pics by me and Brian McLaughlin
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Hot and Cool
C-Monster on Art:21 dissects some mysterious Flickr pics from Iraq by luodanli
“2-Dimensional robots are unaffected by sandstorms…”
“Looking eternity in the eye.”
here's a few others by luodanli
“2-Dimensional robots are unaffected by sandstorms…”
“Looking eternity in the eye.”
here's a few others by luodanli
The Weekender
TCFLUI
The Center for Land Use Interpretation
y
Electric Mud
Blaffer tonight
betcha Claudia pops tops
The Puppet Show
aka home of the Kara Walker Memorial Museum
Contemporary Arts Museum *late*
Sabado
Elonda Billera
Project Row Houses parasite
Wendy Wagner
New Gallery
gallery skid row
Disturbance of Distance
y
Hana Hillerova
y
Austin Video Bee
y mas!
BOX13 *late*
RIP Andrew Wyeth
He's the guy who did this; click to enlarge
Christina's World, 1948
here's the MoMA wall text
photoshelter has apes of wyeth
the artist's site already crashed this morning
yahoo article: American Painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91
I saw this in Buffalo over the holidays, a nice web of references around Wyeth's most famous work
Lin Xia Jiang, Wrapped House II, 1991
here's the MoMA wall text
The woman crawling through the tawny grass was the artist's neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, "was limited physically but by no means spiritually." Wyeth further explained, "The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless." He recorded the arid landscape, rural house, and shacks with great detail, painting minute blades of grass, individual strands of hair, and nuances of light and shadow. In this style of painting, known as magic realism, everyday scenes are imbued with poetic mystery.
photoshelter has apes of wyeth
the artist's site already crashed this morning
yahoo article: American Painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91
I saw this in Buffalo over the holidays, a nice web of references around Wyeth's most famous work
Lin Xia Jiang, Wrapped House II, 1991
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Bloated Beast
I just hate the accounting that arts orgs do. It makes them sound like idiots. Americans for the Arts has belted out a feast of arts proposals with the kind of bombast that only convinces weak-minded aristocrats of the need for more arts funding. Artists don't believe y'all because they never see this money. This is art bureaucracy funding, and besides #7 (which was Obama's idea anyway) and #9 (which is a pie-in-the-sky chain letter as far as I'm concerned) this whole thing has nothing to do with creating more and/or better art.
Ugly quote from the intro: Nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences generate $166.2 billion in economic activity every year, support 5.7 million jobs, and return nearly $30 billion in government revenue every year—proving that the arts are an economic driver in their communities that support jobs and generate government revenue. Every $1 billion in spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations – and their audiences – results in almost 70,000 full-time-equivalent jobs.
Lets boil those numbers, shall we?
If Non-profits support 5.7 million jobs and every $l,000,000,000 results in 70,000 "jobs", then the industry spends over $81 billion on payroll every year.
Roughly half of the economic activity of the industry each year, this means that it takes $14,285 to maintain a "full-time-equivalent job" in the non-profit arts industry. Pretty cheap for full-time; the numbers don't seem to add up.
Plus, $166.2 billion in economic activity per year is less than 1% of 2007 US GDP (13.84 trillion).
The 2008 US Labor Force of 154.4 million dwarfs the 5.7 million jobs that arts non-profits support. That means .3% of US Jobs are non-profit arts jobs, and the median pay is $14,000.
What do you think?
Shouldn't we be doing better things than reinforcing the cholesterol in the artworld's arteries?
(1) Include Artists in Proposal for Unemployment & Healthcare Benefits for Part-Time
Employees
The creative economy relies heavily on professionals that make a living from non-traditional
employment structures. Artists are disproportionately self-employed, and many work multiple jobs in volatile, episodic patterns; the ability to have access to unemployment insurance and healthcare benefits would offer critical assistance to this population.
(2) Boost Arts Projects in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
Provided by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to mayors’ community development offices, the CDBG program provides “bricks & mortar” funding for a variety of state and municipal projects. We join with the U.S. Conference of Mayors in their call for $20 billion in CDBG funding and seek at least $2 billion in arts-specific projects.
(3) Provide Economic Recovery Support to Federal Cultural Agencies
Americans for the Arts calls for increasing FY 2010 annual support to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to $200 million, a similar amount for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and IMLS to $269 million. All three agencies should receive economic recovery emergency funding to increase current grantee projects.
In terms of the economic recovery proposal, the NEA should be allocated at least $1 billion to be administered to designated local arts agencies. Grants of this kind would be for the purposes of producing cultural and artistic programming and public art initiatives in 2009. These grants awarded to LAAs would a) speedily disburse local funding to all the arts disciplines; b) employ artists and the cultural workforce and c) serve to increase access to the arts in order to leverage spending by audiences.
(4) Include Cultural Planning Through Economic Development Administration (EDA)
These programs should meet the increasing need for local cultural district planning and assisting municipalities with developing the creative economy in their communities.
(5) Increase Cultural Facilities Support in Rural Development Program (USDA)
The Housing and Community Facilities program funds the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of “essential facilities” which includes cultural facilities. About nine percent of the Community Facilities funding has been directed to education and cultural facilities—an amount that should be increased.
(6) Link Transportation Enhancements (TE Program) With State Arts Agencies
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Enhancement program should receive an increase in funding and all projects should be developed and implemented in coordination with the state arts agency.
(7) Create the Artist Corps
President-Elect Obama’s proposal of an “Artists Corps of young artists trained to work in low income schools and their communities” should be acted upon quickly to establish the Artists Corps as a national training initiative.
(8) Make Human Capital Investments in Arts Job Training
We support that effort with an interest in expanding the services available to workers in the creative sector and through arts institutions that can provide professional development training.
(9) Appoint a Senior-Level Administration Official with Arts Portfolio
The president should name a senior-level administration official in the Executive Office of the
President to coordinate arts and cultural policy
Shouldn't we be doing better things than reinforcing the cholesterol in the artworld's arteries?
(1) Include Artists in Proposal for Unemployment & Healthcare Benefits for Part-Time
Employees
The creative economy relies heavily on professionals that make a living from non-traditional
employment structures. Artists are disproportionately self-employed, and many work multiple jobs in volatile, episodic patterns; the ability to have access to unemployment insurance and healthcare benefits would offer critical assistance to this population.
(2) Boost Arts Projects in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
Provided by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to mayors’ community development offices, the CDBG program provides “bricks & mortar” funding for a variety of state and municipal projects. We join with the U.S. Conference of Mayors in their call for $20 billion in CDBG funding and seek at least $2 billion in arts-specific projects.
(3) Provide Economic Recovery Support to Federal Cultural Agencies
Americans for the Arts calls for increasing FY 2010 annual support to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to $200 million, a similar amount for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and IMLS to $269 million. All three agencies should receive economic recovery emergency funding to increase current grantee projects.
In terms of the economic recovery proposal, the NEA should be allocated at least $1 billion to be administered to designated local arts agencies. Grants of this kind would be for the purposes of producing cultural and artistic programming and public art initiatives in 2009. These grants awarded to LAAs would a) speedily disburse local funding to all the arts disciplines; b) employ artists and the cultural workforce and c) serve to increase access to the arts in order to leverage spending by audiences.
(4) Include Cultural Planning Through Economic Development Administration (EDA)
These programs should meet the increasing need for local cultural district planning and assisting municipalities with developing the creative economy in their communities.
(5) Increase Cultural Facilities Support in Rural Development Program (USDA)
The Housing and Community Facilities program funds the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of “essential facilities” which includes cultural facilities. About nine percent of the Community Facilities funding has been directed to education and cultural facilities—an amount that should be increased.
(6) Link Transportation Enhancements (TE Program) With State Arts Agencies
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Enhancement program should receive an increase in funding and all projects should be developed and implemented in coordination with the state arts agency.
(7) Create the Artist Corps
President-Elect Obama’s proposal of an “Artists Corps of young artists trained to work in low income schools and their communities” should be acted upon quickly to establish the Artists Corps as a national training initiative.
(8) Make Human Capital Investments in Arts Job Training
We support that effort with an interest in expanding the services available to workers in the creative sector and through arts institutions that can provide professional development training.
(9) Appoint a Senior-Level Administration Official with Arts Portfolio
The president should name a senior-level administration official in the Executive Office of the
President to coordinate arts and cultural policy
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
FYI
Houston Community College is seeking to fill an adjunct teaching position in Art at Central College. The position is in the Digital Art area. A minimum of a Master's degree with at least 18 graduate hours in Studio Art is required, with an M.F.A. preferred. This studio class will meet twice a week from February 14 to May 17. Software emphasis is Photoshop.
Central College is located in the fine arts corridor of Houston within minutes of major museums and galleries that provide excellent teaching opportunities for our faculty.
Interested candidates should contact the Associate Chair for Art: 713-718-6627 or email: scott.carothers@hccs.edu
Britt's Got The Dirt
Beyond continuing to do “what we do well” — serving as a “platform for experimental curatorial ideas” [not really] [scratch that, Urs Fischer rocked.] and presenting emerging artists’ first solo museum shows and midcareer artists’ first museum surveys [very true, and put to good use] — Schmuckli said she hopes to reinvigorate Blaffer’s role as “a laboratory of ideas.” [ahem... that would be 'invigorate']
That could include:
Breaking up the schedule.
• Using one of the second-floor galleries as a project space for small, edgy shows “that may be fantastic but don’t necessarily require a full-flung curatorial perspective.” Starting as early as 2010, these projects would have shorter runs than those for Blaffer’s standard spring and fall shows.
Guest curators.
• Expanding the pool of curators Blaffer works with and inviting artists to curate exhibitions.
Gettin' that Mitchell moneeey.
• Increasing collaboration with UH’s interdisciplinary Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts “to create programs that are not necessarily tied to specific exhibitions or curricula.”
Getting more grants.
• Expanding the reach and visibility of ArtFocus, Blaffer’s educational outreach program that emphasizes mentorship and collaboration.
...this part seems odd... why make a big deal out of Drutt?
Schmuckli is married to Matthew Drutt, executive director of Artpace San Antonio, a contemporary-art foundation known for its residency and exhibition program. Rose said the search committee “questioned her carefully about that, but we feel assured that she can carry out the duties that she needs to do with regard to the Blaffer without that being a conflict with the kind of work he does.”
what about a new building, yo?
Tweet from DGreen
DiscoveryGreen The Ice closes in 5 days! If you haven't gone out to skate yet you need to! The Ice is open from 4 - 9 pm today!
Welcome to Houston
Houstonist Photo of the Day... As the rest of the country freezes, J. Evins moves to the Lone Star State from Tennessee and pops pics of January blooms.
Simplicty
by J. Evins
Life & Death
by J. Evins
Sunny Days
by J. Evins
Speaking of Houstonist, their "sea change" article about Montrose and Midtown drops the rumor that Numbers is gonna turn into condos.
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