Congrats on Fall Reviews & Monday Night Seminar News

Congratulations to all of you on the success of your fall reviews. We especially commend the first-years, who jumped in feet first and did a great job presenting solid exploration across the board.

There is no visiting artist for the first Monday night seminar meeting of winter term (January 4) so we will meet as scheduled at 6 in room 320 for a welcome-back potluck and conversation about the program. Bring something good to share and your constructive ideas.

Please remember that the university will be closed Dec. 19-28.

Wishing you all a great break, good holidays and a very happy new year.

November 16, 2009: James Yood

James Yood traveled all the way to Portland for his PSU lectured on November 16th. Yood teaches contemporary art history and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is adjunct professor in the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism. Active as an art critic and essayist on contemporary art, he is Chicago correspondent to Artforum and tema celeste, and also writes regularly for GLASS magazine, American Craft, Aperture, and Art & Auction. He spoke on the importance of place for an artist and how a region impacts their artistic voice. Thank you so much joining us James Yood!

November 9, 2009 Speaker Laurel Nakadate

On November 9th we had the pleasure of hearing Laurel Nakadate speak about her work and career as a photographer, and film maker. The New York video artist has made her mark exploring the arcane psyche of a very peculiar archetype—the single man. Nakadate is known for powerful video and photographic works in which the artist, her subjects, and the viewer are entangled in an unsettling dance of seduction, power, trust, tenderness, loss, and betrayal. Along with her short videos and photographs she spoke about her recent films: Stay the Same, Never Change and Wolf Knife.

Thanks for joining us, Laurel!

November 2, 2009: Marc Herbst from the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest

On November 2 we were fortunate enough to host Marc Herbst, co-editor of the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest is a Los Angeles based magazine. The Journal, aware of the possibilities of the boundless moment, searches for ways to think through the cultural and political ramifications of representation. In word and aspiration, The Journal dreams toward a world that differs from "a celebration of the choice already made in the sphere of production, and the consummate result of that choice."

Thanks for joining us, Marc!