Dan Barney

Dan Barney talked to us about speculative realism and Object Orientology.  A lot of what I learned is that artists consider and learn from all things.  There aren't certain outcomes that are inherent with different objects, we could do macaroni art that's classic and lame or we could do macaroni art that is awesome.  We should always ask ourselves what an object can teach us.  We should help our students to question things too.  We also looked at an Art 21 video from Vancouver that I really enjoyed.  I liked that the artist began making things because he couldn't help it, they were a part of who he was because of who he was and the culture he was raised in as well as the culture that he wasn't raised in.  Even though the art that he made had a great deal of weight and content behind it, it was interesting to me that he wasn't afraid to depart from that and maybe just make sculptures out of shoes, that didn't relate to his original idea.

Then we went to see Rebecca Campbell's exhibit in the MOA.  It was interesting for me to approach it again with a new crowd because I work in the MOA.  I've approached it by myself.  I've been trained on it.  I've read descriptions of it a thousand times and given tours of it.  I've talked about it with random patrons or with my coworkers.  It was interesting to discuss it with people that maybe come from a similar artistic standpoint as me and to consider it.  It's interesting how I feel pressure to conform to other people's opinions no matter who it is I'm talking to.  A lot of times I feel a pressure to think similarly to them as if there is a right way to think in order to gain acceptance or to just be right.