artTALKS

ART PRO TEM presents discussions on issues in contemporary art and design co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Street, Ann Arbor, in the lower level Multi-Purpose Room. All talks are free and open to the public.

Wednesday, October 15
7 to 8:30 p.m.
at the Ann Arbor District Library, Multi Purpose Room

A Public Construction: the Bill of Rights
A Unique Community Collaboration

Want to talk about this show, find out how it was put together, hear from the artists and tell them what you think? Join Margaret Parker, Director of Art Pro Tem, and members of the other nine art groups that participated in this show at the Ann Arbor District Library for a round table discussion.

Cosponsored by the Ann Arbor District Library. Free and open to the Public.

Archives

2003

April 29

"Michigan Artist Support System: ArtServe" Christine Schefman

Director of Artist Services for ArtServe Michigan, Christine Schefman, gave an informational presentation about the Creative Artist Grant (CAG) program, administered by ArtServe with funds from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The CAG program yearly awards roughly 25 individual Michigan artists, working in all disciplines, with up to $8,000 each for the creation of a new work of art or the completion of a work-in-progress. Christine presented the work of past CAG winners, as well as discussed the community- service requirement of the program and the application process. She also introduced other educational and career-development services available to artists through ArtServe Michigan, an independent statewide organization with offices in Southfield and Lansing, builds support for the arts, artists, and cultural activities among citizens of Michigan through advocacy, education, and services.

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2002

February 13

"Creative Community Design Partnerships" Jack Williamson

This slide talk focused on the use of participatory design planning, environmental art, and collaborative community partnerships in community and downtown revitalization projects. Examples were drawn from the work of the Community Design Advisory Program of Design Michigan, the statewide design awareness and technical assistance program of Cranbrook Academy of Art, a funded statewide partner of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

~ Sponsored by the Ann Arbor Commission on Art in Public Places and the University of Michigan School of Art and Design.

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March 6

"Medicine for Today: Lux Mundi, Light of the World." Leslie Raymond and Artists

Leslie and artists, local as well as national, will explore the concept of Lux Mundi, Light of the World, with extra cinematic events both in the Michigan Theater and offsite during the 40th Ann Arbor Film Festival, March 10-17. You can see the list of participants at www-personal.umich.edu/~elray/a2ff/a2ff.html

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April 10

"Art Now" Sean Ulmer

The first to hold the newly created position of Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Sean Ulmer will provide an overview of the contemporary art scene, focusing on the museum and gallery scene in New York. While not comprehensive, this presentation will touch on several of the recurring ideas, motifs, and issues employed by artists this season.

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November 13

"Point of View: Working in Documentary Film" Chris Cook

The road from investigative reporter to documentary film maker has lead Chris Cook, EMMY Award winning writer/director/producer of "The Sprawling of America," to look at some of the most complex problems facing Michigan and the country. In crossing over from print to film, Chris has been able to reach a wider audience on such issues as teenage binge drinking, in "Dying for a Drink," part of a series for Michigan Public Television's on "Michigan at Risk". Garnering Telly Awards, EMMYs, and Clarian Awards, his work has been aired on P BS, A&E History Channel, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, and MTV. Chris spoke on his personal approach to documentary film making driven by his background in research and writing. He showed 10 minute clips from some of his films and a memorial to Beverly Pooley, "Pooley on Pooley," an Ann Arbor theatre favorite, which demonstrates documentary's ability to paint a memorable human portrait.

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2001

January 13

"Art in Motion: The Golden Years of Automobile Design" Bob Elton

The evolution of car design from the 1930¹s, when simple mechanics prevailed, to the 1960's when style became more important than function. Slides accompanied the talk by Bob Elton, founder of the Rolling Sculpture Downtown Car Show, twenty year veteran of the design field, and present Chair of the Ann Arbor Commission on Art in Public Places.

~ Sponsored by Edward Surovell Realtors.

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February 14

"Sociocultural Issues in Public Art" Robert Beckley

Seminal questions addressed included: is beauty in the object or the eye of the beholder? Can we accept that the postmodern "public" is multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-gendered and multi-political? What, if any is the purpose of public art? Robert M. Beckley, p rofessor and Dean Emeritus of the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, is responsible for the Urban Design Guidelines for Ann Arbor's State Street Development Project. Slides accompanied his discussion.

~ Co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor Commission on Art in Public Places and Edward Surovell Realtors.

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March 6

"Life Forms in Ceramics" Eva Kwong

Ceramic artist Eva Kwong examined the exquisite beauty of the smallest forms of life in her piece, BACTERIA, DIATOMS and CELLS, to be installed at the Residential College/East Quadrangle Gallery from March 9 through April 6. A teacher at Kent State University in Ohio, she will showed slides that demonstrated the generation of her ideas.

~ Co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Residential College and Art Warehouse

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April 01

"Detroit: Making It Better For You" Kyong Park

New York artist Kyong Park's current project, a multi channel video installation called "Detroit: Making it Better for You", is a cinematic portrait of the urban landscape of the city accompanied by a fictional writing, "Urban Conspiracy of Detroit". He will show part of this piece and discuss his work. Park is the visiting chair of Urbanism at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture, and the founder/director of the International Center for Urban Ecology.

~ Sponsored by Art Warehouse.

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September 12

"Contemporary Issues in Ann Arbor's Public Art" Martha Keller

Art placed in open public areas raises intriguing questions about educational entertainment, functional art, site-specific art vs. "plop art", and beauty-is it an issue? Martha Keller showed slides of Ann Arbor's known and unknown public treasures. As artist, co- author of Public Art in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, member of the Ann Arbor Commission on Art in Public Places, and adjunct professor at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, Martha Keller has made a unique contribution to our communal thinking and seeing.

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October 10

"The Surfacing of Storm Water: from Waste Product to Artistic Medium" Shannan Gibb-Randall from InSite Design Studio

Storm water management as an opportunity for artistic design was tackled by landscape architect Shannan Gibb-Randall. She showed slides of her projects and of design solutions from around the world. With a background in art history, botany and ecology, degrees from the University of Michigan in Landscape Architecture and the School of Natural Resources, she and her company InSite Design Studio, have become experts in this field.

~ Co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor Commission on Art in Public Places.

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November 14

"Hear/ Here! in the Alleys" Allegra Pitera and Artists

The sound show, Hear/Here! will bring the art of sound to Ann Arbor alleys in April of 2002. Allegra Pitera, curator of the show, conceptualized the series of outdoor exhibits as using mixed sounds to entice passersby to investigate their urban environment. In this talk she discussed how the show was put together along with other artists whose work was part of the show. Examples of the sound pieces were played.

~ Sponsored in part by the Michigan Council for Art and Cultural Affairs and the New Center.

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December 12

"Close Listening: Sound as Art" Stephanie Rowden and Frank Edward Pahl

Stephanie Rowden spoke about "Close Listening", the sound show she curated at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design Slusser Gallery. She discussed how she chose the work and its relation to larger themes in contemporary discussions of sound. Frank P ahl, best known for his work in the band, Only a Mother, and design for theater and film, spoke about his explorations of automatic instruments inspired by the work of kinetic sculptors and sound artists. He has made several musical instruments from doorbells, run from microcontrollers, which he installs in vintage pieces of luggage.

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2000

January 12

"Public Art: From the Artist's Point of View" Lewis "Buster" Simpson

Seattle based artist and NEA recipient Buster Simpson discussed the role of art within the process of city planning. His long history of combining environmental and social interests with public art projects makes his work a groundbreaking example of how public art can change public thinking. Buster was brought to Detroit by the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

~ Sponsored by SmithGroup JJR.

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February 9

"Changing China, Changing Art" Hu Jie Ming

Shanghai mixed media artist, Hu Jie Ming, discussed the role of artists in contemporary Chinese society. He brought a video of a recent exhibit of Shanghai artists showing the authorities shutting the exhibit down. His work is showing concurrently at the Residential College Art Gallery.

~ Co-sponsored by the Residential College Art Gallery.

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March 8

"Framing Nature" Jennifer Lapham

Ceramic and installation artist Jennifer Lapham presented an overview of her work and spoke about the expanded use of clay in contemporary American art. Lapham is a visiting professor at the School of Art and Design.

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April 12

"The Future of the Visual Arts in Ann Arbor: A Roundtable Discussion"

James Steward, Director, Museum of Art, University of Michigan
Shary Brown, Executive Director, Ann Arbor Street Art Fair
Bob Elton, Chairman, Commission on Art in Public Places
Todd Cashbaugh, Curator, Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan, School of Art and Design
Marsha Chamberlin, Ann Arbor Art Center
Moderator, Margaret Parker, ART PRO TEM

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September 13

"What Video Has to Say about Art" Allegra Pitera, Leslie Raymond, and Jason Jay Stevens

Artists discussed their video work as seen in Videopolis, a series of video installations along Main Street sponsored by Art Pro Tem (see Show Archives, Videopolis). They showed previous work and examined the medium of video as used by visual artists. Videopolis was ART PRO TEM's first show and part of VideoCulture: Three Decades of Video Art, a collaborative venture by eleven museums, galleries and arts education organizations in the metro Detroit area.

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October 11

"Art in the Public Space" Irene Walt

A key figure in the famously successful project that brought art to the Detroit People Mover, Mrs. Walt showed slides of current projects and a twenty minute video by Sue Marx, the Oscar-winning documentary, "Art in the Stations."

~ Sponsored by the Ann Arbor Commission on Art in Public Places.

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December 13

"Social Systems and Collections" David Wallace

David Wallace of the University of Michigan School of Information discussed the ways new technologies are changing the process of collecting. Ralph Youngren, architect and dedicated collector of paintings, and Micheal Erlywine, collector of rock and roll posters and creator of web achieves "All Music.com" and "All Film.com", described their own philosophies of collecting and shared their personal choices.

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First Season sponsored in part by the Harburg Foundation.