Taken by the Wind

Wind Sculptures by Lyman Whitaker

This year's spring break was pretty uneventful. I stayed on campus and visited my boyfriend, Andy, in Maine for a few days to escape the ghost town UNH has become. I was talking with Andy's dad about some of my latest work in metal fabrication and he suggested visiting one of the art stores not too far away to see some interesting metal sculptures.

So we drove to the Maine Art store in Kennebunk and as soon as we turned onto the street I knew what cool sculptures Andy's dad was talking about.
These giant, swirling, undulating, double helix forms twisted in the wind. We walked around the small front lawn poking and taking pictures of the sculptures. Lyman Whitaker works out of Utah, but his sculptures are displayed all over the US such as Appleton, WI; Whittier, CA; St. Louis, MO; and Denver, CO.

Mad Scientist

Adobe Lightroom 3

My 10 year old sister is up to no good again. She's been working on a science project involving high-lighter water, flowers, and black lights. My father just recently acquired a new camera, the Canon PowerShot G12, to play with and snapped this shot of our blossoming mad scientist. I saw the photo and couldn't help but run it through Adobe Lightroom 3, here is what I came out with:

Original

Mad Scientist photo taken by Tom Belisle

After

Mad Scientist photos taken by Tom Belisle, edited by Margo Belisle

I love playing with high-contrast black and white photos! Click HERE for some of more my photos

The Institute of Contemporary Art

Field Trip!

I guess you can say I was surprised when we whizzed by the ICA building in the car(almost missing it) and my first sight was this lonely looking cube of a building, "That's IT?":

Picture by Hanneorla

Once inside, this boring looking cube was actually way more interesting than I thought. I found the interior space of the building to be most interesting. I loved the giant glass elevator that seemed to float up the middle of the building, allowing a peek into each floor(and creepily on it's occupants) as it rose.

One room I found particularly amazing was one lecture hall that seemed to slant into the glass wall that separated you between the room and the brackish water of the Boston Harbor below. Descending into this room required stepping down the stairs that lined both side walls which gave me a weird sense of vertigo, like I was falling into space as I went down.

Art Break

Artist talk by Trisha Coates

Last Wednesday I attended one of the Art Break lectures with visiting artist and UNH Alumni, Tricia Coates. My ceramics professor, Don Williams, had actually recommended that students in the class attend the lecture and view some of her work. I had seen some of her pieces on display in the UNH MOA for the ReView: Recent Work by UNH Alumni exhibit, I was astounded by the degree of detail in her work.

To be honest I couldn't hear very well what she was saying, her voice was soft and the microphone wasn't very loud, but I could tell she was very enthusiastic about her work. I did manage to hear a few words about her discussing her work, describing her pieces as "making a meal out of art". Her work consists of ceramic teapots primarily based on foods(her later pieces were based off seed pods), mostly vegetables incorporated some sort of knife or sharp food paring object(I believe she mentioned researching African weapons for some of her projects).

I loved looking at her work, the teapots were so elegant and looked so realistic, the glazes, englobes, and airbrushed paint finishes were perfectly executed for different food characteristic.

Here are images of some of my favorite pieces:

Pear Tea Set by Trisha Coates

Embracing Squash Teapot by Trisha Coates

Week 6 Readings

Anytime, Anywhere: Kanye West by Sasha Frere-Jones

This article discusses the professional and public image Kayne West has made for himself, how his ego sometimes makes a muck of things when he impulsively blurts out his opinions making an ass out of himself; and his fierce and relentless dedication to his work which still manages to impress the crowds. Even while often making a public douche-bag of himself and later apologizing for it, Kayne's music has become something of a mash-up of random feelings and ideas, becoming his own mixed genre of music.

Fancy Footwork by David Denby

Denby's review of Black Swan discusses the dark, twisted, psychological horror film resemblances in the director's deliberate idea about people destroying their own bodies(which seems to be a common theme among his other movies as well). This review also notes the film's recognition of the "controlled savagery of ballet", the high stress and emotions that are not seem in dancers as they appear lithe and gracefull in everyway on stage.

Before reading Denby's review of Love and Other Drugs, I had no idea that the movie was based around a satirical view of the pharmaceutical and medical industry. I also didn't know that Anne Hathaway's character, Maggie Murdock, had early on-set Parkinsons disease! I feel like some of the movie has been spoiled after reading this review, I have not seen it yet!

Ladies Wild: How not dumb is Gaga? by Sasha Frere Jones

In this next article by Sasha Frere Jones, this time about the pop singer and mind boggling fashionista Lady GaGa, Jones talks about how Gaga's musical success's come from much more than a good voice and flashy costumes. I don't consider myself much of music junkie, there is no way I could name off every artist and song I hear played to me, with the exception of a few popular hits that seem to catch my ear and stick to my mind. Lady Gaga's songs (i.e. "Poker Face", "Just Dance", "Bad Romance") are easily recognizable to an un-tuned ear, such as my own.

Gaga, once a school dropout, has written songs for Brittney Spears, Akon, Pussycat Dolls. Her songs make the college fraternity party hit list, encouraging even the stiff-legged to get up and dance.