Art In Your Pocket: Review by Kony Kim

A few weeks back, the mailwoman brought me a tiny cardboard box, sealed with a sticker bearing a playfully mysterious symbol (a snail shell / rip curl / snake eating itself). It was just barely smaller than a deck of cards. What could it hold?

When I opened it, I unleashed a little explosion of fun. Look what happened:

Art-in-my-pocket turned into doodlescape-on-my-desktop!

Great fun perpetrated with minimal materials. One pencil, one marker, three random crayons, four teensy paper cards. Plus a steel sharpener (which can double as a stencil for the letter "i" or "h," or the silhouette of a block of cheese bitten on either side by a wide-mouthed monster). Plus an eraser (in case you feel like working on an even-teensier, 3D, slightly more rubbery canvas).

Anyway, the sparseness of media is lovely. It impelled me to simply grab what was there and go to town with my right brain. And then, as usual, my left brain kicked in and decided to impose some order on the scene. (He likes to toss in his two cents after right brain and I have gone for a romp; it makes him feel useful.)

Thanks to Lisa and Lauren, who catalyze creative fun in the streets with their Art Cart, and in cyberspace with www.artismovingnow.com! The fortune-cookie artsy quote that came with my kit was a gem from Joan Miro: "The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel." Kudos to L & L for channeling wonderful currents of energy in lives and public spaces across the country!

~ Get some art in your pocket: www.iheartartinyourpocket.com

Those Vermin Are So Damn Cute! Art in Your Pocket Review

Art is Moving discovered artist Jamie Burmeister and his ever growing Vermin tribe, while we were on our virtual artist interview road trip series called I am an Artist.Jamie is an artist who lives and works in Nebraska, but his Vermin's are traveling around the world. You can track their journey on Vermin.Me. 

We had asked Jamie, I mean the Vermin to check our new art advocacy product Art in Your Pocket and those little Vermin went to town. They are so damn cute!! Jamie said," I left it on a desk in my studio and the vermin got to.  They set up a busy art studio.  I think they like it. "   

You can check out his amazing post on Vermin. Posterous.

I love that you little creative Verminites were having so much fun with Art in Your Pocket. When Lauren and I saw this post both we were both laughing out loud. We love it!!  

We like you little guys (Vermin's) have a big vision and we want Art in Your Pocket to travel the globe activating creativity and imagination in the global zeitgeist. 

Thanks again Vermin's for being part of our process!

Feedback about Art in your Pocket

Although critique was always the most dreaded class in graduate school it was inevitably the most important.  Art is Moving wants to provide something to the world that is beneficial and useful.  In order to make sure we are doing that we need to know what you and everyone else thinks!  So, we sent Art in your Pocket to a few of our friends and here is what they have to say so far.

Have an opinion?  Want to tell us what you think of our new product?

Post a comment below and tell us your first impression of Art in your Pocket.  We will randomly pick a winner and send him/her one for FREE!

All you will have to do is send us a photo of you using Art in your Pocket that we can post in our online gallery and tell us what you think.

Check out what some folks think of 

Art in your Pocket:

"They sent me their Art in Your Pocket kit  to review. 

I left it on a desk in my studio and the vermin got to.  They set up a busy art studio. I think they like it."

 Artist Jamie Burmeister, amazing series Vermin.Me

"Just thoughts that came to mind as I used the kit myself. I think Lisa and Lauren over at Art Is Moving are doing AMAZING work with their ArtCart and this kit is a natural progression coming out of the cart experiences. It's a way of providing the cart experiences without the cart, without having to be where they are in any given day -- like mailing the cart experience off in the post for people to have Art In Your Pocket wherever you are. Hope it really takes off for them! Hope all they are doing can become pilot programs for art programs that can be replicated everywhere! That would be very cool!"
Transformational Artist, Grief and Creativity Coach,  heArt artist Kara L C Jones (Mother Henna)

Lauren and I are super excited to read these reviews and to witness the positive experiences that are artist friends/colleagues had with Art in Your Pocket. It seemed to activate creativity. As a collaborative team we uberly enthusiastic (to put it mildly) about the power of art and its importance in all our daily lives. 

These reviews really give us a lot of fire to persist in our mission to make a world where EVERYONE has access to art and makes art everyday.  Much gratitude to all who participated. 

As Art is Moving's eternal mantra is "Lets talk about ART." We appreciate and welcome all comments and conversations about Art and Art in Your Pocket. 

I like to call AIYP, art advocacy on the fly! ~Lisa

What do you all think it is?

Put some ART in your POCKET!

We at Art is Moving are always pushing our own boundaries as we feel artists of our society should always be experimenting.  So, with that in mind we challenged ourselves to find a way to make the ARTcart more accessible on a global scale.

We came up with ART IN YOUR POCKET.

What is Art in your Pocket?

Simply stated it is a pocket sized ARTcart.  A box of supplies that you can carry in your pocket and have with you at all times. Engage and Activate your imagination anywhere and everywhere. So, when you need a break, have an idea, are bored, or just need to relax your Art in your Pocket will be there for you.

Our introductory price for Art in your Pocket is just $10!  

You may purchase them individually, by the half dozen ($56), dozen ($96), or case of 24 ($170).

To purchase now, click HERE.

How did we get here?

As you know Art is Moving is dedicated to our mission of opening the doors of the art world so that everyone can participate.  We think one of the first steps to completing this mission is to get art in the HANDS of everyone. 

The first step we took on our mission to open the doors of the art world was through creating this blog and starting our community art project, ARTcart!  We brought art to the masses by setting up our ARTcart on random street corners and inviting people to make art for free.  We have had great success with this project and have noticed strangers become friends while making art together and watched people find their creative selves once again.

We are always buzzing with new ideas whenever we take the ARTcart out on the town and, in fact, it was during one or our ARTcart events that we came up with ART in your POCKET.  We think it will widen the reach of the ARTcart.  Although we have created a way to make the ARTcart more mobile, it is not easy to travel from state to state or country to country with an ARTcart.  We feel like ART in your POCKET is the next best thing!  It is super mobile and also affordable.

In an attempt to literally make art accessible to everyone across the globe we will take 10% of every sale we make to send art supplies and Art in your Pockets to those who cannot afford it.  So, thanks in advance for your purchase.  Not only are you helping yourself you are helping others.  Yay for being awesome!

This week is dedicated to this new project.  We have given away a few Art in your Pockets in order to get some feedback from our friends.  We will be giving away a few more this week as well.  Look for posts with promotions, other projects similar to Art in your Pocket, feedback and more.  This is going to be a great week!

Answer - Experiments in Creativity #4 - Wonderment

*CLICK HERE to read the Assignment for this "Answer"

Well, to be completely honest, this experiment was a bit challenging for me.  I think there are several reasons why.  I am distracted lately as I am preparing for a Craft Fair the first weekend of December that I need to make upcycled purses for.  I will be out of town soon and feel as though I am unprepared for the break and need to pack in as much work as possible.  So, whenever I tried to get myself to concentrate on this experiment the checklist in my mind would not leave me alone.  So, mentally it took a while to get into this experiment.  And, not being able to rely on Photography or Printmaking made it even oh so much harder.

Out of slight desperation I looked up the word "wonderment" in the dictionary in hopes that it might inspire some creativity.  Out of the entire definition the word curiosity stuck with me the most.  I love that word.  I think being curious leads to the search for knowledge.  So, I started pondering the idea of "a cup of knowledge" or something of the sort.  I decided to create containers for wonderment.  Places one can keep their passing thoughts, epiphanies, desires, research ideas, whatever until they are ready to dive deep into the subject and come back having learned something new.

So, there you have it.  My wonderment bowls made from a dictionary.

Are You What You Eat?

Yesterday as I was doing my morning ritual of coffee and surfing the Internet to find interesting Art happenings and news to put on our AIM's Facebook Fan Page, I discovered this amazing story on NPR called Food Photo Friday: What's In Your Fridge?  It was an expose' of the photography series by artist Mark Menjivar called You are What You Eat. 

I instantly resonated with this series. My own relationship with my Fridge has always been a little tenuous.

Lisa's Fridge~Breath so clean and empty

For me my Fridge is one of the places a person can have a psychological revelation about him/herself. It is like the inside of a purse or a car. It is a stash for the present that will soon become the forgotten past. I feel like it is akin to the Myers Briggs Test.

I have to admit tidiness is not one of my virtues. As some of you know I just moved from Berkeley to SoCal and as always when I move the Fridge is the last thing I want to deal with.  As I was cleaning out my Fridge I found a zillion half empty bottles of some kind of sauce, that could be described as salad dressing. soy or ketchup. I also found a couple things that were actually growing.  I had to scrape away and scrub off a lot of mysterious things.   With our new space I have decided to go with the Mindfulness that my Fridge would be a well maintained space.  I will not waste.  Left overs will always be used.

*Just an FYI we have been eating in at least six days a week.*  


What does my "new" Fridge tell about me? Do I eat too many eggs.  Perhaps I am not planing for the future.

And here is Lauren's fridge.  What does it have to say today?

Lauren's Fridge - Random and just a touch of chaos

This series is amazing because it is an intimate and honest portrait of who you are through the lens of your mundane and everyday items.  I really love this series, You are What You Eat.  and in a feverish Aries moment I contacted Mark and asked him for an interview. He wrote back instantly with a YES!!  

Look for his interview in the near future!! 

We would also love if you all want to play, "What does your Fridge look like?" while we wait for our answers from Mark! 

Send us an image at artismoving@gmail.com

We will post it ASAP. 

Or post it directly to our AIM Facebook Page

Thanks!

Lisa

A studio is a studio is a studio. Or not.

So, I moved from a one bedroom aparment into a 3 bedroom house at the beginning of the month.  There are rooms that are pretty much empty because my husband and I don't have the furniture to fill it.  I have to say I feel really spoiled.  It is so awesome to have space to just breathe. 

I am even more spoiled with my new studio space.  I didn't fully realize how much my space was effecting my art making.  For the last 6 months or so I haven't been creating.  I have been up in my head and not physically creating what I am thinking about.  I felt like I had a hit a wall and couldn't get passed it.  Moving to a studio that is not shared with my storage has really, really helped.  I want to be in there all of the time.  I have so many ideas and really not enough time to create.  It is clean, organized and it feels free from clutter and restriction.  And and extra bonus is that I can separate my "wet" art from my "dry" art and not get printing ink all over my fabric!  YAY!

So, I used to think that artists could create where ever they had to as long as the passion was inside them.  I still believe that's true, but it's a hell of a lot easier to do in a cleaner, bigger, and more organized space.

-Lauren

#4 Experiments in Creativity: Wonderment

 "If all mankind could look through that telescope
it would revolutionize the world." 
                                                      
                                                  Griffith, 1904

For the past couple days I have been trying to think of a challenging Experiment in Creativity to give to Lauren. Thus far this series has been really provocative and for me it has induced a lot of reflection. I think this project affirms that Lauren and I are eternal students and within this series we have chance to stretch are wings in research and in manifestation. 

As I was trying to source up an idea for an experiment, I began looking at all aspects of my life as it is Art and Art is life. Today I visited the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles it was a very interesting experience. In this short visit I was reminded how small we are in the vast universe. I had the amazing experience of looking through the eyes of telescope and in that moment I journeyed into space and I climbed the mountains of the moon. My experience today reminded me that we all get caught up in our daily existence (the grind) and I think at times we forget that we are just a speck in this field of unlimited potential. Shades of wonderment and mystery are everywhere.

Saturn and Venus at the Griffith

With that in mind my inspiration for my Experiment in Creativity assignment is Wonderment.

I want to leave this one open ended. The only rules are you cannot use photography or print making in your creative process.

Have fun and I look forward to seeing your results. ~Lisa

Recording My Moments and Yours

*This post is Lisa's response to Lauren's Experiments in Creativity # 3 Assignment*

Recording My Moments and Yours  

(Externalizing the Internal and the Eternal)

When I first looked at my assignment for Experiments in Creativity I was really challenged. One idea that I had thought of was to capture change through painting with the ocean. I would use water colors. paper. and the Tide to record moments in time.

Then I had an Aha moment. It was like my internal remote control switched to another creative channel as this inspiration was far from my norm.  I started thinking about the date 11/11/10 and the about how as child every time I would see 11:11 on a clock in that moment, I felt that time stood still.  

These are some of musings, stream of consciousness...

Time is an internal moment. Although it is externalized through time keepers like clocks and photographs.  Memories and thoughts are internal. Externalized moments are always subjective and internal. I started thinking about the various internal chatters that go on with in us, the Muse, the Inner Critic, the manager, the child, the judge,the mother and so one. In Psychology they call these internal voices our Subpersonalities  
What if at any given moment in time you would put the chatter on pause and record it. What would happen?

Also, as latent social phobic I am so curious about what is going on in people’s minds. Most of us social phobs are really sensitive and our really good at projecting a lot off our own stuff on to the "other" In my personal creative process I started recording the interesting things that people say to me randomly on the street and in public space in series called Collecting Random Interactions. In a way to honor that interaction and connection.

11/11/10 was a great opportunity to interface with the public and to ask them to engage with my experiment in creativity. From 2:00 pm to 11:00pm I was exhibiting my own Art and debuting my new crazy cat Art that I call Kitty Bliss at the second Thursday downtown LA art walk in the historic and haunted Hotel Alexandria. This amazing space is dilapidated, mysterious,radiant, and  beautiful. As I was hanging my paintings on the walls in the amazing Palm Court ballroom I could sense its history. In its heyday from 1911 to 1922, it was the scene of speeches by U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. It is also the room where Rudolph Valentino danced with movie starlets, and where Hollywood held its most significant balls during the early days of the motion picture business. Known for its history and its stained-glass Tiffany skylight, noted Los Angeles columnist Jack Smith called it "surely the most beautiful room in Los Angeles." http://tinyurl.com/yj3ufjj

Again this concept of memories and moments emerge, as well as change as in the 1900's the Alexandria was luxury celebrity hotel and now it was a funky low income housing facility, which was known for its haunted bar.

Here is how my Creative Experiment played out at LA Art walk:

• 1.  I had sign up sheet with the title of my experiment (Moments, Recording my moments and yours.)

• 2.  The experiment was very simple at a random times on 11/11 I would ask a stranger who came into my Art space "what are you thinking right now"? and they would respond in one word.

• 3.  Then I asked them to document it on a sheet of paper-with the time, their one thought, and their name.

* I have to mention there was absolutely no resistance from any of the participates. They were actually excited to play and thanked me for the engagement. And I had a fun time facilitating it. I am still thinking about the results and the connections that were made just by taking the time to ask a stranger what is on their mind.

Here are the results of random and captured moments

 

2:50 PM                           Life                                         Bruce

3:10 PM                Algebra                            Joel

4:00PM                 Beauty                                  Chris

4:56 PM                Unknown                            Michael

5:00PM                 Unfettered                         Kathy

5:00PM                 Success                                                Lisa

5:55PM                 Artistic                                  Nancy

                                Yahoo                                   Lisa

6:20PM                 Jackolantern                      Cory

                                Home                                    Gillian

6:46PM                 Total Peace                         Aashed

6:55PM                 Journey                                                David

                                Feline                                    Mirami

7:13PM                 Happiness                           Angie

7:26PM                 Green                                   Lenina

8:05PM                 Revisiting                             Aaron

8:22PM                 Edward                                 Waylon

8:30PM                 Haunted                              Ben

8:42PM                 Optimism                            Edwin

9:11PM                 Breathe                                                Chris

9:11PM                 Bliss                                       Jonathan

9:12PM                 Intrigued                             Christine

9:21PM                 Blast                                      Bradley

9:49PM                 WOW                                    Joel

10:01PM              Fun                                        Richard

10:02                     Joy                                         Liz

10:10PM              Life                                         Violeta

10:24PM              Tweed                                  Jik

10:42PM              Depth                                   Zack

‎"All minds are joined. Every time you have a thought, 

it affects every thought in the world." 

- Marianne Williamson

I going to leave this open ended. 

What are your thoughts? 

And what is the one word that is on your mind right NOW? As always comments appreciated!

~Lisa

Untitled

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
-Juliet

Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare

So, what is in a name exactly?  How many of you out there go straight to the title of an artwork before you even look at the art itself?  How important is a title to something that is supposed to be visual? 

I have gone back and forth with my own art sometimes feeling that the art should speak for itself and need no other explanation.  But, sometimes I like to play a bit with words and meaning, and the title of a work is one of the best places to do this.

 
The Little Bay at La Ciotat

1907

Georges Braque (1882-1963)

What would happen to the visual art world experience if everything were Untitled?  I feel like that puts more pressure on an artist to create visual work that sends their message clearly (if they want to send a message) because there is no place for a short description or clue.

Leg me, chair me, love me.

2009

Diango Hernandez

What role do you think the title plays when it comes to a work of art?  And, how important is the title when it comes to a work of art?

Strange and Fantastic Happenings at LACMA

 Last Sunday I went to LACMA for the very first time. I  was checking out the Fallen Fruit exhibition and their radical expression performance finale, which was called  Eat LACMA.
What a strange and fantastic event. It was art for the masses with direct experiences galore.  I was so impressed how it was really challenging the ethos of the traditional art museum. I keep on wanting call this happening Forbidden Fruit, as they were really challenging the status quo. My favorite and most surprising installation was in  the permanent collection of European Paintings  on the third floor. It was a Spanish Still Life Alonso de, Circa 1625  of a butcher shop, that was enhanced by a multi-sensory audio of the slicing of carcasses. And then  as I strolled into the next gallery,what did I find? A naked man (Adam` from Adam and Eve~I believe), he was bearing a leaf  and gazing at work. Loved it! What a great initiation to the LA art scene.

Interactive Performance Art, Tomato Food Fight

Kids feeding each other!

Edible donut installation

Shades of Josephine Baker

I look forward to doing more research about  Fallen Fruit and its collaborators. Art is Moving would love to interview some of the artists involved. Lets see if we can make that happen. ~ Lisa

I am an Artist: Lisa Shoemaker, South Dakota

.  "Color provokes a psychic vibration. Color hides a power still unknown

but real, which acts on every part of the human body." 

 Wassily Kandinsky  

 It seems Lisa's intuitively understands the meaning of Kandinsky's quote. When I look at her work it definitely demonstrates this quality. I  would describe it as organic planes of pulsating color. 
What comes up for you?  ~ Lisa (Art is Moving)

Why are you an artist?

For me, that question is similar to asking me why I breath oxygen. I've been an artist as long as I've been conscious; its part of who I am. Why I chose to make art my profession is a question I can answer. Making art for myself now and again wasn't enough, I wanted to do it all the time, I wanted to see what I am capable of creating and expressing as an artist, and I wanted to show my artwork to as many people as possible.

How does nature, the land, landscape, and the environment affect your creativity?

All four of them are my creative life-blood. I derive inspiration from them whether I'm driving, walking, or sitting. The inspiration comes from colors, lighting, cloud and land formations, trees, grass, dirt, animal bones, shadows, motions created by wind, sounds, and even silence. They've taught me that perfection isn't natural, that beauty can be violent, that there is more going on than what one sees superficially, and that the majority of humans are intimidated by these four elements.

Can you talk about the Journey Women project?

This project  http://www.shoemakervzlart.com/svas/Exhibit_-_Journey_Women.html  was initiated by another South Dakota artist, Ginny Frietag. She envisioned a twelve month long project that involved 12 women artists each creating a Journey Woman (sculpture doll) and journal that would be passed each month to one of the other artists. Each artist would make additions to the Journey Woman and make an entry in that Journey Woman's journal. Initially I was hesitant to be part of the project. I am a painter - the last sculpture I had done was 30 years ago - what could I contribute to Journey Women? But as Journey Women moved along from concept to a definite project I realized how fun it was going to be to interact with other women artists, to see their creative processes, and to push myself beyond 2-dimensional creative thinking. As the project progressed I realized that it wasn't just a "journey" of Journey Women from artist to artist, the project also reflected a year's journey of the 12 artists involved, a journey through our lives. My Journey Woman's name is "Without Name" http://www.shoemakervzlart.com/svas/Exhibit_-_Journey_Women.html#5  http://www.shoemakervzlart.com/svas/Exhibit_-_Journey_Women.html#6  . She was called forth from deep beneath the ancient cottonwood tree. She walks between this world and the below-world – where life is called forth; death is escorted; and Cedar, Cottonwood, and Grass announce Wind's arrival.

What is the role of color in your work?

Color is the primary voice in my work. I use it to express the polarity I observe in nature, portray the feelings I have regarding the painting's subject, and help move the viewer's eye through the painting. With my current body of work I am minimizing color's tint, value, and tone to conceptualize the elements of change: fear, confusion, abandonment. 

Social Question: Please check out this article http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

Do you believe that our culture's creativity is in crisis? If so, what do you propose be done?

Yes I do think our culture's creativity is in crisis. For one, I think our culture's mindset needs to change: currently it is too focused on productivity, profitability, conformity, and celebrity while creativity is looked upon as day-dreaming, unproductive, wasteful, and occasionally, attention-deficit. The non-teaching adults in our culture need to be educated on the beneficial aspects of promoting, encouraging and using creative thought - that it should be a priority in our culture. Our school system's regents, administrators and boards need to keep, return and increase the amount of educational courses and materials that nurture creative thinking among children and young adults. Most importantly, I think our culture has stopped allowing children to be children - free-form play is no longer acceptable, it has to be  coached, managed, supervised, and timed. Children need timelessness, space to roam, and encouragement to create their own worlds and interact with other children without interference from adults. Unfortunately, our work culture makes it very difficult for parents to have time to allow their children to run and play through the neighborhood while keeping watch on them out the "corner of their eyes". Perhaps we should redesign our culture's day-care and after-school programs to allow for more child's play. And I also think technology, in the form of television, computer/internet, and gaming, has unleashed an addiction that gets its claws into humans as soon as they can start talking. This not only interferes with humans' creativity but their communication skills, socialization, brain development, and physical well-being. Our culture needs to start taking this addiction seriously and develop ways to counteract and manage it instead of encouraging profits. 

What is the role of the artist in our society?

I think the artist acts as society's conscience and barometer: an artist observes and experiences things long before it arrives in the mainstream culture. Its my opinion that most of the time it's a passive role because artists are too busy creating artwork and working non-art jobs, but occasionally an artist sums up the energy to actively take on an issue that really boils her or his marrow. 

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

In five years I see myself continually exhibiting my artwork beyond South Dakota, and exploring more of my creative capabilities.

What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

My ultimate goal is to see how far my creativity can expand to constantly keep my work challenging. I also hope to have my work seen and known world-wide.

What does art mean to you?

To me art means having an avenue to point out things, figuratively and imaginatively, in our world that most humans overlook due to inattentiveness, disinterest, fearfulness, ignorance.