File under STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics)

Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller (July 12, 1895 July 1, 1983) was an American architect, author, designer, futurist, inventor, and visionary, sometimes called the Leonardo Divinci of our time. In 2010, the Whitney Museum of American Art organized an exhibition about Fuller. See the Whitney's exhibition trailer here: http://youtu.be/f1Rq0fpdjS0

File under STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics)

Artist David Goldes says "My interest is science is very experiential, rooted in childhood experiments." For more information about the artist who draws from his science background and finds inspiration in physical phenomena, watch the profile produced by MNoriginal: http://youtu.be/Y-acZRDxjW8

File under STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics)

This artwork's title refers to:

• an optical phenomena known as a "green flash" that occurs at sunset when the Earth's atmosphere functions as a prism, separating light into its constituent colors.
• A Jules Verne novel from 1882.

Thanks for the suggestion, Catherine! Get more information about Frog Girl here, on Paul Owen Lewis' website: http://www.paulowenlewis.com/books/froggirl.html.

The following is an article from the Walker Art Center magazine (January/February 2009 issue):

In early 2008, as Walker curator Yasmil Raymond was preparing the installation of the current exhibition Statements: Beuys, Flavin, Judd, a light went on in her head. She remembered having glimpsed a screened projection in Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof in 2005—specifically, while browsing through that museum’s collection of works by German artist Joseph Beuys (1921–1986). She got in touch with Eva Beuys, the artist’s widow, who helped her contact filmmaker Helmut Weitz, the artist’s good friend and frequent documentarian. After a few exchanges with these two obliging, art-centric octogenarians, Raymond had acquired for the Walker a copy of Weitz’s 37-minute, 16mm black-and-white film I Like America and America Likes Me (1974). The only visual documentation of one of Beuys’ most significant “actions” (and the only one to take place in the United States), this work has rarely been exhibited. Weitz’s seminal documentary is on view on DVD in the Walker exhibition galleries through June 12.

Beuys conceived one of the most compelling—and still provocative—aesthetic programs of the postwar period. His sculptures, performances, lectures, and political activism were all part of a grand, enormous goal: the transformation of Western culture into a more peaceful, democratic, and positive system. His famous slogan, “Everyone is an artist,” proposed that this could be achieved if only human beings would apply their innate creative energies to their current fields of endeavor. These were highly utopian aspirations, no doubt, but Beuys dedicated himself to them, hoping to reinvigorate society. While he counted debate, discussion, and teaching as part of his expanded definition of art, he also made objects, installations, multiples, and performances, which he called actions. His charismatic presence, his urgent and public calls for reform of all kinds, and his unconventional artistic style gained him international notoriety as well as strong skepticism during his lifetime. “That’s a funny thing about contemporary art,” Raymond says. “Sometimes the brilliance of artworks pass before our eyes like splatters of light, and sometimes they’re so far away that we need a telescope to see them. It’s a hard balance, but [curators] struggle every day to see, with the right distance, what needs to be seen at a given moment.”

Beuys was introduced to performance art in 1962 and soon viewed it as a medium with the potential for self-healing and social transformation. Though Fluxus artists and those creating Happenings often didn’t record their performances, Beuys understood that this early example of a durational piece needed to be documented. The action Coyote: I Like America and America Likes Me began the minute he arrived at New York City’s JFK airport. His feet barely touched American soil—he had himself wrapped in felt, put into an ambulance, and taken directly to the René Block Gallery in Soho, where he spent three days in a room with a coyote. Watching the evolving relationship between the artist and the animal, Raymond says, is “almost like going on a journey. A photograph wouldn’t show that; it’s fascinating to think of Beuys’ action as a situation ‘constructed’ for the camera.”

I noticed Beauty one Tuesday morning on the way to my office. Just a day earlier, the polished plaster wall had been bare. Then suddenly, Beauty appeared, spelling out its red message as I advanced down the hall. An Oscar Wilde quote about beauty, ugliness, prettiness, flickered in my mind, its perfect phrasing clumsily misremembered. Arriving at my computer, first task of the day: look up that quote.

But why stop at Wilde? What do other writers, artists, figures from history, and philosophers have to say about beauty?

"The beauty of things must be that they end."

Jack Kerouac

A quote by the artist, Edward Hopper: "The picture was probably first suggested by many rides on the 'L' trains in New York City after dark and glimpses of office interiors that were so fleeting as to leave fresh and vivid impressions on my mind.

My aim was to try to give the sense of an isolated and lonely office interior rather high in the air with the office furniture which has a very definite meaning for me.

There are three sources of light in the picture: indirect lighting from above, the desk light and the light coming through the window. The light coming from outside and falling on the wall in back made a difficult problem, as it is almost painting white on white; it also made a strong accent of the edge of the filing cabinet which was difficult to subordinate to the figure of the girl.

I was also interested in the sombre richness of the furniture against the white walls. Any more than this, the picture will have to tell, but I hope it will not tell any obvious anecdote, for none is intended."

Source: http://www.walkerart.org/archive/D/B9738186898B24666167.htm

Another work by Danh Vo, titled We The People, is on view outside the Art Institute of Chicago. Here's a link to a New York Times article about that artwork: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/arts/design/danh-vos-we-the-people-project-in-chicago.html?smid=pl-share

David Nash's Standing Frame has been deinstalled and is no longer on view.

The link above for "On View at the Walker 2009" is broken. To get a list of exhibitions on view at the Walker Art Center, use ArtsConnectEd's Art Finder as follows:

• First, navigate to the "Events" tab. (These are the blue tabs arranged horizontally, just above the search results.)
• Use the "Institution" filter to select Walker Art Center.
• Lastly, use the "Type" filter to choose exhibitions.

Let's examine this work.

• Use the "Zoom" tool to inspect the surface for subtle variations. (To activate the Zoom tool, hover the mouse/cursor over the image and click on the "+" sign that appears.) In the lower third of the paper you may see faint lines, making it look like the paper is scored, folded, or has a slightly dimensional quality.
• Find more information on the "Details" tab. The physical description states that we're looking at a "blind intaglio of triangle and rectangle." In printmaking, a "blind" print is made without ink. Paper can be debossed or embossed by using a plate (or other form) and applying pressure.

Here's another example of a Set that looks at how and why collections are made. Bob Peterson's Set titled Artobiographies encourages students to tell their personal histories by collecting images and works of art.

If you're intrigued by the democratic approach of 50/50, you may be interested in the Plains Art Museum's exhibition You LIke This: A Democratic Approach to the Permanent Collection. Read more in this blog post: http://plainsart.org/weblog/you-like-this-handpick-the-work-for-an-upcoming-exhibition/

This Set contains many quotes by the artist, whose words are articulate and a pleasure to read. I enjoyed how LeWitt's tone ranges from serious to witty.

This artwork is on view in the Walker exhibition The Spectacular of Vernacular (January 29–May 8, 2011).

This artwork is on view in the Walker exhibition The Spectacular of Vernacular (January 29–May 8, 2011).

This artwork is on view in the Walker exhibition The Spectacular of Vernacular (January 29–May 8, 2011).

This artwork is on view in the Walker exhibition The Spectacular of Vernacular (January 29–May 8, 2011).

This artwork is on view in the Walker exhibition The Spectacular of Vernacular (January 29–May 8, 2011).