under attack.

This most recent attack on the LGBT community has left me very shaken. Shaken to the core of my soul as a gay man. I'm not sure people understand what a place like PULSE in Orlando probably meant to its attendees. It was safety.

My own experiences with TRACKS nightclub in DC are the reason I feel that way. When I was younger and not even 'out' yet (I know, I know...) my friend Adam P. and I decided to go to this 'gay' club called TRACKS. Me, I was so eager to be around other gay people even if I was not yet ready to come out. I thought TRACKS would be the safest place to do that. So, Adam and I got in the car and drove to the club.

I was terrified.

We approached the ticket window and then were faced with the need to pay the cover charge. We had no money. Like zero. I think it was $10 each. We had to turn around and leave, sad. I was so close.

As we walked away we heard someone calling after us. It was the manager and he must have seen himself in us when he was that age. He escorted us into the club.

Yeah, it was just like Dorothy opening the door to Oz. Suddenly our lives were technicolor and full of joy and fun.

I had my first real kiss there.

I met my first boyfriend there. We 'broke-up' a week later. It was 'tragic'.

I met my 'family' there. Lynda, Jonathan, Tracey, Kevin, Skippy, JACQUIE, Helen, Missy, Kris S., Joe, Mark, DJ ADAM, ED Baily, Janus, Frankee, the list goes on and on. People that are still to this day some of the most important people to me that I can think of.

It breaks my heart to think that someone went into a place of safety - no different than a school full of kids - and began shooting for whatever reason. Hatred? Religion? Fear of being gay? It is said that the shooter was gay (which I had said to John was probably the case) and so I can't help but also to feel bad for him too, to feel that he had to do this for whatever reason his brain compelled him. UGH.

Why do so many people have to die because of love? It seems so backwards to me.

There were many more victims in this massacre. Not just the 50 dead, 50+ injured physically, but the 1,000s of people that are changed in an instant because of this. Social media only adding to the constant reminders. A place of safety and refuge suddenly became a danger zone. How many young kids, like me, have been trying to work up the courage to go to a place to feel accepted? Now, that place doesn't exist to them.

TRACKS became a place that everyone went to, each night different but everyone the same. Partying in a safe place where violence hardly occurred.

Until last weekend.

During Pride.

I hope that the 50, including Omar, woke up like Dorothy did in Oz. In a place, a heaven if they believe, where they can be free to be whomever they want without fear.

things happening...

The past few months have gone by in a blink. I am one week away from finishing my first semester at George Mason University in the Arts Management graduate program. The classes were really great - especially the Finance class which taught me many things that a CFO does and just generally increased my confidence in running the financial aspect of an organization. Next semester is Finance 2 and I think that gets more into budgeting an organization. I'll be curious how that one goes. I'm also currently in the Alchemical Vessel show again at the Joan Hisoaka Healing Arts Gallery. This year we were given a cigar box to use. Mine was created at the time of David Bowie's death and is influenced creatively by his message. The show is up through May 6 at least. That is the night of the artist closing reception. It's also my birthday and John is doing a reading at the Epicure Cafe in Fairfax, which we are of course attending. Then we will rush to DC for a concert.

I'll also be in a show carated by Superwaxx, which will take place at the Fridge Gallery in June. (more info to come) I'll be doing some other shows/curating in August, and then spend half of the month in Vermont at the Vermont Studio Center on residency. For these two weeks, i'll be finishing work on my show which will open at the beginning of September at Jordan Faye Contemporary.

argh...site issues.

I am starting to hate WordPress...time for something new. They have overcharged me for 'upgraded' services, and now none of my content is visible on sub pages.... Guess I have to start my new site....less words more photos. If you need images of my work email me at jeff dot herrity at mac dot com.

so busy! great press!

So, things have been really busy lately. I started another grad program at George Mason for Arts Management and really love it so far. I'm looking forward to getting back to working with not-for-profit organizations that focus on the arts. That said, I've not been in the studio lately so that I can adjust to a new schedule and then work my studio practice back into my daily routine. I am about to start and finish my alchemical vessel for the Alchemical Vessel show this year. It's a small cigar style box, and I have some interesting ideas on what do to, I'm thinking of honoring David Bowie. I'll post photos as I progress starting next week. (I promise) There will be lights involved in my piece.

I was also recently, yesterday, profiled on East City Art by Eric Hope. I had such a great time with Eric talking about my work, and to see the result of our conversation was really interesting to me as an artist reading about myself. I really think Eric understands what I am trying to do, and he even explained it better than I ever could. You can read the article here: Jeff Herrity at East City Art.

I was also featured in Northern Virginia Magazine last month, and had an equally fantastic time with Jenny Cutler Lopez who was introduced to me by Olly Olly founder Jessica Kallista. You can read that article here: Northern Virginia Magazine.

Ok...that should get us all current for now. Back to studying for Finance and Budgeting quiz later today.

until next time....

TRANSMOGRIFICATIONS

It has been such a wild six months. I have barely been able to process everything I have seen and done, but I am, and will write some posts about my time in Mexico. I came home and immediately continued work on my solo show which opens in a few days at The Fridge Gallery in Barracks Row.

This show includes a bunch of NEW work in which I have been exploring the use of color and highlighting the 'parts' of the molds being used. And there are bunnies.

There is a bit of a vague narrative running through the show that I think I am still trying to figure out - and will be able to once the show is laid out how I want.

Mostly this show is about how we want so badly to be individuals yet only through the acceptance of that by our friends and by crowdsourcing on Facebook and Instagram. We are able to quickly and repeatedly recreate ourselves and 'try-on' our identities based on moods of any particular day - yet not realize the repercussions of these changes.

But in the end, what happens when nobody 'likes' an image or is there to respond to your lunch choice?

My show Transmogrifications opens this Saturday - September 12, 2015 from sometime after 6pm until around 11.

alchemical vessels - a healing arts project and benefit.

Each year a fantastic organization/gallery Joan Hisoaka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Center for Healing + the Arts has a benefit to raise money and awareness of their efforts. Over 100 artists are invited to participate. I know that many artists do not agree with donating time and artwork to causes and I'm not sure why.  To me it is a vital part of my art making as well as a way to integrate my past life as a fundraiser with this new direction I am on.

Each artist is provided a bowl. A vessel. Our mission is to convert the bowl or use the bowl to show our interpretation of alchemy or healing.  I was very excited to be invited this year to create a vessel.

For a while it sat on the dining room table, various objects filling it at times. Here it transformed itself into a spare-change dish, a key-holder, random things that had no home. I then moved the bowl to my studio where it served the same purpose, sponges filled it, debris, again things that needed a space temporarily. At this point it became a reminder to me about so many things I needed to change and resolve in my own life. A reminder that healing was about to occur. A reminder that healing needed to occur. A reminder that creation was waiting for me.

So many ideas of what to do with this bowl. But around the same time I started to revisit my therapist to deal with some lingering issues of my own that I've been avoiding and carrying around like this blank bowl.

Finally, it came to me. Ceramics came to me. I knew WHY I make the work that I make - rooted in the same slip-casting work that my mother made when I was smaller. I realize now that my mother who made sure that when I was growing up I had everything that I wanted, gave me the biggest gift of all: understanding of why I make the work that I make.

Below is my bowl and my artist statement about it:

To me, healing begins from within and often only after looking deeply at yourself and your willingness to heal. As I have been processing the many challenges in my life as a result of growing up in a house of abuse, my mother has been losing the battle against Alzheimers; I find refuge that in her last days she will not have any of the memories that I have been trying to forget. I long to find a vessel, like this bowl, that will contain her memories that are rapidly fading to nothing. I would protect them and remember for her.

I am confident that out of all the pain and sadness my family has faced, and continues to face today, that there can be beauty in the healing process. This bowl begun a healing process for me and the result is that I've realized that I am a vessel my mother created to carry her forever. My mother is my porcelain, and I'm with her every day as I create.

collaborating with other artists - an update.

I've had a little bit of downtime since my show ended back in November. I still have work other places and will have a post about the amazing Snap!Space gallery in Orlando. I've been in the early stages of a commission which will include a very cool installation working with a designer in Winter Park, Florida. There's also Lost River Trading Post - Grasshopper Gallery, in West Virginia, and Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, Virginia.

I also had a really fun photoshoot with E Brady Robinson (visit her site: http://www.ebradyrobinson.com/) she'll be in Miami at the Sagamore Hotel on February 15, 2015 signing her fantastic book Art Desks. (buy it here: http://www.art-desks.com/) The shoot in my studio was for a calendar supporting my new studio Red Dirt - another post on that!

It was a great day to have my portrait taken - if you need a great shot contact her via the links above.

I'm also excited about my next solo show which will be at the Fridge Gallery in Barracks Row/Easter Market opening on September 12, 2015! More on that coming. (I'm trying to work out an email communication calendar)

I sincerely will make an effort to keep my blog updated at least weekly with this new show. And also I have a residency in Puebla Mexico starting on May 25, 2015 for six weeks! (LOTS of posts on that.)

More soon.  As in probably this weekend!  You can also follow me on Instagram: @jherrity

objects of my devotion.

So, interestingly my last post here was at the start of my show planning and I didn't even have an idea what it would turn into. I'm still processing the very successful opening last night at the Hillyer Art Space but wanted to make sure my site is updated! Thank you ALL for coming out and buying my work. Over the next few days I will be making major updates to this site but have already included a lot of the new work in the new page "NEW WORK" (genius naming, right?) I've also updated my 'about' page with my new bio and the artist statement for this new body of work. Enjoy. Let me know what you think!

Prepping for my solo show.

So, another long lapse in posting to this blog. But, thanks to me telling people about my show I am now seeing the need to start updating this blog more regularly. I hope.  Email me if a post is more than two weeks old!!! Last year I decided to try for the Hillyer Art Space 2014/2015 calendar. I had never applied before and thought that I had a good chance since my work has been noticed a bit lately. I was excited to make it! I immediately began freaking out that I have a full show to produce and several areas that I've been exploring in my studio.

My opening is scheduled for October 3, 2014....seems so close!

I think this is a great time for me to start experimenting a bit, but stay a little more true to my original work - I don't think this show should be all new work, but a chance to put the work out there to be looked at and critiqued. I've been thinking about my totems in different colors, mostly black, but I may try some new or different colors...not sure about this yet. I'll be posting more as I come up with more work.

change

Having finished with my graduate program and finalizing my written thesis over the next month, my fall is going to be a time for change.

I start teaching at the Lab School of Washington in multiple divisions. I am very excited to be joining the team, and working with so many people and organizations. In another post on this blog at a later date, I'll discuss the 'other' part of my job at the Lab School.

I will be teaching three different classes, the first is the Intermediate Art class which is very similar to my student teaching last school year, which helped me get hired full time. Several years ago, I would have shook my head as a response to teaching the 'young' kids. Now, I couldn't think of anything else. These kids are great, and I am eager to bounce teaching ideas off of Sarah.

I'll also be teaching a Jr. High class on Technology. This class is pretty open and it's mostly about helping the students build their technology skills in areas that are relevant to their needs and interests.  Also important to cover with this age group (developmentally speaking) is the 'common sense media,' or, online safety and ethics. This age is starting to create their identity and so they need guidance in knowing the right from wrong when they have difficulties processing the two. 

I've not yet starting planning this class because I have first started working with my third responsibility: a high school level Foundations of Technology class specifically for Prince George's County Students (this is a part of the statewide Common Core standards being adopted.)

Because the Lab School is a one-to-one student to iPad/laptop, this class is tricky because the students are already firmly entrenched with technology, and are also the learning population considered 'digital natives' (the younger teens who have always had technology in their life.) 

I've decided for my planning and lesson creation to only use technology, or as much technology - and as openly as possible - that I can. Sometimes, I do like a whiteboard and sketchbook to map my ideas, but can also do this with mindmomo or mindnode. By doing this, I can directly share the information with the students. And, since I'm a new teacher this year, I can start to create carefully considered habits. 

Another approach I will be taking with my syllabi is creating them in as many forms as possible from straight text, to a more visual wireframed look, to something even interactive.

I plan to cover all aspects of technology from the history (which I will have to confirm the degree of which background info has been taught) from the stone age to the information age. Hopefully I can schedule a skype session with Vint Cerf - considered one of the fathers of the Internet, and someone I worked with briefly at InternetMCI 'back in the day.' Maybe he can talk about where he thinks technology is going. 

Perhaps we read some technology focused essays or stories. We will definitely create projects that help the group understand the impact that technology has on our lives. They may have to live a few days without any tech. or device. 

I'm still processing everything. But will post my lesson plans and any documents I create for you to use or modify for your own purposes.

Only a few weeks until my first class as a teacher, not a student.

searching.

Sorry for the long delay in posting...it's been a busy semester at school! I'm so happy that the artists from FLUX, myself included, are participating in a Handmade in America studio swap show with a gallery in Asheville, North Carolina. The show opens this Friday, and I'm sad that I can't be there. (Student teaching and Art History TA responsibilities keep me in DC.)

My work for the show is a further exploration of some work I started a few years ago and have continued. I created these Totems as an exercise in a class and really enjoyed the process of slipcasting, and even had a totem in a show at the Smithsonian Craft Show (as part of an exhibit of emerging artists of the Corcoran College of Art and Design, where I showed work twice...) But this work is not something new to me. My mother worked in ceramics as I was growing up, and she even had a shop in the town that I went to high school in that sold her work. Mostly kitschy stuff and dollhouse parts. But what I remember as a child (of my few memories) were the easter eggs that she created from ceramic molds. I clearly remember the box they were kept in, and the shredded newspaper to protect them. They were in the dining room buffet, and I would often - year round - look at them.

I thought these eggs were the most magical things on earth. We had a huge (ok, like 10) selection of eggs that my mom hand painted and we put out every Easter. Oddly, thinking back on them as I write this, there may not even have been that many, but magic knows no number.

As the years have passed, and I have become slightly estranged from my conservative family, I have had to seek a new family. One that accepts me for who I am, or maybe more importantly WHAT I am. I'm totally ok with this and realize that the people that I talk to daily, or who would do ANYTHING for me, are my family. For many years I wanted to fix or make my family better, but that just didn't happen. I knew that I had to make this new family.

The Totems I create are born out of that thought. A totem is an object that represents family, and my own alleged American Indian heritage, of course, includes totems. Those stacked figures that are representative of a group of people that are a clan. We are all different, yet we rely upon each other - for if one goes missing, we all fall.

These totems that I create are my journey to find family. Each element doesn't have to be the exact same. Even looking at my friends, we are all so different, but need each other.

However, we all need our moms, and so my Totems all generally have an egg.

finding friends in unusual places.

One never thinks that you will find a life-long friend at jury duty. I'm one of those people that, for some reason, ALWAYS gets picked to be a juror. Luckily they are always very interesting cases: Medical Malpractice, Homeland Security, and Gangland Style Double Homicide. I never thought a horrific crime - murder - would bring me a new friend. No, no, no, NOT the accused. Gail. It was pretty instant that we both realized that sitting amongst our 'peers' we were the only ones who dreaded being there. We quickly became friends and ate lunch together every day. At the end of the several weeks we gave up, we continued our friendship.

Gail met Scott. I don't think there was any crime involved. We've all maintained a fun relationship. So, both John and I were delighted when they announced their engagement. This coming weekend, September 8, 2012, we'll be attending the wedding at the Cape Cod Museum of Art. When Gail told me that the wedding was in a museum I wanted to make something 'arty' for her as a gift. Gail being the complete opposite of a bridezilla accepted my offer. She sent me an image of her dress and I started sketching.

After many trials and prototypes, the final piece is a play on the drapy fabric of the dress, but also of the sea, sand, and shells. I worked with so many slabs of clay, trying to get several pieces that 'felt right' and that nested together gracefully - like people coming together. I also wanted to make a piece that Gail and Scott could continue to showcase and use in their home. They are casual, they are 'dressy' - they can be used as a centerpiece, and individually. Much like people, we adapt and grow.

I hope she likes the finished pieces.

Congrats to Gail and Scott. I look forward to adding more pieces

to your porcelain collection.

old work, new forms.

Looking forward to a show coming up in November in North Carolina with my studio-mates from Flux Studios. Before I left for Naples, Florida, I had a great talk with Novie about my work, and the work for this show. It was a really great conversation for me, one of the first one-on-one type critiques that I had after finishing at the Corcoran. It was nice getting such direct and caring feedback. It made me think about my ceramics practice and that I really need to focus on that a bit more since I sort of abandoned it at the Corcoran in my last year of study. I'm glad I made a couple hundred pounds of porcelain slip, and started playing with molds again. 

Like any artist, I have about 100 projects currently in the works. Ok, probably only about 10, but it might as well be 100. My timing leaving for Florida came right about when I was getting some good studio-practice practice. Luckily for me, I am working on a piece for a friend (i'll do another post about that later) that has me very excited and it has a deadline which is great because it forces me to get through any creative blocks I CLEARLY have as a result of this new found artistic freedom.

So, for this show - which I'll post details about as soon as I get them - needs to be ceramics. Ok...I can do that. In my conversation with Novie, she mentioned a piece I have been manipulating so many times - each result better than the last - and so we started playing with the pieces. We talked about different approaches that I could take, and as I've been thinking about it over the past few weeks away from the studio, not yet committed to sketchbook stage yet, I think I know what I'm doing.

Ok, there are two ideas.

The first is a large wall piece, much like this configuration here when I was trying to make it into a piece at school (and there are probably photos of it on this blog from a while ago) for my first project in my CORE studio class nearly a YEAR ago. (I abandoned it at the 11th hour and did something completely different)

My new idea will require about four times as many of the pieces arranged something like this, but much much bigger.

Of course, this probably won't even been the end result because there was something else that Novie and I discussed that i'm eager to get working on as a further exploration of the piece. More on that as I work it out.

But, the whole point of this post is really that I'm excited to work on this new piece and not really know the outcome. I see the finish line, but I'm not sure the path I'll take to get to it.

who says you can't teach an old piece new tricks?

could it be? new work?

So NEXT closed, but not before we as a class did another project for another show in Baltimore at AREA 405. I've returned to the world of clay, porcelain slipcasting really, and some photography. I really just stumbled upon this work, but realize that I how some is born - in a mixture of fun/play, creativity, and panic. I had been working on a painting, and wasn't really happy with it, so I created these pieces.

I have been using kitschy 70's ceramic molds for a while now, but realize that the piece that comes from each isn't necessarily the work I am looking for. I thought...'I need to look a bit closer. closer. closer. and then even closer'  I took a photo of my Mary bust and the result screamed "THIS IS IT" at me. I like the reflections and everything about the image. Reflected in it is another piece I did (an owl - which I have a connection with because my oldest sister Debbi had this trippy owl mobile in the 70's that I always secretly LOVED - it changed colors as it moved and I thought it was magical)  I then figured that I need the owl in the work as well. And then another.

The result?

Interesting.

read all about it

The Washington Post printed a great review of the NEXT show at the Corcoran. I think the reviewer, Michael O'Sullivan had interesting things to say and he picked up on the common theme through the show. My work FOCUS GROUP is mentioned in the tail end of the article as a side bar, I think my work doesn't fit into the thread of the show...mine stands apart in some strange way. Read the reviews here and here

The show opens again tomorrow having been closed this past week because they have been prepping the area for the big Corcoran Ball....I may not be there, but my cameras are...

jeffherrity.net/focusgroup

Jeff

inspiration, hiding in plain sight.

So I've been slowly organizing my studio at school - meaning picking up random chunks of wood that have littered my space. I always like the post-creation mess. It's a great way to document the residue of the process. I've always been the type that documents my process every step of the way, taking photos and keeping records in my sketchbook. I like to look back and see how things evolved and the physical evidence I leave behind.

Pinned to the wall in my studio, from the very beginning of the year, was a photo I took last year from the Met. This was taken during my 'fascinated with shadows' period. It's a Giacometti sculpture. I probably didn't even realize that I look at this every day and I suppose my subconscious finally made me act on how much I LOVE Giacometti but didn't know it.

One of the things that I really had to determine when making my figures was my vocabulary. I had made several maquettes of the pieces and there were some structural decisions that I had originally made that I edited out in my final work. (not to say that I won't re-introduce them in my next pieces) I really tried this time to focus on what makes a male figure look male and what makes a female female.

In the one form, the male figure has a broad chest made by adding an additional piece to the chest area, but in the others they ARE very narrow and simple. Just two arms along the body starting at the shoulders. For the women forms I went with smaller pieces and created hips. For the smaller, children, forms, they had no extra pieces, just the plain form without any physical development. Post-Modern? or Neo-Post-Modern? I'm not quite sure. But there is was. Waiting for me to discover it.

Even once the work was done.

what's NEXT?

Sorry for being so quiet the past couple weeks. It's been intense and i'm just now getting my head above water with anything non-thesis oriented. Oh, yeah, that. Thesis. Dropped off on March 19th and have been working to get it fully installed for the opening on April 14, from 8-10pm.

What a strange place my worked ended up in. I don't think I saw the work happen until it was in front of me like an army staring me down before battle. I did it. My spring break was spent in the studio making the pieces that only arrived in my head a few days before. Jim and Janis were talking to me about my pieces and really encouraged me, and they punched me in the gut too. With their help and guidance, my hands were ready to make things.

I had to think really hard about what I was trying to accomplish with this piece and how trying to get to my original idea caused this new approach. I created an 'army' of data. One thing that I think was in the back of my head was that these tall devices that I wanted to make were actually figural. Once I knew that, they started to create themselves in my head and THEN I knew what I needed them to be.

I had many sketches in my journal, all with various approaches to expressing the form. During the critique for the work (in Gallery 31) -  the maquettes - a 4x4 secured to a 17 x 17 inch board on casters. I didn't realize how figural they were until they were out of my studio and in a space, and then with my artist statement, it was only obvious. Then, Ivan pointed out the same fact and I knew it was was the piece was supposed to be. NOT some strange video carts with monitors on them.

I spent many hours at Home Depot trying to figure out the best way to produce these forms without revealing hardward or their structure. But that was the easy part. I KNEW what they needed to look like, and then after some trial and error, I knew how they would be created. Then, the whole 'paint or don't paint' dilemma that the Jim and Janis critique made me think about.

One day down in the sculpture studio talking to Dan or Elliot (both probably) I realized that they were to be painted black. for some reason, in my head they were always black. After painting the first one, and then looking at the base, I realized the base needed to be the white part. But then, how did I connect these pieces to all my other work this semester and create a cohesive - or close to cohesive - body of work. Flame orange. Yep. The flame orange - SAFETY - orange duct tape around the first painting of the QR code, was to be what the sides of the bases would be.

It's like the data from the QR Code painting arose from the canvas into these structural formal figural forms.  Odd how that works. NEVER was this my original idea, but I'm so glad that I allowed flexibility in my process to guide me. (so very NOT the way I used to work)

The final pieces, 10 total figures, will now be gathered on the second floor of the Museum and visitors will be encouraged to move them around. The cameras have been their own adventure and the Dropcam staff have been incredible. The cameras will be battery operated and I'm currently trying to resolve how to keep a constant feed going. Right now the cameras are plugged in, and you know the drill - you can watch on your comptuter: jeffherrity.net/focusgroup

giacometti, comin' through....

After my CORE class on Wednesday and some great feedback from my instructors (but also a bit of panic set in), I had to give some thought to my project and really make it become what it was wanting to become but what I had failed to see. With renewed energy I dove in and started some new sketches and figured out what I needed to make to complete my thesis work. My army of drones. kinda. I realized that the piece isn't about all the techno whiz-bangery, but the simple shapes that were waiting for me to discover them standing silently. Figures. Right in front of me were these forms that my critique in gallery 31 first brought to my attention, but I ignored it.

I think subconsciously I was channeling some Giacometti. It makes me think back to a photo I took a long time ago at the National Gallery of Art in DC that I had filed away with the 1000s of other photos from my phone - important at the time but now forgotten amongst photos snapped quickly on my iphone. Inspiration waiting to be re-discovered. I found the photo this morning, and it still makes me smile. It's just funny. So much movement in such simple lines. A sense of purpose.

Art as participant in the gallery space. 

My Thesis work is about that participation or choreography the artist has on the viewer in the museum or gallery. Artwork serves as a conductor with each dance different. Do you go right or left when entering a gallery space? Does the work guide you? I tend to go right to the piece that interests me most on first glance and then build on that movement...on to the next. I rarely read labels on the wall unless something needs clarification. I pinball my way through a space.

My thesis work is also about that movement through the gallery, and how the artist guides you and then of course, how and what you see.

My work is the art, and my work is the participant viewer.

I'm making figural forms in groupings (the work is titled Focus Group) - four groupings in all each with various figural forms that are representative of the average museum goer. Couples, families, singles. All tethered to each other through the devices - in this case the Dropcam. Of course what they see, you can see also by visiting jeffherrity.net/focusgroup (and you know that you can 'tune-in' to my studio while I make the work and watch it's creation, birth) on your computer (ironically, and thankfully, the feed does not work on iphones unless you have the Dropcam app, which I will offer as a solution in some way at the opening) These forms will (hopefully) be scattered throughout the museum space observing art and observing the observer.

These (to the right) are two of the forms that will be part of my Thesis. They are connected to each other via the cord from the camera. The camera is also powered by an external battery which the other form holds. there are no cords to the walls. These are completely free roaming camera forms. My hopes are that when the show is running, museum guests will move the forms to wherever they want them to be in the space (with a respectable distance from other works...) This is the participation of my work.

The participant will guide what the viewer at home sees. 

in my next post, i'll discuss the origins of watching at home.

Please touch the sculpture.

coming along?

So, in just over a month our NEXT at the Corcoran opens. NEXT is our thesis show, and we are all frantically working out the kinks in our work and concepts for our 'drop-off' date of March 19th. I'm in a bit of a different position because my piece wont' be finished until well after the 19th because of what my work is about - the space itself. It's hard for me to be doing a lot of work on the piece since I really won't be 'making' it until the drop-off. However, that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about follow up work or continuing my exploration of this work.

I'm still thinking through several aspects of the work - mostly the guides - the figural forms that will have the cameras mounted on them. My original idea was to use the 4x4s with the Dropcam mounted on the base with casters. I really like this, but stumble when I look at them and think "well, I like the way they look in the raw wood" - but I'm sure many would have a problem with that. Part of my thought about this work is that all the cameras are completely exposed so they subvert the idea of hidden cameras. I'm bouncing around ideas about how or where or even IF the images are projected in the gallery or if people must go home and look on their computers. I may walk around the opening with my iPad and monitor the cameras and have people see - also to drive traffic at home later.

(remember, you can watch from these cameras NOW at jeffherrity.net/focusgroup

My other thought with the piece, may actually be a different piece - but it involves a more pointed use of the IV stands and the meaning that those bring to the piece....stay tuned....

the new cameras are here! the new cameras are here!

Last week was like Christmas in February for me, four brand spankin' new Dropcam cameras arrived on my doorstep. I was so terrified that they would be delivered and stolen (it has happened in the past with Amazon purchases) that I didn't go to class - I just waited by the door. I started to set them up at home and had several up and running and it's amazing to me that the process got easier than the previous Dropcam I have. At one point there were three cameras pointing at me and broadcasting my every move. And, like for my last project Target Audience, the cameras are on directed at me in my studio at school. So, like the last project, you can go to my camera page at any time and watch me work. As you can see from the screen image - the two bottom cameras are the new Dropcam HD, the top two (really one) is my original Dropcam that I modified (which made it fuzzy). 

AND for a very special treat, you may even get to focus on my 'in-progress' critique on Monday February 27! Just go to: jeffherrity.net/focusgroup and you can participate remotely. My critique should be interesting because if I didn't get my cameras we'd all be sitting around talking about a blank wall. Instead, we get to talk about many different approaches I am taking to the work, and I should have a pretty clear picture of where I can go in my next steps leading to the thesis show.

(April 14 2012 by the way)

After Monday, I should know how the piece will be installed in the museum and so the ominous March 19 drop-off isn't as terrifying to me now.

I suppose that I can make my official 'things I have to do to get this project done' checklist.

yikes.