Last Post on Blogger

Hello to everyone who reads this. Due to recent online remodeling on my other website I am shutting down this blog. It will still be online, but no new posts will be coming out of it. Instead you can check out my revamped website: http://www.SeanBodley.com where I will be posting instead. Please come and join in the conversation! I just realized I needed my blog and portfolio site combined to strengthen my web presence and save time. Thank Zeus for WordPress. Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: also,you can check out progress on the Anavasthaa graphic novel.

Swoon, Chris Stain & The Polaroid Kidd

One of my professors (Nicholas Lampert) is a member of the Just Seeds collective which I just wrote about five minutes ago. In class he showed a pretty cool video of another installation by several members of the collective. The music in this video is absolutely euphoric and the art is pretty solid too! There will be a video of the most recent installation coming soon, but for now snack on this:

UWM Union Art Gallery Just Seeds exhibition(?)

This past week was awesome. About 13 Just Seeds artists flew in to work on an installation at the UWM Union Art Gallery. The other gallery assistants and many student volunteers worked for 6 days to transform the gallery into a... well, you'll just have to go check it out and see for yourself.

The opening was incredible. Almost 500 people showed up and there was an energy I haven't felt at an opening before. Who knew paper air plane fights could last three hours? Many people have said that this is the best show the UAG has had in many years, it certainly is the best I've seen since I moved to Milwaukee. I'll be posting images of the opening on the UAG website later. As a teaser these are some shots from the installation off the Just Seeds blog.

Between the Winter and Spring

Spring is on its way, I can feel its warmth in the cold winds. This is a very good time. I'm adjusting my priorities in life (again) by trying to unplug a bit from the internet. After another 5 or so hours of struggling with web design I think I'm going to stick with the site I have. Spring is coming and I can't be inside for it. This next year is a time for some brutal drawings for the graphic novel, a time for artistic collaboration, and technical growth. Its a time for music, an hour of guitar practice a day? Its time for metal, its time for physical exertion. Eating up pavement like a devourer on my cycle. This is a place for sweat and strain, for release. Its a time for doing. This post was inspired by Between the Buried and Me's album Colors which is fanflipintasticly filled with the energy of spring (or so I find):

Fuck this shit with a big hunk of graphite

I'd like to think I am a calm, happy, and positive person. Challenging this is my ever massing discontent and "fuck this shit" attitude towards my drawing class. This semester has been very different as I only have one studio as opposed to 2-3. I had hoped that this class would be inspiring and help me progress technically as an artist. Saying that the class hasn't helped me out with finding direction would be a lie, but my new found directions have been a response to my frustration and general pissed-off-ness with this class.

It is advanced drawing class and I expected more critical discussions, more intense projects, and in general a more engaging atmosphere. What we have is:

1. sloppy art being created (I am not innocent of this either) that isn't challanged, but instead justified with hyper conceptualization

2. an instructor who never opens up critiques with student voices, but Its own (I won't reference gender so from now on It is called It).

3. critiques that last the entire week leaving zero time for actual drawing (we have literally had about 4 full work days in class for the first half of this semester. WTF)

4. a collaborative project that It wants us to do that is not fully related to the class (tip of the ice berg).

5. an It with pretentious artist vibes that unlike most things actually bother the fuck out of me. this has bolstered my disinterest in grad school and the elite art world.

Now, I'm not much of a ranter so my online and real world rants about this subject amongst my fellow students (many of which agree with my beliefs, some even striking sparks with It) come as something of a suprise to me. Thinking about this more and more I have found quite a few benefits from this conflict. It has challanged me to think in new directions and accommidate the bigger picture of what I want to do in life with my art. Also, how am I going to challange myself when It won't. How am I going to grow technically without someone else pushing me? These questions have made me realize once again that I am ultimately the one who decides how much I learn and how good I am. The initial helpless victimized mentality I had has begun to transform into something rather empowering. With my new collaborative graphic novel project with my roomate I have found a new channel for this frustration.

:( ---> :)

(unlike most all images here the one in this post was from google img)