man and keep him. The largest box is filled with three vials containing, hair, fingernail clippings, and blood. It is to be
believed that an actual piece of a person's body is the most potent ingredient in spells of the heart. The four other containers have actual love spells written on them including, To Get A Man, To Keep A Man, Arousing His Lust, and To Make Him Come Back To You. The containers are filled with objects to aid in the casting of the spells.

In the event that you don't get what you want from Santa, you ladies, and some
men too, have another course open to you.

Dec 2007 Beacon Open Studio Map.

The Beacon Art Salon is sponsoring city wide Open Studios on Saturday and Sunday from 1-5pm. Beacon Studios (specifically the artist studios housed in the old high school, not to be confused with the general notion of artist studios located in Beacon) will be holding their Holiday Open House from 1-5pm on Saturday.

On Sunday from 1-2pm the Chthonic Clash (460 Main St.) will be hosting a booksigning/music event. Beacon illustrator and artist, Sharon Watts will be reading selections from her recently published book, "Miss You, Pat: Collected Memories of NY's Bravest of the Brave, Captain Patrick J. Brown," and Kathleen Pemble will sing songs from her CD, "Learning To Listen Again. " More information on the event can be found here.

By the way, I do have a selection of reasonably priced porn-based paintings in an array of festive colors well suited for the Season. What better way to experience the splendor of sharing by giving your loved one a bit of subliminal smut.

Beacon Art Salon update

The folks at the Beacon Art Salon are planning its second city-wide open studio event to be held on Saturday, December 8, and they are looking for artists interested in participating as well as assisting in the preparations . If you're interested in more information, visit www.giraffeandturtle.com or join the BAS yahoo group.

BAS's monthly meetings are now happening on the First Thursday of every month from 7-8:30 at Chthonic Clash. The next meeting will take place on Oct. 4.

PS. there is an open studio sign making party on Oct. 14 at 1pm. info on this is also on the yahoo group.

Gatherings tomorrow night

The Beacon Art Salon meets Tuesday, Sept 18 at 6pm at Chthonic Clash.

Later, at 7:30, the monthly critique group will meet at 7:30 at Spire Studios. I'll have a few small things to discuss and get feedback on, then we're planning to head over to bau to discuss Gary O'Connor's installation.

What I did this week.

On Saturday, I attended Go North's launch of a program of talks held at the Howland Center as Christopher Stackhouse and John Keene spoke about the collaboration that resulted in the book Seismosis. Christopher's work is currently featured in Go North's "Out of Line" exhibit. The book is available for purchase at the gallery as well as on Amazon.



Audio from the talk will soon be on hand at the gallery for those who are interested.

On Monday night, A and I attended the final Porcine Preview Readings held by Flying Swine at the Howland Center for the Summer. This was the first of the readings that we had attended, and it was fun. Deborah Brevoort's Signs of Life was the subject of the reading. The first two scenes of this play were among those previewed as part of the ' Swine's Taste of Bacon fundraiser shindig last May. Dan Da Silva was back again in the role of the male lead, and he has simply metabolized this role. It's not often that I make it out to see theatre and I know I haven't seen much GOOD theater, but, Dan seems like the kind of actor that takes the medium, and humps it over the fence into something really visceral. It's a fun play, and Da Silva sells it completely.

One thing I missed (by that much) was the monthly critique on Tuesday night. The group started at Spire, then headed down to Main St. to talk about Steve Rossi's, and Peter Iannarelli's WOMS installations. Maider Bilbao Echevarria, the current Artist in Residence at HVCCA. came up for the critique. Maider's exhibit will be opening at the museum in Peekskill on Sept. 16. The next critique is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept 18 at 7:30, if you are interested in discussing your work, contact Sara at crazyoutburst@hotmail.com. Sara has layed out an extended schedule for the critiques (which I'll be posting soon) to allow for easy scheduling for everone. I'll have a section in the sidebar with current information on meeting places for each critique.

I did manage, for the first time. to attend a meeting of the Beacon Art Salon at Chthonic Clash on Wednesday. About 10 people were in attendance. The discussion revolved around the upcoming show of BAS members at Chthonic called "Interpreting Beacon" will will be opening on Second Saturday in Sept. (the 8th.) There was some talk about the next city wide open studio the group will be planning in December, and discussion regarding what sorts of activities the group may get into in order to fill the needs of the members. If you are interested in finding out more about BAS, hit the link above. It's free to join, and there is a yahoo group you can sign on to to receive info on opportunities or activities.

Super Happy Colossal Second Saturday Fun Time

There is much much going on tomorrow for Second Saturday.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Flying Swine will be giving a reading of "Inventing Van Gogh" 7:30pm at 458 Main St.

BAS's open studio map.
Artists throughout the city will be opening their studios for visitors as part of the Open Studio event organized by the Beacon Art Salon . The Open Studio will run from 1-5pm.

The largest concentration of open studios is at the newly renamed Beacon Studios at 211 Fishkill Ave. This weekend's edition of POJO's Enjoy section covers the open studios.

As for galleries, bau's new exhibit is bau 30: Fresh Ink, a printmaking event. A group show of various printmakers. The reception is 6-9pm, bau is located at 161 Main St.

Bannerman Island Gallery at 150 Main St. is hosting a reception from 4-6pm for "CANACADEA" Landscapes in Resin by Carla Goldberg.

RiverWinds at 172 Main St is opening an retrospective exhibit of plein air painter Peter Billman. Reception is from 5-8pm.

Freshman Fine Art at 4 S Chestnut new exhibit is Denise MastrosimoneSmith: "Plantscapes - Transforming Images - Large Scale Color Drawings." Reception from 4-7pm.

Van Brunt Gallery will be opening a group show called No East No West featuring Lori Field, Reiko Fujinami, Elisa Pritzker, Hu Ren Yi, Kathleen Sweeney, Carl Van Brunt and Catherine Welshman. Reception from 6-9.

There is an art auction and reception happening at the Tallix facility located at 310 Fishkill Ave at 5pm. I had to go to Peekskill to learn about this event, and all I know is that it is going on. The event is sponsored by Hudson River HealthCare, The Preservation Company and Entergy. I can't tell what organization the auction is benefiting, but if you'd like event and ticket info, click here.

I'm sure there's other stuff going on, and of course, other galleries will be open late.....of course stop by Go North, I'll be there earlier in the day, and I'm sure a bit at night.

Plus, don't forget "In the Mix" at Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, (see previous post)

If you happen to be in Peekskill on June 9 or 10, that city's annual open studio event will be happening.
Also in Peekskill on Sat., HVCCA will be hosting an opening reception for Size Matters XS, and exhibit of small painting.

That's all I've got to give on this subject.

Beacon Art Salon Meeting, May 22 6pm

The Beacon Art Salon will hold its second meeting at Chthonic Clash, 453 Main St. on Tuesday, May 22 from 6-7:30pm.

Organizer Stacey Ward Kelley said that the first meeting attracted about a dozen folks. The city wide open studio event scheduled for June 9 is being organized under the auspices of the Art Salon.

By way of describing the BAS and how it came about, Stacey wrote the following:

A dozen artists and art enthusiasts met at Chthonic Clash
coffeehouse last month for its first meeting. Many of our initial members
have moved to the Beacon area within the last six months and are excited to
become part of a group that promotes art and community. Stacey Ward Kelly,
president and director of the group, explained that her original idea for the
Salon came from a meeting with a friend and fellow artist, Eric Van Bean,
(www.beanworkshops.com) with whom she's shown her work alongside for a number of years. "Eric and I began meeting once a week on Monday mornings to discuss and support one another's art process. A few months later, we had our first show, entitled
"Monday Morning Coffee" and have since produced a number of projects and art
shows in the Boston area. I wanted to bring that same idea here, to my hometown of Beacon, New York. Since I moved back here two years ago, I've noticed a number of small art groups existing side by side but with very few interactions and community-wide projects. Many artists are associated with only the galleries that show their work. I began the Beacon Art Salon to be a place where every artist and art enthusiast
could come together, once a month, to discuss, create, support and connect. Our first meeting was a great success and we had more than enough ideas to get started on. Our first event, will be an open studios, where participating artists will open their studio space and get their contact info on a city-wide map that will be distributed to the public on June 9, 2007 from 1-5pm. We will be doing this event in conjunction with the Beacon Studios open studios held at the old high school building. Other ideas that were mentioned at this first meeting include public art projects, a city-wide art
festival, visual art workshops, and creative writing opportunities."

All artists (visual, literary, musical etc.) and art enthusiasts are encouraged to attend our second meeting to be held on Tuesday, May 22nd from 6-7:30 pm at the Chthonic Clash Coffeehouse located at 453 Main Street in Beacon, NY. Membership to the group is free. Attendees for the next meeting are encouraged to bring a sample of their artwork to share with the group and one question (to ask to the group) or resource (ie: some art related information that might be of interest to others). Also, the registration deadline for the open studios event is May 22nd and registration forms will be available at the meeting.

For more information about the Beacon Art Salon please visit www.giraffeandturtle.com

Call for artists, Beacon Open Studios, June 9

The newly formed Beacon Art Salon is organizing a city-wide open studio event scheduled for June 9th.
If you are an artist interested in participating, you can go to http://www.giraffeandturtle.com/BASOSREG.html to retrieve a registration form. A $10 registration fee will cover the printing of a map of participating artists' studios.

Deadline for artist registration is May 22, 2007.

For more information, visit our website at www.giraffeandturtle/BAS or contact Stacey Ward Kelly at 845-401-8798.

Beacon Art Salon's first meeting tonight

Chthonic Clash Coffeehouse at 418 Main St. will host the first meeting of the Beacon Artist's Salon tonight from 6-7:30pm. The Salon will be a monthly opportunity for artists to get together, discuss their work and connect with other artists. For more information on the salon, contact Stacey Ward Kelly at 845-401-8798.

I am in the middle of a month long stint out in Denver currently, so if anyone is able to attend the salon tonight and wants to report back on it, I would welcome that very much.

The same holds true for the events of the April Second Saturday. If anyone has images of openings or events, like the Cafe Chronogram held at the Muddy Cup, or Keisendahl and Calhoun's return to Beacon with an exhibit at the Next Level Gallery at Hudson Beach Glass, let me know.