In Search of the Center

Reed Arts Week: Geographies

2011-03-16T20:10:00.000-04:00

Here are some stills by Allie Tepper from the Reed Arts Week: Geographies show earlier this month.

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN PORTLAND....CHECK IT OUT! MARCH 2-MARCH 5

2011-02-24T12:50:00.003-05:00

THIS WEEKEND A DON'T MISS OPPORTUNITY TO OWN IT!!!!

2011-01-17T10:52:00.001-05:00

A New Year Brings New Blogs

2010-12-29T22:26:00.004-05:00

To follow Jacinda's new personal blog go to: http://jacindarussellart.blogspot.com/

To follow Nancy's new personal blog go to: http://nancydouthey.blogspot.com

Stay tuned for all updates for the EarthworksNearYou Project Posted at you guessed it:

earthworksnearyou.blogspot.com

Arne Erisoty's Sunset Over Spiral Jetty

2010-12-08T19:53:00.000-05:00

Via.

From the website: "In dwindling twilight at an August day's end, these broad dark bands appeared in the sky for a moment, seen from Robert Smithson's Spiral Jettyon the eastern shore of Utah's Great Salt Lake. Outlined by rays of sunlight known as crepuscular rays, they are actually shadows cast by clouds near the distant western horizon, the setting Sun having disappeared from direct view behind them. The cloud shadows are parallel, but seem to converge in the distance because of perspective. Coiled in the salt-encrusted lake surface, Smithson's most famous earthwork provides a dramatic contrast to the converging lines. The Spiral Jetty was constructed in 1970, when the water level was unusually low and was completely submerged in a few years as the level rose. Now just above water again, it has spent much of its existence submerged in the briny lake."

The Zine is HUGE!

2010-12-07T19:24:00.001-05:00

I had no idea the Rural Route 2 zine would be so large! Thanks Travis - it looks great. You can get yours here.

Black Ball 2011

2010-12-06T12:53:00.003-05:00

Our auction print for Black Ball 2011.

From the website: "On Friday, January 21 st , 2011: Come as the scandal du jour OR resurrect a golden oldie — think Britney, Lindsay, Eddie and Liz, babies over balconies, bad "home" movies, unfortunate shoplifting incidents and who is leaving who for whom!"

Nancy Holt's Burial Project Part 3

2010-12-01T21:11:00.003-05:00

Obviously I've been thinking a lot about Holt's Burial Project lately (and mapping projects in general) due to dedicating three posts to it. Elise and I laughed about it last week in terms of how we keep seeing it referred to in various publications but it's essentially the same 3-4 sentences paraphrased differently. I did find this new addition from The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography which will merit another post in the not so far future. In addition to maps and photographs of the locales, Holt also included booklets. They "presented a series of maps, beginning with an overall map of the United States, zooming in on the poem's locations, indicated with a dot. The gesture of a personalized poem at the project's heart and the 'lived body' mapping that occurs via the trek to and from the poem make it obvious that this is meant to be a one-of-a-kind experience. The booklets with maps both enable, and are souvenirs of, the individual journeys Holt 'gave' to her friends."

Here is a photograph of one of the booklets - a crude representation contrasted with the one above (which is incidentally, the only map I ever find associated with this project).

More on Nancy Holt's "Buried Poems" & Jan Estep's "Beneath the Surface of Language"

2010-11-21T15:22:00.005-05:00

Elise found more information on the Buried Poems from this dated website:

"LOCATION: places such as an unnamed, uninhabited island in the Florida Keys, Arches National Monument Desert in Utah, and at the bottom of the Highlands of Navesink near Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

"Holt gave five people (Michael Heizer, Philip Leider, Carl Andre, John Perrault, and Robert Smithson) a packet of information which allowed them to find and dig up a poem. Each poem was buried in a location which was chosen based on their personality. Included in the packet were such items as maps, photos, very detailed directions for finding the poem, along with either postcards, cut out images, and maybe specimens of leaves or rocks from the site. The recipient would eventually understand his connection with the site. The poems were all buried in vacuum containers which would last long enough for them to dig it up whenever they happened to be near the area."

Of course I would like to know if any of these people ever found their poems - the idea of them sealed in vacuum containers is intriguing though anti-ephemeral just like the vast majority of American Land Art.

My search for more information brought me to Jan Estep's Beneath the Surface of Language. Estep spent two weeks at the Center for Land Use Interpretation residency program to create "a site-specific map/text/photo project featuring the 54-mile backcountry Silver Island Mountain Byway, a BLM-managed route near the Bonneville Speedway just outside of Wendover, Utah."

She comments on Nancy Holt's Buried Poems and John Baldessari's California Map Project - two of my favorite works in the genre of art and mapmaking.

See more of Estep's work here. Image above from Estep's Site #2.

"Insecurity Zone" by Nikolaj Recke

2010-11-20T18:37:00.004-05:00

Just discovered this video on youtube. It's painful to watch in some cases (just like I imagine Vito Acconci's Security Zone to be). The jetty is so difficult to walk on to begin with that I could not imagine doing it blindfolded.

The synopsis:
"A blindfolded walk on Spiral Jetty. In the summer of 2009 Nikolaj Recke visited one of the absolute masterpieces of Land Art, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1971), located in Great Salt Lake in Utah. Blindfold, he went, with the help of instructions, all the way out of the spiral shaped and cliff-paved quay. The video paraphrase is a known recording of Smithson himself running off the quay immediately after its completion, by paraphrasing another canonical work from the period, Vito Acconci's Security Zone (1971), where the artist, blindfolded and hands tied behind his backs allowed himself to be led around the New York City pier area by a stranger. Insecurity Zone can be seen partly as a personal tribute to the two works, both as an unpretentious commentary to contemporary art's eternal attempt to move closer to art history. It depicts the history of art as a mental and physical spaced where it is difficult to find a foothold, all the time that we move in spirals, and it is not to determined whether one is led or blindfold.

The Road to Spiral Jetty Gets an Upgrade (!)

2010-11-19T00:14:00.004-05:00

".... Thanks to $18,000 from the Box Elder County Tourism Tax Advisory Board, road crews are currently reworking part of the Jetty road, especially the last two miles, which has, until now, been a solid bed of large, jagged basalt boulders. The rock-strewn road made even maintaining that stretch impossible for county equipment, according to Road Supervisor Bill Gilson. The county also hired C.A. Johnson Trenching out of Springville to bring in their quarter-million dollar rock grinder to turn the black boulders into much smaller stones. The grinder spent about three days churning up the roadway to the Jetty, leaving in its wake a softer and more manageable surface..."

Ellen Cook

Richard Long, "Walks of Chance," 1998

2010-11-18T21:11:00.003-05:00

Foam Printer by Robert Irwin

2010-11-17T00:24:00.001-05:00

Our First Interview

2010-11-16T11:49:00.004-05:00

rural route two box two eighty one

Travis Shaffer: At what point did the two of you meet / begin working as a collaborative?

Jacinda Russell: Nancy and I met in August 2001 at the University of Houston. We became good friends after I moved away from Texas in 2002. We took a three week road trip in the Summer of 2007 with my cat Oatmeal sharing the front seat. We traveled from Indianapolis through Minneapolis, North Dakota, Montana, Yellowstone, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. At the end of our trip, we visited Robert Morris’s Untitled (Reclamation Project) in Kent, Washington and decided that the next summer we would spend three weeks visiting all the major earthworks in the American West. Our work as collaborators began that summer and extends indefinitely.

Nancy Douthey: We were on a road trip together the summer of 2007 for three weeks driving cross-country from Indiana to Washington and along the way I’ll never forget the moment (I mean I can’t tell you where we were) but I remember saying “ We’re DOING IT!” and I committed myself. I had long been in love with these photographic images and the spoken experiences of professors that get passed down through art history classes. In the beginning it was all very romantic in my mind. It was the fantasy of the America West, part of the lure of space and time. standing still long enough for me to breath deep.

TS: As individuals does your work differ drastically from what you do as a collective? if so how?

ND: I approach my work very much the same way I approach the work I’ve done with Jacinda. I prefer the collaborative process– so for me this was very special to do it with her. To have these works carry conflict and challenge my own perceptions is typical to how I like to react and work with things. Having Jacinda to problem solve and learn and allow me to change my mind and get lost and found, well, I can’t imagine a better approach to my art. I learned more from this trip about my personal work than any other time. I believe we learn more together than we do apart and that is what is amazing about the collaborative process. It kicks your butt, it challenges everything. And if it is really great- you’re still best friends! Hi best friend!

JR: I’ve always focused on the object (as self-portrait, as memory, as narrative, as photograph, as sculpture, as installation) and that is apparent in many of the works in 3 weeks, 6 earthworks, 1 Portable Studio and ALL that lies in between. I bury objects from my past at each of the locations. They function as inventory when documented in the gravel driveway at the Thunderbird Hotel in Marfa, Texas or as sculpture when presented in a gallery. I’ve made artist’s books since graduate school so that isn’t a different avenue that I have pursued. In that regard, my work has not changed but working with Nancy has allowed me to introduce performance as a means of expression. The Burial of Three People, Two Places, and One Time Period: Performative Actions marks the first time I’ve delved into this territory. It has challenged me to work in public (or even outside as this is the first project I’ve ever been involved with that takes places outdoors). Last summer I spent three and a half months floating Styrofoam cakes in pristine bodies of water and I am thoroughly convinced this project would not have been successful if I hadn’t worked with Nancy the summer before.

TS: Humor and playfulness play a large roll in your project. In your statement you explain that “humor is one way we enter into these works when we want to make serious commentary rather than being confrontational. It is our way of discussing the political and often difficult issues associated with them: gender, economic elitism, destruction and permanence of the land.”What relationship, if any, do you draw between your artistic approach to difficult/potentially dry issues and contemporary satirists like Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert?

ND: “Part of the thing with comedy is that it’s always been effective in that if there’s tension there, ultimately, it brings us together, it makes things more comfortable.” Vince Vaughn I’m quoting Vince Vaughn right now because I’ve been thinking about this uproar over the “gay” joke in the upcoming movie “Dilemma” –I’ve been reading about it – and found myself completely relating to what Vaughn was saying. As this issue rides the same wave in time as the Stewart/Cobert rally I can’t separate them right now. It is the relationship that people can say things that create change, they can do things that create change, and I think we forget that we have the power to do that. I Stewart and Cobert creating a joke, but the joke is very serious. The result of the joke is that we are all laughing and thinking – oh my god, I wasn’t sure this was even possible, I wasn’t even sure people were getting out of their houses to say anything, I thought they did it all on the computer…So back to the art of it: If no one is going to address the absurdity of the “earthworks movement” the problems or rather the questions that stem from them, then I’m probably not interested. I need the conflict – I want to deal with the double standards, the out of wack economic proportions of support, the gender politics, and what better part of art history to play with those ideas than the earthworks movement. Especially now when all of the sudden we are thinking about land and “green” in this new way – which isn’t new. I guess the “new” part of it is the way we are going to use it as a marketing tool to make money. And then again that isn’t new either. To answer the question directly, my relationship to the ways of Stewart and Colbert, I hope I can parallel their efforts in my own work – in my own way. We all seem to be playing on the same team along with the likes of Lucille Ball and Borat.

TS: Like much of contemporary art your work hinges upon (or at least addresses) specific works of the past, i.e. earthworks, Ruscha, Wayne Thiebaud. What is your inspiration for this, and how much do you feel the “insider” perspective impacts the ability for viewers to relate to your project?

JR: I will quote Ed Ruscha right now and say, “I’m not really a photographer.” I grew up in a household that emphasized mixed media as an art form (my father is a painter and assemblage artist). I never felt like I made work that only fits into the realm of photography. Yes, the insider perspective is important and hopefully our elaborate titles draw the viewer into understanding the subject a little better.

ND: I think they are the inspiration or the ideas we have about them and their work. And we’re allowing ourselves to bounce from that. We interact as though they really are what we know of them from historical documentations and stories and of course all of these fragments combined together of truths and lies mold into an imaginary friend that I call “Ed Ruscha” or “Michael Heizer”. In fact Mike and I do group therapy together on Thursday afternoons and take smoke breaks leaning against our shotguns. They are heroic figures in a parental kind of way to me so to speak – they are teaching us as we look at what they did and are still doing – and I think that sets them up for us to rebel against – harass – question – critique – in a harsher way than when an actual piece of work is being realized. But now we can critique that work in a different context given time and space – and maybe we can find out something about our selves by doing something different or the same – learn. And while I write this I bet we’re still kind of doing it all the same even in our rebellion. The question I might ask myself while looking at one of these people would be – why am I in love with these men that blow up things and have egos the size of Texas – or wish they had Texas to use as an art space all for themselves? Okay well – maybe if I were being honest my answer might be– I like that kind of person – they went out there and created a work and made something happen that can be seen from space! I’m not just interested in the physical change of the land created through these earthworks but the concept of change through social and psychological levels.

JR: It has always been a joke between my close friends that I have a California aesthetic about my work. If you combined Ed Ruscha (his conceptual approach, artist’s books, love of swimming pools) and Wayne Thiebaud (his use of seductive & desirous objects and dessert) would it equal Jacinda Russell? I have spent the last year trying to answer this question. As far as where my interest in earthworks comes from, I’ve always been fascinated by the journey – the road trip, the path that takes one away from the traditional art space usually involving a “story.” I am from the West and these artworks are intrinsically tied to the land I know and love. I’m interested in decay and deterioration – all of these things merge together and inspire me to search for these environmental pieces that usually require getting lost to find them.

TS: Though we here at rr2 use the term “rural” a bit loosely (Houston is hardly rural), how does working outside of the major art centers (Chicago / LA / New York) affect your practice?

JR: I am deeply affected by living in a rural community. Residing in Indiana is so far from what I know yet the biggest advantage is proximity to places I’ve never been or cities that weren’t as accessible living in the Pacific Northwest (Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Minneapolis, etc.). Yes, it’s cheaper but I continually yearn for something bigger so I leave constantly – making art pilgrimages on a regular basis.

ND: I like to think that because I have spent most of my time at the following address growing up: Rt. 14 Box 375. I qualify as RURAL wherever I go. I think this is the hardest question for me considering I’ve never worked in those major art centers. But I’m thrilled to hear there is more than one. I think I can do things (like this project) that would never be possible if I was trying to have a life in one of these other areas just based on economics. I wouldn’t have the same support or the space that I feel I have in Houston. I think of places like Clemson, South Carolina that Jacinda and I just went to for the second show of this project and all I see are the endless possibilities and freedom in those kinds of towns. I think Houston has that kind of opportunity, that same feel for me. I think this question is something I will be asking along with the next one to artists that live here and in smaller areas. I’m not sure that we all have the same opportunities to live in one of these three places – and I think for many this is not a choice most have the privilege of making when considering survival and making art. I love Houston, H-Town is where it’s at for me and I’m thrilled to be here making work without a major struggle to survive.

TS: Do you see your role as an artist differently if/when you are outside of that structure, or do you in spite of location feel as though you are able to still operate within it?

ND: The reality for me is this – I’m not sure if anyone is really outside of the structure any more. I think technology is the structure or if not – it is definitely changing it. I think this is a question we were considering when we decided to create a live blog and tweet. It was about giving access and being accessible. I think we were able to accomplish both and that means something more than just functioning in a specific location.

JR: Yes I feel like I am still able to operate within it though I do miss the larger art community that simply doesn’t exist in Muncie, Indiana.

for another perspective on an answer to this question, see this essay Jacinda wrote in Art Lies: http://www.artlies.org/article.php?id=1722&issue=61&s=1]

I’ll keep this simple… what’s next (as a pair, as individuals)?

JR: We are heading to the UK! We want to investigate a few avenues: the places where Hamish Fulton and Richard Long made their walking pieces and the ancient monolithic structures that inspired many of the earthwork artists in the 1970s. I have always envisioned the earthworks project in three phases. The first was the American West. The second is the United Kingdom and the third is making our own earthwork in Australia.

ND: I keep thinking we will do something that is relaxing – a beach vacation or something – but then Jacinda would go out and float a cake and I would want to do some synchronized swimming and we would be back to work.

Rural Route 2 Box 281: Premier Issue featuring Jeff Nilan and US! [Pink + Blue]

2010-11-01T14:19:00.007-04:00

FEATURING: JEFF NILAN, JACINDA RUSSELL, and NANCY DOUTHEY

RR 2 Box 281 is a bi-monthly zine dedicated to photo-based contemporary art. Each of the six yearly issues will be focused on the work of two living artists working and living outside of traditional art centers. The title RR 2 Box 281 comes from the childhood address of the zine's editor Travis Shaffer. Travis and his wife/ co- editor, Angela, grew up in neighboring rural communities in southwestern Pennsylvania. Travis is currently an Instructor of Photography at the University of Kentucky and Angela teaches high-school art in the small town of Lancaster, KY. Through Digital and hard copy dissemination, RR2 seeks to increase the exposure of artists' working and living in the rural settings, thereby creating a dialog around relationships between contemporary art, regional identity and rurality.

Six times a year a new issue of RR 2 Box 281 will be released as both a free .pdf file (to be viewed online or downloaded via issuucom) and a hand bound hard copy zine (to be sent via standard post). The hard-copy zine will be 15$/ issue, or 60$ for a yearly subscription.

ZINE -- http://issuu.com/travisl.shaffer/docs/rr2_v1_is1

FACEBOOK -- http://www.facebook.com/pages/RR-2-Box-281/127947723918928

BLOG -- http:rrtwo.wordpress.com

Hamish Fulton's "Slowalk"

2010-10-31T15:15:00.005-04:00

Hamish Fulton has an exhibition in NYC right now. Fredericka sent Nancy and me this photograph that bears resemblance to our workshop exercise at Clemson (and it's orange).

A List on the Burial/Artist Correspondence Project

2010-10-27T00:11:00.010-04:00

Sarah Hobbs, Untitled (Perfectionist)

Who would I send correspondence to after burying an object for in the UK? My initial thoughts include:

1. Nancy Holt (address = check)
2. Ed Ruscha (duh = address = check)
3. Richard Misrach (address = check)
4. Suzaan Boettger (email address - will need to find physical address)
5. Fredericka Hunter and Ian Glennie (address = check)
6. Michael Heizer (need to find address)
7. Rebecca Solnit (will need to find her address).
8. Lucy Lippard (will need to obtain mailing address)

How uncomfortable would some of these people feel to receive this correspondence from strangers (Ruscha, Heizer and Solnit would fit the "stranger" category as I have interacted with the rest at one point in my life)? But do I really care? Yes... but will I do it anyway? We all know the answer to that. How many lists will I make before then? Will I save them? Will I count them? Will I photograph them? Will I dig myself into a hole? No pun intended. No I'll keep thinking about it until it's "perfect" as fortunate or unfortunate as that may be.

Nancy Holt's Burial Project

2010-10-24T11:57:00.003-04:00

Nancy Holt, The Last Map Used to Locate Buried Poem Number 4 for Michael Heizer, 1969-71

Nancy Holt, Buried Poem Number 4 for Michael Heizer The Double O, 1971 & Buried Poem Number 4 for Michael Heizer, Dark Angel through Double O Arch, 1971

From Phaidon's Land and Environmental Art:

"These poems were private artworks. Holt dedicated the poems to five different people (Michael Heizer, Philip Leider, Carl Andre, John Perrault, and Robert Smithson) and chose the remote sites according to certain physical, spatial, and atmospheric qualities which would evoke a particular person for her. The poems were buried in vacuum containers, and the recipient received a map which contained all the necessary information for the poem to be found and dug up. The map provided Holt with both a physical location and characteristics which she could relate to a specific person, as well as a symbolic space in which to construct the meaning presented in the poems. Along with the instructions on how to find the site she included details of the history, geology, flora, and fauna of the site as well as maps, pictures, and specimens of rocks and leaves."

I have been thinking a lot about Holt's Burial/Mapping project recently as a way to incorporate artist correspondence with interring objects. We are working hard researching the second leg of our journey and I of course, want to continue exploring the object in remote locales. I am not interested in writing poems or cataloging the flora and fauna of the environment but I AM intrigued by responding to something within that place and referring it to the artists who I will send a letter to. The artists will be ones inspirational to our project yet there will be no response anticipated.

Artist Correspondence: Our First Response

2010-10-20T23:54:00.002-04:00

Lucy Lippard wrote us back! She wants to see our project! Yay! Obviously the trick is to have Nancy write all the artist correspondence as I tend to scare everyone away (or they sic the director of their foundation on us based on a letter I wrote to James Turrell).

"Hi, sorry so long answering but was out of town yet again. Love the Three weeks piece, and am curious about what the images are. Can you send me some? Thanks, Lucy."

I stole this yesterday...

2010-10-19T01:39:00.001-04:00

Elise and I have been researching up a storm lately. In the next week or two... the results!

Clemson Part 6: Bonus Features

2010-10-15T23:48:00.006-04:00

You know when Nancy and Jacinda get together there are always "bonus features." This trip they featured multiple trips to Nick's and a boat ride to the Experimental Forest with Anderson. First Nick's. Here's Andrew telling Nancy "the story" (a mere minute of 15 in which Nancy was sitting on the edge of her seat the entire time):

If I ever hear Van Halen's Panama again, I'm going to pull a Christina Hung by leaping over the bar, ripping everyone's tabs off the wall and running into the bathroom to lock the door behind me emerging a few minutes later remarking that they were "a little damp." I think we heard that song 25 times which was 25 times more than I ever needed to hear it since oh... 1984. Nancy, Sarah, and Zane:

Andrew, Jacinda and Todd:

Andrew, Zane and Christina:

Roar! I was a little opposed to seeing my least favorite color EVERYWHERE in Clemson. The tigers on the other were fine.

Anderson bestowed Nancy and me with the greatest gift: a trip to the Experimental Forest on his boat! Leaving the dock in front of Anderson's house:

JR and Anderson:

A little red earth:

The beach near the Experimental Forest shortly before seeing the bald eagle:

Nancy barefoot (a la Sun Tunnels):

Anderson skipping rocks (Nancy skipped her first rock ever this trip!)

The Sultan of Zanzibar:

Nancy driving the boat FAST:

On the way back:

Clemson Part 5: The Exhibition at Lee Gallery

2010-10-15T23:32:00.007-04:00

Here are some very low-resolution and bordering on out of focus images (Anderson is sending me some better ones next week). The day before peeking through the window for the first time at the burial wall:

Yay! The polaroids made it in the show (they were missing from the Texas Gallery exhibition).

Images at the main entryway:

Detail of the big wall:

In the back corner:

Artists' Books:

The objects are tucked over on the left as well as the videos:

Nancy and I have discussed our work as a pair on three occasions, each time with a different approach. This time was most successful. We eliminated the chronology and chose one image each from the major locations. We also decided not to talk about the history behind the pieces for the first time but came to the conclusion afterward that we need to say something about them (i.e. where they are located, who made them, etc.). We will have that opportunity at our next talk on 12th March in Atlanta.

Clemson Part 4: The Workshop

2010-10-15T22:00:00.018-04:00

Participants: Ashley Wood, Kelli Butler, Brooke Buckley, Alan Babcock, Gene Ellenburg, Zane Logan, Tom Schram, Todd Stewart, Anthony Collamati, Christina Hung, Sarah Butler, and Anderson Wrangle.

Location: Clemson University Botanical Gardens (photograph by Anderson Wrangle)

Exercise #1: Take a walk in complete silence with one other person for 30 minutes. Pay attention to sound and group dynamics.

Photographs taken on the walks by various participants. Christina Hung and Anthony Collamati (photo by Anthony).

Christina and Anthony returning from their walk in silence.

Photographs from Zane & Ashley's walk (later joined by Brooke and Kelli). Photos by Zane Logan.

Anderson, Nancy, and Jacinda's walk.

The wasp nest in the tree that I wanted to point out to everyone but did not because they had already passed it and I didn't want to break the "code of silence."

We returned to Alan rolling down the hill.

Todd filmed by Anderson (he arrived late and spent his walk in silence looking for everyone else). Photo by Zane.

While everyone started their walk, Anderson, Nancy and I unpacked all the loot plus a much needed cooler full of water. These were the items that we collected at the yard sale as well as additional ones provided by Anderson (rope, extension cord, ladder, tarp, rider's crop, etc.)

We covered it up because it was a hot day and we didn't want the metal objects to get too much sun.

Exercise #2: Pairs of people choose a few objects on the tarp and they have three minutes to create a sculpture. One of the people in the group must use their body in the final product. After the three minutes are up, they return their objects and have two minutes to create a sculpture. Repeat and then one minute sculptures (in the style of Erwin Wurm). Time begins (photo by Anderson).

Anthony and Christina:

Ashley & Zane:

Alan and Christina:

Alan and Gene:

Brooke and Kelli:

Ashley and Brooke:

Tom, Todd and Sarah:

Todd, Gene, and Tom:

Zane and Kelli:

Anderson Videotaping through the Christmas wreath:

Exercise #3: Walk in slow motion toward your partner, tell them a secret, walk in slow motion backwards looking them in the eye.

The End (but not before a game of tug o' war with Anderson's rope): Gene, Alan, Anthony and Jacinda (by Anderson Wrangle).

Clemson Part 3: Studio Visits with the Grads

2010-10-13T00:56:00.014-04:00

Anderson showing off the parking pass for the rental car (which incidentally was another snazzy speed demon of a vehicle that managed to avoid cops at all costs though we almost received a parking ticket by Clemson's finest).

Studio visits began at the crack of 10:10 AM (I know everyone in Indiana is shocked I was up and speaking about artwork at this hour - and so was I).

I was THRILLED to talk about something other than photographs and Nancy said my excitement permeated the art building. First up, Todd Stewart (Sculpture). Nancy and I loved Todd's drawings AKA his "mug shots" for styrofoam models. He is graduating this semester and working on the concept of perception (building contraptions framed by lenses). Todd introduced us to the term "junt" which was used sporadically throughout the next 36 hours.

One of the most fascinating things about Andrew Daly (Printmaking) is that he is a 17th generation North Carolinian and comes from a family of saddle makers. He can tell "the story" like no one's business but in his studio we discussed the role of objects and environment, commenting on methods of display and transferring the workspace to the gallery.

I feel like we could have talked to Zane Logan (Photography) for hours (and probably did = sorry Sarah!) about his two radically different series featuring skateboarders stripped of most of their identifying paraphenalia and his most recent body of work that is far more personal and exhibits far less control than his large format portraits (below).

Sarah Butler (Painting) is in her first semester at Clemson and Nancy and I were intrigued with her Hiroshi Sugimoto-esque painting of a projection screen. She also had the most fascinating found (?) photograph of a family in front of a similarly blank television that I can't stop associating with this painting.

We broke for lunch at a taco/burrito joint but not before Anderson appeared to climb walls documenting Sarah's studio visit.

Matt Brantley (Printmaking) is also in his first semester and is working with symbolism to describe his connection to place (Kentucky bordering the Mississippi River). He and Andrew are roommates and Nancy and I were fascinated by "Kentucky vs. North Carolina" - a continual boast as to why one state is infinitely better than the other.

Todd Schram (Sculpture) knocked our socks off with his video documentation of projected images on sculptures (while Nancy used the word "crucial" on a regular basis I managed to say "forest fire" about two dozen times in Todd's studio). Working with multiples (and video) are recurring themes.

Owen Riley (Photography) recently learned the collodion process and creates surreal portraits of his family and fellow graduate students. Ralph Gibson, a far less gory Joel-Peter Witkin, and Minor White come to mind.

David Hill (Ceramics) is graduating in a couple months and is in the midst of building a small army of ceramic busts and bodies incorporated with pedestals and is toying with the idea of illuminating them with natural and artificial light.

We were excited about Jen Miller's work (Printmaking) that featured humanity encroaching on animal territory based on her experiences living in Scottdale, Arizona.

I never found out Kara's last name but she is another graduating sculpture student this semester interested in pursuing performance with her handmade boat for her MFA thesis project in a few weeks.

Apparently it is late and I become far less articulate the longer this post gets. Next up... the WORKSHOP!

Clemson Part 2: Fluxus Score

2010-10-11T11:41:00.003-04:00

A couple weeks before our arrival, Nancy assigned the Clemson art students and faculty a project based on a Fluxus score:

1. Pair Up, Write a score
2. Pair Pairs, Create a score as four
3. Practice score
4. Present score to others
5. Have someone document score and email to nd5000@hotmail.com (nancy) to be viewed on the blog
6. Create a score with the entire group in mind and start at 4. (repeat until exhausted!)

This was the result sent to us the following week that we viewed at the Comfort Inn in Kalamazoo, Michigan:

[Video by Anderson Wrangle]

In Between Kalamazoo and Clemson...

2010-10-10T15:31:00.006-04:00

Nancy worked hard in all my classes. She gave a lecture on Monday to the Directions class and several other faculty and students, Tuesday she showed up to Digital Imaging critique as "the coach" and gave everyone a pep talk (see crappy video below).

After that, she rounded us up and we crashed Hannah's Encaustics class much to her students' horror. Here is my class circling the perimeter before the mandatory gathering in the middle begins.

On Wednesday we didn't have enough time for Information Woman to show up to Directions but maybe next time. She gave 10 minute critiques to everyone and then we ever so quickly departed for the airport for South Carolina.

Before I get too carried away with the Clemson trip... I better finish the Midwest SPE Conference

2010-10-10T09:59:00.013-04:00

First up... Lucy Lippard Lecture. We were running late, Elise & I ran out of the car to unsuccessfully obtain our conferences badges, no sweater in a cold lecture hall or pen and paper. These are a couple notes I typed up on the i-phone but wish I had remembered more.

• "A place is a 1000 places."

• Find the Amanda Ross-Ho quote on the present.

• Photographs needing to be printed bigger parallels the American obesity epidemic.

• "What time is this place?"

• "Deep maps:" How the rings affect the center and how it ripples.

Lure of the Local was a favorite book of mine in graduate school thanks to Li Rader. She meant to leave this comment on the blog ages ago but emailed it instead: "Ok, it's time for you to add to your library 'The Lure of the Local' by Lucy Lippard (1997). I bought it in Tucson in '98 and I'm sure (though 13 years old ?!! Can it be?!) is absolutely something you would like to read (especially considering your last post re: Indiana, home, et centera - error intentional [duh]). I'm sure Dave Hickey would scoff at such a suggestion which is, all the more reason, to suggest it! LR in VT"

I bought Lure of the Local when I was traveling back and forth to New Zealand to maintain my residency in graduate school and re-evaluating it with my present thoughts on place and home is long overdue.

After the lecture, Nancy and I talked to Lucy, obtained her email address and at last, will legitimately begin more artist correspondence!

Nancy's email to Lucy from the Sleep Inn in Clemson, SC two nights ago:

Dear Lucy,

Thank you so much for coming to the SPE in Kalamazoo. It was an honor to hear you speak and to meet you at the end of your talk. Your work has influenced my life and I thought I would follow up on our brief encounter with this email. I thought you might be interested in seeing our latest collaborative project. Below is our artist statement and our website is www.earthworksnearyou.com.

Thank you very much for your consideration to this work. We would love to hear your insights if you find it interesting enough that it lingers in your thoughts.

With admiration and respect,
Nancy Douthey

In any case, Nancy and I have decided that our next goal with this project is a residency at C.L.U.I.

Amelia Morris, 5 MacMillan Gardens, What Was Left, 2010 from the Pin-Up Exhibition

Another highlight included our first joint portfolio reviews. We looked at sculptural/installation work by Matt (I wish I wrote down his last name) from Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska, Dominique from Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan and Mike Cook from Grand Rapids Community College. Mike had fascinating Gregory Crewdson/Phillip Lorca diCorcia-esque portraits using lights to recreate pandora's boxes transporting his subject's back to their workplaces. I failed to photograph anything that had to do with a portfolio review, an oversight that I would remedy at Clemson.

Our talk was a big old LET DOWN (the anti-dynamic duo) but we took a lot of notes on what we could improve upon and even attended a couple more lectures critiquing the overall delivery of the lecture itself as well as the content. It was a learning experience for both of us. The most positive aspect of the talk was meeting Travis Shaffer (we share a similar influence in Ed Ruscha - more coming soon on his photo zine, Rural Route Two), Nicole Croy from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jamie Miles who teaches photography at Taylor University.

Without fail, every time I speak at an SPE conference, Lori Nix also lectures at the same time. I missed her talk but was able to catch up with her at the open portfolio walk-through. I have an inherent fear of the open portfolio walk-through but doing it with someone proved to be far easier. I'm really proud of my students who represented themselves so well that multiple strangers commented on it. When Nancy and I head to Atlanta for yet another talk, we will have this down (and I will provide more photo documentation!).

Elise Rorick

2010-10-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

Last spring I wrote a proposal for the Honor's Department to fund a research assistant for the semester. Elise is helping me out with Phase 2 as well as writing grants, preparing for exhibitions, etc. I asked Elise to write down five things about herself for the blog and here they are....

5 [or, in retrospect, maybe 8...] things I want the world to know about me (stolen verbatim from a year+ old facebook survey entitled "50 random things about me")

1. I LOVE books. I could spend the rest of my life doing nothing but reading, and probably not read all the books in the world i want! (which is saying something, because I read lightning fast!) my favorites range from Harry Potter (specifically Deathly Hallows), to anything with history in it, to Jane Austen, to Lord of the Flies, to the Brother's Grimm fairy tales, to Peter Pan, and back to anything adventure or fantasy. ok so basically everything. :D

2. My life is a paradox because I want to travel the world and live on the coast, but my friends and family, who I love with all my heart, are all here in Indiana [edit: the midwest]. At the same time though, I think I will be fine for the same reason I'm fine at college. I will make new friends, but the people I love will be right there with me thanks to cell phones and the internet.

3. I am by no stretch of the imagination a morning person. I would like mornings better if they started later. And if people were meant to pop out of bed, we would all sleep in toasters. :P

4. I don't believe in happily ever after. But I do believe in happy.

5. I am witty, sarcastic, clumsy, stubborn, creative, smart, have a great sense of humor, and love living life. I am drawn naturally to people like myself. I am a dork, but I am the coolest dork you will ever meet!

6. My all time favorite band, song, book, and movie are all from England! [coincidence?]

7. I don't particularly like the whole hollywood, media obsessed, completely moral-less, capitalist America.

8. I am 25% Armenian and I love that! I wish I had a cool armenian middle name like my brother, my aunts, my cousin, my grandpa...

Sunset by Anderson Wrangle

2010-10-10T09:55:00.003-04:00

Jacinda and Nancy, Experimental Forest, Lake Hartwell, Clemson, SC right after seeing the bald eagle.

Clemson Part 1 (there will be many many more entries on this subject)

2010-10-09T01:02:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I saw a bald eagle in which I soon learned was a rare event in the Hartwell Lake area of South Carolina (ironic given how much I wanted to see one in bald eagle territory on Vancouver Island but they never appeared). Today I walked back to the hotel and found a $2 bill in the grass along side of the street. "Portent," said Anderson on both occasions. I'd have to agree.

Thursday marked the first time in my life that I walked into an airport and had no idea what city I was flying to as my final destination. Tonight is the end of three nights in Clemson, South Carolina. Tired. Relieved. Grateful. Yes. Indeed.

Buying Props for the Clemson Workshop

2010-10-05T14:02:00.005-04:00

Our workshop with the Clemson University art department is three fold. It will entail taking a walk with complete strangers for 30 minutes, Erwin Wurm inspired One Minute Sculptures, and it will end with a secret. On the way to school today, Nancy and I saw a magnificent yard sale which produced the following props.

We somehow managed to pack them and ship them overnight within 45 minutes. I just happened to run into a Fed-Ex truck at the loading dock who waited for us while we ran to my office to retrieve the box. I believe I see a cake container in that stash!

Midwest SPE "Bonus Features" (again the not so serious)

2010-10-04T09:26:00.013-04:00

We began the trip up to Kalamazoo at the Kendallville Windmill Museum (as per Natalie and Richard's suggestion). We didn't have a lot of time to wander through the 56 windmills but got the gist of it from the entry way. The sound was incredible - straight out of the movie Giant, or so I kept thinking.

The key purchase is always a t-shirt upon any road trip and here Nancy sporting the "hot ticket item" featured frequently throughout the rest of the weekend.

Bell's Brewery and the Sweetwater Donut Mill were repeated experiences.

There were moments of seriousness as spontaneous portfolio reviews and "practice sessions" were constantly occurring. Here Nancy looks at Laura's thesis work before our dinner arrived.

My students Karla, Jessie, and Damon joined us later:

Jacinda and Nancy:

Drew & Amelia:

Elise, Nancy, and Laura:

Damon, Elise, Jon (who came even later), and Laura:

Donuts! Two nights in a row!!

The general reaction upon first walking in the door:

The Cloud (AKA nuclear bomb):

Drew practicing tongue calisthenics (or getting the cream off his nose):

Laura repeating Drew's photograph (no tongue):

Laura capturing the mustache cup for Karla:

Way too many donuts in the hotel room:

The Strutt was a fantastic music venue right next door to the hotel. A highlight featured this elevated chair with owl lamps that Amelia kindly photographed for me below:

On the way out of town we stopped at Ivanhoe's in Upland, Indiana ... not my best location to get food but this flying saucer of a fish fillet was worth the photograph.

After several conversations the entire weekend regarding Taylor University, Nancy, Elise, and I decided to take a tour. We were ultimately looking for the location that most resembled a dungeon and here it is:

It was, however, located next to this neat little lake on campus which resulted in a few more photographs...

Thanks Elise for taking this one!

Next up... getting down to business... AKA the actual conference.

While I gather my thoughts on the week...

2010-10-03T16:27:00.002-04:00

how about a little corn tea?

Bill Owens from Best Photos

2010-09-27T00:57:00.003-04:00

Via.

... and so Phase Two begins...

2010-09-26T22:34:00.004-04:00

Elise and I pulled the map out of the tube tonight and with our trusty Suzaan Boettger "bible," we started annotating. A grant is written (here's hoping and hoping and hoping we get it) and ideas are formulating as to how this trip can unfold.

Upon Nancy's Arrival

2010-09-25T18:44:00.003-04:00

Trying to be responsible and set an example (the horror!)

2010-09-25T17:00:00.013-04:00

Whenever I attend any SPE event with Nancy, you can count on us being absent, checking out all the restaurants and museums, staying at a different hotel than the conference (always with a pool) rather than attending say... the actual conference (as witnessed by the above photograph and the one below at the Joule in Dallas, Texas SPE 2009). WELL!!! Since we are doing the Midwest Society for Photographic Education conference TOGETHER, I am trying to change my ways (and inadvertently Nancy's in the process - whoops sorry Nance).

First up.... Nancy and I will be reviewing portfolios as a team (first thing I signed her up for that I didn't ask in advance) Friday, 1st October from 3-4 PM.

Secondly.... I may have signed us both up to have our photographs reviewed. I have a secret desire to have Thomas Allen look at the cakes and of course, we are going to do everything we can to track down (notice I did not say stalk) Lucy Lippard to look at the Earthworks project.

Thirdly.... I definitely signed us up for the portfolio walk-through... generally the most horrific event for me personally but Nancy seems to do really well with it. In Dallas, she stood next to me and pretended she took the photographs of the guy who was sharing the table with me when he walked off for 30 minutes. She managed to score him a show in his absence. I somehow maintained a straight face while listening to her explain her concept for the photographs she was looking at for the very first time (incidentally they were all of men's faces who looked like they were rugged mountain climbers).

Finally... we have a presentation to prepare. We will be speaking at the crack of 11 AM on Saturday (well Nancy as the morning person will be and I as the night owl will be trying to forumlate sentences at that hour).

In preparation for all of this, I spent the afternoon making some cards (business card size for the earthworks). I even used Nancy's signature pink for the website address.

3x5 cards for the fake cakes:

I edited the earthworks project down to 21 rather than 50 (sorry the photo is blurry):

I finished matting mini versions of the fake cakes (since I had some extra board, why not be super professional). Let's hope no one notices the banged up quality of the earthworks prints - they even have holes in the top corners! I will be making a new set for Atlanta because it looks like we are doing this all over again in March but with a larger audience.

...and finally... all the "IOU" cake photos are printed. If you see your name on this list, I'll be shipping them off to you after I return from Clemson in mid October.

In the meantime, I'm running around like mad trying to get everything done before Nancy arrives Wednesday.

Calling Clemson

2010-09-23T21:08:00.004-04:00

True facts: Nancy is great at starting blogs. Jacinda is great at maintaining them. Rarely do they both shall meet.

See the blog she started for our Visiting Artist gig at Clemson University in two weeks. It's ORANGE and PINK. We are giving a workshop but first a Fluxus score as a way of introduction. More info coming soon....

Come as You Are - DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas

2010-09-16T22:05:00.003-04:00

Go see Nancy as Tammy Fay (that's exactly what she looked like on Skype Wednesday night). Article in the Houston Press.

September 17 & 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Lee Gallery, Clemson University

2010-09-15T00:30:00.000-04:00

Update: Sifting through Photographs ...

2010-09-12T20:29:00.006-04:00

Nancy and I have a big talk at the Midwest SPE in Kalamazoo on the 1st October followed by an even bigger talk/exhibition/workshop at Clemson University on the 7-8th October. There will be a fluxus score performed in between the two events. We recently discovered that we will be taking our talk on the road at the national SPE in Atlanta in March. This semester I am working with Elise Rorick who is helping me with all aspects of Phase 2 of the earthworks projects, applying for grants and researching the UK. I bought a map and we will break out the tacks this week.

In the meantime, I am going through images of the Texas Gallery installation from March and found this photograph of our DVD projection. On the screen is "Chasing Michael Jackson at Double Negative" with Nancy walking by with a streak of funky pink sparkle in the foreground.

Soon Nancy will be here (not the ghost seen above) and we are due for a number of illicit activities as it has been far too long since March and our first summer of not creating a project together.

Things Organized Neatly

2010-08-31T21:03:00.005-04:00

This is a tumblr account I can't stop looking at because I love neatly organized everything. So much so, I sent in a submission. Place/Displace is found here!

Link to above.

Nancy Douthey: WHEN COTTON CANDY MELTS - NO ONE IS INTERESTED IN PUTTING IT IN THEIR MOUTHS

2010-08-21T11:58:00.006-04:00

Check out Nancy's latest project "Snack Dat" in light of the summer of focusing on the in between. You know us and our love for desserts. It's Nancy's exhibition for Snack Projects on view at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas. It opened last night - if you are in Houston, check it out!

From the blog: "Over and over and over it starts out as an action and becomes an abstracted prayer. We follow the recipe for delightful conversations and delicious convections. Sugar coated, smiles, surfaces that sparkle. Daydreaming into depression. We talk, tell old stories, pass down histories, sometimes saying nothing, of ourselves, or of now. Activity in absence."

(di Suvero makes an appearance twice this week on the blog - who would have thought?)

Jen Graves: "When Art Becomes a Dog Park"

2010-08-16T11:58:00.009-04:00

Jen Graves's article in the Stranger discusses the changing nature of Robert Morris's Untitled (Reclamation Project). This earthwork has always had a special place in my heart since Nancy and I first visited it in 2007 and decided we would travel to as many earthworks as we could the following summer.

Some highlights from the article:

"The artist's defiant words are etched into the informational plaque at the entrance to Johnson Pit #30; the plaque also describes the site as "remote" and "contemplative." That was true in 1979. But Johnson Pit #30 now sits awkwardly between teeming, winding colonies of townhomes, all built within the last 10 years (some within the last three years, still containing their pioneer residents) and bearing names that refer to the river valley below and its mountain views: The Heights at Ridgeview, Creekside New Homes, Valley View Condominiums, River Ridge Community, Viewcrest Condos. "Total Privacy in Every Room!" is the advertisement for one unit for sale for $229,000. Seen from the top of the pit, these tightly ordered, monochromatic complexes—each with a row of flags at its entrance, like a little nation—look like toy neighborhoods. In the distance, past all the gleaming new pavement, there's one lone red barn left."

"Interviews with a dozen of Johnson Pit #30's neighbors who answered their doors or were caught walking to and from their cars revealed that the art is used mainly as a dog park and outdoor gym. Some owners park cars at the top and stay inside while releasing their dogs down into the pit to tire themselves out; the paths of the hilly slopes are perfect for workouts. The goats who come to clean up the blackberry brambles every year—brought in by the county arts agency that still owns and maintains the sculpture, 4Culture—make the biggest impression, not the sculpture itself, whose form is seen as either pleasant or odd or overlooked entirely. Few people had noticed the rows of tree stumps, and nobody knew what they were supposed to mean; nobody had read Morris's fighting words on the plaque."

In many ways Graves's experience with Morris's work echoes what I witnessed at Robert Smithson's Spiral Hill and Broken Circle: an audience that interacted with the artwork on another level discounting the artist's original intentions. That is one of the things that most interests me about these earthworks - the sociological context they now reside in. It brings a brand new meaning to audience participation most heavily influenced by the element of passing time.

Here is Morris's work photographed in 1979:

Round 'Em Up Boys, We're Heading Out West!

2010-08-05T19:48:00.007-04:00

Title of Nancy's and my talk at the Midwest Society for Photographic Education Conference: "Round 'Em Up Boys, We're Heading Out West!"

Proposed method of presentation: Give the entire lecture inside a cardboard cutout of the SUV/Portable Studio.

Prop Idea #1 for the audience (ND: "like the Oprah show when she gives things to the studio audience"): Place everyone in the room in pairs and have them sitting in their very own cardboard vehicle.

Prop Idea #2 for the audience: Pass out chlorox wipes so they can clean their immediate environs before the lecture. Nancy will demonstrate before the talk begins.

Ode to Alphabetical Order

2010-08-02T13:19:00.005-04:00

I finally finished another set of our artists' books! The setback was getting around to ordering the "funky pink sparkle" film from Texas Art Supply. Here they are on the bookshelf and now I am unable to acquire any books between the last names of RUSCHA-RUSSELL.

It appears that we have a website!

2010-08-01T21:45:00.001-04:00

Slowly but surely www.earthworksnearyou.com is finished! Many thanks to Caleb Winters for making this happen.

Nancy Douthey: Nine Swimming Pools and An Interruption

2010-06-03T20:49:00.011-04:00

Check out Surpik Angelini's article on Nancy's Nine Swimming Pools and An Interruption. Way to go Nancy! An excerpt from Angelini's article follows:

"Exploring the visual qualities of photography and video as well as the socially and politically expanded field of performance art, Douthey's recent work included in her Master's thesis exhibition, Nine Swimming Pools and an Interruption, combines both expressions successfully. The artist filmed her "jumps in the void" between October 2009 and February 2010, in nine videos shown simultaneously on a gridded screen. The unedited three- to twenty-two-minute video segments document repeated actions: descending from her car, approaching the pool, jumping in and getting out in wet clothes. At first, the cacophony of local sounds and the handheld camera's jittery images seem to be part of the natural chaos of an ordinary scene. A closer look reveals nine staged events in separate sites: one at the artist’s home, seven in her neighborhood, and another in a university campus.

Trespassing properties in her neighborhood, the artist sneaks into seven unoccupied houses for sale with pools. Douthey gains access to the backyards of the unsurveilled houses in between showings to film her pool jumps. At the university campus, the pool was unattended for a shorter period, so Douthey was caught in the act and reprimanded by authorities who saw her project as an inappropriate and inconsiderate act in relationship to the country’s current state of red alert. "What if someone had tried to jump in and save you?” they asked. Next to this loaded social and political commentary, Douthey curiously points out that the most accessible pool — her own — was the one she resisted most. Subverting the male gestures objectifying the female subject, the artist's feminist immersion and embodiment are the roots of her own Becoming."

Wrong vs. Right Part 2

2010-05-30T11:07:00.013-04:00

Eva & Franco Mattes
"Stolen Pieces", 1995-1997
mixed media objects
unique installation
via Postmasters Gallery

Once upon a time last year I wrote this entry on illicitly acquiring pieces of artwork from installations in museums and the moral issues that arose when doing so. Last week I encountered an article entitled "Stolen Pieces" by Janaya Williams about the artists Eva and Franco Mattes who in 1995-1997 collected fragments of famous artwork. They were silent about this activity for the obvious reasons but are now exhibiting them at Postmasters Gallery in Chelsea. They are able to show the art because the statue of limitations has run out on the original theft.

From Williams' article: “We wanted to prove that these works were alive,” Mattes says. “We wanted to revitalize these works that were so powerful and so revolutionary and so subversive. We thought that by stealing a little tiny piece of it, somehow we would be putting back new life into these works." The pieces taken by the couple include a piece of shoelace clipped from a Claes Oldenburg sculpture, a porcelain chip from the urinal of Marcel Duchamp's famous "Fountain," and a manufacturer's label peeled from the aquarium in Jeff Koons' 1985 work, "One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank."

I disagree wholeheartedly with destroying the work that already exists by the physical removal of a chunk that will leave evidence but for some reason, I am fine with sneaking a small piece that is part of a larger whole (i.e. a toothpick from a Tara Donovan sculpture). I know both are wrong but one has more lasting repercussions than the other.

The most interesting quote in the article follows: “People tend to see all art as a kind of relic which has this superpower, something that’s almost beyond comprehension, and that is something I’m trying to question,” Mattes says. “These works are not holy. They’re not relics. It’s way more dynamic than one would think, and I don’t think that we should look at art with that kind of reverence.”

This is precisely what Nancy and I are attempting to do when we proceed, as Toby Kamps told us, in "taking these artists [Smithson, Heizer, etc.] down a notch." Ultimately, I have to applaud Eva and Franco Mattes for doing this though I don't necessarily agree with how it is done.

Now will the Heorot carry this?

2010-05-28T11:36:00.005-04:00

via Tyler Green.

Press in the Houston Chronicle

2010-04-16T11:00:00.005-04:00

"The exuberant art they made in response combines performance, photography, video, writing and sculpture in a just-right mix of silly and smart."

Click on the third image to see Nancy as Michael Heizer at Sun Tunnels published in yesterday's edition of the newspaper.

On the road to Austin - One Swallow Doesn't Make a Summer

2010-04-07T12:02:00.007-04:00

Our DVD will be screened in Austin the last week in May with a performance bypres Nancy Douthey on the closing weekend of the Art Week Austin festival (28th May). Press release follows.

Cook & Ruud announces One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer, an exhibition of new and site-specific work in four vacant commercial spaces and a park in downtown Austin. One swallow doesn’t make a summer

One Swallow Doesn't Make a Summer
April 20 – May 28, 2010
Installation locations: 210 Guadalupe, 416 W Cesar Chavez, 117 Lavaca, 233 W 2nd, Republic Square Park at 4th and Guadalupe

One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer, curated by Cook & Ruud, takes its title from a speech given by former Austin mayor Kirk Watson about the development of the 2nd Street District a decade ago as the project had barely begun to take flight. Watson asserted, “One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and not even a dozen [development] projects makes a Great Downtown.” Since then, aggressive development has transformed this neighborhood, once filled with empty warehouses and parking lots, into a new city center replete with wide, tree-lined sidewalks and well-manicured storefronts. An initial burst of economic hope filled these spaces with high-end design shops and restaurants. Although the imminent international economic crisis of 2008 did not leave all these businesses unaffected, ambitious development projects continue to reshape the neighborhood culturally and economically.

The recent history of this newly-minted neighborhood is both unique to Austin and relevant within a national context. Over the past two decades, countless U.S. cities have undertaken similar re-urbanization projects, and the recent economic crisis has left no city completely unchanged. Using vacant storefronts within Austin’s 2nd Street District as a platform, One swallow doesn’t make a summer brings together new and site-specific artworks to offer a variety of perspectives on the shifting cultural and economic landscape of this neighborhood and its relationship to a larger nation-wide experience.

Artists include Justin Boyd, Paul Druecke, Mads Lynnerup , Leslie Mutchler, Carlos Rosales-Silva, Barry Stone, and Jeff Williams, as well as the collaboratives Circulatory System , Nancy Douthey & Jacinda Russell, Michelle Marchesseault & Virginia Yount, and Skote.

Screenplay

2010-04-06T10:08:00.001-04:00

Several people have mentioned to us that we should write a screenplay or book about this earthworks experience. We recently applied to a residency where we proposed this idea. Much to my embarrassment, our concluding sentence was:

"Thank you for considering the upcoming action/drama starring Cameron Diaz and Anne Hathaway written by the next Matt Damon and Ben Affleck."

Nancy and I had a serious conversation about who would be Matt Damon and/or Ben Affleck. Fortunately, the answers were obvious. She's Ben and I'm Matt. My rationale was that I have too many cousins that look like Matt so I must be related to him. She feels closer to Ben because of his relationship to J-Lo (we are all waiting to hear why).

Here's a photograph of my cousin Ben as Matt Damon (he prefers Ben Damon).

Texas Gallery Website

2010-04-04T16:48:00.003-04:00

At last all the photographs are up on the Texas Gallery website. You can click on each image and its detail will appear. Thanks Molly! It looks great.

Nancy's MFA Show at the Blaffer Gallery

2010-04-03T23:01:00.010-04:00

[the card that keeps on giving...]

Yay! Nancy's thesis show at University of Houston's Blaffer Gallery is up through the 24th April. Rachel Hooper, Associate Curator, writes: "In her performances and video installations, Nancy Douthey draws people into her meditations through repetition, interruption, and disobedient action, and with humor prompts them to question their assumptions."

Nine Swimming Pools (= trespassing at its finest). Our love for Ed Ruscha is undying.

Tammy Fay Baker is Nancy's alter ego. Check out all those screen printed fans and that pink rug!

What's next on the agenda...

2010-03-24T14:45:00.003-04:00

and roughly 50 long-sleeved blue and white pinstriped shirts.

Letting Go

2010-03-24T14:22:00.005-04:00

The day after our opening N and I returned to take the balloons down at Texas Gallery. One side had already been removed the night before and we, after a lot of thought, let the other side go too.

Impossible Objects: Various Small Fires

2010-03-19T11:33:00.004-04:00

Marfa Book Company Gallery

Rainey's FotoFest picts

2010-03-17T21:55:00.005-04:00

The grand opening of FotoFest on 12th March in front of DiverseWorks.

Reception Photos Slowly Coming In...

2010-03-16T21:22:00.008-04:00

what? i didn't have a camera the entire reception? no minute by minute updates?! i'll slowly add more as they come in but here is the first of Nancy and her family (her sister Amy, her mom, and her sister Carrie).

Of course there was plenty of time to take photographs of "objects sitting around" beforehand but no people.

Here are some of Chris Rauschenberg's photographs of the dinner at Hector's after the opening.

Amanda Shagrin, JR, and Ed Cooper. Yup, that would be a dress I am wearing.

Quotes of the Day (by Fredericka & Ian)

2010-03-13T15:45:00.005-05:00

"It looks like a baby shower." (FH)

"It looks like a Mary Kay Convention." (FH)

"Squeal Squeal." (IG)

"It's Just Like Christmas" - ND

2010-03-13T13:54:00.010-05:00

The DVD has arrived (and just in time). Apologies Nancy for the "doubtful" remark earlier.

From one bad camera/photograph to another (switched from the phone to the laptop).

Nancy's family sent her these orange roses this morning.

We are off to pick up 50 pink balloons for the entry - the first show in this side of the gallery and the first time this door will be open for public entry since it was the wedding store.

Official installation photographs (not taken from the phone)

2010-03-12T18:44:00.009-05:00

Ian asked me to be the photographer for the texgal website today and here are some images. It is impossible to photograph all four walls and tables in one composition unfortunately. The first image represents about 2/3rds of the show with details following.

Friday morning

2010-03-12T11:39:00.009-05:00

Nancy's relatives are starting to trickle in so we went to the Magnolia Hotel last night. Just in case I forgot what state I was in, this is the decor that greeted us at the front desk.

Since we arrived quite late, sleeping was in order but we did check out the rooftop pool before leaving this morning (we'll be in another hotel tonight with Nancy's sister Amy).

Nancy is working today so I am on my own with the hopes of visiting Amanda at the Menil Collection in a couple hours. In addition... it's opening night of FotoFest! After dinner at the best Mexican restaurant in town... the Original Ninfa's on Navigation, we are off to see Allison Hunter's Zoosphere at Diverseworks, Anthony Goicolea at Houston Center for Photography, and Whatever Was Splendid: New American Photographs at the FotoFest headquarters at Vine Street (and of course their opening party which is always a hit). It's a relief to be done with installation and to have a day of rest. Wow! This is the first day of my spring break even though it's almost OVER!

Almost there....

2010-03-12T11:18:00.008-05:00

What did we do Thursday? We both ended up wearing "peasant shirts" today somewhat inadvertently. Nancy had to protect hers with this stylish bib when painting the staircase.

We tried out the heart rock but Jacinda negated it due to it blending into the floor a little too much and not really enough space to look at it and the artwork.

I helped Ian hang the "Jacinda wall" (to the far right) and we tested out the projection one more time (on mute thankfully). Real photographs of the entire installation to come with a good camera soon. All 50 photographs are up! The blog address in vinyl letters above the entry is installed! The objects are complete (though we keep dreaming of additional methods of display)! the books are done! Now we are patiently waiting for the DVD to arrive.

A quick picture of the objects on the floor before they gravitated to the table: Michael Jackson Banner, Peach Can Phones, Amarillo Ramp Rock, Balloons from Roden Crater, red lipstick, Michael Jackson glitter soap, and heisted bell from Amarillo Ramp. We also had our gallery visit with Toby Kamps which went very well.

Then Nancy took me on a dress buying excursion at Katy Mills Outlet Mall. Yikes! Don't worry, we won't be wearing any of these to the opening.

Celebrity Avatars & Animated Video Game

2010-03-12T11:08:00.005-05:00

Fredericka suggested that the next step in our project is to create an animated video game in which the following events would occur: we would really drive off the Mormon Mesa in the rental vehicle Thelma and Louise style; we would avoid bullets flying from Michael Heizer and James Turrell; we would parachute into Roden Crater from an airplane. And who were the celebrity avatars that would play the roles of Nancy and Jacinda?

Toby Kamps is vying for the movie rights.

Adding our books to Ian's collection

2010-03-10T22:50:00.006-05:00

Finally! A cover for our Blurb books. What color did we choose? Funky Pink Sparkle!

Dear Avid Book Collectors,
You too can enjoy these ten books. They are available for purchase and fit perfectly with any Ed Ruscha collection. Do you need a little sparkle in your library? Please contact 713.524.1593 for further inquiry or payment plans.
Sincerely,
Upper Management

The question of the day

2010-03-10T22:48:00.001-05:00

To serve or not to serve glazed doughnuts at the reception? If only Voodoo Doughnut was in Houston. "The Magic is in the Hole." Second best: Stephan Pyles' "Coffee and Doughnuts" dessert in Dallas, Texas.

4 Days Left to Texas Gallery Opening!

2010-03-10T22:39:00.006-05:00

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! Note: our exhibition announcement is next to one from the Menil Collection. EEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Next show... the Menil!

The most painful part of installation day was not only seeing ourselves eat peanut butter up close and in person at 9' x 12' but HEARING OURSELVES yack on and on and thinking we are so funny. Oh wait! But we are because we still find ourselves amusing nine months after the fact.

One of the best parts of installation day was seeing Ian's diagram for OUR WORK. EEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Let us preface this with we think that Ian's maps for installation layout are one of the best things ever.

Michael Jackson Banner Pocket Complete!

2010-03-10T22:32:00.006-05:00

But first of all... whoever would have thought Goldie (my gaudy i-phone codpiece) would have blended in to anything around? "But you are in Texas," says Nancy.

Michael Jackson Banner with Chainsaw (please contact 713.857.9811 if you want this cat in your movie) and Pocket:

5 Days until the opening at Texas Gallery!

2010-03-10T00:28:00.006-05:00

Somehow we didn't even manage to make it into the gallery today! We were running errands (driving down Dunlavy a mere 12 times) in addition to giving a visiting artist's talk to Paul Kittelson's Public Art class at University of Houston.

Today most of the photographs taken included our quest to have a cover sewn for the Michael Jackson Banner. Our first trip to the alteration store with vinyl proved to be useless because no one's sewing machines in town can sew that material without ripping it (we found two other opinions that backed that up). So we visited High Fashion Fabric in Midtown and found some white velvet.

We then had great plans to embroider "M.J." onto the white velvet but no one could do that by uh... let's say tomorrow so we left the plans to sew the "pocket" there and returned to High Fashion Fabric.

In addition to discovering that off the shoulder shirts were what to where to work, we came across sequined fabric. We thought we made the decision but then found something else. The deciding factor? We finally decided to look at the price tag and discovered the fabric in Nancy's arm was a mere $39.99/yard (ouch) compared to the $199.99/yard closer to the floor (hell no!).

and so 1/2 yard of gold sequined fabric was cut to cover one side of the white velvet pocket that will contain the Michael Jackson Banner as of tomorrow at noon.

Before leaving we did manage to admire this lovely feather dress (Fly Like an Eagle revisitation occurs on a regular basis around here):

Not pictured: multiple trips to Industrial Audio/Video where our DVD was reburned with chapters and shipped overnight to New Jersey with the hopes that it can still arrive by Friday (doubtful), purchasing wood for our "platform" pedestals for three of the larger objects, and our trip to Edward's to see Alice in Wonderland - a much needed respite from thinking about earthworks every waking hour.

Tomorrow we begin the photographic installation at Texas Gallery (Nancy, Ian, and Mark installed the video projection on Sunday). Getting closer!

Philadelphia Primarily/Society for Photographic Education Conference Secondarily

2010-03-09T13:54:00.021-05:00

[Marcel Duchamp's Étant Donné]

I stopped in Philly for the first time on my way to Houston. I love this city! On the agenda (aside from the conference): Philadelphia Museum of Art (Marcel Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors Even/The Large Glass and Étant Donné), the Mutter Museum, and the Fabric Workshop. Surprises that occurred along the way: Rocky Balboa’s statue and the run up the main staircase of the museum for Alexis (thanks to Nancy I was able to do this in public and call it performance art – video coming after Alexis emails it to me), Cézanne’s The Large Bathers, Bruce Nauman’s Days and Giorni sound pieces, an Oscar Munoz exhibition, Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious (one of my favorites thanks to discovering his work at FotoFest ten years ago). The Fabric Workshop and the Cai Guo-Qiang exhibition were a bit of a let down because I was expecting bigger and better things but I did manage to pick up a fuzzy blue piece of wool that resembled cotton candy for Nancy from the floor.

[Detail of The Large Glass]

[Alexis sitting in Nauman's Days]

[Nauman's Giorni]

[Oscar Munoz drew these obituary portraits of drug dealers in charcoal and videotaped them washing down the drain]

The Mutter was incredible in that only have to see once because everything is seared into my brain forever kind of way. Highlights: the giant skeleton next to the dwarf skeleton, Chang and Eng - the original Siamese twins' body cast and their preserved conjoined livers, and that 8’4” colon that held two and a half buckets of feces and weighed 41 pounds once removed from a 21 year old dead man, tanned human skin, and most important the flat files! I heard about the latter from Gayle Wimmer in graduate school and admit to wanting to go to the Mutter just to see 2000 + objects that were removed from various throats without surgery and catalogued in drawers. This was the only photograph I was able to sneak and the Perfect Attendance button was my favorite (left row, second from bottom).

Other highlights in Philly include the Reading Terminal Market which was right across the street from the conference hotel. It was an ideal location as we were able to eat all meals of the day here. Lots of cheese in this city: cream cheese, cheese steaks, cheesecake, etc. Funny how I am traveling from the second fattest city in the nation to the first one after one another.

Sunday, Alexis and I took the train to NYC – her first visit. The Whitney Biennial was PACKED because the Armory Show and Pulse were also taking place. Highlights from the exhibition include: Storm Tharp’s drawings though they were shown in the worst room possible (next to a very intrusive video that did not make you want to stay and contemplate his work at all), the Bruce High Quality Foundation video installation, I Like America and America Likes Me on the windshield of an old ambulance, David Adamo’s stripped down canes that resembled spindly insect legs, Kate Gilmore’s video of destroying the walls in her attempt to climb out of a room built inside of the gallery, and James Casebere’s large photographs of a miniature suburb. Overall, it was good to see but I wasn’t blown away with anything compared to the day before at the PMA and Mutter Museum.

What little I saw of the conference was also a success. Ball State had a lot of student representation at the portfolio reviews (here is Karla showing her photographs to Alexis with Jon in the background and Monica and Shannon - sorry I didn't catch you Molly, Ashley, and Laura).

I got to meet some great people (who wear cool tee-shirts as in this photograph of Ian van Coller at happy hour at our Modernist hotel… Loew’s).

[View from Room 2510 with the Delaware River and New Jersey in the background]

And on a miscellaneous note... One of my favorite buildings... the Philadelphia Institute of Art on Chestnut.

… and then I flew to Houston where I was greeted with a platter of delectable rug samples.

Monday was “settle in” day because I arrived late in the afternoon starving and tired. After lemongrass tofu at Mo Mong, Nancy and I made a list of what we had to accomplish Tuesday beginning with the DVD, a velvet and embroidered case for the Michael Jackson’s banner, and finding wood for pedestals for some of the larger objects that will reside on a table at Texas Gallery.

The announcements were Fed-Exed to me in Philadelphia and they LOOK GREAT!!! Very exciting!

(Better photograph coming soon) and more and more and more to come….

En route to Houston but first SPE in Philly

2010-03-07T10:12:00.003-05:00

More coming soon (we have to catch a train to NYC in an hour)...

Press from Glasstire

2010-03-07T10:07:00.002-05:00

"Yes! Jacinda Russell is back in town and with her partner in crime Nancy Douthey, the duo presents their first collaborative exhibition at Texas Gallery. Two years in the making, 3 Weeks, 6 Earthworks, 1 Portable Studio, and ALL That Lies in Between is based on their road trip to the American West to visit 6 major earthworks. The exhibition includes photographs, sculptures, books, and video and be sure to take a look at the real time blog that recorded their adventure every mile of the way. We think this show deserves an extra loud shout out!"

Press from Paper City

2010-03-03T22:50:00.003-05:00

"Girls Gone Wild: Our vote for fave guerilla show of FotoFest goes to the duo of Nancy Douthey and Jacinda Russell at Texas Gallery; the pair present stills from their Thelma & Louise–type adventure to the wilds of the American West, where they communed with earthworks by the big boys of American art, including Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (March 13 – April 17) ..."

Three Years Ago...

2010-03-03T12:15:00.006-05:00

... I gave my wedding dress to Nancy to do whatever she wished with it as I did not want or need it anymore. This is what became of part of it as of three days ago:

Quote of the Day (sometime after 1 AM when both our phones were at 10%)

2010-03-03T12:07:00.007-05:00

"Don't be getting all environmental on me now."
Nancy to Jacinda in reference to what big hair lies ahead.

Studio Photographs taken today ...

2010-03-03T01:54:00.006-05:00

and slipcase for artists' books cut and constructed (paper to be purchased in TX to cover it), pedestals wrapped after paint dried, Amarillo Ramp Rock attached... Mailing it tomorrow morning and in addition to packing (as always last minute), I think I am done with everything that needs to be completed before leaving for Philadelphia and Houston. At long last everything came together.

Press Release from Texas Gallery

2010-03-02T10:14:00.005-05:00

JACINDA RUSSELL & NANCY DOUTHEY
3 Weeks, 6 Earthworks, 1 Portable Studio, and ALL That Lies in Between

March 13 - April 17, 2010
Opening Saturday March 13, 2010 5 - 7 PM
2012 Peden
Houston, TX 77019
713.524.1593
info@texgal.com

Texas Gallery announces the first collaborative exhibition of the artists - Jacinda Russell and Nancy Douthey in Houston. The two artists worked for two years to develop, prepare and present 3 Weeks, 6 Earthworks, 1 Portable Studio, and ALL That Lies in Between. The exhibition will include photographs, sculptures, books, and video.

For three weeks in the summer of 2009 Russell and Douthey traveled in the American West visiting 6 major earthworks created by American artists in remote locations, as well as stopping at other more accessible sites of perhaps more popular cultural significance. Fantasizing about the artists who made the works they created a commentary on the locations of the works as well as the works themselves. With gentle humor, many splashes of pink, and fake moustaches, the artists both celebrated these works as significant wonders of the art world but also found them deserving of a gentle ribbing for the sheer ambition that fed their creation in the vast Western landscape. In the current political climate of arguments about the preservation of nature vs. its destruction, of small foot prints on the land vs. large, their quest became a questioning. A significant part of the exhibition is the real time blog that recorded the day by day activities of their journey and that is still available at www.earthworksnearyou.blogspot.com.

Nancy Douthey earned her MFA in Intermedia from University of Houston. Douthey lives and works in Houston. Jacinda Russell has an MFA in photography from University of Arizona. Russell lives and works in Muncie, Indiana where she teaches at Ball State.

The exhibition will be on view until April 17, 2010. The public opening is on Saturday, March 13 from 5 - 7 pm. For further information contact Lisa Godfrey at Texas Gallery, 2012 Peden, Houston, TX 77019, 713.524.1533; 713.524.0534 (fax), info@texgal.com and www.texgal.com.

DVD Cover (Rough Draft)

2010-03-01T12:08:00.010-05:00

Thanks to Molly Cumming for the design and Fredericka and Ian for the publication.

Amarillo Ramp Rock, 2009

2010-02-28T22:22:00.008-05:00

[Image from the artists' book Inventory by Nancy Douthey and Jacinda Russell.]

On 23rd June, I threw a rock from Spiral Jetty into Sun Tunnels; I tried very hard to make it land on top of one of the concrete tubes but failed.

On 28th June, I tossed a chunk of mud from Sun Tunnels into Double Negative from the top of the rim.

On 1st July, I flung a rock from Double Negative toward Roden Crater really wishing I could have dropped it from the airplane the day before during our fly-over.

On 3rd July, I dropped an orange stone from Roden Crater into Lightning Field on my walk around the perimeter.

On 7th July, I hurled a pebble from Lighting Field into Amarillo Ramp watching it bounce off the dry earth into the cacti.

TBD: This rock from Amarillo Ramp will be delivered to Spiral Jetty eventually completing the circle and ensuring a third visit.

Blurb Edit: Round 2

2010-02-28T13:03:00.010-05:00

One reason why I can't seem to start this Blurb book edit (which is reminding me an awful lot of my aversion to packing early):

In addition to a cat in front of the computer every time I turn around, I can't understand why the aqua color on the cover of "Nine Swimming Pools..." printed bluish gray. I also think that I've procrastinated so long because editing is such a crap shoot in terms of how to edit. Do I lighten just five images or all the photographs? How much so when the one on the computer looks just fine but was printed so differently?

Love having "OK" on the pink post-it. It's a rare thing in this pile that must now be measured and chip board cut for the containers to be mailed to Nancy by Wednesday.

Texas Gallery But First..... Volume I (Nine Days to Houston)

2010-02-27T16:08:00.012-05:00

Drive to Athens, Ohio and pick up two photographs from the "Rehearse, Rewind, Repeat" exhibition (if you squint you can see our two photographs - hot pink!). It's evidence of our first exhibition with this project! Nine hours round trip but at least it featured spending dinner with James (on his birthday) and Tanya in Springfield, Ohio.

Pack forty-seven "Wunderkammer" boxes to ship to Louisiana Tech University for a two-person exhibition. Avoid inadvertently packing cats playing nonstop in bubble wrap and cardboard.

Volume II features trying not to have a heart attack finishing everything by Wednesday night.

Volume III will feature the National Society for Photographic Education conference in Philadelphia and a train ride into NYC to see the Whitney Biennial with Alexis.

all within the next eight days!!! YIKES!

the real question is...

2010-02-25T22:35:00.007-05:00

how much prairie underground will be in the house when i arrive at the douthey/correro residence. wait until you see Nancy's black feather dress for the opening! maybe i should look for one of these.
"Fly Like an Eagle...."

Two of the pedestals for the sculptures in the exhibition...

2010-02-25T13:48:00.005-05:00

(thanks Chet for manufacturing all four of them)

These will house the sculptures: Amarillo Ramp Rock, Michael Jackson Soap, LBK Bell, and Red Lipstick. Also included: Michael Jackson Banner, Popped Balloons from Roden Crater Grand Opening Parade, and Can Phones.

These books of ours...

2010-02-25T13:30:00.004-05:00

(a quick shot of the ten on my office floor before shipping them to Houston)

Well there are many things to be said about making a Blurb book. It's far easier when text is not involved (formatting is more difficult). We have to reprint four due to images printing darker than acceptable (but four is far better than re-doing all ten). The book I was least satisfied with on the computer is by far the popular favorite in print - Conversation Maps. Motels does not live up to my expectations. I am in constant debate whether or not these should just be made as one volume because it would be far cheaper to produce and the point will still come across (also when grouped together, they aren't as significant as I had anticipated and with one volume it could be a hardback with text on the spine). I will be constructing a chipboard holder to contain all of them once arriving in Houston (as Texas Art Supply has far more options on paper than Muncie, Indiana). Overall the print quality looks good especially in Nine Swimming Pools and a Fake Doughnut and Car Games I: Geodomes. As soon as Nancy and I sort out a few things about these in person, they will go public on the Blurb website. In the meantime... here's to finishing the four before next week!

Books Books Books: Our Blurb Book Inspiration

2010-02-25T12:14:00.004-05:00

Ed Ruscha, Two Books, 2001

Ed Ruscha, Some Los Angeles Apartments, 1965

Ed Ruscha, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, 1966

Ed Ruscha, Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations (Drawing), 1964

Two weeks from today...

2010-02-23T23:01:00.001-05:00

...I will be in Houston with Nancy installing the exhibition at Texas Gallery! We have been swamped editing the video entitled "A Chronological Film: Twelve Shorts and Twenty-five Short Shorts" (details coming soon!), contemplating pedestals for the small objects, shipping photographs, designing DVD cases, editing the exhibition postcard image, and some general PR. Things are coming together slowly but surely. We will even have a website devoted entirely to this project to be unveiled in early March. A lot more posts coming soon! We have another radio show, shopping for the perfect dress for the opening (oh boy this will be humorous), a few more studio/gallery visits (eeeeee!), more (one way) artist correspondence with Ed Ruscha and James Turrell, installation shots, and so on.

image via

The Blurb Books are Here! The Blurb Books are Here!

2010-02-07T21:44:00.003-05:00

Better photographs coming soon (we only have to redo four of the ten).

Car Games I: Geodomes

Nine Swimming Pools and a Fake Doughnut

A Couple Conversation Maps

2010-01-31T15:56:00.001-05:00

To celebrate the completion of ten blurb books (they will be sent to be published tonight), I am posting two Conversation Maps: Roden Crater & Lightning Field.

Missed out on the twitter accounts of the road trip?

2010-01-25T01:00:00.002-05:00

There will be an artists' book devoted to it! Stay tuned where you can catch such gems as our day in Gallup, New Mexico:

   Why are going 5mph?!?!!? I can see gravel pieces individually!!! Says Nancy 7:04 PM Jul 2nd

Gallup cemetery is amazing and needs some terminix/pest control. 7:23 PM Jul 2nd

N just got excited that Gallup has a bookstore and then we realized the word adult was missing from the sign. 7:28 PM Jul 2nd

Gallup looks as if a vegetarian will be starving this evening. 7:31 PM Jul 2nd

Does anyone know anyone in Gallup we can stay with? They must be OCD. 7:56 PM Jul 2nd

Gallup is so horrifying we can no longer Twitter anything for the evening. Finding a drink to recover. 7:57 PM Jul 2nd

   Nancy lost two in a row and now she is ordering a third in an attempt to compete. 8:45 PM Jul 2nd

Damn her for ordering two more drinks. 8:46 PM Jul 2nd

We're trying to create a foggy drunk haze so we can't see the bugs & dog food when we get back to the room 8:49 PM Jul 2nd

I can't believe it!! No wait I can... Jacinda wimps out ... Lame! 8:52 PM Jul 2nd

We officially hate each other right now but have successfully forgot about our motel room. 8:52 PM Jul 2nd

Wow N just downed a glass of crap and is now still losing at 2:1 8:55 PM Jul 2nd

Wow. Too bad you can't see all the posts we just deleted. 9:06 PM Jul 2nd

   Taxi 9:39 PM Jul 2nd

Nancy brought the Lysol and the chlorox bleach wipes just for places like our motel room tonight. 9:41 PM Jul 2nd

   Apparently we have three more hours of stalling at this hideous chain restaurant until we can return to that motel room. 9:43 PM Jul 2nd

And today is the only day this trip we will be twittering this much. We just did this to give everyone way too much information. 9:45 PM Jul 2nd

   And to be a little annoying. 9:45 PM Jul 2nd

   Good night. 9:47 PM Jul 2nd

   If on vaca... Most motels that say they have wireless are liars!!! 11:30 PM Jul 2nd

The days inn was a total buzz killer. Now we are at the super 8. You should have seen the performance that brought us here. 2:06 AM Jul 3rd

Getting Closer.... Texas Gallery Exhibition Announcement

2010-01-24T13:02:00.002-05:00

Inside.... coming soon....

The (Image) Label for Our DVD

2010-01-24T12:42:00.001-05:00

Sneak Peek at one of the Artists' Books: Car Games I - Geodomes

2010-01-24T01:06:00.002-05:00

In 2008 on their first road trip, Jacinda and Nancy screamed “GEODOME!” at every mound, Quonset hut, chicken coop, and any other round shape found in the distant landscape. It became a contest to see who would find the next one first. They continued this game on every trip thereafter.

For the record...

2010-01-24T00:06:00.002-05:00

a real live geodome in Hagerman, Idaho from June 2008 (the first road trip/inception of this car game)

Artist Stalking Part 3: Nancy's Letter to Michael Heizer

2010-01-22T10:36:00.001-05:00

This post is five months overdue. As this project continues... we foresee an artist's book dedicated entirely to our one way artist correspondence (Ed Ruscha, James Turrell, and now Michael Heizer). Nancy sent this letter to the Dia Foundation asking to forward it to Heizer. No word as of yet (surprise!).

Searching for Ed Ruscha's Font

2010-01-19T23:04:00.003-05:00

Trying to figure out what font this is in my quest to make 10 blurb books this week (yikes).

... and in the middle of writing this post, John Nettleton comes through with an answer! "I could not find an exact match. It is a slab serif font. The G is quite unique. Here are a few fonts that have some of the same properties but I could not find an exact match:

Malaga Black, from Emigre Malaga
Chaparral Pro-Bold, from Adobe
Rockwell Std Bold, from Adobe"

Though the best answer comes from James Luckett: "18pt gas station regular."

Artforum Cover... Someday

2009-12-27T23:22:00.001-05:00

The Work Week with a Few Breaks In-Between

2009-12-25T23:08:00.001-05:00

This is what excited about our Texas Gallery show looks like (at Baby Barnaby's = ode to Nicole).

How many lists did we make this weekend? Too many to count.

Spending time with Chainsaw (sorry Meatball for the lack of representation - you were sleeping in the "condo" all week).

We did manage to see my favorite museum, the Menil Collection, and of course, the inspiration for the "Strange Artifacts" photographic Wunderkammer...

Documenting some illicit activity (something I am well-versed in as of late) on assignment for AJM at the Rothko Chapel.

A quick snapshot at the pool before heading to the airport.

Books!

2009-12-25T22:53:00.001-05:00

Nancy and I finished the mock-ups for 10 artists' books! They will be published by Blurb in an edition of 10. Subjects include the "in between" ranging from 6 pages to 60.

Searching for Ed Ruscha
The 2008 and 2009 Cheesy Tourists Photo Shoot Awards
Tweets and Texts
Conversation Maps
LBK AKA Long Board Kid
Inventory
Motels
Nine Swimming Pools and a Fake Doughnut
Hotel Origami and Thank You Notes
Car Games I: Geodomes

Arranging "Inventory" - hot pink comes first naturally.

With a little help from our friends (Mark the "manager" and Radar stealing my seat)

13 hours later DONE!!

JR, Radar and ND tired but relieved.