The Revolution Begins with Beauty - Art Activism in the Age of Trump

Imagine for a moment that it is 1937. Hitler is preparing for war. Europe is edgy. This man in Germany is frightening. But people are following him in droves. In less than a year Germany will annex Austria. But in '37, people are still not sure what to make of this monster. 

In June, Pablo Picasso "should" be finishing his greatest and most famous work "Guernica". But this is not our world. The stage is set for this amazing work which he dedicated to the Nazi bombing of the Basque village of Guernica. 

Photographers Myths and Why I am an Artist not a Photographer

When I first made a commitment to become a professional photographer nearly 20 years ago, I knew nothing about photography as a skill. In fact the only thing I did know was that my eye was the best photographer I knew. If I could trust my eye, even with inferior equipment, I might just eventually learn enough to do well in the field.

When I say inferior equipment I really mean it. I had a small Nikon point and click camera and that was all. In fact I would get laughed at by more sophisticated photographers with lots of great equipment. But I found out very soon that again if I trusted my eye and was quick I could get some pretty good shots despite the handicaps of a small camera. And those who laughed started to grumble because I was getting the work and they weren't.

When I Was a Child

When I was a child everything took on a new shape for me. Old gnarled men became ogres. Houses became castles. And the simplest of household items could cast me into a fantasy world filled with wonders. 

Now that I am an adult, my child mind still wanders. I would like to think its what makes me a decent artist, because I still see the mundane with childish wonder... even in something as simple as a fire hydrant. I wish that we all saw the world in this way. It might be a much more wondrous place.

Re-examining The RAW concept - Artists Advice for Self Promotion

What is RAW? For those unfamiliar with it, RAW is a monthly event held in many cities internationally where a group of emerging artists are showcased along with creatives in art, performance art, fashion, photography etc. 

Sounds like fun huh? Great deal for emerging artists who need a platform to be seen. I was a RAW artist once and I thought the same thing. Great way to get some local notice and an offer of some great press. A place to sell some work and gain the experience of a international organization in becoming a professional artist. 

Is This Art? Crossing the Bridge From Art to Mass Production

Recently an artist in New Zealand began a project to create 1 million artworks in a year. He is doing so to raise awareness of mental health issues. The cause is a good one and its getting him some good press. But I couldn't help coming away from the article feeling very uneasy about the project.

The artists, by his own calculations, has 7.2 seconds to create one piece of art before he must move on to the next. But I had to ask myself, is this really art?

10 things I've Learned as an Artist in the Past Year

How to Be More Interactive

The most important thing I've learned this year is how crucial it is to become an "interactive artist". My definition of an interactive artist is any creator (art, music, writing, etc) that establishes and relies on a massive social structure online both locally and internationally rather than through their reliance on galleries. This is a philosophy I've used for years now, but its really been in the past year that I can see the results personally of establishing a web of contacts across the globe through online social networks, blogging and providing information to others. I can also see the results of other interactive artists who are finding success in this way.

The Fear and Folly of Public Opinion in Art

An artists life can sometimes be difficult. Not only are we often perceived as hippies who can't make a living, or that our art is a hobby and not a real job. Opinions, both good and bad on our work is a constant force on what we do. It has a power all its own that can be so acidic that it may burn through an artists life leaving scars and even death in its wake. No matter how well known we are, the court of public opinion asserts a great force on what we do and always will.

The Artist is a Child Who Should Never Grow Up

When I was a child, I had a vivid imagination. So much so that I think I spent most of my preteen years living in my fantasies and hiding from my realities. I don't know if I had an imaginary friend when I was very young, but I suppose I really didn't need it. I was my own imaginary friend.

I remember for awhile I was completely absorbed in knitting yarn. I would take the yarn and I would weave gigantic spider webs out of it. These things would stretch from one side of a room to the other. I would anchor each piece of yarn from one high corner to the opposing lower corner. When I had 8 of these crisscrossing each other, then I would start to weave an intricate spider web from one strand to the next until the thing dominated the room making it completely unusable unless you wanted to get caught in my web.

"I AM A..." How Artists Describe Themselves

We all attach labels to ourselves. In the art world there are so many labels that we can lose our perspective in what suits us best. 

It is not enough to say "I'm an artist". Its too vague. 

I conducted a small experiment awhile back. I would introduce myself sometimes as an artist and other times as a sculptor. There was an immediate difference in how I was perceived. 

To those who I told I was an artist, there was a vague sense of "oh how sad, he has no real job". 

To those I told I was a sculptor, there was more of a sense of interest. Telling them I was a sculptor evoked interest and a need to know more. What kind of sculptor was I? What kind of materials did I use? Was it hard work? 

The Not So Greatness of Alexander - A Story About Stolen Art

How do we handle the theft of our work? As artists, we face a constant threat of others stealing our work online? The worse cases of this are people who try to resell our intellectual property. 

I am not a believer in watermarks. I think a huge watermark over our work nullifies our attempts to promote our work online. I do believe in ID'ing our work with our logo, but a watermark that takes up the center point of an image does nothing except to detract from what we have created.

Immortality Has Arrived - The Artists Virtual Life

We are the first generation in the history of man to become immortal

The advent of the internet era has made a part of us impervious to death. What we perceive sometimes as a toy, as a method of communication, as a way to waste time when we are bored, has in its own quiet way turned us all into immortals. Its not because of the internet alone that I say this. Its because of the massive social networks promulgating the net now.

Before these came along in their present form, the internet was still a fractured place. Those using one service like AOL or a host of others, were still locked into a small part of the cyber universe. But now, organizations like Google, Yahoo and Facebook are unlocking the doors and expanding services to the point where we now have a doppelganger of our true selves living out there in cyberspace. 

Viewing Your Art Through the Buyers Eyes

Artists can be very myopic. We micromanage every piece of art we create and we fuss over every single detail incessantly. We see whats in front of us, but sometimes we miss the bigger picture.

The simple fact is that this is not how others view our work. Think about it, when you see another artists work for the first time, do you see every little detail about that work? Or rather do you take in the wholeness of the piece, seeing it as a complete structure and not as a series of small brush strokes?

Art Bloggers - Tips For Creating Content

Art bloggers make two common mistakes when they blog. These mistakes lay at opposite ends of the spectrum from each other.

At one end lays the trap of only blogging your art and nothing else. The result is that unless you can create new art daily, there are vast amounts of time where your blog sits unused while you create. No new content equals no new viewers.

The Spine is Strongest - Finding our Artistic Backbone

Creative people who share their views are often shunned. The Dixie Chicks come to mind as a great example of a group of singers who spoke their minds and had their careers nearly destroyed for speaking their minds on political issues.

What results is that anyone with a creative career such as musicians, movie stars, artists and performers have to think twice about whether they want to take the heat for expressing views that may go against their fans views.

The Art of Fear - The Nightmares Artists Face

I had a dream. I saw an abandoned house sitting alone in a field. The doors were open to the elements and the floor boards were cracked with gaping holes that were open to the dirt floor beneath. There were construction people with hardhats surveying the property. A large yellow tractor sat waiting outside. Several men walked through the house room by room until they came to the attic. At first view it was also empty, but one of the men noticed a small door to one side and opened it with some effort.