Keith's All American Presentation

Keith Maclelland shared his passion and process of making illustative works devoted to the theme of the cult of the American Cowboy. What is fascinating about Keith and his approach to his theme is the rich range of materials, photographs and digital images he employs in his quest to understand what in fact a Cowboy is.

From the Rhinestone Cowboy, to outlaws and gunners on the run, our views of cowboys are as many and as complicated as life in America is complex and contradictory. I welcome comments and discussion on Keith's carefully crafted presentation as it applies to the use of the art object as a means of exploring complex ideas and the images that have been created to express these ideas.

Above all, as we move into Module 2 with it's focus on what the artist is and can do in society, lets reflect on how Keith and Dave Glen function as artists. How would you compare and contrast these two different artists and their range of interests? Can you see some common ethical concerns the two share? What differences do you see between Dave Glen's documentary approach to photography and the more exploratory collage approach of Keith Maclelland? How would you describe the aesthetic characteristics of these two artists?

Bill

Some final thoughts from David Glen

Hello, Everyone!

I Hope Bill doesn't mind my taking poll position in the blog to thank you all again for your thoughtful input regarding aesthetics and the documentary photograph. I have some final thoughts that I'd like to share with you, and these touch on just two issues.

The first is to do with historical responsibility. That we all--whether photographer, painter, illustrator, sculptor, or writer--have an impact on history is without question. For our work will be seen by future generations, and what our artwork contains will be used by our descendants in the ongoing process of understanding existence itself. As I have said elsewhere in the blog, all of us are setting down the visual evidence of our time for those who will come after us. In doing so, it is imperative that we tell the truth about what we see around us every day, whether with camera or brush, and that we connect with the heart of the matter on both an intellectual and an emotional level. We owe that to posterity because if we fail to tell the truth, are disingenuous in our motives, or manipulate facts, we violate the trust not just of those alive today but of future generations to come.

I believe very strongly in this and that it applies to ALL facets of the human condition. It even applies to the ethics of those who would represent us in government; of doctors who have sworn to put the lives and well-being of their patients first; of scientists and engineers in whose integrity we rely every time we step on an airplane, or drive a car.

When we look back on history, we have to rely on the fact that the photographers who were present in say Vietnam, or those in Iraq, were people of integrity, and that their work was not some kind of sordid manipulation of the truth for personal gain.

As you go on in life and pursue your art in whichever medium you have chosen, please remember always your integrity, your dedication to honest representation. Show that you really do care about issues, and always remember that child of the future who will one day stand and stare at your work and be changed forever.

The second thought is to do with taking sides. This is an extension of "caring about issues", and the good news is that we need not always focus on the tragic; we can also reveal the uplifting. One of the most overused words in the media today is "objectivity". It may seem odd to many of you when I say that I don't believe in absolute objectivity. It's just not possible to be wholly objective in anything. The very fact that we choose a specific topic for our art is subjective, and in choosing a subject I care about, I am by definition taking a side.

The great Dorothea Lange once wrote: "...documentary photography records the social scene of our time. It mirrors the present and documents the future. Its focus is man in relation to mankind. It records his customs at work, at war, at play, or his round of activities through 24 hours of the day, the cycle of the seasons or the span of a life. It portrays his institutions--family, church, government, political organizations, social clubs, labor unions. It shows not merely their facades, but seeks to reveal the manner in which they function, absorb the life, hold the loyalty, and influence the behavior of human beings. It is concerned with methods of work and the dependence of workmen on each other and their employers. It is preeminently suited to building a record of change."

This is true of all art. In my opinion, you MUST take a stance on the things you care about. The only part of "objectivity" that should apply is your unfailing effort to tell your visual story with absolute integrity. Just one work of art contributed in this way will rekindle our trust in humanity, and will leave the world a better place. It is for me the purest aesthetic.

Good luck to all of you!

David

Thanks from David Glen

Hello Everyone...thanks so much for having me speak to you on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed your participation and feedback, and I will be responding to some of your comments over this weekend.

In the meantime, if any of you wish to discuss aesthetics as it relates to photography, or indeed any aspect related to our discussions, please feel free to post comments on the aesthetics blog site.

Many thanks again.

David Glen

Introduction to David Glen

Hello, Everyone!

I'm David Glen and will be visiting your aesthetics class on Thursday, February 21, and am looking forward to talking with you.

I thought I would give you a little background on who I am before we meet.

I am a documentary photographer and investigative journalist and was born in Kenya, East Africa, in 1953.

I attended a private boarding school in Northern Kenya, and thereafter attended Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the age of fifteen, I went to work as an apprentice in the heavy engineering division of the Iron and Steel Corporation of South Africa (ISCOR) in Vanderbijlpark, near Johannesburg. I later moved to Cape Town where I found a love for mountaineering and photography.

I first visited the Himalayas in 1973 at the age of twenty, reaching the South Col at 26,000 feet on Mount Everest with just one Sherpa companion. I spent a further five weeks climbing in the vicinity of Cho Oyu and Pumori indulging my love for photography, and developed a long term affection for the region and its Sherpa people. I'm still a frequent visitor to the Himalayas.

I've also spent long periods shooting documentary photography in a variety of countries. I've lived in Saudi Arabia, and have travelled on assignments in Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Yemen, the Gulf States, Egypt, India, Nepal, the remote Kingdom of Mustang (now part of Nepal), Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Costa Rica, the great southern ice caps of Chilean Patagonia, Russia, and more recently the Balkan states of Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Romania, and Hungary.

I now devote the majority of my documentary work to the poignant issue of child trafficking and the exploitation of children, increasing awareness of the insidious rise of this pandemic throughout the world. I am currently producing a photo journal entitled “Little People, Big Business” which looks critically at the plight of exploited and endangered children at the start of the 21st Century.

I hope to have an open dialogue with you about the aesthetic value in documentary photography citing three or four of my own icons in this field. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or otherwise post comments either before or after my presentation on Thursday.

I'll also post one or two images in advance to whet your appetite which we can discuss in class.

David Glen

David Glen's Visit Thursday

Dear Students:

Following David's presentation on Thursday, I want to urge you to respond on this blog with comments so that Dave and I can interact with you. You will find that Dave has posted a couple of photo images so that you can get a sense of the aesthetic direction he wants to move us in. You will discover that Dave's concern as a documentary photographer is to frame a cultural context and content of real lives into a rich aesthetically compelling image. One of the points that I believe we will learn from Dave's presentation on Thursday is that fine documentary photography is inevitably aesthetically potent. In fact, I would go so far so to say that the best photography is always a powerful combination of form, theme, and context, and this is true for all of the arts in general.

Please note that Dave has logged in and introduced himself.

Additionally, we have released log in requirements for you so that you may log in without a user name and password. This may have prevented some students from logging in before.

Bill

One's most valued object

Today in Aesthetics class the question was raised--why do we value art objects? The observation that practically speaking, works of art have little utilitarian use was brought to the table for discussion. The partner presentation by Ben Faubion and Bahador Shojapour explored in class some of the complex reasons we put an economic value on art objects that have little to offer in terms of doing something like transporting one or feeding one or protecting one. Ben and Bahador developed their discussion following the 6 so called "Iron Rules" of art value which appear in the essay in our text by Mark Sagoff, entitled: "On the aesthetic and economic Value of Art."

The class as a whole came to the conclusion that (as Sagoff claimed), the real value of the art is less in its intrinsic or practical qualities and value and more in the cultural and personal connections the object has to offer. The challenge was given to the entire class to imagine what objects they would save and why they would save them, if they could only grab three things out of a burning house after people and pets had been saved.

Then the next question to ask is why did you save those three objects? What personal and cultural value do they hold? What people and places do those objects connect with? This exercise is valuable in the way it helps one to understand why some objects can be priceless because the values they connect to are extremely important to one's personal history and even to one's identity. Now, extend this personal view to a country and one sees that art represents or embodies the cultural and personal heritage of a people.

I encourage all bloggers to share what objects have the most cultural and personal heritage and why they are important to you.

New essays

This coming week we will be examining several important essays in the history of aesthetic thought. In a general way these readings will center around John Dewey's idea that art and aesthetic experience grow directly out of everyday life experiences. Other essays presented next week in class will relate to Dewey's views so that we will look for instance into writings by Okakura on the Japanese tea house as a place for important aesthetic insight. Other reflections by Tanizaki on the subtle power of Asian architectural design will broaden insights from the tea house and apply them to all of nature.

Developing a broad aesthetic view is challenging for an art student because there is a tendency to explore specific kinds of expression and media in art school. This is a natural tendency to stay in an aesthetic comfort zone because it takes real effort and focus to master a media. But following the mastery, the challenge is to broaden again ones view and remain open to other technical and conceptual approaches which can be added to what the student has already gained in terms of aesthetic awareness and artistic mastery.

Broadly based aesthetic readings can help to keep the student open to more media options and artistic world views and that is for the best because it keeps one vital. And of course John Dewey would more than agree with the need for vital art.

Bill

Welcome to the 2008 LCAD Aesthetics Blog!

I'm looking forward to the student presentations tomorrow, February 7th. This will be the first time this semester that students in this class will be sharing with their fellow class members the insights that they are getting from reading the essays in their aesthetics text. Already, I have received e-mail messages from students who are working on their class presentations and the concern is to find a way of making the presentations interesting and representative of some solid study of the text.

There is always a tension in an art school, I've discovered, between students who want to make art objects and those who not only enjoy making art objects but are equally interested in reading and reflecting on the thoughts and opinions of other people who are making art objects. The in-class aesthetics presentations are the result of students who have found a way of balancing their desire to make art objects and also to appreciate what others have written about the making of art. The in-class presentations in this class are especially important because for some students it is the first time they are able to see the way in which the studio and the academic complement and overlap one another.

These are some of the reasons why I look forward to these first presentations in the morning. Please feel free to comment on your thoughts about this process. I will be adding entries to the LCAD Aesthetics Blog periodically, and I invite you to interact with me.