NAEA convention, Boston

yep, travel helps the blog urge. Boston- great place to visit if you're interested in art, education, history. . . NAEA convention, not so great place to visit if you're a first year master's student in art education. still trying to work out why.

Best parts of trip? hearing Mark Bernstein present about using Tinderbox http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/ (He created the software) he's bright, entertaining and possibly the only person I have ever seen who knows how to create interesting powerpoint visuals to accompany a talk. check out his interesting blog: http://www.markbernstein.org/ I'm confident that his software would facilitate the research process, looking forward to using agents to find recurring themes in the notes and all the information that is currently overwhelming me.

also, the Boston museum of fine arts is great. On display were the most exquisite black and white photographs, by Jan Sudek, a Czechoslovakian photographer who spent his entire life shooting in and around Prague. Strangely I was inspired both by that work and the completely opposite contemporary work of Damien Hirst. His challenging media or subject matter (dead flies. . dead lamb) is so aesthetically presented it's mesmerizing.

pics to come.

New York City again. . .

The Gates, the art 'happening' in central park by Christo and JeaNNE Claude (not jean claude, as most of those who even remember that there's another person involved seem to call her) proved to be much more uh, accessible when experienced in person.
My experience of the Gates, however unsophisticated and silly, combined with a visit to Ground zero led me to a profound realization. It sounds so obvious in writing, but I understood on an emotional level how much we can not really claim knowlege of something if we don't experience it, or if we don't physically go to the place and see for ourselves. How does this fit in with mediated experiences- ?

pics to come.

grad school

clearly I am a bit of a lame blogger. two months btwn posts was not what I had intended but like any new habit, guess it'll take a while to take.
Being in grad school feels a bit like trying to drink your coffee when you're running late in the morning. (The reading and knowlege gathering part I mean.) You know you'll be able to function more effectively if you take the time to do it but there's so little time for it.
Art education could be applauded for it's hybridity . . . but every day I add another name. Not only should I read Victor Lowenfeld, Elliot Eisner, then perhaps Howard Gardner, now I also need to look at Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida then there's the writing that really interests me, which incidentally is the stuff that pertains to communication or media studies (so am I even in the right place??) Jay David Bolter, Peter Lunenfeld . . . and newest discovery, Technology as Experience, by John McCarthy and Peter Wright, who will doubtlessly lead me somewhere else.

new york city

so many people crammed on this island, most them looking vaguely stressed out which I decided had to do with how long it takes to get anywhere in this city. MOMA is redesigned, more space=more artworks on view. Amazing that camera use is not restricted, seemed as if every second person was busy taking digital images of the artworks. So I began taking digital images of people taking pictures.
All this work best viewed on weekdays, not holidays, it's not that spacious.

We had a discussion about the 'value' of works like Warhol's campbell soup cans, realized how many people, however well they are educated, don't understand why contemporary artworks are considered art or just aren't interested in seeing popular or media imagery in a museum.