Apple QuickTake portrait – 1997


Image by Willderbeast
This is the absolute earliest digital photograph I have in my archives. Sadly, it happens to be a picture of me with my Pentax K1000; a constant companion to me in those early days.

Ah, how young and fresh faced I look in this snap (at least in the part that my old SLR isn’t covering up). Frankly, if the 24-bit resolution doesn’t date this picture, then the fact that I have actual hair growing on the top of my head certainly does.

This pic was snapped by my friend and classmate, Alex Gordon, in February 1997, using our college’s Apple QuickTake 100. Better (and cheaper) digital cameras were still a year away from the commercial market at that point, so this would’ve been the very first digital picture experiment for both of us.

Despite its groundbreaking reputation, I don’t have fond memories of that Apple QuickTake. It looked and felt like a pair of oversized binoculars (with an *extremely* rudimentary built-in display), it was heavy and didn’t quite get along with the Apple Performa we hooked it up to for the upload. Nevertheless, after two-hours of trial-and-error, we accomplished our task and the experiment was declared a success. This picture eventually made its way to my earliest (cohesive) homepage, which you can still view here:
www3.pei.sympatico.ca/beckettwjc/remote.html

You can access my earliest photo gallery, complete with pretentious write-up, here:
www3.pei.sympatico.ca/beckettwjc/remote/photo.html

My new workspace


Image by Catheryne’s Eyes
This is what my crew (son & grandson) did for the last three days. Paint this room, move file cabinets, move shelf by door, put desk in and just generally rearrange the room to better suit me.
The room was a sickly industrial cream color before that was horrible! Now it is "damask dunes", which is actually a dusky pinkish color.

Ceci n’est pas une iPod


Image by *ejk*
It is a webpage with a picture of an ipod.

045DubrovnikMorning20Sep


Image by Lees@Hollandia
On a Balcony facing the Adriatic Dubrovnik, Croatia 23 Sep 2005

Each morning, the Adriatic Sea beckons us as we sit on our balcony enjoying the breeze and the view. It is blue and gentle. Here is the place where there is a placid view of the sea whilst behind us lies sun-baked homes scattered on the high cliffs. This picture of Dubrovnik, in the morning, captures some interesting colours of the city from the colours of the clouds painted by the rising sun. In the night, the walls of the old city of Dubrovnik is lighted up. Bright lights shining from this fortress city, inform us of the hive of activity within the walls. There are churches, galleries, restaurants, concerts and museums, all contained within about one square mile.
Dubrovnik dates from the 7th Century. The city has about 50,000 inhabitants. It is one of the most charming cities we have been to. This was special shot because the colours at the time of sunrise was I thought worth capturing.

Army Photography Contest – 2007 – FMWRC – Arts and Crafts – Ghost Prayin


Image by familymwr
Army Photography Contest – 2007 – FMWRC – Arts and Crafts – Ghost Prayin

Photo By: SGT Pablo Piedra

To learn more about the annual U.S. Army Photography Competition, visit us online at www.armymwr.com

U.S. Army Arts and Crafts History

After World War I the reductions to the Army left the United States with a small force. The War Department faced monumental challenges in preparing for World War II. One of those challenges was soldier morale. Recreational activities for off duty time would be important. The arts and crafts program informally evolved to augment the needs of the War Department.
On January 9, 1941, the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, appointed Frederick H. Osborn, a prominent U.S. businessman and philanthropist, Chairman of the War Department Committee on Education, Recreation and Community Service.
In 1940 and 1941, the United States involvement in World War II was more of sympathy and anticipation than of action. However, many different types of institutions were looking for ways to help the war effort. The Museum of Modern Art in New York was one of these institutions. In April, 1941, the Museum announced a poster competition, “Posters for National Defense.” The directors stated “The Museum feels that in a time of national emergency the artists of a country are as important an asset as men skilled in other fields, and that the nation’s first-rate talent should be utilized by the government for its official design work… Discussions have been held with officials of the Army and the Treasury who have expressed remarkable enthusiasm…”
In May 1941, the Museum exhibited “Britain at War”, a show selected by Sir Kenneth Clark, director of the National Gallery in London. The “Prize-Winning Defense Posters” were exhibited in July through September concurrently with “Britain at War.” The enormous overnight growth of the military force meant mobilization type construction at every camp. Construction was fast; facilities were not fancy; rather drab and depressing.
In 1941, the Fort Custer Army Illustrators, while on strenuous war games maneuvers in Tennessee, documented the exercise The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Feb. 1942), described their work. “Results were astonishingly good; they showed serious devotion …to the purpose of depicting the Army scene with unvarnished realism and a remarkable ability to capture this scene from the soldier’s viewpoint. Civilian amateur and professional artists had been transformed into soldier-artists. Reality and straightforward documentation had supplanted (replaced) the old romantic glorification and false dramatization of war and the slick suavity (charm) of commercial drawing.”

“In August of last year, Fort Custer Army Illustrators held an exhibition, the first of its kind in the new Army, at the Camp Service Club. Soldiers who saw the exhibition, many of whom had never been inside an art gallery, enjoyed it thoroughly. Civilian visitors, too, came and admired. The work of the group showed them a new aspect of the Army; there were many phases of Army life they had never seen or heard of before. Newspapers made much of it and, most important, the Army approved. Army officials saw that it was not only authentic material, but that here was a source of enlivenment (vitalization) to the Army and a vivid medium for conveying the Army’s purposes and processes to civilians and soldiers.”
Brigadier General Frederick H. Osborn and War Department leaders were concerned because few soldiers were using the off duty recreation areas that were available. Army commanders recognized that efficiency is directly correlated with morale, and that morale is largely determined from the manner in which an individual spends his own free time. Army morale enhancement through positive off duty recreation programs is critical in combat staging areas.
To encourage soldier use of programs, the facilities drab and uninviting environment had to be improved. A program utilizing talented artists and craftsmen to decorate day rooms, mess halls, recreation halls and other places of general assembly was established by the Facilities Section of Special Services. The purpose was to provide an environment that would reflect the military tradition, accomplishments and the high standard of army life. The fact that this work was to be done by the men themselves had the added benefit of contributing to the esprit de corps (teamwork, or group spirit) of the unit.
The plan was first tested in October of 1941, at Camp Davis, North Carolina. A studio workshop was set up and a group of soldier artists were placed on special duty to design and decorate the facilities. Additionally, evening recreation art classes were scheduled three times a week. A second test was established at Fort Belvoir, Virginia a month later. The success of these programs lead to more installations requesting the program.
After Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Museum of Modern Art appointed Mr. James Soby, to the position of Director of the Armed Service Program on January 15, 1942. The subsequent program became a combination of occupational therapy, exhibitions and morale-sustaining activities.
Through the efforts of Mr. Soby, the museum program included; a display of Fort Custer Army Illustrators work from February through April 5, 1942. The museum also included the work of soldier-photographers in this exhibit. On May 6, 1942, Mr. Soby opened an art sale of works donated by museum members. The sale was to raise funds for the Soldier Art Program of Special Services Division. The bulk of these proceeds were to be used to provide facilities and materials for soldier artists in Army camps throughout the country.
Members of the Museum had responded with paintings, sculptures, watercolors, gouaches, drawings, etchings and lithographs. Hundreds of works were received, including oils by Winslow Homer, Orozco, John Kane, Speicher, Eilshemius, de Chirico; watercolors by Burchfield and Dufy; drawings by Augustus John, Forain and Berman, and prints by Cezanne, Lautrec, Matisse and Bellows. The War Department plan using soldier-artists to decorate and improve buildings and grounds worked. Many artists who had been drafted into the Army volunteered to paint murals in waiting rooms and clubs, to decorate dayrooms, and to landscape grounds. For each artist at work there were a thousand troops who watched. These bystanders clamored to participate, and classes in drawing, painting, sculpture and photography were offered. Larger working space and more instructors were required to meet the growing demand. Civilian art instructors and local communities helped to meet this cultural need, by providing volunteer instruction and facilities.
Some proceeds from the Modern Museum of Art sale were used to print 25,000 booklets called “Interior Design and Soldier Art.” The booklet showed examples of soldier-artist murals that decorated places of general assembly. It was a guide to organizing, planning and executing the soldier-artist program. The balance of the art sale proceeds were used to purchase the initial arts and crafts furnishings for 350 Army installations in the USA.
In November, 1942, General Somervell directed that a group of artists be selected and dispatched to active theaters to paint war scenes with the stipulation that soldier artists would not paint in lieu of military duties.
Aileen Osborn Webb, sister of Brigadier General Frederick H. Osborn, launched the American Crafts Council in 1943. She was an early champion of the Army program.
While soldiers were participating in fixed facilities in the USA, many troops were being shipped overseas to Europe and the Pacific (1942-1945). They had long periods of idleness and waiting in staging areas. At that time the wounded were lying in hospitals, both on land and in ships at sea. The War Department and Red Cross responded by purchasing kits of arts and crafts tools and supplies to distribute to “these restless personnel.” A variety of small “Handicraft Kits” were distributed free of charge. Leathercraft, celluloid etching, knotting and braiding, metal tooling, drawing and clay modeling are examples of the types of kits sent.
In January, 1944, the Interior Design Soldier Artist program was more appropriately named the “Arts and Crafts Section” of Special Services. The mission was “to fulfill the natural human desire to create, provide opportunities for self-expression, serve old skills and develop new ones, and assist the entire recreation program through construction work, publicity, and decoration.”
The National Army Art Contest was planned for the late fall of 1944. In June of 1945, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., for the first time in its history opened its facilities for the exhibition of the soldier art and photography submitted to this contest. The “Infantry Journal, Inc.” printed a small paperback booklet containing 215 photographs of pictures exhibited in the National Gallery of Art.
In August of 1944, the Museum of Modern Art, Armed Forces Program, organized an art center for veterans. Abby Rockefeller, in particular, had a strong interest in this project. Soldiers were invited to sketch, paint, or model under the guidance of skilled artists and craftsmen. Victor d’Amico, who was in charge of the Museum’s Education Department, was quoted in Russell Lynes book, Good Old Modern: An Intimate Portrait of the Museum of Modern Art. “I asked one fellow why he had taken up art and he said, Well, I just came back from destroying everything. I made up my mind that if I ever got out of the Army and out of the war I was never going to destroy another thing in my life, and I decided that art was the thing that I would do.” Another man said to d’Amico, “Art is like a good night’s sleep. You come away refreshed and at peace.”
In late October, 1944, an Arts and Crafts Branch of Special Services Division, Headquarters, European Theater of Operations was established. A versatile program of handcrafts flourished among the Army occupation troops.
The increased interest in crafts, rather than fine arts, at this time lead to a new name for the program: The “Handicrafts Branch.”
In 1945, the War Department published a new manual, “Soldier Handicrafts”, to help implement this new emphasis. The manual contained instructions for setting up crafts facilities, selecting as well as improvising tools and equipment, and basic information on a variety of arts and crafts.
As the Army moved from a combat to a peacetime role, the majority of crafts shops in the United States were equipped with woodworking power machinery for construction of furnishings and objects for personal living. Based on this new trend, in 1946 the program was again renamed, this time as “Manual Arts.”
At the same time, overseas programs were now employing local artists and craftsmen to operate the crafts facilities and instruct in a variety of arts and crafts. These highly skilled, indigenous instructors helped to stimulate the soldiers’ interest in the respective native cultures and artifacts. Thousands of troops overseas were encouraged to record their experiences on film. These photographs provided an invaluable means of communication between troops and their families back home.
When the war ended, the Navy had a firm of architects and draftsmen on contract to design ships. Since there was no longer a need for more ships, they were given a new assignment: To develop a series of instructional guides for arts and crafts. These were called “Hobby Manuals.” The Army was impressed with the quality of the Navy manuals and had them reprinted and adopted for use by Army troops. By 1948, the arts and crafts practiced throughout the Army were so varied and diverse that the program was renamed “Hobby Shops.” The first “Interservice Photography Contest” was held in 1948. Each service is eligible to send two years of their winning entries forward for the bi-annual interservice contest. In 1949, the first All Army Crafts Contest was also held. Once again, it was clear that the program title, “Hobby Shops” was misleading and overlapped into other forms of recreation.
In January, 1951, the program was designated as “The Army Crafts Program.” The program was recognized as an essential Army recreation activity along with sports, libraries, service clubs, soldier shows and soldier music. In the official statement of mission, professional leadership was emphasized to insure a balanced, progressive schedule of arts and crafts would be conducted in well-equipped, attractive facilities on all Army installations.
The program was now defined in terms of a “Basic Seven Program” which included: drawing and painting; ceramics and sculpture; metal work; leathercrafts; model building; photography and woodworking. These programs were to be conducted regularly in facilities known as the “multiple-type crafts shop.” For functional reasons, these facilities were divided into three separate technical areas for woodworking, photography and the arts and crafts.
During the Korean Conflict, the Army Crafts program utilized the personnel and shops in Japan to train soldiers to instruct crafts in Korea.
The mid-1950s saw more soldiers with cars and the need to repair their vehicles was recognized at Fort Carson, Colorado, by the craft director. Soldiers familiar with crafts shops knew that they had tools and so automotive crafts were established. By 1958, the Engineers published an Official Design Guide on Crafts Shops and Auto Crafts Shops. In 1959, the first All Army Art Contest was held. Once more, the Army Crafts Program responded to the needs of soldiers.
In the 1960’s, the war in Vietnam was a new challenge for the Army Crafts Program. The program had three levels of support; fixed facilities, mobile trailers designed as portable photo labs, and once again a “Kit Program.” The kit program originated at Headquarters, Department of Army, and it proved to be very popular with soldiers.
Tom Turner, today a well-known studio potter, was a soldier at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina in the 1960s. In the December 1990 / January 1991 “American Crafts” magazine, Turner, who had been a graduate student in art school when he was drafted, said the program was “a godsend.”
The Army Artist Program was re-initiated in cooperation with the Office of Military History to document the war in Vietnam. Soldier-artists were identified and teams were formed to draw and paint the events of this combat. Exhibitions of these soldier-artist works were produced and toured throughout the USA.
In 1970, the original name of the program, “Arts and Crafts”, was restored. In 1971, the “Arts and Crafts/Skills Development Program” was established for budget presentations and construction projects.
After the Vietnam demobilization, a new emphasis was placed on service to families and children of soldiers. To meet this new challenge in an environment of funding constraints the arts and crafts program began charging fees for classes. More part-time personnel were used to teach formal classes. Additionally, a need for more technical-vocational skills training for military personnel was met by close coordination with Army Education Programs. Army arts and crafts directors worked with soldiers during “Project Transition” to develop soldier skills for new careers in the public sector.
The main challenge in the 1980s and 90s was, and is, to become “self-sustaining.” Directors have been forced to find more ways to generate increased revenue to help defray the loss of appropriated funds and to cover the non-appropriated funds expenses of the program. Programs have added and increased emphasis on services such as, picture framing, gallery sales, engraving and trophy sales, etc… New programs such as multi-media computer graphics appeal to customers of the 1990’s.
The Gulf War presented the Army with some familiar challenges such as personnel off duty time in staging areas. Department of Army volunteer civilian recreation specialists were sent to Saudi Arabia in January, 1991, to organize recreation programs. Arts and crafts supplies were sent to the theater. An Army Humor Cartoon Contest was conducted for the soldiers in the Gulf, and arts and crafts programs were set up to meet soldier interests.
The increased operations tempo of the ‘90’s Army has once again placed emphasis on meeting the “recreation needs of deployed soldiers.” Arts and crafts activities and a variety of programs are assets commanders must have to meet the deployment challenges of these very different scenarios.
The Army arts and crafts program, no matter what it has been titled, has made some unique contributions for the military and our society in general. Army arts and crafts does not fit the narrow definition of drawing and painting or making ceramics, but the much larger sense of arts and crafts. It is painting and drawing. It also encompasses:
* all forms of design. (fabric, clothes, household appliances, dishes, vases, houses, automobiles, landscapes, computers, copy machines, desks, industrial machines, weapon systems, air crafts, roads, etc…)
* applied technology (photography, graphics, woodworking, sculpture, metal smithing, weaving and textiles, sewing, advertising, enameling, stained glass, pottery, charts, graphs, visual aides and even formats for correspondence…)
* a way of making learning fun, practical and meaningful (through the process of designing and making an object the creator must decide which materials and techniques to use, thereby engaging in creative problem solving and discovery) skills taught have military applications.
* a way to acquire quality items and save money by doing-it-yourself (making furniture, gifts, repairing things …).
* a way to pursue college credit, through on post classes.
* a universal and non-verbal language (a picture is worth a thousand words).
* food for the human psyche, an element of morale that allows for individual expression (freedom).
* the celebration of human spirit and excellence (our highest form of public recognition is through a dedicated monument).
* physical and mental therapy (motor skill development, stress reduction, etc…).
* an activity that promotes self-reliance and self-esteem.
* the record of mankind, and in this case, of the Army.
What would the world be like today if this generally unknown program had not existed? To quantitatively state the overall impact of this program on the world is impossible. Millions of soldier citizens have been directly and indirectly exposed to arts and crafts because this program existed. One activity, photography can provide a clue to its impact. Soldiers encouraged to take pictures, beginning with WW II, have shared those images with family and friends. Classes in “How to Use a Camera” to “How to Develop Film and Print Pictures” were instrumental in soldiers seeing the results of using quality equipment. A good camera and lens could make a big difference in the quality of the print. They bought the top of the line equipment. When they were discharged from the Army or home on leave this new equipment was showed to the family and friends. Without this encouragement and exposure to photography many would not have recorded their personal experiences or known the difference quality equipment could make. Families and friends would not have had the opportunity to “see” the environment their soldier was living in without these photos. Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, Panama, etc… were far away places that most had not visited.
As the twenty first century approaches, the predictions for an arts renaissance by Megatrends 2000 seem realistic based on the Army Arts and Crafts Program practical experience. In the April ‘95 issue of “American Demographics” magazine, an article titled “Generation X” fully supports that this is indeed the case today. Television and computers have greatly contributed to “Generation X” being more interested in the visual arts and crafts.
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BURN2 : bordello road artwork


Image by rafeejewell
I took so many pictures of BURN2 the last few days. I thought I should at least post a few. So many great things to see and experience on the dry playa, that it would take forever to go through all of it.

Lag was a bit much on the opening day, but I expected that. I used an alt to navigate around; one that had hardly anything in inventory. It really helped to have no scripted huds or attachments, too.

My favorite artists and their works are here. I am gaga over Nish Mip (she recently won UWA’s 3D Design Challenge) and her cyber robot club/lounge "Robot Summer City." I could have hung out there all day.

Next favorite was Gracie Kendal. I have a few of her pieces from 2007 when I first ran across her work at a now defunct art gallery on the grid. Her Burning Man "painting" of swirls and textures had me walking and flying through it. There is a story told… an important one.

The cartoony, Mario-build was fabulous. Legos stacked and pieced together creating a huge monumental build. You could see it from across the sims! So sweet and charming and it brought a big smile to my face.

I did spend one entire afternoon with the Stilt Bitches Flying Circus. The freebies were so great. Stilts, costumes and fire juggling were given away. Everyone was dancing. I couldn’t tear myself away.

I have only gone to a couple of parties as I have been super busy lately with other grid matters. I hit Barbs Kurka‘s "Barb’s Psytrance Tent" a few times as I seem to know most of the dj’s over there.

Live music was awesome. So many talented musicians are playing at the Center Tent. Make sure you go at least a few times to catch the different genres of music there.

It will be impossible to see everything. But, the weekend is almost here, so I hope to check out more!

BURN2 : organica party


Image by rafeejewell
I took so many pictures of BURN2 the last few days. I thought I should at least post a few. So many great things to see and experience on the dry playa, that it would take forever to go through all of it.

Lag was a bit much on the opening day, but I expected that. I used an alt to navigate around; one that had hardly anything in inventory. It really helped to have no scripted huds or attachments, too.

My favorite artists and their works are here. I am gaga over Nish Mip (she recently won UWA’s 3D Design Challenge) and her cyber robot club/lounge "Robot Summer City." I could have hung out there all day.

Next favorite was Gracie Kendal. I have a few of her pieces from 2007 when I first ran across her work at a now defunct art gallery on the grid. Her Burning Man "painting" of swirls and textures had me walking and flying through it. There is a story told… an important one.

The cartoony, Mario-build was fabulous. Legos stacked and pieced together creating a huge monumental build. You could see it from across the sims! So sweet and charming and it brought a big smile to my face.

I did spend one entire afternoon with the Stilt Bitches Flying Circus. The freebies were so great. Stilts, costumes and fire juggling were given away. Everyone was dancing. I couldn’t tear myself away.

I have only gone to a couple of parties as I have been super busy lately with other grid matters. I hit Barbs Kurka‘s "Barb’s Psytrance Tent" a few times as I seem to know most of the dj’s over there.

Live music was awesome. So many talented musicians are playing at the Center Tent. Make sure you go at least a few times to catch the different genres of music there.

It will be impossible to see everything. But, the weekend is almost here, so I hope to check out more!

BURN2 : outhouse


Image by rafeejewell
I took so many pictures of BURN2 the last few days. I thought I should at least post a few. So many great things to see and experience on the dry playa, that it would take forever to go through all of it.

Lag was a bit much on the opening day, but I expected that. I used an alt to navigate around; one that had hardly anything in inventory. It really helped to have no scripted huds or attachments, too.

My favorite artists and their works are here. I am gaga over Nish Mip (she recently won UWA’s 3D Design Challenge) and her cyber robot club/lounge "Robot Summer City." I could have hung out there all day.

Next favorite was Gracie Kendal. I have a few of her pieces from 2007 when I first ran across her work at a now defunct art gallery on the grid. Her Burning Man "painting" of swirls and textures had me walking and flying through it. There is a story told… an important one.

The cartoony, Mario-build was fabulous. Legos stacked and pieced together creating a huge monumental build. You could see it from across the sims! So sweet and charming and it brought a big smile to my face.

I did spend one entire afternoon with the Stilt Bitches Flying Circus. The freebies were so great. Stilts, costumes and fire juggling were given away. Everyone was dancing. I couldn’t tear myself away.

I have only gone to a couple of parties as I have been super busy lately with other grid matters. I hit Barbs Kurka‘s "Barb’s Psytrance Tent" a few times as I seem to know most of the dj’s over there.

Live music was awesome. So many talented musicians are playing at the Center Tent. Make sure you go at least a few times to catch the different genres of music there.

It will be impossible to see everything. But, the weekend is almost here, so I hope to check out more!

An Attic Black-figure Volute Krater Attributed to the Leagros Group, of Wonderful Form and Austere Ornamentation


Image by Ancient Art
Terracotta, Late Archaic, ca. 510-500 B.C.E., Attributed to the Leagros Group

The top frieze on side A of this krater shows the batter between the gods and the giants. The two running protagonists near the center are nearly hidden in the dense composition with its overlapping figures, a condition made worse by the missing fragments. On our right is Herakles, wearing the Nemean lion’s skin and a fiercely determined countenance as he races with shield and long spear toward his opponent. Opposite him, the giant in full armor seems about to hurl his lance. The complexity of the composition seems to have overwhelmed the painter: the giant is seen mainly behind but partly in front of the quadriga that shares his place in the frieze. Among the figures around these two, we can identify for certain only Hermes, to running figure to our far left, and Athena, in the chariot near Herakles. Beneath the quadrigae are large white boulders.

The lower frieze on side A shows a series of Athletic contests or training scenes: from our left are two runners in armor, a runner, a diskos thrower, a javelin thrower, wrestler, pankratists, and a nude figure holding a fillet or weight. Scattered among these figures are numerous clothed trainers, and at our far right is a pillar with a fillet tied around it, perhaps the turning-post for the foot races. The center, more or less, of this frieze is punctuated by a standing figure playing the double flutes, more prominent for the strong white meander that decorates his clothing. The most serious of these events, toward the right end of the frieze, seems to be the pankration (a combination of wrestling and boxing in which virtually nothing was disallowed and the fight continued until one contestant gave up). Both contestants bleed from their chests, and the one on the ground profusely from his nose; perhaps the finger he holds up is his sign of capitulation.

On side B (not pictured here), the top frieze is a chain of horizontal palmettes. The lower frieze shows the departure of warriors. In the center are two quadrigae, their drivers carrying shields on their backs and being bid farewell by women standing behind them. At either side are fully armed warriors, female figures, and finally horsemen, each carrying two lances and wearing a white petasos. At our far right is a lone figure wearing a point Scythian cap. Departure scenes are frequently encountered in Attic vase painting of the sixth century, though they are usually smaller and less complex than this one.

The body of the vase is entirely black except for rays above the red line marking the junction of the body and the foot of the vase. A reserved vertical edge sets of the heavy molding of the foot, and black a reserved tongues surround the bases of the handles. The edges of the volutes that spring from the handles to the rim are decorated with ivy, and a meander pattern runs the entire way around the rim. The neck is modeled in two bands offset from one another.

Added white is used throughout for female flesh, the large boulders, a column, some details on clothing and implements. Added red is used for some hair and beards, interior details, and blood. Added red is also used along the outer edge of the rim, the edges of the volutes, and for the wavy stalks of ivy chains on the outer faces of the volutes. The inside of the neck is glazed. A graffito, KE I⎢I⎟ + V, on the reserved underside of the foot may be a price inscription. A.W. Johnson suggests that the first part of the inscription could be a monogram, KE or EK. As KE it might refer to the shape name kelebe, known from ancient sources as a large vessel with a wide mouth and two handles.

Although the Fleischman krater has been attributed by D. von Bothmer to the Acheloos Painter, it recalls in particular works by the Edinburgh Painter who, in J.D. Beazley’s view, "stems from the Leagros Group and may even be counted as belonging to it". The neck fragment of a volute krater, once on the Basel market and now in Princeton (Art Museum, Princeton University 1987-5), bears comparison for style and date with the Fleischman vase, and it too is to be attributed to the Leagros Group. Also close to these is the impressive vase in the Faina collection, Orivieto.

Formerly in the collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, New York. Text from the catalogue of that collection.

From the collection of the Getty Villa, Malibu, California.

What a Country! – Shame on Digicel!


Image by Boogies with Fish
www.messersmith.name/wordpress/2010/05/14/what-a-country-…
Well, it’s Friday afternoon and I’m feeling downright sassy. I got me another new job this week selling Internet satellite equipment for a huge company. That’s three jobs I am currently holding. Between the two of us taking on extra work while still putting in full time at our current employer, we have nearly replaced all of the money which has disappeared when churches suddenly decided that we are no longer the flavour of the month or we are getting too old. Hah! We’re just getting rolling. Eunie was elected Director (that’s as high as you can get) of our organisation here in PNG. Does that sound like someone who is ready to "come hone" and sit around waiting to die?

Only one small issue remains – sleep.

However, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. And neither is this: That was sunrise at my  house this morning. Sorry if it is a bit in your face.  I am hoping to get the cover of Our Way  for that one.

What I am here to talk about is a situation that is so fraught with absurdity, irony, comedy and perfidy that it should be in some kind of record book for Things Which Ought Not To Happen In A Reasonably Governed Nation.

Let me illustrate: I’ll attempt to explain as best I can. I am not conversant with the facts in this case. I am only presenting the logical conclusions of a reasonably disinterested observer. If I get it wrong, somebody can scream and shout an jump up and down about it. The fact is that somebody owed the people an explanation. I’m prepared to listen to it. Let’s dispense with the facts for the moment and simply deal with the appearance.

The pole belongs to PNG Power, a government  owned monopoly. The big satellite dish in the background is owned by TELIKOM, the government  owned communications momopoly (well, it was  a monopoly – read on). Got that so far? It’s all government  owned stuff here. Okay, sometime ago Digicel, a cell phone peddler, came in somehow, nobody is quite sure how, and kicked the snot out of TELIKOM (remember, the big satellite dish) for the mobile communications business. At first everybody whooped and hollered, "Competition! We’re saved!", but it soon developed that nefarious powers colluded and prices for mobile communications did not come down anywhere near world standards. The two competitors simply met somewhere in the middle. We’re now paying only ten times the world market price for everything that communicates instead of one hundred. I suppose we should be grateful.

Stay with me, now. I’ll get to the point, if you haven’t already figured it out. If you have, you are already laughing.

So, My Question IS: What is a Digicel advertisement doing on a PNG Power pole outside the TELIKOM main exchange? Hey, if it were just one, I’d say that it’s a very clever joke and immediately purchase the jester a beer at the Madang Club, if I were a member. But it’s all over town!

At first the poles were simply painted red and everybody was scratching their heads and complaining that it ruins the look of Madang. Now Digicel has turned our entire town into one giant advertisement. That’s really crappy and I don’t like it one bit!  Digicel, you don’t own Madang! SHAME ON DIGICEL!

What’s more is the big  question of how does Digicel get the rights to place their ads on government owned property. Remember, that’s the same government (I think. Nobody is really sure right now.) which owns TELIKOM, Digicel’s only competitor. Exactly how did this occur? Whose money was exchanged for what rights and how was it approved? Certainly nobody consulted the citizens of Madang. How does it benefit anybody in Madang. How does it even benefit Digicel? I’m ready to throw my Digicel handset into the rubbish tip. Would any other residents like to join me? We could make a big pile of them and burn them in protest.

I haven’t talked to anybody who’s happy about this. I just heard a comment about what Digicel is doing along Coronation Drive, the place where many of the beautiful photos in Madang – Ples Bilong Mi  originate. Look at this monstrosity: Disgusting!

If Airlines PNG (a private company) is really smart they will now get Air Niugini (a government near-monopoly) to allow them to paint, "Fly Airlines PNG" on the sides of the Bird of Paradise fleet of Air Niugini.

Okay, that’s enough rage for a Friday afternoon. Look at this incredibly warty tree: Did you ever see so many warts on a tree. I wonder what causes it.

Have a gander at this splendid crab: It’s dead, I’m afraid. When I first started taking its picture I thought it was alive. Alas, not so. I placed it on this leather coral to see if I could fake a live crab. It reminds me of the Dead Parrot shtick  from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue… What’s, uh… What’s wrong with it?

Mr. Praline: I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, me lad. ‘E’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it!

Owner: No, no, ‘e’s uh, … he’s resting.

Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now.

Owner: No no he’s not dead, he’s, he’s restin’! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, aidn’it, ay? Beautiful plumage!

Mr. Praline: The plumage don’t enter into it. It’s stone dead.

Owner: Nononono, no, no! ‘E’s resting!
I swear: the above crab is resting. Permanently.

BURN2 : raftwet, xavier at nish mip art installation


Image by rafeejewell
I took so many pictures of BURN2 the last few days. I thought I should at least post a few. So many great things to see and experience on the dry playa, that it would take forever to go through all of it.

Lag was a bit much on the opening day, but I expected that. I used an alt to navigate around; one that had hardly anything in inventory. It really helped to have no scripted huds or attachments, too.

My favorite artists and their works are here. I am gaga over Nish Mip (she recently won UWA’s 3D Design Challenge) and her cyber robot club/lounge "Robot Summer City." I could have hung out there all day.

Next favorite was Gracie Kendal. I have a few of her pieces from 2007 when I first ran across her work at a now defunct art gallery on the grid. Her Burning Man "painting" of swirls and textures had me walking and flying through it. There is a story told… an important one.

The cartoony, Mario-build was fabulous. Legos stacked and pieced together creating a huge monumental build. You could see it from across the sims! So sweet and charming and it brought a big smile to my face.

I did spend one entire afternoon with the Stilt Bitches Flying Circus. The freebies were so great. Stilts, costumes and fire juggling were given away. Everyone was dancing. I couldn’t tear myself away.

I have only gone to a couple of parties as I have been super busy lately with other grid matters. I hit Barbs Kurka‘s "Barb’s Psytrance Tent" a few times as I seem to know most of the dj’s over there.

Live music was awesome. So many talented musicians are playing at the Center Tent. Make sure you go at least a few times to catch the different genres of music there.

It will be impossible to see everything. But, the weekend is almost here, so I hope to check out more!

In appropriate panoramas part 1: Wilhelm Central Living Time


Image by Clint Gardner
I’ve had my new camera for six months now and still haven’t messed around with its panorama function. What better place to panorama than one’s front room?

Anywhosits I tried to get the damn cat in the picture but he refused and ran out of the room when I brought out the tripod.

The only real mess up with the stitching program is on the landscape painting (it is of a cliff face down by Helper, Utah). It cut the painting weirdly in half.

On the right hand side you can see the very dry Wilhelm action tree. I think it might burst into flames at any moment.

Magnera Human Skull 2


Image by L.C.Nøttaasen
My second attempt on the skull blend. A bit more pleased about this one.
Skull by Sujit kumar
New version:
www.flickr.com/photos/magnera/3922643845/
————————————————————————————————
Quick work instructions:
-> Layer1 (bottom layer): Face, sharpen
-> Layer2: Black and white filter, reds way down (-120)
-> Layer3: I copied the eyes from layer1 and used hue/saturation and colorize to make them more blue. Then I used the plastic wrap filter before I blured out the edges of my selection.
-> Layer4: Find a skull. I used blending effect inner shadow at opacity 75%, dist- 0, choke 0, size 213, blend multiply. Created a layermask and painted with a soft brush in multiply blending mode (in the layer mask) over the left side of the picture.
-> Layer 5 (top layer): Mask out with a black brush.

Tweak and enjoy!

Used@
1 storyfix.com/part-5-characterization-–-how-to-make-your…
2 musicspot.cnetfrance.fr/artiste/the-edge-10098285/photos/…
3 3 Ways To Get Over Your Financial Demons
www.financiallypoor.com/money-management/3-ways-to-get-ov…

Army Photography Contest – 2007 – FMWRC – Arts and Crafts – Beluga


Image by familymwr
Army Photography Contest – 2007 – FMWRC – Arts and Crafts – Beluga

Photo By: PO3 Stephen Gonzalez

To learn more about the annual U.S. Army Photography Competition, visit us online at www.armymwr.com

U.S. Army Arts and Crafts History

After World War I the reductions to the Army left the United States with a small force. The War Department faced monumental challenges in preparing for World War II. One of those challenges was soldier morale. Recreational activities for off duty time would be important. The arts and crafts program informally evolved to augment the needs of the War Department.
On January 9, 1941, the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, appointed Frederick H. Osborn, a prominent U.S. businessman and philanthropist, Chairman of the War Department Committee on Education, Recreation and Community Service.
In 1940 and 1941, the United States involvement in World War II was more of sympathy and anticipation than of action. However, many different types of institutions were looking for ways to help the war effort. The Museum of Modern Art in New York was one of these institutions. In April, 1941, the Museum announced a poster competition, “Posters for National Defense.” The directors stated “The Museum feels that in a time of national emergency the artists of a country are as important an asset as men skilled in other fields, and that the nation’s first-rate talent should be utilized by the government for its official design work… Discussions have been held with officials of the Army and the Treasury who have expressed remarkable enthusiasm…”
In May 1941, the Museum exhibited “Britain at War”, a show selected by Sir Kenneth Clark, director of the National Gallery in London. The “Prize-Winning Defense Posters” were exhibited in July through September concurrently with “Britain at War.” The enormous overnight growth of the military force meant mobilization type construction at every camp. Construction was fast; facilities were not fancy; rather drab and depressing.
In 1941, the Fort Custer Army Illustrators, while on strenuous war games maneuvers in Tennessee, documented the exercise The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Feb. 1942), described their work. “Results were astonishingly good; they showed serious devotion …to the purpose of depicting the Army scene with unvarnished realism and a remarkable ability to capture this scene from the soldier’s viewpoint. Civilian amateur and professional artists had been transformed into soldier-artists. Reality and straightforward documentation had supplanted (replaced) the old romantic glorification and false dramatization of war and the slick suavity (charm) of commercial drawing.”

“In August of last year, Fort Custer Army Illustrators held an exhibition, the first of its kind in the new Army, at the Camp Service Club. Soldiers who saw the exhibition, many of whom had never been inside an art gallery, enjoyed it thoroughly. Civilian visitors, too, came and admired. The work of the group showed them a new aspect of the Army; there were many phases of Army life they had never seen or heard of before. Newspapers made much of it and, most important, the Army approved. Army officials saw that it was not only authentic material, but that here was a source of enlivenment (vitalization) to the Army and a vivid medium for conveying the Army’s purposes and processes to civilians and soldiers.”
Brigadier General Frederick H. Osborn and War Department leaders were concerned because few soldiers were using the off duty recreation areas that were available. Army commanders recognized that efficiency is directly correlated with morale, and that morale is largely determined from the manner in which an individual spends his own free time. Army morale enhancement through positive off duty recreation programs is critical in combat staging areas.
To encourage soldier use of programs, the facilities drab and uninviting environment had to be improved. A program utilizing talented artists and craftsmen to decorate day rooms, mess halls, recreation halls and other places of general assembly was established by the Facilities Section of Special Services. The purpose was to provide an environment that would reflect the military tradition, accomplishments and the high standard of army life. The fact that this work was to be done by the men themselves had the added benefit of contributing to the esprit de corps (teamwork, or group spirit) of the unit.
The plan was first tested in October of 1941, at Camp Davis, North Carolina. A studio workshop was set up and a group of soldier artists were placed on special duty to design and decorate the facilities. Additionally, evening recreation art classes were scheduled three times a week. A second test was established at Fort Belvoir, Virginia a month later. The success of these programs lead to more installations requesting the program.
After Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Museum of Modern Art appointed Mr. James Soby, to the position of Director of the Armed Service Program on January 15, 1942. The subsequent program became a combination of occupational therapy, exhibitions and morale-sustaining activities.
Through the efforts of Mr. Soby, the museum program included; a display of Fort Custer Army Illustrators work from February through April 5, 1942. The museum also included the work of soldier-photographers in this exhibit. On May 6, 1942, Mr. Soby opened an art sale of works donated by museum members. The sale was to raise funds for the Soldier Art Program of Special Services Division. The bulk of these proceeds were to be used to provide facilities and materials for soldier artists in Army camps throughout the country.
Members of the Museum had responded with paintings, sculptures, watercolors, gouaches, drawings, etchings and lithographs. Hundreds of works were received, including oils by Winslow Homer, Orozco, John Kane, Speicher, Eilshemius, de Chirico; watercolors by Burchfield and Dufy; drawings by Augustus John, Forain and Berman, and prints by Cezanne, Lautrec, Matisse and Bellows. The War Department plan using soldier-artists to decorate and improve buildings and grounds worked. Many artists who had been drafted into the Army volunteered to paint murals in waiting rooms and clubs, to decorate dayrooms, and to landscape grounds. For each artist at work there were a thousand troops who watched. These bystanders clamored to participate, and classes in drawing, painting, sculpture and photography were offered. Larger working space and more instructors were required to meet the growing demand. Civilian art instructors and local communities helped to meet this cultural need, by providing volunteer instruction and facilities.
Some proceeds from the Modern Museum of Art sale were used to print 25,000 booklets called “Interior Design and Soldier Art.” The booklet showed examples of soldier-artist murals that decorated places of general assembly. It was a guide to organizing, planning and executing the soldier-artist program. The balance of the art sale proceeds were used to purchase the initial arts and crafts furnishings for 350 Army installations in the USA.
In November, 1942, General Somervell directed that a group of artists be selected and dispatched to active theaters to paint war scenes with the stipulation that soldier artists would not paint in lieu of military duties.
Aileen Osborn Webb, sister of Brigadier General Frederick H. Osborn, launched the American Crafts Council in 1943. She was an early champion of the Army program.
While soldiers were participating in fixed facilities in the USA, many troops were being shipped overseas to Europe and the Pacific (1942-1945). They had long periods of idleness and waiting in staging areas. At that time the wounded were lying in hospitals, both on land and in ships at sea. The War Department and Red Cross responded by purchasing kits of arts and crafts tools and supplies to distribute to “these restless personnel.” A variety of small “Handicraft Kits” were distributed free of charge. Leathercraft, celluloid etching, knotting and braiding, metal tooling, drawing and clay modeling are examples of the types of kits sent.
In January, 1944, the Interior Design Soldier Artist program was more appropriately named the “Arts and Crafts Section” of Special Services. The mission was “to fulfill the natural human desire to create, provide opportunities for self-expression, serve old skills and develop new ones, and assist the entire recreation program through construction work, publicity, and decoration.”
The National Army Art Contest was planned for the late fall of 1944. In June of 1945, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., for the first time in its history opened its facilities for the exhibition of the soldier art and photography submitted to this contest. The “Infantry Journal, Inc.” printed a small paperback booklet containing 215 photographs of pictures exhibited in the National Gallery of Art.
In August of 1944, the Museum of Modern Art, Armed Forces Program, organized an art center for veterans. Abby Rockefeller, in particular, had a strong interest in this project. Soldiers were invited to sketch, paint, or model under the guidance of skilled artists and craftsmen. Victor d’Amico, who was in charge of the Museum’s Education Department, was quoted in Russell Lynes book, Good Old Modern: An Intimate Portrait of the Museum of Modern Art. “I asked one fellow why he had taken up art and he said, Well, I just came back from destroying everything. I made up my mind that if I ever got out of the Army and out of the war I was never going to destroy another thing in my life, and I decided that art was the thing that I would do.” Another man said to d’Amico, “Art is like a good night’s sleep. You come away refreshed and at peace.”
In late October, 1944, an Arts and Crafts Branch of Special Services Division, Headquarters, European Theater of Operations was established. A versatile program of handcrafts flourished among the Army occupation troops.
The increased interest in crafts, rather than fine arts, at this time lead to a new name for the program: The “Handicrafts Branch.”
In 1945, the War Department published a new manual, “Soldier Handicrafts”, to help implement this new emphasis. The manual contained instructions for setting up crafts facilities, selecting as well as improvising tools and equipment, and basic information on a variety of arts and crafts.
As the Army moved from a combat to a peacetime role, the majority of crafts shops in the United States were equipped with woodworking power machinery for construction of furnishings and objects for personal living. Based on this new trend, in 1946 the program was again renamed, this time as “Manual Arts.”
At the same time, overseas programs were now employing local artists and craftsmen to operate the crafts facilities and instruct in a variety of arts and crafts. These highly skilled, indigenous instructors helped to stimulate the soldiers’ interest in the respective native cultures and artifacts. Thousands of troops overseas were encouraged to record their experiences on film. These photographs provided an invaluable means of communication between troops and their families back home.
When the war ended, the Navy had a firm of architects and draftsmen on contract to design ships. Since there was no longer a need for more ships, they were given a new assignment: To develop a series of instructional guides for arts and crafts. These were called “Hobby Manuals.” The Army was impressed with the quality of the Navy manuals and had them reprinted and adopted for use by Army troops. By 1948, the arts and crafts practiced throughout the Army were so varied and diverse that the program was renamed “Hobby Shops.” The first “Interservice Photography Contest” was held in 1948. Each service is eligible to send two years of their winning entries forward for the bi-annual interservice contest. In 1949, the first All Army Crafts Contest was also held. Once again, it was clear that the program title, “Hobby Shops” was misleading and overlapped into other forms of recreation.
In January, 1951, the program was designated as “The Army Crafts Program.” The program was recognized as an essential Army recreation activity along with sports, libraries, service clubs, soldier shows and soldier music. In the official statement of mission, professional leadership was emphasized to insure a balanced, progressive schedule of arts and crafts would be conducted in well-equipped, attractive facilities on all Army installations.
The program was now defined in terms of a “Basic Seven Program” which included: drawing and painting; ceramics and sculpture; metal work; leathercrafts; model building; photography and woodworking. These programs were to be conducted regularly in facilities known as the “multiple-type crafts shop.” For functional reasons, these facilities were divided into three separate technical areas for woodworking, photography and the arts and crafts.
During the Korean Conflict, the Army Crafts program utilized the personnel and shops in Japan to train soldiers to instruct crafts in Korea.
The mid-1950s saw more soldiers with cars and the need to repair their vehicles was recognized at Fort Carson, Colorado, by the craft director. Soldiers familiar with crafts shops knew that they had tools and so automotive crafts were established. By 1958, the Engineers published an Official Design Guide on Crafts Shops and Auto Crafts Shops. In 1959, the first All Army Art Contest was held. Once more, the Army Crafts Program responded to the needs of soldiers.
In the 1960’s, the war in Vietnam was a new challenge for the Army Crafts Program. The program had three levels of support; fixed facilities, mobile trailers designed as portable photo labs, and once again a “Kit Program.” The kit program originated at Headquarters, Department of Army, and it proved to be very popular with soldiers.
Tom Turner, today a well-known studio potter, was a soldier at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina in the 1960s. In the December 1990 / January 1991 “American Crafts” magazine, Turner, who had been a graduate student in art school when he was drafted, said the program was “a godsend.”
The Army Artist Program was re-initiated in cooperation with the Office of Military History to document the war in Vietnam. Soldier-artists were identified and teams were formed to draw and paint the events of this combat. Exhibitions of these soldier-artist works were produced and toured throughout the USA.
In 1970, the original name of the program, “Arts and Crafts”, was restored. In 1971, the “Arts and Crafts/Skills Development Program” was established for budget presentations and construction projects.
After the Vietnam demobilization, a new emphasis was placed on service to families and children of soldiers. To meet this new challenge in an environment of funding constraints the arts and crafts program began charging fees for classes. More part-time personnel were used to teach formal classes. Additionally, a need for more technical-vocational skills training for military personnel was met by close coordination with Army Education Programs. Army arts and crafts directors worked with soldiers during “Project Transition” to develop soldier skills for new careers in the public sector.
The main challenge in the 1980s and 90s was, and is, to become “self-sustaining.” Directors have been forced to find more ways to generate increased revenue to help defray the loss of appropriated funds and to cover the non-appropriated funds expenses of the program. Programs have added and increased emphasis on services such as, picture framing, gallery sales, engraving and trophy sales, etc… New programs such as multi-media computer graphics appeal to customers of the 1990’s.
The Gulf War presented the Army with some familiar challenges such as personnel off duty time in staging areas. Department of Army volunteer civilian recreation specialists were sent to Saudi Arabia in January, 1991, to organize recreation programs. Arts and crafts supplies were sent to the theater. An Army Humor Cartoon Contest was conducted for the soldiers in the Gulf, and arts and crafts programs were set up to meet soldier interests.
The increased operations tempo of the ‘90’s Army has once again placed emphasis on meeting the “recreation needs of deployed soldiers.” Arts and crafts activities and a variety of programs are assets commanders must have to meet the deployment challenges of these very different scenarios.
The Army arts and crafts program, no matter what it has been titled, has made some unique contributions for the military and our society in general. Army arts and crafts does not fit the narrow definition of drawing and painting or making ceramics, but the much larger sense of arts and crafts. It is painting and drawing. It also encompasses:
* all forms of design. (fabric, clothes, household appliances, dishes, vases, houses, automobiles, landscapes, computers, copy machines, desks, industrial machines, weapon systems, air crafts, roads, etc…)
* applied technology (photography, graphics, woodworking, sculpture, metal smithing, weaving and textiles, sewing, advertising, enameling, stained glass, pottery, charts, graphs, visual aides and even formats for correspondence…)
* a way of making learning fun, practical and meaningful (through the process of designing and making an object the creator must decide which materials and techniques to use, thereby engaging in creative problem solving and discovery) skills taught have military applications.
* a way to acquire quality items and save money by doing-it-yourself (making furniture, gifts, repairing things …).
* a way to pursue college credit, through on post classes.
* a universal and non-verbal language (a picture is worth a thousand words).
* food for the human psyche, an element of morale that allows for individual expression (freedom).
* the celebration of human spirit and excellence (our highest form of public recognition is through a dedicated monument).
* physical and mental therapy (motor skill development, stress reduction, etc…).
* an activity that promotes self-reliance and self-esteem.
* the record of mankind, and in this case, of the Army.
What would the world be like today if this generally unknown program had not existed? To quantitatively state the overall impact of this program on the world is impossible. Millions of soldier citizens have been directly and indirectly exposed to arts and crafts because this program existed. One activity, photography can provide a clue to its impact. Soldiers encouraged to take pictures, beginning with WW II, have shared those images with family and friends. Classes in “How to Use a Camera” to “How to Develop Film and Print Pictures” were instrumental in soldiers seeing the results of using quality equipment. A good camera and lens could make a big difference in the quality of the print. They bought the top of the line equipment. When they were discharged from the Army or home on leave this new equipment was showed to the family and friends. Without this encouragement and exposure to photography many would not have recorded their personal experiences or known the difference quality equipment could make. Families and friends would not have had the opportunity to “see” the environment their soldier was living in without these photos. Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, Panama, etc… were far away places that most had not visited.
As the twenty first century approaches, the predictions for an arts renaissance by Megatrends 2000 seem realistic based on the Army Arts and Crafts Program practical experience. In the April ‘95 issue of “American Demographics” magazine, an article titled “Generation X” fully supports that this is indeed the case today. Television and computers have greatly contributed to “Generation X” being more interested in the visual arts and crafts.
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A touch of elegance on a damp day


Image by Laurie Pink
And I’m not just talking about the side burns.

I like Rich’s little smiley face hiding at the side of this picture, too.

365.019


Image by twintermute
"

243429293

I hope the world goes into chaos. I want more terrorist bombings, more wars, basically anything that has to do with death, destruction or suffering. I act like I am against the war in iraq and how immoral war is. I speak of peace and respect to all of humanity. But, when I wake up in the morning and read the paper, I am secretly wishing I find a news story of U.S soldiers being killed up or innocent children having their legs blown off.

I know its weird, I used to deny these feelings I had. But now I accept them. Sex and violence is the only thing that gives me pleasure. I say embrace the chaos everyone, its so appeasing.

431297202

After 9/11, I was completely duped by the Bush administration’s lies. I said some very bad things about Iraq, and I honestly expected that we’d capture Saddam then clear out. I knew Bush was an idiot, but I thought for once he was putting America’s interests ahead of his oil connections. I feel like such a fool.

198499133

I live in a small town in Kansas. I’ve always been the artsy type..painting, photography…while most other guys around here were more jocky. Tons of guys joined the millitary after high school and now almost all of them are in Iraq. They send letters home saying how proud they are of their wives and how it must be hard for them to deal with their husbands being away.

Well do you know how they deal with it?

They fuck me.

Thats right. While you are away getting your ass hot off I’m shooting myself off in your wifes ass. Thank God for George Bush. I have about 4 wives I’m currently fucking because of his great leadership. I voted republican this year and then promptly went to a shipped off wives’s home and came in her mouth.

663192506

I selfishly avoided going to see my grandfather when he was in the hospital, until the day he died, and he was already in a coma. I think i mostly did this because i hate having to fake affection for family members. I have absolutely no feelings, for anyone but myself, and am completely unable to empathise with others. On a regular basis i imagine what it would be like if my whole family died. I always imagine tragic things happening like that because i imagine that it will somehow shock me out of my apathy and maybe i’ll actually feel something for at least a little while. I was secretly very excited about 9/11, not because i hate America, on the contrary i’m a bit of a flagwaving asshole, and sometimes I find myself hating liberal celebrities and protesters to unreasonable degrees. I was just happy that something was finally happening to shake things up a bit, even if it meant that thousands were going to die. Same thing with Iraq. Im just selfish. I think all the time about the end of the world coming, and the sooner the better.

441956508

First off my wife is in Iraq and in the time that she’s been gone I’ve done nothing but go on 3 or 4 day benders of methamphetamines or any drugs that I could get my hands on at the time, I spend all of our money and I have a stripper wanting to fuck me, I havnt given in yet but I likely will any day now.

706542473

I just finished a year of active duty in Baghdad and after returning home all I feel is hatred for the US Media and the Democrats. The media makes it sound like we are hated in Iraq and things are terrible. The vast majority people over there loved us and are thankful we removed Hussein…it is just a few radicals ruining it. I was proud to do my service and I look forward to returning to Iraq in 4 months. The Democrats say I am being sent to die by a weak President…what? I am going with pride to serve my country, defend my people, and help great people rebuild their great nation. The media and Democrats know the truth and feed lies to the American public about the war in Iraq – that is what makes it so terrible. I hate them. I feel like the people of Iraq are more my friends than the US Media and these Democrats like Kerry and Dean. I am proud of what I am doing, I know it is a good and just war, and I am thankful to have a leader like Geroge W. Bush as my Commander in Chief. If people put Kerry in office…they reap the danger they sow.

808238721

I secretly feel a smug satisfaction hearing that things are going badly in Iraq, because I was against the war from the beginning, and I want the Bush administration to be humiliated.

295200060

Im a staff sergeant (E6) in the United States Army, stationed in Iraq. On one of our patrols 10 miles south of baghdad, the humvee in front of ours was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. The corporal next to me stop the humvee and got out to return fire on the Iraqi insurgents. I quickly got out, loaded a clip into my M-16 and started firing on the shadowy figures. The explosion had kicked up alot of sand and it was very hard to see, but they were shooting at us. I had to of the enemies in my site and I nearly hesitated to fire, but I persevered and emptied my clip into them. About 5 minutes later the shooting stopped, and our medic quickly ran to the wreckage of the first humvee. The corporal and I investigated the insurgents who were shooting at us. I have been in fire fights before, but nothing could have prepared me for this. The person I had killed, was a mere child. How could I ever tell my girlfriend or family such a thing? I had nearly burst into tears when I told the chaplain but I still have not found a way to get over this. Would God forgive me?

735184890

I am from India, and poeople are constantly thinking I am a terrorist from Iraq or Afghanistan. It makes me so angry becuase i am from INDIA, and i am just as scared of terrorists as the next person. I wish people would just give me a chance before they shun me frmo their lives, I only want to be their friend.

585865571

I want him to just bend me over and fuck me already. My boyfriend would never know because he is overseas in Iraq. I stayed out with the guy all night and I woke up late………I didn’t even have time to shower this morning. I feel so dirty and just wish he would bend me over already or, at least, try to stick his dick in my mouth, so that things can get ackward and I can dump him soon, before Steve gets back.

613682318

I’m going into the military.
I can’t wait to go to Iraq and kill lots of people.
I don’t hate these people because of there religion or ethnicity. I hate them because I can kill some of them legally.
That is all.
There is no other motive behind my anger.

604777911

I just learned about Peak Oil. I just learned that my intent of living the American dream is futile. I just leared that the man I hated, the president of the US, may actually be a hero for getting us Afghanistan and Iraq before anyone else and buying us some time. I just learned that my idyllic America existence is going to be a thing of the past in a few years. I just learned that war is going to be a constant in every one of our lives from now on.

To all those on here that hate everyone and wish everyone would die, congrats. You’re gonna get your wish.

You’re probably going to die too.

The only way to avert all of this is for all of us to work hard and work together. Unfortunately most of us are too wrapped up in getting high, paid and laid.

Enjoy this paradise while you can.

375011786

It would take all of 2 months for America to wipe out the middle east and take their oil. Imagine how cheap gas would be. I could get that Tahoe I want and not have to worry about gas prices costing to much. I say go for it George…why stop with Iraq. Also we wouldnt have to look at filthy sand muslims anymore.

974421934

I’ve been in the US army for close to seven years, and have become very adept at using a rifle, so much so that i could hit a moving target at 200 yards without the aid of a scope. Anyways, i volunteered to go on a tour of Iraq, not to help my country but to see what it feels like to kill a man.

I don’t particularly want anyone to die, but i want to experience this feeling..I kinda regret it now, but the way I reason this is that I’m going to be killing people who make life a living hell for other people.

I’m not sure if i’m lying to myself at this point, I just hope i won’t have to do anything i’m going to regret.

974413466

my stepdad is a military man. he got activated. hes leaving for iraq on april 15th. he wont be back until november 2005. my halfbrother is 8 months old, he wont see his daddy again until hes two and a half. sometimes i wish he would just die in iraq because the insurance policy is 0,000. we need that money to buy this house in north carolina. we need that money more than i need him. i dont need the damn baby either.

810055731

I am a Muslim. I practice Islam. I converted to Islam 10 years ago. My secret is that I hate people who think Muslims are the cause of the worlds’ problems. I hate people who give me a dirty look when they see my full beard. I hate people who post and say disparaging highly generalized comments. If they only knew the beauty and simplicity of Islam they too would convert. My only purpose in life is to try and live life according to rules established by God, not another man or my own faulty reasoning ability. By the way, Arabs make up a small percentage of the worlds’ Muslims.

398950095

I hate Democrats. We have civilians in Iraq getting their heads chopped off by terrorists and you flaming hippies are worried about the ozone layer. I want to spray aerosol hairspray in all of your faces. Fuck you.

610888980

I came home from Iraq a few months ago. My buddies and I got in some bad firefights but we all came out okay. War was really fun, even the killing.

873688599

My wife is in the reserves, and left to go to Iraq for a year. I guess I’m somewhat insecure, because I’m afraid she’ll meet another army guy over there, and decides she likes "army life" more than civilian life with me.

680258834

I’m a MP for the United States Army and when I do search and seizures in Iraq I shoot unarmed people and tell my command that they were armed. I want to kill all of them. I hate muslims. I wish I could make them all eat pork.

473335717

i root against our troops in iraq.

192002518

I think about one of the guys I killed in Iraq. I’m an LT in the infantry. We needed to take down an radar station before the invasion. I snuck up and broke his neck. I’ve killed before, but never so close up and personal. And the thing is, when I saw his face- he was a kid. I know that by killing him I saved a lot of Americans by doing this. But everytime when I replay the image in my mind, it’s my little brother’s face (I am a father firgue to him).
And I don’t feel at all bad about the many other people I killed. Including the time when I slit somebody’s throat and was covered in blood for the rest of the mission.
And I feel bad about not caring.

849174094

Everyone has an opinion on that footage of those Iraqi prisoners of war getting sexually abused by US troops earlier this year. Some people are outraged by what happened while others don’t think it’s anywhere near as big of a deal as Arabs beheading Americans. I don’t know about you, but there’s just something so erotic about seeing these men in such poses, however degrading it must’ve been for them. I am constantly searching the net for new pictures of Iraqi soldiers being sexually abused so I can jack off to them. Problem is, though, that the old pictures are now starting to lose their effect; I’m starting to think that I may need to find even more brutal pictures to get off on soon.

275467124

I hate god damn liberals. I seriously want to punch them all in the face and ask why they would rather kill an unborn baby than in insurgent in Iraq.

608094312

Americans disgust me. I really wish they’d get a clue as to why the rest of the world hates them. I hope some piss-poor third world country like Iraq or Turkey scoops up some of those Weapons of Mass Destruction the States claim they already have… then use them to blow the shit out of the ignorant, arrogant, useless, concieted, warmongering Americans. This continent would be so much better without them. Plus, then I wouldn’t be paying out the ass for gas at the pump anymore. Fuckin’ Americans, die please.

273766094

It pisses me off when non-Americans talk shit about the citizens and the soldiers (including my brother) in Iraq. What the fuck?! If they think that American’s like what our dumbass president is doing then they’re so fucking wrong. Americans don’t even like this country since Bush came into office. Seriously don’t hate the player hate the game. You have no idea what the hell it feels like to just watch the world hate you and knowing that you can do nothing about it. So lay the fuck off you pricks.

168316643

im a gay soldier in iraq, nobody knows, im so alone.

"

Come up and see me!


Image by phill.d
This rather grim looking stairway was an emergency exit from the upper balcony area.
It hasn’t been painted since the cinema closed in 1962.

A real time capsule cinema hides away in the higher reaches of the Glen Royal building in Shipley. The Glen Royal closed as a cinema in 1962, It was to reopen as the Glen casino in 1963. Many alterations were made to the building over the years. Suspended ceilings were added, these effectively hid away the original features of this purpose built cinema.

The final films to be shown on Saturday the 8th December 1962 were.
”The Loudest Whisper” Starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley Maclaine and James Garner.
And
”Gun Street” Starring James Brown, Jean Willes and John Clarke.

© phill.d
All my work is © Copyright. No unathorized use allowed. See here for details.

Vernissage Expo Paris-Hanoi-Art – Galerie UGVF – 19


Image by pixiduc
Tran Thi Doanh is a painter whose carefully crafted works of art, especially in lacquer, capture Vietnamese society in timeless brilliance
For visitors who want to discover the essence of Vietnam, the paintings of Tran Thi Doanh will leave a strong impression.
I stumbled upon an exhibition of her works during an afternoon walk in Hanoi in late April. Her beautiful paintings, carefully crafted pictures of rural village life, street vendors, and hill tribe people in turbans and embroidered robes can be likened to a mini-documentary of Vietnam, past and present.
The viewer is easily drawn to her oil and water color paintings because of the simplification of the color. Form is expressed tonally, with dapples of color delineating areas of light and shade. Those exhausted by the heady tropical heat in Hanoi will find great relief in Mrs. Doanh’s works, which convey a sense of peace, love and beauty.
"My life-long goal is to create beautiful pictures," she said.
Some of her works reflect the intimate role of the family institution in Vietnam: people are held together in the face of change. Her paintings are also the story of human destiny; through her works viewers can see different pieces of life with which they can identify – the village gate, the trees, or the rice fields.
Born in Kim Hoang Village in Ha Tay province, Mrs. Doanh acquired the quintessence of art through her father, who was himself a painter.
"As art is our family’s tradition, I grew up with it. My father was my first teacher," she said.
While in secondary school, she "fell in love" with Picasso. Later, she became interested in Gauguin, Van Gogh and Modigliani. Her Vietnamese idols in art are Nguyen Gia Tri and Nguyen Sang (who are very famous for their lacquer paintings), and To Ngoc Van, Bui Xuan Phai and Luong Xuan Nhi, all of whom are masters of oil painting.
At Hanoi Fine Arts University, her major was in oil painting, and she taught herself to paint with water colors, on silk and paper as well as canvas. Lacquer, however, is her favorite medium – and perhaps the greatest challenge – because in lacquer techniques, the full elements and details of the work will not appear until the last phase, sometimes with "a lot of surprises", as she said.
With her father and elder brother – who is also an artist – she learned the laborious art of lacquer painting, which some researchers say dates as far back as the third and fourth centuries. This particular form of art is believed to have begun in China, where people collected the lacquer substance from a tree which produces a sap suitable for painting.
It is a very meticulous work to produce a lacquer painting, and the process can take several months to complete. The painting is done on a piece of wood, or template. It is covered with a piece of cloth glued to it using the sap of the lacquer tree and then coated with a layer of the sap mixed with earth. The board is then sand-papered and recoated with a layer of hot sap.
After polishing, this gives a smooth and shining black surface.
The painter uses hot lacquer to draw the outline of a picture and the colors are applied one by one, layer upon layer. Each coat dries slowly.
The final process consists of polishing and washing the picture. This may seem like brutal treatment for a work of art, but it is done with great care, said Mrs. Doanh.
This process leaves a brilliant surface on the painting.
Lacquer paintings are also very durable. An oil painting may show cracks in the paint after a period of time, but the lacquer painting will last unchanged for several hundred years.
Art Mecca Mrs. Doanh is one of around 6,000 artists who live in Hanoi, considered by many to be the Art Mecca of Asia.
"Painters in Vietnam are well recognized. Certainly not all of them, but we have many famous painters whose works are kept in museums and private collections all over the world," she said.
Some of the best known are Girl with White Lily, an oil painting of To Ngoc Van; Thuy of Tran Van Can; and Bui Xuan Phai’s set of paintings depicting Hanoi streets.
The Vietnam Arts Museum displays many fine pieces, some famous, some not. All painters can make a living through their works in the country, said Mrs Doanh, but the most famous artist may not be the richest. "We have many painters who are very rich because their paintings are bought by foreigners. If you ask 10 Vietnamese about Thanh Chuong, I’m sure there will be at least six of them who know him and will tell you how rich he is. Still, he doesn’t have many awards, but the foreigners love his paintings. "
Vietnamese paintings are displayed at national and international events, including the APEC meeting in Hanoi last November. Vietnamese painters have a good relationship with foreign counterparts who they meet through cultural exchange events.
Mrs. Doanh is now in France ( May 2007 ) to display her works at the invitation of Ateliers D’Artistes de Belleville (Friendly Exchange Culture and Arts Association of Belleville) in Paris. It is her second trip outside Vietnam, the first one being to China, where she stayed for a month.
Mrs. Doanh said she has heard a lot of good things about Thailand and would like to come here to display her works as well. "Through paintings, people from different countries can understand each other’s culture and way of life," she said.
"Painters are the ones who create beauty. They are the link between the past and present … and they help people to protect their national heritage."
(Editor’s Note: Mrs. Doanh’s paintings can be viewed at Quan Thanh Temple on Thanh Nien Street and at the White Lotus Gallery, No 71Bl, Hang Trong Street, Hanoi.)

==========================================================
Addendum from the UGVF Gallery :
After her display in Belleville , Mrs Doanh has shown her works at the UGVF Gallery ( with others artists from the Paris-Hanoi-Art Collective )

If you are in Paris, you are welcome at the UGVF gallery
16 rue du Petit musc
metro Sully Morland
Paris

BURN2 : bordello road


Image by rafeejewell
I took so many pictures of BURN2 the last few days. I thought I should at least post a few. So many great things to see and experience on the dry playa, that it would take forever to go through all of it.

Lag was a bit much on the opening day, but I expected that. I used an alt to navigate around; one that had hardly anything in inventory. It really helped to have no scripted huds or attachments, too.

My favorite artists and their works are here. I am gaga over Nish Mip (she recently won UWA’s 3D Design Challenge) and her cyber robot club/lounge "Robot Summer City." I could have hung out there all day.

Next favorite was Gracie Kendal. I have a few of her pieces from 2007 when I first ran across her work at a now defunct art gallery on the grid. Her Burning Man "painting" of swirls and textures had me walking and flying through it. There is a story told… an important one.

The cartoony, Mario-build was fabulous. Legos stacked and pieced together creating a huge monumental build. You could see it from across the sims! So sweet and charming and it brought a big smile to my face.

I did spend one entire afternoon with the Stilt Bitches Flying Circus. The freebies were so great. Stilts, costumes and fire juggling were given away. Everyone was dancing. I couldn’t tear myself away.

I have only gone to a couple of parties as I have been super busy lately with other grid matters. I hit Barbs Kurka‘s "Barb’s Psytrance Tent" a few times as I seem to know most of the dj’s over there.

Live music was awesome. So many talented musicians are playing at the Center Tent. Make sure you go at least a few times to catch the different genres of music there.

It will be impossible to see everything. But, the weekend is almost here, so I hope to check out more!

BURN2 : builder’s art


Image by rafeejewell
I took so many pictures of BURN2 the last few days. I thought I should at least post a few. So many great things to see and experience on the dry playa, that it would take forever to go through all of it.

Lag was a bit much on the opening day, but I expected that. I used an alt to navigate around; one that had hardly anything in inventory. It really helped to have no scripted huds or attachments, too.

My favorite artists and their works are here. I am gaga over Nish Mip (she recently won UWA’s 3D Design Challenge) and her cyber robot club/lounge "Robot Summer City." I could have hung out there all day.

Next favorite was Gracie Kendal. I have a few of her pieces from 2007 when I first ran across her work at a now defunct art gallery on the grid. Her Burning Man "painting" of swirls and textures had me walking and flying through it. There is a story told… an important one.

The cartoony, Mario-build was fabulous. Legos stacked and pieced together creating a huge monumental build. You could see it from across the sims! So sweet and charming and it brought a big smile to my face.

I did spend one entire afternoon with the Stilt Bitches Flying Circus. The freebies were so great. Stilts, costumes and fire juggling were given away. Everyone was dancing. I couldn’t tear myself away.

I have only gone to a couple of parties as I have been super busy lately with other grid matters. I hit Barbs Kurka‘s "Barb’s Psytrance Tent" a few times as I seem to know most of the dj’s over there.

Live music was awesome. So many talented musicians are playing at the Center Tent. Make sure you go at least a few times to catch the different genres of music there.

It will be impossible to see everything. But, the weekend is almost here, so I hope to check out more!

The First Communion & Self Portrait by Eugine Carriere


Image by peterjr1961
The First Communion by Eugine Carriere

This picture of a girl’s first communion, which probably dates to around 1896, reflects Carrière’s interest in Christian subjects. Rather than representing the religious ceremony, however, Carrière conveys the mystical aspect of the event through the figure’s stylized form, expressionless face, and ghostly presence. This depiction of spiritual and physical purity, emphasized here by the prevalence of the color white, is in keeping with the Symbolist era’s fascination with childhood innocence and feminine virtue.

Self Portrait by Eugine Carriere

In 1887 Carrière painted the first of at least ten self-portraits, all executed in the artist’s characteristic misty, monochromatic technique of carefully nuanced umber tones. The present example was painted about 1893, when it was purchased by the American collector Harris Whittemore, probably at the advice of Mary Cassatt’s father.