artist talk, anika smulovitz

yesterday i went to hear anika smulovitz talk about her work. she is a visiting artist in the metals class at penland this week. i enjoyed the lecture - she started with her first metals endeavors and then on to graduate and post graduate work. what i was most interested in was her ideas and where they come from. i think of myself as a formalist not a conceptualist so i am often fascinated by work that is content based. she also talked about the non-neutrality of materials, which to me means materials have meaning and should be chosen carefully. i'm still contemplating this...afterward she gave a talk about the art metals program at boise state university where she is the professor.

i met anika over the summer when she was taking a class in the wood studio at penland. we had a chance to talk about our work then and i walked away with some fresh ideas. we are planning another session to continue the conversation for before she heads home. more on that to follow.

all images by ariella bos

thanks for reading.