Right now I find myself in a very special spiritual space. Having spent close to a week in NYC, my soul and spirit is immersed in art. Everywhere I look, I see art. The conversations, the dialogue, the interactions between people are magically engaged in art making of some sort. Art seems to be everywhere. The sounds, the rhythms, the textures of this city are really amazing. Two Art faculty and myself interviewed around 70 candidates for four tenure track positions at UNLV the past few days. All of the interviews we conducted for the four faculty positions the Department of Art is looking to fill, fills me with “artspeak”. Very exciting sensation! Reminds me of the words of the American watercolorist E. A. Whitney: “Design is like gravity—the force that holds it all together.” As students currently taking an art class at UNLV, where do you get “artspeak”? Where do you find “the force that holds it all together?
There is also a curious tension here in NYC which is also present in Las Vegas—only different somehow. The tension in Vegas has a different tautness I suspect. Joy Hester, an Australian modernist painter, once remarked: “. . . .it’s really a tightrope sort of thing, living”. Her works seems to resonate with me right now. As you work your way to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art Tuesday evening for our first meeting in the Warhol exhibition, please pay close attention to the sights, sounds, smells, textures that surround you as you drive and transition from campus (or where ever you are coming from) to the BGFA. And think of the quotes listed above, from Whitney to Hester, as you make this transition. Hopefully we can have an “artspeak” discussion at this, our first meeting with the Warhol gallery. See you soon!
Joy Hester, Figure
Joy Hester, Girl
Art and Honors BGFA 
Quite frankly the force or “artspeak” finds me more than I try to find it. It isn’t something that I seek it just finds me in the routines and in the unpredictability of life. It can come in quiet or solitude, or among social energy, music, art, literature, emotions of happiness or sadness. Ultimately it comes from living, and participating where life serves as the biggest catalyst to inspiration.
From what I understand, artspeak is defined as the specialist vocabulary associated with art and artists. As a biology student, I don’t get my daily dose of artspeak. Maybe I do, but it’s just that I’m not aware of its presence.
In a way, though, I get my artspeak from a film class I took last semester. We learned all sorts of terminology and correct analytical ways in class to examine a film shot or scene. Since then, every time I watch a movie in the theatre, those words switch on in my head and I end up critiquing the film instead of enjoying it for the sake of entertainment. I have also unintentionally been using those techniques to analyze any posters, advertisement images, and such without me knowing. Art is everywhere in all kinds of forms, bringing people together and creating discourse; thus, in a way, generating a whole culture. However, you will not fully recognize its presence or effects unless you’re familiar with it to some level academically.
I get my artspeak when I’m hanging out with my thirteen year old daughter. She’s artistic, like me, and keeps me up to date on what’s cool in the art world. I also like speaking to my peers, they help me when I just don’t get it, they give me a different perspective on different types of art.
Because this is my first art class, I am unsure of what exactly “artspeak” is. However, I will assume that “artspeak” has to do with inspiration in general. I do not believe that there is a certain thing that inspires me. Inspiration comes from anything. I could be driving to the grocery store, and suddenly an idea for a research topic appears in my head. So for me, inspiration is not something I can get, it is something that finds me. As for “the force that holds it all together,” I would like to explain it through the context of the quote itself. When I read this quote, I immediately thought of the true forces that work to hold things together. Intermolecular and Intramolecular forces (interactions between molecules or within molecules) would be what hold things together. So in actuality the quote would make more sense to me if it was “Design is like an intermolecular bond-the force that holds it all together.” This is what I believe what “holds it all together” for me. Which aren’t exactly intermolecular forces specifically, but science in general. Science’s ability to attempt to understand and give and explanation to nature and life’s mysteries is what makes things make sense to me. Although a vast majority of these explanations may be theoretical, it still gives a basis to our understanding of the mechanics of life. Which is, in a way, like art as well. Art and its ability to depict life as it is or in a new perspective is what fascinates me about it.
I understand “artspeak” as the discussion and interaction one has with others regarding thoughts, feeling, and insights regarding the world around them. Most of the time this discussion is regarding a work of art, but not always. It can also be about a pome, a song, a color, a flower, a shape, or even an idea among endless other things. I most often find myself engaged in this type of discussion with my art peers at school, but also with family, colleagues and friends. I believe the force that holds this all together is the connectedness that we all share as a part of the universe. That being said, the force is therefore all around us. We don’t have to find it. We just have to recognize that it is there.
What NYC and Vegas have in common is that they are both business centers. Vegas is the self-proclaimed entertainment capital of the world and NYC serves as the headquarters for multi-national corporations. People are there to get stuff done and you can feel that energy. That focus and determination can be off-putting to some, and interpreted as rude or mean-spirited.
That is why I have to often leave the city. I seek quite space where I can slow down and think about what I’ve taken in. I receive inspiration from many sources, but it must be purposely sought. I’m a typical type-A personality, so if it’s not on my agenda I’ll miss it!
Vegas can be incredibly inspirational. It is the ultimate marriage of art and commerce. It uses the technical skills of artists to create a mirage in the desert that others want to see. It may not be fine art, but its creation does employ the fundamentals that all successful artists must know. If you accept things for what they are, you are able to recognize their value to inspire.
To me, I find the most inspiration to be in the studio spaces throughout the School of Architecture. Staying within this environment helps me concentrate, and develop ideas further than I could on my own. It’s the fact that each colleague, each student can see the same thing and have different meanings, have different viewpoints. Each semester we are all given similar, if not the same project, and each one of us will develop something different. Each one of us focuses on something completely different. And it is this that I love being around. Each one of our designs is correct in their own light. None of the designs is wrong, it’s just that each one focuses on something completely different. And I love that environment that each one of us can tackle the same thing in a different meaning. The fact that each of us can see things and describe things differently and solve the same problem shows that each one of us is human, each one of us is different, and yet each one of us can come to a similar conclusion through different means. This is the environment that I live in, and love to be in.
Artspeak tends to allude me. I appreciate and find inspiration around me constantly, but rarely search for words to define the emotions I feel. When I cook, I’m filled with wonder and happiness – from the ingredients and how the cut-off base of a bunch of celery looks like a rose, to the final product and how the burst of red Sriracha stands out against the soft pink of steamed salmon. I revel in these moments, but I don’t constrict them with language. I think that’s the beauty of art – that language doesn’t need to be part of it in order to declare it art. Art is. It shouldn’t have to explain itself. It can – naturally, and it often does, by means of the artist or the person viewing the art, but I stray from that. As far as design is concerned, and whether it is “the force that holds it all together,” I’m torn. Without gravity, chaos would ensue. However, how often have we longed to fly, to hover, to defy gravity? While it holds life together, it also inhibits us. Perhaps it is there as a challenge, as is design. A taunting concept. Design seems to say “I define you. Follow me. You can’t break free from me… or can you?” I find design within myself. Design is self-inflicted, and self-emulated. Architecture, particularly, inspires me in terms of design.
Elude, not allude :]
As a philosophy/English major, a lot of my inspiration comes from philosophy and literature. In writing and in dance, I’ve always found that the purest expressions of self come from a combination of technique and emphasizing whatever it is that makes you unique, whatever only you can offer. I’m most often inspired by artists with a bit of a flair for the macabre or as Edgar Allan Poe put it “…that fitful strain of melancholy which will ever be found inseparable from the perfection of the beautiful.” It would be unfair of me not to mention my friends who are a demented combination of artists, dancers, and clowns.
For me art speak is You Tube, Magazines, Television, Design Lectures on I Tunes U, the Classes and the Professors that profess them, art speak is all around for me too. I think the more I know and the more art that I am exposed to, opens up new and more elaborate ideas of art. It is truly like making a foundation for a house, for me ideas build on top of each other. I think for me to hold it together for, art ideas is unlike riding a horse but it is like learning to draw, a muscle memory, one needs to reinforce constantly to grow the muscle, art is never stopping.
As an engineer, my “artspeak” comes from looking at different mechanisms. Whether it be a car or a jet engine, there is always something there to inspire me. For example, I look at a jet engine, and even though I know how it works, it always inspires me how everything works together to produce thrust. It’s quite amazing how spinning blades are able to manipulate the air to achieve enough thrust to power a huge plane. Just looking at a huge 747 flying through the air is quite amazing. That thing is huge and heavy! How does it fly?! It’s amazing that engineering principles actually work in producing something useful. Observing how the laws of physics can be used to create designs that are able to better our lives is my “force that holds it all together.” Without knowing physics and the math behind it, engineering is pretty useless.
When I travel i cant help to recognize the different vibes i get from other cities. Las Vegas isn’t no where near the same as LA or NY. Yes we live in a huge city. But if you avoid the strip, your fine. We don’t have the pollution LA has nor do we have the busy traffic streets from NY. I think in a way we are disclosed to the true feeling of living in a CITY CITY. But I’m not going to lie i have tried living in other cities and coming back home is such a blessing I look forward to whenever I leave it.
I am lucky to have various outlets in my life that allow me to get artspeak from all over. At school, i have plenty of colleagues to talk to and discuss, including several professors. The classes that I am taking now also add to that access. In my Visual Art Seminar, a majority of what we do is artspeak. We watch films about Nature and its influence on art, and also films about artists themselves that inspire thoughtful conversations. At my job, I am able to get insight from my boss who is an artist. He received his BA at UNLV, so our network is quite the same. I have been very lucky to have met some very important people by networking between work and school. When it comes to downtime at home, even though my closest cohorts have nil to do with art in the same way as me, I still make it a point to bring up and talk about. I’m known for dragging many of these people to art openings and museums to expose them to something I find so fascinating myself. I think it is this energy that I have for art that brings out the interest in those who are close to me but have not been exposed to art the way that I have.
Travelling outside of Las Vegas has given me the opportunity to see art differently and on a larger scale. I would love to one day travel to New York and be submerged in the culture out there. My most recent escape was to San Francisco. There were art galleries absolutely everywhere, and I was able to visit the SFMOMA. That was a wonderful experience. I was able to share it with other guests at the museum, and conduct artspeak with strangers. It is similar to knowing a language, and when you find someone who speaks it, you feel compelled to conversate with that person.
I spent a week in NYC during my winter break and the sensation you feel sparks in me whenever I think of my time spent there. I had never felt so immersed in art as I did when I was there. I felt like I was time traveling, I saw so much art and so many different genres, mediums, and artists. It was like I was seeing for the first time and I didn’t ever want to close my eyes again. I felt like I couldn’t spend enough time in front of these pieces. I wish I had forever to spend in museums and galleries. I also went to Chicago and had the same feelings in their museums. I saw art I had been taught about and dreamt of seeing. It’s funny how you see something on a projector, and know exactly what to look for, but the second it is in front of you it is as if you had never seen it before. It takes on a whole new life. I stood so close to so many great paintings, I felt like I was in the presence of each artist. I saw so many great artists’ works that my heart felt full and complete. Even now, I can feel the emotions I felt in those cities. I was also fortunate to travel around Europe in world-renown museums, but for some reason the art in NYC really stuck with me. It is something about the atmosphere, it isn’t just past art and the spectacle of it, it is modern artists analyzing these works and finding inspiration for their future, for our future. NYC is the new center of the art world, this is the now and the new. I will never feel what I felt there in the presence of the art and those people unless I return. I love “artspeak,” although I must admit I am not as well-versed as others. I love art and it does something inside of me, it changes my mood for the better and opens my mind to thoughts I never dreamt of thinking. The conversations held with “artspeak” are the best kind. As much as I sometimes say I hate the politics of the UNLV art department and how I wish I had learnt more or had more time to understand what I was being told, I will admit I have learned so much about art and grown more than I could have ever imagined as an artist. I still have tons of growing and understanding to do, but I am grateful for my time spent here and now truly appreciate my education. You don’t realize all you are missing until it is too late, so being away of the sights, noises, and textures are so important to daily life and I find myself trying harder and harder every day to really embrace what is around me.
I get my “artspeak” at high school every day where I teach. All of my classes are filled with it and I continually immerse not only my self but my students with everything art. I am extremely lucky to have a career that I love and not only am I able to discuss the business of art with students and colleagues, but I am also creating art every day!