middlegray

How do you do what you do?

2012-01-31T18:35:00.000-08:00

Process always seems to be a topic of interest when artists arediscussing art or talking with fellow artists. This isn’t much of a surprise as overall; I feel humannature is very inquisitive. Wewant to know how things are made, we ask questions to learn more about things wedo not completely understand, no matter what object has been produced. I feel this inquisitiveness intoprocess is even more evident when looking at artwork (granted I maybe swayed asI am a producer of art) however, in art the process is much more expansive thanthe physical application of the elements involved. It is about the reasoning, the decisions, the concepts, andthe overall cognition into why said artwork was created.

I suppose artists find process most interesting becauseevery practice is different.

While reading an interview of David Goldblatt and IvanVladislavic of their recent double book titled, TJ & Double Negative, conducted by Bronwyn Law-Viljoen, Ipaused to think about process afterthis quote from Goldblatt. “Ican’t just hook myself to a concept and follow it through, I need somethingoutside of my own ‘inside’ that engages me, provokes me, makes me want tophotograph.” The result for me hasbeen that I find myself thinking inquisitively about how my past few projectshave come together.

Trying to put my process into words is proving ratherchallenging, and I hope I’m not alone on this one, [perhaps this is a goodquestion to ask when I visit a studio this coming Friday]. The process I engage in spawns from thatwhich I am; self-reflective, autobiographical, my work is a story of me. Projects of mine have dealt with myincessant need to travel, the multiple surgeries I have had, divorce – bothmine and my parents – as well as a reflection of my childhood. However that is really just the subjectmatter. What other factorscontribute to my subject? Whenanalyzing this question my process becomes a bit clearer, in that I aminterested in memory, experience, human development, compressing space andtime, and kinetics.

And this is where the difficulty lies in my effort to put myprocess on paper, the idea of my process.

I will say my process is a balance of concept and outsideinfluences. Currently I have 5projects on the table, one of which emerged just a week ago while watching the Alexander Strings Quartet. I became drawn tothe movement of the artists more so than the music played. I challenged myself to find a way tocapture that experience, the music but also the motion and expression inplaying the music, and I think with the help of John Cageand my beloved photography, I have come up with a concept I am very excitedabout.

faulty expectations

2012-01-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know me, as an artist, writer or afriend, it should be no surprise that I am a critic of education. It is important to me and I ampassionate about education. I believe that it should be available to continuallydevelop students at every level. Continual development is for the benefit of the students, but in oursociety, the fact that they are actually developing must be proven. We require a metric to show thatthe educational system we all pay for and buy into is doing as it isintended. This metric however doesnot say that every student walks away from education eager to be a lifelonglearner, but more important than that, a successful education should mean thatstudents are presented with the opportunity and are shown how to learn on theirown. Education should mean that they actually gain knowledge. Learning; however, is not receiving a4.0 and it certainly isn’t about never making a mistake

I truly believe my ideal of education is what we wouldstrive for in our public education – a place where people learn how to learnand where they are better for the knowledge they have mastered. But sadly we are far from thisideal. The example I would like touse for this post comes from my current foundations class. Being a 100 level class the majority ofthe seats are occupied by underclassmen, a critical population because thesestudents still have a long way to go as they strive to accomplish a degree, soeach class they take could make a large impact on their future.

In this class a student, who is struggling with art,recently complained about the requirements of the class because she “needs and4.0” as she will be applying to veterinarian school and will not be acceptedwith a “tarnished” transcript.

This I have problems with. In fact I have many problems with this scenario.

First assumption: That a student earning an undergraduateGPA of 4.0 is any more intelligent or capable of success than a student with a3.5 or a 3.0. This postulation is asinine. As an educator I have seen first hand the process oflearning and there are areas where students struggle. With those struggles; however, comes an understanding, butthere are subject that will always be problematic. It is the nature of being human in that we cannot be expertsat everything, but rather an authority in what we enjoy and invest our time in.

Second, I question the values when our society, so focusedon statistics, that we solely look to numbers to determine a student’s ability,rather than actually review the quality of their work.

Students believe that they are required to have a pristinetranscript in order to reach their goals. Schools look for a flawless report and the “right mix” of extracurricular activities before admitting a student. These two factors combined have lead to a world wherestudents now believe that no matter what they learn, or if they learn, theymust get an A. They believe that this high mark is the only measure of theiracademic achievements, and the actual knowledge gained through these coursesmeans nothing, or at least is secondary to the grade reported.

The expectation by students, parents, and even graduateschools, that the “best students” only possess a 4.0 GPA and the assumption thatthese students should not struggle with some material throughout theireducational career, is ridiculous. No individual is a perfect student, nor is a student so intelligent thatno schoolwork is a challenge. Asan educator I question the notion that a student’s schoolwork is not affectedby the ebb and flow of life outside of academia.

Aside from the societal expectations placed on studentlearning, the bigger issue is the effect of these expectations. The request by my Art 100 student, orrather a polite demand, for the grade she wants rather than the one she hasearned, shows that the current state of the system is based on future needsrather than actual quality because she feels she needs the grade even though she has no right to request it. This is one of the most “entitled” ofentitlement acts I have dealt with as an instructor.

Are these systems and expectations setting students up forfailure, rather than teaching them to learn from falters? What happens if this student does notget accepted into a veterinary program? Will she be able to bounce back?

We have set up an unrealistic outcome for our students;students, who will be unable to think for themselves, troubleshoot, creativelyassess problems, and analytically be able to solve those problems. Students need to learn to pickthemselves up after they have fallen, understand mistakes so they don’t makethem again and learn from such mistakes. More importantly they must not get discouragedwhen things don’t go as planned. Are students learning these necessary life skills in education anymore?Or do they always get what they ask for?

a curious concern

2011-11-21T18:23:00.001-08:00

In my various and sporadic involvements with photography Ihave recently been presented with two professional facets of the medium. Whenviewed separately they speak independently; however, together, they can potentiallyprovide some insight to the direction of this medium.

First is my involvement with a student organization calledSkillsUSA, a national organization focusing on employability and occupationalskills. This organization hosts competitions,at the local, state, and national level, and one of my particular involvements judgingat the state level. In thisposition I have seen the state competition grow each year, so much so that ithas become difficult to manage. Tohelp alleviate this problem the state association has now decided to host aregional competition to filter the number of participants at the statelevel. We judges consider thisgood news. However, this has drawnmy attention to a steady growth in the medium as more and more students arebeing exposed to photography.

The second facet is my involvement is at the localuniversity, where I co-teach a foundations class. My regular presence in the department has allowed me to viewthe work currently being produced by students in the arts, includingphotography. (Disclaimer: I do notcurrently teach photography at university and therefore I am not speaking onbehalf of the program, instructors, or the curriculum. I am speaking on myobservations on the plethora of in progress student photographs displayed inthe hallways.)

For a university level class, the work I see is crap. These images possess no more intent thanthe latest facebook uploads; lacking both concept and aesthetics.

Has education truly lost the ability to reach into a studentand find something unique? Whereis the creativity that once resided within them? Has it been trained out of them by standardization andstate-level exams? Gone untouched for so long that not even a residue isleft? The creative scholar Sir KenRobinson identifies creativity as “unique ideas that posses value”. Which is what, from my perspective, cannot be found in this current undergraduate work.

A curious concern at the direction of photograph as I lookat its growing popularity paired with the undergrad work I see.

operators

2011-10-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Photography is not going away. On the contrary, it’s just getting going. Photography is becoming more and moreinseparable from the workings of state power, corporate interest, and oureveryday lives. And this is somethingphotographers should critically reflect upon.
- Trevor Paglen, writing about the growth of imagemaking.

Reflecting on my position as an image-maker I have realizedthat my place as, what society calls, a photographer is much, much smaller thanI originally thought. Camerasmounted in police cars to capture every license plate that passes. Airports that have cameras placed todocument every travelers face. Remotedrones snapping pictures of landscapes they fly over, as well as copious otherimage making methods at our disposal. Is this truly what photography hasbecome?

I have always enjoyed history and I believe that historyrepeats itself. When I contemplatethe current state of photography, I see a division and I wonder if thisdivision is what painters encountered with the inception of photography? When photography came to its own,painters were no longer “required” to document. No more portraits. No more landscapes. No morestill-lifes. Painting becamemodern; Rothko, Newman, Jackson, de Kooning…

Is it time for photography to redefine itself? What is photography?

Now, the term photographer resembles the original titlebestowed on those who operated a camera – an operator. How does a trained professional separatehim or herself from one who merely operates a camera and further, how dothose professionals separate themselves from one another? Photojournalist, Wedding, Documentary,Scientific, Sports, Landscape, Fashion, Surveillance, Commercial, Art, exc. areall niches of photography and this is only a fraction of the ways people canuse the medium. Plus as the Paglenwriting addresses, this includes a slew of photography being conductedautomatically, and unprofessionally.

How are we to compete? How do we operate in such an environment? What is a photographer to do?

I offer up no solutions, as I am swimming in the vatmyself. However, in times ofuncertainty looking to the past for guidance can be advantageous, and maybethere is something to be said for The Photo League, Camera Work, and the NewYork School.

refused to photograph

2011-09-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

For quite some now I haveknown I that I am not a “photographer”, despite my undying love and passion forthe medium. However, as thesentiment goes – the more you understand the less you know – and the more Ihave learned about photography the less I identify myself as aphotographer.

I read a recentlypublished Aperture article, No Depth ofField, by Fred Ritchin, a professor in New York. He wrote about how his documentary photographed students andhow they “refused to photograph” for one reason or another, after the attacksof 9/11. Later in the article,Ritchin, while at a book signing, posed the question – who else refused tophotograph? “How could wenot? What an idiotic question”,one of the elders remonstrated. “We are photographers, after all.”

Ok, hold that thought…story time.

My mentor back inMinneapolis told me this story and I think coupled with above, it illustratesmy understanding of a “photographer” quite well. While living in New York a few moons ago my mentor, a frequentgallery hopper, walked into a gallery where two rather large men quicklyconfronted her. A mousy littlevoice chirped up from behind the two men saying – “it’s ok”.

This is the beginning ofthe story of when my mentor met Andy Warhol, who was hanging a show. They began to talk and Andy asked mymentor if she was an artist. She responded,“I am a photographer”, where Andy abruptly replied, “Where is yourcamera?” “In my apartment”, andAndy followed with “you’re not a photographer”. Insinuating that a photographer always has a camera withhim/her.

In the context providedthe profession of a photographer comes with some strings attached: a photographeralways has a camera in close reach, and is willing to photograph anythingbecause it needs to be photographed. My practice does not align with this definition, as it feels surface andlacking concept. When I think ofthis story and the statement above “we are photographers, after all,” I receiveconfirmation that I am not a photographer.

On some level I havealways known this but it wasn’t until the book The Edge of Vision that I truly found a collection of photographicartists I could relate to as artists, and relate to the medium of photographythrough. It is with this lens ofartists that I can look at the work I do and feel comfortable about callingmyself an artist. But more specifically I am an artist who works withphotography and I do not feel I need a camera with me at all times to define mypractice.

Entitled, lazy, lacking focus…

2011-09-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

Being back in Reno hasallowed me to spend time with some great people and do a few things that I havealways enjoyed. Last night Ivisited a past instructor of mine at the tail end of the college class he stillteaches.

While standing in thedoorway I had a few minutes to observe the class. The instructor was in the middle of the room with the classradiating around him. As hepresented the next extension of the homework, which involved some research anda draft by the next meeting, a student – who I will say did not look as ifeducation was priority – raised his hand. “Oh this should be good.” I thought.

“We have to have a draftto you by Wednesday?” He questioned. “Yes.” Was the answer of our mutual teacher. He then responded “I don’t have time to research beforethen”. A simple “Sure you do”, andthe professor was done with him.

Entitled, lazy, lackingfocus… there are plenty of terms being used in research and mainstream media tolabel this generation [I’m concerned that, as I am close to their age; am Iperceived and labeled this way too?] What formed this mentality? When did itbecome acceptable that a student can enter into a college classroom and dictateto the professor when and how the class will be conducted?

In the business-like approachthat most post secondary institutions have embarked when it comes toenrollment, [a minimum number of applications equals a minimum number ofenrolled, equals the budgetary minimum, with a minimal emphasis placed onretention], I suppose it’s no surprise to find these students, theseanti-authority, “who are you to dictate my schedule” type of people, incollege. The university’s need formoney is great, so great that the need for paying students has trumped therequirement that colleges enroll students who want to be in college, not the ones who feel that merely showing upto class should be enough.

I am aware that thisepidemic cannot solely be placed on colleges and universities; it’s a societalproblem with many facets. I justwish I could have slapped some sense and some respect into that student lastnight.

A picture is worth a thousand words

2011-09-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

We all know this phrase; it feels like it’s been aroundsince the inception of photography, just as we all know how powerful thosewords/pictures can be. From Frank Glick’s bald eagle photographto the catalog of images from the Egyptian revolution earlier this year. Pictures have meanings, but the assigningof meaning to a picture can be dangerous and fictitious.

The difficulty is in identifying the 1,000 words aphotograph can represent, as pictures transcend time, place, cultures, andvarying frames of reference. Witheach of these factors, the meaning of each photograph is altered. Interpreted differently because of thechanging times within a society, personal experience, because the viewer simplydoes not know what has been captured individuals have different reasons forassigning meaning to what they see.

In Fred Ritchin’s book AfterPhotography, he describes a moment when working for a newspaper when thecontext of a story changed after the story had been illustrated with aphotograph. Because of the changein the text, the story was altered however; the illustrating photographremained the same. A photographset to accompany one story was then illustrating a new story that it didn’tnecessarily represent. The 1,000words of this image were changed, altering its meaning.

Because of photojournalism, family snapshots, documentaryphotography, and our own naïve believe that what we see in the pictures frameis factual, photography leads us to believe that what we see is real. The belief is that these 1,000 words arethe same for every individual gazing at the image.

What we fail to realize is that photography is subjective inevery facet. The photographerchooses to frame this rather than that. When looking at a picture we are reminded of this and notthat, or we are told this represents this and not that. It is for this reason; the pliabilityof photographs, that photography has historically been a key component inpropaganda.

Story time:

While living in theCzech Republic I visited the largest stadium I have even seen, much too largefor any single sport to utilize. Ilater discovered that the stadium [velky strahov] was built for, whatCzech’s call, Sokol, a fitness group founded in 1862. However, during the communist era, pictures of Sokol weredistributed globally as a way to showcase the socialist lifestyle; despite thefact Sokol groups had no socialist ties and had been active long before theSoviets occupied the Czech lands. These Sokol photographs were taken as documentation, but were later usedas propaganda.

A photograph is most certainly worth a thousand words;however, the difficulty lies in identifying which 1,000 words are correct.

I leave you with a final thought: Reality, that thingphotographers so often strive to capture, feels most elusive. Reason being is that a photograph livesbeyond the control of the photographer.

reverse order: parental involvement

2011-09-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

As an artist and an educator I continually hear the questionbeing asked of education: how can we get more parental involvement?

I whole-heartedly believe that one of the keys to developinga successful student is a parent [or parents] who becomes active in theirchild’s education. However,it seems as though the current tactics to persuade parents into becoming activelyinvolved within education are failing. Failing because they’re not enough. Schools host parent nights, they send home progress reports,occasionally they make a call to parents or send emails asking for help forsome extracurricular activity. Someschools even host parental volunteers. The problem I see is that despite all these efforts, the fundamental educationa student receives is still the same.

Ok, so the direct question after my last statement is mostcertainly: why would parental involvement change the way education is taught tothe student? However, the properquestion should be, “How can we changeeducation to better foster parental involvement?” Let me explain further.

This idea came from two sources; the first was an hour-longconversation on the topic and the second was when my current project as aprofessional artist, a photographic book project I am doing in collaborationwith my father, infiltrated that conversation. My current work questions my career choice: ”Would, if mychildhood had been spent living with my father rather than my mother, my careerbe different?” I feel it would.

Story time:

Had I lived with my father, a Professional Engineer [P.E.],Civil, he would have regularly been able to share his work with me, telling mestories about projects he is working on, interesting problems he is solving,the challenges he is troubleshooting, and of course taking me to job sights soI could see these stories first hand. I can only assume that seeing the excitement in my father and how heinvests himself into his work would have filtered down to me and inspired me to“be like him”. Following his pathwould have been simple, as I would have had a specialist at home willing andable to help me out with the mathematical equations troubling me at school. HadI lived with dad, it would be no surprise that upon my university enrollment Ihad sought out a degree in engineering rather than the art degree I pursued.

So how does this antidotal story address improving parentalinvolvement in education? It capitalizeson the family dynamic; a dynamic that isa two way street. A child getsexcited about what his or her parents are doing, just as parents take upinterests that their child embark on [sports is the perfect example]. If a student is excited about theirschoolwork and is challenged by the projects they have been given, they bring that excitement home to share withtheir parents. The parents will continue such excitement, and in reverseorder from above, energize the student’s schoolwork. This will happen naturally when students talk about whatthey are learning, about the project at hand, as well as taking time at home towork, while occasionally needing some parental assistance.

The more this is done, the more affixed a parent becomes to thecurriculum, which fosters relationshipswith schools [teachers and administrators] and with other parents andstudents. Getting studentspassionate about their education has a ripple effect that builds relationships,all without the various, and usually passive, methods schools currently employto ask for more parental involvement.

In my head this all makes sense, but I would assure you thatwith the proper curriculum it will work just as I have described for a majorityof students. I have seen it work within art, and there is no reason why thesame can’t happen for other disciplines. The question then becomes, how do we get students passionate about theireducation and to take ownership in what they learn? Well that’s been answered already, and the link below willshow you one such example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfP53Alnbhk&feature=player_embedded

I heard from a past student

2011-09-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

The other day I received a phone call from apast student, the type of student every instructor is proud to “say they were mine”. Currently studying photography in Oklahoma, the student calledto inform me of a visiting artist proposal he is putting together in an effortto bring me to campus to present my work and meet with students. Heneeded some specific information about my work and the concepts behind what Ido.

After providing influences, both artistic andconceptual, we caught up a bit and began talking about what he was working oncurrently. Expanding on a technical endeavor from last term he is lookingat building the concepts driving his project. After some digging questions, wewere able to discuss what was driving this new idea and how it related to workfound throughout the history of photography. I offered some open-endedquestions to get him thinking further about the concept of the subject matteras well as the medium.

In review of this experience, I have neverbeen an instructor that tells students what to do. My reasoning for thisis that the solutions that I would propose are my own answers to aproblem. However, this is not my project. I encourage students tolook into what inspires them, why they are drawn to a particular subject, andto avoid using the medium in a "just because it’s photography"manner. No less critical than the concepts behind the subject matter, isthe concept to use the medium to enhance the work, not just capture it.

It's been a few years since I have regularly taughtin a classroom, but it’s a good feeling to step into that role again, even ifit is only for a moment over the phone.

Good luck Tyson!

an artist who works with photography

2011-09-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

This has become the answer to the question of what kind of "artist" I am.

In our new image basedsociety, citizens photograph with their cell phones, digital point and shootcameras [what my Grandmother refers to as PHD - push here dummy - cameras], D-SLR's,and even cameras built into their computers. The term photographer has aplethora of preconceived notions tied to it, and I am not those.

I, as an artist, have anissue with those who buy the digital single lens reflex, a few lenses to gowith it, own some image manipulation software, and... drum roll please... a photographer has been created. For agood laugh take some time looking around here: http://youarenotaphotographer.com,it should fully illustrate my position. No, I don't photograph weddings.Have I before? Yes. Do I look down upon those who do photograph commercialrecurring events? No, it’s just not what I do as a photographer.

Photography is an art-form,and as an art-form the concepts behind the work factor into how the medium isused to convey those concepts.

Iam a fine art photographer. I want to challenge the viewers’ expectationsof a photograph. I want the concept of my work to be just as strong asits aesthetics. I want to capture emotions and experiences, and not justa fragment of time.

I am an artist that works with photography, and am thereforeby definition not comparable to your mainstream photographic artist.