Welcome to Timeless Rhythms Studio, online art journal! Look at some of my posted art (above), read my entries and feel free to comment on any part of the blog that interests you! Most of my art is available for purchase and I can also be commissioned for a variety of custom painting projects, from portraits to murals. Contact me here by leaving a comment on any post. I look forward to hearing from you in my Timeless Rhythms Studio, online art journal!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

This incredible event just in, from art:21!

ArtPrize: An Experiment in Decentralized Curation and Competition
August 27th, 2009
by Kevin Buist, ArtPrize

Maya Lin’s (Season One) “Ecliptic” in Rosa Parks Circle, Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Production still from the Art:21 episode, Identity, © Art21, Inc. 2001.)

There’s been a fair bit of talk lately about how the recession is affecting artists, the art market, and art institutions. And with good reason, pocket books are tight everywhere, and most art, no matter its intended relation to market forces, can’t exist without some kind of capital. It’s not a coincidence that this is also the era of the rise of social media. Facebook, Twitter, and the like are facilitating massive realtime networks that are free (as long as you’re connected). These networks become a conduit of exchange for new kinds of goods, and value is now being measured in new ways. Stock prices still matter, but Google rankings are starting to matter, too. Content is aggregated by algorithms that calculate value from the unconscious input of millions of users.

How does this new method of exchange and valuation affect the art world? If social networks naturally become markets, placing value on instantly exchanged bits of info, what would happen if we gave that value a monetary correlation, apart from a traditional marketplace? I’ve been working to help develop an new art event that seeks to do exactly that. ArtPrize is a radically open art competition. The annual event will run September 23 to October 10 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hundreds of artists from around the world have created online profiles, which are a cross between an artist bio and an open-ended proposal. Hundreds of property owners, institutions, and public spaces in downtown Grand Rapids have volunteered to open their space to artists. We’ve built ArtPrize.org to enable these artists and venues to connect to one another, without a central curator or jury. If that weren’t unorthodox enough, the winner of the cash prize (currently the world’s largest, at $250,000, with additional prizes for the rest of the top ten) will be decided by public vote. Anyone can come to Grand Rapids, register to vote for free, and rank each entry with either an up or a down vote, online or by text message.

ArtPrize is an experiment that seeks to utilize the connectivity that social networking allows to build an art event from the ground up. We could have made an online art contest, where everyone uploads a .jpg and users click to vote while in their pajamas. We did not want to do that. We believe that the true value of most works of art are experienced during a physical or social encounter. Incentivizing these encounters in the city of Grand Rapids has tremendous civic value. Artists are tuning in to the possibilities inherent with this level of direct engagement with the city and audience. There are exciting projects coming that push the boundaries of how art interacts with social structures, architecture, and an overall sense of place.
Jimmy Kuehnle, ArtPrize participant. Stuffed Full, installation in Kyoto, Japan, 2008.

For those who can’t make it to Grand Rapids this fall, there will still be plenty of ways to track the event online. During the first round of voting, which takes place in the first week, visitors to ArtPrize.org will be able to track which artists are taking the lead. On October first, the top ten from the general vote will be announced, and final the winners will be announced October 8, after the second round of voting. To keep up during the event, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and our blog. It’s important to us that the event is grounded in a physical location, but we’re also eager to see how the discussion spurred by ArtPrize spreads across the web.

The idea of an incentive is central to ArtPrize. The prize and the vote primarily do one thing: they deliver an engaged audience. To many, this is a scary prospect. Who are all these people, and what do they know about art? Who are they to say what’s good and what isn’t? The voting audience will certainly be diverse, ranging from experts to complete novices. The event will likely create a vacuum of critical art knowledge, people may not have the language, or the art-historical context, to process what they’re seeing. The great thing is that this vacuum can be perfectly filled by educators, artists, and critics. Experts work tirelessly to supply cultural capital, we’re looking to create a demand. We’re working to produce educational programming and resources, but we’re really excited to see what pops up on its own. How will artists advocate for their own works? How will critics make an argument for what should get votes and what shouldn’t? What happens when friends go to the bar after looking at art and argue about what they voted for and why?

Kurt Perschke’s RedBall Project, shown above from the June 2009 installation in Toronto, will come to Grand Rapids for ArtPrize. (Photo by Flickr user inastral.)

ArtPrize has been the target of some criticism, and that’s not surprising. Some assume that putting on an art contest without a jury is a referendum against traditional art world practices, or even an affront to the very idea of curation. This is not the intent. Curators, juries, galleries, and other art institutions are playing a large role the formation of the event, each presenting a collection of entries that reflect their own sensibilities and expertise.

There are two interrelated questions that drive much of the thinking behind ArtPrize. One, how do works of art create and maintain value given the current state technological and cultural progress? This is a question Walter Benjamin began to ask with his 1936 essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. We’re way beyond the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, but new versions of the same question keep coming up. And the second question, who decides what that value is? What, or who, is the art world, if such a thing can be concretely defined? And who is the public? How do social media technologies, with their ability to level all users to a single node in a network, affect these distinctions? ArtPrize doesn’t claim to know the answers to these questions, but we are doing everything we can to energize the debate.

Kevin Buist is an artist, freelance writer, and Director of Artist Relations for ArtPrize, he lives and works in Grand Rapids, MI. He received a BFA from Calvin College, and attended the New York Center for Art and Media Studies. He has written about film for SpoutBlog and co-produced FilmCouch, a Webby-nominated podcast. Before helping launch ArtPrize, he ran Calvin College’s 106 Gallery in Grand Rapids, MI. He can be found on the web at kevinbuist.com and on his blog, The Porcupine School of Poetry.


How might you reproduce this idea in your community?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Why I Make Art!



Art has been my lifelong companion/catalyst supporting the wellbeing of my soul; I was seven years old when this very refined alliance first occurred.
Later in my early thirties I revisited this peculiar, childhood epiphany again, to examine specifically, the relevance that art truly has in my own life. Even more specifically, what value my life has to the whole of humanity, identified as artist! And as a result of looking back, to ask what kind of artist, may have been meant in that early childhood epiphany.


With greater understanding for the value of nurturing my soul and developing my own identity through creative expression, this gifted refined ally is now a deeply integrated internal resource, out of which I can envision facilitating, creative somatic-centered healing empowerment with others, in the not-so-distant future. How did this parallel of disciplines occur, you might ask? Therein lies this solo artist's lifelong journey thus far! Do ask.

For me, the first step toward the goal of creative somatic-centered empowerment work with others, is to apply to an MFA program that fits me.
How does a somatic-centered direction of pursuit, fit into a soul's well being in art_ again, you might ask? Ah-h, put that way, things may make some sense intuitively, and therein lays this solo artist's lifelong journey thus far! Really, it’s ok! Do ask.

Keeping a steady focus on current practical steps that I see are needed, I invite you to examine the thesis project I take into the MFA environment of study. Find it posted to Fractured Atlas, under my member account/project page; Timeless Rhythms.

Can I share with you that lately, from what I read in the media, it's time for those creatives such as myself to co-lead what solutions may come from looking differently, into what is possible for our country from here.
I propose that journeying through the personal toward an inner clarity and stability, plays a creatively empowering role for individual solution-building; a creatively empowering role in overall health and well being in this life in general, and in the imminent times ahead for all. Journeying the path of personal examination, playfully experienced through creative Somatic Psychology, can be a most solid way for kinesthetic types to show up to life: with inner coping skills that are creatively developed! We all have to do some training in this life for what we are called to do, yes?! Why should appropriate self-examination at the right time in life, be any different?
Intelligently playing with the prospects of a self-commitment of this nature and magnitude, is what I am reaching to offer and facilitate with others, who resonate with an examination of the intuitive intelligence of their own physical medium, over the long-term of life!


In the interim intent-of-accomplishment of these (partnering) goals (art and somatics), I invite you to support this artist-with-life's study at this time, with a tax deductible donation to my project.

What questions do you have about the future in general? How do you see yourself getting there? Dialog with me; let's see what comes of the contact!
I invite you to stay in contact with my progress
over the duration of reaching the overall goals of combining Somatic Psychology practices with the empowering expression of art. The first personal step to getting there, is through the portal of the creative. Empower yourself; follow my progress!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

L'art brut


Josef Hofer, People; Mixed media on paper 2006; 42 x 30 cm

A cool video about this art form on Bablegum can be found here! Do check THIS out!!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Support what you like in the arts; stop being afraid of culture!



Sweating for the Arts
Adam Forest Huttler | Aug 12, 2009 11:48 am

Never let it be said that Fractured Atlas is unwilling to go the extra mile. To prove it, this September 27th we’ll be going 105.3 miles in a publicity stunt campaign to raise awareness about the importance of supporting arts and culture.

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Into the Belly of the Beast

This September 27th, the Fractured Atlas staff, Board, and membership will be participating in The Belly of the Beast, a triathlon in Lebanon, NJ. We’ll be fielding a total of three teams across two events.

TEAM A will be doing the Half Ironman distance as a relay:

1.2 Mile Swim - Elizabeth Errico (my wife and the most dedicated non-employee in FA history)
56 Mile Bike - Tim Cynova, Deputy Director
13.1 Mile Run - Adam Huttler, Executive Director (that’s me!)

TEAM B isn’t really a “team” per se. It’s our fearless leader and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Joshua Lindland doing the Sprint distance as a solo effrort:

1/2 Mile Swim - Joshua Lindland, Chairman
13.9 Mile Bike - Joshua Lindland, Chairman
3.1 Mile Run - Joshua Lindland, Chairman

TEAM C will be also be doing the Sprint distance, but as a relay:

1/2 Mile Swim - Phillip Stearns, Member
13.9 Mile Bike - Juliana Steele, Program Specialist
3.1 Mile Run - Emily Watts, Program Director
You Can Make an Impact

But this isn’t really about a bunch of arts administrators making martyrs of themselves on a triathlon course. That’s just to get your attention. The truth is that you have an opportunity to ensure the continued vitality of the arts and cultural sector in America.

This art business has always been a tough racket, but today the field is threatened in some pretty scary ways. Funding for arts organizations has been decimated by the economic downturn, resulting in severe budget cuts and even the extinction of some important institutions. Meanwhile, the arts are increasingly being scapegoated in an apparent resurgence of the culture wars.

In this tough environment, artists and cultural organizations need reliable, affordable infrastructure more than ever before. That’s what you can provide. Your donation to Fractured Atlas will have a sweeping impact on the arts community. And since 96% of our spending goes directly to programs and services, you can rest assured that your money won’t be wasted.

So here’s the deal
: we’re going 105.3 tough miles for the cause. You can join in by contributing a little bit for each of those miles:

If 50 cents per mile is more than you can manage, enter whatever amount you’re comfortable with in the field above. On the other hand, if you can afford to give a little more, then this is a chance to amplify your impact.

Friday, August 14, 2009

An Inspired Idea



A WORLDWIDE REQUEST:
''CALL TO ALL THE CREATIVE SPIRITS FROM AROUND THE PLANET''...


It is time for you all to be part in creating a truly momentous and inspirational piece of art that will fuse together countries, continents, races, skin colours, languages, dialects, beliefs and religions. This ground-breaking global art project is entitled WE ARE ONE,' and will involve thousands of artists who, each using their artistic individuality and talent, will unite together to produce a truly enormous, inspirational and worldwide piece of art... (a single yet collective masterpiece that bridges and bonds the world in which we all live).

''WE ARE ONE... is not about individual artists creating toward their own success or financial gain... this is purely about creating a GLOBAL CREATIVE HARMONY, and collectively producing an AMAZING HISTORIC PLANETARY WONDER''.

The concept is to prove to a wide-eyed world audience that through art, positivity and creative unity, we can all collectively illustrate a history making and inspirational message to every single person on planet Earth. It is now time to illustrate on a vast global scale that creativity is the new world brotherhood and sisterhood.

''WE ARE ONE... is when thousands of single voices speak together at one point in time to produce a truly beautiful sound of globally epic proportions, and with a GLORIOUS FUSION of WORLDWIDE CREATIVITY we will all resonate together as ONE GLOBAL SOUL''.


We are requesting that each person of any age produce one piece of art and then simply upload (*) a digital jpeg file of it to the organisers. Then, a very select creative team will assemble this truly exciting, breathtaking global and history making piece of art. It will be created in a way that each individual artwork acts as a inspirational visual building block, fusing together how great is the strength of human positivity, alongside the truly global union of art, artist and creativity.

This awe inspiring masterpiece of world art will be assembled and housed in a location of worldwide creative importance... (to be announced soon); all dates for submission of work to be announced (*).

IMPORTANT MESSAGE... everybody unite and spread these 3 simple words to the four corners of the Earth... ''WE ARE ONE''... and be part in changing art forever...!!!

Contact Info, Email: nicholasbellamyart@live.com
AND: check out THE W A O facebook link.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Signs of Hope and Responsibility!


Philanthropy News Digest

Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation Awards $1.4 Million to NYC Arts Groups

The New York City-based Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation has announced grants totaling $1.4 million to help fourteen New York City arts organizations continue their programming during the recession.

All the selected organizations are past grantees of the foundation's arts and enterprise program and have pioneered important cultural initiatives and established strong roots within their communities, despite lack of access to well-heeled donors. The grants will be used for a variety of purposes, from sustaining educational programming at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Bedford Stuyvesant to making possible an ambitious schedule of sixty performances at Harlem Stage.

"Over the past several years, we have had the privilege of supporting a unique constellation of cultural institutions that not only reflect New York City's continued relevance as the world's cultural capital, but have also delivered the benefits of our emerging creative economy to some of our most vulnerable neighborhoods and citizens," said Gary Hattem, president of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. "These grants will help preserve these institutions as important community assets while allowing for their continued leadership in furthering community revitalization."

For a complete list of grant recipients, visit the Deutsche Bank Web site.

Deutsche Bank Supports New York City Cultural Organizations With Arts and Enterprise Stabilization Grants.” Deutsche Bank Press Release 8/06/09.

Souccar, Miriam. “Deutsche Bank Throws Lifeline to the Arts.” Crain's New York Business 8/06/09.

Primary Subject: Arts and Culture
Secondary Subject(s): Economic Crisis
Location(s): New York

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Sunday, August 9, 2009

Lee Garrison


A painter, whose work(s) I found roaming through cyber-space yesterday! I invite interested people, to click here, in order to look at the beautiful film of her working life_ that of a fellow painter!
I find her work loose and free, qualities very attractive to me on many levels. The more of her work I saw on the film, posted on her website (click on the link on her name), the more I really loved the spirit of the work.
Today, (August 11, 2009) I had my second chat by phone with this lovely human being, a sprite really, as I picked up on the lilting joy in her giggle because she was speaking about her path as the artist! It was a contagious conversation. I am a lucky person for having made contact directly, seeking permission to publish the image you see above, so I could share it here on my left coast, artist blog!
Tell me what you think!

Prayer II



Interested?

This 36" x 48", simply framed, oil painting is for sale.

I consider it the pièce de résistance of my entire working oeuvre as an artist.

To contact me about it, please find my email address located on the top of the right sidebar.

Thank-you.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

The Blog Swapping Project Gets Underway!

So far on NetworkedBlogs, we have attracted just about half the projected number of participants desired_ yet, sometimes good things just can't wait!

We begin swapping/writing on one another's blogs, on the 23rd of August, (2 weeks from this Sunday, 8/9/09!). Click here on "this event" to register for this great and exciting, creative social collaboration_ experiment!