Art Np2

Image by Pratham Books via Flickr In November I started tutoring first graders in reading through the local library.  Although I had no experience and very little training in teaching young children to read, I wanted to try my hand at it because of my love of books and reading.  Instead of the sweet, lady-like, giggling girls I had in mind, I was assigned two delightfully rambunctious, intelligent boys. They are the kind of boys who regularly squirm out of their seats, run down the hall with untied shoe strings, and walk backwards claiming magical seeing powers.  One of the boys repeatedly asked if I was "gonna give him something good that day."  All I have to give was reading practice, stories, and a occasional little gift such as a pencil or bookmark.  Let's just say he's lucky smacking knuckles with rulers have been outlawed because I was taught by that kind of dis...

In Robert Hughes' article for Time magazine, written only 8 years after the artist's death, Hughes articulates Giacometti's struggle to make meaningful marks. The article sorts through common misconceptions, and also, indirectly, addresses the struggle to create. ...The painting('s)... real subject is the artist's lifelong obsession as a sculptor: the enormous difficulty of seeing anything clearly at all and the near impossibility of truthfully remaking what is seen into a lump of clay or a scribble on paper. Giacometti saw his own efforts as condemned to frustration. "There is no hope of achieving what I want, of expressing my vision of reality. I go on painting and sculpting because I am curious to know why I fail."...        - Robert Hughes, Art: An Obsession with Seeing, Time Magazine, April 8, 1974 Link Full Text Image: Giacometti, Head of Diego, Oil/Canvas, 1961

The Intellectual Life Committee and the College of Arts and Sciences at Governors State University present A Whole New Mind 2010 – Brainstorm, a national juried art competition inspired by Daniel Pink’s book "A Whole New Mind – Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future." Art work documenting, analyzing and/or inspired by the intellectual activity, thought processes, dysfunctions, and/or problem solving capabilities of the human mind will be favored. Please View the Exhibition Catalog at http://www.govst.edu/brainstorm/ Show Runs - May 24- June 24 2010 Artists Reception and Awards ceremony Saturday, June 19 5-7pm following the "Summer Sol-abration" event from 2-5pm in the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at GSU Reading Group Discussion- Thursday June 24, 2010 7-8pm in Visual Arts Gallery. The first 25 People to sign up will get a free copy of A Whole New Mind. Plus stop in the gallery during regular hours to vote for the "Peoples Choice Award" that will be a...

I am reading anything that can hold my attention and that means humor, mystery, historical non-fiction,  speculative fiction, and trash.  You name it and I will probably read it at this point my life.  It seems I want and need the freedom to be exposed to everything. In my goodwill, library, and yard sale shopping sprees I found The Trial by Franz Kafka,  After Leaving Mr. Mckenzie by Jean Rhys, The Reef by Edith Wharton,  Do with me what you will by Joyce Carol Oates, Blue Latitudes by Tony Horowitz and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I admit to being out of control when it comes to books, but altogether the items I purchased were under $10.00. Whether or not I have room to store them is neither here nor there, right?  The Hobbit is one of those books I always meant to read but never got to, so let's hope I do eventually since I bought it.  I also found a absolutely beautiful, large and illustrated hard copy of  Little W...

Arts and Citizenship via Maura Doern Danko, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and YouTube PittsburghFilmmakers — May 26, 2009 — Shot and edited at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Edited by Gretchen Neidert Cinematography by Matthew Day Music by Charlie Humphrey Crew: Joseph Morrison Will Zavala Gretchen Neidert Ann Toriano Andrew Swensen Greg Grant Patrick Bowman Daniel Baliban Produced by: Pittsburgh Filmmakers / Pittsburgh Center for the Arts 2009

Beethoven's inscrutable Ninth Symphony still mesmerizes This summer, as every summer, the end of the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood season will be marked by another round of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The world over, the Ninth has become an indispensable adornment for socio/musical hooplas. Chances are, it will be played soon by an orchestra near you. If you know Western classical music, you know this one. Probably half of humanity can hum the little ditty that serves as the theme of the choral finale—a setting of Schiller's revolutionary-era drinking song, "Ode to Joy." Which is all to say, the Ninth has attained the kind of ubiquity that threatens to gut any artwork. Think Mona Lisa. Still, as with Lisa, when that kind of success persists through the centuries, there are reasons...   -s ource : Slate, "The Beethoven Mystery, Why haven't we figured out his Ninth Symphony?" Jan Swafford Link   Full Text, Slate, "The Beethoven Mystery, Why ha...

One of the things that has puzzled me is how does one find a writing partner?  I desperately need someone to read my work because it seems that I get a better understanding of what I am doing when I talk about it aloud.  I just don't know how to meet someone I can trust and that I feel comfortable with.  How can I be a blessing to my partner?   I am learning from reading the advice of other writers that it is important to have your ass in seat and write for a specified amount of time on a regular basis.  I can see that this is just common sense, but how does one know when something is finished?  So many questions.  Maybe the answers will come from the doing.

There are so many books I am supposed to like or love and I don't, and I feel guilty and resentful about it.  Then there are those hated books that everyone is forced to read in school that turn out to be good when certain  teachers are not forcing their perpectives down our throats. Hmph! What I am having a problem with these days are all these teachers who have blogs on the internet.  They keep writing about interesting books and if I read them I won't have time to look at television anymore!   I need to be more selective about the blogs I read. Not that there are a lot of shows I watch anymore.  The only new show that has piqued the interest of Jake and I lately is Mad Men .  The other shows I don't understand.  The Bachelor for example; why would anyone want to marry a stranger?  I just don't get it.  I am too old to comprehend, I guess. And speaking of age, I cannot handle those new electronic readers....

The GSU Visual Arts Gallery is proudly presenting the graduate thesis exhibition of printmaker, Christopher Clark, from May 13th through 24th, with a reception on Friday, May 21st from 6:00-9:00 p.m. With You Never Get a Second Chance , a series of elaborate, multi-layered screen prints, Clark conveys a sense of affection for the commonplace sights and everyday people of modern Midwestern America while engaging the viewer in questioning his or her own perception of common, casual nonconformity. As a lifelong resident of the Mid-western society depicted in these prints, Clark has an intimate connection with his subjects. In essence, he is presenting a self-portrait of a community. Christopher Clark holds both Bachelor and Master of Art Degrees from Governors State University. As the founder of captivewerewolf.com , the co-founder of Feed Art Center , and organizer of the annual Littlest Print Exchange , Clark is actively involved in developing collaborative, real world and web-based pro...

http://www.theparisreview.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/6012   You are not the only one.