Identity

Blogs have become the best way to meet others interested in the arts. If enough artists share their feelings and work like Roberta and Libby on artblog, Cynthia on Fresh Paint and Duane on A Painting a Day the bonds of being visual creators can only grow stronger.

What we miss in a surburban dominated culture is community. I don't go to gallery openings because it is hard to drive into Philadelphia and stand in a room of strangers. Going to PMA with a friend who I can talk about the art is fun, but my group of friends is small and they are so busy working it is hard to find the time to go. I'm not a reviewer or collector so I go to shows that seem to have work that interests me. This is the same method I use in deciding what movie to see or book to read. I think it is great there are many different types of art out there- only some interests and excites me. I don't tell others what to see or what is "old fashioned."

We live in a complex world where all points of view should be respected.

Snowed in

A wonderful snow storm kept me in all day. What a teriffic rest watching the snow fall. All the world looks bright and clean.

Rocky Mountain News: Arts

Rocky Mountain News: Arts: "'For an artist, the Louvre is oxygen,' said Gilles Fromenteil, a 46-year-old sculptor who's also president of the state retirement and social security fund for France's 28,000 registered artists." wrote Gregory Viscusi.

Living in America this is unheard of. Why artists should get anything is surprising. Museums in America seem to think that artists are there to support them rather then building a supportive economy for the creation of new art. I'm sure the majority of American artists who have the support of museums, and sell over $50,000 in art per year or earn that much teaching art can afford the $79 annual membership of PMA and other museums.

What seems different is the idea that artists are worthy of any support. We don't even know how many artists there are in America. Who would ever decide who was worthy of support? Is it not better to work as a carpenter and give up the time and interest in making art? In America only the strong can survive as artists.

Faced with the high cost of health insurance I wonder how many artists give up going to museums?

Family Fun

Workshop

Peaceable Kingdom Sculptures
January 29

View The Peaceable Kingdom, painted by Edward Hicks in the 1800s. In this vision of peace, Hicks paints many different animals living together in harmony who might normally be enemies. In the studio, learn sculpting techniques to create clay sculptures of a lion, a lamb, and other peaceable creatures. Instructor: Charles Hankin (great-great-great grandson of Edward Hicks)



Peaceable Kingdom Mural © 2001 Charles Hankin, Mural Arts Program

To cold

The last two days have been spent bonding with my window to the world. In an attempt to get with it and move up to the latest os all things fell apart. Two days of research and reloading and I'm back to where I was last summer. The funny thing is that I've learned things that slipped by and am better off for it.

Making art is similar. We try things and learn from the messes we make. We just don't have a back up disk to help us find our start up mode.

Feeling like a submerging artist I hope to find some inner fire to warm these cold days.

King National Holiday

MSNBC - Transcript for Jan. 16: "I refuse to allow myself to fall into the dark chambers of pessimism, because I think in any social revolution, the one thing that keeps it going is hope, and when hope dies, somehow the revolution degenerates into a kind of nihilistic philosophy which says you must engage in disruption for disruption's sake." said Dr. King, August 13, 1967.

There are many whom make art that hides behind a presumed chaos or lack of order. Following the September 11, 2001 attack and the Christmas tsunami, I wonder if any artist can truly represent a random world that has an order that is way beyond a few scattered blocks arranged on the floor of a gallery. Like the game of Boggle we can shake the dice and roll them all we want and never learn anything about the future or hope or change.

People die when dreams are lost....

Nihilism

Nihilism [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]: "Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated"

I belive that art can not be unless it is something.

DenverPost.com - BUSINESS

DenverPost.com - BUSINESS: "The Brisbane, Calif.-based company has filed trademark lawsuits across the country against companies using the word 'monster.' Discovery Channel has felt Monster's wrath for its show 'Monster Garage.' " wrote Blevins.

It would seem that the only way to fight this abuse is to not buy their product.

flat painting

There seems to be a flatness to much of the painting that I see. I don't know if it's intentional or the result of poor education. Flatness that is both perceptual and emotional in the formal qualities of artists work.

It may be the result of living in a society that has lost all feeling and has no reaction to war or disaster other than to send money. We sit in our rooms and face the world through the box on our desks, filtered from the personal contact with our world.

What a sad time it is to be a human.

Marketing Dali

If PMA spent 2.3 million on art instead of banners what would they get? Ten life sized sculptures, Five large paintings, One hundred small paintings, Two hundred and fifty prints, and One thousand drawings; sculpted, painted and drawn by the top 1365 Philadelphia artists. Anyone wonder why they don't list the amount of their collecting budget each year?

ArtsJournal: About Last Night

ArtsJournal: About Last Night:
"You have to know quite a bit about music to make sense of the middle part of this "explanation," but it's worth noting that according to the author, the "expressive qualities" of given keys are often "highly specific" with respect to individual listeners. Since I experience the expressive qualities of keys as something like a cross between a color and an emotion" wrote Teachout.

Do we know enough about art in our culture? I read many blogs that seem to talk about the "what" and "who" of things people see around town but very little about the emotional substance of art. Do we live in an art world that has flattened the reason for loving art, emotionally, like the painters of the sixties flattened the surface of painting?

The question asked of Mr. Teachout seems like a basic one that every third grader should know the answer to. In a society that has culture at the bottom of the list of priorities, post nuculer destruction as some would say, how can we expect the public or the fans of art to understand the value of say- PAFA or any collection of art?

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/03/2005 | Perfect choice for marketing Dali exhibit

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/03/2005 | Perfect choice for marketing Dali exhibit: "The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. is spending $2.6 million on a new pitchman to attract New Yorkers and others to Philadelphia: Salvador Dali."

This money could be better spent on having an exhibit of great Philadelphia artists. I have no interest in seeing the Dali exhibit.

The New York Times- Richard McDermott Miller, Sculptor, Dies at 82

The New York Times > Arts > Art & Design > Richard McDermott Miller, Sculptor, Dies at 82

Sad news in the Times.