Week One: August 24 - September 1
Introductions
This is where we will make our first posts. It is not necessary to post four times in this first posting week, but feel free to respond to other persons’ posts.
In Week One, we are all about introductions and an intro to research. Introductions are about who we are and where we come from. Keep in mind the diversity of folks in this class. Some may be in our MAE (Master in Art Education) program. Others may be in our FADP (Fine Arts Doctoral Program) or other programs. Some of you may know each other, and others may be brand new to Visual Studies and/or online graduate courses.
Let’s introduce ourselves in this first week blog post. Tell us a few things about yourself—where you're originally from, where you went to school, where and what you teach, if you don't teach, what you currently do, if you make art, have a family, where you are in your degree plan, and anything else you'd like to share.
Under Week Two, you will find the reading assignments for next week. Our reading assignments will be identical to the syllabus. We are following it. If you fall behind, always post late posts in the current week. Just remind us.
This is the reading assignment for Week Two: Live Through This: Preface to page 90
This is the reading assignment for Week Two: Live Through This: Preface to page 90
Just to get us started, I will begin. I am an interdisciplinary teacher and researcher, as well as a stage and screen performer, writer, wife, and mother. Having completed an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Aesthetic Studies, I specialize in gender media and popular culture studies, film musicals and musical theater, and the visual culture of novelist William Faulkner. My recent publications explore popular culture representations of housework and domesticity (Scarecrow Press and Rowman and Littlefield Press), motherhood and fatherhood (Palgrave Macmillan Press), and magic and religion (Praeger/ABC-Clio Press). I am also a working stage and commercial actress, having performed in over forty professional productions. Hobbies include running, watching Murder, She Wrote, flying kites with my boys, collecting aprons, enjoying 1960s horror, and filling up on lots of chips and queso. Most importantly, I’m a small-town girl who married a small-town boy, and together, we have two wonderful young sons, Rowan (7 years) and Lawson (22 months).
ReplyDeleteHi there! I am excited to be in your class! How was your summer?
DeleteHi Dr. Humphreys - looking forward to the class. I love the 50's suspenseful Hitchcock movies, especially Rear Window and Notorious are my favorites!
DeleteHi, Holley! So glad to see you here! Our summer was FANTASTIC! For the first time in my life, I can say we truly made the most of it. How about your summer?
DeleteGail -- You and I have Hitchcock in common, too! Looking forward to getting to know you better!
I am an installation artist, though the label sculptress appeals to me for its feminine goddess like connotation. I like how the label sculptress also counterbalances my practice that is incredible grungy, sweaty—my nails are never clean, my hair matts and clings to my neck and forehead, my hands are rougher than most men’s. I play with power tools and typical male scale (big) yet incorporate woman’s work as a part of my primary practice (sewing). Plastering the label sculptress across my forehead and on my facebook is a relatively new problem, which arose with the natural turn of perimenapause with the simultaneous realization that I hadn’t even discovered nor used my femininity and yet, from a cultural stand point, I was about to loose it. Sigh. I also scratch pen to page. Both my writing and making tend toward raw, gnarly and tmi.
ReplyDeleteI was a visiting professor at Sam Houston State University were I worked to develop the foundations program, WASH [Workshop in Art Studio + History] and then handed it off to academic colleagues. I love foundations. I jumped that ship to come out here to Tech to pursue my interdisciplinary PhD in Fine Art: Critical Studies and Art Practices. I have finished one year in the program. My research revolves around a pattern in which visual artists who are seminal (maintain a lifelong making practice, are prolific and are recognized in the art world) also tend to have a writing practice. I suspect that visual artists' writing, like expressive writing, has some form of psychological resilience and/or realization function. Additionally writing may provide some kind of cognitive processing needed to counter balance or deepen the largely bodily practice of art. I have an MFA in graphic communication from the University of Houston. I try to use it, formally, as little as possible.
Like everything else I have discovered late in life that I am a perpetual home renovator (helps justify in my mind the art power tool expenditures). I am on my second house, a 1929 cottage in the heart of Lubbock. I have a four-legged tail-wagging sidekick, Dopty. I experience phantom dog pains when I leave her behind on a trip.
ANYTHING ELSE? How about a shameless self-promotion. I have a solo exhibition opening at LHUCA in their warehouse, 602 Texas Ave.
Friday, September 4, 6-9 pm.
Also open Saturday, Sept 5 and 12, 11 to 5. There will be an artist talk, me, on the 12th at 11:30 in the warehouse.
facebook public event invite
https://www.facebook.com/events/669306676538130/
you'll have to cut and paste link...i didn't do the clickable link correctly :0
DeleteHey Kathryn! :o)
DeleteHi Kathy, I am Dave,brand new PHD student but longtime academic.Good to meet you!
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DeleteWelcome Dave. You will love the program.
DeleteThanks.
DeleteHi Kathryn,
DeleteMy undergraduate was at SHSU - go Bearkats!
Hi Kathryn! I like your connection of art making and writing. As an audience member, I always find that reading artists' statements does indeed deepen my experience or connection to the art. I look forward to a semester with you!
DeleteYay Bearkat Gail! I miss the pine trees.
DeleteI miss the state park- it is so beautiful!
DeleteHello friend
DeleteOh yes, and I go by Kathy.
ReplyDeleteI am an artist, teacher, researcher, wife, and mother (13months). Originally from Seattle, I came to Lubbock for my undergrad at Lubbock Christian University (BA in Art Ed). Married, we settled down here. I taught 1-12th grade Art (and Theatre/Jr and Sr One Act Play) at Tahoka ISD for two years before having my firstborn and resigning to spend more time at home making art and cuddling with a newborn. I began the MAE program at Tech in January and am excited to continue my education during this special time of my life as a new mother. My most recent art-making endeavors have centered around my transition to new motherhood through the lens of breastfeeding.
ReplyDeletehey hey Courtney! hows the baby!? I am due in december cant believe it ;o)
DeleteHi Courtney, I am Dave.In the seventies I worked at Mt. Rainier National Park as a trail maintenance worker and spent time in Seattle before Microsoft and Bill Gates et al.My fascination has always been the northwest painting tradition of painter Morris Graves and the Northwest School of Painting.
DeleteHi Courtney - good to see you again! (from Dr. Peralta's class)
DeleteHi Courtney! Congrats on being a new mother. I looked at your maternity photos on your website and I really loved your Dr. Seuss portrait! I look forward to a semester with a fellow photographer!
DeleteHello All! :o) I am orginally from Morton Texas about 64 miles west of LBK I have lived in a few states thanks to the military. That is how I got my BFA in good ole Valdosta GA VSU Blazers whooo... TTU however is a family school so when i decided to go back for my masters of COURSE that is where I had to go.
ReplyDeleteI am not a teacher I am the Art Director for Equine Journal I design layouts, ads all that fun jazz. I got into getting an MAE because I would one day love to teach graphic design hopefully at a junior college and just give back, and show the same support i was given when I was in college starting out. I am a mother to a diva driven 6 year old girl and growing another girl in my womb at the moment (due Dec 17). YAY two divas O_o lol. My husband is starting the academy to be a police officer (he served 8 years in the military so he is super excited to get back to serving his community) he is from a small town in WI. When I am not designing, running after my daughter or 8 month old rescue pit bull (Gemma) you can find me in my jeep either traveling to see family or trying to find a good camping spot to get away from the BIG city of Fort Worth. When i do have a tiny bit of time the hub and i like to snuggle and watch movies then Trista runs in and we end up smooshed together on the sofa watching some girlie disney movie :o)
Hope everyone had a GREAT summer!!
Hi Candice - nice to meet you... I too raised a "diva driven" girl who is now 22 and entering her graduate studies at Baylor! I was glad my daughter was a well expressed young lady. It is a good thing - hope it doesn't scare you! lol
DeleteCandice, nice to see you again! Congrats on the new little one; two will be so much fun! My little human is growing so fast I can hardly keep up. He started walking last week!
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DeleteHi Candice! I have a pit bull named Coco, and she has sassiness on tap! She has figured out how to tell me exactly what she thinks about coming inside before she's ready with just a single look. Should we be those people and trade dog pictures? :^)
Deletelol Thx Gail no it doesnt scare me i just cant figure out where she gets it i mean i hardly wear make up or jewelry or perfume and this girl is all about her accessories she kind of reminds me of my late grandmother its a joy and she keeps me laughing :) and i love the expressiveness what artist wouldn't ;)
Delete@Courtney OMG walking lol time to put everything up higher ;)
@Holleygirl we totally can lol Gemma is so so sweet I mean she would cuddle a stranger and whats really different about her is she doesnt bark she does this yawn sound its crazy :)
Holleygirl and Courtney - how are ya setting this up on phone so you can @ your reply in? Would love to learn the technology on this - could you help me out?
DeleteGail- I haven't been able to post from my phone, I've always just used my laptop. Can we post using our phone??
DeleteHello Candance! It is a pleasure to meet you.
Delete"diva driven 6 year old girl!" Ha. Such a nice turn of phrase Candice. Sounds like you have a full plate.
ReplyDeletedefiantly but wouldnt have it any other way.... right ;)
DeleteHi everyone!
ReplyDeleteI am a third year Fine Arts Ph.D. student, my area of study is ‘Artistic Practice and Critical Studies’. My current research includes: women in film (United States and Israel), feminist film theory/history, modern art theory, etc. Previously, I went to Florida State University where I earned a Masters of Art History with a focus/in the program of Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage and a BA from Texas Tech University in Art History with a minor in History. Essentially, I am a big fan of libraries, museums, archives, and research in general, this is noted also by the fact I have the 3 hour/series record setting of “National Gallery” saved on my DVR. I am therefore, very excited about this course.
Some other things about me, I recently became an aunt for the first time on August 14th. I was so lucky to be there and to help out my sister for a few days, and it was really hard to say goodbye knowing how much I will have missed by the next time I see my nephew. But, I love school and love learning, and the texts, photos, and emails my sister and mother send me almost daily help me to stay connected. Yay for technology! I am also a big fan of funky left-handed things (as I am left-handed) and left-handed shops…I get way too excited about those. I also collect vinyl records, and have over 150. My loving boyfriend feeds this collection too; he finds the best record stores… At this point I tell myself I am saving them for prosperity!
That’s pretty much it. Again, I am very excited about this course and look forward to working with everyone.
Hello Kimberly that is awesome that you went to help your sister Im sure she told you but getting help from family after having a child is such a blessing :o) congrats to you and your family bringing in that new buddle of joy!
DeleteHi Kimberly, Having been raised in the vinyl record era - I'm so glad you value them! I just recently looked through my parent's collection to see what all they still had - it was fun listening to them again in that form.
DeleteKimberly!!! Hello again! I am so excited that you are in this class because I truly enjoyed hearing your perspective in our last class with Dr. Humphrys. I don't know if we ever got on this conversation or not, but I love records as well. My collection is maybe a tenth of yours, so that tells me that we need to go vinyl hunting together!!
Deleteclaiming to be harvesting vinyl from the waste stream and putting one less thing in the landfill, all the while generating pleasure for you, seems like a total win.
DeleteHaha! Thanks everyone, yeah I love vinyl records and am always happy to hit & search record stores! I have specialty DJ travel cases and have to get another one as a pile has started to grow next to the cases already filled...a big pile :D
DeleteMy oldest son lives in Israel,in Jerusalem,He is 30,a film maker/painter and received his MFA in Painting from Kansas State University about 2 years ago.I saw your interest in Israel.
DeleteHi David,
DeleteVery cool! Film is such a big thing there, at least from what I have read - there are a lot of film schools and people making films.
Hi David,
DeleteVery cool! Film is such a big thing there, at least from what I have read - there are a lot of film schools and people making films.
I am 62 years old .I was born and raised in St. Louis ,Missouri in a household at one time with my great grandmother,grandfather,grandmother,my mother and father and brother .In a way, it was an old world Dutch-German Lutheran culture/ upbringing in a brick home built in 1908,a transition of paradigms from my grandmother’s pedal operated Singer sewing machine, a Victrola record player, thick velvet curtains to hide behind, a modernist 1930’s freezer which lasted 40 plus years, to a knife sharpener pushing a cart amidst old tools and chicken coops from the depression era. Then came the 1960’s with all of the societal changes including abortion, modernism as reflected in the erection of the Gateway Arch, (now 50 years old) the space race, race relations (as a white male I had a 400 pound transvestite African American friend named Richard who had the best soul music collection in my city), Vietnam, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Vincent Price (yes the horror movie prince) was a former St. Louisan who had a local PBS program entitled Eye on Art: The St. Louis Art Scene. I was really enamored with his keen mind as an amateur art historian and collector. After high school (my home room teacher and football coach were painters!), I worked a year in a sign factory, making industrial silkscreen billboard signs. I then enrolled in art programs in community colleges, leading to my focus as a painter at Webster University. There, I received my BFA in painting in 1977. I worked a summer as a trail maintenance worker at Mt. Rainier National Park. I traveled to Europe and saw the great masters in the Rijksmuseum, Louvre and other great museums. I spent 2 years painting on my own before enrolling in the School of Visual Arts, Penn State University I went on to receive my MFA in painting in 1982 from. For the last 33 years I have taught at 9 schools at the full time level including the University of Arizona, The University of Southern Mississippi, The State University of New York, the Savannah College of Art and Design and 3 private liberal arts colleges .Currently, I am chair and full professor of art at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. My work has ranged from abstraction to non-objectivity and realism. My most current work is entitled Omnis, which is related to an all over approach to mark making involving impasto application. I really love the work of early American modernism including Arthur Dove, Morris Graves, Helen Lundberg, and Mark Tobey, who, in essence, paved the way for Abstract expressionism. It is said that Pollack looked at his work in the 1940’s.My favorite Tobey quote is as follows:
ReplyDeleteA painting should be a textile, a texture. That's enough! Perhaps I was influenced by my mother. She used to sew and sew. I can still see that needle going. Maybe that's what I'd rather do than anything with the brush-like stitching over and over and over, laying it in, going over, bringing it up. Bringing it up. That's what is difficult.
I have been married for 33 years to my wife Susan Harmon. We have 4 boys ranging in age from 24-30: artist, poet, psychologist and writer! We have a female Siberian Husky named Sophie who loves to play with both real and toy animals!
I am honored to be a part of this class!
David E. Harmon
David-
DeleteNice to meet you! It sounds as though you have had a pretty cool life! I'm intrigued by your attention to the nostalgic technology of your youth. Does this influence your paintings?
Nice Dave, you've essentially produced all artists (I do think a psychologist can be lumped into the creative fields), nice.
DeleteI wish I had kept both my mother and gram's sewing machines also. I did happen to get my grandmother's typewriter. No foot petals, but the keys are manual. :)
wow what an amazing journey and I love Savannah GA so rich with history.... I almost went to SCAD for my masters BUT like I said could NOT pass up the family school plus I have met some amazing ppl in my TTU classes I love it!
DeleteHi David - I have had two friends go to Howard Payne (in the 80's) for their undergraduate work. I love your quote! I work with textiles as my medium.
ReplyDeleteHey Gail, I am going on my 4th year there.Love to see your work sometime.
DeleteHello everyone - I'm so excited about this class and the new thoughts that will emerge because of it. I am a graduate of Sam Houston State U. (1990) where I received a BBA in Marketing. I worked for several years in the comerial/direct marketing industry. After I started having children I stayed home to raise them; during this time I began to fill my extra time with art, allowing time for my voice and technique to evolve as a textile artist. I have been married for 24 years (in Nov.) to a great man - together we try to work as a team. I am more of an artist than an academic but I love learning and am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone - hoping it will give flight to my art work. I grew very bored with my work and thought getting an MAE would rejuvenate my work and my thought process. I also hope to teach as an adjunct professor in Victoria at the junior college level. My blog site is www.thegaildentler.com I'm inspired by spiritual readings, nature, my relationships, and the dichotomy that exists in our culture between opulence and poverty. I am an art quilter and have recently been reteaching myself illustrator for more graphic designing for fabrics to use in my work. I love painting: oil and watercolor as well as fabric. I also write and have written for our local newspaper. I have an unpublished screenplay and several poems that are just fun to write! I am 6 hours into the MAE at TTU and I have enjoyed the process so far.
ReplyDeleteHi Gail Nice to meet you!One of my sons just began his Graduate work at Sam Houston and already loves it there.My wife is also in the MAE program.See you in class, Dave
DeleteGAIL!! Hello again! I'm so excited that we'll be in this class together! How did the rest of your summer go??
DeleteHi Gail. Have you read John O'Donahue? Recommend his book on Beauty: The Invisible Embrace. Also love Thomas Merton, especially his book Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing. It is useful for all creatives. Madeliene L'Engle as well, who wrote a wrinkle in time, has a nice book titled, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art.
DeleteNice Hey Gail id love to see some of your work with incorporating graphic design into it sounds exciting :)
DeleteSo nice to meet y'all! Kathryn - thanks for the recommended reading will have to look into it.
DeleteHollygirl - it was a busy summer helping both kids move into apartments and just having fun, enjoying their time at home. How did yours go?
Dave - I had Susan in my class in the spring - she had great contributions for the class. SHSU has done a lot to create a beautiful campus - fastest growing univ. in the last 10 years.
DeleteHello everyone! My name is Holley Baker, and this is my final semester here at Texas Tech before I graduate with my MAE in December! My medium is film making, in particular non-fiction documentaries. I have finally finished editing my 22-minute documentary film that discusses sexual violence and victim blaming, and I will be screening it for my defense in October (shameless plug for anyone local that might want to come see it!!).
ReplyDeleteNow that the end is in sight, I'm looking at going for my alternate certification so that I can teach in either high school or possibly a community college. I have been inspired by the other teachers that I have met through this program, as well as by my professors, and I cannot wait to start teaching and challenging the next generation of artists and thinkers.
Before joining this program, I was the video production manager in a TTUHSC department called Health.edu that made continuing education videos for health care workers. Just before that, I was attending a couple of different schools for making films and secondary education, but I couldn't find a good fit until I got to Lubbock (of all places!!) Also, this August marks my 5-year anniversary of leaving the U.S. Army to pursue all these crazy education film making dreams. While I was in, I was a combat photographer and basically spent my time either out photographing missions in Iraq, or training to go to Iraq. This was really the time in my life that I caught the bug on photography and filmmaking, and I have yet to recover!
I have had classes with a few of y'all in here, including a truly eye-opening and wonderful class with Dr. Humphrys, and I am really looking forward to the discussions that we'll have in here!
Wow Holley, If your combat camera could talk! Well, I am sure you probably did make it speak an interesting language. Sounds very intriguing.
DeleteHey Holley, that is awesome you served in the army first off thank you for your service. That is kind of ironic that you found your place in Lubbock I had to get out of that area for me to find mine lol my I was raised pretty close to there and my grandparents used to always ask "why dont you just live in LBK" and I would respond "as a graphic designer.... where would i work?" :o) but DFW isnt too far and i am sure they would love the field i fell into :o) cowboy publishing
DeleteHi Holly, I teach 2 days a week at Fort Hood campus through Central Texas College,I really enjoy it but i have heard some wild stories.One of my sons was in a film program at Stephen F Austin,alot of work making films.I admire you!It is ice to meet you,Dave
DeleteHolleygirl - so excited were in this class together! Hoping I see the screening in Oct - is it the first weekend in Oct - along with the TASA conf. at TTU?
DeleteHey Holley, good to "virtually" see you again.
DeleteHolley! We still need to talk films, I am a fan!
DeleteHello everyone. My name is Justin Clumpner. I am originally from the south suburbs of Chicago, and I have lived in Dallas for about 5 years now. I have a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Computer Art, as well as a BFA in Art Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. I currently teach at Rockwall High School, which is in a small suburb just east of Dallas. I handle the AP, Pre-AP, and painting courses there, as well as a couple of the Art I classes. I am a little over a year into the MAE program. This is my first online course. Prior to this, I spent three weeks in Fredericksburg taking painting. I mostly work in collage and paint. There is an artist run gallery in Deep Ellum where I regularly show my work. I am married and have a daughter who will be two in October.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.clumptastic.com
DeleteJustin, Not that you need my approval, but well done! your work definitely appeals to my sensibilities!
Thanks Kathryn, I'm glad you enjoy it.
DeleteHello Justin - hope you had a good summer -
DeleteHey Gail, I did. Good, but buisy. How about you?
DeleteHello Justin. My AP classes were my absolute favorite when I was in high school.
DeleteLike Katharine, I too loved my AP classes (and art classes). I took every painting class offered at my high school - and it was awesome.
DeleteHi Justin,I taught at Scad for 3 years.A small world it surely is...and my wife is from Hyde Park,Chicago, The University of Chicago area and she got her first BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago...A very small world indeed.Dave
ReplyDeleteHey David, What years were you in Savannah? I was just in Chicago for a little vacation and was able to catch the Charles Ray exhibit. It was pretty good, but I really like Ray and would have enjoyed a broader range of his work.
DeleteHi, 2005-2008 in Savannah...
DeleteI was gone by 2004.
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