Whitney Museum of American Art: Blogs: TeensBlog

Left Hands and Letters: YI Writers visit _Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective_

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:57:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

If there’s an opportunity for you to visit the Whitney, I highly recommend that you see Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective. On Tuesday, April 16, Youth Insights had a chance to view this exhibition. In the galleries, we began with an icebreaker. The question was: “Do you have a word that you like the sound or meaning of? Why?” The word didn’t have to be in the English language, but many of the Writers picked an English word. After each Writer chose a word and said it, we started talking about what words we didn’t like because of the way they sound or the way they look when they are written. After discussing the sound of words, we divided into two groups. Then we were shown bags that contained “unknown objects.” One of the people in each group had to pick a bag, slip his or her hand into it, and without saying what it was, describe the way the object felt to his or her group. Then the next person picked a new bag and the process was repeated. After this process, we could finally look inside the bags and see what the objects were―and they were quite unusual objects! They included tin cans with plastic flowers glued to them, fans attached to swim goggles, and more.

Next, we looked around the galleries and chose a work of art that was interesting to us. After that, we had to draw a close-up detail of that piece. When we were finished we had to `draw the same detail, but using our non-dominant hand. I had never tried to do such a thing. It was a discovery of how differently my hands work. After we finished with this, we moved into another room.

The Making of a YI Photographer

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

When I heard that the Youth Insights Leaders would be working with photography for our collaboration with artist Fred Wilson, I was scared. I have never really used a camera other than the one on my phone. I was pretty nervous about producing two photographs that will eventually be seen by an audience in the exhibition that Leaders are having at the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. As it turned out however, we weren’t only shooting with digital cameras or phones. Carda, our program coordinator, also introduced us to an old-fashioned film camera called the Holga. Originally I had not planned to use the film camera because it felt so advanced. You have to open up the back and load the film, and then unload it without exposing it to the light. The flash has to be screwed onto the top separately, and you have to remember to advance the film in between pictures. It looked complicated and implied that a lot could go wrong. But the rest of the Leaders were excited and said they were having a cool experience using the manual cameras. If I was going to be outside my comfort zone by taking photographs to begin with, I figured I might as well try out the Holga.

The Making of a YI Photographer

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

The Making of a YI Photographer

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Making Masks, Considering Costumes

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On March 20, Youth Insights Artists were in the studio putting the finishing touches on the costume project we have been doing with Artist-in-Residence Dave McKenzie. The idea behind the project is for us to express a deeper side of ourselves. The costume, which has to include a mask, needs to portray an aspect of our character. It might show that you are outgoing or timid, represent a sport or type of music that you like, or display a message you want to send about your views on the world. We had a lot of freedom of how to create our mask and complete costume, and we ended up with a range, from basic to quite intricate. After spending the beginning of the session designing, sewing, and hot gluing, we presented our finished projects to the group.

YI Takes a Trip to "1993"

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On Wednesday, March 13, Youth Insights Artists took their first field trip, to The New Museum of Contemporary Art. We visited an exhibition called NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star. The exhibition focused on the early 1990s and significant changes in art, pop culture, and politics that were taking place then. It also centered on economic and social conflicts such as gay rights, AIDS, and health care, just to name a few.

At the New Museum, we split up into groups of two, exploring the exhibition and answering questions about certain artists and the message behind their work. We also expressed our opinion of the works we thought were interesting. The fourth floor in particular was intriguing to me. A big soft orange carpet covered the entire gallery floor. Two walls were printed from the floor to ceiling with photographic murals: Travel #1 (1993) and Travel #2 (1993) by Felix Gonzales Torres and Untitled (1993), a long line of light bulbs by the same artist hung in the center from the ceiling and reached the orange carpet below. A sound piece entitled Sail on Sailor (1993) by Kristin Oppenheim could be heard throughout the gallery. Untitled (1991), the big orange carpet installation by Rudolf Stingel, gave off a child-like vibe with its bright color, soft texture, and interactive qualities—people stood, sat, and lay on it throughout the gallery. The combination of the dark walls, eerie music, and fun qualities of Stingel’s work communicated such a weird, whimsical dark feeling. That to me was very innovative because I had never felt anything like it before.

We also visited an installation called Amazing Grace (1993) by Nari Ward. The gallery was dim and I could see a bunch of broken, dirty, baby carriages placed around a walkway made out of old fire hoses, like the carriages were the audience and the fire hoses were a runway. Visitors could walk on that runway through the circle of strollers. It looked stable, but when I actually walked on it, it was not so stable. In the background the song Amazing Grace was playing as well. The piece made me think of children who might have passed away. I automatically thought about depression in urban neighborhoods at the time and how that might take a toll on neighborhoods in a city―poverty, excessive drug use, and violence. In all, I was very impressed with the museum and I was moved by many of the artworks. I really enjoyed hearing other people’s opinions and viewing artists’ interpretations of the issues and conflicts during the early 1990s.

By Daecery, Youth Insights Artist

Street/Style: YI Writers Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On March 11, the YI Writers visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see two exhibitions that explored the interface between art and culture. STREET (2011) is a film by James Nares with an accompanying show curated by the filmmaker. Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity contained an extensive display of Impressionist artwork capturing nineteenth-century Parisian upper-class culture.

STREET is James Nares’ visual exploration of New York City, a vivid, slow-motion study of anonymity and familiarity. The film is a continuous sequence of street footage, edited so that every motion became a dreamlike, drawn-out experience. A man flicks away a cigarette and we watch as it tumbles, lazily, into space; a little girl runs down the street and her hair fans out behind her, filling with air for what seems like eternity; a woman’s expression changes in an instant and we see it as some sluggish realization. The images seemed neither still nor moving, and the effect was that we, the audience, felt a great deal of intimacy with the people in the film. The slow-motion made it possible to digest the faces and movements of those strangers with more time than we are usually given when we walk purposefully down a city street. It also allowed us to engage in a certain amount of detective work. Everything we saw of the strangers on the streets was a clue, and thus their clothing in particular became an integral part of the experience of watching the film. It was a way of gaining insight into an individual’s personality, their taste, and their cultural connections.

Nearby was a gallery of art that spanned the ages. The works, which ranged from sculpture to photographs, aimed to capture the sense of movement and life in urban places that the movie expressed so clearly, and the exhibition expanded on and summarized the themes expressed in STREET. To me, the most striking component of the show was a series of photographic prints which attempted to reproduce motion in a static medium. These included photographic sequence of a bird in flight that resembled stop-action frames and a similar piece that portrayed a human form in motion. These works resonated with me especially as a graceful way of alleviating the constraints of technology when creating art.

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity was a compelling combination of Impressionist artwork and the late nineteenth-century Parisian clothing that figures prominently in these works. An underlying concept of the exhibition was the idea of the “modern woman” and how she was defined during that era. A modern lifestyle and prominent social standing often manifest themselves visually in any era, and the exhibition emphasized the purpose of fashion as a vehicle of social communication, with the capacity to convey a woman’s social class and her attention to the fashions of the moment. The dresses, corsets, and hats were an effective means of conveying this purpose, providing a three-dimensional representation of the modern woman. Among the artists featured were Gustave Corbet, Édouard Manet, and James Tissot. To drive home the thematic elements of the exhibition, notable quotations were displayed with the art, which stressed the avenues of self-expression that women in particular might find in fashion. It was overall a beautiful and aesthetically logical show, celebrating femininity and the rise of fashion as an art form.

By Isabel, Youth Insights Writer

Brainstorming With Fred Wilson

Whitney Museum of American Art — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

In early March, we met a second time with artist Fred Wilson who is working with the Youth Insights Leaders on a photography project. Our photographs will be displayed in an exhibition at the offices of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, and our goal for the day was to think of a unifying theme for which we could all create work. The Leaders spent a good amount of time in the Whitney Studio brainstorming different themes. We met Wilson with four pages of brainstorms on topics ranging from the internet age to angsty teenage insecurities, and he was extremely helpful in the very necessary process of narrowing them down.

After conversing with Wilson about our ideas, we decided to focus on some common themes running through our brainstorm list. The Leaders discovered a shared sentiment. Wilson helped us identify and articulate that feeling: as young people, we lack control over our lives because of restrictions such as parents and age. As a result of our inability to control external factors in our lives, we are highly perceptive and our powers of observation are particularly acute. As the Disney Channel and the series of books Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul continually point out, a major struggle of adolescence is the way we are perceived by others, the way we perceive ourselves, and the way we truly are or truly wish to be. Julia, one of the Leaders, was reminded of a quote from the play, Play by Samuel Beckett that reads: “Am I as much as being seen?”

YI Writers Meet Kira Lynn Harris

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On Tuesday, March 5, participants in the Youth Insights Writers program met the artist Kira Lynn Harris. Harris, whose work is currently on view at the Whitney as part of the exhibition Blues for Smoke, will be working with YI Writers as our Artist-in-Residence to create artwork and writing with us over the course of the semester. First she gave us the inside scoop on her art and her life as an artist. Born in California in 1963, Harris became interested in science fiction and comic books at a young age. She often incorporates sci-fi into her work, even though it can be somewhat concealed or hard to detect. Harris’s art includes large-scale wall drawings and works that use light and mirrors to play with perspective, reflections, and perception.

YI Leaders Visit Fred Wilson's Studio

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On Monday, February 25, Youth Insights Leaders went to visit the artist Fred Wilson’s studio in Brooklyn. Our visit with Wilson was an eye opening experience. We were there in order to begin working with him to create work for a special exhibition at the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, and we got a chance to get to meet the artist and look at his artwork before our collaboration began.

YI Leaders had done extensive research on Wilson and we were excited to finally meet him in person. As we ventured into the neighborhood, we reached his studio, which is built from a converted garage. Two of his works were hung on the studio wall, and many other pieces were kept in an extensive storage room. Wilson gives himself a lot of space to work, and seeing the studio was a lesson in organization and brainstorming. He had bossa nova music playing during our entire visit, which was a very soothing experience—representative of the atmosphere he himself creates with his warm and easygoing personality.

Wilson introduced us to one of his artistic principles by having us each observe a different apple, and then asking us to identify our apple again once the apples had been piled together in a bag. We discussed the value of observation, and the details within everything in our lives, even things that might seem indistinguishable or monotonous. Wilson incorporates his meticulous attention to detail into all of his work, including the current project he showed us, where he paints tiny black lines on raw canvas. By doing this, he re-creates flags of the world exactly but extracting the color from them in order to question its meaning.

Wilson later gave us a presentation on the history of his work and career, which included an explanation of how he thought about and created one of his earliest and most well-known artworks, Mining the Museum (1992). In that work, he re-positioned museum objects to create displays that encouraged viewers to question conventional ways that museums might collect and exhibit art or historical objects. Throughout his career, Wilson has tried to understand and reinterpret the perspectives and practices of different art museums, historical museums, and other cultural institutions. In doing this Wilson has created his own role within the art world, at once a conceptual artist and a kind of curator, which is remarkable.

By Julia, Youth Insights Leader

YI Artists Meet Dave McKenzie

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On Wednesday, February 20, during our second Youth Insights Artists session, the group met our artist-in-residence, Dave McKenzie. Hailing from Brooklyn by way of Kingston, Jamaica, Dave uses painting, video, sculpture, and performance in his artwork. Dave provided the group with images and explanations of some of his work. There were two pieces that interested me the most.

First, a video/performance piece called Babel (2000-2006), in which he interacted with a small audience by sticking a microphone in his mouth and wrapping the cord around his neck. He attempted to communicate without being able to form any words or sounds other than the unpleasant guttural noises from inside his mouth and throat. He took this a step further by choking himself with the wire, and seemed fairly nonchalant when mentioning his frequent black outs during the performance. As a musician and a performer, this piece was more relevant and purposeful to me than any other contemporary art I’ve seen.

YI Leaders Meet Gary Simmons

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On February 19, Youth Insights leaders met with artist Gary Simmons and began to work together on a new project. Simmons showed us some of his work, which turned into a great conversation about his drawings, prints, sculpture, installations, and a work titled Step Into the Arena (The Essentialist Trap) (1993), which is in the Whitney’s collection. YI Leaders have been asked to work with Simmons to create a mural in the lobby of the Museum’s downtown administrative offices.

The first thing Simmons asked us to do was to check out the lobby space and look around at our own pace to see what can be done with the wall. Then we divided into groups to brainstorm and share our thoughts about what associations we had with the building and the space. Simmons checked in on us throughout the process and when we finished, each group reported back to each other about our ideas. In a month or so, we will meet with the artist again and each group will create a collage or drawing as a mock-up of a mural design. Then we’ll compare notes and take a little inspiration from each group’s work.

Here are a few more pictures:

Youth Insights Graduation, Fall 2012

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On Monday, December 17, Youth Insights Artists and Writers gathered at the Museum with their families, friends, and teachers for a celebration of their work and accomplishments this semester. The evening began with an exhibition of YI artwork in the Whitney Studio space. Both Artists and Writers completed multiple projects with their respective artists-in-residence, Beth Campbell and Cameron Crawford. YI Writers created short films which featured works on view in Whitney exhibitions as characters engaging each other in conversations at the Museum. YI Artists created two- and three-dimensional artworks which examined the possibilities of their future as well as the transformative potential in everyday objects.

Sinister Pop(corn)

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On December 14, 2012, high school students from across New York City gathered at the Whitney for a teens-only celebration of the Sinister Pop exhibition. Activities included a Youth Insights-led tour of the works on view, a 1960s makeup station filled with Edie Sedgwick-worthy fake eyelashes and liquid liner, and plenty of snacks. The highlight of the evening was an exclusive screening of Andy Warhol films and a talk by Whitney Curatorial Assistant Claire Henry. Youth Insights Leaders planned the evening’s events and had previously met with Henry during a special session to hear her perspective on the films of Andy Warhol and to select the film excerpts that would highlight Warhol’s work and complement the evening’s focus on both the aesthetics and “sinister” side of the 1960s.

A Visit to Wade Guyton's Studio

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

Youth Insights (YI) participants were invited to visit the artist Wade Guyton’s studio on Monday, December 3. Guyton’s work is currently on view in an exhibition of his work entitled Wade Guyton: OS. The show mostly consists of large works the artist refers to as paintings, even though the images have been printed from a computer onto canvas or linen. Many of the prints are purposely left with imperfections from the printing process, which can cause things like ink running down the work or parts of the image to break apart. These “mistakes” make the work more interesting and abstract.

When I walked into Guyton’s studio, two things caught my eye. The first thing was his work hanging on the wall, and I mean huge works hanging on multiple walls. The other thing I noticed was probably the biggest printer I’ve ever seen. We got to see the printer up close and Guyton explained the process of making his huge artworks. For his large-scale black canvases, he folds the linen in half, runs one side through the printer, then flips it and runs it through again. He also mentioned that one of the ways he gets the ink to run is by canceling the current print job halfway through.

In a quick Q&A, we learned that Guyton doesn’t want to control what viewers think about his work. In other words, he seemed open to people finding different meanings and significance in the pieces—that’s what stood out to me the most. I thought this was cool because it allows people to respond to his work in their own way.

By Rae Ann, Youth Insights Leader

The Haunted Studio: A Whitney Halloween

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

On October 26, teens hustled from their schools to the Whitney Museum for a night of frightening fun. Youth Insights Leaders had spent the month preparing for what we expected to be a typical Halloween themed event, so we planned for squishy eye balls, ghost costumes, strange noises, and candy. Then we met the artists we would be working with to plan an art-themed Halloween: Whitney Biennial 2012 artist Tom Thayer and Jim Jines. Suddenly, all expectations for traditional Halloween fun were abandoned. They showed us a film with two people talking about a human “Bee Hive,” a collection of people in an unknown space with nothing but themselves, the people and the space’s objects around them. When left to themselves, people use the materials and space to create art in extraordinary ways and the ambiance of a Bee Hive fosters extraordinary thoughts. To me, that ambiance can only be described as free will. Now that’s scary.

The Haunted Studio: A Whitney Halloween

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Categories: TeensBlog

YI Artists Meet With Artist-in-Residence Beth Campbell

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On Wednesday October 10, the Youth Insights Artists met this fall’s Artist-in-Residence, sculptor Beth Campbell, for the first time. Campbell had prepared a PowerPoint presentation of her work. She went through the images chronologically, explaining where she started artistically and what her work is like today. Most of her pieces were installations, but she also showed us a wide range of mediums that she has worked in, including video and drawing.

Campbell seemed very relaxed during the time she spent with us in the Whitney Studio, laughing frequently. Before meeting her, I had been wary that a professional artist might be egotistical, but Campbell was extremely friendly and down-to-earth. The presentation was very interesting. She explained that her work has a lot to do with reality, and what we perceive versus what is real. Her pieces often trick the eye.

YI Artists Meet With Artist-in-Residence Beth Campbell

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Making Movies at the Museum

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

This week in YI Writers we worked on a film project given to us by our artist-in-residence Cameron Crawford. For the project, each student will script and then film our own art-related video—the only concrete rule being that the video cannot include live actors. Instead, we can either use the artworks at the Museum as characters or have the video describe our ideal museum. These options can both be very loosely and creatively interpreted and incorporated into whatever kind of film we are really interested in making.

To prepare for writing film scripts, we did an exercise where Crawford showed images of two artworks on the screen in the Whitney Studio and we went around the room, each contributing lines for a dialogue between the two pieces. At first, the range of art spanned disparate time periods—contemporary works by Cindy Sherman and works from the seventeenth century by Diego Velasquez. These two characters had some snappy words to say to each other, resulting in a very reality-TV worthy dialogue. In our second attempt we used work by two artists, Richard Artschwager and Wade Guyton, each of whom currently has a solo exhibition at the Whitney (Richard Artschwager! and Wade Guyton: OS). From these, we created a heart-warming boy-meets-girl teen rom-com using Guyton’s printed X’s in Untitled, (2010) as the bad boy and Artschwager’s furry yellow Exclamation Point, (2008) as the bubbly valedictorian girl.

YI Writers Meet With Artist-in-Residence Cameron Crawford

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:00:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

The Fall 2012 semester of Youth Insights Writers has been a very welcoming experience so far. The class emphasizes developing a connection between the visual arts and text. On some days we focus on the physical portion of the visual arts and create things, and on other days we emphasize building a connection between the artworks we have looked at or created and the written word.

Youth Insights Writers are working closely with the artist Cameron Crawford. He works in sculpture, text, and other media, and his sculpture making water storage revolution making water storage revolution (2012) was on view during the Whitney Biennial 2012. Crawford’s art has strong connections to words and text. For instance, he explained to us that when making one of his sculptures, Babies, Babies, No Babies (Armpit), (2010) he chose his materials because their names were interesting to him, not necessarily because they would be easy to use as sculptural materials. His list of materials for the piece appears like this: Southern long fir pine needles bound together with silver chain and mint floss of the following varieties: Satin, Ribbon, Glide, Extra Comfort Tape. Oil on canvas on hard wood. Wing nuts, nuts, bolts, rubber washers, pearls, mother of pearl, shell buttons, linen thread. He told us that when he was making this piece he was thinking about his brother and sister-in-law who had just welcomed a new baby, and that babies were on his family’s mind a lot then. He was also thinking about how difficult it might be for an artist to start a family.

During our first session, Cameron introduced a project based on this same idea of using materials based on their names without regard to whether or not they would be easy to use as art materials. We made a list of words we liked, and Cameron explained that in the coming weeks, we would collect materials that reflected those words and then create a sculpture using those materials.

Our group also conducted an informal sort-of questionnaire pertaining to his achievements, aspirations, and life experiences. Cameron offered advice on what it was like to be a professional artist for those of us who are considering that as a career. From my experiences in life, coming from a home and culture in which I hadn’t really been exposed to the realities of an artist’s life, this seemed as invaluable as anything could ever be. I learned through our discussion with Cameron that it is possible for my dreams and hopes of becoming an artist to come true.

By Kimani, Youth Insights Writer

YI Artists Meet With Artist-in-Residence Beth Campbell

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Youth Insights Fall 2012 Begins!

Whitney Museum of American Art — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

On Monday, September 24, Youth Insights (YI) held its Fall 2012 Orientation event in the Whitney Studio. Participants in our YI Leaders program played a special role as hosts for the new classes of YI teens. YI Leaders shared their past experiences as Artists or Writers, helped to greet and register new students, and gave advice on how to have the best time in YI.

Yayoi Kusama and NYC Teens at the Whitney

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Categories: TeensBlog

Canvases, cookies, and clothing–oh my! On Saturday July 28, the Whitney hosted Kusama Mania!, a summer event for New York City teens that included art making, tours of Yayoi Kusama, a retrospective of the artist’s work currently on view at the museum, and lots of sugar cookie–er, edible Kusama-inspired dots!

Teen visitors, who had free access to the Museum and all of the day’s activities, began with a tour of the exhibition led by four teens currently participating in the Youth Insights Summer Intensive Program. Michelle, Hannah, Elizabeth and Wiley talked to visiting NYC high school students about Kusama’s watercolors, Infinity Net paintings, Accumulation sculptures, and recent series of brightly-colored and patterned canvases before sending them down to the Whitney Studio.