So I just got the copy of Our Indian Princess by Nancy Marie Mithlo in the mail the other day. It is definitely on the scholarly side of things! (Not that I was surprised by that…) Anyhow, it has been making for an interesting read and Mithlo brings up quite a bit about identity for artists with a focus on Native women artists.
The following passages from pages 64-65 was among the things that I earmarked. (Yes, I’m a page folder—at least I am when I don’t have any sticky tabs handy.)
The existence of a pan-Indian sensibility has been critiqued both by Native American and activists who believe that tribal traditions are lost in the embracement of a homogenized identity and by intellectuals who deny the validity of this generalized descriptive. Authors Terry Straus and Debra Valentino discuss how concerns over the development of an intertribal “Indian” in the American Indian community were common in the 1970s, when pan-Indianism was understood inevitably to displace tribal knowledge, identity, and connection for Native American in urban areas: “Pan-Indianism, an artificial foil invented to facilitate federal policy, was seen gradually and insidiously to become accepted by Indian people as their own identity” (Straus and Valentino 2001: 85-86). This tendency to accept dominant definitions of themselves as an “ethnic group” and a “racial minority” was interpreted at the time as internal colonization and a loss of self-determination.
Straus and Valentino conclude that detribalization, which was feared in the 1970s as a consequence of urban relocation, has developed into retribalization, wherein urban Indians forge relationships with their home communities from an urban base. Straus and Valentino’s argument advances two parallel points: first, “the rift between urban and reservation Indian people is artificial and imposed” (Straus and Valentino 2001:86)—urban in this view is not a kind of Indian, but an experience that most Indian people have had—and, second, the concept of a tribe is an invention of the US government. “’Tribe’ was neither a Native concept nor a native political reality. Tribes began in the conflict and negotiation with non-Indian governments” (86). Defined territories, political units, and tribal leaders were identified to facilitate the concession of lands and rights in the treaty-making phase of American history. This codification of tribal identities was further elaborated under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.
Ms. Mithlo is SO COOL!!!
In addition to gathering materials for this new project, I’ve also been getting some research material. Today I picked up a book about Pochontas by the late Paula Gunn Allen that I’ve started reading. (In addition to Art & Physics… I tend to read more than one book at a time.) I also just ordered a book called Our Indian Princess by Nancy Marie Mithlo, another respected Native scholar. She had helped Wade Chambers put together a distance-learning class called ‘Indigenous Visual Perspectives’ that I took from the Institute of American Indian Arts a few years ago. The section of that course on stereotypes, especially dealing with the ‘Indian Princess’ phenomenon, has stayed in my mind and is likely where the idea for this current project first germinated. Anyhow, here’s the book I’ve just started reading:
Contrast that with the Disney movie poster and see what you think. I also just realized that I’ve never seen the movie. In fairness, I should probably watch it, right? Of course, Mel Gibson did do the voice for John Smith and he sure doesn’t seem to be getting much positive press lately!
Hyperallergic.com (Sensitive to Art & it’s Discontents) had an article that a former classmate was sharing on facebook today. It is called “YourName.com” and deals with the recent advent of how artists are self-promoting themselves online with their websites.
Here I am bringing it up on a blog on my own artist website, but I do so for a very specific reason. The main body seems to be a description of the typical things found in artist website, but the final paragraph asks the following questions:
“Is making your own website equatable to the rite of passage that is the BFA Thesis, or is it somehow more sinister? Does an artist even exist today without a dot com and without gallery representation?”
I find it interesting when much is made of how “sinister” it can be for an artist to participate openly in the business world. The stereotype of an artist appears to limit them to only being concerned with creative pursuits—any attempt at profiting from their work means that they have somehow sold-out. But I think the proliferation of artist websites is natural and good. Why not try to make a living doing what you love? I’m tired of the subtle notions that are presented about how financial success and/or notoriety for an artist are something to be ashamed of. In many cases, it sounds more like jealousy from those that are not as successful. I don’t know exactly where my path will lead me, and I’m not really motivated to try and become an “art star” at all, but I will wholeheartedly admit that my ultimate goal is to be able to support myself financially with my art.
As mentioned previously, I’m currently reading a book called Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light by Leonard Shlain. Since I only worked a half-day today and it was really sunny out, I spent an hour or so sitting by the pool with my book, enjoying the sun. I don’t know whether there is any truth to the connections he makes between what was happening in Western modern art and the advent of new discoveries in physics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but it is certainly interesting to look back and be able to at least read that interpretation into things. Here’s one intriguing passage about Monet and how he would paint the same thing (Rouen Cathedral, haystacks) repeatedly at different times to try and capture their essence:
In his concern for time, Monet enlarged the moment of the present by capturing the fugitive impression of now. He even invented a name for his style: He called it “Instantaneity.” This word comes not from the visual world of space, but rather from the abstract notion of time. Monet was not at all scientifically informed. He would have been surprised had anyone told him he had invented a radical new way to see time before anyone devised a correspondingly totally new way to think about time.
I’m a little farther in now and although I wasn’t especially impressed with his handling of what he calls “primitive” art, it was refreshing to hear an opinion that, while focused on Western art, still acknowledges that the many alternate worldviews are also correct and can exist alongside dominant ideologies.
And, you know how I like taking pictures of the sky? Well, when I looked up and was admiring the blueness of the sky and how the tall Douglas Firs intruded into it, I snapped a picture on my iPhone. And guess what? Although it looked like a fairly flat blue surface to my eyes, the camera captured waves of sunlight streaming down. That’s one thing I love about my iPhone. It may not be the most sophisticated device for photography, but sometimes the surprises that it does catch are totally worth it.
I’m still gathering supplies for a couple of future projects and I just got a shipment of teeny tiny abalone shells in the mail recently. They are so pretty! And little! And cute! I’ve got plans for them…
While going through some old letters and papers last weekend, I happened upon a slip of paper that had that sentence written on it. I don’t remember where I came across it, but I know I’d liked it well enough to try and keep it in mind. Having found it again, I looked online (oh internets!) and discovered that it comes from the following passage:
"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."- Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Yup. It still resonates within.
I found a used copy of this book recently at Ada’s Technical Books on Capitol Hill. I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m really liking it so far! It likely isn’t the most reliable source for either art history or physics, yet the fact that it takes a multidisciplinary approach is rather refreshing. I’ve always been interested in finding connections between things, so it’s only natural that I’m enjoying reading it. Looking forward to finishing this one…
So the move is now in it’s final stages. Almost everything is in the new place, but I still have to get a couple of loads tonight of those last little things and then go back tomorrow morning and clean. I’d been in the last place for three years, which was the first time in a while that I hadn’t moved at least once a year. It was a small space, but we managed to pack quite a bit in there. One thing about packing, it always ends up creating mountains of things…
The new apartment is nicer in some ways (bigger!) and worse in others (more noise from neighbors), but overall I’m liking it. My current job is right next door, so I can just walk to work, which is pretty cool. I saw a rabbit outside the other day when I was leaving, just sitting there and chewing on the grass. One of my favorite things though, is the view. Sure, the windows might be a little smaller, but compared to the previous view, the new one is SO much better!
I much prefer looking out a window and seeing trees to staring across the street into someone else’s apartment. There has been a lot of change these last couple of months, but it has all been pretty positive. And I’m also trying to stay more aware of how I’m doing. I do tend to want to do everything. And although I’ve managed to get a lot of art applications in recently, I did have to stop and tell myself yesterday that I was going to have to not apply for a couple of public art calls that were due yesterday and tomorrow. It was just too much to do and not enough time. I’d rather be able to spend time and put together a strong application than submit something half-assed. Besides, one of them will likely be available next summer so that I can apply then.
Okay… back to finishing moving.
Ever since I took a course on Indigenous Visual Perspectives from the Institute of American Indian Arts back in 2007, I’ve been much more aware of American Indian stereotypes in popular culture. It isn’t a subject that is new, but I’ve had ideas about how I might approach it from an artist’s perspective for a while. Finally, I’m feeling ready to start approaching this. Of course, I’ve also been putting together grant proposals relating to a larger print-related project I’m going to be starting this fall… Still, I like having multiple things to work on at once. I can devote most of my attention to the prints and working with learning about traditional designs and how I interpret them, and then take breaks from that to work on something a little less rigorous. My initial supplies arrived in the mail today and I’m excited to see where this goes!
We were at the Seattle Aquarium the other day and they had TWO octopi on display! These things are so super cool! However, it was kind of sad too because the one shown in the picture would try to swim and then smash into the side of the tank. As much as I love zoos and aquariums because I can watch animals, I also don’t really agree with keeping animals in captivity for entertainment purposes. Well, at least if they’ve been captured from the wild. No matter how “authentic” of an environment they try to make it, it still isn’t really going to be the same as the animal’s actual natural environment. And some of these displays are just so small for the size of animals they hold…
Well, I did enjoy watching him/her swim around. It was pretty active, I’m wondering if they had caught it recently and it was trying to escape? I’ve heard that they can be really crafty in finding ways out of their tanks. There is also a tale of how a guy staying at a hotel on the Seattle waterfront was fishing out of his hotel window and ended up catching a Giant Pacific Octopus, which he promptly donated to the Aquarium. Not sure how long ago that was, but it is cool to know that these live in Puget Sound.
The weather was pretty nice and mild this winter/spring, but now that June has arrived it has been on the rainier side. Sun is out today though, and I happen to have the day off so it has been pretty nice. I do have to say, a good way to spend the morning is going to get coffee and then taking a nice leisurely walk. There’s a nice neighborhood “pea patch” garden and the poppies are in bloom right now. Great colors, especially in the sunlight. Very vibrant. (And there are lots of bees! I like bees!)
Last night at work, a coworker had left and then came back to tell us that there was a huge rainbow outside. It was late evening and had been raining a little after a fairly sunny afternoon, and there it was, a large rainbow spanning the sky. It wasn’t one of those half-ones either, it was a full half-circle. Somewhat faint, but still clearly visible.
Things like that always seem to lift my spirits. It’s like the bald eagle I often see sitting on a lamppost or sculpture right next to the 520 bridge on my way to or from Bellevue. There is something comforting about seeing that eagle. And I was shocked last week when I saw two eagles sitting there on two separate occasions. Double the comfort? Indeed.
I’m still thinking about my triangles, and ran across this snapshot I’d taken back at the Tlamasklit (spelling is probably wrong) Cultural Center when I was in Pendleton in May. It is just a simple band of tile that was in the men’s bathroom, but there they were, more triangles. And of course, my printmaking has been ALL about triangles! It was comforting to find that simple gesture there in that bathroom, much the same way it is comforting to see a rainbow or an eagle. It might seem small, but it feels really nice.
Found these while rummaging around in my iPhone. These are all from the past month or two. One of the things about technology and having my cellphone that I love, is that I pretty much always have a camera with me. It may not always take the best pictures, but usually I’m more interested in the memory behind the image than in capturing exactly what I saw at that moment. Just the image can remind me of the experience of having been there. I’ll have to post some more images later. I found a bunch of cool things that I’d forgotten about.
Bryn standing on a rock at a beach near Deception Pass
I’m not big on heights and it was a LONG way down! Cool seaweed formations in the water…
More rocks and water near Deception Pass
Seattle skyline from a ferry – with a really cool collection of clouds
Sunset while driving across the 520 bridge (hence the blurriness)
California poppies in bloom on a sunny June day
So I’ll be moving at the end of the month. Bellevue isn’t far from Seattle (just across Lake Washington), but it does have a certain reputation for being more conservative and consumer-oriented. After living in and close to downtown Seattle for so long, it’ll probably be a bit of an adjustment to suddenly be living in the suburbs again. One nice thing though, is that the apartment complex we’re moving to is right next door to where I work. I can’t imagine an easier commute!
As I’ve been working on various art-related applications this month, I did start to think about what it might be like to be an Artist living in Bellevue. I know they have a big annual Art Fair and the Bellevue Art Museum is pretty cool too in what it does. But I got to wondering whether there were studios where I could take classes or would I have to come back to Seattle for that? A quick internet search led me to two places that sounded promising: “The Studio, Fine Art Classes” and “Bellevue Art Studio.” Further investigation determined that both of these places are geared—of course—toward children.
I see this as both good and bad. I’m saddened by our societies notions that the older a person gets, the less okay it is to engage in creative pursuits. Additionally, people usually only seem to be impressed by artists when they can command huge prices for their work. Otherwise, it isn’t usually looked at as a “serious” occupation. On the plus side, however, it seems like there could be more opportunities to become actively involved in creating/shaping the arts scene on the Eastside.
The rest of the month will be focused on work, finishing up applications, and moving. And my main plans for the rest of the summer (art-wise) are to spend time thinking and writing about my professional goals. What do I want to do? Why do I want to do it? How will I achieve these goals and on what sort of timeline? By the time fall rolls around, I should be ready to start buckling down and spending some more serious time on creating work again. Which isn’t to say that I’m avoiding making art this summer, just that I’ll likely be more focused on the organizational and business aspects of my practice. Oh, and generating ideas! I’ve definitely got ideas!
It has been nice to be finished with school! Last week I went and took my show down, so I technically don’t ever have to go back for anything else. Now all I need is for my diploma to arrive in the mail and I’ll feel like I’m completely done. Of course, since I jumped right into a new full-time job and am getting ready to move at the end of the month, I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to work on anything lately. I do have some opportunities that I’m putting applications together for this month though, including one for a National Native Creative Development Grant that I was invited to apply for after submitting a letter of inquiry. So it seems like June is more likely to be about paperwork than making new art.
But I am excited about moving as we will have a lot more space and I’m hoping to start getting some supplies to be able to make monotype prints at home. A litho press would be nice, but since that is a bit out of reach I’m looking at something called a PinPress. I wouldn’t be able to get the embossing from my stencils that I like, which is sad. However, it would allow me to experiment and try things out (and if I really need a larger press, I can always rent space at a local studio). An image of the PinPress is below. I’m hoping to have things set up by this fall if I can!
I know it has been a while since I’ve written. Suffice to say, things have been busy. I went back to Crow’s Shadow for an AMAZING four day workshop (offered in conjunction with Pacific Northwest College of Art) at the end of April and it managed to really influence what I ended up doing for my BFA Show. Getting all of that together in the three weeks after the workshop was pretty intense. The Show opened last week on Friday night, and then Commencement was the next day where I discovered that I managed to graduate magna cum laude! Of course, there hasn’t been much time to rest since then either as I’ve immediately jumped into starting a new full-time job (so I will be able to afford paying my school loans in six months).
Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to write more soon, but I wanted to at least post a few pictures! The first one is a shot (taken by Flynn Espes) of me working at the Crow’s Shadow workshop and the following show views of my BFA Exhibit. The big wall is made of paper that has one of the prints I made blown up really huge on the outside and a forest photograph on the inside. (Hanging on the wall are a sampling of some of the prints I made.)
I’d found these pictures of the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle a year ago and they’ve been cluttering up my desktop ever since. I figure I can post them here and then clear up a little digital space on my computer. What I liked was comparing the conceptual rendering of the hotel lobby to an actual photograph of the lobby. The cool thing is, even though you can spot subtle differences, at a quick glance they look almost the same. Kind of cool to compare the physical version to what it looked like when it was just an idea.
Still working on my BFA project, I’ve got a place for large-scale printing lined up and now I just need to firm up the details for construction and also figure out exactly how I am going to present this publicly. I had been working on some smaller study models still, but yesterday I made a partial full scale mockup to see how it went and am glad I did. Things always happen that you didn’t anticipate! And, of course, even thought it is made of paper, the whole thing will be heavier than I thought so I do need to address some structural issues. Here’s a photo from my phone showing a classmate standing in front of the hanging section. It was really good to get a sense of the size of this thing too!
I also took a walk in the afternoon with Bryn and ended up at Volunteer Park. I don’t know why, but I really love the goldfish ponds. (Which reminds me, I should probably go to the Japanese Garden at the Arboretum sometime soon since you can buy fish food there and feed them!) Took a phone picture of a couple fish sunning themselves. Or maybe they were up to something else. I’ll never know for sure…
A while ago I had signed up to decorate a piece for an “Art & Experience Gala” being held in May to benefit the Seattle Waldorf School. I didn’t know anything about the school, but saw a call for artists to submit their information and looked it up online, and it seemed like it could be fun to do. It turned out I was selected (although I don’t think it was particularly hard to qualify) and they gave me a cast piece with a tree motif (their old logo I think) that I could do whatever I wanted to and then return by the end of April. The cast tree had been sitting around for about a week or two after I’d picked it up and I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do to it. Finally, I started working on it yesterday and today.
It is still in progress, but pretty close to being finished unless I suddenly decide to do something else to it that I hadn’t planned on. I haven’t done anything with paint in a while, so that’s been kind of fun too. The circles in the “sky” are cutout from some handmade paper I found and then glued on. Once I’m ready, the whole thing will be coated with an acrylic lacquer as well. It may not be a masterpiece, but it has been enjoyable to work on at least! There has also been the challenge of working with a tree design that I personally found to be a little confusing. Only two branches on a tree? What?!?!? But I’ve accepted the challenge and run with it. Photos of the piece from what it looked like when I picked it up to where it is right now are posted below…
Yesterday I spent some time at Lakeview Cemetery. I like visiting this place for a variety of reasons: it is peaceful, there are many old and new gravestones to look at, the views from the highest hill are pretty, and every time I go I manage to discover something new. I had brought my camera with me and one of the highlights while I was there yesterday was observing the activity of a flock of crows from my favorite spot sitting on a stone bench. At one point, I noticed there was also an eagle circling high up in the sky above. Although it is just a speck, I did manage to capture it on film (see below).