Alison Knowles facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alison Knowles
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Knowles, c. 2002-5
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| Born | 1933 (age 91–92) |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Performance art, Printmaking |
| Movement | Fluxus |
Alison Knowles (born 1933) is an American artist. She is known for her unique art pieces. These include installations, performances, sound art, and books.
Knowles was a founding member of a group called Fluxus. This was an international group of artists. They wanted to mix different types of art together. Her art often involves performances. It also uses "event scores," which are like simple instructions for art. Many of her works also invite people to touch and interact with them.
She graduated from Pratt Institute in New York. She earned an honors degree in fine art. In 2015, Pratt gave her an honorary doctorate degree.
In the 1960s, she was very active in the New York City art scene. She worked with famous artists like John Cage and Marcel Duchamp. During this time, she started creating event scores. These are performances that turn everyday actions into art. Alison Knowles's art stands out because it uses visual, sound, and touch elements.
From July 2022 to February 2023, a special show of her work was held. It was called by Alison Knowles: A Retrospective (1960–2022). This show was at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in California.
Contents
Early Art Journey
Alison Knowles went to the Pratt Institute and graduated in 1956. Her father was a professor there. This meant she could study art for free. At night, she learned painting from Adolph Gottlieb. She also admired artists like Helen Frankenthaler and Jackson Pollock.
During the day, she studied graphic design. This taught her how to create designs for commercial use. A class taught by Richard Lindner was very important to her. Knowles later said, "What I learned there was that I am an artist."
Knowles also looked up to John Cage. He taught a class in 1958 that many future Fluxus artists attended. After a painting show, Knowles destroyed all her paintings in a bonfire. This act led her to explore new types of art. It also connected her with the Fluxus group. In 1962, she started writing event scores. These quickly became a big part of the Fluxus movement.
After attending the first Fluxus Festivals in Europe, Knowles returned to the U.S. She began making art objects. Some were made for George Maciunas, the leader of Fluxus. Her object-based art focuses on how people can touch and hear the artwork. She often used beans in her art during the 1960s. This was unique because other Fluxus artists used everyday trash or found objects.
Artful Books
George Maciunas invited Knowles to create one of her first "book objects." This was called Bean Rolls (1963). It was not a normal book. Its "pages" were tiny paper scrolls. You could pick and read them in any order. On each scroll, Knowles printed texts she found. These included songs, recipes, stories, and cartoons. The tin container also held dried beans. They made a rattling sound when you moved the tin.
In 1967, Knowles made The House of Dust. This is a famous example of computer-generated poetry. She worked with composer James Tenney. The poem started as four lists written by Knowles. Each list described a part of a house. For example, its material, location, light source, and who lived there. Tenney used a computer to mix these phrases. The computer created many different versions of the poem by chance. Knowles chose one verse to inspire a large sculpture.
Knowles also created The Big Book (1967). This was a huge walk-in art piece. It had eight movable "pages," each four feet wide and eight feet tall. They were connected to a metal spine. Each page had an opening to the next. This created different spaces for people to explore. The piece weighed about a ton. It included a gallery, a library, a grass tunnel, and a window. She built it using things she found from her apartment. The Big Book traveled to many cities. It slowly broke down into its parts over time. This big book inspired her other large installations, The Book of Bean and The Boat Book.
The Boat Book was first shown in Miami in 2014. Knowles said it would have a "hoop structure" covered in blue silk, like the ocean. This "book sculpture" also has a porthole, fishing nets, and an anchor.
Event Scores
Event scores are performances created by George Brecht. They are often simple instructions. Alison Knowles describes an event score as "a one or two line recipe for action."
One of her well-known scores is The Identical Lunch (1969). This came from her habit of eating the same lunch every day. It was "a tuna fish sandwich on wheat toast, with lettuce and butter, no mayo and a cup of soup or a glass of buttermilk." She invited people to join her for lunch. She wanted to document all the small details. This made an everyday meal into a thoughtful art piece. Knowles said it was "about having an excuse to get to talk to people, to notice everything that happened."
Touch is a special part of Knowles's art. One of her most famous event scores is Make a Salad. She first performed it in 1962 in London. In this score, Knowles prepares a huge salad. She chops vegetables to the beat of live music. Then she mixes the ingredients by tossing them in the air. Finally, she serves the salad to the audience. Make a Salad has been performed all over the world. This includes the Tate Modern and Art Basel.
Shoes of Your Choice also started in 1962. For this piece, Knowles simply asks people to describe the shoes they are wearing. In 2011, Knowles performed this and other works for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. This was at "A Celebration of American Poetry at the White House."
Sound Art
Knowles has been working with sound since the late 1960s. In 1969, she helped edit Notations. This was a book of music writings by John Cage.
Her Bean Garden was first shown at the Annual Avant Garde Festival of New York. It is a large platform covered with beans. Microphones amplify the sounds. Visitors can walk on the platform. The sounds of the beans echo with each step. Knowles has also made other sound objects. These include a bean turner (a pouch filled with beans) and wrist rubbers (gloves with beans inside). She also made a bamboo and flax accordion.
Knowles's interest in bean sounds led to four radio programs. These were hosted by a German radio station. In 1982, Knowles won the Karl Sczuka Award for best radio work. This was for her event score, Bean Sequences.
Prints
Knowles started by making silkscreen paintings in the early 1960s. From 1963 to the mid-1970s, printmaking was a way to show her other art ideas. In 1963, she worked with Robert Watts and George Brecht. They created the Scissors Brothers Warehouse show, also known as BLINK. This was an eighteen-inch square print. It had three random images, one chosen by each artist. The image appeared on many items, from canvases to bathing suits. These were sold at flea markets. Knowles also made the Identical Lunch graphic series. This showed her friends eating The Identical Lunch in the early 1970s.
In the late 1960s, Knowles worked with Marcel Duchamp. She helped him recreate his optical art piece, Coeurs Volants. The original was made in 1936. Knowles wanted to use the image for a book cover. But after meeting Duchamp, they decided she would create a new silkscreen version. Knowles visited Duchamp to choose colors for the reprint. Duchamp jokingly signed one of the color samples. This is considered one of his last "readymade" art pieces.
Awards and Recognition
Alison Knowles has received many awards for her important contributions to art. These include:
- A Guggenheim Fellowship (1967)
- Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1981 and 1985)
- A documenta Professorship in Germany (1998)
- The College Art Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2003)
- An Anonymous was a Woman Grant (2003)
In 2015, she received a Francis J. Greenburger Award. This award goes to artists who deserve more recognition.
Personal Life
Alison Knowles was married to Dick Higgins. He was also a leading Fluxus artist. He created the term "intermedia," which means mixing different art forms.
She has twin daughters, Jessica and Hannah Higgins. Jessica is an artist in New York. Hannah is a writer, art historian, and professor. Both daughters performed in Fluxus events when they were young. Knowles often performs with her family members. Some of these pieces include Loose Pages, Shoes Of Your Choice, and Beans All Day.
Knowles lives and works in her loft in New York City's Soho district. She has lived there since the 1950s.
Images for kids
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Knowles, c. 2002-5
See also
In Spanish: Alison Knowles para niños
