So I have been approached about teaching art. This is interesting because I have been drawing and making art for, well, all of my life (except for that time when I was really, really small and couldn't hold a spoon to eat my cereal, let alone a pencil to draw with), and I have never EVER attempted or even entertained the thought of trying to teach ANYBODY how to do what I do. I mean...I'm not a teacher. That's what I always thought. Well, that may be about to change. I have been involved with a project called Expressive Capital for a couple of years now, and it has evolved to the point of inviting people to teach what they love doing as a way to begin creating a new economy that works for everyone.
Simply put, the notion of "expressive capital" asserts that what you are passionate about, what you love doing, what you are really good at, has value, somehow intersects with what the market is calling for and can meet a need in a way that is sustainable for you and the community you live in. It assumes that everyone has something to offer and by offering it, you become empowered to make change in the world you live in. This has particular value for people who have been displaced by the current trends in the economy.
This is both a psychological/spiritual premise and a call to action with what you already have inside you, and one way to start offering what you uniquely have is by teaching it. So here I am. Considering this heretofore wild notion of teaching people the basics of drawing. But if I had $10 for every person that's ever told me that they "can't draw stick figures", I'd be writing this from my permanent vacation spot in Ogunquit, ME. Or Burlington, VT. Or....Montreal. Besides, I have a feeling that, given the current trends in the economy, we're going to need more creative people a good deal sooner rather than later.
More later
KCD
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Delays! Delays!
For those of you who are attempting (like me) to make a go of blogging, this will serve as an example of how tough it can be to stick with. Life can (and does!) intrude on the best laid plans. In my case, the intrusion came in the form of an unexpected trip to the hospital. After a diagnosis of "third nerve palsy", I was admitted to the ER and then to the hospital for tests which turned out to be (thankfully!) negative for things like a stroke, an aneurysm or anything related to it that might be causing pressure on the third cranial nerve which controls eye movement. The causes could be anything like what I just mentioned, to hypertension, or diabetes. A nurse suggested to me that it could be caused by a virus or an infection. In any case, it has the effect of causing the eye to close, swelling, and double vision.
The condition, from everything I've read, and from conversations with doctors, does usually reverse itself. It takes about 6-8 weeks. As of Sunday, March 20th, I'll have been out of the hospital a month. My left eye has resumed its cosmetic shape and appearance, and I have almost normal vision with a little double vision, but that gets better with time. I'm 2-4 weeks ahead of schedule.
Now for those of you who always laughed at the line that if you make faces, one day your face could freeze like that, well...they weren't entirely wrong. You could say mine did. And I wasn't even making faces.
Hence, the delay in posting. This is a work in progress.
More later
KCD
The condition, from everything I've read, and from conversations with doctors, does usually reverse itself. It takes about 6-8 weeks. As of Sunday, March 20th, I'll have been out of the hospital a month. My left eye has resumed its cosmetic shape and appearance, and I have almost normal vision with a little double vision, but that gets better with time. I'm 2-4 weeks ahead of schedule.
Now for those of you who always laughed at the line that if you make faces, one day your face could freeze like that, well...they weren't entirely wrong. You could say mine did. And I wasn't even making faces.
Hence, the delay in posting. This is a work in progress.
More later
KCD
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hearing More From Me
Last post I said I would talk about what Lady Gaga and the Jersey Shore cast have to do with art, since this is an art blog after all. Here we shall attempt to answer the question. In the case of the "Jersey Shore" cast (I use the word advisedly), what you're dealing with here is, in the most charitable terms, a watered down kind of direct film making. Don't let's call it cinema verite' as that would require real actors who are essentially making it up as they go. It's called improvisation. In this case, it's more of a documentary style set-up where real people (yes, these are real people) are just being themselves. We may find this objectionable, but what we're objecting to, may I suggest, is the people themselves, not necessarily the technique. Although one could object to that as well, since there's no real sophistication of technique here. One could also argue that there's no sophistication of technique at C-SPAN either, but C-SPAN doesn't typically make you want to scream "My eyes! My eyes!" as you run from the room. And there is an important difference here: C-SPAN is journalism perhaps at its purest. "Jersey Shore" is not, nor does it attempt to be. It's art of a low brow sort, and I'm perhaps being generous here and perhaps it's that because of its so-called "cast".
I could say I don't get the appeal, but then I don't get the appeal of what is called "reality TV".
Having said that, I don't really get Lady Gaga. But she is clearly seeking to be the art, not just the artist. She is memorable as much for her outsized fashion sense and her persona as she is for her music. In fact, the music is to me somewhat forgettable. Throwaway pop. What sticks is...well, her. You won't forget the meat dress. You won't forget the shoes that looked like they'd only fit a giant praying mantis. You won't forget the stands she takes. She's worth watching because as an artist, she's bound to evolve, and whether you like it or not, her transformations will be fascinating, won't they? Now I won't be watching her like her fans will (her Little Monsters), but she'll be pretty hard to miss. We will keep hearing from her for a while I suspect.
Now...since this is my art blog, you must be wondering, where's MY art, right? Well, fear not. At last I have something worth sharing and you'll see it next post.
More Later
KCD
I could say I don't get the appeal, but then I don't get the appeal of what is called "reality TV".
Having said that, I don't really get Lady Gaga. But she is clearly seeking to be the art, not just the artist. She is memorable as much for her outsized fashion sense and her persona as she is for her music. In fact, the music is to me somewhat forgettable. Throwaway pop. What sticks is...well, her. You won't forget the meat dress. You won't forget the shoes that looked like they'd only fit a giant praying mantis. You won't forget the stands she takes. She's worth watching because as an artist, she's bound to evolve, and whether you like it or not, her transformations will be fascinating, won't they? Now I won't be watching her like her fans will (her Little Monsters), but she'll be pretty hard to miss. We will keep hearing from her for a while I suspect.
Now...since this is my art blog, you must be wondering, where's MY art, right? Well, fear not. At last I have something worth sharing and you'll see it next post.
More Later
KCD
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
As We Descend Into the New Year
Hello Friends (all four or five of you)
I've been SO neglectful of this, which is why so few of you have heard of this. You've not heard of me, because you've not heard from me. This is not a random statement. While I've been away, I've learned an essential reality about why certain people are on our radar, and certain people aren't. I'll give you a couple of really identifiable examples.
Lady Gaga. Seriously, who was she before she became who she is? A nice girl named Stephanie (I think) who happened to have a pretty awesome singing voice. But none of us knew that until we started hearing from her as Lady Gaga, who is, as anyone will agree, a larger than life persona in the mold of Madonna, and Cher before her. Once we started hearing from her, we all wondered what life was like before she got here. Whatever you think of her music (I try not to), she's on the radar and she isn't going to be easily dismissed. Love her, hate her, or simply be aghast at her, she makes an impact.
Example number two:
The cast of "Jersey Shore". Am I the only person who thinks "The Situation" is a symptom of multiple personality disorder which just happens to afflict an otherwise non-descript kid named Mike? What is it about this group of people that keeps us watching every ridiculous thing they do? What the Sam Hill is so special about "Snooki"? She's just a liliputian with a tan, for heaven's sake. Why do we care about their love affairs, their hook-ups, break ups, and whether Mike (the afore-mentioned "Situation") has a career as.... anything, after "Dancing With The Stars"? Really.
And yet, we're transfixed. Why? Because we keep hearing from them and they're just...self-absorbed enough and inappropriate enough to make them something you HAVE to look at, if only for a moment. Much like the way you have to look at a pile-up on the highway. It's just horrific enough. The problem with Snooki, Mike, Pauly D, and J-WOW, etc is you can't turn them off. They leave not just an impact, but impact trauma.
See?
Almost got me into a full-on rant. Which goes to show that when you hear from people who make an impact, it causes a shift.
Now, since this is an art blog, what's any of this got to do with art, you ask?
We'll answer that in more detail next post.
More later
KCD
I've been SO neglectful of this, which is why so few of you have heard of this. You've not heard of me, because you've not heard from me. This is not a random statement. While I've been away, I've learned an essential reality about why certain people are on our radar, and certain people aren't. I'll give you a couple of really identifiable examples.
Lady Gaga. Seriously, who was she before she became who she is? A nice girl named Stephanie (I think) who happened to have a pretty awesome singing voice. But none of us knew that until we started hearing from her as Lady Gaga, who is, as anyone will agree, a larger than life persona in the mold of Madonna, and Cher before her. Once we started hearing from her, we all wondered what life was like before she got here. Whatever you think of her music (I try not to), she's on the radar and she isn't going to be easily dismissed. Love her, hate her, or simply be aghast at her, she makes an impact.
Example number two:
The cast of "Jersey Shore". Am I the only person who thinks "The Situation" is a symptom of multiple personality disorder which just happens to afflict an otherwise non-descript kid named Mike? What is it about this group of people that keeps us watching every ridiculous thing they do? What the Sam Hill is so special about "Snooki"? She's just a liliputian with a tan, for heaven's sake. Why do we care about their love affairs, their hook-ups, break ups, and whether Mike (the afore-mentioned "Situation") has a career as.... anything, after "Dancing With The Stars"? Really.
And yet, we're transfixed. Why? Because we keep hearing from them and they're just...self-absorbed enough and inappropriate enough to make them something you HAVE to look at, if only for a moment. Much like the way you have to look at a pile-up on the highway. It's just horrific enough. The problem with Snooki, Mike, Pauly D, and J-WOW, etc is you can't turn them off. They leave not just an impact, but impact trauma.
See?
Almost got me into a full-on rant. Which goes to show that when you hear from people who make an impact, it causes a shift.
Now, since this is an art blog, what's any of this got to do with art, you ask?
We'll answer that in more detail next post.
More later
KCD
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Follow Up to Last Month's Weather Rant
This will probably interest no one but me, but I was just looking at the weather stats on weather.com for September (which by the way, after that freakish bout of hot weather we had at the beginning, it's been just WONDERFUL! Sorry you beach lovers aren't getting any more blazing hot days to bake in. Really. Sorry. NOT!), and there were only six days where the temperature went above 80 degrees since I posted my rant. There were 15 days where the temperature was in the 70s including four straight days of rain and temps in the 60s. Now I don't want to get ahead of myself or anything, but I just wonder if the weather gods were taking notice and decided to give us a break here in Central MA. Obviously I'm grateful. Of course I did mind the humidity QUITE A LOT!
Nobody was happier than me for rain and cooler temps back down here the week of Aug.21st.
I was in VT on vacation at the time where they were having up there what WE needed down here.
Anyway, all that to say this: we've had in September 10 DAYS (so far) of sunshine, rain, and cooler temperatures and nice nights for sleeping. I am totally down with that. HAPPY FALL, EVERYBODY!
More later
KCD
P.S. The fact that I get to haul out my sweaters is also pretty nice.
Nobody was happier than me for rain and cooler temps back down here the week of Aug.21st.
I was in VT on vacation at the time where they were having up there what WE needed down here.
Anyway, all that to say this: we've had in September 10 DAYS (so far) of sunshine, rain, and cooler temperatures and nice nights for sleeping. I am totally down with that. HAPPY FALL, EVERYBODY!
More later
KCD
P.S. The fact that I get to haul out my sweaters is also pretty nice.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
First, A Word from Our Weather Center
WHAT IS UP WITH THIS DAMNED WEATHER?
Various reports are out saying that the searing heat some places are experiencing (that would be due south and west of MA) is just the beginning of a trend that could become our new "normal" in about 40 years if steps aren't taken to reduce global warming or as it's called in some circles, "climate change". That means that the kids we're now having, literally or vicariously, could be grown and have kids of their own by the time the weather in Ogunquit, ME starts matching the current weather in Miami, FL and the weather in Miami starts feeling like a mild day in Iraq. Personally, I'm pretty tired of this little taste of one possible future for the planet. When you have people in Buffalo who can't wait for the snow, something's wrong. So maybe we all ought to stop fighting about whether climate change is happening. I'd say it is! So now that we have it, what do we do with it? I'm thinking letting trends continue as they have isn't an option. Just saying.
More later
KCD
Various reports are out saying that the searing heat some places are experiencing (that would be due south and west of MA) is just the beginning of a trend that could become our new "normal" in about 40 years if steps aren't taken to reduce global warming or as it's called in some circles, "climate change". That means that the kids we're now having, literally or vicariously, could be grown and have kids of their own by the time the weather in Ogunquit, ME starts matching the current weather in Miami, FL and the weather in Miami starts feeling like a mild day in Iraq. Personally, I'm pretty tired of this little taste of one possible future for the planet. When you have people in Buffalo who can't wait for the snow, something's wrong. So maybe we all ought to stop fighting about whether climate change is happening. I'd say it is! So now that we have it, what do we do with it? I'm thinking letting trends continue as they have isn't an option. Just saying.
More later
KCD
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)