Blog Clog

I am thinking that Blog Clog is somewhat like writer’s block, lots to say, just no way to get it down from the dendrites. Rather than providing an entrée, I shall indulge my inner ADHD and give an appetizer menu of thoughts and observations.

First of two great shows to go see at the Canton Museum is the one by Fredlee Votaw. Pass through the watercolor show and enter his dreams. It is an impressive array of media and skill hung chronologically (and how do we know that? He dates his work!!) that allows one to see his development of thought, images and technique over an expansive career. To be able to see a work from 1985 and one from 2004 which are similar depictions of a quilt and a child could allow me a dream indulgence of my own that these figures were related but of different generations. My personal favorites are his graphite drawings. Being a former drawer myself, I could appreciate his sensitive handling of the media and the patience required to do it well. The sculptural horse with all the nails driven into its surface is also a piece worth your time to go see. There is plenty of meat in this show (not the Gaga kind) so make sure you think about his titles while viewing the pieces. Having a marital connection to the horrors bestowed upon European citizens during WW2, Dr. V’s images of that era are haunting.

The next gallery exhibits 8 pieces by Mark Chepp. I will defer and refer you to the review by fellow blogger Tom Wachunas posted 9/12 on his site which is very good at making sense of the way this artist used the computer for his pieces. I could see the influence of Chuck Close in both scale and imagery. What fascinated me the most was his manipulation of the grid as an element of composition, almost mocking the use of grid enlargement techniques all too prevalent in art education nowadays. His 3 panel “Facebook” really allows one to see the variety of surfaces he is able to create via brush marks and color for a delicious dish of tactile treats. Some of his pieces are so supersaturated and textural that the image almost dissolves off the canvas (on purpose). I wrote two big words in my notebook, energetic and optic, and worth the time to really look at the pieces both up close and far away to appreciate the concepts of Mr. Chepp. Oh and one more thing, he dates his work too!

The Massillon Museum is having its one night silent auction this Saturday to raise funds for a vintage photo booth via the selling of over 80 pieces of donated artwork. The same concept of donated art work was held last night at 2nd April Galerie to raise money and awareness for the Stark County dog pound. (I must admit, I am not used to painting with a hundred pound pit bull sitting right behind me…..). The Canton Repository and Independent will be running an online auction of art to raise money for breast cancer in October. An upcoming project utilizing the talents of local artists will benefit the adoption and foster child programs in our county come November. What is my point? That artists are a generous lot is one way of looking at it. Another would be that people may be tired of spa packages and gift baskets in exchange for their hard earned dollars. Art is a much better long term investment. A third point of view could be that our economy demands creative ways for artists to get their work into the public eye and generate interest so a donation here and there works to benefit of all of us. What are my concerns? Well…I have several. Some I have mentioned before and others I will save for a future blog.

I need to go drink a big cup of “Brain-O” and flush out the fog caused by so many ideas and projects swirling through my mind and stirring up a dust cloud.

A big thank you to all the people who turned out at Porter for my recent presentation. To hear somebody tell me that they the never laugh out loud, but that night they did for the first time in a long time….well then what I do is worth even a little bit of pit bull breath now and then.

Visual Clutter Bothers The Technosaurus

Yes, I am the Technosaurus. Much to the chagrin of my technologically gifted son, I still have trouble with the more complex and multilayered computer functions and other devices of modern society. My older son would gladly join me on this lily pad, the dishwasher fairies being a classic example, but you would be reading my obit if I explained that story any further.

I will confess to being a lurker on the internet. I regularly check out other blogs and websites and such, but don’t become a follower. On several of my other art gallery sites, I have tried to change a simple profile picture and it does not work, even when I follow all the steps listed. That annoys me. I contact the “contact us for problems” link and nobody ever gets back to me…..um, I would call that problem number one in case anybody is keeping count.

I get weekly emails to join this group or that one, so and so wants me to be a “friend”, join, join, join….so I dutifully drop by and see what the fuss is all about it. I finally figured out what it is that annoys me the most about the social network sites, it is the visual clutter. Now don’t get me wrong about my ability to figure all this out, I am a card carrying member of MENSA after all, but the layout of these sites just does not seem logical to me. For a right brainer, I am also inherently very organized and detail oriented, so the scattered nature of images on the small computer screen just really bothers me. They don’t appear visually (artistically) inviting, and with so much text, in so many colors, using little coded language, well…..it seems a waste of my time to sit there and go through it all. Clicking on tiny pictures of people or art (break out the reading glasses) lead me to other places with more type and more comments and more pictures, then we have the arrows, the icons, the advertisements, the flashing this and the scrolling that, toss in some music, and it all just overwhelms my brain. Before I know it, a good chunk of usable work time has flown by and that is an hour of creativity never to be gotten back.

Unfortunately this method of contact and promotion is the way to go if one wants to expand the pond (or pool of opportunities) and at which point I guess I am up a creek and have lost my paddles. Not that that is such a bad thing. As life passes by in the fast lane, speeding along the current of modern media, I am happily recording your antics and translating them to canvas once again. I will admit that last month I did join Facebook more out of peer pressure than anything else. Other than one new follower to my blog, I have yet to see what the benefits are of this online community. What are you all talking about? Why are you tending non-existent farms? Why do the conversations go down as opposed to up like on email chains? Why do you keep changing your profile photo? Is your laundry done? Are the gardens weeded? Are you caught up on bills and ironing? Have you seen a good movie, art exhibit or taken a walk in our wonderful parks? Sat outside and read a book then taken a nap? I just don’t inherently understand the desire to sit in a chair in front of a screen sending out little snippets of thoughts when there are so many other things to do in the world of actual reality. But we are all of different natures and I guess I am sounding like my Grandparents when TV first came out…it will never last. Hmmmm, could be they were right, this little box in front of me right now seems to be taking over like NY bedbugs.

So friends, until I figure out how the Wall, the Facebook, the Profile, the Info and the Newsfeed all fit together and to which place I am supposed to post what I want you to know….where you are right now and on my website are the best places to see what I am thinking…..and no way can I do that in 160 characters or less. I rather like it here on my lily-blog so pull up a pad now and then when you need a breather from the rapids of rampant networking.