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New York Arts Practicum’s first critique, led by the artist Brad Troemel at Eyebeam, served as a good introductory to how the Practicum’s participants managed to pull together work despite all of the hurdles of transitioning and attempting to settle into New York’s fast-paced environment. Troemel also radiated this fast, athletic enthusiasm that emanates in his rapid production of sculptures and digital ephemera through the Jogging tumblr. The discussion of his work was followed by helpful suggestions and critiques regarding the cohorts’ own practices.

Troemel’s discussion and ideas behind his Jogging blog are in correlation with the refresh-button-clicking, ADHD-driven attitudes that many users of social media are familiar with. Rather than fall by the wayside by producing a few, perhaps even of master quality, art works, Troemel recognizes the “aesthlete”, or the artists working towards constantly producing work to keep up with the feeds, refresh rates, and the social media’s users hunger for now-ness. Even when moving to talking about our work, there were suggestions of “practice” and “strengthening our muscle” when working. In a simple sense, practice makes perfect.

Nova Benway talks to the New York Arts Practicum at Terry Smith’s exhibition at the Drawing Center.

On July 9^th the Tuesday cohort met with artist and educator Sara Greenberger Rafferty in her studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn. During the visit, Rafferty shared in detail the workings and challenges of her recent project at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery titled Work . Throughout the visit, Rafferty spoke about her transition from undergraduate student to artist working in New York City—she encouraged the cohort to be patient and determined with this process. After the site visit, the Tuesday cohort critiqued with the artist, who offered a sincere dialogue on the work shown.

The interior of  Andrea Champlin’s studio in Queens is permeated with cut-up faces, juxtaposed textures, and a constant exploratory attitude that resonates throughout her work. Taking images and inspiration from photographs, the internet, and magazines, she begins to totally distort them to form her own personal language. When we moved on from discussing her work towards critique of the NYAP participants, she was able to provide us with insight into artists that we may take inspiration from and give advice on how to improve our conceptual ideas.

Champlin gave the cohorts insight to how our work relates to other prominent artists, and how to go about strengthening their ideas and work for their final two weeks of the program. The participants truly appreciated their one-on-one with someone who is already established and has quality work behind them. Champlin’s constantly experimental energy and critique during the visit proved to be a significant source of inspiration for them.

On Friday July 5, artist Daniel J. Wilson met with the New York Arts Practicum, in Central Park, to discuss his recent projects, and general arts practice. Wilson, who in late 2011 drove a NYC cab and the recorded conversations of his passengers, spoke on his need to merge technology and art. This need, established the atmosphere of the visit, which centered on making a living in NYC (and elsewhere). Wilson stated that he believed that artists should merge their interests with alternative methods towards making a living. Wilson graciously shared his educational history (studying in Sweden), as well as the pragmatic and financial solutions for completing his projects.

On June 25, the New York Arts Practicum met at Art in General with curators Courtney Finn and Jonathan Rider, and artist Letha Wilson, to view Landmarks and Monuments.
Wilson, whose work was on display for the month of June at the non-profit gallery, walked the Tuesday cohort through the exhibition describing her interests in material and image. Before the walkthrough, however, curators Finn and Ride spoke on the history of Art and General and their roles at the space. This short introduction the gallery provided insight into the workings of a non-profit gallery in SoHo for the cohort. They graciously invited the cohorts to apply to the open-call entry that gallery has maintained since opening in 1981.

Wilson then invited the Practicum to walk through her exhibition. The artist spoke of her processes and interests when making work. Wilson described her need to visit her home state of Colorado, and her hikes and photographic ventures in the Colorado wilderness. This practice — walking and documenting — influences the artist’s interest in concrete casting.

Marisa Jahn meets the New York Arts practicum and discusses her work with REV-.

On June 21st, artist Simone Leigh visited the to share her practice, and ideas on art and culture with the Practicum. Leigh who is known for her forays into ceramics, sculpture, opera, and installation, kindly presented her works via images and video. This included a screening of Breakdown, a collaborative project with artist Liz Magic Lazer and opera singer Alicia Hall Moran. The two artists generated a score for Moran from excerpts of the television shows: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Intervention, and Anthony Harvey’s The Dutchman.

The New York Arts Practicum met up with artist Mary Mattingly at her studio in Greenpoint.

The artist gave a keynote on her work. From her time as an undergrad in Portland, Oregon, to her current works and projects. Mattingly’s work lays at the intersection of collaboration, social practice, and sculpture. During the Practicum’s visit, Mattingly presented images and videos of projects such as The Waterpod Project 2006-2010; a river barge that was transformed by the artist and a team of collaborators. The project merged the artist’s interest of exploring new systems of liveable and self-sustaining ecosystems and the situation of living responsibly in New York City. As a solution, The Waterpool Project 2006-2010 existed on the Hudson and East Rivers as it was ferried between dock and mooring sites in the city.

Mattingly also spoke to the Practicum of her life as a gallery artist. This included a conversation on the logistics of making large sellable objects, and photographic images. The artist kindly accepted questions and critiques from the Practicum.

Artist, writer and archivist Sarah Butler met with the New York Arts Practicum on Friday, June 21st at REVERSE — an interdisciplinary art space with, “an emphasis on new and experimental forms of expression” — to share her current body of work. Butler escorted the Practicum around the gallery, speaking towards the merging of writing and art. Her current work, an installation titled Official Transcript considers the act of writing in the digital era. As the practicum traversed REVERSE with Butler, numerous works in progress were shared for the NYAP to handle and read. These books contained efforts surrounding the documentation of arts project spaces in NYC, including discarded thesis papers in dumpsters bound into books by Butler.

On June 18th, The New York Arts Practicum met with artist Jen Liu at her studio in Bushwick. Prior to the visit, Lui asked that the participants read a fragment of The Wonderful Wonder of Wonders (1720), by Jonathan Swift. The text is a satirical proposal on the production of value that could possibly revolve around the generation of shit by individual Englishmen during 18th century and was discussed as a pretext to Liu’s work. The Practicum was exposed to the cursory research and material that Liu utilizes in the making of her pictures and videos, including photos, barbershop choir recordings, and newspaper clippings of Monsanto employees from the past 50 years.

During the Tuesday visit ended with a discussion on the differences and merits of irony and satire. No consensus could be made but the Practicum and Lui engaged in a dialogue around current trends in current artistic production involving the use of irony and satire by artists like John Miller, and a debate on the work of Thomas Kinkade.

Claudia Hart meets with the NYAP and discusses her work.