Culturehall

I recently have had the opportunity to join a nicely executed online art gallery and portfolio website called Culturehall. The creator and founder of Culturehall, David Frey, found typical online gallery sites lacking when he was searching for his own needs. With a vision in mind, he spent 6 years learning the ins and outs of web publishing, and then focused his energies on building the site he was looking for. Culturehall is fairly new on the web scene, launched in June of 2008. The site is targeting serious early and mid career artists that are looking for an active art community and an online portfolio. The interface is clean and sleek, and I have had an easy time of setting up my own pages and creating a nice web portfolio. There is a critique feature that I really like, where artists can discuss specific aspects of artworks. I think we all could help ourselves by helping each other.
I've had a chance to converse a bit more in detail with David via email about Culturehall. He had some interesting things to say. Our online interview went as follows:

CC: Every artist who spends a bunch of time uploading work to a website wonders what advantages this will give them. What work gets done behind the scenes @ Culturehall for publicity? What online artist sites (not blogs) have been especially cooperative in terms of networking?

DF: Beyond the website itself being a great tool for artists to gain an audience, culturehall presents artist's catalogs and other materials submitted by members at various venues. In the past year we have participated in the Fountain Art Fair both in Miami and New York. Culturehall also took part in Conflux which is a festival exploring psychogeography - the intersection of technology, art and public urban space. Members also are contacted regarding the occasional call for artwork that we receive for events and things like TV shows.

CC: Competition for online galleries has to be high. There are so many of them. I feel as tho I end up porting most of my things from flickr to the various art sites, and I have to admit it feels tedious to do this. At first, I signed up for everything I was offered. But at this point, I don't have that kind of time and I must remain choosy. What things can an artist find at Culturehall that they cannot find elsewhere?

DF: Unlike most other art portfolio websites, culturehall is curated and selective about what is included. We offer an online portfolio community to the artist who often has recently finished his or her studies or is a few years out of art school. The majority of the Artists presenting work on culturehall are invited. While we are open to applications, each applicant is considered not only for their current body of work, but for their overall portfolio and fit within the community. The way an artist can display work is also unique to culturehall. The system was built from scratch to be as friendly as possible for presenting all forms of art, whether it be paintings, performances, videos or audio works. Artists can choose to mix different kinds of media together (images, video and audio) to not only describe an artwork, but its context, details, etc.

CC: I notice your site has only one major banner ad. What are your opinions about advertising on a social site? Are you opposed to advertising on Culturehall? Are any plans in the works to add the ability for artists to buy ad space?

DF: Ideally Culturehall and other social networking sites would be free of advertisements. Unfortunately there are real costs associated with keeping these environments going and sponsorships or advertising is one method of generating income. Culturehall is selective in the sponsor based content included in the website. It is a concern to us not only to keep the look and feel of culturehall inline with our ideals, but the products or events that are being offered need to be analogous with our mission. We do not use automated advertising and work with sponsors to make sure their presence on culturehall is harmonious with what our artists present. We are open to the idea of allowing artists to sponsor Culturehall, but we have not been actively promoting this feature.

CC: I really like the toolbox, and the fact that you can immediately see the hits on your works. I think it's a great tool to help artists figure out which works are the most popular. I have not seen any critiques on my work yet. But I understand it's difficult to sit and seriously critique work. Without the benefit of facial features, it's hard to be sure your comments come across as constructive, and not judgmental. Do you have any feedback on the critique feature? Is there a way to promote more discussion?

DF: For me, having the critical feedback of my professors and peers was one of the most valuable parts of studying art and something that I really miss after leaving school. Critiques on Culturehall are meant to be a way to share ideas and pose questions. Often it is very difficult to find someone with a similar vision to share ideas and one of the Internet's great strengths is how it can connect people with similar and very focused interests. In many ways I think the term "critique" is a bit too formal for what this forum attempts. But we felt it was necessary to differentiate the intent of this format from the usual "comments" sections which often devolve into "Love the color!" postings. While it would be great to have artists write paragraphs about each other's work, critiques are meant to be a few sentences long. Long enough to intelligently convey an idea or pose a interesting question. An important side note about Culturehall critiques is how it allows members to promote their work. The member posting the critique has the option of promoting one of their works to the top of the "browse" list along with the critiqued work as if these works had just been added. Artworks appearing on the first few pages of the "browse" section are seen many more times.

CC: I have series of works and a lot of time they are in groups. While putting up my images, I didn't see any kind of feature for saving sets of work. It would be nice to be able to give an explanation about your thoughts regarding a series... Is there a workaround for this? Or am I totally missing something?

DF: When initially developing Culturehall, I wanted to concentrate on artworks individually. Generally artworks do exist within a series or other context, but for implementation it was a balance of how best to present an artwork and at that time keeping each freestanding made the most sense. A few ideas are under consideration about how to present series or groups, but we will be giving them more thought before adding this functionality. Regarding a workaround, some artists are using one artwork as a series and then adding multiple media pages to the work, with each page acting as an individual piece of art in that series. I'm not opposed to this solution, but it is not ideal for the artist as this system does not allow each of the works to be presented when visitors are browsing Culturehall.

CC: I have 2 websites, 3 blogs, and I post on flickr. In addition, I belong to a few other artist gallery sites. I would love examples from other artists on how they use your site to benefit their publicity or art career. Have you received feedback from artists on how they use Culturehall to promote their work?

DF: I feel your pain! Culturehall is meant to be a very specific forum for artists. An easy and efficient way to promote their artworks online in a professional manner with other like minded individuals. Directly I know that a few artists have had success with being included in shows from curators finding their work on Culturehall. Also one of our artists was the subject of a documentary short which was a direct result of his membership. Many of our members use their Culturehall portfolios as an effective way to drive traffic back to their private portfolio websites since they can add links to their Culturehall pages. We also have members who do not have their own websites and are using their culturehall portfolio as their primary artistic presence online.

CC: Any special plans for the future of Culturehall?

DF: Nothing specific, but I would like Culturehall to become more involved with our local community. I don't really see the website being an end in itself, but a great way to bring together people who have an interest in contemporary art.

If you think Culturehall may be a good fit for your artwork, I encourage you to visit the Culturehall site.

Poster in progress

Poster in progress
Originally uploaded by misphit

I have to admit it's been too long since I was on the studio table. I felt rusty, out of place....slow. Unimaginative, robotic but foreign, and LOST. When I was a musician, my mom and dad always told me practice practice practice. And after that, practice some more! I think there may be some truth to this in art also! The longer I am away from my work,the more difficult it becomes to break ruts and trends. (I think that was exactly my goal. I am trying to go a different direction and old habits are dying hard!)
This wekeend I went to the pile o' undone stuff, and found this crazy stencil I did WAY back. I didn't like it at the time, and in fact I was quite burned out on the whole Sharon Springs subject and desperately I wanted to move on. So this sat on the shelf all this time, and this weekend it called out to me.
I need a poster for my upcoming solo show. This show will have a lot of my Sharon Springs stuff in it, and since they haven't been formally shown yet, it's quite a big deal. I want the poster to be in the same style as most of the works being shown. Since I am trying hard to do some vastly different things lately, going back to previous way of thinking was really difficult. I just sat there and stared. I managed to get it together, but there was no little internal thrill when it was done, no skipping around the studio exhilarated or anything... I like the piece, but somehow, it just doesn't scream at me. I am hoping to make a good show poster out of it, regardless.

The Day the Book Came

Today the book arrived, early! I ended up having to stay home from work on a most gorgeous and sunny Friday ....boo hoo, i fakely sob!!!
They sent the book FEDEX! No wonder it was 10 bucks for shipping. I imagine Blurb has to do it that way in order to keep it all paperworked, ya know, like making people sign for the packages and all that tracking number b.s... I had to suck up the cost for this round. I can't see printing a bunch of books without a proof! Hello!?? I worked for a union Litho printer! Ya gotta proof it!
And lo and behold there was one funky page that the type was not as clear. I must've saved it wrong or something cuz the rest of the book was really sweet. It's such a nice ego rush to see your little storybook all professional and glossy. Now I need to do some math in order to figure out just how many I need to order (and then sell!) to be able to make the money back on the shipping. And then there's that little thing called profit. Isn't there?

Celestiathon on Blurb

FINALLY!
The Blurb process is complete and my book is done...and for sale!!!
This was quite a learning experience on just how much of an annoying perfectionist I can be!
I had the art completed from when I did the Bakers Dozen for Cecil a few months ago. I really wanted to make a little storybook from these pieces. So already I had 12 pages I could use.
I figured on putting the titles of the artwork in massive scripts on the opposing pages. This would give me 24 total pages. I made matching backgrounds on Yupo, but I didn't add too much in the way of ephemera, and used the computer to add the words. This whole process went pretty smooth.
Until I previewed the book.
It was the front matter that wigged me out. There's a title page, an intro, a cover, a back cover....More pages than I was ready for. I tried so hard to cheat! I had used nice script on the main portion of the book, and on the title page and intro I tried to use the fonts available thru Blurb instead--like Helvetica or something. I ended up back at the studio table to create artwork pages for these. Then there was the cover. I had grabbed a plain jane watercolor background and simply added my script title, but no collage.
Time to preview. Looks GOOD! Lets get this over with at last!
Yay! I was ready to upload and finally order my book! I pushed the upload button. And stared at the bogus quicky cover job I just did on the screen while it uploaded away. Hell. I am a collage artist, and there's no collage on the cover? How will I draw anyone in to look at this book with such a plain cover? I imagined me looking at my wondrous book and wanting to rip off the lamo cover upon arrival. I am going to pay for a bogus covered book???!@#%#$%@#$%!!!!! AAARRRrrrggh!> I cancelled the upload. Back to the studio AGAIN for cover creation.
So I am happy to report that all these trial runs, these crazy previews, they all have made me aware of the quality of the book.
I am awaiting my proof copy. I didn't want to order a quantity or anything till I saw the colors and the quality of the type. I will report back when I have it in my hands, probably end of next week. Seems like a long turnaround time, tho. I uploaded this on last Friday, and the order won't ship till the 13th. And I didn't pay for slick shipping either, but it still cost me more than 10 bucks to have one paperback book shipped to me. That's a drag...but when I order a quantity, I can hopefully absorb the cost. They make the pricing pretty close to retail. I can't see myself making more than 3 - 5 bucks off each copy, making the public cost about 21.95 - 23.95. How much would YOU pay for a paperback art book??
And so, this completes another experience, another chapter in my own book o' life.

Surreal Assemblages of Maissa Toulet

I can't recall how I stumbled upon these luscious pictorials! These are the coolest and most trés modern little pieces of art I have seen in awhile. They really speak to me. They are refreshingly different.

Her use of materials is ingenious.

luvluvluv.
You can find more of her intense artwork here on her elegant website.

TWICE as free!

This sounds like such a cool and non-commercial idea!!!!! It's kind of a localized thing but I felt it was worthy of posting.

THIS YEAR THE ART IS TWICE AS FREE
as Paper Kite Press Studio & Gallery Celebrates Their Second Anniversary

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
August of 2009 will mark the Second Anniversary of Paper Kite Press Studio & Gallery at its current location on Main Street in Kingston. Last year we had the crazy idea to give away all of the art on exhibit in August. It was such a HUGE hit, this year we're making the art twice as free.

FREE ART
All works on display for the August Anniversary show will be FREE (limit one piece per household). All we ask is that you genuinely WANT the piece you decide to own. Yes, free. No catch, no strings, no tricky marketing gimmicks. Like it, and you own it. Period. This is our way of saying "thank you" to the community that has supported us, and, our way of supporting a community that continues to say "thank you" to us for bringing the arts to Main Street.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
First, we are asking ANY artists who are interested in being considered for a solo or group show during the 11 months after August to submit their portfolio, representative work, slides, or CD of images for consideration along with ONE display-ready piece. The display-ready pieces will be hung during the month of August, and will be available to anyone who wants it for FREE. Selections for solo or group shows for the next exhibition cycle will be made by the end of August. All future shows will be by artists who support our philosophy of giving back to the community by donating a piece of art to August Anniversary Shows. Second, we are asking ALL artists (or owners of art) to consider donating a display-ready piece of art to be given away at this event, even if you have no interest in being considered for a solo or group show at this time. Any and all artists who would like to share in this opportunity to give back to the community are invited to bring one to three pieces of work to the Gallery on Sunday August 16th between noon and 5pm. The exhibit opening will be held on Friday, August 21st, and is free and open to the public to attend. Visitors to the opening who are interested in a particular piece of art are asked to return on Sunday August 23rd at noon to claim the work. All art will be displayed during the month of August, and will be available to anyone who wants it for FREE. Last year, 55 pieces of art (all that were donated) were given away to happy homes.

SPECIAL BONUS FOR ARTISTS WHO DONATE ART IN PERSON ON
SUNDAY AUGUST 16TH
Artists who are able to bring their work in person for drop off on Sunday August 16th will be given the opportunity to participate in an invitation-only group show that is scheduled for July of 2010. The unique nature of this event is such that it requires your presence on Sunday to make a selection and take that selection with you.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?
For details on how to donate art, how to have your work considered for a future show, or other ways you can help support our initiative to give back to the community, please contact one of us:

Jennifer Hill Dan Waber
David Hage, Gallery Coordinator,
443 Main Street Kingston, PA 18704, USA, wordpainting.com

www.sharonspringsdk.com

After so much work, I finally have something to show for myself and something to share with you today.
SharonSpringsDK
A couple of years ago, I got a grant from NYS for a project that I was working on that involved creating collages, taking photographs and making movies inspired by a town near where I live. Sharon Springs was a booming town in Victorian times. There are several mineral springs located in the town, and back in time bathing in medicinal waters was en vogue. Beautiful and elaborate buildings were erected to house the throngs of people that came upstate to vacation and soothe their souls in the healing springs. This type of therapy has long lost favor, and the town has been left to decay away into history. Recently a Korean firm purchased half of the ailing buildings with plans to put Sharon Springs back on the map again by renovating the buildings and opening them to tours of people of mostly Asian descent who still enjoy therapeutic benefit from mineral springs. I don't think the local folk are quite convinced that this is a good thing, however, and I think that they are butting heads with the new owners. So far, the new owners have done nothing to any of the buildings, except for the addition of new posted signs in places that were traditionally open to the public. This makes my project even more interesting, since you can no longer legally get into these spaces.


One of the facets of this project was a website to house all of the components. I have had 2 years to hash out in my mind 1oo ways to present the material. I even paid for 2 years of web hosting and web housing before I could make up my mind on how best to do it. My conclusion? Just plunge in and DO IT already! Most of the problems seem to exist within me, as go back and forth deciding how I want it to be. Conflicted, it took me awhile to progress.
The main menus were my first battle and I ended up doing a piece of artwork to use just for this purpose. There was so much written about Sharon Springs in it's heyday, so I chose several vintage quotes to use on the menu pages and cited their sources. I am not certain I like them the way they are just plunked on top of the page. I may go back and change this. (Do you have an opinion about them? Feel free to comment!)
The backgrounds for the artwork pages became my next quest. I decided to use fabrics, old texts and patterns. These came out okay, and I am pleased with the resulting virtual frames. Next will be the photos. I have a bazillion photos and it's going to take me awhile just to cull out the best ones that should post online. An artists' work is never done, right???
Do take a poke around the site if you get a chance. So far, only the artwork is posted. Each menu is open, but you will find only the artwork links are live for now.
For me, it's ONWARD to the photo sorting party!

The Silence!

I know, it's been a silent blog for a couple of weeks. That doesn't mean that collage thoughts are not happening in the background or that projects are not coming to fruition!

Recently I posted a bunch of collages done on Yupo that were celestially themed for Cecils Bakers Dozen. I have taken these works and decided to create a book from them. I am working towards publishing on Blurb. I had purchased a book from my friend Aya on Louchelab, and it was really sweet quality. Altho I have printed on laser several times and created a bunch of small independent books, I am interested in a more professional look for my work. The Blurb format seems to be a nice match. There are a few choices for sizes...and this was helpful since I had not designed the book for Blurb specifically.

The project has required a lot of computer time. I had to scan all the artwork and retouch them in Photoshop. All the little dusts and scratchies, the little blobs of ink or glue that hit the scanner bed and stuck there, any stray cat hairs from Latrina-the toilet-kitty, this all had to be removed. I had to spend some time thinking, (Horrors!) to come up with suitable captions for the text. None of this seemed bloggable. Yet it has been work! The next phase is creating the book in the Booksmart software that Blurb provides. It's easy to do, I just want to play perfectionist on the layout. I want to use interesting typography. These things take time.

The other task that has me going crazy is a website I am working on. I received a grant a couple of years ago and was able to do a large body of work. I have procured a website and I am loading it with all of the content. This is also a computer heavy job. There's so many hours spent designing pages, coding flash, composing movies. It's labor intensive! But it isn't too bloggable. At least, not for now!

I am eager to get off of the computer and back to the studio. For me, that's where the fun is! The discipline that is required to keep on track seems to be good personal medicine, I admit. It's not my strong point and probably never will be. Focus is something I have for a little while, until I am distracted! The website has been in the works for 2 years. It's really long overdue that I complete things. But when my free time is so sparse...I end up always choosing hands on creation vs. computer creation. It's a battle.

So here is The Silence. This moment when my blog is still and nothing appears to be happening. Then all of a sudden, there's going to be a virtual (no pun intended!) flood of graphic imagery, interactive pieces, and a book to feast on.

In The Hall of Stars

In The hall of stars
Originally uploaded by misphit

I would like to explain this series a bit philosophically. A lot of times I just present the art for arts' sake, and the reasoning and influence behind the works is lost perhaps only to me. That's why artists write abstracts and mission statements and all that jazz. I haven't had much occasion to write about my work. I decided that maybe by writing about the meanings behind it, I can help my brain along in finding a better way to visually describe things, and maybe help my audience along, too.

This particular series is about people and their connection to the planetary universe. I have always had a fascination for the stars and I feel that although they are far away from us physically, they influence us all in ways that we cannot measure through our 5 senses. I am humble enough to accept the fact that there are things that happen behind the scenes in this life that are at this time unexplainable. The moon affecting the tide is one example of the amazing things that we cannot exactly explain, but yet no one can deny it's existence. I also accept the simple fact that we humans just don't know it all. So the idea that there is an interconnectedness between us and the universe around us is not out of the question and I believe it has truth.
I treat astrology as a set of characteristics and information that humans have gathered thru centuries of taking notes, comparison, and experience. I don't consider it gospel. I do however see a simple correspondence between some of the basic ideas behind astrology and our reality. It is not an exacting science for me and never will be. I don't read my horoscope and plan my life. I treat it like maybe more of an influence. Again, for me these things are shrouded in mystery. I am not certain of the exact terminology, nor do I really care to pursue the details too far. I just know in my heart that I am connected to everything in the universe. Me, you, them, the chair I sit on, the room I am in, the country we live in, the planet we are on, the galaxy we exist in...we are all connected.
As Eckhart Tolle put it so smoothly in A New Earth, "The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars, and the causes of even the smallest event are virtually infinite and connected with the whole in incomprehensible ways."

This body of work was/is an expression of these ideas. I have used planets and stars as my visual language to show that in each setting, no matter how archaic, the cosmic influence is present. In some of these pieces I have succeeded better than others in translating this idea. I have left out reference to astrology specifically, only because then the viewer may try to identify (or not identify)) with that piece because of the astrological sign I would use. I don't want to be that specific...I have been concentrating on this concept, and I have more to say visually. If a teacher gave me an assignment and said, express what you read in the last paragraph visually, I would come up with something totally different than the artwork I have shared with you in this blog.
My challenge is to go back now again to the table and attempt to put on paper the ideas that are more abstract that exist in my head.

These pieces are destined for The Original Baker's Dozen International Collage Exchange that Cecil hosts in Fort Worth, Texas. I also hope to publish a book using some of these images and perhaps others...the ones that are still in my mind.

Artist Call: A Book About Death

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH: AN UNBOUND BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF DEATH

Opening, Thursday, 10 September 2009.

Exhibition: 10 - 22 September 2009. Emily Harvey Foundation 537 Broadway New York City, New York 10012 USA


1000 Artists Each Produce Their Edition Of 500 Postcards In The Sprawling Unbound 1000-Page A Book About Death. The Book Will Be A Limited Edition: 500 Copies (Following The Number Of Artist Produced Cards).


An Open Call To Artists Worldwide To Contribute To A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is an open, unbound book produced by artists worldwide. Artists are invited to create a "page" in the form of a postcard about death– any aspect about death. Works can be of any design, personal or conceptual, color or black and white.

The original work about death stays with you, the artist; the 500 postcards produced from the work is for the exhibition, and are sent to the gallery.

Artists can include any information about themselves on the cards, front or back.

The 500 post cards are then mailed to the gallery in New York City for exhibition.

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH takes its inspiration from the late, underground American artist Ray Johnson (1927 - 1995). Ray Johnson’s unbound “book” of the same title was mailed to his New York Correspondence School “students” and included pages in his idiosyncratic style that were funny, sad and ironic “one-page essays” on death. With the A BOOK ABOUT DEATH project, artists are invited to plunge into subject in creating their own pages that score the dramatic final dance of death.

EXHIBITION & EVENT: Each artist contribution will be displayed in the Emily Harvey Foundation gallery space in New York. Visitors will be free to take cards and create their own book about death. As the cards are removed, the exhibition will disappear.

During the exhibition, a lecture/panel discussion will take place with a number of leading writers, curators, artists and collectors bringing together a number of salient ideas about death, books, mail art works, Ray Johnson and the global nature of A BOOK ABOUT DEATH. The panel list will be announced when it is finalized this summer.

There will also be a website for the exhibition, serving as the portal for A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.


HOW TO SUBMIT
1. Produce an artwork about death. Make 500 postcards and mail the package to A BOOK ABOUT DEATH c/o Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery 537 Broadway New York City, New York 10012. All submissions will be accepted if they arrive in time. Artists may produce more than one card if they wish.

DEADLINE: Postcards should be in the gallery no later than 5 September 2009.

2. Once images are produced, a light-weight jpg should be e mailed to MATTHEW ROSE, along with the artist's name and URL (artist web site address) for publication on the blog – http://abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com/. This will allow the organizers to archive the works and artist details. Other artists will also be able to visit the exhibition in progress.

Note: An “official” website is now being created by artist Caterina Verde at the address: A BOOK ABOUT DEATH

TECHNICAL DETAILS
The artist is 100 percent responsible for her/his image and card and delivery to the gallery.

FORMAT: Postcards should be at least 4 x 6 inches or 10 x 15 cm, but can be any size, but no larger than A4 or 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

To help unify the edition, please include the words "A BOOK ABOUT DEATH" on your printed post cards.

We have also included an image/text by Ray Johnson that could be printed on your cards.

PRINTING OPTIONS: You can either produce the cards yourself or upload the file to any number of printers for delivery to the gallery. You, as the artist are in complete control of your artwork and cards.

Option 1: A very inexpensive online printer offers extremely reasonable prices for a 4 x 6 inch (or 10 x 15 cm) card. PDF upload or online design is possible. Payment directly to the printer via MasterCard, PayPal, VISA are options. Please see: Overnight Prints.

Please note: The exhibition organizers are not working with this printer but in our research have determined that their prices are some of the lowest on the market, their print quality is high, service is good and delivery to a NYC address via United Parcel Service is a very good option.

Option 2: Alternately, artists are free to produce their own cards locally if they need to supervise print and image quality. Artists can sign and number their cards if they wish.

Option 3: Artists can also produce handmade cards, however, these cards must be in an edition of 500 to ensure continuity with other images. Artists can sign and number their handmade cards if they would like. Variety in paper and material is encouraged.

COST/FEES
Unfortunately we cannot pay any artist or production fees. Each artist has to finance production and delivery. Like in life.

LASTLY: The organizers will not collect cards for the artists. Institutions who wish to have a complete book will have to come to the gallery space and get their own pages/cards or assign someone to do it for them. The organizers are not responsible for the cards, but will see to it that all cards received are displayed and available to visitors. The organizers are not responsible for the return of any remaining cards; should there be any remaining cards, these will become part of the EHF archive.


SPREAD THE WORD

This kind of exhibition functions best when one artist contacts another and encourages participation. We would like to have a large and inclusive "book," one that touches upon the broad subject of death in many languages and cultures. There are no taboos here, no age limits, no areas or ideas that are prohibited. The exhibition organizers only ask that you submit good work, worthy of an interesting and exciting page in this global book. Please note that A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is not a commercial venture. The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery has generously donated the exhibition space for the duration of the exhibition.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH BLOG
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH
RAY JOHNSON ESTATE
EMILY HARVEY FOUNDATION
CONTACT MATTHEW ROSE

I am going to participate in this. I look forward to seeing the end result--creating my own book about death--and so I may have to go down to NYC to see this show also...

Cosmic seamstress

Cosmic seamstress
Originally uploaded by misphit

I am almost done with this 13 part series. It's been a struggle and also a revelation.
Yupo...my substrate for this particular group...has this ability to hold the vibrancy of acrylic color in a way that I cannot achieve on watercolor paper. I like the flowing effect of blended paint that remains frozen in time. It's controllable to a degree and sure does provide for an intriguing background to work with. I am exploring using my photography as a source for my latest work and Yupo allows the rich glossy photo to blend a bit easier into the work. I can't match this effect on paper. It's a small discovery, and it's something I can explore further.
The new glue I am using from Talas is PVA...it's terrific. It's holding down my photos much better than the Golden Matte medium because there's much more tack with this glue. I can take advantage of paper textures easier, since I don't need to coat the entire piece with medium. For this glue, application to the back of an object works just fine. It must have a very small amount of water, because my ephemera does not swell when I coat the back.
All this technical jargon!!! I just want to share my insight! However small it may be, I am earning the information by experience. You good reader, can take it or leave it, however I have lived it!!!

Hunting for Black Star Moss

Hunting for Black Star Moss
Originally uploaded by misphit

This one is busy busy busy. Tangled and confusing, dark and angular just like a real forest.
There's a crazy amount of photos in this pic. I did a background out of acrylic which I seriously hated. I let it drip and I also painted it hoping for a grassy effect and what I got was some kind of contrived looking mess. I decided I had to cover it. The waterfall photo started it off and the rest just grew organically like a real forest.
The people parts are copyright free...continuing my quest to be able to do this using more of My Stuff. It's not that hard, my brain is catching on. My photography continues to drive me and I search for a look that is half realism, half dreamism. Just like in real life, the lines are always blurred for us as to just what "real" is.
Photo notes In this piece, the central waterfall was from a shot taken on the path to Jockeybush Lake (pentax 35mm), the mossy closeups were taken at the shores of Horseshoe Lake (pentax), the sideways grainy pieces were taken in my lawn at night with the Lomo colorsplash (and i thought they came out so odd I could never use them...), and the random yellow twiggy pieces were taken at the trailhead to Cranberry Lake (lomo colorsplash).
Bringing all of these locales together seems magical from the start. I like the concept.
Relying on the Yupo and acrylic for some background chemistry works most of the time. On this one however, I found myself going off the path...and into my own tangled dream forest!

Set Sail by Cellestial Navigation

Set Sail by Cellestial Navigation
Originally uploaded by misphit

Set sail alright....straight to the studio table and right to work.
Spent most of the day working on this piece. I liked the vivid colors. I think this is my latest thrill in these pieces...to be able to use such bright acrylics and mix them with the richness of glossy photos. The dark black in the upside down columns (boat!) make a great foil with the red.
Starting to feel much more comfortable but I also notice I am relaxing the rules. There are lots of pieces of ephemera in this work. The mans' bodies come from art auction catalogs I picked up for $3.00 a piece in Philly at a cool art bookstore. I don't know what the copyright rule is on a print of an old masters artwork...? Certainly these originals are more than 100 years old, but the print was in the last 5 years most likely....??
(I needed bodies with rich color! There the half torn catalogs sat. What could I do?) I wrestled with using them, but the overall effect could not be achieved otherwise...There's a partial Lindor candy label in the upper left corner. The rest was free and clear.

No name yet

No name yet
Originally uploaded by misphit

Still on this trail of change.
These pieces are going to Cecil for his Bakers Dozen Exchange.

Collecting Violets in the Valley of Venus

Collecting Violets in the Valley of Venus
Originally uploaded by misphit

#2 of this series.
Opened up the rules just a bit. I allowed ephemera only if it was 100 years old. Much easier this time around. The weird anxiety faded a bit. On this one I felt a bit of the new look starting to evolve. A bit more photomontage...
Still, it looks like my work. Not an entirely bad thing.

Seeking Solace in the Swamp Saturnal

Palms sweaty. Furrowed brow. Tired brain. New Rules.
I am sitting at my studio table and every creative urge I have wants to be a robotic repeat of something I have already done. I fight it like crazy. I don't allow myself to use my usual "tricks" to fill space or to add colors.
Frowning. Indecision. Void.
Time passes while I sit and stew over my internal oblivion. The piece sits on the table another week. I sit down again, with a new attitude, a different day, and still it plagues me on so many levels.
Redundant. Repetitive. Disgusted. Anxious.
I slowly pieced this together each step of the way pulling tugging and sometimes pushing myself and much to my Horror, in the end, it still looks like My Work.
I am dumbfounded.

Every time I wanted to pick up a piece of printed ephemera, I considered it first of course, as usual, as to the value, line, color and subject. But right after that the ghosts of copyright surfaced and then each piece receieved the final examination. Most pieces were sent back to the box where they came from. If the piece was small enough, a scroll, a hacked up piece of type, then I could allow it. The man's body was difficult. I didn't think painting it would look right. I ended up leaning on a magazine cut, but for the head, my personal rules required an actual photograph. No copyrighted heads! After such intense consideration over every single piece of paper that got glued I am kind of disappointed to find that the end result really does look like just another one of my works!
After considering this dilemma...I think I can come to terms with it. Perhaps changing my materials and obeying copyright laws isn't as imposing and restrictive as I made it out to be. If I can still come out in the end with a piece I am happy with what does it matter?
I have to admit tho, that I am craving a New Look for my work. Imposing new rules didn't seem to affect that at all. I think this is where my attention now lies.

Coming Home

So it's been almost 2 full months since I took my little time out. At first I was full of enthusiasm to find something new in what I do. I took a ton of photos, keeping in mind that I wanted these to be my new collage fodder.
This weekend, I finally sat down at the table to do some new things. I broke out the new glues, the new pictures, the new ideas. And there I sat like a timid rat. It's funny how when I do art every day I can come up with hundreds of things and I go thru images like I drink water. When I take a break from this almost daily practice, I end up rusty. Afraid.
I ended up picking up an assemblage I was working on. I couldn't concentrate on new techniques. Maybe my mind was in protest...?

Later on, I went back to the table and I did start some new pieces, with some new rules. I am challenging myself to do it myself. To get a New Look using minimal ephemera. This is so difficult for me at this point. I am so used to doing things a certain way!!! AND that is just the crux of the problem. Robotic Julie is caged for now.

I Was Heading Somewhere with that last post...

I really was trying to make a collage related post yesterday, and it got so long I never made it to the point of it all! These text posts seem really boring and odd and out of character for me. However, they are a good reflection of what is going on with me at the moment. A lot of black and white concrete thinking. Serious stuff.

continuing from yesterday...

I find it so annoying that trait in myself that wants to follow the herd, and be with "the others". Creativity is stifled in this manner, and I hate it that I keep on doing this following thing. It's a bummer. And I am trying to put a stop to the craziness.

This year has been a year of personal inner discovery for me. I went to NY and spent a moment in a successful artists' studio in order to have a personal discovery. Lo and behold I got it. My discovery was that I am such a sponge. I suck up images and ideas and they get INTO my head and start taking over. (then it turns square like sponge bob...) They go in there rattle around and out comes art that looks amazingly similar in style to the things I looked at. I can't get around it, altho I have tried. Over and over again. I also notice a distinct pattern lately in the way that I approach my work. It feels too damned easy. I almost feel mechanical when I start something instead of excited and fresh. This is disturbing and it alerted me to the idea that it's time for a change. As artists, we get comfortable. I don't like it. I want to squirm.

Lately, I have taken a small hiatus from the studio table. The last 2 months I have been taking tons of photos, publishing little books of my previous work, reading artist autobiographies and in general keeping myself AWAY from the visual influence of others by not daily reading blogs or googling all day. This practice is definitely detrimental to my own personal blog experience! I have not been combing the web looking for artists, have not been pouring over websites of art history and collage, have not been reporting back interesting tidbits from the Yahoo collage group. Therefore, at this point after 2 months, I feel I have nothing to share but myself. These words. It's a far cry from a daily visual fix that you may have gotten here before...I apologize for that.

I am hoping to empty my brain (as much as I can) of imagery, empty my self from influence, and get down to the core of what MY art can look like. I want to find an entirely "new" look for what I do and that's really tough to do when you are constantly bombarding yourself with imagery. It's like a brainwashing that for me at least is unavoidable. I am experimenting with my own artistic creative tendencies...by giving them a small rest and a chance to rejuvenate. Percolate. I am hoping to find that by providing my muse with a little isolation, she can rise up her OWN voice and provide me with an entirely new inspiration. A new emotion. I seek an artistic portrayal from ME, not a conglomerate interpretation of YOU.

I am almost ready at this point to go back to "work". I have been chomping at the bit for a week already and I am trying to distill it all down to an entirely new visual attitude. I have new materials at hand. New glues at hand. New papers and some luan at hand. I have new pictures, some new equipment. Even my brain is ready. Inside my head, I have new things to explore and share. I need to go to my studio and treat the situation like a brand new chemistry set. Mix a little of this a little of that and see what new things will happen.

In the meantime, plenty of blogs out there have "taken up the cause" and you can find a lot of places that will provide a daily image, a daily artist for you to drool and swoon over. Soon enough, I will be posting new work again here. But it's likely to be my own work and not someone else's for awhile.

What a Tangled Web We Weave, Right?

Where do I start this post?
At the beginning I suppose.

When the web first entered my life, it was all such a wonderful thing. The possibilities were endless! New friends! New Frontiers! WOW!
At first, we were all buying domains. Websites. You had to have a website to have it going on. You might have joined a newsgroup and you had yourself some email. For a time, this was status quo. If you wanted to project yourself and participate in the online community, you presented yourself in a website.
This lasted for awhile, maybe even a decade. People had websites. This was a daunting thing. To create a site, you needed some kind of knowledge, some software, a domain. To have a domain, it required money. Money isn't very diplomatic really. So quite a few people who wanted to have a presence on the internet probably were left out right away due to the cash. And others, they were left out because the knowledge or software to build a site was not on their radar.
Then came the bloggers. To blog, you needed no money. There were places such as blogger or Live Journal...where you could sign up and have a page and a web presence right now, with no money, no software, and little knowledge. It seemed so much more fair and equal. The format is so much more diplomatic. And easy! Hell, you didn't have to learn code, java, flash scripting, or anything more complicated then typing, and finding your image on your hard drive and uploading it. Presto chango! Instant web presence! This really was/is a nice format. People had online diaries of sorts, instead of animations and crazy pages leading to galleries. You put your story your pic up...and you shared with friends and fam. Nice set up. For a little while, the blogs ruled. RULED.
Being the good little Webbie that I am, I have followed these popular web trends right along...I have had a website for 9 years. And I used to be quite faithful about updating it and arranging it and all that. Then came the blogs...Live Journal, Blogger. And I ended up in a fervor over them instead. The website still remains. But a shadow of it's former self. The blog thing has worked for a time, too.
But ...along came the twitter.
Twitter, that tweaky little application that allows for 140 characters of quality conversation at a time. (not sure its 140...but it is limited to a certain amount of characters.) Everything you have to say is distilled into this little tidbit of relevance. And of course, I got on twitter and have done tweets now for a few weeks now.
And in between these little movements, in the background, there was the myspace phenomenon. And then all the little ning groups and social groups that were formed to help us all niche our interests. Next came monster time gobbler Facebook--and the inevitable exodus from Myspace.... Then within Facebook everyone plays the 'Lil Green Patch Game. Till someone develops Farm Town Game....and the inevitable exodus from Lil Green Patch....groan. It's starting to seem endlessly tiring. This chasing of the pack. I feel like I am in a herd. I am following everyone around and lately I am starting to get dizzy from it all.
What a tangled web we weave!!!
With some retrospection, I think I should have done things differently. Why am I following? I am independent, and if anything, I am a leader, not a follower. So wtf> ? I can't figure out my own behavior. I am not the herd type.

We started with websites that provided for all sorts of sharing of ourselves. It took time to make a site, and equally it took time to explore one.
With blogs, it was less involvement. Sure, you could customize things, but it was within the framework of what you were already given. Text, pictures, that's about the limit of the experience, unless you linked off to somewhere else thru your travels.
Then with twitter, there is even less being shared. Small simple comments, mostly without context. Utterances. We have reduced the sharing of ourselves into this small sentence or two.
I know I have already posted about how overwhelmed the web makes me feel sometimes. Taking in all that information, all those pictures...it's dizzying, it really is. Perhaps by reducing our output and intake into these small tweets, we are adapting to that phenomenon. You only get this very small space of 140 characters--with no pics!--to express yourself. And then, by default, you can only put IN 140 characters at a time.
What does it all mean? Where is it all heading? I wish I knew.

Behind the Scenes

Collage clearinghouse hasn't posted much the past few days I see.... I am behind the scenes doing background work on various publication projects. I am lucky enough to work in my day job for a printer, and I have access to laser printers and bindery equipment. That sure helps. I also have a nice Epson inkjet at home, along with a coveted gocco printer and a vintage book press. These tools enable me to take my little themed works from the journal pages into a publication that I can sell on my website or the ever famous etsy. My favorite thing about collage is doing the fine art variety, with a large piece of wood or canvas...with lots of experimental attachments and layers... BUT I find that I end up having a lot of success selling little books and zines that I publish myself.
I am gearing up for a show in June in Albany, on Lark street. I want to have several little zine pubs ready for sale, along with my prints and original collage works. People that don't have the $100-$300 for an original can lay down $10 for a printed zine. I end up with a lot of little sales that add up.
Therefore, behind the scenes as of late, I have been working on my computer scanning various collage works in and using InDesign for layout I place these in signatures for printing.
The Pale Tale started as a journal exercise, to get me back into the habit of daily art. I liked one sequence of pages, and 2 weeks later went back and added words to complete the story. It ended up really cool, and I printed a bunch today. Now I just have to bind these up and there will be some ready to sell.

Also behind the scenes, I have been working on a lot of photo taking. I need some photo inventory that I can claim as MY OWN> and that relieves some of the stress for me as far as the copyrights are concerned. I am also challenging myself to produce more towards the collage works on my own, instead of relying on ephemera all the time. I am interested in seeing where I can take these new ideas .......

14th Baker's Dozen International Collage Exchange

Are you Still Looking For Something Creative To Do????

Excerpt from a post by Cecil Touchon from the collage group on yahoo:

But I would like to remind those interested that the 14th baker's
dozen exchange is coming up and the participation fee has been reduced
by 50% to encourage more participation. Please participate! It is fun
and challenging and there are a lot of good works. By participating
regularly the Collage Museum gradually builds up a collection of
various artists works that show their steady progression over the
years. This helps the museum build a really great collection that in
the future will be a one of a kind resource. Those who come to visit
(the collection is avaiable for private viewing) are always
overwhelmed by the sheer number of works to be seen.

Now that I have figured out how to make a catalog I will be starting
to do catalogs of the Museum's collection and will be working on other
collage/assemblage related books.

see here:

Artists each make UP TO 13 collages, size 11"x14" (inches), and send
them to Fort Worth, Texas, to arrive by either March 21 or October 21.
(you may also send as few as one)
Packages that arrive too late for the exchange will be held for the
next exchange.

THEME: open

One collage is retained to be part of the permanent collection of the
IMCAC, while remaining permanently on exhibition on the Museum's
Internet site and possibly exhibited in future exhibitions held by the
Museum.
The other 12 are distributed into parcels which are sent back to each
contributing artist. So you send 13 of yours, get back 12 of others.
Certain works from the various exchanges will be selected for
representing the Museum's flagship collection to be used for traveling
exhibitions and as such will be framed in matching museum frames as
funds are available. This prestigious flagship collection will be
chosen by the director as being among the finest works in the
collection and promoted as important examples of 21st century collage art.

WHAT TO DO:

Make UP TO 13 collages, on 11" X 14" (actual collage area may be
smaller, but the 11x14" outer size makes packaging easier and less
prone to damage so please keep the size EXACTLY 11x14 inches). For
those works that will be framed, the framing we will be using has a
window opening of 10.5x13.5 inches so keep that in mind when designing
works. This will allow the museum to use standard, ready made framing
which helps to keep the costs down.

PRINT and fill out the forms mentioned above.

WHERE TO SEND

to:
IMCAC - Collage Exchange
Cecil Touchon (checks made to Artscorp)
6955 Pinon Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76116

Your package to arrive any time starting now until the deadline of
either March 21 or October 21

A package of up to (depending on how many you sent) 12 collages by
other artists will be sent to each participating artist by the end of
April for the March exchange or November for the October exchange.

Thinking Inside of the Box--deadline May 15

Have you been wanting to think outside of the box? Then perhaps you may want to consider thinking inside of the box!
Assemblage artists from around the world are invited to request a cigar box from the IMCAC and to create a work of art using the box received. When complete the box is donated to the IMCAC and used in future exhibitions. This could be an interesting event.

According to the info:
A full color catalog of the exhibit will be available.
Boxes available include typical, flip up lid, paper clad, cigar boxes, wooden boxes with sliding lids, wooden boxes with latches and hinges. Various sizes and styles available.

The participation fee is $55.00 by check or paypal.com. ($10.00 extra for international artists for extra shipping cost) For this fee you will receive the box from the museum, have your work documented for the catalog and for the collagemuseum.com website and receive one free copy of the catalog when complete as well as any publicity materials such as postcards and press releases.
OR::
Use you own box!
Use any sort of box you already have or construct made of any material and any size or shape. Participation fee is then $40.00.

Works should be completed by the end of March, 2009 and returned to the museum. The first exhibition to be arranged for the Fall of 2009. Please include information about yourself for our files.

To participate or inquire send an email to info@collagemuseum.com requesting more information.

Please put “THINKING INSIDE OF THE BOX” in the subject line of the email.

Under the Influence

Cecil Touchon hosted an interesting event called "Under the Influence". According to this link on Lulu, where the catalog is being sold online, Artists were asked to make a work in honor of one of the artists that they consider as influential on their own development and to make an additional work in their own typical way of working. Cecil created a catalog of this show. It's available on Lulu. Also, there will be a show will be opening Saturday, March 14th at the Longview Fine Arts Museum.
I liked the concept of this show. The idea of paying creative homage to influential artists is an interesting one. This would be a good show to see!

if (The Path) {our happiness = true;};

I just can't help myself. I have to post about this terrific new game that is coming out next month called The Path!!!

There's this really creative couple that met online years ago. The story unfolded in a wonderfully modern way and thru the website of entropy8zuper, I and many others, got to experience them sharing themselves in various networked ways. It was terrific. They put on spontaneous online performances and really made me think out of the box and off the studio table and into the world of the net.
She moved to Europe, I think, in the spirit of true love, and they have been working on collaborative projects and creating wonderful little game children ever since...

The Tale-of-Tales...They created these intriguing little internet games. These are not your average games as we know them. These are fascinating studies in behavior. These are beautiful environments that live and breathe as you explore them. These are works of animated art.

The Endless Forest what can I say about the sheer beauty in the landscapes of this game. SWOON!! I am so impressed by this game and the ideas behind it I got a PC just so I could participate. You take on the persona of a deer and journey thru the Endless Forest, meeting up with other deer. It's endless fun if you ask me, and altho I usually loathe computer games in general, these artistic games lure me in and keep me there.

They did a tiny little game called The Graveyard, that you can also download...but in the background the passion has been pouring into this new game that they are releasing next month.


The Path. It's based on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. What an excellent tale...full of fodder for any imagination. I can't wait to get my hands on this and I know several hours of my upcoming time will be spent exploring the animated landscapes that Michael and Auriea have conjured up.



And how does this relate to collage???
It relates to ME and my collage. At that time, I was so inspired by the artistic work that these people did that I decided I had to animate my own collage work. I dabbled in dhtml and ended up getting Flash and learning how to code enough to create some crazy works. I even ended up ganging up with Melissa McCobb Hubbell and Amy Peacock and we created AEZ, a full color art zine with an animated CD that yours truly was inspired to create---THANKS to the folks at entropy8zuper.

There are still a few of these crazy animations online over at magikglasses, my website, altho some of the links are not public. I thought in the spirit of The Path, to celebrate the very cool game that is now scheduled to release...I would post a few secret links to some of my animated pieces.

• Ride Home
my first try at movie generation....this depicted my ride up a curvy dirt road to where I lived. A ridiculous little action figure of Lord Faquaar was on my dash and made it into the movie. I cringe when I watch this!

• Insektika
This was my first flash attempt at animated collage. I had to make up a silly poem to go with it. I never tire of this. Love the last frame!!

• Theatrica Erratica
I was heavily involved with AEZ back then, and I did an animated CD for each issue. This issue, #5, was particularly crazy with a built-in popup theatre. I explored that theme and animated the interface. Came out pretty colorful and absurd.

• Art from Everyday Life
Got into a RR project and for one month, I made an animation on CD. Hint: Anything that moves is fair game.

• Veil of Silence
This is a collage that was cropped and torn apart digitally in MAX. trippy quicktime.

• and Finally NIN Nr. 7
Something I am currently working on. The Sharon Springs DK website with 6 collages worked thru Max. Used the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack from Ghosts #7 for this, in the spirit of altering our copyright paradigm.

The Fair Maid

page 1

For the last 5 years, I have been working on an epic collage work. It is a 150 page story that is composed entirely of collage imagery. The story itself is told with tiny tidbits of text culled from books, magazines, Mother Goose, and fairy tales. I did the bulk of it a few years ago, and then last spring I finished up the last few pages to wrap it all up.
It has been sitting completed and dormant on my bookshelf for a full year now. For some weird reason, I recently started thinking about publishing this book and now I just can't stop thinking about it!! It's one of my most major accomplishments, and to have it hiding on the shelf just isn't right. I think it's time to publish it.
In 2007, I was working on it, and I got worried that the story line was buried in all those pages and artwork and that no one would be able to follow it. I started a blog, The Fair Maid, secretly, and began to post just the words. I liked it alone, without the images. I worked through my insecurities, and came to terms with it. I have been hesitant to post many pictures from it, since part of the enjoyment of a book is to experience each new page. If I do publish it, I don't want to ruin the pleasure of the story unfolding for anyone. So most of it remains hidden from public view for now.

Originally, it was a journal, and it was in book form, not nice loose pages that scan easily. In order for me to scan this thick book, I would have to cut the threads that bound it and tear it apart. This put me off for this entire past year. I really love it as a book. For me, it represented years of focus...So, finally I made a deal with myself. I would take it apart to scan it, but put it back together when I was done. On Valentines Day, this process began. I am working on formatting it now for print.


page 2

I am not certain where to go from here. I could Possibly make a 2 sided laser print to send to a "real" publisher. Or I could format this in Blurb and sell copies of my own book here, on Etsy, and on my website. But for now, I am in robot mode--Scanning and cropping. I have never been so excited about anything I have ever done!! This book is a pinnacle for me. It isn't everyday you finish up 150 pages of creative toil and sweat and decide to publish it!! If you are at all interested in the process of how this journal goes from artwork to published work, you can follow along on (one of) my other blogs...The Fair Maid. Cya there!

Content Is King, but Connection Rules

Content Is King, but Connection Rules from Molly Gordon on Vimeo.>
You know I usually avoid the video thing on this blog. But this one moved me so much, I had to share.
I feel the same way sometimes. It's hard to just be the info person, the creative person, a leader, a communicator.... Sometimes we need to be ourselves, and sometimes we plain old feel like shit. Things are tough, inside and outside and sometimes you just think you can't blog another post, or you just can't do another collage, or you just need a freakin' hug. The emotion I felt in this video by Molly Gordon really hit me. Amazingly enough, I believe she's right and it's true. When I get all frustrated and freaked out and can't figure out a way out of my creative hole--if I manage to get to this blog space to put it in print--somehow, someway, you really cool people out there respond back to me and in those little threads of conversation, the universe provides me with some sort of peace and answers.

Very recently I posted of my frustration with copyright and how I am freezing up. I am trying so hard to wrap my head around it all....and I started a personal post on my own personal blog, and ended up moving it here. The next morning, I found 3 really good, caring and helpful responses to my dilemma. I can't tell you what that meant to me at that moment.
And through those comments, I find the courage, wherewithal, and ability to go back to that studio. Face the table. And create some more dreams.
Thanks so much.
So I guess today's post is just a message. Reach out. Ask and Answer. Sometimes we just have to Be.

Facebook and Copyright!!

Yet another copyright issue.
Apparently, Facebook revised it's Terms of Service, and once again my favorite (NOT!!) subject of copyright comes to the forefront. The article is on CNN, and it's worth a read. More here.

Growth Period

White sulfur
collage on digital laser print

Artwise, I am in another growth period. A growth period seems to occur immediately after I have some type of revelation or insight. In this case, the Hochbaum visit was an impetus for entirely new thoughts and ideas, in addition to new materials and ways of working. groan. I hate these growth periods almost, cuz it means a lull in productivity and a change in what I do. I hate to admit that as an artist, I am in a rut. I seem to be doing things robotically instead of creatively and that's not good. I also am worrying about copyright way more than any human being should!

Not that David Hochbaum himself did or said so many things to me, it's more like my observations lately are leading me to make new conclusions. Not sure if they are correct, but that's the growth part!
David Hochbaums' studio had a serious lack of ephemera. Why? Cuz he doesn't hardly use it anymore. He makes his stuff hissself. That's creative. I notice that if I look at Nick Bantok's work for example, I detect that very little of the work is ephemera. Most everything was created by him...his stamps for example. He does them himself. He doesn't pick up a US postal stamp he likes and sticks it on there. He created an entire land, and made stamps for it. That's creative.
My work? It's generally the opposite. I use tons of ephemera all the time. I use copyrighted labels and pieces from magazines. I am creative, yes, but I also am using other peoples' stuff. Since our copyright laws and fair use are all such murky waters, I don't feel so good about this anymore. It's bugging me. A lot.

You may not know much about me. I was not a trained artist. I didn't go to college. I was a double music major in high school. Then I got married and had 2 daughters. And raised them. I was a rustic furniture maker for about 5 of those years. Moved upstate in order to be closer to the birch bark. Found artwork on the furniture made it sell. Improved artwork by doing watercolors...and discovered collage by accident. It was "home" and has been ever since. I have no knowledge of the intricacies of copyright! I know I can't verbatim copy your stuff and make it mine, and I don't do that and never would. But no one ever told me it was illegal to cut up my magazines and food labels and make pictures and sell them. ? I learned all that along the way, the hard way.

At this point in time, I want to go from being a part time artist to a professional. I am looking into what I can do in my own work to achieve this. I need to start cleaning up my act, and leaning on myself! I can paint, draw...I don't have to cut and paste. I choose to. In working on my last 2 pieces, I was acutely aware of the things that I was cutting up. I was frozen, like a deer in my headlights. My art habits are all in danger at this point. I am not certain of where to proceed. Just how much ephemera? And what types of ephemera? Do I need to spend time recording the names and copyrights of all the various magazines and brochures that I tear apart, so at some point, a gallery or publisher can justify my existence? I do like layering, I like the look of old paper, and I have gotten good at it. This change...It's paralyzing. So pardon me if I don't post my normal weekly collage exercise. I am growing. And changing. And learning.

It's all so annoying. I just want to create art. Dammit! I am assuming not everyone wants to make great art and then leave it in their closet. So, you may want to sell a piece someday. Do you get these anxiety attacks over your work? Do you care? Why should I care? ????

2 miscellaneous things

hotlinking in blogs...
I was involved in a conversation on Ed Winkleman's blog about whether or not to post pics via hotlinking on a blog. I am going to be a little more aware when I post pics, but I still will continue to do so. Read the post Apology, now with comments for more info.

Polaroid Film...a comeback?
Read online that another compnay is attempting to take up the Polaroid Instant Film manufacturing! Good news for polaroid heads.

Move Over Damien Hirst!

Move 0ver Damien Hirst! Cuz' I think that Shepard Fairey has taken over our news. If publicity rules, then right now Fairey is king.

Boston Globe
Boston cops arrested him at the opening party of his ICA retrospective.

Print Magazine
Milton Glaser does not back up Fairey's position.

Last and certainly not least...
Fairey Countersues!!!


I am sure that there are hundreds of comments and positions and opinions on this out there on the internets. I am enjoying the massive dialog!!! I am sad that I can't bring myself to rant on this subject in this blog. I want to leave it open for discussion, and be more neutral about this, almost like Switzerland. It's too easy to see the black the white and the gray on all this for me, being the chameleon of a Gemini that I am... I can switch sides in a heartbeat. And see the good and bad in all sides.
It's so important for us as collage artists to understand the implications of this situation. We all have our ways of rationalizing and dealing with the fact that in some cases, the very nature of our art is kind of controversial. I know Fairey is not doing collage. However he is pushing the copyright limits publicly and therefore stirring up some dust.
I have been considering a lot lately my own use of imagery and also I am examining my process. I paid close attention to David Hochbaum and the nature of the items he uses in his collage when I recently visited and noticed there was hardly any ephemera to be found. He paints, he makes prints, he does photo transfers and gets funky with his own stuff. He really doesn't use papers like I do. And we spoke a bit about this while I was there. I recall he said something about making his art his own.
I did a piece over the weekend--that Branching out piece in my last post. I made a concerted effort to use as little "other" imagery as possible. It was so very difficult for me! First of all, I found I was stripped of all my materials. It was like I had no paints in my paintbox. But that's a poor analogy, since in reality I only could use paint, since I had no screens burned, no stencils cut, and I was forbidding my own use of wallpapers or other prepared papers. Paint was about the extent of it for the moment. The rule was it had to be as "mine" as I could make it. The resulting project was quite difficult. My style still is there I think, but instead of a busy composition, this felt so stark and naked. Perhaps more powerful. Definitely more challenging. And maybe potentially career changing.
I was with Chris yesterday at an antique show in Clifton Park. There was oodles of paper! I haven't seen that much ephemera at one time in awhile. And there I am, trying to play a new game with myself and follow some rules. Or at least, the rules one way they could be interpreted!!
I can tell you it could completely change my game. And therefore, my art. For now.

Branching Out

Quite literally.

Orange Delight

Orange Delight
Originally uploaded by misphit

i love you sweetie day and nite
i love you my orange delight

Friday Camera Fest

My lomo colorsplash, nekked without it's skin!

I have been crazy into my cameras lately! Ever since the Hochbaum salon, I am intent on supplying myself with as much of my own imagery as possible. So I filled up what was left on the rolls of film that are in my 2 lomos. I am ready to get some new film...and start fresh once again.
I bought a colorsplash a few years ago, as soon as I saw it for the first time I knew I had to have it. The first one was kinda lame, had issues. So I returned it and got another one. I love that thing!!! It's not for any kind of daylight tho. It has 2 buttons for 2 types of exposures, including one that allows you to hold it down and catch light streaking at night!

Fisheye...retro yes?

Then there's the Fisheye that TRavis bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I LOVE THis thing!!! The wide angle lens makes for crazy shots. I love crazy shots. I love crazy anything.

The Vivitar mini cam. I have the green one.
So much for the 35mm crowd.
Then Christmas came this year, and I saw this little digital camera by Vivitar for 9.99. Well, I had to have it! It's a crazy little thing. Takes 20 pix, and then I have to download them. TOTALLY shooting from the hip with this cam. You can't get the crop right, and it shoots lo res. BUT it's great for my latest game, the camera car game. I drive in the countryside, with the window open (and YES I am freezing my ass off since it's below 10 degrees out when I am doing this...) and I shoot crazy shots at the mountains, WITHOUT looking thru the lens to crop. Whatever comes out, comes out. I have gotten some of the most fascinating shots this way. It makes you shoot from weird angles and I end up with some potentially interesting photos.
My favorite camera of all is my HOLGA! I love her, but she takes special 120 film and it's more expensive, and 30 miles away to get any. It has light leaks and is manual wind, but I love the effect of the plastic lens. luv luv luv. Luv for holga. When I first got it, I was like, yea, these little metal clips are going to hold this closed....And when I was out in the field, the first time that clip got caught on something, the whole camera busted open and exposed all the film. BOGUS!
It has velcro on it now to keep it closed. But that wore off and stopped working too, so now it's a duct tape dealie. BUT I LOVE MY HOLGA! However ugly she may be.


Holga, my beloved. Bury me with this.

I use a Kodak V570 for my usual shots. The first one I had, developed an issue with the zoom lens. I ended up sending it to Kodak and getting another new one. This one has been my workhorse daily digital for a few years now. It's not a bad camera...but it's getting old now. I think that a new camera will probably be my next big expense. I need more megapixels!
Not sure what one to get, but I know I want something semi-pro. Nikon? Canon? Need to read a bunch of reviews to decide.

My workhorse camera. Daily shooting required.

AP vs. Fairey

Fairey...sheesh...hes' endless in the news these days and today is no exception!
I have mentioned him on this blog before, and certainly if you google his name you can follow the myriad pages to find out more about him if you are an ostrich with your head in the sand.

Today, I read that the AP is suing him for copyright issues. AND...get this....who is representing him none other than Anthony Falzone...whi is a lawyer and exec director of the Fair Use Project. He pals with Lawrence Lessig, champion of the Creative Commons. YEE HA! This could get interesting folks. The laws are on the table. At last. A high profile case. Perhaps we can get some coherent laws to go by through all this...
We can only HOPE>!!!

update: there's another blog post here on Newsgrist about this with better linkage and info.

Collage goes virtual in Second Life

Baker Bloch, taking in a virtual gallery on Second Life

I got an email the other day from Mark Brittain, or Baker Bloch-- if you are a member of Second Life... wherein he was kindly enough to fill me in on the cool art things going on in Second Life. I am not sure if you have heard of Second Life. It's a virtual world, it's quite popular, and there's quite a community of folks that are heavily involved with it.

Mark has set up collages in his Second Life gallery, The Gallery at the Temple of TILE. I think this is quite splendid and empowering! The idea of owning your own gallery sure is a high ambition. The idea of being able to do it makes Second Life pretty tempting! Not sure I personally have the time to do this...I am pretty booked up. That may not affect YOU tho...perhaps you should go and check on Marks' Second Life gallery. This link will get you there, IF you have the Second Life software loaded. Mark has a blog here, and I am sure if you are interested in participating or finding out more about this, he would fill you in. There's also a cool blog that lists tons of SL art galleries. The list on this blog is extensive. One could theoretically spend several hours perusing the creativity of these industrious SL members...

We are living in exciting times.