Arts 1601 - Fall 2007

Jim Denomie is an Anishinaabe (that’s an Ojibwe Indian to some and a Chippewa to others) artist who hails from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe by way of Chicago and Minneapolis, His latest exhibition “Brown-eyed Rabbit� is currently being shown at the Bockly Gallery in South Minneapolis. Jim paints in a very expressionistic style in which he uses vibrant colors and loose brush strokes to convey a satirical story about contempery Native Americans and their perceived role in a maladaptive society in which Identity has been comodified and molested. He uses historical narratives and tried clichés from pop culture to evoke questions about our Nation and the estrangement of marginalized cultures. He tries to tear down these perceptions of Native America to help construct the evolved Native identity. A lot of his works depict how popular culture conceives Native American as wild shirtless, feather wearing, horse riding, primative savages set in a modern environment. This relationship appears abserd when you see a naked Indian riding a horse with a bow and arrow on a golf course- but the absurd is what Jim is trying to depict; the perceived identity of native Americans to that of the actual contemporary identity.

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

David Feinberg is a painter and an instructor here at the University of Minnesota. On Sunday December 9th there was a presentation of one of his projects “Voices to Vision� that involved Holocaust survivors and the use of art to help translate or transmit their stories of endurance. Five survivors; Joe Grosnacht, Murry Brandys, Sabrina Zimering, Lucy Smith, and Gina Kugler, along with Dr. Stephen Feinstein (the director of the Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies) collaborated with David Fienberg in creating various pieces of art. These works ranged from traditional paintings, wood 3-dimensional constructions, and digital collage. Feinberg would construct a painting then apply drawings from the ‘survivors’ with-in his composition.
The survivors would first share their stories with David and his undergraduate students to create a dialogue in which a piece of art can be conceived, and transformed into a visual representation that reflects this new shared experience. Each piece is a true collaboration with the artist and the storyteller. It is the intension of this project to create a new way of seeing and experiencing issues of the Holocaust and other genocides to those who have little or no experiences of these terrible atrocities, thus “The experience from the past appearing in new visual forms attracts the curiosity and inquiry of the audience with the implication that the problem exists today and the dialogues are still active�.

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

David Feinberg is a painter and an instructor here at the University of Minnesota. On Sunday December 9th there was a presentation of one of his projects “Voices to Vision� that involved Holocaust survivors and the use of art to help translate or transmit their stories of endurance. Five survivors; Joe Grosnacht, Murry Brandys, Sabrina Zimering, Lucy Smith, and Gina Kugler, along with Dr. Stephen Feinstein (the director of the Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies) collaborated with David Fienberg in creating various pieces of art. These works ranged from traditional paintings, wood 3-dimensional constructions, and digital collage. Feinberg would construct a painting then apply drawings from the ‘survivors’ with-in his composition.
The survivors would first share their stories with David and his undergraduate students to create a dialogue in which a piece of art can be conceived, and transformed into a visual representation that reflects this new shared experience. Each piece is a true collaboration with the artist and the storyteller. It is the intension of this project to create a new way of seeing and experiencing issues of the Holocaust and other genocides to those who have little or no experiences of these terrible atrocities, thus “The experience from the past appearing in new visual forms attracts the curiosity and inquiry of the audience with the implication that the problem exists today and the dialogues are still active�.

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "The Birth Of Goatboy" »

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

http://homepage.mac.com/davidrokeby/home.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMIjxnNllMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ai49w7QPPY

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "ARTDESKAPADES" »

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "Artdeskapades" »

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Framers market urban stroll

On Thursdays in down town Minneapolis, the streets are full of people. The farmers market sets up shop all along the Nicollet Mall. This event draws a diverse group of individuals to the produce tents. People of various social-economical backgrounds congregate to the small tents, which seem to be spilling over with fresh produce.
I thought this would be an interesting contrast with regards to the urban environment in which we live, the notion of buying produce directly from the farmers, the economical differences between those who are buying and those who are panhandling. The streets are rich with the sounds languages and music. You can hear the different cultures that are all around us as foreign languages dance about the ears to the tune of the street musicians.
The market is truly an allegory of the global village in which we live, enriching us with the diversity of society.
The effects I used were; amplification, repeat, echo, and speed. I wanted to capture the true richness of a crowd, so I tried not to over do it with effects.

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Wesley Ballinger at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)