A Story Behind An Image

February 29th, 2008 admin

As a viewer I am always interested in how the artist got to an image they are presenting. Local photographer Cole Thompson has included such stories in his newsletter. I like them so much that I wanted to pass one on. I recommend subscribing to Cole’s newsletter. He is a photographer that always seems to be on the move. His letters often share stories from his travels.

Here is the image:

Here is the story behind the image:

A couple of years ago when I was photographing flowers, I became fascinated with the Dahlia and was using it to create a three image series to portray youth, middle and old age. For the last image I wanted to contrast the vibrancy of the Dahlia against aged hands that told a story of history and character.

But where could I find such hands? When I visited a local rest home and asked the nurses to recommend someone, they immediately thought of Mildred.

While many of the residents in the home suffered from dementia, Mildred was sharp and alert. When I explained that I wanted to photograph her hands, she made girlish protests about their appearance, but as I began photographing, she seemed to enjoy the attention from the camera. For the next several hours I learned about Mildred and her life, she was alone except for a daughter that lived some distance away.

As I looked at her hands they were like an autobiography with every line representing a different chapter in her life. No single chapter stood out any longer, but now each was like a thread woven into a single fabric. As I photographed her I noticed that she would finger her wedding band and I felt sad for her.

I brought Mildred a copy of the photograph but she was sleeping, and so I left it next to her bed. I have always wondered what she saw when she looked at her own hands in the photograph.

http://www.colethompsonphotography.com

Thanks for sharing Cole.

Posted in Art on the Web | 2 Comments »

Art Round-Up

February 28th, 2008 admin

Some bloggers are in the habit of doing a “round-up” post once a week. Basically a post of links to things relating to the blog subject around the web. I have never done one on Art Palaver. Until this post.

Wired Magazine takes a look at on-line art galleries.

The Denver Art scene in 2028.

Make a camera tripod for a dollar.

A very artistic short movie on the Senator from Illinois.

Art Review magazine embraces the Internet.

And last but not least…

This one is because I must link to something comic book related.

So there you have it, Art Palaver’s first link round-up. What do you think? Want more? Should this be a regular feature?

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Articulate City’s Event Picks For This Weekend

February 27th, 2008 admin

Here once again is Articulate City’s Must Attend Events for the weekend. Be sure to click on www.articulatecity.com to get all the details.

 

Hello there, all you Art Party People:

Birthdays galore, plus threesomes, treesomes, Mexorcisms, and more … all this week in Articulate City!

Additional information about each event, including times, cost and location, is available at www.articulatecity.com.

Thursday, 2/28: Arts & Culture Lecture Experience ~ Ethno Techno

Friday, 2/29: Opera Theater ~ Verdi’s Falstaff

Friday, 2/29: Visual Art ~ TREEmendous

Saturday, 3/1: Live Music ~ KRFC’s 5th Birthday Party feat. the subdudes

Saturday, 3/1 (through 3/14): Culinary Culture ~ Great Plates of Downtown

Now get out there, show your support, and have some fun!

Your Friends at Articulate City

Articulate City logo

Articulate City                 

we put the art in party

Articulate City, LLC

239 Sherwood St.

Fort Collins, CO 80521

970.420.6006 ~ phone

888-231-2860 ~ fax

info@articulatecity.com

www.articulatecity.com

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Road Trip With Arts Alive

February 26th, 2008 admin

Saturday March 8th is The Building Creative Business Expo in Denver. What is The Building Creative Business Expo you may be asking? Well…

The Building Creative Businesses Expo offers the creative community (writers, artists, filmmakers, dancers, graphic designers, musicians, etc.) a “one-stop” opportunity to learn about the various city, non-profit, and for-profit resources available and skill-building workshops to help grow and stabilize creative businesses.

More than 50 organizations will be participating as exhibitors and over 45 workshops catering to your needs will be offered.  Titles of some of the workshops include:

    * “Your Writing Career: Publishing, Marketing, and Honing the Craft”
    * “Grassroots Marketing Tactics for Small Arts Organizations”
    * “How to Start Your Own Business Doing What You Love”
    * “Independent Music Production, Distribution, and Promotion for Today’s Market”
    * “Generating Hoopla and Buzz for Exposure and Brand Reinforcement”
    * “Financing Your Creativity”
    * “Developing Corporate and Other Nonprofit In-kind Partnerships”

Workshops are $5 and require advanced sign-up.  Click this sentence to go to the Expo’s web site. 

And if your interested in going you could catch a ride with Arts Alive for only $20.00. They are charting a bus and the money goes to benefit the CSU Art Department. Simply go to www.FCtix.com to reserve you seat on the bus.

creative business expo

Posted in Event | 2 Comments »

Tinkering With A Novel?

February 25th, 2008 admin

Men With Pens is one of the blogs I subscribe to. The focus of the blog is freelance writing in relation to business on the Internet. But recently they began covering creative writing. Today they did a post stating "Why Your Novel Isn’t Written Yet," that I recommend you read if you have been tinkering with a novel.

As someone who has had a few novels, a whole fictional universe in fact, swimming around in my head for well over a decade I found the article to be spot on. Writing is one of the easiest things that we find so hard to do.

Click here to read the article yourself.

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this post sponsored by BeetStreet.org
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The War Of Art

February 20th, 2008 admin

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”- Steven Pressfield

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I am sure you know the feeling. The feeling of satisfaction after a productive day. After a full day spent creating. That feeling of knowing you showed up and answered the muse and did your job as an artist. Do you know that feeling? Do you experience it often? I don’t experience it nearly enough. You will often hear me say that “life gets in the way.”

But why is that? I like to create. I like when my camera is in my hand or the brush is being dipped in fresh paint. I have more ideas than days in my life, even if I live to be 200. Being productive in the studio makes me truly happy. Seems like it would be easy. But it is not easy is it? Why? Because of Resistance, with a capitol R. That is what Steven Pressfield argues in the War of Art. (Warner Book 2003)

The War of Art is 165 page manual full of strategies for identifying and overcoming resistance in your creative life. I’ve read a lot of books on productivity, most in relation to business, this is by far the best one I have read for helping an artist be productive.

The book is divided into three books. Book one defines the enemy and is quite an eye opener. The author points out, “Resistance kicked my ass from East Coast to West and back again thirteen times and I never even knew it existed.” Resistance is in your life, it is everywhere. Inside you, outside you, everywhere. The first step to fighting it is identifying it.

And it can be fought, that is what book two of the War of Art tackles. To fight and beat Resistance the artist must become a professional. (in contrast to the amateur.) Somerset Maugham was asked if he wrote on a schedule or when inspiration struck. “I write only when inspiration strikes,” he replied, “Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” That my friend is a professional.

The final part of the book deals with moving beyond Resistance. The author firmly puts his boot on your boat and pushes you away. Away to sail newly discovered seas as an artist who has overcome Resistance and is ready to live the unlived life within us. Moving away from Resistance and closer to the Muse.

This book is easy to recommend. It is small and paperback and can be found for under $10. It is full of practical advice and inspiration. Well worth the read.

Posted in Productivity | 1 Comment »

Inspiring Impressionism Opening At The DAM

February 19th, 2008 admin

The Denver Art Museum has a new show opening February 23rd.

Inspiring Impressionism

DARING. PROVOCATIVE. REVOLUTIONARY.

The Impressionists embodied all of the above. But even these innovative “painters of modern life” were influenced by the art of the past.

Explore the relationship between the Impressionists and the Old Masters that inspired them in this beautiful and thought-provoking exhibition, featuring about 100 paintings and drawings from nearly 70 museums and private collections. (taken from the museum’s web site)

Click here to go to the exhibit’s web site. It runs until May 25th.

Posted in Event | 1 Comment »

The Chronicle Now Has A Flickr Pool

February 18th, 2008 admin

Rocky Mountain Chronicle’s unofficial blog, Holla, posted today they have started a Flickr pool. A pool on Flickr is simply a group of people who upload pictures based on a specific subject. This is the scoop on this pool:

“We’re collecting images of events, people, places, politicians, dogs, shows, the unexplainable, weather, etc. taken by you, our cherished readers. Include your name with the photo so we can credit you if it makes it onto our blog (rmholla.blogspot.com) or into our paper. Sexually explicit or copyrighted images will be removed, otherwise anything’s fair game. Who knows, it could make it on a cover of our paper.

Make sure your photos are least 400 pixels wide at 72 dpi if you’d like them considered for publication.”

So if you don’t have a Flickr account this is a good time to get one. (They are free.) After getting your account, or if you already have one you can find the Chronicle’s pool here.

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Issue 21 Of ZAF622 Fort Collins Art Webzine

February 17th, 2008 admin

Just a brief post to let everyone know that Issue #21 has been published. It has been awhile since I have worked on ZAF622 so it is good to get a new issue published.

Click here to check it out.

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Ever Consider A Blog? (Part 2.5)

February 15th, 2008 admin

Since we have been talking about artist blogs I thought I would share some examples I found on the Google. I don’t know any of the artist nor have I followed their blog, they are just random finds with a little searching. It can been good to see how other artists are using blogs. Look for things you like and things you don’t like.

1. 3191 A Year of Evenings

2. Ian Jones Photo Blog

3. Marie Fox Studio

4. Arttones

5. Alaskan Artist Blog

6. Belinda Del Pesco

7. Lisa Call

8. Diane Clancy

9. Painting a Day by Jeff Hayes

10. Bad Kitty Art Studio

Posted in Business | 1 Comment »