Busy & Bustling - GDAC's October

I should definitely say - I have never been very good at keeping a consistent journal or blog, so I apologize for the radio silence!

October was a busy month over at GDAD: We had two shows open the same night (with a spectacular crowd!), Arts After School began, our first Family Program went off without a hitch, and several other events took place at the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center. I have been working closely with Christine, our Education Coordinator, on several projects along with assisting the Arts After School Program, more on that later. But first, I want to address the Arts After School:

Steven working hard on his collage

We have eight kids - four girls and four boys - and they are all a joy. Our theme for this semester is "Grow With Me" and is themed all around nature, specifically trees. Using the idea of a tree and its roots, the kids are doing a different craft each week to reflect their innerselves and their own roots. By creating artworks that will eventually be shown to their parents exhibition-style in December, the kids have been exploring themes based around growing, having discussions about them and their interests, and exploring their "roots". The works have included self portraits, assemblage, printmaking, yarn crafting, and next mobile making. During the two hour session, many discussions and workshopping happen, allowing the kids to gain better motor control, enhance their hand-eye coordination, and to build upon skills they already have or gain new ones. It's really interesting seeing each students' interest come out and seeing what they prefer to work with and on; sometimes it's a challenge to keep them on task since they are interested in so much! I've even been able to work some art historical facts into the workshops, which some of them seem to enjoy. Finding ways to incorporate a little history and to supplement the lessons with some Artful Thinking techniques has been a personal goal of mine.

Blind Contouring 

Artist Hugo Juarez discussed his work with families.

The new Family Program is called "Greater Donuts, Arts, & Crafts" and was pretty successful on our first run. We were able to get donuts donated and we had to awesome artists come and workshop with the visitors while simultaneously running a scavenger hunt in the galleries. We had some of the artists join in talking about their work with the families, which they really enjoyed. Prior to that Saturday, Christine and I worked to make up questions for the scavenger hunt, making them as intriguing as we could, and creating questions that would open up a dialogue between family members. One of my favorite things that I got to see was one of our Arts Afterschool kids leading his dad around the galleries, discussing his thought process for each question and which pieces were his favorites and why. It was refreshing to see how many families showed up and participated in not only the crafts (making felt donuts and painting ceramics), but also the scavenger hunt!



The two shows that opened on October 4 (and subsequently were part of the basis of our scavenger hunt) are 30 Under 30 and More Time. The opening was a huge success, with over 200 visitors coming to see the artworks of local artists under 30 and Annette Lawrence. I photographed the opening as well as helped to provide support to the refreshments.

On the social media/marketing side, I have been working with creating and updating GDAC's Facebook and Instagram, likewise trying to boost our presence on Instagram. I've been working to photograph events and to then post about them in warm and inviting tone. Further, I was able to design a new flyer for Greater Donuts to help promote it, which was my first time using InDesign as opposed to Photoshop (it came out great, by the way, and is displayed on GDAC's window and elsewhere). I've also been dabbling in making promotional type videos for use on social media platforms. 

Behind the scenes, we are looking ahead to 2020 with new projects in mind, as well as to the holidays and planning out events. I'm excited to keep working with Christine and GDAC, helping to bring more people in and enhance the organization's public appeal and presence.

Installing the Pop-Up & Maintenance

My experience with curating for the TFC was reasonably challenging in terms of content but also proved to be a major undertaking when it came to the bigger picture. The show was installed in the TFC's Study Space at UNT on October 15.

Researching and choosing the objects was an interesting challenge - I had to correlate what I was considering conceptually with pieces that were available in the Study Space for display. I also chose to involve vintage Vogue articles that correlated with fashion trends and stylings. This gave the pieces social context and crafted a short narrative about the wearer of these garments, which was my end goal. Otherwise, I was concerned the selection would exclusively become about the surface-level aesthetic of the pieces.

Writing the labels was an interesting experience - Annette gave me substantial readings that discussed an effective label, and I definitely obsessed over those for weeks at a time. Having to fill a label with enough information to be helpful to the viewer without becoming overwhelming is a beast of its own, and led to a lot of back-and-forths in terms of revisions (which Annette warned me about, and I was happy for the feedback). Although compromises had to be made (for example, the signage's display is not necessarily what I prefer, but the space is still incredibly new and this experience led to a lot of feedback about how to better use the Study Space in general), I am still content with the materials I presented - and I can only hope the display was satisfactory for the classes that were using it for their curriculum.

This was an excerpt from the wall text describing the selection:

"From film, to vintage styles like rockabilly and pin-up to Halloween costumes and cosplays, fashion design of the 1950s has remained alive in the American popular imagination. We often associate fifties fashion with archetypes of the suburban, nuclear family with performative gender roles, like the “American Housewife” baking pies in her iconic day dress and red lip. Although this is certainly a significant “character” of this era, this exhibition moves beyond stereotype and into more nuance, exploring lesser known silhouettes of the decade, how these silhouettes were addressed in a growing era of advertisement and mass production, and how they would influence future fashion designs. The selection is inspired by excerpts of Vogue and other publications from the decade, reflecting on the urgency of “must have” shopping-list articles and how wearers were described with a fixation on promoting a stylish sameness."

Arranging and dressing the display was demanding in a different way. I worked with Janelle, the collections manager, on the display that afternoon. Janelle was invaluable and made me aware of ways to display others' work in a public space, something I do not have a lot of experience in. We went about dressing the mannequins, as well as adjusting their figures to better present the clothing. We don't have bullet bras in the collection, for example, so at least one of those mannequins ended up having a stuffed bust, to better support the illusion of a gown.

I am now working as Annette's research assistant for a show that she will be curating in March, which focuses specifically on florals in Men's Wear. I'll be spending the remainder of my time with the TFC working on this project, assumedly. This is totally fine with me, now that I have a better understanding of the research process :)