ART 308 at Saint Mary's College of Maryland with instructor Fereshteh Toosi

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Box Art

Just in case the class blog has been too much focused on the marriage side of things, I've posted some classic box art for you on my blog. Keep thinking about interior/exterior relations and what it means to be square...

box art

MEMENTO BOX by Cati Vaucelle: I designed this interactive box as an attractive passage from door to space . The door leads to my souvenirs and is always slightly opened . A bright light shines in the back of the box clarifying a few objects and pictures around it . However, whenever my hand tries to grab what captures the eye, the door closes onto my hand and all is dark again . Whenever I go away for a tiny bit, the door opens up and more lights shine into some parts of my souvenirs and I can travel though them from far away

Monday, February 12, 2007

art + marriage

-Seven Years of Love As Art See also: Seven Year Weddings in Seven Years
-The above project was inspired in part by a previous work by Linda Montano and Tehching Tsieh called The Year of the Rope
-Tim Miller : Glory Box
-wedding at the MoMA
-In the Charles Perrault fairy tale, Peau d'Ane, a young princess orders impossible wedding gifts from her stepfather in order to avoid marrying him: three dresses made of immaterial materials. Valérie Lamontagne is working on three wearables projects based on this story. The three Peau d'Ane dresses will translate the qualities of the sky, moon and sun within various geographical locations at all times of the day. Read more about the meteorologically modulated dresses
-non-weddings, a net art project
- Yoko Ono & John Lennon, Bed-in
- Design Interactions/Love + Commitment: WMMNA review

WRITING:
essay about Voltairine de Cleyre
Emma Goldman - Marriage and Love
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792

Be my valentine

For Wednesday, we will meet in the computer lab again. If there is a weather issue I will email you with further info, but don't count on anything! I will screen some more art work before our meetings. Please bring 3 simple sketches in your sketchbook and post your concept statement for the HOPE CHEST project to your blog.

The concept statement explains the IDEAS you want to explore with the project, your INTENTIONS, and how you plan to execute it. This is where you will explain HOW your box functions and WHY you want to make it in a certain way/use particular materials.

As you consider your proposal for the project, you might want to look up Johns' and Rauschenberg's work in more detail on the web. Hopefully the documentary was also useful for you to get a better idea of the range of ideas.

Your HOPE CHEST should not simply mimic the style of these artists, but you may choose to use some of the techniques and materials they used: found images from the news, collage, printing directly on the surface, paint, performance, tire tracks, tennis matches, brooms, symbols like targets and flags, combines, rotating disks... Really get into it!

Also, you should really consider the metaphor of inside and outside and how this will function on the HOPE CHEST. Your surface treatment could be one way, but when the viewer opens the box, they could be totally surprised at what is on the interior. Or maybe they only have access to the inside through a special key or puzzle or a very small hole...How is the inside speaking to the outside of your piece?

You'll find that the issue of gay marriage is quite rich with metaphors that will allow you to explore concepts of what is HIDDEN and what is REVEALED.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Ballot initiative would require married couples to "show proof of procreation"

Initiative 957
If passed by Washington state voters, the Defense of Marriage Initiative would add the phrase:
- “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage;
- require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled