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Artisan

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Arts and Crafts: Find your passion and the joy of creating a work of art here at On2In2™
Stan Reinshagen, inspiring artisan & hobbyist

My father was an ardent hobbyist. You might also call him a “generalist” because he didn’t focus on a specific hobby or category of interest.  He was a music lover and amateur musician (trumpet), gardener (vegetables), BBQ master (with a killer secret sauce), meister mechanic, weekend golfer, and smooth social dancer (the waltz).  While he didn’t have a creative arts background or formal training and never thought of himself as “talented”, a few hobby classes taken while serving in the US Air Force sparked a passion for the creative process, and he spent many happy hours in his private studio (the garage), exploring his varied interests and testing his handcrafting skills while working on a variety of arts and crafts projects. 

Dad made really beautiful things in ceramic, wood, metal, and leather.
All are treasured pieces.  Most importantly, he found joy in creating, and inspired our family to love ‘making things’.  Let his story inspire you — Make your soul grow.

To help you get started on the search for your passion and the joy of creating a work of art, below is a list of arts and crafts hobby categories for inspiration (including a few links to topical articles) as well as Zola’s arts & craft photo gallery, and there’s a collection of video documentaries on the Art Works and Creative Perspectives channels that include insightful stories from artisans about their work, motivations, and approach to the creative process.

But, please….before buying a bunch of hobby supplies, do a little research and consider the things required for the crafting (time, money, work space, tools, supplies, basic skills and physical abilities) and what you’d like to try. Then, start small.  For example, it doesn’t take much to start coloring, and many find the creative process of ‘coloring within the lines’ to be relaxing and therapeutic.  Find FREE adult coloring books → HERE.  Also, look for arts & crafts instructional classes offered in your community by colleges, museums, art galleries, recreation centers, and local artisans.  If that doesn’t work for you, search libraries and book stores for crafting books, and do some googling.  You’ll be amazed at the variety of instructional books, online courses and ‘how to’ videos available.

 

 

The Arts & Crafts Idea List

Candle and Soap Making

Ceramics/Pottery

Crafting

Digital Art

Glass:  Cutting and Blowing

Jewelry Making

Model Building (replicas of cars, planes, ships, railroads)

Leatherworking

Paint/Watercolor/Sketch  

Paper:  Papermaking;  Decoupage

Photography

Recycled Plastics Art 

Sand Sculpting

Textile:  Sew/Knit/Crochet/Embroidery/Weave

Welding and Metalworking

Wood: Woodworking;  Woodcarving/Whittling;  Woodburning

For more crafting inspiration, click/tap these links:
Watch: Art Works
Rubberband Art
Watch:  Photography
Watch:  Digital Arts 

 

 

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Feature photo is courtesy of Gratisography CC0

Art Transforming Trash

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“The opposite of beauty is not ugly… it’s indifference.” — Richard Lang

There are many complex issues involved in the elimination of pollutants from the environment, but there’s at least one problem easy to identify and understand — trash.  Take just one walk on a beach, and you’ll quickly see the ugly truth.

More than 8 million tons of plastic makes its way into the Ocean each year, and the stuff doesn’t go-away or disappear.  Just one plastic bag takes 1,000 years to decompose.  Much of this garbage can be seen floating on top of the ocean surface.  Between California and Hawaii, the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is more than double the size of Texas, and it’s just one of many similar floating debris patches.

Ray Ives, a retired Royal Marine and commercial diver, saw even more during his 40+ years of deep sea diving,……“You can’t believe some of the things people dump in the sea.  It’s like the biggest rubbish dump in the world”.

Artists are using their creative talents in amazing ways to help make positive change as their works of art bring attention to the plastic pollution problem the world faces and inspire all of us to “rethink plastic”.

Gyrecraft is a short film about crafting objects at sea, in the past with whale’s teeth and in the future with plastics collected from Ocean waters.

Studio Swine went on a 1,000 nautical mile journey through the North Atlantic Gyre, from the Azores to the Canaries, collecting plastics as they sailed.  (The North Atlantic Gyre is one of five large systems of circulating ocean currents.  The vortex of currents traps man-made marine debris into a large, dense floating debris zone called  the ‘North Atlantic Garbage Patch’.)  Using a specially designed ‘Solar Extruder’ machine, the plastic pieces collected during the trip were melted on board ship with heat from the Sun, creating a ‘sea plastic’ material used to create art works.

 

In the short video, Sea Chair, watch as a stool is built on a boat from the plastic collected in a fisherman’s nets.

 

Since 1999, Richard and Judith Selby Lang have been visiting a special spot at Kehoe Beach at the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, collecting plastics that have washed up on shore. The Lang’s then take their treasures home, wash and sort the items, and create works of art.  Over the years, they’ve collected tons of the stuff, learned a lot about ocean pollution, and discovered each little bit of found plastic has an interesting story to tell and provides an insight into human culture.

 

Aurora Robson is a multi-media artist known for her work with waste materials, and the founding artist of Project Vortex a collective of creatives who work with plastic debris as a medium and support organizational efforts to reduce the amount of plastic littering the oceans and shorelines of the world. She has said the intention of her art is “to take something negative, try to change the direction it’s going, and turn it into something positive”.

 

Inspired to create your own “environmental art”, but not sure how to start?  David Edgar creates marine life art forms from plastic bottles, and his instructional fish project video is a how-to guide for beginners. In the demonstration, you’ll learn that creating a sculpture requires scissors and a couple of simple tools, and reshaping plastic can be accomplish with heat from a hair dryer.  Really, the possibilities are endless because unfortunately, so is the trash.

 

Information/Resources:

Point Reyes National Seashore  Point Reyes is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean, supporting a large diversity of species throughout the food chain and ecosystem.

One Plastic Beach  The Lang’s offer workshops, presentations, art sales, commercial and residential artwork commissions

Aurora Robson  See more art and media

Washed Ashore – Haseltine Pozzi, an artist and longtime art teacher, made it her mission to collect garbage that washes up along the Oregon coastline and use it to create large art sculptures in an effort to bring awareness to the enormous amount of plastic pollution in oceans and waterways and inspire change.

Project Vortex is an international collective of artists, designers and architects creating art works with plastic debris in support of projects that intercept plastic waste in innovative ways and help water cleanup efforts.

Plastic Ocean by Tan Zi Xi – an inspired art installation simulating the environment of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch created the experience of being immersed in a space covered with trash.

Healthy Seas – a joint venture of non-government organizations and businesses dedicated to cleaning ocean of litter and recycling it into new products such as socks, swimwear, textiles and carpets.

International Coastal Cleanup Day is celebrated annually the third Saturday in September.
(Save the Date:  September 21, 2019)

Plastic Oceans Foundation – a non-profit organization with a mission to engage people through education and media projects, campaigns and global partnerships

Underwater sculpture museums contain breathtaking works of art that seek to encourage environmental awareness and appreciate the breathtaking natural beauty of the underwater world.You’ll be surprised to see what lies
beneath the waves – Art Underwater 

 

 

The Ocean is an essential life force, and we must stop its destructionOur Oceans are suffering from many decades of
abuse and neglect, but each of us has the power to help heal it 

 

 

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Digital Art

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“The advantage of digital is obvious:  You don’t have to clean anything up”— Pat Scott

 

Digital art is a new media art category of art works that have been created or presented by the artist using some form of digital technology – these are the electronic tools, systems, and devices that generate, store or process data, such as computer programs, mobile devices, online games and applications.

The early days of digital art, at times called ‘computer art’ and ‘multimedia art’, can be traced back to the late 1960’s when engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer joined artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman to form a group called Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) with a mission to promote collaborations between artists and engineers.  The result was a series of innovative installations and performances using emerging technologies, and as technology evolved over the decades, so did the art.

Since those early EAT experimental days, digital technology has revolutionized the way art can be made, distributed, and viewed.  Instead of traditional art materials such as paint, brush and canvas, artists can now paint with light, sound and pixels on a screen or multimedia projection, and the resulting creative works of art are simply amazing.

You’ve got to meet Pat Scott.  She’s a talented, tech-savy digital artist, and BTW, Pat is 98 years old. All her life, she has created art, but after moving to an apartment in a retirement community, Pat became concerned her paints would make a mess. So, she decided to try something new–digital art. Now, Pat enjoys using Photoshop and apps to draw portraits and create greeting cards.

Watch as Pat tells her inspirational, joyful story of a life enriched with creativity and innovation in this short (3 minutes) documentary “Try Something New:  Digital Artist Pat Scott” from Julie Caskey.

 

CREATIVE INSPIRATION 

In Try Something New, Pat Scott mentions she was inspired after reading about David Hockney using digital technology to draw and paint, and looking at his iPhone Drawings, it’s clear the reason for that creative spark.

David Hockney's iPad art drawings of flowers

David Hockney iPad Art, ‘Fresh Flowers’ © David Hockney

David Hockney (born in 1937) was an important contributor to the 1960’s pop art movement, and today, he’s considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.  He began sketching flowers on his iPhone in 2009, and later on an iPad, experimenting with the variety of brush techniques and colors of a painting app, Brushes*.  His ‘Fresh Flowers’ exhibit (2010-11) included 300 iPhone and iPad drawings viewed on mounted devices and projected screens.  Later, Hockney included iPad landscape drawings in both the 2012 “A Bigger Picture” and 2013-14 “David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition” exhibits.  Learn more about the artist and 200+ works of art via the Tate website.  See a list of current and upcoming Hockney exhibits → here.

Continue the creative art inspiration by watching→   Art Works and Digital Arts video channels, On2In2™ collections of videos FREE 2 WATCH, On-Demand

*Editor’s notes:

It was fun experimenting with colors and brushes using digital art tool Brushes Redux app.
“My Yellow Boat” Zola’s first digital art sketch experiment

♦ The Brushes app (updated & renamed “Brushes Redux“) is designed specifically for iPhone and iPad, and can be downloaded free from the App Store.  Inspired by Pat Scott, I gave the app a try, and discovered it’s really a lot of fun, and only a little imagination, not art or tech expertise, is needed to create a work of art.  There are many other art drawing and painting apps available for Apple products via iTunes as well as android apps for smart phones and tablets via Google Play.  So cool.  Recommend you give one a try, too.  You’ll also want a digital art brush/stylus for drawing on the screen of your phone or tablet.  Amazon has a variety at prices starting at $10+ for you to check out here → SHOP Digital Art Brush Stylus   (Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a purchase you make via the Amazon SHOP link. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.)

 

Coloring books offer fun and creative expression for everybody at any age.Not ready to go digital?  Try coloring books!
We’ve got freebies for fun here→  Art Therapy

 

 

 

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The digital art feature photo is a still shot from the video “Try Something New:  Digital Artist Pat Scott”

Beautiful & Fascinating

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The memory of my grandmother, an avid ‘up-cycler’, carefully cutting off buttons from the family’s time-worn clothes and saving both the buttons and fabric for future use, is what probably inspired me to hold onto buttons.  Kept in a zip storage bag, my eclectic assortment has grown slowly over the years — It isn’t a large or valuable collection.  In fact, many of the buttons are quite ordinary, but they are uniquely mine, taken from my wardrobe, and they’ve become a collection of memories as well as a personal style timeline.  I’ve also used some of the buttons for arts and crafts projects, and they’ve often come in handy for button replacement.

“Le bouton est non seulement indispensable, mais capable d’enjoliver un vêtement, de le personnaliser et de lui apporter la touche finale.” *— Herbert de Givenchy, Introduction to Boutons by Loïc Allio (2001)  *The button is not only indispensable, but capable of beautifying a piece of clothing, of personalizing it and giving it the final touch. (Translation by Caroline Baumann, Director of Cooper Hewitt Museum)

Buttons have been placed on clothing as ornamentation for thousands of years, and crafted in a variety of ways by artisans and artists or manufactured in low and high-tech factories from every imaginable material, making these small objects significant in fields of decorative arts and design, fashion, visual art, and arts and crafts as well as archeology and materials technology.

Beautiful and Fascinating!  Long admired for the artistry as well as historical value, button collecting began centuries ago and is still a popular hobby today.  The photo gallery below includes just a few examples from extraordinary button collections.

 

 

See More Glass Buttons (1700–1951, American or European) from the Hanna S. Kohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
→ Gallery 1
→ Gallery 2
→ Gallery 3

See More Wood Buttons (1900-20, American or European) from the Hanna S. Kohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
→ Gallery 4

The Cooper Hewitt button collection is amazing, and available to view online → HERE

Inspired Button Art – “I hold the button to my ear and it whispers to me, “I want to be…..” Augusto Esquivel creates sculptures from buttons, and he shares his work and creative process → Augusto Mucho Gusto website

Button Jacket by Kenneth D. King

Kenneth D. King created this stunning jacket using some of the 75 pounds of antique uniform buttons he inherited. [Pinterest pin “Using Buttons As Embellishment” by Threads Magazine]

 

 

 

 

   

Information/Resources:
Button Society Websites & Contacts – List of button society websites and contacts by country and US states
Button, Button, We’ve Got the Button(s)! by Margery Masinter (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Buttons: In the Collection of the Cooper Hewitt Museum by Carl Christian Dauterman (The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Design, 1982)
Hammond-Turner & Sons – Button Galleries – an online museum displaying buttons manufactured by Hammond Turner & Sons (and related companies), button makers of Birmingham (and Manchester), England.  Created by Lesley Close, a descendant of one of the owners of the company.
The Waterbury Button Museum – More than 3,000 buttons are on permanent display in the Button Gallery of the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut
Déboutonner la mode (Unbutton Fashion), Les Arts Décoratifs exhibit presentation
Boutons, Decorative Arts Museum (Les Arts Décoratifs), Paris, France
Lucie Rie: Ceramics & Buttons Exhibit (22 June 2018 – 12 May 2019, Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery, UK
European Fashion Project – Buttons, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Keep Homestead Museum – Button Collection, Monson, Massachusetts – The vast collection is exhibited on a rotating basis, but on permanent display is a wonderful collection of mosaic buttons.

 

Button Button: Identification and Price Guide* is a well-organized guide recommended by the Button Society as a book that every button collector and dealer should own.

 

 

 

Buttons: The Collector’s Guide to Selecting, Restoring, and Enjoying New and Vintage Buttons* shows and describes fabric, metal, glass, ceramic, enamel, plastic, and uniform buttons along with the history of buttons.

 

 

 

Buttons by Diana Epstein and Millicent Safro* looks at the authors’ collections of buttons, describing their history and value as art.

 

 

 

 

Creating art with buttons is a fun arts and crafts project.
ⓒ Button Art by Zola Zeester

FREE To WATCH: Collector Confessions – A diverse group of engaging collectors tell their stories about lifelong passions for objects. [Videos on Demand]

 

 

 

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*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via a link within this page.  This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.
Feature photo “My Button Collection” © Zeester Media LLC, 2015-18

Bottle Cut Creations

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What to do with those wine bottles!?!

Sure, most can be recycled easy enough via local residential and business collection services. [Even so, hundreds of thousands end up trashing up our cities, parks, and beaches.  Glass beverage bottles ranked # 7 of top ten items collected during the 2015 International Coastal Cleanup.]  But, now and again, you get ahold of a nice one, beautifully colored or shaped, unique or with some sort of sentimental value, like a bottle of wine opened for a special occasion.  Unfortunately, saving bottle ‘keepsakes’ will eventually develop into an assortment of bottle clutter, and at some point, there must a be decision to either throw them out in the recycle bin or store them somewhere (e.g., closet, garage, basement).

The discovery of the “Creator’s Bottle Cutter (Ultimate Addition)”* offered new possibilities for a craft project and an answer to the question “what to do” with all the bottles.  Didn’t take too long, however, to figure out glass cutting is not a quick and simple process regardless of a merchant’ claims, expert advice and customer reviews, but it is actually easier than anticipated and a really fun, challenging try-out.  Admittedly, felt a bit of a thrill to cut the first bottle as well as surprise it actually was cut perfectly in two, and very happy with the finished products.

You can do it, too, and to help you get started, here’s the lowdown ⇓

 

Glass cutting project tools and creations

 

First off, try to talk a friend into joining you in the glass cutting, especially the first go-around. It’s not impossible to do solo, but helps to have a partner.

Safety Equipment:  Scoring the bottles creates some fine glass dust and shards, and there are inevitable wax drips when using a candle for the “thermo-shock” process.  Therefore, best to protect your work table and always wear safety glasses. For this project, a (12” x 18”) “Crafty World” cutting mat*was used because that’s what was on hand.  It worked fine, but you may want to go with a bigger size (18” x 24”) for a larger work surface.  Any other type of non-slip protective mat should work.  Also handy to have thick kitchen towels for water drips and spills and to help in handling wet bottles during the cutting and finishing.

Watch the Instructional Videos.  After reading the Creator’s Bottle Cutter (Ultimate Edition)* instructions and sorting through all the contents of the glass cutting kit, recommend you watch instructional videos (a few times) because nothing beats actually seeing the process.

 

 

Cut Placement and Labels.  You don’t have to remove all the paper labels from your bottles, but the cutter won’t cut through paper labels.  Therefore, remove labels that get in the way of your desired score placement by first soaking in hot water, then take a small knife or razor to scrape off as much paper as possible.  Last step, get rid of the paper and glue residue with Goo Gone* spray gel.

Marking your Bottle.  The instructions state that after placing the bottle on the glasscutter roller carriage, mark the top center of the bottle with a Sharpie marker so as not to overlap the cut. An oil-based, silver color Sharpie pen was not the best choice because it’s difficult to see the mark on dark glass bottles. Recommend a colored wax pencil (e.g., a yellow Sharpie Peel-Off China Marker) or a wine glass writer pen in a bright/bold color would work as well)*.

“Thermo Shock” Process.  The method chosen for this experiment was the “candle – ice water plunge”, only because it was demonstrated in the “Bottle Cutting 101” video. To everyone’s amazement, it worked.  Here are a few helpful tips (learned during the process):

* Timing is everything. You need a stopwatch (use your smart phone).  The manufacturer’s recommended “thermo-shock” process times for heat & cold are good estimates, but very often the process had to be repeated and/or the times extended as much as half a minute (especially when cutting thick wine wine/champagne bottles).  For example, the better chance for a nice clean break in the glass occurred when the ice water plunge was extended to about 20 seconds rather than the 10 seconds recommended in the instructional video. Listed below are the candle flame warming time estimates used with the most success during this experiment (they differ from estimates given in the instructions):

1.5 minutes (thin glass like beer bottle)

2 – 2.5 minutes (wine bottle)

2.5 – 3.5 minutes (bottles with thicker glass)

3.5 – 4.5 minutes (champagne bottles)

* Be careful—always have a good grip on the bottle because just when you think the bottle will never separate, it will –like magic– fall off.  Once the bottle actually came apart while on the candle flame during the second re-do.

* Get comfy.  Sit down at the work table and get the candle low enough to be able to prop your elbows on the table because arms soon start feeling heavy when holding and spinning the bottle above the candle flame.

* Be Patient. You can’t rush things.  If the glass doesn’t separate the first (or second) time, don’t get discouraged, and don’t try to pull it apart. This lesson was learned when an attempt was made to force the bottle apart after a few tries with the “thermo shock process”.  The bottle did not break cleanly, and there was no way to file or sand down the jagged edge.

* Had purchased a 3M emery cloth for smoothing rough edges, but realized the sharpening stone stick (included in kit) really works better.  Had also purchased some “professional glass cutter oil” manufactured by CRL, but can’t figure out what to do with it, so will return it.

 

Beautiful bottle cutting craft creations

 

BOTTLE ART

You can make drinking glasses, flower vases, candle holders, lanterns, lamps, ornaments, cloches (keepsake domes).…. all kinds of things.  Decorate your home or perfect as gifts.

* The look of votive candles and tea lights* flickering inside a wine bottle (with bottom cut off) is pretty, but this type of ‘bottle’ lantern will not get enough oxygen to keep a candle flame going unless you cut a larger opening at the top of the bottle or place the bottle on a metal stand that lets air flow from underneath the bottle.  Placing the bottles on a kitchen cooling rack and trivets did the trick.  Be careful—the bottles get hot.  Don’t touch without some hand protection (kitchen pot holders became a useful item for the workshop).

* Using battery powered tea lights* and LED shapeable wire lights* works, too.  They also eliminate the issue of a hot flame and create a different sparkling look for the bottles.

* You can really get creative decorating your bottles with costume jewelry, buttons, wine glass pens, paints, wine foils, and stick-on rhinestones…….Time to let your imagination run wild.  Soon you’ll need more bottles to cut!

 

Find your passion and the joy of creating a work of art here at On2In2™

More arts and crafts ideas→
 Artisan
Rubber Band Art
Art Transforming Trash

 

 

 

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*This page includes affiliate links to a shop website for some glass cutting and decorating tools and supplies. If you purchase a product or service directly through the link, Zeester Media LLC may earn a small commission. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

Feature photo of bottles sourced from Pexels CC0
Bottle creation photos by Zeester Media LLC CC BY-NC-ND

 

The Bigger Picture

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Henry Tate (1819-1899) was an English industrialist and philanthropist.  Starting his business career as a grocer with an apprenticeship at 13 years old, Tate made a fortune in sugar refinery, and was known for his humble nature and generous charitable donations in support of health and education causes. In 1889, he offered to donate his collection of 65 contemporary paintings to the British government on the condition the collection be displayed in a suitable gallery.  As there was no gallery space available at the time, Tate also offered £80,000 toward the building of a new gallery.  His donation toward construction of the gallery eventually reached the sum of £150,000. (An unverified guesstimate as we’re talking about an amount equivalent to US$20+ million in today’s money.)

Photo by Tony Hisgett CC BY 2.0
Photo byTony Hisgett CC BY 2.0

The Tate Gallery, now Tate Britain, first opened to the public on July 21, 1897 as the “National Gallery of British Art” in central London at the site of the former Millbank Penitentiary (1816-90), a prison that had served as a holding facility for convicts prior to transport to penal colonies in Australia. At the opening, a total of 245 art works dating back to 1790 (including the Tate collection) were displayed in eight rooms within a grand new building featuring a central dome and classical portico entrance topped by a pitched gable mounted with symbolic statuary of Britannia, the Lion and the Unicorn.

It was the launch of what has become a network of four Tate art museums holding the UK’s national collection of British art (from 1500 to present day) as well as international modern and contemporary art:  Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives (closed until Spring 2017).  Each is unique, and there is always something fun going on;  special events and exhibitions, films, performances, special tours, talks and lectures.  General admission is free; there’s a charge for some exhibitions and events.  Tate also offers an extensive digitized art and archival collection, part of an initiative designed to make art more accessible to the public by utilizing new technologies and media.

Discover the Life of an Artist

In September 2015, Tate introduced “AnnoTate”, an innovative web-based crowdsourcing transcription tool that allows online users to get directly involved with art history research by browsing and transcribing a collection of digitized handwritten documents from the Tate archival collection, including artists’ letters, diaries, notes, journals and sketch books.

The process of transcribing is somewhat similar to deciphering a secret code depending upon the condition of the document and quality of handwriting, and it’s also fascinating to view these personal writings and learn details of an artist’s life and work.  Using AnnoTate, you can get involved in this important research (no art history education or experience required) – any time, any place, choose from two different approaches:

Start Transcribing.  Jump right in and start transcribing items at random (links are provided so that you can learn more about the artist and context of an art work); or

Find Artists.  Select an artist from a list and focus transcribing the writings of a specific artist.

Do as much or as little as you wish; work at your own pace. The amount of time you put in is totally at your discretion. [A word of caution: AnnoTate users have reported that transcribing can be addicting! ]

 

In this collection of video documentaries, artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life.You’ll find inspiration in this collection of selected videos about contemporary artists and their work— Creative Perspectives –FREE to watch, on-demand

 

 

 

Learning about what really happened to my great-grandfather after he immigrated to America from Germany in the 19th century took a lot of genealogical research, and there's still more digging to do. But, I did find Peter, and discovered the cause of his death was not what had been speculated.Researching family history can be quite an adventure, and the
discoveries both heartrending and joyous → The story of Finding Peter   

 

 

 

 

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Information/Resources:
History page, Tate website
Wikipedia:  Henry Tate, Millbank Prison, Tate Britain
MeasuringWorth.com

 

Feature photo courtesy of Pexel CC0

Activist Arts

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[su_quote cite=”John F. Kennedy “]If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.[/su_quote]

[su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]hroughout history, art has been created by people for many different reasons and purposes, both non-motivated (no specific-purpose other than a basic human instinct to create) and motivated (e.g., the artist intends to communicate a specific emotion, comment on an aspect of society, or bring about political or cultural change), and works of art have often been controversial for a variety of reasons, provoking intense debate, criticism and indignation as well as influencing new ideas and shifts in prevailing sentiment.

An art movement is art with a specific common goal among a group of artists for a certain period of time (months, years or decades).  There have been many diverse art movements during the 19th and 20th centuries, their meanings and objectives explained by the artists involved in the movement or art critics and historians.

In the US, the ‘60s were years of social unrest and cultural change, and contemporary artists responded to the turmoil and addressed the issues by producing creative works of activism.  The Black Arts Movement (1965-75), aka Black Aesthetics Movement or BAM, emerged when a group of African American artists were inspired by the Black Power movement to create expressive works of poetry, novels, visual arts, and theater that reflected pride in black history and culture and explored the African American experience as a means of arousing black consciousness.  Although it began in New York, BAM spread across the country and influenced a generation of artists.

In Southern California, the Black Arts Movement generated new forms of artistic and cultural expression and the development of community-based arts organizations in an effort to end discrimination in entertainment industries and focus attention on the conditions within black working class neighborhoods.

In her book South of Pico*, MacArthur winner and Columbia University professor Kellie Jones explores how artists in Los Angeles black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, engaged activist arts scene amidst racism and social upheaval. Building on her research and work on the Hammer Museum exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, Dr. Jones, along with a discussion panel including UCLA professor Robin D.G. Kelly, will expand your understanding of the history of black arts in Los Angeles and beyond.  If you missed the live broadcast of this event, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or the post located on the video player below ↓

 

Creative PerspectivesPoetry reading for On2In2™ inspiration is live – artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life in this On2In2™ video collection, available to watch free & on-demand.

 

 

 

Online crowdsourcing art history project allows everyone to browse and transcribe archives of artistsFind out how you can help with art history research right from home, and discover the life of an artist using a very cool, free to
use online tool “AnnoTate”

 

 

Information/Resources:

Political Change from the 1960’s to Now:  Connections Between Arts and Activist Movements by Andrea Assuf (The Public Humanist, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, October 30, 2009)
On Black Aesthetics:  The Black Arts Movement by Candice Frederick (New York Public Library, July 15, 2016)
The Black Arts Movement (blacklist.org)
Witness:  Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties (Brooklyn Museum)
Wikipedia (Art and Art movement)

*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via the link within this page. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

 

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Feature photo is courtesy of Pixabay CC0

Inspired Photography

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Photography is an art form as well as a science with a history of technological development that goes back as far as the ancient Han Chinese and Greeks, and is now used in many fields of business, science and art.  Amateur photography, which began in the late 19th century with the introduction of a hand-held camera, has spread widely in the early 21st century with different platforms and equipment, and a cell phone as the key tool for making photography more accessible.  However, it’s not always easy to take a good photo despite all the new tech and imaging techniques.

Want to take better pics?  Watch and learn from professional photographers sharing their work, inspiration and creative ideas in a series of free-to-watch live broadcasts and video presentations.

Programming Notes:  

Sometimes it happens — scheduling changes or technical interruptions in a live broadcast.  Please check back for updates, and take a look at the Live Stream Program Guide for more On2In2™ streaming info.

If you miss the live stream broadcast of a program, a video recording is typically available to watch.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or on the video posts located on the media players below.

WATCH LIVE & FREE On2In2™

If you’re looking for inspirational nature & wildlife photography know-how — this is it! 

‘Lessons from the Field – BIRDS AS ART’ is a slide-illustrated lecture featuring hundreds of Arthur Morris’ spectacular photographs of birds.  Watch and learn as Morris talks about the birds he photographs, his favorite locations, and the gear and techniques he uses to create his images. Topics include getting close to free and wild birds, flight photography, getting the right exposure, and image design.  Exactly what you need to take better photos of birds.  

 

Award-winning wildlife photographer and Greenpeace ambassador, Roie Galitz, travels in extreme conditions to the remotest places on Earth to capture rarely seen animals in their natural habitats.  Watch as he tells the stories of his most thrilling adventures and reveals the secrets behind some of his greatest shots, published in National Geographic, BBC and more during his July 2018 live presentation ‘Wildlife Photography Around the World – The Secrets Behind the Lens’.  Just click/tap the ‘Watch Again’ button located on the media player below. 

 

Whether you’re planning a street photography trip in Tokyo, or a trek through the mountains in Patagonia, you’ll discover helpful techniques and strategies at Travel Photography:  Finding Drama within the Frame, a travel photo workshop by editorial photographer, Katsu.  If you missed the live stream broadcast, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button located on the media player below.

 

Our Journeys Into the Night: How We Found Ourselves in the Dark –  Chris Nicholson and Lance Keimig show and discuss the evolution of their photographic imagery over the course of 30 years, and tell the stories of how their careers and styles developed and how they became so intensely focused on nighttime photography.

If you missed the live stream broadcast of Our Journeys Into the Night, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button located on the media player below ↓

 

If you missed the May 10 live stream broadcast of Connecting With Nature, there’s still time to learn what it takes to capture the beauty of nature with a great photograph.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button located on the media player below, and watch as nature photographer Mike Mezeul II shares the stories behind some of his favorite and most challenging images.  He also shares imagery from some of his wildest outings, including tornadoes, volcanoes and northern lights.

 

Michael Halsband’s talk was cancelled. Disappointing as we were all looking forward to it.  But, turned out OK because professional photographer Bruce Byers stepped in and discussed his work and methods.  Bruce believes that photography is a powerful artistic medium because it can change how people feel, what they see, and how they believe.  After seeing his work, you’ll begin to understand.  To watch, just click/tap the “Watch Again” button on the media player below ↓    

 

Whether you are a beginner or advanced in your photography skills, you’ve probably taken some beautiful images.  But, do you aspire to take your portfolio to the next level, add to a specific body of work, or even challenge yourself with a new technique or subject matter?

Travel Photography and the Self-Assignment inspires photographers at every level as seasoned travel photographer, Liz Groeschen, shares several short and long-term ‘self-assignments’ she gave herself while living in Seoul, South Korea and traveling through 30+ countries around the world, including her own backyard, New York City.  If you missed the March 21 live stream broadcast, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button on the media player below ↓

 

If you missed the live stream broadcasts of Learning To Fly and Exploration for Landscape Photography, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or the posts on the video players below ↓

 

 

Award-winning headshot photographer, Rod Goodman, shed light on the creation of a headshot in this discussion of both the technical and creative aspects of the subtle art form.  If you missed the live broadcast of How to be a Headshot Hotshot, there’s still time to watch a video recording of the event.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or the video post on the video player below ↓

 

Jeff Cable, a 5-time Olympic photographer and popular speaker, understands the challenges of close-up photography.  If you missed his live talk on how to take high-quality photos of small subjects, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or post on the video player below ↓

 

American photographer Amy Arbus’ work has been published in more than 100 magazines, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and Vanity Fair, and is part of collections located in the New York Public Library and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  She’s also published five books, including the award winning On the Street 1980-1990, The Inconvenience of Being Born, The Fourth Wall, and her most recent, After Images, an homage to modernism’s most iconic avant-garde paintings.  The books are available for purchase via Amazon → Amy Arbus Photography

In the presentation “The Photograph Not Taken”, Arbus talks about her instincts, thought process and technique while sharing favorite treasured photographs.  It’s a unique opportunity to learn from a gifted professional photographer.  Click/Tap “Watch Again” on the media player below ↓, and be patient or fast forward as it takes about 3-4 minutes for the talk to begin.     

 

Video and live stream lectures and lessons offer helpful advice from camera pros on how to take better photographsPhotography pros share travel, sports, outdoor photography know-how & more in these free-to-watch info-videos, Pro Photo Tips 

 

 

 

 

Photographers tell their stories and share their work and inspiration in this On2In2™ collection of videos.

Both professional and amateur photographers share their stories, work and inspiration in this On2In2™ collection of selected videos → Watch:  Photography

 

 

 

 

 

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Feature photo is courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels CC0
Photo of camera courtesy of Unsplash CC0

Editor’s Note:  Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a purchase you make via the Amazon links within this page to Amy Arbus Photography or the discount camera equipment.  This in no way affects the price you pay for a purchase.

Art Collecting

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[su_dropcap]Y[/su_dropcap]ou might be surprised to learn private art collecting is an avocation with a history that goes back as far as the Middle Ages (5th – 15th centuries) in Europe and East Asia. It later evolved in Italy during the Renaissance period (14th – 17th centuries) of cultural change and achievement in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, philosophy, science and exploration, and spread across Europe as kings and nobleman amassed vast art collections to display within their grand palaces. By the 18th century, an art collection had become a status symbol for the wealthy, and collectors’ preferences influenced what new works artists produced for the art market.

 

Spanish Baroque artist, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, was one of the most famous artists in all of Europe during the the 17th and 18th centuries, and his paintings were highly sought after by both French and British art collectors.  By the end of the the 18th century, however, Murillo’s popularity began to decline, and his works of art were later dismissed as “sentimental, weak and inconsequential” and eventually forgotten a century later.  Today, art historians and museum curators have rediscovered Murillo, and begun to reassess and appreciate Murillo’s talent and significant role in art history.

Dr. Véronique Gerard Powell, honorary Senior Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, is a specialist in Spanish painting and the history of collecting.  During her lecture, Murillo: The Shared Passion of 19th Century French and British Collectors, she explores how opportunities and the means of collecting differed in 19th Century Britain and France and the reasons for the sudden loss of interest in Murillo’s work.  If you missed the live broadcast of the lecture, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or the post on the video player below.

 

Information/Resources:
Art Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm is an example of art collecting in the 17th century and can be viewed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The National Gallery, London
Arts Council England, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (bio & artworks)
How to Collect Art Like a Pro – How to Build an Art Collection, Alan Bamberger, Art Business consulting
A Poor Collector’s Guide to Buying Great Art (10 tips) by Henri Neuenndorf, Art Net News (June 19,2015)

 

Online crowdsourcing art history project allows everyone to browse and transcribe archives of artistsFind out how you can help with art history research right from home, and discover the life of an artist using a very cool, free to
use online tool “AnnoTate”

 

 

A collector's passion can get out of control at times, but it's also a hobby that many people enjoy.A Collector’s Passion:  The many varied interests and passions
of collectors are similar in one significant characteristic — sometimes the hobby can get out of control.

 

 

 

It's easy and fun to join On2In2 social networkWe’re the social type as well as art lovers.  Please register via the ENGAGE page to join the conversation, share your inspiration, ideas and creation, and network with On2In2™ playmakers.

 

 

 

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Feature image sourced via Wikimedia: Two Women at a Window by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1655–60 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) Public Domain
Images of 17th century collections in slideshow were sourced via Wikimedia

Upsurge

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“When it all comes together… it’s like, man, this is the moment.” — Ray Collins

Chris Bryan loves filming in the ocean more than anything.  In fact, it’s his passion, and he says capturing the rare moment when first rays of light hit the ocean without any other person in sight is “unexplainable, its one of the most amazing feelings ever, its like my own personal therapy” to experience such “absolute beauty”.  Chris shares some of these beautiful moments in his latest video project MOCEAN.  Views captured by Chris for the video are like nothing you’ve ever seen before, and watching is nothing short of awesome.  

 

In the water, Ray Collins creates works of art with his camera, and cinematographer/photographer, Armand Dijicks, brings Collins’ seascape photographs to life in the short video, The Infinite Now, by transforming the stills into cinemagraphs — beautiful and mesmerizing.  Cinemagraphs create the illusion of motion by applying image editing software to composite a series of still photographs into sequential frames.  The result is amazing.  

 

The Ocean is an essential life force, and we must stop its destructionLove the Ocean?  See & Learn more On2In2™ ⇒   Underwater Discoveries    Saving Our Ocean      Cranking Surf

 

 

Ray Collins started out his working life in a coal mine, and has become an internationally acclaimed, award-winning ocean photographer.  In the short video, Sea Stills produced by Malibu Media, Ray describes his inspiration and technique in capturing moments of water and light in a wave.

 

Information/Resources:
Chris Bryan Films – Cinematographer (watch more surf and underwater video)
Armand Dijicks (online courses, video tutorials and ebooks available)
Photographer Ray Collins  (info on photos and book ‘Found at Sea’)

 

Video and live stream lectures and lessons offer helpful advice from camera pros on how to take better photographsMore FREE To WATCH, and Learn from the best photographers
→  Watch: Photography video channel for inspiration and → Pro Photo Tips for how-to-tips and advice

 

 

It's easy and fun to join On2In2 social networkWe’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to comment on this article, join the conversation, or share your inspiration, and you have not yet registered as an On2In2™ playmaker, please sign up via the ‘Engage page’.  Don’t worry, it’s pretty quick and easy (unless you’re a robot).

 

 

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Feature photo is a screen shot taken from Ray Collins video, Sea Stills

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