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ART.SEATTLEARTMUSEUM.ORG: The Eagle - Works - eMuseum

#Alexander Calder #Seattle Art Museum #Olympic Sculpture Park #Sculptures #art quotes #space and time #monumental

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The Eagle, 2016

Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle

I really love this shot. I knew I’d love it so much I took it in both portrait and and landscape and could not decide which I liked more. This is the very top of Alexander Calder’s The Eagle with a First Quarter moon in the background. What I love most is the simplicity of this image, I know there is some slight variation in the blue but aside from that it seems like there are exactly four colors in this image. This is minimalism.

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Hidden Figures #4 (The Eagle by Alexander Calder) || I.

I didn't originally plan to interact with Alexander Calder's "Eagle" but as photographer @skyclad.studio and I came upon it and its spot on the hill, the sun was making its way up the hill as well, hitting the sculpture just right and inviting us to it. 

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With one of the goals of 'Hidden Figures' being to challenge myself to interact with a sculpture's scene, using my body to mirror or contrast its shapes, I saw "The Eagle" as a delightful challenge. 

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With its blunt lines and angles and giant-like stature, what could little old me do to stand up to and alongside the monumental sculpture? I took notice of its sharp lines and sought to match or oppose them - show it I could be tall, strong and monumental too. 

But ultimately - I'm a human: I fold and I curl; I wave and I bend. I could show the Eagle that I was strong like it was or I could just flow around it: Show it what it's like to be made of skin and bone. Show it - and remind myself - that one doesn't always have to be biggest presence in the room, make the largest gestures to make an impact. Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference. Similarly to my interaction with "Wake" by Richard Serra, I let small touches make the biggest impressions: A pointed toe, intentional extensions, arcs and waves stick out like many paintings and figure drawings before me would have their subjects do to add an extra visual interest element to the capture.

Besides, allowing oneself to be its most natural - accepting ones truest state - can allow it to shine like the sun rising up over a hill on a summer morning. And for all the hiding and tucking I did amongst the other scenes in the park, there was wasn't much room to hide around this piece. It was a giant stage for me to show it, show onlookers, show Seattle, show anyone my truest self. 

I didn't originally plan to interact with The Eagle, but as many of our random encounters prove over time, it's very possible that the opportunity presented itself for a reason. As many pieces of art do, it has something to show me and I'm grateful it waited patiently for just the right time to beckon us to it and deliver its silent message.

+ photographed by @skyclad.studio (ig) // website

#photo composition #fine art #contemporary writing #shadow photography #black and white lovers #seattle photography #contemporary art #steel sculpture #Seattle art #olympic sculpture park #art in public #portrait photography #seattle #fine art photography #natural light photography #black and white photo

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Hidden Figures #4 (The Eagle by Alexander Calder) || II.

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Floating Lady

+ photographed by @skyclad.studio (ig) // website

#alexander calder #minimalist photography #perspective art #floating #negative space #minimalist #seattle art #art installation #natural light photography #black artists #seattle photographers #making shapes #portrait photography #figurehead

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Hidden Figures #4 (The Eagle by Alexander Calder) || III.

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Seen.

+ photographed by @skyclad.studio (ig) // website

#black and white lovers #black and white photos #olympic sculpture park #shadow photography #black and white aesthetic #fine art model #shadow art #fine art #storytelling art #portrait photography #conceptual art #shadow lady #the look #intensity #a moment #fine art photography #aesthetic #fine art blog

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THE EAGLE Alexander Calder 1971

SAM

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6 Things.

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This is one of my favorite shots from Hidden Figures #3 and perhaps the entire series. Normally, you might not want to see a couple of birds photobomb your portrait. But the fact that these were two black crows, joining myself and my fellow black figures - right in a space that was open for them - the shot felt so balanced. The theme of longing for belonging felt reiterated, with blessings from nature itself - even with my moment of civil disobedience, hopping the rope to join the scene. This photo felt so right, so properly timed - something that might be difficult to recreate. And I'm grateful this moment happened.

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scroll along the blog to weave with me between the steel pieces of Tony Smith's "Wandering Rocks" and the thoughts and feelings behind my necessitation to place myself within it, even for a moment, for this series...

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+ photographed by @skyclad.studio (ig) // website

#fine art #black artists #photo composition #portrait photography #contemporary art #tony smith sculpture #olympic sculpture park #black art #perfect timing

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This work of Tony Smith’s predates his more known steel cube work, the most famous being, Die, a six foot cube made of raw steel.  The Black Box is constructed of wood and painted black, which gives it a more organic, warmer feel than the “hostile” steel sculptures to come.  At 2 1/2′ by 3′, the observer can see the work as a whole from one viewpoint.  The artist says of his later work that anything larger than a work based on the human form would be a monument and anything smaller an object.  This wooden black box, based both on its size and on its very form ( a three dimensional cube) can therefore be deemed an object.

Smith’s cubes were almost exclusively photographed indoors and this one, placed in an outdoor setting, has a soft, primitive feel. “Sitting on the ground in the yard behind the artist’s home, the sculpture initially recalled a child’s tombstone, inspiring one of the artist’s daughters to ask who was buried there.” http://www.matthewmarks.com/new-york/exhibitions/2004-05-08_tony-smith/

Fried, M. (1998). Art and objecthood: Essays and reviews. Chicago: University of Chicago Pres

http://revista.escaner.cl/files/ART404_Davis_Fried.pdf

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Hidden Figures #3 (Wandering Rocks by Tony Smith) || I.

When I first saw Wandering Rocks by Tony Smith years ago I was intrigued by the piece, its whimsical spread, and its composition; but when I met with it again in 2022, after all the things I'd been through since our last meeting, I saw it with new and different eyes. This time, I found myself identifying with the beautiful onyx figures on display in the middle of the Emerald City. I saw myself in them - fellow black figures poking out of the Seattle landscape: Easy to overlook amongst the other figures around it, yet once one's eyes fall upon them, they stand out as they blend in - there because they were supposed to be but also almost out of place as compared to their larger, louder neighbors in the park.

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I was drawn to their ambiguity, their quiet and humble yet strikingly contrasted existence in the space. And identified with being a figure that some might be drawn to and appreciate and others might overlook, be unsure of how to interact with or be just plain indifferent towards.

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Entering the park again to embark on this project, I couldn't wait to meet up with the sculptural display again. And in those moments where I could run through and lay amongst the rocks, I felt emboldened and affirmed. If someone were to ask me to explain the importance of public art, my interaction with Wandering Rocks would be one of the experiences I would describe.

Though the abstract shapes I stood beside and interacted with weren't people, they felt like me. At that time, in that place, they and I resembled each other the most. They felt like community, something I find myself craving often as I exist in and around the Seattle bubble. The figures asked nothing of me, they passed no judgement; they just existed as they were; as did I. And I reveled in the chance to just exist with them - a 6th Wandering Rock - the 6th Black figure to join their group as they rolled along in their place in the park, just as any time I see a joyful group of Black figures roaming about in the city, I want to join them too...

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Because, as diverse in thought and culture as the Seattle area can be, it's no secret that many of its spaces are also very...white. I'm not unfamiliar with the phenomenon of being one of (if not the only) person of color in a room; it's one of those experiences that, for many, comes with the POC territory. And while the majority of my interactions with Emerald City citizens visually different than myself are normal, typical, ordinary, in the last couple of years, I've also noticed more and more the subtle nuances within the interactions that aren't - the interactions that reveal the curious way some in the area process my curious Black existence...

#public art #conceptual art #tony smith sculpture #photo composition #Seattle art #POC #fine art #olympic sculpture park #black artists #portrait photography #artists of color #art in public #steel sculpture #sculpture park #belonging #modern art #modern sculpture

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“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”

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Adrian Piper / My Calling / Card / Reactive Guerrilla Performance for Dinners and Cocktail Parties 1986-1990 / Collection of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College. Adrian Piper Research Archive Foundation Berlin. via the New York Times Magazine.

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Hidden Figures #3 (Wandering Rocks by Tony Smith) || II.

No place is perfect; that's to be expected...though you never know exactly how that imperfection will appear. But what I hadn't expected were the amount of times I'd find myself in the novel situation where I could watch my melaninated skin leap from my body and morph into an elephant in the room. And as it took shape, I would watch its appearance cause a certain amount of self-awareness, from the others in the room, transpire along with it. And as we'd stand there - my manifested Black elephant and I - we'd soon be joined by the awkward denials of its existence by those others in the room: Denial that it was there, denial they felt any awkwardness about it, denial of the idea that perhaps their thoughts and actions - in that moment - challenged the liberal acceptance banner they waved, lived under, and identified with. And as they'd fervently do their best to ignore the elephant summoned into the room, their efforts to do so would give their real feelings away, despite their attempts to hide them behind "good thoughts" and "good intentions".

It's not that I expected residents of a city known for its liberal views to never have a misstep, never say something they could've thought about a second longer. Everyone's been in a situation where they might have put a wild foot in their mouth - myself included. But in the same way I've seen how Seattleite defensiveness can arise when an outsider perspective clashes with their niche culture, so can it arise when certains of them are informed that their assumed, projected allyship needs a little more work.

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If called out on a wild foot moment, I - and most reasonable people - swallow the foot of pride and keep the correction in mind for later (or if we're not sure if the thought is wild - and we don't want to ask - we just keep the potentially wild-foot thought to ourselves). But it's been interesting to me to see the ways in which some Seattlites respond to their own Foot-In-Mouth moments - particularly the ones who see themselves as steadfast supports in whatever ally community they hold most dear. Sure, the defensive response isn't native to Seattle. But I've observed the response here the most out of my various dwellings - and here, the most fervently:

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It's here that I seen the intensity with which such self-justification could be delivered by someone who sees themself as a beacon of allyship - so much so it's become integral to their personality: Validating their belonging in the area and the circles they run in. They assume they lead their Ally platoon, fighting the good fight alongside their chosen wards, walking in lockstep with those they take up for. But in reality, the marching stomps they take are so loud that when they're presented with opportunity to truly walk that walk by taking in notes or observations that could help them be better soldiers for the cause - from the people they purport to be allies to - they cannot hear those notes and observations. Instead, they march even louder, choosing to fight to defend their footwork by rallying against the idea that they are, in fact, out of step.

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I know this because I've received it as a Black person existing in the area. These kinds of "crusaders" don't take the most allied approach to being informed that they're, in fact, expressing a microagression they didn't read about on a White-run Social Justice Instagram post; or that their attempts to "relate" to the Black people they meet are actually furthering internalized social expectations of Black people. Instead of the note being suggested as something for them to consider or work on - something to help them be more of what they say they are - the suggestion that they may have exhibited a misstep is more of a personal attack: They are already enlightened - how dare it be asserted that they aren't as enlightened as they see themselves to be.

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Because they "don't think that way" or didn't "mean it like that" - because that "wasn't their intention" - the actions or words they exhibited in the direction of a POC, in my direction, in the moment are negligible; it's almost a buzzkill, a non sequitur to inform them otherwise. Because it's the intention, not the words, actions, or their charged natures that matter: They are a BIPOC ally; they've heard of "Hood Feminism"; they feel comfortable around people that look differently from them and are around them "all the time". Their words, actions and perceptions can't be problematic - as if those "checked ally boxes" preclude them from possibly saying something that might be - in fact - problematic, as if they assume where they live is the only place safe from the Color Seeing Flu.

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"All I was saying was..."

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But denying that it's possible that you still have some work to do when it comes to being a better BIPOC ally doesn't change the fact that you could be. And as you deny that possibility, you also run the risk of invalidating the way BIPOCs feel and express experiencing those instances - a core contradiction to being a good ally: Ignoring that it's possible that we live in a world where I am seen as less beautiful or talented than dancers or creators that look differently than me. Or oppositely - where I'm a vital addition to a cast to fill a diversity quota, not because I'm worthy of being there on my own creative or personal merit - but because you "love having Black people around" (and it makes you look good to do so). That's not allyship.

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Or denying my expression that I feel I've been responded to as an "aggressive Black woman" - recognized by its familiar tone of defensiveness and judgement - in favor of saying "Seattlietes just aren't comfortable with confrontation'"....running away from my assertion that someone is engaging in the sins of White Feminism (see: Hood Feminism) and swatting away the idea that my color has "nothing to do with" that womxn's response - denying that any of those instances are possible because they feel uncomfortable to process isn't allyship.

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Attempting to "connect" with a Black person by painting conversation with broad strokes about "Urban" culture (that we can quickly discover to be attempts to seem "plugged into" what we're "into" once we really get into the topic with you, only to receive parroted talking points or blank yet enthusiastic stares in return)....uncharacteristically code switching while conversing with a Black person while delivering a wink and a nudge that we could be comfortable with - in the right context - but in the wrong one, we absolutely aren't...isn't allyship. Liking rap music and saying you "date womxn of all colors" isn't allyship.

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And assuming that you're liberal enough or you and the people around you live liberally enough that your actions are always aligned with allyship isn't enough. Engaging in these behaviors doesn't preclude anyone from learning how to be better, from being better. They're the minimum - and in my experiences in Seattle, the minimum seems to go a long way for people when it comes to proving their Black allyship. But when we're already familiar with getting the bare minimum, we aren't as impressed to receive it, despite the intentions behind it - a sentiment I feel a lot in Seattle as a transplant, actually...

#conceptual art #black writers #black experience #seattle artist #shadow photography #James Baldwin #allyship #bipoc #dear white people #white feminism #sjw #poc ally #hood feminism #intersectionality #photo composition #Black History Month #black voices #natural light photography #things people don't want to hear

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GUERILLA GIRLS

“Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community” -Wikipedia

I enjoy their work as it’s simple to look at yet the message is straightforward and bold. The way they go about feminist issues in a way that’s factual and hard to forget.

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Hidden Figures #3 (Wandering Rocks by Tony Smith) || III.

So, from one Black transplant to those Ally-Image-Obsessed Seattlites - or to any Ally-Image-Obsessed person anywhere: Yes, you can be a Black & BIPOC ally in words and beliefs - but the best way to be one in action is to learn from the Black individuals around you. And if you don't have any Black individuals around you....yeah you do and it's worth it to get to know us: We're pretty great, so long as you're not weird about it.

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Sometimes Seattle feels like an echo chamber for a lot of social causes, pinging and bouncing the same buzz slogans and rhetoric between people that are all similar. But when it comes time to put those words into steps, they've learned the choreography but never practiced it, leaving them floundering on opening night - in conversation with an actual Black person. Because only in practice can you get the perspective from someone living in the experiences I've described, wherein they can tell you, as I'm telling you now that:

If I feel it, believe it. Offer encouragement but don't wishful thinking-wash a Black person's perception of an experience or invalidate the feeling by saying verbatim or in so many words that "You don't see the problem". It's not about you seeing the problem, it's about how I feel - "Damn, I hope that's not the case but I get what might make you feel that way. * Enter further encouragement and affirmation of badassery here*" (And tossing in a "fuck 'em" - or "screw 'em" if you will - is always a nice touch, at least for me)

Be genuine with your praise and how you choose to present it. Making comments about how beautiful we are in moments that don't feel appropriate or in conversations where - if we weren't a Black person - it may not have come up can feel contrived, which is worse than you saying nothing at all. Again - White people say dumb stuff to Black people every day, all around the world. But it's that strange flavor here in Seattle area where the dumb things White people say are delivered in a, "I'm looking out for you - I *see* you" way that's....almost worse, patronizing. In some situations it's awkwardly flattering but in others, it's a little disconcerting, uncomfortable.:

IE: The one time a Seattle man's 3rd sentence after, "Hey there" and "How's it going?" was " I don't understand why every time I tell people how much I like Black Womxn, people accused me of fetishizing them - But can I tell you why I love them so much?'" . Sir - I just met you; can you at least ask 'Come here often' or something first? . Or IE: A different time when a former boyfriend's Caucasian friend repeated entranced praise of my beauty like a broken record over the course of the evening at a party. (Don't get me wrong, I am beautiful and I love hearing about it...but womxn - especially Black womxn - know that certain dog whistle tone of delivery that feels more concerning than it does complimentary)... . It gives very Steve Buscemi, "Hello, fellow kids" energy - only instead it would be like him saying, "Hello, fellow beautiful woman that I see beauty and worth in." Just "Hello" would've sufficed. It's like being around a child that was told not to mention something and - as a result - that's all they can see or think about, with that something being that I look differently than they do.

Black People are just people: You don't have to prove you like us - hell...we might need to know what you're actually like before we even decide if we like you or not. Whatever you'd say to friends that are the same color as you, whatever small talk you'd make with people the same color as you - just say that.

Don't get defensive over a Black person telling you, "Friend - that sentiment is a little outdated and odd, maybe don't say/ask that to anyone else." And if you don't know why, don't argue about it: ask. Or - more wisely - find the answer on the internet.

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As conflicted as my feelings about this area have been, I do have to say that there are things about myself that I had to learn here - that I may have learned elsewhere in time or in one way or another but - I had to learn here: Further connecting with myself and being myself unapologetically were among them. Further settling into and growing comfortable in my own skin, my own values, my own tolerance of (or at times, lack thereof) certain kinds of people or certain kinds of foolishness....and as I've found myself periodically amidst those who panic internally at my appearance or vernacular, being here has even thought me how to further settle into and claim unabashedly my own Blackness.

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While it takes work every day - and there are still certain aspects about myself that are hard for me to accept, times where I feel if I looked differently, things would be different for me here, Seattle is a place where - whatever color or identity you have - if you don't know who you are, it will let you know for you. The firmer you can stand in yourself, the easier it is to advocate for yourself and describe your own merit and value, using your voice as you so choose, the easier it is to remember that, though people might make their own conclusions about who you are based on how you look or move - or people might not know what to do when you walk into the room, raise a thought, or take a stance - how they react has little to do with you and says a lot more about them. And you won't know how little value certain people will add to your life until you let them show you...

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My Black-Ass-In-Seattle Advice?: Take the time and effort to look for and find genuine allies and community wherever you can, of any color but don't assume it'll come from the most "obvious" or convenient of places. And as you do, be an ally to your damn self. You're going to need you to make it around here...

#contemporary writing #black writers #black experience #allyship #extended metaphors #seattle artists #black history month #women writers #dear white people #words of encouragement #contemporary art #black artists #know who you are #know your worth #know your value #know your rights

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lol.

Tag yourself as this list of “bad art” features, according to a twitter fascist

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Hidden Figures #3 (Wandering Rocks by Tony Smith) || IV.

By this point in Skyclad and I's rolling through the park - while we'd gotten through the first couple of figures I'd wanted to pose with with no disturbances by passersby - as we prepared to move on to the next, a wild Entitled-To-Take-A-Stance Seattlite appeared and in peak form. I saw the man and his companion approaching and quickly pulled my tulle skirt - which doubled as my modesty garment - as we waited for them to pass. Seeing us taking photos and posing within the structure, Perre's Ventaglio III at the moment, he took quite the umprage with what we were up and- instead of simply raising an eyebrow and carrying along with his early morning walk, made sure to make loud, passive aggressive commentary about us posing within the structures, "Doing it for 'the 'Gram'" and engaging in "anything for social media".

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Little did he know how he was casually exhibiting one of the fascinating dichotomies I've noticed from some in the area that helped inspire the idea for Hidden Figures in the first place: We love art, live in an area where art surrounds us and where art can be found all over, and we have no problem with art....but if we see people making it in a way they "shouldn't be", we must inform them with a scoffing air of "You clearly don't know how to appreciate this the /right/ way." "Not that way and not in my public space," the man's reaction to us conveyed as he continued to chastise two artists that dared to create in "his" space, interrupting his peaceful morning stroll - so much so that he chastised all the way up the path until the two saw someone they could point us out to so that person knew what we were "up to". (I wonder how he feels about Banksy or Keith Herring and if he thought they were truly ruining the walls of the buildings they created on...I wonder how his friends responded when he told them later how he "busted a couple of people within sculptures at the park", minding their own business and quietly taking photos at 7 in the morning...and similarly wonder if his companion was used to his aggressively condescending behavior or was too embarrassed to say anything to him about exhibiting it...but I digress...).

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We deduced that he likely let a security guard know that we were "up to something" within the sculptures because, as we rounded the bend up to where Wandering Rocks was stationed, Skyclad and I noticed that security guard walking slowly, keeping an extra eye on us as we made our way up the park and stopped at one more piece along the way. Rocks was one of the main pieces I knew I wanted to pose with before we arrived there so when we finally made it there, Skyclad and I were cautious to stay outside of its roped boundaries so that we could get at least some shots with it in case the now-on-alert security guard shooed us along. Though they weren't exactly what I had envisioned, the shots quickly snapped looked lovely...but I knew there was more I had to say, more I had to give to the scene - a few images I had seen in my head that I needed to bring to life.

As we continued working around the ropes, I noticed the security guard start to round the bend we'd just come from where I knew he wouldn't be able to see us. If I didn't at least try to get within the ropes and closer to the pieces, I knew that I'd leave the park with regret over not being able to create the images I saw in my head that moved me the most... Besides, how many of our favorite art pieces have been made by breaking a rule or two? All I wanted to do was interact with the Olympic Park sculptures with reverance and respect, taking their art and letting them inspire me.

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I told Skyclad I was going to just hop in and pose quickly, that I wouldn't feel like I did as much as I could have with Wandering Rocks if I didn't at least try to get closer to them and I'm so grateful they agreed. "I'll just keep hitting the shutter button", they said, so that whatever happened, we got at least a couple of the images I wanted to make the most. And here, my pre-photo day visions came in handy as I ran straight to the positions I knew I wanted to execute.

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And while ultimately the situation was low stakes (truly, the worst that could've happened would be that we'd be asked to leave), I felt exhilarated - bravely taking the chance to create art the way I wanted to, engaging in artistic "debauchery" to create something that was meaningful. While I envisioned some of the photos where I ran through the pieces, they also were real moments of carefree liberation as I realized I was doing exactly what I wanted in that moment - a feeling I don't feel I experience often. In those moments I was right where I wanted to be doing exactly what I wanted to.

#art in public #seattle artists #contemporary art #young and wild #street art #let me in #public art #contemporary photography #geurrilla girls #olympic sculpture park #portrait photography #photo composition #carefree black girl