Category Archives: CAA
Clayton Merrell
Clayton Merrell grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, and Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. He studied painting and printmaking at Brigham Young University and the Yale School of Art, where he earned an MFA in 1995. He received a Fulbright Grant to Oaxaca, Mexico in 1996-97. His work is exhibited and collected widely, with recent exhibitions at: The American Embassy in Belmopan, Belize; Slow Gallery, Chicago; The Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell NM; Concept Gallery, Pittsburgh PA; the A+D Gallery, Chicago; and the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua NY. He was the 2005 Artist of the Year at The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh PA. He has received awards and grants from the Pro-Arts Foundation, Skowhegan, the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Blue Mountain Center, the Vermont Studio Center, Artists Image Resource, and the Center for the Arts in Society. During 2004-05 he was a fellow at the Roswell Artist-In-Residence Foundation. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.
Dwayne Butcher: What brings you to CAA this year? Any particular panels, sessions or is it just a good reason to come to New York?
Clayton Merrell: This year for me, it is mostly a good excuse to come to New York? (Carnegie Mellon) is conducting preliminary interviews for our Sculpture position. It is always good to come and see people, people I have not seen in a long time.
DB: Can you talk about your experience of interviewing at CAA?
CM: I interviewed for many positions at CAA, back in the day. But, not for the position I have now. We actually just had a discussion in our department that we do not like to conduct interviews at CAA because it is such a weird environment. The amount of stress that everyone is under, it is almost unfair to the candidates, because of the pressure cooker quality of the conference. We find that people are more relaxed under different circumstances. That was certainly the case with my interviews.
DB: So, what kind of things are you working on in the studio?
CM: Right now I am working on these medium scale drawing/paintings that are prepatory works for large-scale paintings. I just bought a bunch of giant stretcher bars, 8′ and 6′ in length, to get ready for this summer. So, now I am working on these 22″ x 30″ sketches for the larger paintings, working through a lot of ideas. I am painting a lot of explosions, actually. Explosions are on the brain, exploding landscapes, combing very pretty, very delicate elements with some chaotic imagery.
DB: Talk about some of your upcoming activities? Do you have any future exhibition or travel plans?
CM: I am taking a sabbatical next year, so, I am looking forward to doing a lot of stuff, travel wise. I have a show this summer at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. I have an exhibition at the Caseworks Project in Memphis, TN….
DB: Which will be the highlight of the year for Memphis.
CM: Oh, I assume so. I am also applying for several residencies and will probably head down to Mexico for a couple of months. I used to live in Mexico and look forward to going back for several months. I will do that and set up a show (in Mexico) for the work I will make while visiting.
DB: Is there a particular region or scenery that you prefer to visit that will benefit the work?
CM: I don’t know about for the work, really. Being in different places in general make there way into the work. I am not one of those people that travel around looking for inspiration.
DB: So, your landscapes are invented?
CM: They are totally made up. I do not use any photo references. I tried plein air once and it was a disaster. I took a large canvas outside once and hung it upside down on these two large posts and painted it like it was above me, like it was the sky. I thought it would be a funny twist on plein air painting, but it was a terrible painting.
DB: What is your favorite artist, book, color, smell and food.
CM: I hate these questions. I will do book first, Let’s Talk About Love by Carl Wilson. Artist? It depends on who I am looking at, at that moment. Food: Extremely spicy Mexican Food. Color: It is not an individual color but I combination of colors. I will have to show you swatches. Smell: Ha, I have no idea.
William Coleman’s Quick Thoughts on Representing Gothic
William L. Coleman, Ph.D. Candidate at UC Berkeley prepares for his session presentation at the Hilton New York. February 11, 2011. (Image Credit: Tempestt Hazel)
William L. Coleman, Ph.D. Candidate in History of Art at University of California, Berkeley:
I got a lot out of the session I attended yesterday morning called Representing Gothic, convened by Stephen Murray of Columbia [University] and [Andrew J. Tallon], an associate from Vassar [College]. There were also several perspectives on architectural, historical and traditional inquiry on the forms of Gothic architecture and perceptions of it later.
That was the session I got the most out of. There were some really interesting perspectives from Matilde Mateo of Syracuse University and Matthew Reeve of Queen’s University in Ontario. Really interesting, out-of-the-box thinking about the afterlives of this style, what it has meant and what it continues to mean.
Attend William Coleman’s session, Music and Other Paradigms for Nineteenth-Century Art, Part II, where he will be presenting Sibelius, Gallen-Kallela, and the Musical Landscape. Saturday, February 12, 2011, 2:30-5pm, Madison Suite, 2nd Floor, Hilton New York.
Perfect storm
Just want to share a small observation that has come encapsulate the experience of a CAA conference. While milling around the Hilton, utterly astounded by the sheer number of folks, I glanced to the escalators, when I spied two gentleman, one ascending and another headed below. In their moment of recognizing a friend, they perfectly timed a handshake across the handrails and a quick salutation as they passed each other. How quick one needs to be to see a colleague, learn that a person standing in the corner is well respected scholar, writer, artist, teacher, make the gesture of saying hello and introducing oneself.
Temple of Gloom
Drawing of the Temple of Dendur in its original location by Henry Salt (1780–1827). The drawing was made by Salt during an expedition to southern Egypt and northern Sudan in 1819. The digital version of the drawing is taken from the web site http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk, created and maintained by Simon Hayter, and is copyright free.
Image Via
Last night, shortly after the disappointment of Mubarak’s speech and many hours before today’s extraordinary news, Egypt’s pro-democracy protesters steeled themselves yet again in preparation for uncharted waters. I managed to tear myself away from my Eyptophile twitter stream and hop on the 6 train to the Upper East Side in order to attend CAA’s centennial gala party. Egypt was all that was in my mind. I was not in a party mood.
Inadvertently, the CAA gala, held at the Met’s ubiquitous party venue, The Temple of Dendur, added its own incongruous layer of dowdiness, grandeur and gloom. I guess the main problem was that aside from the full bar and a few bowls of nuts, there was absolutely no food. Not a shred. So for $35, exhausted and hungry scholars were permitted to stand around a crowded ruin and drink, until they were summarily dismissed at 9pm.
We New Yorkers know that the Upper East Side is not a particularly hospitable part of town in which to find oneself exhausted and hungry — not to mention tipsy — especially in the late evening. As we shoved off into the freezing night, pal and fellow blogger Charlotte Frost mentioned she hadn’t eaten since noon. Happily, I know the UES well enough, so I steered us to a favorite joint for nosh on Lexington where we supped on matzo ball soup cheek by jowl with local cab drivers:
Before leaving I did manage to take a few pictures. I was particularly intrigued by CAA members’ widely varying tastes in footwear:
Sabina Ott Talks Media Lounge & “Band of Outsiders”
Still from Jean Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders. Included in publication for Media Lounge program. Februray 10, 2011. (Image Courtesy of Sabina Ott)
Previously I posted about the Media Lounge located at the Hilton on the Concourse Level. As part of an initiative to have more artist participation in the CAA Conference, Sabina Ott and Cindy Smith of the Services to Artists Committee worked back and forth between Chicago, New York and several other parts of the country to bring together nine artists and curators and create a video display to be seen by CAA attendees as well as the entire city of New York. To get more information about the project I sat down with one of the organizers, artist and educator Sabina Ott.
Tempestt Hazel: What is the Media Lounge?
Sabina Ott: The Media Lounge is a project put on by the Service to Artists Committee of the CAA. That was formed because the CAA felt that there wasn’t enough events and services for visual artists. It’s a group of people that aren’t necessarily on the board–there are a couple of board members, but it’s people from all over who have volunteered to be on the committee.
The Media Lounge at the Concourse Level of the Hilton. February 11, 2011. (Image Credit: Tempestt Hazel)
I volunteered to do the Media Lounge this year with Cindy Smith, and excellent New York based installation and video artist. And we decided to try and cover as much territory as possible and really expanded the program. We invited nine curators–and I say curators broadly. Some are curators, some are artists or designers who we asked to create one-hour video programs to their own discretion. They came up with incredible programs. Really beautifully designed, conceptually rigorous programs of video art.
TH: Where else will these videos be screened?
SO: We were offered the opportunity to screen our work at the Big Screen Project here in New York. It is an outdoor screen project where you basically sit at a bar across the street with headphones and watch the big screen video. You can also see it from the street but for sound you must be outside. The Big Screen Project edited the nine hours of work into a two hour program, taking at least one piece from each curator’s vision.
The Center For Book Arts is having a reception on Friday from 5-8pm for [Band of Outsiders]. Everyone should come. Alex Compos, the director of the Center for Book Arts also curated a program [for Band of Outsiders] and will be running the Media Lounge program for the entire month. So, people will be able to see all nine hours if they like.
TH: Where does the name of the program come from?
SO: This is called Band of Outsiders, which is based on a film by [Jean Luc] Godard. We felt that it really encapsulated the spirit of what we were really trying to accomplish and inviting people who are somewhat on the periphery of art production in some way or another.
It’s a brilliant program and brilliant curators! What I’m also very excited about is one of the curators I know, Debra Riley Parr, has curated a program based on design, which isn’t usually represented in these programs.
"Band of Outsiders", a book produced for the exhibition. February 10, 2011. (Image Credit: Tempestt Hazel)
Invited Curators:
Boshko Boskovic, Program Director at Residency Unlimited
Alexander Campos, Executive Director of the Center for Book Arts
David Familian, Artistic Director at Beall Center for Art and Technology
Claudia Hart, Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Martha Kirszenbaum, Research Assistant at the New Museum
Karen Moss, Professor of Art History, Critical Theory Otis College of Art and Design and the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts.
Aily Nash, Film Curator, Filmmaker and Writer
Debra Riley Parr, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Art History at Columbia College Chicago
Catherine Sullivan, professor of art at the University of Chicago
Band of Outsiders will be on view at the Media Lounge in the CAA Conference now through Saturday, February 12th. The publication is available in limited numbers at the Media Lounge. If you want more information about this project and the Big Screen Project, click here.