Whitney Dail spends most of her time daydreaming about space, especially anything sixties Space Age. She rides her bike almost every day, loves researching and staying informed about current issues in contemporary art, enjoys watching road-cycling races (grand tours), and has a vast knowledge of British subcultures. Whitney is currently seeking her masters in Arts Administration at SCAD.
If I’ve learned one thing this entire quarter, it’s how to ask for money. The class Raising Funds for Arts Organizations has primed me for a position in fundraising. But how many different ways can you ask for funding? I’m in the beginning stages of writing a grant to the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. I wish cover letters were like ad copy because all I want to say is, “Give me money.” With an explanation, of course. What would Andy do?
My favorite comic book artist (besides Jamie Hewlett) is drawing female astronauts. These are all by Philip Bond. Bond worked on many Vertigo comics titles including Kill Your Boyfriend, The Invisibles, Hellblazer, Deadenders, Shade the Changing Man, etc. He was also part of Deadline magazine and collaborated on Tank Girl too. I hope to eventually own one of his comic pages.
Valentina Tereshkova orbited the Earth 48 times during her three day spaceflight in Vostok 6 in 1963. First woman in space!
Svetlana Savitskayabecame the second woman in space when she flew the Soyuz T-7 to the Salyut 7 space station in 1984. First woman to perform a spacewalk!
The third woman in space, and the first American woman in space. Sally Ride rode the Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission in 1983.
Delta Tau Delta sweetheart Judith Resnik became the fourth female astronaut when she flew as mission specialist aboard the maiden voyage of the Shuttle Discovery in 1984. Judith was killed during the launch of her second spaceflight aboard the Shuttle Challenger in 1986.
Kathryn Sullivan flew alongside Sally Ride aboard Shuttle Challenger mission STS 41-G in 1984. Fifth woman in space!
Metallocarbonane enthusiast Anna Fisher flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51-A in November 1984. Fisher became the sixth woman in space. Bonus: first mother in space!
Margaret Rhea Seddon flew as mission specialist aboard Shuttle Discovery flight STS-51-D in 1985, the first of her three spaceflights. Tennessee native and seventh woman in space!
Born in Shanghai to missionary parents, Shannon Lucid became the eighth woman in space when she flew aboard the Shuttle Discovery mission STS-51-G in 1985. Shannon made four more spaceflights including the 1989 Atlantis mission to launch the Galileo probe to Jupiter, and a stay aboard the Russian Mir station saw her break the record for the longest time spent in orbit by a woman. 188 days in space!
Bonnie Dunbar served as mission specialist on Shuttle Challenger’s STS-61-A flight in 1985, becoming the ninth woman in space. Bonnie flew on a total of five shuttle missions and is now president of the Museum Of Flight in Seattle.
Mary Cleave became the tenth woman in space when she flew aboard Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-61-B in 1985.
Ellen Shulman Baker flew aboard Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-34 in 1989, which deployed the Galileo probe to Jupiter. New York Queens Zoo’s resident bald eagles Mel and Claire are named after Ellen’s parents. Eleventh woman in space!
Thanks to technology, there are many ways to donate money. The American Red Cross raised $32m through their strategic texting campaign of donating $10 to Haiti. $32,000,000 is an enormous gift. Other a than natural disaster, what else is there to give money to? Well, I certainly didn’t have a problem finding something.
I gave $40 to help fund the final visual effects for the science fiction film, Similo. I never heard of it before watching a video on Kickstarter, which directed me to the short (above). As described on the project page, “SIMILO is a science fiction love story set in the year 2064.” I was hooked and I wanted to see more.
In yesterday’s Raising Funds for Arts Organization class, someone offered Kickstarter to the discussion of philanthropic trends. Kickstarter is a website for project-based funding of “creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.” The concept is clear: donate money to a creator to kickstart a project. After choosing a project, make a pledge. If the goal is met, the creator can finish it. If the goal is not met, your pledge is cancelled. It’s like placing a bid on an idea and hoping it meets the reserve to become tangible.
What a way to motivate creative types. The downside to Kickstarter is: 1) your donation is only tax-deductible if the person or organization has a 501(c)(3) status; and 2) even if the goal is met, there is no guarantee that the project will be executed. If you don’t feel comfortable with Kickstarter, there’s always Charity Navigator or even Pepsi’s Refresh Project.
"Instead of awakening us to new possibilities, popular art tranquilizes us; it is our aesthetic valium. Think of the examples I have cited: no matter how skillfully and shrewdly constructed, popular art always offers what we already know, or less. Popular art dumbs us down."
— from “Dumbing Down Art in America” by David Swanger. (Access it on JSTOR). I read this article three times today. Swanger articulates everything I have thought and debated through my journey into Arts Administration. His argument is powerful. I wish I wrote this article!
Sarah Thornton speculates the potential increase or decrease of Picasso’s The Actor since the accident. Originally broadcast on January 28th’s Morning Edition of NPR.
Since 1952 “The Actor,” a rare Rose Period Picasso, has hung prominently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with other examples of early paintings by this Spanish master. But on Monday it could be found in a new, temporary home, the Met’s conservation laboratory, where experts there are trying to determine the best course of action for this 105-year-old painting’s brand-new feature: an irregular, six-inch tear running vertically along the lower right-hand corner.
Five days ago, a clumsy student fell into a Picasso painting. Ouch. The painting was immediately removed and taken to the MET’s conservators to assess the damage. The painting is crucial and marks a move from Picasso’s blue period into his rose period. It is also formidably large at 4 feet by 6 feet. Luckily, the damage is reparable. It should only take a few weeks to repair, but the pressure is on; the painting is scheduled to display in an April exhibition.
What a horrible accident! This scenario is always in the back of my mind when visiting galleries and museums. My track record for mishaps is long, but fortunately, I haven’t experienced this large of a debacle. On the bright side, I can only imagine the excitement of a lucky conservationist that has the opportunity to problem solve the tear.
“ENDLESS (ARIANNE)” - 2002 (EXPLORER), (LUNAORBITER), (VOYAGER) LAMBDA PRINT ON ALUMINUM. 60 X 60 CM A series of images of well-known rockets configured into imaginary structures. These “remixed” forms convert their represented movement into a non functional rotation the implications of which raise questions as to the rockets’ real nature, the meaning of their mission, and the confidence people have in technology. (via Artists’s Website)
"Validation is not straightforward. If you are pursuing a career in accountancy, you are confronted with a series of hurdles; clear them all, and you have arrived. For artists, life is much more complicated. In a social setting where the official rule is rule-breaking, the artist who crawls under the first hurdle, knocks over the second and does a strange scissor kick over the third may ultimately win the greatest recognition. Almost by definition, a competent artist is an insignificant one."
— Sarah Thornton for The Economist, How to Make Art History. I encourage all of my artist friends to read this article!
