Category Archives: Salt Lake City

No Chance To Move Backwards And See

Posted on by
Reply

I spent some time admiring Megan Geckler and Siren Bliss last night.

Megan Geckler‘s installation was definitely the most captivating. It was called No Chance to Move Backwards and See. You really did need the “Do not touch” signs because as soon as you saw the room you are drawn in and want to go right to it. Then as you walk around you realize every angle creates a different experience.

Here’s a video of her putting together the installation at UMOCA:

Megan Geckler “No chance to move backwards and see”, ©2012 from Megan Geckler on Vimeo.

The exhibit on Bliss was a completely different experience. I think one of the things that interested me most about Siren Bliss is his scale of creation. He is constantly producing. He claims to have created over 80,000 pieces. He barters his art for what he needs with no exact system in place. One day he’ll trade for stocks, the next day for prunes. He claims to have no bank account or credit card. He’s a nomad who’s known under at least six different names (Siren Bliss/Micheal Wipple/Sky Jones/Joseph Banker/Richard S. Dickens/Art Carter).

The curators made a point not to contact Bliss and to treat the exhibit like a history lesson. So nothing came directly from him; even the artwork in the displays were reproductions. To me he was portrayed like a mystical figure. It made me feel like Bliss is actually some sort of myth. Someone who gets to work with different rules. How else did he escape all the tiny little things that seem to furtively push the rest of us towards that same little streak of trivial day to day compulsions? Why does he get away with it and not us?

But then again maybe he doesn’t.

Maybe the exhibit romanticizes it. Maybe he really submits his tax returns in February, has tedious conversations with his friends about how boring and awful the DMV is, worries about high cholesterol, and dreads how much work he’ll have to do when he gets back from a long vacation. But I’m not sure I want him to have a common thread with “regular” people. I like picturing an idealized Siren Bliss picking a new name every few years, traveling the world (with his self run museum in tow), measuring his work in prunes, pantyhose, or whatever he can get his hands on, and going through gallons and gallons of paint because he just can’t stop drawing and painting. But even if it’s not that way I’d still like to see his museum one day.

It’s kind of funny because I felt like I didn’t get too see that much artwork of his; I’m mostly fascinated with his story. Isn’t it weird how being in the public eye, even on a small scale, can create a “persona” for someone? I think I may need to learn more about the real Siren Bliss. I’ve found a website with the following introduction:

“This website along with our sister site at www.bankerart.com are the only authorized websites for Sky Jones Art, and the only sites where you can communicate directly with Sky Jones. Don’t be fooled by sites pretending to represent the Bankers Art Museum and Sky Jones. You are already here.”

It seems like a good place to start.

Currently: grateful for gloves, long knit scarves, and all things warm

Let’s Vote

Posted on by
Reply

Hey friends, early voting is open and I thought I’d share a couple helpful links I found (I’m a nerd, haha).

rockthevote

If you’re a Utah voter…

Here is where you can find your Voter Information Guide:http://vote.utah.gov/elections/location/ 

You find your specific voting information by looking up your voting precinct (Don’t worry if you don’t know this offhand you can search for it by using your address and name that’s on file with voter registration). This website will also tell you where you go to vote on election day.

Your voter information guide includes a sample ballot, as well as candidate profiles, and other voting resources. The candidate profiles include links to their websites and a short paragraph about the candidate (I think this is something the candidate submits to the county, but I’m not sure).The sample ballot also includes information on proposition and amendments you’ll be asked to vote on. So if you’re like me and don’t recall anyone every talking to you about county proposition one, you can look it up and go prepared to the polls.

Here is where you can find your information on early voting: http://vote.utah.gov/early-voting/location/ There are a lot of places you can go if you want to beat the lines on election day.

Here is your guide to what you’ll need to vote aka identification requirements: http://vote.utah.gov/elections/requirements/

If you’re voting outside of Utah…

Try this, it’s a map that links to each state’s voter election website:

http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/contact_your_state.aspx

Or if you prefer Rock the Vote’s map:

http://www.rockthevote.com/rtv_voter_registration.html?source=rtv.com-homegraphicmiddle

Well that’s it. Happy Voting!

Currently: Trying to progress in some goals and realizing I have some catching up to do!

Banned Books Week

Posted on by
2

It’s banned book week! I feel kind of silly that I didn’t know about this before. This year I’m celebrating the freedom to read by buying a banned book I’ve never read before, rereading passages from favorite banned books, and participating in the virtual read out tomorrow! The virtual read out is an event hosted by the American Library Association where you upload a video of yourself to YouTube reading a passage from a banned book, describing eyewitness accounts of local challenges with banned books, or, simply, a video focused on banned books in someway (they have examples on their website). You can find out all about it here. In Salt Lake the King’s English is participating and I plan to head over and join in their activities.

As I was looking into this week’s events I stumbled across the ALA’s summary of the reasons behind these book bans and challenges. As I was reading this I realized that I often take books for granted. These books aren’t still around “just because.” People have fought for them. They’ve been fired from jobs and put on trial for keeping some of these books in circulation. Books that I love. How can I be anything but grateful? If you have the time I suggest checking it out (here).

I’ll also thought it would be interesting to include the American Library Association’s list of top banned and challenged classic novels in this post. These are all novels on the Radcliffe Top 100 Novels of the 20th century (hence the numbering) that have bans or challenges on record with the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Just for kicks I’m starring the ones I’ve read. Are any of these on your favorite book list? There is also a list of recent challenged books organized by years available on the ALA free download page for 2004-2005,2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011. These list include some of the classics, as well as more recent titles such as: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen  Chbosky, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
  • The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
  • The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger*
  • The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck*
  • To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee*
  • The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
  • Ulysses, by James Joyce
  • Beloved, by Toni Morrison*
  • The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding*
  • 1984, by George Orwell
  • Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
  • Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck*
  • Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
  • Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley*
  • Animal Farm, by George Orwell*
  • The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
  • As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner*
  • A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston*
  • Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison*
  • Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
  • Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
  • Native Son, by Richard Wright
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey*
  • Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
  • The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
  • Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
  • All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren*
  • The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
  • Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
  • A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess*
  • The Awakening, by Kate Chopin*
  • In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
  • The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
  • Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
  • Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
  • Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
  • A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
  • Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
  • Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
  • Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
  • The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
  • Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
  • An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
  • Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
Happy reading everyone!
Currently: ready for fall. I kicked off the Halloween season with a viewing of Psycho!