Sperm made from bone marrow

I thought everyone might be excited to know that the first successful immature sperm cells have been grown from human bone marrow. According to BBC news scientists in Germany have made headway in the development of sperm cells in hopes of growing fully matured sperm cells in the next five years to be used for men rendered infertile.( source: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6547675.stm)
It is finally getting close to the time when we can make the best and brightest breed of human. I am imagining a world were it is possible for men to not only carry the babies but also to impregnate themselves. With the success of womb transplants I can see that we as a human race are getting close to that ideal. Keep your fingers crossed.

March 4, 2007

Some of the finer points brought up in the first article are ones I find to be somewhat relevant, especially for myself, today. The idea of culture-produced art instead of individually created is something I see as true. As a printmaker this idea of community as essential has been engrained into my mind as a way to produce art. It takes the culmination of minds quite often to make successful work. My most recent example I have would be the Patti doll. Yes the idea was my conception, but the idea forced me to take on media that I am not as familiar with. It went from physical print, which I could understand, to digital print which required me to seek the skills of other to help produce. In addition to the physical manifestation it was also necessary to think in terms of web media which lead me to learn about the finer things in website construction. It crossed media needs quite quickly and took the help of several patient and smart people to help me get my idea to fruition. Again it was a community I could call on, who in turn can call on me. It is the idea of culturally produced work.
The other part I found interesting is the fact that the author feels most new art expression was political. I am not in disagreement. Not that all expression is political, but I feel that many works made are a statement with political premises. I don't know what this all means but in our culture today everything seems to have an underling meaning that is referential to the power over us culturally. Whether it is feminism or war protest most people seem to have an agenda of their own that they are more than willing to voice to others. I find this fact a little bit interesting. I do it in my own work and see it done in many others.

February 24, 2007

This idea of collecting is something I find intriguing. Does it really mean anything to have a collection of something like art or baskets or even sugar packets? Personally I would say no unless it carried some personal value. (I am qualifying my statement by saying that I am only referring to personal collections and not those of museums and other large establishments.) In so many instances I have met people who collect art objects not because they like them or even really want them, but because it gives them some sort of perceived social standing that is elitist. It is far more interesting to learn of people who collect things because of fond memories or perhaps even personally tendencies. In the end for me it is not what the object is so much as what the story that goes with it is. The experience is more valuable than the object and that is what makes collecting worth the effort.
With this in mind I took a look at myself and what collections I may have and realized that I have few things in my life that qualify as collections. I would wonder why this is more, but I know why. I don't like to own a lot of things. You can call it what you may, but it is all clutter. Objects are fleeting and of minimal importance and don't make a person any more interesting than they were to start with. I would rather see the things that were deemed important in the hands of an institution that will care for and preserve the integrity of the object than my own cause I would most likely end up throwing it away. I suppose this is somewhat of a backlash to the idea of collecting and hoarding, but for me it is true. Keep it simple and constantly move onward.

February 15,2007

I keep thinking about this notion of the artist social role. It seems bothersome to me to have to organize ourselves into any specific place or categorization. The roles given to us (i.e. the intellectual, the skilled worker, the entrepreneur or the social critic) are blanket descriptions of only parts of our jobs. Can it not be enough to be called artist? Perhaps I am making a false assumption here, but I feel in order to be an artist you are required to be all of these things. You should think, you should be skilled in you craft, you should be able to market yourself and you should be able to respond to life around you. Breaking the whole of us into a system that perhaps makes it easier for others to feel they understand artist is not going to help us in any way. Besides it can be limiting to exist as only one of these things. Parameters should never be set like this on the whole of anyone’s work. It would confine your thinking perhaps eventually making you somewhat obsolete to the world. I don't know about you but I feel like I enjoy living in the world and being a part of it as an artist.

February 2, 2007

After being glazed over on the question of what I would like to do after graduation during my group’s presentation, I thought it might be appropriate to address it now....
When I came to this program I came here to earn a credential that would make it possible to teach if I ever needed to in the future, but it is not what I am seeking to pursue as a career. I have every intention of pursuing a job that allows me to print for a living. In the past I worked with a company that produces their own hand printed wallpaper. This is a relatively new enterprise that was launched with some success almost two years ago now. Currently it is a business that is growing and hopefully by the time I graduate will be productive enough to be able to have me step in to, to begin printing for. With that said though, I have no delusion that it is a possibility that this will not work out as I have dreamed it in my head. This brings up the other reason I came to Grad school, which is to spend time honing skills that can become applicable to lucrative fields like design (specifically toy and game design). I am interested in becoming involved with the things that have inspired my work. I don't look at this as selling out. As long as I love what I do and am allowed to spend time and get paid doing it, it is a successful career to me. I am not in art for fame or fortune.