Art Np2

I apologize ahead of time for bad grammar or typos, but I am feeling spacey today.   "Daily Writing Tips" has an excellent post on how and why certain people choose to write in a hard to understand manner. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/corporate-english/ I majored in English and had an extremely difficult time with research writing, so I admit to a certain amount of prejudice. Academic writers reward one another for having the ability to write in what they believe to be an esoteric style, but I think they do it to try to prove their superiority.  At least that is how most of them presented themselves to me. I want to share an Orwell article that "Daily Writing Tips" also has on their website:  .http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/index.cgi/work/essays/language.html    I sort of put the link here for myself, but other people should benefit too.  I experienced a lot of disrepect and cruelty at the hands of people who write in this manner, so I like to read ...

GSU graduate student Sarah Ogren will be exhibiting her thesis work May 3 - May 14. In the series, “Follow that Rabbit”, Ogren explores the Existential; the every day conversations, lessons learned, and the general exploration of the meaning of life. All depicted through a whimsical, Victorian, lens set in an enchanted-like forest. The rabbit often depicted in many of Ogren’s pieces, acts not only as representation of the artist herself, but as a narrator through Ogren’s life experiences and the work itself. The work is sometimes dark and moody, sometimes light-hearted, but is always meant to be viewed with a sense of humor. Embrace your inner child and follow that rabbit… Ogren earned a BA in Art from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Webster University. She is currently completing her second Master’s degree in Digital Imaging from Governor’s State University while working full time as an artist.

Madonna with the Pear, Albrecht Durer, Engraving, 1511, RISD. "Engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy whose visual language is composed entirely of lines...Andrew Raftery, an accomplished engraver and Associate Professor of Printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design, analyzed how Early Modern engravers worked within established line systems and also diverged from them." - source: http://risdmuseum.org/thebrilliantline/ A Webby Award nominee for Best Art Website and highly interactive, the visitor can selectively view different stages of the process, from first ideas to final statements, to better understand the printmakers' art and craft. Link The Brilliant Line, RISD Museum of Art, online exhibit, Andrew Raftery

“The Redemption of Brokenness”, a photography exhibit by Sharon Burrink will be on display from April 19 through April 26 in the Visual Arts Gallery. An opening reception celebrating Burrink’s work will be held on Friday, April 23 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the gallery. In this series of photographs, inspired by the courageous stories of abused women, Burrink takes the viewer on a journey from the depths of despair to hope and healing by using stirring images that reflect the sorrows and beauty of life. Burrink’s message reflects her spiritual beliefs that no matter how broken a life might be, God can restore and heal. Burrink graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA from The International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago with a focus on Interior Design. Burrink has recently been named to The National Scholars Honors Society and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Art from Governors State University. Burrink became the CEO of Artistic Interiors, Inc. in 1997 where she used...

“Interiors”, an exhibition of drawings and paintings by Jenni Lake, will be on display from April 12th - April 16th in the Visual Arts Gallery at Governors State University. A closing reception will be held on April 16th from 6 - 8 p.m. Lake explores the concept of death and survival within her series of oil painting and mixed media drawings. With her use of many canvases create singular interior spaces, she draws attention to architectural details, such as the edges of walls and floorboards, that are often overlooked. These objects act as physical representations of significant aspects of people’s lives which they tend to ignore. Lake began her graduate studies after the death of her father, which acted as the catalyst for her entire body of work. She emphasizes the mood through the usage of colors within the subject matter, thereby creating a sense of both serenity and isolation.

Governors State University Graduate Candidate will be presenting her thesis work, "Post Consumerism" at Three Peas Art Lounge in Chicago's South Loop. The exhibition runs from April 2 through May 31. Opening Reception: Friday, April 2, 2010. 6- 9 p.m. Three Peas Art Lounge is located at 75 E. 16th Street. Chicago, IL 60616 Gholar's style is improvisational and intuitive with an emphasis on color and texture. Post-Consumerism takes its title from Gholar's, incorporation of found objects and recycled materials typically associated with consumer culture, such as cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and grocery bags. These common materials are transformed into works of abstract art. It is not just about salvage. It is about redemption. Tiffany Gholar is a lifelong resident of Chicago, Illinois. She studied art as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago and interior design at Harrington College of Design and is currently a candidate for a Masters Degree in Paintin...

For 12 hours a day, Michael Reagan works on portraits of fallen military personnel. So far, he's done more than 2,000. Edmonds, Washington (CNN) -- For Michael Reagan, the portraits always start the same way . "I do the eyes first so I get this connection with the face," he said. "I am pretty exhausted after a picture. Just try staring at a photograph for five hours without any distractions." Reagan, a professional artist for 40 years, is known for his vivid etchings of politicians, celebrities and athletes. Today, he has a new subject: fallen members of the military. It all started three years ago when the wife of a Navy corpsman who was killed in Iraq asked Reagan to draw her late husband. Reagan insisted on doing the portrait for free. Then he had a realization. "I looked at my wife and told her what happened and said, 'Now we need to do them all,' " Reagan remembered..."   - CNN web site Link CNN web site, Full Text and Video

Lately, I have become very interested, I admit it, obsessed with Orson Scott Card's disturbing fictional tale of how the manipulated child Ender Wiggin, his friends, family, and fellow child soldiers saved and influenced our earth of the future.  I keep reading these expansion-type novels in the Ender series which tell the story of "Ender's Game" from the perspective of another character.  So far I have read "Ender's Exile" and Ender's Shadow" to answer questions in my mind that the first book in the series did not sufficiently explain.  I hope one day to get to "Speaker of the Dead" which is supposed to be the second book in the Ender series, but I want to find out as much information as I can before I move on, and so I will first need to read "Shadow of the Hegemony."  I hear tell that there is also an expansion novel that relates the story of Ender's parents' courtship and life before ...

Henri Matisse. Bathers by a River 1909–10, 1913, 1916–17. Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, 1953.158. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. "It has bothered me all my life that I don't paint like anyone else."   - Henri Matisse "Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 examines what is without question the most innovative, momentous, and yet little-studied time in the artist’s long career. Nearly 120 of his most ambitious and experimental paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from the period are on view. Matisse himself acknowledged the significance of these years when he identified two paintings, Bathers by a River and The Moroccans, as among his most pivotal. These monumental canvases from the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, inspired the collaborative work of this exhibition and serve as major touchstones within it. This is the first exhibition to offer an in-depth inves...