Mary Rayme's Blog
Posted by Mary Rayme
OJ Simpson has managed to stay in the media recently. First is the release of a book by OJ, originally titled I Did It, which has been conveniently re-titled, If I Did It. This book was stopped at the publisher when many people protested about OJ making money from a book which tells the tale of what happened the night OJ murdered his ex-wife Nicole Simpson, and Ron Goldman.
The new version of this book includes commentary from the Goldman family which has fought tirelessly to bring OJ to justice. There is a forward by Pablo F. Fenjves, the witness who heard Nicole's dog howling the night of the murders. Strangely enough, he is the one chosen to interview OJ, to get the "what if" story from the only living human witness to the bloodshed of that evening back in 1994.
If you want to support the Goldman family, buy this book. It offers a chilling insight into the mind of one of the most villified figures of our world. I did not have the stomach to get through Chapter 6, which goes through the details of "The Night in Question", and invents a character named "Charlie" who possibly helped OJ commit his hateful acts. It is too horrible to relive a moment in which a jealous ex-husband kills the mother of 2 of his children and another friend of hers, Ron Goldman who seems to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Recently, OJ was arrested at another surreal scene where an auction of some of his belongings (that he believed were stolen) was taking place. Allegedly OJ had the goal of recovering the stolen goods with the help of some allegedly armed friends. Out on $125,000 bail, the rest of this tale waits to unfold.
Posted by Mary Rayme
I had the pleasure of going to The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, West Virginia this week to hear an old-time country band, The Sweetback Sisters. This nouveau country band features the sweet and sassy vocals of Emily Miller and Zara Bode. They like to describe themselves as, "Honky tonk for the modern day cowboy and girl". I gotta say, I thought of Patsy Cline upon hearing Zara Bode's voice that harmonizes impeccably with the sweet voice of Emily Miller. The Sweetback Sisters have a new EP called Bang! I recommend buying multiple copies since you will want to give this shot of musical bliss to all of your friends. It's that good. Jesse Milnes plays a hot-lickin' acoustic guitar and swinging fiddle, along with Ross Bellinoits' lightning fast, telecaster interjections. Stefan Amidon is a solid, jiving drummer and Joe Dejarnette is the cartoonishly good bass player.
Emily Miller learned her craft from her mother Valerie Mindel. I was lucky enough to catch this amazing mother-daughter duo at a concert at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins this summer. There is nothing like related voices harmonizing and the new CD, In the Valley, 2006, by Emily Miller and Val Mindel is an instant classic.
Next up is The Weight of Light by The Ginsangers, a band that also has a mother-daughter combo of voices in Connie Townsend and Rose Bell. This pleasing and soulful CD contains some excellent original songs and a great cover of the Hank Williams song, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. Dave Parker as co-songwriter and solid guitarist rounds out the band nicely.
We are lucky to live in such a musical neck of the woods! Now get out there, people, and listen to live music and BUY the CDs.
Posted by Mary Rayme
Duncan Long asked me for some advice as to how to market his artwork. I suggested that he find an agent to represent him and to sell his work for him. He gathered a list of agents and sent them a link to his website.
Quality artists, illustrators, photographers and artisans can market their work successfully through the use of professional representation to sell your work for you. Make sure you take the time to understand the terms of your contract and to establish a good working relationship with your dealer. The relationship can be profitable and mutually beneficial.
Thanks, Duncan, and hope this exercise proves fruitful for you someday.
Pat Hackett Art Rep, Email: pat@pathackett.com, Phone: 206-447-1600
Alison Eldred,alisoneldred@gmail.com
Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. orders@allenspiegelfinearts.com
Emily Inman, ewinman@earthlink.net
Levy Creative Management, LLC, 300 East 46th Street Suite 8E, New York, NY 10017
{212} 687 6463, info@levycreative.com
Bernstein & Andriulli, (212) 682-1490, 58 W 40th Street, Floor 6, New York NY 10018
franciner@ba-reps.com
illustrationOnLine, 215-232-6666, inquiry@illustrationonline.com
Début Art, info@debutart.com
Three In A Box, info@threeinabox.com
Magnet Reps, 1685 H Street, #219,Blaine, WA 98230, art@magnetreps.com
Store 44 Reps, PO BOX W,Scottsdale, AZ 85252, art@store44.com.
Scott Hull, 4 West Franklin. Suite 200, Dayton, Ohio 45459, 937.433.8383, headquarters@scotthull.com
Morgan Gaynin Inc.,194 Third Avenue #3, New York, NY 10003, info@morgangaynin.com
Gerald & Cullen Rapp, Artist Representatives, 420 Lexington Ave., New York, NY, 10170, 212.889.3337
info@rappart.com
Richard Solomon, 305 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022, 212.223.9545, info@richardsolomon.com
Mendola Artists, info@mendolaart.com
Heart Agency, nyc@heartagency.com
Langley Creative, Sharon Langley, ARTREPSJL@aol.com
Lindgren & Smith, info@lsillustration.com
ArtAgent.com, 865 Delaware St., Denver, CO 80204, 303-820-2599, info@artagent.com
Jennifer Vaughn, 1927 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133, 415. 666. 3447, jen@jenvaughnart.com
Melissa Turk & The Artist Network, 9 Babbling Brook Lane, Suffern, New York 10901, (845)368-8606
melissa@melissaturk.com
Tugeau 2, Jeremy & Nicole Tugeau, nicole@tugeau2.com
Helen Ravenhill, 816 333 0744, hravenhill@earthlink.net
The NewBorn group, joan@newborngroup.com
Irmeli Holmberg, irmeli@irmeliholmberg.com
David Goldman Agency, dg@davidgoldmanagency.com
B A Reps, www.ba-reps.com
Posted by Mary Rayme
Bookclub Fiction
I have belonged to a small town Bookclub with a total membership of 15 or so for several years. We have read some excellent books, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh, The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, and Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. We have had some interesting and lively discussions about the ideas in the books, the style of writing by the author, and comparisions to other books we have read.
The Non-Fiction
There have been a smattering of non-fiction books: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks, and Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich come to mind. Most recently I hosted Bookclub with the book Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin.
You Want Me to Read What?
Maybe because it's June and folks are on vacation, but only 3 ladies attended my Bookclub and of the 3, only 2 had read the book. Let's just say there was more wine drinking that evening than conversation to be had. My other theory as to the low attendence was my choice of a non-fiction book. As an unusual female appreciator of non-fiction, I have to say that I think most women seem to prefer fiction to non-fiction, and i'm not quite sure why.
OMG! All Chicks.
Which brings me to the gender makeup of my Bookclub--all chicks. This is not unusual, why is that? I'm sure that there are men in Bookclubs somewhere in the world, but in my neck of the woods there are at least 3 very active Bookclubs and none of the members are male. We're not excluding the guys, they just are not interested in attending.
Men Are Literate
We know the men are reading the books. The wives report back regularly about which husband has read and liked a recent or current book club book. So, do men perceive Bookclubs as feminine because these groups have been culturally championed by Oprah? Or do men like to read books, but don't feel the need to get together to discuss them? So are there any men out there who can enlighten me as to the male Point of View on Bookclubs? I'm still trying to figure it all out...
Posted by Mary Rayme
Some of the big news this past week is that Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Suicide Doctor, has been released from a Michigan prison after serving 8 years. I think that Dr. Jack’s work had merit, while some of it was highly suspect. No one should ever run a suicide machine in the back of their van, even if it does have lovely shag carpeting on the walls.
Kevorkian will hopefully continue to advocate for some sort of professionally-assisted suicide legislation, and as our baby boomer population grows older, the need to die with dignity will become imperative and commercial.
Perhaps the only scary thing about Dr. Kevorkian is his paintings. View them here if you dare…
Posted by Mary Rayme
A report from Amnesty International, Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence, indicates that Native American women and Native Alaskan women are the targets of rape by non-Native males. In other words, these women are being targeted by non-Indian men who don’t live on the reservation. Why?
In no small part, it goes back to how the United States government has treated Native Americans Indians, or Indigenous populations in the country since the very beginning. This from the United States Declaration of Independence, and just one of a long list of grievances that the colonies cited against King George of England:
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
From this one sentence, it is clear that in 1776 Native Americans were considered the enemy of the ruling white men. Indians were eventually defeated by the newcomers to the New World, and were forced to give up tribal lands and live on reservations.
Perhaps we are not viewed as “merciless savages” but women are not viewed as equals in society by both men and women. We live in a culture, in the United States, where Feminism is considered a dirty word that conjures up images of man-hating, hairy-legged lesbians who want to teach Herstory, not History. Why is this?
Maybe one reason is that The Equal Rights Movement is stalled and not going anywhere. Recently, I viewed the first season of Saturday Night Live from 1975. A young and earnest Candice Bergen urged everyone to support the Equal Rights Amendment. I felt nostalgic and sad all at the same time. Where did ERA go? Why do women still make 72% of the salary of their equal male counterparts? Why is there a higher crime rate against women? Perhaps it is because like Indigenous women in Alaska and Oklahoma, we are targeted by males for abuse and disparity.
The statistics from the Amnesty International report are cause for alarm. Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than the general population of all other women in the US. More than one third of all Native American and Alaskan Native Women will be raped. The comparable statistic for the general population of all other women is less than one out of five. Many Native American women do not report rapes because they believe they will be ignored and not believed. The report gives evidence to the widespread indifference to the Native American female population.
A dictionary definition of feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. We need to continue to advocate for women worldwide. As Mother’s Day approaches, consider the mothers, women, sisters, and female friends in your life. Wouldn’t you want them to be treated humanely, kindly, and equitably? Would you want a member of your family to be targeted as the vicitm of a violent crime? Of course not. Would you want your mother to be paid inequitably? Of course not. This Mother’s Day, let us urge the United States government and Native American authorities to work together to respect and pay honor to our women. We need and deserve to be protected.
But don't take my word on the issue. Read the report here.
Posted by Mary Rayme
I will admit this. I used to be a huge Howard Stern fan. When I Iived and worked in Baltimore and then Philadelphia, I hung on every titillating and juicy word of my favorite shock jock. His world was full of racist and sexist commentary, all of which was seemingly OK when his co-host Robin Quivers was a black woman.
The interesting thing about Howard Stern was this: he was adored by liberal Democrats as well as conservative Republicans. Why? Here's my theory: The Democrats perceived Howard as a social commentator and/or a sly satirist who was not really a racist, but merely commenting or reflecting the racism and sexism of our time. Conservative Republicans viewed Howard as one of them and took his comments at face value, all the while chuckling at the idiocy of porn stars, the homeless, and the freaks who frequented Stern's studio. The truth of Howard, as with all humans, lies in the middle of these two points of view. Howard Stern is quite human just like the rest of us, including Imus.
But the world changes, just as our ideas about race, sex, and equality change to keep up with where our society takes us collectively.
I noticed recently that an art exhibition by Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping created some controversy in Vancouver, Canada, with a piece of art that pits live insects and critters against each other. The piece is entitled, Theatre of the World, and is a giant turtle shell shape that one can look through and see various snakes, lizards, insects, and scorpions, battling it out in a life and death coliseum.
This piece has already toured though the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art with no controversy or fanfare. In Vancouver, Canada, this piece has been called into question by the Vancouver Humane Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
What does this have to do with Imus? It's about how our idea of what is ethical changes both through time and geography. Imus' words that got him fired were nothing new. He has always spouted the same naughty and un-politically correct words that got him fired. It is us as a society that has changed. The corporate sponsors and the general public decided that enough was enough.
There are other factors at play here as well. Imus' comments were targeted and displayed on YouTube, the great social and politcal equalizer, where you can watch Michael Richards freak out and give a racist tirade. (You can also watch Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction, or watch President Bush read My Pet Goat on the morning of September 11.) I would also be willing to bet that it was a convenient time to fire Imus. His ratings have no doubt dropped since there's no Howard Stern to do battle with on the radio airwaves, and his salary must be exhorbitant considering his years with the same company.
But more importantly, perhaps we realize as a society how important words are, and how they can be used to build up or to drag down. I am strangely grateful to Don Imus for this whole imbroglio because it demands that we talk about and discuss issues of race and racism and sexism. Why? Until we have a society of equality, it is absolutely essential that it all be discussed.
Posted by Mary Rayme
There is a classic and cliche arguement I still hear regularly from white people, about how they are confused about what black people want to be called. Many white people seem offended that black people would want to re-label or re-title themselves as a race. But I think it makes sense.
In the USA, especially, we are a nation that struggles with the idea of race and race labels. In a nation founded on slavery, the name we use for black people has evolved from negro, to colored-person, to black, to African-American, to person of color. (It should be noted that the NAACP is still the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People probably based on the recognition of their acronym.)
I think that searching for suitable and acceptable race labels will continue to change over time. Labelling and re-labelling is how we process things as humans, it's also how we identify ourselves.
I also think that if tomorrow black people decide to call themselves The Chiefs, I'm cool with that. If white people are suddenly offended by their label ("I'm not white, I'm pinkish-beige!") and want to change their racial designation to something that they feel is more descriptive or accurate, why not? After all, what the heck is a caucasian anyway?
The other statement I hear, "Why don't they just pick a name or label and stick with it?" Sorry, it the progress of semantics. It is what has made dumb people, mute; crazy people, mentally ill; retarded people, mentally challenged. Words and/or labels do mean a lot to us, and need to change as our perceptions do as well. It is this same freedom of language that allows new words into the vernacular everyday just as google has become a verb.
I'm just saying that this kind of faux indignation at changing race labels that an ethnic group wants to give itself is really about racism and the fear of something they don't understand. Black people are constantly trying to redefine themselves in a changing world that still gives them little or no power. If a name, identity, or descriptive change helps them to feel empowered and to move forward, why not?
And just to spell it out, we are all prejudiced in some way, and not necessarily race-wise. I am predjudiced against the ignorant and the over-educated equally. We just need to constantly question our comfortable beliefs about race and race identity so we can understand our societally ingrained notions. We are all bigots and need to accept that to be able to make progress.
Posted by Mary Rayme
Musicians play together, an artist plays with ideas, an actor acts in a vehicle called a play, but what is the connection between art and play?
For weeks now the question hovering above my head in a thought bubble has been: Why are children clearly more creative than adults? I've been acting as substitute teacher in our public schools and it always amazes me that younger kids from Kindergarten to High School are less inhibited and more creatively inclined than the adults I normally teach in college.
I tell my students that the creativity has been beaten out of them the older they get. How? I think as kids get older their idea of playing changes and our societal idea of playing changes as well. We live in a society that encourages and supports success and discourages and demonizes failure.
The art of play is about trial and error and not being afraid of failure. I think that the older we get the more self-conscious we become about failure and perceived failure and we try to avoid it instead of seeing it as a growth opportunity. There are two questions to consider if you are frightened at the prospect of creative failure. What can you learn from this experience? And, what is the worst possible thing that can happen if you fail? The answers to these questions help make failure seem less scary and more palatable.
As we get older we are told to work more, play less as if the two are unconnected. Play allows us to explore new thoughts, ideas, worlds, and personas. After all, playing is the essential heart and soul of all things creative. So...stop your work and go out and play OR be more playful in your work.
Posted by Mary Rayme
A Norman Rockwell painting that was stolen over three decades ago was found hanging on the office wall of current owner Steven Spielberg.
It is ironic that the story of this painting being stolen is featured on the front page on the FBI Art Theft division. Here’s a small image of what the painting looks like. Children in a Russian school gaze at a bust of Lenin on a desk at the front of the class. One child in back appears to break the order and look plaintively out a window.
In the news report about the discovery of the painting it is said that Spielberg’s staff informed him about the painting’s shady origins. From this, I can only conclude that an astute staffer was also a stolen art junkie or someone curious enough to research the provenance of a painting in their boss’ collection.
Rockwell’s Russian Schoolroom painting was stolen from the Clayton Art Gallery in Clayton, Missouri on June 25, 1973. It was sold at auction to Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood movie director for $25,000 (US) in 1989. Currently, the painting is valued at $700,000 (US). Undoubtedly, this painting will return to the Clayton Art Gallery.
Who bears the cost of the stolen painting? Perhaps the largest loss is cultural in that the painting has not been on view to the public for over 30 years.
Source: http://www.news24.com/News24/Entertainment/Abroad/0,,2-1225-1243_2077928,00.html
Posted by Mary Rayme
Many celebrities and/or musician create visual art. While many celebrities are so creative and artistic they are able to transcend in more than one medium, many others are not. Celebrities have the advantage of their own advertising branding campaign. This means that just the names of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon can still sell art even though it was not their first medium and even though they are all dead.
Other celebrity artists include: Tony Bennett, David Bowie, Jeff Bridges, Tony Curtis, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Fleetwood, Dennis Hopper, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Martin Mull, Grace Slick, Johnny Depp, Anthony Quinn, and Peter Falk.
Not all celebrities use their name to sell mediocre products. I took a tour through the various online galleries that exist for all known celebrity artists and came up with a very short list of recommendations of celebs who could also qualify as bonafide visual artists.
Recommend:
Fun, collage-like paintings of mysterious actions by suburban 50s people. A wonderful world of kitsch noir.
Beautiful well-composed color photographs of textures and accidental art. Great photographs of celebrities such as Bill Cosby, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, among others.
Wide angle photos worth a second look.
Andy Summers of Police fame.
A prolific photographer with a real artists eye.
Amazing photographs that confirm Nash as an artist in more disciplines than one.
Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame.
Mothersbaugh creates several postcard-sized pieces of art everyday. The sign of a true artist is a daily habit of image making.
Posted by Mary Rayme
Perhaps living in one of the most beautiful parts of the planet is what inspires poetry in droves in West Virginia. It is also a state filled with musicians, artists, and other social misfits. ;-)
Friend, poet, musician, and native West Virginian Doug Van Gundy has released his first book of poetry through Red Hen Press entitled, A Life Above Water.
It is only natural that Van Gundy’s work is steeped in nature and humanity and populated by the infinite flora and fauna that abounds in our mountain landscape.The very first poem is entitled, Keeper, and is written from the viewpoint of a fish too small to be caught by a human fisherman. The fish concludes the poem:
“I long to live in my father’s sky,
in his world of clouds and boots and moss-lined creels.
In that moment I will be large enough to keep,
Large enough that he will tuck me into his creel,
Carry me home, and teach me the language
That lives inside new lungs.”
While the language of Van Gundy’s poem’s is deceivingly simply, the subtle aliteration and phrasing work to create elegant masterpieces of jewel-like images and sweet optimism.
Even a dead bat is poem-worthy. A poem entitled Pipistrelle is a beautiful elegy to a bat. The poem begins:
“His winged corpse is laid out
in the traditional manner, on a bed
of green spruce needles, a squirrel-
gnawed cone supporting his slight head.
His wings are outstretched, mouth agape.
The heatless January sun illuminates
His leathery tailflap.”
Van Gundy’s book is divided into three sections: All These Indigestible Parts, Fellowship and Baked Goods, and The Great Slowing. Collectively they offer up a life cycle of humanity that is beautifully written and provocative, yet full of love and humor. You can take a sneak peek at Doug’s book that will be released on March 1 by Red Hen Press. Van Gundy is also a professional musician and educator. You can visit his website here and be sure to tell Doug that Mary sent you! ;-)
Posted by Mary Rayme
As we compare learning to compose to learning to juggle, we focus on adding another element of design into our rotation: Color.
Flag design is a good way to engage a student in the idea of symbolism in color and shape. There is a great entry for Flags on wikipedia. I suggest showing some excellent examples of state or local flags and to provide some context behind the flags. For example, the Maryland state flag was originally only yellow and black diamond shapes that were a part of Lord Calvert’s family coat of arms. After the Civil War, the red and white shapes were added as a tip of the lid to the secessionists whose colors were the same. Now, I think the Maryland flag looks like bad argyle socks, but some people just love it.
The intention of a flag is that it needs to communicate a lot of information quickly and graphically. For example, the United States flag has 50 stars, one for each state, and 13 stripes representing the original 13 colonies. The colors have various meanings attached to them. White for purity and innocence, blue for vigilance, perseverance or justice, red for hardiness and valor. But you know what else? Red, white and blue also look good together. The red and blue are of similar value and have resonance, and the white provides the necessary contrast or visual relief. The repetition of the 50 white stars stacked on a dark blue background is absolutely stunning.
Have students redesign the flag of their home state or the state location of the school using PhotoShop. Remind them, flags can be seen as pleasing arrangements of shape and color. Ask them to keep each separate element on a different Layer in PhotoShop to encourage use of this palette. Also encourage students to think about their color and symbol choices. Any colors must represent some part of the state that is unique or special.
Discourage the use of fonts or words on the flag. These are usually hard to read and the purpose of this assignment is to encourage students to think using shape and color, not words or letters. Discourage the use of too many elements that may then appear too small to read or discern. Remind your students to save their PhotoShop documents as .psd files so that they automatically remain in layers.
Posted by Mary Rayme
As Valentine’s Day approaches, so does the mounting gift pressure. What do you get for the person you love to express how you feel about them and to show your appreciation for their most important asset…their love?
Since I live in a shopping-challenged part of the world, I have made a list of low-cost Valentine treats, sure to please your sweetie.
Cook a Meal
OK, this is not mac and cheese. Make it special, plan a menu, get out the candles. Find a tablecloth. You do own a tablecloth, don’t you? ;-) Don’t forget dessert. Make it fruity, include whipped cream, use your imagination.
Clean Your House, Apartment, Abode
Nothing says I Love You, like a clean space. Really. Clean is the new sexy. Think about it and get out the cleaning supplies. And, I don’t mean clean your significant others space; that’s too co-dependant. Cleaning our own space gives love to you and to all who visit your space.
Make Your Love an Assorted CD
Did you see High Fidelity? Then you do know the significance of the assorted CD. You express love, affection, and intrigue all in a mix of 10-20 songs. Recommended love songs: AC/DC, You Shook Me All Night Long, The Pretenders, Message of Love, Dolly Parton, I Will Always Love You (forget Whitney Houston’s version, people. Puh-lease.) Hint for the totally clueless: This CD is what is playing as you cook a meal.
Make a Valentine Card for Your Valentine
Start with a blank piece of paper. You could cut and paste images from magazines to make something sweet and goofy. You do not need to be Vincent Van Gogh and it doesn’t need to be perfect. Your love will appreciate that this card doesn’t say Hallmark on the back.
So don’t break the bank, just be creative and in the immortal words of Madonna…express yourself. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)
Posted by Mary Rayme
“If you follow every dream, you might get lost.”
— The Painter, Neil Young
Some beginning art students may become discouraged and use the excuse of not having enough talent to be able to progress in their work. This is a reason why the myth of talent needs to be dispelled and discussed.
Perhaps there are a few gifted people born into this world, Leonardo da Vinci, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Michelangelo come to mind almost immediately. These examples are unusual in that they may be considered that very rare sub-species of human, the genius.
Since most of us are not geniuses and there are plenty of other successful artists, it seems to say that many great artists are not geniuses. In fact, most successful artists, athletes, or musicians are great at what they do because of practice. The sheer act of focusing on one goal and pursuing it to its most divine outcome is what makes greatness.
Paul Cezanne was a grumpy, 19th-century French artist who had a great deal of perseverance. He lived in the Aix-en-Provence region of France and went outside every day to paint his beloved view of Mont Sainte-Victoire. This is just a small example of his work but gives us proof that Cezanne was interested in focusing on one subject until he was satisfied. (Aside: Cezanne was never satisfied. While dying from pneumonia, he burned as many of his paintings as he could as he considered them worthless. Artists are such perfectionistas!)
The myth of talent is furthered by the unfortunate use of the word as a noun to describe actors as, The Talent. There is also the Talent Show that seems to frequently not deliver the promise of the name. Also adding to the confusion is the Talent Scout who seeks out the stars of tomorrow and sometimes comes up with Keanu Reeves.
One could cynically say that greatness is just practiced mediocrity, but I would rather think of it as practiced passion. The next time you hear a student lamenting their lack of talent remind them that there is no such thing.
Posted by Mary Rayme
This sweet film, Little Miss Sunshine, focuses on the Hoover family, especially their seven-year-old daughter, Olive, played by Abigail Breslin, who wants to be in a child beauty pageant.
The characters in the Hoover family are all moderately or extremely eccentric. Steve Carell plays a gay Proust scholar, Frank, recovering from a failed suicide attempt. Dwayne, played by Paul Dano, is an angst-ridden and mute teenager who wears black and reads Nietzsche. The overworked mother of Olive and Dwayne is Sheryl, played by Toni Collette. Her husband, Richard, is played by a wonderfully manic Greg Kinnear. Richard’s father is Edwin, played by Alan Arkin, who has just been kicked out of a nursing home for snorting heroine. He is one hip and very funny old man.
So let’s put all these people together into a VW microbus and send them on a road trip where Olive will compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pagaent, as she has been coached by her (crazy) grandfather, Edwin. Through their journey, both literal and metaphoric, they reveal their strengths and weaknesses, but remain held together as a family unit by their love for each other.
We leave the movie with a little song and dance, but it is a musical number that not all in the beauty pageant audience appreciate which makes it all the more delicious to those of us who are in on the idea that pageants, especially for children, are shallow and pretentious. In the post-JonBenet era, this is something we can all agree to dislike.
For me, this movie was fun, unpredictable and a little like John Waters meets the Coen Brothers. No wonder Little Miss Sunshine has been given 4 Academy Award nominations including that of Best Picture for 2006. Alan Arkin has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor and the amazing Abigail Bresline has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Little Miss Sunshine has also been nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Stay tuned. Oscar time is coming soon and there is plenty of Sunshine to go around.
Posted by Mary Rayme
Daniel Clowes is the cartoonist and artist who wrote the story and screenplay for Art School Confidential (2006) a film directed by Terry Zwigoff. It is interesting to note that Clowes, the creator of the comic book Eightball holds a BFA from the Pratt Institute in New York, a well-respected and competitive art school.
There are some parts of this film that ring true of the art school experience, particularly John Malkovich as the art professor who is obsessed with his own work and also trying to sleep with his students. The other part that rang true was the main character, Jerome Platz, trying on different styles in an attempt to find his own style.
One scene in the movie is of a final review where all of the students receive A's, as if art school is just one big gut course. Not so. Most major art schools can be cut throat and competitive and we do get a glimpse of that in the critique scenes.
That's pretty much where the resemblance to a real art school ceases. Yes, sometimes art students can learn to spout a certain nonsensical art speak that is pretentious and inaccurate, but ideally a good professor can reign that in and focus a class to create a meaningful and positive critique experience.
It is the message of this film that is more disturbing than its lost potential; Art school is a big sham and that to be a successful artist you must proselytize yourself and have a big gimmick.
If you went to art school, this film is a must see. Especially comedic are Nick Swardson as a flamer in heterosexual denial and Ethan Suplee as an unfocused film student. This film started out with a fun and full premise, a kind of murder mystery meets art school freak show, but ends up flat and flaccid.
This movie stars: Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, Jim Broadbent, Matt Keeslar, and Anjelica Huston.
Posted by Mary Rayme
Remember, this is a lesson in composition and in juggling. Introduce and then add only one element at a time. Student need to be competent in shape arrangement before they can move on to line, color, and the other elements of design.
So in grayscale mode, show students how to use the Line tool to pull and drag straight lines. If you have not introduced layers, this is a great time. Each new line is on its own separate layer so it is easier to manipulate without affecting its neighboring lines.
Begin with straight lines and then add organic or curvilinear lines to the composition. Maybe try a composition with 100 straight lines, and then a composition with 100 separate curvilinear lines. Emphasize that these are to be nonrepresentational compositions that should not resemble anything recognizable such as a face or flower. This can be difficult for some students who perceive all art as image making. Encourage your students to play with their linear compositions to take time to find an arrangement of elements that they find pleasing.
I like to compare visual composition with written composition. In English 101 one learns how to create an effective, correctly spelled, grammatically correct document with a coherent beginning, middle and end. It's easy to correct the spelling or grammar of a written composition, but less easy and more subjective with a visual composition. Remind students that they didn't learn to write overnight. Just as in writing, students must learn a visual language to create a pleasing composition. Creating a successful composition takes practice, and it means you have to accept failure and learn from it. This can be frustrating for students who seem to think that any composition can be art.
Many first time art students merely plunk elements on a page to fulfill the bare minimum of the assignment. If a student finishes a project in class ask them to do another. It is absolutely essential to have many iterations of the same assignment to have comparison to learn to discern a quality composition.
When the line compositions are completed, print them out or have each student place them largely on their desktop for a discussion of which compositions are more successful and why. The discussion and analysis is as important as the composition creating.
Coming soon: When shape meets line; Juggling two elements at once.
Posted by Mary Rayme
It's hard to imagine the underground world of art and antiquities smugglers, especially in the twenty-first century. Now with the testimony of a notorious and career art smuggler in Italy, we get a brief and intriguing glimpse into his methods and motives.
Pietro Casasanta has spent 50 years in the art smuggling business. He didn't steal his merchandise from museums, he dug it from the ground or hired others to do it for him. Casasanta made it a habit to visit carious construction sites in Italy and hung around the outskirts and darted in occasionally when he sensed treasure. He even argues that in this way he preserved the artwork that would have been otherwise destroyed or paved over to make way for new construction.
But Casasanta also went out of his way to create excavations of old Roman ruins using backhoes and hired hands to help with the digging. These illegal diggings even went on in broad daylight. No doubt Casasanta was a convincing con artist to be able to get away with such brazen thievery.
What really made Casasanta one of the most successful art smugglers of our time is that world-class museums bought his pilferings. Ancient stolen Roman, Greek and Estruscan artifacts were purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and the Los Angeles Museum of Art.
Casasanta and his art smuggling came to light when he testified at the trial of a Getty Museum curator accused of purchasing stolen art. Most of the museums are in the process of returning the stolen art to their rightful home in Italy.
From Casasanta's point of view, he is annoyed at the Italian government and claims that the business of art smuggling has been going on for a long time and that he is performing a valuable service. And if you think he was in it for the money, you're wrong. When asked about his motives, Casasanta is quoted as saying that the excitement of finding buried treasure "was better than sex".
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/17/europe/EU-GEN-Italy-Looted-Antiquities.php
Posted by Mary Rayme
Hillary Clinton recently announced that she is considering running for President of the United States in 2008. I have two theories as to why the United States is not ready for a female President and why Hillary is unelectable.
It doesn't matter if you are a Republican or Democrat, the reality is that women are still not equal to men in our society. The fact that women are still underpaid compared to their male counterparts holding similar positions is proof of this discrimination.
There's also the abortion controversy in America. My theory is that making abortion a legal and political issue is about controlling women, not concern for women's health or for the unborn. As long as this fallacy continues, a woman will never be elected as chief of our Executive Branch. How can a woman be in the ultimate power seat as long as women's lives are so routinely controlled through legislation and politics?
It is also interesting to note that Hillary Clinton is one of the most demonized political figures in the United States for a couple of reasons. First, her husband Bill Clinton was demonized for lying about his affair with an intern. Hillary has suffered a lot of fallout from this one, even though she was a victim of Bill's infidelity.
Second, Hillary dared to add her maiden name, Rodham, and was to head up the failed universal healthcare attempt early in Clinton's first term as President. Adding the maiden name and being allowed power smack of feminism, another idea demonized by the far right and those who are threatened by women. Let's be clear on this: Feminism is the idea that women have the same rights and treatment as men. Period.
I hope I am wrong with my above theories but I personally would not vote for Senator Clinton because of her stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has supported these wars in the face of overwhelming evidence that these wars are unnecessary and out of control.
Someone has to be the first female President of the United States, but it won't be Hillary Clinton.
Posted by Mary Rayme
Recently a Los Angeles graphic designer made quite a stir by projecting a large sign on the side of the bell tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The sign read: Your Ad HERE. This lighted message only lasted a few hours and was created by James Cui who was so subtle as to also include his phone number in the projected faux advertisement.
A quote from Dave Keim, a local official with the Department of Building and Safety, is revealing. "What he put up is the equivalent to an advertising sign and not a work of art. To us, anything that attracts the attention of the public is a "sign" and you need a permit."
What Mr. Keim may not be aware of is that Mr. Cui's piece of art is protected as a First Amendment expression and also as satire. By projecting light onto the property of another, is Mr. Cui truly trespassing? Has he created merely an advertising sign?
The artwork is considered conceptual as it emphasizes message over medium. So, while you can't buy Mr. Cui's artwork and hang it over your sofa, you can admire and consider the concept. By creating and projecting a faux ad, Mr. Cui is making social commentary of the church, the Catholic Church, organized religion, advertising, and our perception of advertising.
Projecting images and using advertising to re-present ideas is nothing new. Barbara Kruger is a well-known practitioner of the phony advertising message meant to provoke thought. However, sometimes thought-provoking also can become provocative.
Cui tells a story of getting a warning from a sensitive California Highway Patrol officer who was offended by a projected film clip of a topless woman with a black censored bar across her eyes.
And if you have to ask, is Cui an artist or a self-promoter the only answer is...yes.
Source: http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1328840
Posted by Mary Rayme
Joseph Barbera the creator of the TV show Scooby Doo died in December 2006. Less than a month later I discover that while the television series Scooby Doo was created by Barbera, the character of Scooby Doo, upon which the series was based, was created by Iwao Takamoto, who passed away January 9, 2007.
Takamoto was born in Los Angeles to Japanese parents and was sent to an internment camp in the California desert during World War II. It is there that Takamoto learned to draw, a talent that led him to a job interview with Walt Disney after his family's release from the camp. Takamoto apprenticed at Disney's studio and worked on such great films as Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp.
In 1961 Takamoto went to work for Hanna-Barbera and worked on such television shows as The Flintstones, Josie and the Pussycats, The Great Grape Show, and The Harlem Globetrotters.
Scooby Doo was named for the last line of the Frank Sinatra rendition of Strangers in the Night, and based on a conversation Takamoto had with a Great Dane dog breeder. Hence was born one of the most beloved cartoon characters of all time, the scaredy-cat dog who always manages to come through in the end, with maybe a little Scooby Snack persuasion and assistance from the rest of the gang-Shaggy, Daphne, Fred, and Wilma.
Takamoto created two other cartoon canines, Astro from The Jetsons and Muttley who was in several Hanna-Barbera creations. He also directed the 1973 animated version of Charlotte's Web which has also been remade and released recently.
Since Iwao Takamoto is the man who first drew and named Scooby Doo it is my contention that he be considered the true creator of Scooby Doo. Let it also be noted that Joe Ruby and Ken Spears are also listed on Wikipedia as the creators of the series Scooby Doo.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/01/09/ap3312202.html
Posted by Mary Rayme
There are some works of art and films that I have seen and that I will never forget.
Kaos (1984) is a beautiful film that contains 4 stories that take place in 19th-century Sicily. I have not seen this film since it was released 24 years ago. What I remember about the film is a feeling of complete awe and total satisfaction upon viewing this film. I cannot tell you the plot, or name any of the main characters, but all these years later I still count this as one of my Top Five favorite films of all time. Since this is a Taviani Brothers movie, we can only assume it is visually rich. I also recall a theme of fairy tales with an overlying layer of pure love. Perhaps my memory has made up that last part.
The Sorrowing Soul Between Faith and Doubt is an old friend of mine. Painted by the American painter Elihu Vedder in 1884, this painting features a sad, beautiful woman sandwiched between a brooding male meant to represent doubt, and the glowing angel of faith whose golden halo seems to illuminate the scene. Vedder himself knew the success of this painting as there are at least two versions: one at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the other at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in New York. I have looked at this painting often and even made a copy of it in art school with me as the central Sorrowing Soul between Paul Gauguin (doubt) and Allen Ginsburg (faith). Are we not, as humans, always lingering between faith and doubt?
The memories of these two works of art give me a foundation and standard to look at other works of art. The memories of these works enrich my history and inform my future as an artist and human. These visual experiences also confirm the human continuum. It is this dialogue with art and the relationship that you can build with it that is not only life-enriching but totally necessary for full human living. Now get off your bum and go to a museum!
You can view the Sorrowing Soul
Posted by Mary Rayme
Since when does an English art school student get to be knighted for inventing a vacuum cleaner? You do if your name is James Dyson and you invented the worlds' greatest vacuum, the Dyson. It's yellow (but also available in other colors) and is considered an excellent buy because it doesn't use bags, and is designed to last forever. Many may scoff at the idea of being made knight for designing the worlds' greatest vacuum cleaner. But the reality is that James Dyson worked relentlessly to actualize his vision; something that every true artist does almost reflexively.
To quote Mr. Dyson's philosophy, "Each failure, the 5,126 failures taught me so much. Success teaches you nothing. Failures teach you everything. Making mistakes is the most important thing you can do."
For many art students, one of the greatest frustrations of learning the nuts and bolts of creating art, is that you have to make a lot of bad art before you can make good or transcendent art. Perhaps this is a lesson Dyson learned early on during his time in art school.
As a student at the Royal College of Art in London, England, he studied furniture and interior design. From there he went to an engineering firm but then left to set up his own company after he designed and invented the Ballbarrow, a wheelbarrow that has a ball instead of a front wheel. Simple, but effective.
Now Dyson is starting the Dyson School of Design Innovation in Bath, England, which encourages young people to consider an engineering profession. Studying engineering and art are very similar, after all. The basis of all engineering and art is problem-solving which is at the core of all creativity.
So the next time you are stuck in life, whether personally or professionally, consider if you have weighed all of the options and iterations that are sometimes necessary to create a transcendent, or at least above-average, work of art or life situation. Life is art, art is life, and Dyson's indefatigable methodology of trial and error is an excellent model to follow. Dyson's philosophy doesn't suck, his vacuum does. ;-)