In general I am a better starter than finisher... but it is very important to me that I take a few minutes to fully thank and acknowledge those who created and delivered the rich content for our brief and focused event. In the actual order of the event... Rabbit Aggie Goldenholz, for her spiritual offering of the blessings for the Chanukah Candles as well as some words about light during this time of darkness (as well as a song) Thank you Jody Hirsh for your beautiful visuals of menorahs meant to be hung on the outside of one's home... Your teachings have enriched so many of us over the years. It was great to relax into your teaching process again. Special Thanks to Helene Fischman for guiding us in imagining and then sharing our own experience of appreciating. At least that is what I remember. (I have not had the chance to review the recording yet). So thanks again Helene for joining in on the planning and then facilitating a focused act of group social engagement.. And finally a big thanks to Leslie Coff (Madison) who I have only known through her paintings shared her words in closing with us.. I am sorry that I cannot remember what she said.. but I do remember being taken with her reading and wanting more.. If there is any way you can reshare your words here.. I would enjoy reading them again...and thanks for the L'chaim (great idea).. So thank you ALL for MAKING THIS ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF MY 2020 CHANUKAH and kinda certain others as well. "May All Our Candles Continue to Burn Brightly" hope to see everyone in the New Year!
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Current list of names of MJAL Lab current and alums who are hoping to attend.
 This is the current list of Names of people who are expected to attend. |
Monday, December 7, 2020
4th Night of Hannukah MJAL Celebration ReUnion
5:30 -6:00 pm Central Time on Zoom
for a 5 City-Wide Midwest Jewish Artists Laboratory mini reUnion.
Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, and Cleveland
MJAL Celebration ReUnion
BEV RICHEY (Milwaukee MJAL Artist) Opening Remarks
RABBI AGGIE GOLDENHOLZ (Milwaukee MJAL) will lead the prayers for a coordinated Menorah Lighting
Please have your menorah and candles ready to light. (preferably within the zoom camera view).
We will ask you to mute your microphones as we are led in the candle lighting blessings by Rabbi Aggie Goldenholtz.
We will take a screenshot group photo of all of us with our lit menorahs.
JODY HIRSH (MJAL Milwaukee founder-director) will offer a brief teaching
HELEN FISHMAN (Milwaukee MJAL Artist) Social Engagement Artist practitioner will lead us through a mini performative action.
LESLIE COFF (Madison JAL) will close the event with
A blessing & a L’chaim! (have some sort of drink ready for a toast!)
The chat function will be available to use and you are encouraged to message the entire group and to reconnect with others individually.
Sunday, December 6, 2020
BEN WESTBROCK... early shows in New Haven
Hey Ben, wanted to let you how much you are thought about these days... xbev
To Ben's friends,
I met Ben in New Haven in 1981. We were in a show together called Visual Events in Various Spaces. This exhibit took place at the Hamilton Clockworks building sponsored by The Papier Mache Video Institute (PMVI).
That was the beginning of our friendship, we continued to work together on several more shows including the show talked about in this 3min film clip produced by the New Haven Museum and filmed by "WHAT WERE WE THINKING FILMS".
For so many of us who found comradery in our relationship with Ben, this adds one more historical piece to his early creative period in New Haven, CT.
Just recently I virtually ran into someone I did not know who had a strong positive creative connection to Ben. The moment was sweet and I am happy to be able to share how supportive and authentic Ben was to so many of us.
Thank you Ben for all the love and respect you showed us and all the caring you shared with us.
"The first show of 1984" involved a year of collaboration before it's one night only premiere..Ben was a core member of the group attending all the regular monthly and weekly meetings.. and beer and pizza afterparties... all love to you!
link to more info about the 1984 one night only exhibit
https://mymuseumess.blogspot.com/2020/11/factory-weekly-ep-4-pmvi-papier-mache.html
Saturday, December 5, 2020
Virtual Places to Post ART SEcular and Jewish
Women Made Gallery
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1739719089372953/?multi_permalinks=3802274953117346%2C3801507243194117%2C3801411786536996%2C3800892243255617¬if_id=1607095330678756¬if_t=group_activity&ref=notif
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Cloud Recording - Arts Awards After HangOUT.... is now available - bevrichey@gmail.com - Gmail
Your cloud recording is now available.
Topic: Arts Awards After HangOUT....
Date: Dec 2, 2020 07:22 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
For host only, click here to view your recording (Viewers cannot access this page):
https://us02web.zoom.us/
Share recording with viewers:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/
Thank you for choosing Zoom.
-The Zoom Team
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
BEING SELF: DIGITAL WRAP...
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
pOST Arts Awards DrOp-In/sPEAk-OUT/WINdown with US...
EPIsode #2 of U/neVeR-kNOw...
pOSt-ARTS AWARDS..
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
8:30 – 9:30 pm EST
Sunday, November 29, 2020
First Draft MJAL "REUNITE2LIGHT" our Menorahs together..
(FIRST DRAFT)
Midwest Jewish Artists Laboratory 2020 reUnion EVENT
DATE and TIME TBA (sundown)
Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City and Cleveland USA
If you participated in one of the 5 city Lab projects at any time during this 9 year project year PLEASE JOIN US!
Where we are so far...
"REUNITE2LIGHT" is imagined as a performative collaborative interactive engagement
Monday at 7pm Central time there will be a small planning meeting hosted by Bev Richey and Helene Fishman (both social engagement artists and from the Milwaukee LAB Unit) with the support from Director Jody Hirsh (MJAL's founder and director) to share some ideas and provide space to imagine this One NIGHT only.. lab-artist engagement-focused event for the entire MJAL Community.
My vision (Bev) involves starting the event with a short prayer related to togetherness focusing on the value of creating and sustaining relationships.
Then I am imagining the performative action of united lighting of our menorahs.
with ALL VOICES saying CANDLE LIGHTING prayers together.
(and a couple of songs also with the focus on united voices)
I will take some screenshots of the group with their lit menorahs... to share with the group
(if possible a short video recording for others to have and or to share..)
Then using the time that the candles are burning..for party-type socializing!
We can encourage people to have their favorite Chanukah food treats to enjoy during the event.. for a touch of eating together...
This is a rough draft form. Your thoughts, feelings, and creative impulses are important to all of us.. so share them with us on the Facebook post or if you are not a Facebook user here on this blog post... in the comments or better yet join the Monday evening at 7pm Central time... MEETING to stARTthe reUniting!... the meeting link will be posted here in the FB post..
Front: Helene Fishman, Marc Tasman, Back: Peter Goldberg, Marge Eiseman Milwaukee Lab PC: Bev Richey
Saturday, November 28, 2020
How Yale destroyed New Haven’s economy
The destruction of New Haven’s commercial and manufacturing economy was no accident. It was a result of the growth of Yale and other tax-exempt institutions on what had been a flourishing free-enterprise economy.
In 1950, 27 percent of New Haven real estate — the chief source of municipal revenues — was exempted from taxation. A decade later, this had risen to 43 percent. By 1990, 65 percent of New Haven’s real estate was tax exempt, meaning the owners of the remaining 35 percent of taxable property had to make up the difference through steep increases in taxes.
Chuck Grassley's Crusade to Tax University Endowments - Pacific Standard
New Haven's Diminishing Tax Base:https://www.google.com/search?q=New+Haven%27s+diminishing+tax+base&oq=New+Haven%27s+diminishing+tax+base&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.17059j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Friday, November 27, 2020
JUDY CHICAGO VIDEO/SPEAKING at the National Women's Gallery
Visit the Penn State University Art Education Collection for information on the Living Curricula and Dialogue Portal.
Social practice (art) - Wikipedia
Early life and education[edit]
Having been involved with feminism since the late 1960s, Lacy attended California State University located in Fresno in 1969, taking up graduate studies in psychology. There, Lacy and fellow graduate student Faith Wilding established the first feminist consciousness-raising group on campus. This led to her attendance in Judy Chicago's Feminist Art Program during the fall of 1970. The 1970s became a period where Lacy continued to explore identities, women's bodies, and social conditions.
Judy Chicago about Woman House at the Women's National Museum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9muNnozFGY
Judy Chicago on Participatory Art/Feminism
https://judychicagoportal.org/theme/participatory-art-pedagogy
problems with social practice/ Mierle Laderman Ukeles/Suzanne Lacy
https://www.artpractical.com/column/we-need-to-talk-about-social-practice/
Women House / Documentary
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211123/
Daughter of a Rabbi/ Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Wikipedia
Socially engaged practice – Art Term | Tate
SOCIALLY ENGAGED PRACTICE
Socially engaged practice describes art that is collaborative, often participatory, and involves people as the medium or material of the work
Assemble
Assemble Group Photo 2014
© Assemble
INTRODUCTION
Socially engaged practice, also referred to as social practice or socially engaged art, can include any artform which involves people and communities in debate, collaboration or social interaction. This can often be organised as the result of an outreach or education program, but many independent artists also use it within their work. The term new genre public art, coined by Suzanne Lacy, is also a form of socially engaged practise.
The participatory element of socially engaged practice, is key, with the artworks created often holding equal or less importance to the collaborative act of creating them. As Tom Finkelpearl outlines in his book What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation, social practice is ‘art that’s socially engaged, where the social interaction is at some level the art.’
SOCIAL PRACTICE AND ACTIVISM
Socially engaged practice can be associated with activism because it often deals with political issues. Artists who work within this field will often spend much time integrating into the specific community which they wish to help, educate or simply share with. Artist Rick Lowe explains:
You have to spend years developing relationships… It’d be an arrogant disregard of a community to come in and think you can grasp all the complexities of a place in a short time.
Interview with Carolina A. Miranda, LA Times, 2014
The artists’ aim could be to help this community work towards a common goal, raise awareness and encourage conversation around issues, or perhaps to improve their physical or psychological conditions.