Identity, from the PBS series "Art:21"
The theme: the questions “who am I?” and “who are we?” are central throughout our lives. Viewers are introduced to the varied artistic explorations of Maya Lin as she considers the degree to which she is an artist or architect, having achieved national fame as a young graduate student when her now famous design was selected for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Kerry James Marshall’s paintings and installations emerge from and reflect his deep ties to family as well as his lifelong study of art history. Louise Bourgeois’s work examines the importance of memory as a foundation of identity. The densely psychological videos, sculptures and installations of Bruce Nauman consider the relationships among artist, viewer and society.
The opening: The opening is a collaboration between comedian, writer and art collector Steve Martin and artist William Wegman. Wegman graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art with a bachelor of fine arts (painting) degree and then enrolled in a painting and printmaking program at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he received a master of fine arts degree. After teaching at various universities, Wegman became interested in other media and began to explore photography and the then infant medium of video. While living in California, Wegman began a long collaboration with his weimaraner dog, Man Ray, who became a central figure in his work and renowned worldwide for his endearing deadpan presence. In 1972, Wegman and Man Ray moved to New York and continued to collaborate for another 12 years. In 1986, Wegman acquired a new dog, Fay Ray, and began another famous collaboration, marked by Wegman’s use of the Polaroid 20x24 camera. With the birth of Fay’s litter in 1989 and her daughter’s litter in 1995, Wegman’s cast grew.
Questions for Before viewing:
Who am I? How do we show others who we are? Do we have a single identity?
After viewing:
What makes the opening of this program funny?
What role do the dogs play?
What role does Steve Martin play as host, and how does this compare to the personality of other television hosts, for example, on game shows or the news?
What kind of identity do these hosts project?
What are some ways in which people express their identity? In literature? In music? In clothing? In their homes?
Each of the individuals featured in this program is identified as an artist. What makes someone an artist?
How do the artists’ identities come through in their art?
Compare and contrast Lin and Nauman with respect to how their different cultural backgrounds might affect their work.
All artists tell us something about themselves in their work. Compare the art of Marshall and Bourgeois with respect to how their art reflects their lives.
BRUCE NAUMAN
Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bruce Nauman has been recognized as one of the most innovative and provocative of America’s contemporary artists. Nauman finds inspiration in the activities, speech and materials of everyday life. Confronted with what “to do” in his studio soon after graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of California at Davis, Nauman had the simple but profound realization that if “I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art .” Working in sculpture, video, film, printmaking, performance and installation, Nauman’s art centers less on the development of a characteristic style and more on the way in which a process or activity can transform or become a work of art. The text from an early neon work proclaims, “The artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.” Whether or not we—or even Nauman—agree with this statement, the underlying subtext of the piece suggests the way in which the audience, artist and culture at large are all implicated in the resonance a work of art will have. Nauman lives in New Mexico where in addition to making art, he breeds and trains quarter horses.
Before Viewing
Much of Nauman’s work emerges from his daily life experiences. At any given moment he is likely to be working on a number of different pieces in a variety of media. Assign students the task of trying to learn as much as they can about Nauman’s life simply by watching this segment. This will mean paying careful attention and may require more than one viewing.
After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• What are the ways in which Nauman makes you, the viewer, pay attention?
• Were you paying attention? List the different media Nauman works in and discuss the connections, if any, among them. How do you think the use of varied media affects his view of himself as an artist as well as other people’s view of him as an artist? Is it important for society to be able to categorize an artist? Why or why not?
• Discuss Nauman’s statement: “Whatever I was doing in the studio must be art.” Is this statement different from “If I am in the classroom, then whatever I am doing must be educational”? Defend your views.
• Nauman remarks that “accidents keep it real.” In general, what role do you think accidents play in art? How do you reconcile his interest in accidents with his statement that “You have to be clear about what you are trying to do?”
Images on the Web
• Vices and Virtues at stuart collection.ucsd.edu/nauman/index.html
• Double Poke in the Eye II at www.kemperart.org/perm.html
The theme: the questions “who am I?” and “who are we?” are central throughout our lives. Viewers are introduced to the varied artistic explorations of Maya Lin as she considers the degree to which she is an artist or architect, having achieved national fame as a young graduate student when her now famous design was selected for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Kerry James Marshall’s paintings and installations emerge from and reflect his deep ties to family as well as his lifelong study of art history. Louise Bourgeois’s work examines the importance of memory as a foundation of identity. The densely psychological videos, sculptures and installations of Bruce Nauman consider the relationships among artist, viewer and society.
The opening: The opening is a collaboration between comedian, writer and art collector Steve Martin and artist William Wegman. Wegman graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art with a bachelor of fine arts (painting) degree and then enrolled in a painting and printmaking program at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he received a master of fine arts degree. After teaching at various universities, Wegman became interested in other media and began to explore photography and the then infant medium of video. While living in California, Wegman began a long collaboration with his weimaraner dog, Man Ray, who became a central figure in his work and renowned worldwide for his endearing deadpan presence. In 1972, Wegman and Man Ray moved to New York and continued to collaborate for another 12 years. In 1986, Wegman acquired a new dog, Fay Ray, and began another famous collaboration, marked by Wegman’s use of the Polaroid 20x24 camera. With the birth of Fay’s litter in 1989 and her daughter’s litter in 1995, Wegman’s cast grew.
Questions for Before viewing:
Who am I? How do we show others who we are? Do we have a single identity?
After viewing:
What makes the opening of this program funny?
What role do the dogs play?
What role does Steve Martin play as host, and how does this compare to the personality of other television hosts, for example, on game shows or the news?
What kind of identity do these hosts project?
What are some ways in which people express their identity? In literature? In music? In clothing? In their homes?
Each of the individuals featured in this program is identified as an artist. What makes someone an artist?
How do the artists’ identities come through in their art?
Compare and contrast Lin and Nauman with respect to how their different cultural backgrounds might affect their work.
All artists tell us something about themselves in their work. Compare the art of Marshall and Bourgeois with respect to how their art reflects their lives.
BRUCE NAUMAN
Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bruce Nauman has been recognized as one of the most innovative and provocative of America’s contemporary artists. Nauman finds inspiration in the activities, speech and materials of everyday life. Confronted with what “to do” in his studio soon after graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of California at Davis, Nauman had the simple but profound realization that if “I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art .” Working in sculpture, video, film, printmaking, performance and installation, Nauman’s art centers less on the development of a characteristic style and more on the way in which a process or activity can transform or become a work of art. The text from an early neon work proclaims, “The artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.” Whether or not we—or even Nauman—agree with this statement, the underlying subtext of the piece suggests the way in which the audience, artist and culture at large are all implicated in the resonance a work of art will have. Nauman lives in New Mexico where in addition to making art, he breeds and trains quarter horses.
Before Viewing
Much of Nauman’s work emerges from his daily life experiences. At any given moment he is likely to be working on a number of different pieces in a variety of media. Assign students the task of trying to learn as much as they can about Nauman’s life simply by watching this segment. This will mean paying careful attention and may require more than one viewing.
After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• What are the ways in which Nauman makes you, the viewer, pay attention?
• Were you paying attention? List the different media Nauman works in and discuss the connections, if any, among them. How do you think the use of varied media affects his view of himself as an artist as well as other people’s view of him as an artist? Is it important for society to be able to categorize an artist? Why or why not?
• Discuss Nauman’s statement: “Whatever I was doing in the studio must be art.” Is this statement different from “If I am in the classroom, then whatever I am doing must be educational”? Defend your views.
• Nauman remarks that “accidents keep it real.” In general, what role do you think accidents play in art? How do you reconcile his interest in accidents with his statement that “You have to be clear about what you are trying to do?”
Images on the Web
• Vices and Virtues at stuart collection.ucsd.edu/nauman/index.html
• Double Poke in the Eye II at www.kemperart.org/perm.html
MAYA LIN
Born in 1959 in Athens, Ohio, Maya Lin catapulted into the public eye when, as a senior at Yale University, she submitted the winning design to a national competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. Writing about the memorial, a black granite wedge that emerges from and disappears into the ground, she says it “does not force or dictate how you should think. In that sense it’s very Eastern. . . . It reflects me and my parents.” Her father was the dean of fine arts at Ohio State University, and her mother, Julia Chang Lin, is a professor of literature at Ohio University. “As the child of immigrants you have that sense of ‘Where are you? Where’s home?’” notes Lin, “and of trying to make a home.” Trained as an artist and architect, Lin’s sculptures, parks, monuments and architectural projects are linked by a common ideal of making a place for individuals within the landscape. She draws inspiration from culturally diverse sources including Japanese gardens, Hopewell Indian earthen mounds and works by American Earth-artists of the 1960s and 1970s
Before Viewing
Since Lin is probably best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, find out what students think about the memorial as a means of providing identity to the soldiers who died in the war. Discuss these questions: What is a memorial? What should a memorial achieve? What must an artist consider in designing a monument?
After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• Select any sculpture, architecture or memorial by Lin and analyze how you think it expresses her identity.
• Lin works in varied media. Discuss why you think artists do this and how it benefits them rather than working in a single medium.
• How does Lin use shape to define a landscape? Compare her three-dimensional landscapes with a traditional landscape painting with respect to the use of color, space, shape, light and line.
• Lin describes art as “everything you have ever known and everything you’ve ever done somehow percolating up with ideas you might want to explore.” What do you think she means by this? Give an example from her work seen in the segment.
• How is Lin’s skating rink different from ones you know?
Images on the Web
• Topologies at www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/maya/index.html
• To learn more about Maya Lin and her work, go to www.greatbuildings.com and use the Search feature under either Architects or Buildings.
Born in 1959 in Athens, Ohio, Maya Lin catapulted into the public eye when, as a senior at Yale University, she submitted the winning design to a national competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. Writing about the memorial, a black granite wedge that emerges from and disappears into the ground, she says it “does not force or dictate how you should think. In that sense it’s very Eastern. . . . It reflects me and my parents.” Her father was the dean of fine arts at Ohio State University, and her mother, Julia Chang Lin, is a professor of literature at Ohio University. “As the child of immigrants you have that sense of ‘Where are you? Where’s home?’” notes Lin, “and of trying to make a home.” Trained as an artist and architect, Lin’s sculptures, parks, monuments and architectural projects are linked by a common ideal of making a place for individuals within the landscape. She draws inspiration from culturally diverse sources including Japanese gardens, Hopewell Indian earthen mounds and works by American Earth-artists of the 1960s and 1970s
Before Viewing
Since Lin is probably best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, find out what students think about the memorial as a means of providing identity to the soldiers who died in the war. Discuss these questions: What is a memorial? What should a memorial achieve? What must an artist consider in designing a monument?
After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• Select any sculpture, architecture or memorial by Lin and analyze how you think it expresses her identity.
• Lin works in varied media. Discuss why you think artists do this and how it benefits them rather than working in a single medium.
• How does Lin use shape to define a landscape? Compare her three-dimensional landscapes with a traditional landscape painting with respect to the use of color, space, shape, light and line.
• Lin describes art as “everything you have ever known and everything you’ve ever done somehow percolating up with ideas you might want to explore.” What do you think she means by this? Give an example from her work seen in the segment.
• How is Lin’s skating rink different from ones you know?
Images on the Web
• Topologies at www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/maya/index.html
• To learn more about Maya Lin and her work, go to www.greatbuildings.com and use the Search feature under either Architects or Buildings.
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