Laid to Rest

So it has been awhile since I last posted here and I apologize to all of my adoring readers, ok the few folks who are my friends and care to look at my ramblings. The reason for the great lapse is simply because I have moved over to the competition to blog. My new site is johncmorris.wordpress.com. I like blogger a lot but I think that wordpress works a little bit better for what I am trying to do, a little more flexible etc. Anyway I hope that you will all follow me over to wordpress.

Thanks JCM

www.johncmorris.wordpress.com

Being Green for a Zine...sorta

So my good pal Jordan is putting together a zine/book of drawings through his new press, Kitty Cat Press. It is a zine of drawings printed in black and white, and he asked a number of friends if they had any drawings sitting around that they wanted to contribute. (The more sitting around the better he said) So looking through some work, I found some drawings I thought might fit the criteria. These are some drawings that I made some time ago, they were ink and water color, and were some of my first attempts using watercolor, post middle school that is. Anyhow most of them were drawings depicting dinosaurs, or monkeys, or both. Anyway I can't wait to see what Jordan comes up with, he always makes great work.

Lost in Translation

So I am excited to report that I have been asked to participate in the Wakaime Art Studio art exhibition in Anjo, Aichi Japan. I am not really sure what I am going to send yet, perhaps some telepathy drawings, I also thought it might be interesting to show images of Japan via WDW, decisions, decisions! If anyone has suggestions I would be happy to entertain them. I have considered even sending some Coloring Colonialism Drawings, so please let me know what you think. This will be the first show abroad that I have had so I want it to be just right. It is doubly exciting because Christina was born in Japan, sometimes things just feel like fate...

The Yakitori House in Epcot from the series 32380

A Proposal

So Christina and I sat down today to do a few telepathy drawings. We have a show coming up in January-February time period of next year (2010) and I thought it would be good to start working on some new work for the exhibition. That being said I also had an ulterior motive for wanting to do some drawings this weekend.

As many of you know Christina and I have known each other since Grad School, and we started to date some time after that, needless to say we have been in each others lives for quite some time now. Recently we have decided that we wanted to make a larger more traditional statement of our commitment to each other, and thus we have decided to get engaged to be married. Well that decision became official this afternoon, and the question was posed telepathically at the end of our drawing session.

This was the final drawing of the afternoon and the telepathic message was "Will You Marry Me?".

She answered "Yes..."

Updates

So we just got back from a wonderful weekend seeing my parents in Athens Ga. It was a whirlwind tour d'force that consisted of a lot of yummy eats, (sadly no Varsity) and marveling at 3 Alpaca's, one that went by the name of Skids, I didn't inquire. All in all it was a grand time.

In addition I got my film back from the Lost Wages trip and I am going to post a few over the next couple of days so please stay tuned.

Slots and Doilies

So we went to Vegas, we had a wonderful time, saw Christina's family, had some yummy food, and of course lost some money. Yes we played the slots, we were on a quarter machine and Christina did not have the hot hand, fortunately we only lost 8 large, dollars that is. It is a strange city, looking out from the 14th floor of the Golden Nugget you can see how the town is surrounded by nothing but desert (one s not two). Talking to a number of locals we got the sense that Vegas has been hit pretty hard by the recent recession, and we noticed that this was the least number of people we have ever seen there. One thing that was kind of fun that we did was go to a little "local" bar, I think it was called beauty, or something similar, anyhow it was closest thing that I have been too that reminds me of the local bars back home in Athens Ga. It was decked out in 50's and 60's salon parafenalia, in fact I sat in one of those big "perm" dome chairs. The DJ was playing 80's music, and it provided a nice backdrop for a trip down memory lane.

So we were there for about 3 nights, and we managed to get back on Sunday, in that we were very lucky because all of the flights were soldout, we had the air travel gods looking out for us because we managed to get the last two seats on the last plane out, flying stand by. Most lucky! So I shot about 4 rolls of film while we were there, and I am looking forward to getting them processed and sharing some images, again it is a very strange place!

Once we got back to Baltimore, we got directly back into our routines, Christina at SWA and myself teaching down at MC, MICA, and holding down the fort at the crib. But on Thursday I was able to break away from the norm to have a little studio visit with Seth Crawford. He is a 2nd year MFA student at MICA who just took down a wonderful thesis show, and is about to start thinking about what next. I saw Mr Crawford's show before we went to Vegas and I asked if we could meet to discuss the availability of a piece from his show. It is an image of Charles Bronson, of Death Wish fame, printed on a Doily. The image is spectacular and I fell immediately in love with it. Long story short it has been added to our collection and we look forward to visitors dropping by having some tea and pondering the importance of Mr Bronson's impact on American Cinema.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the lovely weather that has been brought in by the season of Spring...

Sweet!

So with the other major Sweet Holiday just passing, and it looking like Vegas will be a go I thought I would take a moment to put up an image that was made at the Telepathy Station back in 2006. We were a part of a show that was put together by Trifocal Projects called Thread and it was held at Artspace in New Haven Ct. Anywho, this was a drawing that came from one of the pairs of visitors who sat down and made a drawing. I have always enjoyed this image, and with the Weather being perfect for our trip to Vegas, and the sweetness of Chocolate still lingering from the weekend, well I thought it was somehow relevant. I hope everyone is having a good start of the week, and I will let you know if we hit it big...

"Low Fat Mayonaise" by Nick a visitor participating with the Telepathy Station at Artspace, New Haven Ct. 2006

Land of Temptation

So as some may or may not know, Christina and I have a soft spot for locales that are heavy on escapism, and if not WDW, then what better place to go for a couple of days than Las Vegas. Now I am not sure if we will in fact get away, last time I took some time off for a trip I ended up spending it in lovely Towson, but if we do manage to get there we will be relaxing at the Golden Nugget. Now this will be a first for us, we have stayed at the Rio, and the Venetian, but never downtown so it should be pretty exciting. Now if we do indeed go, which will be for a Birthday Party, I will be taking along the Mamiya 7 so I can do a little shooting, while we wander around. Neither Christina or I have much of a taste for gaming, but we love the shopping (window), the food, and the overall ambiance of the city. So wish us some luck in getting out of town, and I will hopefully be able to share some new work from Vegas. Until then the hopes and dreams captured in WDW will have to hold us over. Keep your fingers crossed...

"Untitled" from 32380

Options and Motives

So yesterday I spoke with some of my classes about cameras, we discussed how we can talk about them, describe them, how and why cameras differ, and some of the corresponding strengths and weaknesses. In doing so I showed them my antique 8 x 10 field camera. This thing is a relic, it is over 100 years old at this point, but it still more or less works. Anyway when ever I share it the students find it rather interesting, and usually are curious as to whether or not it still works, and in fact it does. This is an image from "Interior Motives" that I am particularly fond of. It was shot using Fuji Crystal Archive color paper as the negative, which I rated at ISO 12.

"Untitled" from Interior Motives, a 8 x 10 contact print

Clowning Around

So it is spring beak and what better way to celebrate than going to the Circus. Initially we had planned on going to Texas to see Christina's folks, relax, have some Mexican food, watch Nicholas Cage save us from doom, but alas the flights did not look so good, thus with Cirque du Soleil being in town with Kooza, we thought...why not. For those who have not been to the Cirque shows, they are quite entertaining, there are wonderful costumes, amazing feats of strength and balance, music, and of course clowns. The first show we saw was La Nouba, it is a permanent show located in the Happiest Place on Earth, we saw another show when it visited Baltimore about 3 years ago and kooza makes my 3rd. Christina on the other hand I think has seen just about everyone they have, but she also has gone in conjunction with work, etc etc.

In addition to seeing Kooza this weekend, I hope to go and finish having framed a David Shrigley print that we have. We bought it about a year ago, we got got a frame made for it but we balked when it came to buying the glass. I am not sure why it has taken this long to go head and finish getting the thing done but I guess it is one of those things. Christina has mentioned wanting to take some time aside this weekend and finish/start some projects and taking care of The Human Body is one of the former. Well I guess that is about it for now, I plan on posting another drawing or two from Lineweight so check back soon, and I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to Spring!

"The Human Body" Limited Edition Screenprint by David Shrigley

Anonymous Letters...

So here are two more drawings
from Lineweight,
one of them has the thought that was being sent, which happens to be Letters of Resignation, the other drawing however, does not have the thought listed for it's title. Now typically I might be a bit hesitant to post a drawing without a thought attached, but I really liked this drawing so I have decided to do so anyway. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.


"Anonymous Thought" and "Letters of Resignation" Telepathy Drawings made by visitors of Lineweight at Truman State University.

Kelly Green

So while I was at Montgomery College today one of my colleagues mentioned to me that there was to be an opening tonight, which I sadly could not attend, for a print making show, highlighting many works found in the counties print collection. Among the various works, one could find pieces by Dine, Christainberry, but what struck my fancy was a Ellsworth Kelly lithograph of one his leaf drawings. It is relatively large, 28x36 in. (aprx) and truly striking. I have been a fan of these images for quite some time, ever since I saw the book of drawings comparing/contrasting Kelly's plant drawings with those of Matisse. Anywho it was really a treat to finally get to see one in person, and I must say it was quite extraordinary.

So in honor of that, and in relation to a NPR segment talking about deforestation in Africa, and the resulting rise in green house gasses, I thought I would go with a plant photograph this time. This image was taken in the Animal Kingdom, and was in the "Cambodia-ish" area, if I remember correctly. I snapped it right before we hitched a safari ride and saved a baby elephant from poachers, but that is a story for another time.

Great Wall of Japan

So as some of you may or may not know Christina and her brother Stevie were both born in Japan, so every time we go to EPCOT we must show the proper amount of respect to her birth land by spending an appropriate amount of time shopping in the Mitsukoshi Department Store. There you can buy everything from Sake and Bonsai Trees, to trying your luck finding a pearl in an oyster, ps I think that is rigged, everyone seems to be a winner.

Anyhow, it is one of our favorite stops when we go, we ussually check out the drums, and while Christina is looking at the dishes (she loves the dishes) I like to swing by the tin toy exhibit. Last time we were there, I got to show that to my Dad, and he got a real kick out of them.

Anyhow this is a shot going over the moat into the back of the store, I will add some more pictures eventually.

Staples from the Show

So here is another image from the Lineweight Show. The thought was Blue Stapler Stapling Paper.

I will post some more images soon. There were such a number of wonderful drawings that were made in Missouri, I wish I could post them all, but that would probably be a bit much.

Christina and I have had a lot of fun looking at all the work that was made during the show, and I really am digging this one, partly because it looks like an old style satellite, and of course being a David Bowie fan, satellites and changes, well what's not to like.

"Blue Stapler Stapling Paper" Telepathy Drawing made by visitors of Lineweight at Truman State University.

Oh Canada-A Short Look

So as I mentioned we spent some time recently in WDW and while we were there we toured EPCOT and its World Pavilion. We had a grand time going through the different countries, and one Nation we stopped in for a visit was Canada. While we were there we small a small 360 film about Canada, which of course makes you want to move there, it looks wonderful, and it doesn't hurt that Martin Short narrates/hosts the movie, I am not sure if it helps either, but who dislikes Martin Short, he gave us Ed Grimley.

In addition to the movie, and Martin Short there is also a song sang by Eva Avila, which she performs twice (in essence) once in English and again in French, that is to unofficially satisfy the dual language rules of Canada. By the way I didn't know it but Canada has it's own Idol show and Eva was one of its winners. FYI

Anyhow here are a couple of images from Canada, I hope you enjoy!

A Theme takes Shape

So in keeping with the idea of WDW the next image posted from the Telepathy Drawings is titled Cinderella. It was contributed by visitors of the TSU Gallery in Kirksville Mo.

Now to briefly describe the process of making a Telepathy Drawing.

First you and a partner need to decide to sit down and participate. The process, when Christina and I have a session, lasts for 7 minutes. I would not recommend much shorter of a duration of time due to the fact that it may take a few moments to actually be able to send a thought across. The next step is to figure out who will send the message, and who will receive and record the message. When Christina and I have a session, I transmit the idea, and Christina receives and transcribes the message. Once you have designated who will perform which duty, it is time to sit down and get to work.

With our telepathy station one will find a timer, writing utensils, paper, and a notebook full of random suggestions that one may be interested in attempting to send telepathically. Once the pair sits down it is a good idea to relax and try to clear one's mind of distractions. The person designated to transmit a thought should prepare themselves to pick a singular thought, in this instance it was Cinderella, and when both parties are ready, they should begin.

Once you begin, both participants should sit quietly, and for the next 7 minutes the transmitter needs to solely focus on the one thought, in this case Cinderella, and the receiver needs to clear their mind and wait for the message to come through. Once the receiver begins to "hear" something they should begin recording that which they are receiving. It is important that both participants remain silent and focused on the task at hand. Once the time it is up, you should discuss what you "heard" and "felt", and the process from your side of the divide, and of course, discuss the results of your telepathic exchange.

Christina and I have had a lot of fun with the process, and in addition we have engaged in many an interesting discourse, not only about our results, but what it means as both an artistic practice and as a collaboration. We hope that you too will find the project similarly engaging and fun.

Thanks and enjoy!

"Cinderella" Telepathy Drawing made by visitors of Lineweight at Truman State University.

WDW update

So a couple of reminders, Christina and I went to the Happiest Place on Earth a couple of weeks ago, and had a grand time. We met up with my folks and had a whirl wind tour of Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, MGM (which has been renamed Hollywood Studios) and the Animal Kingdom. We all had a lot of fun and I of course took the opportunity to shoot some film.

So in addition to the updates to the Telepathy Drawing Experience I am going to be posting some images from our past trip to the H.P.O.E. I haven't actually made any prints yet from these negatives but I wanted to put my new scanner through its paces. It is an Epson Perfection V500 Photo, and so far I am fairly pleased with the results, especially when you consider it was under 200 dollars. For those of you who may be interested in what I was shooting with, it was a Mamiya 7ii, and I was putting Kodak tmax 400 through it rated at 200.

This was a shot in Morocco hope you enjoy...

Wait There's More To Come

So Lineweight closed a little over a week ago and the work was delivered home today safe and sound. I am happy to say that in the box of goodies we received were about 50 drawings that were created during the course of the show. As most of you know, Christina and I have been making Telepathy Drawings the last couple of years, the first of which were put into a small artist book that was made for Jordan Bernier's Valentine's Day Hullabaloo Show. FYI Jordan gave a huge assist in putting together the little book as well, so he deserves a double round of thanks. Anyhow, since then Christina and I have been asking gallery goers to take their own opportunity to be apart of the fun. So far we have drawings from Baltimore Md., New Haven Ct., Athens Ga., and now new additions from Kirksville Mo.

Over the next couple of days I will be posting some of the drawings that were made during the show at Truman State University. Ultimately the goal we have is to compile the drawings made at the different venues with our own, and publish a book chronicling the experiment. Christina and I would like to thank all of the people who took time to visit the show and added their voices to the dialogue. In addition, we would like to say thank you to Aaron Fine for putting together a wonderful exhibit about drawing and including us in it.

We hope you enjoy the drawings over the next couple of days.

"War of 1812" Telepathy Drawing made by visitors of Lineweight at Truman State University.

Opening of Involving Violence

So we went to the opening tonight of the new show at School 33, and it was a well attended affair. A number of friends and family were able to attend, Christina's folks made it in from Texas, our friends Megan and Steven, and Kate and Travis also came, to name just a few. Christina and I were able to meet the curators of the show, Carrie and Karin, in from Chicago, who were both very nice and seemed happy with how everything has turned out. There is a wide assortment of work, including drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. We also were able to speak with Jason Hughes who is in charge of the programing at School 33 and he is very excited about the direction of the Center. He told us about the different outreach programs being developed as well as the change in this years LOTTA ART exhibition, one of the galleries fund raising opportunities, which seems interesting. Long story short the show looks good and the opening was fun. So if you are in town and get to swing by the show I hope you enjoy it.


Photograph courtesy of Christina Ayala

Quick Reminder Involving Violence

Hey All, so Involving Violence Opens tomorrow at School 33 and I wanted to give you some more information.

The show runs from February 20 – April 11, 2009, with the opening happening tomorrow from 6 – 9 pm. (Fri the 20th)

The show was curated by Karin Patzke and Carrie Ruckel of Lasso Gallery in Chicago, and the show is apart of School 33 Art Center’s Annual Open Call to Curators. The show combines part of the show which 1st occured in Chicago withBaltimore area artists including Ramsey Barnes, Gerecho Delaney,Matthew Freel, Brook Halvorson, Diane Ramos, Marilee Schumann and myself, and the Chicago area artists include: Alan Lerner, Regina Mamou, Sari Maxfield, Joe Sikora, Jason Stec, Krista Wortendyke

Gallery Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 – 4 pm | Thursday 10 – 7 pm | Saturday 12 – 4 pm

Below is a description of the show from the Jurors:

Involving Violence features thirteen artists, mostly from the Chicago and Baltimore areas, whose work addresses issues of violence and hostility that disrupt daily life. As consumers, Americans are constantly bombarded with glamorous and violent images in the media and popular culture. Aggression manifests itself in many different situations and the show avoids creating a hierarchy of violence by juxtaposing images and objects that approach the subject in a variety of ways. The artists featured in the exhibition explore issues such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, gun violence, police brutality and sexual assault. From combative sports to law enforcement to self-defense, this exhibition explores the proximity of violence to our daily lives and the difficulty in distinguishing if and when acts of force are necessary. Involving Violence hopes to draw attention to these situations and engage the viewer by questioning the actions and motivations of ourselves and others.

There will be a number of panel discussions and community events linked to this show so please see School 33's website for a more complete list. Hope to see you at the opening

Two of a Kind

As most of you know Christina and I are crazy about art, and for Valentine's Day Christina got me a print from one of her favorite Baltimore Boutiques, Double Dutch. I happened to have gotten her a gift from there as well, but that is another story. Anyhow I wanted to share an image of the new addition to our happy home. The artists are Ashley G and Drew, and they live in Portland, you can follow the link for more info. I think the image is pretty sweet, does it look like anyone you know?

Ps. Christina wants everyone to know I got her a tree of enchantment ( a pussy willow) and she is really excited about it!

Involving Colonialism

So I have work going into the Involving Violence show that opens Friday the 20th at School 33. The show is a joint venture between Lasso Gallery located in Chicago, and Baltimore's own School 33. The Coloring Colonialism Drawings are in the show. I will post more info about the show in the next day or so. Until then I hope everyone has a Happy Valentines Day.

The opening Reception is Friday 6-9pm...

Lineweight Essay

So Christina pointed out to me that our post on the Lineweight exhibition essay that accompanies the show did not have a very obvious link to the essay and the Truman State Art Blog, so I am going to try this again.

So this is the exhibition poster which lists all of the various artists included in the show, it also serves as a link to the essay by the shows curator Aaron Fine, and in addition, at the end of this post you will find the link. Here however is a preview of the essay, this next paragraph is he opening paragraph by Mr. Fine on his show.

"Lineweight is an exhibition of drawing about drawing. I began this process with a question about what accounts for the weight given to drawing in contemporary critical discourse. I end with a variety of answers, and a sense that inter-disciplinarity, innovation, and universality are all at play in this heyday for drawing as an end in itself." ~ Aaron Fine from his essay on the show Lineweight, currently showing at Truman State University.

http://tsugallery.wordpress.com/

The Happiest Place on Earth

So Christina and I are off this weekend to visit Disney World. I will be shooting more film for the project 32380. Currently some of this work is up at Montgomery College in their faculty show. The work is looking to re-examine the context and effect of escapism, artifice, and the suspension of disbelief in architecture and planned landscapes. 32830’s imagery hopes to depict landscapes through which humans escape while engaging fantasy, early memories, and visions of ideal states of being. The work has been shaping up through black and white t-max 400 film being shot with a Mamiya 7. As we have it planned this weekend, we will only be visiting EPCOT but hopefully we will also be able to get by either MGM or the Animal Kingdom, which of course is "notazu". As I get the work sorted and processed I will share more images.

Truman State Art Gallery

So Lineweight opens tomorrow in Missouri. They have started a Art Gallery blog about the goings on there, and Lineweight is the first show to be looked at and discussed in such a way. I am looking forward to seeing what transpires on the blog. I wish Christina and I could make it to the opening to assist with the Telepathy Station, it is always a lot of fun seeing how people interact with each other and the experience. I will perhaps find some old footage of people participating and post it later. By the way this image is entitled "Two mules and a shovel"

Lineweight

So we received the postcard for Lineweight and wanted to share it with you. There is supposed to be a e-book put together documenting the show and as soon as we get more information and images from the show we will post them. During the show we are inviting the gallery guests to make their own additions to the project. Once we get those we will be posting the results from their own telepathic experiment. We hope you enjoy.

Lineweight Update

So to give just a small update on the show out in Missouri called Lineweight, we shipped the work and it got there safe and sound last Friday. We have put in five works, "Diesel Power", shown here, as well as "Sputnik", "Two Mules and a Shovel", "Crimson and Cover", and "Robert Smithson". We also will have set up, a Telepathy Station, so the gallery visitors will have an opportunity to make their own contributions to the show. The show is looking at the importance of Drawing in Contemporary Art practice. 15 artists have been selected for the show, including Christina and myself. It looks like it is going to be a really interesting show including a diverse style of works regarding drawing. A few artists included are Ron Kovatch, Sam King, and Fiona Robinson.

Here are links to some of their sites.

http://www.fionarobinson.info/
http://ronkovatch.com/
http://sam-king.com

Dark Matters on The Eventual Horizon

I wanted to take a moment to share a current project that I am working on. I have been interested for quite some time at the surface of science, specifically theories surrounding light speed, black holes, and the general histories of time and space. The general understanding of many of these principles have been made quite accessible over the last 20 years, where as the true science behind this understanding is extremely advanced and highly theoretical, beyond the scope of many. It is this junction between high science and base understanding that the project The Eventual Horizon lies. This project is based upon my desire (and my personal interest) to infuse this dialogue with a renewed sense of mystery, joy and wonderment. This is one of the first images made for the project, it is a digital image manipulated and printed with Ultrachrome on Epson Matte paper. It is titled "Dark Matters". I will post more as the project evolves.