The Fall of Mankind...

How does Art function in Academia? I have moments every now and then where my mind is blown that there are professors who are giving grades for what artists are doing in school. Okay, so this sounds like a basic fact of life, why question it? Typically I don't, I struggle through the process of making and thinking and not thinking just like everyone else, the end result of a grade always seemed like a footnote. But then you find yourself in new territory, all the sudden you end up in a class or a system where it isn't about trying, or deeply learning (mistakes being 90% of that activity). You find yourself being aware of calculations being made against you (or for you) and how do you respond? Do you fight it, or do you wave the bleak flag of surrender? I know you might be thinking that this is a ridiculous dilemma, but I think it would also be a huge surprise to see how the tone of your work shifts when you are allowed to feel that knowledge and experience trumps the satisfaction of a paper devoid of red ink. I would never say that grades shouldn't be involved, (only in a perfect world) but I do think there should be a hierarchy of value. I have been lucky, and truly feel that for the most part I was gifted the chance to believe and pursue work that I desperately needed to make, and was supported in my endeavors. However there is always the time where I am confronted with the other world and I can feel it grate like sandpaper against my insides.

xoxo,
Charlie

Submissions- Conveyor Magazine

I believe I can speak for all of the department when I say it was a pleasure to have the MFA students of Parsons come over to share their talent and creative work with us. I was fortunate enough to meet and talk with some of their artists including the head of the MFA program. Needless to say, there was some great art on the walls but I honestly believe many of us can be right there with them. In response to their show, I think everyone in our BFA program (especially the seniors) should submit a piece to the magazine CONVEYOR.

Photography lies. It’s supposed to.

Harnessing the sophistry that is inherent in the medium, collaboration between artful deception and red herrings can transform a gritty alleyway into a golden field of wheat, make ghosts appear on the horizon, or portray a wolf as the proverbial sheep. The employment of deceptive clues, false emphasis, symbolic meaning, and other tricks of the trade is befitting photography; whether through enigmatic questions disguised as assertions, ambitious and decadent arrangements, or that which appears deceptively effortless and simple, photographs often mislead the eye.

We are seeking photographic and print-based work that interprets the theme of Smoke & Mirrors in a unique and provoking way. As always, the theme is open-ended. However, submissions should be thoughtfully considered before submitting.

The Deadline is March 4th.

Submit WORK!

xoxo-George

Visiting Alumni!- Gabe Fredericks

Just when you decide that you will never have a job, the Photo Department starts throwing uber successful alumni at you. Gabe Fredericks, owner of Philip Gabriel Photography came to Photo to dazzle us all with charm, only kidding, but enthusiasm was in no way lacking. I don't think I have ever seen (or ever will see) someone as excited about wedding pictures as this guy. Sure some of you may be saying "I don't want to do weddings! Am I destined to be just another wedding photographer?" Gabe isn't just another wedding photographer, nor does he seem to do it in a cop-out way, he genuinely and wholeheartedly loves it. This, my fellow photons, is the key. You are off the hook, you don't have to do weddings, do something that fits you. He fits exactly where he is. Do I think I fit there? No, I don't... but like Gabe, we have to be willing to search for our niche.
I know I am kinda side-tracking here, but in any case, it is pretty cool to get to see some fellow T.S.A. grads, I hope I get asked to come back in 10 years and wow everyone with my stories of being...a librarian...or something.
Stay tuned-- we had 2 other Alumni come in this week.

xoxo,
      Charlie

Haven't we talked enough?

Today I spoke about a body of work I have discussed hundreds of times. Now, I love to talk about art, my own, yours, that random person sitting over there... but there is only so much I can take! This is what was running through my mind, the dread of repetition. In retrospect I know it was really the dread of the unknown, the vulnerable, the truth. As I was talking and pointing and listening to various people I realized that once again it was different; the story had changed and revealed another little piece to me, the artist.
Epiphany siting: The more I speak to a live audience about my work... the more honest I can be with myself about what it truly means.
I know this seems like a simple idea, but whenever I feel disappointed, disenfranchised, disillusioned by a critique it is almost always because I lacked the honesty with my viewers and just as often, myself.
So, I hope for you what I also hold as my goal... to be an honest creator, or perhaps to be honest in your dishonesty.

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.”-Edward R. Murrow

xoxo,
Charlie

Remembering 2011

We have cried, we have laughed, we have done both simultaneously. I watched dear friends on the brink of meltdowns over their shows, life, perhaps even art in general. This is how we become. So a few of our brilliant minds have left us for the other world, and a few newbies have joined the ranks, both of these statements are just as exciting. I will miss these people but what I learned from them in this mutual struggle to share our vision, is something rather beautiful, that I will keep to myself so you don't all gag at my sappy anectdotes. But we are rolling again! Gearing up, getting ready...what will happen next? Not even I can tell.
This being said... do not forget who you have around you, learn to enjoy the rush, listen deeply, impact eachother.

xoxo,
Charlie

Filmeater (coolest word award) Jan 24th

Just a tiny plug for being aware (and being less of a hermit)

I for one am seriously guilty of ignoring fine print, I mean I'm an artist, I do this because I love it-- who needs logistics.

dead. wrong.

Bucking up and facing the music is hard, I want to focus on what I'm doing and not have to worry about someone's motives or intentions, but we have to...we must be smart as well as passionate.

Check out the site by clicking the logo-- stay in the world my friends.

xoxo,

Charlie

p.s. check out their list of competitions too all the ones included meet the ethical standard, very very cool.