Happy New Year Everyone

Drawing by Tess Ananda Rich, Age 7

May your new year bring peace, joy, health and happiness.

See you in January!

Michael

Profile: Anne Tait

Profile: Megan Place

Profile: Taylor Crockett

Profile: Esther Solondz

Sometimes Art Majors are Just Silly

WIPEOUT: A Taylorielle Production from Arielle Milstein on Vimeo.

Video Show, Wednesday, Dec. 15th!

This Wednesday, December 15th, there will be a screening of video by VARTS Intro to Digital Media students. Please join us at 7:30pm in ARCH 132 to watch new video and animation work!

two varts profs at work

Poof {A VArts Exhibition)

So our first show as V.Arts Seniors went fantastic. Everyone really killed it with such great work and such great effort.
I would say I am proud of us...but now we have to top it next semester.

Check out the show here.

Play Art Loud

Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 1967-68

"Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work."

-Chuck Close


Awesome website for Contemporary Art with lots of video content!  You need to see this!

Art Babble

Digital Media on Display, Dec 15th

Young Jedi - don't miss the Digital Media showcase of student work coming up on Wednesday evening.

May the Force be with you.

Thanks Jamie Goodwick for the poster design!

Where is 255 Franklin St?

RWU Spy Satellite Cam Image

Let me take two Bristol landmarks you would know -  255 Franklin St sits between Routes 114 and 136 in Bristol.  It intersects 136 just south of Jackie's Galaxy and comes out on rte 114 by the little blue liquor store.  I think you should be able to find it from that!

Censorship is Alive and Well

Walt Whitman by Thomas Eakins, 1887

Read the article with links at: CAA News

See the Exhibit at the Hide/ Seek Website

The exhibit is "the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture."  This is a really important show for our time with issues such as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy under national review and the recent rash of suicides related to sexual identity and persecution.


You can see the video in question on YouTube

In the Latest College Arts Association News:

"CAA Statement

The College Art Association regrets the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly (1987) from the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, on display at the National Portrait Gallery. It was taken out on November 30 by G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in response to outside pressure. CAA further expresses profound disappointment that the House speaker–designate, John A. Boehner of Ohio, and the incoming majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, have used their positions to question future funding for the Smithsonian Institution.

CAA applauds the National Portrait Gallery for its groundbreaking exhibition, which presents the long-suppressed subject of same-sex orientation. Furthermore, CAA commends the thorough, pioneering scholarship and the challenging curatorial judgment made by the organizers of Hide/Seek—David C. Ward, a historian at the museum, and Jonathan Katz, director of the Visual Studies Doctoral Program at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. That the work of everyone involved has been heedlessly compromised is deeply troubling. The pressure brought to bear on the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian sounds a familiar note from 1989, when direct federal funding to artists was ended due to political pressure. Then as now, CAA strongly protests such tactics.

Government has a long tradition of supporting universities, museums, and libraries—institutions that have produced research that expresses a variety of positions on all subjects. Freedom of expression is one of the great strengths of American democracy and one that our country holds up as a model for emerging democracies elsewhere. Americans understand that ideas expressed in books and artworks are those of their makers, not of the institutions that house them, and certainly do not represent public policy.

CAA urges all members to let your senators and representatives know of your support for the exhibition, its curators, and the National Portrait Gallery. You may also use advocacy tools provided by the National Humanities Alliance or Americans for the Arts."

Anyone else disgusted with our elected officials?


In a Follow up to a fast moving story:  This protestor staged a silent protest by playing the controversial video on his iPad hung around his neck while standing peacefully next to the gallery entrance.

View the Article at ArtInfo: Banned for Life
The protestor was arrested - and this too is online: The Protest

Protester Mike Blasenstein with an iPad screening David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire In My Belly" in the National Portrait Gallery

The NY Times has continued with some great reporting on the issue this week:

As Ants Crawl Over Crucifix, Dead Artist Is Assailed Again

and Frank Rich (no relation) has a great Op-Ed Piece today:

Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian

A protest against removing a David Wojnarowicz video from a National Portrait Gallery show. 

Phil Can't Spell

...Taylor's name right and he, unfortunately used a unicorn motif in the announcement for "Poof" the upcoming VARTS Exhibition at 255 Franklin St.  Roger Williams does not confer degrees upon students who use unicorns in their artwork.  Otherwise, a very nice and colorful announcement to what will be a "colorful" show.  See Phil's work (and Taylor Crockett's, among others) this Friday night. 7-9 PM.

Just kidding Phil - we love you, anyway.

FYI:  Other banned subjects for student artwork include: Fairies, Dogs Playing Poker, Beer Cans and the Mt. Hope Bridge.

The Art Warehouse

 Did you know that Roger Williams has rented a super large former boat-building warehouse space in downtown Bristol for Visual Arts students to make and show their work?  We're just in the process of moving in with Engineering and CM facilities sharing part of the space.  A few students are already there making their work (there's Arielle Milstein making one of her signature videos in the photo).

The Seniors will be having an inaugural show this Friday, December 10, 7-9 PM in the space at 255 Franklin St.  It will be the first of many - please stop by.  Look forward to events and great work coming out of the Warehouse.   Stay tuned!

I Have a Dog

Her name is Lucy and you should meet her - which you can at my studio this weekend.  The doors at 560 Mineral Spring Ave Studios in Pawtucket will be open all weekend for the annual Holiday Open Studio.  You'll find dozens of artists of all kind here - and Lucy.  We're in Suite 313, Saturday and Sunday 12-5 each day.  Please stop by.

Directions to the studio