Last Saturday I attended 70x7 The Meal as a volunteer. The Meal was part of the What We Sow project organized by the Mural Arts Program. I was initially pretty excited to be involved, as artist and food advocate, this seemed a great opportunity for me to ‘get involved’. I was incorrect. As much as I would love to write a wonderful review about this event I cannot. It is built as a beautiful idea: communal, sustainable… French. But unfortunately the execution was just plain lacking and it really was just much too hot that day.
The Meal is the brainchild of Paris-based artists Lucy and Jorge Orta, an event meant to create awareness for local eating and the communal meal. Philadelphia’s own Marc Vetri was the ‘curating chef’.
Ok, I am going to go right into it all call Marc Vetri out. You. Were. Not. Involved. Curating a menu as a “consulting chef” counts for nothing. The food was actually prepared by a catering company, Cescaphe Event Group. Vetri was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe they just slapped on the Vetri name so people would actually show up. I can’t really be sure.
Orta’s color pallet: What? Biochemical at best. I’m sorry but biohazard yellow, neon green, warning red, and baby lavender do not make me think of delicious heirloom vegetables; especially paired with stenciled text reminiscent of field miliaria. Not to mention the brightly colored aprons supplied to the volunteers: lined up we looked like a gay pride parade. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the Ortas should realize that a marching color wheel in Philadelphia doesn’t make us think of sustainable farming and localism.
I mean, I guess people had an ok time. I didn’t see a whole lot of enthusiasm, even from the Ortas themselves. I think everyone was just beat from standing in the sun for seven hours. Oh, right I guess I should mention there isn’t shade on the Thomas Paine Plaza.
The primary purpose of this course is to present and examine contemporary critical issues, concepts and language with a view towards aiding the student to understand and define their own role as a working artist in the contemporary art arena.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Terri Saulin Frock: The Garden of Forking Paths @ Tiger Strikes Asteroid
Terri Saulin Frock: The Garden of Forking Paths
October 4 – October 27, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, October 4, 2013, 6pm -10pm
Tiger Strikes Asteroid welcomes you to our October exhibition, The Garden of Forking Paths. The show features the work of TSA member Terri Saulin Frock. This is her second solo exhibition with the gallery. Please join us for the Opening Reception Friday October 4, 2013, 6-10pm
“The Garden of Forking Paths is an incomplete, but not false, image of the universe as Ts’ui Pên conceived it. In contrast to Newton and Schopenhauer, your ancestor did not believe in a uniform, absolute time. He believed in an infinite series of times, in a growing, dizzying net of divergent, convergent and parallel times. This network of times which approached one another, forked, broke off, or were unaware of one another for centuries, embraces all possibilities of time. We do not exist in the majority of these times; in some you exist, and not I; in others I, and not you; in others, both of us. In the present one, which a favorable fate has granted me, you have arrived at my house; in another, while crossing the garden, you found me dead; in still another, I utter these same words, but I am a mistake, a ghost.”
- Jorge Luis Borges
Saulin Frock considers The Garden of Forking Paths a chapter in an endeavor that has been developing over the past ten years. As drawings and objects accumulate, they function as “visual counterpoint," layering information to produce an imagined time-lapse view/code of a world. The vocabulary of forms is culled from a variety of sources such as maps of her urban garden, home renovation, travels abroad, the writings of Jorge Luis Borges, and Glenn Gould's "Goldberg Variations: The Well Tempered Clavier."
Terri Saulin Frock received her MFA from the University of the Arts and her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. Currently, she is teaching the course "Critical Discourse" at Moore College of Art & Design, and a variety of ceramics and sculpture classes in the BFA & Young Artist’s Workshop programs. Additionally, Terri Saulin Frock also teaches Pre-school classes to children at Society Hill Synagogue.
Terri Saulin Frock: The Garden of Forking Paths
October 4 – October 27, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, October 4, 2013, 6pm -10pm
Tiger Strikes Asteroid
319 N. 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
http://philadelphia.tigerstrikesasteroid.com/
* Partial funding for this exhibition has come from a Faculty Development Grant from Moore College of Art and Design.
Many Thanks!
* This show is dedicated to the loving memory and history of friendship Terri shared with Deborah Ann Deery.
Thank you Deborah for your constant and generous positive energy, support and brilliant light that shines in all you have touched.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Week 5 - Curators and Artists
"Allez! Cuisine!"
Snack Friday Alert

(Click on the link and peruse thoughts by various artists including, John Baldessari, Tino Sehgal, Marina Abramovic, etc)
The title of this project is less a demand than a question. A question that does not articulate a critique of previous Documenta exhibitions but rather investigates, in a provocative way, the relationship, which artists have to the profession of curating. Curators are showing more and more interest in setting up art exhibitions with greater creativity while artists are becoming more seriously involved in curating—note for example the participation of artists Gabriel Orozco and Rirkrit Tiravanija as co-curators of the 2003 Venice Biennial. For this project, following a continuous string of criticism from artists in regard to exhibition concepts that simply illustrate the curator’s ideas, a group of artists has been invited to reflect upon the conditions of the relationship between artists and curators. More importantly, the artists were asked to propose a brief concept of how they could imagine putting together an exhibition such as Documenta. An exhibition that would, from their particular point of view, represents an adequate form of exhibiting and presenting art within the model of a large-scale group exhibition.
- Jens Hoffmann
Hello All,
Here are the readings for what will be Week 5 - Curators and Artists.
The Robert Storr video above may be of interest.
Storr is a painter/curator/critic/academic, the current Dean of Yale University School of Art and director of the 2007 Vennice Biennale.There will be no required written responses due for this group of readings, but feel free to leave your comments about curatorial practices.
Reminder :: This week 9/27 is our snack extravaganza!
Be prepared for a timed writing assignment after meeting/eating/presentations.
Presentations: Artworks, Lies/Truths 9/27, Week 4 – Group 3:
1. Leah Koontz
2. Lucy Heurich
3.Claire Malecot
4. Diandra Oliva
5. Veronica Perez
We will meet at Tiger Strikes Asteroid next Friday, 10/4 at 4pm sharp for a little talk and to send you off on your writing assignment. TSA is located at 319 N. 11th Street, Suite 2h. That is between Vine & Callowhill, same building as Vox Populi.
Warm regards,
Terri
Past Curatorial Magic at the PMA ::
Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp
October 30, 2012 - January 21, 2013
1a. Go On, 'Curate This Comment,' Simon, 2012Past Curatorial Magic at the PMA ::
Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp
October 30, 2012 - January 21, 2013

1b. My Curator Done Told Me, Friedman, Visual Thesaurus, 2010
1c. Is All the Stuff at Art Fairs the Same-ish?, Vartanian, Hyperallergic, 2013
2. Do Curators Need University Curatorial Programs?, Moser, C Magazine, 2008.
3. The Curators Moment. (Trends in the Field of International ContemporaryArt Exhibitions), Michael Brenson, Art Journal, 1998.
3a. Notes on the Arts: Curating the Past 50 Years as Ruin, Klein, East of Borneo, 2011
4. How an Art Scene Became a Youthscape, Benjamin Genocchio, The New York Times, 2004.
5. In the Realms of Flight and Fantasy, Lance Esplund, WSJ, 2010
6. Ellen Lupton, Curator of The Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum and an "MCAD Visionary Woman!"
Additional readings / video on the topic ::
1. Response to Moser, Jones, ICA Halifax, 2009.
2. Go Ahead, Expect Surprises, Cotter, 2007
3. The Whitney Biennial and the Failure of an Empire, Village Voice, 2008.
4. Collectors and Their Collections:
a) di Rosa Preserve
b) Pamela and Richard Kramlich5. Complaint Box | Adult Art, NYT, Bernstein, 2009 (of note as we curate our show!)
"FRESH"
Louise Fishman On Fifty Years Of Fitting In While Sticking Out, Frank, Huff Post, 9/2012
Jerry Saltz on The Met's 'Regarding Warhol' Has Nothing to Say...
Whole Museum Visit Spent Feeling Guilty About Moving On From Paintings
The Onion, September, 2012
Louise Fishman On Fifty Years Of Fitting In While Sticking Out, Frank, Huff Post, 9/2012
Louise Fishman may be the first artist we've ever heard of to grow up with dreams of playing basketball. Eventually, she swapped one boys' club for another, immersing herself in abstract expressionism, a movement known for its machismo and occasional misogyny. A feminist and lesbian with a repertoire of muscular strokes and a gripping palette, Fishman managed to fit right in while sticking out.
Whole Museum Visit Spent Feeling Guilty About Moving On From Paintings
The Onion, September, 2012
Photo by Rubens Ghenov
A Discussion with Rubens Ghenov :: Published in The St. Claire
By Suzanne Seesman
Who Is Guy Debord?
By Suzanne Seesman
Who Is Guy Debord?
Friday, September 13, 2013
Week 3 - Art and Extravaganza ::
Here are the readings for Week 3. A few reminders: Roberta and Libby from the Artblog will be meeting with us on 9/20 to discuss our First Friday review writing project. The week after that, 9/27, we will be "curating" a buffet of snacks to share during class. Anything goes - from bacon doughnuts to Pixie Stix! Please bring a recipe card if the dish is home made, we may want a copy for our recipe files! The recipe is also important for those with dietary restrictions so they know if they can eat it. The dish needs to be service ready, already plated and at service temp...so unless you can heat it in the dorms, etc. It will likely be a room temp snack! I will supply utensils, sm plates and napkins. BYO beverages! My hope is we will dine on the buffet instead of a dinner break and work through until all students have presented. (We will have just a 10 min break instead at 5pm) Students will write a short review of their favorite dish in a timed writing exercise. Click the comments link below to publish your response to the Week 3 readings.
Responses are Due by Wed., 9/18 at midnight.
Warm regards,
Terri
Week 3 - Art and Extravaganza ::
1. Ray Johnson: ACollage in Which Life=Death=Art, Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 2002.
1a. Collector John Held Jr. Sponsors "Mail Art Project"
Untitled (Please Send to May), May 14, 1975 on card, May 13, 1972 collage on thin cardboard panel, 20 by 20 inches
© Ray Johnson Estate, Courtesy Richard L. Feigen & Co.
Be sure to read the reviews of the exhibition on the right side bar by The New York Times, Title Magazine & The Philadelphia Inquirer. What did you think of the writing style in each article?
2. Richard Serra: Rigging, (1980), Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art (T.D.C.), Ed., Stiles & Selz, 1996.
2a. THe UBUWEB :: Anthology of Conceptual Writing, Richard Serra's Verb List
3. Kiki Smith, Queen of Arts, Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 2006
4. Jannis Kounellis: Structure and Sensibility, Interview with Willoughby Sharp (1972), Ed., Stiles & Selz, T.D.C., 1996.
5. Theory Talk with Aaron Levy, Slought Boss, Fallon & Rosof, theartblog, 2010
This article generated an interesting discussion amongst recent MCAD grads and friends.
The thread can be found HERE.
Additional readings / video on the topic ::
Ed Plunkett and Judith Malina discuss Ray Johnson's ideas about "Moticos"
Ron Nagle: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=24284
Deceptive Cadence from NPR Classical
Silence and Sound :: Five Ways of Understanding John Cage
Merce Cunningham: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4655
Eva Hesse, review, Mark Stevens , New York magazine, 2006.
Buona Serra, Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine, 2007.
The Outsider :: The Story of Harry Partch, BBC, 2002
"FRESH"
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Saturday, September 7, 2013
Week 2 - By and About Artists
KUKULI VELARDE
ALWAYS BE KNOLLING
COLOR.
ALWAYS BE KNOLLING
COLOR.
Hello All,
Here are the readings for Week 2.
The above videos are required viewing. What function do interview style / biographical videos serve for the individual artists / viewer? When you view an "Art21" can you imagine it as vehicle for formulating your artist statement or thesis? Click the comments link below to publish your responses. It
may be helpful to write your response in a format such as text-edit,
check for errors and then copy and paste to the blog. Please remember to
post your real name at the top of your response. Responses are Due by
Wed., 9/11/13 at midnight.Warm regards,
Terri
Week 2 - By and About Artists ::
1. Jack Thompson: The Well of Myth, Glen R. Brown, galley draft for Ceramics Art & Perception, 2008.
2. Julie Mehretu, Sheets, NYT, 2007.
3. Sketchbooks, Jed Perl, The New Republic, 2010
4. Poetic Theaters, Romantic Fevers, Holland Cotter, New York Times, 2007.
5. The Philosophy of Art; Interview with Arthur C. Danto, Natasha Degen, The Nation, 2005.
6. Studioscopic Episode 7: Kukuli Velarde
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FchHb7qaXC0
Click here for more info about Kukuli.
Optional additional readings / video on the topic:
The Solipsism of an Inverted Cartography, Michael Macfeat, 2011.
I Dream the Clothing Electric: Nick Cave, Finkel, NYT, 2009.
A review of Cave's Fabric Workshop Exhibition in Title Magazine
(Title was founded by Philadelphia artists, curators, and arts-professionals. They do not accept advertising.)
Heesung Lee - Interview, Dana Sunshine, TheArtBiz.com.
Gathered, Not Made: ABrief History of Appropriative Writing, Raphael Rubenstein, The American Poetry Review, 1999
Merce Cunnigham: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/01/arts/dance/20090803-merce-graphic.html
Elizabeth Murray, 66, Artist of Vivid Forms, Dies, Roberta Smith, New York Times, 2007.
LOVE LETTER TO PLYWOOD
Matthew Ritchie - Games of Chance and Skill
Sunday, September 1, 2013
LIES AND THE TRUTH
One
of my favorite artists and my dear friend, Michael Macfeat produced a
series of "Trading Cards." This particular image is from a set about Lies and The Truth. More info can be found here.
Hello All,
Please
click the comments link below and post Ten Lies and Three Truths about
the art work you have been creating and your modus operendi. The
objective here is to carefully craft these lies. Remember, as we
discussed in class, to simply say "I never use red." is a thin and
poorly constructed lie. Your concocted falsehoods would be weak and
transparent if we were presented with images of blue and green
paintings. The objective of "lying" is to have someone believe
your story! When posting your assignment, do not indicate which are T/F.
The challenge will be for your audience to figure it out. Sample
fabrications can be found in the comments section below. Please format your response in the same manner. (no nick-names please)ALL students should post the Lies and Truths assignment as well as comments on the first group of readings by Midnight on Wednesday, 9/4. (To be clear, reading comments go under the "Vincent Price Video"...Lies go here)
The following students will be prepared to present current images of work and 14 copies of your Lies and Truths this Friday, 9/6/13. Upload image folders to the desktop of class computer as soon as you get there. Be on Time! Print papers BEFORE class, not during. All students will write comments and suggestions on the "L/TR" papers and return to presenting students at the end of class. (This will be our only paper transaction. All other responses will be digital.) Presentations will be followed by a discussion of Week 1: Writing reading assignments.
Presentations of Artwork & 10 Lies, 3 Truths:
Presentations of Artwork & 10 Lies, 3 Truths: 9/6, Week 2 - Group 1:
1. Stephanie Potter
2. Alexandra Kanzler
3. Yvonne Clark
4. Maeve Griffin
5. Katherine Blankenship
Warm regards,
Terri
"CUPS"
Hello All,
Here is some more info for the "Cup" project.
PROJECT : CUPS
Students will design a most amazing cup.
We will use this cup to toast the many exciting events as you near Graduation!
We will use this cup to toast the many exciting events as you near Graduation!
Think about:
What
kind of cups are there? Is the cup's design specific to it's function.
Is there a specific liquid it is designed to hold. (for example, brandy snifters are designed so the warmth of your hand warms the liquid and shape increases to aromatic experience) Does it have a handle
/ is the handle made of clay? Is the cup functional at all?
Reading Assignment:
Go here to see David's work: DavidGaryWright.com
Links to Visit Ceramics Art Daily:
You will need to join this free resource to connect to the links below: http://ceramicartsdaily.org/
You will need to join this free resource to connect to the links below: http://ceramicartsdaily.org/
Circular Logic: How to Explore Shapes for Handbuilding
Handle Making Video: Can You Handle It? Great Techniques for Textured Handles
Handbuilding Video: How to Make a Textured Tripod Pot with Soft Slabs
Handbuilding Video: Making a Tidy Slab-Built Tumbler with Slip Decoration
http://ceramicartsdaily.org/pottery-making-techniques/handbuilding-techniques/handbuilding-video-making-a-tidy-slab-built-tumbler-with-slip-decoration/
Keith Brymer Jones
Keith Brymer Jones
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