Art is Moving: Logos Inspiration

As Art is Moving is evolving we have been trying to create a logo for ourselves. And Lauren came up with this amazing design. I can best describe as a yin and yang wave. Not sure why but this image made me think and today as I was chillin on my hammock I had a flash of inspiration.



From it I began to think of the Japanese calligraphy and the symbol of the
Enso . As an "expression of the
moment" it is often considered a form of minimalist expressionist art.
And how Art is Moving is all about that.



Then I thought of the internal wave and how it looked like a baby fern, which is total symbol of primal growth. And how art is and its creative process is about instinctual empowerment and growth.



With that said I busted out six calligraphy sketches for our logo.
Gosh I am becoming a conceptual artist :)



Which one do your prefer?

It is amazing how creativity is sparked by change or movement of some kind.

The ARTcart adventure: End to Beginning...

Our work is done for today. We will see you at the ARTcart this Friday, June 25
at Kimbell Field, Steiner and Geary in San Francisco 11-2 p.m.

Our next step is the world--this is our grand vision. We will continue our march and eventually we will have an army of ARTcart's around the world. Right know I am envisioning the DVM in Oakland and the Lourve in Paris is in our near future! Lets make this happen!



Lauren and I on the BART showing off our painted hands on our way back home from our amazing day. Man I was tuckered out!! What a great day it was! We provided art for free to over 400 children and adults. Thanks Mo'Magic for supporting us.




Wow!! I loved this kids drawing! It is interesting we get more young females than young males creating at the ARTcart. What is that all about! Creativity is not cool for the Alpha :( wannabees-- we need to shift that up. This little guy was amazing!



This made my day! The little girl named Sara was having some much fun at the ARTcart! She wrote a thank you letter to us--thanking us for letting her draw and paint for free! Change maker she is!



The ARTcart outside city hall. Where is the mayor is he afraid to create :) That might be a challenge! Mayor Gavin Newsom please join us at the ARTcart.



“Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

Pablo Picasso

What an awesome Celebration!

Our friends from the Black Hut stopped by to support our cause!! And connected with some amazing artists.

First there was a rally in front of city hall and here come the 400 kids!

Check out our new sign! We made the A-frame from two canvas and painted it for under thirty bucks. AIM is thinking about setting at least four empty a-frames up so folks can collaborate on one painting.

AIM is so responsible :) Could that be a vice? We were the first ones to set up our table.

Our plan went according to Hoyle. It was perfect in my imagination it kind of felt like an arty scene from the movie Oceans Eleven as Lauren entered the first car on the BART to meet me.

Lauren chill'n on BART with out mobile ARTcart. It is brilliant how we can travel so easy around town. We have done this so much the set up is a breeze. We are looking to franchise the ARTcart soon in a new paradigm way!

On Monday June 21st, 2010 on Summer Solstice the ARTcart had a gig outside of city hall in San Francisco. I was really excited and got to BART a little to early. I hopped on the 9:10 am train to San Francisco in the first car. Lauren was to hop on at the next stop.




Summer Soltice ritual --facilitate creating art for free for all.

Let the journey begin.
VIVA la ARTcart!

-namaste, lisa

Art in Response.

I know that both Lisa and I have been watching the horrific Gulf Coast oil spill for the last few months. There are so many things wrong with this situation. For me, I jump first to selfishness, lack of community awareness, lack of accountability...and much more. I know that there are many people out there that do not take ownership of their actions. They do not recognize that every single one of their actions has a reaction. This is a perfect example of not only a person doing that, but an entire company.

As an artist who is in the midst of trying to create work that captures those moments and people of the past setting up the world we exist in today, I feel that this event is a perfect example of an event today that is creating the world of tomorrow and the next day, forever.

So, on that note, I want to show what BP's negligence has done to the art world. Here are some artworks created in the last few months in reaction to the Gulf Oil Spill of April 20, 2010.

• Eleven year old Olivia Bouler has been selling her paintings of birds in order to raise money for the birds suffering from the oil spill. Check out the full article HERE.

• Greenpeace did a call for new logos for BP because "BP's slick green logo doesn't suit a company that engages in dangerous offshore drilling. We're inviting you to design them a new logo that's more suitable for their dirty business." There have been 1400 photos submitted. Here are just a few. To see more, CLICK HERE.
  

• The Daily Beast has created a gallery of art inspired by the oil spill:

Artist: Cynthia Scott

Artist: Ron Bechet

Has the oil spill influenced your art? I am still in the brainstorming stage, but I would really like to make an artwork that visually represents the future that this disaster is creating for us. Any thoughts/ideas?

Our Diary: Collecting Hubris, Haughty and Angry-Art Teacher Stories

"You are hopeless."
her high school art teacher laughs at her art and made her switch to Shop class instead. This was the story I heard today at our school BBQ from Lauren who is one of the Counselors were I teach art.

What is your worst art teacher experience?
Why is this prevalent in the art education experience?

Let me preface this conversation with I am art teacher/therapist. As an art teacher/therapist/mentor. My Rule number one is to create a safe container/space where judgement is suspended for creativity and imagination to flourish. The seed has to grow and then you can trim it a bit,just like a rose-when it is bloom. Maybe I became an art teacher rectify my trauma.

Also, a major goal of Art is Moving's is to get more people to create and to talk about their art experience. The more that I speak to people about their own childhood art experience, the more the conversation tends to shift to a moment of trauma. They usually share with me a horror story of how an art teacher killed their creativity.

Here is mine...
"In fifth grade we were making crafty clay turtles. My teacher Ms. Bison (who was a nun--although it was a public school) saw my turtle and she got really angry. She became furious in a Joan Crawford (no wire hangers)like way and she was like this is all wrong!! Then she totally destroyed it." I was astonished and really hurt! I really liked what I had created. This moment did not kill my creativity, but I was psychologically scared. At this time my fierce judgement archetype of myself was formed and em blazed into my being.

What is your worst art teacher experience?
I really want to hear your stories. Please send them to artismoving@gmail.com
I also want to know did this stop you from creating?

Our Diary: Creativity takes Courage!

As part this amazing collaborative team of (AIM) I am the main facilitator of our Facebook posts. And quite honestly I am kind of obsessed with this task. At times I become over zealous with sharing what I have found.
The Internet to me is like being a kid in a candy store. It gives me the ability to research art around the globe! And I love it!
Thinking about it from this assignment, I have adopted a morning ritual of drinking coffee, hanging with my cats, staring, checking my e-mail and then I search on the Internet for interesting art news to post on our Art is Moving Facebook page. I always joke with my boyfriend that I have to appease our fans.

I usually start my Internet surfing with the BBC Arts and Culture page and then surf over to the New York Times Arts and Design Page .
If find nothing of interest there I go to the Green Museum and then Art News I have a huge list of sites I frequent. Here is my top ten in random order.

BBC
NEW YORK TIMES
GREEN MUSEUM
ART NEWS
www.telegraph.co.uk
NPR Art and Life
www.theartnewspaper.com
treehugger.com
www.utne.co
www.yesmagazine.org

At times I might put a random word into the search engine like activism art. I usually source some amazing art quotes to post this way.

Today what popped up was
On Trial For My Art: Owen Maseko Speaks



Wow- I worked at a Shona Art Gallery for a couple years and I began hearing about the terror that was happening in that country. The artists that I represented were under a lot oppression. From my search I found this amazing and brave artist Owen Maseko. He really embraces Creativity that takes Courage!!! I would like to write more, but I think it will be a process. I feel as a Western artist I am a little ashamed at all are extravagance and hedonism. The artist Ego is so dominate in the art world. Maseko is a change maker and for me that is an important role for us as artists. Our work should not just match the couch, but challenge the status quo! Or at the very least make us think!

If you have heard of or know of any couragous artists we would love to feature them. Please e-mail us there info at artismoving@gmail.com or post in our comment section. Or better yet share it on our Facebook page! Also, send us your favorite art resource!

The ARTcart strikes again at The Layover

We had a great time last night at The Layover in Downtown Oakland helping raise money for Movimiento, a movement for learning, healing and social change. Their mission is "to nourish a youth movement for learning, healing and social change through food/water sustainability, cultural leadership, entrepreneurship, indigenous youth initiatives, and international solidarity work."



It was so great to take the ARTcart to a new venue again. Bars have such a different vibe than having the cart on the street. There was a good crowd and folks were just coming up to our table and taking art supplies and drinking beer and making art! It was so much fun to see. There was a couple that just sat right down and created art for over an hour. We will definitely be back there again in the near future. Our minds were spinning with tons of tangents and future ideas for the ARTcart project.


If you want to donate to Movimiento's cause, click here.

I am an Artist: Elizabeth Blevins

1. Why are you an artist?
I’ve always enjoyed art and I’ve dabbled in just about everything…but my father was a photographer when I was little so I think it’s in my blood.

2. What is the role of the portrait in your work?
For several years I focused primarily on fine-art prints and portraits didn’t really factor in too much. But just in the last few months I’ve really shifted my focus and now I do almost nothing but portraits. But…I try not to do the standard…kind of static portrait. I always offer to do hair and makeup and I always have a theme in mind and provide lots of wardrobe choices. It’s like glamour shots to the extreme. Portraits should tell a story.


3. Is there a comment that someone said about your art that has stuck with you? If so, what is it?
In 2009 I actually quit taking photos for a few months. Then a very old friend of mine started to experience some real success with her work and one day I told her to keep being fearless as a photographer. I was so envious of her at the time…not of the success but of the work she was creating, and I realized I needed to let go of everything. Every bit of criticism I’d ever heard, all of my expectations and preconceived ideas…and just go into each shoot as fearless and fresh as possible. It made a huge difference in how I view each shoot but more importantly I’m enjoying photography all over again.

4. Why do you use the medium you do?
I have what my kids call ‘delusions of grandeur’ where I think I can be a fashion designer, or an interior decorator or any number of things. Photography allows me to play with so many different mediums on a smaller scale. One week I’m making a bustle for a period style shoot and the next I’m hacking up dowel rods to be pretend fireworks. And I get to be creative throughout the entire process from conceiving of an initial concept to making props to editing the actual photos. There’s never a dull moment.

5. How do you come up with ideas/compositions for your artwork?
I find ideas everywhere! Lyrics on the radio will inspire me or finding a particularly amazing vintage dress in a thrift shop will evolve into a shoot. I spend hours browsing the internet looking at fashion editorials from foreign magazines and prowling around craft shops and yard sales. You really never know when inspiration will strike but you try to stay open to it when it does.



6. What role does nostalgia play in your work?
I guess because I use so many vintage pieces it plays a large role. I’m sort of partial to the 1920’s-1940’s. Lately I’ve been very inspired by anything noir in nature and find myself looking for any reason to use a bowler hat or cigarette holder in another shoot.

7. What is the role of the artist in our society? and in Oklahoma?
I think the term ‘artist’s has really been redefined with the advent of the internet. Self-representing artists have so many venues at their disposal in which to show their work, and the idea of art coming from a glossy gallery in NYC and only being available to the very rich is a thing of the past. And that’s fabulous…but it also made it so much more competitive. I think it’s important to create a style uniquely specific to you and your work in addition to being very accomplished at what you do.

8. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?
With my own studio space! My family would be thrilled to not trip over red velvet platform shoes I forgot to pick up after a photo shoot and I’d be thrilled to have a space where I can create indoor backdrops. I try to shoot outside with natural light, but winter makes that so hard.

9. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?
I would love to take everything to the extreme. Bigger sets, more props, grander concepts and a fabulous wardrobe. Someday I’d love to have an entire team to collaborate with on all of this. I have so much fun doing what I do, but it’s even more fun when my daughters or husband get involved and help with the details.



10.What does art mean to you?
I think it should just be pretty. If you can hang it on your wall and think…’I’m still gonna wanna look at this in five years‘…it’s art. There are posters hanging on light posts on Hollywood Blvd. that would blow your mind with their creativity. I’d frame that and hang it. Art is one of those rare mediums where you can literally throw out all the rules and just do what makes you happy.


To see more of Elizabeth's work, check out her blog: http://dishy-girls.blogspot.com/

Alive and Mortal: Blogger Interview Series

Tell us your story.

Significant losses when I was young and my own brush with death at age 17 meant that I did not get to sustain the denial of death that our culture nurses. I found solace among the spiritual and creative, so I started learning about impermanence, grief, loss, death, spirituality, art and creativity. I was volunteer-leading general expressive arts workshops for non-profits as an act of service throughout these years. I was working as a professional event producer in Los Angeles when my beloved young partner Brian was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was a transformative and sacred process. With his passing, the only thing I could do in my profound state of grief was engage myself in expressive art. I knew that the time had finally come to commit fully to working with the topic of the grief of impermanence, something I felt uniquely qualified to do. So, I was ready to found Alive and Mortal.

Tell us about your Alive and Mortal Blog.

The name represents a very important alchemy of words. These two terms: alive and mortal – they dialogue back and forth and inform each other.

What do the words "Expressive Arts" mean to you?

First, a distinction between art and creativity. On the macro level, one can be creative in every aspect of existence. The macro-medium is your life itself – your energy, intellect, choices, self-invention, relationships and imagination. Everyone is creative to some degree or another. All artistic tools can be excellent micro-mediums to interact with the macro-medium of your life story to increase creative living. In this way, the medium and its mastery takes a back seat to the person and their process. Expressive arts can be anything creative and expressive. The goal is not a beautiful piece of art, but a beautiful piece of awareness. Alive and Mortal expressive arts focuses on impermanence, but that does not always look maudlin. In fact, it can often be full of beauty and life.

What are the Pros and Cons of Blogging?

The pros are ample. I have wanted a work that was not geographically constrained. The blog provides better odds to find collaborative relationships - people who are ready and wanting the personal work or to engage in the larger cultural work. One down side of blogging is that I am essentially a private person, balancing my need for privacy with being honest and transparent has been an ongoing internal dialogue with this work.

Do you feel Art can be a form of Service?

Without a doubt.

What role does social media play in the world of the arts, art therapy, and the artist?

I cannot really speak so broadly to the world of the arts and the artist. I can speak a little about art therapy for grief and social media. My travels have shown me that grief and death support are not easily accessible. Even in larger urban centers have few good, solid, consistent and frequent support groups. So there is a need. Social media may not be as good as in person support, but for someone who cannot find local support that works for them, this is a lifesaver. My website is gearing up to offer real-time expressive arts workshops over the internet. It has been a lot of work and I may miss my target launch date of July... so I will reschedule it for October, I suspect. No one is doing these kinds of expressive arts workshops yet, so it may be a really bad idea, but at least it is my really bad idea! I just finished recording a session and have to edit the material for the website. The one limitation of social media that stands out to me is that there is so much material to wade through. Much of it is repetitious and not all of it is good. When you are grieving it is hard to concentrate and find the material that is most helpful. Many of the blogs are good for catharsis but eventually we will need more than catharsis if we are to truly progress. The ideal healing combination would be for a person to have both online and in-person support systems.

How do think art heals?

There is both science and mystery here. MRI research shows that trauma makes the blood flow in the brain move from the left side to right side of brain. The left side being the area of logic, detail, facts, words and language reside. The right side is feeling and imagination, symbols, images and spatial perception. This is the area that presents possibilities, can be impetuous and risk taking. The body is saying that it needs more than just language and logic to survive a traumatic event. The mystery is ever present, though. I am often humbled by the process of watching people take authority for their own healing and story. We can provide space, time, materials and prompts, but the true heros are the people who are brave and do the hard work. They are amazing and beautiful.

What advise would you give someone interested in starting their own Art Therapy Program?

I am uncertain if you mean that they are wanting to develop programs to offer or if they are looking for a self-led program. The only true requisite is insurance of emotional safety.

Where do you think the arts and healing world is heading?

I am not sure. The premise of traditional therapy is that by speaking one can receive insight and have personal gains. Yet, if insights never get integrated into experiences - liberation can be illusive. As access to psychological services have been cut by medical providers, it is increasingly important to take our mental wellbeing into our own hands. Expressive arts can be affordable and one can make significant timely progress because it integrates insight and action so effectively. It can be done in community or alone. From the art world perspective, art has danced back and forth as an aristocratic privilege throughout history. One has needed leisure from toiling, resources and talent. This has created a wedge between “them” and “us”. Therefore, most people think they are not an “artist” so they cannot be creative. People misunderstand and believe that they have to have “talent” or be “artistic” to participate in expressive arts. Expressive arts leaders need to constantly work with these perceived barriers to make them irrelevant. We must be approachable. Grieving people do not need performance anxiety on top of all their other challenges.

Tell us a little bit about your own art practice.

When given freedom of choice, I reach for graffiti paint supplies. I am not a true street graffiti artist. I borrow the expressiveness, scale, tools and energy of graffiti art. I love the alchemy of working paint in large-scale pieces. The use of gesture in graffiti appeals to me viscerally. It is an art form that evolved among the disenfranchised and this resonates the grieving and dying in our culture. There is something about what is done in secret at night that is made plain in the daylight that echos in my work. I also have an art journal and do digital collages. Digital collages are great when I am traveling. I should add that I have a meditative practice with my artwork. I always light a candle and do a centering prayer with my work.

What does art mean to you?

Since art is a subset of creativity, it is a wonderful part of the whole act of creation, which makes life electric with energy and meaning and links us to the larger creation we are a part of.

To contact Kim go to
www.aliveandmortal.org

Thank you Kim for an awesome interview! Art does heal

I am an Artist: Courtney Jones

Our first Oklahoma artist interview has arrived!

1. Why are you an artist?

Since I was a child, I’ve always loved art and creativity. I have always been intrigued how you could take something as simple as paint and create a window into your imagination and it’s out there for all to see. It’s inspiring and exciting and I love it.

2. What is the role of color in your work?

I use bold and bright colors. I love using them because it creates excitement and it’s something you can never get bored with when you’re painting. When someone looks at my paintings, I want their imaginations to really dance wild and the brighter and bolder, the better.

3. Is there a comment that someone said about your art that has stuck with you? If so, what is it?

I replied to an ad someone had posted online, needing an artist to make a Happy Mothers Day sign for her mother. I sent her the link to my website and she wrote be back with a compliment that has stuck with me since I’ve read it. I still have the e-mail and this is what she wrote: “Your work is lovely. I'm so fortunate to find someone as talented as you to make this gift for my mom. I've had a couple other responses, but nothing of the caliber of artist you are. I'm immediately deleting my ad and I'll send a nice but no thank you note to the others.” That still puts a smile on my face. When you hear something like that from a stranger, it makes you feel that you really do have talent.

4. Why do you use the medium you do?

I use multiple mediums, I paint with oil and acrylic paint, and I also do woodworks. Paintings are my niche. I love to sit in front of a blank canvas, draw a couple outlines with pencil and spend on average about 11 hours filling enveloping the material with the images that I want captured on it. It’s relaxing, exciting and so much fun. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with any of my paintings once they are done. There are always areas that I wish came out a little different, but it usually comes out looking better than what I saw in my mind. Oil is my favorite and I really like using it because there is so much you can do with it Certain oils can give a painting a different look and feel so regardless of what I’m trying to convey with my work, oil can always fulfill what I’m looking to express.


5. Where do your compositions stem from?

Some of my works come from my imagination, and those works are usually bright shapes or flowers. I also like to find photographs that catch my eye, and I’ll paint my own interpretation of what I see in the photo. It’s always exciting because the painting never comes out to look like the photograph, because I usually see and feel something different than what the photographer had captured.

6. Why animals?

The only animal paintings I’ve done are tropical animals, such as toucans and tree frogs. I really like to do tropical themed paintings because I can go as bold and bright with colors as I want to and the finished product always looks and feels alive.

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

In my opinion, the role of an artist is 2 things, to inspire and to aid another’s self expression. For example, someone who does not have a talent for art wants to express themselves and put something bold out there for others to see as a reflection of their own personality. It’s always a great feeling when someone buys or commissions a piece of work from you because they looked to you to express something that they see as them and you are the gateway to what they need. An artists role of inspiration is another amazing feeling when it happens, someone takes the time to look at your work and suddenly you can see it come over them, they’re tapping into their imagination and you can see that they have something going through them that makes them feel something and it’s because of you, because you put it out there for all to see and you’ve accomplished with that piece what you’ve wanted, someone saw something in your work that turned their imagination switch on. It’s an amazing feeling. My role as an artist in Oklahoma is that I would love to have my work on as many walls as possible here, so I know that I’m helping my community smile when they look at my work.

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

I’m really hoping that I can see my work in some galleries and I would really like to do more commission work for my community. In 5 years time, I want to have over 100 more paintings done and I’m hoping that 99 of them will be on the walls of people’s homes and offices.

9. What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

I want to inspire. I want someone to look at my work and feel something they haven’t felt before. I want their imaginations to dance and for them to feel like possibilities are endless. I know I’m asking a lot but it’s the greatest feeling in the world to know that you’ve touched someone at that level. Once you have done that, things can’t be any better. You just want to create more works so you can do it over and over again. I hope that one day I’ll be able to better someone who needs an emotional uplifting. For them to find one of my paintings and just want it on their wall so every time they look at it, they know that there is always tomorrow, regardless of how bad their day has been.


10. What does art mean to you?

It means everything to me. Art is everywhere around you and it’s a perfect dance. Nature produces beautiful works of art and people and then people with a creative side can then create beautiful works of art, and it can be anything from paintings, to buildings or places. Art is a means of self expression and to me, art means a way out of the daily routine and reality. Art, creativity, self expression, all of it makes me smile, makes me want to create and I cannot imagine my life without it.

Check out Courtney's Website: http://courtneyjones.daportfolio.com/