Today's postings
- [Baren 38137] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V46 #4710 (Feb 17, 2009) (Shelley Hagan)
- [Baren 38138] This is too good not to pass on ... (Dave Bull)
- [Baren 38139] Re: This is too good not to pass on ... (Arthur Bacon)
- [Baren 38140] Re: This is too good not to pass on ... (Dave Bull)
- [Baren 38141] Re: This is too good not to pass on ... (Barbara Mason)
- [Baren 38142] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: Shelley Hagan
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:01:08 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38137] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V46 #4710 (Feb 17, 2009)
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elusive power outage in my studio and part of the house. I'd move the
printing operation inside the main house except that the power is out in the
three rooms that might possibly make do.
Meanwhile I the parade of cards has been so nice to receive. I have some
lovely looking envelopes from today's delivery waiting to be opened. The
card from Down Under arrived Sunday and it is wonderful. Thank you, Jan. and
thank all of you. It is great to be getting not only a print in the mail but
also the artists' statements. I'm off to see what today's herd looks like!
Shelley
Message 2
From: Dave Bull
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:49:37 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38138] This is too good not to pass on ...
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> Art & Fear:Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
> David Bayles & Ted Orland
> 2001, 122 pages
> $11, The Image Continuum
If I haven't read it, why am I mentioning this? Because what I _have_
read is this review:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000216.php
Actually, that's not a review - it's a page of quotes from the book.
Don't. Miss. It.
Here's just one of them:
"Making art and viewing art are different at their core. The sane human
being is satisfied that the best he/she can do at any given moment is
the best he/she can do at any given moment. That belief, if widely
embraced, would make this book unnecessary, false, or both. Such sanity
is, unfortunately, rare. Making art provides uncomfortably accurate
feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended
to do, and what you did. In fact, if artmaking did not tell you (the
maker) so enormously much about yourself, then making art that matters
to you would be impossible. To all viewers but yourself, what matters
is the product; the finished artwork. To you, and you alone, what
matters is the process: the experience of shaping that artwork. The
viewers' concerns are not your concerns (although it's dangerously easy
to adopt their attitudes.) Their job is whatever it is: to be moved by
art, to be entertained by it, to make a killing off it, whatever. Your
job is to learn to work on your work."
... and another ...
"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the
class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he
said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all
those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on
the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh
the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A",
forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality",
however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to
get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the
works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded
for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily
churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the
"quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had
little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a
pile of dead clay."
Dave
Message 3
From: Arthur Bacon
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:07:51 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38139] Re: This is too good not to pass on ...
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is co-written by a couple of Ansel Adams's disciples, David Bayles and Ted
Orland. I used to use it in my photo classes. It does address some
interesting things, especially for the young artist recently out of art
school....Now what do I do?
Message 4
From: Dave Bull
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:14:50 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38140] Re: This is too good not to pass on ...
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> years...
Yes, I see now ... it's listed as published in 2001 ... sorry about
that!
But anyway, maybe there are plenty of people here who - like me -
didn't know about it!
Dave
Message 5
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:06:15 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38141] Re: This is too good not to pass on ...
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These things are indeed true and all artists know them. But it is good to know you are not alone in your knowing.
Ha
My best,
Barbara
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: Financial statement : 2008 results ...
Posted by: Dave Bull
|
February again ... and tax time is here. Income taxes here in Japan must be paid by March 15th, so last week I fired up my bookkeeping software, punched in all of the waiting receipts, finished up the tabulations of last year's sales data, and sent the summaries off to the accountant who does my tax returns. I do all the bookkeeping myself, but leave the tax calculation to the experts. Living and working in the same building brings a whole host of special twists and turns to the calculation, and there is simply no way that I can invest the time to try and understand it all. In a newsletter story last spring, I showed the basic Income & Expense statement for the previous year (2007). It was pretty grim. Although I did indeed sell a whole pile of prints - just over $60,000 in all - I barely broke even for the year. There is no 'secret' as to where the problem lies - there are no frivolous expenses anywhere along the chain; it is simply that my prices are too low. In that story I also described how I would try to pull things up over the coming year if I possibly could, and outlined a few ideas for doing that. Well, a year has gone by, and it's time to put the new numbers on the table - the Income & Expenses for 2008. To help make the comparison, I've overlaid two charts. It first shows the 2007 figures, . . . |
This item is taken from the blog Woodblock RoundTable.
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Subject: Boston Printmakers Biennial
Posted by: Annie B
 At the "sneak peek" before the crowds came This past Sunday was the opening day of the 2009 Boston Printmakers North American Biennial. Lynn & I decided to spend the whole weekend in the city and we had a great time. We especially enjoyed seeing the Shepard Fairey exhibit at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art). The Biennial opening day Sunday was full of events -- a brunch, a lecture by juror Roberta Waddell, a preview of the show for artists and patrons, and then a public opening. All told, I spent 6 hours on site. My favorite part of the day was having the opportunity to meet Roberta Waddell, Curator Emerita of the NY Public Library print collection. Roberta is a lovely person as well as exceptionally knowledgeable about prints, and her focus on the artists and the art in the show was appreciated by all. In her talk she showed slides of all 124 images she had chosen and she managed to speak a few sentences about every piece and every artist. It was clear she had done a tremendous amount of research, visiting artists' web sites and collecting information about each piece. The Boston Printmakers members and board had a similar attitude. They were very welcoming of the artists, very present and solicitous of peoples' needs. I felt really taken care of. Out of . . . [Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here] |
This item is taken from the blog Woodblock Dreams.
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