“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” —Henry Ford
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt - The Man In The Arena (1910)
Sometimes Japanese emoticons say it best, so let me start this off with:
(„#ﾟДﾟ):∴;’･,;`:ｺﾞﾙｧ!!
Found out about the most recent PechaKucha event in Boston this morning..and it was held last night. 
But that’s okay, since the events seem pretty frequent..last one being..March..
well, shit.
Maybe the nights are just sporadic as there were two events held in February.
Regardless, I’ll just have to keep an ear to the earth for the next event when it comes around because it seems like a really neat concept!
“PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of conversation (“chit chat”), it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds.
It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.”
PechaKucha has been equated to sort of a TED Talks for artists and designers. Over 100 of the presentations are posted online for your enjoyment. It is always interesting to learn what inspires different individuals and catch a glimpse into what makes them tick.
Eager to see what Boston brings to the table at the next event! ♥
I have always found myself drawn to Mucha’s images, but never really knew too much about him or his prolific body of work. After a bit of research, I was able to connect the pieces and learned just how much of his art I have admired throughout the years, without even knowing he was the man behind it all.
ALPHONSE MUCHA’S LIFE. CONDENSED (danke wikipedia):
In addition to his life, I was also interested in Mucha’s legacy. I recently had the pleasure of attending the screening of American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art at Emerson college. It was there that it clicked with me, some of these psychadelic 60’s rock poster artists/printers were clearly inspired by Mucha’s work and the Art Nouveau movement.
I’m looking at you, Michael English and Nigel Waymouth(aka Hapshash and the Coloured Coat)
It’s nice to see an artist’s work celebrated after their death and how in this case, Mucha’s legend lives on(for lack of a non-cliched phrase) through the re-imagination of his work/style.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”-Picasso
And THAT my sweethearts, is your art history lesson of the day. ♥
May was a bit sparse as far as I could see for art happenings, but June is packed! Thought I would share some of the more notable events to come across my screen.
Solo Exhibition-Mis Amores: Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda
(La Amistad (The Friendship), 2009-Catalina Viejo Lopex de Roda)
When: June 01-June 29th
Where: Prudential Unlimited Realty
673 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA
How: Official Website
Cost: Free
What/Why: From the Artist:”Now this is something to look forward to! I will be having my first SOLO show in the Boston area this June. As part of JP Thursdays I will be exhibiting all my recent large paintings and drawings at Prudential Unlimited Realty in Jamaica Plain. These are all my most recent paintings and I am very excited to have the opportunity to exhibit them. The show will be up all 1 June - 29 June and the opening is Thursday, June 3rd from 6-8pm. There will be refreshments and DJ Just Joan will be spinning an eclectic sound to set the mood. If you would like a postcard invite, send me an email with your address. The closest T stop is Green Street on the orange line. Come check it out!”
Opening Celebration of the International HarborArts Outdoor Exhibition of Large-Scale Artwork
(Riverine-Stacy Levy)
When: Saturday June 12th, 2:00-5:00PM
Where: HarborArts Outdoor Gallery at Boston Harbor Shipyard
256 Marginal Street
East Boston, MA
How: Official Website
Cost: Free
What/Why:”Come and discover art at industrial site of Boston Harbor Shipyard on the Boston HarborWalk! The public is invited to attend the Opening Celebration of the new international HarborArts Outdoor Gallery at Boston Harbor Shipyard, open year-round. Meet the artists who installed over 25 large-scale 2D and 3D artworks throughout the shipyard. HarborArts employs the arts to raise awareness for issues effecting our waterways. Information will be available by the member organizations of the Massachusetts Ocean Coalition and the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership.
Music provided by Zumix. Refreshments will be available, sponsored by Dough East Boston, Scup’s in the Harbor, La Fogata, El Paisa Restaurante, and Mehak Indian Cuisine. MBTA Blue Line Maverick Station. City Water Taxi, tel. 617.422.0392, from Long Wharf Marriott to Boston Harbor Shipyard is $15 roundtrip—a $2 savings. “
The Adventures of Innocence
(Chris Fitch)
When: June 04-July 09th . Opening reception June 10th 5:00-8:00PM
Where:Fort Point Artist Community
300 Summer Street M1
Boston MA 02210
How: Official Website
Cost: Free
What/Why:”The artists Chris Fitch and Erica von Schilgen are known for their charming and eccentric mechanical creations. “The Adventures of Innocence” presents new work in a variety of media ranging from the silly to the serious that explores perspectives on personal and cultural relationships with the notion of Innocence in American society and how these perspectives evolve as we age. “
Path to Ground: An Exhibition of Electronic Artworks curated by Dana Moser and Fred Wolflink
When: June 11-July 10th, Opening Reception-Friday, June 11th. Live Performance Night- Thursday, June 24th.
Where: Axiom Gallery
141 Green Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
How: Official Website
Cost: Free
What/Why: ““Path to Ground” is an exhibition of interactive, kinetic, installation and sound art created by students working in the Electronic Projects curriculum of MassArt’s Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM). The title refers to a fundamental property of electricity: that it flows “to ground” through the path of least resistance. The term “ground” in an electrical circuit is a relative one, however, and has a variety of meanings. The works curated by Dana Moser and Fred Wolflink have a variety of artistic sensibilities: humorous, scientific, political and pop-cultural.
Artists in the show include: Olivia Becker, Alex Black, Patrick Chaney, Daniel Mooradian, Kim O’Toole, Paige Peterson, Jacky Sharp, Matej Vakula, and Joseph Wight”
On Green-Jamaica Plain Arts Council Annual Juried Exhibition
When: June 19-July 12th. Gala Reception and Silent Auction-Saturday June 19th 7:00-9:00PM, Special Preview Party June 19th 6:00-7:00PM
Where: Maliotis Cultural Center Helenic College
50 Goddard St
Brookline, MA 02445
How: Official Website
Cost: $20
What/Why: “Green is everywhere these days – in the news, politics, fashion, and pop culture. More than ever, products and services are touting their eco-consciousness, foods are organic or natural, and companies are staking claims that they support sustainability.
In plain terms, Green is simply a color found in minerals, chemicals, and plants. Green also has broad and sometimes contradictory cultural implications – symbolizing hope and wealth on the one hand, or sickness and envy on the other. It has been adopted symbolically to represent political and environmental movements at home, and it plays a prominent role in many flags of the Islamic world.
Jamaica Plain, often referred to in the 19th century as “the Eden of America,” is literally one of the greenest neighborhoods in the city of Boston. Residents have access to over 800 acres of green space at their doorstep around Jamaica Pond, and at the Arnold Arboretum, Franklin Park, Olmsted Park, and the Forest Hills Cemetery.
But what else does Green mean to Jamaica Plain artists who have access to extensive public transportation and two major bicycle paths, New England’s first urban curbside recycling program, and one of the city’s most renowned Irish pubs?
This exhibition provides an opportunity to reflect and reconsider what green means to each of us in the context of Jamaica Plain. “
Ilha Ardente/Ember Island
(Left Behind Mascarades 2, 2008-Christine Arveil)
When: June 01-June 11th
Where: Boston State House, Doric Hall
Beacon Street at Park Street
How: Official Website
Cost: Free
What/Why: “Since 2005, Boston-based artist Christine Arveil has been creating an imaginary volcano expressed through writing and painting. The Volcano Project was first installed in 2009 in the Azores. Key pieces of her artwork have been returned to Boston and will be on view at the Massachusetts State House. Once the expression of the imagination of a singular artist, The Volcano Project has met the Azorean collective memory of an historical event — the eruption of the volcano — that is part of the identity of the new American-Azorean generation. Arveil’s striking artwork assembles paintings in vibrant shades of red, sculptures incorporating Azorean deep-black basalt stones, and drawings of stones.”
Current Exhibitions: Julie Vinette(Gallery 1)
(Nike(of Samothrace), 2008-Julie Vinette)
When: June 02-June 26th
Where: Bromfield Gallery
450 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA 02118
How: Official Website
Cost: Free
What/Why:”Julie Vinette uses a range of media—oil paint, encaustic, paper, pencil, video and sculpture—to explore the fragile characteristics of memory and time. She considers the finite purpose of everyday artifacts and reworks them so that their intrinsic meaning is lost. Whatever the medium, Vinette’s work is hazily representational, brimming with color and movement. “
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And finally just for good measure…you know..if an extra ticket magically appeared…and you needed a date… -drags toe around in dirt- …
Classic Noir Summer Party
When: Saturday June 12th, 2010
Where: Museum of Fine Arts
How: Official Website
Cost: Members of the Museum Council or Patron Program: $100
Nonmembers: $150 per person
What/Why:” Please join us for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dessert and dancing, and a juried silent art auction. Kick off the summer with a Classic Noir Summer pARTy inspired by the photography of iconic Hollywood film stars by artists Yousuf Karsh and Edward Steichen from the outstanding collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Summer Party promises to be a festive evening to ring in summer amid works of art, music, and friends. “
——
Hope you get to enjoy some of the fun happenings this month!
Because it is a Friday, and I’m aching to leave my office, I find it appropriate to post some of Daniel Rybakken’s work. Although his “Daylight Entrance” installation is subtle, I think it makes a bold statement.
His LED pieces were set up in the stairwell and entrance of a Stockholm office building lacking natural light and gives the illusion of sun streaming through an opening.
Rybakken further explores this artistic technique with his “Subconscious Effect of Daylight” side table/lamp which utilizes artificial shadows cast to the floor to capture a similar feel.
This takes SADD lamps to a whole new level. I feel like offices should incorporate this technique in some way to make winters a little more bearable. An increase in natural light will decrease the likelihood of fistfights ‘round the water cooler and passive aggressive notes on the kitchen fridge re: missing tuna fish sandwiches.
“Tell me every little thing…I’ve got time….and Kashi™…”
I will propose this to HR on Monday. à tout à l’heure!
“When Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke left for the moon in April 1972, he carried with him a carefully-wrapped portrait of his family.
During the moonwalkers’ busy schedule of setting up scientific instruments and collecting rock samples, Duke somehow found time to lay the portrait on the lunar surface, and take a picture of it. Through bitter cosmic cold, and under the searing radiation of the sun, the photo remains there to this day — a tender statement of family connection on an alien world.”
“I happened to remember that over 20 yrs ago, when I first started telling people as a teenager that I wanted to be a writer, I was met with this same kind of fear-based reaction and people would say ‘aren’t you afraid you’re never going to have any success? aren’t you afraid the humiliation of rejection will kill you? aren’t you afraid that you are going to work your whole life at this craft and nothing is going to come of it and you are going to die on a scrap heap of broken dreams with your mouth filled with the bitter ash of failure?’..and the answer, the short answer to all these questions is ‘yes’”
I promise the presentation is more uplifting than the above blurb I chose.
Gilbert comes across as a bit self-indulgent at times, but I get ‘it’. Her talk is an interesting 19 minute watch re: having a ‘genius’ as opposed to being a genius, our successes and the creative process.
If I find I DO have a ‘genius’ living in the walls of my apartment I hope it starts paying rent soon.
Shit’s expensive.
As the following jpg suggests..
10th Annual Fort Point Arts Community
ART WALK
Spring Open Studios Weekend
May 7, 8 and 9
Friday 4-7pm
Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm
The Fort Point Open Studios are this weekend! Definitely an event I look forward to all winter.
“Twice each year the artists of Fort Point invite the public to visit our studios. Open Studios is an opportunity visit studios, meet artists, and see the work in the environment where it was created. Most of the artwork you see is available for purchase.
Visitors to Open Studios pick up a map and directory brochure, and can walk from building to building, exploring our historic warehouse neighborhood.
All Open Studios Events are free to the public, with free parking.This year’s Art Walk features something new:
Demonstrations, artists talks, and more, throughout the weekend.”
Come check out some work in the artists’ studios, drink some wine, eat some stale tootsie rolls, become so inebriated you walk out purchasing a pricey installation of troll doll$ covered in tinfoil and glitter puffy paint, justify it as a Koons throwback, regret it, mourn, and hope someone takes you to a pity soup/salad/breadsticks luncheon at Olive Garden so you can lick your wounds…
….
see you there! ♥
Only within the past two years have I come to realize what a bizarre and unfortunate relationship I had developed with the written word.
Skipping the See Spot Run years, things really started to derail in high school when I spent a majority of my time fretting over the memorization of “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” or recalling what color Catherine’s dress was in Chapter 4 of Wuthering Heights. If I wasn’t able to regurgitate these facts on command in the form of a quiz, or exam I would “fail”.
These pressure-cooker scenarios condition one to a.) commit literary information to short-term memory b.) truly miss out the underlying meaning, symbolism, nuances and enjoyment that can be derived from reading.
College was much of the same in a business school where electives were less about “exploring” and more about “What easy course can I take with my friends to boost my GPA after a floundering semester of macro-economics and requires a marginal degree of mental output?” Speech and Hearing? Perfect. The most energy I ever exerted in that course was when I read Fred Savage’s closing monologue of the Wonder Years aloud to a classroom of hungover Delta Tau Chis and two-years-past-excusable “Freshman 15” engorged lasses clacking away on their T-Mobile Sidekicks™.
“Once upon a time, there was a girl I knew who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way, had to do with her….”
Oh, what those dozing lotharios and bloated chicks missed! A+
Upon graduating, I wasted another 10 months of my life studying for the CFA and an ACI dealing certificate…traumatic.
Only recently have I been able to deflate my hackles and cease hissing at the notion of “reading for fun”. In fact, this activity has now become a prominent part of my post 9-5 life and is further fueled by the proximity of my local library branch. Attached to my apartment complex, no excuses.
I have been making up for lost time and am thrilled when I discover someone/something I really enjoy—happy to be able to slough of the scar tissue of my early education years. It’s become a sort of speed dating for me. Sylvia Plath? Pleasure to meet you! My what a lovely broche. This is the start of something wonderful. Anne Sexton? Ooo..I’m sorry, I’ve got another meeting to run to…-hastily chucks into book deposit slot- By page 37 of her drippy, self-righteous A Self-Portrait in Letters I had converted her book into a beer coaster and proceeded to watch The Jersey Shore. Nice cartwheel Snooks.
Just felt like sharing this bit this morning as I have been reading up on David Foster Wallace who seemed like an interesting and troubled fellow. David currently resides in my book queue.
My sophomore year English teacher(and later mentor) once said he likes having three books in rotation at all times. One up at bat, one on deck, and one in the pit.
I am sure he didn’t realize at the time how pivotal that phrase would later become in shaping my views on dating.
And with that…I leave you with a dense and seemingly cumbersome block of text I can’t figure out how to put under a HTML cut some quotes by David Foster Wallace I found most inspiring this a.m. Enjoi. ♥
It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:
‘This is water.’‘This is water.’
It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.”
