The Installation of Life

Because of softball, I did not have the opportunity to attend Andrew Norris' talk. Though true, I did get to chat with him in my practicum class and visit his website to look and reflect on his art. His art is super intriguing and after meeting and talking to him, I can see his influence and connection to his work. He is one of the youngest "successful" artists that I have gotten the pleasure to speak with about my work and his own. While looking at the thematic iconography within his different series, like Queer Appalachia and Toxic Masculinity you can see his expression of identity through out. His art approaches and, I personally believe conquers personal and universal problems and conversations. His art addresses the inclusion of the non-binary, gay sexuality, and addressing/confronting the patriarchy in a way I haven't seen done before. It's beautiful and mature, while being fun and playful through artistic style and composition. The color choices and his inc

Penelope Umbrico is a New York based artist whose art comments and reinterprets everyday consumerism through mass numbered installations that use objects, photographs and media. She finds inspiration through pages of consumer products such as catalogs, travel, brochures and websites like Flickr and EBay. Her use of social media is also very important within her process and inspiration, pulling found images and and ideas for her multiple ongoing projects. Her work has been shown in many major museums including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1 and the Milwaukee Art Museum. She has received numerous of awards and fellowships, such as the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship and the New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship. Penelope is one of my favorite artists that I have ever had the privilege to see in person. Her work is incapsulating and honestly incredible. You look at it and the mass size and numerous images are incredible draw you in unlike anything I have expe

 I found Alexandra Bell's convocation speech to be really interesting. I think she is the best visiting artist that I have seen at Lawrence because her work is not only so amazing, but she was a fabulous and relatable speaker. Her ability to disrupt the common narrative through her art is something I haven't seen within a lot of public pieces. The addressing of urgent public issues through large publications of the media causes us to question how we publish stories and focus of violence within the media. Her creative ability to show the counter narratives and bias within newspapers and media is beautifully powerful.  Her work makes me think a lot about scale within my own installation. My piece is little images that together make a large piece, but her's is the opposite. It's large and grand and takes one newspaper and plasters it largely through public art. It makes me question my work and the importance of scale, but also about what my work stands for and who or what

 For my installation project, I am basically doing a mock up of my final gallery show with the senior art majors in the spring. Because my idea is daunting to set up in only the 12 hour time period we get, I am taking this class to really put together what I am doing and how in the hell I am actually going to pull it off. My senior project consists of filling a massive wall with images of the animals from my animal shelter. The goal of this is to advocate for not only the adopt don’t shop mission, but also to advocate for the mental health benefits of owing an animal. Through my work and art, I hope to bring awareness and advocacy to both mental health and homeless animals who are searching for homes with the hope that these two ideas might be connected. Through the numerous photographs of different animals I have met at the shelter and testimonies from animal owners and lovers I hope to be an advocate for the role of the emotional support animal and help break down stereotypes of shel

 In all honesty I haven't ever created an installation and Monday's experience was definitely on that put me outside of my comfort zone for multiple reason. For starters, I am not one who likes working with others in group projects, especially when it comes to my artistic vision and process. I was worried that my ideas would clash with others and that I wouldn't have much to contribute to the installation. Though these thoughts were in my head, I tried very hard to contribute ideas and help set up, adding to the groups artistic vision. Once we all got going, I found it was actually very easy to work as a group and that though we all had different thoughts, we all were able to create an inclusive installation that incorporated and included all of our ideas.  The final product was super entertaining and really cool to get to walk through and create your on story while looking at it. You could see everyone's contribution within the installation and see all the different vi