Mandy Lee Studio

I liked having the opportunity to take courses from a huge area of academic areas- but it hurt me when I was looking for a Graduate program and work. I can speak about differences in Freudian and Jungian theories on the origins, significance and meanings of dreams, debate about the philosophy of aesthetics, as in the case of Nietzsche’s arguments on the dichotomy of Apollonian versus the Dionysian, and tell you that the inosphere consists of the exosphere and thermosphere and rests on top of the mesosphere, and discuss how I used a 12 inch ruler and the Pythagorean theorem to calculate how all of my furniture would fit into the back of the smallest (and therefore cheapest) moving truck, and I can design, code and upload an entire website with content that passes the W3C web standards overnight.

But yet, MFA programs want students who studied nothing but art- and usually only one medium of art- as an undergrad, not someone who understands the how history and culture can influence/manipulate their choices and how the cycle of art history is circling back for the first time in hundreds of years- the world is changing art- instead of art changing the world; And the workforce wants experts in one area, not someone who’s broad education field gave them the ability to problem solve, multi-task, quick research and filtration of research, all working within a tight time frame. She hit the nail on the head when she days, “We persist… in being sidelined by the idea of The Expert as being the only one capable of coming up with the answers, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

“If you are not prepared to be wrong, then you will never come up with anything original.” How true this is. I know this, I believe this, and yet I am still affraid to creating something, because of the chance that it will be wrong, ugly, not original. A bit ironic, don’t ya think?

This four part mini series is fantastic. It’s not the end-all, be-all of the Medici empire, however, it does have an interesting art history approach to this tale of murder, nepotism, betrayal, war and greed. The show follows the lives of the Medici’s, but also how the family became the patrons of Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo, and Galileo, and in effect, paid for the founding of the Renaissance.

Interesting debate from the art world. Nude model, posing for a professional, artistic photographer at the Met, was arrested for public lewdness and endangering minors. Bear in mind that she’s surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds of artist’s interpretations of the nude female form. Lots of questions about this.

Art or obscenity? A nude model is arrested at the Met | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/08/art-or-obscenity-a-nude-model-is-arrested-at-metropolitan-museum-of-art/comments/page/2/#comments

Venus de Milo, Liberty leading the people, Lady Godiva … and next? Nudity has been a staple of the visual arts since time began, but apparently the real thing is still too much for some people to handle. On Wednesday,… (more…)

From Art Daily.

Art Journaling Super Nova Promo Video from Julie Prichard on Vimeo.

Julie Prichard of The Land of Lost Luggage has put together an exciting and brilliant workshop that is so big, she had to turn it into two classes! The first class is a bookbinding course, in which she teaches you how to make 3 different types of books through several full-length HD videos. The second course explores art journals. She gives techniques, ideas, prompts, mono printing, collage, and more! Both classes have access to forums, and there is no current end date, so you can work at your pace. Julie is notorious to making students feel welcomed and included in her workshops, so you will never feel left out! The book binding class is $43 and the both for only $69! Better hurry, class starts on September 1st!

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Self-Portrait Leaning on a Stone Sill, 1639. Etching, 8 13/16 x 7 1/16 inches. Anonymous gift and Katherine E. Bullard Fund in Memory of Francis Bullard.

Exciting days for print makers coming up in November! The Nevada Museum of Art will have an exhibit of Rembrandt’s Etchings from November 07, 2009 – January 17, 2010. Besides his beautiful prints, curators are setting up a recreation of Rembrandt’s printing studio. More information can be found at the ArtDaily.org and The Nevada Museum of Art. (more…)

Great Museums in a great show (pardon the pun). It explores the stories of America though American museums. And not just Art museums, but natural science, history, and more. It’s a good solid attempt to make museums more contemporary and relevant to today’s society of Tweeting and Making friends on Facebook. It’s kinda short, however, at about 27 minutes an episode, and sometimes things feel left out, or skimmed over, but It’s a great way to introduce one’s self to a museum they haven’t been to before, or reacquaint one’s self to a museum one hasn’t been to in a while. It’s a fun and interesting show. I hope Hulu.com gets the rights to air the rest of the series.

A young Ukrainian artist, Kseniya Simonova, created the following “sand animation” for the 2009 season of “Ukraine’s Got Talent.” This 8 minute clip shows her drawing a story in sand of life during WWII and is set to the orchestral rendition of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters.

A little bit of side information from WOSU Arts Blog:

“What she depicts is love and war, set amidst the turmoil of The Great Patriotic War, or as we call it in America, WWII. Ukraine was probably the area most devastated in the war, even more than Germany. It was a conflict that saw nearly one in four Ukrainians killed. Ukraine represented almost 20 percent of all the causalities suffered during WWII. The scene ends in 1945, with the death of Hitler and the end of a long war.”

At the end of the clip, she writes, “You are always nearby.” Needless to say, she won.