Space Adventure

After looking at possible spaces yesterday it seems as if we need to know exactly who can post money for a space, meaning who steady income and can help dish the plate.  My consideration at this point would be the Ferndale location next to an Art and Design/Silk Screening business run by past alumni of CCS.  This space is ideal for its location off of Woodward and has a great possibility of a storefront and gallery window, with space availability also, though not a great deal for a group of 6-8.  The space located on the service drive of Southfield Fwy also looks potentially good for a solid studio space with a loading door and possible outside presentation for work.  The location of this space is the only  concern as it is a good distance away from Detroit and is out of the question for anyone wanting to bike to their studio.  Monday Gil has arranged a meeting at Noon with someone to look at Russell spaces.  At this point Russell looks great for the range of big spaces and location.  Signing out Francis Francias

Composure.

So I think last night went well.

Ashley, Dan, Kevin and I all presented things that we've been working on lately.
During Ashley's crit, she mentioned her relationship to music in her art making, and also spoke in some music terms (ie. orchestrating, composing) I like these terms a lot better than some terms visual artists use like 'make' and 'create'. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to using them, but I feel like they connote something that is more purposeful. I think it's important to remember that we are the composers of whatever we do. We have the power to use elements of design and turn it into our language... but what happens along the way (hopefully) is that the elements add up to something greater than the sum of the parts. Color, contrast, shape, line, composition, are all tools that we can use to communicate. It's funny that terms that I thought were just things that made something look nice, are actually things that are essential to the language of visual art.

Since last night, I've been thinking a lot about these things, and I'm not totally sure if what I said above made any sense to anyone besides myself...

HOLLER!

hey so, I don't know what we are doing this week, because I left early last week. but uhhh, I've been working on this painting, and it's too big to just bring over (4 by 5 ft). So I just wanted to post it to get some responses. I've already gotten a few from people which has been great... I started it because I was interested in what the composition was doing. I needed something big to work on, and it's been satisfying so far, but I wanted to know what it was saying to everyone. Again, it's not done, but I think you all have a good idea of how it will turn out as you are familiar with my other work. :) Also, please excuse the glare in the upper right. it was awful trying to get a decent photo of this.

Crit Group Meeting -Tuesday, June 30-2009

Tuesday(for those who could not come) we discussed further the spaces, and whether we are looking at a space for working or a space for showing and most of us (others, please correct me if im wrong) kind of agreed that working takes priority over having an Official gallery rightnow, however we would like somewhere to put our work that is clean and professional looking. We also were talking about houses and locations. I think we are becoming less i nterested in houses because they are quite small for this size group, and Curtis McGuire brought up the Russell industrial center as a possibility. Well see how that goes.
-It would be great if a space came up on an available day for a few of us to check out together. If anyone finds any, post them on the blog and we could maybe set up an appointment to go check it out.

After the discussion about space, Julia and Kurt presented work that led to a discussion and into conversation. I enjoyed it, i hope they found it somewhat beneficial.

The times are still as was. Tuesdays after 7. Last weeks meeting went quite late and everyone who wanted to show up was able to.

-Ashley