Thursday, April 13, 2006

Geopolitical Art

I receive Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter for artists and found this letter on Geopolitical Art to be particularly interesting.

Many artist's struggle with determining if their pursuits are a personal hobby or if their work is 'good enough' to sell. Rarely, have I heard an artist talk about their work being 'marketable.' Geopolitical art definitely falls into a niche barely touched by individuals seeking work for their dining rooms. Robert Genn's Geopolitical Art helps to at least define one's market if one should pursue this artistic statement.

I've got a few ideas beyond showing work to public gallery curators.

  1. After creating large-scale productions, one could reduce their work and create a coffee table book for political aficionados and donate a portion of proceeds to your favorite charity.
  2. Create faux stamps homage to your large scale works or allow them to become statements within themselves and affix them to your outgoing mail. I have even framed some of mine.
  3. Think of other ways one could make a powerful statement in a clever way.
While I'm not much of a political pundit, the moons and planets were aligned just right for my last political statement. Last year, friends of ours were holding a housewarming party and we decided to bring a bottle of wine. Because it was near Halloween and he's a consultant for the Democratic party, we decided to have a bit of scary fun. The wine was purchased from the grocery store, however, the label was just a bit different than one would ordinarily find. Naturally, he and his wife loved it!

Geopolitical Quote for Artists

"If everyone would paint, political re-education would be unnecessary."
Pablo Picasso

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Priceless Ad

Just saw a commerical for MasterCard to write my own lines for the 'Priceless' commercial. Unfortunately, it was for their commercial, not mine.

Thus, I've decided to write my own virtual pricessless ad and the timing couldn't be better; Andrew and I have just celebrated our 5th year anniversary of the day we met.

Subscription to match.com: $30
Coffee Date at Borders Bookstore: $2.96
Finally Meeting My Soulmate: Priceless

What's yours?

Googling & Kaboodling

I recently discovered this online tool quite by accident last week. I don't even remember how I found it, now. It's pretty sweet as it takes 'bookmarks' to a new level.

http://www.kaboodle.com/

The tutorials are quite simple and easy to follow. It allows you to snag a URL (+select a specific image as a designated avatar) into a self-made Web page and organize it with tag words. Kaboodle creates 2 *public* default lists:

-ecstewart's shoppinglist
-ecstewart's wishlist

One can also create private categories should you want to gather info for a special project. One can also *invite* friends to private pages for online collaboration.

Hope this works for you.

Monday, April 03, 2006

First Metalsmith Class

This weekend, I finally took a much desired metals class at Flame Kissed Beads that involved creating a sterling silver pendant.

The components include:
Sterling Silver
Copper
Iolite

We applied a texture (+ pickeled it), an applique (+ pickeled it), cut metal (+ pickeled it), choose a gem to fit into a pre-made bezel (+ pickeled it), sweat soldered, and finally, pickeled it. At the very end, we tumbled the piece and fitted the gem. Okay, I might have exaggerated on the pickeling.

Anyhow, I've got my piece and I can't wait to string it!