*Maya III* Update
Jarvis Rockwell’s “Maya III,” which resembles a large stepped pyramid was inspired by the ancient Hindu temples of India. In Sanskrit Maya means illusion. It certainly speaks to pop-culture and media overload/worship that we all experience in American culture. It was completed for the opening of DownStreet Art, and I never get tired of visiting it.
All the thousands of actions figures, even with museum wax attached to their feet, do not like to stay in place! On a daily basis Jarvis is placing them back on the pyramid – I blame all the heat and humidity we have been having lately.
In addition to the pyramid, Jarvis is completing a drawing-in-residence. Here he is just starting.
B-HIP at The Clark
The Sterling and Francine Clark Institute is located in Williamstown, MA. It is an art museum, center for research and higher education. The Clark is surrounded by 1400 acres of lawn, meadows and trails – the grounds themselves warrant a visit. It houses European and American painting and sculpture but is best known for its collection of French Impressionistic paintings.
One of my favorite peices at The Clark is Degas’s bronze sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Here is Erin, Halli and myself posing next to it and hoping to make the next pamphlet for the B-HIP program.
Notes about the sculpture from The Clark’s website:
Like all of Degas’s bronzes, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen was cast only after the artist’s death. The original figure, shown at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881, was modeled in wax, to which Degas added a hair wig and fabric tutu. Reaction to the work was mixed, with many critics finding the mundane subject matter and strange combination of materials unsuitable for a work of high art.
Another great piece from the museum’s collection:
Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenico di Tomaso Bigordi)
Italian, 1449-1494
Portrait of a Lady
c. 1490
Tempera and oil on panel
56.1 x 37.7 cm
Acquired by Sterling Clark, 1913
1955.938
Family Visit to the Berkshires
My family (including my Aunt Sue and cousin Serena) made it out to visit the beautiful Berkshires. They stayed at one of my favorite places in North Adams, The Porches Inn. Porches is a row of Victorian workers’s houses that were renovated into a fun, unique hotel. They also made the requisite visit to MassMoca. Here are my parents and older sister at the current Badlands exhibit experiencing Vaughn Bell’s Personal Biospheres:
*Lumens* Opens
Last night was the opening for Lumens. Everything went amazingly! Both spaces looked beautiful and the internet site (http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/newadams/lumens/) launched successfully. Lots of people came out in support – my family even made out here. As the sun went down the lamps really looked spectacular. The show will running through October 31st.
A crowd favorite was the creepy baby doll lamp.
Marianne showing the Lumens website to the owner of T&A Tools located right down the street from Greylock Arts in Adams. He donated one of his handmade lamps made from race car tires.
Matthew talking to Marianne, another Adams resident who also donated a lamp to us.
All of my fellow B-HIP interns showed up to support the show and to listen to Marianne and Matthew talk a little bit about what goes into developing and creating a project of this scale.
Erin and I posing for pictures in front of all the lamps. It was really gratifying to see this exhibition have a successful and beautiful opening. Kudos to all the artists involved (Mathew Belanger, Sean Riley, and Ven Voisey) and thanks to all who donated their time and lamps!
Preparing for the Opening
The past week(s) leading up to the opening have been pretty intense. Everyone has been putting in lots of time to get the Greylock Arts space, the North Adams space and the internet space ready for the opening.
This is a great example of what it is like trying to prep all the lamps to light up and work together. Can you spot Matthew?
Once again, here is Larry Alice helping Matthew with the programming (which can be a tedious process in tight spaces) of all the boxes. Here he is in one of the front windows of Greylock Arts.
A couple of my favorite lamps at Greylock Arts. This project may turn me into a ‘crazy lamp’ collecting lady.
Illuminate Art Class @ Kidspace
This past Tuesday Marianne and I joined fellow interns Jo and Erin to run an ‘Illuminated Art’ class at Kidspace at MassMoca. We used ‘throwies’ which are basically LED lights, batteries, tape and magnets. There were over 17 kids in the class and they all made interesting art pieces with their LED lights. Marianne gave a short introduction on how electricity completes a circuit and how light not only acts as function in our lives but that artists also use light.
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Jo, a MassMoca intern has been teaching art to kids for years and was really great with helping the kids with their ideas.
A.J. made a rocket.
Marianne and Erin working with the kids. Erin was on glue gun duty.
A thoughtful older brother even made a little LED toy for his baby brother!
*Lumens* Update
Everyone has been working extremely hard the past few weeks to get this intense show together. I never thought my life would be consumed by lamps. The opening is happening this Thursday July 10th, in three locations:
Greylock Arts, 93 Summer Street, Adams MAMCLA Gallery 51 Annex, 65 Main Street, North Adams and on the web at: MAturbulence.org/networkedrealities
A lot of work has been put into the Lumens space that is located at 65 Main Street in North Adams. It was at one point an old sports store and new walls and floors had to built in order to accommodate the show. At the moment we are really close to our goal of having 180 lamps in the exhibition – and to getting them to all respond to people as they walk by! The gray box in the picture holds a microcontroller (that were all hand built), a fan, and a power source for a cluster of six lamps that are plugged into the bottom. There will then be a motion sensor placed on the lamps to respond to people as they move through the space. In addition, there is a web component that allows people to also turn the lamps on as they interact witht the web page.
Here is a closer look at all the boxes that were built to accommodate a power source, a fan and microcontroller.
Most of these were hand wired by Marianne!
Here is a picture of the fans and the general craziness that has been happening in the space.
Our friend Larry Alice, who is also an electrical engineer, has been an incredible help on this project. He has been in several days helping Matthew trouble shoot all the technical issues and has even helped with the tedious task of stripping wires. I believe that here he is soddering a breadboard. Thanks Larry!
Another time consuming part of this project has been photographing all the lamps that are then photoshoped and uploaded to the website. Sean Riley, one of the Lumens artists photographed most of the crazy lamps that we have received.
