Saturday, September 5, 2009

Courtney Smyth 9/5/09

First blog ever. Here goes...
My husband and I (and sometimes the kids) go quite often to the Blue Star Arts Complex for First Friday. While we always enjoy it, the atmosphere on Fridays is not very conducive for comtemplating art (or for family fun). This month, we decided to give First Thursday a try. What a difference! Much less frantic, much more relaxing and enjoyable. Never again on a Friday.
Moving on to the art, specifically photography. First stop, Armon Art. We checked out classmate Ross' pieces. Several aerial shots of Hawaii have beautiful color and offer a different viewpoint. I really enjoyed the abstract look of his other pieces. He said they were long exposure shots of fireworks. Then he tweeked them on Photoshop.
We moved on to Studio 106b and saw several pieces by Brianna Burnett. The show is called Implied Metaphor. All of her pieces in this show have a close up shot of some sort of fruit or vegetable. She then uses scans to create layers of different textures, fabrics, paintings, etc. The San Antonio Express quoted her saying "I call them digital collages, although I'm not really fond of that name. There are layers of storytelling, references to history and culture." The photos are small, inviting the viewer to et up close. From that viewpoint, you can see all the subltle layers and texture.
Last stop, UTSA satellite space. Two artists: Libby Rowe and Paho Mann. I really liked this show. Paho Mann showed a series of photos that were reinhabited Circle K stores. Each shot by itself is made more interesting by showing them together. He also had some extremely intricate photomosaics. I found these mesmerizing and couldn't step away from them. Libby Rowe's series was titled Dwellings. Her pieces are humerous and I love the theme.

3 comments:

  1. Courtney,
    Sorry I was being whisked away when I saw you. I would have liked to meet your family.
    Next week focus in on one show or a couple of pieces and go into more depth.
    I agree that Paho's work was wonderful...so simple, yet a wonderfully hilarious commentary on recycling. I wasn't as enthralled with the mosaics. They are smart surely, but they just didn't grab me the way the Circle K's did, I want to hear more about why they drew you in!
    Libby

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  2. I find that, most times, I am drawn to things that the average art student is not. I love technical processes, detailed work (for instance, I am the only person I know that loves to draw perspective)and figuring out how an artist gets his/her final result. I also love math and proportion. I have a harder time with conceptual work...making it, not enjoying it. Maybe I am drawn to the mosaics because it's something more like work I might make.
    Courtney

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  3. I understand what you mean about the chaotic atmosphere on First Fridays. I really enjoy talking to all the people, but sometimes I just want to look at the work and think for a second!

    I'm not sure about any prior commitments you have on Friday afternoons, but this First Friday, Jenn and I went right after class, at around 3pm. Blue Star is open already, but NO ONE is there! It was really nice to walk around and take everything in without the crowd. Just a thought.

    -Brittany G.

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