Guilty, as charged. I haven’t been consistent with the blogging. Blogging is important. It doesn’t pay the bills, though. Paying the bills has taken priority. I have been painting, teaching, marketing, and did a short stint managing a gallery for a friend. I am blessed. Many artists have not fared as well in this economy.

Art is generally considered a luxury item in our American culture. As a cowboy once put it, “That’s damned ingenious! Ain’t good fer nothin’, but it’s damned ingenious!” If you can’t eat it, ride it, or warm your bum with it, it isn’t something you really need. Even so, a cowboy came to see the art and was astounded by what he found. (It would surprise many an urbanite to know that contemporary cowboys are typically well read, well educated and well versed in the arts, if not conventionally articulate. Yes, real cowboys… in 2010. Beef not Kobi.)

We take things for granted in our American culture. Like the luxury of having so many cultures to experience. When it comes right down to it, feeding the body will take priority over feeding the mind until it is generally recognized that feeding the mind is the first step… not a luxury.

Critical thinking skills rank right up there with reading, writing and mathematics. Objective observation is the supposed cornerstone of the sciences. (Truth be told, the cornerstone is research $, and objectivity is slave to that Master.) In fine art, we have the vehicle to convey history, math, reading comprehension, objective observation, critical thinking skills, and writing. No other vehicle conveys all subjects cohesively. It’s not just fun… it’s effective.

It’s not just effective, it’s infectious. Open one mind in any given group…

It is most confounding that some would scream for the destruction of the USA. Apparently, some people missed the lessons of history. Take the lesson about the dark ages, for example. The period following the fall of Rome, and prior to the Renaissance. The title of the period, Dark Ages, is a dead give away. (Pun intended) Unlike Rome, the US does not actually occupy 2/3 of the world, forcing militaristic classism on populations the world over, plundering as a rolling thunder. (Not like Rome did.) Not saying we are anyone’s saving grace, but we aren’t the raging evil we are made out to be, either. We get quite a bit of bad press. (We keep most of the really bad press here, sparing the rest of the world the awful abuses of freedom of speech.)
There are a tremendous number of really dumb Americans, in fact. One has to wonder how that came to be, given the genetic diversity and the fact that we can all claim a heritage of smart exit strategy from some place else. It’s really quite beyond comprehension that we can’t get an exit strategy together when we go messing in other places!
The people of America are not the government of the USA. The history books tell us we were founded on that principle: by the people, for the people. If that was the vision, it was lost long ago to capitalism and constitutional ammendments.
Anyone who thinks slavery is not alive and well in the USofA has not met the working class of the US. The truth is, the backbone of this country is busy in the salt mines sweating double digit billions and wondering how long they can keep pace with the demand for more taxes, more charity, more blood-sucking government and more “suck-it-up” from the financiers of our own doom; all the while praying China or Japan doesnt decide to manufacture salt. We are not the fat, lazy, spoiled children of privilige too often seen on television. The backbone of America defends anyone, anytime, anywhere; feeds anyone, anytime, anywhere; and asks for little more than consideration in return. We do this because we are NOT so fat we have forgotten what drove people to give up thier homelands to come here, and because we really can not take the whole world in, even if we want to.

The good news for the screamers is, the time for screaming is almost over. The way things are going, the efforts to terrorize us will have been fruitless. We will be destroyed from within. When we are, the greedy bastards who engineered it all will be looking for a new home and new salt mine… I just want to go on record as having said, “I did not bring this to you. I brought the bread and the salt.”

Let me in, great Mystery of creation; that I may craft a thing which, by virtue of the joy it brings, merits the process. May I glorify the joy of Creation, first and always, by living it. Blessed be thy timeless name, which can not be spoken.

A funny thing about intellectuals is a tendency to become egocentrically ”in-the-know”, and to associate only with those who are of the same mind with regard to intellectualism. (It should be noted, I could never be mistaken for an intellectual, so there is little risk of my denegrating their ranks with my humble ponderings and ‘lower branch’ awareness.) However, I would not be offended to be tagged as an intellectual. There are certainly worse “tags” to wear. (The lower branches are full of “tags” dropped from upper branches, afterall.) 

Hastening through the evolutionary tree, it was the intellectuals who determined “as above, so below.” The view from the top must have been the next green belt and the birds, immediately followed by lower beings making thier way towards the green belt on two feet. Of course, it is possible the first expedition was led by one of the upper dwelling visionaries. More likely, the intellectual reasoned to wait until the ever present predators had their fill before venturing forth.

Today, we celebrate both the great thinkers and the brave adventurers. Today, the next green belt is Mars, or perhaps a moon of Venus. Wouldn’t it be ironic to discover the price of such a venture is the sacrifice of our ability to walk upright?

Tags: culture, evolution, Intellectualism, Musings, new frontiers, space travel

“My sins are ever before me.”  To me, this translates as “My process is ever before me, ever imperfect.” The visual language is a living thing, ever evolving.

Dave Martzolf

Chuck Close

Artistic Rug

Tags: visual art, visual communication, visual language, visual literacy

Aside from artwork, because of artwork, and to support the artwork, I have a job. I am exhibition director for a small gallery attached to an art supply store. It pays the rent for the studio, and keeps me hopping around the community when I might other wise be isolated. I have to make myself get out in the world, out of my bubble of endless ponderings. I am always interested in what others are doing, but it tends to add to my list of ponderings.

I teach drawing, too, a few evenings each week. This, I do for the cash and the “AHA!” moments of sudden realization. I intensely dislike some aspects of teaching adult continuing education, however. Specifically, the aspects of mixed motivations, involved. Folks take the classes for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with learning, craftsmanship, or art. Some come to class for social purposes, some for entertainment, and others for therapy. I dont mind providing a little entertainment with the lesson…

I look for ways… little things I can do to make the world a better place. Not big splashes, just little ripples. The art supply and the gallery are vital community resources. Art is, both, provacative and healing. All communities need both of those influences. That which creates also destroys. Not everything that destroys also creates.

I stay late, arrive early, fix the plumbing, mop the floors, make and check the lists, and ponder the ripples. I am not one to climb to the top of the tree. I have seen enough asses up there to realize mine is not going to do much good. Besides, the fall from greater hieghts is more dangerous. I have enough difficulty picking myself up from lower altitudes.

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The Monroe-Sky Valley YMCA is looking to help promote the Arts with their YMCA Arts appreciation week on Oct. 5th through Oct. 11th.

They are hoping to reach out to artists who may want to display/promote their artwork and who would be willing to spend some time (an hour or so) to answer questions about their art medium.  It would also be possible for Artists to sell their works if they chose to do so.  Time frames could be worked out to the convenience of the artist and their artwork would be available to be on display the entire week the event is occurring at the YMCA.

If you are interested in participating in this event, p,lease contact Kathryn Garrison at the Monroe YMCA 360-805-1879 or kgarrison@ymca-snoco.org. 

The Monroe YMCA serves hundreds of members everyday, so the artists choosing to participate would receive a great deal of exposure.  In addition, it is a great way to promote the arts in our community.  Kim Hoover, Monroe Arts Council

drawing: dynamic anatomy help

Painting: Color Theory 

Art as Visual Research: 12 320 x 320 - 83k - jpg scientificamerican.com	The improvement of visual 567 x 449 - 75k payvand.com	Audio Visual Art….FOTC 560 x 420 - 16k - jpg instructables.com	Visual Art Competition 340 x 423 - 38k - jpg mustardfestival.org	Masterpieces: Visual Arts 300 x 384 - 31k - jpg nea.gov
Visual Arts at Century 510 x 362 - 40k - jpg centurymontessori.com	to the Visual Art Program. 713 x 475 - 202k - jpg bowdoin.edu	Visual Arts Gallery 700 x 470 - 264k - gif illustrationmundo.com	Visual Art and the 900 x 300 - 274k eif.co.uk	Visual art by Pamela 640 x 480 - 50k subtletea.com
McColl Center for Visual Art: 3228 x 2490 - 1556k preservationnation.org	School of Visual Arts: Sugar 450 x 348 - 53k - jpg toxel.com	more visual art this year. 347 x 260 - 83k - jpg negrophonic.com	Art Gallery drawing of a 326 x 461 - 43k - jpg mde-art.com	ArtsZone Home > Visual Art 788 x 243 - 80k - jpg arts.utoronto.ca
Singaporean visual art 482 x 320 - 34k asianartnewspaper.com	offshoot of visual arts of 628 x 373 - 257k - png mootee.typepad.com	Visual Arts at Century 510 x 362 - 42k - jpg centurymontessori.com	Visual Art. Ferris Wheel 410 x 307 - 55k - jpg lizsoterosmc.com	Visual art by Jeff Crouch 700 x 525 - 93k subtletea.com

subtletea.com

Sears gets mere wrist slap for allegedly spying on customers
Mitch LipkaSep 14th 2009 at 7:00PM Filed under: Shopping, Consumer Ally

Consumers were outraged when a settlement first reported on WalletPop in June was reached between Sears Holdings over an accusation by the Federal Trade Commission that the owner of Sears and Kmart was spying on the web use and online shopping habits of its customers. They won’t be a lot happier with the ending.

The feds just officially resolved the case after commissioners accepted the proposed settlement and the penalty for Sears’ alleged overzealous, privacy invading behavior wasn’t even a slap on the wrist. It was a gentle touch. The harshest part of whole situation was the FTC actually letting people know the situation even happened.

To join the “My SHC Community,” users downloaded software that ended up grabbing some members’ prescription information, emails, bank account data and purchases on other sites. Sears called the group that participated “small” and said the data captured by the program was at all times secure and was then destroyed.

The FTC filed a complaint against Sears, accusing the retailer of deceiving those who signed up for the service and downloaded the software.

“(Sears) failed to disclose adequately that the software application, when installed, would: monitor nearly all of the Internet behavior that occurs on consumers’ computers, including information exchanged between consumers and websites other than those owned, operated, or affiliated with respondent, information provided in secure sessions when interacting with third-party websites, shopping carts, and online accounts, and headers of web-based email; track certain non-Internet related activities taking place on those computers; and transmit nearly all of the monitored information (excluding selected categories of filtered information) to respondent’s remote computer servers,” the FTC concluded. http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/09/sears.shtm

Tags: Consumer, IT, Juris Prudence, Privacy