INFLUENCERS: HOW TRENDS & CREATIVITY BECOME CONTAGIOUS

INFLUENCERS TRAILER from R+I creative on Vimeo.

 Loris Malaguzzi developed the Reggio Emilia philosophy in Italian classrooms of the 1960's.

Children’s own timing and rhythms demand enormous respect. Children need the support of adults in order to combat the accelerating pressures and haste to make them grow up, which is not only a treacherous sign of the subversion of biological, psychological, and cultural relationships that is currently in vogue, but also a sign of deep insecurity and a loss of perspective.

-Loris Malaguzzi

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Chinese Students Face New Challenges

Andy Warhol Mao 1972
synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on linen, 82 x 64 inches
Courtesy The Stephanie and Peter Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

-Patrick Wood


...In 1992 university education was free. If you passed the entrance exam then tuition and residence were free. Campus food was subsidised. Upon graduation each student was assigned a job usually in the province they had come from. Party control was absolute. Rapidly from 1993/4 this changed.

Accommodation fees were introduced, students were told to find a job themselves, tuition costs were introduced, low at first but increasing quickly. Universities were freed to make money and could no longer rely on government money. Teachers were encouraged to develop courses that students would elect to take. The more students in a class the more money the teacher and the university earned. Quality is not necessarily the main criterion for these courses and examinations frequently lack rigour. From a student's perspective, more courses look good on the CV.

Students are encouraged to take a second major beginning in their second year. The ones that are chosen most are those that have a definite utilitarian objective: finance, international trade, economics, business management, law - especially corporate law. Students now face two challenges that were completely unknown when I first arrived in China: financing their studies and finding a job.

For the growing affluent middle class the fees and living costs are not a problem but what about those from the countryside? They can borrow the funds they need from commercial banks at government-supported low interest rates. As well as this many students take on part-time jobs. Some students from poor families owe enormous moral and financial debts to their family. In some cases the student was chosen by the family to be the bright one who would go onto university.

Siblings have sacrificed their own secondary and college education to help earn the money. Those debts will not be paid off in a few years after graduation as can a bank loan. It is very noticeable that students from such backgrounds are the most dedicated to their studies. They know they have to be successful. In fairness the communist party leaders within universities do what they can to award small scholarships and help such students find a job.

However, I fear that further problems will become apparent in the near future. China is producing more graduates than it can employ. Two or three years ago postgraduate courses mushroomed as increasing numbers of students took the decision that an MA would be more likely to secure them a good job than a BA. Next summer will be the first when a massive number of post-graduate students come to the job market. Will their dreams of a good job be realised or will there be many over-qualified and frustrated young people? What will the effect of so many graduates be on the chances for graduates? There is a further complication. The poorer students are not usually among those pursuing higher degrees because they are unwilling to take on more debts. How will they fare in the search for employment? I do not know the answers to these problems.

How are these concerns about their futures affecting students? My experience is that it is encouraging them to think more selfishly. I used to hear students talking about 'serving the people' a phrase that is now, like the Little Red Book consigned to history. I feel great sympathy for these youngsters. It is clear from their conversations with me that they are desperately searching for advice and guidance. But they are on their own. Neither their parents nor their teachers have faced these problems and the dilemmas that are part of moving from sheltered academia to the hard world of employment. Their seniors did what they were told. There is no accumulated wisdom. They are treading paths that their families know nothing about. Communication without shared experiences is very difficult and that is the position that university students are finding themselves in today.

The university leaders used to be concerned with producing the educated young people for society. Now they are largely concerned about protecting their own positions. They need to encourage students to come to their university because they bring with them funds. They spend the money on grandiose new and unnecessarily large campuses because 'big is beautiful and wonderful'. They have followed central government policies to merge smaller (more manageable) universities into ever- larger unmanageable ones.

They have built out of town campuses, which are disliked by students and teachers, but admired by those who only visit occasionally in the official car. They listen to and respond to the demands of students. They give the impression they are afraid that if they do not they will fail to attract new ones. In contrast they can ignore the needs of teachers especially the younger ones, because with so many graduates and post graduates there will be no shortage of people to fill the places of teachers who rock the boat. It is tragic that good young teachers are feeling frustrated and see no future. But that is another story.

Today's students are growing into adulthood within a very different situation to those I taught a dozen years ago. It is not a comfortable time for many of them.

Patrick Wood looks at Chinese education system and its effect on students. The article first appeared in China Eye magazine 2005.

The author has been teaching in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province since 2000. He first taught at Sichuan University but this summer he moved to the South West University for Chinese National Minorities. He had previously taught in China during 1992-94. Patrick had the pleasure of meeting SACU members Derek Bryan and Hong Ying in Chengdu during one of their periodic visits to China and he joined SACU on a return visit to the UK in 1994.

http://www.sacu.org/students.html

The Future of the Arts/The Future of America

Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Last week, the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities released a study on arts education and the news is bleak. Taking information on a 2008 report from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Los Angeles Times recently reported: "Among children of a college graduate, 27% said they had never taken even one arts class, compared with 12% in 1982. For children of high school graduates, the number who'd never had any arts study rose from 30% nearly 30 years ago to 66% in 2008."

This radical diminution in exposure of children to arts education has dire consequences for our arts ecology as well as our nation as a whole.

Traditionally, young children were exposed to the arts by their families and their schools. I remember playing the triangle in nursery school, singing in music class in grade school and singing in chorus and playing in the orchestra throughout my junior and senior high school days. I was an exception. When most students entered high school, they stopped their arts participation as they focused on dating, college, career and creating a family. Most people ages 18-45 had little discretionary time and money and only returned to the arts when their children were grown and their careers flourished. This influx of middle-aged ticket buyers, subscribers, donors, volunteers and board members was essential for the health and vitality of our arts organizations.

The startling fact revealed in the statistics in this new arts education report is that we cannot expect this trend to continue. Will someone with no arts experiences as a child automatically become a subscriber or donor to the arts when they hit middle age? Will they volunteer at a local dance school? Will they be willing to join the board of a theater company? I doubt it.

If not, where will the earned and unearned income for the arts come from in 20 or 30 years? The arts suffer from inflation more than other industries owing to our difficulty improving productivity. We need to add income more quickly rather than less quickly than other sectors of the economy.

As dire as the consequences may be for our field, they are much more serious for our economy as a whole.

The United States no longer depends on manufacturing as the central element of our economy. Less than 20% of our gross domestic product now comes from manufacturing, the lowest level among developed countries.

Our economic future depends on a work force that must be creative problem solvers, those who can invent new products and create new software. This means our educational system must produce creative, problem-solving graduates.

Who better to play a role in exercising the creative minds of our children than we in the arts? How are students going to build confidence in their abilities to create if they are not given access to education that goes beyond reading, writing and arithmetic?

Those who argue that investing in arts education is frivolous are simply wrong. We do our children and grandchildren no favor by reducing deficits by cutting educational opportunities.

But arts organizations are going to have to do more and better arts education in the coming years; we are going to have to work together to create smarter, stronger more efficient arts programming for children.

The health of our field and of our nation is at stake.

Huffington Post
Posted: 05/16/11 08:09 AM ET

TIJI "COLOUR" HD from AKAMA on Vimeo.

I don't know...

The Krasnals. Whielki Krasnal "Nobel prize winner? Red communistic pig?
Wisława Szymborska", from "Great Poles". 2010. Oil on canvas.

Inspiration is not the exclusive privilege of poets or artists. There is, there has been, there will always be a certain group of people whom inspiration visits. It's made up of all those who've consciously chosen their calling and do their job with love and imagination. It may include doctors, teachers, gardeners — I could list a hundred more professions. Their work becomes one continuous adventure as long as they manage to keep discovering new challenges in it. Difficulties and setbacks never quell their curiosity. A swarm of new questions emerges from every problem that they solve. Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous "I don't know."

Wisława Szymborska (b.1923)  Polish poet, essayist and translator awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Born to Learn

Born to Learn from Born to Learn on Vimeo.

Born to learn is a fun, thought-provoking series of animations that illustrate ground-breaking new discoveries about how humans learn.

A good iDea?

Added On April 8, 2011

A school in Maine is buying iPads for students, but not everyone is happy. WGME reports.

WGME.com

Do you think this is a good iDea?

Process: Additive/Subtractive Drawing

“Still Green VIII” (charcoal, 2005) appears in “Variations on A Theme” at Pan American Art Gallery.

Drawing from life — and moving back and forth between mark-making and erasing — I first establish large shapes and prominent edges, then focus on discrete areas to develop the drawing in greater detail.

panamericanart.com from Lari R. Gibbons on Vimeo.

China blasts 'maverick' artist Ai Weiwei after reported arrest

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 6, 2011 4:46 a.m. EDT

Ai Weiwei, shown in this file picture, has not been seen since Sunday when he was en route to Hong Kong.

(CNN) -- China's ruling Communist party unleashed a blistering attack Wednesday on dissident artist Ai Weiwei -- and on the West for criticizing his apparent arrest.

Ai has not been seen since Sunday, when he and an assistant said on Twitter that they had been taken into custody en route to Hong Kong.

China broke its silence Wednesday with a pair of articles in a Communist party newspaper.

One Global Times piece said he had been "detained by police, according to overseas media reports."

The other article, an editorial, said Ai "has been close to the red line of Chinese law... as long as Ai Weiwei continuously marches forward, he will inevitably touch the red line one day."

Read More...

Julian Schnabel:Impacted by Art and Critics

What was the first work of ART that changed you?

Artist Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
Title: Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
Date:1653
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 56 1/2 x 53 3/4 in.
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world's largest and finest art museums. Its collections include more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe.

Founded in 1870, the Metropolitan Museum is located in New York City's Central Park along Fifth Avenue (from 80th to 84th Streets). Nearly five million people visit the Museum each year.

Additional Resources:
  

Warhol's Elizabeth Taylor portrait to be auctioned



Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna''
at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

 LONDON | Thu Mar 24, 2011
(Reuters Life!) - A portrait of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol will go under the hammer in New York on May 12 and is expected to fetch as much as $30 million, auctioneers Phillips de Pury said on Thursday.

"Liz #5" was painted in 1963 and is "a dazzling tribute to Elizabeth Taylor," the auction house said in a statement.

Taylor died on Wednesday aged 79.

"Liz #5 is a pristine gem," said Michael McGinnis, head of contemporary art at Phillips de Pury.

"It is Warhol at his very best with a perfect screen, glowing colors, and impeccable provenance. She is classic yet every bit as cutting edge as she was when Warhol painted her nearly 50 years ago."

According to the company, the portrait "embodies the most important themes of Warhol's oeuvre including celebrity, wealth, scandal, sex, death and Hollywood.

"The epitome of old-world Hollywood style and glamour, Liz Taylor was one of Warhol's most famous inspirations alongside Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy."

The painting is estimated to be worth $20-30 million.

British actor Hugh Grant sold a Warhol portrait of Taylor in New York in 2007 for $23.6 million, several times what he paid for the work.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)

Wet-n-Wet, the Power of Watercolor

Water ink _ BDDP Unlimited and Solidarités International - UK from BDDP Unlimited on Vimeo.

Leonardo da Vinci

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

- Leonardo da Vinci 



Sol LeWitt:Wall Drawings

"The system is the work of art; the visual work of art is the proof of the System. The visual aspect can't be understood without understanding the system. It isn't what it looks like but what it is that is of basic importance."  -Sol LeWitt

Installation view of Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawing #260 at The Museum of Modern Art, 2008. Sol LeWitt. Wall Drawing #260. 1975. Chalk on painted wall, dimensions variable. Gift of an anonymous donor.© 2008 Sol LeWitt/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © Jason Mandella

Over the course of his prolific, influential career, Sol LeWitt (American, 1928–2007) produced more than 1,200 wall drawings. This installation, which fills a single large gallery, features one of LeWitt's celebrated examples from the Museum's collection, Wall Drawing #260 (1975). The work's subtitle serves to describe the installation: "on black walls, all two-part combinations of white arcs from corners and sides, and white straight, not-straight, and broken lines." Although LeWitt's wall drawings evoke the tradition of Italian fresco paintings, they have established a distinct tradition of their own, in which linear systems, determined by LeWitt in advance, are carried out by others, be they artists, trained assistants, or novice volunteers, based upon his instructions. LeWitt compared his role to that of a composer who creates a score that may be played by musicians for generations to come. The concept—or score—remains constant, but the wall drawing, like a musical performance, will vary slightly each time it is realized anew.

Source: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/305
  

David Brooks: "The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement" | The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR

David Brooks: "The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement" The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR

"Boom for Real" Mac n' Cheese

The followin entry has been reposted from our friends at Love Root(s).

boom for real

I recently watched the moving documentary, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. In the 80’s, Jean-Michel, only in his early twenties, became a superstar of the art world. Tragically, his life was cut short in the prime of his career.

His creative process was inspiring to watch. He liked to paint among stacks of books and magazines, with music playing and the TV on. He found inspiration everywhere; from a page of Grey’s Anatomy, a Charlie Parker song, a broken window on the street. His work was deeply personal, like throbbing explosions of color, emotion and experience.

Check out some his work here.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel had this saying, “boom for real” meaning he would take all the things in his world that inspire him, big or small, interpret them through his own vision and make them explode onto the canvas equally for us to look at and interpret.

I love the quirky romanticism of that. When an artist is brave enough to let us into their world, bare their soul to us (and give us a glimpse of truth). It is a very powerful thing.

In the same way, I love seeing how other people make the “simple dish” macaroni and cheese. It is one of those dishes where a chef can show us who they are and how they view the world. (Most ideas in cooking are not completely new, but rather an interpretation of another dish you’ve been inspired by.) Whenever I get a cookbook or look at a menu I always see if they have their version of the dish.

Throughout the years I have taken little inspirations here and there for my own version. A little bit of bacon here, a little bit of panko there. (For this version I decided to add a little bit of crumbled Cheetos to honor Jean Michel’s love of pop culture, color and the food he survived on while he was a struggling artist on the streets of New York.)



Jean-Michel’s paintings show me you must always keep your eyes open. There is never a moment too small or insignificant that it can’t inspire. Even a bite of macaroni and cheese can be an explosion of flavor, color, and a window into someone’s world.



love-roots pairing

eat- an inspired macaroni and cheese
top with- crumbled cheetos
watch- jean-michel basquiat: the radiant child
add some- “boom for real” to your cooking



“Boom for Real” Macaroni and Cheese

1 # Corkscrew Elbow Macaroni
2 c Heavy Cream
2 c Whole Milk
1 or 2 sprigs Thyme
6 oz Sharp Cheddar, freshly grated
6 oz Fontina, freshly grated
6 oz Parmesan, freshly grated, plus more baking
3 tbs Butter
a few dashes Chipotle Tabasco
4 slices Bacon, cooked and chopped
a few handfuls Panko
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings
1 c Cherry Tomatoes, diced
½ pkg Chives, minced
a few handfuls Cheetos, chopped

Cook elbow macaroni in salted water according to instructions on the box for al dente. Drain and run under water until the noodle are cool and set aside.
In a large sauce pan bring heavy cream, milk and thyme to a simmer over medium heat and simmer. Carefully remove the sprigs of thyme.
Add the cheeses and cook on low until the cheeses melt. Add noodles, butter, tabasco, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust for seasoning if necessary.
Place pasta in medium baking dish and top with panko, bacon and more grated parmesan.
Bake in oven for 20 minutes until bubbly, then broil on high for 2-5 minutes or until the top turns golden brown.
Top with some of the tomatoes, chives, cheetos and serve. I like to put out extra toppings and parmesan cheese, just in case people want to add more as they eat. Enjoy.

Action Alert!

Youth Radio Joins 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting from Turnstyle Video on Vimeo.

http://170millionamericans.org/

The Armory Show

Gabriel Kuri, Untitled (Parking Swirl 2), 2007
Gabriel Kuri is represented by Franco Noero, Turin and Esther Schipper, Berlin - Armory Show 2011, booth 1206.

The Armory Show PIER 92 and 94
MARCH 3-6, 2011

The Armory Show is America's leading fine art fair devoted to the most important art of the 20th and 21st centuries. In its eleven years, the fair has become an international institution. Every March, artists, galleries, collectors, critics and curators from all over the world make New York their destination during Armory Arts Week

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor, Feruary 17, 2011

It was on this day in 1913 that the Armory Show opened in New York City, the first comprehensive exhibition of modern art in this country. At the time, American art was dominated by the ultra-conservative National Academy of Design, which had no interest in non-representational or experimental work. In 1912, a group of artists had gotten together and formed the Association for American Painters and Sculptors. One of these artists was the painter Walt Kuhn, who wrote to his wife: "My idea about the new society is this: a big broad liberal organization embracing every kind of art, even those which I do not like, one that will interest the public ... the thing must be started so that it can grow and be as big or bigger than the academy within two or three years."

The group decided that the best way to compete with the Academy would be to have a well-publicized exhibition. Kuhn and fellow artist Arthur Bowen Davies traveled to Europe to collect art for the show. They brought home work by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Cézanne, Wassily Kandinsky, Vincent Van Gogh, and many other artists. They also invited American artists to participate, although in general even the more cutting-edge Americans seemed traditional next to the Europeans. (Read More)

P.J. Harvey:Overlapping Creativity

PJ Harvey

"I was a visual artist primarily and a writer, even from a very young age. I wrote a lot of stories and poetry and ... I had a desire to create always. And I always had a desire to show my work. I'd want to read the stories that I'd written, I'd want to show the drawings that I made. That was just purely natural. So I knew I wanted to go into the arts in some way and that I'd want to show that work in some way. That's all I knew. I didn't know what territory specifically it'd be in — whether I'd be writing or acting or singing or drawing. As I grew older, I actually was prepared to go into fine arts school and do a degree. That was what I was actually settled upon when I was offered a record deal."

NPR Music Fresh Air Interview

PJ Harvey: On War And The New 'England'

Artist's Website:

http://www.pjharvey.net/home.asp 

‘The world doesn’t need any more art that’s just alright’, says Polly Harvey. ‘It only needs mind-blowing, inspirational, life-changing stuff’

High School and College Student Call for Entries

2011 Brass Ring Awards

The Brass Ring Awards competition was started in 1985 with 85 entries from 6 Oklahoma universities. The initial purpose of the show was to raise the quality of work being produced in Oklahoma through the healthy venue of competition. Of the 85 entries, over one-half of them were in the category of illustration.

Click below to go to the Brass Ring Awards' official website for the call for entries and submissions

Official Brass Ring Awards Website
Sponsored by Oklahoma Christian University Art + Design

Prizes: “Best of Show”, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit awards in each category are based on the judges’ scoring. All winners will be shown online. “Best of Show” winners will receive an acrylic trophy and cash prize (based on the total number of entries).

Price:
$5.00 = High School per entry
$9.00 = College per entry
* There is no limit on entries! We accept credit card payments through PayPal (you do not need to have a Paypal account to pay).

Groups: We will accept checks from High Schools and Universities entering student work of 25+ (or more). Your teacher can contact jeff.price@oc.edu if that applies to your school entries.

Eligibility: All college and university undergraduates and high school students.

Contest Starts: February 1, 2011

Deadline: Noon, February 24, 2011

The Brass Ring Awards competition is designed to motivate and reward students for excellence in art and design. This year marks the 25th year for the Brass Ring Awards, which attracted 1,239 entries in 2010, from 60 universities and 18 high schools.
In 2010 there were 60 universities, representing 411 entries from 27 states. We also have over 40 categories and have included video, animation and game design. The High School competition was introduced in 2000 and in 2010 we had 17 high schools representing 107 entries.
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Incorporating Elements of Design into Your Photography

Art Wolfe: Using Elements of Design from Art Wolfe on Vimeo.
  

The elements and principles of art may be considered the basic language of visual art. Understanding these concepts will provide a basic art vocabulary and ideas by which works of art can begin to be analyzed. They may be the focus of individual lessons or used as the theme for creating original works of art.

Elements of Art

line - The path of a moving point. A line may define the edge of a shape; repeated, it can create texture or value. It may be thick or thin, smooth or rough, short or long, light or dark.

value - The degree of dark or light tones or colors. A value scale shows the gradual changing of a tone from the darkest to the lightest or white. Value may be created by simple shading, hatch marks (small repeated lines in the same direction), or crosshatching.

texture - The surface quality or feel of an object. Texture may be actual (rough or smooth) or implied visually.

shape - A two-dimensional area defined by an outline or change in color. Examples of types of geometric shapes include circle, square, rectangle, triangle, or oval. Other shapes may be free-form such as natural objects (i.e., leaves, flowers, clouds) or invented free-form shapes that might be created by doodling.

form - A three-dimensional object with the qualities of length, width and depth. Examples of geometric forms include a cone, cube, sphere, or cylinder.

space - Area within, around, between, above or below objects and shapes. Space or distance may be suggested in visual art by using perspective or other strategies such as placement of objects on the picture plane, overlapping of shapes, or objects closer to the viewer are made to appear to have more vibrant color and detail than objects further away. Variation of size or value and the use of converging lines are also used to suggest space.

color - Hue (name of the color), value (how light a color is), and intensity (amount of brightness) produced through the reflection of light to the eye. Primary colors are the three colors from which all other colors may be made: red, yellow, and blue. Secondary colors are the result of mixing any two primary colors: orange, green, and purple.

Principles of Design

balance - The arrangement of the elements of art in a composition. Basic types of balance are symmetrical (mirror image), asymmetrical and radial (from a center point).

rhythm - Regular repetition of lines, colors, shapes or pattern.

movement - Use of lines, shapes or colors to lead the eye of the viewer from one direction to another.

center of interest - The accent or important area used to attract the viewers’ attention; i.e., emphasis.

contrast - Significant degrees of difference between lines, colors, shapes, values or textures. Pale yellow against charcoal black has a greater degree of contrast than yellow against white, for example.

variety – Refers to the different elements of art used to create interest (difference).

unity – Sense of oneness, of things belonging together and making up a coherent whole.

repetition - Repeated use of an element such as color, shape or line within a work of art. Repetition creates pattern, which may be found in manufactured or natural objects.

The Art of Collecting

“Most of us go through the world, never seeing anything. Then you meet somebody like Herb and Dorothy, who have eyes that see.”
                                                   --Richard Tuttle, artist

He was a postal worker. She was a librarian. Together they amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections in the world.

HERB & DOROTHY tells the extraordinary tale of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a seemingly ordinary couple who filled their humble one-bedroom New York apartment with more than 4,000 works of art over a 45-year period. Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki turns her lens on the Vogels during a critical period of transition for the couple and their cherished collection.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/herb-and-dorothy/film.html

Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards are small original works of art meant to be traded between other artists. They measure a mere, 2.5" X 3.5", which happens to be the same size as a baseball card. These small works of art may be constructed utilizing a variety of media and methods. Clear bags.com and dick blick.



http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=203704

Happy 172nd Birthday, Paul!



Paul CézanneStill Life with Apples and Peaches, c. 1905
Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1959.15.1



"May I repeat what I told you here: treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, everything brought into proper perspective so that each side of an object or a plane is directed towards a central point. Lines parallel to the horizon give breadth... lines perpendicular to this horizon give depth. But nature for us men is more depth than surface, whence the need to introduce into our light vibrations, represented by the reds and yellows, a sufficient amount of blueness to give the feel of air."

Paul Cézanne to Emile Bernard

April 15, 1904

Biography Link

Intergrating Art and Science

Lauren Redniss
I was drawn to the story of Marie and Pierre Curie first because it is a beautiful love story.

In 1891, 24 year old Marie, née Marya Sklodowska, moved from Warsaw to Paris, where she found work in the laboratory of Pierre Curie, a scientist engaged in research on heat and magnetism. They fell in love. They took their honeymoon on bicycles. They expanded the periodic table, discovering two new elements with startling properties, radium and polonium. They recognized radioactivity as an atomic property, heralding the dawn of a new scientific era. They won the Nobel Prize. Newspapers mythologized the couple’s romance, beginning articles on the Curies with “Once upon a time…” Then, in 1906, Pierre was killed in a freak accident. Marie continued their work alone. She won a second Nobel Prize in 1911, and fell in love again, this time with the married physicist Paul Langevin. Scandal ensued. Duels were fought.

But I was also interested in the way this story could illuminate questions that resonate far beyond the lives of its characters.

In the century since the Curies began their work, the world has struggled with nuclear weapons proliferation, debated the role of radiation in medical treatment, and pondered nuclear energy as a solution to climate change. These debates all have roots in a love story in 19th Century Paris.

To research the book, I traveled to Hiroshima to interview atomic bomb survivors, to the Nevada Test Site outside of Las Vegas to talk with weapons specialists, to Warsaw to see the house where Marie Curie was born, to the Curie Institut in Paris to interview the Curie’s granddaughter. I spoke with an oncologist exploring innovative radiation treatment in San Bernadino, California and the Idaho National Laboratory’s Director of the Center for Space Nuclear Research about how nuclear power and propulsion could enable space exploration and crystal cities built on the moon.

I made the artwork for the book using a process called “cyanotype.” Cyanotype is a camera‐less photographic technique in which paper is coated with light‐sensitive chemicals. When the chemically-treated paper is exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, it turns a deep blue color. Photographic imaging was critical to both the discovery of X-rays and of radioactivity, so it made sense to me to use a process based on the idea of exposure to create the images in Radioactive.

For the text, I designed a font based on the title pages of 18th and 19th Century manuscripts in the New York Public Library’s collections. It is named Eusapia LR for the croquet-playing, sexually ravenous Italian Spiritualist medium whose séances the Curies attended. Yup.

The cover of Radioactive is printed with luminescent ink; it glows in the dark. You can see pages from the book here.

Read HarperCollins’s press release here.


Making a Cyanotype Print from Lauren Redniss on Vimeo.

Additional links:
http://laurenredniss.com/
http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2011/01/a-visual-history-of-radioactivity/

Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best

Art and music are key to student development.

by Fran Smith



Credit: Getty Images



"Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence," sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz has said. Arts education, on the other hand, does solve problems. Years of research show that it's closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity.

Read more...
http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development

Prominent Chinese Artist’s Studio Torn Down

Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Ai Weiwei standing in the rubble of his studio in Shanghai on tuesday.

Born in 1957 in Beijing, Ai Weiwei has played a key role in contemporary Chinese art over the last two decades.

The artist, who helped create the Olympic "Bird's Nest" stadium in his home city, has been highly vocal about human rights issues in his country.

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12174873
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/world/asia/13china.html

"Where Good Ideas Come From"

Rich Fisher (2011-01-03)

TULSA, OKLAHOMA (kwgs) - On this installment of our show, we speak with bestselling author and new-media guru Steven Johnson about his latest book, "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation." As one critic, writing for Publishers Weekly, has noted of this fascinating volume: "Johnson . . . delivers a sweeping look at innovation spanning nearly the whole of human history. What sparks our great ideas? Johnson breaks down the cultural, biological, and environmental fuel into seven broad 'patterns,' each packed with diverse . . . anecdotes that [he] synthesizes into a recipe for success. A section on 'slow hunches' captivates, taking readers from the FBI's work on 9/11 to Google's development of Google News. A section on error takes us through a litany of accidental innovations, including the one that eventually led to the invention of the computer. 'Being right keeps you in place,' Johnson reminds us. 'Being wrong forces us to explore.' It's eye-opening stuff. . . . Another mind-opening work from the author of 'Mind Wide Open.'" © Copyright 2011, kwgs

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kwgs/news.newsmain/article/0/1/1745907/StudioTulsa/’Where.Good.Ideas.Come.From’

Using Technology to Transform Schools—Remarks by Secretary Arne Duncan at the Association of American Publishers Annual Meeting

http://www2.ed.gov/news/speeches/2010/03/03032010.html

10 Lessons the Arts Teach

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solutionand that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving
purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects.The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material.All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said.When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young
what adults believe is important.

SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications.

Creative Beginings

Artifacts was founded by Brian Arneecher and an amazing group of his students from Jenks High School in the summer of 2005.  What began as a "main street movement" to assist local artists exhibit their creations has now continued to evolve into a creative consulting firm of highly talented individuals dedicated to protecting the interests of local artists, fine arts educators and their committed students.

Artifacts strives to assists schools and non-profit organizations in the following endeavors:

• Grant writing and management
• Artistic program development
• Creative blogging
• Artistic networking
• Fundraising for innovation
• Private art instruction 
• Portfolio development
• Scholarship searches

Please contact Brian Arneecher at artifactsok@gmail.com if you have any questions.