Mark and I met at Milos pub on Talbot Street in London Ontario. Mark recently returned from a visit to the Detroit Institute of the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD) as well. We had a two part conversation about what he saw and about my work as a student and how things tied together. At the Detroit Institute, Mark and his girlfriend Ashley saw works by Claes Oldenburg (he makes huge sculptures of everyday objects, Mark saw an outlet, but he also made a clothespin, needle and thread, lipstick), by Lichtenstein (Brushstroke number something, which we talked about in my Drawing class, in relation to "scale." We are learning about 'scale') by Rothko, and others. He also saw an exhibit at the Museum of contemporary Arts by Latin American artists and one piece struck a chord with him. The exhibit is called "The United States of Latin America" and assembles over 50 artists from Latin America. Mark described a piece that was done right inside the walls of the gallery and it reminded me of my experience with a visiting artist Duane Linklater. In the podcast I said that Duane was Oskago but in fact he is Omaskeko, also, he graduated from the Milton Avery Graduate School of Art at Bard College in Upstate New York but did his undergrad at UofA not at the University of Calgary (I mix them up all the time), and the piece I was referring to is called it means it is raining and it is at the JCA Philadelphia. In this piece, Duane wanted to find the drawings of an artist named Kimowan Metchewais. Linklater sanded the walls of the gallery in order to find the old drawings. It is very wonderful when somehow things seem to be interconnected. The noise in the Milos pub is a bit loud but I hope you enjoy our conversations. Please feel free to comment and if you feel like joining us, let us know!!
