Awesome Art Blog: The Jealous Curator

Looking for art inspiration?  Check out The Jealous Curator.

She's an excellent curator of awesome art from around the web.  She's also the author of a new book, Creative Block, which is on my purchase list.

Here's a little from the Jealous Curator:

"There is one moment, in the first few seconds, when you look at a piece of art and know that you love it. It’s the moment when, if you’re an artist yourself, you look at it and feel a rush of uplifting inspiration… and total soul-crushing jealousy all at the same time. It’s when you walk away thinking, “Damn, I wish I thought of that.” 

Happy internet-ing! 

[Collage] An American Dream

As I've posted before, I have some strong opinions on gun laws in the US (here & here).

In summary, WTF.  China *has* the one child rule.  We have the one gun rule (literally, there are 300M civilian guns in the US).

Decided to harness that thought and put it into a collage today.  End rant :)

[Collage] Hello There!

Inspired by Cassia Beck collage, I create the image above tonight (hat tip: jealous curator)

Here's some work by Cassia:

[Tip] Want to learn Adobe Illustrator? Try Skillshare

Skillshare instructor, Brad Woodard at http://bravethewoods.com/

I love looking at well designed eye-candy on the internet, and I've been wanting to make my own digital illustrations for awhile.

The problem?  Adobe Illustrator is daunting!  

So MANY unfamiliar buttons.  I felt like every time I clicked on the page I automatically got an "error" button.  I tried learning via the Adobe website tutorials, but it's tough to navigate.  I also looked into signing up for 3-day Adobe Creative Suite workshops, but they are spendy (and non-expensable since my day job is all about spreadsheets). 

Well, last week, my friend Mamie posted that she was learning Adobe Illustrator on Skillshare via the class "The Ins and Outs of Illustrator" by Brad Woodard.

[Collage] Misplaced Objects

Something just doesn't quite belong... (original photo here)

[Collage] Hot Dog

(Disclaimer: I'm not promoting eating dogs) 

[Collage] A walk on the wild side

More digital collage from yours truly.

Take a walk on the wild side.

[Pitchfork] Excellent Website Design

In case you haven't noticed, websites are starting to get pretty awesome (goodbye web of the early 2000s).  Personally, I'm loving the 1-page websites, full of high-quality images and just enough playful motion to make your eyes stop for a second to reflect.

[Collage] Lost Horizons

In attempts to learn more about the Adobe Creative Suite, I made another digital collage today (above) with inspiration from Lisa Congdon's image below.

They say you get better with practice.  

Fingers crossed.

Regardless, I really like the quote I stumbled upon in the making from the book Lost Horizon:

"Age is a limit we impose upon ourselves. You know, each time you Westerners celebrate your birthday, you build another fence around your minds."

A nice little lesson from Shangri-la. 

[Collage] Space Odyssey

My first "digital" collage using Adobe Illustrator (and YouTube instructions).

Welcome to some very strange view of the future...

Sharing your Work

"Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon

I'm a relatively new photographer with aspirations of one day becoming a good one.  This pursuit has led me to read and watch lots and lots of creative folks talk about creativity.  Let's be honest -- it's easier to just listen to someone talk about their experiences than have to go out and make those experiences on your own.

The one thing I keep hearing over and over again is "show your work."  Everyone has an online sharing routine -- both with their professional work and personal projects

As Austin Kleon, author of Show Your Work, puts it:

"Almost all of the people I look up to and try to steal from today, regardless of their profession, have built sharing into their routine. These people aren’t schmoozing at cocktail parties; they’re too busy for that. They’re cranking away in their studios, their laboratories, or their cubicles, but instead of maintaining absolute secrecy and hoarding their work, they’re open about what they’re working on, and they’re consistently posting bits and pieces of their work, their ideas, and what they’re learning online. Instead of wasting their time “networking,” they’re taking advantage of the network. By generously sharing their ideas and their knowledge, they often gain an audience that they can then leverage when they need it — for fellowship, feedback, or patronage."

Likewise, Chase Jarvis, photographer and entrepreneur, put it more simply in his creative mornings talk:

"The best way of doing it, is showing it."

So, on that note, here's some photos I took tonight at Marina Bay in Singapore.  It's my first real attempt at night photography & using the new VSCO Film post-processing software I bought.

Enjoy.

 

Grown-ups can play too, especially Jeff Greenspan

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfraven/2545068856

I discovered the artists, Jeff Greenspan, today via the blog, It's Nice That.  He previously was the Chief Creative Officer for Buzzfeed and now freelances his witty work.

I'm absolutely loving his playful style today.  There's no reason adults need to be so serious.

I mean, even Plato believed that play was important:

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” 

And, Ralph Waldo Emerson went as for as calling it a talent:

"It is a happy talent to know how to play" 

So, following in these great mens' footprints, I've started giving my presentations in "meme" form and have been sending out a lot of dancing bear GIFs to accompany my process emails.  I'll report back if their wisdom is doing justice in the business arena.

Maybe I'll get some inspiration from Jeff's work below...

An excellent witticism

"Hipster Traps"

Tourist lanes in NYC

"Letter Bombing"

"Oil Bombing", the precursor to "Photo Bombing"

A First-Hand Account

Walker Evans, 1937

"Stare.  It is a way to educate your eye, and more.  Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop.  Die knowing something.  You are not here long" - Walker Evans

I love documentary photograph.  

I like peering into someone else's life without them knowing.  Call it voyeurism.  Maybe, I'm just "anthropologically-inclined."  Regardless, I had to get off of Facebook several years ago.

As previously mentioned, I'm taking a Coursera class on Art History (yes, get ready for lots of art-related posts), and we reviewed some really eye-opening work last night by some documentary greats (by, "we", I mean myself and my macbook air in bed).

It's amazing how a photograph can make me feel reminiscent, even nostalgic for a life I never lived.

Bill Owens, Suburbia 

Walker Evans, The Great Depression

Carrie Mae Weems, The Kitchen Table Series

Art of Feminism

In my Cal Arts Coursera class, we explored the development of storytelling overtime -- from mainly portraying historical & biblical scenes -- to illustrating "everyday life" in the 19th century (Edouard Manet) -- to replicating scenes that may or may not be real in the 21st century.

In the 1970s, avant-garde female artists used art as a medium to start questioning the traditional role of women in society.  These artworks spurred reflection.  internalization.  They proved that images and stories are just as necessary as debate in creating change.

I've included a few images, videos and an excerpt below.  They made me reflect on the feminist movement -- where we've come and what still needs to happen.  On the plight of moving from an object to a human.  On the freedom to choose a different path in life.

I think we need more art in public discourse.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills

 
Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen

Patti Smith, Piss Factory

Sylvia Plath, Bell Jar

“I also remembered Buddy Willard saying in a sinister, knowing way that after Ihad children I would feel differently, I wouldn't want to write poems any more. So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterward you went about numb as a slave in some private, totalitarian state.”  

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”