Amy Hauft Lecture: 12/02/09

Image of Installation at Western Michigan University "Counter Re-Formation" Oct. 2009

Image of Installation at Western Michigan University "Counter Re-Formation" Oct. 2009

Image of Installation at Western Michigan University "Counter Re-Formation" Oct. 2009


A professor in the sculpture and extended media department at VCU, Amy Hauft, spoke this evening at the Anderson Gallery where she currently has her “Counter Re-Formation” installed. She first installed this piece based around large architectural formats creating indoor landscapes at the University of Western Michigan Albertine Monroe-Brown Gallery from September 10 to October 9, 2009. The piece inhabited a greatly different space when installed at Western Michigan therefore posing challenges on her when asked to install it here at the Anderson. She wanted the viewer to be able to view the white sugar like sculpture acting as snowdrifts, icebergs, sand dunes, and mountain ranges from a straight on view and a view from above. Because landscapes have a large influence on her work, she felt that it is important to see the landscape that you are standing in from above; essentially understand it in a larger picture. A part of her installation, the piece that stands in the center, is a mini staircase that is reproduced out of sugar. She initially saw this mini staircase at a Cooper Hewitt show and saw it as a modern elemental representation of a DNA strand. She was able to convince people at the museum to let her spend some time with the staircase that was then made out of wood and measure it and take some photographs of it as well. She then got in touch with culinary artist and one who specializes in ephemeral art in cooking, Ivan Day, who helped her enter the world of the sugar cane. They worked together and spent time over 16th and 17th century cookbooks that then encouraged her to incorporate the table that was modeled after Louis the XIV’s dining table. Her work began to be heavily influenced by the European Baroque era where they used to make small figurines out of sugar instead of porcelain because of the price; and it looked greatly similar.

Her exhibition at the Anderson had an extra piece to it. Because of the size constraints of the room she built a spiral staircase in the corner of the room so one at a time the viewer could maneuver up the stairs and see the piece from above. The tables appear to mimic continental form and when installed at the University she used white curtains that added a river like quality and movement to the piece. I appreciated her talk of how all of her pieces came from her attempt to create a landscape indoor and recreate moments that she has had outdoors. I enjoy the personal quality her work has and the movement that it takes on even with the materials of wood and steel being the bulk of the make up. I would have liked to see it installed at the University because being a site specific installation I feel like it may have had a different effect on me as a viewer. However, I thought the spiral staircase was a clever choice and the idea that only one viewer can shimmy up it at a time makes it even quirkier.

University of Western Michigan Show Website

VCU's Anderson Gallery

Thursday a.m. Idea Post 12/03

Instructional Dance "Macarena" # 5 Digital C-Print 10x8in 2009

Instructional Dance "Macarena" # 5 Digital C-Print 10x8in 2009


For this performance, the location seemed to be more difficult to choose than the previous four. I have become more aware of my audience and the expectations from each shoot and because of those thoughts in the back of my head I became anxious and doubtful of my performance. Last weekend I researched improvisational performances and wrote about how it pertained to my work in my artist research blog. While performing yesterday I realized how much I already improvised during my performances according to who would come my way or what types of situations I would get myself into during these performances. For instance, yesterday there was this small goat that stood at the fence throughout the entire performance and watched. He was an engaged audience who was curious as to what my motives were and why I was there so early in the morning. I saw him mid way through my performance and moved toward him to see how he would react. How would an audience member react if I noticed them becoming intently focused on me and then moved in close to he/she? Also, during the last part of my performance there happened to be a VCU field trip passing through and making their ways up the path by the barn animals. I motioned them to pass on through and I had to change my place in the frame in order to let the whole class pass by. All of these instances were completely unexpected and therefore I had to react on the spot while on camera.

These performances this semester have encouraged me to test the waters and step outside of my box. All I wanted to do was turn around and go home yesterday morning. Not a lot of the animals were out, there was some employees fumbling around, and some visitors were all there to witness this performance. These performances have challenged me in several ways. They have challenged my anxiety out in public places, my ability to act as other and embody another character, and they have also challenged my self confidence and encouraged me to be more sure about my choices and what I do.

I am feeling satisfied and content with the body of work that I have produced throughout the semester. As my last "Idea Blog" in my college career here at VCU, I want to end this blog on a positive and optimistic note. Using this blog space as an outlet to write all of my current thoughts and ideas down has been a very beneficial thing for me. I have found that I use this blog space also as a different kind of journal. The work that I have written about on this space the last two semesters is work that I would like to continue working on post graduation. My present love for writing and the encouragement to use this space as a place to jot down ideas and receive feed back has been a staple and essential for my work's growth. Thank you Blog Space and thank you Tom for setting forth this challenge and therefore bringing me closer to a body of work that I have thought hours about and have come to really enjoy.

Show Entry 12/01

"Peeking" 5inx7in


"Just A Walk" 5inx7in


"Apple Picking" 7inx5in



My Artworks Space 2010 Juried Show

Monday a.m. Artist Post 11/30

Being able to see and do…

This morning I was watching a special on improv acting at the Second City in Chicago. Being their 50th anniversary, this television special along with a Vanity Fair article I recently read, Second City honored their roots; where and who they began with. Harold Ramis, director and actor in several hit films, was one of a great group that got their start at the Second City acting hall. An excerpt from their website: “Since 1959, The Second City has established itself as a Chicago landmark and a national treasure. The theater that launched the careers of such comic greats as John Belushi, Mike Meyers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and more offers nightly comedy shows, as well as a variety of other programs and services.” These actors learned together the art of improvisational comedy and would continue to work together throughout their professional careers.

The one I thought interested me most was Harold Ramis, actor in Ghostbusters, director of Caddyshack and Groundhog Day to name a few. On the television special this morning it highlighted his keen ability to pick out and work with actors who could throw a curve ball at the audience in an instant. Ramis is not only a director and an actor himself, but he also is one who understands the success and art of improvisational acting and what strength it can add to not only film but many other types of visual and performing arts.

Ramis was born on November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois to food mart shop owners Ruth and Nathan Ramis. His upbringing was primarily Jewish and now in his adult life he does not practice a religion. He went to Nicholas Senn High School and in 1966 he attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. After he graduated from Washington Univesrsity, he worked in a mental institution in St. Louis. Here is a quote from Ramis about his time spent at the institution. “…prepared me well for when I went out to Hollywood to work with actors. People laugh when I say that, but it was actually very good training. And not just with actors; it was good training for just living in the world. It’s knowing how to deal with people who might be reacting in a way that’s connected to anxiety or grief or fear or rage. As a director you’re dealing wit that constantly with actors. But if I were a businessman, I’d probably be applying those same principles to that line of work.”

When watching snippets of his movies and his cast choice, I admire his strong knowledge and faith when choosing these actors and their abilities to improvise. Their improvisations create a unique and visually interesting situation for the viewer to watch unfold. The various scenes through out the film become unpredictable and therefore successful. When I first began this second series of performances I chose to perform the first two out in spaces where there was not a great amount of traffic. However, the more I thought about my use of improv during the performance and what other elements could help deliver some mystery to my audience, I added in the presence of audience variable. I chose to shoot in places that were the exact opposite of where I shot the first two times. Having an involuntary audience creates more ways for me as a performer to improvise and mix up my performances according to their verbal responses, body language, glances and glares, and just over all attitude towards me being within a specific distance of them.

With this being my last artist research blog of my college career and for senior portfolio, I wanted to end on a subject and an artist that relate a good amount to what I am doing right now and what I hope to do in the future after graduation. I have always enjoyed Ramis’ films and am glad I caught the special on CBS Sunday Morning today or else I may have overlooked him and this topic of improv as a whole. While watching the television special I kept thinking to myself how important improv is and how I have not paid enough of attention to it throughout this past year and a half with my performance work. I have one last performance to do to complete my portfolio and I am going to plan on being more aware of my specific actions and reactions while doing the line dance and improvising according to my audience.



Second City Website

Harold Ramis Bio

SCTV Website

Thursday a.m. Idea Post 11/26

Instructional Dance "Crank That" # 4 Digital C-Print 20inx16in

Instructional Dance "Crank That" # 4 Digital C-Print 8inx10in

As final critique nears I have been considering different possible displaying options and my reasoning for going with the option that I have come to choosing. Last semester, the first installment of this collection, I chose to leave the performance images unframed and with out a matt. The “glorified” image or the final image I chose to matt and frame. Thinking of how my work from last semester relates to my work of this semester, I have found that they are all performances dealing with movement and progression with one single performer; the performer who was also in the previous collection. When thinking of how the performances from this semester differ from last, I realized that the differing content would in turn make me question myself what do these specific moments mean and do? (The images that are chosen as the one to be displayed as the representative of the performance or the still image). The images that were chosen were the ones that I felt best represented the performer acting as other. The performance will remain unframed and free to keep/continue moving; I don’t want it to feel trapped or confined to a formal displaying method (frame and matt). The still image is one moment. Maybe one defining moment that paints a clear picture and characterizes the performer in a way that the audience feels like they have a sort of inside look into the performance. Therefore I want to formally place it in a matt and frame and encourage the act of studying. Focusing some extra attention on this specific print is important to the collection as a whole because the performance image tends to draw one in more due to the progression and constant movement throughout the print.

I want to keep my imagery for this collection (both semesters included) as cohesive as possible and feel that their displaying methods should be consistent as well. However, keeping their displaying methods consistent, I am prepared to discuss why I chose to display my new installment in the same way as last semester even though it is significantly different.

Monday a.m. Artist Post 11/23

While I was at work last night a man from India came in and we started talking about fine art and Indian fine art and artisans. I have always been drawn to their craftsmanship and design and we discussed how there are different ways to show movement and progression through art; much of the same as I am currently doing with my work. After I explained to him my process and concept he explained to me a piece that he got from an artist in India that depicts the movement and progression of a popular Indian dance. After he left the store, I started thinking about all of the many ways throughout different cultures that performance art can be depicted and portrayed.
Monali Meher is a performance artist that I recently found who is from Pune, India. She graduated with a BFA in 1990 from Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai and in 1998 she received “Unesco-Aschberg” Residency in Vienna by Federal Chancellery for the Arts and Science. In an exerpt from her website states that, “she felt immense necessity to work with her own body and emotions in public as a new expression/tool.” She has performed at the Tate Modern, the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, at National review on live art Festival in Glasgow, and has been a part of numerous solo and group shows. Most recently, in 2008, she performed “Departed, Assembled, Wrapped, Captured: Time”, at the Lumen Travo, A’dam. In 2005 she performed “Reverse, Rewind, Replay” at the Goliath Visual Space in New York and in 2004 performed “Ceremony” at the Artkitchen gallery in Amsterdam. She has received the VASL International Residency in 2008 from the Triangle Arts Trust Network; in 2007 she was a finalist in the “Black Magic Woman Award” in Amsterdam. In 2004 she received the Khoj International Residency that is funded by the Hivos in New Delhi, India.
She explains that her performance work is based on what is currently surrounding her and usually deals with social and cultural elements in her every day life. She has a specific interest in materials and “how two different materials react to each other and what sort of shape they create, what kind of smell they produce and what impression they make on the viewer” (excerpt from Artist Website). “Use of natural things like roses, used tea bags, coffee filters, henna and cooked rice have a quality of decaying and changing every moment of the time. These assemblages and installations are temporary structures in the time and space created by the performative act.” Much the same as myself, she wrote that the process of getting the performance together and gathering all of the materials and information is a performance in itself and a bulk of what makes the performance either successful or a failure. She uses drawings, photos, and text as a big part of her planning process. I have found that writing out my concept and fully thinking it through on paper helps me prepare for all of the potentials that could happen during the performance.
“Since last ten years, I have been working with performances, using my own body and voice in the space and with video, photographs and installations. My performances are atmospheric and they usually content props. They are sometimes ritualistic and show the cyclical circles of destruction and renewal as well as formal and conceptual ideas and the framework of personal references that inform the fragile divide between my life and art. The element of the past or the process transformation of the material as a quantity of time is of significance. To be able to record and replay time frames and juxtapose real time with mediated time is a vital area of the work.” Exceprt by Monali Meher about her artistic process on her website.

After reading through her statement and looking over a good amount of her stills, I find our styles very similar and our aesthetics. We both work very conceptually and our performances are based on the concepts and not on the attractiveness of the images/video that will be the end result. Both of our footage seems rare and real and I find that those aspects of the performances make them unique and essential for success.




Freewaves Article

Artist Website

Thursday a.m. Idea Post 11/19

They May Not Be Saying It, But That Does Not Mean They Aren't Thinking It
Still From Shoot # 4

Still From Shoot # 4

Still From Shoot # 4

Still From Shoot # 4

Still From Shoot # 4



The may not be saying it, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking it. Last week in my idea blog I spoke about how I was expecting to be snickered at and ridiculed while doing my performance in front of people at this field in my neighborhood. That day I felt as though I was invisible. Yesterday during my performance that took place at a basketball court in Huguenot Park, I felt the presence of my audience throughout the entire performance. I am not sure why this time was different than last weekends other than my age groups were different. This time I had three young kids to my right (under the age of 10) and then three older guys (between ages 25-35) directly behind me. The second age group did not pay much to any attention to me however with the younger age group I felt some strange elitist vibes coming from then. Upon getting to the basketball court, the younger boy had knocked the ball out of bounds and I grabbed it and tossed it his way initially establishing some sort of friendly relationship with one of my audience members. Because these performances I am acting as other and taking on a different persona I am usually pretty aware of how I am being interpreted and mentally taking notes of how I am looked at as this person. My audience knows that I am in costume and am not actually this person however, I wonder if they want to treat me differently because I am acting as other. Throughout this performance, I was able to put away the jittery feelings that I had from my last shoot and actually focus on the instructions from the line dance that I was performing to. I found myself getting into my music and my motions and thinking to myself how would a true Native American perform this dance differently from me to keep encouraging me to try different ways to dance. I have found that there are several different ways to carry myself and with each person I become for that performance, I attempt to act in a manner similar to my character.

At the end of my performance, I packed up my tripod and as I started walking away I felt inclined to thank my audience for their presence and cooperation. First mistake: do not confront my audience when they are my audience involuntarily. I glanced at the father playing basketball with his three young boys and simply thanked him. He looked over at me as if I had several socially unacceptable things about me. Immediately I felt this disgusted vibe float toward me and I went from being pleased with my performance to seeing clearer exactly what I am doing. The man I spoke to, one of the audience members, treated me as if I was “other”; a socially unaccepted “other”. It was perfect. I felt like a turtle that needed to crawl back into my shell with the exception that I could not do that until I walked all the way back to my car. I got into my car feeling strangely upset and satisfied simultaneously. This may be the first time I have felt those two at the same time and it was a strange combination.