Category Archives: Philadelphia Multimedia

Autism Expressed

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Autism Expressed, Michele McKeoneAutism Expressed, Michele McKeone

“Autism Expressed: Improving Digital Literacy” with Michele McKeone

Program Description:

Digital Literacy is an essential part of job readiness, socialization and independence. Without these skills this generation faces a critical barrier to independence.

Working to continually raise the bar on the educational landscape and level the playing field for students with disabilities, McKeone presents, consults & facilitates training to reinforce the notion that students with autism and other learning variations can achieve more. This year Autism Expressed was named winner of the Educational Services of America Prize, Startup of the Year, and appeared on the cover of Philadelphia Magazine for their innovation in special education.

Join Michele and Trainers Edge to find out how she developed the idea for Autism Expressed and brought it to life to serve not only as a catalyst for new and innovative cognitive and social development for this generation of adolescents with autism, but for everyone living in the digital age.

Would you like to learn more about how AE started and addresses digital literacy? Join Trainers Edge ASTD Philly on Saturday, May 17th to find out more. Just sign up to register http://bit.ly/1lHySks

I met Michele McKeone at a Corzo Center for the Creative Economy event at University of the Arts. Her concept to use technology to help kids with autism communicate is deep and thoughtful. Michele is a real Philly N3RD, too, Autism Expressed is a home town tech start up with a great mission.

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Imaginary Reality

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Tim Portlock, Imaginary RealityTim Portlock, Gold, Inkjet Print, 54″ x 72”, © Tim Portlock 2012

Main Line Art Center Unveils Award for 10th Annual
Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition 

Imaginary Reality Features Nic Coviello, Tim Portlock & Jennie Thwing
Curated by: Amie Potsic, Executive Director of Main Line Art Center

April 1 – 30, 2014. Artist Talk and Gallery Tour: Friday, April 4, 5:30-6:30 pm. Opening Reception: Friday, April 4, 6:30-8:30 pm

Associated Programs: 

  • iPainting on the Go Workshop with Nic Coviello: Thurs., April 17, 6-8:30 pm. 
  • Technology in Art: Visionary Influence Lecture with Tim Portlock: Mon., April 21, 6-7:30 pm. 
  • Still Animation Workshop with Jennie Thwing: Thurs., April 24, 6-8:30 pm

Featuring Nic Coviello, Tim Portlock, and Jennie Thwing,  Imaginary Reality, running April 1 to 30, is the 10th annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition at Main Line Art Center. Curated by Amie Potsic, Executive Director of Main Line Art Center, Imaginary Reality explores the expansion of artistic dialogue yielded by combining traditional mediums and digital arts, and coincides with the introduction of the Center’s new digital media program.  In honor of the 10th anniversary, the Center is proud to announce the expansion of the exhibition program to include the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art.

Trained in the classic artistic mediums, each artist adopted digital technology as a means of deepening their investigations of invented landscapes, imaginary narratives, and personal identity.  In essence, they have created unique visual languages that combine painting, printmaking, digital photography, stop animation video, 3D gaming technology, performance, and installation. Contextualizing digital imagery in service of storytelling and discovery, their work exists in between and among mediums to create new and unexpected realities that challenge our definitions of self, place, and human experience.

For the past decade, Main Line Art Center has presented an exhibition each spring in memory of Teaching Artist Betsy Meyer featuring the work of forward-thinking artists who are pushing boundaries within their artistic practice.  As an artist, Betsy exemplified what is most exciting about engaging with the artwork of living artists:  watching them experiment with their media and tackling complicated and tough subjects.  As a teacher, she encouraged her students to follow her example and expand their practice into new frontiers.  And finally, as a member of the board and exhibition committee, she assured that the Art Center was there for the artistic community of Philadelphia.

Nic Coviello, Imaginary RealityNic Coviello, Pole Walker, Acrylic and Digital Media on Panel, 24″ x 18″, © Nic Coviello 2012

Imaginary Reality marks an expansion of the program to include the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, which consists of a solo exhibition and award of $1000 to each selected artist.  The growth of this program is an effort to support the talented contemporary artists in the Mid-Atlantic region, to honor deserving artists in the field, and to encourage excellence and experimentation in artistic practice, presentation, and community involvement.  The application period begins April 1 and runs through September 22, 2014. The Main Line Art Center is thankful to Betsy Meyer’s family for their generous and unyielding support of the Art Center and Betsy’s artistic legacy and looks forward to granting this new award to artists annually.

The Main Line Art Center will host an artist talk and gallery tour on Friday, April 4 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, followed by a public reception from 6:30 to 8:30 pm featuring samplings from the center’s wine sponsor, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly.  The artist talk, reception and gallery visits are free and open to the public. The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 10 am to 8 pm, and Friday through Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.  Additional programs for Imaginary Reality include an iPainting on the Go Workshop with Nic Coviello on Thursday, April 17 from 6 to 8:30 pm; Technology in Art: Visionary Influence, a free lecture with Tim Portlock on Monday, April 21 from 6 to 7:30 pm; and a Still Animation Workshop with Jenny Thwing on Thursday, April 24, from 6 to 8:30 pm.  For more information about these programs, including registration, visit www.mainlinert.org or call 610.525.0272.

Colored with life experiences and the joy of studio practices, Nic Coviello’s goal is to provide the viewer with an alternate narrative on a commonplace subject.  Parklands, botanical forms, and animals provide the context for his work.  Coviello fuses traditional methods of drawing, painting, and printmaking with photographic and digital imaging techniques to get at an “elusive” real and a “concrete” imagined nature.  Appropriating photographic data and explorations in computer graphics complement his field drawing, painting, and collected fragments of nature.  Coviello creates background landscapes with painterly techniques and portrays the foreground figures with high-contrast black and white photographic elements.  Born in Connecticut, Coviello came to Philadelphia to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he earned coordinated BFA and MFA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.  He now lives and works in Philadelphia and has exhibited widely at venues including the Philadelphia International Airport, The Painting Center in New York, and the Korean University of the Arts in Seoul, Korea.  Coviello taught Digital Design as a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design and was an Artist Member and Board Member of the Nexus Foundation for the Arts from 2004 until 2009.

Tim Portlock’s lifelong interest in the dialogue between place and the formation of identity is the fuel behind his creative endeavors.  Educated primarily as a traditional visual artist, Portlock has worked in the past as a community-based muralist as well as a studio painter.  His current body of work includes large format print images created using 3D gaming technology to simulate real world and imagined spaces based on the Las Vegas strip and surrounding desert. Recent work also includes large, outdoor video projections onto buildings that create temporary public art.   Portlock received a BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, an MFA in Art and Design from the University of Chicago, and an MFA in Electronic Visualization from the University of Illinois.  Portlock is currently an Associate Professor in the Film and Media Department at Hunter College (CUNY- New York City), and previously worked at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.  A 2011 recipient of a Pew Fellowship, Portlock has exhibited widely throughout the US and internationally including Ars Electronica in Austria, ISEA in Japan, and the Tate Modern as a member of the Artist Collective Vox Populi.

Jennie Thwing, Imaginary RealityJennie Thwing, My Black Hole:  Cold, Archival Pigment Print, 36” x 48”, © Jennie Thwing 2013

Jennie Thwing is a New York-based artist and film maker.  Using video, installation, and animation she creates imaginary narratives that reference her history, ideology, social context, family mythologies, and dreams.  Her subject matter ranges from miniature animated dioramas to historical reenactments.  All of her work involves the anthropomorphism of nature, refuse, and human environments.  Currently an Assistant Professor of Visual Communication at SUNY Farmingdale College as well as an Associate Professor of Art at Rowan University, Thwing received her BFA in Graphic Design at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and went on to receive her MFA in Imaging and Digital Arts at University of Maryland. Her work has been widely exhibited in the US and abroad at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Seattle, the Institute for Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Fondazion Mudima per l’Arte Contemporarnea in Milan, The Independent Museum of Contemporary Art (IMCA) in Cyprus and the New York Studio Gallery.  Thwing was also recently chosen as a Center for Emerging Visual Artists Fellow and a 2014 Queens Arts Fund Grant recipient.

Amie Potsic, curator of the exhibition, began her tenure as Executive Director of Main Line Art Center in July of 2012.  Prior to that, she served as Director of Gallery 339 and Director of the Career Development Program at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA) in Philadelphia where she curated exhibitions and planned professional development programming for emerging and professional artists. Potsic has curated over 70 exhibitions at venues including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Moore College of Art & Design. Potsic is also an established photographic artist who has exhibited her work nationally and internationally.  In addition, she is currently Chair of the Art In City Hall Artistic Advisory Board to the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy.

Main Line Art Center is a welcoming and inclusive creative home where everyone is encouraged to create, experience, and discover the value of art.  Committed to making art more accessible, the Art Center has over 75 years of experience presenting art programs for individuals of all ages and abilities, including a unique series of Accessible Art programs for children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities, at-risk youth, and low income families now celebrating their 50th anniversary.  Throughout the year, Main Line Art Center presents innovative, contemporary art exhibitions in their award-winning gallery, as well as exhibitions that celebrate community.  Last year over 16,000 people chose Main Line Art Center as their home for creativity.

Main Line Art Center is located at 746 Panmure Road in Haverford, behind the Wilkie Lexus dealership just off of Lancaster Avenue. The Art Center is easily accessible from public transportation and offers abundant free parking. For more information about Imaginary Reality or the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, please visit www.mainlineart.org or call 610.525.0272.

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Social Media Salon

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The Plastic Club, an artist’s club, studio and gallery, in Center City Philadelphia holds regular art salons to discuss art, critique each others work and learn new techniques. DoN was invited to give a presentation about Social Media and how artists can start using various on-line platforms to promote their art. We began the two hour discussion with the basics of social interactions:

Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short, succinct description of you and your business. For example: “My name is DoN Brewer, I write an art blog called DoNArTNeWs about the Philadelphia art scene with photographs and art reviews, artist interviews and how-to reports. DoNArTNeWs is based on multiple on-line platforms and has reached over 750 thousand unique visitors this year.”

How would you describe your art and successes if you had someone’s undivided attention for one minute? By preparing your pitch in advance and practicing in the mirror or with friends you can be ready when the opportunity to introduce yourself arises. Put a smile on your face, make eye contact, shake hands and make a pitch that is fact filled and to the point.

Business Cards

I always carry business cards in my wallet, pocket or camera bag and give them away freely. Cards are inexpensive and a great way to make a lasting impression – but make sure it’s a good one. Overly colorful, shiny or too small fonts can get your card lost in the shuffle. Try to limit your palette to three colors, include important contact information and resist the urge to make both sides of the card glossy. Shiny cards are pretty but they are difficult to write on if the person your presenting the card to wants to jot down notes. An interesting logo, large fonts, nice card stock and simple colors makes a strong impression. I use www.overnightprints.com for my cards, they offer low prices and guarantee satisfaction. Their ad is in the DoNArTNeWs sidebar.

I’d Rather Be in the Studio: The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion

This how-to book by author Alyson Stanfield will teach you how to promote your art in the marketplace. DoNArTNeWs followed the tips in this easy to read, fact filled book and the step-by-step advice really works! Starting first as a newsletter and now as a multi-platform blog (an on-line magazine), DoNArTNeWs has reached millions of art enthusiasts since 2008. I’d Rather be in the Studio can help you develop a marketing strategy, create a database of clients, build confidence and promote a positive image.

Another book that I found very inspiring is Julia Cameron’s, The Artist’s Way Starter Kit. My biggest take-away from this popular book is making an ‘art date’ with myself. An art date means going out to visit other artists, art galleries and museums on a regular basis – even if I have to go alone. Visiting art galleries doesn’t have to be a team sport; if you can’t find friends to go with you, go by yourself and don’t stand yourself up. Committing to keeping a date with yourself is not just an exercise in seeing new art, it promotes self-reliance and confidence.

Website Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine‘s “natural” or un-paid (“organic“) search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. (Wikipedia) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital to having your artist website appear at the top of search engine websites such as Google. If you don’t understand HTML, then find someone who does and make sure that the important ‘meta-tags’ are complete and accurate. Having your name is important in the title but what you do is more so. Are you an abstract expressionist? Do you paint portraits? Is watercolor landscapes your specialty? This information should be included in the ‘Title Tag’ with the first nine words of the title being the most important terms relating to your business. The title information appears in the bar at the top of your web browser window; if your website says “Home’ or “Index’ and does not show your name and business description then you will never show up in a web search.

Other important meta-tags are ‘Name’, ‘Copyright’, ‘Description’ and ‘Key Words’. By filling in the blanks with the terms most important to your business your website will appear high in search engines. Make sure everything is spelled correctly and avoid small words like ‘is’, ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘and’, ‘it’…use only important search terms. The grammar doesn’t have to make sense in the title as long as it includes the words that people may use to search for someone like you.

Blogging

A blog is a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis. OK, let’s be frank. Blogging is easy but it takes time to learn. DoNArTNeWs is based on a WordPress platform which offers many benefits. You are looking at a website with the domain name of www.brewermultimedia.com hosted by www.1and1.com with a blog called DoNArTNeWs based on a template called Twenty-Twelve. There are zillions of templates to choose from, I like Twenty-Twelve because I can customize the header with my own logo image. Free blogs are available directly through WordPress but then their name will be part of you blog URL. You can also pay WordPress for a domain name.

The most important thing is creating good content. I attend art events and take photographs, interview artists or gallery owners on my smart phone and then try to write the post in a timely manner. Since I know Photoshop, I resize the photo to fit the width of the column and change it to a .gif which reduces the size of the image allowing it to load faster. Images can also be adjusted in WordPress, there are tutorials on-line and support forums. Images are uploaded to a ‘Media File’ and have titles, alt tags and descriptions that should be completed as fully as possible – always mention your own name in the description since it is relevant to search engines.

I use the recorded interview either as a way to compose my own review of the art or to share the conversation by transcribing into text. Important terms are highlighted with a link – the link button looks like a little chain on the toolbar at the top of the page you compose the blog post on. Links should usually direct to a new window so visitors don’t click off of your page.

The blog post is linked to categories relevant to the content such as art, painting, prints, etc and important keywords are noted as tags. I link to as many categories as possible, link the post to other posts I’ve written and copy-and-paste links each time the information is repeated.

Tumblr is a free and easy way to start a blog and reach a wide audience. The simplified dashboard and variety of templates let’s you be as creative as you want or just keep it simple. You can upload your own images, link from your website or share images from other blogs. Content can be text with links as well. Tumblr is very popular with artists and is a good way to share your ideas and see what other artists are creating

Facebook and Twitter

Facebook fan page is a public profile on Facebook for use by businesses, celebrities, etc. that allows your customers to follow you, and interact with you. A Facebook fan page is a way to advertise your art to people who are interested in what you’re about. Fan pages are easy to set up in a category relevant to what you do. The tag line is a great place to use your elevator pitch terms, a good header image and profile picture offers a quick insight into your business. When I write a blog post I click the title of the blog, copy the url and paste it into a status, write a short description and add hash tags (#tags). The link will bring up an image from the blog or you can upload a different image. Hash tags are links to topics. For example when I write a post I will add #art #Philadelphia #photography #artist etc. Also adding a link to your status by using the ‘@’ followed by your page name sets an additional link back to your page and highlights it on your fan’s newsfeed.

Build an audience by inviting your friends to ‘like’ the page, add links back to your Facebook page and Twitter handle. Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables users to send and read “tweets”, which are text messages limited to 140 characters. Registered users can read and post tweets but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. (Wikipedia) Twitter is a great way to reach a large targeted audience. You can communicate directly with people using short messages or link back to your blog and Facebook posts.

A good way to organize and automate your social media is through Hootsuite which enables a ‘tweet’ to automatically be sent when you post a status on your Facebook fan page. Following others on Facebook and Twitter, liking, sharing and adding comments will help build your audience. Hootsuite is a social media management system for brand management created by Ryan Holmes in 2008. The system’s user interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, MySpace, WordPress…and more.

Instagram

Instagram is an online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. Instagram is a smart phone camera app that can be set up to post to your Facebook fan page, send a Tweet and post to your Tumblr blog automatically. More than just a picture, it’s a way to share links and hash tags instantly.

PayPal

PayPal is a global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. PayPal offers merchant services such as ‘buy buttons’ that can easily be embedded in your blog by copying and pasting the code into your post.

This is actually the bottom line of this tutorial. By using your website, a blog, Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr and Instgram you can let your fans know when you’re having an event, what’s new, what’s for sale and how to buy your art.

People ask me how much time I put into writing and posting? I do some or all of the above almost everyday. By sharing stories and pictures, linking to important information, leading fans to my sites with tweets and Facebook status updates I am able to maximize traffic to my website and blogs.

There are many other ways to promote your art on-line such as ebay, Etsy, redbubble, Saatchi Online and many, many more. It only takes time and research to learn how to use these tools to promote and sell your art.

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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Faveladelphia

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Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, Praça Cantão, Communidade Da Santa Marta, Rio De Janeiro, 161 West Gallery

161 West Gallery hosted a fundraising event to promote the social practice artists called Favela Painting, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. The space was darkened a bit so the large light boxes could glow to best effect, the DJ played upbeat grooves and special Brazilian beer and cocktails lightened the hot, sultry night. The pop art punch of color from the glowing photographs and high art festivities accentuated the sociological impact of art in the world community. And not just any communities. Edge cities.

DoN recognized the image of the cheery housing complex from a seminar called Design for the Other 90% presented at the University of the Arts by Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum. The information packed presentation was about designing for the 90% of the world’s population who live in places like the favelas of Brazil, the barrios of Mexico, and the famous slums of the world.

Dre Urhahn said, “Yeah, this has been in the New York Times, all over the place. This is like our piece de resistance artwork. We made that into the Times and we were so proud, it was – The United Nations put it up on their headquarters!”

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, Praça Cantão, Communidade Da Santa Marta, Rio De Janeiro, 161 West Gallery

“The United Nations invited us in and there was this huge banner of this project, so that was something we were really proud of. This is called Praça Cantão, all the information is on our website.

Our dream is to create this (pointing to an illustration of a rainbow hued hillside town) an endless continuation of painting up the hills. And where we painted thirty-four houses, which is our largest project in Brazil, we painted more than fifty storefronts here in Philadelphia. But our dream is to paint hundreds of houses and that’s what we’re fund-raising for. We’re fund-raising to go back to Brazil and fulfill the dream that began almost seven years ago.”

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

“The interesting thing is the topography of the favelas is that they’re scattered about the city. Because there’s these beautiful hills and mountains but the rich people live at the base, so when the poor people came, often they work for the rich people as servants in the service industry. They live close to the rich people and they just scattered through all the free space and built their own things on it.” 

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

“When I was there I didn’t see people care a lot for these neighborhoods. We’re doing a big Kickstarter campaign to raise money to go back to Brazil, train people, employ people, it’s really like one big job opportunity project with a combination of education and we hire everybody. So everybody, even the boys you can see up there painting, were making more than McDonald’s wage while they’re painting. Some of them were in the drug gangs before and we offer them an opportunity and that’s something for us that’s always been really important.

And that’s also why we’re working will El Sawyer who works with the re-entry system in Philadelphia. He’s made a film about them called Pull of Gravity. For people when they come out of jail because they don’t have any place to go or people to hire them. So it’s really hard to reestablish your validity as a citizen, you know?”

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

“They work together with The Guild. The Guild workers worked with us on our project on Germantown Avenue as well. So we have people coming out who really have a tough time to come back into the community again. Through these art projects they actually get a chance to not just be out there, but, to be appreciated as well. You know? It’s great when you come out of jail instead of just hearing a lot of ‘no’ to hear a ‘yes’ here and there. Or even maybe a,’Hey! That’s great.’ Or a, ‘Wow. I’m proud of you!’ That’s something that can do a lot.

I think that where people are sometime a little bit critical that it’s art, it’s paint, what are you really helping? But, deep on the inside, I think, that it does do a lot. It does do a lot of change for people especially on the mental level. It’s important.” – Dre Urhahn

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

DoN remembers walking home from the Design for the Other 90% lecture feeling super lucky to have the luxury of space and privacy of home. The map of the world showing edge city hot spots didn’t highlight Philly even though there is a tent city just across the river in Camden. But Germantown Avenue? As it turns out Philadelphia is an edge city for many disenfranchised citizens – Faveladelphia.

El Sawyer, Director of Pull of Gravity said, “The name, the title came out of when you see people get pulled back into the streets. People that do time get home and get pulled back into the streets. The movie follows three people over a year’s period of time and basically from the time they came home: one guy was home three days after doing three years, myself – I’ve been home for ten years after doing eight years and another guy who has been home six years after being in and out for the past twenty-five years. It has a variety of guys and shows their experiences.

The movie has sparked so much attention nationally, I mean people from Minnesota, all over, places you wouldn’t regularly think of. Smaller places like Minneapolis. We were thinking our market might be New York, Detroit, Chicago but smaller place like Kansas City, Pensacola, places like that are really being drawn to the movie. There’s a lot of work being done in those places and and as far as us? I didn’t know there is as much work being done as there is. This movie has been polarizing, bringing together a lot of resources and people doing the same kind of work. – El Sawyer

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Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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Life’s a Drag

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Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina

Performance by Icon Ebony Fierce, Porcelain and Ann Artist, photography by Michael Valtin, video by Kate Brazina at Moore College of Art and Design Senior Exhibition 2013.

“The evolution of drag has it’s first recorded roots in the Thirteenth Century Theater and now is widespread on various platforms such as film, television, underground theater and nightclubs.” – Kate Brazina

Life’s a Drag stands out among great art installations at the Moore College of Art Senior Show because of the manipulation of context, situation, audience, history and future of public art installations. In a Warhol-ized world, art curators seek that cultural awareness nerve that will signal something is different, strange or unknown that can be discovered. The presence of three high profile Philadelphia drag queens along side the graduating class of 2013 of America’s only women’s art school was disorienting and fabulous.

Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina, Porcelain

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Porcelain

Through facebook messaging DoN asked Kate Brazina some questions: Moore College of Art is a unique institution for women. Did your investigation into drag culture have anything to do with the school’s signification of women as separate? Is your work impacted by the male gaze?

“My interest in drag culture mostly came about because I work in nightlife with a lot of queens. But, my interest in feminism and femininity definitely came from my time at Moore.”

“Moving forward through the next 800 years drag has become a progressive form of entertainment and integral part of the gay community catering to people of all walks of life.” – Kate Brazina artist statement.

Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina, Ann Artist

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina, Ann Artist, Moore College of Art Senior Exhibition.

“My work has a lot to do with the male gaze and playing with comfort zones.”

Gaze is a psychoanalytical term brought into popular usage by Jacques Lacan to describe the anxious state that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect, Lacan argues, is that the subject loses a degree of autonomy upon realizing that he or she is a visible object. This concept is bound with his theory of the mirror stage, in which a child encountering a mirror realizes that he or she has an external appearance. Lacan suggests that this gaze effect can similarly be produced by any conceivable object such as a chair or a television screen. This is not to say that the object behaves optically as a mirror; instead it means that the awareness of any object can induce an awareness of also being an object. – Wikipedia

Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina at Moore College of Art Senior Exhibition

Kate Brazina has tapped the zeitgeist of the gender-fuck cross-dresser as a meme for rebellion in the larger context of society in a powerful and appealing presentation including the prerequisite chairs, TVs and drag queens, the metaphorical psychological mirror.

DoN remembers watching Milton Berle on a black and white TV in the 50s prance and sissy it up in a funny sexualized way. This week America’s Next Drag Superstar, Jinkx Monsoon, was crowned on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5, a cable TV reality competition show exposing many of drag’s secrets to a curious audience. RuPaul said in a recent interview that the biggest audience for her product line is teenaged girls. Impersonating women in an all girl’s school takes, as Rupaul would say, charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent. Condragulations Kate Brazina.

ps. DoN‘s drag name is Gayla Dolly.

Read more at www.DoNArTNeWs.com about  Emerging Artists & Designers: Senior Show 2013, Moore College of Art and Design 

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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