Blog / Lauren Odell Usher » Ideas

A Transitional Period.

lauren — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:08:27 +0000

My art collaborator, Lisa Rasmussen, and I have been discussing the idea of change for a a few months now. We have been working on a project called Art is Moving for 2 years now and are loving our success. Lisa will be moving out of the area in September of this year so the dynamic of our collaboration will inevitably be effected. We are attempting to practice having a long distance art relationship so that we can continue to be a positive force in the art world and community at large. At this point we really won’t know what will happen to our project until it happens. Luckily, we are both fairly easy going women that are not afraid of change.

It seems as though I am going through an individual transition as well. My own artwork and art concept seem to be shifting. As I am attempting to live a minimalistic type life I am starting to wonder where art fits in. By minimalistic I mean, low impact, sustainable, eco friendly and the like. As I try to limit the amount of new material I purchase for my house and life and increase the amount that I reuse and recycle, it has started to make little sense to by new materials to create art. About 2 years ago I started a project called Significant Stranger, where I made a rule (as I usually do for my art projects) that all of the material I use for my “canvas” had to have been used by someone else before me. It tied wonderfully into the concept of the art project, that those in the past have created the world I live in today.

There seems to be another reason my body and mind gravitated towards reusing material. This past week I starting having trouble using linoleum to carve because I cannot find anyone who will recycle the small leftovers that I create. Although I can’t believe I am saying this, I am going to give up linoleum. Artists are supposed to be creative, right? Well it is time to get creative and find some used material to act as my linoleum. Book pages that are stacked and glued together make great carving boards, old wood from the dump, old doors, drawers, lots of stuff.

If Art is Life and Life is Art it only makes sense that the two should mirror one another entirely.

A side project.

lauren — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:00:27 +0000

Something I have been interested in for as long as I’ve been interested in art, is the connections between particular artworks and the goings ons inside the artist’s world. An example might be the story behind the painting of the Sistene Chapel. There are styles within that room that set up the art world of the future. But, were there other artists who were painting in a similar fashion? What was going on in Michelangelo’s personal and social life at the time? How did that influence the way he painted? What was going on in Italy at the time and how did that change the shape of the art?

These questions I have and the connections I want to figure out stem from my philosophical belief that absolutely everything and everyone is connected. Every event influences the next (sort of a rippling effect). Every person’s actions today set up the world we will all experience tomorrow. So on and so forth. So, I am on a mission to write a sort of art history book that includes the connections and influences of the society that existed during the time the work was created and the culture the artist was experiencing at the time he/she completed the piece.

I have already attempted to do this on another blog, but decided I was focusing too much on the facts. I was listing the time and place that each work was made and the artists birth and death–important facts there’s no doubt, but I want to dig deeper. I want to trust myself to make inferences. I will record them and hopefully someday be able to map out all of the connections I come up with.

The question I have now is, should I pick an event in history that shaped and changed the world and go from there or should I pick a century and learn all I can from it? I started with the 15th century for my last blog and found some interesting books, but not many. Perhaps I will pick an event and go from there. I’ll keep you all posted.

A New Idea

lauren — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:47:27 +0000

I wanted to write this down before I forget. I have a new project idea. So, because my concept involves really living moment to moment and cherishing everything you experience and everyone you meet I want to capture my attempts at becoming more conscious of my own life.

I have decided that at some point in the near future I will begin taking one photograph a day of something I have never noticed before. I don’t really know anymore details than that, but that’s that. So far that is what I have come up with.

It is interesting to me that I came up with this idea, as most of my ideas lately have involved other participants–this one will involve me and a camera and day to day life.

So, for now, that is it. I will add onto this idea as I decide to go for it and start collecting photographs.