Hannah Morris- Stefon Harris and Blackout

On friday night I went to see Stefon Harris and his band Blackout. Stefon Harris is a vibraphonist. His band features Casey Benjamin on alto sax and vocoder; Marc Carey on keyboard; Ben Williams playing bass; and Terreon Gully on drums. Their most recent album entitled "Urbanus" was nominated for a Grammy as Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

The show was very interesting to see. I never really listened to that much jazz, and never heard it live before. It sounded really good and smooth. They were very innovative in how they changed other artist's songs that they covered. They also asked the audience what instrument they wanted to hear start a song, and then that person would start jamming until all of the others would join in and they would start playing a song. I loved hearing the keyboard, with all of the cool effects, and the drummer was really good. Their music was really flowy and kept a good beat.

Michael Rothenberg-EC Post

I recently went to the first (of many) "Veteran Freshman" hiphop shows occured at the Blockley in Philadelphia. The show was unlike any concert I have been too. The show was much more low key, and the number of performances was unreal. Over 10 of philadelphia's top up and comers were in the building going live. I snapped some very unreal pictures, below is of Stalley, a hiphop (soon to be) legend.


This show is a different kind of art, but art non the less. Witnessing from withen five feet, the very same people I listen to daily on my ipod, was unlike anything else. I knew a couple of the artists personally, and for the bigger named artists I was able to shake hands and talk with.

Overall this show was crazy and I can't wait until the summer for the second Veteran Freshman:Summer School. Heres a video from the event

blog is closed

The blog is closed for the rest of Spring semester 2011.

"Pakistan's Cave"

On April 14, a former Bloomsburg University student, Raeesa Khan, showed her documentary in McCormick called "Pakistan's Cave." Raeesa, is the daughter of Dr. Khan, an economics professor. Raeesa was at the showing, and told us a little about her film. The documentary is about the government of Pakistan and how the Pakistani people cope with the currupt government.

I was a little confused by the documentary. The title includes the word 'cave' and the first shot is of a cave with Raeesa's voice describing people that live in a cave. However, the documentary had nothing to do with a cave. Instead, she narrated how she related herself to feeling like both a Pakistani and an American. She also interviewed her father and her uncle about what it was like growing up in Pakistan and her uncle's experience being a prisoner for speaking out against the government.

I thought the documentary was impressive for someone so young to accomplish. I did not however, feel as though I learned much about the suffering of Pakistani people. I wish the documentary would have made me relate more to the people and then show why exactly their life is different rather than relating it mostly to her family's experiences. It was obvious that Raeesa has a serious desire for the topic of her film. I hope she can go far with her documentary and is able to make a difference involving Pakistan and the currupt government.

Ronald McDonald House

One of the things I started doing this year was volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House. I have been there a total of six or seven times with a group of people who make dinner for the families that stay there. The dinners we make are similar to cafeteria food, like chicken nuggets. It's a simple dinner, but to those in need, it is very helpful.

The last time I went to make dinner, one of the people that run the House took us on a tour and told us about it. He showed us one room that families can stay in. The room looked like a hotel, which is basically what the Ronald McDonald House is. They provide shelter and necessities for families with children receiving health care from Geisinger Hospital in Danville. We also met one of the residents, which was a little boy who did not speak English and had only a bandage for a nose. Even though he must have felt so lost in the environment he was in, he looked like any other happy little boy .

I am really glad I was able to go on a tour of the facility. It made me appreciate what I did more and definitely made me take the task of making dinner for strangers more seriously. I hope the Ronald McDonald House stays in operation for a long time, because they are definitely helping a lot of families in need.

MS Walk

On April 10th, there was a walk for multiple sclerosis in the park. One of the sisters in my sorority has MS, so for the past couple years, we have had a team at the event walking to help raise money. Our team name at the walk was Court Support.

I expected this event to be much like Relay for Life. However there were many differences. The main difference was that all of the food and things to do were free. The food was mostly donated by Giant. There was also a moon bounce and face painting which were both free. I decided to get my face painted and made one of my sorority sisters do the same...


We all tried to wear yellow because that is the awareness color for MS. The walk was great because it was beautiful outside and there were people of all ages participating. It was cute to see the little kids racing with their tricycles. I was really happy I participated in the event because we had multiple people from town and women who ran the event thanking us for being there. They wanted our sorority to be in the newspaper to show that college kids, especially those in greek life, can do other things than just party. However, the press did not come to cover the event. It was sad to hear that, because a lot of work had to go into the event and those running it did not get any recognition for their efforts.

Relay for Life

Relay for life, which is an event to raise money for cancer research took place in the REC Center from 7pm March 25th to 7am March 26th. The event is comprised of volunteers who form teams and sell a good or service in order to raise money for the cause. Most of the teams are made up of family and friends who are there supporting someone battling or who has lost their battle with cancer. I was at the event from 7pm to 4am. My team did not have a name, but we all wore matching purple tie die shirts.

The event started with a local cancer survivor telling her story. This lady was in her 20s and had battled a rare form of cancer for well over half her life. She told us how doctors gave her less than a 5% chance of survival. Somehow, she beat her cancer the first time, than relapsed, and beat it again. Her story was very shocking to hear, and it made me glad I attended the event. I was also very happy to learn she works with young kids who have have cancer at Geisinger Hospital.

As the event went on into the night, I was not sure how long I'd be able to make it. At first, I only walked around the track with my fellow teammates. But as I walked around, I kept seeing all the things every team had to offer. I ended up wanting everything from every stand. I got puppy chow, a henna tattoo, a grilled cheese sandwhich, and a bottle of water which came from my own team. Normally I wouldn't spend so much money, but since it was for a good cause I didn't mind. The hours went by fast and I got to know a lot about my friends that I was walking around with. I left at 4am because I had to get up early to bowl for kids the next day.

This is my team for relay for life:

Courtney Martin Assignment #4

When I visited New York City on the Art Department Trip on April 8th, I visited some free galleries in Chelsea.

The first place that I am going to talk about was the gallery exhibition created by Philip Ording and Alexandra Whitney called Proofs and Refutations. The entire exhibit involved math and numbers. Once you walked inside, there was a sign telling you to count the number of pieces in the exhibit and then ask the woman sitting at the desk for the answer. The installation is a collaboration of about 18 artists works. The main theme of the installation is to show the relationship between art and mathematics.

Examples of works that I saw within this installation were the 2 images above, a video recording of a synchronized dance from the 1980s, some photographs, and images of numbers. Then there were more minimalist pieces such as a a series of 3 separate and simple line drawings and a large piece of cardboard suspended high up on a wall with white paper behind it. I think that if the objective of the artists was to make the viewer think hard about the relationship between math and art, the view did just that. It made me want to look further into each piece to find the mathematical/systematic, artistic, or both in each piece.

The next gallery that I visited was Stan Douglas's photography. After taking photography here at the university, it amazed me how prints this large are produced and made me wonder if they did them with computer printing or through manual printing with negatives/chemicals. Mr. Douglas's photos were actually presented by David Zwirner. David Zwirner's work focuses on press photography from the postwar period (1945-1951). Not only does he work with photography, but also with film.

The images that I chose to show are photographs that intrigued me the most. The image of the smoke is extremely high contrast, which I like, and large (about 20x30). Also in high contrast is the second image of what appears to be high heels photographed in extremely low light and what appears to be sitting on top of a mirror. This image caused me to get really close and try to see how the artist created the image. Also included in this exhibition was a picture of a crowd at a hockey game in the 1950s, which I enjoyed.

Overall, I enjoyed seeing the Chelsea area because I had never been there before and it was interesting to see the art that is being created today, as a opposed to the older art that is displayed in museums. I hope to travel back to the Chelsea area to see more.

Brock Minnich Assignment #4

Whilst my excursion through The Big Apple, I was graced with the opportunity to venture into several parts of the metropolis that is Gotham City. During my trip to New York City, I visited two of some hundred plus art exhibitions.



The first exhibition that I visited and thoroughly enjoyed was located in the heart of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Within it's walls of endless halls and rooms of art masterpieces, I couldn't help but to feel quite small when standing within the enormity of the building. I was fascinated time after time as continued to journey through the numerous galleries that encompasses the museum. Eventually, I found myself with an exhibit known as "Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century." This exhibition airs from April 5th- July 4th, 2011.

This exhibition focuses on the Romantic motif of the open window as first captured by German, Danish, French, and Russian artists around 1810-1820. These works include hushed sparse rooms show contemplative figures, studios with artists at work, and window views as sole motifs. The exhibition features artists C.D. Friedrich, C.G. Carus, G.F. Kersting, Adolf Menzel, C.W. Eckersberg, Martinus Rorbye, Jean Alaux, and Leon Cogniet.



The exhibit further captivated my interest due to its artistic atmosphere where the entire exhibit was painted to be like the sky. Those who are enjoying the grandeur of the pieces themselves can focus out onto the beautiful collaborative that is the exhibition, through the museums use of colors that match and exemplify the landscapes found within each prospective painting in the exhibition. Side note: the pictures above were taken under extreme caution!

The second institution I was able to visit was The Fashion Institute of Technology located on 7th Avenue & W 39th Street. The Fashion Institute of Technology featured a collaboration of upcoming fashion designer Claire Catoire, and photographer Pascal Auve, called "Expressions Dentelle."

This exhibition is an illustration of the world-famous lace heritage that is shared by the two. The collaboration between designer and photographer works very well, Pascal's use, or lack of color, brings out the quality of Claire's work. The fine lace quality that is found on within Claire's work is amazing, furthermore the quality found in Pascal's work express the delicacy of lace within the composition.



"Expres sions Dentelle" was a great outlet to explore my artistic interests and rather quite entriging to view, however to get the real affect and see its true quality I highly suggest view it yourself. The enormity found with Pascal's work is beautiful and simple, yet complex and all encompassing in person.

Museum Blog- Allie Pugliese

Instead of going to museums in a major city I went to the drag show in Carver Hall and an event called "Taking Back the Night" in Kehr Union. First, I went to "Taking Back the Night". I did not know what the speech was about before I attended it. I knew it was about victims of sexual assault but i thought it would be a routine don't-talk-to-strangers speech. However, this speaker was different than any I've heard before. Our speaker had been in Seventeen Magazine, and on radio and TV and now in front of us telling her story about how she was kidnapped.

She was a teenager working at the local mall in Chicago when one day after work she was walking to her car and noticed someone following her. She told us how she kept walking, thinking the person would go a different direction, but when she got to her car he put a knife to her throat and put her in his car, which was parked right next to hers. She told us how despite being blindfolded, she could see a little and memorized her kidnappers face and what direction he drove her in.

After she was raped by the man and set free, she went to the police station where she told the detectives about what happened to her. She told us that she included so many details that the police did not believe her story was real. They thought she made it up for attention. They finally listened to her and made a sketch which immediately was recognized. Her kidnapper turned out to be on 6 month probation for the same crime. After years of dealing with the court system, she was able to see him sent to jail.

Hearing this lady's story was incredible. It was amazing how she could take herself out of the story and tell us without breaking down. One of the questions asked at the end mentioned how she was so composed and if she ever gets taken back to the emotions she felt at that time. She said that yes, whenever she sees zip ties she gets a flash back because this is what he used to bind her hands. Just talking about the zip ties, i could see that she was getting red and uncomfortable.

She also talked about common problems with victims like herself. Often the police do not believe these people have really been through what they claim. Also, people blame the victim for the crime. They say the girl brought on the rape because of what she was wearing or how she carried herself. The biggest problem is that people don't report their crime and the offender is free to do it again. The event ended with a candle lit walk past the Quad to pay tribute to those victims of similar crimes.


The second event I went to was the drag show on April 11th. Going into the show, I had no idea what to expect. In my head I was picturing a runway and maybe a bunch of drag queens doing a fashion show.

When we got to Carver Hall, the room was filled with a surprising amount of people. I saw many people dressed in drag. These people were not in the show, however. I thought it was great how much audience participation there was and how high the energy in the room was.

When the MC came out, I thought she was a BU student but I learned later, she's a professional drag queen. I also learned the show was to raise money for charity which I thought was great.

The show turned out to be like a talent show. There were a couple of professional queens performing. The professionals were the best, but the amatures, who were BU students were good too. I didn't really have a favorite, I was equally shocked by all of them. I kept thinking to myself how my grandma would react if she was in the crowed. She would probably not understand this form of entertainment and be scarred for life.

Overall, it was a fun experience. I was happy to know it was for charity. I will think about going back if I get the chance, and I'll definitely try to convince my friends to go with me if I do.

Metropolitan Museum of Art and Ezair gallery

There were two main exhibits that I wanted to be sure I saw while visiting the Met. The first was the Egyptian exhibit. I always felt there was such a ridiculous, yet beautiful, mount of detail put into the Egyptian piece. All of the little blue men pictured above, along with the eagle, could only be two to three inches tall, or in the eagle's case, long. For such a small, portable figurine, it had to be very time consuming to carve and paint all of the tiny details. All through the Egyptian culture the art is planned and organized. Their stories and ideologies can be traced through out time even by those just beginning to look at art and it's context in society.


The second exhibit I really wanted to be sure I saw was the section on Asian Culture. I have always been interested in Asian art and culture, especially the Japanese. Both pieces in pictures require precision, mainly the stone. The stone is set so that the water on the top is able to flow across the surface with no emphasis on going one way over the rock or another. The other picture is of the artwork on a room divider. Each section of the divider shows a very calm, relaxing, and natural scene. I couldn't tell from behind the glass but it looked as though each woven piece was colored separately from the others and assembled afterward.

Ezair Gallery

The gallery was just a small second story loft with only about 20 to 25 paintings being displayed. It was located at 905 Madison Ave. between 72nd and 73rd streets. What was so appealing about the art displayed was its softness. The paintings in the right picture were the first to capture our eyes walking in. None of them had clear outlines. Considering both sets, I feel we were very drawn to the paintings due to the clear existence of a rainbow in each and the association rainbows have with the LGBT community.

Blog #3-Museum: Kyle Gosson

Instead of going to New York City, Philadelphia or Baltimore, I drove back to home over the weekend and went to two different museums in Boston. The two museums were Museum of Fine Art and Institute of Contemporary Art.

Museum #1: Museum of Fine Art

It’s similar to Metropolis Art Museum in NYC, yet, a lot different in other ways too. They have a new addition part, which is all about the American Artists. The first floor has artworks from the 18^th century, most of them are related to colonies era and then on the second floor is 19^th century to early 20^th century. Middle of 20^th century and after is on the third floor. The museum also has other sections, related to Asia, Egypt, and Europe arts. In the basement, they have photographs. Also it has a section for the contemporary arts, however it’s not completed, and will be complete by September 2011.

This museum does a very good job by the way they set things up in each room with all art pieces in there. They have painted walls that match to the pictures or those artworks. At the center of museum there is one tall tower that is made out of glasses, made by Dale Chihuly and this tower is called “Lime Green Icicle Tower.” He said that this tower is more than 40 feet tall and about 10,000 pounds while there is 2,342 individual glass pieces put together. It took a week for him and his team to make this.

I found it very fascinating, since I am sculptor. I really give a lot of credits to this man. I researched a little about him and I think I just, finally, found an artist who I would look up to. The reason why I really like things about him is that he believes “I tend to do things on a large scale because it’s exciting. I like to push things in new and different ways.” – Dale Chiluly. I agree with him, completely!

Museum #2: Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)

This museum is brand new and unique. It’s on a waterfront, seaports. It has a lot of windows, which you can see the entire city of Boston and across the harbor area/river, with an awesome view. If you go to the fourth floor, you can see all planes land or take off from Logan International Airport over the bay with many of the ships coming in or departing.

This museum is related to modern/contemporary. They have Shepard Fairey’s OBEY artworks. He is well known as the designer of a poster of Obama’s “Hope”. His pieces are very amazing by the way he printed them, resulting in perfect and clean pieces. He used very bold colors to emphasis the visual eyes.

However, two things that disappointed me that they wouldn’t let me to take picture in the exhibitions, and three floor was closed to get ready for new art pieces coming in soon. I only went to one floor, which is the 4^th floor. At least they gave me the second ticket to come back again, by the time they have everything done.

Blog #3 Ashley Wingate

The first exhibit I would like to talk about is “The Mexican Suitcase,” which was on display at the International Center of Photography. This exhibit consists of the works of three major photographers from the Spanish Civil War, Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and David Seymour. Most of this vintage film that was on display was a nitrate-based film, all in black and white. This collection of work as a whole is just absolutely stunning! The collection is made up of many powerful images portraying such vivid, visual documentation of the war. There were two pictures I was strongly drawn to in Navacerrada Pass, Segovia front, Spain by Taro.

The first photograph was taken on the Segovia front of a soldier in a tank. I really liked the vantage point from which the picture was taken. I feel like the tank becomes more abstract in the picture and allows me to focus more on the soldier. I also like the highlights and shadows throughout the photograph. The second photograph I really enjoyed was the republican soldier leading a wounded soldier down a path. I was drawn to this picture because of the focal length at which the picture was taken. Also the fact that the picture isn’t just focused on the soldiers going down the path, but it also includes the environment.

I believe The Mexican Suitcase as a whole works well together in displaying the Spanish Civil War. This collection of work depicts a great political struggle in Spanish history from the expansion of global fascism. I feel that all the single works in the collection work together as a whole, displaying a timeline of the Civil War. The photographs were similar to each other showing such emotional scenes of the war. I was very taken aback from the photographs taken of the morgue, which showed the chaos and massive amounts of dead bodies. At the same time, the outside of the morgue showed a crowd of people waiting anxiously beyond the gates.

Overall, I really enjoying looking through the contact sheets, printed photographs, and reading the various scripts about The Mexican Suitcase as a whole. I believe the three major photographers did an excellent job with recording visual documentation of the war. All of the photographs flow together quite well; creating such a powerful, vivid social documentary of the Spanish Civil War.

The second exhibit I was strongly drawn to was the Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was drawn most to the work of Alfred Stieglitz, an influential advocate for modern art and photography in his time, as well as his journal, Camera Work. There were a couple themes displayed throughout the gallery of his work. One of the more featured collection of black and white photographs in this exhibit were the images of Georgia O’Keeffe.

Looking through Stieglitz’s’ work, I really enjoyed the photographs he took of Georgia O’Keeffe. I loved “Hands,” the highlights and shadows really helped this piece of work “pop.” It’s such a wonderful composite portrait and I feel drawn to it because of the abstract detail of the hands. This particular abstract view of the hands, sinewy fingers pressing into flesh, really shows the multifaceted personality of O’Keeffe. Another photograph I really liked was the “Steerage” one where the compressed composition emphasizes the closeness of space and accommodations of the lower class people. The overall graphic vision of shapes and balance really help make this photo stunning. I also like how the social conditions of the day are united in this particular photograph. You see the upper class people up top and then the lower class people below, divided by the levels and the walkway to board the ship.

Stieglitz works against pictorialism in his photographs because of the way he manipulates the images to look more picturesque, like art. I believe he does this quite well by way of the light and dark contrasts in his pictures, as well as the compositional structure and the repetition of forms. Stieglitz chooses subjects that deal more with the realities of modern life, creating more of an abstract art, like that of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Hands.”

Robyn Burton: Philly Museum of Art & PAFA

The first Museum I went to was the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Being such a massive museum with a mixture of many different pieces from many different time periods I choose two that caught my eye. In the section of European Art 1500-1850 I saw Still Life with Terms and a Bust of Ceres c. 1630 by Frans Snyders. The Media being oil on canvas.

This piece is huge and extremely eye catching since the wreath looks like it is 3D. The figures are from Mythology the center being Ceres goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, and Summer. The others being statues of Terminus, god of boundaries. He also includes random animals like a woodpecker, a squirrel, and a monkey that you have to kind of search for. I'm not sure of the meaning of the painting but I found it very pleasing to look at with color choices and the way that the wreath looked like it was coming out of the painting.

The second piece I found interesting was found in the Modern Art section called The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass); By Marcel Duchamp the media used was oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire, and dust on two glass panels. This piece was placed in front of a window that casted interesting shadows from the cracks in the glass and the metal. I'm not sure how to interpret the piece since their is so much going on and that it is very abstract, but the piece is very appealing to me since a lot of my artwork has glass and metal in it.

Altogether the Philly Museum of Art has a wide collection of some very amazing pieces of art, and would recommend everyone to take a day to walk around the entire place.

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The second place I attended was the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The exhibit I attended was Anatomy/Academy, Philadelphia Nexus of Art and Science. It was to show the connection between art and science and was one of the best exhibits I have been to. I chose two pieces to write about that I found interesting.

The first piece that I was excited to see was The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins. The media being oil on canvas. I have learned about the painting before, and the second I saw it I could not believe how massive it was. The detail up close was amazing, and all the figures almost being life size made the painting more interesting. I know the piece is about Dr. Gross teaching medical students about newer surgery that wasn't just about amputation which is how surgery only was viewed in the past. The title The Gross Clinic speaks for it self since none of the doctors are wearing gloves and performing surgery somewhere other than a hospital. Sanitation was out of the picture and it gives you a real sense of it by being up close to the painting. I love this piece and was very excited to see it in person. It seemed to be the center piece of the exhibit about the connection to art and science.

The Second piece I found interesting was Ivan Albright's Medical Sketch Book, 1918. The media used was watercolor, graphite and ink on cream wove paper. This piece was eye catching since the images were so intricate of writing and painting done in water color. The caption said the images were "... wounds made at the behest of surgeons treating soldiers during World War I," which made the piece even more interesting due to the history of it. Since it was in cased in glass you could not look through the book which sucked, but I still found it neat to look at. This piece also brought together the exhibit's intent to show the connection between art and science.

-I was not allowed to take pictures other then the first image.

Gabriella Antoniello. NYC Trip Extra Credit

My adventure into New York City with me friends and I, was amazing. We visited many different art galleries on west 25^th street in New York, NY. I was amazed by how many galleries were lined up on this street. We went from one gallery to the next as I got to see the unique artwork from all the artists. The night was filled with excitement from the time I got in to the time I left. One particular gallery I enjoyed is Wonderstuck Praxis international art.

One particular piece from the Wonderstuck gallery popped out the most to me. The piece was untitled; the artist explained he didn’t want to take away from the piece. This is very unique and I like how there is no title. It leaves me hanging as to what I think it should be called. I think its great, as I looked at the artwork and thought of a title myself. When I looked at this piece it reminded me of my childhood when I would read Dr. Soose. It looks like a cartoon scene and very whimsical and exciting. The use of color is great. I love how in each of his paintings he uses bright vibrant colors. Most of his artwork was abstract with shapes and fun lines. I like how there is random things in the sky. Your eyes are not just fixed on one particular part but your eyes move across the painting.

I really like the way this painting makes me feel and brings me back to my childhood, a special time that meant a lot to me. A time when my family and I were on vacation in Aruba and went snorkeling to this very special spot we visit yearly. This painting is unique and filled with color and shapes. Its meaningful because it really makes me think of my past and the fun I had. If I could name it I would name it “The magical waters in the Caribbean” . A funny story my dad would tell me when we went to this very same spot in his stories. This is why I love this piece.

Continuing down 25^th street we stopped at the Lohin Geduld Gallery. I looked at artwork from a particular artist named Mayumi Sarai. I was taken back by her sculptures she designed from wood. The carvings of the wood were magnificent. I have never seen artwork like this, I was shocked to see how many different pieces she made from the tree truck of a dying tree. She took nature that was no longer living and make artwork from it. Her unique taste grabbed my attention because everything I saw was like nothing I have ever seen before. It too me was truly a piece of artwork. You can tell by each piece the amount of time that was put into them.

With her particular pieces I like how its not all wall art. She has some that can be assembled on the wall, table or even in corner to fill up empty space in a room. Her artwork was all 3-d and you were able to physically touch it. I liked the artwork where you can look at all angels of it and still be looking at something different no matter where you were looking. I liked how big some of her art was. For example if you were trying to fill up a corner in your house or any space, one of her pieces would fit perfectly because of how big it was and the uniqueness of it would draw the attention to the corner and it wouldn’t just be a boring corner but a corner that was filled with excitement.

My trip to New York was amazing. I liked looking at all the artwork and how each artist had something different and sentimental to share. Each work had a story to share. Some artwork was easily identified but others were not. This is one reason why I enjoy looking at art. It makes me feel good inside, and brings happy thoughts to me. Art is like a stress reliever, if you’re admiring someone else’s, or creating it yourself makes me release my stress and calm me down. Because of this great adventure into New York, my boyfriend and I are going into Philly so he can show me some of his favorite artworks. I’m excited to say that this adventure was a good time and I look forward to another trip.

Gabriella Antoniello. NYC Trip

Walking down 25^th street with my boyfriend, I was taken back by our mutual interest in the arts. As we hopped out of a taxi on the corner we were in a trance brought on by all of the art around us, we wandered into a small place on the middle of the block called Slag Gallery. To be honest we were both intrigued by the name but as we entered our intrigue was washed away by awe as we gaped at all of the pieces of amazing yet unknown art around us.

As we wandered the gallery we stumbled upon a piece that had my boyfriend very interested. At first glance I was not very interested until we began discussing the possible motives of the artist Naomi Safran-Hon in

producing her piece Jerusalem.A very somber piece, Jerusalem, is an inkjet print on canvas with elements of cement in lace. The print is of cement tubes in what seems to be, given it’s title, a disheveled portion of Jerusalem. The upper portion of the piece has cement laid over parts of the print and it looks as though lace was used as an artistic rebar holding the cement in its proper place. Normally I do not care for such sad and deep pieces of art however the piece’s political relevance may not have been the artist’s sole motive.

As my boyfriend would tell you, “this piece is a simple portrait of the artist’s view of the middle eastern conflict” (Michael Fisher) I find that the piece could also be a metaphor or an interpretation of ones inner struggle or battle which could be tearing yourself apart from the inside out, just as is happening in Israel/Palestine. I personally do not care if the artist meant to invoke thoughts of inner peace, or lack there of, or simply make those gallery patrons who see her piece more aware of the situation in the middle east, because as a piece of art it is doing itself justice either way. In my opinion if any piece of art is able to raise discussion about its true meaning it is a good piece of art and should be used as an example of an artist’s true purpose, to create discussion and bring people together in an honest exchange of opinion.

Blog Assignment 3 - TJ Brandt

For this blog assignment, I went to the city of Philadelphia to explore the different types of art the city had to offer. I decided to go to The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Gross McCleaf Gallery. Both of these places had very interesting pieces and I had a very fun time in each one.

The first place I stopped at was the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At first glance I was amazed at the size of this museum. It looked like a huge ancient Roman structure that seemed to just stretch out, making it look gigantic. This was the largest museum that I have ever been to and I really didn't want to miss out on anything, which was hard because there was so much ground to cover. It seemed to have everything. It had artwork from a couple thousands of years ago, art from the renaissance, asia, and modern art. It was just truly amazing how many rooms there were. I would find myself going into one room, only to have 4 more rooms opening up for me to go into. It was very interesting to see works done by some of the artists that I am learning about in my art history courses. For example, in my Renaissance Art class we learned about an artist named Judith Leyster and I took a picture of a work called "The Last Drop" that was done by her.

Overall this was my favorite of the two places I visited. I loved the variety. The European Renaissance sections was very cool to look at seeing as two of my art history classes involved this period. It was interesting seeing these works and trying to interpret them or think about some of the media that was used or think about some of the art world terms when looking at them. My favorite part of the museum was on the first floor however. The Modern Art Section was so awesome see. Everything in this section was so unique there was some stuff I really couldn't believe was actually art. For example, there was a broken snow shovel with the shovel part on the ground and the handle hanging from the ceiling? But it was really cool to see works done by Picasso and Andy Warhol.

The second stop on my trip was the Gross McCleaf Gallery which was right in the city. This was a small gallery but had very neat pieces of artwork. The Gallery represents several artists and you are able to buy their work there. There were some very colorful abstract pieces there which really drew me to look at them and there were also some nice nature like pieces. I really found the pieces by Naomi Chung very relaxing. Chung had several images with the theme of nature and I truly thought they were beautiful. She used things such as flowers or trees in her works and they all ran so smooth together.

The Gross McCleaf Gallery was a very nice stop to make on my trip to Philadelphia. It was a change of pace from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and enabled me to see more work that has been done in more recent years. It was a very calm and relaxing environment and I would recommend people to come and see the artwork done by these artists while in the city.

In conclusion, my trip to Philadelphia was worth the drive. I'm extremely happy I got to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was able to actually be right in front of works done hundreds of years ago, and see a more smaller gallery that showed me more recent works. I recommend any fan of art to hit up these two locations. They both have so much to give.

Seth Trump Blog #3 NYC

The first place I went to was the Chelsea Art Museum. To me it felt more like a gallery than a museum. Right when you walked in there was a bookstore area and a front desk. It consisted of three floors. The ground floor was closed for an upcoming event. The second floor had untitled works and another section for artist Jean Miotte. Then the third floor was dedicated towards printmaker Liao Shiou-Ping.

I concentrated on the second floor. The bottom picture shows the piece i was looking at. It was untitled. A projector projected a video of a person putting items in and out of this box. It was so simple yet clever. It looked so real and they also had a speaker with sound on the inside of the box.

Overall I liked the museum. It was my first time there. But I felt like for paying I should have seen more but they still had some interesting pieces. I would still go again though. The Jean Miotte section from what I understood was a permanent part because that is the foundation it's funded by so another nice part was if you liked their stuff you could come back to see it and if not they constantly have new exhibitions.

The second place I visited was the Paula Cooper Gallery. It was a lot smaller than the Chelsea Art Museum. It was also right across the street on the second floor of a building so it was a little hard to find because I almost felt like I was walking into someone's apartment complex. At the time there was an exhibition going on called Elemental by a group of artists.

The artist were sculptors, photographers, 2d, and types of digital and video art. The piece I focused on is the top picture. You would go into a room with just three screens in the back. On the screens there were three owls and every few seconds to even a minute one out of the three would turn their head and "hoot." I found this very entertaining to watch because you would never know when it was coming. It was kind of a jack in the box affect.

I actually found myself enjoying the Paula Cooper Gallery more than the Chelsea Art Museum. I think the fact that it was free helped. Also the types of art at the gallery drew me in more at the gallery. Everything seemed more organic and more visually appealing. I wanted to get closer to the art and see how they did certain things and understand what the message was behind it.

Brittney Logan |Assignment NYC trip|

I went to the MOMA for the first time and I was truly amazed, seeing the images in class on projectors are completely different than seeing them in real life. I spent four hours in the MOMA admiring a lot of pieces, I was really fascinated how the museum was set up, just with all the different floors, and how each floor had something different to bring to the table. The bookstore was quiet amazing also, and I loved how they had sections on the floors where you could buy other things from the bookstore.I loved how it was so much open space in the galleries, I didn’t feel overwhelmed by people running into me or walking in front of me while I was trying to take pictures.

Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World” was really interesting to look at up front and personal, I was introduced to this piece in my 2-d design class, I was always fascinated at how he was able to show the depth in this image, The detail is so precise in the grassy field and the picture leaves you wondering if she’s hurt and trying to get back up the hill or if she’s admiring the view from afar. What I really loved about this piece was that you never know what her face looks like and you can only see the back and wonder, I also always wondered If this was a dream because of the title he gave the piece.

This piece above was by the Guerilla girls, I’ve always found some of their work interesting, I mean what’s not interesting about a group of girls that wear guerrilla mask and no one knows who they really are except them. A lot of the stuff they display in their artwork is truthful and it shows the injustice that females encounter on a daily basis. This piece is simple and simply has a line cutting off 1/3 of what women actually make as artist than male artist do, just because our society is bias male artist make more money and are considered more famous than female artist.

The Gallery I visited was Hubert Gallery on Madison, it’s a very small neat gallery, when you walk in there’s a desk to the right and artwork hangs from the walls and some lean on the walls, there’s a small section in the back that has more artwork with another desk that someone sits at. There was a cute little wiener dog that greeted us with a tennis ball, the atmosphere was really laid back and I enjoyed that because a lot of galleries they attack you soon as you enter trying to get you to buy something’s.

This piece was by a lady called Fiona Morley, I have never seen a piece of work like this and I was instantly fascinated, I thought it was so “cool” I have seen some pretty amazing 3-d pieces but this one was so weird nerdy that it stood out too me, she used metal wires and paint and made all the faces the same with the wire. Overall the piece was really unique and her use of background choice I thought was very good, it compliments the rest of the piece.

This piece by Damien Hirst attracted my attentions just because I love polka dots, and I love bright colors. I was disappointed with the way they have it displayed though, the piece is wrinkled inside the frame, I think appearance is everything it can make or break a piece and although I love polka dots and bright colors, I was very withdrawn from the piece because it was wrinkled. The lighting in the gallery was relatively very well though, the gallery was more contemporary art, which I appreciated also.

Hannah Morris #3

For this assignment I went to Philly, I decided to go to galleries. First I went to The Slought Foundation. French artist Tania Mouraud had a video installation entitled " I keep hearing the trains forever". I had read about this installation in the nespaper and it sounded interesting, so i wanted to check it out. I am glad that I did see this. It was like nothing else I've ever seen before.

When I first got there the gallery looked really small and like nothing special. When I walked in the lady said I had to wait behind a curtain while she turned on the audio and video. When that was turned on I walked into the gallery space. It was all dark and the sound was all around me, it was overwhelming to my senses. There were about 4 screens in the first room. The largest screen showed shaky footage of something running through a forest, there were images of a watchtower too. Another screen in the same room showed a wild boar getting shot and suffering, another screen showed a still image of a deer amongst trees, and the smallest screen was a person standing in the forest. The sounds around me were loud and haunting. After viewing all of these screens I went onto the next room which showed an upclose image of a creepy mouth, and shaky footage of a graveyard. In the last room the music was kind of more happy but because it was happy it made it creepy. On the screen it showed a view from a foggy car window driving up a hill in the forest. At the end of the road the music stopped and there was a view of a concentration camp.

This installation was about the holocost. It was a very effective installation because it really pulled me in, and was overwhelming to my eyes and ears. It was cool and creepy.

After that gallery I went to the Daiet gallery. The exhibit was entitled "Contemplative Realms". It featured work by three artists- Sky Kim, Juri Kim, and Irena Kononova. Irena Kononova work i didnt really prefer. Her body of work was called "Primeval Geographies". Her paintings were abstarctions of different types of landcapes and rocks.

I really liked Sky Kim's work. Some of the pieces I thought were really cool were 10 ft. scrolls decorated with intricate patterns done in marker. They must have taken forever to complete. The work was about human existence I think. All of the intricate patterns in this work looked really cool.

I also really liked Juri Kim's work. His work was about communication, the work involves science, logic, and emotion. The paintings were entire canvases filled with dots, each a different color scheme. In his artist statement he said painting these was a zen-type activity. The work is about losing, and remembering things. I thougth that was really cool.