Hello Ladies!
Thank you for the feedback to my Round 2 Post. I know this is the ‘bonus round’ and a busy time of year for everyone, but I am grateful for what you’ve brought to the doc. As I wrote in my post, I feel the biggest benefit of the crit groups makes itself known during our presentations at the residencies. There our crit group peers, the people most familiar with our process, are able to provide feedback to us on our presentation of that process to others less familiar with it.
This round I asked for feedback in two areas:
The first, a general, open invitation for feedback, comments and questions on the new work posted to the website as part of my November monthly update.
The second, a direct request for feedback on my writing, with the specific focus on the most recent post in the Year Two Writing/Essay section ‘Open Letter to Joseph Nechvatal’.
By presenting two areas, one quite open and the other very specific, I hoped to offer everyone a range of movement within the critique structure.
One thing I find great about TI crit group is expressed on the ‘Critique Vademecum’ of the TI website; particularly the Ten Guidelines for Constructive Feedback by Jean Marie. Crit group is not about excessively complimentary or harsh feedback, but about opening doors to dialogue between artist and audience with the goal of moving the process forward. In that sense the crit group becomes through our deeper engagement with each other's work and process critically supportive as opposed to superficially complimentary.
Now to address your specific feedback, comments and questions.
Thank you Stephanie, I am aware there is a problem with loading pages of my website. I have been monitoring the problem, which popped up a few weeks ago, and I have found the loading times have been very inconsistent. At times loading at a speed one would expect in 2015, other times much slower [memories of the dial-up age!], and other times not at all. I had a similar problem in the spring with the page, which is hosted by Squarespace. Monitoring it I found then that part of the problem was at my end with my ISP. I had cable and everyone in the neighborhood was having troubles due to old lines not being upgraded and the high student population; once they went home for the summer and stopped streaming Netflix things sped up. I did switch to fiber optics, and at the same time Squarespace did some upgrades to their servers and templates. Squarespace had confirmed to me at the time they were having problems with traffic and page loading. The loading issue was resolved until recently. I have not contacted them, simply for lack of time, but will hopefully be able to deal with this in the next weeks. Thank you for letting me know you noticed this. Gabriel had mentioned it this past week too, so it does seem to be a site problem and not my ISP problem. It might be the sheer volume of image files I have on the site, but I do pay for the business plan, which provides for a huge amount of space...I would be amazed if I’ve reached their limits, but it might be a possibility.
Thank you too, Stephanie for your feedback on the paintings. I will keep it in mind as I work further on them. One thing about documenting the paintings in process is being able to see how much a painting ‘shifts’ and changes between the layers. Despite having an idea of how I want the painting to end, the road I take to get there and the stops I make along the way are quite varied. I do have a tremendous amount of fun along the way. I couldn’t see committing to this journey if it wasn’t enjoyable!
Lindey, the big paintings at the end are proving to be a challenge, in a good and enjoyable way; and that challenge really aligns with the ‘slow down’, ‘no excuses’ and drying time challenges I’m facing. But it is always good to challenge oneself!
I think I understand what you wrote about the website-self portrait and writing; and it is sort of how I have envisioned the relationship. The website self portrait serves as a bridge between the images and the writing, both elements of my studio work: neither one excludes the other, they are the both end beams and pylons supporting the bridge. I like that you mentioned the idea of the book; I have imagined the website as a ‘digital book’. Since the summer I have been considering ways of presenting the website ‘offline’ as a hard copy, artwork. I’ve considered having each page printed for one massive installation...maybe someday. But there is also the possibility of putting it into a book format, although that is not part of my project, nor do I want to present it as such or make it part of the project. Perhaps when I’ve finished with this, next September, I will re-visit the idea along with my plan to archive the two years of postings to the site. My intention is to continue the website post-TI as an ‘digital studio-process’ site as opposed to my professional website, an ‘exhibition’ site which will only show completed works and projects.
As for publishing my writing, I have not done so, yet. The main reason is because I have just begun to share it with others in the past few years. No excuse, but I have not yet gained the level of comfort I need to take it further into the world, nor have I felt it is developed enough to do so. That is a big reason why I have asked for feedback and engagement with the writing from my TI colleagues; not as validation or as encouragement, but in order to receive that critical insight I feel it needs for me to develop it further and break that ‘excuse cycle’. I have given myself [another] challenge to write more about the exhibits I see, as a means of exercise in writing about art, just like the drawing and color exercises which I still undertake in the studio. The writing, about my own work or the work of others, is an integral part of my creative practice; it isn’t about just smearing the colors around for me personally, it is also about the expression of the ideas as paintings created in other media, and sometimes those 26 letters is the preferred medium of expression.
Abbe, thank you for your comments. I agree, that it is important for all of us to be actively engaged in the art world dialogue. A great thing about the art world is that this engagement can happen on so many levels; in crit groups, institutes of education, co-ops, community spaces, professional organizations or online publications...and this engagement is no longer limited by time and space. Because you stated your belief in the importance of this active engagement in art world dialogue, I wanted to inquire why you found it inappropriate to speak to the specific example of writing I presented to the crit group for feedback? Of course, per the Principles for Dialogue and the Ten Guidelines for Constructive Feedback on the TI website we both have the right to not respond, reply or comment to any questions posed to us in both roles, as presenter or responder. However I am intrigued by your slightly ambiguous response and the somewhat contradictory statement of support in favor of active engagement in art world dialogue. You stated you thought it not appropriate to respond to the letter upon which I based my request to the group “to hear what you [the group] have to say on the exchange, the writing, and the ideas both Dr. Nechvatal and I are addressing in our writings.” Inappropriateness per definition is that something is not suitable or proper in the circumstances. I am wondering what in my request in the context of the crit group is not suitable or proper to the circumstances? Of course, you don’t need to respond to this question, but it is a thought that your feedback triggered for me.
I do want to state, if it was not clear, within the crit group my requests for feedback are not requests for validation; hence I believe the expression of differences of opinions, varying ideas, or different approaches to image and writing are not only suitable within the context of crit group, but become valuable tools of feedback [for me at least] with which the building process of the work can move forward. Again, this is my personal opinion, and I accept it might not be the opinion of others.
Deborah, glad to know I wasn’t imagining the header change on that page. Thank you for the Eisenberg piece from The New Yorker. I’m all for Humor & Satire, but it is important it is communicated as such...because it is critical in nature. The piece from Eisenberg was published in ‘Shouts & Murmors’ which has always been the section for humor and satire in The New Yorker, therefore the critiques tweeted I thought were generally unfounded, or better said a response to his hitting too close to home for some.
Your suggestion for the website is a good idea, and I will definitely be considering those changes as the project moves towards completion...or at least towards the thesis. I feel the spring might be a good time to make changes to the structure as part of the thesis and eventual ‘archiving’ of this portion of my life/self portrait. Thanks! rt
Thank you again! I know my response was much longer than last round. Sorry if it was too long.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all in NYC!
Best,
Robyn