Layers of Meaning

Art Challenges online

Stretch your imagination with a series of online art challenges thrown to the general public. Learning to Love You More "is both a web site and series of non-web presentations comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher and various guests." Simple directions; they give out an assignment and anyone who wants to takes up the challenge.

My favorite of the assignments (to date) is probably: Assignment #6:Make a poster of shadows. Christina Ory has created some shadows that have lives and tales of their own to tell just with expressive detailed shapes. John VanBeers has created a compelling series of hard-edge abstract forms laid out on a grid.

The assignments are being shown at art museums internationally, including The Whitney Biennial, Seattle Art Museum, and the FACT Center in Liverpool, England. The exercises are intended for all media, possibly video and photography being the most common. But many of the ideas could be used as sparks to charge any design dead end. How about a gridded quilted, embroidered shadow study?