Art is moving to Colorado!

Lauren and I first began this art investigation in October of 2009 with the intention to virtually travel to all of the fifty States and beyond. Through our Art is Moving Blog and through our artist interview series called I am an Artist we have hoped to discover and uncovering various art scenes and artists within these States. In this process we have also wanted to create a dialogue, a conversation between artists and non artists. And to give voice to as many artists as possible.




















Thus far it has been a grand adventure and all of our expectations have been exceeded. We have gathered an amazing interview series from artist's from the States of Washington,Oregon,Nevada,Idaho,Utah,and New Mexico. From these artist's reflections we have connected and learned about their visions and inspirations and about the true essence of ART.

Another month is ending and it is time to expand. Art is Moving along to Colorado!

On my first internet search I discovered this gem.
Wow, look at this imagery in the city of Denver.

What is the meaning of the giant blue bear in Denver. I will need to research this artist.
Interesting! The Blue Bear is the vision of artist Lawerence Argents. The sculpture called I See What You Mean is really a whimsical being.
"My public artworks are part of a larger whole,” stated Lawrence Argent. “I am an artist that utilizes assorted mediums and venues to engage the viewer in questioning the assumed and provide a vehicle by which stimulus opens a plethora of responses that defy verbal articulation.”

Cool! This is just a taste, it looks like Colorado is going to be an interesting Art ride!

I look forward to hearing the cadence of Colorado's artists and art scene!

Also, in tandum with our exploration of Colorado, Lauren and my research project will continue as we seek to discover Art blogs and individuals artists on the internet. We are really wanting to dive deep into the virtual art worlds that have been created.

If you know of any artists in Colorado please lets us know.
Also, if you know of any killer artist blogs or Art Blogs send them our way. Artismoving@gmail.com

Fundraisering mode:
We also are trying to raise monies to become a non-profit. As Art is Moving really believes that Art is Service. And we want to expand our projects. The ARTcart in every city. The ultimate intention of Art is Moving and ARTcart is to reveal that art is a gift that exists in everyone; it has the ability to transform our lives as well as the potential to transform the world we live in. If moved pleased click the Chip in button on our Blog. "Chip in" site. Everyone and everything helps!

Thanks and Namaste, Lisa

I am an Artist: Eric Reinemann

1. Why are you an artist?

It helps me to break the mold preconceived ideas I build up, allowing me to see the world with fresh eyes. It is a fascinatingly transformative process. When I came across painting twelve years ago I enjoyed it so much that I decided to devote my life to it. My temperament and the process of thinking with color are really nicely matched, there is no other job that I would ever be satisfied devoting my time to.

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it

All my work is done from sitting in front of a still life and drawing information out of it. My drawing process embraces movement; this makes it impossible to create a proportionally static composition. I have to intuitively decide how to organize fluctuating shapes, what to edit out and what to rebuild. I’m interested in exploring the intake of visual information and allowing the nature of the mind to order that in a rhythmic manner. I work in small groups off of the same still life set up at a time. Although I draw my information for the same set up each day, my mentality is a bit different each time, leading to unique expressive choices and different dynamics to the compositions. I’m trying to attain a pictorial space which exists where the mind and the physical world collide.


3. Why do you use the medium that you use?

This year I switched to acrylic paint, it’s a water based quick drying paint with funny uncontrollable properties to it. Since then the process has become more about drawing than painting. I work on panels so that I directly draw on the surface with a colored pencil or marker. The physical resistance to the drawn line is necessary for me to believe that I am actually cutting a shape out of real space. With oil paint I would spend two hrs mixing color systems on a palette before working on the painting, in acrylic I’ll spend those two hours or less restructuring the visual information of the painting through drawing, and then maybe paint in a few shapes at a time.



4. How do you choose your color palette?

Compositional dynamics. I often respond to colors I see by giving them verbal identification, then build a color based off of the name I gave it and see what it does on the surface. Eventually the responsive element does not matter anymore and the colors get constructed based off of the energy of the composition. When the temperature of a color shape changes it has the ability to greatly alter the visual movement of the overall composition. In order for the painting to be resolved, each element needs to work in a specific way. This leads to a lot of altering and restructuring of edges, which creates new and previously non experienced color fields. In a strange way I am making color through redrawing edges, rather than coloring shapes, a completely opposite form of color building then mixing systems of oil paint on a palette.

5. What is the inspiration behind your work?

Curiosity

6. Your art and process seem to be metaphysical; would you agree? If so, how do you think this effects your audience?

It’s transformative; it allows me to enter states of mind that are not accessible any other way and still productively think and work. The only aim I have for the paintings given an audience is for the compositions to be able to engage the imagination of viewers. If that happens than dialogue emerges, people start sharing stories of what they see. Hearing the imagination of others is my favorite part of having shows.



7. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

Artists introduce new ways of looking at life and experience while on focusing on aesthetics. It is the same in New Mexico as it is in New York. I think that art is one of the fields which can be on the periphery of exploring new systems of communication, thinking, and perception, among many other elements which can offer social change.

8. What are your ultimate goals as an artist? , Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?
I’ve struggled for a long time to try to understand and articulate the need to work from direct observation and the resulting abstraction. This idea I will keep exploring and hopefully will be able to express my ideas clearer in the next few years. I hope to be able to write more about the process, get reputable shows, and gain some recognition on a national level for the paintings. I would like for the paintings to open some awareness, or raise more questions about, our perceptual understanding of experience.



9. What does art mean to you?

Its soul cleansing.

Check out more of Eric's work at his website: http://www.ericreinemann.com/

I am an Artist: Anna Marie

1. Why are you an artist?

I’ll always be an artist for the same reason I’ll always be a student—always moving, always learning, always creating.

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.

I like to keep the eye moving, and create art as interesting and complex as something you’d find in nature—leaves, stones, people are endlessly intricate, delicate, bold.

3. Why do you use the medium that you use?

I love the intense contrast of black and white that you get with ink, and the one-of-a-kind spontaneity and character that comes from dip pens and nibs.



4. Tell us why you are so attracted to drawing the portrait?

People, even babies, are innately drawn to faces, to other people. People are all around us and portraiture is a way to explore the people who are meaningful to us. Drawing friends and family is a way for me to get to know people better, on a different level.

5. What do the symbols that you use in the shadows of your subjects mean to you? Where do they come from?

I never thought of them as symbols before, but I suppose they are a sort of personal symbology. I always referred to them as just shapes—they’re organic, intuitive blocks of color. I don’t think about the symbols when I begin, just blocks of shadow and density. The shape and density of the shadow determine the symbols as I draw.

I always had trouble in school with shading—I actually have bad eyesight, and shades of grey/mid-tones are not something I readily see without my glasses! Strong dark and light shapes appeal to me, so I looked to the native art of the Pacific Northwest coastal region, New Zealand’s Maori tattoos, and other indigenous art forms as an alternative to shading. It was a whole new way to think about color and space. It’s also a truer representation of how I see!


6. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

Artists, people, have a responsibility to their communities to inspire, teach, connect, motivate, change…be a part of something bigger. New Mexico, especially the city of Santa Fe, has a reputation as being a center for the arts when it really functions more as an island—or series of islands. Artists need to integrate more into the life and beat of the city, rather than isolating themselves from whole sections of New Mexico’s geography, ethnography, and demography!

7. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?

With a degree in art therapy, helping kids explore through art in hospital/doctors’ office settings. Extended or chronic illnesses are devastating to children. They isolate you. Art is one way to connect and express.
8. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

Do something good.



9. What does art mean to you?

Art is how we experience the mysterious, and everything is mysterious. It’s a way to make sense of the world—interior, and exterior. It’s a way to see. A way if life. It’s everything all in one.

I am an Artist: Sam Morell

1. Why are you an artist?

Personally there was never a choice in the matter, from early on in my life I saw things visually and as I grow older I don't see my self doing anything else. ultimately however I am an artist because it is through the work that I do is what defines myself.

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.

A concept behind my work is something that I always struggle with the ultimate goal I try to strive for is that there is no concept, each piece is its own idea its own individual story inspired by an individual idea that changes from piece to piece and each idea is different with in my eyes although many people see a unifying theme with in my work the words to best describe everything that I do still haven't reached me.

3. Why do you use the medium that you use?

mediums to me are like colors I want to use them all in order to create a full and varied view of my artistic reality, from my perspective everything in the art world transcends from one to the next so it only seems fair to learn all mediums



4. You seem to like to work in several genres/mediums. How do you choose a subject matter and them medium for that subject matter?

Alot of it depends on the idea and what it seems it would be most appropriate in, and another reason why I am learning a variaty of different mediums so I can explore more ideas and more creative outlets, if i just focused on one medium I would be hindering my creativity.

5. What is the inspiration behind your work?

Anything and everything perhaps because there is so much inspiration in the world is another reason why I want to do everything, anything from music to movies to a catch phrase to mythology will inspire me.

6. How do you feel you as an artist impact your community/neighborhood?

often times I feel I am oblivious to the rest of the world and don't always have a clue as to whats happening, perhaps because I am lost in my own world. But I can only hope that I do make an impact a positive impact on this community and that my art has made anything on anyone even if it has inspired one person I have done my job.



7. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

I feel as an artist we should reach out to the community and the people, to inspire others to be creative and to bring beauty and a sense that everyone has the ability to be creative. As well as a place to do the arts not just visually but musically as well, there needs to be a safe friendly environment that people can retreat to with out being threatened by authorities or neighbors.

8. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?

my only hope is that I am still doing something creative and making a living from it
9. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

To achieve a level of mastery with in several different mediums and artistic styles and to reach a level were i can make a name for myself, as well as to inspire others



10. What does art mean to you?

Wow thats like trying to explain color to a blind man, first off I have always had a frustration with art and what it means or doesent mean or how there are better bulls*****s than what I consider an artist or how alot of the teaching of craft has been taken out so there is less skill in the artistry. But what it means to be an artist is perhaps an ability to tap into something that we all have a connection with and perhaps artists are more in tune with, although I truly believe that everyone can be an artist, and perhaps art has truly nothing to do with our survival, but there was a quote once that said artists are the nerve endings of society, and when it gets to me personally it is my existence although it gets a bit hazy with defining existence, art is my path it is my vessel and my connection to the world, to others and to something greater than myself.

Create Free Art in San Francisco!!! and beyond

The ARTcart needs your support! Unfortunately, the grant that we applied for did not happen. It is bittersweet for AIM. The ARTcart is so close to our hearts. Hence our call out for alternative fundraising methods through the "Chip in" site.
From our experience in Oakland we believe in the ARTcart and we feel that the ARTcart is such a powerful community art reach project. It can transform our communites and makes us all feel more connected. Our goal this summer is to cross the bridge and facilitate free art making in San Francisco! Please help us out!

About the project
Lauren and I began this project in July 2009. During the next three months we pushed the ARTcart down the potholes that filled the sidewalks of Oakland, we were stationed on various street corners on Telegraph Av between 20th and 35th streets through the Koreatown-Northgate Community Benefit District in Oakland. Every day that we were creating with the community we felt the pulse of the street and saw the kindness and vulnerability that exists in the city. In this urban jungle we experienced the brighter side of humanity. We were also awakened to the many worlds that exist within this neighborhood. We experienced the splendor and plethora of diversity that exists in Oakland.
Through intention, Lauren and I created at the ARTcart a safe container for people to explore their creativity, to reflect and just BE for a moment in our fast paced world. Through this process we have also been witness to the struggles of folks who live in the Northgate neighborhood. Many young people who sat at our table and create are homeless and have witnessed grave acts of violence in the short lifetimes. Others are scared about upcoming state cuts and do not know how they are going to make ends meet.”

At the ARTcart, lawyers and biologists have created art alongside students, skateboarders, and persons who are homeless. We have witnessed so many amazing connections that have been made though the act of creating art together. Creating together blurs the boundaries between self and other. The ARTcart was a successful art intervention for the postmodern crisis of alienation and fragmentation in individuals that live in the urban jungles and suburbs of America. As I reflect on my experience at the ARTcart in the Korea town-Northgate neighborhood my heart opens up and I smile with the complete knowing that Lauren and I were facilitators and we were witnesses to the transformation of this small section on Telegraph Avenue through the communal act of making art.

ARTcart was an amazing success. In these shaky economic times it feels like people are really craving this experience. I love this project. It validates my entire philosophy of what art are, connection, freedom, unity, and empowerment. We should have an Art Cart on every street corner in American and the world.
We saw and we achieved the ultimate intention of the Art Cart, which was the revelation that art is a gift that is latent in everyone and that it has the ability to transform our lives as well as the potential to transform the world we live in.
Namaste, Lisa



Please support the ARTcart by clicking on this link
"Chip in" and donate at least five dollars if you can!
We are on our way to raising funds for a Non-Profit Status and an Art Project in San Francisco. Please help by donating to our cause! Thank you all(:

Namaste, Lisa

I am an Artist: Denise Williams

1. Why are you an artist?

Of any art form chosen to deliver any message, the truth of life within all things living cannot be said, only felt. The things we must find in all looses its essence when given form in thought -- lost to another creation in our own minds as the thought lingers therein.

Such is the case and why I choose the expression of feelings through visual art for it is rarely I deliver or receive a word without a multitude of meanings. Regardless I find I paint no differently from how I deliver words or receive them. . .. 2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.

All things are of conceptual reality; we only do not truly realize it though we may know it. The concept of my work is about things seemingly unessential. . ., as Jean Dubuffet stated. Things we uncommonly find in others and ourselves even though it exists in abundance.



3. Why do you use the medium that you use?

Honestly had I been given a choice, I would not have chosen the mediums I use today. They came to my use through the great gifts of No Alternative and by Great Accident as so many other things in my life. After loosing my immune system in '94, I found I was not able to work with most other mediums, but was able to use acrylics. Eventually I realized that the perceived limitations once again came as a gift as I developed many unique ways of rendering with acrylics.

The mixed media came about by accident in 2004 when I was surfacing my last canvas, or so I thought. I say last as I didn't think there would be any more canvases to paint as I anticipated going homeless if nothing happened soon. As such, I thought I would paint this last canvas as a gift to leave behind with all others for who ever took my home to have, or to throw away, as they pleased. . .. As I gave the canvas up in prayer while working the surface, the phone rang. My hands were a complete mess filled with molding paste. In an attempt to answer the phone, I grabbed a piece of tissue paper out of the trash and tried to wipe my hands clean, but missed the call for the tissue stuck to my hands adhering to the paste.

It was a call for a desperately needed job. While trying to answer the phone, as it was, I messed up the surface of the canvas for it was a dry hot day. . .. Out of frustration and haste, I attempted to wipe the canvas clean with the tissue paper that was stuck to my hand which then stuck to the canvas leaving me thinking I had destroyed the canvas as well.

The whole thing left me feeling rather strange. I can't describe the feeling but it was one of a déjà vu mingled with the lost call and the thought of ruining my last canvas ever. I wasn't ready to give up. . ., so it is easily understood that I could not throw the canvas away - my last love. Desperation to express one last time called and instead of ringing back as quickly as possible for the job, I decided to continue doing to the canvas what had been done to it already. With great care for the canvas, I smoothed the paper out amid a stream of tears and pulled even more tissue paper out of the trashcan and adhered it to the canvas in an effort to correct what I had done.



I cannot explain why I continued to do this, but I did it until the entire canvas had been covered. In doing so, I felt as though every thing was going to be okay. Yet during this surfacing, I thought of how raw, how unfair my life had been, what trash it was, the things I had been stooped to do to support my child, and the seeming foolishness of it all, but the question remained how was I to give to my child what he needed otherwise than through art? The thoughts were not of self-pity but acknowledgment; the tears not of sorrow, but like a leak of water from a bucket overly full.

I rarely tell about this canvas or show it for what it is for it is one of those things difficult to explain as the emotions I had in surfacing it carried with me as I went on to paint it - my last canvas which became the first of many in this my medium. As it was, through painting, I had rendered my life upside down without intent and did not see the imagery until I accidentally set it up upside down later to sign it. It was then I saw what the true rendering was which scared me to death because to see it and know what it meant felt like such great shame.

My life, nothing at all as I imagined it would be. . ..

But there was more significance to the fact that I had painted my upside down life. . .. It was not me, but rather what I had lived through and all the things thereof given up in prayer. It was my lessons - many of which I felt I had failed. Regardless, there was so much truth to it, I left it like that, right side up in prayer, and signed it knowing somewhere deep in my heart, all those things were gone from my life NOW.

I vowed after that all my paintings henceforth would be painted in this way until innocence prevailed above all. All bad things reshaped and molded again into beauty given with peace and without resistance. Like the gift I was trying to find within but could not see that day.

Since, I have learned a multitude of ways to work with this surface and finish, each bringing about its own personality. All learned through mistake or need.

The medium is an important part of my art in the message it gives in that all things come as a gift regardless of the package received.

About that job, long story short, I wasn't bilingual.

About the medium, I believe if we live each moment as we have it, and not resent it for what we do not have, nor what did not happen, or for what we think we need, we will ultimately find things are just as they should be.

Thus my style through my medium and process came about the same why my life did: by accident and with limits causing creativity. I try to remember that place from which I create always for it is as essential as the man made substances to the work. However, regardless of medium, or how applied, one must look beyond the surface to see the true work as in all aspects of life.


4. Your art and process seem to be metaphysical; would you agree? If so, how do you think this effects your audience?

Please accept my compliment as it is the rare eye which can identify art in such a way!

You are right; my intention in art is metaphysical. Regardless of study, each work is comprised of a multitude of latent images given with much attention to create the one first seen. However, I am not able to say how it effects my audience as a whole as each person viewing will feel the work differently even if they see nothing at all initially beyond the surface image.

But I think this is true to any work of art. How it is felt. Whose soul it resonates with. In this manner of speaking, all works of art become metaphysical as they take on their own life and commingle with other souls of the same frequency. . ..

Regardless, just the same, I hope my work calls to a higher plane in that it invites one to meditate on it if only to see what else is behind the surface.


5. Who are your favorite contemporary artists?

I am not sure if by contemporary if you mean those artists living in bodies now, or if you include those artists who have left their bodies while leaving their great breath behind to be shared by all in so many ways? I will give you all I can think of whom I admire and why regardless of current body or not.

Of course, Jean Dubuffet who stated: I would like people to see my work as a rehabilitation of scorned values and, in any case, a work of ardent celebration.

Ruth Bernhard who said, If I have chosen the female form in particular, it is because beauty has been debased and exploited in our sensual 20th century. Woman has been the subject of much that is sordid and cheap, especially in photography. To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman has been my mission.

I heed Paul Gauguin's advice in all when he said, It is the obligation of the artist to create, not to imitate, in hopes that I can define things beyond linear time.

As well I would never think to paint without da Vinci for his softness and depth of perception, his technique, he is my first and foremost instructor and in my heart, my greatest master.

I think many times of Michelangelo for his ability to bring physical form from elements of the earth as well the masculine quality of his work. Goya's Dark Period for the torment he recognized in society and his imagery that lies seemingly within nothing. Monet for his pallet, diffusion, and depth. Gauguin's passion and use of color, his purpose to create a new world through art as he searched for freedom without restraints. Van Gogh's movement and artistic purpose. Rothko's minimalism. Turner for his visions and influence on others though largely unrecognized.

Of other artists, I admire Phyllis Kapp, Valerie Estvan, Richard Scott, Thinh Nguyen, Maciej Gador, Gib Singleton, Wolf Kahn, and Tomas Hrivnac for their great talent and originality; in addition to those artistic components, Master Lee, Sun-Don, for his great message to the universe and originality. Peggy Guichu for her other worldly renderings. William Tode for mastering the hand of a genius into his own unique style, and Melissa Lambert for her great renderings of her meditative journeys!

6. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

The role of an artist is as it has always been, to create and uplift beauty so that the world is moved to further its cause. Today we are confused as a greater whole in that we try to define art as something new endeavoring to create value through the fallacy of individual purpose mostly for profit, but that is as false as the identity which states it. Regarding the money behind it, have you ever thought about the value of money and what a great artistic process that is?
7. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?

As my hand has changed over the course of my life in response to the purpose which guides it, in five years I see myself wherever I am led on my journey just as I am now. My only hope is that my mind won't create an identity for my hand and cause me to stand still; as such, in 5 years I hope to be still watching my mind as artist and in who I am or am not. . ..

8. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

To create a better world through art while sharing the message most important to universal wellbeing of truth, love, beauty, innocence. . ., and all things pure.

9. What does art mean to you?

Art means several things to me as follows: A way to communicate more clearly though feeling the truth behind all that is. A need to express life as beautifully as is given. A way to actually live while offering life in this what we call life.

Website for Denise Williams:
http://denisewilliamsart.com/

Artists Who Blog

Artist: Bueller

I randomly found ArtistsWhoBlog.blogspot.com this morning and thought it was perfect to include in this month's posting. Stephanie Levy's blog seems to mirror Art is Moving's "I am an Artist" series. Stephanie interviews artists who blog on a regular basis and includes images of their current work.

There is great variety to her choice of artists, from illustration, to phtoography, to drawing. This a great blog, resource, network, and project. I do wish she had a tag list by genre so I could search for an artist by medium. I am not a fan of labels, but I do get in moods where I want to look at all photography or all painting or quilting or whatever. Other than that, I only have words of encouragement.

Check out ArtistsWhoBlog.blogspot.com the next time you want to get sucked into the art vortex that lives on The Internet.

Artist: Jenifer Altman

pics from recent interviews on artists who blog.

I am an Artist: Trish Booth

1. Why are you an artist?

I can’t help it! I have always been creating out of one thing or another. Everywhere I look I see paintings and every pile of junk has a sculpture in it. I drag home rocks, sticks, and rusty stuff from every outing. I see things in cracks and mud and tree bark. I see compositions in the way my dog’s feet are entangled as they sleep together. I can’t turn it off!

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.

I’m drawn to landscape and architecture, places and spaces. Places that seem or that we consider sacred or monumental. Architectural spaces we create as houses of worship. A favorite spot in a home, garden, park or landscape that feels as if it is “special” and “belongs to us.” I’m also drawn to portals such as gates, windows, and doors—these become representations of personal transformation and growth.



3. Please elaborate on your work being "symbolic refuge."

As the body is home for the spirit, so are the places and buildings in my paintings refuges for the soul. I mean them to be sacred spaces, retreats, a place to rest the eyes where the psyche can enter and emerge refreshed, inspired, or transformed.

4. Why do you use the medium that you use?

I like the richness of layering up glazes and transparent colors. I do a lot of wet-in-wet work and blending. Oils give me the working time I need. Plus I actually like the smell of turpentine!



5. Do you work from memory, photograph, or on site? Why?

I work from many sources, including those mentioned. Often I’ll do a sketch and take several photographs of my subject. Back in the studio I’ll create a composition based on those references. Once I’ve got the basics down I discard the references and create the painting. I like the idea of the painting becoming more than what the initial inspiration depicted. Sometimes I’ll build a composition from disparate elements, other times I’ll subtract elements from the original subject.

I don’t care for plein air painting in oils but I do draw and make watercolor sketches on site.
6. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

Artists offer inspiration to others through new perspectives on a subject, a greater understanding of our world and ourselves, and as “encouragers” and teachers of the artistic efforts of others.

7. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?

I should be back at the point where I’m supporting myself with my work. I was just there when the economy collapsed and now must recover those collectors. I see more travel and bodies of work based on far-flung locales and architecture. I’m making a trip to South Africa later this year and next year’s work will be based on what speaks to me there.

8. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

To share my interpretation of my surroundings, to inspire and move others, to show that drawing ability, technical skill, and vision can result in meaningful work.

I also have dreams of establishing an artist’s residency program.


9. What does art mean to you?

Looking back it is the map of my journey. Looking ahead it is what illuminates my way.

Artist's Webiste: http://trishbooth.com/

Viva La Art Cart!!

Dear Lisa and Lauren,

Congratulations! The Art Cart by Art is Moving was nominated for an Oakland Indie Award—a community-oriented award for Oakland independent businesses and artists. Members of the Oakland community think you’re special, and told us that you are an asset to the city. You were nominated for the Newbie category. See category descriptions here.

While we only notify nominees once, nominations are open until March 24^th, so you may receive more nominations later this month.

The Indie Awards are a program of OneCalifornia Foundation. We are hosting our fourth annual awards party on Friday, May 14, 2010 at 5:30 pm at Jack London Square Pavilion (formerly Barnes & Noble) at 98 Broadway, Oakland, 94607. This event will celebrate the spirit and community impact of Oakland's independent businesses and artists.

"Vote for us if you have a second"

Namaste!

I am an Artist: Aaron Czerny

1. Why are you an artist?

I was born one. I believe we are all born with a myriad of talents, but there is usually one which stands out from the others, and for me it happens to have been under the definition of “artist”; which itself in many forms and through many mediums.

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.

If I were to define a concept behind all my work, it would be a broad based definition, one that essentially addresses the fundamentals of creation itself; the duality's and the contradictions, and the emotion/mental/spiritual aspects of these processes , before, during and after the actual moment of itself. Each Series or Body of work ends up having it’s particular “concept”, but only after it has begun.
3. Why do you use the medium that you use?

It allows the best means of being able to translate the messages coming through me.


4. In terms of your current series, tell us why you have chosen to reuse materials for your "canvas"?

The decision initially came about out of necessity. I did not have enough funds to purchase materials I normally use, so I looked to see what I had on hand, and it happened to be old fencing that I had taken down from a section of our property. The material ended up being a perfect representation for what I was experiencing in my life at the time. When I started the current series the material actually took the work in a new direction and helped define the concepts behind it. As the old saying goes: Necessity is the mother of all invention...

5. Tell us about your process. Is the work planned or more automatic/intuitive or both?

The work is never planned. I start with an emotion or a thought, pick a color and go from there. I always let it take me where it wants to, for however long the piece needs. It can be very quick and effortless or long and grueling. There is always a dance that happens and the type of dance depends on the music of the piece... Once a language of a new series or body of work is established, thought or idea begins to shape the direction more, but it always remains within an intuitive state of play. I then stay in the rhythm until it subsides.



6. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

There are as many different roles the artist fills as there are different forms of art; that being said, I do believe that the essential foundational role of the artist, when at their best, is as an antenna for society- A traveler between worlds- A translator of experience and perception- A conduit through which passes forms of truth and understanding, hopefully bridging different worlds and peoples.
The role of artist in New Mexico: has been and continues to be most of the above, and it takes its form in the role as “cultural” representative; which changes demographics, tourism, business and economy, perceptions etc.; sometimes for the good and sometimes unintentionally for the worse...

7. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?

I hope to be better well known and somewhat financially stronger, as to allow the continuance of the art making itself, and to have greater opportunities to collaborate with other artists, and the means and time to do so; and perhaps be able to help support other peoples creative endeavors.
8. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

To become a better human-being.
9. What does art mean to you?

Everything- it is the well from which I draw sustenance.



10. Does music play any role in your creative process? Please explain.

Music plays a very crucial role. I always listen to Jazz when I paint; Jazz above many other forms of music I enjoy, allows me to go into a trance like state, and therefore allows “flow” to occur. I even describe my paintings sometimes as visual jazz memory compositions. Jazz takes one on a long journey beyond the known, but always brings one back. I like that controlled sense of chaos and beauty.

To see more from this artist, visit his website:
http://aaronczerny.com/home.html

I am an Artist: Donna Kuhn

1. Why are you an artist?
i was born that way. it's the only way the world makes sense to me. seems like one of the only things worth doing. the most satisfying activity.

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.
no.



3. Why do you use the medium that you use?
i am a mixed-media artist so it seems i can't choose. i don't want to choose. my nature is to experiment and explore. i cannot use toxic materials so some choices are made for me.

4. The face/portrait seems to dominate your work. Tell us why you seem to choose this as your primary subject matter.
i didn't really choose to draw faces/portraits. they chose me. occasionally i draw a body, my collage work includes other elements.

5. How do you choose your color palette?
i choose my color palette completely intuitively with an eye open for contrast. i love color.

6. Any favorite artists/influences?
picasso, dubuffet, klee, kandinski


7. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?
the artist can be a shaman, a healer, an outsider, a visionary.

8. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?
making art, hopefully selling art, moving more to painting canvases rather than works on paper.

9. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?
to continue no matter what.

10. What does art mean to you?
everything.


To see more from Donna Kuhn:

http://donnaskuhn.daportfolio.com/
http://digitalaardvarks.blogspot.com/

I am an Artist: Lisa Lopez

Here's our first New Mexico Artist Interview! I love that we have a Henna Artist to add to our list of artists. I love the diversity each state adds to our collection. Thanks everyone!

1. Why are you an artist?

I am an artist because I have no choice, it is who I am and what I know. I'm shown visions of what to create and they haunt me till I make what I see. Lately, finding the ancient art of henna painting, I feel compelled to practice by a force inside me.

2. Is there a concept behind your work? If so, please tell us about it.

The driving concept behind henna is for me how this art is practiced across many cultures and religious traditions. I see henna as a binding tradition, a thread of something beautiful and peaceful that ties Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist together. This led me to understand the idea that arts can teach cultures about each other, that everyone can agree on one thing; beauty.

3. Why do you use the medium that you use?

I like the challenges that henna painting offers. There is the art of mixing your own paste, the skill of rolling & filling the cones to apply it, then there are a myriad of designs crossing cultures, religions, and historical eras. There seems no end to the learning!


4. How does it feel to create art on the human body?

There is no other art form that satisfies me more than the surface decoration of skin. I'm at once honored, and excited to become a part of an ancient tradition. There is an alive feeling to laying designs that invoke deities and qualities the model is seeking help from to heal and improve the quality of his/her life. I love the aroma of the henna. Henna is all about transformation.
Painting the design is a transformation immediately of the skin's appearance. Then as the paste dries and is kept on overnight, there is a psychological transformation because you have to wait and not peek, but have faith this will help your stain darken. Then there is transformation as the stain oxidizes and darkens after the wrapping is removed. The stain will reach it's darkest a few days after it is applied, then there is a slow transformation as the stain fades. During this whole process is the personal transformation each bearer of henna will move through.

5. What do you think is the difference between your artwork and the work that hangs on walls?

Henna is alive as it transforms with the skin of the bearer. It is beautiful for events in the bearer's life, and then it fades. I'm reminded of Tibetan sand paintings or butter sculpture, as they also show impermanence and transformation.



6. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in New Mexico?

Artists are here to help others see clearly, see truth, and to help other cope with life. We are a bridge between the physical and the spiritual worlds, we are healers.
In New Mexico, how is that different from the rest of society? Is it different because of the pressure put on artists who live in the midst of such a force as this worldwide art market here in Santa Fe? I think so. I feel overlooked and under-appreciated.


7. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?

Living in Hawaii and painting wedding henna. Creating henna, indigo & harquus body art on a grand scale!

8 . What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

I'd like my art to pay my bills and more! I'd like my art to help me travel the world, and help others with what I create, especially the indigenous cultures my chosen mediums come from.

9. What does art mean to you?

Art is a dialogue with the divine.

Who is Stella Snead?

In my ART travels around the internet, New Mexico keeps on coming up as this crazy creative hub.
I personally have been to New Mexico on two cross country road trips and on those trips I have always been drawn to Sante Fe. I am enamored by the energy of this place. I even had contemplated going to graduate school there and I hope in the near future to visit the mystical Chaco Canyon. "Click Here" to check it out. The Chaco culture was rich with astro architecture which is one of my loves and fascinations.It would be amazing to create some Eco-Art in the canyon.

I had stated in an earlier post when I think of New Mexico, I think of the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. I was so excited to find this discovery "Women Artist Pioneers of New Mexico-We’ve been lucky since the late 1800s".
Expanding my art history knowledge of female artists. Why are we not taught about these artists at college in Western Art History.

As quoted in the article "In the first half of the 20Th century, the state was a haven for such women, a place where they could escape the overcrowding and social restrictions of more formal East-coast cities, don trousers and ride their horses across sage-dotted desert. Like their male counterparts, these painters, sculptors, print makers and photographers found a welcoming network of like-minded pioneers who drew inspiration from the landscape and the spiritual life of the Hispanic and Native American people. But unlike the men, these artists' names are largely unknown."

One of the women featured in the article was Stella Snead.
Who is Stella Snead? The photo of the woman with the hat is Snead. Man her art is awesome "Click Here" to check it out.



Here is another artist featured in the article her picture is below.
"Click Here" to see Rebecca Salisbury James work.


These gaps of gender in the patriarchal art world are really unfortunate and it really makes me think about how censored my view of the "Art World" is. I guess that is what this Blog Art is Moving is all about giving voice or awareness to ALL.

Inquiry:
What if in our Western art history books there would be a balance between female and male artists?
Why and how did New Mexico become a refuge for many female artists in the 20Th century?
Is there another place on the globe that is a haven for female artists in this century?

New Mexico Why Are You Such Creative Sanctuary?
New Mexico Why Are You Such Creative Hub?
Is it the land?
All insights are welcome!

I wish I could say I enjoyed the exhibtion.

Has anyone else been out and about to see the new exhibition at the Yerba in San Francisco? Renee Green is soloing in a show entitled : Endless Dreams and Time-Based Streams. I love the title and was really excited to attend the opening party. Walking into the show, first things first, I see minimalist photographs of an installation from years past for the viewer to peer into for hours. I thought to myself at this moment, "I think I am going to love this show." I only wish that feeling would have stayed.

The rest of the evening was a struggle. I left with sore eyes and a tired mind. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. And visually speaking I thought it was only ok. There were certain aspects to the work that I appreciated. The artist is clearly a naturalist and categorizes her entire life-I can certainly relate to that. But, if I am honest, the visual aesthtics were lacking. And the work did not feel approachable.

The artist is clearly a poet and an outstanding writer. The voices streaming over the intercom was a wonderfully added effect.

Am I missing something?

I always think to myself when I leave a show feeling the way I did two Fridays ago, perhaps this is what the artist wanted. Maybe it is, but it isn't what I want from my art experience.