On the Origins of the Arts

“Rich and seemingly boundless as the creative arts seem to be, each is filtered through the narrow biological channels of human cognition. Our sensory world, what we can learn unaided about reality external to our bodies, is pitifully small. Our vision is limited to a tiny segment of the electromagnetic spectrum, where wave frequencies in their fullness range from gamma radiation at the upper end, downward to the ultralow frequency used in some specialized forms of communication. We see only a tiny bit in the middle of the whole, which we refer to as the “visual spectrum.” Our optical apparatus divides this accessible piece into the fuzzy divisions we call colors. Just beyond blue in frequency is ultraviolet, which insects can see but we cannot. Of the sound frequencies all around us we hear only a few. Bats orient with the echoes of ultrasound, at a frequency too high for our ears, and elephants communicate with grumbling at frequencies too low.”

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Time of the season

Spring Boards, the latest solo exhibition from local artist Taya Ross, opens with a public reception at Common Sense gallery on Friday. Ross was born, raised and educated in Edmonton, and her abstract paintings are inspired by the prairie landscape. Here, she contrasts the organic and the geometric in a series of colourful images, using Plexiglas and Masonite as a base for acrylic paint and fabric or paper collage-work.

When: Friday, 7 to 11 p.m., and until April 14 by appointment.

Where: Common Sense gallery, 10546 115th St.

Admission: Free

From left to right: Modernism; Hans Hofmann; Seeing Through Modernism: Edmonton 1970 – 1985; Abstract Painting in Canada; The Importance of What We Care About; Modern Painting in Canada, About Pictures; Paintings by Graham Peacock; and The Shock of the New.

“In January, the New Yorker ran an article by the pianist Jeremy Denk about the process of recording Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata. It’s slightly unusual for an active musician to write a piece for a major publication — the norm is to have the musician speak through a journalist in the form of a profile. Denk, however, has no problem speaking for himself. His rise to prominence has arguably been spurred by his articulate, quirky, and very personal blog, Think Denk, in which he airs his thoughts about music, performance, the pieces he’s working on, and, often, the general wrong-headedness of the critic and program note annotators all around him.

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These days, the idea of artist-as-critic seems counterintuitive, because artists and critics are commonly supposed to be on opposite sides of a divide. Indeed, even some critics believe there’s a fundamental antagonism to the relationship; and of course critics do often antagonize artists. There is nothing more antagonizing than repeatedly telling someone else, in a public forum, exactly what you think of them. And some of us approach the job, especially at the beginning, with a crusader’s fervor: as Thomson said of his start at the Herald Tribune, “I thought of myself as a species of knight-errant attacking dragons single-handedly and rescuing musical virtue in distress.” That attitude can make a new critic sound as if he’s on the warpath. Nonetheless, I maintain that if you’re out to get them, you’re doing it wrong – indeed, if you’re thinking of the artists you review as “them,” you may need to recalibrate your attitude.

Over time, however, the idea has been developed and reinforced that critics are mean and nasty, and artists are good and true, the sacrificial lambs. This attitude is particularly pronounced in classical music; its devotees believe it needs special advocacy, and are often horrified to see anything at all negative appear about it in print. In my experience, however, artists are far tougher than critics are. I used to meet every year with the graduate opera students at the Juilliard School, and every year someone would ask me why I was so tough. I would ask if they thought I was nastier than their fellow singers, and inevitably I got the response, Oh, no no no, you’re not anywhere near as harsh as THEY are.

This kind of toughness is a hallmark of people who care deeply about art; and artists tend to be more critical than critics. Furthermore, it’s exactly this kind of toughness that’s shaped our views of what criticism is, or at least that represents the criticism posterity tends to remember best — going back to the passion of Berlioz; Stendahl’s highly opinionated views of Rossini; or the effusions of Robert Schumann, who at times, writing in different personae, was able to espouse several different viewpoints at once, thereby either cementing or exploding the myth of critical objectivity.

….

Thus it’s hardly surprising that some of the best writers about music have always been creative artists. And in today’s changing climate, when classical music no longer occupies the central place in our cultural life that it did 50 years ago, we need this creativity more than ever — to lead us to new outlets and new forms of expression. Even if this means more musicians writing about music, and fewer music critics.”

Common Sense welcomes Spring and opens the gallery’s much anticipated 2012 exhibition season with Spring Boards, a new solo exhibition of colourful collaged abstract paintings by Edmonton artist Taya Ross.

“This project is a series of recent work that brings together the style and techniques that I have been developing for over five years. By using abstraction, I aim to reinterpret the landscape through form and color.

My subject matter includes elements of the landscape: the land as well as built objects, and how these interact and change. The work is put together using a variety of methods in order to create interesting forms, textures and colors that work well together: unified in style and subject matter, but varied in size and material.”

Taya Ross is an artist born and based in the Edmonton, Alberta. Taya’s background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in which she majored in Art and Design. Although she focused almost exclusively on painting, her minor was Anthropology, and it heavily influences her thinking about her artwork. Her work has been slowly evolving for several years and continues to grow in new directions.

“The work is done on either Plexiglas or masonite with acrylic paint. Some of the work includes collaged elements such as paper or fabric. I enjoy the pattern next to the opaque color as well as the plastic feel of the paint on the masonite next to the soft textured fabric.

My research consists of images and photos of the prairie landscape. I enjoy looking at satellite and aerial images as well. These help me gather ideas about form and composition. My forms are usually a combination of geometric and organic shapes, also like the landscape. This organic/geometric contrast is interesting to me. Pure form and color is what I am attracted to: I embrace the freedom artists have in our time to be original and I am drawn to abstraction and creative expression.”

Common Sense opens Spring Boards, a solo exhibition by Taya Ross, with a public reception on Friday, March 23, from 7 – 11 PM.

Admission is free, and the artist will be in attendance. The exhibition runs until Saturday, April 14, by appointment or by chance.

McCombo‘s victorious performance included a relentless barrage of “thunderous” leg kicks. Jared shrugged off a number of Chase’s well-placed punches and knees, and ended the first round “with another leg kick followed by a solid overhand right at the bell”, according to Top MMA News.

The official ECSC scorecard had the round 10-9 for McComb, by all three judges

Round one was very close, and round two would be even closer. As Top MMA News reports, “McComb lands a leg kick and Degenhardt jabs and lands an inside leg kick followed by another solid jab and a left. McComb lands a pair of shots and Degenhardt again lands a jab and an inside leg kick… McComb sticks one final solid jab as time expires.”

Two ECSC judges had Round 2 scored 10 – 9 for Degenhardt, and one had it 10 – 9 for McComb.

Rarely allowing his fights to be left in the hands of the judges, McComb came into round three to finish his opponent “with a well placed shot that opens a large gash over the right eye of Degenhardt. McComb lands a huge takedown to full guard and Degenhardt begins to leak heavily from the wound. The referee pauses the action and calls the doctor to check on the cut. The doctor takes one look and waves the fight off immediately…”, handing Jared “McCombo” McComb his fourth straight pro-MMA victory.

[Edit: here's The McCombo v. Bleeder Fight, via YouTube.]

Arts/Industry is often cited as the most unusual ongoing collaboration between the arts and industry in the United States. Hundreds of emerging and established visual artists have benefited from the Arts/Industry program at Kohler Co. since its inception in 1974.   Participants are exposed to a body of technical knowledge that enables them to explore forms and concepts not possible in their own studios as well as new ways of thinking and working.

Artists-in-residence may work in the Kohler Co. Pottery, Iron and Brass Foundries, and Enamel Shop to develop a wide variety of work in clay, enameled cast iron, and brass including but not limited to murals and reliefs, temporary or permanent site-specific installations, and functional and sculptural forms.

Although certainly not mandatory, artists interested in a residency are encouraged to tour Kohler Co. in order to aid them in understanding the possibilities and parameters of the program and in preparing an application.

Arts/Industry Application