Most Choices, Vintage Film, Sculpture on Time and Community Iron Pour on Aug. 4th
Posted on 26 July 2012
“In an ideal world, records would be filed in record stores by title rather than by artist, as they are in video stores. I think it’s better to identify with the work rather than the people who make the work. You can put your faith in a piece of work, but not in a group of people you don’t know.” ~ Will Oldham
Some Sculpture Park Scoop: Aaron’s fiberglass tree is whole and stands tall and is waiting to be lit as he head to LARP lands, Araan is working on a mold of… yes… a tube!, Tamsie and co have arrived for the iron pour, Lourdes finished her hummingbird land art sculpture- Congrats! Andrew’s bales are getting coats of cement, Lu has a floor and a bed in her shack, Taylor’s sculpture is free standing, Claire’s got molds for her cement and bungee sculpture, Jonas has another large log, the iron artists have arrived, Danielle has started staining her large wooden gears, this Saturday Tropical Zone Orchestra is playing at Franconia as a part of our 3D Concert Series (come out and join us from 5-9p), I have been facilitating workshop where we have been painting birdhouses, doors, windows, recording train memories, and making birdseed balls (three more workshops and that portion of the Locomotive Sculpture will be done), the weather has been a bit cooler, tents are up and so SO so SO much more.
Choice Paralysis- Freedom of choice is a hallmark of living in a capitalist democracy. But, when does the number of options start to interfere with success and choosing altogether? I watched a Ted Talks episode on just this and found it to be very enlightening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM&feature=relmfu. In the talk Barry Schultz describes the loss of the pleasant surprise. He speaks about how 100+ varieties of nearly every item in the grocery store makes choosing more difficult to do. What if you choose wrong? What then? Plus, can you be pleasantly surprised if the best choice is one of the hundred staring you in the face.. if you only had choosen it… ? With more choices the individual’s expectation to choose the right choice increases. I have found that deciding between lots of good choices or paths for art making can leave an artist to ponder the next step for quite a long time instead of taking that time to begin one of those good choices. At some of the art making workshops I’m holding, I have been hesitant to tell the participants any direction whatsoever in what or how to paint the items I’ve brought in. And, with all the possibilities people have been finding it difficult to make the first mark. But, without specific directions or sparse direction from me—they have been pleasantly surprised. I think when you choose to make a mark (out of all the possible marks in the universe) and let the expectation (met from all the possible marks in the universe) go… the mark made can still be a pleasant surprise. Heavy expectations negate the surprise found from a depth of a million possibilities. Do you agree?
Vintage Film of Artists at Work. Take a look this collection footage- collected by Marina Galperina from Flavorwire. The videos show Claude Monet, Pierre-August Renoir, Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dali, John Baldessari, Jean- Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring (at the Walker), Marlene Dumas and Yayoi Kusama.
-aRe Verse. The first is a poem by Jesse Bercowetz and the second is mine.
Sculpture on a timeline and sculpture as a timeline… It’s interesting to see what sculptures were significant when looking at a timeline like this sculpture timeline. But is almost more fascinating to see sculpture as a timeline like this sculpture as a documentation of street art from the 1970 to today or this Online AIDS Memorial Quilt. What interests you more? Do you like art that embodies history or would you rather spend time looking at the history of art? Do you think that most people have a preference of one or the other?
There is a lot going on at the park right now with the iron artists and the Community Collaborative Iron Pour on the 4th. Come and be part of art history and the direct casting of metal sculptures. Cast metal artists from around the world converge on FSP for a two-week workshop at the end of July. On August 4th, we invite the public to be part of our cast metal artist workshop and create (or collaborate on) your own small sculptures. A nominal fee is charged to cover expenses. Molds are $25, $40, and $75. For more information: click here or email info@franconia.org. As our tradition upholds, Savage Aural Hotbed performs at 12:30 , 2:30, and 4:00pm . There are a limited number of educational grants to cover the expense if you cannot afford the fee. There will be two community scratch mold workshops on Sunday July 29th 1-4pm and Thursday August 2nd 5-9pm.
Franconia Sculpture Park- where sculpture meets sky, deuces are wild and expectations don’t limit our unlimited possibilities.
Start Seeing Sculpture- over and out
Bridget Beck
http://bridgetbecksculpture.com/
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