Showing posts with label Cory Dixon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cory Dixon. Show all posts
NYAA/Shanghai Univ./CAFA 2012 China Residency: Mutual Interest
On May 31, Four Academy students arrived in China to start an
11-week Artist in Residence Program in Shanghai and later Beijing. Cory
Dixon (MFA 2013), Megan Ewert (MFA 2013), Kristy Gordon (MFA 2013), and Nicolas
Sanchez (MFA 2013) will share their experiences here throughout the summer.
Our frequent travels, hard work in
the studio, and up close experiences in China led us to fulfill one of the
goals of our residency. The 99 Degree Art Center of the widely acclaimed art
district M50, served as the space for our exhibition. The 99 Art Center has
spaces in Taiwan and in 2008 another branch was established in M50 which is
closely linked with Shanghai University. For more information on 99DAC, click
on the link at the bottom of this post to go to their homepage.
We were grateful and honored for the opportunity to show along side extremely talented artists from the Academy including faculty and alumni. The line up consisted of current students of NYAA; Nicolas Sanchez, Megan Ewert, Cory Dixon, Kristy Gordon, Academy alumni and artists; Cao Yi, Wang Yi, Chong Wong, and Academy faculty; Harvey Citron, John Jacobsmeyer, and Laura Frazure.
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| work by Harvey Citron |
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| work by Kristy Gordon |
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| work by Nico Sanchez |
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| work by Megan Ewert |
Everyone showcased their work and individual focuses, but the entire show was brought together by utilizing the figure as a main source of reference. The work displayed an extensive range in scale from pocket sized sketchbook drawings to large ambitious paintings and installations. Different preferences in media included oil on canvas, drawings on paper, woodcut, 3D replicas, pastels, video, and photography. Just as diverse as the work was the installation process to secure our work in the large and striking space.
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| work by John Jacobsmeyer |
We all worked very hard to help
each other install our work, but there was one person who out-shined us all. A
carpenter that works for Wang Yi’s father came and was bestowed upon the
tedious task of installing all of Jacobsmeyer’s prints. While everyone helped
everyone else, this lone gunman was appointed to use accurate lasers and rulers
to help display the worthy art. The end result was a well-crafted and
meticulously measured installment of Jacobsmeyer’s work. We were all very
impressed. Perfection. We were done and ready to go home to mentally prepare
for the big opening.
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| sketchbook by Nico Sanchez |
Continuing this idea of small
profiles in ballpoint, I started a new book of drawings filled with noted
people we encountered during our residency. One person I included in my book
was Yi’s father who also graciously provided us with his photography service
photographing our work for the catalog. Yi’s entire family came to the exhibition
where they all had fun seeing Yi’s father as part of the exhibition. Yi’s
father had the idea to commission me to create another book featuring drawings
of his family members that I will be starting immediately.
So many invitations were extended
for the show and we were eager to have people come, enjoy the work, and dip
into a little Q&A with us. We welcomed a variety of attendees to the show.
Guests in attendance included travelers from other countries seeking out great
art viewing experiences, a group of wide eyed high school students from
California who study with a famous artist and are in Shanghai to enrich their
studies, students from Shanghai University whom we befriended, local art lovers
who frequent M50 District, curator/writer Rachel Marsden, professors from CAFA,
and many curious first time exhibition goers, friends, and family members. The
gallery director, Ma Lin graced us with her presence and a photo blitz. One
onlooker from Paris took a special interest to Cory and his work and purchased
the painting he was exhibiting! His painting will be shipped to a collector in
Paris in the weeks to come. We are all very proud and excited for him.
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| work by Cory Dixon |
Our visitors had lots of questions
about us and about our work that we were excited to answer while others found
it entertaining to take pictures with us or in front of our work. Conversation
about international travel, art, and exchanging ideas about other cultures
ensued over refreshments and snacks. I met a trio of travelers that made a lap
around the work, stopped by work. After a few hesitant glances as they matched
my face with the figure in the painting, I approached them and told them that I
was the artist. They asked me a few basic questions and we learned that we were
actually all from same town of East Lansing, Michigan! They were actually the
second group of people I ran into while in China from my hometown! Having
‘small world’ moments are not overrated.
As the opening came to a close, we
were all very pleased with the turnout and feedback. It flew by so quickly as
we were all occupied in conversation and picture taking, but it was no doubt an
awesome experience.
Shortly after the opening Wang Yi did a quick online search and found a number of websites featuring an article about our exhibition. NYAA is online on 24 different websites in China!
http://news.zynews.com/2012-07/01/content_2623484.htm (ZYNEWS)
http://www.ccdy.cn/xinwen/wenhua/xinwen/201207/t20120702_323356.htm (CCDY)
http://news.cqnews.net/html/2012-07/01/content_17040655.htm (CQNEWS)
http://news.gxnews.com.cn/staticpages/20120701/newgx4ff00ea4-5564998.shtml (GXNEWS)
http://www.sh.xinhuanet.com/2012-07/02/c_131689652.htm (XinHuaNET)
http://www.sh.xinhuanet.com/2012-07/02/c_131689652_3.htm (XinHuaNET)
http://news.timedg.com/2012-07/01/content_10888172.htm (TimeEDG)
http://www.cnarts.net/cweb/news/read.asp?id=226869&kind=%D5%B9%C0%C0 (CNarts)
http://www.dzwww.com/rollnews/news/201207/t20120701_7655284.htm (DZNEWS)
http://www.zjcnt.com/news/2012/07/02/188821.htm (ZJCNT)
http://news.xinmin.cn/rollnews/2012/07/01/15350881.html (XinMing)
http://www.qhnews.com/newscenter/system/2012/07/02/010814356.shtml (QHNEWS)
http://news.hexun.com/2012-07-01/143059385.html (HeXun)
http://www.chnmuseum.cn/Default.aspx?TabId=138&InfoID=82857&frtid=124&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 (ChnMuseum)
http://www.zjwh.gov.cn/dtxx/2012-07-02/128411.htm (ZJWH)
http://www.indaa.com.cn/sh2011/wh/201207/t20120701_1075763.html (INDAA)
http://culture.people.com.cn/n/2012/0701/c172318-18418787.html(People)http://www.zggxsh.com/bencandy.php?fid=4&id=2285 (ZGGXSH)
http://www.cc-art.hk/News_Showindex.asp?id=6685 (CC-ART)
http://roll.sohu.com/20120701/n346994930.shtml (SOHU)
http://news.163.com/12/0701/16/85BF8FD900014JB6.html (163)
http://news.china.com.cn/rollnews/2012-07/01/content_14930029.htm (CHINA)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/jryw/2012-07-01/content_6324212.html (ChinaDaily)
http://www.artlinkart.com/cn/exhibition/overview/de2cyBso (ArtLinkArt)
http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2012-07-01/163224692686.shtml (SINA)
Just five days later, it was time
to face the music and so the grueling undertaking of de-installing the show
began. The hard work, though, came when we had to wrap everything up in
preparation of shipping it all of it to Beijing! Armed with an abundant amount
of tape and collected scraps of used cardboard, we were fearless in the face of
uncertainty as the packaging commenced. No words-just see photos…
Special thanks and acknowledgments
to:
-99 Degree Art
Center and the staff including Huang Yiqian
-the director of
99DAC, Ma Lin
-Shanghai
University
-Wang Yi and Cao
Yi for curating, translating, and organizing the event
-Yi’s father for his photography
service
-Rachel Marsden
for the great review
-Peter Drake
Stay tuned for our next posting as we reveal more about this incredible residency.
NYAA/Shanghai Univ./CAFA 2012 China Residency: Shanghai in Rear View
On May 31 Four Academy students arrived in China to start an
11-week Artist in Residence Program in Shanghai and later Beijing. Cory
Dixon (MFA 2013), Megan Ewert (MFA 2013), Kristy Gordon (MFA 2013), and Nicolas
Sanchez (MFA 2013) will share their experiences here throughout the summer.
July 23, 2012 - By Nic Sanchez
(MFA 2013)
Arriving in
Shanghai, we hit the ground running and kept the momentum going. With cultural
excursions, creating a new body of work, and preparing for an exhibition, our
residency has been going at an exhilarating pace. We have experienced a lot and
have been very productive. Now, with Shanghai and a little over half the
residency behind us, we wanted to wrap up our first leg of the residency and
fill everyone in on some of what our time in Shanghai was all about…
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| Nic & Kristy |
Professor of sculpture
and drawing at the Academy, Harvey Citron joined us here a week into the
program and quickly meshed with the group. Much like Gandalf leading the
fellowship of hobbits, he spent a great deal of his time with us in and outside
of the studio.
More team bonding and resourcefulness occurred during
complete power outages at the school, late night studio sessions, early morning
bike rides, and trying new foods without a translator!
When we
weren't in the studio working, we were out in a tour bus visiting
outlying towns and in the surrounding countryside. Traditional farming
villages, the awesome Yellow Mountain, Venice-like ancient water towns, the
great West Lake, and Buddhist temples were just some of our destinations filled
with beauty and history. When given the opportunity to stop and stare in wonder,
we attempted to capture what we could in our sketchbooks.
Another
enriching part of the residency has been getting to know the people of Shanghai
and the students of our host school, Shanghai University. We kept an open
studio policy and met interesting new people and made new friends.
As very
obvious foreigners walking the scenic campus, we seemed to be people
of interest and very often the studio was filled with Chinese students from
different backgrounds of studies and occasional professors coming in to
ask us questions about our work, our school, and Facebook and QQ information.
Of course we fired right back with questions of our own creating multiple lanes
of cultural exchange.
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| Nic working in his studio |
Establishing
and working in our studio space, traveling to unbelievable sights, making new
friends, and carving what we could of our presence in Shanghai was a remarkable
experience.
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| Megan working in her studio |
There is a lot to be digested and will surely come out somewhere
through a brush or stick of charcoal as we continue to move forward. Leaving
Shanghai was sad, but we definitely left on a high note as we reached the first
of our many goals - our exhibition at the 99 Art Center in
the renowned M50 district!
Watch for our next post about the exhibition…
NYAA/Shanghai Univ./CAFA 2012 China Residency: Impressions
On May 31 Four Academy students
arrived in China to start an 11-week Artist in Residence Program in
Shanghai and later Beijing. Cory
Dixon (MFA 2013), Megan Ewert (MFA 2013), Kristy Gordon (MFA 2013), and
Nicolas Sanchez (MFA 2013) will share their experiences here
throughout the summer.
July 4, 2012 - By Kristy Gordon (MFA 2013)
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| Yellow Mountain |
It is said that to be a good painter
one must see Yellow Mountain. After visiting I recognized it from almost any
Chinese painting I have ever seen involving a mountain range. The hike
was a long rugged way up to the top. We were able to take a cable car up
most of the way and then just walk along some beautiful stairs to get to the
top. When I think about the artists that used to go on pilgrimages up
Yellow Mountain, before the benefit of modern technology, it must have been a
true challenging spiritual pilgrimage. Having grown up in the Rocky
Mountains of Canada I have seen a lot of mountains, but none have matched the
beauty of this particular landscape--lush, gorgeous greenery mixed with
striking jagged escarpments. It is almost so picturesque that it’s hard
to believe they exist. They seem to always be encased in mist and even
though it was actually pouring rain the day we went up, that didn't seem to
stop anyone. Everyone on the mountain was prepared with yellow rain
ponchos, which we joked is why it is called Yellow Mountain.
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| Yellow Mountain |
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| Ancestor House |
We also got to visit a nearby
traditional village where we saw an ancestor house, which was built to honor
their ancestors and use as a meeting place. We even had the opportunity
to go inside some traditional Chinese houses, many filled with intricate wood
carvings.
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| Woodcarving detail |
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| Ancestor House "woodcarvings" |
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| Ancestor House "Heavenly Well" |
They all had a “Heavenly well,” an open air portion in the
middle of the home that is open to the sky with a rocky indent in the floor
directly underneath, symbolic of the connection between heaven and earth.
It was amazing to think that people actually still lived in these gorgeous
homes, and I was surprised to see a mix between more contemporary fashion and
products within older, traditional dwellings.
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| Impression on West Lake |
We ended the trip with one of the
most amazing experiences of my life. I was a bit tired by the time we
arrived at “Impression on West Lake,” which was a performance directed by Zhang
Yi Mou, the same guy who directed the opening to the Beijing Olympics. I hadn’t seen that so I had no idea
what I was in for.
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| Impression on West Lake |
It was amazing! Focusing on theatrical lighting
illuminating the lake in the darkness, the stage appeared to be invisible; the
actors appearing to walk on water. Light was put into motion by black clad
performers, schools of fish and flocks of birds created by synchronized
choreography.
The show was a new interpretation of a well-known tale of
forbidden love: a girl disguising herself as a boy in order to go to the
university and living with a man who discovers she’s a woman and they fall in
love. Since he is poor and she’s from a wealthier family, her father
arranges a different marriage. Bereft, the young lover kills himself.
Upon hearing of his death, the girl jumps into his grave and two white
butterflies fly out.
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| Impression on West Lake |
I have gained so much inspiration from this residency already. It is always hard to say how an experience in another country will influence my work, and sometimes the impact is indirectly related to the new setting. Almost every aspect of this trip so far has involved mist and smoke of some form and worked its way into the content of my paintings. In just three days we travel from Shanghai to Beijing and I am excited to see how this new setting will influence all of our work.
NYAA/CAFA 2012 Residency in China: FIRST PHOTOS
May 31 - Four Academy students arrived in China to start an 11-week Artist in Residence Program in Shanghai and later Beijing. Cory
Dixon (MFA 2013), Megan Ewert (MFA 2013), Kristy Gordon (MFA 2013), and
Nicolas Sanchez (MFA 2013) will share their experiences here
throughout the summer.
Originally posted in Discus(t)..conversations about Art.
Originally posted in Discus(t)..conversations about Art.
PHOTOS FROM WEEK 1
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| NICE ACADEMY SHIRT! |
Harvey Citron (Sculpture Faculty) has arrived to Shanghai...Check back for more about his visit with our students.
NYAA/Shanghai Univ./CAFA 2012 China Residency: FIRST LOOK
May 31 - Four Academy students arrived in China to start an 11-week Artist in Residence Program in Shanghai and later Beijing. Cory Dixon (MFA 2013), Megan Ewert (MFA 2013), Kristy Gordon (MFA 2013), and Nicolas Sanchez (MFA 2013) will share their experiences here throughout the summer. Below is the first of many posts from China, pardon us as we work through some technical difficulties as we them set-up.
Originally posted in Discus(t)..conversations about Art.
Originally posted in Discus(t)..conversations about Art.
(pardon the photos, we'll have better ones coming soon!)
Shanghai, China, Day 2:
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| Settling into Studios |
Megan [Ewert, MFA 2013], Kristy [Gordon, MFA 2013], Nico [Sanchez, MFA 2013] and I arrived in Shanghai early Saturday morning
where we were picked up from the airport by our guide Yi Wang. Since
then Yi’s been guiding us through the process of getting set-up to live
here. We settled into our new place, chose rooms, established an
internet connection, explored our neighborhood, and experimented with
food as much as possible considering we are unable to communicate without
miming.
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| A little grocery shopping upon arrival |
In order to try and capture everything at the pace we are
experiencing it, I’ve been shooting a lot of video. That’s taken a little
longer to edit, but the slideshow above here shows a few of the
pictures I did take and some of the things in our neighborhood; the gate
into our apartment complex, my makeshift fourposter bedroom that we
divided off the living area (channels my inner nine year old princess),
the view from our place reminiscent of Braque and Picassos red roofs,
the hot pot buffet from Sunday dinner, a chilled raspberry sesame soup
(ordered by mistake, but taster than what I intended to get), and a few
of the sights from around our neighborhood [these photos will be added to future posts].
[the photos that accompany this post are taken by Yi Wang, more student photos will follow].
[the photos that accompany this post are taken by Yi Wang, more student photos will follow].
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| All these art supplies for $30!!! |
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| Selecting bikes |
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