Art stuff I wanna learn...

CALL for ENTRIES: SNAP Mail Art in Canada

2011-08-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

CALL for ENTRIES: SNAP Mail Art in Canada: "

SUGARY

GREEN-NESS

Remember when green beens were everyone’s “go to” vegetable? They were in every frozen meal and stocked in everyone’s pantry for a quick addition to any meal. I suspect that’s how they got their bad reputation with kids. I have noticed lately that sugar snap peas seem to be the new green beans. Luckily, I love them, and kids seem to like the fact that they are a little sweeter than tried-and-true green beans. Deciding to enter this next exhibition should be (you guessed it)… a snap. Take a look…

Check out this Call for Entries from the Society of Northern Alberta Print Artists (SNAP Artists) for their Mail Art Exhibition This all hung exhibit has no entry fee. Here’s another great way to get an international show on your resume. Entries are limited to three…

CALL for ENTRIES:

SNAP Mail Art

ELIGIBILITY: Local, provincial, national and international (all) artists

MEDIA: Text or image based work of mail art. Submissions must fit be packaged to fit through their mail slot 3.81 x 25.4 centimetres (1.5 x 10 inches).

DEADLINE: September 7, 2011

NOTIFICATION: None. This is an all-hung exhibitition.

ENTRY FEE: No entry fee. Please limit submissions to 3 per artist.

For more information, Read the Full Call!

*Editor’s Note: At the time I wrote this submission, their website www.snapartists.com was down, but you can read the full call on their Facebook page that is linked to Read the Full Call above.

Here's a free texture. Go make something!

2011-06-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

Free NYC Museum Hours (Pass what you wish too!)

2011-06-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

Everyday Free and Suggested Admission NYC Museums

Museum website	Hours or Special Conditions
African Burial Ground Memorial Site
American Museum of Natural History
American Numismatic Society
Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum	Grounds ONLY
Brooklyn Museum
Bronx Museum
Center for Book Arts
Drawing Center
el Museo del Barrio
Federal Hall
Federal Reserve Bank of NY
Fisher Landau Center for Art
Forbes Galleries
General Grant National Memorial
Goethe-Institute
The Grolier Club
Harbor Defense Museum of Fort Hamilton
Herbert and Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica
Historic House Trust	Some free, some donation, some set fee
Hispanic Society of America
Maritime Industry Museum at the State University of NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Museum of Biblical Art
museum of Bronx History
Museum of the City of New York
Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts
National Jazz Museum in Harlem
National Museum of the American Indian
New York Public Library
New York Tolerance Center
Nicholas Roerich Museum
The Onassis Cultural Center
P.S. 1 MoMA
Queens County Farm Museum
Queens Museum of Art
Sandy Ground Historical Museum
Scandinavia House
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Sculpture Center
Society of Illustrators’ Museum of American Illustration
Socrates Sculpture Park
Staten Island Museum
Studio Museum in Harlem
Swiss Institute
The Cloisters
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace

-

Monday

Museum at Eldridge Street
Yeshiva University Museum

Tuesday

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
China Institute Gallery	6-8pm
Staten Island Museum	Noon-2
Wave Hill	9-Noon

Wednesday

~~Queens Botanical Garden~~	3-6
Bronx Zoo
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust	4-8
Staten Island Zoo	After 2pm
Yeshiva University Museum	5-8pm
NY Botanical Garden	Grounds Only
Van Cortlandt House Museum
El Museo del Barrio	6-9pm

Thursday

China Institute Gallery	6-8pm
Museum of Arts & Design	6-9pm
New Museum	7-9pm
Museum of Chinese in America
Children’s Museum of the Arts	4-6

Friday

Museum of the Moving Image	4-8pm ONLY
Museum of Modern Art	4-8pm ONLY
New York Aquarium	After 3
Morgan Library & Museum	7-9
Whitney Museum of American Ar	6-9
Yeshiva University Museum
Japan Society	6-9
International Center of Photography	5-8
Folk Art Museum	5:30-7:30
NY Hall of Science	2-5 EXCEPT July & Aug
Rubin Museum of Ar	6-10pm
Asia Society	6-9 (does not apply from July 1 through Labor Day)
Neue Galerie	6-8 First Friday ONLY
The Noguchi Museum	First Friday ONLY
Children’s Museum of Manhattan	5-8 First Friday ONLY

Saturday

Brooklyn Botanic Garden	10-noon only
NY Botanical Garden	10-noon only Grounds Only
El Museo del Barrio	THIRD Saturday ONLY
Guggenheim	5:45 to 7:45
Jewish Museum	11-5:45
Wave Hill	9-noon

Sunday

~~Queens Botanical Garden~~	4-6pm
Frick Collection	11-1
Studio Museum in Harlem

Art Opening on Friday June 3 in Williamsburg

2011-05-31T04:21:00.000-07:00

Come see me and 4 brand new pieces.

Billy Collins poetry and animation.

2011-04-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

There's more at http://www.bcactionpoet.org/
I think I might want to be an action poet when I grow up.

Free Drawing Books?!

2011-03-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

http://drawingbooks.org/ has them! All public domain.
As does Project Gutenberg
Read a book. Learn stuff.

My friend Ricardo made a video of his bodypainting.

2011-03-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

If you like body paint or hot guys, be sure to check it out.

Make art. Do good. Submit.

2011-03-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

CALL for ENTRIES: Postmarked 2011

For many years, inmates from around the country wrote to the Prison Library Project and they were amazed by the artwork that accompanied requests for books. These beautiful illustrations were their inspiration for a mail art exhibition and fundraiser.

Postmarked was developed seven years ago for the Claremont Forum’s Prison Library Project, which sends books free to prisoners in the U.S. upon their request. Providing education and opportunity to learn about mail art, view new and established mail artists’ works, and to participate in the experience of creating and sending mail art. Now in its 7th year, this exhibition is one of the largest in California.

ELIGIBILITY: Open to all.

MEDIA: Please send submissions of mail art of any size and medium to: Postmarked 2011, Prison Library Project, 112 Harvard #303, Claremont CA 91711. ONLY the side with the official USPS Postmark/barcode will be displayed. Your mail art may be painted, stamped, collaged, printed, and/or otherwise decorated or constructed. It may be any shape and size that will go through the mail and receive an official postmark.

Your submission may get worn or torn through the mail, but the handling process is an important part of the theme. Only the side with the postmark can be displayed, due to space limitations, but the art doesn’t have to be limited to that side. You may include any message inside the envelope, which will be opened only by the person who purchases the art envelope. You may submit more than one piece… and begin sending now!

DEADLINE: Entries must be postmarked by May 31, 2011.

ENTRY FEE: No entry fee.

WHY SUPPORT the PLP? “Rehabilitation was at one time a stated goal of the prison system. Today, funding for most educational and rehabilitation programs, including prison libraries, has been cut or completely eliminated. It is a distressing fact that today’s U.S. prisons are increasingly about punishing people and warehousing human beings, not about, rehabilitation, or education.”

“This is where PLP steps in. We believe that everyone deserves access to literature and educational materials, including people trying to work towards social change, self-empowerment or rehabilitation within the incarceration system.

The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but more than a quarter of the world’s prisoners.

Nearly one percent of American adults are incarcerated, the highest rate in the world, but many prisoners have little access to books or educational material. They face substantial barriers and are cut off from family and friends on the outside. While some prisons have libraries, many do not. Of those that do, access and selection can be extremely limited. Usually, prisoners are not allowed to receive books from friends or family. Thus, programs like ours are one of the few options available to these individuals.” –from the PLP website.

Learn more about Postmarked 2011 online!

Advocate for the Arts

2011-03-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Advocate for the Arts

Tell your representatives to restore funding for the NEA and Arts Education.

Because you can't always get a model when you need one.

2011-02-23T05:50:00.000-08:00

Or maybe because you're bothered by all that pesky skin covering your model.

Posmania: "Posemaniacs is a site offering 3D, rotatable figures in a variety of poses for drawing. It has a program that chooses random poses and gives you a time limit to draw them and a perspective editor that makes guidelines for one-point perspective.

Though most of the site is in Japanese, the Google translation is pretty understandable.

from Metafilter.

Also recommended are Practical Anatomy and if you perfer your anatomy more abstracted here's a great collection of sculptures.

I love street art.

2011-02-21T06:15:00.000-08:00

Finding an unexpected piece is so exciting and can evoke a small or provoke a thought.
I would so do it if I was more comfortable with the risks. I am enamored of artists who put their art out for people to find. Some do it in big ways like you can see at http://www.streetartview.com which uses googlemaps to find streetart.
Others do it more subtle like Kim at http://queen-of-arts.blogspot.com/ who leaves little stones with messages for people to find.
It's all good.
Trying to figure out how I will do this.

What should you paint today?

2011-02-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

I say to just ignore this and paint what speaks to your heart. But just in case you wanted to know....

Selling Paintings: Which Subjects Sell Best?: "All painters know that some subjects sell better than others. Whether these are subjects you want to paint and whether you should be painting specifically for the market are two thorny questions. Only you can decide whether you want (or need) to paint with a view to selling as much as possible, or whether you can focus on painting subjects you choose. Of course, if your favourite subject happens to be the same as the market's, you're sitting pretty.

According to a Art Business Today survey in 2003*, these were the Top 10 best-selling
subjects for paintings in the UK:

1. Traditional landscapes.
2. Local views.
3. Modern or semi-abstract landscapes.
4. Abstracts.
5. Dogs.
6. Figure studies (excluding nudes).
7. Seascapes, harbour, and beach scenes.
8. Wildlife.
9. Impressionistic landscapes.
10. Nudes.

Wikipedia Color Resources

2011-02-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

From the always great linesandcolors.com

There are lots of color resources on the web, for artists, designers and others, but an often overlooked one is Wikipedia, the venerable user-edited online encyclopedia.
Whatever you may say about the reliability of the information on Wikipedia (or from Britannica, or any other single resource, for that matter), I rarely consider a source like Wikipedia a place to end a search, but, like Google, a place to begin one.
Though not specifically an artist’s resource, Wikipedia’s color related articles are numerous and varied.
You might find it interesting to start with their “List of Colors“. The list includes a lot of non-artist colors, like “British Racing Green” and “Psychedelic Purple”, but the familiar artist pigments are there too. Links for those lead to articles with information about the pigment, including source materials, history, chemical composition, lightfastness, typical use, hazardous qualities, color system numbers and sometimes more.
Some are grouped; Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange and Cadmium Red all lead to a single entry for “Cadmium pigments“, but some have more extensive and interesting listings, like the history behind Ultramarine.
There are articles about Color Theory, Color Vision, the Color Wheel, Complimentary Color, Primary Color, Hue, Saturation and many other related topics.
Though hardly an exhaustive resource on color for artists, it does seem a valuable resource to add to your virtual palette.

Snowed in & can't get to the museum?

2011-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Google to the rescue!

Explore museums and great works of art in the Google Art Project: "One of the things I love about working Google is that you can come up with an idea one day and the next day start getting to work to make it a reality. That's what happened with the Art Project—a new tool we're announcing today which puts more than 1,000 works of art at your fingertips, in extraordinary detail.

It started when a small group of us who were passionate about art got together to think about how we might use our technology to help museums make their art more accessible—not just to regular museum-goers or those fortunate to have great galleries on their doorsteps, but to a whole new set of people who might otherwise never get to see the real thing up close.

We're also lucky here to have access to technology like Picasa and App Engine and to have colleagues who love a challenge—like building brand-new technology to enable Street View to go indoors! Thanks to this, and our unique collaboration with museums around the world, we were able to turn our 20% project into something you can try out for yourself today at www.googleartproject.com.

You’ll find a selection of super high-resolution images of famous works of art as well as more than a thousand other images, by more than 400 artists—all in one place. And with Street View technology, you can take a virtual tour inside 17 of the world’s most acclaimed art museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA in New York, The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Tate Britain & The National Gallery in London, Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Officer and Laughing Girl, Johannes Vermeer (The Frick Collection, New York - U.S.)

Here are a few things you can do:

Dive into brushstroke-level detail: On top of the 1,000+ other images, each of the 17 museums selected one artwork to be photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution or “gigapixel” photo-capturing technology. Each of these images contains around 7 billion pixels—that's that’s around 1,000 times more detailed than your average digital camera—and a specially-built “microscope view” uses Picasa to deliver thie images at amazingly high resolution. You can zoom in to see Van Gogh’s famous brushwork [link] or watch how previously hard to-see elements of an artwork suddenly become clear—such as the tiny Latin couplet which appears in Hans Holbein the Younger’s “The Merchant Georg Gisze.”

The bedroom, Vincent van Gogh (Van Gogh Museum)

Explore inside the museums: the Street View team designed a brand-new vehicle called the “trolley” to take 360-degree images of the interior of selected galleries. These were then stitched together and mapped to their location, enabling smooth navigation of more than 385 rooms within the museums. We also created a new clickable annotation feature, so you can jump from being inside a museum one moment to viewing a particular artwork the next. Once inside an image, an info panel lets you read more about an artwork, find more works by that artist and watch related YouTube videos. Gallery interiors can also be explored directly from within Street View in Google Maps.

Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy—with a view on Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”

Create your own collection: With the “Create an Artwork Collection” feature, you can save specific views of any of the artworks and build your own personalized collection. Comments can be added to each painting and the whole collection can then be shared with friends, family or on the web using the integrated goo.gl URL shortener.

We’re incredibly excited about this project—it’s our first step toward making great art more accessible, and we hope to add more museums and works of art in time. So whether you’re a student, an aspiring artist or a casual museum-goer, we hope the Google Art Project gives you a fun and unusual way to interact with art—and hopefully inspires you to visit the real thing.

Posted by Amit Sood, Head of Google Art Project
"

World's greatest photographer's bust-card

2011-01-27T06:49:00.001-08:00

Just because you never know when you're gonna need it. I'm printing a copy for my camera bag. I was stopped by an officer from taking photos in NYC's Port Authority Building. Wish I had this with me then.
World's greatest photographer's bust-card

via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow on 1/27/11

Hey photographers, have I got a bust card for you! The next time you're stopped by an authority figure for photographing a federally owned or federally leased building, just hand the law's agent this declassified 2010 DHS directive that unambiguously states that photographing public buildings from a public place is legal, and that harassing people for doing this is illegal, and that asking photogs to delete or hand over their images or videos is also illegal.

The three-page bulletin reminds officers, agents and employees that, "absent reasonable suspicion or probable cause," they "must allow individuals to photograph the exterior of federally owned or leased facilities from publicly accessible spaces" like streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas. Even when there seems to be reason to intercede and conduct a "field interview," the directive says: Officers should not seize the camera or its contents, and must be cautious not to give such 'orders' to a photographer to erase the contents of a camera, as this constitutes a seizure or detention.

FPS Bulletin ("the bust card") (Scribd)

'See, Officer, I Can Too Take That Picture' (NYT)

Where do you steal your inspiration from?

2011-01-27T05:44:00.000-08:00

I was just at http://www.maxkiesler.com/2009/11/02/jim-jarmusch-on-creativity/ (Cool design related blog- lotsa cool infographic stuff!) Where Max posted a quote by - Jim Jarmusch.that resonated with me.
"“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photos, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
My comment on this...

It's not only what you steal or process into your visual vocabulary, it's how you take the stimuli into yourself and transform it with your own voice. That's where you need to keep watch of your authenticity and motivation. It's good to see things as a child see them, delighting in the nuances.
I also think it's important to be open to all kinds of stimuli because you never know where that spark is going to come from. I'm currently intrigued by the patterns of reflections on building. This hasn't made its way into my work yet, but I'm curious if it will and how.

Art Supplies at the Supermarket.

2011-01-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

Borrowed this from Franck de Las Mercedes' blog .Frank is an amazing artist who I had the pleasure of painting for my artists & their work series.

photo by Felix Natal Jr.

Art supplies at supermarket

by Franck on 01/14/11

I am sharing a couple things that can save an artists $ and a trip to the art supply store. I've been using Pledge floor wax for many years to mix with acrylic paints.

I love the texture and viscosity you get from it when mixed, and you can add water to get different densities. It can also be used to varnish as a clear coat when the painting dries. The effect is pretty cool it seals and adds a great shine, and people ask if the paintings are oils.

Another great product is bar laundry soap. It is one of the best things to clean brushes with and it is great if you work with oils too, cuts all grease and paint residue. I buy this at my local bodega, but I am sure they're available in supermarkets.

The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010

2010-12-30T15:12:00.001-08:00

Thought this was an important article.- r.
The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010

via Fractured Atlas Blog by Ian David Moss on 12/30/10

Everybody likes a Top 10 list, right? Especially the nerdy ones! So here's my contribution: the second annual list of the top ten arts policy stories from the past year. You can check out the 2009 edition here.

10. Intrinsic Impact Research Marches On

WolfBrown's groundbreaking work on measuring "intrinsic impact" (the intangible, hard-to-define effects that arts experiences have on patrons) got a major boost in 2010, with a large project to bring the research to 15 theater companies in five cities around the country. Led by Theatre Bay Area, the endgame of this project involves a web-based toolkit that will allow rank and file arts organizations to adopt some of these methods themselves, without having to pay WolfBrown a pretty penny first. Audience surveys are already underway, and the final report and toolkit will be up and running by the end of next year.

9. Fine Arts Fund Reinvents Itself

In January 2010, a longstanding Cincinnati-based fundraising and grantmaking organization known as the Fine Arts Fund announced the results of a very interesting research study examining the attitudes of members of the public toward shared responsibility for (and benefit from) the arts. The political science perspective used in the study may have been a first for the field of arts research, and the results suggested that the field would be better off if the economic-impact- and arts-education-focused arguments that have characterized arts advocacy efforts over the past couple of decades were discarded in favor of a focus on vibrant neighborhoods and connected, engaged communities instead. Not satisfied with simply releasing a study and going about its business as usual, Fine Arts Fund took the additional, and frankly astonishing, step of wholly transforming its name (to ArtsWave), branding identity, and grantmaking priorities to bring them in line with these findings. (Disclosure: Fractured Atlas will be working with ArtsWave in early 2011 as part of this last initiative, though it had no role in the research or the strategic planning process that led up to this point.) ArtsWave's very public metamorphosis shows that even an 83-year-old institution can still be on the leading edge.

8. Dance Theatre Workshop and Bill T. Jones Merge (And They're Pretty Much the Only Ones)

Two years after the stock market crash of 2008 led numerous observers to predict a rash of mergers and closures in the nonprofit sector, the greatest carnage in the ranks of arts organizations has come not from the market but from the IRS (see item #7). While virtually every arts nonprofit has suffered stress in the wake of the economic recession, most have survived intact, with only a few exceptions such as the Honolulu Symphony, NYS Arts, and the Baltimore Opera — and that last one might even have been a good thing. DTW's romance with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company is without doubt both the most high-profile and the most interesting arts merger to come out of the recession so far, as the choreographer-led company joins forces with a presenting/service organization to create New York Live Arts. In the process, Bill T. Jones gets a dedicated space, and DTW gets access to greater financial resources. It looks great on paper, but then mergers often do…

7. IRS Revokes Exemption for up to 300,000 Nonprofits

This story went virtually unreported this year, but those who continually bemoan the rise in the number of nonprofits in this country had a bone thrown their way this year. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 required that all nonprofits, even those with budgets of less than $25,000 per year who had previously never been asked to file annual returns, complete the 990-N "postcard" form requesting basic information like addresses and website URLs. Those who failed to file for three years in a row risked having their tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS. Well, it turns out that nearly half of the 714,000 organizations in this budget category in fact failed to file, and after a number of temporary delays and reprieves, an unknown number were thrown overboard (the IRS will publish a complete list early next year). While most of these were likely dead organizations (indeed, some of them may never have been alive in the first place), an examination by yours truly of some of the organizations "at risk" for revocation in the San Francisco Bay Area revealed that a disproportionate number were arts organizations, and their ranks included a few that were observably still active.

6. Net Neutrality Has a Bad Year

This is a story that is very much still being told. For several years now, technology activists have been raising awareness of the issue of "network neutrality," warning that without legislation to codify existing practices, there will be nothing to prevent internet service providers in the future from selectively crippling or blocking entirely websites that compete with their own business interests. Many see net neutrality as particularly important to the arts, given their usual position outside of (or even in opposition to) the corporate sphere. With the 2008 election of President Obama, a supporter of net neutrality legislation, there was hope that such legislation might become a reality with the current Congress. But things got complicated in 2010. First, a federal court ruled earlier this year that the Federal Communications Commission did not have authority to tell Comcast that it had to treat bittorrent transmissions on its networks the same way as everything else. While not the final legal word, it provided a strong negotiating hand to anti-net-neutrality forces. Then, Google, one of net neutrality's staunchest supporters in the corporate arena, got into negotiations with Verizon, one of its most trenchant opponents, and came out with a compromise that left most neutrality advocates unsatisfied. Finally, just last week, President Obama's FCC announced new guidelines that hew fairly closely to the Google/Verizon compromise, prohibiting discrimination on "wired" services but leaving the increasingly important mobile universe a veritable Wild West. (This hasn't stopped Verizon from making noises about a legal challenge right out of the gate.) We'll have to stay tuned to see what happens next, but with a Republican House and little evidence of broad-based passion for net neutrality among the populace, the chances for a legislative solution (the surest means to the outcome that advocates desire) seem slim for the moment.

5. State Arts Agencies Continue to Struggle

After a disastrous 2009, this year saw little respite for beleaguered state arts agencies. Despite a few success stories, such as in Rhode Island where the governor tried to cut the budget of the state arts council by over 50% only to have the cuts fully restored by his own legislature, these remained the exception rather than the rule. States and territories suffering double-digit cuts in 2010 (i.e., to their FY 2011 appropriations) included Arizona (down another 28.9% after a brutal 54% cut last year), DC, Georgia (which nearly had its council eliminated but "escaped" with only a 66% massacre), Kansas, Louisiana (where Gov. Jindal finally succeeded in squeezing nearly half the money out of the coffers), Missouri (where state officials are raiding a fund intended to provide dedicated support to the arts and humanities), New Hampshire, New York (with the largest total dollar decrease of the year by far), Northern Marianas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania (already reeling from an exhausting and only partially successful advocacy campaign last year to save the agency), South Carolina (another state council to overcome near death in 2010), Texas (28%), Virginia, and Washington. Only Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming saw increases of a comparable magnitude.

4. Culture Wars Simmer

Ever since the 2008 election, there have been signs that American right wing might return to the hostile stance it had adopted toward public subsidy of the arts starting in the late 1980s and continuing through the 1990s. Some of the evidence is in item #5 above: massive cuts or threats to zero out funding to arts councils by Republican governors in "red" states like Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina; last year's brouhaha over former NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergant's attempt to involve artists in President Obama's United We Serve initiative comes to mind as well, as do Glenn Beck's occasional editorials on artwork associated with perceived enemies. With the election of a majority of Republicans to the House of Representatives has come new pressures on the funding of NPR, which got into an unfortunate fight with conservatives over the firing of right-wing commentator Juan Williams a few months ago. The most dramatic confrontation yet took place just last month, when a conservative news service publicized a gay-themed exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery that included a video by deceased artist and AIDS victim David Wojnarowicz with images of a crucifix covered with ants. After the controversy found its way to the ranks of Republican House leadership, the director of the Smithsonian ordered the video removed, even though the footage in question occupies only 11 seconds of the four-minute video, which itself was not a centerpiece of the exhibition. The action, unlike previous skirmishes, has produced a gigantic backlash in the visual arts community, with dozens of museums and other institutions around the world showing Wojnarowicz's work in protest. The Andy Warhol Foundation, a major supporter of the exhibition, has also threatened to deny future funding requests from the Smithsonian. The situation seems to be under control for the moment, but don't be surprised if things start heating up again in 2011.

3. The UK Tries American-Style Arts Funding

Feeling pressure from the economic recession, the new conservative government in England imposed cuts of 100 million pounds on the primary grantmaking agency for high-profile arts organizations on the island. The UK's arts system has been described as a "hybrid" between the near-total private-sector dominance of American arts funding and the near-total government support seen throughout continental Europe. These cuts, totaling more than 22% of Arts Council England's appropriation, represent a clear move toward the American side of the equation, especially when coupled with ACE's decision to require prospective grantees, for the first time, to submit applications for funding (previously they had simply been selected by the agency though a noncompetitive process). The development is significant not only for its implications for England's arts scene, but also as a potential bellwether for the rest of Europe, where politicians have been making noises for years about cutting back historically generous government support of artists and arts organizations and moving in the direction of greater privatization.

2. The NEA Charts a New Path

We knew that when Rocco Landesman arrived last year to take over the reins of the National Endowment for the Arts that, whatever the results, they would certainly be interesting. On that score, the agency has delivered in 2010. "Creative placemaking," the role of the arts in revitalizing local communities economically and otherwise, is emerging as Rocco's signature issue, with a raft of urban-focused Mayors' Institute on City Design grants given out in 2010 and more coming in 2011 under the rubric of a new program called Our Town. The NEA has pursued a public engagement strategy beyond any in the agency's previous history, webcasting the meetingsof the National Council on the Arts (the NEA's equivalent of a board), accepting questions via Twitter during panel discussions, and inviting a huge bevy of service organizations to take in the announcement of its strategic plan for 2012-16. It's gone on a hiring spree, bringing marquee names like the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's Jason Schupbach into the fold. A revitalized research department is pumping out new publications at a rapid rate, incorporating new media elements into some of them, and embracing its role as a convener, having brought together an A-list group of practitioners to consider how to measure "livability" this summer. What may turn out to be Rocco's most far-reaching project, however, is his efforts to make inroads with heads of other federal agencies around ways in which the arts intersect with their work. Given that the budgets of departments like Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation dwarf the NEA's and that the Endowment has continually been vulnerable to attacks on culture-war battlegrounds, this attempt to break down silos and "embed" the arts in other arms of the federal government is one of the smartest gambits we've seen in a long time.

1. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Passes

For years, the high cost of health insurance, especially for freelancers in our employer-centric system, has been identified by researchers and advocates as one of the biggest impediments to a thriving artist workforce. In 2010, after decades of failed attempts, Congress finally passed a comprehensive health insurance reform bill designed to counter some of the worst excesses of insurers while sharply reducing the ranks of the uninsured. To do this, everyone will be required to purchase insurance, even healthy individuals (although this mandate is currently being challenged in the courts). Fractured Atlas has a primer on the implications of the health care reform act for artists here; the short version is that by 2014, insurance companies won't be allowed to discriminate or charge you a higher rate based on your gender or health status, take away your coverage after you get sick, deny you coverage based on a pre-existing condition, or set annual or lifetime limits on benefits. Although you will be required to buy insurance, if your income is in the low 40s or below, you'll qualify for government assistance in paying for it. And if you're a small business (like a theater company or gallery), you'll likely be eligible for tax credits for giving your employees health insurance. While the full impact of the law won't be known for years, if not decades, its provisions should disproportionately benefit artists and faciliate a significant improvement over the status quo.

Honorable mention:

Low Power FM Radio bill passes
Americans for the Arts introduces the National Arts Index

And as a bonus, here are my picks for the top five new (in 2010) arts blogs:

5. NYFA Blog (Michael Royce)
4. ArtsAppeal (David Zoltan)
3. 2am Theatre (various)
2. Your Town Performs (Craige Hoover)
1. Jumper (Diane Ragsdale)

(Note: had Devon Smith started 24 Usable Hours a couple of months later than she did, it surely would have made this list.)

BBC E-mail: Colourful ancient art 'is alive'

2010-12-29T20:28:00.001-08:00

I love petroglyphs. They are one of my favorite arforms. I saw this story on the BBC News website and wanted to share..
Colourful ancient art is alive;
A particular type of ancient rock art in Western Australia maintains its vivid colours because it is alive, researchers find.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/science-environment-12039203
(spoiler- it's fungi in the pigments, not the actual rocks that are alive.)

Spinning Tag Device

2010-12-18T05:33:00.000-08:00

Spinning Tag Device: "

“Looptaggr” is a graffiti tagging invention by Ariel Schlesinger and Aram Bartholl. Learn how to make your own tagging tool here.

From Scene 360 Illusion

How much fun does this look like?

How to Create the Illusion of Distance in a Picture

2010-12-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

Excellent advice from Shana James by way of the always helpful Empty Easel. I enjoyed her blog at http://shanajamesartist.wordpress.com/

How to Create the Illusion of Distance in a Picture: "

Recently a couple of my students have asked questions about creating distance in a picture. Luckily, whether you’re drawing, painting, or printmaking the principles are the same.

To start with, you’ve got to get the structure of your picture working first. By that I mean that the perspective (and the relative scale) of different objects in the picture need to be accurate.

But even with all of that correct, you can still have problems with depth. And although you want your picture to create the illusion of depth, and you want to feel like you could walk into it, instead it feels flat.

You may have even seen a painting where the background is coming forward or the foreground feels like it is going back. If that describes a picture you are working on at the moment, then read on. . .

4 general rules for creating an illusion of distance

1. High contrast comes forward, low contrast goes back.

If you are working in black and white, you want black and white near each other in the foreground, less contrast in the middle ground and less again in the background.

Less contrast can mean going greyer and paler in the background, or it can also work going darker into the background. (Choose one or the other but not both.)

2. Bright colours come forward, dull or neutral colours go back.

This rule is relative to other colours in the same picture. You don’t have to have bright colours in the foreground but if they are brighter than those in the middle or background they will come forwards.

If you want to put a bright colour in the background you may need to add a bit (and I mean a tiny bit) of the complimentary colour to push it back a bit. For example, adding a bit of purple to a yellow makes it a slightly duller yellow. (If you get brown you’ve added too much!)

3. Warm colours come forward, cool colours go back.

Again, this is relative to other colours in the picture and requires all other things to be equal. The previous two rules trump this rule.

4. Large marks come forward, smaller marks go back.

This one is pretty obvious. . . if you are painting, use a smaller brush for details in the background than you did in the foreground. If you are drawing, use larger marks in the foreground than you do in the background. If you are carving a linocut, use a larger cutting tool in the foreground.

Of course in art rules are made to be broken, and for any rule you can find an artist who has broken the rule and made it work. But these four rules should get you started. Now go back to your flat painting and give it some depth :)

To learn more about Shana, please visit her website at ShanaJames.com.

.Best blogs for watercolor & other types of artists.

2010-12-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

From http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/library

They also have articles on cheatsheets for computer graphic artists, lists of blogs that help with creativity,

cost cutting for small businesses, and a bunch of stuff on webdesign and keeping clients happy.

50 Best Blogs for Watercolor Artists

Watercolor artists have a tight-knit community of talented, ambitious and inspirational individuals. With the use of blogs, watercolor artists can share their work and kindly critique each other, as well as exchange insider tips and business strategies. For those who want to expand their knowledge, improve their skills and get their art into galleries, here are the 50 best blogs for watercolor artists:

Watercolor Demonstrations

These watercolor demonstrations will keep you on your toes and challenging yourself every stroke of the way.

Watercolor Artist Blog: Watch online seminars, browse art videos and enhance your painting skills with this interactive watercolor art blog.
Create38: Artists of all skill levels will learn something from this watercolor instruction blog that has demonstration videos, painting tips and a public forum.
Art Instruction Blog: Here you’ll find helpful watercolor painting tutorials and interactive videos from watercolor artists like you.
Watercolour Courses: This blog collects instructional YouTube videos and lessons that teach artists about different watercolor techniques.
Creative Spotlite : Check out this site’s free watercolor lessons and techniques donated by professional artists.
Splashing Paint: Here you’ll find watercolor painting demonstrations and tips from this artist’s watercolor workshop experience.
Debi Watson Watercolor: Try your hand at painting sea shells, sunsets and clouds with these watercolor demonstrations from professional artist and teacher Debi Watson.
Roland Lee: Art Lessons : Acclaimed watercolor artist, Roland Lee, provides more than 40 step-by-step watercolor painting demonstrations that will blow you away.
Yong Chen: Learn Watercolor Painting: Learn how to paint a watercolor portrait from a photograph, mix colors and properly care for your brushes with these step-by-step demonstrations from watercolor artist Yong Chen.
Art Graphica: Get free lessons on how to paint landscapes, animals, still lifes and other beautiful images using these simple watercolor demonstrations.

Watercolor Artists

Get inspired, improve your painting skills and receive helpful advice from one watercolor artist to another.

Frank Eber: Frank Eber, a watercolor landscape painter, blogs about his latest pieces and discusses techniques and tips you can use at home.
Carol Carter: This accomplished watercolor artist talks about her travels and current collection of Italian-inspired art on her blog.
Watercolours With Life: Check out the fine art of Jean Haines, whose watercolor paintings focus on nature, animals and the beautiful things in life.
Carol King: Check out this New York artist’s rants and raves about painting, drawing and everything in between.
David Lobenberg: Follow this art professor, workshop instructor and commission artist as he paints still lifes, landscapes and portraits in watercolor.
Brush-Paper-Water: Check out the exquisite watercolor paintings from this blog’s featured artists of 2010.
Leslie White: Browse this artist’s watercolor paintings and mixed-media artwork for inspiration and education.
Stephen J. Quirke: Check out this watercolorist’s paintings that almost always come from an everyday observation or adventure.
A Painting A Week: This watercolor artist has challenged himself to do at least one painting a week, in which he focuses primarily on real life experiences and people.
thomas w schaller: Check out this watercolor artist’s fine details and excellent use of color in his graphic architecture paintings.
Davidtripp’s Blog: Follow this watercolorist’s blog, as he paints the rugged landscapes and nostalgic images of Texas and the great Southwest.
Watercolor Works: Check out this Florida-based artist’s landscape, portrait and beach scene watercolor paintings from start to finish.
A Painting A Day Blog: This watercolor artist is challenging himself to do a painting a day, while exploring a variety of subjects he is not used to painting.
A Passion for Watercolour!: Take some pointers from this watercolor artist, who paints vivid images of animals, flowers and landscapes.
Doris Joa: This watercolor artist loves to paint little girls, flowers, cats and all things that are pretty and share them on her blog.
Keiko Tanabe: Follow this award-winning watercolor artist as she travels around the world, painting Parisian cafes, California beaches, Venetian gondolas and other lovely sites.
Watercolour Artist Diary: Check out this watercolor artist’s nature paintings and see how she achieves such fine detail on her colorful blog.
Watercolors by Laura Trevey: Get inspired by this artist’s colorful blog that features her lighthearted images of beach chairs, high heels and flowers.
Watercolors and Words: This watercolor artist always accompanies her paintings with something insightful, including personal critiques and questions to her readers.
Watercolorings: This blogger took a 20-year hiatus from painting and returned as an eager student who has produced a lovely collection of watercolor paintings.

Art Business

Improve your marketability and get your art into a gallery with the help of these art business blogs.

Art Biz Blog: This inspirational blog will help any artist learn how to promote themselves and sell their artwork.
Art Licensing Blog: Artists who are interested in licensing their art or learning more about the process should check out this helpful blog.
Art Print Issues: Learn how you can get your work in galleries and make a name for yourself with the helpful advice of art marketing guru, Barney Davey.
Absolute Arts: This contemporary art blog sells art, discusses current art trends and provides useful information for artists of all fields.
FineArtStudioOnline: Increase your exposure with the help of this web site creation tool that artists can use to make their own web site and start selling their art.
Original Impulse: Find effective ways to market yourself, maintain creativity and get helpful feedback from this experienced writing and creativity coach.
Making a Mark : This industry insider shares her art business and marketing strategies that could help you launch your work online.
Fine Art Tips: Take some tips from artist Lori McNee, who blogs about standing out in the art industry, achieving your goals and maximizing your profits.
Daily Painters Gallery: If you’re a daily painter and want to get your work in a gallery, you may want to join this large gallery that is home to more than 30,000 paintings from 150 daily painters.
Joanne Mattera Art Blog: Check out what this artist and writer has to say about marketing artwork, gallery representation and professional ethics for the art industry.

Art News and Reviews

Stay in the know about the latest art happenings in your area and around the world with these news blogs.

ArtsJournal: You’ll find just about everything you wanted to know about visual arts, culture and media on this comprehensive art blog.
Art Blogazine: Peruse this online art ‘blogazine’ for current art news, marketing and hot topics within the industry.
Alltop: This blog sifts through online art news to bring you the most popular articles and hot topics in one convenient place.
Artworld Salon: Get the latest news and debates about the global art world from this moderated discussion blog.
Akrylic: Here you’ll find tons of reviews, artist interviews and essays from this accomplished art critic.
The Art Law Blog: Read news reports and cases involving copyright and plagiarism, art theft and much more.
ArtsBeat Blog: The New York Times art blog is a great source for the latest art and design news, must-see exhibitions and artist updates.
WetCanvas: WetCanvas provides a professional forum for artists of all fields and skill levels to discuss techniques, art news, products and even critique each other’s work.
ArtForums.co.uk: Here, watercolor artists can have their work critiqued by fellow art lovers and discuss techniques, business practices and any other art-related matters.
NEWSgrist: This blog focuses on the politics of art and culture today, specifically copyright laws, censorship and intellectual property.

Where do ideas come from?

2010-11-30T07:49:00.000-08:00

From the frequently brilliant Seth Godin

Where do ideas come from?: "

Ideas don't come from watching television

Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture

Ideas often come while reading a book

Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them

Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom

Ideas occur when dissimilar universes collide

Ideas often strive to meet expectations. If people expect them to appear, they do

Ideas fear experts, but they adore beginner's mind. A little awareness is a good thing

Ideas come in spurts, until you get frightened. Willie Nelson wrote three of his biggest hits in one week

Ideas come from trouble

Ideas come from our ego, and they do their best when they're generous and selfless

Ideas come from nature

Sometimes ideas come from fear (usually in movies) but often they come from confidence

Useful ideas come from being awake, alert enough to actually notice

Though sometimes ideas sneak in when we're asleep and too numb to be afraid

Ideas come out of the corner of the eye, or in the shower, when we're not trying

Mediocre ideas enjoy copying what happens to be working right this minute

Bigger ideas leapfrog the mediocre ones

Ideas don't need a passport, and often cross borders (of all kinds) with impunity

An idea must come from somewhere, because if it merely stays where it is and doesn't join us here, it's hidden. And hidden ideas don't ship, have no influence, no intersection with the market. They die, alone.

The #1 Marketing Mistake Artists Make

2010-11-28T05:53:00.001-08:00

I find it really difficult to talk about my art. Often I can't figure out what niche to put it in. My category classifications are vague and broad. I don't enjoy marketing at all. When in school, I never cared for the critique part of things. It doesn't really matter wat the artist is trying to say. I think it only really matters what the viewer is hearing. In the best of all possible worlds, someone would market my art for me and I would be free to create all day.

Sent to you by bodyartist via Google Reader:

The #1 Marketing Mistake Artists Make

via Fractured Atlas Blog by Ciara Pressler on 11/23/10

It happens with every client whose product is their art. Whether I'm advising on a promotional campaign, revising previously written copy, or advertising a new production, the artist's reason to produce is all too often presented as the audience's reason to care.

This is when I put on my Serious Consultant Face and say, "If you only learn one thing from our work together, it is this: (pause, make eye contact) You must explain why it matters to the audience."

B E N E F I T. This is the word to remember when creating any marketing, from promotional emails to event invitations to fundraising appeals to status updates. Explain to me why this product, this piece, this production, is not just special to you, but why it will be special to me.

When you're marketing, it's not about you. Like it or not, especially in the social media/reality TV age, it's about ME. My status, my tweet, my vote, my opinion. Which translates to: my money, my ticket, my butt in your theater's seat and my name on your company's mailing list.

Your marketing is not a mirror, it's a window. Rather than reflecting on you, any pitching of your product or production must explain to the potential patron why their hard-earned money or precious time should be spent here when there are so many other options out there.

In school, it was enough to expect your friends and family to show up for your shows out of pure love and support for your art. But once you're in the professional performance world, you've got to pitch your audience, not just hang a shingle/put on a show/open an Etsy account and wait for the traffic to roll in.

So roll up your sleeves, artist-preneurs! Let's play a little game of devil's advocate with some common non-reasons and turn them into benefit-laden pitches, shall we?

Give Us Your Vote/Money

It's about you: Vote for us to win this contest / donate to our project at this link!

(Potential Audience, Still Skeptical: Why? What will you do with the money? Why is your cause more worthy than all these others? Am I going to end up on some mailing list?)

It's about them: Thanks to our awesome audience, we're up for Best Company in Town! Can you help us win by taking 15 seconds to vote at Direct Voting Link?

(Motivated Action, Semi-Sold: I'm helpful! And awesome! 15 seconds? That's nothing if it means reinforcing my identity as a helpful and awesome person!)

We're #1! (reference unavailable)

It's about you: Amazing Jewelry is the most amazing jewelry.

(PASS: At that price, it better be amazing. Know what I think is amazing? That jewelry I saw at the mall the other day on sale. At least I've heard of that brand before.)

It's about them: Amazing Jewelry is dedicated to creative design for creative people.

(MASS: Dedication, how admirable! I am pretty creative… I'll click on this link and check out their designs, which I will find creative because a creative person like me recognizes creativity, and will value it accordingly.)

Non-Editorial Process Disclosure, aka, Oz Was Behind a Curtain for a Reason

It's about you: After one year of development, we present: Our Show.

(PASS: Why did it take so long? How long is it supposed to take? Man, if I took a year to do something at my job, I wouldn't have a job. Just sayin'.)

It's about them: Be the first to see Our Show in its limited Our City engagement.

(MASS: Oh yeah, I'm an early adopter. Just check out my iPad! I can't wait to tweet this to all my followers while I check in on Foursquare. I hope I can still get tickets.)

No One Puts Baby in a Corner

It's about you: Unsigned Indie Band is completely original, no-genre music!

(PASS: Eh, this clip sounds like something else I heard once but I don't have the available brain space to connect it to anything I already like. Next.)

It's about them: The progressive orchestration of Arcade Fire meets the ethereal vocals of Florence and the Machine - with a beat you can dance to.

(MASS: Who are these guys, my perfect Pandora station? It's about time someone mashed up two bands I've heard of with an activity I'd like the option to take part in.)

Make sense? So next time you're composing copy intended to persuade, write the love letter to your clientele rather than your art. Infuse it with reasons your target audience will want to become loyal customers and you'll make a connection that inspires action.

Things you can do from here:

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Chronicle Books :: Celebrate the Haul-idays with Chronicle Books

2010-11-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

Chronicle Books :: Celebrate the Haul-idays with Chronicle Books

There's $500 worth of really interesting looking books up for grabs.

Wow. It would be so cool to win these books. Just click on the link or leave a comment.

The ones that have already been on my wishlist are

Lennon Legend: An Illustrated Life of John Lennon

The Exquisite Book: 100 Artists Play a Collaborative Game (one of the artists is Dave Eggers...and I L-O-V-E his writing. Please read What is the What)

Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators, and Creatives

Artist's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Working with Color

How to Wire a Painting.

2010-11-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

How to Wire a Painting.: "

Supplies:
1. Wire Cutter
2. Framers Pro Picture Wire- The professional grade with the plastic around the wire is the best. :) This is the secret sauce.
3. Ring Hangers-
4. Plus screw driver.

PS- check your art supply store for the wire/hangers. They buy the stuff in bulk and is cheaper is then the Hardware store and cheaper then Michaels.

Steps
1. Attach rings to either side of the frame. You will want them 1/3rd to 1/4th from the top of the frame. and put them at a little but of an angle.
2. Cut your piece of wire with a 2-4 inches extra wire for each side of the frame. So if you have a 10 inch width you want at least 14-18 inches of wire cut.
3. Thread the ring hangs. Leave the wire a little bit of wiggle room- and don't thread it too tight. When the wire is pulled tight like it's being hung you will want it 2-3 inches from the top of the frame.

Viola!

I am not going to tell you how many mistakes I made and how long it took me to figure this out. I walked into the hardware store and they sold me the wrong stuff several times.

From http://atinyrocket.blogspot.com/

The Athenaeum

2010-11-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Athenaeum: "

The Athenaeum is essentially a virtual museum, in some ways similar to the Art Renewal Center (my post here) or the Web Gallery of Art (my post here), but with its own focus and strengths.

As of this writing, The Athenaeum lists their online collection of art images at 43,339 (with 14 added in the last seven days), making it one one the largest art resources on the web, perhaps second only to the Art Renewal Center.

The Athenaeum is one of my favorite online sources of images from art history; they frequently have good selections of a given artist’s work, reproduced large enough to enjoy and with well balanced color (which can be a problem on some art image repositories).

You can search the archive via Google with the search box on the home page or the “Visual Arts” landing page.

You can also browse alphabetically by artist name, or even name of the work.

In the lists for individual artists, be aware that there are frequently multiple pages of thumbnails, linked from small numbers at the top of the list. You can sort these lists by title, date and medium and toggle the order of each.

Click through the thumbnail or title link to the detail page for the work, and click on the image again for the large reproduction.

You can also browse a museum list; these lists can be sorted by title, artist or date. In the museum listing details click on “Artworks at this museum” at the top to see works in the Athenaeum archive from that museum’s collections.

This can be a fascinating way to browse, in that it produces an interesting mix of artists and styles.

The above images, for example, are all from the collection of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (from top: Edmund Tarbell, Raphaelle Peale, Thomas Eakins [no longer in the collection, alas], Cecilia Beaux, Winslow Homer and Theodore Robinson).

(See also my posts on Edmund Tarbell, Thomas Eakins, Cecilia Beaux and the web site of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.)

"This is the more agreeable one..."

2010-11-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

"This is the more agreeable one...": "How To Explain It To My Parents: a video series from Lernert & Sander where conceptual artists explain their work to their parents.

Featuring Arno Coenen (shown in the main link), Martijn Hendriks (Previously), Martin C de Waal (website), Harm van den Dorpel (Previously), and Bart Julius Peters (website).

from metafilter

Art IS a weapon

2010-11-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Art IS a weapon: "The CIA spent 20 years promoting modern art as a propaganda tool: 'We wanted to unite all the people who were writers, who were musicians, who were artists, to demonstrate that the West and the United States was devoted to freedom of expression and to intellectual achievement, without any rigid barriers as to what you must write, and what you must say, and what you must do, and what you must paint, which was what was going on in the Soviet Union. I think it was the most important division that the agency had, and I think that it played an enormous role in the Cold War.'

From Boing Boing

You Can't Tell Your USB from a Hole in the Wall

2010-10-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

You Can't Tell Your USB from a Hole in the Wall: "

Aram Bartholl is mortaring USB drives into walls, curbs, and buildings around New York. These dead drops, as he terms them, are peer-to-peer file transfer points with true anonymity. Bartholl has a residency with EYEBEAM, a truly fascinating incubator of and studio for new ideas in technology and art.

The project has five initial locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with more to come. Bartholl has posted a photo gallery of the installations, too.

The furtiveness of squeezing your laptop or mobile against a wall is rather intimate--these may be dead drops, but they're also data glory holes. And one more thing, too. The concept pricked at my memory, until I remembered the Finn from William Gibson's Neuromancer universe. In Mona Lisa Overdrive, the Finn has lost his corporeal form, but Molly seeks out his advice in a disreputable alley.

A tight beam of very bright light...descended until it found the thing at the base of the wall, dull metal, an upright rounded fixture that Kumiko mistook for another ventilator...

Sally stepped forward, the beam held steady, and Kimiko saw that the armored thing was bolted into the brickwork with massive rivets. 'Finn?'...

'Moll.' A grating quality, as if through a broken speaker. 'What's with the flash?'

Image by Aram Bartholl via Creative Commons.

"

Portrait of a Boy with a Long Beard

2010-10-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

Portrait of a Boy with a Long Beard: "Flying eyeballs. Pissed-off bearded ladies. Mummy Jesus. The Wolfman. The lactation of St. Bernard. The Jesus & Mary UFO invasion.* And the Phineas Gage of 1550.

These and more at the gallery of unexpected motifs in Renaissance art. [old-school NSFW]

from Metafilter.

Maggot paintings used to interest kids in forensic entomology

2010-10-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Maggot paintings used to interest kids in forensic entomology: "

Steve Silberman sez, 'A forensic entomologist -- who calculates the time of death in murder cases by studying the presence of insects and larvae near (or in) the corpse -- uses maggot 'paintings' to get kids interested in science. 'I stay away from talking about murder with elementary school children,' says Erin Watson, 'but there's still something for them to learn.''

Maggot art is made by gently dropping the larvae into blobs of non-toxic, water-based paint. As the maggots crawl across paper using their hook-like mouths, they drag streams of paint behind them creating what Watson calls 'Maggot Monets.' After a little coercion, children become enthralled with the project, says Watson, which has caused throngs of eager youngsters to crowd around her table at past exhibits.

Maggot Monets
From boing boing
"

quintessential quotes

2010-10-16T02:49:00.000-07:00

quintessential quotes: "

A work of art is finished, from the point of view of the artist, when feeling and perception have resulted in a spiritual synthesis.

Hans Hofmann

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

2010-10-16T02:48:00.000-07:00

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP: "

Nothing in the news media yet, but many folks on Twitter and colleague Nassim Taleb are reporting that the father of fractal geometry is dead at age 85. We're not there yet, but someday Mandelbrot's name will be mentioned in the same breath as Einstein's as a genius who fundamentally shifted our perception of how the world works.

Tags: Benoit Mandelbrot fractals mathematics obituaries"

What’s Your Boomerang?

2010-10-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

What’s Your Boomerang?: "

Think about that thing you keep coming back to, no matter how hard you try to suppress it.

It could be writing. It could be painting. It could be coming up with funny one-liners. It could be a particular skill or perspective that we picked up during a formative period of our development that really frames how we operate in the world.

I call these things boomerangs. No matter how hard you try to throw them away, they keep coming back. They creep up in your thoughts when you let your guard down or you find yourself doing them when you’re in the flow. You suppress them one year to have a manifestation of it come up three years later.

Some people spend their entire lives running from their boomerang. This is especially true when accepting your boomerang makes you a weirdo.

Try as hard as you might, you will never be able to get away from your boomerang – it’s a part of who you are. Running from yourself is an exercise in futility because wherever you are, there’ll you’ll be.

Once people accept and lean into their boomerang, they start thriving. Great companies are built on boomerangs. Great careers are built when people use their boomerang rather than continually try to get away from it.

Not only do people become happier when they accept their boomerang, their lives become a lot easier. All of the energy they spent trying to throw and run from their boomerang can now be leveraged in their lives. Time, energy, and attention are finite, and, really, how much of your precious resources do you want to spend avoiding the thing that will help you come alive?

Dig deep for these questions:

What’s your boomerang? You already know – you just need to name it.

Are you allowing yourself to use it or are you resisting it?

If you’re resisting it: what if you could be happier being yourself and accepting your gift rather than struggling without it? (You’re not in high school anymore.)

When it hits you this time, it might have a little additional force. I take full responsibility and I’m not sorry. I want you to flourish, even if I need to nudge you out of your own way.

If you liked this post, you might like these, too:

When Will You Let Go? It’s sometimes hard to let go of what you’ve built,...

Don’t Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth Ever heard the saying, “Don’t look a gift horse in...

There Will Always Be Challenges I was walking with my mom up to Sherrard Point...

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Artists

2010-10-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Artists: "

In the early 1990’s Steven Covey wrote a book entitled “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” which became a huge best seller and still sells well today. It was a book that provided a holistic and a principled approach for problem solving, living and adapting to change by seeing opportunities rather than problems.

I believe that there are also seven habits which artists should follow to become highly effective and successful. And, though I am detailing only seven, I am sure that the readers of this article can contribute other successful “habits” as well.

The seven habits of highly effective and successful artists are:

1. Being passionate about your art

Foremost, the artist must have a passion for their art and everything that is associated with being an artist. Why? Because there will always be barriers to being an artist. . . but, if you are passionate about what you do, these issues will be perceived as challenges or detours to success, rather than “problems” that halt your progress.

2. Staying focused despite distractions

A successful artist will not be distracted from their art and their commitment to achieving their goals. To be successful at most things requires a focus and a “singleness of purpose” and art is no different. Successful artists are focused, and their art is a priority in their lives.

3. Having a specific vision of your success

Artists who are successful have a vision and see themselves achieving great things in their chosen profession. Despite any roadblocks, problems or defeats, their vision kept them working towards their goal. Then, after achieving a goal, a successful artist will create new goals and a new vision to work toward.

4. Being persistent in the face of adversity

Most people face adversity and quit. People who get past the adversity do so because they persist towards their goal. Persistence is the difference between a successful artist and an artist who quits.

5. Choosing professionalism in all dealings

A successful artist is a professional in all of their dealings with the public, gallery owners, art reps and suppliers. It is as simple as that. If an artist is not professional, then no matter their talent, they won’t be successful for very long.

6. Open to maximizing all opportunities

A successful artist is ready to leverage any and all opportunities that come their way. Whether that opportunity is to fill in quickly for another artist at a gallery, give an interview, write an article for a blog or give a speech to a group, a successful artist sees that as a chance to network, promote their art and build their brand.

Unsuccessful artists see those opportunities very differently—as situations that interrupt what they were doing! But any artist who is engaged and ready to capitalize on those opportunities will get a LOT back in return.

7. Willing to view art as a business

Successful artists see themselves as business people. They understand that other people who they are connected with in the art world are also business people and they conduct themselves in that manner too. Now more than ever in today’s marketplace art is a business. Art is a competitive business and an artist will learn how to successfully operate it as such or they will eventually fail.

As I said previously, there are other habits and traits of successful artists beyond what I have outlined above. But I truly believe that if an artist is talented and applies these 7 habits to their craft, they will be successful.

For more articles from John R. Math, please visit ArtMarketingStrategy.com.

Lego Letterpress

2010-10-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Lego Letterpress: "

My heart be still. Lego Letterpress by Justin LaRosa and Samuel Cox, via Craftzine. They're selling prints, and at reasonable prices.

(via BB Submitterator, thanks Rachel Hobson)

Is this what they meant by dancing about architecture?

2010-10-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Is this what they meant by dancing about architecture?: "

Last Saturday, the IAC building in Chelsea became the screen for a giant video art project.

Tags: architecture art"

Watch Your Language: 7 Rules for Getting What You Want

2010-10-13T07:06:00.001-07:00

by Christine Kane

Years ago, I was in a car with a music promoter. He had picked me up at the airport and was driving me to my hotel before my performance. On the way, we talked guitars. We got onto the subject of Olson Guitars, arguably the best guitar in the whole world. At one point, the promoter said, "Yea, well, in my entire life I'll never own an Olson guitar."

There was a time when I'd let a remark like this slide on by, even adding my own "me either" to the mix.

Now, I can't.

So, I turned to the promoter and said, "You are NOT allowed to say that!"

This is because I know the power of language. When you understand that words become things, you just can't let language slide.

Now, I have a rule I live by:

Friends don't let friends speak crappily.

Listen up!

Your language is a powerful tool! Words create reality. Even if my promoter friend doesn't know how on earth he'd ever get his guitar, it doesn't mean he should cut off the possibility with his own words.

If you're wondering how to begin watching your words, here are 7 rules for getting what you want!

1 - Eliminate "never" and "always."

Never and always are words of hysteria. "I always mess everything up!" "I'll never figure this out!" "I'll never get an Olson Guitar."

First off, it's not true. If you always messed everything up, you wouldn't have made it out of the womb.

And second off, extreme words are designed to hook you. It's just your emotions taking a joyride. You're morepowerful than that.

2 - Use AND instead of BUT.

"But" dismisses the statement before it. "And" includes it. For instance, "That's a good article, but it needs some editing" isn't nearly as encouraging as "That's a good article, AND it needs some editing."

"I love you, but..." is another great example of the dismissive power of "but."

3 - Avoid "Should."

Should is a heinous word for many reasons.

"Should" is victim-speak. It disempowers its object. It negates desires, thereby making it harder to make choices. It adds a nebulous energy to the decision-making process.

Use empowered language instead: "I could..." "I would..." "I am choosing to," "I would like to," "I don't want to," or "You might consider..."

4 - Stop calling yourself depressed.

Also stop allowing anyone to tell you that you are depressed. When you call yourself "depressed" or "obsessive compulsive" or "ADHD" or whatever - you're claiming this thing. You're calling it forth with the most powerful two words in our language: "I am." Stop claiming anything you don't want to be!

5 - Delete the word "hate" from your vocabulary.

"Hate" has lots of energy. When you use it, you send lots of energy out into the very thing you "hate." Even if it's negative energy, it's still a powerful force, adding its charge to that thing. You're also depleting this energy from your own spirit as you say it.

6 - Be "great." Or "wonderful."

A disease of the creative temperament is a belief that we must be authentic at all costs. So we can't answer a simple "How are you?" without delving into an in-depth scan of our emotional temperature.

Try this instead: When people ask you how you're doing, just say, "I'm great!"

I used to think if I said this, then I better have a darn good reason for saying it, like I just won the lottery or something. I thought it would make me look suspicious, and people would start to wonder if something was wrong with me. But then I did it.

And you know what? Most people don't care why you're great. You're saying it for YOU.

7 - Pay attention to the music of your speech.

You know how some people? They talk in question marks? And you have no idea why? But it makes you think you shouldn't really rely on them? And it makes you not want to hire them?

The music of your language says a lot about you. If you let your sentences droop like Eeyore, ("Thanks for noticing me.") or if you do the uncertain question mark language, take note of what attitudes are causing this. These patterns are created for a reason. Even if it feels like faking it at first, generate confidence as you speak.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

Please do! Just be sure to include this complete blurb with it:

Christine Kane is the Mentor to Women Who are Changing the World. She helps women uplevel their lives, their businesses and their success. Her weekly LiveCreative eZine goes out to over 12,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription athttp://christinekane.com.

overture

2010-10-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

overture: "

from Pikaland by Racheal Anilyse
Bryum & Kapok 03: A Lilt from Overture on Vimeo.

BLESS from Overture on Vimeo.

I’m in love with these animations by Overture , a wife and husband duo made up of Aya and Jason Brown. According to their site “we are two dreamers letting our thought waves overlap and mingle to realize the ideas and goals of our own imagination as well as those of the wonderful folks we work with.”

Everything about them is poetic.
"

All Creative Work Is Derivative

2010-10-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Zooming into Italian Masterpieces

2010-10-04T09:11:00.001-07:00

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Zooming into Italian Masterpieces

via Open Culture by Dan Colman on 10/3/10

This past week, an Italian web site (Haltadefinizione) placed online six masterpieces from the famous Uffizi Gallery in Florence, all in super high resolution. Each image is packed with close to 28 billion pixels, a resolution 3,000 times greater than your normal digital photo. And this gives art connaisseurs everywhere the ability to zoom in and explore these paintings in exquisitely fine detail – to see strokes and details not normally seen even by visitors to the Uffizi. The paintings featured here include Botticelli's The Birth of Venus; Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation and The Last Supper; The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio and da Vinci; Caravaggio's Bacchus; and the Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo by Bronzino. These masterpieces will remain online for free until January 29. For more details on the project, look here. Thanks Claudia for the great heads up.

Related Content:

A Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel

Zooming into Italian Masterpieces is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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How to Feel Miserable as an Artist

2010-10-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

How to Feel Miserable as an Artist: "

Gotta love Keri Smith. The girl speaks the truth.

Art Can Bring Water to Millions

2010-09-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

by theabundantartist

Art Can Bring Water to Millions: "

image by Merida Hideaway

Since 2007 I have participated in Blog Action Day. It’s a worthwhile cause that brings attention to some of the world’s most important issues.

One of the most powerful things about Art is its ability to rouse people to take action. Art, quite literally, saves lives. The Theatre saved my life in high school by giving me a place to go and something to direct my attention toward. For the first time in my life, I was doing something that inspired and amused other people.

Earlier this week I was listening to National Public Radio and Richard Holbrooke, a US envoy in Afghanistan and Pakistan talked about the fact that 20 million people in Pakistan are without water. On top of that, of course, are the millions in Africa and Southeast Asia without potable water.

Blog Action Day this year happens on October 15th and the topic is Water.

What is Blog Action Day?

A day when bloggers everywhere write about a particular topic in order to draw attention to it. Last year thousands of bloggers, including the world’s leading nonprofits and the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined the conversation.

Here’s my challenge to you:

Turn Blog Action Day to Art Action Day

On or before October 15, will you create a piece of art with the theme of water and post that art to your blog, linking back to http://blogactionday.change.org? If you’ll send me a link to your site or link back to this post, I’ll be sure to send a link back to your piece of art related to Water.

On October 15th, I will put up a blog post listing all of the art related to Blog Action Day.

I can’t wait to see what’s created. If you have any suggestions for how we can make Blog Art Action Day better, let me know in the comments or in an email.

http://blogactionday.change.org

Share and Enjoy:

Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy

2010-09-27T18:45:00.001-07:00

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Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy

via lines and colors :: a blog about drawing, painting, illustration, comics, concept art and other visual arts by Charley Parker on 9/27/10

Giuseppe Arcimboldo's wonderfully bizarre blendings of nature and humankind, incorporating natural forms like vegetables, twigs and leaves as well as fish and other small animals in the representation of human faces, can still "turn heads" today, as they must have in the 16th Century.

Largely forgotten shortly after his death and re-discovered in the 20th Century, Arcimboldo is the subject of a new exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy includes sixteen examples of his work, seen here in the U.S. for the first time. The exhibition also includes drawings by Da Vinci and Durer, along with other works intended to provide context for the paintings.

His hallucinatory arrangements of images within a larger image delighted the Surrealists, who saw in him a precursor to their dream inspired visions. His "still life" paintings (done at a time when still life was not an accepted genre) that only revealed their human face when inverted, have entered pop culture in the form of countless "optical illusion" variations on the theme.

The National Gallery has provided a very nice PDF Exhibition Brochure, that can be downloaded from the right hand column of the exhibition page, as well as a short video.

Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy will be on view until January 9, 2011.

For more, see my previous post on Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

[Via Art Daily]

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Art of War

2010-09-25T05:07:00.000-07:00

Art of War: "Soldier-Artists in Vietnam. Flack jackets, pistols, iodine pills, insect lotion, sketch pads wrapped in plastic bags... Jim Pollock was a member of the Vietnam Combat Artist Program and this is his story (click through the links within the links to learn more).

How do you enjoy your art?

2010-09-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

5.5x8" exacompta, pitt pen, altered

We're back from vacation, exhausted, full of art to share, but need to regroup and get shots uploaded, scanned, etc. It was a great trip and lots to share in the days ahead. Photographs, a new doodle design, my stitched travel journal, dynamic drawing with my daughter, a new book, and one mandala. It sounds like I'm doing the opening segment for a podcast.

How many ways do you enjoy your own art?

From

http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/enjoy-your-art.html

JOHN CLEESE WCF

2010-09-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

A good place to start

2010-09-16T06:38:00.001-07:00

A good place to start: "

If you’re new to Sustainably Creative, or just want some help finding your way around, this is a good place to start.

Think of this post as a sort of guided tour of Sustainably Creative, a place for new readers and regular visitors alike to delve deeper into the large number of posts that make up the blog, as well as keeping an eye on what’s new and what popular.

A good place to start is with a few hand-picked posts to get a feel for the site:

Getting Your Important Work Done

You can also explore the blog via it’s main categories:

Elsewhere

MicroPodcasts

Twitter

Facebook

Tumblr

If you’d like to keep up to date with new posts as they come out you can subscribe to Sustainably Creative via email or RSS feed.

__

I hope you’ve found this beginners guide to Sustainably Creative useful. If you have I’d very much appreciate it if you could let other people know about it via Twitter. Thank you.

__

Vintage children's illustration

2010-09-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

Vintage children's illustration: "Flickr user katinthecupboard has scanned and posted nearly 2000 vintage illustrations, largely from children's books. Luckily they have been organized into collections and sets, and extensively tagged. There's so much in there that I hesitate to point out any individual images I especially like, but here's a few starters: A foppish Mercury, freezing child Jesus in modern city, children playing with sunbeam, boy with a bone-whistle, dancing fairies, bathing silhouettes and sailing ship and merman riding a sea creature.

VIDEO: An Easy Masking Tip for Fabric and Paper Stamping

2010-09-13T18:38:00.001-07:00

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VIDEO: An Easy Masking Tip for Fabric and Paper Stamping

via EmptyEasel.com by Dan on 9/13/10

In today's short video tutorial, Gloria Page demonstrates how easy it is to create a simple "mask" for your stamping projects, whether you're working on paper or fabric.

As you'll see in the video below, there's no need to spend a lot of time masking off areas of your paper. In fact, a minute with a pair of scissors is just about all that's required—take a look:

NOTE: I'd also recommend Gloria's full-length stamping DVD at Creative Catalyst.

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Never-before published photos of Lascaux paintings

2010-09-10T14:54:00.001-07:00

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Never-before published photos of Lascaux paintings

via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder on 9/10/10

Lascaux painting photographer Bernard Sury focuses a camera on prehistoric paintings on the ceiling at Lascaux, 1947. Previously unpublished

Here's a treat from the archives of LIFE magazine -- the first photos of the cave paintings in Lascaux, including some unpublished photos.

September 12, 1940. A warm afternoon in southwestern France. As two schoolboys hunt rabbits on a ridge covered with pine, oak, and blackberry brambles, their dog chases a hare down a hole beside a downed tree. Widening the hole, removing rocks, the boys follow -- and enter not merely another world, but another time. Underground, they discover "a Versailles of prehistory" -- a series of caves, today collectively known as Lascaux, boasting wall paintings up to 18,000 years old. In 1947, LIFE's Ralph Morse went to Lascaux, and became the first photographer to ever document the astonishing, vibrant paintings. Here, on the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the cave and its treasures, in a gallery featuring rare and never-published photographs, Morse -- still vibrant himself at 93 -- shares with LIFE.com his memories of what it was like to encounter the long-hidden, strikingly lifelike handiwork of a vanished people: the Cro-Magnon.

Lascaux: Versailles of Prehistory

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The 3 Most Critical Items on Your Facebook Fan Page

2010-09-07T18:13:00.001-07:00

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The 3 Most Critical Items on Your Facebook Fan Page

via Art Biz Blog by Alyson Stanfield on 9/2/10

The best way to get your art online quickly and free these days is to create a professional PAGE on Facebook — a.k.a. a Fan Page.

Facebook pages are public and are indexed by Google. Think of them as another website.

"I don't have time to mess with another website!" you might say. Of course you don't. No one has time. You make time.

You make time because you know that Facebook has over 400 million users. You make time because many of those 400 million people using Facebook prefer it as their primary online connection.

I love Tim Bradford's short description about his art.

All artists' fan pages on Facebook should have three critical elements.

1. A short descriptive sentence or two about your art. This isn't your bio or about your family. This is about your work. Remember that it's a fan page for fans of your art.

Try out different words from time to time. Be creative!

2. Images of your art under Photos. If we go to an artist's fan page, we expect to see art. Don't make us search, click off of Facebook, or scroll for it.

Facebook has nice-sized thumbnails, so we can get a good overview of your work by looking at Photos.

3. Credit lines!
The problem with the main photos page on Facebook is that there are no titles under the images. Scroll down and you lose the artist's name.

For this reason, it's critical to have a complete credit line below each image. Enter this information in the caption for every piece of artwork you post on Facebook.

I looked at 10+ artist pages that I thought would have this information before finding it on Lisa Call's fan page.

When you have a complete credit line as Lisa does here (as you should whenever you post any image anywhere online!), your name is with the image whether the reader scrolls or not.

Lisa Call uses a complete credit line under her images in her Facebook photo album.

Note that a credit line isn't just a title, but also includes the dimensions (HxWxD), media, and your copyright. Savvy artists will also use the copyright date.

But Lisa goes a step further and also includes the credit line when she features images on her wall.

Lisa Call also adds a complete credit line next to any image she posts on her wall.

Too many of you are uploading images with no information next to the art. Sure, it may be in the image caption in your photo album, but that doesn't show up in thumbnails or on your wall.

Want credit for your art? Post it, yes! But finish the job by adding the complete credit line in the caption. Just as you wouldn't hang your art without a label, you shouldn't post it anywhere without this information.

Facebook fan pages: what, why, and how
Add a copyright symbol © to your credit line
You don't have to be excited in order to try it
Deep Thought Thursday: Your Blog Feed on Facebook
Strategic e-marketing: Everything should be connected

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On the importance of art education

2010-09-04T09:11:00.001-07:00

Taken from the Nigerian paper, The Compass, Kent Onah observes that teaching children a curriculum that excludes art does them (and by default the nation) a great disservice. Without creativity, innovation will not take place.

“…The polymer scientists needs some artistic knowledge to be able to come up with good polymeric innovations. The industrial designer must basically be an artist first if he/she can create useful and attractive products. The food technologist must first have a basic knowledge of art to perform effectively. The psychoanalyst or psychiatrist can not treat effectively all the time without employing art therapy.

As mentioned earlier, the medical doctors and surgeons depend on artistic illustrations to treat and to teach.

The environmental designers must basically be talented artists. The list is endless. The active presence of art in the curriculum will help the child to communicate better by exposing him/her to other outlets of communication beyond his/her mother tongue and verbal communication.

The creative process involved in the teaching or production of art helps to break the monotony in the study of other courses. As art is activity based, it adds variance to the teaching and learning process, thereby breaking boredom and encouraging more assimilation and better understanding. Art develops and improves the imaginative power of a child as well as encourage him/her to observe greater details in appreciating his/her culture and environment.

The inclusion of art studies in the school curriculum will help to discover as ‘well as treat or proffer solution to a child with psychological problem at its earliest stage. It will encourage resourcefulness among our youths and empower them toward self- reliance. It will expose the child to the endless potentials of art as a humanizing experience.

Above all, it will reawaken an interest in the visual arts which is the basic ingredient on which science and technology rely for their ultimate success…”

Drop Gallery is a good idea

2010-08-31T07:31:00.001-07:00

I haven't played with this yet but it sounds good.

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Drop Gallery is a good idea

via New Media Photographer | Digital marketing and Social Media by Rosh on 8/31/10

How would you like to have the ability to drag and drop images into a folder and know their next stop is your online gallery? It sounds appealing, doesn't it?

This is what you get with DropGallery. So far, it's only available for Windows, but they promise applications will be coming soon for Mac as well as the iPhone and Android.

If the convenience of an application such as DropBox is any indication, DropGallery will be a valuable tool for many photographers.

You can use up to 2GB of the service for free. If you like the service, you can upgrade to 50GB for $4.99 a month. The service plans also offer backup service.

This service can be used for many professional and amateur applications. Set the galleries to either public or private, which will give photographers the option of collaborating with other photographers, art directors and editors.

This is a new application with promise. Before long, I'm sure this technology will be integrated into other applications such as Flickr, Photoshelter or Smugmug.

Rosh

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An Amazing 3D Light Show From Russia

2010-08-28T17:51:00.001-07:00

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An Amazing 3D Light Show From Russia

via MetaFilter by empath on 8/28/10

An Amazing 3D Light Show From Russia (watch in 480p)

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Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, baker, painter

2010-08-26T06:33:00.001-07:00

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Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, baker, painter

via MetaFilter by mediareport on 8/25/10

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was born in Wisconsin on July 31, 1910. He lived in a small house in Milwaukee with his wife Marie, and he worked in a bakery. Between 1954 and 1963 he used his fingers, combs, quills and bakery tools to create hundreds of explosively colorful semi-abstract landscapes that evoke primordial soup biology, Lovecraftian horror, scifi weirdness and hellish alien beauty ('Full-Screen View' and its zoomable interface increase the pleasure dramatically). The 12 galleries of paintings at his memorial site are all available for free hi-res download, you can hear him talking about drugs, brain chemistry and visions at the 'Listen' link, and there's currently an exhibit honoring the centennial of his birth at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

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15 Must-See Photoshop Photo Effect Tutorials

2010-08-25T11:03:00.001-07:00

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15 Must-See Photoshop Photo Effect Tutorials

via ArtBistro by Christina Macres | ArtBistro on 8/25/10

Looking to create the perfect image on Photoshop, spice up your graphic design portfolio, learn new photo manipulation tools or just have some fun?

We've selected 15 fresh new Photoshop photo effect tutorials. From vintage lomo effects to creating your very own iTunes style illustrations — it's all here!

Quick Lomo Effect:

Next: No. 2: Classic Photo Effect →

[page]

Classic Photo Effect:

Next: No. 3: Longer Version: Lomo Effect →

[page]

Longer Version: Lomo Effect:

Next: No. 4: Holga Effect →

[page]

Holga Effect:

Next: No. 5: Vintage Prints from Modern Photos →

Related Reads:

[widget:related_reads__photoshop_j]

[page]

Vintage Prints from Modern Photos

Next: No. 6: Make It Rain →

[page]

Make It Rain

Next: No. 7: Advanced Black & White →

[page]

Advanced Black & White

Next: No. 8: Using the Puppet Warp Tool →

[page]

Using the Puppet Warp Tool

Next: No. 9: Retouching: Fashion Photography →

[page]

Retouching: Fashion Photography

Next: No. 10: Adding a Quick Layer Mask →

[page]

Adding a Quick Layer Mask

Next: No. 11: Comic Book Effect →

Related Reads:

[widget:related_reads__photography]

[page]

Comic Book Effect

Next: No. 12: iTunes Style Illustration →

[page]

iTunes Style Illustration

Next: No. 13: Realistic Water Reflections →

[page]

Realistic Water Reflections

Next: No. 14: Andy Warhol Effect →

[page]

Andy Warhol Effect

Next: No. 15: Creating a Panoramic Image →

[page]

Creating a Panoramic Image

Related Reads:

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Make Your Own Cuneiform Clay Tablet Magazine!

2010-08-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

Dress 'em how you like.

2010-08-12T19:15:00.001-07:00

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Dress 'em how you like.

via MetaFilter by adamvasco on 8/12/10

At the 1938 Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in Paris. each of fifteen artists were given a dressmaker's mannequin as their canvas and encouraged to transform the figure in any way they desired.
The artists included (in order of appearance in this video) Salvador Dalí, Óscar Dominguez, Marcel Duchamp, Léo Malet, André Masson, Joan Miró, Wolfgang Paalen, Kurt Seligmann, Yves Tanguy, Marcel Jean, Max Ernst, Espinoza, Maurice Henry, Sonia Mossé, and Man Ray. Here are some stills.

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Free and Low Cost Design in the Cloud

2010-08-10T14:58:00.001-07:00

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Free and Low Cost Design in the Cloud

via Color + Design Blog by COLOURlovers / Feed by ducttapemarketing on 8/10/10

There are so many great tools out there online these days that a person could power their entire business using nothing but free and low cost web apps.

One area that has seen tremendous advancement is the area of online applications geared towards helping people do all things related to graphic design. For some, the days of buying software suites that cost more than the most robust desktop computer may be coming to an end.

Below is a list of some of the most popular online offerings that address design, illustration and editing, including crowdsourcing of custom design.

Graphic Design

Aviary – Suite of online graphic design tools for image editing, color and effects editing, illustration and even audio editing
Pixlr – Extremely popular free online photo editor
Picknik – Pretty straightforward image editor
Inkscape –An Open Source vector graphics editor with capabilities similar to Illustrator
Photoshop.com – Edit, store and share online
Jaycut – online video editing set of tools that also allows you to install video editing on your site for user generated campaigns
Splashup – Full featured image editor, plays nice with photo sites
flauntR – Lots of tools from the FotoDesk folks

Color Design

COLOURlovers – duh, that's why you're here!
kuler – Color Design and Schemes from Adobe

Web site design

Weebly – drag and drop web site and blog design
Webs – Lots of templates and ecommerce options (how did that get that URL?)
Yola – Another easy to use site builder
Createplace – Focus on building portfolios
Sitekreator – Very robust tool that includes hosting
WebNode – HTML and css editor robust enough to design and maintain entire web sites

Presentation Design

Slideroll – Nice simple way to create slideshows
Prezi – This is a very cool way to share and animate a presentation. It's more like a unique platform than tool
Sliderocket – Powerful way to build and share online presentation

Crowdsourced Design

Elegant.ly – Focus in on pitching your start-up to a group of designers
Crowdspring – Logo and web design and now copywriting
99Designs – Contest driven crowdsourced design

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Fruit MRIs

2010-07-17T10:58:00.001-07:00

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Fruit MRIs

via MetaFilter by Joe in Australia on 7/17/10

Fruit MRIs. Do not click this link if you are intoxicated.
Bananas look like the faces of children crying out in fear. Watermelons, on the other hand, are rather trippy.

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Surreal Decay: Stunning Light Graffiti with Stencils

2010-07-17T10:56:00.001-07:00

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Surreal Decay: Stunning Light Graffiti with Stencils

via WebUrbanist by Steph on 7/17/10

[ By Steph in Graffiti & Drawing, Urban & Street Art. ]

Light graffiti is surreal and impermanent, infused with a sense of kinetic chaos that seems inherent to this unique and expressive art. But one Melbourne, Australia-based street artist has found a way to tame the light and make it even more otherworldly. Known only as 'TigTab', this mysterious artist uses stencils to create beautiful patterns in grungy urban spaces.

"My photos are predominantly shot using urban backdrops,' TigTab told Odd Stuff Magazine. "I find beauty in decay – those abandoned and forgotten places all around us. By bringing light into the darkness of each space, it fills that space for a moment in time, and highlights both their beauty and impermanence."

TigTab's illuminated illusions are so crisp and sharply defined, people often look at the final photographs and assume they're Photoshopped. But far more artistry goes into this work than simply doctoring images on a computer.

Odd Stuff has some really cool pictures of the materials TigTab uses, including carefully crafted rigid stencils that are lined with foil and placed on light boxes. The artist leaves the camera shutter open for a long exposure and moves around the space with the stencils, firing the flash repeatedly. It takes up to four hours to capture a single composition. Check it out at OddStuffMagazine.com.

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3 Kinds of Urban Light Art: From Dorm Room Tetris to Architectural Light Graffiti

Here's a look at three types of urban light art: dorm room tetris, lightstick air animation and architectural projection bombing. 25 Comments - Click Here to Read More »»

[ WebUrbanist - By Steph in Graffiti & Drawing, Urban & Street Art. ]

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50 Best Blogs for Art History Buffs

2010-06-29T08:41:00.001-07:00

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50 Best Blogs for Art History Buffs

via Online College Tips - Online Colleges by Site Administrator on 8/17/09

By Rose Jensen

Whether you're studying art history for class or for fun, you can find great resources online. These blogs can provide you with an ongoing look at some of the most interesting art throughout history. Read on, and you'll find 50 of the best blogs about art history for students, professors, or enthusiasts.

General

Take a general look at art history through these blogs.

The Art History Blog: You can find fun anecdotes about art history on this blog.
Art History Blog: This blog is written to discuss art history and historical facts in the art world.
Artblog.net: Franklin Einspruch writes this blog to share conversation about art and how to experience it.
The Earthly Paradise: This historian has a passion for art, aesthetics, and literature.
History & Art History: This blog is written by George Mason University.
Smarthistory: Find thoughts on teaching and technology in art from this blog.
UCLA Arts Library Art and Art History Blog: This blog offers news about the library and archive at the UCLA Arts Library.
Current Events of Research in Visual History: You can read about the latest in visual history research on this French blog.
BibliOdyssey: Find books, illustrations, science, and visual material obscura throughout history on this blog.
When Art History Goes Bad: This art history nerd likes to complain.
Shelley's Art History Blog: This blog offers insightful looks into art history.
History Blog: Get an insight into history through this blog.
The Art History Newsletter: Find updates on art history through this newsletter.
Painting History: Painting History discusses historic moments captured on canvas.
Famous Paintings Reviewed: Read this blog to learn about famous paintings throughout history.
Your Daily Art: Get the background behind art through this daily blog.
Old Paint: This blog features an old painting a day.
Art Blog by Bob: Bob offers a well researched and accessible art history blog.
GetDaGoss: GetDaGoss is an online art history encyclopedia and luxury lifestyle magazine.
The Punching Bag: The Punching Bag offers a look into cultural heritage, economics, and politics.
Cultural Heritage in Danger: Read this blog to learn about saving antiquities.

Niche

Check out these blogs that focus on a specific period or subject.

Notes on Early Modern Art: You'll find a thoughtful discussion on early modern art on this blog.
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive: ASIFA-Hollywood's blog discusses the digital archive of Hollywood animation.
The Textile Blog: In this blog, you'll see the interiors and interior furnishings from 1840 to 1980.
Women in the Bible: Read Women in the Bible to see the interpretation of the famous women of the Bible in art.
Gin Slings and Whimsy: Find a discussion of vintage illustration on this blog.
Mythical Women: Mythical Women offers a look into legends in art and history.
Art Deco: The Art Deco blog celebrates the Jazz Age in the 1920s and 1930s.
Bearded Roman: Bearded Roman is a blog about art in the classical tradition.
Romantic Ruins: See the romanticism in decay and destruction on this blog.
Dali House: This blog celebrates the art of Dali.
The Warhol Influence: Read this blog to learn about Andy Warhol's influence.
Draped to the Ankles: This blog highlights 19th century fashion, photographs, and Victorian art.
Pre Raphaelite Art: Read this blog to learn about the art and artists labeled as Pre Raphaelite, as well as William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century: Study historic mustaches on this blog.
Found in Mom's Basement: Get a look into vintage advertising in this blog.
Modern Art Obsession: This blog approaches collection as an obsession.
The Heroic Age: This journal is dedicated to the art of the European Northwest from 400-1100 AD.
Art and Architecture, Mainly: On this blog, you'll learn about the fine arts, decorative arts, and architecture of Europe, North America, and Australia from 1650 to 1933.
Black Cat Bone: Reverend James W. Bailey burns the flesh off modern art.
Van Gogh's Chair: Van Gogh's Chair discusses art history, travel, Van Gogh, and more.
Medieval News: Find articles about medieval art history on this blog.
Baroque in Hackney: Find information and resources about Baroque works on this blog.
Magnum Photos: See the works of photography masters on the Magnum Photos blog.
Vintage Poster: On this blog, you'll find a celebration of vintage posters.
Parrish Relics: This jewelry maker offers inspirations from the past.
Illicit Cultural Property: This blog is about art, antiquities, and the law.
japonisme: Learn about the history of the japonisme period from this blog.
New York History: This blog offers a look into the historic art of New York and beyond.
Looting matters: This blog discusses the ethics of collecting antiques.

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Art stuff I wanna learn...

CALL for ENTRIES: SNAP Mail Art in Canada

SUGARYGREEN-NESS

CALL for ENTRIES:SNAP Mail Art

For more information, Read the Full Call!

Here's a free texture. Go make something!

Free NYC Museum Hours (Pass what you wish too!)

Art Opening on Friday June 3 in Williamsburg

Billy Collins poetry and animation.

Free Drawing Books?!

My friend Ricardo made a video of his bodypainting.

Make art. Do good. Submit.

CALL for ENTRIES: Postmarked 2011

The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but more than a quarter of the world’s prisoners.

Learn more about Postmarked 2011 online!

Advocate for the Arts

Because you can't always get a model when you need one.

I love street art.

What should you paint today?

Wikipedia Color Resources

Snowed in & can't get to the museum?

World's greatest photographer's bust-card

Just because you never know when you're gonna need it. I'm printing a copy for my camera bag. I was stopped by an officer from taking photos in NYC's Port Authority Building. Wish I had this with me then.World's greatest photographer's bust-card

Where do you steal your inspiration from?

Art Supplies at the Supermarket.

Borrowed this from Franck de Las Mercedes' blog .Frank is an amazing artist who I had the pleasure of painting for my artists & their work series.

Art supplies at supermarket

The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010

Thought this was an important article.- r.The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010

BBC E-mail: Colourful ancient art 'is alive'

Spinning Tag Device

How to Create the Illusion of Distance in a Picture

4 general rules for creating an illusion of distance

.Best blogs for watercolor & other types of artists.

From http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/library

50 Best Blogs for Watercolor Artists

Where do ideas come from?

The #1 Marketing Mistake Artists Make

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Chronicle Books :: Celebrate the Haul-idays with Chronicle Books

How to Wire a Painting.

The Athenaeum

"This is the more agreeable one..."

Art IS a weapon

You Can't Tell Your USB from a Hole in the Wall

Portrait of a Boy with a Long Beard

Maggot paintings used to interest kids in forensic entomology

quintessential quotes

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

What’s Your Boomerang?

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Artists

1. Being passionate about your art

2. Staying focused despite distractions

3. Having a specific vision of your success

4. Being persistent in the face of adversity

5. Choosing professionalism in all dealings

6. Open to maximizing all opportunities

7. Willing to view art as a business

Lego Letterpress

Is this what they meant by dancing about architecture?

Watch Your Language: 7 Rules for Getting What You Want

by Christine Kane

overture

All Creative Work Is Derivative

Zooming into Italian Masterpieces

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How to Feel Miserable as an Artist

Art Can Bring Water to Millions

Turn Blog Action Day to Art Action Day

Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy

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Art of War

How do you enjoy your art?

JOHN CLEESE WCF

A good place to start

Recommended Reading

Top 20 Post of All Time (automatically updated)

SUGARY

GREEN-NESS

CALL for ENTRIES:

SNAP Mail Art

Just because you never know when you're gonna need it. I'm printing a copy for my camera bag. I was stopped by an officer from taking photos in NYC's Port Authority Building. Wish I had this with me then.
World's greatest photographer's bust-card

Thought this was an important article.- r.
The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010