Combined Walker Blog Comments

Comment on Telluride: Waltz with Bashir by Natalie

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:56:50 +0000

I'm going to see it!

Comment on How cool are you in the local art scene? by Justin Heideman

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:44:32 +0000

I think so. Is he throwing a party? Did you at least have a few beers? Why didn't you invite me?

Comment on Tyvek jackets and bags in the Walker Shop by Pauline Stuart

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:08:05 +0000

Tyvek jackets and bags (plus other accessories) are not unusual, Leslie Jordan has been manufacturing these since 1998. Tyvek is a perfect material to print on and there are many wonderful designs around in these Tyvek jackets. Her most popular is World Map.

Comment on How cool are you in the local art scene? by Aaron

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:57:04 +0000

During the RNC, Rex Sorgatz is staying in the upper floor of my house. Can I now consider that street cred?

Comment on Welcome to Telluride by Joe Beres

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:26:27 +0000

Great post, Martha. I'm anxious to hear more about your trip.

Comment on Welcome to Telluride by Anonymous

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:17:27 +0000

Comment on Welcome to Telluride by jams

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:15:36 +0000

mor telluride posts plx.

Comment on Butoh: ?A fragile transformative spark? by CAVE

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:43:41 +0000

BUTOH Dance & Noguchi Training in New York: NYBK 2008-2009 THESE WORKSHOPS ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE, NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE NECESSARY REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN; SPECIAL TUITION IS AVAILABLE FOR SELECTED SESSIONS IF REGISTERED BY SEPTEMBER 12th. THE REGISTRATION FORM AND DETAILS ARE AT THE FOLLOWING WEB www.leimayactslab.org OR call 718 388 6780 OR YOU CAN SEND AN E-MAIL: training@caveartspace.org Dates: October 3 -5* / October 6 -10* / October 13 -24*/ December 19 - 21/ January 16-18/ January 23-25 The NY Butoh-Kan:Training Initiative Program (NYBK) is an effort to strengthen resources of the study of Butoh dance. NYBK facilitates rigorous physical training, enriching students with first person historical context from international masters. The second phase of this initiative will take place at CAVE's studio in Brooklyn, NY during the months of October, December 2008 and January 2009. Consisting of five Introductory training session by international guest teachers, along with one Choreography-Performance session and one Intensive session. The integrative training is based on Butoh Dance philosophy and practice and Noguchi Gymnastics*-a Japanese gymnastic method on relaxation of the body.

Comment on Slate on Saarinen by Vicki Webster

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:55:10 +0000

Message for Robert Perschmann: Dear Mr. Perschmann, As you may not know, the Delta Queen, of which you spoke in your message, will be forced to cease operations at midnight on October 31, 2008, unless she is granted an extention of her 40-year exemption to the Safety at Sea Law. This law, passed in 1966, was intended to cover ocean-going vessels, not riverboats. I am leading a grassroots movement to save this National Historic Landmark, which is the last traditional steamboat carrying overnight passengers on our inland waterways. Your help would be invaluable. Can you contact me, please? Vicki Webster The Save the Delta Queen Campaign 335 W. Fifth Street #401 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 (513) 381-3571 vjw@olypen.com

Comment on Slate on Saarinen by Robert Perschmann

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:42:06 +0000

On my way to the planets When I was nineteen years old, I arrived at the new TWA terminal on my way to Sweden... from Minneapolis to New York on a DC6 prop plane with wood trim in the cabin. It was my first airplane experience. I had heard about the terminal and I had all day to await my flight to Goteborg. I enjoyed the full experience. I felt it was the future... and I could just as easily be on my way to the planets. Yes, it knocked me out and gave me such incredible expectations for the future. Not much later... I am in the US Air Force assigned to Scott Air Force Base across the river from St. Louis. I observed much of the work on the arch and, I was drawn to it. I was excited to see the completion approaching. I have experienced its magnificent and subtle joys and I understood its message. Several years later I was out of the Air Force and working to end the Cold War. I had become an expert on the USSR of the 1980's. I was part of the historic Mississippi Peace cruises on the Delta Queen which brought members of the Soviet press to the heart of America, including long dockings at the arch. The Gateway Arch knocked the Russians out. Russians are used to magnificent monuments mind you. I think that the river cruise started the ending of the cold war with the story brought back to Moscow by Soviet TV. It was also a huge media event for Americans... finally putting thousands of middle Americans face to face with a large dose of Soviet people. At this point I had yet to pay attention to the name Saarinen. So in 2007 I happen upon a photo of the Saarinen tulip table and chairs. It reminds me of my day at the TWA terminal and my dreams of the future. That in turn reminds me of the Gateway Arch. What a huge joy this Eero Saarinen had brought to me. And this moves me to put that beautiful tulip table and chairs in my kitchen. Now... every single day I have breakfast at my Saarinen table. I rotate my chair for a panoramic view out my window, without straining my neck. The chair is so comfortable that I stay there until I have read two newspapers. Unfortunately I read new cold war propaganda in the paper. But, thank you Mr. Saarinen for your contribution to my beautiful, exciting and wonderful life.

Comment on Win Two Free Tickets to Rock the Garden by Telling Us a Joke! by Lupe Luque

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:26:10 +0000

Knock Knock Who's there? Nobody. Nobody who?

Comment on The Death of IE6: Browser Independence Day by M. Auayan

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:13:01 +0000

Let me know when you guys decide to let the axe fall, I'll post it up on iedeathmarch.org.

Comment on PUSH: Hope, Fear, Philosophy by Mark

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:18:04 +0000

It depends on personal experience in the past because someone who has only known fear will want to avoid fear and hold on to hope, and someone who has only known hope might chase fear for skydiving. I think its psychology mainly. I really enjoy overcoming my fears like heights, its so rewarding, but i do question like mandela says, what is your deepest fear? Many answers for this question(inadequate, rejection, powerful beyond measure etc) but let me ask you what is your greatest hope? Don't blame our fears on the scaremongering media or dangerous society. because fear is in your control. Now i think about it, fear is more powerful since i have far more ideas to offer and debate. Thanks

Comment on Answers, and Eero Dynamic Furniture by Beoff Grusca

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:38:19 +0000

Monsanto is in St. Louis. I approve. Except they made Agent Orange. So I'm neutral.

Comment on My Yard Our Message winning yard signs by Yard Signs

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:41:29 +0000

I think these signs are absolutely great. All of them. Hopefully I will see some of these actually go up. But loved the contest, love the signs.

Comment on Summer Design Institute - Day 2 by susanne donahoe

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:11:26 +0000

It's been a very busy summer and I am certain that my fellow colleagues miss the intense involvement we had in this most productive program. Getting back to the classroom will be interesting and the application of the materials and information provided will be exciting. Back to you soon. Susanne

Comment on Garden Memoirs by Courtney

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:38:31 +0000

Mac -- I'm pleased to hear that your host student had such a memorable and multi-sensory experience at the Walker several years back. Touch tours, guided tours in which visitors engage with selected sculptures from the collection through touch, are a dynamic way to learn about the works in the galleries and garden. The Walker has specially trained tour guides who aptly lead visitors through touch tours, offering visual description and encouraging discussion along the way. In fact, in celebration of Art Beyond Sight Awareness month in October, we'll be offering two public touch tours. The tours will happen on Friday and Saturday, October 3 and 25 at 2pm. They're open to anyone, but can only accommodate the first 12 people, so arrive early for a spot. Private touch tours can also be arranged with at least 4-weeks notice. For more information visit http://learn.walkerart.org/tour.wac.

Comment on Mini Golf and Design for the Other 90% Installation by Anna-Christina Loseries

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:41:29 +0000

Dear Julia, Congratulations to your wonderful installation "Artist-Designed Minigolf"! I've read the articles about the project on your website and was fascinated by the idea of organizing something similar here in Germany as I'm working for the municipal arts center "Gasteig" in Munich (www.gasteig.de). We are mainly a concert hall but also house the municipal library, adult education center and the munich music school. As many other cultural institutions here in Germany our main agenda runs from september to juli. That means a calm summer break in august that we want to fill. On behalf of this ambition I would be very much interested in learning more about the organization and accomplishment of the "Artist-Designed Minigolf". If you could send me some information about your ideas, experiences, organizational hints I would be grateful. Best regards form Germany, Anna-Christina Loseries

Comment on The Death of IE6: Browser Independence Day by Brent Gustafson

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:17:15 +0000

I'm coming into this late, but would just like to note, we said the same thing about IE 3, 4 and 5 when we just wanted them to go away already. A few years from now we'll be wishing the same for IE 7.

Comment on My Yard Our Message winning yard signs by Kare Anderson

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:47:44 +0000

We loved your contest and blogged about it. http://www.movingfrommetowe.com I speak at the Mn chapter of IABC in September and will mention it there too. http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/info/summary.aspx?e=94fd8587-1708-4f46-9f8b-a8a0113ca6e0 Kare Anderson Say It Better Center®, LLC Sausalito, California

Comment on My Yard Our Message winning yard signs by Chuck

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:51:15 +0000

I looked over the signs and am confused. Where are the ones bashing Democrats? Maybe something about Obama's love of late term abortion? Surely the Walker Art Center, a 501(c) non-profit, isn't in the bag and campaigning for Democrats only.

Comment on Balloons, Spilt Liquids and Paper Constructions by Lillian Heeney

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:38:36 +0000

Your visual arts seem to stem from three stages of life which are childhood, in all it's glory with 3D balloons, teenage graffiti, which has been around since the dawn of man and maturity and sophistication, ie glass and liquids. Well done, I can relate to all of them and appreciate the beauty and memories they invoke.

Comment on Balloons, Spilt Liquids and Paper Constructions by Pierre Vanni

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:40:59 +0000

We want to create graphics without traditionnal graphic tools. So, paper, ballons, vegetables or whatever, become graphic potential to express our subjectivity. The 3dimesionnal case could be explain by the desire to create out of a screen ( we are fed up with computer... which 'just' simulating 3D spaces ) = i'm in this case.. FORZA CONCRETE WORLD / FORGOT DIGITAL ONE.

Comment on Redesigning Dwell by Suzi McArdle

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:13:31 +0000

I have always experienced each copy of Dwell, then passed it along to friends, family, clients to express my shortened view of my own tastes and preferences in magazines and architecture and design ! Also, just to share a good thing. I love the smaller design, smaller is indeed better all the way round. My designing has incorporated many of the ideas of Dwell explorations in design over the course of my career. Developers should read more of this stuff !!! Suzi McArdle Artist, Designer, Realtor

Comment on Redesigning Dwell by Joe Greco

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:16:34 +0000

Since it's debut, I've been a big fan of Dwell for it's editorial content, photography and design. You and your staff do wonderful work. When I speak to designers, novice and veterans alike, I routinely show them editions of Dwell that illustrate so well what good, clean design can do for the presentation of any newspaper page. Keep up the good work. Joe Greco Corporate Design Director GateHouse Media

Comment on How to Rally a Band of Queers by Dykes on Mykes

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:11:20 +0000

Want to do a radio interview with Dykes on Mykes (Montreal)? Contact us at dom@nomorepotlucks.org anytime!

Comment on How to Rally a Band of Queers by Mél

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:07:04 +0000

Great post!

Comment on NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA?s vast collection of photographs, historic film and video Thursday. Located at www.nasaimages.org, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource. by Andy

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:58:37 +0000

I like these kind of posts. New to me plus a link to something awesome. Thanks!

Comment on NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA?s vast collection of photographs, historic film and video Thursday. Located at www.nasaimages.org, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource. by Emmet Byrne

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:07:55 +0000

yowza.

Comment on NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA?s vast collection of photographs, historic film and video Thursday. Located at www.nasaimages.org, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource. by rex walton

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:55:00 +0000

wow, i dislike these kind of posts. going for clever, but falling flat.

Comment on Typewriter Typefaces by Ryan Nelson

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:03:57 +0000

Hi Thomas --- Unfortunately, I have yet to find a good resource about or on the history of Olivetti typefaces. Though I just got word of a new Olivetti Lettera-inspired typeface from the Swiss type foundry, Lineto that you may be interested in. Lettera was adapted from a Olivetti typewriter typeface originally designed by Joseph Müller-Brockmann.

Comment on Momentum 2008: Episode 1 by Cara Krippner

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:03:40 +0000

Sitting on a pink ribbon, watching Chris's piece, I flashed back to my days of The Little Mermaid and My little Ponies, pre-teen slumber parties and the little girls section of department stores jumped out at me in the movement, costume and feeling. I agree with Maggie, there was a curious feeling in the room at the close of the piece. I saw a youthful, feminine qualities juxtaposed with a mature, sexual tension. It was like watching a roomful of girls hit puberty. The precise and crude nature of the choreography kept me bouncing between gracefulness and awkwardness, different stages of growing up and out of your pink turtleneck. The dancer's focus kept changing between mocking, serious, playful, lusty, bored and gentle, so at the end perhaps I had just relived a long past temper tantrum, melo dramatic argument, encounter with a bit of puppy love. I wonder what place or state of being Chris wanted to create in the piece, not only on the stage but also in the audience's minds what and wherever it was, it was lovely and disturbing

Comment on Momentum 2008: Episode 1 by Annette Kavanaugh

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:19:30 +0000

These two pieces did have very different genealogies, but the difference isn't all about ethnicity or race. Another divide is between the academy and the studio--between the artists who create with an eye to critical commentary and those who put all their effort into communicating what they have to say. In performance and in visual art, current academic strictures seem to amount to a ban on content; after all the fragmenting, the requirement to be allusive and hermetic, there's not a lot that's going to get through. The academy is really good at devising straitjackets for artists, which is why some of us avoid it altogether. Or another way of putting it: there's the performance tradition that goes back to entertainment for bored courtiers (ballet at the court of Louis XIV) and then there's the tradition that's rooted in folk/community life. One is not more sophisticated than the other. "love things" seemed very abstract and deliberately stripped-down; when I think back on it almost a week later, what I remember is pictures. When I think back on "The Foundation et cetera" I remember entire sequences of scenes, and I could follow the thematic line through dance, song, dramatic dialogue, and visual design; this piece used a remarkable richness of means to meditate on a strong central theme: generations and the struggle for social change. The stage design for "love things" was monochrome (pink and white predominated). "The Foundation et cetera" used every color in the spectrum (I counted). Each of the two pieces was esthetically unified--but the artists' aims were clearly very different. One was about dance; the other used dance as one of many means to tell a story. I attended the performance on Friday night and "The Foundation et cetera" received a standing ovation and the majority of questions in the question & answer afterward. The questions began with the technical and ended with a discussion of "what to do now" about the questions of community life raised in the piece. Looking at the web based reviews afterward, lots of commentators seem more interested in "love things," because it focused very specifically on technique and vocabulary, and gives critics and dance scholars something to chew over. Clearly, there were (and are) two different audiences.

Comment on Momentum 2008: Episode 1 by Jill Foster

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:50:34 +0000

I have to touch on Maggie's honesty in seeing these two pieces as if they were made for different audiences. The span of difference between the pieces naturally made it feel that way. While viewing love things, I found myself wondering what African-based individuals were thinking of it and vice versa. Did it open people up to what they don't usually see, or did it close them off to difference even more? In my opinion, The Foundation, etc. felt like a piece made for an audience common to the Southern. If one knows aspects of the African Diaspora and hip-hop culture, most was predictable. The music was familiar, the dancing familiar, the subject matter and aesthetics of spoken text familiar. But it felt like a reach aimed to one like Benjamin above, stating, "I am white and cannot and will never know what it is like to be persecuted or subject of racism." This show was a way for what is common in this culture to be expressed to those who know little of this culture, and honestly, who would most likely not get out to see it in a show of its own. It's a way to shed light on what it's like to come from generations of racially motivated oppression, which is up to us to understand. Saying I'm white and cannot understand is in other words saying that white people can play no role in ending racism and gives little justice in viewing work of this sort. (in my humble opinion, of course)

Comment on Brown Rocket: Not Just Dancin? by nat b

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:23:01 +0000

silly me I meant Momentum 2008 :) sorry folks!

Comment on Philippe Vergne: A Tribute by Susan Spray

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:38:36 +0000

A sad day for the Walker, it was so wonderful to have you back. New York is a lucky city to now have you among its leaders.

Comment on Philippe Vergne: A Tribute by Ellie Crosby

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:14:04 +0000

Congratulations,Philippe! We are very happy for you about your new position, but will certainly miss you in Minneapolis where you have made a big difference. I hope we will lure you back often. All the best, Ellie & Tom Crosby.

Comment on Philippe Vergne: A Tribute by Ann Gastler (from the Modern)

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:11:28 +0000

You will be sorely missed here in Mpls but I am excited for the opportunities you both will have in NYC. Au revoir!

Comment on Momentum Dance Primer 2008 by Ellena Schoop

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:14:03 +0000

Ellena Schoop Why did you choose the various mediums for 'The Foundation et cetera; spoken word, dance, dialog, etc. Answer: As traditional storytellers, we generally use more then one - we use song, poetry, dance, music to tell one story. Life does not happen in a 'linier' way, niether does my storytelling. Did you feel it was risky to introduce text/dialog, theater work to a 'dance' audience. Answer: Yes, but this work is about taking risk - It is unatural to fit into a particular mold and/or set of expectations. Risk is interesting. Using words as well as dance to complete the stories is simply how my brain works.

Comment on Bruce Conner 1933-2008 by Dr. Patrick Gleeson

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:37:03 +0000

Jackie Stewart doesn't have an obligation to make it easier for you to share the grand prix experience by setting up a starter course somewhere with rubber walls and detuned cars. Bruce Conner doesn't have an obligation to make it easier for you to share the Bruce Conner experience by making available bad (or even good) copies you can download on your computer. You're confusing art with public service. I also disagree with the general import of what you're saying, Mike, because it seems far removed from what got Bruce up in the morning (and what worried, pleased and enraged him). Bruce was very competitive in some ways--his roots were Middle American--but I think questions of distribution, fame, money, public access to his art, etc.--the things we often count up when assessing success, were secondary to Bruce. That's not unusual--a lot of artists, probably most artists, feel that way. We want and hope to be paid, but that's not exactly why we "do" art. However: what makes Bruce different from many artists--and I think this is the part you're somewhat stubbornly not getting--is just how extremely secondary these concerns were when weighed against the things that for Bruce really counted--in a lot of ways, particularly later in his life, he actually opposed and disliked the art market--as his enduring and frustrated dealers would certainly affirm. For Bruce there was centrally and primarily the art experience. I can't even tell you very much about what that was for Bruce because he was deliberately cagey on the subject, as everyone close to him will tell you. He was very willing to talk about it up to a point, but I think there was some very personal and mystical high that making art led him to that he wasn't willing to discuss with anyone. Maybe Jean. I don't know. I've never asked her and have no intention of asking her because if Bruce had wanted me to know more about that he would have told me himself. We were friends and art-collaborators for over 40 years. So the artist's own art experience was paramount. After that there was the experience of that art by others. He knew exactly how he wanted his art to be experienced and he was extremely, sometimes maddeningly, detailed and exacting about the terms. This had absolutely nothing to do with money, distribution, etc.--it had to do with how this art experience, or some legitimate variation of it that could possibly be made available to someone else. He felt passionately that a lot of what passed for the art experience in contemporary life was a cruelly stupid replacement for the real thing--a cuckoo's egg in the robin's nest. He found it deeply offensive. He proposed certain terms about how others could share in that experience not because he was cultural snob, but because he deeply believed that except through those terms the art-experience didn't exist. In other words, he was trying to share with us everything that could be shared. I think the centrality of that hasn't quite sunk into this discussion. To propose that Bruce, and now his estate, ought to allow YouTube or other down-pixeled copies to circulate because of possible monetary benefits would, I'm afraid, have enraged him. I have one other thought about this and then I'm going to retire permanently from this topic on the blog. I think there's a belief underlying part of this discussion that the artist, here Bruce of course, has some kind of obligation to share his experience with as many persons as possible--it's a beautiful experience and should be shared. Where does this obligation come from? I don't think it exists; it's a pseudo-populist fantasy and probably has more to do with our Puritan cultural heritage whereby we save ourselves by good works and reveal god's pleasure in us through our worldly success. Bruce was just making art. The distribution of it, the marketing of it--all that really got him down. I think he thought that indulging in it might even be a character flaw--he spent considerable energy the past few years of his life trying to purge himself of the distraction.