I love tales of progress, particularly for New Orleans. My mother sent me the link to this story about the Steamboat Houses in the Holy Cross Section of New Orleans. I remember seeing their intricate filigree decoration around the cornices. They really do look like old-fashioned steamboats, set up high to see over the levees. They remind me of carousels and wedding cakes.
Doullet Houses New Orleans Levee- via Wikipedia
This Times Picayune article, Neighborhood Anchor – Full Steam Ahead, suggests these eclectic homes are coming back with a resurgence, thanks to owners like Emile Dumesnil. His house was flooded up to five feet with water from Hurricane Katrina. It survived, however, due to the interior brick walls and tile floors and pressed tin wallpaper, even the filigree is made out of water-loving cypress. It is interesting to read how they obtained their look, from the Japanese influence of the pagoda shape to that of the 1900′s steamboat, which gives them the architectural style of Steamboat Gothic.
Steamboat Home of Emile Dumesnil - pictures via Times Picayune
Even though New Orleans has made much progress since “The Storm,” it is important to keep in mind that this endearing American city and the Gulf Coast Region still should be kept on the national radar for help and awareness.
It’s people like Jay Leno, who out of the blue, raised $100,000 for Gulf Coast cleanup efforts when he performed at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, MS recently. At the end of the show, where about 1,000 people had paid between $40 – $150 to attend, Leno presented a $90,336 check to the president of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Leno donated his own money to round up the amount to $100,00 that was raised.
It’s big efforts like these and small efforts that make the difference. Casart coverings recently announced on Monday that we are introducing Casart Carryalls — shoulder and tote bags with our Gulf Coast inspired images and patterns. 10% proceeds from these and all purchases will go to one of two charitable organizations for Gulf Coast Recovery and Wildlife Rehabilitation.
Click here to read the article about this effort in The Examiner.
The Casart Carryall page will be up this week, replacing the gift card tab with title Extra. This is a great way to not only showcase your Casart for a good cause but to wear your Casart while helping with the ongoing effort to shore up the Gulf Coastline and restore the wetlands and marshes. Doing this will help protect the Gulf Region from another natural or other disaster.
As I mentioned Trend Hunter earlier this week, I’ll end this week with them as well. I found this a while ago but as we are now traveling to take our younger son to college, I thought this post regarding intellectual brainstorming might give some inspiration for his classes ahead.
Trend Hunter is now on TV.com and has YouTube posts. This is one about the most innovative, interactive meeting ideas. The privacy/office space chair and the brainstorming table were my favorites.
ABC News and the media stole my thunder. I was planning on posting on the recent Old Spice commercials and how they add new spice TV commercial ads as well as their artistic creativity. But a funny and coincidental, thing happened along the way, Isaiah Mustafa, the actor who portrays the “Old Spice Guy,” was interviewed on Good Morning America last Thursday and then reported on again on ABC Nightly news on Friday, which stated that he was “hanging up the towel,” so to speak — and ending his gig with Old Spice. My guess is that he’s moving on to bigger and better things. After over 13 million hits on YouTube and counting, since the debut of his commercial during the Super Bowl, he’s had a spike in offers. That’s too bad but definitely understandable. just how long can one last as the perfect Old Spice Man, anyway? It’s a riot of a commercial that always seems to jump the shark but that over-the-topness is what gives it it’s charm and unique quality. Mustafa’s appearance is nearly perfect, having once played with the NFL, and his delivery is superb. I can’t quite place his accent, however. It came out when the folks at Good Morning America interviewed him “in character” (with his shirt off) but his accent lingered on one word and registered a laugh among all there on the set because they thought this was affected and part of his character. However, he didn’t seem to be in character when he spoke this and because he was on Skype, he didn’t “hear” the response as it was, saying, “Excuse me, I didn’t hear you.” A bit awkward but funny at the same time. When asked what advice would he give Obama for increasing his poll numbers with the ladies? He said, basically lose the shirt! Naw, that won’t do it.
He’s been answering other requests as the Old Spice Man from his shower. Click this link to see the spot where he delivers an actual marriage proposal…and she said, “yes.”
Click here for a more in depth interview with John Berman.
I agree with this interview that the style of these Old Spice ads are changing the way commercials get clever and cross-connect with social media sources to help companies gain exposure and increase their business. I think they are setting a new bar, thanks to the creative inspiration of the advertising firm, Wieden + Kennedy. Innovation and integration = social technology. Guess what, they are also the creative genius behind those great Target ads too — the ones that other companies seem to be imitating — at least I’ve noticed.
Alas, we’ll just have to enjoy these for now; no more viral, Old Spice “interTubing” (Internet + YouTube = did I just coin a new word? I think so). Here’s the Old Spice Man bidding us adieu — for now — until he pops up in your local movie theaters or better yet, why even go there, so, via Netflix soon.
Can murals increase the chance that you might receive the asking price sale on your expensive condo? Maybe so — at least for Rush Limbaugh. He bought his apartment for $5 million in 1994 and he received just below the asking price recently on his $12.95 million dollar Fifth Avenue, NYC condo. He had put it up for sale in February for $13.95 million and then lowered the price to $12.95. The contract was said to have been for $11 million but there will also be heavy closing and transfer taxes involved for both NYC and NY state. Limbaugh has moved to Florida to escape the high NY taxes. Florida does not have income or property taxes. This is a lucky break for LeBron as well and may have played into part of his decision to play for Miami.
Here are some photos of the lavish murals.
Limbaugh murals, courtesy The Wall Street Journal
Limbaugh murals, courtesy The Wall Street Journal
I like how this Popfi writer suggests that murals can increase the property value of your home. I agree but for me that would be on a less grand scale than these.
I've been experimenting a lot with Photoshop lately as I purchased a Wacom pen tablet. This enables me to draw right into the program. It doesn't feel natural to me yet and doesn't quite give the look that I would like to achieve that I am used to from traditional painting but it does allow tremendous versatility and can separate the image into layers as it is created and these layers can be custom manipulated with color and just about anything else that produces multiple variations. It all takes practice and lots of it. As seen in these examples, for which I now have such a greater appreciation — knowing the difficulties of achieving this end result. All of the images below have links to their sources and more info about this digital artistic genre.
Clicking on this image link below will take you a site where Bert Monroy, a photorealistic digital artist, explains his artistic process.
Clicking on this photo link below will take you to Bert Monroy's closer look on the details of how he created this incredibly realistic piece, Damen (train station).
Read how long it took him to do this and that says it all. I'm learning as I go…
On another note but not unrelated to digital art, I had posted previously that a company has hired me as their art agent to locate artists to participate in promotional events for their high profile client. My sister has been helping me and we've located all the artists but still searching for one for Denver, so this is a call for artists who may want to participate. Here's my pitch for artists who might be interested:
I'm looking for an artist who:
• Should relate to audience: 25-35 year old females and males, including gay males, who are culturally-savvy and socially aware
• Creates abstract modern medium design — can be digital art, fashion oriented and or construction art in conjunction with actual traditional media, i.e. painting or drawing at the event
• Can create a piece of art incorporating the liquor branding (i.e., label, bottle, cap etc)
• Can set up a makeshift gallery with the space provided
• Has a fan base similar to the the above demographic
• Work embodies a young, bold, unpretentious, stylish and progressive
• Is not afraid to express themselves through the usage of color
• Is charming and social
• Is hip and fashionable
Please contact me asap so that I can send you additional information regarding the actual event and incentives for the artist.
The earthquake in Haiti rocked everyone. It was so tragic and still is because there has not been much relief for this already poor and downtrodden country. The process for recovery is so slow. However, when I saw this story about art helping business in Haiti it brought a little bright spot of hope for some progression. The Haitian people are familiar with these brightly painted buses and to see them back again signals some sign of recovery with the business of painting buses, as small and as mundane as that seems in comparison to other dire necessities needed. Since Easter is about rebirth, I see a little bit of renewal in this for Haiti.
“I lived in a time in which there was liberty in America…” This is what I’ll be telling my grand kids. I normally don’t offer political commentary in my blog. There is a time and a place and with the recent Obama health care bill passage, now is the time. If there is one issue that I have felt strongly about (as so many others do), this is it. I can see the writing on the wall of what is to come.
Actually, this post has an art mention. This is the email that I sent out recently to those who care about this health care issue. If you don’t think it won’t affect you, it will eventually and when you need it most.
Dear family and friends,
I saw a report on ABC news the other night regarding a concert master’s brain surgery operation. The atypical thing about this was that he was asked to play his violin during the surgery so the surgeon could pinpoint where to embed an electrode to counteract the electrical pulsations that were causing him to have tremors and not be able to play his music. He can now play his music again.
I’m weepy when it comes to neurosurgery for several reasons. My father was a neurosurgeon and friends who have required brain surgery and in this case, art being saved by medicine. But despite these emotions, what really brought tears to my eyes was simultaneous and contradictory: 1) the innovation of this medical technology and surgery here, in America and 2) the fact that this kind of incredible outcome due to the advances of medicine will disappear as the quality of health care will change as we know it and stifle innovation — once the full effects of this health care overhaul legislation are realized.
Please do not accept the outcome. Work hard as I will to help patriotic members take back The People’s House and repeal this decision and then do the right thing for health care fixes.
Reading this Wall Street Journal editorial, The Obamacare Crossroads, might fire you up!
–Ashley
Since I’ve sent this, this article, Capitalism Gone with a Whimper by Stanislav Mishin in the Pravda Russian paper has come to my attention. I’d say this Russian author knows socialism from personal experience. I have to say that all my fears about Obama becoming President are coming true. We are heading in this “Nanny State” direction as socialists measures slowly, yet with a bang, as in this Health Care case, set in.
More reasonable legislation to control costs with tort reform, portability, affordability and Medisave (Health Care Savings) accounts were offered by the minority but simply disregarded as “incremental” changes. Yes, but they address the major cost issues. Health care is not a problem that can be fixed in one fell swoop. There is no fiscal responsibility with the government to pay for this. They leave it to the taxpayers, who for the majority do not want it. I think this bill will do the exact opposite of what it has claimed to do: It will further stifle the economy; further increase our national debt; increase health care premiums in order for insurance companies to pay for procedures; businesses will not be able to afford these higher rates for their employees (already Caterpillar, AT&T, Verizon have announced their employees’ health care plans will be reduced); small businesses can’t hire readily; it will lock you in your job because otherwise, you’re put into a pool of those without health care and you’re fined if you don’t purchase it; and it will further disparage and separate the poor from the wealthy in the type of health care they receive. The government will become the same “big bad insurance companies” that they rallied against in passing it. If they now are controlling the funding, they will have the power, rather than the patient, to determine what type of medical procedure to use.
Charles Krauthammer said it so well when he stated in his article, The Vat Man Cometh:
By introducing universal health care, he [Obama} has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism...Liberals have long complained that Reagan's strategy was to starve the governmental beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes -- then ultimately you, have to reduce government spending. Obama's strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast and then feed it. Spend first -- which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed. Taxing consumption [with the VAT / value added tax] makes infinitely more sense than taxing work. VAT must be added on top of the income tax…Ultimately, even that won’t be enough. As the population ages and health care becomes increasingly expensive, the only way to avoid fiscal ruin (as Britain, for example, has discovered) is, heath-care rationing…It will take a while to break the American populace to that idea. In the meantime, get ready for the VAT. Or start fighting it!
I was unfamiliar with the arts that came out of the Japanese American Internment Camps. This is the theme of The Renwick exhibit, The Art of Gaman, Arts and Creafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942 – 1946. There are more than 120 pieces that were produced by the prisoners to lessen the grimness of their camp life. These include musical instruments, household ornaments, teapots and craft objects. Gaman in Japanese means “to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.” I’ve just added a new word to my vocabulary. This new discovery, new word of the day and these birds are very inspirational for one of my new designs that I’m working on for Casart coverings. I couldn’t have asked for better timing. This is exhibit is on view from March 5 – January 30, 2011.
On a side note, since this article was also in the Washington Post Magazine, this is a sad, but inspirational article about Frank Connell in Whatever Happened to The Red Bean’s Owner by Tyler Currie. He has closed up his restaurant in DC and despite many adversities he’s back in the city he loves, New Orleans, making the best of it with moving onto other goals. His story is typical of someone from New Orleans — they are strong, sometimes eccentric folk, who make the best of it and move forward when things are tough.
Since I did my incredibly long post on the basic how to’s of Internet Networking and how Social Media can benefit your business, I’ll just do add a transitional link to another interesting article. This one discusses: the computer age technology (“Big Design”); how, “the digital revolution has expanded the universe of design;” and art vs. design in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Businesswoman. Fitting since my business group is all women.
Also, since I’m working overtime this week on a backlog of commissions due to the snow lag, here’s another link to a very interesting blog/ book by James Gurney, the author of Dinotopia, regarding Imaginative Realism and How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist. This describes his creative process. I just added his very informative blog Gurney Journey, btw to my Blogroll. I’m very inspired by his work because I am as I call it a “visual artist” — I draw what I see. I use photo references all the time. Trust me, you do not want me as your Pictionary partner.
Giving the imaginary and monsters some credibility, how could I not post this? Now, I’m going to be looking over my shoulder when I ride the Metro.
Social Media is related to art for me because it is how I discover new avenues in which to write about things in my blogs, meet others, and in doing so, help promote my business.
I hosted the EWES (Enterprising Women Entrepreneurs) — my business group last week. It had been rescheduled due to the snow. The fact that we had a large group despite the inconvenient travel means (the snow pile up is still limiting parking on my street) is a testament to how traditional networking is important and maybe folks were just going stir crazy being housebound. I didn’t fully count but there was a large group (for my house) of talented ladies in attendance, including Mary Douglas Drysdale and Jennifer Sergent (DC by Design), both of whom had not been to my home before so I was trying to be more tidy than usual.
After the introductions, where there was a lot of valuable feedback for what everyone was doing, there was limited time for me to give my talk on InternetNetworking: Social Media and How it Can Help Your Business. Fortunately, I had notes and here they are summarized. Hopefully they will be a useful foundation to follow + in posting them here, this article also helps to link all of these avenues together. Making the connection is important. I will continue to update as we add more links.
Initial Steps to Internet Social Networking & Web Presence for Business: • Think every bit of printed marketing material can go digital — Static (becomes) => Dynamic
• Actual physical presence through networking events => Social Online Networking through Social Media
It’s all about sharing, discovery, learning from others –>exposure 1) Business card=> website & pic wk portfolio, customer reviews > direct contact 2) Meet & Greet & Cocktail parties => Facebook Fan Page 3) Resume => Linkedin (professional Facebook) 4) Twitter for business (see below) — like blogging on speed 5) YouTube — way to be personal & instruct. demos — post your work in action
Within each of theseTOP 5 online social media outlets, are tips for better social interaction, exposure, and larger marketing pools than just present physical networking provides.
––Using my website, blog, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. as an example for all these points below—-
• Blog — makes your rather static website even more dynamic with a minimum of 3 posts or more a week to substantially drive and increase traffic to your site. This takes time and commitment, so don’t jump in unless you’re willing to do the research & commit. (Resource for first time bloggers = About.com)
• Brand yourself *with a favicon that shows up in the browser url icon (ours is a our blue butterfly)
• Tracking Plugins: Sitemeter, Alexa, Technorati, Blog Catalog (Blog Rankings), BlogTopSites — further track and help you monitor dynamic blog and increase SEO and help you get found through internal searches.
• RSS feed so people can subscribe and also email subscription box
• Links to other blogs (Blogroll) + within posts thru text and pictures
• Use Trackbacks w/in each post to let others know you’ve linked them
• Comment on other blogs (using your blog url and website email)
• Link Within installs software to link each posts to visuals of other posts
• Sociable = icons or widget/ buttons that folks can click on to tag/post to be recognized on other Social Networking Sites (too many to list: StumbleUpon, Delicious, Kaboodle, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Digg, Reddit, Sphinn, Newsvine, Mixx, YahooBuzz, …..over 95+
• Google Friend Connect — *uses a gravatar (avatar icon) to visibly follow blogs, get noticed, see who others are following, follow them; they will follow you
• eBlogger account + others to show your gravatar (visual) when commenting
Being in the Interior Design Market we’ve also joined /added these Social Networking sites:
• Modenus — new site for Design Sources to Inspire. We’re under Brand for Wall & Window Decor
• Olioboard — new site for expressive mood boards to design, discover, & uncover the mood of a space. We’re under the Wallpaper category
• Archello — new site for your connection to Architecture
• Curbly — DIY
• Yelp — kinda like Angie’s List for nationwide businesses
• Sample Board Online and Kaboodle — both allow interactive style boards and product tagging
• Kudzu — like an Angies’s list for the home merchant market
• ApartmentTherapy.com — Interior Design Commentary covering 6 markets:
• Decorati — for Interior Designer match ups
• Stylehive — Connecting Stylish people with Home & Fashion
Note: through my ArtIsEverywhere blog for www.ashley-spencer.com/ArtIsEverywhere/: • a marketing co. in Chicago wants to hire me as their art agent for series of upcoming events for their hip client. Who knew they’ve been reading my posts?
• A lifestyle writer has contacted me to be a part of her book on murals.
Our Group Page, on the other hand is fine but is outdated because we were primarily using our (FB) Fan Page for recent news: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57790034921&ref=ts
• Need to have an account and personal and/ or business Page in order to administrate site. My sister, Casart coverings partner and Marketing Coordinator, set this up through her account and business page. I do not manage this, as I do not have a Facebook account. (There is just so much one person can do.)
• Where most folks will find you beyond Internet searches & Google
• Doing this allows anyone to become your “fan” and follow your posts
• The more fans the more popular and more people want to fan you
• Typically this is reciprocal — scratching each other’s backs
• Post photos and blog mentions + Twitter automatically — in one click–>Facebook
• When you fan other entities — all shelter magazines, you’ll hear news here 1st
• Way to get their updates and yours to them, as Facebook updates regularly
How to do it:
-Develop a FB Page NOT a Group. You want Fans not Members.
-A Page will allow fans a Group will not
-Suggest your Page to ALL of your friends
-Ask them to do the same with their friends
-Post as many pics as possible — visuals draw & keep interest.
-Fan other pages through your Page and they might reciprocate
-Respond to all comments left on your page => fans like this interaction
-Link your FB account to your Twitter account.
-Anything you post on FB gets tweeted => and saves time (Applications>Pages)
-Place an Ad on FB
-If possible use the gravatar/ icons for each social network. These visuals stand out + brand.
3) Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/companies/casart-coverings-llc http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyspencer
• Professional version of Facebook
• Create Individual and a Company profile
• Post job experience on personal page, make public (excludes contacts)
• Area to post what you’re working on + Facebook, Blog + Twitter posts
• Updates get sent to all contacts weekly
• Connect with others you know, get introduced to their contacts
• Search for others in your field
• Search and learn about companies
• Search and post jobs
• Join groups through other contacts’ info and searches and comment in & follow forum discussions — this has been the most beneficial resource. Through it, and requests to link, I’ve been connected to a wallpaper rep and distributor.
• We had a surge in our website traffic recently due to 2 discussions, one on Architects & Interior Designers asking, “What part of the Design Industry are you in?” This thread was started in 2008 and has over 350 responses, all responses that I can search for marketing and since I posted, they now know about us. 2nd discussion on Interior Design asked if anyone was using Twitter to post their links so we could all follow one another, which we are doing 77 comments in 2 months and still going strong. I get notices when anyone posts something new. I send these to my sister who follows them on Twitter and Facebook and is able to review their contacts through these vehicles.
4) Twitter (http://twitter.com/casartcoverings)
• Allows you to “tweet” short phrases & links to bring attention to your business
• You can “follow” numerous others and they can follow you — bringing popularity and curiosity and exposure to your business.
• You can tweet others, even those you may not know by commenting on their posts. This is a less formal way to get introduced, directly.
• You get up-to-the-minute mentions of others are doing — important for us learning about what is going on with magazines and designers. It’s the “inside scoop” to what may have been otherwise a private email or phone conversation between parties “in the know.”
• These tweets can be set up automatically so they are 16 character teasers to your blog, which then gets folks to your website.
How to do it:
-Sign up for an account
-Tweet at least every other day
-Post urls (website addresses: http://….)
-Follow many and they might reciprocate
-Don’t tweet meaningless things – followers will drop you
-Try and use your actual brand name in your tweets
-Retweet something that you like.
-This tweets another tweet that your followers would like to see.
-Accept ALL followers except those that are clearly not in your industry or are in the Porn industry.
-Some follow just for numbers so be wary
5) YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/CasartCoverings)
• Even bigger now that Google took it over
• Where folks go to learn and or be entertained
• Film and post demonstrations, interviews, humor — things to help explain and personalize your business.
• Folks will see in a search + put link on website
• Folks can comment on what they see and rate your videos if you choose
– option to review before these are posted
• Tracking to see how many folks watch, their dynamic (by what the watch) & from what location they watch your video — all helps with marketing
A few other social networking sites to mention/ how they work:
Good overview explanation video: http://socialcreeper.com/
1) Wikipedia & WikiAnswers — we answer questions and this gives our url link exposure
2) Issuu — interactive catalog viewing of files. We have used on our Press page where folks can comment/rate and bookmark for others to see.
3) Delicious — interactive bookmarking site:
4) Stumble Upon — works the same way but for any media and a great way to “stumble upon” new discoveries based on what you find and like in your tagged items and subjects of interest. Can connect with others this way as well
5) email circulation and eNewsletters can be shared. Use your website+ as your signature
7) Google Buzz w/gmail = their version of Facebook. Like twitter w/followers
8. Surveys can be posted and encourage participation (survey monkey)
For my art business, I use:
1) ArtSpace through FauxForum = Like MySpace for artists
2) Photobucket = Sharing photo site and way to post these on ArtSpace
3) Slide.com = Videos from photos and to post on Artspace and share
Music:
1) MyFlashFetish — to search and add songs and share with others if you wish
2) SingingFish — same as above, another search vehicle and can post on ArtSpace
3) Fileden — has free storage for these MP3’s and feeds into ArtSpace
4) LastFM — great way to locate new music based on what others are finding
5) Pandora — another social media site for music lovers
Feedback is welcome. Have a blog?, please comment.
Note: With all these measures, our website traffic has increased over 75%. Hey, we’re patting ourselves on the back because we did all this without a marketing company. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but you can do it too. It makes marketing fun and a way to meet new people and learn new things. Discovery happens daily.
Finally, I’ll leave you with these popular YouTube videos by Socialnomics author, Erik Qualman about the Social Media Revolution and how it’s changing business marketing + I like the song, Right Here Right Now by Flatboy Slim. They are great examples of viral videos. Enjoy!
Regarding Images used: I do not claim ownership of any of the images posted on this blog (unless stated otherwise). I try my utmost best to give credit from original sources. If you have ownership rights of a photo and wish for me to remove it, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
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