VOL 07 ISSUE
8 
August 15, 2008
BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE
VOL 07 ISSUE
8 BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE |
| VISIONS: AOKI WORKS CRAY AT UAF | ||||
 Balloon People drift through
their transformed space with infinite replication and calculated atmosphere in a recent
show by Miho Aoki at the MTS Gallery in Mountainview. Shown at right with Night Sky,
she graced the exhibition opening in a bright kimono and cool shoes. The
print was created with information regarding the location of the stars from a select
viewpoint on the earth's surface over a complete rotation, drawn from the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory Star Catalog. In the northern hemisphere, the star Polaris
appears to be fixed at the center. Aoki confided that the print was a negative image
of what might be expected. The light of the stars was inverted to black. Ergo
the dark matter appears as a luminous mass. A factual and deeply mystical perspective that
offers illumination about our place in the Universe. Hmm.. |
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ICE FOG I II III:
ATMOSPHERICS During the cold war, Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens was an
early adapter of computer technology at least in principle and secured funds to purchase
what was at the time the most powerfully assembled computer processing device available.
The University of Alaska at Fairbanks was the lucky recipient of this
largesse, charged with modeling arctic weather and storms in the gulf and divining
the aurora. Doggone thing can perform uncountable operations per fraction of a
second and thus is also ideal for computer generated images (CGI). Aoki's Ice Fog I,
Ice Fog II, and Ice Fog III, respectively from the left, are CGI, as are
many of the fascinating anthropomorphic vignettes in the exhibition. An important distinction exists between manipulating images digitally and generating 3D virtual characters in a charged space. CGI allows the artist to control first tehe source and direction of light and then through ray tracing adjust reflectivity and luminosity of surfaces struck by those light sources. Additional parameters best conceived of as 'atmosphere controls' further viewer closure by minimizing landscape cues. A lot of this is done by applying gradients to enough flat polygons to appear curviform. MESSAGE: HAND TO MOUSE Aoki also presented a number of brush drawings framed like photographs as a balance, including the ink on paper Message shown at left. Read from top to bottom, from right to left, with the date and signature at the lower left with a chop made with a simple phillips head screw. Modestly, Aoki did not confirm that the message was one contradicting Cezanne's legendary breakdown of form into cubes, spheres, and pyramids. Perhaps in hommage to Stevens, Message is that 'It is Tubes, man, Tubes"! |
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ENDANGERED:PRECAST PANELS As
the glassy, cubic expansion of the Museum demonstrates, the appeal of modernism in
architecture is the planar external aspect that mirrors its environment. As Antony
Gormley mentioned in an interview with the ADN, his task will be to construct a public
sculpture worthy of the 'bloody brilliant' architecture. Presumably
something gazing at its own reflection in the mirrored panels. One of architect
David Chipperfield's earliest declarations at the museum was that there 'really was no
regional Alaskan architecture'. This blank statement allowed him to substitute
his own vision entirely. Seen from B Street and 6th, the uncomfortable result of
this notion is apparent in the photo at left. The late Alex Combs was called on by architect Ken Maynard for the original Museum building and commissioned for around $5000 to produce the molds for the precast panels which were a signature embellishment of the facade. The panels were retained as part of the interior of the first expansion and can be seen up close upstairs in the atrium. The photo at left shows the two basic patterns, rotated and alternated in series. The concrete accent panels are just part of the regional appeal Maynard incorporated into his designs. Warm colored, textured wall surface with covered walkways and two 'caches' are also quite indigenous. This modern version of classical relief friezes is also seen at the Ptarmigan Elementary school in east Anchorage, with the leaf form panels designed by Keith Appel (not shown). It takes an honest humility to allow opportunity on a building design for the grand gesture, which was what KTM Associates architects in Lakewood CO spec'd when they laid out blueprints for the building at 1500 West Benson now occupied by Wells Fargo, shown at left. Unsigned and anonymous, the designs have a Southeast Alaskan appeal and were contracted out of the Seattle area when Ken Brady Construction built the building in 1981. Like Combs' design, the Benson and Minnesota panels appear to have been created to type rather than in an attempt to render a particular subject traditionally. This measure of freedom is probably not available to non-native artists in today's politically constricted environment. Perhaps the AMRC building committee is already making arrangements to make the slab sides of the planetarium afterthought less drab and unattractive (not shown). Hopingly they ordered a few replacement glass panels, maybe it's already a wrap. |
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AK HISTORY PARADE:
TAPSCOTT As students statewide abjure the study of our history,
Alaska reaches a sequicentennial jubilee year, starting with the vote in Congress a year
before the State officially joined the Union in 1959. Less than twenty years later,
in the building at F and 5th in Anchorage, banker Ron Rettig commissioned a set of
low-relief precast panels for his then fledgling Alaska Mutual Bank with the theme 'Parade
of Alaska History'. Local entrepreneur James Tapscott (1919-2005) had won
approval for his low-relief mural summarizing Alaska at the Elks Lodge mural in 1967 (now
considered lost: search for tapscott at vilda.alaska.edu). He enthusiastically designed
200 years of history into 160 feet of overhead indoor parapet, now visible in the
Starbucks, shown at left, and in the bank occupying the other half of the original lobby. Tapscott's faltering health led to the employment of John Edward Svenson to finish the ambitious creation with its panoply of characters and landscapes such as can be seen in the photo of Statehood seen at left. Patron saints of the full amalgamation include Robert Atwood and Ernest Guerning, and the US president Eisenhower represented as head and shoulder busts. A close inspection reveals the iconic 'WE'RE IN' headline from Atwood's Anchorage Times and skyline of 4th Avenue's Club 25 at its original location. A small edition book was written as a catalog to the piece in which Rettig offered his opinion that the reliefs with their copious subject matter and didactic nature would be an international draw and high on the must see list of visitors. The recorded history of the Alaskan subcontinent is still short enough to be summarized in this ambitious project. The facility of these artists with this currently overlooked technique is fabulous. In the Tapscott/Svenson Mining panel shown at left, can-can girls perform on stage in the dreams of the placer miner as industry and big business chew up the earth..Svenson was a protegé of Paul Manship and is highly regarded by art history. who won awards for his medallion designs, and the motif of the TransAlaska Oil Pipeline seen as the graphic for this month's issue in the Index would have made an excellent choice to represent Alaska on the state-specific quarters now being minted with a fish-eating bear. |
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- ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES- 9/1/08 deadline ALASKA STATE COUNCIL OF THE ARTS Individual Career Grants quarterly review. Apply online. 9/1/08 deadline RASMUSON FOUNDATION Individual Artist Fellowships and Grants. Application details online. Contact Victoria Lord 9/22/08 deadline CREATIVE CAPITAL arts writer grants application online, contact Nichole Walleen, in Bend, OR 11/7/08 deadline MTS GALLERY at the TRAILER ART CENTER call for exhibitions and 'performance art' proposals for the 2009-10 season. 11/11/08 VETERAN AFFAIRS CLINIC requests quotes on a total of 18 areas varying in size and structure which will be the target of the art pieces, which can be statues, paintings, prints, photographs, Sewn, Woven etc. Electronic solicitation online only. Search for Anchorage VA Clinic Art to see solicitations. Contact Virginia.WatersATva.gov This column is a core part of ArtSceneAK raison d'etre and administrators are encouraged to use it to spread the word. Opportunities are posted to current issues as they arrive. For students of the process, the Municipality of Anchorage has posted a Public Art Policy Manual online. The relevant Muni Code regarding Public Art are available online (choose Title 7), and further regulations
ASCA Art In Public Places with over $19 million dollars in commissions required by AK Statute 35.27 from the 2004, 2005, and 2006 capital projects budgets alone. Record appropriations exceeding these amounts were made by the AK legislature for FY 2007 and 2008 as well.
ART IN AMERICA: A NOVEL by Ron McLarty A lively look at the intersection of playwright and muralist in a Colorado community provides entertainment and occasional insights. The protaganists reach a new level of maturity in their creative approach that recognizes their own achievements as reinforcing their talent. ArtsceneAK recommends staying young at heart while not unneccessarily sustaining teenage angst into your 40's (or beyond). NEXT: SEP SIS CONTACT ArtSceneAK: Aggravated again?! Ecstatic?! Let us know you love us or hate us. Help correct attribution errors that you suspect. Tell us about your upcoming event or artist opportunity. Let us know about your website.
cf also ART IN ALASKA
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90 & 9:
SPENARDTIST PARTY From co-host Bruce Farnsworth: "This year's studio party is destined
to be one for the books. I'm hoping you'll want to be there. Live music. BBQ. Great
fun." Summer's fleeting days are being celebrated at art compounds around
town, and this 9th edition of Sheila Wyne's annual recognized Julius Rockwell for becoming
a nonagenarian. A chiseled and wood burnt panel of plywood created by Erin Pollock was
much sharper than this oof photo at right, as is Julius himself. It was auctioned
nonchalantly, and a digital reproduction was bedaubed and mounted on a flamboyant target
for the trebuchet, armed with melons this year.Waterballoon your honorees in the BACK ISSUE Index .
Thank you and Welcome to a new subscriber in Anchorage and Welcome Back to renewing subscribers in Palmer, Wasilla and Fairbanks. From the cyberslums of the city of internet thieves: "We have received your email regarding the domain artsceneak.com The owner of this domain has listed the sales price at $5229 USD. Offers that are not within a reasonable range of the price will be ignored." --- Blake
Mayor Begich himself kicked off the rebranding of parts of downtown into the SoNo, the Historic, the Convention, and even the Arts District, as shown by this recently installed sign. Apparently recognizing Artique Ltd as an original and authentic arts district roused no special sense of irony in a Mayor who supposedly established an arts and culture district in Mountainview not long ago. Sign designer Barbara Lavalee might have caught something with her fish that could be a hedgehog. Call For Entry (CaFE) and Artists Register offer online access to Public Art Administrators, Gallery Owners, Artists and Arts Enthusiasts. From Anchorage: "Hi Don please cancel my subscription thanks." --- k From NYC: "Carole Feuerman wins 1st Prize for USA in Third International Beijing Biennale. Olympic Swimmer sculpture touring with the Olympics." --- Jim Kempner From Montevideo Uraguay: "i certainly would love to be there. distances are quite a matter ... wish you a wonderful second sunday salon in spenard !!!" --- kike badaro From Fairbanks: "It seems as if half the town comes out for the first Friday openings and goes from gallery to gallery. Good, diverse galleries, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum, various artists studio complexes. It's the most remarkably mutually supportive arts community I've ever encountered, and you'd be welcome any time." --- KW
ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker invites friends, readers, and Alaskan Art Enthusiasts to join him at his studio in Spenard for the final summer Second Sunday Salon for 2008. Bring something to share or just show up after 6pm at 1603 West 36th Avenue, corner of 36th and Minnesota on the park side next to the tennis court Sep 14. |
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text & photos © 2008 Donald R Ricker ; artist's works pictured ©2008 to artists credited.
ArtSceneAK is published by Donald R Ricker and
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