I, Abbi, have been really enjoying Boston the last few weeks. I have discovered that the quirky culture here definitely manifests itself in the art scene. I recently went to the Museum of Fine Arts, which sports art from all over the world and I was very surprised at how different it was from the local shows and events I have been to. I have found that Boston has a pretty big spoken word/ music scene. There’s a weekly poetry slam (and sometimes “Dance Slams”) that are very interesting to visit. A huge part of the art community that I have interacted with thinks that writing is the truest form of self expression, and as a photographer I appreciate that perspective. Do I necessarily agree? I think the point is not essential to wether I agree or not, but to see others empowered by their own expression.

IssacI visited two places. One was project row houses. Unfortunately they are working on setting up the exhibits in the houses, but he was were able to walk around the permanent exhibit and talk to the guy that was working there about the importance of providing a place in the city for local artists to not only work, but to live together in a supportive environment and to give back to their local community. Issac also went to a talk given by two locals who have started a small artistic and data related design firm. This firm works to create useful and unique products with a focus on distributing information to the community. In the past they have focused on the abysmal voting rate in Houston by distributing voter related data on things like coasters. So it was very interesting to explore the idea of information distribution in the community for the betterment of the community through small artistic designs from local artists/engineers.

Sam and Eric went to the opening reception of Storefront for Art and Architecture, which is a really small space that had an exhibit about the “sharing economy” and visualizing Manhattan based on its impact. Manhattan was split up into 20 slices, with each architecture firm making a model of a slice. It was pretty cool to see the local artists and architects attend an event like that.

Demetrie has been fleshing out this comic book idea with a pair of homeless twins that he has gotten close with and some cool people they know. They’ve been capturing some of his experiences in prison, what he’s learned about spirituality and religion throughout his experiences and are trying to do some social commentary. Still in early stages but he will send some drawings thus far next time he links up with them

Isaac:

I saw 23 miniature murals around Houston, which are the painted street light boxes that are all over the city. The purpose of the street art boxes/miniature murals is to bring art and artist to areas of the city which may never and art presence. They are pretty simple art pieces, but it was interesting to see the scope of this city wide art project. There are over 100 boxes in Houston city limits.

Demetrie:

I’ve been continuing to explore the art of Houston and have a few artists in mind I’d like to reach out to. In my free time, I’ve been starting to write a couple of songs on the guitar with some reggae vibes. I made progress on the melody and just have to keep working on the rest. The name of the current song I’m working on is “Love Easy”.

Abbi:

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to go to different pop up art shows and art markets. I’ve been speaking to some of the community members about the way they create and use art as an outlet for expression. Everyone who I have spoken with has a different idea of what art means to them. I’m trying to synthesize what undertones in the art would be specific to the Boston community, but I’m not really sure what those would be yet. I hope to keep exploring local artist communities in the next few weeks to try to understand this temporary place I call home.

Eric:

Today I saw James Turrell’s drawings at the Pace Gallery in New York. The drawings are very rigorous but I do not think that they depict light as form, as some might say. Actually I think they depict the creation of empty form. This is evidenced by his drawings. He does not draw forms but blank shapes and suggestive outlines.

Sam:

New York’s art scene has been amazing. I’ve been able to visit the Met, the Whitney Museum, MoMA, as well as MoMA PS1. I’ve also been able to go to numerous Chelsea art galleries and seen everything from Turrell to Serra. There was even a gallery that had the artist visit from Japan and sing karaoke while dressed as an anime character. That was an interesting experience, but also gave me insight into the juxtaposition between Japanese and Western cultures. Although these have all given me amazing exposure to art, it is a bit difficult to access local art because New York is such an international city. I plan to attend more local poetry and music events, and continue to take pictures and document the arts scene along the way.

Isaac did quite a bit around Houston. He went to the art car festival downtown, saw some local art vendors and stopped by the contemporary art musuem. He wasn’t impressed by the contemporary art museum and upon reflecting on his experience mentioned that he felt that much of the art there was shallow. He said he saw “societies sick obsession with fame”. And from the way he phrased it it didn’t seem like he meant ‘sick’ as in ‘ill’, ‘bad’ or any otherwise colloquial term that unexpectedly means something good.

Sam and Eric have been really tapping into the art scene of New York. Honestly I must say that I’m quite jealous. Sam mentioned that she got the opportunity to check out an slam poetry event at a poet’s cafe. She got the opportunity to put our slogan into action with her snaps of appreciation. Both Sam and Eric went to a Taiwanese Film Festival and saw a famous cinematography guy that I’ve never heard of named Mark Lee Ping Bing, or as his true fans call him: Ping Bling.

I got to see a really funny Japanese Funk band called Otonana at a bar called Darwin’s Theory in Houston. I’ve found that some of the best shows and artistic expressions I’ve seen here in Houston, and even most places abroad are those artists that express themselves as a means to enjoy themselves. I think Isaac touched a little bit on this as well in his experiences thus far in Houston.

So far it has been nice to get out in the city and leave our routine. Whether good or bad, at a show or walking down the street, art is about perspective and being able to take different perspectives. I think we have all done a pretty good job of expanding our own artistic tool kits by exploring perspectives outside of the ones we would normally encounter.