Lee Godin

For nearly three decades, until shortly before her death in 1994 at the age of 85, Lee Godie lived, homeless on the streets of Chicago. She has been described as colourful and unpredictable, she was likely to appear wrapped in a toga and fur coat one day or in a full safari regalia the next. 

No one knows quite how she came to be on the streets of Chicago. Some say there was a marriage breakdown, other believe she may have been traumatised by the loss of a child or children. What is known for sure is that Godie had at least one daughter, Bonnie Blank, who found her mother in 1988. It took several months before Blank revealed her identity to her mother. Soon afterwards Godie was diagnosed with dementia, she went to live with her daughter until she died three years later.

Lee Godie was a local character often seen sketching and painting on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago, or sprawled on the marble floor of the library drawing.

 It seemed implausible to some then, that her art might one day hang in galleries such as the Art Institute, but today Godie is now finding growing international acclaim. Today her work hangs in private collections across America and is held by the Smithsonian. 

Lee Godie was an Outsider artist. 'Outsider Art,' is a term coined by the British art critic Roger Cardinal to describe artists living on the fringes of society. Like Godie most outsider artists are untrained, unaffected by social conventions and untouched by the machinations of the commercial art world. Only recently are outsider artists receiving increasing attention from the public and art world.

Only a fraction of Godie's work is gallery worthy. In her decades on the street she made and sold several works a day, simply to survive. She worked across several disciplines, unsing virtually any material she could find, from the conventional (canvases) to the bizarre (window shades), and was known for paintings and drawings that revealed a fascination with 1920s-era beauties. But it was her photographs, taken in a photo-booth in a Chicago bus station and featuring goodie in a various guises, these are her most highly regarded, inventive work. Some of the images have been partially erased, others have been drawn on with pen or paint. Most involve props bought from Woolworth's with the proceeds of the previous day's sales. Today her work, once sold on the streets for $30 no fetches $15,000.

One of the biggest misconceptions about Godie was that she was poor, apparently she was quite the business woman.  She would have her canvases half uncurled, if she was interested in selling to you, she would let the canvas open up so you could see more. If she didn't like you she would curl it up the other way (my kind of lady!) She had an astute business sense. The biggest issue for Godie was how to keep her money safe, she solved this by using stores as 'banks.' Ultimo was the best at that time, the manager would kindly hold her money for her until she returned to collect it.

There can be little doubt that many of those who collect Godie's work do so because they knew her an loved her as much as her art. Her images have been described as powerful on a number of levels, I think this would be more for her photographs rather than her drawings. Her photographs are as gripping as works by any trained photographer.

Odyssey - 4th year degree show 2013

Last week I visited the 4th year degree show. It was opened by Karl Wallace, the 2014 artistic director for the Limerick city of culture.

I did not attend the opening but went later that week to have a peek in my own time. Over all I think the show was successful, and very professional. Ceramics stole the show, followed by print and fashion. But fashion always comes out on top as that department is what the college is best known for.

I do feel the students should have been allowed to take better advantage of the college space. Last year print was able to occupy most of the rooms on the second floor. This year they were stuffed into three rooms, and the hall with the exception of one video piece which was on its own in the octangle room, which was brilliant and being on its own made it easier to watch and appreciate. The video pieces were crammed on top of each other causing works to clash and creating a bit of an information overload. Hopefully next year for our show we will not have this problem. It is a shame as the work was excellent. But at least for print that was the only issue. Same went for ceramics, all the work was stuffed into the exhibition space in the church gallery, which was already made small as part of it had to be cut off for health and safety reasons as the roof is contemplating collapsing because of the pigeons using the attic space for their personal lou. 

The work in the ceramic show was of a very high standard, I wouldn't have minded purchasing a few pieces for myself if I had the money. Again space was the only issue for this part of the show.

Fashion was wonderful but again stuffed into the tutors area in the cafeteria.

Painting was better than last year, unfortunately i don't feel the painting department is up to par. Students seem to leave on the same or similar skill level that they came in at. The joys of relying on students to teach them selves, and not having proper classes. This is my own opinion, I just feel it makes it harder for the students.

Visual communications was very neat and professional and sculpture..well it wouldn't have been my cup of tea. I liked the tree that someone had managed to bury in the concrete floor, I dread to think what the reaction of the technicians was when they saw that! Also there was a very good stop motion video which had strong roots in the work of Alice Maher.

I know I have been very cynical but like I pointed out the only thing that really put me off was the poor use of space which I felt left the artists at a disadvantage, anything else was down to my own personal taste. Luckily for me I can look at works from both sides of the fence. Its important to appreciate a piece of work and what went into it, whether you like it or not. 

The exhibition is worth seeing, there is something there that will appeal to everyone, plus it is so important to support young artists heading out into this world. 

I have posted some photos and statements of work that stuck out for me. 

Printmaking

Rachel Burns:

Joanna Thompson:

Amy Forde:

Caimin Walsh: 

Isabella Walsh: 

Bellas photos were some of my favorite works in the show. She created them by making her own pinhole camera out of a coke can. I found them to be a real inspiration. There were so many I wish I wish I took more photos of them. They were presented beautifully in a very large handmade book. Some of the prints were also framed on the wall. 

Paint

Im afraid I do not know who created the two works above.

Ceramics

(Apologies, Did not take note of the artists names)

Sculpture

Ben Rivers

Still from Ah! Liberty

Last week the girls and I went up to Dublin to see a few exhibitions. The best of them was the Ben Rivers exhibition in the Douglas Hyde. Simone Kappler was also showing.
Using old 16mm cameras, Ben Rivers creates work from stories of real people, often those who have disconnected from the normal world and taken themselves into wilderness territories
Ben Rivers built a large tin shack, in which he showed his film Ah! Liberty. A twenty minute film shot on 16mm black and white film. (see below)

“To name an attitude black and white suggests reduction, but in this rural, ethnographic portrait the artist unravels a thousand tones of each. How long does it take until this overflowing bath becomes a lake, until the simple forest drive (there is nothing simple here) transforms these children into airborne angels of light? There is a tender brutality at work here, nothing is polished or smooth or well rounded, instead the adventure of seeing is undertaken ready to fall and bruise, to be wounded by its search. And it is from this necessary wound that the artist joins in with the life of a family grown wild out of doors with the horses and chickens. For its compassion, its refusal of the sentimental, its quick witted montage and dramaturgy of the everyday, the Tiger Award goes to Ah, Liberty!” (Jury Statement, Rotterdam International Film Festival 2008)
A family’s place in the wilderness, outside of time; free-range animals and children, junk and nature, all within the most sublime landscape. The work aims at an idea of freedom, which is reflected in the hand-processed Scope format, but is undercut with a sense of foreboding. There’s no particular story; beginning, middle or end, just fragments of lives lived, rituals performed. "



Ah, Liberty! Ben Rivers from Kate MacGarry on Vimeo.



I first discovered Ben Rivers work when we were shown his film Two Years at Sea.An 88 minute film shot on 16mm black and white anamorphic film shot up to 35mm.
The film is silent except for the occasional music played by the main character Jake and the gentle rustling and scuffling of him going about his daily activities.
Jake is a hermit who lives alone with his cat in the Scottish Highlands. Its a film that's well worth looking out for, something to be watched on a dark winters evening in front of the fire.

"A man called Jake lives in the middle of the forest. He goes for walks in whatever the weather, and takes naps in the misty fields and woods. He builds a raft to spend time sitting in a loch. Drives a beat-up jeep to pick up wood supplies. He is seen in all seasons, surviving frugally, passing the time with strange projects, living the radical dream he had as a younger man, a dream he spent two years working at sea to realise. "

TWO YEARS AT SEA - TRAILER from Ben Rivers on Vimeo.

Simone Kappler

Simone Kappler was also showing in the Douglas Hyde that day. She had a series of photographs taken around Dublin using a Diana camera. The above image was my favourite taken in the botanic gardens.

Tacita Dean

Tacita Dean's work, especially her video work has popped up a good bit through out my college education. I have never truly switched on to her until I saw a documentary on her via Lily Cole's tv series  Art Matters, on sky arts. I cant say Lily Cole is the best interviewer but if you can look past her, watching the artists talk about their work and show the public what they love is a most enjoyable experience. There is  nothing better than learning about the artists work in their own words than through a critic or third party publication.
 'Best known for her work in 16mm film, Dean laments the obsolescence of her medium in the digital age and speaks about her campaign, backed by Martin Scorsese and Jean-Luc Godard, to encourage film directors to continue to use film today.'
Her films are beautiful and poetic. A lot of Deans work is a creation of chance. For example her film 'Green Ray' The last ray of the dying sun.. Something that could not be captured digitally but Tacita Dean managed to capture it on film


green ray by tacita dean from veronika fee on Vimeo.

Tacita Dean: In America they call it the green flash. When the sun sets, in a very clear horizon, with no land mass for many hundreds of miles, and no moisture or atmospheric pressure, you have a good chance of seeing it. The slowest ray is the blue ray, which comes across as green when the sun sets in perfect atmospheric conditions. It’s the last ray as the sun recedes with the curvature of the earth. Like a pulse on the horizon. It’s totally fractional, though it can last longer.

The bizarre thing is that I filmed The Green Ray in Madagascar, and then in the same month, I had to fly back from Washington for an exhibition. On my Lufthansa airplane back, while we were nearing the coast of Ireland, everyone else was asleep and I got up and looked out the window across three sleeping bodies, and just at that moment the sun rose above a very sharply defined cloud, and it was the most extraordinary green ray. I mean, not like the one I have on my film, I mean a real . . . and it lingered . . . a second of emerald before the sun rose. I was so shocked, having this whole wait for it in Madagascar and then actually getting to see it so vividly. To see such a full-blooded green ray—

 

 

I am a particular fan of her chalkboard drawings especially her series 'Fatigues.'

'Fatigues' Installation view

'Fatigues, 2012 are a series of dramatic, large-scale chalk on blackboard drawings, made by Dean over many weeks on the site of a former tax office in Kassel. Dean used the two-story space to create a natural sequence of events within the narrative of the drawings. Beginning on the upper-story with the soaring and infamous mountain peaks of the Hindu Kush and the glacial source of the Kabul River, she used the gravity of the space to show the river descending towards Kabul as the snows melt and the rising water bring the annual floods that are both welcomed and feared.
The drawings mark a return to blackboards after a ten year gap, which, Dean explains, came about when her attempt to make a ‘blind film’ in Afghanistan, directing a local cameraman from afar, came to nothing. It was her chance discovery of the jingoistic poem, ‘Ford o’ Kabul River’ by Rudyard Kipling, about the drowning of British hussars in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, combined with footage of a flash flood in Kabul (from the damaged Afghan film) which led Dean to think about the passage and power of the Kabul River. The title, ‘Fatigues’ is both reference to army uniform and Dean’s state post-Turbine Hall.' -Marian Goodman Gallery

 'Fatigues' detail

 

 

The above image is from her series 'the Roaring Fortise'

Etsy Store

Its official I have opened an Etsy store for the blackout poetry I have been doing. There are a few for sale in the store but I have a lot more to add.
Each 6x4 original collage comes in a simple wooden frame, which you can either hang or comes with an optional wire stand. Hopefully this will be a positive experience and will be a way to make a bit of money and create some good exposure! I'd appreciate it if you could share the shop around in case someone is looking to buy a prezzie for someone and is stuck for ideas!
Here is a link to my store http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoetryPlease?ref=search_shop_redirect
Some samples of the work below.

The Morran Book Project

A little while ago I found this wonderful book called 'The Morran Book Project.' The project was created by artist Camilla Engman and inspired by her little dog Morran. The project brought together 236 illustrators of all types to create an image inspired by Camilla's little dog Morran, who unfortunately passed away.
The work form what I have seen is really wonderful and lovingly done. I will definitely be adding this book to my list of must buys!
Below is some pictures of the work and the book, its says on the cover 75 illustrators but that was before it was updated.
A link to the blog is here
And a link to the store is here

Sasa Zust

patrice aarts

sarah mazzetti

Rocking Horse

 

Another dollhouse photo taken with my Olympus Om-1