Juggling With Light

Shari Hersh Lecture

on wednesday afternoon i attended the Shari Hersh lecture in the library. it was actually a very interesting experience for me. as Hersh's talk started, i found myself highly disliking her. the entire thing sounded like she was trying to sell this idea of mural painting to us. facts, numbers...nothing to do with the art itself, or her process in making it. she sounded completely self centered about the whole thing -- as though this was all a big "i do it because it makes me feel good" scheme.

however, as she started to talk more about her process, and less about the statistics, i started to enjoy the talk a lot more. it was clear that she cared immensely for the communities in which she was working, the kids that helped her on her projects. Hersh has a group of students from the college she teachers at, which help her do some of the mural work. along with them, she stresses including all of the people (normally mainly the kids) in the communities in which she is working to come out and help paint and design.

when the talk was completed, i asked her a question about communities dealing with mural projects. Fall of '06 was when the idea to paint the construction wall was initialized, and my drawing class had a huge debate on whether any student should be able to put art up there, or whether a committee should choose, or a mix. i asked Hersh how she would deal with it, and i was very satisfied with her answer. she talked about gathering the "stakeholders" -- anyone who had any interest at all: faculty, students, the construction firm -- and they all get even votes, and they can all vote on whichever idea they think is best. this way it is a true community forum in order to choose how we want to deal with the wall.

i was considering asking Hersh if she considered her art to be installation art, and then i realized what a silly question that was. of course it is. the mural painting fills every category that we require for installation pieces: it changes place into space, it is entirely dependent on where it is put. having a mural put in a run down community means something completely different than having it put in an affluent one. plus, the buildings arent exactly mobile by any means.

overall, i felt it was a valuable lecture to attend.

p.s. i believe this is my 5th cultural event post.
4: American University Gallery
3: Chris Coleman
2: Patrick Kelly
1: Lance Winn

Juggler playing with light

Greg Kennedy:
this seemed relevant...

Long Overdue - Box Images

the rod is there because one of the girls working in the place ripped one of the sides off. . .

Official Proposal

so...my big proposal. after spending some time talking to Fareshteh on Saturday evening, i feel comfortable balancing the work between juggling and being human. each sketch features a center piece that will be a video monitor. this will play clips of me attempting to perform juggling maneuvers. i have not yet decided whether they will all be done in a darkroom with glowing apparatus, since i believe as of right now i only have access to three glowing balls, or whether it will be a mix of the darkroom and of juggling with normal lighting. around the central piece are pictures.

as you can see in the first image, there is the monitor. surrounded by 8 images. there is also a display stand at the front, which will hold 3 balls, and hopefully will be inviting the viewers to juggle themselves with me. there might be a sign there suggesting such activity. (you can also see some notes about juggling).

on the topmost sketch in the second image, the design is based around both the monitor, and the four large pictures of successful attempts at certain juggling tricks. there are also smaller images that showcase the failures of said attempts.

i then said to myself "maybe the successes aren't so important..."

and sketched the central monitor surrounded by four large images of the failures and then four small images of the successes.

i don't always think success, at least perfect success isn't really the point. the point is trying in the first place. it is fighting the fear of failure, and getting up in front of people and trying to do something, hoping that they will appreciate the effort regardless of the outcome.

juggling is a ridiculously precise activity. when someone is trying to juggle 9 balls, 7 clubs, who-the-heck-knows how many rings, consistency and accuracy are imperative. i know that i am no where close to any of those things. i have to concentrate super hard simply to juggle 3 clubs. however to document myself trying to do tricks that i have not mastered, or even tried, yet will be a very interesting exercise. on top of that, to share these moments with other people invites them into my life. when Baldassari shared his attempts at forming shapes by throwing balls into the air, he invited the viewers into the activity. into the moments of his life that were spent throwing the balls, and photographing them.

i am still thinking over where exactly i want to put this. one thought is along the line of "street" from where jugglers during the Renaissance where forced to perform because of the stigmatism against them. but if i were to place this in a hallway...what would it do to the space of the hallway. would it becomes clogged with people watching the video?

the placement will continue to be thought about.