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Julie Amrany MFA Art Institute of Boston Faculty Advisor (Michael Newman Group 1) First Residency Paper July 21, 2011 Revealing Awareness My first residency was a great experience. It was very stimulating, educational, and informative. I brought several photos of large commissions in bronze, granite, and glass that I had done over the past several years, and also other metal sculptures and oil paintings. Exhibiting this body of work in photographs had been agreed upon by the director before I had come. I wanted people to see what I have been immersed in these last few years, and also discuss where I would like to go with future art work. Many people were surprised at the size of public work I am doing, and wondered why I wanted to go back to school. I found myself explaining that I love what I do, yet I wanted in these next 2 years to be in an MFA program to develop a personal body of work involving in-depth research on my concepts and forms as well. I wanted an academic environment, intellectual challenge, and structure of the program. When one is involved in commission work there is always an agenda with the client, and of course one needs to satisfy the requests of the commissioner. It is rare that one's pure personal vision becomes the main concern, though yes on occasion you have the opportunity to express your inner vision. On the whole the response of the students and faculty of AIB was quite positive.

There were two separate issues regarding the matter of conflicting ideas. The first was the idea of public sculpture, and how I see that different from my personal work. The majority of commission work usually fits the dictates of the client. This has been frustrating because here you are doing public art, yet it's not really your own art. As of yet, I haven't had the opportunity to create something with full freedom of expression. I do enjoy the interaction of meeting and collaborating with the client, though I still feel the need for true artistic expression. That would be my ultimate goal. The other issue is the medium; I am using a material that is centuries old and doesn't necessarily reflect the times that we live in. I would like to add another material into my installations to reveal the effect of atmosphere, ethereal temporality and motion. I will probably always use bronze for it is permanent and beautiful, though I am looking to make a shift. People have suggested that I try using a medium that has different properties other than bronze, step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to something new. I would love to incorporate light, be it in holography, neon and or projection of some kind. I want to create an atmospheric effect, and try to give the feeling of another dimension. Creating a contemporary feel to my pieces is very important to me; I want to reflect the current age that we live in for I feel that is the job of the artist. Our lives are filled with so much stimulation and distraction; the pace is so rapid that it is quite difficult to keep up with daily life. A good part of our lives are spent in virtual reality; computers seem to be dominating so much of our time. The digital age is consuming us. For many years I have focused on refining my skills as a figurative sculptor and painter; some of my pieces are realistic, some are surreal; I also incorporate fantasy and symbolism . I would like to head in the direction of "Evolutionary Symbolism."As a style it would incorporate images juxtaposed or montaged together to be symbolic in nature; I also incorporate the term evolutionary since my concern is how we are evolving as a species in our

consciousness. I think that we are evolving into some techno super multidimensional being. Technology is becoming part of our inner fabric as humans; not only by incorporating technology into our organs and limbs but also by integrating it into our brains as well. Maybe we will be able to transfer ourselves into another space and time. I hope to show how our conscious minds inter weave between past, present, and future, a general wave pattern that has no boundaries, no edges, no definite time distinctions. Even though my main interest is consciousness, I am splintered in different areas; the first being in the medical field. The research that is being done on the human genome is groundbreaking and changes medicine forever. I wonder if it will drastically change our lifespan as a species. Also what comes into play is the subject of mind/body medicine, how conscious thought affects our healing process on a cellular level. There has been a lot of research done on the subject of placebo drugs. Thinking that we are getting better really has an effect on our bodies; directing conscious thought into our healing process can make a difference if we use the technique of visualization. Are our minds strong enough to have control of our destiny as such? This process could be more important than taking a medication that a physician prescribes. The second category is that of quantum physics, how conscious thought and presence affects atoms and subatomic particles. There are scientists at Fermi Lab in Batavia, IL and at Cern, near Geneva , Switzerland that are constantly studying their behavior. This type of research can open up new doors in our universe literally. Will space/time travel reveal new directions from these experiments? What evolves from the idea of new portals in space? Do they exist? ( I plan on visiting Fermi Lab in Batavia, IL and would like to listen to discussions regarding new findings and research regarding explorations of the universe. Also what information do

scientists hope to gain in observing the acceleration of subatomic particles? Do these particles have consciousness as well? The third category would be that of human evolution; has our consciousness evolved in the past four thousand years? Can we stop repeating history , supersede our animal nature and stop killing each other? Can we look beyond our borders, religion, class, and creed? Can we see that we're all the same creatures. Instead of creating strife, why can't we focus on our intelligence, feed the hungry , continue to find cures for diseases, stop over population, care for the planet itself, and support space exploration. Can we truly look to succeed as a species, and make progress on a humanistic level? The fourth category would be that of dreams. How does consciousness traverse into the realm of sleep, especially that of lucid dreams. Our dream world is unique to every individual ; dreams can be quite fantastical in nature; the dream world is an area where anything can be created, experienced and generated. Our dream world unravels the concepts of time, dimension and space. Maybe the answers to many of the questions of the universe lie hidden in the sub caverns our minds. We probably need to learn how to tap into this wellspring of images and symbols; it seems to be an infinite zone. If we train our subconscious mind it can swim in and out of its lucid state. Within these four areas of discussion, there is the main thread of consciousness, interweaving its line of contact ; it is an electric line of conductivity, sparking activity between the various areas. There is no separation, only waves of intermingled space. I see myself creating wall pieces of mixed media reflecting these ideas, three dimensional sculptures,and environmental works revealing a space for the viewer to walk through. This will be a place where the viewer becomes the figure in the installation. Consciousness will rise above all

material form. Consciousness is an awareness that is seen and felt within our beings, yet it can also be associated with activities on a cellular level and subatomic level. Suggestions have been made to review certain artists, namely: Robert Morris Maya Lin Niki De Saint Phalle James Turrell Kiki Smith Mathiew Monahan Julio LeParc Robert Irwin Yves Klein Jasper Johns Chris Burden Sandy Skoglund Anish Kapoor Frank Ghery Leslie Dill Richard Serra Recommended reading: The God Effect,Quantum Entanglement (Clegg) In Search of Memory ( Eric Kandel) Descartes Error (Damasio)

Installation Art (Claire Bishop) Conversation Pieces (Grant Kesler) Paper Dragon (Dave Hickey) Quantum Shift in the Global Brain (Ervin Laszlo) Absence of Presence (Dave Wilson) The Things We See Are Not What We See (Welcher) The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Jaynes) Evolution of Consciousness (Orstein) The Secret Life of Puppets (Nelson) Sculpture in the Age of Doubt (McEvilley) The Holographic Universe (Talbot) Mysticism and the New Physics (Talbot) Relational Aesthetics (Bourraiand) Art Since 1900 (Foster, Krauss) At the end of the residency, I spoke with a woman finishing up her MFA. Her name is Melissa Chandon; she suggested that since I have a wealth of knowledge in the area of commissions I should use that to propose some type of outrageous idea for a city, museum or gallery, something way beyond convention. I would love to fill up a museum exhibit hall with a multimedia installation on the subject of consciousness and muti-dimensional space, also include the concept of the Fundamental Forces of Nature (Electromagnetic Force, Strong Interaction, Weak Force, and Gravitational Force) . She also suggested that I film myself talking about it. In general, I think those that I spoke with wanted me to use what I already know, but was encouraged to get out of my comfort zone, and walk the tightrope of experimentation. I feel as

though I were standing at the edge of a beautiful canyon gazing into the abyss, wondering what the future will bring or what I will bring to it. I am in great anticipation and I hope that I can fulfill my expectations, for I feel something magical can happen.