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There are changes currently occurring at both DAAP and the Art Academy of Cincinnati.
( UPDATE: Mark Harris informed me that he will be remaining in his role as Director. )I have only heard rumors at DAAP about changes in Mark Harris' status as Department Chair. I contacted the office of the Dean, Robert Probst, but was referred to Mark Harris. Mark Harris in turn referred me back to the Dean. I am hence unable to confirm anything save this runaround. It is understandable that information cannot be given out at this time if the situation is not resolved.
Also, several staff members were let go from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Apparently, there are rumors of other layoffs, but no one has contacted the journal to give a statement to this effect. I do not wish to publish rumors. If the journal is contacted by someone willing to make a statement, we will publish it here. Our readers are welcome to post their thoughts on our Forum. The Business Courier reported today that President Gregory Allgire Smith and Academic Dean Keith Kutch have left their positions:
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/07/27/daily65.html
The Art Academy, its faculty and its students have a strong presence in the arts downtown, while DAAP produces artists and curators that sometimes remain in the area. Hence any changes in these institutions should be of interest to the local community.
Found object artists at times fall victim to a lack of consistent language in their work due to the arbitrary nature of their craft. Their works become mediated upon chance discovery, external inspirations and risk lacking a developed style of continuously expounded/explored forms.
Paige Wideman's mature sculptures represent the opposite case of this approach. Her work has a personal language, part formalist/part narrative. The qualities of her recovered materials are conserved, sometimes re-worked and always successfully collaged into her compositions. Graceful curves appear in works such as Kindred, 2009 and Solitude, 2009 while others, such as Op-red, 2007 and Edifice,
2009 jut upwards in monolithic fashion. The works have an atmosphere of antiquity in part due to the weathered materials. The tones are rustic throughout (wood, steel, etc.) and warm the eye with rusted reds and textures.
In Mazda, 2009 and Parlato, 2009, the found nature of the components completely disappear in these intimate compositions. Particularly in the latter, I was reminded of the art of Joseph Cornell.
Also of note is budding artist Elizabeth Laskey (in particular in such works as Numen). Her art constitutes the other half of this exhibition curated by David Knight, gallery director of Northern Kentucky University.
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A.C. Frabetti
'Recycled Finds: Work by Paige Wideman and Elizabeth Laskey', The Covington Artisans Enterprise Center, 25 West 7th Street, Covington. Curated by David Knight. June 5th thru July 10th.
Photo: Wideman, Paige. Past Absolved, date: n.d. Wood, rust, found metal, 4"wx12"hx6"d. AEQAI staff photo.
25 sculptural installations are dispersed throughout the landscape of the Civic Garden Center and Hauck Botanic Garden. All are by artists involved in the Academy, either as students, alumnae or instructors. The works vary in size, scope and aesthetic, from geometrical, modernist work to conceptual, narrative installations.
Whether one enjoys the individual works or not, each artist nevertheless invites the visitor to reflect upon some aspect of the garden and the relationship of humanity to nature (or gardenized nature).
The exhibition includes a map of the location of each of the works. The visitor has an important choice here. He or she may survey the space first, encountering the placement of the pieces by chance. This option allows one to experience the individuality of each work as the artist may have wished it without it being specifically 'bracketed' as an artwork. The other choice is to follow the map, noting exactly each work according to its author, location etc. In this way one does not 'miss' anything although risks being too easily 'led.' For the beholder of art is not a passive receptacle, but an active and lively creator of the actual experience: this is a simple case in point.
-A.C. Frabetti
Art Academy of Cincinnati: 25th Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Civic Garen Center, Hauck Botanic Garden, April 4-26, 2009. On Reading Road between Oak St. and Taft Road.
In Photo: Sheri Besso, Protection, (Date: n.d.). Mixed media.
