We stationed a docent to be on-site during our regularly scheduled gallery hours to offer information about the piece and to collect visitors’ various responses. Our docents were Eric Dobbins, founder of Wonderfair gallery in Lawrence, KS; Kansas City Art Institute student Katy McRoberts; and community artist John Hilger, who is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

The docents were encouraged to engage visitors- both those who appeared specifically to see the piece, and those just happening across it while enjoying the park- in order to collect opinions and discuss thoughts about the work, its creation, and whatever other issue might be brought up.

The docents offered visitors the choice of one of three buttons as a memento. These buttons gave the docents an opportunity to break the ice by offering a gift, but also served as something like a casual ballot- a viewer’s choice of buttons offered possible insight into her or his perspective about the work. This was, admittedly, a rather unscientific method for gathering reactions, but it served to be useful in catalyzing conversation about all kinds of topics- from the economy to patriotism to the complexities of the Federal Reserve bank.

The docents were given digital recorders to document responses, a few of which we would like to share here. We were thrilled by the diversity of responses, which ranged from enthusiasm to disgust- both about the piece itself and the perceived necessity or frivolity of a piece as audacious as this one. Given that one stated goal of IOU/USA was to generate discussion, we wish to share the following responses collected during its brief lifetime:

Retired Navy Officer, 20 yrs. in the service:

“Well, I like it. I like things with whimsy. You’re gonna die any day so you can’t take things so serious. And ten minutes after you die, no one will give a damn. Hell, maybe five minutes.”

Refused buttons and pamphlet.

Two Ladies Walking:

One takes IOU button and asks, “Is this art?”

Runner:

“What is it?” 

I explain briefly as he runs past.

“I think it’s weird! I think it’s wonderful!”

Thursday, September 15

Mother and Son walking dog:

Mother takes USA.

Child (8ish) takes IOU.

John, from Minnesota:

“I like the pamphlet a lot; it answered all of the questions I had about the work. I think it’s very appropriate for the location, by the Fed.”

Group just exiting the Money Museum, Woman from Texas and couple from Springfield. Texan is holding a bag of shredded bills from the Museum. Woman from Texas:

“I think its a shame something like this has to be up, but its true.”

[Motions toward the IOU.]

Woman takes IOU.Couple takes all 3 buttons.

Unknown male:

“Is it art?” [Reading pamphlet and sign.] “They tried to fight it? The Fed tried to fight it. That speaks with a loud voice right there. Someone needs to call Fox News and get them down here to do a story.”

Asked to take 3 IOU/USA buttons, and 1 USA.

Silver sports car driving by:

“GET A LIFE!”

Three women powerwalking:

“I can’t wait until they get rid of that thing!”

Companion: “SHHH!”

Did you visit the site of IOU/USA? Did it spark any thoughts for you? If so, we welcome you to share them-positive, negative, or otherwise- in the comments section below.

Interested artists should take a look at this great opportunity:

Applications Open for 2nd Edition of of the Future Generation Art Prize

Have a look at these exciting photos of IOU/USA by John Salvest during its installation in Memorial Hill Park. The sculpture was on view 24 hours a day from September 2 – October 16, 2011.

All images and captions by the artist. Click to enlarge the images.

First 40’ container is placed after site at Penn Valley/Memorial Hill Park is surveyed, excavated and leveled.

The first course is carefully placed. The integrity of the structure is dependent upon a level foundation.

Completion of first course with Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in the background.

As per Federal Reserve requirements, each container is inspected, recorded and locked in the presence of Reserve security officers.

Grand Arts’ E.J. Holland helps get the second row started.

Belger Cartage crane crew setting an NOL container.

Corner connectors secure each container to another.

20’ containers are used to account for textual discrepancies between the IOU and USA sides.

With World War I Memorial in background, the crane operator picks a container from the staging area.

A Hyundai container finishes out the third level.

Looking from the west, the project begins to assert its presence before the Federal Reserve building.

As the structure rises, its message slowly reveals itself.

The final course nears completion.

View of IOU/USA as it is approached from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

View of the War Memorial and downtown Kansas City from atop IOU/USA.

Greetings from the staff at Grand Arts!

As you may have noticed, we have been a bit quiet of late. We are currently working towards developing a large-scale public installation with the artist John Salvest. The process of gaining the necessary permissions, documentation, and engineering specifics has been a journey. The experience has been illuminating and has served as the catalyst for many in-depth conversations among our staff and the collaborators with whom we find ourselves working to realize this piece.

After many meetings, documents, and conversations, we have at long last secured the site for John Salvest’s public project. It is a thrilling prospect to create work in the public sphere and we expect the sculpture will contribute to a healthy dialogue regarding some of the pressing issues that we, as a culture, are currently facing. Many thought-provoking ideas have surfaced even in the beginning stages of this endeavor. Does the nature of the site as public property give us the right to use the space as a venue for contemporary art? If so, what are the limits of free-speech in such a context? Whose voice may speak from such a platform and how might the work provide the opportunity for larger conversation? As we navigate the various hurdles necessary to achieve our goal, these are but the most surface questions with which we are faced. We are delighted to have the chance to use contemporary art as a vehicle to energize conversation and thought among our community.

The work we do at Grand Arts necessarily requires us to meet the unique challenges of projects as they come. Such work demands that we take a fluid and holistic perspective when approaching these problems- which, more often than not, puts us in unexpected positions with some unexpected people. Such unpredictability is part of what makes Grand Arts such a stimulating place to be. Contemporary art is one of the few fields of study where the boundaries by which it is defined have all but dissolved. Though some might fear that the nebulous nature of what constitutes ‘contemporary art’ has rendered the term and its practice obscure in the least, we at Grand Arts believe that the transdisciplinary approach of contemporary art practice is one of its greatest boons. We are not held captive by narrow definitions and find ourselves in the unique position of being able to explore the world with a wide lens. Our current project with John Salvest is a prime example of this. When we can see and inhabit a world less defined by conventional divisions, we can create meaningful connections to which we may have been previously occluded. The emergent hybrids formed by these connections often serve not just as novel cross-pollinating, but work to produce qualitative and fundamental evolutionary strides in human culture. Such growth is a worthwhile endeavor for the arts—even if it means we have to hole up every once in a while to do the work. The unique challenges of working in the public sphere have deepened this belief and have served to catalyze the mission of Grand Arts. We can’t wait to share with you.

Please check back often, as we are excited to share the development of our upcoming projects!

Seth Johnson
Design and Communications Coordinator
Grand Arts

We hosted an intimate group last Saturday afternoon for Summer and Lacey’s Haiku workshop. After some free-writing individually, we each read a selection of our poems aloud and then moved on to more interactive tactics for composing. We exchanged pages around the circle and then re-worked the words and phrases of that person’s haiku into new ones. The most interesting results came from another round of passing the page, a line-by-line Haiku Exquisite Corpse, of sorts. Here are the results of some of these anonymous exchanges in the 5-7-5 format.

The birds and the bees,

Malfunction did us all in,

Algorithm broke.

Don’t go to Safe Way.

A silent spring come to life.

Consider your luck.

Pen lives in your hand.

Focus on the afterlife.

Seeing the unknown.

A thick winter coat.

It reeks, I’m pretty sure, death,

Impossible now.

Fecund between us.

The foundation is cracking.

All sentenced to death.

Can I get a beer?

Report the news from my bed.

Undesirable.

Artist and educator May Tveit produced an installation in the Grand Arts main gallery as part of Dialogue by Design: Experimental Platforms Intimate Conversations. I asked Tveit to reflect on the development of the piece and on the role that the theme of conversation plays in her practice. Feel free to stop by during gallery hours (Thursday and Friday from 10AM-5PM and Saturday from 11AM-5PM) and explore the work, post thoughts in the archive room and start a conversation of your own. -SF

GA: In what ways does the theme and/or concept of “conversation” inform and shape your work?

MT: I began thinking about the conversation ‘space’ and the manner in which a work would occupy space and potentially connect and intersect with people, furniture, walls, ceiling, floor–playing with the idea of a work moving inside and outside the gallery space–as a conversation would flow and move and change and morph. I thought about what materials conceptually and poetically represent the weight and weightlessness of thought, the back and forth of dialogue, and how a work might respond cumulatively to each conversation event as the Dialogue series unfolded.

The resulting primary work consists of a metal structure holding multiple rolls of industrial scale white plastic ribbon. Metaphorically I see these rolls as  21st century banderoles or speech scrolls. A banderole is an illustrative device used to denote speech, song or in some cases sound in medieval and renaissance paintings and is the art historical precursor to the modern day iconic graphic thought/talk bubble. On the east wall of the gallery I merged three art historical references into/onto small sculptural dialogue bubbles. I gravitated toward the window niche in the gallery as a long rectangular volume and as a place where light is let in, and typically where a building breathes. A window is a communication space between the outside & inside and vice versa, and the blank rolls of ribbon signify conversations yet to be had….waiting to unwind, unfurl, happen.

GA: As a visual artist, what was your process for collaborating with poet Lori Brack?

MT: The process was very fluid and multi-faceted. I brought in a lot of research and readings about ‘conversation’ and ‘dialogue’ and had pages and pages of hi-lighted articles and text, images and notes and sketches connected to my findings and interests. I also loaded up my car with a variety of materials: latex and clear vinyl balloons, nylon rope of various thicknesses, string, colored ribbon, bricks, and a handful of compressed wood sculptural objects shaped like comic-book style thought-bubbles. Right before our afternoon meeting I inflated a white 5’ diameter balloon at the gas station a few blocks away and drove it over (very slowly) as I held it outside my car window. I wanted to bring in materials, objects, physical things that metaphorically and conceptually would make the feeling and concept of conversation tangible. Stacy, Lori and I talked, walked through the space and emailed a few sketches and notes back and forth. Our meeting and discussion created both a common ground of understanding… and creative fuel to make out individual works.

GA: In what ways has the Installation changed since the Conversation Matter event? Clearly, the conversations were activated and informed by the installation, did it work the other way around, too? Will the installation respond to the conversation? If so, in what ways?

MT: At the end of the first and second conversation events, the participants were invited to leave a thought, a question, or a provocation in the space. They did this by writing on prepared, smaller scaled pieces of the plastic ribbon, and then unfurled and tossed them onto the walls of the gallery.  These banderole/speech scrolls attached to the walls by static electricity, and over time, eventually fell to the perimeter of the floor. The ribbons were collected and the text transcribed to become part of the overall project archive, which is an ongoing event. The piece continues to evolve into smaller units: a pile of accumulating ribbon on the floor; mass units draped over metal saw horses;  adding and subtracting rolls from the suspension apparatus; playing the nature of the thought-content;  and I continue to imagine how the work might extend physically into the public realm. The work itself has been a catalyst for ongoing conversations with Stacy about what it is, and what it can become… and it is this spirit of experimentation, openness and risk that Stacy has infused in this series at Grand Arts that I love.

Furniture Prototypes

Project Managers E.J. Holland and April Pugh designed and produced these awesome pieces for our “Dialogue by Design” conversation series. They’re made of recyclable materials AND they’re ergonomic!

Stacked Chairs

Rocker

Stacked Drawing Tables

Conversation Matter: An Open Forum
Saturday, November 20th at 2PM at Grand Arts
Please contact Tasha to make a reservation @ 816-421-6887 or gallery@grandarts.com

As part of our upcoming conversation and event series, Dialogue by Design: Experimental Platforms for Intimate Conversations, poet and educator Lori Brack is designing the first event Conversation Matter: An Open Forum. I asked Brack to tell us a little bit about her background and what we can expect next Saturday. Conversation Matter is free and open to all, however reservations are encouraged due to limited seating. Hope to see you there! SF

GA: In what ways has your background in poetry informed this event?

LB:I’ve always been bewitched by words — both drawn to their magic and consumed by their mystery — and my work as a poet has been an attempt to probe the magic and mystery using a pen as an instrument. Conversation is fascinating to me in many of the same ways — magical and mysterious — because it is elusive and ephemeral and because it is made up of so much more than the words we use. I’m interested in how a human can use all the languages of the body and mind to say something important, and I’m interested in how another human uses languages to hear and listen and maybe respond. I think writing is an attempt to describe and express and make the little black squiggly marks on the page reach across and tell or mean or move. And I think conversation is the same attempt, embodied. Now that I think of it, both writing and conversing are at least as much about listening as they are about saying.

GA: What is the process of your collaboration with May Tveit?

LB: Stacy and I were working on the format of the conversation and she suggested that we work with an artist to create the material trace or the metaphorical reflection and suggested May as an artist who might be right for these ideas. I had known about her work from keeping up with what the Spencer Museum at KU does, but we had never met. May and I exchanged a brief email correspondence, and then May and Stacy and I spent one late October afternoon together when we spread out materials and ideas and talked, followed by more emails that consisted of photographs and drawings and lots of words. We’re still at that stage. Collaborating is as much about letting go as it is about coming together. I think our conversations are catalysts that allow May and me and Stacy to go away and spin our own metaphors and materials out of what we started face-to-face.

GA: What should people expect from Conversation Matter: An Open Forum?

LB: People should expect a serious but open environment that might at first feel a little bit prescriptive but should soon unfold. I’m working with a conversational format that is based in turn-taking, questioning, and listening rather than in debating, speaking out, and competing. Because our culture seems to move fast when someone takes up most of the space for communication, at first this kind of open forum might feel unfamiliar. I’m counting on those who participate to bring curiosity, flexibility, and openness as we experiment together and talk about how and why we converse, why we value it, and what conversation can do in our individual and collective lives. That, plus great food and a visually enriched environment with May’s installation unwinding around them as they sit on the special and lovely new conversation furniture!