Visiting with Deborah and Sheila to discuss their experience and practice as artists was really important. Graduating this quarter there is so much uncertainty. Being able to listen to others who have experience, reassured me that it is possible. It was also great to hear their individual experience to realize there is no cookie cutter way to be an artist or make a living.
It Was All a Dream-Brookline Museum
I have had the feeling that I was dreaming multiple times this trip. Standing in front of Judy Chicago’s dinner party made me feel this way today. I have never felt particularly drawn to the piece when seeing it from a slide projector, and I do think that is part of its appeal for me. It didn’t evoke any feeling in me besides the novelty of being in the presence if one if the most talked about contemporary art pieces. It was like standing next to a celebrity! And now the bragging rights that come from seeing it, oh yeah, I HAVE seen, The Dinner Party!
-Celeste
Ps. People are jealous!
-Gary Gage, Art History/ Marketing major, WWU
Meeting Ms. Keynote
Meeting Debbie Keynote put some real perspective on many of our futures. She was full of useful knowledge and wise words. A phrase she used that was actually comforting to me was, “the mind is always ahead of the hand.” It was nice to see someone,”making it.” The reader that I am couldn’t help but snap a picture of her bookcase.
And she also recommended a book called, The Last Child in the Forest which I can’t wait to find on amazon!
-Celeste
Our Lady Liberty
Checked this one off my Bucket List!
-Celeste
Basquiat’s exhibition was very fulfilling to see at the Brooklyn Museum. It reaffirmed that anyone can thrive in what they are doing if there is passion involved. A quote from Basquiat stated that he “cross[ed] out words so [we] will see them more. The fact that they are obscured makes [us] want to read them.” I found this quote to be true, because every time he had words crossed out, scratched out, or were somehow harder to read, i tried harder to read the words underneath and wanted to understand why the words were crossed out in the first place. I wanted to understand his purpose. and art is art.
9/11 Memorial Museum
I took only one picture at this memorial. I think the photographer who captured this image has encapsulated a moment in time that was very true of many Americans in the aftermath of something so terrible and shocking.
“And that’s all I have to say about that.” -Forest Gump
-Celeste
Staten Island Ferry
Dos Dia-Beacon
Instead of confronting my serious feelings at the Bourgeois sculpture I went off in search of one of my other favorite artists, Richard Serra.
[wpvideo Z8pzkRJj] [wpvideo ExbjOYfd] [wpvideo nRvVjcgQ] I became a child while interacting with these massive sculptures! Literally I ran around them (all by myself), laughed, layed on the floor, and actually forgot my museum manners completely and touched them. Multiple times!!
-Celeste
I can’t say I necessarily enjoyed walking through the memorial museum, but it was a definite experience that was much needed while in NYC. I did not know what to expect from the museum, and I wasn’t sure if I would feel connected to the events at all. I was in third grade during the 9/11 attacks, and can only recall going home from school and watching the news in my living room. I personally do not know anyone directly connected to the events that day, but I was surprised at the response I had walking through the museum.
Hearing the first hand testimonies of the events and seeing the reaction photos of those in New York hit me pretty hard. I was surprised at how much the photos and words of others recalling the events affected me. What got to me the most was the small room with photos of those on the top floors of the towers who chose to take their own lives by jumping to their deaths. The people in the photos were unrecognizable and blurry. One description told the story of a woman who held down her dress during her last moments of life before jumping from the towers. I choked back tears reading the descriptions. The photos in the museum reminded me of the photos in the New Museum by Sarah Charlesworth, which showed stills of people falling from buildings, prior to the 9/11 attacks.