{"id":53895,"date":"2020-05-01T14:42:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T20:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=53895"},"modified":"2020-06-23T08:03:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T14:03:49","slug":"joseph-ostraff-answers-are-good-questions-are-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/joseph-ostraff-answers-are-good-questions-are-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Ostraff: Answers are Good, Questions are Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\u201cYou\u2019re just an appropriator.\u201d<\/h4>\n

That\u2019s what a young, huffy art student said to Joe Ostraff in 1993 when he was a finalist for his current teaching position at Brigham Young University\u2019s art department. Negative comments like that typically bounce right off him. In fact, although he\u2019s sure he has received criticism about his artwork, he doesn\u2019t remember anything specific. But this comment has stayed with him. What he remembers is standing there after she walked away and asking himself, \u201cWell\u2026who isn\u2019t?\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ostraff believes we all appropriate through our past. \u201cI know I\u2019m built on a lot of other people\u2019s efforts. To deny it would just be arrogance.\u201d He\u2019ll be the first to tell you his aesthetic is a conglomerate of his history, people he\u2019s met, and other influences. Ostraff looks at everyone he meets as someone who can shift him \u2014 and he\u2019s not afraid to engage them in conversation to move that shift along. This is why much of what comes out of his studio is collaborative work. There are times when he wants to \u201ctalk to himself\u201d rather than someone else, but there is no doubt that Ostraff\u2019s energy comes from fellow artists, his students, his family, and anyone else he might meet. There really is no limit to whom he\u2019s willing to work with on an art project. \u201cI\u2019m out somewhere, I meet someone, and now we\u2019re going to do something,\u201d he laughs.<\/h4>\n

It sounds funny, but if Ostraff wants to work with you on a project, you\u2019d be wise to say yes. Over his career as an artist, he has built quite the portfolio. Almost 70 of Utah\u2019s best visual artists have been awarded the prestigious Fellowship Award from the Utah Arts Council, but only Ostraff can say he\u2019s won it three times. He estimates that between him and wife Melinda (a repeat collaborator of his) he has been awarded half a million dollars in grants. Apparently, being an appropriator has served him well. As a professor at BYU, he has directed or codirected multiple collaborative projects, including ones with institutions in England, New Zealand, and Ireland \u2014 partnerships that have involved hundreds of artists and resulted in more than 30 international, national, and regional exhibitions. Frank McEntire, a Utah artist and friend of Ostraff\u2019s, has collected his work and traveled with him and his students. \u201cHe is a critical witness of our time and deftly folds his observations into paintings, installations, teaching, and community work,\u201d says McEntire. \u201cIn 2003, as an Art Access board member, he launched the 300 Plates fundraising project, an ongoing legacy that has involved hundreds of Utah artists over the years and raised thousands of dollars that provide creative outlets and exhibitions for people with disabilities and others.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Ostraff came to the conclusion early on that he needed to be around people who think differently than he does. \u201cBeing around people from different backgrounds expands me, moves me, and makes me a better person,\u201d he says.<\/h4>\n

As with most people, his influences begin with his parents. His father was Russian Jewish and quite gregarious. His mother was from English and Scottish Mormon pioneers. Both parents were very much embedded in an active society. They always asked questions and were curious <\/span>about the world and people around them. \u201cAnswers were OK at my house,\u201d Joe explains, \u201cbut questions were better.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ostraff grew up in the art colony of Laguna Beach, California, at a time when you could go downtown by yourself and nobody worried about you. It was during the middle of the Vietnam War, and his father would bring home Marines on leave for dinner all the time. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a week when we didn\u2019t have someone at our house,\u201d Ostraff remembers. \u201cDad just wanted to love everybody and add something good to the world.\u201d After the children were born, his mother went back to school to study biology and she would take Ostraff with her to hunt for insects. Undoubtedly influenced by his mother\u2019s interests, Ostraff took every science class he could in school. He was all set for pre-med to UCLA and even won a four-year scholarship, from the Laguna Beach Arts Festival, to help him get there. Ostraff ultimately decided to attend Utah\u2019s Brigham Young University,<\/span> however. \u201cI figured I\u2019d go to school in art, get my degree, and then go to med school. But by the time I finished, I decided I didn\u2019t want to go to med school. I guess I thought more about the quality of life I wanted and realized I didn\u2019t want the life my friends\u2019 dads who were doctors had where they were gone all the time. I wanted to be home.\u201d<\/h4>\n

After BYU, Ostraff went on to earn an MFA at the University of Washington. He then worked several odd jobs, started a family, and taught art in high school for seven years before he found himself back at BYU, as a teacher. When he was first hired, Ostraff was one of very few professors creating contemporary work. It\u2019s not easy work to describe: frequently it\u2019s painting, where he often uses layers of simple patterns and colors, but Ostraff might turn to video or installation or something else, depending on what he\u2019s doing or whom he\u2019s working with. Thematically, the works are pulled together by observations and reflections on place and the natural world. Twenty-five years after they hired Ostraff, BYU now admits and graduates scores of students working in contemporary art. \u201cNow I don\u2019t look so crazy,\u201d he says.<\/h4>\n

His time in Provo has enabled Ostraff to lead the life he wanted. \u201c[BYU] has allowed me to do so many things with no strings attached.\u201d One was taking a leave of absence to be home with his kids while his wife, Melinda, went back to school. She eventually earned a Ph.D. as an ethnobotanist and the two have collaborated on projects where they utilize their respective expertise. When she did field research in Tonga, which is where Joe served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he would translate research materials; and Melinda began creating artwork alongside Joe. Making those professional and <\/span>educational decisions together united them in purpose in a way that continues to direct their creative projects. One of those projects came about during a residency in Ireland. \u201cWe got wind that the natural geography in the little town where we were staying influenced the way people there saw each other,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe noticed how the people talked about each other in a divisive way. Melinda and I walked the river on both sides for about 2 miles and picked plants to embed in our paintings.\u201d The project showed how people create arbitrary standards when it comes to how they value each other, but nature could really care less about the differences people have.<\/h4>\n

While being a professor allows Ostraff quality time with his family (he has six children and eight grandchildren), it also allows him plenty of time with art students, which he never takes for granted. \u201cThe energy and interaction of the students motivate me and their ideas rub up against mine,\u201d he says. He\u2019s not afraid to admit it\u2019s an exchange. He recognizes how important it is for his students to not only develop a strong work ethic in the studio, but also to get their artwork out in the real world. He encourages them to submit portfolios for gallery exhibitions outside the university and apply for grants just as he does. He tries to teach them that it\u2019s a numbers game \u2014 if he wins more grants it may be because he applies for so many.<\/h4>\n
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\u201cBetween Two,\u201d 2017, oils, 5 x 6 feet<\/p><\/div>\n

Ostraff also recognizes that out of every 100 students, only about 20 will end up pursuing art as a career, so he sees his students not just as future artists, but as people \u2014 kids who often need a parental figure. \u201cI give life lessons and worry if they\u2019re happy or not. I just want them to become<\/span> authentic, intentional, kind, and productive people. A lot of students will unload on me because they know I\u2019m not going to judge them. They may not be sure if I\u2019m making sense, but they know I love them.\u201d As he\u2019s gotten older, Ostraff finds that his approach has changed when he notices their work isn\u2019t strong. Instead of jumping on them, he builds on their strengths and helps them feel \u201cheroically able.\u201d He wants them to feel what they\u2019re doing is valid. \u201cI tell them not to accept anyone who says their ideas are insufficient. That would be someone they don\u2019t need to listen to. Some of the things that look clumsy at the university level can become their heart and soul later if they hold on to it long enough.\u201d He teaches them how to ask the right questions to get out of being stuck. They practice creating reiterations of something they\u2019ve done rather than throwing it out. He says, \u201cIf you don\u2019t consider anything the end, then nothing is worthless.\u201d<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s a lesson he has had to apply to his own life. In February of 2018, Ostraff found himself in an artistic rut. \u201cMelinda and I got in a serious car accident. She broke some ribs and my knees were blown out \u2014 it took something out of me,\u201d he says. \u201cI had been working on paintings, but I hadn\u2019t really felt it.\u201d Later that same year, he was in New York with his students and walked into a show of Armenian Christian art from the 11th<\/sup> century where he found some beautiful illuminated manuscripts. \u201cThey had these strange frame things over the top of the pages and I thought, \u2018That\u2019s going to make my paintings work.\u2019\u201d He took pictures with his phone, went home, and spent the next three weeks in the studio. \u201cThey gave structure to the paintings I was working on \u2014 and where I got the images and how they came to be really meant something to me.\u201d So, his energy returned.<\/h4>\n

It can be surprising where you rediscover your energy. You can be moved by the oddest things. But sometimes, it takes almost a lifetime to look back and recognize the most obvious motivators and how they shaped you. In 2011, Utah artist Namon Bills asked Ostraff to participate in an exhibition he was curating for Salt Lake City\u2019s Rio <\/span>Gallery that asked several artists to create work honoring a mentor. It was called Homage.<\/i> Ostraff didn\u2019t choose an artistic mentor or even an artist whose work he admired.\u00a0 He chose his father. \u201cI wasn\u2019t always connected with my dad as a kid,\u201d he explains. \u201cHe was silly and did things that embarrassed me. When he got older, he lost his hearing and was more difficult to talk to.\u201d One of the things his father always did was fold cranes out of paper. \u201cI asked my friend Chris Klunker to make a birdhouse for me and then I videotaped my dad making the birds.\u201d My Father Makes Birds<\/i> is still in his office at school, a wooden structure that stands about 4 feet off the ground. If you look inside the circular opening, you\u2019ll see a video projection of his father\u2019s hands folding tiny pieces of paper. Lined up in several rows inside the house are the cranes, quietly observing their maker. The night of the exhibition opening, his father arrived in his wheelchair and sat next to the birdhouse making birds for everyone that walked by to see the piece. \u201cWith this show, my mind went to who molded me the most \u2014 not which artist molded me the most \u2014 so I kind of missed the point,\u201d he laughs. \u201cBut I\u2019m glad I did. At this time in my life, I had to admit it.\u201d His father died a few months later.<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s clear that Ostraff learned to be gregarious from his father. He learned that life should be fun and you should continue to welcome people into your ever-expanding circle. He <\/span>learned to seek outside himself for answers, but to also remember that \u201canswers are OK, but questions are better.\u201d When he and Melinda did their first residency in Ireland, he met other artist residents including Joanna, an Irish woman, and Fernando, a Basque man from Bilbao. \u201cWe just had a blast,\u201d says Joe. \u201cWe became friends. We shared dinners with them and their friends; Joanna taught Melinda encaustics. It was fun to see how if you get out of your own studio and start interacting, all these amazing things happen.\u201d From all these interactions come more collaborations. Joe and Melinda, along with other <\/span>collaborators, (12 of them, including others from BYU) are currently writing a proposal for a residency in Iceland. \u201cI\u2019m the only one that really knows everyone,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cbut a few of us were talking in the studio \u2014 an artist from Ireland, an artist from Santa Fe \u2014 and the term \u2018odd<\/span> nature\u2019 came up out of a silly conversation. We decided we gotta do something about that. So now, we\u2019re going to get together and decide what that means.\u201d<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>

\u201cMy Father Makes Birds,\u201d 2011, portable installation, 36 x 24 inches<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article was originally published in\u00a0Utah\u2019s 15: The State\u2019s Most Influential Artists (Vol. II)<\/em>, published in 2019.<\/p>\n

You can order a copy at\u00a0http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/index.php\/order-utahs-15\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou\u2019re just an appropriator.\u201d That\u2019s what a young, huffy art student said to Joe Ostraff in 1993 when he was a finalist for his current teaching position at Brigham Young University\u2019s art department. Negative comments like that typically bounce right off him. In fact, although he\u2019s sure he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":781,"featured_media":53898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,14],"tags":[785],"class_list":["post-53895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist_profiles","category-visual_arts","tag-joe-ostraff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Joe_Ostraff-60.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 15:35:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/781"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53901,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53895\/revisions\/53901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}