Altars - Offerings - Totems & Tip
Jars
Richard Bohn,
Linda Southwell,
Diane Stovall
July 3 - 26, 2008
Opening Reception July 5, 6pm-12pm
with after-hours performances
performnces also planned for Saturdays, July 12, 19 and 26
Richard Bohn, Artist
Statement
As a performing artist/musician I knew
I performed for the art of it and not the money. Artists will still
write, sing, paint and perform their art no matter what, but sustaining
the effort is still based on economics, economics of the venue, economics
of the sponsored product, the economics of the production of the event
and other factors. While some artists are elevated to god like status,
others play only for loose change.
The self esteem of the artist/performer has now been directly related
to the "quality" of the tipping apparatus . . . Jar, Bag,
Pedestal, Case, Cool Receptical Gadget or whatever it might be. The
catch basin of the patrons gratuity must be worthy of the task, be
it fine finished wood or metal . . . polished glass or plastic, gold
leaf or a spiffy found object. In our present society the "tip
jar/pedestal", with it's newly elevated importance, must not
only hold and retain the "take" but must also beckon, entertain,
attract . . . and work as it has never worked before. Out of pure
necessity the Tip Jar has been up-graded to fine art.
All live performers must be aware of this new status and take steps
to implement the upgrade. Go ahead! Throw a five spot into the Tip
Concepts little robotic hand. Mega phone announcements to the audience
combined with a note played on the keyboard simulating a nuclear
warning device, will let them know that the tip jar has been "activated".
Please approach with caution, but please approach. Take good aim
with that wadded up twenty dollar bill and make a bell ringing basket.
Now, performers can enhance intimacy with the audience and optimize
tipping efficiency by utilizing high tech solutions such as voice
activation, motion sensing, kinetics and servo motors and remote
control lighting . . .etc., transforming the audience from mere observer
into cultural participant and risk taker.
Cast your vote for the survival of live music and performance, performed
by live musicians in real time in real space, not on flat screen
of "reality" tv. The "tip jar/pedestal/concept" must
earn it's keep as a member of the band. It must be light weight and
totally portable, as well as colorful, practical and "profitable".
A newly created interest in the social/economic phenomenon of "Tipping" has
developed.
Linda
Southwell, Artist Statement
There is a long, deep history of images and forms created to honor our
human connections to the rhythms of nature.We make offerings of tribute
and thanks. Create altars to remember. Raise totems that tell stories,
mark places, and are dense with symbolic meaning.
In clay and stone, the work in this exhibition
will include sculptures shaped by my own narrative and biography and
inspired by indigenous people of the Northwest Coast, the Southwest,
Central Mexico and Central America.
Brief
Bio
Linda Southwell teaches at multiple community colleges in Orange County,
California. She is an adopted member of the Tlingit Kiks.adi (Raven-Frog)
clan, in Southeast Alaska. A recipient of two international National
Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, she most recently studied Maya
culture and art in Central America. She has an MFA in Sculpture from
the University of Oregon, where she also received a Distinguished Teaching
award and the Jan Zach Award for her sculpture.
Diane Stoval, Statement of Artistic
Intention.
I am compelled to collect found objects
such as driftwood and various materials from the beach, also found
and acquired objects. I then transform them into compositions or assemblages.
My interest in these objects is their inherent history with people
and nature and their relationship to us and the environment. These
materials both human-made and natural have been cleansed and sculpted
by the elements of time and the ocean. I then reintroduce them, giving
them a completely new identity as art. Finding them on the sand, cast
out, abandoned or lost and overlooked by people because they posses
no intrinsic value, purpose or meaning - gives them a mystique of nothingness.
I like making something meaningfull from nothing. These compositions
are abstract landscapes that express the mystery of spirituality in
regards to humanity, nature and life.
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