My final First Friday Art Trek!! Once again, I was pleased to see the new shows had strong works. We visited Quirk, the ICA, Ada, Gallery 5, black iris and a Gallery 6's new location at 8 East Broad Street. The Gallery 6 showcased the same artist we visited a year ago at his open studio, and so we were very excited when we found him again at the new location, especially after looking up and down the street for a while.
My favorite pieces were at Quirk, ada, Gallery 5 and the Gallery 6, where the artists layered their colors to create their desired patterns well. Gallery 5 had a show called Hail Sagan with space-inspired works, like I am the Comet, shown above, and their proceeds were donated to a local astronomy program. Although Gallery 5's exhibits are now smaller due to their loss of their second floor, I still liked their music lineup and the theme. At Quirk, the artist used paper bags to create large sculptures like Thank You, Thank You, No Thank You, which I appreciated as they related to my found object works. The artists' works did not speak to me content-wise, but I liked their scale. Finally, Gallery 6's artists created works on 9 square foot canvases, so I understood the efforts they made and really enjoyed their execution. I considered making my piece in a similar fashion, building up layers and then covering them in resin for a finished look, but that's something I will have to consider more once I finish my piece.
Overall, this First Friday was another lineup of good memories and good art, and I look forward to the next Friday I attend--hopefully I can see at least two more before college. The works I saw made me consider how to finish my work, and taught me the importance of building a mark consistent across my works to develop my own artistic language.

This quarter's Lunch Lecture featured John Freyer and his Free Coffee and Free Ice Water projects. He works at VCU, and is currently a big part of the Rams in Recovery Project. During the lecture, he talked about how he explores the role of everyday objects and their circulation in his art. He considers himself a social practice artist and focuses on the advocacy component. He often thinks about the question of conceptual art and how it applies to social practice art--like in Duchamp's work. This has caused conflicts of understanding between him and his audience, and is a reason why he has trouble coming up with creative names for his works, but I think the opposite is true-- while he is not referring to his art by labelling it as such, his plain and simple names could appeal to more general audiences like is his purpose in the Rams In Recovery programs.
Similarly, through his work in the Rams In Recovery programs, he is able to relate with his community both through his art and due to personal experience. The part of his projects that emphasized giving back to the community was something that struck me about his work, and reminded me of what we have discussed in class regarding the nature of social practice art, and of what benefit it actually is to the community, especially when the work is removed. Overall I appreciated getting to see the work of a Richmond-er and how the art world works, at least in a more local perspective. Although I still have some trouble seeing the difference (or perhaps tie) between social practice "art" and just social practice, I have no problem letting it slide because I know it can be critiqued in some way and appreciated by the greater population. Similarly to my previous awareness post, Freyer's work ties everyday activities/objects to a real world problem as a means to solve the problem beginning by looking at smaller examples. Although I am not sure as to whether my art will take this type of a turn anytime soon, I did appreciate Freyer coming in to talk to us.

The temporary Hollar exhibit was interesting to see, especially after knowing the process behind printmaking from Art 2. The provided magnifying glasses made observing the works easier and overall more enjoyable, making each piece seem like a scavenger hunt. After all, the pieces sometimes were scavenger hunts, with names of towns and numbers inscribed in minute detail. My favorite part was probably trying to translate the german or foreign words from his maps. My favorite parts of his portraits and observation prints were the tiny etchings that made up incredible values to make forms. I could only imagine the amount of time and different glasses he went through to make so many prints so consistently. I for one don't have that much patience and would be overwhelmed. But in the end, I guess I would be very satisfied with the piece. This wasn't an exhibit I knew about and was dying to see, but the experience of walking through the gallery and appreciating all the work he put into his pieces was good, and I got to see it with a friend so that was good, too. 

Kirk O’Brien’s lunchtime lecture was interesting, but overall, the only part I think I would have absorbed into my work are the color schemes he displayed. Personally, do not read comics, so the role of government in their creation was not really as important to me as it may have been to others that attended the lecture. Although, it was informative to see how comics were limited in the past, especially after what we had been discussing in class and in our connect posts about the role of censorship in public art. After all, comics are a form of art that is open to to the general public so it still falls to the same critique and legal blocks as the art we have discussed previously. The most surprising part of the presentation was the part where Mr. O'Brien taught the group about the origin and role of the Comic Code Authority, which I realized I had seen in the title sequence of some Marvel Movies. If I were to see him again, I would most likely have other questions regarding his illustrations, and not necessarily the history of comics. I have heard that he teaches the younger art classes how to draw comics, and so I would like to hear more about that.

Last night I went to a First Friday with a group and we saw most of the galleries on Broad Street. It wasn’t as busy as last year, when I went during Inlight, but it was still interesting to see the galleries. Most of the art we saw was abstract or non-objective, which reminded me of last year. But, my favorite gallery was an open studio we saw on the way to one of the mapped galleries. The artist collaged different art onto renaissance paintings on photoshop or in a real collage and then printed it on a canvas. Also, he used paint to create mesmerizing designs. When we walked into his studio I knew that if I ever got a studio space I would want it to look like that. Other than this stop, we also got to see Gallery 5 for my first time and they were selling in a market. Overall, this first Friday was a lot of fun and I can’t wait until Inlight later this month.

I had never been to the ICA before, and had only seen it when it was projected on during the Inlight Festival this year, so this walking field trip was a new experience for me. The exhibits in Declaration were pretty interesting to me, and I don't always like contemporary art. Then again, most contemporary art I've been exposed to is through Instagram and Hi-Fructose Magazine. The activities at the beginning were fun, but I feel like there was only enough time to do one in full, and we shouldn't have tried to force several into that short amount of time. Also, the guided tour was interesting as an intro to the different levels, and helped me decide what I wanted to see once we were allowed to go on our own. My favorite aspect of the exhibition was the interactive part of it. I hadn't remembered that I applied for The Mending Project until the guided tour reached it, and now I see why I wasn't accepted. But the piece next to it, the 100 Days in Solitude was one of my favorites as well. I traded my phone for one of the altered watches while we were on our own, and spent time listening to the readings of the story that inspired the design of the ICA and listened to the interactive podcasts and took pictures using Angela's phone because I didn't have mine. I think I would like to go there again in the future, if the other exhibits are that varied and have that level of social commentary. A lot of the works had extremely good craftsmanship as well, which I appreciated. Overall, it reminded me of a mini MoCA and Guggenheim. I hope to draw some of the pieces we photographed in my sketchbook or on some paper if I run out of room.

Over spring break, I went with my art class and other art students to New York to visit the MoMa, the Guggenheim, the Met and other small galleries around the city as well as non-art-related spots. The three days spent walking around and appreciating art were some of the most fun I'd had in a while, and I was exposed to a lot of different artists and movements within a short period of time. In the future, I will definitely go back, and end up spending hours more in the museums; more than I was able to on this trip.
The Guggenheim reminded me a lot of the Hirschhorn, and I feel like my group saw most everything in the current exhibit, but once a new one rotates in, I could see myself  spending some more time there. Dahn Vo's exhibit was a little too historical for my taste, especially since I had no idea what the major event that everything was circled around was. I am certain that after I have some historical context, then I will be able to appreciate his work some more. Although, there were some pieces, such as "die Beste oder Nichts" and the calligraphy throughout the museum that I was able to connect with, which was fine. However, something I hadn't realized was that Vo's father was the one doing the calligraphy and I wonder why it is him that does it? I could probably find the answers on the Guggenheim's website but that's a question I can save for the future, if I become more interested in Vo's work. In my sketchbook, I practice a lot of typography, so I can see my sculpture and future work also being influenced by calligraphy, but I would incorporate it in a three dimensional sense.
The Met and the MoMa have so much art, and especially a large permanent collection, and we went so fast through both, I was unable to see most of the exhibits. At the MoMa, I liked the temporary exhibit on the 6th floor by Adrian Piper, simply because I like geometry and math (which I can also incorporate into my work in the future) and also because of the piece at the end which allowed you to sign one of three contracts with yourself. The exhibit also had a lot of audio aspects which I enjoyed, specifically the whistling in the beginning which I naturally joined into. My group spent most of our free time on this floor, and had a quick glimpse of the 5th and 4th floor, where we returned later for our illegal "tour/lecture." On the 4th floor there was one room I enjoyed the most, of which I took pictures (included below). It was the room with the dove painting and the c o l o r s (One painting/sculpture used color and line to accentuate form in a graphic way.) Also, I saw a Bacon piece on the fourth floor, which I appreciated seeing again. 
Overall, the entire New York Trip was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, which I hope to expand on here as we continue to study art history.
The following are all the pictures of art I took in New York, some of which have labels and others which are followed by a picture of their labels, or some which unfortunately do not have any labels but I really liked.

This was my second time going to an InLight show and I enjoyed it especially because this time it was at the same time as a First Friday. I stayed on West Broad Street for the night, and went around with my dad, but the night started as the annual MLWGS Art Walk. The weather was perfect, and because the road was closed off, there were a lot of people and the environment was good. Of the galleries/artists we saw (and we saw pretty much of all of them on West Broad), the ones I liked were the Candela books+gallery with Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, Nickolai Walko at Anne's Visual Arts Studio, and an Egyptian artist at the Half Moon Beads and Rocks Store. The Egyptian artist used glitter and glow in the dark paint to recreate old master paintings and Egyptian reliefs. This reminded me of what we're doing now in class, except that his pieces had a more 3D aspect to them-- different than my piece. The 100 pictures of the Drowning World was insanely interesting, but I had to get home soon so I snapped some pictures, saw the artists, took a flyer and left. Their exhibition is open until December 23, so I'll definitely be back. As for Walko, his prints were unique-- he took iconic figures and made them pose with a part of them as bare muscle and bone, and some other parts covered in hatch marks. All three of these artists make me want to recreate old people/ art in my own style (which I still have to determine), using unconventional media. This is like a combination of the old master studies we are doing in class as well as the balloon dog play page I'm doing. Overall, I want to go to the next Inlight in 2018, and hopefully it will be around the time of the MLWGS Art Trek and a First Friday again.

Today Mrs. Molly O'Neil, Maggie Walker alumnus, came and lectured about her career as a graphic designer. She gave us some key pieces of advice, including: "always tell your employer what you're good at", "don't be afraid of criticism", "be a perpetual student", "always move forward", and finally "love your art, but not too much." The first and last statements were more geared to the profession of graphic design, meaning that your employer will most likely put you on a project that you like rather than someone else because they know you will give a better result, but since they are your employer after all they can reject or change anything you create. The overall lecture was pretty interesting as we learned about how she got to where she is today: one month working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. While in school, she did not really know what she wanted to do, but there were several jobs she worked that she felt were not right for her, so she continued to search for her passion and seems to have finally found it here. Learning that she was able to keep searching for a job that she liked past her first left an impression on me, since I too don't know what I want to do when I'm older. Although I don't think that I will take the path of a graphic designer, it was still a valuable lecture over another possible career involving art. Whenever I see an illustration in the commentary section of the Times-Dispatch, I will be sure to remember Mrs. Molly O'Neil and the lessons she taught us today.

My mother and I spent our Saturday in Philadelphia, especially at the Museum of Art and Rodin Museum. Due to lack of time, we weren’t able to see all of the works but enjoyed the ones we did see. The most interesting part other than particular works was when we saw the same replications as in the VMFA.