Art Tag Passages by priscilla otani

ART TAG

PASSAGES PLAYERS Blond Jenny, Sherri Cornett, Bianca Lago, Hilla Hueber, Judy Johnson-Williams, Priscilla Otani, Sondra Schwetman

July 24 - November 18, 2017

ABOUT ART TAG Art Tag is a way to explore new topics, break through artist block, try new ways of art-making, and be inspired by other artists -- all within a selected theme and sharing process.The rules are simple: you must be a current NCWCA member, commit to making three new works of art within the four-month Art Tag cycle, exchange the first two works with your partner, and come to the meeting at the end to discuss your inspiration and creative process.

Most Art Tag rounds are played among local players because of ease of delivering art either by mail or in-person to assigned partners. "Passages" is the first time artists located across the United States and overseas (Germany) participated. Because of international mail and customs complications, the rules were altered and instead of physical exchanges, high resolution jpg images or links to video were shared through Dropbox folders. Rather than partnering up, artworks in each of the three rounds were shared by all players and they could derive inspiration from any of the works created. Email conversations were encouraged throughout the process. The discussion after the end of the third round was also carried out via email. The use of high resolution images made it much easier for me to produce this catalog. The players agreed that the new process made it possible for people to play no matter where they were located. A new cross-country Art Tag will begin shortly. Priscilla Otani December, 2017

PASSAGES ROUND ONE

BLOND JENNY I wanted to show that life is a short but grateful journey for humans. Every second is a meaningful page in the passage of our life. Our death will be a beautiful sleep. We join a universe or heaven where we can communicate with others with any language. I became a part of nature so I could be free from my physical body and part of mother nature. I have started to include more nature in my recent work. I focus on the sounds of nature,enjoy the variety of colors, and their sensitive movement. Nature is my emptiness and fullness.

"Life" Photo print on canvas, 24" x 36" xl"

SHERRI CORNETT Last night I watched the 2010 film "The Way" by Emilio Estevez about a father taking his son's ashes along El Camino de Santiago (France to the northwest Spanish coast). My brother and his wife are doing the first half of the camino this fall, second half in the spring. They are doing it as a commitment to their marriage, which has been rocky of late. The movie highlights several characters' personal challenges and the processes they go through during the approximately 800 km walk. It seemed serendipitous that I was directed to this movie when I am thinking about similar passages, in particular for this Art Tag. I am not sure if it is because of my age, 57, my life circumstances or a combination of all, but I have been looking back on the phases of my life: the 14 moves, the friends who have come and gone, family members gone, challenges arising and overcome, recent foundation-shaking events. Through it all, I take one step in front of the other, keep moving forward, pause to evaluate and then move onward. Hiking is my refuge during all of this, my nature therapy so central to my well-being. Especially if water is nearby. Mountains and water. Mountains and ocean. I am lucky to live in Montana where beautiful mountain hikes are within an hour+ drive. And lucky to be able to travel occasionally to the ocean. But the intensity of recent life events has intruded on these refuges at times and I have to use all my tools, my breath, to get back to a sense of equanimity. Through these video experiments rather than through my sculptures, I am able to capture more movement, more of the surreal, dreams, nightmares, thoughts and impressions of life and get them out of my head. Though, as I have said before, this new video editing program has limited what I can actually present. I am inspired by the work each of you has shared for phase one. I am considering a new vision in response to the lines, text, anguish, darkness, absurdities, and touches of natural beauty from your work.

"Passages_Phase One" Left to right: Still One, Still Two, Still Three Video 1 :40, https://vimeo.com/230024109, Password: Passages This was the first experiment with the Premiere Pro video editing program. I had photographs of archways/caves that I cut away so that video that I took of me looking at the ground during various hikes "ran" through the archway passages. My use of the effects tools in this video were very rough as I ran out of time before I left town and the deadline, but the potential of these tools intrigued me.

BIANCA LAGO What inspired the first piece for me was the thought of the passage of time. I was also inspired by the grey and fog that is a part of nearly daily life here in Eureka, California. Much of my time passes in this grey weather, and it is funny when you think that we will all just fade back to black. The passage of time that we all experience just takes us back to the black/ grey from where we once came. With the recent death of yet another friend before his time, I wanted to touch on this morbid thought. I would like to continue exploring the idea of the passage of time in the following two pieces we have coming up.

"Untitled" Acrylic paint on canvas, 16"x 20"

HILLA HUEBER Recently I have been thinking about how I become aware only in retrospect of having passed into a new phase in life. This is natural for a child developing into an adult. But for me it is also true for later life changes. Decisions made, rarely noticed as important, were significant for passing into a new stage. In addition,! notice more acutely now than earlier in life, that those who have passed before me still are a strong influence in my life. Passing from childhood to adult age a mother figure looms large. The adult woman looks back and at the same time toward the future, agreeing to or having doubts about her life stages presented by the look into the mirror. Passing into old age ambivalence is stronger as the woman is shown to be content and/or resigned.

"Life Stages" Pen and ink, graphite powder on paper, 15.5 x 19 inches This piece is not fully finished due to time constraints. I intend to draw a curtain on the right side next to and above the figure of the older woman. I hope the idea comes across in the piece as it is. "Life Stages" (Detail)

JUDY JOHNSON-WILLIAMS Rites of Passage--Originally I was thinking of passages as openings from one place to another but later, rituals from one stage of life to another. And then I put the 2 together: holes thru our bodies that are also rites of passage. In my neighborhood, it appears that being shot is a rite of passage--it means you matter and matter enough that someone wants to harm or kill you. I had an intern a couple of summers ago that was shot in the leg a few days before we started, his mom made him come anyway, heavily doped up and on crutches. He seemed dismayed that being shot was not so cool and in fact, was painful and deeply emasculating because there was so much he needed help with and because showing pain was showing weakness. Because it was so much a part of the culture he wanted a part of, he didn't change his ways and was shot again in the stomach 5 weeks later and then I lost touch. Even though I had a clear image of what I wanted, I couldn't make the materials behave. I started with air dry clay but when it was soft, it couldn't hold up it's own weight and when dry, so brittle that the slightest nudge caused pieces to fall off (and then you have to re-wet the whole thing to stick pieces back on). Next I used plastlina, similar problem--too soft to hold up (that can be partially solved by keeping it cool but even 15 minutes out of the fridge and it'd start to sag). So I added some plaster cast material but it erased the delicate more spontaneous character and added an objectionable texture and I also wanted the pieces to be matte black. Spray painting needed to be done outside but my building is under extensive construction so I had to do it before or after the workers and by the time the paint was dry the pieces had become so warm they were falling apart again. I did try drying the paint in the fridge(I was a chemist, I should've known better) but the outgassing invaded all of the food despite being in plastic containers... And then there was the taking of pictures, I had a fairly fixed idea of the perspective but couldn't keep that in mind until it was set up. Some of the limbs didn't show up well because of the point of view and by then, these fragile things were encased in plaster and unmoveable. The lights added heat so things were falling apart again, in new places, and it has been in the 90's here, so I took a few more pictures and that had to be it.

"Rites of Passage" Mixed Media Sculpture: plastelina, acrylic paint, plastic tube, contact paper, 12" X 24" 5" 15

PRISCILLA OTANI At the time the Passages round started I had just completed a long artist's book piece using paint and ink on Braille called "First 100 Days." Having established a daily routine of working on this book, I experienced withdrawal pains. I happily realized I could start a new Braille book to explore the meaning of passages in two forms: the shuffling of White House personnel in alarming succession and verbal/written passages associated with these individuals. I selected words that best fit the characters, whether Senate testimony, on-the-record media interviews, declarations of Trump loyalty, fake media coverage or tweets (Trump's tweets incorporate pretty much all of his mean tweets about Obama).

"Funhouse Passages" Trump's tweets against Obama, Page 3 of 20, artist book, pamphlet stiched, 10.5" x 10.5" Online book: https://www.yumpu.com/xx/document/view/59379304/fun-house-passages-2017

SONDRA SCHWETMAN I looked at passages as passages in a book. I cut up a copy of "the Heart of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad. The book is also about river passages). I cut the pages into strips and wove them together exquisite corpse style, and added a silk organza heart. These are sandwiched in between plates of glass and the whole thing is sealed with beeswax. The beeswax seal is about preserving images and ideals from a different time in history. With hope, finding our inner Col. Kurtz on an up river search for the heart. "Yet to understand the effect on me you ought to know how I got out there, what I saw, how I went up that river to the place where I first met the poor chap. It was the furthest point of my navigation and the culminating point of my experience." ("Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad).

"Darkness" Mixed Media: glass paper, beeswax, silk 6" X 6" X 1/2"

PASSAGES ROUND TWO

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BLOND JENNY I was inspired by Sherri's video work. I used a 360 camera to capture nature and art; the joys of my life. The nature at the beginning is the birth of life. The transition to the colorful city highlights the innocence of adolescence. Finally, in death we return to the silence of nature. The 360 view captures more than just our narrow first person perspective which led to the title Air Walk. This is the view we have as spirits after we leave our bodies. I am the air that can fly in the sky and freely go anywhere I please. I am the air; surrounded by air.

"Air Walk ( 2017)" Top left to right: Air Walk still image Zero, One, Two, Three Bottom left to right: Air Walk still image Four, Five, Six Running T ime: 04:09min Video Link: https://youtu.be/AjUJ9nC4RHg

SHERRI CORNETT I found the following inspiration from Phase 1 works : Striations/horizontals across frame (Bianca, Hilla), Color scheme/purple & yellow and flowers (Blond Jenny), Text/braille dots/ strips of words (Priscilla, Sondra), Contortions (Judy). And then added a bit of Shakti/Kali, the Hindu Goddess of, what I like to call opposites: creation/destruction, change/balance, mother/warrior. From these opposites, I emphasized the the move towards the positive of each pair: There/Here, Chaos/Peace, Afraid/Confident, Worse/Better, Divide/Unite, Cowardly/Brave, Doubt/Trust, Apathy/Concern, Cruelty /Compassion, Isolation/Community, Disaster/Success, Mine/Yours/Ours, Hate/Love

"Passages_Phase 2" Top to bottom: still images, One, Two, Three Video, length 0:58 minutes, Vimeo https://vimeo.com/233237884 Password: Passages 25

BIANCA LAGO To piggy back off of the last piece that was inspired by the passage of time, I decided to take a more abstract approach to things this time. The process for this piece involved listening to lofi hiphop beats and letting welling emotions translate themselves into colors and shapes. The canvas was prepared with a mixture of molding pastes which was then painted over with a dark shade of a purple, blue, and black mixture. With a free flow application of paint, a variety of colors in different geometric and fluid shapes were applied to the canvas. This piece was very fun to paint as it was slightly more directed than the last piece but still focusing on the passage of time in a creative and emotional manner.

"Into the Unknown" Oil paint on canvas, 20" x 24"

HILLA HUEBER Among the many connotations for Passage the passage of time is one that I am thinking about often. I took inspiration from Bianca and from Judy's remarks. To me the passage of time also means movement. The ocean, although it seems the same, resembles movement and change. Its back and forth, its always returning is serene. But the form and size of waves are never the same. We can see that change is inevitable and that change will happen. In these times I find this to be comforting.

"Passage of Time" Acrylic on canvas, 12" x 12"

JUDY JOHNSON-WILLIAMS I'm still thinking about passages along developmental lines rather than literal trails maybe about the rites of passage among groups of people. Are we entering an era where privileged people acknowledge that they are privileged or at least consider their actions with regard to disadvantaged people? What does it take to change a group's mind? And who decides what is correct? The way that I've seen people change the most was through direct experience (like being unemployed made my sister more sympathetic towards poor people) so could we manufacture that, i.e. set up an experience to influence people's thinking. Here's an example in comic form from my neighborhood. It's a double experience since comics are built on stereotypes and yet I don't want to be guilty of perpetuating them, what to do? My attempt is to base my story on real people, showing both their flaws and their good hearts, as the complicated real humans that they are. ( I realize I'm open to accusations of "cultural appropriation" and that's a real hazard but racial problems cannot be solved by one or the other. So I've used vernacular when it seems appropriate--some people I can't imagine speaking "standard English" and it felt wrong to put those words into their mouths. And yes, I've shown the roughs around, widely, to the constituent groups but while there have been some great conversations, there is no consensus by them on whether I'm doing it right or wrong.

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"Camp White Privilege" Digital comic, l minute slideshow

PRISCILLA OTANI For this second piece, I took inspiration from works that focused on rites of passage, the passage of time, aging and milestones marking one's life. I used the altered Braille book medium again. This is a book about Hillary Clinton's rites of passage - moments filled with triumphant joys and bitter disappointments. From childhood, Hillary Clinton strove to be the best at everything. Her ambition burned hot and she believed that hard work would have its rewards. Her life and career has been shaped by memories and lessons learned from exposing too much of herself - too smart, too plain, too feminist, too financially successful, too capable, too comfortable being her husband's equal, too willing to forgive her husband's sins. Because she was smart, she learned to conceal her vulnerabilities and swallow her anger at the unfair and rough treatment. As she grew older, she downplayed her intellect and spoke in platitudes. Ironically, those who hate her never believed in this good, public Hillary. They will forever remember her as Lady MacBeth with her "consuming ambition, inflexibility of purpose, domination of a pliable husband, and an unsettling lack of tender human feeling, along with the affluent feminist's contempt for traditional female roles."[1] In contrast, the collective memories of those who supported Hillary will forever see her as a strong, honorable,humanitarian feminist brought down by the male establishment. In "Rites of Passage," I've mixed real and false memories, assigned words that Hillary may or may not have spoken privately or publicly. True or not, these words and images represent the anger, disappointment and triumph I shared in empathy towards a political figure that I have never met but deeply admire. [1]

* Daniel Wattenberg, conservative critic

"Rites of Passage" Page 19 of 20 pages, altered book, pamphlet stitched, 10.5" x 10.5"

SONDRA SCHWETMAN This piece is about a variety of things, but most related is birth and cutting the umbilical cord. There are male and female ends. The male end is white vinyl adorned with fresh water pearls. The female end contains silk brocade. The escape rope is white organza with pale pink beads highlighting the fabric folds. The body of the piece is white rabbit fur. These materials are more closely related to my professional body of work than "Heart of Darkness." I was influenced by Blond Jenny's color palette as well as an overall bent toward life passages (birth and death) and commentary on social ills. I debated several titles: "First Passage" or "Safe Passage." Thinking about birth as traumatic, or escaping from parents at some point.

"Safe Passage" Top left: "Female Tail," Top right: "Female" Bottom left: "Male Tail," Bottom right: "Male" Right: "Safe Passage" Sculpture: fur, vinyl, pearls, glass beads, silk 12" X 8" X 6"

PASSAGES ROUND THREE

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BLOND JENNY When I see Priscilla's drawing with braille, I thought it could be the best way to explore different languages through our journey. Someone that cannot see nature or art can experience my music through braille. We can see and feel each other and share our thought like an ensemble. Even though the writing is the same, one is meant to be viewed as sheet music while the other is meant to be played like a piano with your hands. Though the experience is completely different, my hope is that the interpretation will be the same. I used flower pistils to make a musical score. The song is poetry inspired by the show Twin Peaks. "Nature's Ensemble" Just you and I, Together forever love In nature

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SHERRI CORNETT In response to the daily dose of bad news in my feed, I have felt chaotic and the sense of doom has challenged any sense of feeling grounded. Luckily I have creative outlets, such as this video, and an upcoming meditation series! For this phase, I was inspired by: Bianca's geometric shapes, Hilla's water, Jenny's lens distortions and circles from her 360 camera, Judy's pen & ink drawing (making me think about graphic filters), Priscilla's drawing and Sondra's "escape."

Passages_Phase3 11 Video, 0:36 minutes, https:/ /vimeo.com/240059515 PW: Passages 11

BIANCA LAGO To keep with my other two themes, and to tie in today's holiday (Halloween), I have done a watercolor rendering of a skull in an expressionistic style. The idea being that the passage of time will result in the same fate for us all. The great unifier, mor tality is something that none of us can escape. This humble fact hopefully makes us critically consider the passage of our own time and how we choose to spend it. No amount of money or power can change this fact, perhaps a righteous life built around connections with others is a more fulfilling path to embark on. As much as we tr y and deny our inevitable future, its very contemplation can bring richness into our own lives and ideas of how to maximize the time that we do have here. It has been an honor to share these last three months of creative ventures with you all, thank you kindly for allowing me to par ticipate. Your inspiration has been and will continue to fuel my work.

"Where the Time Goes" Gouache on illustration board, 9" x 13"

HILLA HUEBER I wavered between the title "Crashing the Glass Ceiling" and "Rising to The Top", both signifying a passage of sorts. I want to clearly indicate that this piece concerns women and includes movement, on which I touched in my piece 2. Inspired by both Priscilla's and Judy's thoughts, I realized that "rising to the top" or "crashing the glass ceiling" involves activity, fight, and protest. While women have accomplished a lot, they still don't receive equal pay, treatment, and representation. There are still many rungs of many ladders to climb. Only persistence in all areas of social life and the support of women for each other will bring us eventually to a time when it is normal for women to have passed to the top.

"Crashing the Glass Ceiling" Acrylic on canvas, 16" x 16"

JUDY JOHNSON-WILLIAMS Old Age--lt's a passage that we're all going to take, barring something even worse. It changes everything, our self-image, our job, our hobbies, our social circle and our abilities. Some of how we age we can affect and even predict (though I did know a 92 y.o. smoker who never ate vegetables or exercised) but largely it's luck and genetics (which are maybe the same thing). Attitude about how we accept these changes is something that we are in control of, if we can bear to contemplate it. Gamification is the current craze for getting people to do what they're supposed to--like math "games" in school or getting points for visiting the gym. That's my strategy here with Old Age lotto. Pick a card for every 5 years over 65-which cards did(or would you pick and why? The hardest part of this #3 was deciding to do it. Some of the other comments kinda skirted around this issue, particularly Hilla's and I hear it alluded to often in conversations but especially with artists and musicians. It is something to consider. (If you're not sure what my symbols mean, from L to Rand top to bottom: wrinkles, vision, money, SS, dementia, mobility, your secret fear, hearing, loneliness).

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PRISCILLA OTANI My third Passages piece is inspired by Hilla's musing on time and movement and Sondra's concept of safe passage. An unexpected injury forestalled a trip to see my mother in Tokyo this September. "Time Travel" is about the physical distance that separates my mother and me, the consequences of not paying attention (my injury has caused time to stand still and impede my passage), the anxiety I feel about the passage of time as it relates to my mother's life, and the promise of fast passage provided by jets speeding across the globe. By using bits of mailing material for this collage, I also note the demise (passing) of airmail, express mail and aerogrammes that used to embody the fastest way to communicate across the globe.

"Time Travel" Collage, 20" x 24" framed

SONDRA SCHWETMAN "Passage of Breath" was again influenced by color as well as the metaphorical nature of many of the pieces in round two. I loved the idea of using an iconographic object (the lungs) to portray an ephemeral, transient idea.

"Passage of Breath" Sculpture: ABS plastic 5"x7"x3/4"

PASSAGES DISCUSSION

BLOND JENNY I have had a great time collaborating with international women artists. I felt like even though we are talking and sharing our thoughts online, we have come together in our own small world. I feel very close with all of you. This wasn't the same as my 'usual' work, but now I love to think about doing more passages and continue this journey. I want to develop more work in this style of storytelling. I enjoyed seeing artists' images first and then reading about the details of the backstory. The shared diary process on a monthly basis felt perfect to me. Any longer might have not kept the project top of mind for my creativity to remain active. At first, we were all a little uncomfortable but I think everyone was eventually able to use the tools for sharing well. I liked seeing everyone's folder. It felt like opening a gift box every month. I enjoyed seeing other artists developing ideas and images. It was a very inspiring experience for me and I want to do more now. I hope this is not finished. I want to do more collaborations with different styles of work. Overall, I'm so lucky to have participated in online art tag, and can't wait to see the catalog. I believe that women artists speak in different, special ways.

SHERRI CORNETT I found the evolution of my thoughts on passages surprising. I had originally conceived of rather abstract video works and then they became increasingly responses to my frustration, horror, confusion around the chaos in our country. If I had been making physical art, there might have been physically aggressive aspects of the process... pounding on metal, breaking things to add to the sculpture. I was happy that art tag provided the motivation for me to learn more of the tools in my Premiere Pro video editing program, which I had purchased over a year ago and not touched. So, yes, I did end up using the same process -video- but adding more tools each time. I enjoyed being able to view and respond to all of your works instead of just one. More inspiration! I mostly responded to your images, but enjoyed reading the text. Dropbox worked for me. It allows me, so far from other inquisitive artists, to explore, be honest about challenges.... For the 3D works, (Sondra), I appreciated having multiple views. I did look at all images, links and text.

I liked the breadth of interaction, including about works in progress even if I couldn't find time to participate in much of it. The timing between phases worked well for me.

BIANCA LAGO I loved art tag. It forced me to consider something I may not have otherwise. It was inspirational to see everyone else's work and to read all of your statements. I felt extremely nurtured and understood, you all were patient and helpful with me trying to upload my images. I was able to learn how to use dropbox, which is an important skill. I would love to participate in another round and am happy to have had this one as my first one to teach me how to be a better participator next time around. Thank you all for your inclusion, inspiration, and for sharing your work.

HILLA HUEBER First off, while I loved the ArtTag process when I experienced it in the San Francisco group, going through it without the physical pieces present and the personal exchange that followed posed a challenge. While seeing all the pieces physically would have been the cherry on top, this was great while not together in one location. The process worked well. Dropbox has been easy to use for uploading and presentation. I was surprised how well we were able to explain our intentions and although we had no exchange about our pieces while working on them, I found the many different ways "passage" was interpreted very inspiring. Taking inspiration from all instead of an assigned partner was a lot of fun. For me it was difficult though to detect a common thread. When we decided on the theme, my thoughts circled around my own situation (or inner voices) which I am uncomfortable to expose openly in my work. I had to overcome some hesitation to work on my first piece. I was under time pressure due to 2 exhibits I had to get ready for. My drawings are time consuming and I would have preferred being comfortable with something less time consuming. But the overall idea I played with didn't let go of me and I also felt it lent itself just to the type of work I am usually doing. Hence, my first piece is still not completely finished but very typical for my work overall. I was always looking forward to seeing the pieces the other artists were creating and was rewarded with what was posted and the description everyone provided. I think I took notions from all of them. When I

started I had thought that my pieces would be somewhat similar, based on each other and that there would be a link between them. I now can see that there is a link between piece one and two, yet I see no link between these and the third piece. To me this seems due to seeing the posted pieces which helped drive my thoughts in other directions about the theme. My pieces are not the best work I can do. Aiming for expressiveness and looseness is often contradictory, especially in my drawings. It was more important for me to go through the process and allow myself to experience my reaction to other artists' work and gain insight about my own process (procrastination, over-analyzing, freeing myself from expectations). It also taught me that I have to factor in more time for my drawings than for my paintings. Instead of more confident, I have become more cautious when accepting deadlines. This is another unexpected outcome of my experience. I realize that I am not as fast as I used to be but can still make it if I focus. ArtTag for me is letting go and freeing myself to just begin working and overcome my reticence to reveal what occupies my thoughts. In addition, I have become aware of inhibitions when pondering social and political concepts that I would love to overcome.

JUDY JOHNSON-WILLIAMS I feel kinda raw with all the political stuff and I hate the direction it's going but. ..it is causing some examining of racial and gender issues, long overdue. As an "old" gentrifier ( 12 years in a black neighborhood, teaching at a black school with mostly black staff), I get asked often by both sides to explain the other-talk about uncomfortable and I can only say what works for me or what I've seen (and then, mostly, no one believes me ("it can't be that bad" or "no one would do/say that"). One of the things I love about Art Tag is living with/playing with the art, digital images didn't do it for me (even if I set up so I could look at it every time I went by the computer). I lost my focus when toggling between different folders and so it was very hard to see common threads. On the other hand, it was very freeing to produce something that would look great in a picture but not necessarily in person (like the off-camera side didn't even have to be finished - is that cheating? I don't know. I struggled a lot with those kinds of issues). The 1st one for example, barely held together for the photo and the image didn't have the same visceral punch of the "real" version. So does it exist as an artwork or not? It's tantalizing to see just a few pieces of each artists' work-I'm intrigued by what else you-all have produced.

So I'm going to make sure to see Sherri's show at ARC and yes, I did google everyone. I felt like quite the slacker when some had already posted theirs and I hadn't even started mine (particularly the 3rd one as I was so conflicted about that can of worms) Overall, my take-away is that Art Tag has given lots of practice meeting deadlines, so that when a friend asked if I could do a piece for her pop-up show later this month, I knew I could even though I know almost nothing about the subject (Game of Thrones, that's what google is for right?).

PRISCILLA OTANI I enjoyed receiving influences from everyone's works. This format provided broader influences. I also found myself looking at and reflecting on others' works longer than if I were to be looking for influences from one art piece. In this round, I was working on my addiction to braille magazines and two of the pieces were in the line of my larger work, First 100 Days. I was also rigidly focused on sticking to my "All Year All Resistance" art-making theme and was working towards pieces I could show during our Open Studio (which occurred last weekend). The injury to my left hand (dominant hand) forced me to break away from that because of the limitations of energy and hand mobility. I had to think about what I could do with my limitations. Finally I landed on collage, and that is the technique I used for the third piece. And this third piece weaned me away from braille. All three works were displayed in my studio this weekend. I use Dropbox all the time and so find it useful as a sharing device. It is also easy to retrieve images and statements for making catalogs. Photographing art is always tricky business. So much better to see the artwork in person! However, I appreciate the fact that Dropbox allows for high resolution images to be made available so that you could drag the image to your own computer and look at it clearly. Photographing my two braille magazines (20 pages each) was quite a time challenge. I was able to use an on line magazine, Yumpu, to create a magazine for my first piece but I only had time to create a PDF document with the second piece. Yes I clicked on all the video links. I thought many of the works, even the videos acquired richer context with the descriptions provided by the artists.

I've been playing ArtTag almost as long as Judy has (she and Judy Shintani are the originators) and it is an addiction for me. It provides a context for challenging myself to make art on themes that I might normally never have imagined for myself. I've gotten great ideas from fellow players on new kinds of media and I have used some of those influences toward the development of new works. This game builds community among those of us who stick through making the three pieces and share our experiences. It is so much more effective than art critique or art share, which tends toward one-way dialog.

SONDRA SCHWETMAN I love Art Tag! For me personally, it forces me to work small (I am normally an installation artist/sculptor of large things). It also allows me to work quickly. Some of my work takes several years to create. Bouncing ideas off of a curious audience is fun and rewarding. It also encourages me to work in different/new materials such as: Bees wax, direct text, etc. I also got some great ideas to use in my work in the future by just exploring these new things. Even though most of the other work was 2 D it is fun to have those influences. My work stayed very close to the theme. I have some of the same thoughts that Hilla and Judy expressed: Drop Box worked great, it turns out I already had it on my computer. I do miss being able to touch/ see in person the work made by the other artists and receiving things in the mail is fun, but I understand why this would not work with a national group. I have participated with both ways before, and they do both work, albeit differently. My photos did not express my work in the best light, being sculpture (3 D is how I think). I will, and have already, used some of the materials and techniques I explored. This is what I found most valuable, that and working quickly on a deadline. Color play, and political content have also influenced me. These are feeding into an anti war installation (or big thing, not sure which) I have been working on. The round inspired me. Can't wait for the next.