On Tuesday night, I went to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, to hear "Tara Donovan In Conversation with Lawrence Weschler."
Obviously it's not possible to take enough notes, or share the intimacy of such a talk, but here are a few words of note:
From Ms Donovan: "accumulation" (of objects), "visually expansive field," "had faith that doing her art would lead to something," "stay true to the material," "what the materials wants to do," and "I have assistants who work with me in the studio. Everyone has a different way of ripping or stacking (she has to take that in to consideration as everyone works)."
From Mr Weschler to Ms Donovan about having assistants, and also about women artists vs artists, he asked if there is a "quilting bee quality in the studio?" (which is something that makes my skin crawl as a fiber/mixed media artist because of the negative connotations even though I know he did not mean it that way). Ms Donovan responded, it's "not women's work, but a group of people working together." GREAT answer!
Though I haven't been to many, I have really enjoyed the artists talks I have attended. Two (other) memorable ones for me were at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, one with Fred Tomaselli, and the other with Oliver Herring. Tara Donovan's talk was very insightful, intelligent and well worth attending. I am so glad I went!
