san miguel de allende arts + kulture

2007-08-22T02:44:00.000-05:00

“ The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.
— Amelia Earhart

"How to Change the World", while connecting on Linkedin

2007-08-22T02:29:00.001-05:00

Guy Kawasaki's blog, "How to Change the World" examines how social activism is taking place on Linkedin and that through these connections, we may be able to affect change in the world. Take a look and then take some action. The world needs it.

Arts & Kulture

2007-08-19T12:58:00.000-05:00

I am planning on switching this over to another site. The san miguel really only applied to where it was being created, so time to broaden the pool so to speak

Qoutes about Design

2007-08-17T16:15:00.000-05:00

The difference between good design and great design is intelligence. Tibor Kalman

Increasingly, corporations will look to advertising agencies for direction. Without an understanding of brand creation, messaging, and strategy, today’s designers are destined to become the haidressers of tomorrow’s creative environments—great for styling but light on strategy.Harmutt Esslinger, Founder and CEO, FrogDesign Inc.

Designers are tired of being the back street hookers for corporations.

What happens when you export, outsource all of manufacturing and expect a global economy to survive, design and creativity become vogue. Someone has to come up with all those brillant ideas and products.

50 Essential Bookmarks, from Communication Arts November Design Annual 2006

2007-08-14T00:19:00.000-05:00

Originally published in Communication Arts November Design Annual 2006, by Pamela L. Williams

Design Community
www.aiga.org “A dense site filled with loads of content, best practice design examples, galleries of easily accessed work and information on events, contests, etc.” —Phil Hamlett, Academy of Art University
www.designers-who-blog.com A comprehensive list of design blogs written by designers, illustrators, photographers, Web designers, as well as those in advertising, branding and marketing.
www.newstoday.com “Not only do you find some great inspirational links to all kinds of design-related Web sites, but what’s more fun than popping open a Dr. Pepper, eating a Snickers and watching other graphic designers argue about what’s cool!?” —Paul and Kristina Kremer, The Speared Peanut

Design Commentary
www.designobserver.com “As a whole, it provides a good way of sensing the design community’s pulse on a topic.” —Alice Twemlow, The Desk of Alice Twemlow
www.underconsideration.com/speakup “Another well-done, author-based, reader-supported blog devoted to graphic design.” —Scott Thares, Wink
www.mediabistro.com/unbeige “It’s fun to see what people are saying and doing.” —Noreen Morioka, AdamsMorioka, Inc.
www.creamcheeseandcaviar.com “This local design boutique turns me on to some new links and points of view on design issues.” —Kym Abrams, Kym Abrams Design
www.zefrank.com/theshow “An amazing designer and very funny man.” —Jane Hope, TAXI
weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY “There are only a few people that I want to know what they’re thinking. John Maeda’s perception of everyday events inspires me to see differently.” —Noreen Morioka, AdamsMorioka, Inc.

Advertising
www.adcritic.com “A daily dollop of great work—TV and print as well as a growing design section. This is the online version of Creativity magazine.” —Graham Clifford, Graham Clifford Design
www.adsoftheworld.com “I love checking this site out periodically. It compiles new advertising from all over the world.” —Kris Kiger, R/GA
adverlab.blogspot.com “This blog collects excellent examples of contemporary advertising solutions and is a great aid to keeping up with the creative state of the industry.” —Craig Swann, CRASH!MEDIA
www.youtube.com “This is the site that the Internet has been promising for the last seven years: user-generated broadcast entertainment 24/7.” —Armin Vit, Pentagram

Branding/Account Planning
www.brandnoise.typepad.com This site provides a steady stream of ideas, insights and resources for brand planners.
www.rebrand.com ReBrand is a source for case studies and programs on effective rebranding, repositioning, revitalizing and redesign of existing brand assets to meet strategic goals.
www.russelldavies.typepad.com “A great blog by advertising account planner, author and philosopher Russell Davies. Excellent insights on account planning, design strategy and life in general, served up with a healthy dose of humor.” —Stefan G. Bucher, 344 Design, LLC

Typography
www.tdc.org “The Type Directors Club’s role is to raise the standards of typography and related fields of the graphic arts, and to provide inspiration, simulate research, further education and disseminate information relating to the typographic arts. The club also possesses a fantastic library.” —Graham Clifford, Graham Clifford Design
www.thinkingwithtype.com This site is the online companion to the book Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students, by Ellen Lupton (Princeton Architectural Press, 2004). It is a primer for educators and students alike.
www.underware.nl “Nothing picks me up like the typographic stylings of Underware. If you make your way to their workshop section, there is even more fun: www.typeworkshop.com.” —Armin Vit, Pentagram

User Experience
www.k10k.net “k10k has been around almost as long as we have. It’s still the place to go when looking for a little design inspiration.” —Paul and Kristina Kremer, The Speared Peanut
www.linkdup.com “This site is actually my homepage. It lists all the current new and cool sites and archives old listings.” —Kris Kiger, R/GA
www.thefwa.com “I see this site as ‘the new linkdup.’ FWA however takes it a step further by including editorial content and fun things like wallpaper in addition to the best new site.” —Kris Kiger, R/GA
www.we-make-money-not-art.com “I still love seeing how people come up with new answers to questions that have already been answered.” —Robert Hodgin, The Barbarian Group

Industrial Design
www.core77.com “Multidisciplined design insights, solid storytelling and an honest look into the heart of where design is going.” —Michael Jager, JDK
www.designalligator.com “Design Alligator turns me on to new ideas in product design...and some cool Web site links.” —Kym Abrams, Kym Abrams Design designsponge.blogspot.com “Cool, and constantly updated blog about every kind of design.” —Jane Hope, TAXI

Photography/Stock
www.bluevertigo.com.ar “This site is more or less a one-stop shop for stock photography, sounds, fonts, vector-based logos, etc. it’s easy to navigate because it’s organized by ‘free,’ ‘cheap,’ ‘commercial’ and ‘specialty.’" —Kris Kiger, R/GA
www.flickr.com “I love seeing what photos my friends and family post. Knowing what they are interested in can be really beneficial when thinking about new work.” —Robert Hodgin, The Barbarian Group
www.gettyimages.com “Even though we are saddened by the ongoing consumption of small shops by the big megacorporations, Getty houses it all (or at least most of it) to allow for quick, one-stop shopping of our stock photography needs. Easy to navigate.” —Joshua C. Chen/Jennifer Tolo, Chen Design Associates
www.veer.com “Veer offers images that are a little more ‘quirky,’ a better fit for our clients and ourselves.” —Jeri Heiden, SMOG Design, Inc.
www.youworkforthem.com “I don’t leave the studio long enough to spend time at a local bookshop so getting good design-related books online fast is ideal for me.” —Tom Brown, Tom Brown Art+Design

Technology
www.adobe.com “Adobe has become the one-stop shop for anything a designer could need (digitally speaking). This is also a robust site that one could never completely explore.” —Phil Hamlett, Academy of Art University
www.apple.com “Without Apple, we’d have to use PCs and that would be really, really sad.” —Jeri Heiden, SMOG Design, Inc.

Culture
www.boingboing.net “Established by a small group of editors including a sci-fi author, graphic artist and several leading technology journalists, Boingboing.net covers design and illustration plus any notable intersection of pop culture, technology and current events.” —Erik Johnson, Charles S. Anderson Design
www.coolhunting.com “This site has a nice range of features on design, culture and technology. The writing provides a good perspective on what can easily become an overwhelming amount of visual information. With daily updates, I’ve found that I learn about new events or products long before hearing of them elsewhere.” —Michael Jager, JDK
www.cultureby.com Culture by is the blog of Grant McCracken. The content is the result of where culture and commerce, anthropology and economics meet: marketing in general, branding in particular, popular culture, Hollywood, advertising, television, magazines and, increasingly, blogging. This business anthropologist offers an unusual and often humorous perspective.
www.flavorpill.com Flavorpill publishes ten e-mail magazines, covering art, books, music, fashion, world news and cultural events in five cities.
www.futurefeeder.com Future Feeder collects articles and projects related to the future of technology, design and architecture.
www.gigposters.com “Any and all current rock poster artists that we respect are up here posting their work, commenting on others, debating the legitimacy or ethics of some posters, trading stories or just generally bullshitting each other. We go here hourly.” —Dan Ibarra, Aesthetic Apparatus
www.popurls.com “More inspiration than I can get through in a sitting. Ask yourself a general question and load this up. I always find a trigger for myself looking at what has triggered others.” —Michael Lebowitz, Big Spaceship

Illustration
www.IllustrationMundo.com
www.Drawn.ca
www.IllustrationFriday.com
www.IllustrationClass.com
www.artdorks.com/

Business
www.betterbydesign.org.nz Better by Design is an informative Web site created by the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise that promotes the value of design. The site includes case studies which prove that well-designed services and products are more likely to earn a higher premium, gain a bigger market share, be better quality and cost less to produce or deliver.
www.fastcompany.com This is a great resource for online guides to Internet and technology, business strategy and innovation, human resources and marketing and branding.
www.hoovers.com Hoover’s, Inc., delivers comprehensive company, industry and market intelligence. With a subscription, you can research company information, business news, business reports and profiles from its database of more than 16 million companies.
www.trendwatching.com This is an independent consumer trends firm, relying on a global network of 8,000 spotters to provide the latest trends in 120 countries worldwide. Lots of free information is available and easily accessible.
www.wgsn.com “Worldwide trend forecasting that gets it right. Global scope with 100 plus reporters with their own networks of writers, photographers, researchers, analysts and trend-spotters. Pricey but worth the money. We find it indispensable in our work in footwear and apparel.” —Michael Jager, JDK

Resources
www.abebooks.com “I’ve had great luck tracking down really obscure books here.” —Alice Twemlow, The Desk of Alice Twemlow
www.thedesignencyclopedia.org A Wiki-based, user-built encyclopedia devoted to design.
www.loc.gov “There is nothing like browsing through old ephemera to learn about design. And every now and then you find something that you can swipe... I mean use... I mean appropriate... You know what I mean.” —Armin Vit, Pentagram
www.m-w.com/mw/table/proofrea.htm “A section of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Web site that provides a full glossary of proofreader’s marks complete with symbol, meaning and example. Very handy for deciphering those editor’s comments on book galleys.” —Joshua C. Chen/Jennifer Tolo, Chen Design Associates
www.moma.org/exhibitions/2001/whatisaprint “As a design educator, I am constantly having to explain to students the differences in various production techniques. I also need to be able to distinguish advantages that online communications have over traditional print media. This excellent site allows me to kill two birds with one stone.” —Phil Hamlett, Academy of Art University

A Few Favorites
We asked six designers, each with a unique voice and perspective, to share a list of sites they consider to be vital to their work. Due to space limitations, we only included the sites not already listed in "50 Essential Bookmarks.”

Pamela Zuccker, Principle
Craig Swann, CRASH!MEDIA
Debbie Millman, Sterling Brands
Eric Heiman, Volunme, Inc.
Janine James, The Moderns
Dana Arnett, VSA Partners

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Work and Play
There were lots of sites that did not make the final cut but are worth checking out:

del.icio.us
“THE tool to organize bookmarks. It’s a creative thinker’s dream—being able to follow one train of thought into the next, seamlessly finding things to pique your interest. I’m on the site several times a day finding content that finds content that finds content.” —Sasha Koren, Organic

www.lifehacker.com
“Who couldn’t use techniques for making life run more smoothly? This blog regularly produces gems.” —Michael Lebowitz, Big Spaceship

superfuture.com
“This is the ultimate resource for discovering new cities (or your own home town). It is a Web-based way of finding the best design, fashion and street culture. It is filled with reviews, maps and in some cities offers a ‘retail concierge.’ It beats any tourist map/guide on the market.” —David Schimmel, And Partners

www.tasktoy.com
“Simple and highly functional to-do list software that you can e-mail and SMS tasks to when you’re on the run.” —Michael Lebowitz, Big Spaceship

www.technorati.com
This is the blog finder that keeps getting better as the blogosphere gets bigger.

thislife.org
“Webcasts of This American Life are a great, intelligent late night companion when I’m working overtime.” —Stefan G. Bucher, 344 Design, LLC

electricsheep.org
“A continuously morphing, non-repeating, abstract animation that is one of the most striking, beautiful examples of what humans can create with computers.” —Sasha Koren, Organic

www.seatguru.com
“This site compiles seat maps from all airlines, by aircraft type, and helps you ensure you never get stuck by the lavatory, or in a seat that doesn’t recline.” —David Schimmel, And Partners

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Music
It seems listening to music is a prerequisite to brilliant design thinking. Some of the designers’ favorites:

www.allmusic.com
“We work primarily on music and entertainment projects. This site is my #1 resource for background info on artists’ bios, discographies, credits, history, genres, context, etc.” —Jeri Heiden, SMOG Design, Inc.

www.emusic.com
“It seems that eMusic has some contract with Pitchfork. Anything that’s reviewed on Pitchfork is also downloadable off of eMusic. We get most of our digital music downloads from here, and it’s a pretty good deal too.” —Dan Ibarra, Aesthetic Apparatus

gorillavsbear.blogspot.com
“Gorilla vs.Bear seeks out and serves up the finest in new music, from indie to hip-hop. This is great because coming across an amazing song is a lot like thinking up an amazing idea—you might sift through a ton to find one you like, but the daily possibility of hitting on that perfect one keeps you coming back for more.” —Jane Hope, TAXI

www.itunes.com
“How can one possibly do any design, without having great music to listen to? Apple has made it easy.” —Scott Thares, Wink

www.pandora.com
“I actually have this site playing on my computer at all times. It’s a music genome project where you submit queries on artists you like and it pulls music from other artists that have similar styles. Best of all, it’s free of cost and has no advertising.” —Kris Kiger, R/GA

www.pitchforkmedia.com
“Not only is music an integral part of our studio, keeping up on music is also a major part of our business. Pitchfork has become the online authority for independent music these days.” —Dan Ibarra, Aesthetic Apparatus

www.runegrammofon.com
“Rune Grammofon is a record label releasing work by the most creative Norwegian artists and composers. Great CD covers all done by Kim Hiorthoy, one of the world’s great designers.” —Tom Brown, Tom Brown Art+Design

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Design Observer: Thought leader

www.designobserver.com
Considering that there are more than 50 million blogs (with a new blog created nearly every second), Design Observer is one of the most successful in the blogosphere. Technorati, today’s recognized blog authority, ranks Design Observer #525 among all blogs, with 3,922 links from 1,602 blogs. And the blog has been saved by 1,762 people on del.icio.us.

So what makes Design Observer special?
For starters, its creators/writers have impressive credentials. Its content is often controversial (plagiarism, spec work); attention-getting (the relationship between design and bullshit); broad-based (the aesthetics of wind farms, scrapbooking) and resonates with its readers (most essays prompt at least a dozen comments).

Design Observer is not self-absorbed; instead it offers in-depth essays along with shorter, link-focused round-ups of articles and news, along with a valuable archive that has grown to include over 400 essays.

Repeat visitors are ardent enthusiasts. Debbie Millman, of Sterling Brands, calls it “an erudite and compelling site.” VSA Partners’s Dana Arnett calls it “the best, most topical and engaging read for those who wish to experience an unbiased forum addressing critical design issues...it features highly relevant and entertaining dialogue on what matters most in the world of design.” Writer Alice Twemlow calls it “staple reading material” for designers and design writers. Vibranium’s Steve Carsella says Design Observer is “more philosophical and heady than other blogs” like Speak Up.

Its creators had no idea three years ago that Design Observer would become what it has today. The brainchild of William Drenttel and co-founding writers Jessica Helfand, Michael Bierut and Rick Poynor, the blog has grown exponentially since its launch three years ago, today logging upwards of 200,000 site visits per week. “Frankly, we are shocked by the success,” says Drenttel.

Design Observer has reached beyond the world of design. Fast Company counts this blog as one of seven must-reads for design. “Though academic at times, this smart blog hosts a thriving community.” Marketing consultant Steve Portigal (a repeat visitor and author of his own blog All This ChittahChattah) posted this note after a heated online debate: "Thanks... for a great piece. This is what blogs excel at—a personal story, not too confessional...a relevant one, of course, mixed in with perspective, and analysis. Add in an articulate critique of colleagues whom are liked and respected (but not unequivocally supported in every single decision) and you’ve got real leadership.”

Not only has Design Observer taken the lead in design blogs, it has become one of the most credible thought leaders in the world of design.

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“Instructions for Everyday Life.” ReadyMade Magazine

2007-07-21T22:22:00.000-05:00

ReadyMade magazine’s tag line is “Instructions for Everyday Life.” On the surface, it is a publication about how to make things out of stuff that already exists, crafting clever constructions from the by-products of consumer waste. A closer reading, however, exposes the magazine for what it really is: a manifesto for life in the twenty-first century.

Founded in 2001 by Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne, ReadyMade speaks to a new generation of consumers and post-consumers concerned with both the ethics and aesthetics of domesticity. Many readers of ReadyMade will never actually build a CD rack from a FedEx tube or a chandelier from VOS water bottles, but they are drawn to the magazine’s view of design as an inclusive, hands-on enterprise. Shopping is not enough; people want to actively engage their environments, finding personal pleasure and social virtue in putting together the pieces of their own physical lives.

Just as Martha Stewart Living, the masterwork of do-it-yourself lifestyle publishing, has always served to inspire as well as explain, ReadyMade delivers a message that runs more deeply than the projects that make up its core content. ReadyMade speaks of self empowerment, self-education, and self determination. A series of interviews called “How Did You Get that F*&%ing Awesome Job?” explores the career paths of creative people—from artist Andrea Zittel to filmmaker Mike Mills— and helps readers think about their own ambitions and how to realize them.

Berger and Hawthorne started the magazine with credit cards, playing a risky shell game with no-interest financing deals. They lived to tell the tale, and tell it with plucky charm in their new book, ReadyMade: How to Make Almost Anything. Like the magazine, the book mixes detailed project descriptions with humorous, pointed discussions of ecology and detailed advice about life skills, from starting a business to telling a story—two things Berger and Hawthorne certainly know how to do.

Design Life Now: National Design Triennial 2006,On view December 8, 2006–July 29, 2007

The National Design Triennial is an ongoing exhibition series at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Inaugurated in 2000, the Triennial seeks out innovative work from across the fields of product design, architecture, furniture, film, graphics, new technologies, animation, science, medicine and fashion. Called Design Life Now, the 2006 Triennial presents experimental projects, emerging ideas, major buildings, and new products and media created by 87 designers and firms from 2003 to 2006. The exhibition features work by designers of any nationality who are producing work in the U.S. as well as American-born designers who are working abroad.

Italian Futurists Books

2006-08-10T19:25:00.000-05:00

A Tumultuous Assembly: Visual Poems of The Italain Futurists/Getty Center

2006-08-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

Internet Archive

2006-01-23T22:38:00.000-06:00

Check this site out, they are attempting to archive everything. Want to see pages from the web 4years ago, they have it. lots of information, including films, music, literature, all there for your viewing pleasure.

Click on the title and watch Caspar The Friendly Ghost in There's Good Boos Tonight. Enjoy.

New York Public Library Picture Collection

2006-01-04T02:37:00.000-06:00

...an image resource site for those who seek knowledge and inspiration from visual materials. It is a collection of 30,000 digitized images from books, magazines and newspapers as well as original photographs, prints and postcards, mostly created before 1923..

Carl Van Vechten's Portraits of Women

2006-01-04T02:25:00.000-06:00

Women seem always to have loomed large in Carl Van Vechten’s photographic legend. During his Iowa youth in the 1890s, he began making photographs with a box camera and glass plates for blue cyanotypes, starting out with his paternal grandmother, posed rather like Whistler’s mother, although he had not yet seen or even heard of that painting....

You have windowless eyes!.

2005-08-01T02:22:00.000-05:00

Check out the surrealist insult generator,and the work of the surrealist Meret Oppenheim

Meret Oppenheim was born in 1913 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. She moved to Paris in 1932 where she studied briefly at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere before being introduced to the Surrealists by Alberto Giacometti and Hans Arp the following year. She participated in Surrealist exhibitions until 1937 and had contributed much of her work before the age of 20.
Oppenheim’s most famous work was the fur lined teacup, or Object in fur produced in 1936 and it remains one of the icons of the Surrealist movement. It provoked the viewer into imagining what the fur lined cup might feel like to drink from and forces the disagreeable sensation on a mixture of the senses. Much of Surrealist work was an echo of everything this piece stands for, a mixture of humour, sexuality and provocation. However, following this piece’s creation Oppenheim attended art school in order to try and live up to her new found fame and yet receded into a seventeen year depression."Nobody gives you freedom, you have to take it" she remarked and she came out the other side of her crisis with links to Surrealism and Dada intact.

I WOULD RATHER BE A DOG THAN A SCAB! The Disney Strike of 1941: How It Changed Animation & Comics

2005-07-21T00:29:00.000-05:00

Really fascinating article on how 1941 the strike changed the course and style of animaton

The Disney Strike of 1941: How It Changed Animation & Comics. Tom Sito revisits the Civil War of Animation and tells how the Great Walt Disney Cartoonists Strike of 1941 changed the course of animation and comics.

As Walt Disney turned his fashionable Packard roadster onto Buena Vista Blvd. he found the entrance to his studio ringed with a mob of 300 picketers and reporters. The protesters were his own cartoonists. Every couple of feet one stood on a soapbox and made angry speeches to passing picketers. Under the clear blue skies colorfully handpainted signs bobbed: DISNEY UNFAIR!, ONE GENIUS vs. 600 GUINEA PIGS, WE HAD NO SCABS AT SCHLESINGER’S, LEONARDO, MICHELANGELO and TITIAN WERE UNION MEN, and a picture of Pluto with the title, I’D RATHER BE A DOG THAN A SCAB!....for more information click the title and go to the AWN site.

July 19, 2005, By Tom Sito, Courtesy of Tom Sito. © The Animation Guild 839, IATSE.

Global Art Guide: Find an exhibition, opening anywhere in the world

2005-07-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

Art Guide a site sponsored by Art Forum allows you to find an exhibition, opening, any where in the world.

My Pet Skeleton Productions

2005-07-19T22:34:00.000-05:00

Interesting site..gothic, unusual, intensive.

THEIR MANIFESTO
In this electric age of blinking cursors and dancing pixels, your Skeleton Crew will reach into the depths and pluck Old World aesthetics to smear over your cathode ray tubes. We have been described as the curiosity of boutique studios...exquisite...grotesque.... compelling.... haunting... and very collectible.

Your project is our next work of art, to be placed gently and admired behind a clear pane of glass and red velvet rope. You will find that we have a habit of telling tales into the designs, films and sites we craft. Riddles, puzzles and urban myths have a nasty habit of settling themselves rather comfortably behind our work.

We are storytellers as much as artisans who are obsessed with making cryptic marks to go with our award winning designs, illustrations and animations.

If you are looking for a unique call out against the mundane... just knock at our electric door, we would be happy to adopt your project into our brood.

Brides of Frankenstein: women, video, installation, robotics, the Internet, computer animation, digital and traditional art

2005-07-18T19:03:00.000-05:00

Exhibition of female artists working with video, installation, robotics, the Internet, computer animation, and other digital and traditional media.
One of the artists is Sabrina Raff-a New Media artist, check out Pink Bliss
(Breath V) Pink Bliss, 2001,
Pink Bliss explores the pure fetishization of technology. Here a calculator face is rubbed repeatedly with a prosthetic finger, creating shimmering pink waves of liquid crystal to slide across its LCD panel. This action occurs only when a viewer is watching. The experience is sexualized by the breath sound patterns emitted by the piece. With each stroke the piece sighs and gasps with erotic satisfaction as the calculator counts higher and higher. Pink Bliss is about consumption. It speaks to the common material preoccupation in our culture with electronic gadgets and hand-held technologies. The name "Pink Bliss" is the actual name of the Cover Girlª brand nail polish used to colorize the prosthetic finger. The finger's press-on nail is made by Naileneª.
Media: Aluminum, custom electronics,calculator, Plexiglas, rubber, sound

Dexigner, World Design Portal

2005-07-17T01:27:00.000-05:00

Interesting site for all Design, Fashion, Graphic, Architecture, Textile, Product, Designers, add your site.

WEB ARTISTS/DESIGNERS: DRAGA

2005-07-11T19:43:00.000-05:00

DRAGA

One of the new generation of Russian multimedia designers, Alex Draganov - also known as Draga - creates intricate and emotionally expressive digital images for his personal website http://www.draga.co.uk. Born in Moscow in 1984, he grew up in the eastern suburb of Golianovo but his most vivid memories of his childhood are of summers spent with his family by the sea at Mariupol in the Ukraine.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

2005-07-05T14:08:00.000-05:00

SHOOT CALL FOR ENTRIES
The Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery is accepting entries for Shoot, a screening to showcase the freshest film shorts by emerging artists. Curated by Jessica Lauretti, 12 short films will be up on the screen for a two-hour motion picture event. All genres of film are accepted but films must not exceed 10 minutes in length. The deadline is July 20, 2005. Free screenings of the winners will be held October 28, 29 and 30. For more info and the address to mail submissions visit the gallery's official Web site.
www.damstuhltrager.com

SLOMO VIDEO FESTIVAL AND DVD CALL FOR ENTRIES
With intentions of recreating the meditative space found when doing things like watching ants, finding patterns in ceiling cracks or just stopping to notice the world around you, the SloMo Video Festival is accepting video works at exactly one minute in length that make primary use of the concept of slow motion. A DVD of the videos featured in the festival will also be made available. There is no application fee and the deadline for submissions is July 15. Visit the Web site for more info.
www.slomovideo.com

THREADLESS - SUBMIT A TEE DESIGN AND WIN $500!
A group of young creative minds are driving fashion design through a web -based t-shirt design competition called Threadless. Through threadless.com, users are invited to design, submit and score t-shirt designs. The site has over 100,000 users voting for designs with an average of 2,500 more signing up weekly.

Threadless.com receives over 70 t-shirt design submissions per day. Each week, users vote for their favorite design and five of the highest scoring designs are printed and sold from the site. The winning designers receive $500 in cash and prizes. Over 200 winning designs have been chosen for print from more than 30,000 submissions.

More importantly, Threadless has led to the discovery of some very creative and original designs. Winning designs are always imaginative and edgy. They make you think. They make you look twice.

www.threadless.com

Blender3d, Open source software, everything

2005-07-04T14:21:00.000-05:00

Interesting concept, An open source software and tutorials, free for those iinterested in 3d modeling, animation.
Fabulopus idea, let it roll.

3D Anatomy Sources

2005-07-04T14:19:00.000-05:00

Female Anatomy for Artist: huge source of hi-res female pose photos
Great site for those looking for 3D animation sources....

Patrick Lears-pages from Mnemonic

2005-07-01T02:27:00.000-05:00

Check out a few pages from Patricks book. An accordian pleat book, "the Mnemonic book is a dream piece and a self portrait I suppose. Photographs are inherently about memory and the images included here are archetypal and a way of keeping a record of dream imagery before it fades from (my) view. (Patrick Lears, 2004)."
Beautiful, lush images.

The Rubber Stamp Archive

2005-06-29T17:30:00.000-05:00

Interesting site about mail art and rubber stamps. Started by Ruud Janssen, Mail Artist, publisher of mail-interviews, founder of the IUOMA & the TAM Rubber Stamp Archive
He' also has an interesting blog with mail art, IUOMA, international union of mail art, at http://iuoma.blogspot.com/

check them out.

Clever Peugeot television ad

2005-06-25T14:08:00.001-05:00

Quirky and wonderful, this ad combines live action and vector art.

Michael, The Archangel

2005-06-21T23:51:00.000-05:00

san miguel de Allende

Michael, The Archangel, originally uploaded by avaenlle.

San Miguel de Allende is a town known for the Arts and for Artists; and for the scent of fresh baked goods and bakeries. This is the town where the sick, in every way, and the dying people come to experience a holy death and live for years; where ambulance drivers wait on the sidelines for the foolish, and during the running of the bulls everyone's foolish and runs with, around, behind, in front of the poor, frightened bulls. An appropriate Patron saint for such a small, beautiful, healing town.

Name Meaning:
Who is like God? (the battle cry of the heaven forces during the uprising)

Representation
dragon; scales; sword

Readings:
You should be aware that the word "angel" denotes a function rather than a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels.

Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power.

Patronage:
against temptations; ambulance drivers; ARTISTS; bakers; bankers; banking; battle; boatmen; Brecht, Belgium; Brussels, Belgium; Caltanissett, Sicily; Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel; coopers; Cornwall, England; danger at sea; Dying People; emergency medical technicians; EMTs; England; fencing; Germany; greengrocers; grocers; haberdashers; hatmakers; hatters; holy death; knights; mariners; milleners; archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama; Papua, New Guinea; paramedics; paratroopers; diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida; police officers; Puebla, Mexico; radiologists; radiotherapists; sailors; diocese of San Angelo, Texas; SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO; archdiocese of Seattle, Washington; security forces; security guards; Sibenik Croatia; Sick People; soldiers; Spanish police officers; diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts; storms at sea; swordsmiths; Umbria, Italy; watermen

Prayers:
Prayer For Help Against Spiritual Enemies
Glorious Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who stands always ready to give assistance to the people of God; who fought with the dragon, the old serpent, and cast him out of heaven, and now valiantly defends the Church of God that the gates of hell may never prevail against her, I earnestly entreat you to assist me also, in the painful and dangerous conflict which I sustain against the same formidible foe. Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously fight and vanquish that proud spirit, whom you, by the Divine Power, gloriously overthrew, and whom our powerful King, Jesus Christ, has, in our nature, completely overcome; so having triumphed over the enemy of my salvation, I may with you and the holy angels, praise the clemency of God who, having refused mercy to the rebellious angels after their fall, has granted repentance and forgiveness to fallen man. Amen.

-Catholic Archdioses

Calle Reloj(x), San Miguel de Allende Arts

2005-06-21T23:46:00.000-05:00

san miguel de Allende

Calle Reloj(x), San Miguel de Allende Arts, originally uploaded by avaenlle.

Who says small can't be llife changing and still be stimulating.
This is where this site originated

Parabolic Journal

2005-06-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

More hand made Journals traveling the known world.

For Font lovers everywhere

2005-06-21T19:24:00.000-05:00

Lovely site on Typography, you know Fonts. Check out Typophile.com

The 1000 Journals Project

2005-06-21T19:08:00.000-05:00

I LOVE THIS. Well, they're artists books, so what's not to love.
1000 journals, made by hand, hand held, altered by even more hands as they are passed around the world.
WOW.

Art goes digital at Venice Biennale

2005-06-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

Artists are increasingly using digital tools just like analog tools. Here's a good example.

Angry Alien - bunnies do films in 30 seconds

2005-06-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

Hysterically funny! Cartoon bunnies rework well-known American films in 30 seconds.

Furniture made from coins

2005-06-15T10:59:00.000-05:00

Johnny Swing makes furniture from coins. Obsessive and wonderful!

Artists Books

2005-06-11T03:06:00.000-05:00

WEB SITE TO SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES, REALLY FASCINATING IF YOU"RE INTERESTED IN UNUSUAL BOOKS.

What Is an Artist's Book?

"Artist's books" don't look like most volumes found in a library. They are art objects in the form of books. As with painting or sculpture, much of the "story" in these books is visual. An idea may be illustrated in the book's shape or binding, in the materials used, or in the artist's choice of images. Words may be used to reinforce a message, but they are not always essential to the book's meaning.

Book artists often design, typeset, illustrate, print, and bind their own work, or at least supervise all these stages of production. Instead of paper, an artist may use clay, metal, or other materials. Artist's books, recognizable yet new, can challenge us to explore innovative ways of seeing, learning, and understanding...

Digiquaria

2005-06-09T23:20:00.000-05:00

A stunningly, beautiful, well designed and executed motion work. An aquarium of digital lifeforms inspired by waterlife.
Designed by Kibook

Play-Create

2005-06-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Really interesting, beautiful experimental, animation.

YoGop

2005-06-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

Fun, Interactive, Motion graphic, play a while.

Zombie Love Story

2005-06-07T00:04:00.000-05:00

Check out Zombie Love Story, a comic strip in three sections, hilarious sick.
The title link will take you to his livejournal, click on his web site, bannister, and go to works ,it one of the featured works.

Book Assembly Photo-Journal, Toby C

2005-06-06T23:48:00.000-05:00

Toby Craig, on livejournal.com excellent page on book assembly, takes you through the entire process. wow.
I taught book design as part of my design class and this rocks!

Argentinian design site

2005-06-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Urban communication, custom merchandising, entertainment design, POP, retail...

Pictures of Walls

2005-06-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

A website devoted to graffiti on walls from all over the world.

Today was a good day

2005-05-28T03:43:00.000-05:00

I find myself on an emotional rollercoaster; riding the peaks of anger and frustration, then feeling the calm love and support and peace and blessings of all my friends and family.

If one more person tells me that thyroid cancer is a "good kind" to get, I'm not sure what my response will be.

Yesterday, I found myself in my office, cleaning up a few end of the year details. I threw away a piece of paper and noticed that my trashcan has not been emptied for a week. Anger, anger, anger... I then was cranky toward two of my best colleagues and good friends in the department, and felt embarassed after I left them with the burden of my forth bout with this cancer. I apologized today, and they both said "that's what friends are for."

Lady Di, the kid and I went to see the film "Crash" this afternoon and I was really moved. It deals with racism in a very unique manner - warts and all. No one is totally good or right, and no one is totally bad or wrong. As it is in real life. It was nice to get lost in the story and not worry about appointments with doctors.

Thanks V, for the forum to journal.

Logo Hell

2005-05-28T03:41:00.000-05:00

Do you need a cool new logo? Is your old logo lacking coolness? Well, why not join millions of other companies by adding a design element that screams cutting edge.

America the Beautifully Absurd

2005-05-24T18:39:00.000-05:00

Mr. Ford produces watercolors and prints
that are at once naïve and sophisticated,
obvious and oblique.

Manhole Covers

2005-05-24T18:32:00.000-05:00

Photos of manhole covers from around the world.

Experimental Animation using "Processing" a free software.

2005-05-20T22:42:00.000-05:00

Processing is a programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and sound. It is used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an open-source alternative to commercial software tools in the same domain.

The beta software for Processing 1.0 was released 20 April 2005 and can be downloaded here. Bug fixes are being made as we head toward the 1.0 release. Processing is free to download and available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry (Broad Institute) and Casey Reas (UCLA Design | Media Arts). Processing evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab.

The Book of Sand

2005-05-20T22:31:00.000-05:00

A really interesting play of type and motion designed and programmed by ariel malka from Israel, and the text from a short story by Jorge Luis Borges.

Protest Over Art Forces Police to Draw the Line

2005-05-17T02:56:00.000-05:00

Groups clash over what some consider 'anti- American' inscriptions on a Baldwin Park arch.

By David Pierson and Patricia Ward Biederman, Times Staff Writers

For 12 years, public artwork near the Baldwin Park Metrolink station never caused a stir.

But when a Ventura-based group that opposes illegal immigration got wind of what was inscribed on the artwork this month, they organized a protest that garnered attention when it was announced on the "John & Ken Show" on KFI-AM (640).

By Saturday, activists on both sides of the immigration issue mobilized, resulting in a sometimes chaotic confrontation in the San Gabriel Valley community.

Members of Save Our State, a 7-month-old organization, say they are offended by "anti-American" inscriptions that read, "It was better before they came" and "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is, and will be again" on the 20-foot-high arch.

"I find it incredibly offensive," said Joseph Turner, the group's executive director. The quotation "is seditious in nature. It essentially talks about returning this land to Mexico."

Turner said he wants the offending quotations removed before the Fourth of July.

The artwork, "Danza Indigenas," was commissioned by the city and created by artist Judy Baca, who was asked by residents for a structure that evoked the historic San Gabriel Mission and reflected the community's heritage. Baca said the structure is a "layered history piece" that honors the Native Americans, immigrants and others who have lived over the centuries in what is now Baldwin Park.

Other inscriptions on the artwork include, "Use your brain before you make up your mind" and "The kind of community that people dream of rich and poor, brown, yellow, red, white living together."

The irony, Baca said, is that Save Our State's complaint about the quote being a Latino lament over the coming of Anglos is wrong.

"It was better before they came" was uttered by someone Baca described as "a white man from Arkansas, a civic leader" who was lamenting the influx of Mexican immigrants after World War II.

As a Chicana, she said, the remark offended her, but she was also intrigued by it.

"When it went on the arch, its ambiguity became profound," she said. "The 'they' could be any 'they.' "

Most of this nuance was absent at the rally, which quickly descended into a heated face-off for over two hours at Pacific and Downing avenues. Protesters on both sides hurled obscenities and taunts, and at times argued face-to-face before police arrived.

Opponents of Save Our State consisted mainly of young adults who said they sent e-mails to Latino and immigrant worker advocacy groups. Many were politically active teenagers and college students who skateboarded to the scene.

"People from Ventura are coming to our town demanding we take down artwork? That's just ridiculous," said Joe Lozano, 23, a Baldwin Park resident.

By 1:20 p.m., police in riot helmets formed a line in front of the Save Our State group, whose 40 supporters seemed outnumbered 10-to-1 from all sides. Streets were closed off and an officer informed Turner at one point that they could not guarantee the safety of him and his supporters.

"They're calling reinforcements," said Turner, 28, who grinned at the counterprotesters with his arms folded.

Randy Selenak, 56, of Orange, was carrying the Stars and Stripes and wearing a T-shirt with red, white and blue that read, "These Colors Will Not Run." The Save Our State supporter said that going to Baldwin Park — where 70% of its 80,000 residents are Latino — was "like going into the lion's den. I just want to get out of here in one piece."

Police were called in from other departments, including Arcadia, Covina, El Monte, Glendora, Irwindale and West Covina, as were deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

An elderly woman standing on Save Our State's corner was allegedly hit by a thrown water bottle, and required medical attention at the scene.

Groucho Marx on art...

2005-05-17T01:29:00.000-05:00

"Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And East is East and West is West and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste more like prunes than a rhubarb does." - Groucho Marx

Eadweard Muybridge - Grandfather of the Motion Picture

2005-05-12T23:22:00.000-05:00

GIF animations of Muybridge's work

Skulls

2005-05-12T00:25:00.000-05:00

An exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. Great, clean website. Amazing photos.

Gheehappy

2005-05-10T00:56:00.000-05:00

Website for Pixar artist Sanjay Patel's
children's book on Hinduism, Little India.

Experimental Flash website

2005-05-10T00:46:00.000-05:00

An incredible assortment of Flash pieces.

Graphic Design from the 1920s and 1930s

2005-05-10T00:41:00.000-05:00

A collection of 1920s and 1930s travel-related ephemera.

Interactive Multi-Lingual Demo

2005-05-10T00:38:00.000-05:00

This is a text to speech tool. You can still tell that
it's a computer, but it's not bad.

Type Organism

2005-05-05T03:06:00.000-05:00

Communication Experiments focused on Interactive Kinetic Typography and Communal Interactivity (Flash)

Found type

2005-05-05T02:16:00.000-05:00

Makes me want to start my own found type file. Oh wait! I've already started...

Advertising Archives

2005-05-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

Free to join, a great resource.

"The Advertising Archives was established in 1990 by Larry and Suzanne Viner and is the largest and most comprehensive resource of its kind in Europe. Our collection comprises over 1 million catalogued images – 50,000 of which are searchable online."

Czech Cubist architects

2005-05-03T16:20:00.000-05:00

Fascinating!

Abandoned Japanese Amusement Park

2005-05-03T00:09:00.000-05:00

Wonderful, creepy, haunting, beautiful

Patron Saints of Graphic Design

2005-05-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

Gentle humor from W. Lynn Garrett.

Style.org

2005-05-02T23:51:00.000-05:00

style.org is a service of 13pt.com, and is dedicated to the memory of Col. Stephen Craig McCormick.

Cold War Leftovers

2005-05-02T23:47:00.000-05:00

Started in 1998, this project is dedicated to recording the engineering and technological artifacts left behind by one of the most significant periods in American history. The global battle between democracy and communism required massive resources, and while the equipment may seem antiquated by todays's standards, it often pushed the scientific and technological limits of its time.

New Age of Television

2005-05-02T23:42:00.000-05:00

the project's goal: the final release of the television from the directive psychological effect and burden of sense, the deconstruction of the information flow and its further use in decorative purposes, giving the consumer the possibility to manipulate the TV-signal, i.e. the actual creation of the product of a new type that allows to consume tv-products offered by tv-companies in a distorted form.

Chocolate Wrappers Museum

2005-05-02T23:38:00.000-05:00

Chocolate wrappers from all over the world!

Pintoids

2005-05-02T23:37:00.000-05:00

Pintoids are pinhole cameras made from Altoid containers. A piece of pop culture transformed into something useful. An instrument to view the world with a dry, distorted, sense of humor. They tend to create curiously strong images.

Los Angeles Center For Digital Art Juried Show

2005-05-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Los Angeles Center for Digital Art
107 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Contact: Rex Bruce, 323 646 9427
E-mail: mailto:rexbruce@lacda.com
Web site: http://www.lacda.com

LACDA announces our juried competition for digital art and photography. Entrants submit three JPEG files of original work. All styles of 2D artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to the creation of the images are acceptable.
The selected winner recieves 10 prints up to 44x60 inches on canvas or museum quality paper (approximately a $1500-$2000 value) to be shown in a solo exhibition in our gallery from June 9-July 2, 2005.The show will be widely promoted and will include a reception for the artist.
Second place prizes: Five second place winners will receive one print of their work up to 24x36 inches ($150-$200 in value) to be included in upcoming group shows. Second place winners will be scheduled into group shows within twelve months of announcement of winners.
Consideration is given to placing these works in shows appropriate to their style, genre and/or content. These shows will be widely promoted and will include a reception for the artists. Special consideration will be given to all entrants for inclusion in
future shows at LACDA. Many entrants from past competitions have already been included in our exhibits.

Deadline for entries: May 22, 2005 Winners will be announced May 29, 2005.
Registration fee is $30US.
Direct link to registration page: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=85702
For questions email us at: mailto:contact@lacda.com. No phone calls please.

originallysubmitted by DigitalDavid

Art? Art Work? Beauty? Who cares about it?

2005-05-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

The main thing is Americans don't like art, they won't pay for art, they don't deserve art. That's just a fact. This is a Puritan republic in which nobody gives a shit about art. When I came to the art world, there were maybe 2000 seriously committed people who would do it whether they got payed or not. That's fine, those 2000 people created Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop, and Post-Minimalism in its early days. There have been now for 30 years people working for salaries administering the art world, and what have they done?....

david hickey with sari carel, from zingmahazine.com

"What do you want art to give you?"

2005-05-02T01:16:00.000-05:00

"What do you want art to give you? What do you want a cultural experience to give you? Shouldn't it be in-depth, profound experiences which have some satisfaction and can be retained in your four senses and your imagination for the rest of your life?" - Peter Greenaway

Beauty. May 2, 2005, 12:05 p.m., San Miguel de Allende Time, Mexico.

2005-05-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

Beauty, it seems, is on everyone's mind. Art critic and historian, Peter Schjeldahl, said, "There is something crazy about a culture in which the value of beauty becomes controversial."

Aesthetics, also spelled esthetics, is the philosophical study of beauty and taste. To define its subject matter more precisely is, however, immensely difficult. Indeed, it could be said that self-definition has been the major task of modern aesthetics. We are acquainted with an interesting and puzzling realm of experience: the realm of the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, and the elegant; of taste, criticism...Encyclopedia Britannica Article

The Phenomenon of Beauty:
Wikipedia states that,"Beauty is the phenomenon of the experience of pleasure, through the perception of balance and proportion of stimulus. It involves the cognition of a balanced form and structure that elicits attraction and appeal towards a person, animal, inanimate object, scene, music, idea, etc...

BEAUTY AND THE BODY.

The Body as an Object of Beauty
"It is impossible to conceive of beauty in the absence of the body and its perception or sensation of the beautiful...
Linda Pavati explores the nature of beauty on her blog,"Beauty Matters," various other authors explore the psychology of beauty, beauty in the creative arts, the body, hair, fashion, cosmetics, and culture.

Art and The Aesthetics of Form, What Has "Beauty" Got to Do With It?, by Robin Urton.
"Beauty", as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. What is beautiful to an artist of ancient Greece is very different from the beauty perceived by an indiginous African. Picasso's sense of beauty was influenced by the African aesthetic, but many people from his own culture are divided as to whether they find his work "beautiful". What role does beauty play in your appreciation of art?...

Aesthetic/anti-aesthetic: an introduction, by James Meyer, Toni Ross

Beauty Knows no Pain,"Alexander Alberro

Beauty, by Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe"

Beauty Discourse, by Amelia Jones

The VERNACULAR OF BEAUTY.
BOOKS:

The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty, Dave Hickey
Comments about "The Invisible Dragon" from Publishers Weekly:
Modern art, say those in the know, isn't so much about beauty as it is about instruction. Art appreciation is considered, in our culture, a consequence of sophistication, taste and learning--the property of the learned elite, the rich and famous. Even for sympathetic contemporary art lovers, there is something terribly precious about the intense politicization that animates much contemporary artistic practice. But can beauty replace pedagogy in art? In essays on gender and beauty, Robert Mapplethorpe, art institutions and beauty's "vernacular," art critic and teacher Hickey prompts a consideration of aspects of the rhetoric of beauty in Western art. "The vernacular of beauty, in its democratic appeal, remains a potent instrument for change in this civilization," Hickey asserts. But he goes on to say that what stands in the way of change are the museums, universities, foundations and the like "mandated to kidnap an entire province of ongoing artistic endeavor from its purportedly dysfunctional parent culture," to dissect and neutralize the power of images. One could argue with Hickey that new mass art audiences' responses to beauty are helping change both art's institutional framework and its position in our culture. But Hickey is on to something: beauty's reemergence as a coveted value challenges the art professional's role as art custodian. And from the standpoint of those who value democratic culture, this is all to the good. Illustrated.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Beauty and the Contemporary Sublime (Aesthetics Today), Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe
This link provides excerpts from, Beauty and the Contemporary Sublime (Aesthetics Today).

The Abuse of Beauty: Aesthetics and the Concept of Art (Paul Carus Lectures), Arthur C. Danto
This link provides excerpt from The Abuse of Beauty: Beauty and the Philosophical Definition of Art.

Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics By Frederic Spotts
The Terrible Beauty of Nazi Aesthetics, Acknowledging the Role of Art in a Spectacular Act of Barbarism

SEMINAL WORKS IN THE AREA:

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin
"Works of art are received and valued on different planes. Two polar types stand out:: with one, the accent is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the work. Artistic production begins with ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult. One may assume that what mattered was their existence, not their being on view. The elk portrayed by the man of the Stone Age on the walls of his cave was an instrument of magic. He did expose it to his fellow men, but in the main it was meant for the spirits. Today the cult value would seem to demand that the work of art remain hidden..."

Culture and Value (1977), Ludwig Wittgenstein
"The human gaze has the power of confering value one things; but it makes them cost more too..."

The Psychology of Imagination (1948), Jean-Paul Sartre
"So my current idea of a chair refers only externally to an exiting chair. It is not the chair in the external world, the chair that i percieved earlier; it is not that chair of straw and wood that allows me to distinguish my idea from ideas of table or of inkwell.Nevertheless, my current idea is the Idea of chair...

Symposium, Plato
"...But souls which are pregnant —for there certainly are men who are more creative in their souls than in their bodies—conceive that which is proper for the soul to conceive or contain. And what are these conceptions?—wisdom and virtue in general. And such creators are poets and all artists who are deserving of the name inventor. But the greatest and fairest sort of wisdom by far is that which is concerned with the ordering of states and families, and which is called temperance and justice. And he who in youth has the seed of these implanted in him and is himself inspired, when he comes to maturity desires to beget and generate. He wanders about seeking beauty that he may beget offspring—for in deformity he will beget nothing—and naturally embraces the beautiful rather than the deformed body; above all when he finds a fair and noble and well-nurtured soul, he embraces the two in one person, and to such an one he is full of speech about virtue and the nature and pursuits of a good man; and he tries to educate him; and at the touch of the beautiful which is ever present to his memory, even when absent, he brings forth that which he had conceived long before, and in company with him tends that which he brings forth; and they are married by a far nearer tie and have a closer friendship than those who beget mortal children, for the children who are their common offspring are fairer and more immortal....
..."But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty—the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and vanities of human life—thither looking, and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life?’...

Beauty. What Does It Mean?

2005-04-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

What is beauty? What does this word, concept really mean? Is it just simply the pleasure that ones derives from seeing, hearing , experiencing a thing outside, inside one's self? Beauty is a descriptive ascribed to women, in western society we usually don't describe men as being beautiful. Is beauty a state of being, a gender specified condition, or state? In Rogers II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionary states that it is a "special feature that confers superiority. Is beauty a thing, a tangible, intangible that confers a special quality?. Wordnet 1.7.1 by Princeton University states beauty, as a plural, are "qualities that give pleasure to the senses."

Does our sense of what is beautiful change? During out life time, during the ages? Are there enduring qualities that we as a western culture define as beautiful? Is our sense of beauty defined by our time, the culture, and context in which we live?
Can something be physically ugly and still be beautiful?

How do these questions apply to art? Film? Design? Art and Folk Arts from different cultural orientations?

More to come.

A HYBRID. Folk, Traditional and Contemporary Arts.

2005-04-28T14:17:00.000-05:00

San Miguel de Allende is a traditional 14th century Spanish colonial town located in the high desert mountains of central Mexico. It has for decades attracted writers, musicians, composers, artists from all traditions who for various reasons choose to relocate temporarily or permanently to pursue their work. The traditional folk arts inherent to the area has inspired many, famed San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa arrived to learn weaving technhiques which she latter transposed to giant woven metal scultures. Side by side, the folk, the traditional and contemporary arts continue to flourish setting the course for exotic hybrids.

Panorama 3 Design Conference

2005-04-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

Take a look at the conference website at:

www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/digitalarts/p3.html

I also have a "gift shop" set up at:

www.cafepress.com/panorama3

Symbol and logotype by Eric Carillo, a student in the BC Digital Arts program.

originally posted by digitaldavid at 12:10 PM

Digital Stills from "Hands Speak."

2005-04-27T21:46:00.000-05:00

Digital Stills from "Hands Speak.", originally uploaded by avaenlle.

(c)ana-victoria aenlle, 2005

2005-04-27T19:24:00.000-05:00

"Creativity is like driving a car at night," said E. L. Doctorow. "You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

San Miguel Arts comes to you from San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, in the high desert mountains of central Mexico This is where the Mexican revolution started. Independence continues to be the guiding principal for its residents.
Quirky. Eccentric. Bitchy. Known as the Sodom and Gomorrah of Mexico among the more conservative Mexicans. Really, nothing is going on. Open and loving enough to let strangers, crazies, psychotics all join in. Small enough so that you eventually run into someone that you've been thinking about, everybody knows everybody elses stuff, secrets, and if they don't they'll make some up. It's also astoundingly beautiful, profoundly spiritual, hot, dry, remote, and loud. Parades, garbage truck bells, children, mariachi bands, singing, dogs, roosters, drumming, real living noises from a real city.
It's also filled with writers, artists, filmmakers, eccentrics, and criminals of all persuations.
Welcome.