Jason G. Sturgill

Come find me at #openengagement2012 and ask for one of my new...

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:10:58 -0700

Come find me at #openengagement2012 and ask for one of my new Scout Books printed by the always awesome @printpinball http://openengagement.info #oe2012 (Taken with instagram)

Open Engagement starts tomorrow! http://openengagement.info...

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:42:17 -0700

Open Engagement starts tomorrow! http://openengagement.info (Taken with Instagram at Art Building (PSU))

We need more minds like these, please. Thank you, Mr. Rushkoff.

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:56:40 -0700

We need more minds like these, please. Thank you, Mr. Rushkoff.

You're invited to Open Engagement!

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:13:41 -0700

The Open Engagement: Art & Social Practice conference is happening this weekend, May 18-20th
it’s free and open to the public!

Open Engagement is an international conference that sets out to explore various perspectives on art and social practice and expand the dialogue around socially engaged art making. Through conversations, presentations, workshops, interviews, open reflections, and related projects created for or presented at the conference, we will be investigating, questioning, celebrating, and challenging the current state of art and social practice.

Learn more about our programming, keynote speakers, download the catalogue, see the full schedule online, register for the conference and even sign-up to present during an “Open Session” at http://openengagement.info

Open Engagement needs volunteers!
There are lots of ways to get involved this year, whether you can give us an hour of your time or 3 full days! It’s an amazing opportunity to meet and connect with artists from all over the country and world, and it’s great for your resume. You can learn more about Open Engagement at our website,http://openengagement.info

We need your help:

With documentation!

Documentarians can help us by taking video and still photography during various conference events. Great experience for your CV! We need a core crew of volunteers to document main events, sessions, workshops, panels and generally all that is going on including our off site locations and events.

At the registration table!

These friendly faces anchor the “home base” of the conference, the registration table. The registration table/info point is the heart of our conference operations. It will also be the center of the most up-to-date conference information, and general point of contact. (generally it works best if volunteers can commit to a three-hour shift at the registration table)

During the final diner on Sunday night!

We need volunteers to help us set up/clean up for the final dinner on Sunday night at Yale Union (YU).

Looking forward to this lecture tonight!

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:56:39 -0700

PSU ART AND SOCIAL PRACTICE MFA LECTURE SERIES

Mary Jane Jacob will present a lecture about her work!

The public is invited (it’s free, tell your friends)
Monday May 14th, 7:30 pm Sharp!
Shattuck Hall Annex at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus

In her curatorial practice MARY JANE JACOB seeks to advance the parameters of artists’ public practices and examine assumptions about the audience for contemporary art. She was artistic director for such public programs as “Places with a Past” (Charleston 1991), “Culture in Action,” (Chicago 1993), “Conversations at The Castle” (Atlanta 1996). Since 2001 she annually produces deeply situated projects for the Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston. With the bookBuddha Mind in Contemporary Art (University of California Press, 2004), she furthered her research into the nature of the art experience; her new anthology is Learning Mind: Experience Into Art. Ms. Jacob is Professor of Sculpture and Executive Director of Exhibitions at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At the 2010 College Art Association conference, she was awarded the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award and the Award for Achievement in the Field of Public Art from Public Art Dialogue.

For more information on Mary Jane Jacob go to: http://www.maryjanejacob.org/

__________________________________________________________________

The lecture series is supported in part by Erika and Dave Cianciulli, The Platt Family, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Bear Deluxe, and Makelike.

If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring the lecture series please let us know.

Next up in the PASPMLS:

May 21 Coco Fusco

www.psusocialpractice.org

Work in progress… (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:01:53 -0700

Work in progress… (Taken with instagram)

I was recently invited to participate in poetry class project at...

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:54:06 -0700

I was recently invited to participate in poetry class project at Reed College in which a couple students wrote poems in response to work on my website and then I was to make a new work in response to their poems. This is one of the pieces I made, which ended up being a hand lettered reworking of selected words in their poem that resonated with me in the rearrangement I produced. Fun times. (Taken with instagram)

Urban Edibles Lecture tonight - Free!

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:47:57 -0700

PSU ART AND SOCIAL PRACTICE MFA LECTURE SERIES

Urban Edibles will present a lecture about their work!

The public is invited (it’s free, tell your friends)
Monday May 7th, 7:30 pm Sharp!
Shattuck Hall Annex at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus

Urban Edibles is a non-profit based out of Portland, Oregon. The organization provides resources for those interested in wild edible, medicinal and otherwise notable plants. They occasionally host events, workshops, and presentations as well as publish small-print “field zines.” Much of their presence, however, is online.

Some nice foliage may make Portland, Oregon a “green” city, but amongst the leaves is a surprising amount of edible food sources. On one side of town there may be a public street lined with fruit trees whose bounty gets swept in to a dumpster year after year, while on the other side some kids may be anxious to make some plum jam. Urban Edibles aims to make more available the natural food sources throughout the city that go undiscovered each year. Nut trees, berry patches, unsprayed fields of dandelion roots are all welcome. They invite you to share the sources you already know of, search for new ones with your friends, and participate in our official scouting days.

For more information on Urban Edibles go to: http://urbanedibles.org/

__________________________________________________________________

The lecture series is supported in part by Erika and Dave Cianciulli, The Platt Family, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Bear Deluxe, and Makelike.

If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring the lecture series please let us know.

Next up in the PASPMLS:

May 14 Mary Jane Jacob

May 21 Coco Fusco

www.psusocialpractice.org

Writing workshop with Julie Ault - PSU MFA Art and Social...

Sat, 05 May 2012 15:51:31 -0700

Writing workshop with Julie Ault - PSU MFA Art and Social Practice (Taken with Instagram at Mule Deer Cabin)

"When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are..."

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:23:03 -0700

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

- The quote above is by Krishnamurti. I was amazed by how reading just a few simple lines could so simply summarize how I’ve been feeling and what I’ve been thinking about almost my whole life. I have a feeling I’m going to be digging into a lot more writing from him after I finish with school. There’s some really great footage of Krishnamurti on the YouTubes, one of which is below.

"It’s easy to rediscover part of yourself, but through art you can be shown part of yourself..."

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:09:04 -0700

“It’s easy to rediscover part of yourself, but through art you can be shown part of yourself you never knew existed. That’s the real mission of art. The artist has to find something within himself that’s universal and which he can put into terms that are communicable to other people.”

- Bill Evans

"I think the time has come for a re-evaluation of the kind of contributions artists can make to..."

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:46:32 -0700

“I think the time has come for a re-evaluation of the kind of contributions artists can make to society — artists can and should be enlisted as creative consultants, and participate in finding solutions to the most intractable social problems of our time.”

- Maureen Connor

Hammer Yearbook

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:52:32 -0700

Hammer Yearbook:

The Hammer Yearbook, produced by artists Harrell Fletcher and Adam Moser, investigates the inner workings of a museum– the visitors that come through it, the artists that provide the motivation to come in the first place, and the staff that make it possible–through the lens of a school yearbook. With regular visits to the museum, UCLA students will be creating the texts and documentation for the publication over the course of the 2011-12 academic year. The yearbook will be published in June 2012, but the accumulating information will also be posted here. This website will serve as a place to present the artists’ and students’ process in the development of the project.

Jason Sturgill for #TEDxPDX

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:36:10 -0700

tedxportland:

Artwork made in partnership with Lee’s Better Letters, Moso Graphics, Schonman Sign, Sign Wizards and Em Space.

Complete creative control was given to four local sign shops to interpret the theme “Uncharted Territory” in an attempt at transparency in artistic production and to highlight local business.
- Lee Littlewood of Lee’s Better Letters: acrylic paint on board
- Collin Votrobeck of Moso Graphics: computer cut/scored wood veneer, ink, adhesive vinyl, graphite
- Benn Schonman of Schonman Sign: enamel paint on plastic - “rebirth of a letter”
- Lori Gilbert of Sign Wizards: edge print on vinyl on acrylic - exploration of empathy in the
judicial system
-Rory Sparks of Em Space: letterpress - footnotes

Conceived and executed by Jason G. Sturgill

Check this art piece out in person and place a bid for CHAP at One Grand Gallery (1000 E. Burnside, a block from Doug Fir)

Small Business as Artistic Medium

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:03:00 -0700

I’ve been poring over this site the last couple weeks. Lots of great stuff inside. Since my work has been investigating the potential role of small business as an artistic collaborator, the title of this article grabbed me and had me giving virtual high fives to the author over the like minded thoughts seen below:

We chose a small business model for very specific and strategic reasons. Our goal in operating a food business is to create a space that is accessible and appealing to a diverse population. While we fundamentally question the logic of capitalism, we feel we must acknowledge our current circumstances. We believe we stand a better chance of engaging and building a broad-based community if we create a context anyone can interact with, rather than appealing exclusively to a self-selecting group of those already tuned in—whether to activism, art, specific political ideologies or general civic participation. At this moment in time, that common meeting point for people of all stripes happens to be a commercial environment. (more here)

(via LaToya Ruby Frazier Makes Moving Pictures | New York Close...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:39:39 -0700

(via LaToya Ruby Frazier Makes Moving Pictures | New York Close Up | Art21)

Webcast presentation by LaToya Ruby Frazier, tonight! Free!

PSU ART AND SOCIAL PRACTICE MFA LECTURE SERIES

La Toya Ruby Frazier will present a webcast about her work!

The public is invited (it’s free, tell your friends)
Monday April 16th, 7:30 pm Sharp!
Shattuck Hall Annex at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus

LaToya Ruby Frazier was born and raised in Braddock, Pennsylvania. She earned a BFA in applied media arts at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2004, and a MFA in art photography from Syracuse University in 2007. She recently completed the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Her photographs and videos examine and re-define the impact of America’s industrial revolution.

Frazier’s work has been written about inThe New York Times, The New Yorker, ArtForum, Artnet, Art Papers, Art Info, Art in America,The Brooklyn Rail, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Village Voice.

Her work has been shown in museums and galleries in New York City including P.S.1 MOMA Greater New York, the New Museum of Contemporary Art Younger Than Jesus, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Living and Dreaming, the Museum of the City of New York,Moveable Feast and at the Andy Warhol Museum’s first Pittsburgh Biennial, Gertrude’s /Lot.Her first solo-museum show Mother May I was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in 2010. Frazier’s work has been exhibited internationally at the 2011 Incheon Women Artist’s Biennale, Incheon Korea, in Commercial Break, Garage Projects, Venice Italy and at the Michel Rein Gallery in Paris. Currently LaToya is a featured artist in the new Art 21 online documentary series New York Close Up. She is also included in the 2012 Whitney Biennial.

She is the Associate Curator for the Mason Gross Galleries in the Department for Visual Arts where she also teaches photography in the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ.

For more information on La Toya Ruby Frazier go to:

www.latoyarubyfrazier.com/

__________________________________________________________________

The lecture series is supported in part by Erika and Dave Cianciulli, The Platt Family, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Bear Deluxe, and Makelike.

If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring the lecture series please let us know.

Next up in the PASPMLS:

April 23 Borderland Collective (webcast)

April 30 Slanguage

May 7 Urban Edibles

May 14 Mary Jane Jacob

May 21 Coco Fusco

www.psusocialpractice.org

"What kinds of improvements could be made in our everyday realities if sufficient effort was put..."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:57:50 -0700

“What kinds of improvements could be made in our everyday realities if sufficient effort was put towards them? This is the question that the Austrian artists’ collective WochenKlausur takes up, by way of intervening directly in the social fabric of daily life, implicitly transforming the definition of art in the process. Working from a desire for art to improve existing socio-political circumstances—a sentiment that has resonated throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth century—WochenKlausur takes up the artist’s tools of intervention and imagination to enact small-scale social improvements.”

- WochenKlausur: When Art Becomes Social Change :: by Heather Davis | .dpi: StudioXX Electronic Review

As I’ve mentioned before on this here demiblog, I’m...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:52:59 -0700

As I’ve mentioned before on this here demiblog, I’m a big fan of Ambrose and so I couldn’t be happier about the news below!

styledtoat:

Ambrose Presents
“Put It On Paper”
A Workshop featuring Lloyd Winter, Megabolt, and Scout Books for Friendtorship

I’m very proud to announce this three-part workshop that began yesterday at Portland State University. Put It On Paper is a workshop inspired by the people of Ambrose, an after school art club in Holland, MI. Ambrose features weekly hands-on projects, guest artists, designers, and companies that help develop critical thinking, entrepreneurship, and creative problem solving skills.

The Friendtorship course at Portland State has a similar goal. Last year, PSU senior Matti Johnson wanted to reach out to high schools to educate students about graphic design, both as a discipline and as a viable career option. A mentorship course was developed with Centennial Learning Center (CLC), where at-risk youth would visit PSU once a week. CLC students work together with PSU graphic design students on art literacy projects, developing skills within the concepts of social change, community, and design.

Over a year later, the relationship between the two schools continues, and has developed into the “Friendtorship” program, where our bonds can be described as friends + mentors rather than just mentors. I was a part of this course during fall of 2011, and was inspired to help sustain the program because I too, was an at-risk youth during my high school years. If it weren’t for a few influential people in my life at the time, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Through design and art education, I want to be able to inspire someone else, to give them the opportunity to make a change for the better, to bring someone to happiness because of projects like these.

After learning about Ambrose through my own Friendtor, Lloyd Winter, I was inspired to make a workshop with the Ambrose business model here in Portland. I see this as an amazing opportunity to bring the creative community together for a great cause, from organizations both inside and outside of our classroom.

Since then, I’ve reached out to Ambrose, Lloyd, Megabolt, Scout Books, and Open Engagement to help make this workshop possible. Together, we’ve planned a two-day workshop that will result in custom Scout Books featuring a design by Lloyd Winter, with screen printing supplies generously provided by Megabolt. This workshop will educate the students about the creative process of putting ideas on paper, as well as the art of screen-printing. Each student will walk away from this workshop with their own notebook which they helped make.

On Sunday, May 20th at 3PM, Put It On Paper will host a discussion at Open Engagement about the workshop, the importance of collaboration, and art education. We hope that you can join us!

Special thanks to Ambrose, Lloyd Winter, Megabolt, Scout Books, Lis Charman, Conrad Schumacher, Kate Bingaman Burt, and Jason Sturgill in making this workshop possible.

These Scout Books will be available for sale shortly online, each signed with love from Lloyd and the student that helped make them. The proceeds will help benefit the Friendtorship program at Portland State. More information about this soon!

Thank you kindly,
Tina

All of the photos above were from Part 1 of the workshop, where students learned the basics of screen printing and created stencils to emulate that process.

Pre lecture reading materials. (Taken with Instagram at PSU -...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:33:12 -0700

Pre lecture reading materials. (Taken with Instagram at PSU - Shattuck Hall)

Design 99 lecture tomorrow!

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:55:12 -0700

PSU ART AND SOCIAL PRACTICE MFA LECTURE SERIES

Design 99 will lecture about their work!

The public is invited (it’s free, tell your friends)
Monday April 9th, 7:30 pm Sharp!
Shattuck Hall Annex at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus

Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope founded Design 99 in 2007 to investigate new models of contemporary art and architectural practice. Initially occupying a retail storefront space, the design studio situated itself in the public realm offering over-the-counter design consultations and marketed $99 house call specials. Now embedded in their residential corner of Detroit, Design 99 seeks out opportunities to experiment with art and design within their community.

In 2009, Reichert & Cope founded Power House Productions, a nonprofit organization focussed on neighborhood stabilization through art and culture.

Since 2008, the team has been developing the Power House as a test site for ideas and methods, lo and hi-tech building systems, and a point of conversation for the entire neighborhood.

Design 99 has exhibited widely including the Van Abbemuseum, Smart Museum, Kunsthalle Wien,

Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. They have lectured at the Dutch Art Institute, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Umeå University, Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Pulitzer Foundation. Their work has been featured in the New York Times, Detroit News and Free Press, CNN, 20/20, NPR, Der Spiegel, I.D. and Dwell magazines among others.

For more information on Design 99 go to: www.visitdesign99.com

__________________________________________________________________

The lecture series is supported in part by Erika and Dave Cianciulli, The Platt Family, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Bear Deluxe, and Makelike.

If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring the lecture series please let us know.

Next up in the PASPMLS:

April 16 LaToya Ruby Frazier (webcast)

April 23 Borderland Collective (webcast)

April 30 Slanguage

May 7 Urban Edibles

May 14 Mary Jane Jacob

May 21 Coco Fusco

www.psusocialpractice.org