as of this weekend, you can visit koen van den broek's retrospective exhibition titled curbs & cracks @ s.m.a.k.
click here for more of koen's work.
showtime: koen van den broek
as of this weekend, you can visit koen van den broek's retrospective exhibition titled curbs & cracks @ s.m.a.k.
click here for more of koen's work.
showtime: li hui
interesting solo show by young beijing artist li hui @ mannheimer-kunstverein as of february 7th. one of the works shows a car wreck illuminated by over 13.000 led lights. impressive! more work of the artist @ the ministry of art
showtime: nick ervinck @ museum m
ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS VIEWING MY LAST POST?
Greetings....some of you have written to me saying that you couldn't access the interview I just did with author Michael McColly. I think I discovered the problem. If you are having trouble viewing it it might be because you are using Safari. Try using Firefox instead. If you don't have Firefox, you can easily download it for free here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Safari and have had problems with them before. Anyway, sorry about the difficulties in viewing that post. It's not a snafu on this end, it's a browser problem. Also, if any of you have dial-up you will most likely have little issues from time to time.
Anyway, soon I will have some new deadlines for you and then a great interview with writer Kenny Fries. And I am aware that I need to interview some painters and other visual artists, composers, etc. but at the moment, the writers are the ones who, well, shall we say, are really fast in getting back to me so I post these things as they come.
Cheers,
Mira
Anyway, soon I will have some new deadlines for you and then a great interview with writer Kenny Fries. And I am aware that I need to interview some painters and other visual artists, composers, etc. but at the moment, the writers are the ones who, well, shall we say, are really fast in getting back to me so I post these things as they come.
Cheers,
Mira
2010: art or extinction
name: the great attractor
transgression: deep superficiality
objective: never reaching an equilibrium
prognosis: 80/20
- rules for a new decade -
2010: art or extinction
name: intelligensius anarchus
transgression: luscious arrogance
objective: none (i’m in it for the violence)
prognosis: 99,9/100
- rules for a new decade -
2010: art or extinction
name: rick b
transgression: accurate perception
objective: less pain
prognosis: 50/50
- rules for a new decade -
showtime: jessica lichtenstein
if you 're in new york, don't miss jessica lichtenstein's show undressed @ gallery nine5. till mid february, you can adore her heroic figurines. we love it!
photography: naked america
brent walker calls himself the naked gypsy on twitter. although we never trust a hippie, we love the humor in his work
pavel büchler wins the northern art prize
congratulations to pavel buchler for winning the northern art prize. visit tanya leighton gallery to see other pavel pieces and don't miss his retrospective in dox in may 2010.
carlos aires: i did it my way
bloody carlos has done it again ;-). 20 euro bills became 'my way'. respect!
(to be admired @ arte fiera bologna)
david blandy
visit david blandy's website. the artist, known - among others - by the underground heroes project, has been nominated for this year's 'visual art' section of the times/the south bank show breakthrough award.
futurity now
the 10th edition of berlin's transmediale festival for contemporary art & digital culture will run from 2-7 feb 2010. this year's title: 'futurity now' & its exhibitions' program theme: 'future obscura'.
inside the chelsea hotel
for 4 years photographer julia calfee lived in & photographed the famed chelsea hotel. expo of these photos, 'inside the chelsea hotel', runs currently @ dox prague. if u're not in the neighborhood, u can always get the book, wonderfully designed by pentagram berlin.
INTERVIEW WITH WRITER, ACTIVIST & YOGA PRACTITIONER MICHAEL MCCOLLY
Today I am delighted to be posting an interview I recently did with Chicago writer, activist and yoga practitioner, Michael McColly. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Ascent, The Sun and other journals. His last book, The After-Death Room: Journey Into Spiritual Activism
(published by Soft Skull Press), about his journey throughout Africa and Asia in order to come to terms with the global AIDS epidemic was a Lambda Award winner for Spiritual Writing in 2007. Michael also leads international writing and yoga retreats and teaches in the Graduate Program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and Columbia College. See more of his work at: www.michaelmccolly.com and his blog on creativity and yoga: www.michaelmccolly.vox.comMichael, thanks so much for joining us today. We’ve known each other such long time, it’s hard to believe. I think we first met in the 80s at the Field Museum of Natural History where we both worked in education. Since then, you have been on quite a journey! You wear so many hats: writer, yoga practitioner, public speaker, writing professor and activist. How do you keep all those balls in the air and still maintain balance in your life?
I have grown two more hands. Never thought I could but you'd be surprised how magical yoga can be. All kidding aside, I do have a lot of energy, which is in large part because I've learned to pay close attention to my body. I do practice yoga regularly, even if just for half an hour. I am writing now about walking and hiking and it's affects on the mind and body, so I walk a lot too. I live with HIV, and I’ve learned that caring for my health has to come first. But more than that, I need a break from my mind, from the patterns of worry and the endless tasks that we are saddled with, exercise and especially being out of doors, focusing and feeling my feet on the ground or swimming or walking in nature, is extremely important to reset my brain. As writers, we are unnecessarily chained to this machine, and it ain’t good.
I try to follow your blog, Yoga and Creativity: Practicing the Art of Living, whenever I can. You have written so many intriguing pieces on topics such as neuroscience and the imagination, walking and mindfulness, memory and nature, yoga and the creative process and so on. It seems that your practice of yoga intensely informs just about everything in your life. Would you mind talking a little about the connection between yoga and your own writing?
Look, I live with a chronic disease with no health insurance and had struggled with depression and addiction for many years before I was diagnosed. I see yoga as just a technique to keep me alive and awake. But, after practicing for a long time and teaching yoga as well, you begin to realize that your mind and body need focused attention and objective care. And you can get this in many ways. People in many of the arts discover that their entire body begins to serve as an antennae and as a vessel for expression. Many poets seem to understand this--Whitman, Hughes, Neruda, Lorca. "I sing the body electric." This isn't a cute phrase. It's a fact. But, you have to learn how to read it so as to translate it for others. And this takes some kind of discipline--so systematic way to learn to listen and feel and trust.
Some of us are lucky and grow up in worlds full of sensualists or a natural world that teaches us. I need a discipline like yoga to help me retrain my mind so that I can learn to explore sensation not as a means to and end—to be a better writer or better lover or something—but to simply be more alive. When you listen and feel your body, particularly in meditation, you become dumbfounded by where it begins to take you: into emotion, into your the workings of your imagination, into the far reaches of your unconscious mind, and most amazingly into the world.
Perception is a two way street. "Every act of perception is an act of creativity." (My favorite quote from Octavio Paz--but he got it from Merleau Ponty, the great French philosopher.) Cezanne spent years trying to paint Mountains. That's exactly what I mean. He used contemplation to help him see. The Zen poets and artists knew this a long time ago. And of course the first artists were those responsible for creating ritual, maskmakers, dancers, musicians, icon makers, (the word for image comes from the latin imagio--"a ritual substitute") or the singers or chanters who all knew that the mind and body needed to be entrained in order to be able to see with big eyes and feel with the big heart. Whew.
Thanks for that really thoughtful answer Michael. I particularly love that quote by Octavio Paz via Ponty. Anyway, some of my readers have been curious about retreats (as opposed to artist residencies) so I wanted to ask you about the yoga and writing retreats you do. One of the places you take participants to in Guatemala looks like paradise! Can you tell us about the yoga and writing retreats you lead?
I do workshops all the time, fusing art-making, creative writing, and yoga. It’s nothing special. You do some breathing, you lie down, you imagine, you record, you do some poses, you focus, you take a hike, you draw some things. It’s play and you feel good. Your artistic sensibilities come alive. I love doing retreats in Guatemala because I love to hike and swim and kayak around Lake Atitlan. I think people who participate in these retreats enjoy the chance to be in their bodies, and appreciate the chance to rest, eat well, swim, see beautiful flowers and be around the Guatemalan people. My retreats are low-key. No computers.Wow, I'd love to go to one of your retreats some time! So Michael, I know that you have attended different artist residencies before, like Blue Mountain Center in the Aiderondacks, MacDowell Colony and others. What do you feel is the main difference between a residency at an art colony and a retreat, in particular, one of your retreats? What are the benefits of both?
Oh, there's nothing like a residency. I wrote my book at several residencies: Ragdale, Yaddo, MacDowell, Blue Mountain. I can't thank them enough. it's the chance to breathe and just be with your work, take naps, walk, read things that you’ve never read, listen to the intelligent and wiser artists who have lived through many struggles and learn from them. They may have a few egos around but you’ll always find good souls. I met people that had an enormous affect on my work, who are still dear friends. Community building. We need it desperately as writers.
I read your amazing memoir, The After-Death Room: Journey into Spiritual Activism about your personal and political sojourn throughout Africa and Asia. Do you have a new book brewing in the back of your mind these days? Or are you taking some time to regroup, meditate and work on some shorter pieces of work?
There is a line from Thoreau’s Walden that seems to pop up everywhere once I read it. It says something like this: “The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men, and so with the paths which the mind travels.” For the past ten years I’ve been hiking in the deserts and mountains of the southwest, traveling to find some refuge from these very paths Thoreau speaks about. Neuroscience has unveiled promising discoveries to help us understand the how the brain functions but it has placed a mirror before us and made us see just how dangerous it is to remain stubbornly ignorant to what we are doing to the health of our bodies by neglecting the health of the planet.
Perhaps I’m selfish but all I want to do these days is hike and walk even if it’s in the city where I live in Chicago. It’s as if my mind needs the comfort of the feeling of my feet in motion and in touch with the world. I’m trying to understand why we have become so removed from the earth in such a short time and what effect it is having on us. I’m walking and writing and walking more, trying to feel my feet and listen to what comes from paying attention to what I’ve felt I’ve lost: my relationship to the land. And I’ve been writing of course—about the great hikes of my life, of my many sojourns in the desert, of my hikes along the Appalachian Trail, in the savannas of Africa in the Peace Corps, and now just the streets and the strangely beautiful and sorrowful industrial wastelands of Chicago and Northern Indiana where ironically the study of ecology began. How can one afford not to write about our relationship with the earth now?
Michael, thank you so much for your insightful responses to my questions. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and candor. I’ve heard such great things about your retreats and I can see why. I look forward to taking one some day and also to seeing you back in Sweet Home Chicago! Thanks so much.
You can find out more about Michael McColly, his writing and the retreats he offers by visiting www.michaelmccolly.com or his blog at www.michaelmccolly.vox.com. For more information on his latest book, The After-Death Room: Journey into Spiritual Activism, click on the Amazon link.
banksy invades the film industry
(spotted on trendbeheer)
design: life clock
bernard planes designed a clock that is tracking one's personal passage of time. more here and here
(via planner reads)
naoko okabe: teddybear chair
COMIC BOOK ARTISTS/GRAPHIC NOVELISTS, et al
Dear Comic Book Artist who sent me a message asking about where you can get funding to do your projects: I can't find your message anywhere! So sorry! I must have accidentally deleted it. Anyway, I just remembered your question and wanted to let you know that there is one place that funds comic book art projects: http://www.xericfoundation.org. The deadline is usually in September I think. Hopefully in time there will be other grants for this great art form. You can also apply for artist residencies, etc. and if you are in the US, when state arts council grant deadlines come up, I would ask if comic book artists can apply or check their guidelines. I think you will see more and more foundations and arts councils opening up to this under-appreciated art form. Anyway, I had you on my mind so I thought I'd do a quick post before I forgot.
Cheers,
m
Cheers,
m
KICKSTARTER UPDATE
Okay, here's something interesting—a friend of mine wants to produce a new CD and needs around 2500 dollars to do it. He just posted his project on kickstarter.com and within twelve hours he got 30 percent of his funding (see my sidebar for the project for musician Peter Blanchette and feel free to pledge! I did). Anyway, this got me thinking....down the road, what if Mira's List did periodic kickstarter projects to help fund artist residencies, say, for disabled artists or for emerging painters or for women poets or whatever. Hmmm.....now my wee brain is ticking....something to think about.
Okay, back to work. Have a great day my friends.
Mira
Okay, back to work. Have a great day my friends.
Mira
KICKSTARTER: ANOTHER WAY TO FUND CREATIVE PROJECTS
Good morning all....one other thing I forgot to mention about finding money for residencies (or other creative endeavors)—you might want to look into Kickstarter which is one of those sites where you make a time-limited pledge appeal on their site to help fund your project. I don't know if an artist residency fall into their realm of approved projects but it might. I know musicians who are funding the production of CDs this way and other artists who are raising money for large public projects. I know that you must have an invite to join but you'll have to check out their FAQ section to find out how that works ( don't think it's hard to get invited). Check out their FAQs here: http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq. Here's what they say about their funding process :
Cheers,
Mira
Every project has a funding goal (any dollar amount) and a time limit (from 1 - 90 days) set by the project creator. When the deadline is reached, there are either of two results:
1. Funding Successful: If a project has met or surpassed its funding goal, all backers' credit cards are instantly charged and funds go directly to the project creator. Project creators are then responsible for completing the project and delivering rewards as promised.
2. Funding Unsuccessful: If a project has NOT met its funding goal, all pledges are canceled. That's it.
If anyone out there has had any experience, good or bad, with Kickstarter, I'd love for you to comment below!Cheers,
Mira
the posters came from the wall
documentary film by jeremy deller & nick abrahams about depeche mode fans & fandom goes in premiere on the 29th this month in los angeles.
showtime: chris ofili in tate britain
at the end of this month, chris ofili's mid-career retrospective opens in tate britain. for more info on the artist read an interview with him in the guardian.
HOW DO I FUND MY ARTIST RESIDENCY?
Greetings all!
I am still in the thick of my editing process so I will continue to only post when I briefly come up for air. But I wanted to alert you to the fact that I just noticed today that some of your personal emails to me have been landing in my spam folder. Dang! And most of the messages were clearly from people who actually read my FAQs but still needed more in-depth information. So I sincerely apologize for that. I haven't been checking my spam folder as I get hundreds of spam messages that I usually just ignore or delete. I guess the thing to do is this: if you have thoroughly searched my FAQs for grant and fellowship information, info on residencies, retreats and art colonies, or Fulbright Grants, then do write me (mirabartok@yahoo.com) but be patient and if you don't hear back from me after a couple weeks, write me again. Hopefully you won't get sucked into the vortex of SPAM. I apologize for the inconvenience.
And speaking of FAQs, probably the most frequently asked question of all is: What grants are out there for funding a residency? In my FAQs I do touch on this a bit in regard to international residencies but probably should go more in-depth. Basically, here's my take on this issue—most, but not all, of the residency opportunities that I post are highly competitive but if you get in one of these places, they will be free or not cost that much. I really try to post announcements for places that either cover room and board and studio space or at least offer partial scholarships. That said, I realize you need money to GET THERE. Some of these places are far. And the other issue is that if you do take off from your normal life for a month or two, how will you support your life back home, even if your room and board is covered at a residency?
These are great questions. Hard to answer, unfortunately. There are very few grants out there that specifically finance residencies. So what do you do? Well, you get creative. One possibility is to see if your regional arts council (not just state arts council in the U.S. but local council, i.e. your town) and see if they offer any professional development grants. I know the UK and Canada also have regional councils but I don't know about other countries. Anyway, I have gotten these kinds of awards in the past and have used them to pay for residency travel. They aren't huge but every amount helps.
Other things I've done in the past to help fund residencies that are free but that don't offer travel assistance or stipends:
1. I apply for other kinds of grants! I plan ahead and apply for grants that are solely to support the production of new work. Big ones and small ones. So if you get a little extra money from some foundation to work on your next book of poems or a new series of paintings, why should anyone know that you are going to do that in Brazil or Southern France or Alaska? It all comes out of the same place. It's all about your work anyway.
2. I contact the residency and ask if they offer any stipends or financial aid to people in need. Most places post this info on their website but not all. Once I wanted to go to some big conference but couldn't afford the airfare. No scholarships existed for people who couldn't afford to go and who did not have university affiliation (and therefore, had their expenses covered, unlike me). The people running the conference sent me money for a plane ticket! I couldn't believe it. And there was enough to also pay for the hotel.
3. If you are going to a foreign residency, contact the embassy or cultural institute connected to the embassy in your home country to see if they offer any assistance. You'd be surprised how rarely any artists do this. I've even gotten free language courses in Italy this way. THREE TIMES.
4. Go on a funding-raising campaign for yourself. Be unabashedly self-serving for once. Offer on your website a poem or a small print for a certain amount of money. Have a sense of humor about it. I really wanted to go to a particular place in France years ago and I made a bunch of small paintings, called all my friends over and had a bidding war. They all knew I was trying to raise money to go to an art colony. Guess what? It worked.
5. Start saving. Do things the old-fashioned way and get another part time job.
6. Oh yeah. There's that credit card burning a hole in your pocket. I know you didn't want to hear that one but that might be your reality.
Any other ideas? Write them here. Send your comments, suggestions, innovative ways you've paid for your dream residency. Until then....more great stuff on the way but first, back to the grindstone for this gal.
Cheers,
Mirabee
I am still in the thick of my editing process so I will continue to only post when I briefly come up for air. But I wanted to alert you to the fact that I just noticed today that some of your personal emails to me have been landing in my spam folder. Dang! And most of the messages were clearly from people who actually read my FAQs but still needed more in-depth information. So I sincerely apologize for that. I haven't been checking my spam folder as I get hundreds of spam messages that I usually just ignore or delete. I guess the thing to do is this: if you have thoroughly searched my FAQs for grant and fellowship information, info on residencies, retreats and art colonies, or Fulbright Grants, then do write me (mirabartok@yahoo.com) but be patient and if you don't hear back from me after a couple weeks, write me again. Hopefully you won't get sucked into the vortex of SPAM. I apologize for the inconvenience.
And speaking of FAQs, probably the most frequently asked question of all is: What grants are out there for funding a residency? In my FAQs I do touch on this a bit in regard to international residencies but probably should go more in-depth. Basically, here's my take on this issue—most, but not all, of the residency opportunities that I post are highly competitive but if you get in one of these places, they will be free or not cost that much. I really try to post announcements for places that either cover room and board and studio space or at least offer partial scholarships. That said, I realize you need money to GET THERE. Some of these places are far. And the other issue is that if you do take off from your normal life for a month or two, how will you support your life back home, even if your room and board is covered at a residency?
These are great questions. Hard to answer, unfortunately. There are very few grants out there that specifically finance residencies. So what do you do? Well, you get creative. One possibility is to see if your regional arts council (not just state arts council in the U.S. but local council, i.e. your town) and see if they offer any professional development grants. I know the UK and Canada also have regional councils but I don't know about other countries. Anyway, I have gotten these kinds of awards in the past and have used them to pay for residency travel. They aren't huge but every amount helps.
Other things I've done in the past to help fund residencies that are free but that don't offer travel assistance or stipends:
1. I apply for other kinds of grants! I plan ahead and apply for grants that are solely to support the production of new work. Big ones and small ones. So if you get a little extra money from some foundation to work on your next book of poems or a new series of paintings, why should anyone know that you are going to do that in Brazil or Southern France or Alaska? It all comes out of the same place. It's all about your work anyway.
2. I contact the residency and ask if they offer any stipends or financial aid to people in need. Most places post this info on their website but not all. Once I wanted to go to some big conference but couldn't afford the airfare. No scholarships existed for people who couldn't afford to go and who did not have university affiliation (and therefore, had their expenses covered, unlike me). The people running the conference sent me money for a plane ticket! I couldn't believe it. And there was enough to also pay for the hotel.
3. If you are going to a foreign residency, contact the embassy or cultural institute connected to the embassy in your home country to see if they offer any assistance. You'd be surprised how rarely any artists do this. I've even gotten free language courses in Italy this way. THREE TIMES.
4. Go on a funding-raising campaign for yourself. Be unabashedly self-serving for once. Offer on your website a poem or a small print for a certain amount of money. Have a sense of humor about it. I really wanted to go to a particular place in France years ago and I made a bunch of small paintings, called all my friends over and had a bidding war. They all knew I was trying to raise money to go to an art colony. Guess what? It worked.
5. Start saving. Do things the old-fashioned way and get another part time job.
6. Oh yeah. There's that credit card burning a hole in your pocket. I know you didn't want to hear that one but that might be your reality.
Any other ideas? Write them here. Send your comments, suggestions, innovative ways you've paid for your dream residency. Until then....more great stuff on the way but first, back to the grindstone for this gal.
Cheers,
Mirabee
jason kay: unfaithful
artist jason kay "warholized" gatorade bottles by putting tiger woods, his ex-wife and the word unfaithful on its cover. click here and here for the full story.
fashion: satan shoes
how awesome are these! and no, not another mc queen devilish design, but apparently part of a hardcore animal yiffer's outfit. oh well...
(hat tip catherine minet)
ciprian muresan
wo-hoo! romania sure is a hatchery of some bloody great artists! after vlad nanca, cristi pogacean and dan perjowschi, our ever-vigilant eye (while checking out the who killed bambi's recent gems ;-)) just fell on this dude: ciprian muresan. see also his pet shop beuys blog.
mmmm, those romanians :-P
dan perjowschi
fyi: u can now follow the current nyc shows via the new york art calendar. love it!
showtime: damien hirst @ gagosian
new show - jan 30 till march 6 - @ gagosian. we have seen cigarette butts & pills on this shelf, but diamonds are a girl's best friend.
art world trends for 2010 -
- according to paddy johnson - read the article in l magazine.
(image above: joy division concert painting by barnaby furnas)
URGENT DEADLINES FOR PAINTERS, FILMMAKERS & EVERYONE ELSE!
Gosh darn, I missed you all! I'm still in the middle of editing insanity but I took a breather today and thought I'd send you a few upcoming deadlines. Unfortunately, because I've been out of the loop for a couple weeks, some of these are coming up NOW! That is, THIS Friday, the 15th. So if you don't make those deadlines, well, at least you know of these really great opportunities for the future. I have so many other things to post, plus new interviews, but my book has kind of taken over my life at the moment. I'll do the best I can, that's all I can promise! Anyway, thanks everyone for your great letters of support and for your donations and encouraging words. Good luck on all your applications and I'll try to post more soon. Best wishes, Mirabee
(ARTISTS) Weir Farm Trust Residencies in Wilton, CT: Residencies of 2-4 weeks for film, video, and multimedia artists (in addition to visual artists of all types). Organization provides housing, studio, and stipend ($500 per month). Application available on website: www.nps.gov/wefa. DEADLINE is JANUARY 15th!
(ARTISTS) Abbey Painting Awards: The Abbey Scholarship and Abbey Fellowships offer all-expenses-paid, residencies at the British School in Rome in superb modern studios, with a stipend of up to £500 a month for the Scholar and £700 for Fellows. The nine-month Abbey Scholarship is usually given to an emergent painter, while the three-month Abbey Fellowships are awarded to mid-career painters. Abbey Awards are open to people of UK and US nationality, and to citizens of other countries provided that they have lived in the UK or the US for at least five years. There is no age limit for these awards. JANUARY 15th DEADLINE! Please see the website for details: www.abbey.org.uk/page1.htm
(ALL) The Arctic Circle Program Residency: The Arctic Circle program seeks applications from international contemporary artists of all disciplines, architects, scientists and educators alike. Program Outline: The Arctic Circle is a series of artist and scientist-led expeditions to remote and fascinating destinations aboard a specially outfitted scientific-research sailing vessel. Their expeditions are followed by an international exhibit schedule. Participants travel on an ice-class, traditionally rigged sailing vessel into the High Arctic during October. For more information, please visit: www.thearcticcircle.org. DEADLINE IS JANUARY 15th! *** this program is rather expensive, however, there is some scholarship funding to help defray the cost of the residency.(ALL) Imagine Residency in Australia: Calling all artists interested in time and space for two weeks in the Australian countryside. Deadline is February 20th, 2010. For more information, please visit the website: www.artinmotion.com.au/residency.htm.
(PRINTMAKERS) Chhaap Printmaking Residency in India: Chhaap's Baroda printmaking workshop was set up in 1999 by three artists to do their own work and also to create printmaking facilities available to others. Chhaap also offers a short-term Artist-in-Residence program between September to March for one week to one month. Artists can stay in a studio which has two etching presses, a hotplate and aquatint box. There is also a guest room with attached bathroom and kitchen. Chhaap accepts applications all year round. For more information, please go to: http://www.chhaap.com/.
(ALL) Independent Day School Artist-in-Residence: Independent Day School seeking both visual and non-visual Artist-in-Residence. Enthusiastic working artists (authors, musicians, actors, directors, etc.) sought for creative position working with students half time and producing own work half time during a five week on-campus residency. They are looking for artists with a flexible personality, able and willing to provide K-12 students access to his/her own artistic thoughts and processes, as well as ability to help students with their own artistic growth required. Stipend, housing, travel and public work space provided. Application Deadline: March 1, 2010. For more information, please write: Todd_Johnson@webbschool.org. ***Sorry guys...I forgot where this one was located. You'll have to write and ask.
The following announcements are from Women Arts (http://www.womenarts.org). Check their website out for more great opportunities:
(FILMMAKERS) San Francisco Film Society / Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants: These grants provide funding for narrative feature films made in the San Francisco Bay Area that, through plot, character, theme, or setting, significantly explore human and civil rights, anti-discrimination, gender and sexual identity, and other urgent social justice issues of our time. Grants support screenwriting and script development, preproduction, and post-production expenses. In addition to a cash grant, recipients will receive a range of benefits through the society’s filmmaker services programs. Full-time students ineligible. For more information, please visit the website: http://www.sffs.org/filmmaker-services/grants-and-prizes/sffskrf-filmmaking-grants.aspx. Deadline for Letter of Inquiry (not grant application) is February 5, 2010.
(FILMMAKERS) Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant: This grant funds first time documentary makers for travel and accommodation at the Full Frame Documentary Festival in North Carolina, where grant recipients will be given access to films, participate in master classes, and be mentored by experienced filmmakers and industry members. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or green card holders and live in the continental U.S. All applicants should anticipate finishing their first project by March 2011. For more information, please visit: http://www.fullframefest.org/garrett2010.php. Deadline: February 5, 2010.
jeffrey deitch to become the new director of moca
as of june 1, 2010, jeffrey deitch of the fab deitch projects becomes director of museum of contemporary art los angeles. see new york observer and art fag city for futher info.
showtime: terry rodgers
terry rodgers' new show 'radical continuity' starts this thu, 14 jan 2010 @ aeroplastics contemporary, brussels.
(expo in memory of adriaan van der have from torch gallery, amsterdam)
showtime: no private point of view
frederic desimpel gallery presents works by filip gilissen, laurent dupont-garitte, gérard meurant, boris thiebaut & marc wendelski. opening this thu, 14 jan.
chanel: tattoo you
photography: alex prager
click here to see alex's website, here for info about her upcoming show @ m & b gallery and here to read a recent interview published @ juxtapoz
last chance: edward burtynsky @ torch gallery
click here for the burtynsky show, till january 13th @ torch gallery and check out this video of the artist at ted
tamar schechner : artists who blog
Tamar's blog: www.nestdecorating.typepad.com
Tamar's website: www.nestprettythings.com
Tamar's shop: www.tamar.etsy.com
Why did you decide to start a blog?
One day I stumbled across Alicia Paulson's blog "Posie gets Cozy", I never read a blog before and new absolutely nothing about the concept, I was shocked and delighted to discover a whole world that "spoke" my language and I could relate to. Before I moved to Vermont I worked as Style Editor in a magazine, so writing and using photography were not new to me, I loved the idea of having a bit of myself out there.
How did you come up with the name of your blog?
When I moved to Vermont I thought I would become an Interior Designer, I did a lot of interiors for friends and really love it, my business is called Nest Interior Decorating, so hence the name. But Vermont is tiny and mostly rural and while waiting for clients to trickle in I started designing accessories which become my main livelihood.
How has blogging affected your work as an artist/designer?
I sometimes design something and say to myself...this would look great on the blog, but that's rare since I sink into a complete meditative state when I design, I hardly ever think of blogging, but when I take photos I try to think of the little details, the colors, the styling everything that would make the work stand out and look great in the blog.
What are your favorite artist/designer blogs? Why?
I really mostly read design blogs and food blogs but here are 3 artists I read regularly:
Geninne, I love her art journal and her style and talent
Alicia Paulson, I love the way she writes and her fun and laid back style
Nina Van de Goor, amazing sense of style and a great artist
Do you have any advice for artists/designers who are starting a blog?
I love blogs that have great photos, I think it's interesting when you get a little personal but mainly I think you should just write about what inspires YOU most, people will follow.
What has been the most positive and inspirational aspect of having a blog for you?
I love getting comments and feeling like I'm reaching out and inspiring, I get lots of emails telling me that I made a difference in someone life and that feels sooo good!!! It's very isolated working alone in the studio, blogging opened up a whole community of readers that have become like friends and I love that!
What do you find the most difficult/most rewarding part of having a creative profession?
I don't see any difficulty in being creative, it's always rewarding to me, I was always creative, it's my life.
Other than your blog, what has been the most effective way for you to promote your art/design?
I use flickr a lot too, I try to use twitter and facebook but find it a little boring...
How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
When we moved to Vermont four years ago from a very hectic life style in a big city all we could think about is that balance in our lives and I think we really succeeded in doing the right thing, nature is all around us here, our life pace is slower and we take time to do things in a deeper and more thoughtful way, I spend more time with the kids, I cook a lot, We love to entertain, we grow our own vegetables and generally are loving living the little village life, when we miss the city we have a choice between Montreal (great city), NYC and Boston, so life is good.
What would you like to accomplish by the end of 2010?
I hope my business grows more and more, I would love to get someone to help me a few hours a week and by the end of 2010 to be able to move my studio out of the house and get help on a daily basis, I would also love to be able to afford to travel more, I miss Europe so much!!!!
Thanks so much Tamar for sharing! Your photography and use of color are beautiful and inspiring!