new URL

Hello friends! I've finally decided to merge my two blogs into one. Now that I have a functioning portfolio website, this blog's function/purpose has somewhat shifted... so I've moved everything from "lauren moore making things" over to "on art etc." (my other art-related blog) and will continue my blogging on a regular basis from that URL. Please follow on art etc. to stay in the loop!!

CLICK HERE 

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on art etc.

a little something

This week I've been continuing some research for a project that I've been working on for the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. I've been serving as a research assistant ("Special Projects Associate" to be specific) to the Halsey's director and curator Mark Sloan for a book proposal/traveling exhibition that's in the works. The project involves the work of Mr. Don ZanFagna, a multi-talented man in his 80's currently living in Mt. Pleasant, SC.

  CLICK HERE to learn more about Mr. ZanFagna

As part of my research, I've been reading up on "Organic Architecture." I've read cover to cover Javier Senosiain's Bio-Architecture, as well as heavily skimmed several others on the subject, and I've come across some ideas and quotes that are particularly relevant in my personal studio work (which shares some aesthetic & conceptual qualities with ZanFagna's). I can't seem to get the following quote, by Frank Lloyd Wright, out of my head. It's taking me somewhere I have been headed for some time... 

Every house is a mechanical forgery of the human body... the whole inside is a sort of stomach that attempts to digest objects, objets d'art perhaps, but objects nonetheless. Here is where the feigned affliction installs itself, always hungry for more objects or plethoric because of excess. It seems like the whole life of the common house is a form of indigestion, an unhealthy body that suffers slight illnesses, that demands constant repairs and remedies to survive. It is a marvel that we, its occupants, are not driven crazy in it and with it; perhaps it is a sort of insanity we have put into it.

 I'm thinking a lot about that quote and how Wright's ideas fit into my body of work/area of interest. I'm excited about the possibilities. Oh yea, and I pulled out some materials today. I've been sitting on my hands for the past few weeks, but I think it's time to start playing around - to see some ideas come to life. The above image is the result of today's toilings.

mmmoving

The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. I drove to Atlanta and back to pick up my mom who graciously drove the 16 ft rental truck crammed with my belongings (who knew one 22 yr old could have so much stuff?!) all the way to Maryland. Steve was my slave for a few days... he packed and shoved and lifted without complaint, stopping only to go to the City Gallery to de-install my portion of the Contemporary Charleston exhibition - while I was at work, hosting a 3 yr old's ballerina birthday party on the day before the big move. We went far too many days on much too little sleep, but thankfully are still here to talk about it.

Taking things out of boxes has proven to be much less stressful (except for the few hours that I couldn't find the coffee grinder). I quickly filled my 2nd floor Silver Spring apartment with room to spare - it's much more spacious than my Race Street abode. After helping unload the rest of my belongings into my (also spacious) UMD studio, Steve headed home to Philadelphia, and after 2 days spent in the North Virginia Mountains at my Uncle Keith's, my mom and I met him there. Our parents met and Steve gave yet another magnificent tour of the city (if you're ever there, call him up!) Mom caught a plane south-bound and I hung around with the Evans' only to sleep through the next 2 afternoons - finally catching up on all the running around and lack of sleep of the previous week.

This week has been spent slowly... getting my apartment set up, little by little. I'm just now starting to learn my way around this place- this place is huge, especially compared to itty bitty Charleston, which has made for lots of wrong turns and missed exits. Yesterday I found my way to the University of Maryland campus again and organized my things in a way that makes me feel much more at home in my studio. I briefly met 2 of the new grad students, Lauren and Jason, who were also getting settled into their new spaces.

Below are 2 shots of my studio so far... much more talk is in store. I want to elaborate on my program, professors, my assistant-ship, etc. But until then...

my homage to charleston

As most of you know, this past spring I graduated from the College of Charleston with majors in Studio Art and Business Administration. Charleston has been VERY good to me for the past 4 years and has provided me with a number of fantastic opportunities that very likely would not have been possible elsewhere. Its small, youthful, and encouraging arts community has made it a great city in which to come of age, to discover a calling, and to grow as an aspiring artist. In just three weeks I will be relocating to the DC area to attend graduate school at the University of Maryland, College Park, but before I say goodbye to this lovely city, I'd like to recognize some of the artists and arts organizations that have been most influential to my development while I've been here.

CofC Studio Art Department

As a student, I've had the opportunity to work closely with some super cool, endlessly encouraging professors. Some of the most supportive and influential include...

 Herb Parker

encourager and motivator who knows how to do everything - always has a humble (and helpful) recommendation or two

 

Jarod Charzewski

non-stop sculptor and perserverant collaborator - will go to lengths for his students

click here to learn more about our collaborative project

Michael Morrison

studio manager and foundry extraordinaire - made me apply for an exhibition as punishment for leaving a mess

 Lily Kuonen

not your typical painting professor - an intellect and a source book for all things art

click here to see a blog post I wrote on one of Lily's shows

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Local Arts Organizations

I've worked closely with the following organizations in a variety of ways...

Redux Contemporary Art Center

known for its diverse exhibitions, subsidized studio space for artists, educational programming, and multidisciplinary approach to the dialogue between artists and audience - I have exhibited here as well as taught classes

click here to see previous blog posts about the classes I taught and the exhibition I was in

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

In addition to producing exhibitions, lectures, film series, publications, and a comprehensive (kick-ass) website, the Halsey serves as an extension of the undergraduate curricula at the College and as a cultural resource for the region - I have been a pseudo-intern, gallery attendant, helping hand, and research assistant here over the past 2 years - Director and curator, Mark Sloan, has served as my adviser and mentor this past year (he deserves a post all to his own)

click here to see images of my work in the Halsey

The City Gallery at Waterfront Park

owned and operated by the city of Charleston - a venue for contemporary artwork that is new, vital and innovative, with a focus on broadening Charleston’s arts outlook - host of the annual Contemporary Charleston exhibition, in which my work was included this year

click here to see images of my work in Contemporary Charleston 2011:Under the Radar

google analytics

I recently signed up for Google Analytics, a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors of a website. I've attached it to my portfolio site (laurenfrancesmoore.com) and can now learn all kinds of things about the people who visit my site. It tells me how many visitors I have each day, where they're from, how many pages they view, how long they stay on my site, how they got to my site, and so so much more. It's a remarkable tool, though I feel slightly narcissistic when I dwell on these details for too long.

I found it particularly interesting that several people have found my website through various tumblr accounts. After doing some digging, I discovered that this image (seen below) of the large steel sculpture I made last year at Franconia Sculpture Park, has made the rounds on tumblr. I'm not too familiar with tumblr and all of its ways, but the fact that this image of my sculpture has 90 "notes" seems pretty cool.

Vessel

fabricated steel

17' x 31' x 22'

CLICK HERE for more images

The blogs I've been featured on all seem pretty cool... I look forward to checking them out in more detail! A few of them include rerylikes, Tumbleword, and ArtPropelled.

Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar

I am so honored to be included in this incredible exhibition... Please check out the 7 other talented artists featured in the show! I've included some installation shots, so you can get a feel for how the gallery space was broken up between the 8 of us. For more info on each artist, please CLICK HERE to see their profiles from the feature in Charleston Magazine, which is serving as the catalog for the show.

and here are the artists in no particular order...

Melinda Mead

 

 www.melindamead.com

Greg Hart

 

www.greg-hart.com

 DH Cooper

Nina Garner

 

www.ninagarner.com

Conrad Guevara

 

 

www.conradguevara.com

 Rebecca West Fraser

 Alan W. Jackson

Lauren Frances Moore

www.laurenfrancesmoore.com

The artists will be giving lectures on their work on the following Saturdays at 5 pm...

• July 2: Rebecca West Fraser and Lauren Frances Moore
• July 9: Conrad Guevara and Melinda Mead
• July 16: Greg Hart and Alan W. Jackson
• July 23: Nina Garner and DH Cooper

some photos of the opening

photo by Reese Moore of Charleston Magazine

photo by Reese Moore of Charleston Magazine

The above photo is of myself (cheese!) with Rebecca Silberman, Program Coordinator at the Halsey and co-curator of the show

 

 photo by Kinsey Gidick of Charleston City Paper

or

Last night was the opening reception for Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park. There was an incredible turnout and I am so honored to be grouped with such a talented bunch of artists! I will post more on the opening and the other artists soon, but for now... I'll show you what I made.

These photos were taken before the opening, and before all the vinyl went up. That big open space to the right of the installation now is filled with my name in large print and my profile from Charleston Magazine.  Stay tuned for more photos!

installing at the city gallery: rolling with the punches

 SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION... how convenient (NOT)

 

But I'm optimistic... I'll make it work to my advantage... somehow

what I have so far

a drawing

This is a drawing I did as a final project for drawing class. It is the product of much deliberation, as drawing is not an active part of my creative process. Rather than draw something from observation, I wanted to make a piece that could potentially fit into my wider body of work. I went for a more process-based approach, which I won't even attempt to fully explain. I'll just say that it involved a number of steps, including reading aloud three definitions of "drawing" with a drawing utensil attached to my chin...

loose charcoal on panels

9" x 12" each

material prep

This week I've been working out behind the sculpture studio to prep my materials for the Under the Radar install. I have a plan.... and I need an outrageous amount of this polyurethane-coated material to make it happen.

Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar

In just one week from today I will begin installing at Charleston's City Gallery at Waterfront Park! I am one of 8 emerging artists that have been selected for the annual Contemporary Charleston exhibition. We've had to keep our lips zipped for the past few months in keeping with the show's theme, "Under the Radar," but the May issue of Charleston Magazine was released just last week with profiles of each artist, so now we can tell the world! Click HERE to see the online version of the magazine article.

The show will open on May 26th and will stay up through the end of July!

Time for me to get to work!!!!!!

the franconia blog

Below is a little something I wrote for the Franconia Sculpture Park blog. Bridget Beck (click her name to see her awesome work!) writes a fantastic blog for the park in which she talks about all things sculpture, not ONLY the on-goings at the park. The blog includes poetry, pictures, definitions, philosophy, and musings of all kind. I recommend checking it out!

 click HERE to see more images of what I made at the park

Here's what I had to day about my time at the park...

“Last June, completely unaware of what was in store, I packed up my Jeep and headed up to the odd place we all know and love, Franconia Sculpture Park. An “Intern Artist Fellowship” seemed like a great way to spend a summer. I thought, “why not?” I was intrigued by the expanse of the place and was invigorated by the thought that I would finally get the chance to make a sculpture without the bounds of pesky doorways and stairwells often encountered in traditional art-viewing institutions.

Upon prepping for my stay, I emailed John Hock with some questions concerning my plans for a very large and very likely overly-ambitious project and his response was this… “We have space. Ambition is good.” And I came to realize, soon after arriving, that this is a widespread theme at Franconia, an anthem of sorts, attesting to the “anything is possible” kind of optimism that is ever-present at the park.So yea, I made a really huge sculpture… but what else is new?

What’s great about Franconia is that I wasn’t the only one doing big things. At Franconia, I was surrounded (and I mean SURROUNDED) by talent and ambition that I had never before experienced. It was the first time I ever spent a length of time with REAL artists, at various stages of their careers, and I learned a great deal about what a future as an artist (particularly a sculptor) might entail. I picked brains for advice and learned much about opportunities that I never knew existed.

The Franconia family (network) is never-ending it seems. It really is a small, small world we sculptors live in. The contacts I made last summer (in addition to the sculpture I made) have proven to be quite valuable in my minimal professional development thus far. Exhibitions, grants, magazine articles, and grad school offers have all followed my summer spent at FSP. Every young sculptor ought to spend some time in a place like Franconia. It should be a requirement.”

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the blog!