Wednesday, April 14, 2010

White Fungus


While I was schmoozing, and trying to be cool at the premeire of the Taipei Contemporary Art Center I was greeted with a magazine. White Fungus, was handed out by the two brothers who publish to help get art lovers hooked. It worked.

White Fungus is run out of Taichung by two brothers, from New Zealand and the United States*.
White Fungus, garnished its name from a can of mushrooms one of the brothers found, that had the emblem "KKK" on one side of the can. Amused, the brothers used the moniker to adorn the cover of their arts/music/literature/politics magazine. English and Chinese find ground to hold in the magazines assortment of thought provoking articles and lone comic strip. I'm afraid I'm biased, as seeing I've gotten to hang out with the creators a few times, I only have nice things to say about the magazine and its creators. Although I'd like to think I'm hardcore, and can find music under the radar, this magazine gave me a check up from the neck up. Brilliant work.





For more information on finding/buying the magazine:
http://whitefungus.com/stockists/


















*(I'm putting in the slash because they have dual citizenship, and New Zealand first, because it's more rare).

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Highlights from the Inaugural Member's Show


Inaugrual Show was a great success owing largely to the help and support of its participating artists (in no particular order):
Joanna Rees
Nat Murray
Alton Thompson
Andrew Huang
Derek Murphy
Amy Gittelson
Lewei Wang
Darcy McCabe

"Mountain Passage" by Nat Murray, pictured left.

The Show was held in the Taipei's Mayor Salon on XuZhou road. Lasting from February 9-February 27.



All pictures are property of Joanna Rees, 2010.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Meeting Minutes for July 2009

ATTENDEES:

Alton
Amy
Diane
Chris
Darcy
Andrew

Thanks to everyone who came:-)

-------------
SUMMARY
-------------
What we talked about (besides radio-active pigs in Taiwan and banapples, which is a cross between a banana and an apple):

1. NO RECURRING ELEMENT
The attendees at this meeting could not agree on a recurring element, and so we decided it would be too difficult to choose one for the whole group for this show. So just stick to the main theme: CONNECTEDNESS.


2. DEADLINE
Getting down to business, we chose the deadline OCTOBER 15th, 2009 to have your work done and ready to submit. That’s 2 MONTHS FROM NOW.

Details:
* Plan to submit one large or several smaller works (large can be up to about 120m X 120m). If not many people submit, you will be able to add more works.

* On October 15th (or before) send jpg or gif (or tiff) files of artwork to taipei_artists@earthlink.net

* The resolution for these files needs to be 300 dpi and the graphic should be clear (not blurry).


3. MUSIC AND VIDEO
Anyone who plans on doing things like this needs to be involved in planning and setting it all up. Please get in touch with me and/ or Darcy.


4. FINDING A VENUE
We are looking at venues right now, collecting literature about what they require, and formulating a proposal outline. Many places charge a fee. The more people involved, the lower the fee per head. Many places also have a waiting list, so we may not be able to show right away. But we still need to have the work done and ready.


5. REMEMBER TO WRITE A LITTLE DESCRIPTION
Each of us will write a short description to go next to your art in Chinese or English, or both. It will explain how our work relates to the theme. But don't worry, we don't have to do this until we're finished, or close to finished with the art.

Some examples below if you want to take a look.

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WRITING EXAMPLES
-------------
“My work emphasizes that humans are connected to the earth; not in command of it or simply residing upon it. The earth is a living breathing organism, of which we (humans) are a part.”

“This work is a depiction of how the generations in my family are all connected, and how we influence each other…”

“In the age of the internet, humans around the globe are connected in an unprecedented way. My work is a visual representation of this phenomenon.”

Etc. etc.

-------------
WHY HAVE A THEME?
-------------
A theme gives us focus; it's unifying. It motivates us, the artists, to create fresh work, which gives the show more life. A theme is a kind of story that we all take part creating.

Venues usually want a theme. It's easier to advertise, and people are much more likely to come see the show. Even with a theme, each artist's interpretation will be different. That is part of what makes it exciting.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

MEETING MINUTES for JUNE 28th 2009

ATTENDEES:
Darcy
Amy
Mel
Ro-Hsuan
Andrew

Thanks to everyone who came:-) Thanks also to all who TRIED to come but couldn’t find us or had some unfortunate injury!

PLEASE ADD MY PHONE NUMBER to your phone NOW so you can call if you don't see us: 0987710264 (Amy). I will run out to find you.

-------------
SUMMARY
-------------
What we talked about:

1. PLEASE COME TO MEETINGS
As we talked about the show we realized it’s important for everyone who is interested in being part of it to attend as many meetings as possible. It’s a group show, the theme is a kind of story that we all take part creating, so we all need to be there to make it happen. Don’t worry, we are nice people:) There are Chinese and English speakers too so that shouldn’t stop you.


2. ART SHOULD BE CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR THIS SHOW
In case it wasn’t clear, the work we create will be especially for *this* show, not work we've created in the past (unless it can be altered to fit with the theme).


3. RECURRING ELEMENT
We have decided to incorporate one element that will thread through all of our work. We haven’t decided what that will be yet! So, please! Volunteer your ideas.

For example, let’s say the element is an elephant. So EACH work will have an elephant somewhere in it. It can be hidden, or obvious, in the frame, or whatever. It definitely doesn’t have to be the main focus of anyone’s art, but it has to be there somewhere. When people come to see the show, it will be an extra fun thing to look for that elephant or what in everyone’s art.


4. MUSIC, SCULPTURE, VIDEO, POETRY
Everyone at the meeting agreed that including all different kinds of art would be wonderful. We would love to have any of the above things as part of the show. It just takes people who want to do it and can help find the resources:)


5. WRITE A LITTLE DESCRIPTION
Each of us will write a short description to go next to your art in Chinese or English, or both. It will explain how our work relates to the theme. But don't worry, we don't have to do this until we're finished, or close to finished with the art.

Some examples below if you want to take a look.


-------------
WRITING EXAMPLES
-------------
“My work emphasizes that humans are connected to the earth; not in command of it or simply residing upon it. The earth is a living breathing organism, of which we (humans) are a part.”

“This work is a depiction of how the generations in my family are all connected, and how we influence each other…”

“In the age of the internet, humans around the globe are connected in an unprecedented way. My work is a visual representation of this phenomenon.”

"

Etc. etc.

-------------
WHY HAVE A THEME?
-------------
A theme gives us focus; it's unifying. It motivates us, the artists, to create fresh work, which gives the show more life. A theme is a kind of story that we all take part creating.

Venues usually want a theme. It's easier to advertise, and people are much more likely to come see the show. Even with a theme, each artist's interpretation will be different. That is part of what makes it exciting.

Friday, June 26, 2009

THOUGHTS ON EXHIBIT THEME: CONNECTEDNESS

Here are some topics, definitions, and links (I got these links by typing “connectedness” into Google. You can also click on images in Google and see what comes up!) to help us brainstorm our projects related to the theme CONNECTEDNESS. My first language is English and my Chinese still sucks, so it’s all in English. My friend translated “Connectedness” for me into Chinese as 連通, 連接, or 有關聯的。

Here are ALL the translations I found in the online translator I used:
通, 接, 串, 搭, 繫, 紹, 交接, 接軌, 綴, 接通, 聯姻, 連接至, 聯接, 搭接, 交結, 縶, 搭咕

There are MANY MANY ways to interperet the theme - have fun! 加油! Jia1 you2!

--------------
Here are just some words/ ideas that came to my mind:
(I tried to translate them into Chinese. Please let me know if they don’t make sense;)
--------------

History - Present
今昔
Ecology
生態
Webs
蜘蛛網
Family
親情
Friendship
交情,鈕帶
Love
愛屋及烏,愛
Sex
性愛
Graphs
生成樹
Language
語系,比劃
Roots, Rivers, Veins/ Artieries/ Lungs/ Pipes etc.
本,荄,樹根,支流,血管,臟
Cycles
週, 週期
Health - Well-being
身心
Karma
因果
Physics - matter, energy, motion, and force
物理
Gravity - Moon phases - Tides
重力 ﹣月相 ﹣海潮
Industrial & Organic
人為/人造 ﹠有機
Body - Mind - Spirit
精神,神,靈魂 ﹣形神 ﹣心 ﹣腦子

ETC.

--------------
Definitions:
--------------
con·nect·ed (k-nktd)
adj.
1. Joined or fastened together.
2. Mathematics
a. Not decomposable into two disjoint nonempty open sets.
b. Having a continuous path between any two points. Used of a curve, set, or surface.
3. Related by family.
4. Logically or intelligibly ordered or presented; coherent: a stroke that left him incapable of connected speech.
5. Associated with or related to others, especially to influential or important people: a photographer who was well connected in the fashion world.
con·nected·ly adv.
con·nected·ness n.

Noun 1. connectedness - the state of being connected; "the connection between church and state is inescapable."

2. connectedness - a relation between things or events (as in the case of one causing the other or sharing features with it); "there was a connection between eating that pickle and having that nightmare"

--------------
Links to Skim (might stimulate ideas)
--------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectedness

http://web.media.mit.edu/~stefan/hc/

http://www.tltgroup.org/connectedness.htm

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_confirms_our_new_connect.php

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/132932/connectedness

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/wordnikcom-the-swiss-army-knife-of-digital-dictionaries-47912352.html

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/adolescenthealth/connectedness.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9722082

http://medialabeurope.org/research/group.php?id=5

http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/2/2/7/pages112276/p112276-1.php

http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/local/sustain5.htm

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=672

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/The_Plumed_Serpent_Quetzalcoatl_A_Symbol_Of_Connectedness.html

http://www.dharma-haven.org/five-havens/earth-haven.htm

http://www.cottesloecounselling.com.au/staying_connected_in_relationships.html

Monday, June 22, 2009

Joanna Rees






Joanna Rees is an art-educator and photographer living in Taipei, Taiwan. Joanna works as an instructor at Huafan University and is currently completing her PhD in Art Education at National Taiwan Normal University. Joanna uses photography to explore themes of identity and document those closest to her. Her work has been published in Verve magazine, Discover Taipei, and Taipei Pictorial magazine. For more information please visit Joanna’s blog at www.jorees.wordpress.com

Sunday, June 21, 2009

LeWei Wang




I am an illustrator from Taiwan. I currently live with my family. In 2004, I made an informed decision to pursue a career in illustration and to become actively involved in exhibitions. I love watching movies, writing, reading, and listening to music. I jog regularly because it makes me feel revitalized and relaxed. I desire making meaningful accomplishments in life through all my endeavors in illustration.