Week Five: September 23-29: Topless Cellist: Pages ix - 66
This week, we read the first 4 chapters of Topless Cellist: The Improbable Life of Charlotte Moorman. This is the first time I have included it in my Feminist Research Methods course, but I think you will enjoy it very much. Over the summer, I taught a course titled The Body and the Arts, and while crafting the syllabus, our interim Dean, Andrew Martin, suggested I look at this book for possible inclusion in that course. My good friend and colleague Heather Warren-Crow owned a copy and dropped it off at my house that evening. I started reading immediately and couldn't put it down. There is something about Charlotte's tenacity, the fire in her belly, that draws me to her story. I think many of us feel that fire too, in some capacity, or we wouldn't be here. These first chapters focus on the early years, but later in the book, some significant points will be made about the female body and art. I expect our discussions to be stimulating at that point, to say the least, but since this week's chapters center on how Charlotte got started as an artist, feel free to share your own personal story of becoming artists/scholars/teachers, in addition to your thoughts regarding entrepreneurship in the arts.
Well, darn! The week went by too fast I promise to do better! Okay so here are my last two posts for Week 4:
ReplyDeleteI really liked Kate Bornstein's piece, "Art as Prayer," because as she says art, "was my own way of confronting my life's great mysteries." I think we all search to understand ourselves, and ourselves within a larger context. Where do we fit in this world? In art/paper writing/traveling/etc. we can express what is not so easily expressed - and ask the questions we may not ask everyday, or want to ask ourselves. I really found her drawing, "Approval from Bodies" to be so fascinating. We often perform our lives for others, and we do in part I think unconsciously for society (whatever that truly may be), but really we are so busy acting on our own that we can lose sight of the audience. We forget that everyone else may be acting/pretending/lying/performing/etc. in some manner too, and for an audience of cardboard cut outs, just like us.
Wellllll, Kimberly you did have a CORE exam last week and the retrieval of my brain in paperback form sooooo all is good! :)
DeleteSo very true. I sometimes catch myself performing my life for other people. When I stop and think about it, I realize that I am really just trying to influence their opinions of me. Eleanor Roosevelt once said "You wouldn't worry so much about what other people think of you if you realized how seldom they do." I cannot explain why, but this quote offers me enormous comfort in my relationships with other people. At times, it's easy for me to get caught up in anxiety about what people might think of me. After spinning my wheels for an inappropriate amount of time, I remind myself that, as you said Kimberly, "everyone else may be performing in some manner for an audience of cardboard cutouts, just like us." When I consider that, I also remind myself that the people who matter in my life love me even when I'm not at my best.
DeleteHaha! Yeah, that definitely kept me occupied Kathryn. But all done now! :)
DeleteAnd Holley, I love that (I was almost named Eleanor after E. Roosevelt, but my Dad vetoed it because of a song). And I agree with you, "the people who matter...love me even when I'm not at my best." Those that love us, love all it is that is us (and we are not complete and perfect beings, we make mistakes) because none of us are perfect. (as hard as we try to be)
Week 4 again, so sorry!
ReplyDeleteIn thinking about Nan Goldin's photographs I thought about how people document their lives so much online. I mean, there is a specific filtering happening with the photos people share on their facebook and then the reality of their life outside those frames. What I liked about Goldin's work is that the images shown, and edited, are really the ones that people would try to hide or redo if posting them social media (generally).
But she takes in part to produce a physical momento of her experiences. People take photographs of famous places, on trips, of food, and what not and here Goldin specifically takes photos to remind herself of herself. Remind herself of where her body and soul has been. As she states these photos become "a way of hanging onto yourself" and in part this allows for evidence - proof of what happened, and a means to compare where one once was and were they are now.
I love how you describe Goldin taking "photos to remind herself of herself" and comparing that to images posted to social media. So often I (we?) choose selfies that depict the self I WANT to be/want to see myself as. What would a photo of my raw self look like?
DeleteIt’s funny; I never really planned for any of this. To be honest, I never really plan for anything. Something usually comes across my path, and I say, “I could do that, other people do that, why not me?” I never really planned on showing work in a gallery, but one day I was walking past a gallery owner (a little tipsy) and I thought, “I could show here.” So, I told him that, and have been showing there ever since. It was the same way with teaching. When ever my students ask me when I decided to become a teacher, I respond, “I still haven’t, but I’ll let you know when I do.” I just one day up and decided, and by the next semester was showing up in classes. I’ve been presenting on education at TAEA and NAEA for the last couple of years, and it all came from a colleague saying, “We should think about doing this.” Since then, I’ve done it every year. I started writing a blog about my teaching experiences. Now I’m thinking about writing for publication. To be honest, it has all spun wildly out of control. I am becoming the workaholic my father was in some ways. I never thought I would. There’s just so much to do. I need to do it all. How I got here? I wondered in ass-backward for lack of a better term.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the reading was concerned, there was something that struck me. Moorman was quoted as saying, “I would give anything to have been the first to perform Brahms’s Double Concerto…Since I couldn’t do that, I am satisfied and thrilled to play the newest and most exciting music of our time. In fact, it’s what I life for.” It made me think about all the people that weren’t paying any attention to this work when it was happening. I wonder all the time about how many brilliant things are happening around the world, with no one listening or paying attention. If it weren’t for Peggy Guggenheim, Jackson Pollock would have gone unnoticed by the world. Picasso without Gertrude Stein probably would have suffered an anonymous fate. How many artist of equal genius were never noticed, or ignored because of their gender/race/religion/etc.? What about today will be important? It’s probably something none of us are aware of.
On that thought, when will my last painting die? How far into the future will the images I have created travel? Will they be discarded, destroyed by accidental tragedy, degrade over time into nothingness, be cherished behind bulletproof glass for eternity? How many people are part of a future they never imagined? Every kid I teach that is a Dr. Who fan always tells me I have to watch the episode with Van Gogh. I finally did this summer. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but it does illustrate the unknown relationship between an artist and the future of their artwork.
Justin - I envy your age with all that you get to do ahead of you! lol!
DeleteDo any artists plan their opportunities - Does any person or career plan their opportunities? - its when we say "yes" that makes a difference, or" I can do that" - that is what makes the difference!
I guess we plan as much as we can.We network and apply and create and learn and try to find as many options as we can to help our art go forward,whether it is through teaching,presenting papers,publishing,public art ,personal art..as long as we go forward not the reverse and are open to learning and growing...well is not that al we can ask for?
DeleteI took on that thinking too about what kind of mark we as artist leave behind... I guess after reading this who wouldnt think that. I find it amazing that Charolette preformed in Minneapolis and I lived their for a year and went to the Walker Art Museum could have walked the same steps she did. It does make you think what are we missing here who have we come across and even what others see in us as artist.
DeleteHa! Nice Justin. I wonder how many of us could say, " I never really planned for any of this. To be honest, I never really plan for anything. Something usually comes across my path"
DeleteI have always trusted (not sure why) that the thing that comes across my path that I latch on to or swerve to avoid sets me on a new course that is far better than I could have planned for...
i think i work with my materials in the same way...i see where they will lead me...
ha even my material choices are most often lead by happenstance. just the other weekend i harvested at least a half of a gymnasium of wall to wall wrestling matt...the interior dense foam is fleshy color which was what attracted me to the campus dumpster. and counter to my normal muted color practice the lining is vivid guns up red. i see a highly gender specific piece coming on.
sewing large tire tubes (tractor combine large) is my primary schtick. and it was simply something that came across my path like this...
i borrowed one friend's 16' trailer to help another artist friend haul his piece into downtown houston for installation. not known on our route in is that my art friend while backing the trailer into the warehouse clipped the chain link fence, slicing the side wall of the trailer tire I BORROWeD. grrrr. i noticed it when leaving downtown. i had no idea what to do (this was a longtime ago before i got good at pulling up my bootstraps) so i called friend A to figure out where to go. it ends up that they're family who was in the concrete business, used a mom and pop tireshop not even a mere two miles from my location. i headed over to the east side of downtown and got a new tire (actually two, because tires should be replaced in pairs :0 ). so i was a tad frustrated to say the least. as i waited i noticed a pile of old discarded contraction vehicle tire tubes...they looked like hides, frumpishly fleshy, with a gorgeous rust patina from the tire rims. i had just begun to give my self over to the woman's work in my process--sewing. i had been working with blown at tires (by i belatedly discovered chica booker has said everything in might say in that medium)...the notion of a more playable medium that could be sewn and that felt aesthetically like the hide of soul significantly redirected my art career. all from a stupid flat.
and on a funny side note at lease twice i have ended up with an utterly flat tire (one repairable, one not) while my vehicle and trailer have been loaded with almost a ton of remnant tire tube rubber.
i now wholly depend on the things that fall across my path as some kind of divine intervention and i follow it were it leads me, even if a crumble a little as i make a course correction.
Deleteand ps if you are in Lubbock and need to bum a 16' x 9' open bed trailer, i now have my own. it is very lonely and unused in my driveway and because it is a tad emotionally needed, it wishes you would borrow it and put it to use when needed. (meaning please borrow the trailer, it is wasted in my driveway)...it is great for hauling the free lubbock mulch to your yard!!!
Deleteflat tires are optional
I have a friend that, in a very depressed moment in his life, said we are all only filling time and distracting ourselves until we die. Although that is a really rough way to put it, at some level he was right. I guess it's just a matter of what you want to fill that time with. There are many moments where I just want to give up on all these things I'm trying to accomplish and just play with my kid and watch silly tv shows and drink lots of wine. I just don't think I ever could. Maybe I'll take a cheat year one year and just binge watch Netflix and read Dan Brown novels.
DeleteJustin - you have so many great things ahead of you!!!! Never give in to the dark side of binge watching, lol! Seriously we all have a part to play - we all are needed! Contrary to culture of business men I grew up around- I wrestle with my work as an artist but heres how I resolved it in my head...The eye can't say to the hand - I don't need you nor the head to the feet...all the more those parts of the body that seem weaker are necessary and those that we think are less honorable are clothed in greater honor and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation... hope this helps this illustration helped me - and yes I just quoted the bible - 1 Cor 12: 19-24! This verse and Future's I Am statement for my art work has really grounded me and helped me define my art! Kind of like Ono for Charlotte - challenging her to really think about who she was as an artist, person and how these two roles interacted... I would definately do the I Am statement with my students as a lesson for the effect of grounding them and helping define their work in their research.
DeleteThe words I found interesting to describe Charlotte Moorman or her work in the introduction were: invented new, avant-garde, fervent dedication to her self assigned mission to bring avant-garde art to a broader audience, fusion of who she was and (p 18) her performance she understood was a gift an embodied offering of one’s talent, hospitality and time. What a great 4 chapters to reveal the wandering emotional appeal of wanting to be an artist. You can definitely see her drive to learning the instrument and dedication to the music yet questioning how to achieve the dream within the traditions of life as a woman. She left no stone unturned when applying to concerts to perform but kind of had the hesitation in her own career in the beginning. I love that she created this “fate” like happening to help her decide which to choose – two concerts: a traditional concert and an avant-guard concert – when push came to shove – traditional was shoved and the new style emerged. As I look at my own journey – I didn’t realize I wanted to do art as a profession or teach. I grew up observing my grandfather painting and drawing in his retirement. He had a career with Firestone as a graphic ad artist. He originally worked in production for the factory and when they realized he could draw they moved him to the internal art dept. A few years ago I found out he had applied to Disney and been accepted to work there as an artist but he didn’t go due to family’s advice that Disney wasn’t a lasting experience. (My great grandmother’s advice – I bet she’s rolling in her grave on that one, lol!) Later when my family and I moved to Des Moines I met some women at a quilt meeting that liked my work and said you should do this professionally, your young. My thought, “You can do that!” I was in the “thick” of raising two kids and a husband with an overwhelming schedule for teaching medicine to interns as well as a hospitalist for Blank Children’s hosp. plus I was inhibited with the fact that I didn’t have an art degree. I also had a strong sense to raise my own kids. My mother was a feminist – very power over feminist, she worked as a nurse and left my sister and I to do the domestic stuff at home. I wanted a different nurturing experience for my own children. When I finally started dedicating and arranging my days to work on my designs and entering shows regionally in Texas I thought I had flipped my lid! No joke, I had a friend who was a psychologist and I went to see her – looking back now it makes me laugh but she helped me get past my thoughts and embrace me as an artist!. My trepidation to pursue art came from a very traditional patterned life and my parents negative thoughts of it. An artist wasn’t seen as a positive role model or a good thing to do unless you make a ton of money at it, then and only then its ok. My father told me once my grandfather’s talents were wasted! My mother now says stuff like; “I wish I would have realized I could have directed you in that direction!” My thought, “Really all the stuff I made you as a kid didn’t clue you in?” Such is life and GOD uses all things for good – here I am getting my MAE and have been working as an artist for 6 years professionally. I consider I’ve worked the last 10 years at this but only started showing 6 years ago. I have a hunger to do something different with my art quilting. I’m drawn to new ways to display old techniques. I have challenged myself to “think outside the box” but I know I’m not quite there! I love working as an artist! I wrestled early whether to become a full time writer or artist but when I realized I was hurrying through my writing time to work on my art I flipped my day and have not looked back. I also like the aspect of teaching, considering it my way of changing the thought on art quilts are art!
ReplyDeleteYes they certainly are!
ReplyDeleteI am getting to know Charlotte. At first, I didn’t really like her. As I read further, she grew on me and I began to realize I am just not very like her. I am not as tenacious as she—or, at least, it is manifested in different ways.
ReplyDeleteLike Justin, I cannot recall any huge “ah-ha” moment that made me decide to be an Artist/Art teacher. It was more of a path I began, and the further I walked down it, the more exciting it became. So I picked up the pace. I ran at times. But I also drifted off or stopped to enjoy the scenery. The further I walked down the path, however, the more I realized art and teaching is the vocation that makes me feel most alive and most useful.
Art was always a part of my living. My father was an artist--although he worked as an electrician for GTE--and encouraged me to see every opportunity as an artistic moment. Both my parents often repeated that I was very smart and could “be whoever I wanted to be,” instilling a quiet confidence in my abilities. It wasn’t until my husband and I were talking about going back to school, and he was sharing his lack of confidence in his abilities, that I realized how I never really fear failure. If I choose to follow a passion, I know I can do as well as I want to.
But with a family and the divide between creating and teaching, I do not give all of myself to one thing. I think I could be much more successful in my artistic “prestige” if I didn’t have a family. Or that I could be the best stay-at-home-mom, make everything from scratch, and sew our own clothes if I didn’t go to school or work. But that’s okay for me. I really enjoy the overlapping and give and take of each of my "spheres": motherhood, wife, artist, teacher, scholar.... all of them make me whole.
I think this is where I differ from Charlotte. I feel like the Charlotte that I have read so far gives herself freely, fully, and ONLY to her art. I give myself to many things.
I agree charlotte does give herself to her art but she did give a little to her mom and gma by writing to them and even coming to help, i feel like that was mostly for her gma cause after mom was sent away you dont hear much about her
Deletehmmm. ah ha moments. i do remember in grad school for my mfa in graphic design, a physical ah ha moment in which i felt that working with my hands in real space with no cmd Z (infinite undos) was like coming home and walking in my own skin...i had not yet considered myself artist.
Deleteafter i finished my mfa in design (with a thesis exhibition that was purely installation based), my former spousal unit, who grew up very affluent but resented the pampered lifestyle he associated with being spoil and being bad, told me that basically i could NOT dabble in art and be a sunday painter, if i was going to cut back on my work hours. if i wanted to do art i had to do so professionally...
perhaps this sounds controlling and manipulative, but sometimes i function well with a push off the diving board, assuming there is water in the pool.
so this was much like justin's notion of not having a plan but just following where the path and obstruction lead you.
"...the more I realized that art and teaching is the vocation that makes me feel most alive and useful." Well put!! I completely agree, and I too struggle with giving a bit of attention to each of the different spheres in my life. I tend to gravitate towards having many things to juggle, in fact, as I cannot imagine choosing one part of my life over the other. It goes deeper for me than simply diversifying my experiences and where I presently spend my time. When I give myself and my time over to a particular sphere of my life, I notice the little moments and connections that make it a priceless part of my world. That's why I think your quote is so powerful. When you find something that makes you feel alive and useful, following the path it leads you down will bring you a magical life, regardless of the amount of fame or money you collect along the way.
DeleteParenting is super time consuming. I have to keep reminding myself that although fun, teaching is a job, and a job's major purpose is affording us the ability to enjoy life, family, and leisure. I have to laugh every time my mind drifts to how easy it would be to get my work done it it wasn't for al the family/social obligations I have. Do you work to live or live to work?
DeleteThat saying "do we live to work or work to live" has confused my own path so often. Can I just live and work and overlap without competing against each other? I try to enjoy each sphere in the moment--work/school, mothering, art-making--and not wish for another too often.
DeleteCharlotte’s southern roots and the way she embraced her “unique” career vs. the traditions of the time create a little animosity in my thought process. Courtney I agree with you she didn’t split her time between family and career. She was all career but I don’t see her as a “power over” feminist but just simply wanting to embrace herself and her talents. That is what I take away from these four chapters that she gave herself totally to her art trying to push the boundary of what the cello could do as a performance social experiment art. Do y’all think her collaboration with Ono and the others introduced her to the understanding of the creative process, she seemed so proficient on the technique or she already had the understanding of creative process just couldn't find the right avenue to pursue the cello differently. I'm not sure on that, I know as artists we feed off each other and collaborations is a great thing.
ReplyDeleteI think in her music she was looking for acceptance from everyone else so she kind of had this battle between being a true artist to herself or being an artist that traditions teach you to be.
DeleteCandice,I think p.36 says it all: "There has been some inner compulsion and force that has been driving me on to the point that it is impossible for me to live as you would have me to live".(letter to her husband).I have known many artists who live and work in NYC.It is a place that tests your mettle.It is hard to have a family there.Charlotte wanted this after her traditional music career.She wanted to do something different .Times were changing especially in the avant-garde world of questioning (the 1960's) tradition via experimentation.It was an interesting era.Charlotte seemed right for this time.She was also one of the first artistic collaborators in this paradigm.
DeleteI like Charlotte I almost wish this would have been written by her. How she may have described things. Of course the love she has for her gma I totally get and have felt the same wishing i could love my mom as much but my grandmother raised me so gma was my mom as well. I can almost relate in a way though she was 10 when she was inspired by music. Id have to say when the art bug actually bit me I was 16 in Taos NM I was taken on a trip with my mom and when we went to all the galleries I feel in love. Plus I grew up listening to native American stories from my great grandfather I felt like Taos was a heaven/home to me. Since I was a kid I always did something artistic either it being writing stories, drawing, or making movies with toys (borrowing gma's recorder ha ha) I was constantly producing something. I knew I wouldnt end up in the small town I was being raised in. It wasnt till high school I started liking advertisement and print art (graphic design) I used to draw those locker names for myself and friends :o). I remember looking at billboards, commercials, magazine articles and thought I could do that better or I could see how they cut stuff out nit picking the ads. I did tons of collages too putting all the things I liked most on a poster board.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that makes me want to be an art teacher after I finish in the corporate world are my professors I had, I was a non traditional student and BOY do those college kids let you know right off the bat. I fought to go to college since I was 18 but with financial issues and not getting any help from anyone it was hard. Later when I married I was able to go back to school but I moved due to military so i had to start over again and again when i got to VSU at the age of 24 I had some professors that saw past the age and saw me for who I was as a dedicated artist and knew my dream even when I went through my divorce and the lose of my grandparents they were there they became a family to me. Due to that support I knew I wanted to one day do that for others. To help them reach their goals in life like i was helped.
I like this story so far cause you see the fight in this woman she never gives up she is a strong woman because she didn't live for society or her husband she knew what she wanted and marriage wasn't it. Even though she knew her life would be financially secure she would rather live on couches and keep her art.
My grandparents were the one who spent summers with me "crafting and sewing" and put the art bug into my life. How awesome is it to pass the gift of “art” on through our teaching
Deletei agree and the heritage too when i step back and look at my collected art ive made you can see all western themed and some religious :o)
DeleteI too like Charlotte. She was so invested, and I look around me and know so many of us are that way too. When we find that passion we run to it, work for it, and even when we fail keep going. Most of us have had that "ah-HA" moment - and being able to pursue that is a treasure, and being able to share it is the insurance that others will also have it and pass it on to the next generation.
DeleteCandice, I appreciate your viewpoint! I think your comment has helped me! I kind of feel like she understands the "feminine mystic" she wrestled with but couldn’t verbalize it until she married and then she realized the truth of it for her personally. I don’t think that was her real issue. I agree with you, that she had a strong sense of herself and what she wanted from life and her battle was more internal for her art; true to self or true to traditions. I think I ask myself with each piece I work on is this unique to me. I feel that struggle in defining my work for myself to create authenticity vs what society gravitates towards. (watching what consumerism wants) It is that “wanting acceptance but not really wanting it” because your going to keep creating anyways “skin” that Charlotte wore and I liked how it lead her to authenticity. I however don’t think I’m that brave to play a cello nude in front of an audience (ha, ha) and ask myself, “what does that look like in my world?” What about y'all - what drives you to authenticity in your creative practice beyond your research? Do you do anything that helps you test your limits, working in a series or something else?
ReplyDeletelol I know I am not that brave either and even in some of my art I know I have had some amazing ideas and professors that REALLY wanted me to go there but I just couldnt I was too scared of the push back I would get specially in the type of town my university is in. (it was dealing with military and how some are on welfare due to the low income) Valdosta is a military town and I was chicken.
DeleteI do love the research part of making art but most of the art I have created has been directly about myself or my family. like i have said i have been a little scared to cross over into sharing things i have seen or been through with others that are not family. I can kind of see how some people do create a lot of art that doesnt speak crystal clear to some and leaves room for people imaginations to take over.
at the time I was an active military wife on a art scholarship so i was a little careful what I did most my art in shows and at the university gallery where about my heritage or photos of our air force in a strong light... i did a series of air force spouse and what they were most proud of showing who they were.
Deletei added a blog post with some of the air force inspired images i did in college
DeleteCandice - I like it! My husband was in the army - medical side. I'll include a little piece I did on admiring all military bravery and dedication. I think more art could be used to bring attention to their service for our country!
DeleteI found it interesting that painter Alice Neel had done Charlotte's portrait playing cello.I first met Neel when she visited my undergraduate Alma Mater, Webster University in 1976.Later on in 1981 I contacted her daughter-in-law for an interview in her studio apartment in Manhattan.She granted it.Alice gave us 4 hrs.Neel's portraits are deep psychological portraits which go beyond the superficial into full expressionism.Moorman's portrait by Neel in pastel done in 1959,reveals deep concentration and a nervousness which is compelling.The erasure in the upper right section of the picture seems to convey uncertainty,that essence of the avant-garde so given to chance happenings.
ReplyDeleteI don't know - I think I'm a planner and these chance "happenings" I worry won't be there! Loll! I try to deal with this fear by implementing my planning as "managing strategy" for my day: practice time in studio, entering juried shows, checking out possibly gallery sights and communicating to them for showing a body of work, researching ideas, etc. - but in Victoria I feel chance happenings are a little limited. So I try to focus on the discipline of an artist and hope (pray) for the rest! Loll!
DeleteI think the other thing about Charlotte I liked was her epiphany that expressed her fear. I loved the realization; if her mind could wander so could the audiences. I grew bored with my work just because of my fear to push myself or was too concerned with other’s thoughts and would just focus on technique but I wanted my work to really express the emotion and be intriguing and it wasn’t achieving this. I think as a teacher I would like to stress to my class about what artist’s go through, experiment with processes and collaboration help to work through the artist career. This was never talked about in my art classes in undergraduate level and I think to teach artists we should go beyond technique but give them tools to manage their day.
Gail, I think there's also something to be said about considering the viewer. In every creative process, including teaching, we can get so caught up in the making that we forget that there are people who might not find what we're doing automatically compelling. That being the case, we need to find a way to evaluate our work as an outsider.
DeleteGail, I recommend a book I am requiring for my senior comprehensive class.It is Ted Orland's,A View from the Studio Door.So many times we teach our students,graduate them and wonder what they have decided to do with their lives.I have mandated that our art graduates must learn how to market their work,write a resume,get a portfolio together,etc.The book shares some real insights in life beyond art school.making students think and plan what they can is all we can do as professors.For me it was travel out west ,Europe and some general risk taking to discover new things and to embrace life.Somehow this fed into my art and made me what I am today.
DeleteGood to know David - I'll look into the book. Funny - I just added to my Research Methods a possible project for me to create a lesson plan on budgeting for the artist and how that helps them to accomplish their dreams. That the budgeting helps us to take idealism and walks us through realizing and accomplishing the project.
DeleteJustin - I know your right, as an artist I have to understand the public's reaction on the big picture because sometimes quilts don't sell. But I don’t think I can let the financial dollar stop me from making them because I think they are valuable to the world of art. However when museums have had fiber art exhibits - they were the highest attended shows. I constantly ask myself: Aren't I taking a risk by trying to get them into galleries vs the quilt shows – as my artist hat unfolds I have to effectively communicate to the galleries the outcome for them and why they need this in their art gallery.
DeleteFound this article: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/traveling-exhibit-of-contemporary-fiber-art-from-national-quilt-museums-collection-comes-to-southern-illinois-cedarhurst-center-for-the-arts-273921871.html
I found two really perceptive quotes on p.51 and 66.Moorman was very influenced by Yoko Ono, not so much in the expression of Ono's art ,but the aspect of taking chances: " She(Ono) knows the rules ,and breaks them.But the most important thing is that she makes new rules." This is the epitome of contemporary art.John Cage was yet another great influence: " the things necessary to do are not the things that have been done,but the ones that have not yet been done."This leaves the artist a lot of breadth.I have always felt that the lessons of modernism ,especially in painting ,of the 1940's-on gave the artist a license to experiment leading to freeing up motifs.Surrealism played a huge role, but so did abstract expressionism and conceptual art including minimalism.Moorman was in the proverbial right place at the right time.She took career risks which other artists would never think about doing.After all, a break is a break!
ReplyDeleteInteresting - I can definitely see this in the quilting industry. Just in the last 3 years a new movement of minimalism has advanced in the art of quilt making... I think Charlotte's risk taking came after she defined who she was as an artist when you look at the chronological occurrences.
DeleteI loved that quote of hers on Yoko Ono. The sense that both she and Ono were taking these norms, these formalized things and breaking them - making them things you don't always expect is powerful. The establishment had told them what to do, in recognizing that they purposefully moved away from it (and I think they were able to find more insights into themselves and others), but what I found interesting was Ono's statement in the book, "It's too sad for me to watch. I want to remember us as the beatnik girls who had great fun in the '60s, before we became such Queens." (pg. x). At what point does breaking the rules become the norm? When does the avant-garde become mainstream? When does (and do they) someone like Moorman become mainstream, canon? What is it to be a Queen of your field?
DeleteAs I began to read I too felt a connection with Charlotte - however it was not because I identified with her tenacity, it was because of her connection with Texas and Louisiana. And I knew about every place that she was talking about. In many of the cities that she performed in, I have performed in, the schools that she went to I have been there or am familiar with them, the ensembles that she performed with, my husband and I have been members of. It was crazy - I felt like I could have known her (though impossible). I felt like we were friends and had this sort of cosmic connection.
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ReplyDeleteOk, I wanted to comment on the introduction chapter of the text. It really set up what I was about to read beautifully. It perfectly framed the book for me - which I suppose is the point of an introduction!
As Rothfuss described Moorman's performance on the Mike Douglas show I could not help but think of Frank Zappa and his performance on a talk show - I can't remember which one. Kathy, do you remember seeing that in class? Anyway, I was just floored with Rothfuss reported that the audience made no sound during the performance when Zappa was met with hoards of laughter before during and after.
On the next page, Rothfuss accounted for the audiences reactions to Moorman saying that she was introduced by Douglas as "a Happening cellist". (page 2) Well I thought of course they didn't know what was going on - they don't know what a happening cellist is let alone a happening. Her introduction was framed completely wrong for it's audience. I began to think about Dr H's questions for you Kim at your core exam on Friday. Can the audience get what any of us do if it's not framed correctly. Apparently not in 1969 on the Mike Douglas Show. Avant-garde is hard stuff, a plebeian can most certainly appreciate it, if only given a heads up. I thought that that's what the post-modern was all about, Modern just got to hard. But happenings are hard too if no one tells you the theory?
That's a great point Katherine! Marketing😉 is so important
DeleteI think her appearance on the show, even the interview, was a component of the performance. It reminded me of Bjork almost, as Bjork is very much a performer and creator, she often comes across in the media as abstract and detached (but really she is just connected with her art in such a way that the generic interview cannot do her work justice, in my opinion). Moorman's answer to Douglas on how it feels to play, saying it, "Feels good." (pg. 4) in a sense was so in tune with the performance and her stage presence that she was continuing her work. An audience may not get it directly, but if presented properly they can - it's not that the artist's aim changes, but the ability of audience to perceive that aim can. There is something about the means in which that message is understood, it can come a variety of ways, all of which may be "wrong" or "right", or become "right" - I still don't have an exact answer for this, apart from it seems to happen.
DeleteYeah... that's what is so great about performance art - I prefer the term performance experiement. Every aspect of the form is data - a social experiment to chart. People are so fascinating, weird, rude, annoying, funny....
DeleteI think if just one person gets it, really gets it that is transcendent. That's how I feel about my students. If in a classroom full of 18-year -olds, if one gets that I am sharing what I do, what moves me, why humanity has been creating then it is all worth it.
One more thing - seriously, Moorman was arrested for by plainclothes policeman and charged with lewd behavior when Yves Klein can drag naked women coated in blue paint all over a gallery infront of a live audience! Tisk Tisk
ReplyDeleteThus far I have really enjoyed this book, but I wonder if Moorman thought about composing her own work at that early time? Maybe her interpretation of a work is composing... Also her draft letters asking advice were interesting too. She was, in a sense, processing what she wanted to do by seeking an 'authority' figure - but the fact the Cage letter was never sent intrigued me more. What did it mean to her to not go to the composer for advice, but to another? I know I am going to far with such a simple act, but when reading it I thought, "oh, she knew she could do it, her way, and a good way." She had given suggestions of her own in the subsequent letter, but was also asking for suggestions - there is a collaborative spirit about it... but I also wondered why she felt she had to get approval...Maybe to not make Cage angry, but maybe this was because she was still finding her place within the avant-garde (or maybe because she still felt like a student of the art, rather than purely a creator herself)... just some thoughts (okay, mental ramblings) I had while reading.
ReplyDeleteI've really enjoyed the text too... it's been wonderful seeing someone else screw it all up. You can never see how you are messing up or perfecting your own life but you can always see it in another's. For instance, her annulement - her getting angry with her husband for citing her lack of wifery and motherhood, it is what he expected and what was socially expected. So whose really to blame? Him? Her? Both? Society?
ReplyDeleteHmmm having finally finished the opening chapters, I am very tired from her living practice in terms of housing. Seems a silly thing to note. Yet, mooching living space, trying to survive from month to month, would probably undue me. I am not sure whether it is the mooching or the month to month which would drain me more. Probably the mooching, because some how i have embedded in myself the notion of never be or seem a burden. Asking another for anything seems burdensome. (this is a fault on my part because, if not abused, people in fact like to be needed some). I am pretty sure i'd get over the money stress, but not sure the feeling like a "burden."
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ReplyDeleteI though that the discussion between Cage and Johns was particularly interesting on page 77. I circled it. Johns - "years later Johns said that he disliked her [Moorman] work for as long as he could remember because he felt that her presence overshadowed the music she was performing."
There it is! That is when it happened... she transitioned from being an instrumentalist performing music to a performance artists performing! I got so excited, that sentence is so critical. I can't believe that Johns didn't see it. I can understand Cage getting over her performances and resenting her shining star, but Johns should have known better. Somebody should have known what was happening, recognized the epiphany that Moorman was having. That's when it all changed 26'1.1499 for a String Player was that crucial piece that made Moorman an artist.
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