mistaken identity and mississippi studios

i was really excited to catch this picture of larry rinder



then, i realized that it wasn't him, but it is so hard to match a beer cozy to a face these days.



i was under the impression that larry rinder's lecture was going to be set up differently. i enjoyed hearing about the work coming out of CCA, but i wanted to find out a little more about his history and experiences. as a grad student, it is good for me to hear him talk about work that is being created around the same time as my own. it was even harder to hear that students coming from one of the best MFA programs are not even funding their lives through art. i really liked how he wanted to bring up the idea of giving business advise to students. that is something that i feel would be a really important part of school but is left out. for some "object" makers, work can be sold and it feels good to sell the work. in my undergrad, they touched a little on that, but it was always this hush hush thing. going to art school is about building up your concepts, techniques and studio practice. it really can develope someone. what happens though is that you get to that point and you wonder, "what do i do next? where should i show? can i show this work?"
it has been an interesting experience learning alongside "social practicers." talking with them recently has been interesting because many of them are also "object" makers but are more interested in the interactive social part of what art can do. i think that this is an amazing venture, and one that will be morphing the "art world". what it does show to me is that i am more of a "traditional" artist. it will be interesting to see if any of those concepts will creep into my work, but i want to stay stubborn in my art practice. it is hard because you want to push yourself to do work that is compelling to the "artworld," but i would love to be able to just paint. be a painter. sell my work to sustain my life. it is an idealized world, but one that i would like to try for. is that ok?



so, after the lecture, i went to mississippi studios and was still processing some of the things that were brought up in the lecture. it was a cd release show for Run On Sentence, The Builders & the Butchers, and Shoeshine Blue. they were all folky, eclectic and emotional. it felt good to go to something were i was able to just sit back and let the music take over. going to all of these lectures has been great, but this was a different "art" experience. folk music has a history of giving people the chance to overcome something difficult in their lives. i want to paint as if i were writing a folk song. i want to deal with many of the emotions that are going through me right now and interact with people in that way. maybe that can be my social practice; practicing letting myself go to influence someone else's emotions quietly through my paintings.