Ya La'ford: New Advisor & New Semester -

Hello world.

Feeling very excited about my progress in these weeks since I have been back. I have set VERY high goals and I am going after it with all my will.

1) I finally have Laurel Sparks, I am so excited to have her as my advisor, I really respect her work and I am humbled, grateful and excited to share my fourth residency with her!

2) I start my class tomorrow at the Women's Institute.
It is Wednesday afternoons 1:00-3:00 - for 12 weeks I am very thrilled about this class.

THE TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN PAINTING David E. Brauer

In this course we will trace the developments in modern art that emerged in America during and after World War II. Emphasis will be placed on the evolution of Abstract Expressionism in New York, which shifted the center of modernism from Paris. Radical artists such as Gorky, de Kooning, Pollock, Rothko, Newman, and Motherwell will be examined, as will the concurrent strands of geometric abstraction, the continuity of figurative painting exemplified by the works of Hopper and Wyeth, and the early works of Rauschenberg and Johns that laid the foundation for Pop Art.

3) SAN FRAN HERE I COME! I have my flight, hotel and location - to meet with the prolific Mark Bradford!

I hope he will accept my proposal for him to be my mentor, I will have to wait till I see him to find out.
I will be flying out of Texas and landing in San Fran and going to his private opening February 15 @ SFMOMA
http://www.sfmoma.org/ I have also been invited to an opening party that weekend, so lets hope that he would like to be my mentor....if not at least I will have gotten to meet him and write a review on his work.

4) I am going to a Lisa Qualls opening Thursday, I will write more once I have actually seen it.
African Art, African Stories
February 2 - March 15, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 2, 6-8pm

An exhibition of African tribal art including works from Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Tanzania, Angola, Guinea, Cameroon and Nigeria, "African Art, African Stories," provides an introduction to various traditional art forms and materials. Many works date to the early 20th century, some earlier, with stories at times remarkable and unexpected, referencing the use of art within the society that created it. In addition to a variety of works created throughout the African continent, the exhibit explores perceptions of tribal-styled art made for export and foreign markets. Issues of value and authenticity are important contemporary considerations for many collectors and museums.

The exhibit includes a large Yoruba Beaded Altar Cloth and a Baule Mouse Oracle from the Ivory Coast. The Mouse Oracle is a wood vessel with two chambers, one for a mouse and one for straw. With the lid closed the mouse would feed on and rearrange the straw to be later "read" by a diviner in the Baule community to help resolve social issues.

This exhibit features works from the collections of Matt Scheiner and Lisa Qualls, and is funded by grants from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Image: Primordial Couple, Wood, Encrustation, Dogon, Mali

Open Monday through Friday, 10-5 pm and Saturday, 12-5 pm, the O'Kane Gallery is located on the University of Houston-Downtown campus. Take Travis Street north through downtown Houston over Buffalo Bayou and right on Girard for visitor and metered parking.

For more information or images for press contact Brad Thomason at the O'Kane Gallery at 713-221-8042 orthomasonb@uhd.edu, or visit www.okanegallery.uhd.edu.

5) I am also considering going to Denver, CO to get certified in arial yoga - in my consideration of flight/arial perspective in my discourse I figured this would push more concept, thoughts, ect. More to come on that too.

6), I have FOUND - Trenton Doyle Hancock

http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/trenton-doyle-hancock/

He lives in Houston, can you imagine?

We will go out to eat!!!! Too excited about this!!

7) LAST BUT NOT LEAST, I have bought all these books in my venture of knowledge - Most are in the air on there way trying to make it to there new home in my house, whooohooo!

§ Painting as Model

· Yve-Alain Bois

§ Other Criteria

· Leo Steinberg

§ Abstract America

· The Saatchi Gallery

§ Abstract Art in the Late Twentieth Century (Contemporary Artists and their Critics)

· Frances Colpitt

§ The Triumph of Modernism: The Art World, 1985-2005

· Hilton Kramer

§ Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock (Bollingen)

· Kirk Varnedoe, et al