When: Saturday, May 01, 2010 at 7:30pm-1:00am

 Min. Age: 19+

 Ticket Price: $25

In an effort to raise funds for those devasted by the massive earthquake in Haiti, artists from the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and Milwaukie are coming together for a one time event located in downtown Vancouver, British Colombia.

“One World” will showcase over 60 artists and their unique skills and creative talents on May 1, 2010 at Science World, in Vancouver, BC. Guests will have the opportunity to meet the artists, view and purchase original artwork, take part in an amazing silent auction, all while enjoying live entertainment and bar service!!!

April 9, 10, 11 - Fri, Sat, Sun 40 Anniv. Exhibition

I am very happy to invite everyone to this wonderful event. Some of the details are:

Many wonderful artists will be presenting their original art work at this exhibition. I will be exhibiting my artwork there as well, and will be there for most of  the open exhibition hours. It’s always nice to see people you know at the exhibition, but those who have never been to something like this – come and enjoy!!

Jennifer Maestre. This American artist uses the more traditional medium in a new way as she makes sculptures out of colored pencils.

Guido Daniele. This Italian artist takes bodypainting to a new level with the paintings he does on human hands.

Maurizio Savini. Ever wondered what an artist can create out of bubblegum? Check out some of the works created by this Italian artist.

What creates a great artist like Gentileschi, Van Gogh or Manet? Talent or training?

Artists are both born and taught, says Nancy Locke, associate professor of art history at Penn State. “There is no question in my mind that artists are born,” says Locke. Many artists arrive in the world brimming with passion and natural creativity and become artists after trying other vocations. Before he had devoted himself to art, Van Gogh tried to be a minister among poor miners in Belgium. “He just frightened and overwhelmed people,” says Locke. “He was too intense to act effectively in that capacity.”

Artists are also made, she says. They require training, education and a culture of other artists, often an urban culture, says Locke. “Put an artist in isolation and nobody can learn anything from the work.” A craftsman masters a skill, but an artist ventures beyond to innovate. “Artists have to be in touch with other artists, building on what other artists have done,” says Locke.

Artists must learn a tradition to challenge it, so artists are products of their times and context, both artistic and social, she adds. Like natural talent, the vision is innate. Yet the way that vision comes to fruition depends upon the artist’s time and place, the surrounding artistic tradition, training and life experience.

“You can take an artist who doesn’t have the visionary quality of a Manet,” Locke notes, “someone who really wants to be an artist and is less talented and that person can be a follower, can be a technician, can learn a craft and can turn out something that looks like an Impressionist painting. But that person will never have the vision of a Seurat, Van Gogh or someone who’s a real innovator.”

Yet, says Locke, Manet’s art, which challenged the Renaissance works and sowed the seeds of Impressionism, owes as much to his environment—his particular time and place—as it does to his inborn talent. “If you take Manet away from Paris in the late 19th century, if you stick him out in the woods somewhere and nobody sees his art, it wouldn’t be very important. It’s important because other artists and critics made it important.”

The necessity of both natural-born talent and societal influences in shaping an artist rings true in the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, she adds. In the early 17th century, women were not allowed to attend all-male art academies and could only become artists if they learned fundamental skills privately, usually from a relative or through lessons.

At age 18, Artemisia Gentileschi, a promising young painter, was initially denied entry into all-male professional art academies. As a result, her father hired the Tuscan painter Agostino Tassi to privately tutor her, but after Tassi raped her, Artemisia endured a painfully humiliating public trial—including being tortured to test if she was lying—that resulted in Tassi’s one-year prison sentence.

Gentileschi’s talent, Caravaggio’s technique and her life experience is all apparent in her work. Susanna and the Elders, for example, illustrates the Biblical story of a virtuous woman who is sexually harassed by village elders. “If you’re a woman and you’ve been taken advantage of the way Artemisia was, you have a sense of the vulnerability of Susanna. That’s a very different approach that comes out of life experience.”

Gentileschi’s painting, Giuditta che decapita Oloferne (Judith beheading Holofernes) (1612-1613), depicts the Biblical heroine Judith and her handmaiden gruesomely beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes. The painting is widely interpreted as Artemisia’s revenge for the violence she suffered.

Perhaps her success was her greatest revenge. She moved to Florence and became the first female painter to enter the city’s Accademia del Disegno. She became known for her paintings of biblical heroines and for mastering the contrast of light and dark.

Yet, despite Gentileschi’s artistic success, she could not pass on her gift. Although she taught her two daughters to paint, there is no evidence that either of them became an artist.

—Lisa Duchene

Nancy Locke, Ph.D., is an associate professor of art history in the College of Arts and Architecture. Her email is nel3@psu.edu.

But sand artist Andres Amador works with one of the biggest canvases available, with entire lengths of beaches swallowed up by his art.

Sadly the sea is no discerning art critic, for once the San Francisco artist finishes his staggering artwork, the waves come in to wipe the slate clean.

Many of his stunning images, which start out as simple squiggles in the 39-year-old’s notebook, span an incredible 500×300feet and are raked into the grains in a race against the tide.

Using a canvas crafted by the elements the patient American waits for a full or new moon to make sure low tides offer him plenty of space to muster the incredible patterns.

And just a few hours after etching his grand designs the curves and contours will be washed away – leaving the beach surface looking as if nothing had ever happened.

To make sure he has everything he needs before the mammoth artwork begins, Andres, from San Francisco, California, crafts the image over and over on a computer using the hand-drawn original from his sketch book.

The artist said: ‘I tend to frequent the beaches near where I live in the San Francisco Bay area.

‘A design starts with an inspiration of some sort – an off-hand doodle or perhaps something I came across that day of which I took a picture.

‘About 95 per cent of the work is done beforehand on my computer, creating as many versions as I can of a design and choosing the one that speaks to me.

‘Then I reverse-engineer the step-by-step process I would need to replicate the design on the beach.

‘Next I choose an appropriate day for a design, which is contingent on the tides and available daylight.

‘The final step is to trust the guide I made and start raking.

‘The window of opportunity is very narrow.’

Big thinker Andres has now masterfully raked over 100 ‘doodles’ onto beaches in the San Francisco Bay area over the past 5 years.

The 26-year-old soon plans to travel the world to look for new beaches where he can use different natural features like rocks to enhance his creations.

The artist says he gets great reactions from onlookers fortunate enough to see his works before they are washed away.

And he reckons its the fact they only last for a short time that captures most people’s imagination.

‘The scale of my artwork combined with the fact that it will soon be erased calls attention to itself, pulling the viewer in, allowing them to soak in the layers of meaning within every design.

He added: ‘My ultimate goal is to promote the cause of self-awareness.

‘The art I create is intended as a reflection and a reminder of the grandeur that exists within every viewer and the beauty that abounds in our world everywhere we look.

‘At the beach itself the person lucky enough to see one happening generally stays to watch the process, cheering when I complete the design.’

And despite the fact that his magnanimous efforts are cruelly erased by the incoming sea water, Andres says he doesn’t mind.

‘Once I have finished a piece and can get up on the overlook to see my work and take photos, I completely let go of it.’

By EDDIE WRENN
Last updated at 6:19 PM on 27th July 2009

LOS ANGELES — A West Hollywood antiques dealer has been charged with selling a phony Picasso for $2 million.
Federal prosecutors said Friday that 69-year-old Tatiana Khan was charged with wire fraud and other crimes. She’s free pending arraignment but could face 45 years in prison if convicted. A call to her lawyer wasn’t immediately returned. Prosecutors contend Khan paid an artist $1,000 in 2006 to duplicate a Pablo Picasso pastel called “The Woman in the Blue Hat” and sold the forgery for $2 million. The FBI stepped in last year after the buyer had the work examined and learned it was a fake.
On Friday, FBI agents seized a genuine Willem de Kooning painting from Khan. Authorities claim she bought it for $720,000 using proceeds from the Picasso sale. (Fox news)

• “The great black and white draftsman, the sculptor, and the blind man know that form and color are separate. The form itself is what the blind man knows…Color is surface skin that fits over the form.” — John Sloan

• “Black and white are absolute…expressing the most delicate vibration, the most profound tranquility, and unlimited profundity.” — Shiko Munakata

• “The first of all single colors is white … We shall set down white for the representative of light, without which no color can be seen; yellow for the earth; green for water; blue for air; red for fire; and black for total darkness.” — Leonardo Da Vinci

Here are some of the images of the winter olympic rings that everyone has seen on tv or at the olympic events.. just thought it might look good if they are all put together on the same page. To make it more interesting – try to guess where these rings were located during the olympics, to see the result – click on the image and read the caption.. Good luck!!

Great closing ceremonies!!! But why do I feel like we want more of this???? Because we do!!! I do!!

Closing day of 2010 Olympic ceremonies...