Posts Tagged ‘arT’
Friday, September 25th, 2009
 A public-art experiment is taking London’s art scene by storm. The project? Giving 2,400 people each an hour to do whatever they like in the city’s most bustling square. Twenty-three feet above London’s Trafalgar Square, a girl with long blonde hair stands on a platform, dressed as a mermaid. It’s 4:30 a.m. on a chilly Tuesday, and the square is still mostly empty aside from a few stragglers. The mermaid holds up a series of cardboard signs promoting a campaign for vegetarianism by the animal rights organization PETA.
At 5 a.m., a cherry-picker rises from the square, and she steps onto it. A lady from Yorkshire, less scantily clad, steps out with a wooden frame taller than she is. She spends the next hour gluing brightly colored bits of cellophane onto the frame to create a massive piece of art.
An hour later, her time is up, and as the first commuters start to make their way across the square, the cherry-picker makes its trip again. It’s sunny now, and the cellophane artist is replaced by a man in his early thirties, who demonstrates fencing moves with a heavy-looking sword.
All day and night for 100 days this summer and through October 14, the cherry-picker makes its hourly round trip, each time placing someone new onto the platform in London’s busiest square, where they are free to do almost anything they like. This experiment in public art, called One and Other, is the brainchild of sculptor Antony Gormley. Launched on July 6, the project aims to turn everyday people into art, putting them at eye-level with the long-dead generals who look sternly on from their own platforms, at Trafalgar Square’s other three corners. And so far, it’s a huge hit.
Over the course of the project, 2,400 randomly selected volunteers—selected from over 32,000 applicants—will scale what Gormley refers to as “the plinth.” Once they’re up there, they hula-hoop, play guitar, unfurl banners, release balloons, sing, paint, chat to the crowd—basically doing whatever they like. Inevitably, this means a handful of people have publicly stripped (one was politely asked to dress again by police). For others, this has meant dressing as a ninja to spend an hour knitting in the dead of night. Together, they form a sort of living portrait of a city at a time when the world could use a little more art in its life—and a little perspective.
 Future or future? Present, but subtly discuised beneath. Antony Gormley made his name with large-scale public artworks: his Angel of the North—a 66-foot steel sculpture modeled on his own body Event Horizon, — is possibly Britain’s best-known sculpture. His pieces, Another Place and Event Horizon, place eerie, multiple life-size casts of his body along stretches of windswept northern beach, and over 31 London rooftops respectively (Event Horizon was a temporary piece). In its repetition of human forms, One and Other is very much a continuation of his ideas.
Even by his standards, though, it’s ambitious. Launching the project, Gormley said he was aiming to create a “portrait of the U.K. now” that offers “the chance for you and I to have a look at the world from the point of view of art.” (He won’t actually perform, however; he hasn’t been randomly selected.)
Londoners have become addicted to the spectacle, with anywhere from two to 200 passersby gawking at any given time. The project is also streamed live and saved online, where a vocal community of plinth-watchers discuss each person on the site, on Twitter, and on Facebook, coining phrases such as “plichés” (for clichéd plinth behavior) as they go.
Part of the project’s appeal is the unpredictability of what might unfold. Shortly before 11 p.m. on a Monday night, while a lady on the plinth holds up placards giving thanks for her kidney transplant, a white-haired man named Tom tells me he makes the trip to Trafalgar Square from north London a couple of times a week, just to see what’s happening. “I just like it. It’s something different, isn’t it?
Standing nearby, a talkative, compact man called John looks wistfully up at the plinth and relives his moment of glory to anyone who will listen: The previous Saturday afternoon, he dressed in a Union Jack and threw 200 roses to the crowd in memory of Princess Diana.
People get hooked on plinth-watching, even from further afield. Anthony, a neuropsychologist, tells me by e-mail that he hasn’t visited the plinth, but, “I try to watch the 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., and 5 a.m. slots online each night,” he says, “with a particular affinity for the 5 a.m. dawn slot.” He explains that he became a regular viewer after watching one lady, who hummed to the square at 3 a.m. “It was without a doubt the best piece of performance art I have ever seen… I got ‘it’—what Gormley was wanting this to be.”
So what does Gromley’s portrait of the U.K. show? Person by person, it picks out a picture of a nation that’s by turns earnest and eccentric, attention-seeking and contemplative. Hundreds of people use their hour to raise money and awareness for good causes, while others take the chance to show the world their singing or juggling, or to spread a little sunshine with bubbles and balloons.
Perhaps inevitably, as the project has gone on, the bar has been raised as people realize that others really are watching. Plinthers from outside London have found they’re the talk of their towns, appearing on local news and in the papers. Particular performances have been keenly discussed in letters pages of London papers and on Twitter, while highlights from each week make it onto a weekly TV show about the project. And over time, the banners have gotten bigger, the weird has gotten wackier, and the plinth has become a platform.
While at first many got up just to be there, now plinthers aim to be seen. These figures are nothing like Gormley’s other sculptures, silent and faceless: They’re noisy, whether for a cause or just for the feeling of an hour in the spotlight.
One and Other is a product of its age. It takes place both live and online; on the one hand it’s intimate — living, breathing and made up of people like you and me — while on the other hand it’s curiously anonymous, scrutinized and commented on through the internet, every hour recorded and watched by people from all over the world. It aims to celebrate ordinary people, but gives them an opportunity to show themselves as anything but ordinary.
As a contemporary art project, it’s been fantastically successful: More than 400,000 people logged onto the site in its first three weeks, while countless more have found themselves stopping to watch as they head through the square.
In some ways, it’s the perfect public monument to our short-attention–span society: if you’re bored or disappointed by a particular performance, not to worry. At the end of each hour of the day and night, the cherry-picker makes its way back up from the square to the edge of the 23-foot platform, a person steps off the plinth, and another steps on, ready to begin their hour as a living work of art.
Photos by (in order) flickr users paulsimpson1976, mittfh, and pikerslanefarm.
From the blogger : Isn’t that unbelievably arThou!
Tags: Anthony Gormley, arT, arT project, arThou, contemporary arT, London arT, Trafalgar Square arT
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Stick by stick: Steven J. Backman’s splintery medium finds a home in Carmel gallery
 More of Steven Backman's art can be seen at Mountainsong Galleries, Ocean between San Carlos and Mission, Carmel. (STEVEN J. BACKMAN/toothpickart.com) Not too many people consider the toothpick an art medium. That is, until they’ve seen the creations of Steven J. Backman.Backman has made a scale model of the Golden Gate Bridge out of 30,000 toothpicks — and a very tiny model of the same structure from a single toothpick. He’s captured the Empire State Building and San Francisco’s iconic cable cars, all painstakingly pieced together from those little bits of wood.
As if all that weren’t enough, he also has made toothpick portraits of celebrities and abstract sculptures from — you guessed it — toothpicks.
Backman’s work is so distinctive that it has earned several mentions in “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!”, the New York Post and Reuters.
“I love making art. It’s a unique medium, and it’s very challenging,” said Backman, a 42-year-old San Francisco native who began playing with toothpicks as a child, and obviously never stopped. “I’m one of the very few that does this, I think.
“It’s an item that you’d use to pick your teeth or pick up hors d’oeuvres. I’ve elevated a thin sliver of wood to a work of art.”
Lest you think this is merely an exercise in weird constructions, Backman’s work is now being carried by a Carmel art gallery, where currently a number of pieces may be seen anytime the gallery doors are open. (More of his work may be seen online at www.mountainsonggalleries.com or at Backman’s site, www.toothpickart.com.
Mountainsong Galleries of Carmel is Backman’s exclusive worldwide representative, and thus is the only place where the sculptures may be purchased.
Lucinda Mountainsong, co-owner of the gallery with husband Jonathan, said their recently opened establishment features works by California artists, with scenes from the Monterey Peninsula and other places around the Golden State.
She said Backman’s intricate work always draws comments from visitors, who are impressed with the intricacy and attention to detail.
“There’s one cable car that has little lights all over it,” she said. “Steven hollowed out toothpicks to hide the wires.”
Backman’s unusual path to the world of art really took off after he received his bachelor’s degree in industrial arts from San Francisco State University in 1984. He got the idea to make a cable car out of toothpicks — “I love cable cars, I used to ride them all the time” — and then he made another. And another. And another.
He then began to turn his attention to other historic landmarks. His 13-foot-long scale model of the Golden Gate Bridge took more than two years and 30,000 toothpicks to complete. In a happy coincidence, he finished the model just before the bridge’s 50th anniversary in 1987, and so it garnered a lot of attention — it was displayed at San Francisco City Hall and received proclamations from past and present mayors.
The bridge now belongs to the “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!” museum in Hollywood, which bought the piece for $250,000, according to Mountainsong.
Backman’s works are unique in other ways as well. At a distance, his works don’t look like they’re made from toothpicks, but appear as though they are carved from a single piece of wood.
No extra material is used to support any of his structures — he uses nothing but toothpicks and Elmer’s Glue to make them — and they are not lacquered or painted. Even his bridge replicas use no wire or cables, just toothpicks.
And so far, the pieces have proved they were built to last.
“I have some pieces that are over 25 years old, and they’re holding up just fine,” said Backman.
He also takes great pains with his replicas of famous structures. For instance, when he made a scale model of the Empire State Building, he was able to obtain copies of the building’s original blueprints, which he pored over so that he could get it just right.
In addition to these labor-intensive works, Backman also does toothpick portraits of famous people, including Carmel’s own Clint Eastwood, the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey, and also re-creates works of art like “American Gothic” and the Mona Lisa.
These, Backman said, are fun and don’t take so much intense effort over long periods.
In addition, there are several sculptures Backman has made from a single toothpick. He swears he uses no magnification devices when he carves these — “My eyes are pretty good, I guess.”
The toothpicks are “like tiny building blocks,” said Backman, who uses several different types in making his sculptures, including unpointed “blanks” that come directly from a toothpick manufacturer.
His next challenge: creating scenes in Monterey and Carmel … from toothpicks.
Backman has had his work on display at Mountainsong Galleries since August, and his work will be highlighted with a special exhibit at the gallery this December. A reception will be held, with Backman in attendance, on Dec. 4 from 4-7 p.m.
Backman’s motto is “The Essence of Patience,” which pretty much sums up his dedication to his craft.
“You stick with something long enough, you get good at it,” he said.
If you go:
What: The works of toothpick artist Steven J. Backman
Where: Mountainsong Galleries, Ocean between San Carlos and Mission, Carmel When: Open daily 10a.m.-6p.m. Reception for Backman set for Dec. 4, 4-7 p.m.
Information: www.mountainsonggalleries.com or 626-0600
Tags: abstract arT, arT, arT mediums, arThou, arTists, California arT, California arTists, creative arT, Mountainsong Gallery, portraits, sculptures, Steven Backman, toothpick arT, unique arT, unusual arT
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
 arTistic Visions What is it that makes a truly effective piece of graphic design? Is it just the skill that allows an artist to balance shape, color, texture, typography,photography and negative space to send a message – or is there a bit of magic to it? Creative talent is a tricky and elusive thing for most of the population, but some lucky people have it in spades.
These 15 graphic designers have managed to create work that stands out in a crowded field, using a diverse array of techniques, programs and materials.
 Joshua Davis <a href=”http://www.joshuadavis.com/”>Joshua Davis</a> is one of the most influential talents in the history of graphic design, with an incredibly vast portfolio of work that has made a deep impression upon many other graphic artists worldwide. Davis, who is now a professor at New York’s School of Visual Arts, pioneered a type of graphic design that utilizes Flash-based programs that he created himself to build images of “dynamic abstraction”, as Davis himself describes them.
Joshua Davis is one of the most influential talents in the history of graphic design, with an incredibly vast portfolio of work that has made a deep impression upon many other graphic artists worldwide. Davis, who is now a professor at New York’s School of Visual Arts, pioneered a type of graphic design that utilizes Flash-based programs that he created himself to build images of “dynamic abstraction”, as Davis himself describes them.
“Working this way allows me to generate an infinite number of compositions,” Davis explains in an Apple Pro Profile. “I set the boundaries and the rules, but whatever comes out at the end is a surprise. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It could look cool. It could fail. It could be life-changing. There’s always a surprising sense of discovery with this process, because I’m setting up an environment and allowing a scenario to live within it.”
 Pawel Kaminski There’s a sense of movement and urgency in every single one of Pawel Kaminski’s designs, something that gives them a vitality that can’t be ignored. Kaminski, of Poland, is quoted by SpeckyBoy as saying “I wouldn’t attribute my design passion to any serious philosophy, I feel this is a good way for artists and designers, you have to be open to most adventures from life. And sometimes a simple lack of words can be easily expressed through illustrations and art, design what you love.”
 Pawel Kaminski If there’s one element that ties all of Chuck Anderson’s creations together, it’s light. Anderson’s work is bursting with light effects that make his designs crackle with intensity. The prolific young designer has worked with an impressive range of clients including Paste Magazine, ESPN, Reebok, Absolut Vodka and Honda.
Anderson told Abduzeedo, “I don’t think I really have a set source of inspiration. To be honest, I just really love creating things that are striking and fun and vibrant. Things that jump out as far as color goes. You’ll see in my work a lot of times really intense light and color – I really enjoy creating things that feel supernatural and like they came straight out of my imagination.”
 Dries Schaballie Graphic design, concept art, art direction, illustration, 3-D modelling – Dries Schaballie does it all. Co-founder and director of Sevenedge Interactive Media, Schaballie has a fascinating portfolio of works that are alternately dreamlike, gritty and playful.
 Simone Magurno San Francisco-based, Italian-born graphic designer Simone Magurno has worked with Nike, Microsoft, Xbox, Target, GAP and many other clients and her work has been featured in Computer Arts Magazine and Digital Arts Magazine. Her designs, which are often web-based, have a clean, slick, modern quality that really allows the content to shine.
 I Love Dust The team at ‘I Love Dust’ design – one part Icelandic, five parts English and one part Chinese – can’t be separated from one another when it comes to their work, but their designs speak for themselves. Specializing in graphic design, illustration, motion graphics and product design, this team of creative powerhouses has one of the most distinctive styles in the biz.
 Erik Finsrud/The Norik Erik Finsrud, known as ‘The Norik’, went to school for audio engineering but fell in love with design somewhere along the way and now spends his days creating colorful graphic art for clients like Spike TV, Nestle, 1800 Tequila and Universal.
On his website, Finsrud notes, “Design to me, is about stripping away arbitrary distractions from the communicated message. Aesthetically I feel a design should be stimulating to the point of curiosity. A lot of my work also falls into illustration, which I feel is more about creating a visceral experience, although I still have a tendency to apply the minimalist principles of design.”
 Paul Lee Graphic designer Paul Lee of Los Angeles has worked with Lexus, Acura, Google, Adobe and Sony. His work has a characteristic elegant iciness to it that makes it all the more memorable, and results in a cohesive portfolio that reads almost like one continuous piece of sophisticated design.
 David Mascha Vienna-based artist and designer David Mascha who has been working with several different design studios since 2005. Mascha’s work has been displayed in exhibitions in Asia and Europe, print magazines and books and has also appeared on lamps, furniture and clothing. Mascha has a whimsical abstract style, employing bright colors and bold patterns and shapes against stark backgrounds for maximum graphic effect.
 Kevin Lucius Kevin Lucius is a graphic designer from Columbus, Ohio. Among his more recent work, an interesting retro modern aesthetic has emerged, mixing vintage colors, textures and imagery with clean, modern shapes.
 Julien de Repentigny Bold, exciting, fresh and most of all, fun: all of these words can be used to describe the work of Montreal graphic designer Julien de Repentigny. Typography takes center stage in three-dimensional designs created from materials like paper, ice and candy. Such unusual physical methods of creating his work might just make him the antithesis of completely computer-reliant graphic designers.
 Kofi Ansah Ghana-born, Italy-raised and UK-based graphic designer Kofi Ansah is only 20 years old, but his eye-catching work leaves little doubt that he has a long and distinguished career ahead of him. Ansah is currently an undergraduate student at the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in Chislehurst, Kent.
 Formtroopers Creative partners Toke Blicher Moller and Jeppe Bingestam, a.k.a Formtroopers, run a full-service progressive design studio in Denmark with a particular focus on motion and graphic design. Clients include MTV, The Discovery Channel, Pepsi and Warner Music.
 Rob Morris Australian graphic designer Rob Morris describes his style as “heavily influenced from the modernist school of design, employing simple shapes and clean typography.” His work has appeared in online design galleries, magazines and books worldwide and his clients include government departments, Broadway.com and rapper Jay-Z.
 Justin M. Maller Another Aussie, Justin M. Maller, has an altogether different style that focuses on his immense talent for illustration – but also, coincidentally, did design work for Jay-Z. Maller, based in Melbourne, has produced concept art for a diverse array of companies worldwide and is the creative director of depthCORE, an international modern art collective.
Source: weburbanist.com
Tags: arT, arThou, arTistic vision, computer arT, computer-generated arT, generated arT, graphic arTist, graphic design, interesting arT, psycodelic arT, visual arT
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Friday, August 28th, 2009
 Amazing Designer's Unusial Perspective It’s often said that there are no unique ideas out there – only unique means of executing those ideas. Swiss artist Felice Varini, however, has been executing his incredibly unique ides in a unique way since 1978. His singular style of geometric painting calls into question our ideas about complex art pieces and the interaction between art and viewer.
 A Vision of Unisial Artist Upon seeing Varini’s work for the first time, most people react by claiming it’s fake. Indeed, when looking at a photograph of a Varini painting from the vantage point, the painted object does appear to float in mid-air, like it’s been overlaid in Photoshop. But once you see the same painting from outside of the vantage point, it’s clear that the piece was created in real life without the use of computer trickery. He paints shapes and geometric patterns in three-dimensional spaces, so that when the viewer sees the piece from a specific vantage point it makes sense, but when viewed from outside of the vantage point the shape appears skewed and distorted.
 arT of infinity Though the technique looks incredibly complicated, Varini insists that “anyone can do it.” He says that his type of painting requires no special talent; rather, it requires thinking and choosing the right spaces. The spaces he tends to choose are wide-open interior spaces, such as museums and hallways, or exterior locations like rooftops or even entire villages. His goal, he says, is to explore aspects of the space that have heretofore been ignored.
 arT of Life  arTist school!
Although you can only see the complete, sensical painting from one specific vantage point, Varini insists that the most important aspect of his paintings is what lies outside of the vantage point. The myriad configurations viewable from every other possible aspect are what keep him inspired to continue creating these complex paintings. While the vantage point offers a predictable view, looking at the piece from any other spot creates an entirely new and unpredictable experience.
 The Unknown of Science  Science understood, World Not Thinking and creating much different than most other artists, Varini has indicated that he never considers the viewer when creating his paintings. He doesn’t consider how the pieces may someday be seen because he doesn’t know how or from where the viewer will see them. He simply creates a piece of art and sets it free to have an independent existence. According to Varini, the viewer can see the piece, be part of the piece, or even walk through it without noticing it or being able to identify it.
 Vision: Reality or Sense? In the artist’s words, from an interview with Poetic Mind:
“Everyone knows how a circle or a square looks like. My concern is what happens outside the vantage point of view. Where is the painting then? Where is the painter? The painter is obviously out of the work, and so the painting is alone and totally abstract, made of many shapes. The painting exists as a whole, with its complete shape as well as the fragments; it is not born to create specific shapes that need to satisfy the viewer. The paintings are not defined by the understanding of the viewer or what the viewer sees, but rather exist in their own right, and have their own relation to the three-dimensional space in which they were created. I work with the reality itself, with nature.
 Future, present in past. Although he creates his paintings on-site and usually on a large scale, Felice Varini does not consider himself an installation artist. He calls himself a painter, because regardless of where or how his art is realized, it is – at its core – a series of complex and beautiful paintings.
Source: weburbanist.com
None of the captions, alternative texts, or otherwise related to the according image attributes in any way represent arThou, inc. and, if any, these are solely thoughts and visions of the person who posted them. arThou, inc. is a corporation that encourages people to express themselves in whichever [legal] way possible.The thoughts and expressions expressed on this page, including, but not limited to, pictures are solely that of the individual who posted them or commented or, as mentioned foreabove, about them. arThou, inc. does not necessarily have the same views. arThou, inc. does not have liability for what the members of the corporation or individuals who affiliate themselves with it say or do. arThou is about arT, arTists, love, connections, being free.
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Tags: arT, arT project, arT scene, arThou, paintings
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Friday, August 28th, 2009
Art Taipei 2009, the longest-standing art fair in Asia with roots that go back to 1992, will kick off at Taipei World Trade Center today with a total of six themed areas and 78 galleries from all over the world, providing art lovers, investors, and artists the opportunity to feast their eyes on a variety of art forms.
“As the biggest annual art expo in Taiwan, Art Taipei is destined to become better and better each year,” said Betty Huang, minister of the Cabinet-level Council for Cultural Affairs yesterday at the opening press conference of the event in Taipei. Huang added that the annual event has not only caught the attention of domestic and international art circles, but also has a remarkable transaction record. Last year, a total of NT$750 million in transactions was reported during the five-day fair.
Huang added that, just like last year, the fair will showcase the works of eight talented local young artists in an area entitled “Made in Taiwan — Young Artist Discovery,” with an aim to increasing the visibility of young Taiwanese artists on the world art scene.
Besides the area for local new blood, Art Taipei has five more themed exhibitions: “Art Galleries”; “2009 Art Project — Art & Environment”; “Art, Now — Southeast Asia”; “Ela-Asia” and “Art Media.”.
The 78 galleries from countries all over the world offer various works including oil painting, sculpture, video installations and photographs.
Affordable art
Another feature of 2009 Art Taipei is a special event called “Affordable Art.” The works range from US$200 to US$2000 in price, providing plenty of opportunities for new collectors.
Meanwhile, Asia Art Economy Forum in Taipei will be held during the fair, offering a great chance to share and exchange experiences in the Asian art market with people with real global expertise.
The convener of the art fair, York Hsiao, said the event organizer will donate all ticket income to Typhoon Morakot relief. The five-day Art Taipei 2009 will run until Sept. 1 in Areas A and D of the Taipei World Trade Center.
Written By: Joseph Yeh
Tags: arT, arT event, arT fair, arT gallery, arT projects, arT Taipei, arThou
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Friday, August 21st, 2009
 arT of Science Our most famous fluids tend to be transparent — air and water, for example. This makes it hard for us to imagine how fluids are moving as members of the general public, but also poses an interesting problem for budding engineers. They need to know how to make fluids do what they want them to do. So, Jean Herzberg in the Mechanical Engineering teaches a flow visualization course here at CU. She does it in a fairly novel way, as a hands-on art and science course.
Image to right is from http://www.colorado.edu/MCEN/flowvis/
There’s a lot here. Some of the things she covers are photographic techniques, flow visualization techniques, some of the physics and phenomenology of fluids such as fluid rotation. She spends a lot of time on cloud physics. “I’ll never be able to ignore the sky again,” says one participant. But interestingly she also spends some time on the history of photography, which has evolved from a science to an art.
This is the only course in existence on flow visualization! (and it shows up first in Google searches for “flow visualization”.) She gets some envy from colleagues when she presents her results at conferences, whose courses tend to be highly mathematical. It’s unusual to mix art and science in quite this way, in which art students are expected to document and experiment, whereas the engineering students are expected to create expressive images with impact. The idea that engineers could learn something by creating something themselves is unheard of, and this enrages her. And in the end, the engineers create images that are just as compelling and indistinguishable from those of the artists.
In the experiments that students develop at home, they use everyday household fluids, which are environmentally benign. Usually toxic materials are used in laboratory courses, which is really unnecessary. She finds that she can’t explain the unusual physics of some of their observations. It’s also challenging because the exact properties of many of the materials used, such as food coloring and WD40. Combustion and fluorescence, she says, are always popular (natch). For example, one group wanted to make green flame, so poured flaming methanol in boric acid. Another made a negative image of smoke changing from laminar to turbulent flow as it exited the mouth. The images she showed us were from her 2009 class which will be on the web shortly, but in the meantime you can see many amazing student images in their galleries. The artistry of these images is astounding — the play of light and color, the use of humans as backdrops but using fluid flow as the main focus of the image. The science of the images is also compelling. One group of students discharged a fire extinguisher underwater, and saw three phases of matter (solid, liquid, gas) within that image. A Tesla coil arcing through the air shows interesting patterns, showing discontinuities in the breakdown of air.
Students also take many images of clouds as part of their assignments, which are also on the gallery page. Anyone who lives in Boulder knows that it’s an amazing spot for clouds — with the Rockies nearby and some interesting atmospheric conditions we get some curious clouds that I’ve never seen anywhere before.
What is the impact of this course on her students? She finds, anecdotally, that students experience life-altering changes after the course, and her surveys show that students’ beliefs and attitudes change to be more enthusiastic about fluid flow and they notice fluid flow in everyday life. (Why doesn’t she see this kind of change in her traditional engineering courses?) She sees changes in students perceptions of the discipline and the physics. Students feel better about the material — they see fluids as beautiful, interesting, useful, and fun. Traditional fluid mechanics course students have negative responses on most of these — they see fluids as not beautiful, useful, and it’s not something they feel able to do. This reminds me of my time at the Exploratorium, where I was first exposed to the incredible aesthetics of science, and the intersection between art and science. I began to notice all sorts of little, beautiful things — the cracks in the sidewalk, light on a puddle, swirls of milk in my coffee. I still do. Life-altering experiences? You betcha.
This is another kind of way of knowing fluid mechanics. These students could probably point to the sky and explain things about fluid mechanics that those who learned to do the calculations can’t. Note, however, that the engineering students in this flow visualization course have already taken the calculational fluid mechanics course. I wonder, how would students in the traditional fluid mechanics course see that course differently if they took this visualization course first?
Source: expertvoices.nsdl.org
Tags: arT, arT study, arThou, Jean Herzberg, MCEN, science arT, visualization arT
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Thursday, July 30th, 2009
The 5th annual Shady Cove River ArtWalk will take place on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The River ArtWalk follows the banks of the Rogue River, at Edgewater Inn and Rogue River RV Park (corner Hwy 62 and Rogue River Drive, next to the Shady Cove Bridge).
In addition, with limited space available at the River ArtWalk, a number of businesses, including Shady Kate’s Boutique, Books ‘N More, and others will welcome both visual and performing artists to set up in front of their businesses, along Highway 62.
On Saturday, from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. a “Kid’s ArtZone” will be held at Aunt Caroline’s Park, (Hwy 62 at Indian Creek Rd). In addition to an interactive art environment, a featured Native American “stick game” is set for 1 p.m. (Limited parking)
On Sunday, Aug. 9, kids of all ages can celebrate Smokey Bear’s 65th birthday at the Jackson County #4 Fire Station, in Shady Cove. Help Smokey Bear blow out all his candles. The celebration runs from noon to 3 p.m.
Call Erin at 878-2666 for further details.
This year’s artwalk features 100 fine artists from throughout Oregon. Out of state artists include Liz Rosier, Lake in the Hills (Chicago), Ill., with others representing Washington, Arizona, Nevada and a recently relocated artist from Hawaii.
The main entrance is at the Edgewater Inn Conference Room and includes several award winning artists, including, western artist Carl Seyboldt and Gail O’Dell, of Eagle Point; Karen Cain-Smith, Shady Cove; Kim Ragsdale, Trail; and, David Irwin “Images in Nature”, Butte Falls. Alice Zelina Berger (EP) will display and welcome guests to the Breezeway and “on the Green” Shauna Engbrecht, Marybeth Hines (EP), and Janet Rawlings (EP) will be featured.
Gates #2 & #3 located at the Rogue River RV Park includes artistic local talent, including Judi Steadman (Manzanita Mania), Scott Lang, Jim Kanitz, Debby Elder, Dorothy L. Dierks, Leona Haiker, Laureen Bong, Material Girls, and Christy Allwardt, of Shady Cove. Linda Steen, Linda’s Unique Creations; Cathy Spires, Braunda Gilchrist, Connie Drane & Idabelle Andrews, Lorie Easlick, and Dianna Clark “Sky Creations” from Eagle Point; Lori Paxton and Ruthanne Bray, will share a booth from Butte Falls. Guests may enter at any of the three gates for a unique artwalk experience. Stroll the 700′ scenic pathway paralleling the Rogue River; the art venue continues under the Shady Cove Bridge connecting the two River front properties. Free admission (donations accepted). Be sure to sign guest book for opportunity to win a special gift of art.
Music is featured throughout the River ArtWalk during the two-day event. “The Relief” Band, Eagle Point,
will play vintage blues on Saturday ( 2:30 p.m. to closing at 5:00 p.m.), on deck at the RV Park. While music continues throughout the art venue, Sunday morning will feature “Accordionist Uncommon” by Richard Gyuro, of Eagle Point. At 1pm, “The Diamonds & Denim” Band, is set to close out the weekend event. Julie Millard Griffith (Sam’s Valley), lead guitar and singer, describes her band: “Whether you’re rollin with the flow, or just wanna be country down to your soul – come enjoy” Umbrella tables are set up for guests enjoyment – and pavement is available to spring into 50’s or country dance . . .
Courtesy shuttles, including the nostalgic Molly Trolley and Upper Rogue Community Center van, will pick up guests throughout Shady Cove. Look for FREE “Park & Shuttle” signs.
For general information and a list of participating artists visit: http://www.upperrogue.org “click” on River ArtWalk information, call: 541-821-4700, or email: chamber@upperrogue.org
Tags: arT, arT event, arT festival, arThou, ArtWalk, ArtZone, Oregon arT, Shady Cove, visual arT
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Saturday, July 25th, 2009
It’s Not Easy Being Green is actually a collection of four sharply-drawn short plays and a dance piece by Washington-area artists, all about relationships in an era of ecological consciousness. An understanding that our present environmental challenges can be resolved only at significant risk or sacrifice (or both) underlies most of the plays, and sweetens the conflict among the characters.
Of the four plays – all of which had their merits – the best is clearly Driving Green, a two-hander by Theater J Founding Artistic Director Martin Blank. It is a drive through heavy traffic, taken by a conventionally liberal employee of an environmental nonprofit (Jill Levin) and her disgruntled husband (Matt “Slice” Hicks), an employee of Big Oil. Starting with his desire to turn on the air conditioning and counter the effects of the sweltering day, they needle each other in ways both personal and political, neatly managing to lay out most of elements of our national debate over the environment. There is a happy ending, for them, if not for us. It’s not exactly George and Martha, but it’s sharper dialogue than you’ll see in most short plays, or on TV. The writing is full of clever observations and unexpected developments, and Levin and Hicks give it full justice. A good play, well performed.
Hicks – whose work is one of the great pleasures of It’s Not Easy Being Green – also appears in another funny piece, Catherine O’Connor’s Manifesto. This is the story of a conceptual artist (Q. Terah Jackson) who intends to destroy all of his possessions and live a life totally divorced from material belongings – while being filmed by someone from the local art gallery (Jenny Donovan). Hicks plays a man newly made homeless by the sinking economy who wouldn’t mind some of those material belongings for himself, thank you very much. It is easy and fun to ridicule the pretensions of abstract “art statements”, and O’Connor has at it with great verve. Jackson’s performance, though, is a little over the top. When doing bombast, I recommend application of the Ralph Kramden Rule of Limitation: Unless you’re a better actor than Jackie Gleason – and you’re not – don’t make your character more bombastic than Ralph Kramden was in The Honeymooners.
The other two short plays are Ali Walton’s Use Unknown and Trash Talk by Ben Kingsland. The latter play is a dialogue between a garbage can (Carolyn Sagatov) and a recycling bin (Mary C. Davis, a little shrill for my taste). The play is better than I am making it sound in this brief description: Kingsland captures the holier-than-thou attitude of some environmentalists and puts it in the recycling bin. The garbage can, on the other hand, is earthy and winsome, thanks in large part to Sagatov’s performance and some excellent, uncredited costuming and makeup.
Use Unknown is a journey to the future, where Azania Dungee is an employee of a museum whose subject is – us. She and Matt Dewberry play an enormously appealing couple who explore their feelings about twenty-first century homo sapiens while also exploring their feelings about each other. The verdict on us: we were self-destructive schmoes, but at least we had passion. On each other? Stay tuned. The play is a little longer than it has to be, and its assumption that the future will be less passionate than the present – a common one in science fiction – is without evidentiary basis, but Walton gets us into the story without a whole lot of expositionary blather, and out of it with a minimum of fuss.
The four plays are bracketed by a brief ballet choreographed by Heather Anne Floyd and featuring Dewberry and Donovan, and some speechifying by a City bureaucrat and a guy who runs an environmental nonprofit. The ballet, which features a janitor, a garbage can, a broom, and trash, is funny and delightful. The speechifying, not so much so. The speechifiers may have noble purposes, and even do noble things, but the rules for them are the same as they are for all artists at the Fringe, whether they be writers, choreographers, directors or performers: speak to a purpose, acknowledge complexity, bring your work to a conclusion, and get off the stage.
Tags: arT, arThou, conscionse arT, DC arT, eco arT, nonprofit, plays, Wahington arTists
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Saturday, July 25th, 2009
A 14-artist exhibition at Cardwell Jimmerson Contemporary Art is a fantastic time capsule that travels back to the 1960s to remind visitors that thinking about art exclusively in terms of masterpieces and superstars ignores lots of good stuff, including messy experimentation, struggle, self-discovery and goofiness. Simply titled “60’s,” the fascinating, often wonderfully funky show is also a good bit of revisionist history. It reveals the depth and complexity of an emerging art scene that has still not made it into the history books.
Well-known artists are represented by eye-opening early works. An untitled abstract painting from 1960 by John Coplans shows the artist, writer and editor as a capable colorist whose interest in stiff, interlocked geometry would soften, but never disappear, over his long career. “Power Plant,” a nearly 6-foot-square canvas by Barry Le Va, evokes Philip Guston and H.C. Westermann and filters both through Le Va’s lifelong focus on the power of line and its capacity for drama.
Lesser-known artists are represented by a high percentage of first-rate works. These include Roger Kuntz’s point-blank painting of the lines painted in the intersections of busy city streets; Ynez Johnston’s raw canvas that recalls ancient cave paintings; Ron Miyashiro’s three frighteningly sexual sculptures; and John Barbour’s six hard-edged abstractions, each snazzier than its neighbor.
Worthy if not utterly original pieces by such often-overlooked artists as Tom Eatherton, Michael Olodort, Jim Eller and Stan Bitters add depth and a sense of interconnectedness to a scene defined by great inventiveness and even more back-and-forth, up-and-down dialogue.
Tags: arT, arT exhibition, arThou, Cardwell Jimmerson, contemporary arT, masterpiece, paintings
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