Chew on that a while.
More Later
KCD
visit www.theworkofart.net
Friday, May 30, 2014
New Maladjusted!
For those of you whose time on this planet goes back to the 1960s, there was a time when money was referred to in slang terms as "bread". More recently, it's been referred to as "cake". Either way, today's installment of "Maladjusted" is appropriate in this day when income inequality is all over the headlines, thanks to the Occupy movement.
Chew on that a while.
More Later
KCD
visit www.theworkofart.net
Chew on that a while.
More Later
KCD
visit www.theworkofart.net
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Happy Heresy's Home: Want to "Thank" Me For My Service?
This came to me in the process of browsing this morning. An incredibly simple, direct and powerful piece of art relating to the ongoing practice of "rape and retaliate" in the US Armed Forces serving in our various hotspots around the world and very likely here stateside also. This is NOT, as the artist makes clear here, an isolated series of incidents or the acts of "a few bad apples." This is a pervasive, not uncommon, not even unusual state of affairs in the military and all branches do it. Moreover, the DOD (that's Department of Defense for the uninitiated) has known about this for decades and has done effectively NOTHING. Your tax dollars at work, my fellow citizens. No matter what you think of our efforts to "spread democracy" in these parts of the world, no matter what you think of the current Commander In Chief, this should not happen anywhere, to anybody. And with that, I invite you to click on the link below and listen to what "Jen" has to say.
More Later
KCD
visit www.theworkofart.net
See this first, though. Click below.
Happy Heresy's Home: Want to "Thank" Me For My Service?
More Later
KCD
visit www.theworkofart.net
See this first, though. Click below.
Happy Heresy's Home: Want to "Thank" Me For My Service?
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Artists Making a Difference
Back in April 2010, an oil rig called Deepwater Horizon suffered an explosion and a fire the results of which dumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill went on for months. You could see a live feed of the ongoing spill on CNN. The owners of the platform tried various solutions, none of which worked, and people like Kevin Costner lobbied Congress to use a machine he'd had developed to help clean the water. Finally in July of that year, they got the thing capped and BP was put on the hook for the clean up and residual affects to the tune of $20 billion.
Around that time, a fifth grader named Olivia Bouler from Islip, NY had an idea. She would draw and paint pictures of warblers and pelicans and other North American birds and put them up online to raise donations. Since then, her renderings have been snatched up to the tune of $200,000 and counting to help with ongoing clean-up efforts in the Gulf, which contrary to some ads you've seen, is not finished. Despite the eagerness of some tourist-centered business interests to say that the Gulf Coast from FL to MS is "open for business", the truth is a little murkier than that. It will likely take billions to undo the damage wrought by one of the worst environmental disasters in US history, and to make whole the people who draw their livelihoods from the sea. So $200K may not seem like much, but the point is that artists can make an impact even on a catastrophe of this magnitude, as this girl has done. Further evidence of the effect of art on the culture and the power it has to raise consciousness. Just in case you were wondering.
Check out Olivia's work here. She's actually quite good.
Now, I leave you with this for the next Gulf Coast vacation you might be planning, and before anyone gets up in arms, I am NOT saying that you shouldn't vacation down there if you so desire. I'm just suggesting that if you feel a bit of anxiety about going down there, you're not alone.
More Later
KCD
Visit www.theworkofart.net
Around that time, a fifth grader named Olivia Bouler from Islip, NY had an idea. She would draw and paint pictures of warblers and pelicans and other North American birds and put them up online to raise donations. Since then, her renderings have been snatched up to the tune of $200,000 and counting to help with ongoing clean-up efforts in the Gulf, which contrary to some ads you've seen, is not finished. Despite the eagerness of some tourist-centered business interests to say that the Gulf Coast from FL to MS is "open for business", the truth is a little murkier than that. It will likely take billions to undo the damage wrought by one of the worst environmental disasters in US history, and to make whole the people who draw their livelihoods from the sea. So $200K may not seem like much, but the point is that artists can make an impact even on a catastrophe of this magnitude, as this girl has done. Further evidence of the effect of art on the culture and the power it has to raise consciousness. Just in case you were wondering.
Check out Olivia's work here. She's actually quite good.
Now, I leave you with this for the next Gulf Coast vacation you might be planning, and before anyone gets up in arms, I am NOT saying that you shouldn't vacation down there if you so desire. I'm just suggesting that if you feel a bit of anxiety about going down there, you're not alone.
More Later
KCD
Visit www.theworkofart.net
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Something Truly Beautiful To Start Your Day
I'm going to let this just speak for itself. If you're not moved...well, too bad for you.
The Beatles weren't wrong.
Love is all you need.
More Later,
KCD
Visit www.theworkofart.net
Friday, March 7, 2014
Poetry Sells! (Who Knew?)
Apple Inc, makers of the famed MacIntosh computer, and the now legendary string of i everything,
is pushing its new iPad Air tablet. With Robin Williams doing his very best "Dead Poets Society" character waxing rhapsodic, they might actually sell a few of them. The photography here is really good, and the shots are compelling. But what particularly struck me was the poetry: Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass.
Oh Me! Oh Life!
Of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad recurring-What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer
That you are here...that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
I suppose Apple could've just come up with an ad that said "Hi. Apple Computer here with our newest invention: the iPad Air. We like it because it's so light. We hope you'll buy one soon." I suppose in these days of bland media saturation and sameness, an ad like that may well have worked. But they decided to go for the whirling dervish that is life playing out across this planet, set it to poetry and roll it out. And it works.
The next time I want to throw up my hands in despair thinking that art doesn't move people, I will reflect upon this, that some great photography and poetry helped sell a few million of these iPad Air things.
More Later
KCD
Visit www.theworkofart.net
is pushing its new iPad Air tablet. With Robin Williams doing his very best "Dead Poets Society" character waxing rhapsodic, they might actually sell a few of them. The photography here is really good, and the shots are compelling. But what particularly struck me was the poetry: Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass.
Oh Me! Oh Life!
Of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad recurring-What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer
That you are here...that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
I suppose Apple could've just come up with an ad that said "Hi. Apple Computer here with our newest invention: the iPad Air. We like it because it's so light. We hope you'll buy one soon." I suppose in these days of bland media saturation and sameness, an ad like that may well have worked. But they decided to go for the whirling dervish that is life playing out across this planet, set it to poetry and roll it out. And it works.
The next time I want to throw up my hands in despair thinking that art doesn't move people, I will reflect upon this, that some great photography and poetry helped sell a few million of these iPad Air things.
More Later
KCD
Visit www.theworkofart.net
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Up, Up, and Away
This has been viewed 700,000 times. If you have a kid or ever were a kid, you will thrill as this 16-month old does watching the Man of Steel take flight. Something in you soars no matter how many times or in how many ways you watch Superman lift off. It doesn't really matter who's wearing the "S" and the red cape, be it George Reeves, Christopher Reeve (may they both rest in peace), Brandon Routh, or Henry Cavill, there's nothing quite like it.
Of course, if you were never a kid, or if you're devoid of imagination, you won't know what I'm talking about, and this clip will mean nothing to you. More's the pity.
Talk Amongst Yourselves
More Later
KCD
Please visit www.theworkofart.net
Of course, if you were never a kid, or if you're devoid of imagination, you won't know what I'm talking about, and this clip will mean nothing to you. More's the pity.
Talk Amongst Yourselves
More Later
KCD
Please visit www.theworkofart.net
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Art Heals: A Dancer Beats Depression
Now this comes from the local Central MA area. Arianys DeJesus is a 20-year old young woman living in Southbridge, MA near the CT border. When she was young, she would cry all the time and be really irritable. Some people might think, well, isn't that the short definition of "kid"? Aren't kids always on about something? Can't have that cookie now. Can't play with that toy now. You need to pick up your room. Can't wear that now. You wore it yesterday. On and on go the irritations in the life of a kid. Just think back. Of course if you're still irritated by these things now, you're either still a kid at this moment, or you never outgrew those childish things, which means you might need help. Get it. Now.
In Arianys's case, these weren't mere childish tantrums. She was battling something. And it took a while for her parents to figure out what it was. Depression. According to the story published in Worcester Magazine back in October, Arianys would hear voices in her head that would tell her to do awful things like...kill herself "just really bad things," she said. Now most people are not really aware of these thoughts, but sometimes in a more lucid moment, you might wonder why it is that the world looks so dark and foreboding and you might wonder why your default response is to just pull the covers over your head and say "wake me when it's over", but you push past it and get up and get on with life because, well, what else is there?
Oh. Yeah. Work. Money. Food. Bills. Survival. If you suffer from depression, you may find yourself asking, "So?" When you reach that point or if you've reached that point you need help. Get it. Now.
Arianys figured out what else is there. Before she did, she was being medicated like a lot of people, and hearing those voices telling her she was ugly, she shouldn't be alive, and take ALL THE PILLS. Before she found out what else was there, she contemplated suicide more than once but never went the next step, never stepped over that line that once crossed, you can't come back from. She began to dance. She had started at 4, but her struggles overwhelmed her and she stopped. At first, when she returned to it, it almost didn't take. But then it did. Then the dance had her, and within months, she was off Prozac, and the voices in her head stopped. By 15, she was teaching dance to others. Now, she has a foundation called Dance to Live, which held its second annual fundraiser in October 2013 to help young people deal with and heal from mental illness by connecting to performing arts like dance. There is of course, an exercise component to dance that medical experts say is very helpful, but the expression, the release that creating art allows is equally vital to healing. Other things help as well. If you find yourself staring into the abyss and waiting for the darkness to notice you, it's time to get help. Just don't be surprised if the therapist tells you to take up art in some form, and don't be surprised if you find it drawing the pain out of you like poison being drained from a wound.
Arianys says, "I want kids to feel what I feel when I dance." Living with her art heals her. Now she's helping others dance to live. Think about that the next time you hear someone dismiss artistic endeavor as some "frivolous" waste of time. Arianys DeJesus will tell you differently.
You can read Arianys's full story here.
Oh, and Happy New Year.
More Later
KCD
Please visit www.theworkofart.net
In Arianys's case, these weren't mere childish tantrums. She was battling something. And it took a while for her parents to figure out what it was. Depression. According to the story published in Worcester Magazine back in October, Arianys would hear voices in her head that would tell her to do awful things like...kill herself "just really bad things," she said. Now most people are not really aware of these thoughts, but sometimes in a more lucid moment, you might wonder why it is that the world looks so dark and foreboding and you might wonder why your default response is to just pull the covers over your head and say "wake me when it's over", but you push past it and get up and get on with life because, well, what else is there?
Oh. Yeah. Work. Money. Food. Bills. Survival. If you suffer from depression, you may find yourself asking, "So?" When you reach that point or if you've reached that point you need help. Get it. Now.
Arianys figured out what else is there. Before she did, she was being medicated like a lot of people, and hearing those voices telling her she was ugly, she shouldn't be alive, and take ALL THE PILLS. Before she found out what else was there, she contemplated suicide more than once but never went the next step, never stepped over that line that once crossed, you can't come back from. She began to dance. She had started at 4, but her struggles overwhelmed her and she stopped. At first, when she returned to it, it almost didn't take. But then it did. Then the dance had her, and within months, she was off Prozac, and the voices in her head stopped. By 15, she was teaching dance to others. Now, she has a foundation called Dance to Live, which held its second annual fundraiser in October 2013 to help young people deal with and heal from mental illness by connecting to performing arts like dance. There is of course, an exercise component to dance that medical experts say is very helpful, but the expression, the release that creating art allows is equally vital to healing. Other things help as well. If you find yourself staring into the abyss and waiting for the darkness to notice you, it's time to get help. Just don't be surprised if the therapist tells you to take up art in some form, and don't be surprised if you find it drawing the pain out of you like poison being drained from a wound.
Arianys says, "I want kids to feel what I feel when I dance." Living with her art heals her. Now she's helping others dance to live. Think about that the next time you hear someone dismiss artistic endeavor as some "frivolous" waste of time. Arianys DeJesus will tell you differently.
You can read Arianys's full story here.
Oh, and Happy New Year.
More Later
KCD
Please visit www.theworkofart.net
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