One of the foundations of The Hoosac Institute is that it embraces creative production with openness. Another one is that it is insistent on interdisciplinarity. A third is that it’s not snobby. No thematic issues, no questions, no editing.
You get an invitation, you send me something, it becomes part of the Journal. We can talk about it if you have questions, but I’m not in the business of gatekeeping. I’ve been kept out of too many spaces in my life to replicate that model.
When I write someone and ask them to contribute, they read:
We celebrate overlooked or side projects, pieces that didn't find a place, or creations in a medium that you love but aren't "known for."
We love explorations, meanders, scraps, archival bits, and new efforts.
The goal of the Journal is to invite artists of all media to send in work in one or both categories:
1. Work that may be different from what you might be typically 'known for,' whatever that might mean to you.
2. A piece or project or fragment of something that you may have made but never saw the light of day, for whatever reason.
The Journal is a space for experimentation, for risk-taking, for connections among the multiplicity of media and forms that creative people make.
And then I wait for surprises. And they come. It’s wonderful.
Another thing I try to do with the Institute is to invite artists with a wide range of experience and exposure.
The Hoosac Institute project inspired me to reach out to artists I’ve admired for decades and to ones who are just beginning their work.
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I started teaching college when I wasn’t much older than the students. Now I could be their parent. I teach 16mm film and a whole range of seminars on moving image art. I throw in a lot of the things you read in these posts: literature, history, art history, a tiny bit of theory when I feel brave enough. Students make videos, installations, sculptures, they write papers and do performances. It’s energizing and always changing.
From time to time I invite former students to contribute work to The Hoosac Journal and it’s thrilling to see what they offer. In fact, there quite a few projects by students of years past throughout the issues, but of course I don’t indicate it in the publication.
Today I’m focusing on Issue 2 from what seems ever so long ago: September 2018.
I consider myself fortunate to have met incredible young people at the colleges and universities where I’ve taught over these many years. Some keep in touch, some don’t. It’s fine. I don’t forget them. And they never cease to inspire me.
Here are two.
Click on the images and you’ll arrive at their respective projects.
Julian Hudson Mayfield II, BFA from the School of Art, Cooper Union, New York, 2018.
Title: “Rules and Guidelines for a framework dedicated to the study of strategy and organization.” By Julian Hudson Mayfield II, July 2018
Emily Stewart-Han, BFA in Photography and BA in Culture and Media from The New School, New York, 2016.
Title: “Images and excerpt from the essay A Beautiful Fraud.” By Emily Stewart. 2016
P.S. If you haven’t looked yet, please do check out the newest issue of The Hoosac Institute Journal. It’s launched today and is fantastic, if I do say so myself. You can access it here:
Enjoy, and thanks for reading.