Rachel Beckman » Weaver & Textile Designer

A Common Thread @ The Star Factory

This past weekend I had the privilege and honor of showing some of my work in a very talented room. You’ve all heard me talk about my friend and fellow weaver Carly Goss and she’s the woman I have to thank for putting together a lovely night full of handwoven cloth and beautiful song sharing at her studio, The Star Factory. Artists Brooke Brown Saracino, Katie Feild, and Hazel Starling were phenomenal, and it was a perfect evening to end my run as TARC superhero (pre-college just wrapped up, so more art updates from here on out).

Carly’s work for sale, visit her website!

Leaves! New! & News

Or…I’m turning over a new leaf?

In honor of my new and beautiful website launching sometime soon (within the next week!), which in itself is in honor of art market, I’m going to start posting again. It’s exactly the kick in the butt I need to make some time for my internet self.

In news this week:

I was nominated for and have been honored with a Barbara L. Kuhlman Foundation scholarship for the study of fiber arts.

I’ve been asked to participate in a small and brief but exciting exhibition of student work in honor of the Warren Seelig exhibition here at MICA. Thursday, December 3- Saturday, December 5, Middendorf Gallery.

I will be selling my work starting next Wednesday, December 9th in MICAs Brown Center. You can find out more about that event here: Art Market

Check back for updates of my recent work, etc. etc.

First Semester, Junior Year, MICA

I know there has been a serious lack of updates lately, but this artist is busy busy.  After being a TA and an RA for MICAs pre-college program, an experience that had me working with amazing artists (Valeska Populoh and Margaret Hluch for two) teaching fiber (garment, sculpture, shibori), I took a few weeks off to travel and enjoy my summer. That’s not to say I didn’t get a lot of work done- pictures to be posted soon of recent work- but I also made myself stay off the computer as much as possible.

So now school has started once more, and I wanted to give you an overview of what this semester will be like for me, both academically and professionally, with more details to follow.

September:

• Try to figure out how to make clothes for my costume class, and develop some sort of confidence about fashion illustration.
• Meeting between my Woven Imagery class and the Textile Museum in Washington D.C. to start planning an interactive and educational exhibit involving the documentation of the traditional Ikat process to compliment their show on Asian textiles due next fall.
• Weave my little butt off and plan for/ install my work in a show for October.

October:

• Weaving show at el Rancho Grande with  friend, former employer, and member of the Charm City Craft Mafia, Miss Carly Goss. (Running through November)
• Planning for the Textile Museum exhibit

December:

• Collapse in a pile of satisfaction at having completed another 18 credit semester full of film theory, fiction writing, costume design, weaving, and some other nonsense.

Reflecting on Professional Development in Art

Experience in Professional Development

I believe that part of self-educating yourself involves taking advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. You never know what kind of asset an experience is going to be to your search for knowledge and wisdom–or for your resume. There can be many benefits to one opportunity that may not be evident from the beginning: working for Carly, I benefited from getting a look into the business of craft, practicing my weaving technique, receiving school credit, and making a friend while learning how to network with artists in Baltimore and beyond. I have high hopes for my summer job as a TA and RA for MICA’s Pre-College Program; not only will the teaching experience look great on my resume, but it too is a chance to network within the school and explore my options as an artist. Something I’ve learned is that you have to take your career into your own hands, even if you are uncertain of what that may be, and the earlier you start, the better.

Fist Print, Spring 2008

Contests and Calls for Entries

Part of building professional development outside of the workplace is respecting yourself enough as an artist to put your work out for the public to see. This is something that I feel a lot of artists struggle with–finding the confidence to say that my work is good enough to hang on gallery walls and be printed in magazines. I’m lucky enough that I have an excellent support system that is always kicking me in the butt to take risks and apply myself. Last year, I submitted the above print along with some other miscellaneous pieces to the Fiberarts Magazine’s annual call for student submissions. Even though I didn’t have a cohesive portfolio at that point, I’m glad I submitted my work because it was practice for this year’s competition, and I’m busy ironing, photographing, and formatting my very fluid body of work–my weaving–this weekend.

For those of you who are also looking to exhibit your work, an excellent opportunity that has recently come to my attention is a call for entries at the Textile Museum in D.C. with a deadling of January 2010–so you have plenty of time! I say go for it, you never know what may come your way in the future;  the best thing you can do for youself is keep your eyes open to possibilities.

Why Audio Tours Are Ruining Art

And other woes, etc.

Today I had the (painful) pleasure of viewing the Cezanne and Beyond exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s a shame really, because the exhibit was beautifully curated, with works ranging from Ellsworth Kelly to Max Beckmann (and beyond!), displayed seamlessly in a breathtaking, open space- complete with complementary pre-recorded messages chattering along in your ear as you moved from painting to painting. In a way, I enjoyed the fact that nine out of ten people accepted the audio tour without question, because that just meant I got an almost silent tour of the exhibit, just me and my thoughts- unless, of course, I was standing within three feet of any given person, because then I could hear the little electronic voices circumventing their ears and bouncing back in the air towards my own. That being said, it was almost impossible to not be within three feet, or even one foot, of any given person because the exhibit was so packed. Let me mention briefly the entire shop dedicated to the exhibit that greeted you immediately upon exit, filled with fashionable items for you to fill your home with to show your friends just how cultured you are. The amount of money that the museum must have made on this one exhibit, today alone, makes me weep. Side note: I have noticed that people are more apt to run into you and not pay any attention at all to where they are going when they are plugged in.

And I wonder- how in the name of all that is good is anyone supposed to enjoy art that way? Packed up against eachother like cattle, breathing in the same preconcieved lectures through our auditory senses? How much more can we be removed from art? I was under the impression that we went to museums to see art for ourselves, to think about art for ourselves, out of the contexts of books and historians and critics telling us how to think about art and what art means. To engage in discussions with eachother, to start conversations. But no, this was art as commodity more than I have ever seen before, a room full of alienated people looking at Cezanne and nodding along to their headphones and I wonder, what did they feel?

Well I feel ripped off. $22 for a ticket where I had to punch people in the face (almost) to get close enough to anything to appreciate it. It’s things like this that question my involvement in the arts. When my art becomes a commodity, I quit.