Posts Tagged "artists"

Fiddle Oak: Welcome to my World

Posted by on Jun 16, 2013

The profoundest thought or passion

sleeps as in a mine,

until an equal mind and heart

finds and publishes it.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson  —

 Have you ever looked at a beautiful lichen covered rock with wild-flowers dropping pollen on it, and wished you could find a landscape as lovely to step into?



Fiddle Oak - Autumn

Autumn

 

With a bit of  imagination you can, as
Fiddle Oak demonstrates in his photograph:  “The Melody”

"The Melody" by Fiddle Oak

The Melody

 

Inspiration may come on a calm evening spent sharing
Summer Tales with a friend:

"Summer Tales" by Fiddle Oak

Summer Tales

 

 .. Or even arrive with tomorrow’s dinner.

Visiting

 

Fiddle Oak: Travels with Betsy and Diana

This magical journey is brought to you by a 14 year old photographer who lives in a suburb of Boston and is home-schooled by his mother who is a sculptor. 

Zev Hoover  was eight when he started taking photos on his mobile phone for fun. His mother saw the potential he was showing and bought a point and shoot camera for him on eBay. It wasn’t long before she bought him a better one. And then an even better one.

 He now has two cameras, both which he has named.  He calls his still camera “Betsy” and his video camera is “Diana”.
“I like naming things,” he says. “My bike is named Patrick.”

The youngest in a family, with four siblings ,he gives his older sister Nell credit for helping with some of the ideas for the images he creates. She suggested the idea of images of little folk and he came up with the name of Fiddle Oak as his Flickr name, a play on the words.

Fiddle Oak

Fiddle Oak on Flickr: Flight of the Imagination

“My sister is more of a writer, but she is sort of my partner in crime,” he says. “I do the actual work with the camera and edit the picture, but she helps with a lot of the concepts.”

 He describes the process of creating the images:
“I shoot what I call the background — the scene, without props, first. Often it’s a collage of multiple pictures. Then I try to match the lighting of that picture and take pictures of people in the right position to be in the pictures, then I shrink them in Photoshop and change the colors so they match the background a little bit better, then I do overall color editing to make them match. It takes a long time.”




 Fiddle Oak on Flickr

Today.com Article

 Daily Mail Article

 

Thanks to Sail for sharing this story .

 

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Humanity Photo Awards 2013

Posted by on Mar 11, 2013

An opportunity to make your photography part of an important world heritage documentation collection.

Deadline: 15th April 2013

The project is run by the China Folklore Photographic Association and is supported by UNESCO

There are prizes to be won including visits to China for the award ceremony.

Their collection includes a diverse and fascinating selection of images from around the world.

 

GUIDELINES OF HUMANITY PHOTO AWARDS 2013

 Mission
We call upon responsible photographers who respect life and love to take their cameras, in the form of special photo series：

  •   To explore and rescue the endangered folk cultures of worldwide nationalities by means of photography;
  •  To profoundly record the changes and evolution of various folk cultures in a genuine and vivid form;
  •   To record, spread and share the multicultural achievements of the world to enhance mutual understanding and exchanges of human beings and to promote the world peace and development;
  •   To contribute to the World Folklore Photo Museum with world culture records.

 Organized by
THE CHINA FOLKLORE PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION (CFPA)
THE UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

 On-line Submission
Photos can only be submitted on-line.

 Entrants must register on the website  http://www.hpa.org.cn  and submit photos in accordance with relevant requirements.

Every entrant could choose any category listed on the website and is allowed to submit no more than 3 sets. Every set entered should contain 8 to 14 photos.

Personal information as well as the photos could be modified or replaced (registered e-mail excepted) during the photo collection period.

Schedule
Photo Collection Period: September 16th, 2012—April 15th, 2013 (BeijingTime)

Selection: By mid August, 2013, the photos granted with the Performance Awards, the Nomination Awards and the Documentary Awards will be announced after two rounds of evaluation. On September 14th and 15th, 2013, the final evaluation unveils the Grand Awards of the six categories. The results will be published in stages on the above mentioned website.

Award Ceremony: September 16th, 2013. Humanity Photo Grand Awards and Jury’s Special Awards will be announced on the Award Ceremony.

Premiere Exhibition: The premiere exhibition of the HPA 2013 –Memories of Mankind Ⅷ, which consists all the wining works with the Nomination Awards and the higher ones, will be held in the same period with the final selection and the award ceremony in the same city.

 Categories
The following categories could be selected as the theme of the photos:

Portrait & Costume
Portraits of people from different nationalities; costumes and adornments featuring diverse ethnic cultures, including everyday dress, ceremonial dress, hats and shoes, adornments and hairstyle, etc; the manufacture of costumes and adornments; distinctive attire customs such as dressing etiquette and taboos and so on.

 Architecture
Traditional dwellings, public facilities, the construction process of distinctive architecture (e.g. religious buildings) , structure, interior layout and furniture adornments of all kinds; the influence of the surroundings reflected on features of the local architecture; dwelling habits of different ethnic groups.

 Living and Production Custom
The traditional ways of production and life, including everyday work, such as fishing, hunting, farming, forestry, animal husbandry, handicrafts industry, etc; business trade and transportation; living habits and ways of dieting as well as food making; comprehensive life customs in series, of a specific region, of a nationality or a tribe.

 Festivities
Annual and seasonal festivals; festivals on production and recreation, religious ceremonies, temple fairs and other traditional folk activities

 Education, Recreation, Sports & Technology
Education, traditional ecology, folk science and technology, folk medicine and sanitation, folk crafts, traditional sports and recreational activities, and local dramas, etc.

 Traditional Rites
Birth, adult rite, wedding, funeral, taboo, worship, morality, respect for the old people, traditional etiquette, and traditional ceremony for individual, family, village or ethnic group, and religious rites.

 Awards
Humanity Photo Grand Awards: 6 (one for each category)

 Judging Criteria: The final prized photos will be selected according to a comprehensive evaluation of their photographic technique, documentary value and the difficulty in photographing and can best reveal the mission of the HPA contest.

 Prizes: a prize of US$2000; an award certificate; a book/CD-photo collection of the HPA 2013; an invitation to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind Ⅷ”; transportation fee and a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.

 Humanity Photo Documentary Awards: 60

Prizes: an award certificate; a book/CD-photo collection of the HPA 2013; an invitation to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of“Memories of Mankind Ⅷ”; transportation fee and a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.

 In addition, photographs of Humanity Photo Documentary Awards will have the opportunities to win Jury’s Special Awards according to the photographer’s story-telling, interview and editing techniques. Each winner will receive photographic equipment or product which is equivalent to US$500.

Humanity Photo Nomination Awards: 100

Prizes: an award certificate; a book/CD-photo collection of the HPA 2013; an invitation to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of“Memories of Mankind Ⅷ”; a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.

 Humanity Photo Performance Awards: 500

Prizes: an electronic award certificate; name of winners and his works listed in the book/CD; An invitation to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind Ⅷ”;Travel and accommodation expense will be at his/her own. Winners arrange their own visa formalities for participating the Award Ceremony, the organizer will help them accordingly, but will not be responsible for any problems related to visa.

Every participant except the winners for the aforementioned awards will:

  • Get the electronic copy of a Commemoration Certificate of the HPA 2013 officially stamped by the two organizers — the CFPA and the UNESCO.
  • Get a discount price to purchase the photo album of HPA 2013.
  •  Be invited to attend the Awards Ceremony and the Premiere Exhibition.
  • Those who attend the ceremony could get the hard copy of the Commemoration Certificate together with the photo album of HPA 2013. All the travel expenses should be born by the participants.

 Participant is responsible for applying for the visa on his/her own, the CFPA could offer help, but will not be responsible for any caused problems.

Entry Rules (Please read carefully.)

Entrants

 1.  Please register on the website http://www.hpa.org.cn, and all photos should be submitted on-line.

 2.  There are no restrictions on entrants in terms of profession, gender, age, nationality, country and region.

 3.  The photos must be taken by the entrant himself/ herself, otherwise the entrant will be deprived of the right to win the prizes in the contest.

 4.  Photos entered jointly by two or more than two participants will not be accepted.

 5.  Please use only Chinese or English to fill in Entry Form. The entrant’s name in Entry Form should be in accordance with that in his/her valid identity certificate.

 6.  The enrollment of this contest will be regarded as the acceptance of the Guidelines of the HPA 2013. Any legal responsibility relating to photos, such as copyright, right of reputation and portrait, right of privacy, right of trade mark, etc. will be borne by the entrants.

 7.  The contest is open to everyone except the members of the jury and staff of HPA 2013 Organizing Committee.

 Candidate Photos

8.  Photos that have won prizes in previous HPA contests are excluded from the HPA 2013, and other works are free to enter.

9.  There are no restrictions on countries or nationalities which are shown in the photos. (Entries can contain several ethnic groups in one country or one nationality living in different countries.)

10. There is no time limit as to when the photos were taken. They can be taken on one occasion or over a period of time.

11.  The category of the photos submitted should be specified. The Organizer and judges are not responsible to re-categorize any photo.

12.  Stories/Portfolios should consist of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 14 photos. Each entrant is allowed to submitted no more than 3 sets.

13.  Photos must be uploaded with .jpg format, size between 1MB and 5MB.

14.   Only the necessary retouching which does not alter the original appearance of the photo is allowed. All photos are prohibited from synthesis, addition, deletion and greatly color changes. Photos with added borders, backgrounds or other kind of mounting will not be accepted. To keep the records’ authenticity, composite, splicing and tricky photos will not be judged.

15.  Each photo should contain caption that truly depicts the content of the photos.

 Declaration of the Organizer

16.  No entry fee for this contest.

17.  To guarantee the fairness of the HPA 2013, personal information should not be shown on any place of the photo nor the caption text, otherwise the photo will not be judged.

18.  With the guarantee of the right of signature for every author, the Organizer has the right to repeatedly use the photos which are submitted for HPA 2013 in related non-commercial activities, including publications, exhibitions, TV programs, internet, electronic media, etc. and without remuneration to the authors. The Organizer reserves the right to do probable editing of the photos.

19.  Photos must be submitted before April 15th, 2013 at the website above-mentioned. (The date when the photos are completely submitted is deemed as the arrival date.)

20.  CFPA reserves the right of final interpretation of the Guidelines of HPA 2013.

 Contact Information

CHINA FOLKLORE PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION (CFPA)

Address: Room 315,
NorthBuilding,
No.1 Liupukang Street,
Xicheng District,
Beijing100120,
China.

Tel.: +86 10 62252175
Fax: +86 10 62252175

 E-mail: mail@hpa.org.cn


http://www.hpa.org.cn

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Make Good Art: Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Address

Posted by on Feb 11, 2013

 When things get tough, this is what you should do:  Make good art.  

I’m serious.       Husband runs off with a politician — make good art.      

Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor — make good art.      

 IRS on your trail — make good art.      Cat exploded — make good art.      

 Someone on the Internet thinks what you’re doing is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before    — make good art.

— Neil Gaiman —

 

Above: Neil Gaiman giving his commencement address at the University of the Arts Class of 2012

We’re moving into a New Galaxy in which we have the ability to discover the realm of the Legendary Beings – the RainbowZebra.

It is very appropriate that the people that have the privilege of opening the doors to the new realm are all those that keep the spirit of Creation alive within – and express it in their lives. The Artists, the Writers, the Musicians, the Storytellers, the Dancers, the Architects and all those that love the Creative Spirit.

One person who has kept this creative spirit alive more than most, is Neil Gaiman and in this video he shares some good advice for anyone interested in following the creative path.

Neil Gaiman started reading at four and always wanted to be a writer

His commencement address at the University of the Arts Class of 2012 is a classic. The author, who admits he never had a career path planned out, says he just had always made sure he was heading in the right direction to get to the “mountain” in the distance in his mind, that he wanted to “climb”.

Addressing the appreciative audience Gaiman says he just left school and started writing…and continued to write as a journalist, novelist, poet and graphic novelist most famous perhaps for his series of Graphic Novels: Sandman

If you wonder whether this strategy paid off for him, use the link to view a bibliography of his work, and scroll through the list of awards he has received, below.

 

 

http://www.neilgaimanbibliography.com/allmenu.html

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Art Visible from Space

Posted by on Mar 23, 2012

Have you ever wondered if any artworks are visible from space, or thought of going on a journey of “extra terrestrial” discovery using Google Earth?.

Artist Merrill Kazanjian explores art visible from space from Google Earth Gallery


This video was created by an artist looking at that perspective – Merrill Kazanjian is an artist who creates a lot of art tutorials and shares them on YouTube.

He gives his reasons for choosing this medium for sharing:
“I am dyslexic and I always struggled with text.

Video gives visual learners a great alternative to text, and I want to supply a textual alternative for artists.

I also taught as an art teacher for eight years. My job was eliminated three times in eight years due to budgets. My first step by step videos were created with the purpose of keeping misbehaving students occupied.”

Merrill uses mixed media of all kinds, digital manipulation and traditional art methods. In this video he uses mixed media and a photocopier.

“My friend Al Alvir has a very popular Boxing/Mixed Martial Arts blog- http://shootafairone.com/ and I decided to create a character for one of the writers he has on staff (O’Toole). Allen is a big fan of Mike Tyson (heavyweight champion) and his legendary trainer Cus D’Amato who also trained managed Floyd Patterson (olympic and heavyweight champion) and Jose Torres (light heavyweight champion) so I made this character with D’Amato in mind.

I used D’Amato reference photos for my initial drawing but also had fictional “Rocky” trainer Mickey Goldmill in mind (portrayed by Burgess Meredith). Using these two icons; one from pop culture one from reality, gave me an interesting image to illustrate. In this video, I documented my process. ”

Merrill calls his YouTube channel “Kazanjian – the Unspellable Art Channel.”
http://www.youtube.com/user/kazanjianm

http://www.merrillk.com/

If you know of other artwork visible from space and would like to share it or discuss it – post it on the rainbowzebra forums. www.rainbowzebra.com/forums

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Plunderground: The Words of the Profits are Written on the Subway Walls

Posted by on Dec 6, 2011

Artistic Lie Sense
Artists usually consider themseleves “outsiders” because they cannot reconcile their own view of reality with much that is being sold to the general public as the “acceptable norm.” Because of this willingness to “seek the truth”, they tend to see through Media Misinformation even when doing so is not in fashion.


Creating a Dialogue when None Exists
“Plunderground is a ongoing project in détournement and civil disobedience. Détournement, a now common practice continuingly being reinvented by activists and artists the world over, from the Situationaist International to adbusters. The Plunderground project has its inspirational roots both in the historical trend of this process and in the current wave of anti-capitalist campaigning, specifically the online campaign group 38 Degrees.

The project poses the question – to what extent can the citizen participate in the economo-politico process created by state capitulation to private finance? Reclaiming public space and generating a dialogue when none exists, is the perceived purpose of protest, but in what other ways can this be done?

An act of violence masterfully commands media attention through its condemnation by the mainstream, while action that fails to provide the sufficient raw material of gratuitous photo journalism produced by violence is ignored. How do we generate a sufficient debate around issues that matter and create the required perspective and social condition necessary for change when the ballot box or polling booth fail to do so?”

Lawful Criminal Damage
“The aim of the Plunderground intervention is direct and simple. Prevent the theft of UK taxpayers property, namely the evaded tax by corporate and government corruption via the use of lawful criminal damage.

Approximately 600 CBS Fire board adverts removed from the London Underground network, silk-screen printed on the reverse with mock Department of Work and Pensions anti benefit fraud ads naming and shaming corporate crooks.”

Section 5: Preventing a Greater Crime
“Section 5 of the Criminal Damage Act, Lawful excuse; proportional damage of property, with the honest belief that it is to prevent a greater crime, is not an offence in UK legislation.

Two Plunderground agents were arrested during the dissemination of the subverts.

Despite carrying and serving in advance, notices outlining exactly what, why and how was being done and that it resulted from an honest belief (bone fide) that property was under threat, they were charged for the offence of Criminal Damage.”

Not in the Public Interest
“The Crown concluded that it was not in the public interest to pursue the charge and that the Plunderground agents should not have been arrested.

They were dismissed with no further action and reimursed for the expenses.

For the purposes of the project the arrests and dismissed court action have presented the opportunity to galvanise its legal standing.

This process is not a one-off, nor is it unique to Plunderground and can be done by anyone.”

PLUNDERGROUND is an ongoing project and is an AGITARTWORKS production.
www.agitartworks.com
info@agitartworks.com

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