Merry Christmas week! Celebrating the 12 days of Christmas, here’s a little enjoyment of what Christmas in Italy would be like — if I were only there. Click on this link to download the power point presentation. There are so many pictures that it takes three and a half playings of Andrea Bocelli’s “Blanco Natale“ to see them all but well worth it. Christmas is a time to slow down the pace and enjoy anyway.
I don’t know if I’ll be driving one of these new, fancy “funk-artsy” (my new word for 70′s retro meets modern art) cars down the street but I was impressed with their completely new and different design. These were unveiled recently at The Tokyo Auto Show.
(Photos via the Washington Post).
I’m curious about the aerodynamics of this next one but I like its sleek design the best. Oddly, it reminds me of the camcorder the guy in the photo is holding + memories of a family Winnebago camper trip that I only wish had been this sophisticated.
Not sure how this works but this Toyota VII Concept Car from Honda allows one to be able to change the exterior of the car via a computer or Smartphone.
Although Thanksgiving is over, I’m still thankful and forgot to publish this post.
I’m a fan of Steve Jobs and a Mac user, like so many other people, but what was striking to me was that there appeared that something was missing in his bio tributes after his untimely and sad death — until I read this one by Steve Rosenbaum, for the Huffington Post. He attributes Steve Job’s brilliance to his creativity not so much his technological ability. In this, he was more of an artist than a techno geek. Here are excerpts below from the article.
The easy characterization of Jobs is as an inventor, the Albert Einstein of our time. But that’s not quite right. Jobs wasn’t a technologist, or even a scientist, though the result of his genius will impact both technology and science for decades to come.
Jobs was a sculptor, an artist. A difficult, driven, passionate artist who stood at the crossroads of technology and liberal arts….
Steve Jobs via The Huffington Post
As he explained to biographer Walter Isaacson:
“When I went to Pixar, I became aware of a great divide. Tech companies don’t understand creativity. They don’t appreciate intuitive thinking, like the ability for an A&R guy at a music label to listen to a hundred artists and have a feeling for which five might be successful. They think that creative people just sit around on couches all day and are undisciplined, because they’ve not seen how driven and disciplined the creative folks at places like Pixar are.”
“On the other hand, music companies are completely clueless about technology. They think they can just go out and hire a few tech folks, but that would be like Apple trying to hire people to produce music.”
“I’m one of the few people who understands how producing technology requires initiation and creativity, and how producing something artistic takes real discipline….The older I get, the more I see how much motivation matters.“…
“The reason Apple can create products like the iPad is that we’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts.”
“In my perspective…science and computer science is a liberal art, it’s something everyone should know how to use, at least, and harness in their life. It’s not something that should be relegated to 5 percent of the population over in the corner. It’s something that everybody should be exposed to and everyone should have mastery of to some extent, and that’s how we viewed computation and these computation devices.”
What Jobs had was a love of the spirit and practice of creation, but not any of the conventional artistic outlets. Instead, he turned what had been simply tools into tools that were themselves object of beauty and art. The reason why creators love apple is because Apple created a bridge between art and science, and that is the bridge to the future.
I agree with the author and with Steve Jobs. Technology can be art and Art Is Everywhere. Thank goodness we have had wise people to guide us in this creative path and give us tools as he did to impact our daily lives — long after they are gone.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving!! — Let the holiday spirit begin…..
– Ashley
PS: On a coincidental note, I was encouraged to update my iPhone’s software during the Thanksgiving break while I was traveling. In doing so, my phone froze. It was my only access to the Internet as I was using it as a hotspot and we were conducting some major new Casart initiatives. I got the only appointment at the Apple store the Saturday before Thanksgiving. There were no parking spots in the gigantic mall parking lot. I had to wait for a lady with two kids but then luckily got another spot. The reason it was so crowded was because this was the first day of Santa at the mall. Huh, is this a New Orleans thing? What about Turkey Day? Fortunately my phone and all my apps were restored. I was wise enough to bring my laptop to get the “genious” to do this. Now everything is backed-up and stored on Apple’s iCloud so it can be restored remotely and from my phone next time. Fantastic, even though the technology failed me temporarily.
Meanwhile, we convinced my mother and business partner to get an iPhone. She’s still not sold on it but all her phone calls to me will be free (iPhone to iPhone with same carrier) but I just ordered her a huge pencil stylus so she doesn’t have to cut her fingernails to use the thing. I think she may like this retro feature. Click on this Houzz ideabook link to see other funny but functional retro fittings for your iPhone. Say that really fast 20 times!!
I think Civil War reenactments are pretty interesting. When I saw the story about the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of the First Battle of Manassass being reenacted all this week, I was most taken with the picture, which I thought at first was a pretty realistic mural but in fact, it was a diorama.
Battle of Manassas by Miniature World
The figures all look repeated in various angles but it you look closely, they do seem to be different. This visual reenactment is brought to you by Miniature World.
Detail
If you go on to read the story in The Washington Post, you’ll learn about the art of dying well — how to know when to die during the reenactment. At times when a single shot has been fired, because there is little coordination, an entire regiment will fall. Oops…I think the coordination has gotten better with practice over the years.
Run Me Down by the Black Eye Keys is a good one to Kick Start the Weekend. I which I could have found a better video but the music is good. I like their “bluesy” sound.
Artists create daily — constantly thinking, collecting, adapting, producing and reviewing for their artwork. Here are some examples of one artist who exhibits this creative journey.
Jeffrey Hayes describes and shows how his sculptural mouse and buddha painting came to be. Clicking this link will bring you to his step-by-step progression but here’s how he begins his process:
Paintings always begin with ideas. To start a painting, any painting, requires some sort of theme. It could be an object you wish to paint, some idea you’d like to express, or a particular light effect you want to explore. Anything.
Sprightly. photo via Jeffery Hayes
Jeffery Hayes' display for painting
Jeffery Hayes' drawing for painting
Jeffery Hayes grisaille underpainting
Jeffery Hayes - final painting, oil on panel
I started following Jeffrey Hayes’ work on his other blog, Watching Paint Dry, about 2 years ago but he’s given this one up in order to put more focused effort on one blog and his paintings, which I really like. They are remarkable miniature treasures about 8 x 8″ or so, which allows him to create several a week. The style and details in his work resemble such Dutch Masters as Vermeer.
Still life with antique knife framed by Jeffrey Hayes
Speaking of daily artwork, The Sketchbook Project is at it again. I just learned that their exhibit happens to be in DC this coming weekend at the Hillyer Art Space and it’s that time of year for new registration starting this Friday for the next year’s Sketchbook collection. Click here to see my previous post on this.
With this news and daily artwork, I think Luce’s Good Day is perfect to post for Kick Starting the Weekend. I saw them in concert and they’re great!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! I was stunned at how breathtaking these murals by Federic Doyon are in the Basilica of St. Anne Beaupre in Quebec, Canada — perfect for sharing during this holiday season. All photos are by Dan Beards from his Flickr stream — worth visiting for more.
All St. Anne Beaupre Photos by Dan Beards via Flickr
These beautiful ornamental murals can be found adorning the The Kupa Synagogue in Krakow, Poland. They are highly ornate and display great graphic design as well as wonderful use of trompe l’oeil with faux painted drapes and columns. I love all the colors that were used.
View a slide show of these photos on Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art & Monuments blog and his pictures can be found on his Picassa site. All photo credits by Samuel D. Gruber.
Welcome! This is my first post. I started this blog to show that Art is Everywhere. Sometimes we see it. Sometimes we don’t but when we do, it can be in the most mundane places.
I have always been fascinated by the process of art and how artists get their inspiration. Through fairly frequent postings, I hope to show some examples of artistic inspiration, as I rely on this for my work and creative living.
