Laurie Anderson

Last week, we as a class went to Iowa City to see the artist Laurie Anderson give a lecture. We were introduced to Laurie's work a while back, particularly her "Oh Superman" piece. Going into the lecture I assumed we were just going to learn more about her work like that, but it turns out I got a lot more out of her lecture than a recap of her old performances. Laurie showed the audience that there was no need to label herself as "a painter", or "a singer", or any other specific art style. She said no one ever asked her what kind of artist she was, so she never felt the need to define herself. By doing this, Laurie has been able to break through many different medias and styles to create what is artistic to her. What I found interesting, is that she never looks at one of her pieces and says "yes, that's it! I'm done!". Her art is always evolving. I found this quite relatable, since I too don't really feel like my work is ever exactly right either. She then proceeded to show us her work in progress (which I found very brave of her). I was really a fan of her story telling. She was talking about her dog in a cute silly manner, and then ended the story with 9/11. It was amazing to see how she can switch the mood of a room so instantly. She has stories that you can't make up, like how she put on a concert for dogs, or that her dog plays the keyboard. She showed us a clip from a movie she's working on, where the view was the city, and her voice was super low, telling stories. It was a very interesting dynamic to put together. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to see Laurie Anderson's lecture. It was insightful, and inspirational.