julie benoit

NEW BLOG

2009-02-02T15:29:00.001-05:00

i am no longer really using this blog...well not for now.

see what i am doing at

www.juliebenoit.com

hope all is well.

xoxo. julie

i am reading james benning

2008-10-07T08:43:00.004-04:00

it has been a little bit since i have put anything up on here. i am reading a great book about the film-maker james benning. this summer i had a crit with alex alberro and he suggested that i look up benning. so i have. and wow. i am pretty amazed. i am not even seeing his films. but am just reading about them. and reading him talking bout them. and now i think i need to see a james benning film. my ears are open. and i am searching and i am waiting. hopefully i stumble upon something this year. we will see. i love this whole idea of the long shot. more specifically the long shot of nothing.

6 july 2008

2008-07-25T10:18:00.000-04:00

here is a new piece of work i am working on. it has turned out to be a piece that i will project for now. there is a sound element to it. but here are a few stills from the movie. i set out on july 6 and recorded 2 minutes of sound for 2 minutes every hour that i was awake. the contact microphones that i made created accidental drawings. i documented them with photographs i wrote really quickly about what i heard in the location. i recorded the sound. and then i went on with whatever i was doing. here are a few images. you may see some changes in the weeks to come.

our new house.

2008-07-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

and one day we will live in it. so mike and i settled on the house. scary. here are some pictures of it. it is in charles village. and one day it will be nice. we wont be living in it for a while though. here is what we have so far... the back yard is nice. boo radley lucks out.

2008-07-02T13:34:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I took a MICA bus to New York. I wasn't dying to spend 8 hours on a bus to and from New York to only spend 6 hours in the city, but I did it anyway. I really wanted to see the new David Byrnes installation.

For those who aren't familiar, David Byrnes created a sound installation called Playing the Building, in which he turns the infrastructure of the Battery Maritime Building in New York into a giant musical instrument. He used a retro organ and placed it in the center of the room and asked the audience by painting on the floor to "please play."

After I signed a waiver that i didn't even read I walked up a few flights of stairs anticipating what I was about to see. I walked into the huge space and was confronted with an old beat up pipe organ that sat in the middle of an old, paint peeling, and well-abandoned room. The space was beautifully lit in an almost sacred way from the sun that was shining in from the skylit ceiling. The lighting made the organ seem as though it were glowing on an altar of some sort.

Attached to the organ were many tubes and wires hanging on to the ceiling and also to the organ. It was hard to not be overwhelmed by the amount of tubes and wires that fell from the ceiling and were connected to the organ, they made a drawing of their own. I wasnt sure who was keeping who going. Was the building keeping the organ alive, or was the organ keeping the building alive. After a few seconds of being in the room I noticed that the organ was connected to the room to make music and I kind of felt like the organ was keeping the room alive. The room was definitely alive with the sound and with the energy that was being produced by this organ.

I wasn't sure where to start so I began by slowly walking around the strange and enormous room. I began by following the clanks that I was hearing as someone else was taking their turn playing this organ. I found that the clanks were actually being made by small hand-built hammer like devices. Each time a person would strike a key it would then activate one of the devices to come in contact with some thing in the space and make a sound. The sound resonated beautifully through old metal columns, pipes and such.

I looked up and around and saw so many of these little devices that were attached with wires from the organ to objects that were a part of the interior of the building structure; for example the metal beams, the plumbing, and the radiators were used to make these devices produce sound. These little machines will vibrate, strike and also blow across the elements of the building creating vaguely familiar and finely tuned sounds. They do not produce sound themselves, but they do cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument that the visitors waited patiently to play.

The space was very alive as well as very exciting. There were about 40 people in the room while I was there and each person seemed to be completely entranced by the installation. There was a line of folks waiting patiently for their turn to take the stage and play the building. As each person ended their performance the existing crowd would follow up with clapping as though the inexperienced organ player had just finished an actual musical performance. Some people in the crowd were sitting on the floor against a wall almost as though they had been sitting there all day watching different performances within the space.

I waited patiently in the long line to take my turn on the organ. It was really an amazing experience to have a few minutes to play this piece. I played a duo with my friend Fritz. I couldn't help but to strike a key and figure out which part of the space I was activating. I felt like more of an investigator than a performer. The experience of playing the organ was one I can't really even describe. What I can say is that it was pretty awesome to be an active part of this piece.

I will definitely make another trip to New York before August 10 which is when the show closes in hopes to spend a bit more time in the space. I need to go back up and spend a day in the space and not have to rush back someplace to catch a bus. I would like to be alone in the room and see what that feels like.

school in the summer.

2008-06-27T15:27:00.000-04:00

school is in again for another summer. 1 week in. and my brain already hurts. in a good way. i love these 6 weeks of every year. even if i have no time for anybody. or anything. it is quite nice to be 100 percent submerged in the things i am working on. i am so happy to be having the conversations i am having. being around the folks that keep me ticking. i saw a great artist talk last night. james rouvelle. he is on the faculty at mica. and at bard. for those of you who are not familiar with him. get familiar with him. he makes really amazing interactive and sound based art. i was completely blown away by his talk. and the things he had to say. after a conversation with him today i want to make timers for my sound work. thats my first mission to accomplish. wish me luck.

bottles of sound

2008-05-05T16:02:00.001-04:00

sunday. 4 may 2008.

i decided that i wanted to figure out a way to cut the bottom of a glass bottle off and contain speakers in bottles. i had a feeling that the glass would make the sound sound nice. i was right.

i set out sunday morning with two glass bottles in a cardboard box that were playing the sound of laughter. i used some laugh tracks that i had made. and put a track on repeat. and i allowed the bottles to do their thing. i set up the bottles at a few different locations. some spots were a bit more successful than others.

each time i set the box up i would move out of the way and watch people as they interacted with the piece. the reactions i got were pretty much what i expected. most people kind of stopped for a second and realized the sound was coming from what seemed like a box of trash. they would giggle a little. or at least smile. a few people actually stopped entirely even attempted to take the box apart. i was a little nervous because my ipod was in there.

i found the park location to be the most successful location i have chosen thus far. it was quiet enough in the park that one would notice the laughter in passing. and people seemed less on a mission there so they actually stopped. i set up on a few street corners but didnt have too too much success because of the loud sound of traffic passing by. i was amazed by the people that did not even stop. that did not even notice.

this is a project that i am really just getting started. so keep your eyes open. and your ears too. maybe you will get a chance to stumble upon some of my new sound works.

room of laughter

2008-01-21T21:44:00.001-05:00

i am currently working on this piece. i am collecting laughter from different sources. all people that i know in situations that i am physically involved in. i am interested in the interactions that happen amongst people. the common everyday experiences that we all share. i have installed the piece once now. and have found a few problems. nothing major though. i am working through the little problems. i am attempting to include one of the many laugh track on this entry. it should work.

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2007-10-11T21:55:00.000-04:00

this piece is still not quite finished either. but so far it is 30 speakers. very tiny speakers. coming from each speaker is a different persons voice. each person is telling a story about how he/she got a scar on their body.

other peoples broken hearts

2007-10-11T21:52:00.000-04:00

for this piece. which is still in the making. i am colllectiong sentences on broken hearts. if you have a story about a broken heart and want to send it to me please do. this is what i have so far.

16 juy 2007

2007-10-11T21:44:00.002-04:00

i sent out an email to folks to gather information. in the email were these guidelines.

1.today july 16, 2007 please set an alarm to some time between the hours of 2 and 3 pm. if you choose to not use an alarm try and be aware of said amount of time during this time.
2. when alarm sounds recognize what your thoughts were the in the moments just before alarm went off.
3. whatever your thoughts were write them down and get them to me. i would prefer email. you can also send an email to me at spizanky@earthlink.net. but i need you to call and leave a voice message. to me at 443.226.1761 . please be sure to leave the time in your message. down to the minute.
4. be honest please. i want the truth. i want to know what your random thoughts are at an exact moment.

the response from people was really interesting. and rather exciting. so many people responded. i actually had more voices than i did speakers. each speaker is playing a loop of one individuals voice. a room of 24 speakers. 24 voices.

images from this piece are the few to follow.

2007-10-10T15:45:00.000-04:00

Julie Benoit
3211 Abell Avenue
Baltimore. Md. 21218
spizanky@earthlink.net
443.226.1761

Education:
2006 to current working on MFA, Maryland Institute College of Art
2002 B.S. in Fine Art, Towson University
Recipient of the Towson University Printmaking Award
Recipient of the John Blair Mitchell Printmaking Award
Mentors: Tonia Matthews, Trudi Ludwig-Johnson, Richard Hellman

Awards:
2004 Maryland Federation of Art Jurors Choice Award, Juror: Gerald Ross
2003 Maryland Federation of Art Jurors Choice Award, Juror: Virginia Shore
2002 John Blair Mitchell Printmaking Award
2001 Towson University Printmaking Award

Curatorial Experience:
2004 New Drawings by Harrison Haynes: Mission Space, Baltimore, Md. September 2004.
2004 Mark Mothersbaugh: Beuatiful Mutants. May 2004. Mission Space, Baltimore, Md.
2004 Breathing Underwater: recent photographs by Michelle Tecco. June 2004. Mission Space, Baltimore, Md.
2004 a journey: Chela Gallery, Baltimore, Md. March 6-30.
2002 Winter: A Collection of Works. Mission Space., Baltimore, Md. A group show with eight artists.

Exhibitions:

Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
2005 Passing Notes: a Visual Collaboration by Julie Benoit and Cara Ober. Spare Room Installation
Space, 2720 Greenmount Ave. Baltimore, Md. Curated by Cindy Rehm
2005 Action Speaks: Recent Works of Kris Vandevander and Julie Benoit. Shinola Gallery, Baltimore, Md.
Curated by Amy Schwartzbaum.
2004 Secret Signs: New Paintings and Collaborative Works, The GSpot Audio-Visual Playground, Baltimore,
Md. curated by Jill Sell.
2002 Recent Works of Barbara Johnson and Julie Benoit, Mission Space, Baltimore, Md. Curated by Todd Lesser.

Juried Exhibitions
2005 Parkside National Small Prints Exhibition, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wi. Juror Karen
Kunc
2004 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, Bradbury Gallery ASU, Jonesboro, Ar. Group show juried by
Shelley Langdale.
2004 Fall Members Juried Show, Maryland Federation of Art, City Gallery. October 1-30. Juror Gerald
Ross, Painter.*Jurors Choice award.
2004 Spring Juried Exhibition, Maryland Federation of Art City Gallery, Baltimore, Md. Group Show juried by
Tonia Matthews, Printmaker. *Jurors Choice award.
2003 Spring Juried Exhibition, Maryland Federation of Art City Gallery, Baltimore, Md. Group show juried by
Virginia Shore, Senior Curator, Arts in the Embassies Program. May 28 - June 28. *Jurors Choice award.
2001 Spring Juried Exhibition, Hollzman Gallery, Towson University, Towson, Md.
2000 Fall Juried Exhibition, Hollzman Gallery, Towson University, Towson, Md.

Group Exhibitions
2007 Mini Curated Books: A Group Show, Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore, Md. Sept 28.29. Curator Gary Kachedorian.
2007 Cowboy Show: A Group Show, DCAC, Washington DC, March 16-April 18. Curator Cara Ober.
2006 Holy: A Group Show, The Creative AlLiance, Baltimore, Md. September 1-21. Curator Luci Morreal.
2006 Hopes and Schemes: A Group Show, The Riviera Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. January 13-29. Curator John
Tymkiw.
2006 Business Minded: A Group Show, Renowned Gallery, Portland, Oregon. March 1-30.
2005 Battles: A Group Show, Current Gallery, Baltimore, Md. June 13-27. Curated by Ryan Jedlicka.
2005 Spring Group Show, Cubicle 10, Central Ave, Baltimore, Md. May 1-June 18. Curated by Billy Colbrick.
2005 Summer Suite: Recent Works by Julie Benoit, Meaghan Harrison and Youngmi Song. Gallery Imperato,
Baltimore, Md. Curated by Jordan Block.
2005 Picture Window. Sponsored by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts. 100 artists create work to be
permanently displayed on abandoned buildings throughout the city of Baltimore. Slide show and
reception at Area 405, Oliver Street, Baltimore, MD. Area 405, Baltimore, Md. Curator Gary
Kachadorian.
2004 Inward Gazes, Creating Pieces of the Identity Puzzle. Rosenberg Gallery, Goucher College, Towson, Md.
Group show curated by Cara Ober. Nov. 1 - Dec. 15. A 13 woman exhibit featuring Laura Amussen, Kini
Collins, Cindy Rehm, Lynn Silverman, Jo Smail, Elena Vulkos.* Press: Baltimore Sun December 9, Radar
Review Issue 12.
2004 Systems, Codes, Chaos, Seed Vector Gallery Space, 321 Madison Ave. Baltimore, Md. Curator Seth
Adelsberger.
2004 Matchbook, Spare Room Installation Space,, 3720 Greenmount Ave. Baltimore, Md. A group exhibit featuring
over 60 pieces of original art on matchbooks. Curator Cindy Rehm.
2004 Starscape, Sponsored by The GSpot Audio-Visual Playground, Fort Armistead Park, Baltimore, Md.
Curator Jill Sell.
2004 a journey: Chela Gallery, Baltimore, Md. March 6-30. Group show curated by Push & Pull Productions.
2003 Indian Summer, The GSpot Visual Playground, Baltimore, Md. Group Show curated by Jill Sell.
2003 Starscape, Sponsored by The GSpot Audio-Visual Playground, Fort Armistead Park, Baltimore, Md. Group
show curated by Jill Sell.
2003 A Spring Group Show, The City Cafe, Baltimore, Md. Group show with Cara Ober, Joan Cox, and Tom Webb.
2003 Covert: A Group Show, The Whole Gallery, 405 W Franklin Street, Baltimore, Md. Curator William Downs.
2002 Winter: A Collection of Works, Mission Space, Baltimore, Md. Group show curated by Todd Lesser.
2002 Get Your Grill On, The GSpot Audio-Visual Playground, Baltimore, Md. Group show curated by Jill Sell.
2002 Starscape, Sponsored by The GSpot Audio-Visual Playground. Fort Armstead Park, Baltimore, Md. Group
Show curated by Jill Sell .
2001 Surface Tension, The GSpot Audio-Visual Playground, Baltimore, Md. Group Show curated by Jill Sell.
2000 Fall Group Show, The Whole Gallery, 405 W Franklin Street. Baltimore, Md. Group show curated by Ezra
Picard.

Press Coverage:
2005 Baltimore City Paper. October 12, 2005. Critics Pick. Passing Notes: A Visual Collaboration by Bret
McCabe.
2005 Baltimore City Paper. May 8, 2005. Critics Pick. Summer Suite:A Group Show by Mike Giullano.
2004 Baltimore Sun. December 9. "Intimate and Unsettling." Review of Inward Gazes by Glen McNatt.
2004 Baltimore City Paper. October 13. Seeds of Promise. Review of Seed Vector Show by Jessica Bowers.
2004 Baltimore City Paper. October 6. Critics Picks: Art. Review of Matchbook at Spare Room.
2004 Baltimore City Paper. March 17. A Journey. Review of Chela Gallery Show by Blake dePastino.
2004 Baltimore City Paper. February 25. Secret Signs. Review of GSpot show by Ned Oldham.
2003 Radar Magazine. Issue 6. Review of Group show at City Cafe by Lauren Bender.
2003 Baltimore City Paper. March 26, 2003, Free ‘n Not so Easy. Review of Covert at The Whole Gallery by
Gadi Dechter.
2002 Peek Review. December 2002. Review of Recent Works of Julie Benoit and Barbara Johnson by Lauren
Bender.
2002 Baltimore City Paper. January 16, 2002. Review of Recent Works of Julie Benoit and Barbara Johnson by
Ned Oldham.
2002 Baltimore City Paper. December 11, 2002. A Place to Hang. Review of Winter at Mission Space by Gadi
Dechter.

Published Writing
Radar Review
Issue 11. 2004. Critical review of Baltimore Afrobeat Society.
Issue 8. 2003. Critical review of Conversations, Influence and Collaboration in Contemporary Art, Evergreen
House, Baltimore, Md.
Issue 8. 2003. Critical review of and Julie Stovall and Leslie Furlongs Mural at Martha’s Place, at 1928
Pennsylvania Avenue.
Issue 1. 2002. Critical review of Anti-Folk night at the Ottobar, Baltimore. Md.

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detail of work in hopes and schemes at the riviera gallery

2006-01-30T17:13:00.000-05:00

detail of work in hopes and schemes at the riviera gallery

2006-01-30T17:11:00.000-05:00

detail of work in hopes and schemes at the riviera gallery

2006-01-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

detail of work in hopes and schemes at the riviera gallery

2006-01-30T17:06:00.000-05:00

a burton shirt with my drawing on it coming in spring

2006-01-30T15:42:00.000-05:00

part of a pink cloud series

2006-01-30T15:39:00.000-05:00

part of a pink cloud series

2006-01-30T15:36:00.000-05:00

part of a pink cloud series

2006-01-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

part of a pink cloud series

2006-01-30T15:27:00.000-05:00

part of a pink cloud series

2006-01-30T15:01:00.000-05:00

a drawing made my me and francesco

2006-01-30T14:58:00.000-05:00

a drawing made my me and francesco

2006-01-30T14:55:00.000-05:00

a drawing made my me and francesco

2006-01-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

a drawing made my me and francesco

2006-01-30T12:56:00.000-05:00