July 2006 Archive

Design Bureau of Amerika speaks, part 2

Unfortunately, Alan is about to learn the consequences of misinterpreting the nuances of “Opposite Day,” by Design Bureau of Amerika, aka Ty Burrowbridge and Keith BowmanAfter seeing the terrific nostalgic cartoons and drawings at FreeJade Gallery, created by Ty Burrowbridge and Keith Bowman, aka Design Bureau of Amerika, I wanted to know more about them. I also was intrigued by their enthusiasm for the Japanese-made, now discontinued Print Gocco system. This is part 2 of an interview with Burrowbridge (here’s part 1). LR: How did you come upon the Gocco press? TB: Keith found this [Gocco] cardmaker in Japan, 20 ... More » »

Design Bureau of Amerika speaks, part 1

Burrowbridge and Bowman at their exhibit opening night at FreeJade Gallery (photo by Roberta) After seeing the terrific nostalgic cartoons and drawings at FreeJade Gallery, created by Ty Burrowbridge and Keith Bowman, aka Design Bureau of Amerika, I wanted to know more about them. I also was intrigued by their enthusiasm for the Japanese-made, now defunct Gocco printing system. And mostly I was interested in how two graphic designers were making work that reached far higher than graphic design. The first hint about the collaboration is that Burrowbridge is the talker of the two. Burrowbridge, 24, is originally from the ... More » »

Mildred Elfman Greenberg remembered

Mars the Red Planet, by Mildred Elfman Greenberg, 1988 Check out a wonderful remembrance blogger Martin Bromirski wrote on anaba about Philadelphia artist/photographer Mildred Elfman Greenberg. It’s really beautiful. His previous post shows some of her work.

Dancing with trees

Each of the six artists included in the group show Inside/Outside: Treelines, at Abington Art Center, has work in the outdoor sculpture garden as well as inside the gallery. But the gallery work is scheduled to close Saturday. But some of my favorite pieces were in the garden, and that will remain up until Nov. 22. The show includes works by Joy Episalla, Robert Lobe, Thomas Matsuda, Jason Middlebrook, Chrysanne Stathacos and Steve Tobin.” Since I can never resist a good laugh, I especially enjoyed the Episalla and Middlebrook pieces in the garden. Grand Tetons of Yonkers by Joy Episalla ... More » »

Buildings with moveable parts: Milwaukee

Miller Park, Milwaukee with the roof partly open. I just love the engineering and all those exposed beams and girders. Click to see bigger and see more shots of the building at my flickr. So I went to a Brewers game the other night with Kitty and her friend Terry the alderman. We laughed and drank our wildly overpriced (Miller) beer and watched as the moveable roof of the building opened and closed slowly, a feat of engineering that made me sit up and take notice. Engineering like this –buildings with moveable parts–is probably not a totally new things. But ... More » »

Cardiff and Miller: Make-believe filmroom

Exterior of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s The Paradise Institute at the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY I had such a funny mixed reaction to Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s The Paradise Institute, originally made for the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, but which I just saw at Skidmore College’s Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs. The installation was great. The installation was not so great. It was so close to really great, and so I feel like anything negative I say is carping…but…not really, just being fair. The Paradise Institute is both the video on display ... More » »

William Pope L.’s Black Factory comes to town today, tomorrow, too

In addition to the Bartram’s Garden venue Saturday that Roberta mentioned in her Weekly update, William Pope L.’s Black Factory traveling performance-installation will also stop at the Fabric Workshop today and the ICA tomorrow. One way or another, Pope L. is a force to be reckoned with on the issue of race and his work is a must-see. I’m going Saturday so I get the Martha McDonald/William Pope L. combination (the info for the Bartram’s Garden event is at the ICA link).

Weekly Update -Martha McDonald at Bartram’s Garden

This week’s Weekly has my Q&A with performance artist Martha McDonald who will debut a work at Bartram’s Garden this Saturday at dusk. Here’s the link to the art page and below is the copy with a few pictures. Here are links to Part 2 and Part 3 of the interview.Garden state: McDonald will debut her collaborative piece outdoors.Savvy performance artist McDonald has a new show. McDonald teaching an audience member how to knit in Drown’d in mine own Tears at the 2005 Fringe Festival. Like Garrison Keillor, performance artist Martha McDonald is an English major who tells stories and ... More » »

The wild, wild east

Roadside tableau in the Adirondacks advertising a dude ranch I took a real vacation. I didn’t take the blog with me, and I kept pictures to a minimum. Soooo….no Adirondack scenery for you. We stayed with friends just south of Lake George, just north of Lake Luzerne, a place I had visited for a number of times in years past. But time had indeed changed things. For instance I don’t remember so many dude ranches. Stefanie tells me the dude ranch density rate in that area exceeds anywhere else in the country! The morning after I arrived, I set out ... More » »

Kohler Art Center: Fever dreams and utopian nightmares

Kitty, Joe and I drove up to Sheboygan to the John Michael Kohler Art Center on Sunday. What we found inside was a group of exhibits and installations that connected through a thread of architecture and visionary thinking — both hopeful and pessimistic –about the future. Randall Sellers’ Untitled (Landscape with Loop Road) 2005, graphite on paper. Unfortunately the Center forbids the taking of photographs in the exhibitions. But not in the bathrooms, remember whose art center we’re talking about. So we snapped away in the toilet areas both male and female which are full of commissioned art by Carter ... More » »