Art Opinion

Thanks for watching ArtId's first YouTube video! It may be goofy, but there is a method to our madness. ArtId now has a YouTube account… Continue reading… 2 comments

If you read my last post, you will see Ron English's Abraham Obama , an image that blends the faces of Senator Obama and Abraham Lincoln. In response, artist and featured ArtId blogger Michael Mize asked which United States president could we blend McCain with. My answer was Bush. Here's his rendition of what I call John McBush! Thanks Michael. I think this is so appropriate… Continue reading… 0 comments

It seems appropriate to show you the latest work by artist Ron English, "Abraham Obama". I don't know where to begin except to say I like the piece alot. This artwork brings up so many questions that I suggest you buy a couple of bottles of wine and get together with your friends and talk about it. Loudly. But, here a few quick thoughts that come to my mind: 1.The American divide on moral issues is akin to the divide which caused the civil war. (that's a biggy) 2. American needs to gain back its freedom from a tyranical administration. 3.Obama and Lincoln make a good couple. 4.Will Obama's role in the future of our nation be anywhere as important as Lincoln's was? 5. What does Andy Warhol have to do with it? 6. Love public art. 7… Continue reading… 4 comments

I'll admit it - I love my competition reality TV shows, especially the ones where people have to demonstrate some skill and creative talent to win. I especially love Last Comic Standing because comics are often not funny when they're hanging around the house - the first season they were downright curmudgeons and I loved them for it because once they hit the stage they transformed into hilarious likeable beings. Genius! I also am addicted to Project Runway where the competition is difficult and the designers have to really "work it" to avoid elimination. Sometimes I daydream about what kind of garment I would have made if I had been on the show..… Continue reading… 6 comments

A few months ago I received an email about a public art project that fiber artist Sarah Haskell was weaving together. I was so intrigued by the concept that I just had to get involved. As a lettering artist the project hit home as a way to combine art, text, prayer and community. Calligraphers in every culture have a long history of writing on, and infusing into paper messages that are not intended to rest in a gallery, a book, or on someone's wall, but rather sent out as "weathergrams" fiber by fiber, into the wind. Sarah is taking this concept a step further to include thousands of messages interwoven into a unified whole… Continue reading… 4 comments

There's quite an amazing installation on display at Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA. Jenny Holzer's Projections casts poems by Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska across a darkened room the length of a football field. Walking through these projected words is at first like half-listening: I caught fragments of words but could not put them together, dimly aware of trees, pens and paper, bodies and discomfort. When I stood at the end of the hall, I could read each word clearly as it appeared. The lines arrived more slowly than the time it took to read them, which allowed each line to fully register: "Nothing has changed. / The body is a reservoir of pain ..." Reading a few poems in this unconventional way is one thing_but that is only part of the exhibit… Continue reading… 3 comments

!IMAGE164 !It's not often that I have difficulty justifying to myself my own reaction to a piece of art, but I have come upon this dilemma recently when I saw The Full Body Project by Leonard Nimoy at the Michelson Gallery" in Northampton, MA. The Full Body Project is a collection of black and white photographs depicting a group of morbidly obese women in various poses and dance shots, nude and sometimes in skimpy outfits. The women, in real life, are members of a burlesque dance troupe called the Full-Bottom Revue which challenges audiences to understand what Nimoy calls "fat liberation"… Continue reading… 1 comment

Augusta, GA is home to non-profit organization, Children's Art-Walk , founded by fellow member artist Bruce Klassen and his wife Deborah. A recently retired businessman, a painter, and a former Pacific Region Board member of the Boys And Girls Clubs of America, Bruce draws upon his unique perspective as artist, businessman and community activist to serve part of Augusta's community through art. Though "birthed" in Augusta, Children's Art-Walk has the inevitable potential and scalability to reach hundreds, even thousand of communities in the United States and even around the globe. … Continue reading…

Miniature Books Exhibit At The Boston Public Library !IMAGE140 !Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Boston Public Library's main branch in Copley Square to see their miniature books exhibit entitled 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures . While I have always considered handmade books pieces of art, I have to say that the miniature versions are awe-inspiring. If you are new to miniature books, like I was, you will probably first ask yourself, 'why?' and then, after passing over a few of these magical little fineries, you will ask, 'why not more?' … Continue reading…

Recently, I wrote an article entitled, The Art Of Marketing Your Own Art . for the Minds Island website. In it, I focus on the art of creative selling artists have to practice in order to take control of their art careers. I used the painter Duane Keiser . as an example of an artist who has done exactly that by utilizing the Internet. Keiser is the artists who initiated the "Painting A Day" phenomenon in which artists paint a small painting a day and sell/market it on the Internet via eBay, a website, a blog, or all of the above. You can read The Art Of Marketing Your Own Art… Continue reading…

!IMAGE132 !Sometimes it's difficult reconnecting with creativity. Life's responsibilities often get in the way of a certain freedom our minds need to create art. For some people, creative blocks are a constant struggle. Personally, I need to get out in the fresh air for about ten minutes and take a walk. Walking allows my eyes to wander and land on just about everything around me without placing judgements, my brain starts working on all the stuff that's going on in my life without any pressure to resolve. I usually come back happier and more motivated to complete that project I've been working on. That's why I was so excited when I came across a website called sketchcrawl.com, the perfect antidote when you're losing your creative edge.… Continue reading…

By Shifra Stein Several years ago, I learned from personal experience that making art could be beneficial to someone suffering from pain and illness. Although I'd been a writer most of my life, a debilitating bout of major clinical depression wiped out my ability to compose a coherent sentence, let alone write a book. !IMAGE115 !However, in an art therapy class, I found that I was able to pick up a brush, dip it into paint and water, and express myself in a whole new way. As I watched life-affirming yellows, blues, and rosy reds flow together down the paper, I felt the despair lift. The joy I experienced at that moment, changed my life forever, and put me on the path to becoming an artist… Continue reading… 2 comments

This past summer, St. Lucy's teacher and professional artist, Dr. Yvonne M. Ward , shared her passion for art by creating an art program designed specifically for kids in the 3rd and 4th grades. Having been raised in a large Christian family, Dr. Ward learned the importance of sharing her gifts and talents with others. It was a theme that ran through her family of five children, all talented in the arts. Dr. Ward's mother, Hilda, was her chief role model for her wanting to become an artist. Hilda was a professional fashion designer and illustrator, trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parson's school of Design. She painted fashion models, designed fabrics and had expertise in pattern-making.… Continue reading…

"From 4/19 to 9/11: Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum an Inspiration to Others":http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/index.htm By Shifra Stein and Bob Barrett Photos copyright Bob Barrett, 2006… Continue reading… 0 comments

Bring Kids and Pets Along on this Great Artist Getaway By Shifra Stein and Bob Barrett All photos _ Bob Barrett - 2006 !IMAGE96 !Imagine having your first cup of morning coffee on your private balcony overlooking the rugged cliffsides and blooming desert of Phoenix's 3000-acre North Mountain Preserve. If you're staying in an all-suite resort like the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs, you'll be right in the midst of this spectacular desert and mountain terrain that affords artists myriad opportunities for plein air painting.… Continue reading… 0 comments

Bayfield Wisconsin: a Lake Superior Gem By Shifra Stein and Bob Barrett all photos _2006 Bob Barrett The fog is just lifting over the waters of Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the western hemisphere. Rays of sunlight sparkle and shimmer upon the crystal blue waters, stirring up movement as walleye, lake trout, and whitefish make their way along the lake_'s southern shore. Here at the topmost point of Wisconsin, an eagle spreads its wings, and lifts off in search of a nesting site, not that he'll have much trouble finding one. For he has his pick of places in Bayfield County, an area of pristine forests and habitat that is surrounded and protected by a National Lakeshore, and National, State, and County Forests.… Continue reading… 1 comment