How did you feel performing Maintenance Art in the area around the USU?

I felt good and different. It felt a little strange because we were out in the open. I also did see a lot of people looked confused as they walked by. Overall maintenance art was out of my comfort zone and I feel like Ukeles.

How are Mierle Laderman Ukeles cleaning the steps of an art museum and Richard Serra flinging molten lead against the walls of an art museum different? How are they the same? Are one or both “art”? Are one or both “not art”?

Ukeles is cleaning the steps of an art museum shows appreciation towards the art space and the craft. Serra is showing other emotions like reeling and stepping out of the art “norm” when flinging molten lead against a wall. The difference is Serra is breaking down the art structure to show that there are many ways to interpret art. They are both the same because they both appreciate art in their own way. They just show it differently. Both are art because both artists are creating and showing art through their own perspective. Art is unique so each artist is expressing themselves.

Was Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Maintenance Art performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum “art”? Did the fact that her performance was at an Art Museum make it art? What if instead, she had simply gotten hired as a janitor at a factory somewhere and performed that job for 6 months? Would that have been art? What makes an act “art” or “not art”?

Ukeles’ Maintenance Art performance was art because she was expressing herself through this unique lens. I think Ukeles performing at an art museum does make it art because the space around it was related to the art world. If it was a job like a janitor then I view it as a daily task that. It think what would have made it art would’ve been if it meant something more than just being a daily task. If the person was expressing their own thoughts into a piece then its art. If the action is a apart of a job then it is limited to forms of expression.

Is an object or an action Art or Not Art because of some intrinsic property of the medium? Or because of the intention of the person performing it? Are all paintings on canvas art because paintings on canvas are exhibited in art museums? Is all house painting not art because we don’t exhibit painted houses in art museums? Can a painting on canvas ever be not art? Can painting a house ever be art?

A object or action is art because of the intention of a person performing it. As stated above, maintenance art is shown with Ukeles’ performance piece. But it art isn’t shown when a janitor is doing their job. In my opinion it would depend on the action, the environment, and the type of art being created. Art is varies because it exists in different mediums. It doesn’t have to exist in a museum specifically.I have seen art in the streets, in homes, in offices, and in schools. Art doesn’t have a set location to exist. It exists beyond a canvas. It all goes back to the intention of the art piece.

Has Mierle Laderman Ukeles, or Jennifer Lopez, made you think differently about “Women’s Work”? Is “Women’s Work” ever art? If yes, when? If no, why not?

Women’s Work is any work done by women. Ukeles and Lopez have echoed my thoughts. Women’s Work can be art when the intention and uniqueness is shown though their actions. Each person has can find beauty and art in their own work.

In class we discussed the woman who cleaned Donald Trump’s Star on Hollywood Blvd. Whose Star would you get down on your hands and knees to clean?

I would clean Selena Quintanilla’s star on Hollywood Blvd. She is a Mexican-American singer from Texas. In the 90s she tragically passed away. Her legacy lives on today and I would love to get on my hands and knees to keep her star clean.