Mike Nourse is a Chicago-based visual artist, curator, and educator whose artwork includes videos and gel-transfer works. Recently I spoke with Nourse about his influences, his ongoing projects, Chicago Art Department, his iPhone class, and his new job with Digital Media Academy at the University of Chicago.

DG: How did you first get interested in making art?

MN: I think my earliest interests came from my aunt writing for SCTV during the late 70s, and trying to make sense of people like John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Andrea Martin. At the time I didn’t really understand the humor but I was fascinated by performance and the idea of moving a public audience.

DG: Did you ever visit the SCTV studio?

MN: Yes, and when I would visit shows they would try to take me onstage, but apparently I would grab onto the closest fixtures and not let them. Other Canadian television shows like Bizarre and DeGrassi Junior High got me jazzed around performing so I took drama class and acted in high school plays. So high school days got me into performing, my 20s were focused on performing music, and since then I've been focused on visual arts in the form of video and transfer art.

DG: Did your aunt ever talk about the kinds of things that she wrote for SCTV? Do you know any sketches that she wrote, for instance?

MN: I was really young when my aunt Mary Charlotte Wilcox was a part of SCTV. I remember her in episodes like Murrary's File and Melonville Calendar but I don't recall specific conversations about the writing. What really struck me was the way the show went over with Canadians, that fascinated me. That said, I probably remember her acting best from a role in Strange Brew, where she was a nurse in a scene where Bob and Doug McKenzie get committed to an insane asylum. That was a big movie for Canadians so I was proud as heck that she was in it, even if it was a tiny part. Although she is out of show business, she still keeps in touch with folks, and I continue to ask her for Martin Short's contact info.

DG: What’s another memory you have of SCTV? Did you meet any SCTV actors such as Eugene Levy and John Candy?

MN: Yes I did meet many SCTV folks like Candy and Levy, I remember Tony Rosato (another SCTV actor) taking me to my hockey games and tying my skates, whenever there was a scheduling conflict with my folks...But more than anything I remember how happy, funny, and welcoming they were as a group. That that stuck with me and is something that is most alive when I run arts programs. I like to make everyone feel welcome when making or learning about art.

DG: Who are some of your influences?

MN: First and foremost Canadian icons, folks who survived the elements of winter and went on to have significant and influential careers. I’m thinking of people like Neil Young, Martin Short, Joni Mitchell, Kids In The Hall, and Marshall McLuhan.

DG: What’s your favorite Joni Mitchell record? "Mingus" and "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" are two of my favorites, but she’s recorded so many amazing songs over the years.

MN: I was most into Blue around the same time I was listening to Neil Young's Harvest. Intimate. I was really a Neil Young nut, influenced my own music and was my gateway to her.

DG: What's your favorite Neil Young record?

MN: Zuma is my favorite Young album, it's one that feels off the beaten track, but still distinctly his music and him finding a path for himself as a guitarist and songwriter. Kind of feel the same way about Landing On Water, the album I've seen most in second hand music stores, as if discarded by most people.

DG: Have you read "Shakey," the excellent Neil Young biography by James McDonough?

MN: I read it years ago and loved it. It was given to me by someone who knows me well, so it's clearly no secret that I greatly admire him.

DG: What are some qualities of Neil Young's music that you like so much?

MN: What I've always enjoyed with Neil Young is his ability to take on new types of music, not afraid to try something new at the expense of potentially alienating his audience. Of course he has maintained a very loyal following, so I think many others appreciate that as well. I also love that despite changing styles, he has a certain grounded quality, that no matter what you hear when you listen to his music, you still feel the same Neil Young behind whatever style he is trying, like he's always in the room even when you're hearing something that is clearly not what you're used to. Not many people pull this off, but I think he has managed to do so.

DG: Do you feel a personal connection with Neil Young, as someone who came from Canada?

MN: I think it's fair to say that his path of leaving Canada and moving to the States has made him someone that I can relate to, and someone I have tried to learn from. I snuck a mic into his solo performance at Rosemont Horizon a few years ago, crappy recording but I love it. Never gave anyone a copy except my brother, who came to Chicago to see the show for me. I think Neil would be ok with that.

DG: Who are some visual artists who have influenced you?

MN: For visual art, Kasimir Malevich’s work impressed me when I first got into art and photography in the 90s. Gerhard Richter’s paintings have always stuck with me, always in the back of my mind when I work on large-scale transfers.

DG: What are some aspects of Richter’s work that you like? I like is how some of his paintings have photographic qualities (in a different way than Chuck Close, although I like how both of those artists paint in large scale formats).

MN: Yes I feel the same way. In 1999 I first saw Women Descending Down a Staircase (1965) at The Art Institute of Chicago, I was just starting to experiment with transferring digital images using gel medium, and I was really interested in the collision of photography and painting, with the aesthetics of captured images meeting texture. My transfers are really about building on the question of "what is photography?", and his work was one of the first that I truly experienced in this vein. I admire Chuck Close's work, although I must admit I saw a show of his in Austin recently that didn't quite move me in the same way. I little too much machine, not enough man. But it could have been an off-day for me.

DG: Who are some of your other artistic influences?

MN: I love Joe Gibbons' and Bryan Boyce's video work. I managed to get Joe to visit a course I was teaching a few years ago at SAIC, that was great. His early work and playful humor really opened my eyes up to possibilities as a time-based artist. I was obsessed with Brakhage and Godard for years, still am to a certain degree. Resfest was something I followed for years, I was super happy when one of my videos was in their festival. More recently I’ve been really into following Banksy, think he might be one of the most important artists today, and will go down as such. So like many other Gen-X folks, my influences come from a lot of different places.

DG: What are some things that you like about Bryan Boyce’s work?

MN: Appropriation is a big part of my art and history. I grew up with cultural imperialism all around me, American content and media dominating my Canadian landscape. Because of that I was eventually driven to re-purpose media in order to reclaim (1) the space in my head, and (2) part of our shared cultural landscape. Bryan Boyce's art represents this, and shows a moment in our history where the tables turned. Instead of people simply absorbing commercials and corporate drivel, this is about a two-way street, responding to pre-packaged messages driven by corporate agendas, and delivering these responses using similar avenues of distribution (museums, theaters, online, DVD, broadcast, etc..). Bryan's Special Report reminded me of my own art, and the fact that his work was screened as part of Resfest at the Museum of Contemporary Art made it legitimate and uplifting (in addition to hilarious). So I was happy when two years later my video Terror, Iraq, Weapons was in the same festival alongside one of his pieces, felt very much at home at the opening in NYC.

DG: What are some thoughts that you have about other artists who have appropriated other people’s work (Negativland, hip hop artists, DJ Spooky, etc.? What do you think about Creative Commons, sampling, and the role of intellectual property in art?

MN: For years people have been told to "just do it," to buy certain products and become empowered to take on the world as individuals. But the reality is, until desktop publishing and the internet, people weren't really able to significantly distribute their work, so what was the point? Well once people started to use the tools they had been told to buy, and once people started to create and distribute powerful voices which dissented with corporate and political messages, corporations and politicians started to clamp down on what is lawful. My personal opinion is that you can't have it both ways. if you sell someone lemons you have to be prepared for lemonade. And in this case with work by artists such as Boyce, Spooky, and others, we are seeing individuals using tools like Apple computers to not just make a DVD showing the family trip, but something much more valuable about our culture. And it won't stop.

DG: You mentioned Banksy. Have you seen “Exit Through the Gift Shop” ? I saw it recently, it’s a really interesting film. What do you think about his work, as well as work by other street artists?

MN: Yes I did see the film and loved it. In my humble opinion, Banksy and street art could be the most important art on the planet. This is unfiltered voices whose commentary speaks on many levels, and is long overdue for public attention. What better way to comment on concrete and corporate culture than to place messages on the very buildings that are erected by these conglomerations? Again, if you create a culture of commodity, you have to in some way accept people using the very PC computers they buy and Kinko's they use, in a way that might challenge those very transactions. All this is important, but what's even more impressive is that some of the work out there is just drop-dead gorgeous.

DG: How did you first get involved with Chicago Art Department?

MN: CAD was born out of my studio, which I shared with others who were fresh out of grad school. We were young and new to teaching, and thought if we offered free courses out of our studio, we could learn about being educators while helping others grow as artists. So I founded CAD with Nathan Peck and Nat Soti, two peers of mine. We’ve been around for seven years now, have a storefront gallery in Pilsen and separate studio space in West Town. We’ve offered dozens of programs, more exhibitions, and worked with hundreds of artists....and the best part is we’ve learned lots.

DG: How did you decide to have CAD open in Pilsen? What are some things that you like about the art scene in Pilsen?

MN: CAD was initially in a large 3000 sf studio in the south loop. While it was a great place to incubate, we lacked a public audience and interactions with random people. We decided to reach out to people in Pilsen to explore a public venue, and three months later found a situation that worked for us. I like the public nature of a storefront gallery and that's probably the biggest selling point for CAD, but personally I love the community of artists all around the area just as much. It's easy to get inspired and great to learn from everything in the hood, as well as neighboring Bridgeport, which has Co-Prosperity Sphere and the great Zhou Brothers. Great situation for art enthusiasts of all kinds.

DG: What is is a recent project that you've done with CAD?

MN: For me, I taught an "iPhone Art" program at CAD that ended with an exhibition in January, that was great fun.

DG: How did you come up with the idea for the "iPhone Therefore iArt" class?

MN: I really believe in taking the word “play” seriously, and this is a tool that clearly requires tinkering for artists to maximize its potential. I was interested in using my iPhone to make art, but there weren’t any textbooks about iPhones for artists, so a few of us at CAD thought it would be a great to put together a program in which participants would learn some of the million apps available, meet with visiting artists, make art to share with a public audience at CAD’s gallery, and grow as artists in the process. We ended up with close to a 1000 people who came to see work by 10 local and 15 international artists, and were fortunate enough to be featured in a bunch of local and national print, web, and television outlets. Pretty unique learning opportunity, but we’ve always liked the idea of riding certain digital “waves” while they exist. In the past we rode waves of timely learning in things like early desktop publishing, VJ tools, digital video production, and sound editing software, so iPhone Art was a logical step given our history.

DG: How many sessions of the iPhone class have you taught? How did you develop the curriculum?

MN: The winter session was the only session that CAD has offered. We’ve explored it as an annual program, and others have asked about that…However we’re waiting to see how the industry develops, considering things like other mobile devices and new products like the iPad. I’d like to do it again, but we’ll see. For now I have a solid syllabus based on our experience, ready to build on if we decide to do so.

DG: What is one “eureka” moment that you can share – when a student had struggled with some concept or approach, and then suddenly he/she got it (in the context of that class)?

MN: In my own practice I transfer digital images using gel medium, onto various surfaces. I've been experimenting with this for over ten years and have had three solo shows. I am still learning but despite that, I've taught this process inside of courses at DePaul and Marwen. I taught twin sisters named Abbie and Vivien at Marwen, and they reached possibilities beyond the scope of our project. Soon after completing an introductory assignment they were creating pieces that spanned multiple canvases, worked with different materials, incorporated separate transfers inside of single pieces. What stood out for me as an educator was when they began working on pieces outside of class time, transfers that had nothing to do with course objectives. So I suppose the "eureka" moments happened when they both came to class one day with a handful of works that I had never seen. They had clearly obtained ownership of the process, taking the course work and incorporating it into their own practices. As an educator, watching a student claim an art practice is truly amazing, especially when they take it to levels you never imagined yourself. This is a clear indication that as students they have completely grasped what you set out to teach.

DG: What would you say is a connection between who you are as an artist, curator, and educator?

MN: All of these hats involve similar processes, so they come from a similar place inside of me. Obviously I look at pieces of art as such, but I also look at exhibitions and courses as pieces of art as well. They all involve moments of inspiration, creation, interaction, and resolution. They often involve similar conversations around things like conceptualization, formal considerations, audience, etc…That being said, a related aspect of my teaching that helps, is the fact that I’ve had to create most, if not all of the courses that I’ve ever taught. Aside from an intro to film/video course that I co-taught with Bill Stamets at SAIC, I believe I have created every program that I’ve ever taught. Obviously the same is true with my art (I create), and I use the same approach when I curate exhibitions. I also manage art programs and use the same approach when considering curriculum planning (how you set up a larger context for learning? – it takes creativity).

DG: What are some other projects that CAD has been developing?

MN: CAD’s biggest project from that last year has been the opening of a second space, dedicated to studio practice and located on Hubbard west of Ashland. Apart from that we recently worked with Ben Chappell at Foundation, who hosted a “green screen” workshop that was great. Nathan Peck led a program for recycling refrigerators, turning them into pieces of art; the results are installed in a pop-up loop storefront downtown. Abraham Velasquez Tello taught “Wordpress for Artists” in the fall and I’ve recently established a CAD partnership with Perspectives Charter School, which will see CAD artists working with high school students starting this fall. At the moment CAD is focused on (1) launching our new screen-printing facilities in the studio, and (2) our annual “Growing Up CAD” fundraiser, which will be on Saturday September 18th.That day-long telethon will feature performers and artists' talks that will be streamed online. Should be a good one.

DG: What are you planning on doing with that the Digital Media Academy at the University of Chicago?

MN: The position of program director at the Digital Media Academy is an exciting one. DMA has a great history out of Stanford and I’m excited to work with the U of C campus. I’m looking forward to working with the teachers and students, but most of all I’m looking forward to a summer or playing with digital arts alongside some great educators and youth. That’s an essential part of my teaching philosophy when it comes to technology, so I really want to see students have fun and be genuinely engaged as playful creators. If those things happen I know there will be great art and learning for everyone involved, which is ultimately what it is all about!

DG: What are some other ongoing projects you’ve been working on?

MN: I recently launched a project called Looking For with photographer Marta Sasinowska. The project explores looking for things, as this is something we do and of course might have started with hunting millions of years ago. Our first series called Looking For: New Works is up at Salvage One, and features large-scale gel-transfer portraits of people who are looking for work, transfered onto found windows that I've collected from the streets and alleys of Chicago. As part of the project I have been creating time-lapse videos of our subjects, and working towards the next installment of our project. Separate from visual arts I've been working on new music, writing and practicing songs that I hope to present at some point in the next year. I'm actually experiencing a mild renaissance with music, and reconnecting with my history there.

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