For the love of money

I have always had somewhat of an insecurity realizing that putting my mental emphasis on expression and ideas, as apposed to a concerted effort to acquire capitol. I wondered if it were better to be monetarily driven for a portion of my life and then later pursue my real interests is an ideal plan.

Obviously artists don't do it for the love of money. I am seeing a trend in my world that helps to vindicate my lack of interest in pursuing of wealth. Many of the people that surround me now are people who spend a great deal of there time in artistic expression. Yet they are not destitute, they thrive. This is such a liberating discovery for me. It empowers me to be able to focus on my expressions with increased fervor and be confident that as I do I will be validated by my accomplishment just as my examples are able to.

First, I have met a friend, an instructor here who has his work featured in many galleries and museums throughout the city. His work is particularly interesting to me due to its subject and execution. His name is Jean-Pierre Hebert, we had a nice conversation about his work in the library today. He told me a bit about some of the pieces that he had on display there.

Second is my studio instructor Russell Thomsen who is passionate about what he does and you can tell. One of the things that I admire most about the man is his do or die date with his daughters for bedtime stories every night at 7pm. We have a mutual friend in Brian Spencer, a Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast, and member of the board of the Taliesin Fellowship. Russell is also an admirer of Thom Mayne and is always referencing his work while suggesting ideas for our projects development. Last night he showed his passion for the art during a studio pinup. He expressed that he does this (teach) because he understands just how powerful space can be and that there is too much of our world that we let slip by with minimal or destructive thought without the use of positive design implementations.


Jean-Pierre Hébert: Sketching Scripts, Scripting Drawings
Artist-In-Residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB

Jean-Pierre Hébert (b. 1939 in Calais, France) lives and works in Santa Barbara. From the 70s on, he has pioneered computational drawing and focuses on defining algorithmic drawing processes and translating them into images in traditional and new media. He has been artist-in-residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara since 2003, and has been awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation award in 2006. More details on Hébert can be found here- at his website

This talk is held in conjunction with Jean-Pierre Hébert’s exhibition in the Library Gallery, Drawings as Thoughts.

10.08.09

SCI-Arc Faculty Members Eric Kahn & Russell Thomsen Awarded by Architect Magazine

A single-family residence in Tokyo designed by SCI-Arc faculty members Eric Kahn and Russell Thomsen (IDEA Office) was selected for an Annual Design Review award from Architect Magazine. Also on the project team for Y House were SCI-Arc undergraduate students Adrian Ariosa and Rinaldo Perez; alum Masao Yahagi was the firm’s associate architect in Japan.
Initiated by the magazine this year, the Annual Design Review: Celebrating the Best in American Architecture recognizes work built over the past year in the U.S. or by an American firm. The year jury consisted of architects Aaron Betsky, Ellen Dunham-Jones, Carlos Jimenez, Ralph Johnson and Marion Weiss. The awarded projects will be published in the magazine’s November issue.
In addition to the award announcement in Architect, the Y House will also be featured in Dwell magazine's December issue, and in Japan-based publication JT/Shinkenchiku.