Ernst Haeckel: Ascidiae, 1904.
I will be teaching an evening Continuing Education course at University of the Arts, over five Thursdays from July 12 to August 9.
The course description is below, and you can register and read the syllabus and supply list at:
http://www.uarts.edu/continue/edu/index.cfm#courses
(click on "Fine Arts" and then "From Cells to Stems")
From Cells to Stems: A Workshop in Drawing from Nature
CE 1645C
1.5 CE credit $275
CE 1645N Non-credit $245
5 Thursdays July 12-Aug 9
6:30-9:30pm
Act 48 Hours: 15
Observe the fascinating world of nature this summer with new eyes, a range of explorations and a variety of drawing media. In this course, you'll be able to intimately observe biological details that often go unnoticed—or are unnoticeable—in the everyday world; the effect of this close-focus concentration can be calming and meditative. You'll create finely detailed drawings based on sources ranging from cellular tissues viewed through a digital microscope to botanical still lifes created with local flora. Working with repetition, scale, pattern and texture, students of all levels will create breathtaking abstract and realistic images in pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor.
I am pleased to announce the settlement of "Cohen et al v. City of New York et al ".
This is the lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the 18 artists from the Brooklyn College Masters of Fine Arts class of 2006, whose Thesis Exhibition, "Plan B" at the Brooklyn War Memorial was censored by the Brooklyn Borough Parks Commisioner Julius Spiegel in May 2006, and whose artwork was subsequently removed and damaged by Brooklyn College.
For the full back story and links to previous press, please see our blog: www.PlanCensored.blogspot.com
The settlement includes a payment of a total of more than $56,000 by the city, which includes $750 per artist, and fees paid to our lawyers.
Most importantly, Julius Spiegel released this statement:
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Statement of Defendant Julius Spiegel, Brooklyn Borough Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, in Connection with the Settlement of Cohen, et al V. Coty of the New York, et al.
While I had no role in the removal and subsequent damage of the Plaintiffs' artwork by others, I acknowledge my responsibility for ordering the closing of the Plaintiffs' art exhibit at the Brooklyn War Memorial, and for thereby setting in motion actions that led to the damage of Plaintiffs' artwork, which a reviewing court might find constituted a violation of the student-exhibitors' First Amendment rights. Whatever the outcome in court might have been, I apologize to the Brooklyn College art students who spent long hours and considerable effort in creating their artwork and in mounting their exhibition at the Brooklyn Memorial site.
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We have a few new items in the press:
www.nysun.com - we are at the top of the front page right now.
http://www.nysun.com/article/56021 is the permanent link.
and, arts briefly in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/arts/07arts.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin
other press notices:
http://chronicle.com/news/article/2452/new-york-city-pays-up-and-apologizes-for-censoring-students-art-show
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06072007/news/regionalnews/xxx_art_victory_regionalnews_stefanie_cohen.htm
Some of the artists will be donating a portion of the settlement money to benefit the production and distribution of the documentary that is being made about the Plan B exhibition and its censorship. For information on the film-makers, see: www.eidia.com.
