Welcome to the blog of the Nebraska Project. I am a visual artist, primarily a painter and you can view the abstract of this project on my website.
I'm starting this blog for several reasons. Obviously, I wanted to create interest around my project. Secondly, I wanted to hopefully create both a forum and a community from which to develop the project in a public way and hopefully in a way that will be part of the eventual project itself.
So what is "The Nebraska Project"?
Last year, I conceived of a series of very large paintings based on the Great Plains. Bruce Springsteen's legendary album "Nebraska" was on the iPod a lot and I was remembering a couple of trips I had taken through the area by car between 2000 and 2001. The holidays set in and other priorities and works came about, but as the year began this idea wouldn't leave me alone. How, I asked, can I make these paintings? What will they look like? Where the heck will they be housed/exhibited? What am I trying to do as I do them?
That final question really sent me. It's one thing to make paintings in my studio, but as this idea began to take shape I realized that I wanted to expand my own ideas about art-making and the social role of the artist-citizen. I feel it is important to engage an audience with these works, not only as completed paintings but also as part of the process of getting them made. I decided that I wanted to go to Nebraska and meet people and walk the land and try to come away with more than just a tourist impression for some landscape paintings.
The more this idea goes forward, the more important public involvement/contact is becoming. It is my hope to engage in a few Town Hall meetings, both for the purpose of getting to know the local people as well as for them to get to know me. I'm sure there are questions: "Why would an artist travel 1600 miles to make a bunch of big paintings?", "What's the point?", "Am I supposed to get something?" and on and on.
I'm beginning a series of video logs, which may or may not appear on this blog as things move forward. I've contacted the wonderful people at the Great Plains Art Museum, who have been very helpful and supportive thus far. I'm looking through grants and residencies to try and fund both my travels as well as the execution of the works themselves.
What I want from this blog is your input. I want to hear from you and hopefully your questions will help me formulate my own objectives more clearly. Though most would consider me an abstract painter, I want to make very clear that I intend to push a lot of conventions with these works and I hope, in the end, that people will take them at face value and relevant to their own experiences and involvement with this project.
