ARTIST TALK REFLECTION 2

DAVID GRAHAM and TERRI WARPINSKI

DAVID GRAHAM 

    David Graham is a Pennsylvania-born photographer who teaches photography at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is especially known for capturing the American cultural landscape. 

    As I was able to witness during the presentation, he displays a mixture of humanity and playfulness in his work by making his photographs have not only a balance of colors but also objects structure.  

    One can see that at times, these photographs can be surreal and quite odd, reflecting perfectly the uniqueness of American life.

David Graham, Tucumcari, NM

TERRI WARPINSKI

    On the other hand, Terri Warpinski is also a photographer and she used to teach at the University of Oregon.  Her creative practice of photography is based on exploring the relationships between places and/or landscapes and their cultural, social, and natural values. 

    One of Terri W.'s goals expressed during the talk is to better understand the landscape and its history. To do so, she employs techniques such as drawing, collage, or as she calls it, "dark room journals" in which she journals and create strategic working methods such as field studies (which I found very interesting). 

    Terri W. also mentioned the connection between spirituality and geography and how spiritual cultural overlays can be affected by human environments. She gave the example of Israel which is the place of intersectionality between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. 

Teri Warpinski, Juarez Crossing | 2012

MY PERSONAL OPINION

    I think that David Graham and Terri Warpinski's presentation on their newARTSpace project was not only interesting but also inspiring. Both artists spoke passionately about their artistic practices and how the idea of their shared studio came about. They emphasized the importance of a creative community and how the studio facilitate collaboration and the interchange of ideas. 

    One thing I really liked about this talk was how they saw "newARTSpace" not only as a studio for their own work, but also as a space that other artists could use to create pieces. I didn't know such concepts existed, let alone here in Wisconsin, just a few miles from the university. In addition, the fact that the artist take the 100% of the sale of their work is amazing as usually galleries take around 50%.

    Their project embodies the importance of community, collaboration and inclusion in the arts. I look forward to seeing how the space will evolve and impact the local arts community.

"All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us un- touched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change isimpossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments."

(McLuhan 26)