In this project Johnson explains: At any location I take from, I will leave a part of myself in exchange. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, there will be bits of me left all around the country for people to encounter and wonder about later. This blog will be updated regularly with road stories, photos and GPS tracks, in case anyone out there wants to trace my steps and hunt down my breadcrumbs…

Today she surprised us with a visit as she was crossing through Texas!

During her tenure in Austin Johnson created Cracks in the Pavement, a project that is addressed the urban landscape and focused on the overlooks spaces. She would leave hidden art works in spaces and you could find a map and take away the treasures if you found them. Her work forces us to connect with our surroundings-in hopes that realizing a new intimacy will result not taking our everyday environment for granted.

In 2006 she exhibited at Women & Their Work and covered our walls with “chit chat” she heard in the NYC subways. Johnson painstakingly embroidered the fleeting conversations she heard. She also installed graphite and vinyl text through out the gallery walls and floor.

Follow and support Heather Johnson on her frightening & beautiful voyage!

To Heather: I miss having you in Austin! Keep the shiny side up!

Rachel Stuckey of Experimental Response Cinema presents a rad program as part of the VAC’s  Focus Group. 

Focus Group is a screening series centered on experimental film in its various formats, including but not limited to 16mm, 8mm, and digital video. Focusing on seminal filmmakers from the past and their contemporary counterparts, the screenings are introduced by artists, filmmakers, critics, and curators who additionally present discussion topics ranging from innovative approaches to the medium to issues in contemporary film culture.

Stuckey’s stellar line-up includes:

The Screening Room with Suzan Pitt

Secret Story by Janie Geiser

Babobilicons by Diana Krumins

Field Study#2 by Gunvor Nelson

Please join us!

March 28th, 7pm

Location: Visual Arts Center, Auditorium Room 1.102

Last Resort, Kelly O’Connor
In view: Monument (EPCOT), Twirl, Untitleds (Endless columns), Ruin

O’Connor presents a multimedia exploration of geometry, organics, color fields and environment. Stand inside the geodesic dome and see the reflection of hexagons that emanates from the gold paint-dipped wasps’ nests onto the found image collages on the wall. How many sides do you see and can you name the movie the haunting soundtrack comes from? O’Connor’s show will be up until May 9.

Sol LeWitt‘s pieces on campus provide the fabulously-structured new computer sciences building with a little aesthetic counterpart, in a poetic pairing befitting of the center for analytics and logistics. LeWitt, a minimalist and conceptual artist, died in 2007 leaving thousands of “wall drawings” and geometric puzzle structures. 

Wall Drawing #520: Tilted forms with color ink washes superimposed
1987/2013

The wall drawings inside the computer sciences building were created by local artists following a very detailed set of instructions, as is the case for all of LeWitt’s wall pieces, down to the order in which the colors are applied to the wall with what kind of brush. Outside the front entrance at 24th St. and Speedway, a circular, concretestructure invites the public to touch and sit and rest among the carefully constructed spires, also by local masons following an instruction guide. These collaborative, integral pieces complement the computer sciences architecture and function and are an impressive addition to the Landmarks collection. 

Buckleheads, from Seat Assignment

Lavatory Self-Portrait in the Flemish Style, from Seat Assignment

As part of the welcoming events for the pieces, Veronica Roberts, the new curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton, gave a dynamic and engaging lecture about LeWitt’s process. Roberts ended by tying LeWitt’s inclination to use whatever materials best fit a project to contemporary artist Nina Katchadourian, who had just given a talk to students.

Katchadourian’s art has made a few rounds in the Facebook meme world with her Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style, for which she spent hours in airplane bathrooms dressing herself quite convincingly with paper towels and toilet seat covers. Katchadourian, realizing she was spending more time on airplanes than in the studio, just turned the airplane into a studio, using only materials provided on the airplane, from foodstuffs to Sky Mall and taking photos with  her iPhone. The entire body of work, called Seat Assignment, includes videos, landscapes, and portraits. Katchadourian’s solution to being a traveling, working artist does truly push the boundaries of studio process! Rumor has it Katchadourian spent some time at testsite, though there’s no word yet on what has come of it…

Here’s to another week full of some art inspiration! 

erin

They’ll be projected in all their Qwerky glory for just one more week at the gallery, where you can watch them from a comfy Flying Snout beanbag chair.

You can preview the videos here.

For more information on Wendy Wagner’s Look to the Left, visit http://www.womenandtheirwork.org/upcoming_exhibitions.html?itemid=823

Seeing The Hidden Language In Art: Laurie Frick at TEDxAustin
Laurie Frick had a show Women & Their Work last January. We are thrilled to see that she was able to share her ideas at TEDxAustin.