Already the Fall Colors are inspiring us! Come and Play!
Susan Lehman is hosting another Collage Play Day at Art by the Sea Gallery and Studio in Old Town Bandon
this Saturday, September 29th from 1-4 pm.
Everything is provided; just dress for mess since we use acrylic gels and paints! : )
$10 per person.
See you there! : )
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Afraid of The Dark
A long time ago, in a place far away, I was a kid.
No there were no dinosaurs roaming the earth and the lava from the Big Bang had cooled some what, (It was Texas after all and the heat from Summer and the Big Bang weren't all that different), so things had settled down a bit and there had been time for all sorts of inventions like cars and washing machines and Red Baiting and Television.
Oh yeah, television, that tiny box with the twelve inch screen and the images in living black and white and except for the occasional Charlton Heston now there was no reason to leave the comfort of your home. You had your pipe, your slippers, your dog and Uncle Milty. Man, that's living.
But as with all things television changed. After a few years the novelty wore off, everyone had a set so there were no neighborhood television parties and even the fights weren't enough to keep the folks out of the theater.
Mike Todd might have had something to do with getting the folks back into the theaters, he created Todd-AO the first successful wide screen format for film and made seeing things on the giant theater wall-sized screen the thing to do. You can't appreciate the parting of the Red Sea unless Charlton is ten feet tall and standing on twenty foot rock.
But the real problem was radio. Yes the same thing which now brings you your golden oldies and morning dive DJ was once the center of the entertainment industry. What you think Radio City was built just for the Rockettes? Okay the Rockettes deserve their own theater but Radio City was actually built for the radio programs and the Rockettes were just the filler between shows.
You see a whole three generations had been raised on radio. They grew up listening to radio and all of the wonderful things you can only do on radio. You want an invasion from Mars? You got it and no worries about making the Martians look silly cause it was all in your imagination. Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers could have space ships which flashed across endless galaxies and never had to stop at the filling station for a top-off of jet fuel, The Inner Sanctum can bring you the most terrifying of creatures, the deadliest monsters and the weirdest mad scientists because you can't see them and in your mind's eye they never look clunky, made from leftover model car parts or have lines so the puppeteers can manipulate the tentacles.
Radio trained a whole generation to have high expectations and early television with its limited viewing area couldn't compete with Todd-AO or make interplanetary travel look oh so real.
What to do, how to keep the folks in their homes and not let the fledgling television industry die at birth.
Then along comes Universal Studio in big trouble and needing a fast injection of cash and they decide to stop fighting television for the public's attention and sell them something they can use in place of Old Gold game shows. They sold the rights to television to broadcast their vault of original monster movies!
You know the old ones with Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Charles Laughton, and Claude Raines,the whole European exile community from Universal's back lot.
And what a collection of characters they were, from Karloff's elegant British gent to Peter Lorre's slimy, unctuous toady, Mae Clarke's chic and oh so wan heroines, Una O'Conner's wildly funny and frazzled maids, char women and floozies. They filled our minds with the core images our imagination made nightmares of for generations. They were fun, fun, fun.
But as we aged, they next generation cared more for the splatter flick with Jason and Freddy and Hellraiser doing dastardly deeds to screaming teenagers.
And that's what horror movies have become, scream fests for horny teenagers, cause nothing gets the blood pounding like a big jolt of blood and gore. And that's what teenagers go to the movies for, getting their blood pounding cause there is nothing more likely to get them in the mood than a near death experience so long as it isn't too near death!
But some of those old fright flicks have held up wonderfully and you could do yourself and the neighborhood kids a big favor by hosting a Halloween-a-thon of great monster flicks.
The Universals are the best, especially the original eight, Dracula, sure it creaks a bit but so will you when you get to be eighty-one years old, Frankenstein, which is the name of the man and not the monster, The Werewolf of London, which is the first and the best werewolf movie, The Invisible Man, don't let the dentist give you Monocaine! Then there's Boris Karloff's Mummy, less staggering and more creepy, Boris and Bela in the Black Cat, international intrigue, more kink that a party at the Playboy mansion and Boris and Bela again in The Invisible Ray. This one should have been written by Jules Verne cause Captain Nemo's secret power source gets discovered and misused, again, The Bride of Frankenstein, much scarier and even Collin Clive has a reason to be mad, mad I tell you with fear and terror. There's one more Frank, The Son of Frankenstein and another Mummy, this time the Curse, and the scariest of all of a scary lot, Dr. Moreau's Island of Lost Souls. Remember the house of pain!
If you see all of these in one week, there are few more worth your time, Hammer's first five, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Curse of Frankenstein and The Horror of Dracula. They have the best horror hero of them all in Peter Cushing, the one and only Van Helsing. Besides, even the horny teenage contingent will appreciate Hazel Court, who created a whole sub-genre of heaving bosoms. Try the Hammer Mummy if you prefer your undead staggering and Egyptian, stretched Christopher Lee's acting ability to the max, but he did eventually learn to stagger convincingly. And the Curse of the Werewolf harks back to the real, original Henry Hull werewolf makeup so it is a shade better than any of the Chaney wolves.
There's one more you should have in your fear festival, the Howling, a werewolf reboot in a modern sort of way. It's too gory and the makeup is overdone but the cast makes up for a whole bunch of sins. The last line is worth the price of admission. No, I'm not telling you, you'll just have to do without or rent it and find out.
No list of scare fare would be complete without mention of the lighter side of spooky. Old Boris himself did two spooktacular comedies, You'll Find Out and The Bogeyman, Will Get You. More recent and just as good, Arsenic and Old Lace is still the best and Practical Magic is. Catherine Bell's The Good Witch series is well worth watching if for nothing else but the twinkle in Catherine's eye. You know she could suit up in that harem costume and redo I Dream of Genie if she weren't so busy.
Throw in two Scifi flicks, Them and The Thing, Jim Arness version only and you have a complete package of wonderful films for the holiday season.
What do they have to do with art? Jack Pierce's makeup for Universal is art of the first order, a good story with great images is always art and these are the arch-typical visions of all our own fantasies. Don't you want to pass them along before the kids decide that Freddy and Jason are the only thing scary is about?
So on All Hallows even when things go bump in the night you can shudder and nod and the kids will understand, there's a reason to be afraid of the dark.
No there were no dinosaurs roaming the earth and the lava from the Big Bang had cooled some what, (It was Texas after all and the heat from Summer and the Big Bang weren't all that different), so things had settled down a bit and there had been time for all sorts of inventions like cars and washing machines and Red Baiting and Television.
Oh yeah, television, that tiny box with the twelve inch screen and the images in living black and white and except for the occasional Charlton Heston now there was no reason to leave the comfort of your home. You had your pipe, your slippers, your dog and Uncle Milty. Man, that's living.
But as with all things television changed. After a few years the novelty wore off, everyone had a set so there were no neighborhood television parties and even the fights weren't enough to keep the folks out of the theater.
Mike Todd might have had something to do with getting the folks back into the theaters, he created Todd-AO the first successful wide screen format for film and made seeing things on the giant theater wall-sized screen the thing to do. You can't appreciate the parting of the Red Sea unless Charlton is ten feet tall and standing on twenty foot rock.
But the real problem was radio. Yes the same thing which now brings you your golden oldies and morning dive DJ was once the center of the entertainment industry. What you think Radio City was built just for the Rockettes? Okay the Rockettes deserve their own theater but Radio City was actually built for the radio programs and the Rockettes were just the filler between shows.
You see a whole three generations had been raised on radio. They grew up listening to radio and all of the wonderful things you can only do on radio. You want an invasion from Mars? You got it and no worries about making the Martians look silly cause it was all in your imagination. Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers could have space ships which flashed across endless galaxies and never had to stop at the filling station for a top-off of jet fuel, The Inner Sanctum can bring you the most terrifying of creatures, the deadliest monsters and the weirdest mad scientists because you can't see them and in your mind's eye they never look clunky, made from leftover model car parts or have lines so the puppeteers can manipulate the tentacles.
Radio trained a whole generation to have high expectations and early television with its limited viewing area couldn't compete with Todd-AO or make interplanetary travel look oh so real.
What to do, how to keep the folks in their homes and not let the fledgling television industry die at birth.
Then along comes Universal Studio in big trouble and needing a fast injection of cash and they decide to stop fighting television for the public's attention and sell them something they can use in place of Old Gold game shows. They sold the rights to television to broadcast their vault of original monster movies!
You know the old ones with Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Charles Laughton, and Claude Raines,the whole European exile community from Universal's back lot.
And what a collection of characters they were, from Karloff's elegant British gent to Peter Lorre's slimy, unctuous toady, Mae Clarke's chic and oh so wan heroines, Una O'Conner's wildly funny and frazzled maids, char women and floozies. They filled our minds with the core images our imagination made nightmares of for generations. They were fun, fun, fun.
But as we aged, they next generation cared more for the splatter flick with Jason and Freddy and Hellraiser doing dastardly deeds to screaming teenagers.
And that's what horror movies have become, scream fests for horny teenagers, cause nothing gets the blood pounding like a big jolt of blood and gore. And that's what teenagers go to the movies for, getting their blood pounding cause there is nothing more likely to get them in the mood than a near death experience so long as it isn't too near death!
But some of those old fright flicks have held up wonderfully and you could do yourself and the neighborhood kids a big favor by hosting a Halloween-a-thon of great monster flicks.
The Universals are the best, especially the original eight, Dracula, sure it creaks a bit but so will you when you get to be eighty-one years old, Frankenstein, which is the name of the man and not the monster, The Werewolf of London, which is the first and the best werewolf movie, The Invisible Man, don't let the dentist give you Monocaine! Then there's Boris Karloff's Mummy, less staggering and more creepy, Boris and Bela in the Black Cat, international intrigue, more kink that a party at the Playboy mansion and Boris and Bela again in The Invisible Ray. This one should have been written by Jules Verne cause Captain Nemo's secret power source gets discovered and misused, again, The Bride of Frankenstein, much scarier and even Collin Clive has a reason to be mad, mad I tell you with fear and terror. There's one more Frank, The Son of Frankenstein and another Mummy, this time the Curse, and the scariest of all of a scary lot, Dr. Moreau's Island of Lost Souls. Remember the house of pain!
If you see all of these in one week, there are few more worth your time, Hammer's first five, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Curse of Frankenstein and The Horror of Dracula. They have the best horror hero of them all in Peter Cushing, the one and only Van Helsing. Besides, even the horny teenage contingent will appreciate Hazel Court, who created a whole sub-genre of heaving bosoms. Try the Hammer Mummy if you prefer your undead staggering and Egyptian, stretched Christopher Lee's acting ability to the max, but he did eventually learn to stagger convincingly. And the Curse of the Werewolf harks back to the real, original Henry Hull werewolf makeup so it is a shade better than any of the Chaney wolves.
There's one more you should have in your fear festival, the Howling, a werewolf reboot in a modern sort of way. It's too gory and the makeup is overdone but the cast makes up for a whole bunch of sins. The last line is worth the price of admission. No, I'm not telling you, you'll just have to do without or rent it and find out.
No list of scare fare would be complete without mention of the lighter side of spooky. Old Boris himself did two spooktacular comedies, You'll Find Out and The Bogeyman, Will Get You. More recent and just as good, Arsenic and Old Lace is still the best and Practical Magic is. Catherine Bell's The Good Witch series is well worth watching if for nothing else but the twinkle in Catherine's eye. You know she could suit up in that harem costume and redo I Dream of Genie if she weren't so busy.
Throw in two Scifi flicks, Them and The Thing, Jim Arness version only and you have a complete package of wonderful films for the holiday season.
What do they have to do with art? Jack Pierce's makeup for Universal is art of the first order, a good story with great images is always art and these are the arch-typical visions of all our own fantasies. Don't you want to pass them along before the kids decide that Freddy and Jason are the only thing scary is about?
So on All Hallows even when things go bump in the night you can shudder and nod and the kids will understand, there's a reason to be afraid of the dark.
BAAA Meeting
The Bay Area Artists' Association will be hosting Barbara Mahon, founder of the Artists Loft Gallery, located at the Pony Village Mall, as the guest speaker for the October 13, 2012, general meeting. Barbara, a gifted watercolorist and long time teacher in the Bay Area, will present her demonstration on the "pouring technique in watercolor." Members and all interested non-members are welcome to attend, free of charge, to watch this exciting demonstration and to take away some valuable new techniques to possibly use in their own artwork. The meeting will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will be held at the Pony Village Mall, 1611 Virginia Ave., North Bend, across from Maurices. The Bay Area Artists' Association, serving the Oregon Coast Bay Area Fine Arts Community since 1991, meet once a month on the second Saturday of the month at 11:00 a.m. at the Pony Village Mall. All artists and art lovers are welcome and invited to join.
Monday, September 24, 2012
29th Annual National Juried Show
The North Valley Art League seeks entries for their annual national juried show, January 22 - February 23, 2013 at the Carter House Gallery in Redding, CA.
Best of Show $1000, First Place $250, Three $100 Awards of Excellence,
Four $50 Awards of Merit, Five Honorable Mentions, People's Choice
Award. Juror: Ken Hosmer . Open to all artists 18 years and older,
residing in the United States. Open theme, with a size limitation of 40 x
40 inches, including frame. All two-dimensional works in the following
media will be considered: Paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel
and gouache; Drawings in pencil, pastel, pen & ink; Printmaking
& Mixed Media. $30 for the first 3 entries, $5 for each addition
entry. No Limit on the number of entries. Deadline: October 28, 2012. Visit website for prospectus. Questions? Please contact Dottie Turk at nvalnational@sbcglobal.net or call 530-244-7138.
Bound
The Women's Caucus for Art announces a call to artists for a juried art exhibition, January 30 - February 23, 2013 at Phoenix Gallery in New York, NY.
Juror: Cora Rosevear, Curator Painting & Sculpture, MoMA. We are
seeking multiple expressions of 'Bound', which can range from literal to
poetic, abstract to representational, and psychological to social &
political commentary. Show work that explores the concepts of bound and
borders--be they internal, external, constructed, imagined, imposed, or
embraced and how boundaries define and shape our identities,
relationships, ideas and politics. Artists are encouraged to interpret
this theme broadly; submit works that have resonance and meaning to you.
Open to all self-identified women artists in the USA. Artists may
submit up to three works per entry. All media except giclees. Visit website for more details. $35 for WCA members, $45 for nonmembers. Deadline: October 28, 2012. Questions? Contact Karen Gutfreund at wcaartists@gmail.com
14th Painting, Drawing, Photography & Print Juried Online International Art Exhibition
Upstream People Gallery announces a call to artists for an online exhibition,
November 1, 2012 - October 31, 2013. Cash Awards of Excellence, Special
Recognitions, Press Releases, Int'l Publicity, Juror Critiques of
artworks. Juror: Laurence Bradshaw, Professor of Art, University of
Nebraska Omaha, who has exhibited in over 350 one-person, nat'l and
int'l shows. Open to all artists worldwide with original paintings,
drawings, photography and prints in all creative processes and forms. Deadline: October 24, 2012. $25 for up to 5 images; $5 each add'l. Visit website for prospectus,
or send a SASE to: 14th PDPP, Upstream People Gallery, 5607 Howard St.,
Omaha, NE 68106-1257 USA. Questions? Please contact Larry Bradshaw at shows@upstreampeoplegallery.com or 402-991-4741.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Afraid of the Dark
Spooks
and goblins and ghosties, oh my!
'Twas
the moth before Halloween and all through the county not a creature
was stirring and that was exceedingly odd cause the time is a wastin'
and the holiday is fast upon us and if you haven't started getting
ready boy are you in the soup.
There's
nothing to get ready I thought I heard you say.
But
there is, cause for an artists this is the chance you've been waiting
for. There is no one to tell you what to do, when to do it and what
you can or cannot do. Ain't that grand?
Laying
aside the stuff about promoting your art, which you should be doing
at every opportunity like say a holiday where there are plenty of
chances for a creative guy to dream up things which never were and
couldn't be and make them real, there are so many opportunities that
you just have to latch on to one of them and run with it even if you
aren't trying to beat your own drum, which you should be doing but
maybe this one time I'll let you skate if you just get out there and
contribute something.
Like,
pumpkin carving. There's going to be a carved pumpkin on every
doorstep and table top and most of them are going to be just awful.
Since you are an artists and possibly even a sculptor, why aren't you
doing something about making those Jacks so much better. There are
carving tool available at your local super market for pennies on the
dollar and if you get the spirit you can carve up a bunch of
pumpkins, support the local farmers and give the resulting artful
Jacks away to deserving charities and civic groups and get the
satisfaction of doing good like your mother told you and seeing some
community art in the process.
What
about the family mansion? Aren't you going to decorate it so you can
scare the bejabbers out of the little munchkins? Now the tradition is
to do cobwebs and gravestones but aren't you more insightful than
that? Where's the creativity?
Got
a great turn of the century Gothic? Why not make it into the Addams
family home for the month, not so well housed, try something a little
more modern, say mud spattered windows and eerie lights flashing on
and off inside what is no doubt and bad and wildly dangerous lair for
something not quiet human.
What
kind of treats are you giving out? Are you taking the easy way out
and buying that bag of commercial candy at Fred Meyer? That's no way
to be, those little devils have been lying in wait for twelve long
months and they want something different. Why not make them something
that they won't get at the local grocery store. Now do be mindful
there are nasty folks out there who spike the goodies with bad things
trying to do harm on a day of fantasy and joy, so use conventional
treats wrapped by the manufacturer and packaged in your own special
way so that the parents don't have a cardiac when the darlings bring
home a hand formed pumpkin truffle.
And
while you're at it slip in a bookmark with your art on it so that the
kid when they are woozy from a sugar high will have something that
the dentists and the medicos will approve of after all.
Yes,
it should be holiday centered but you're creative, create.
Maybe
you could give an hour or two to the school or the library to tell
ghost stories, illustrated with your own images? I once taught a
group of first graders Beowulf. The faculty was shocked and the
parents were amazed but the kids loved it. Seems they didn't know it
was High Literature and supposed to be good for them, they just
thought it was a good story of a hero fighting a scary monster,
imagine that?
There
are going to be dozens if not hundreds of Halloween parties and all
of them will need adult supervision unless they are for adults in
which case maybe you should be going for your own dandy self?
Find
a party sponsored by your church, school or civic organization and
offer to help man the doors. Then get busy and create and interesting
costume so that you look like an amazing Bohemian artsy-fartsy person
and not just a parent of other chaperone.
And
while you are doing all of this ask yourself why there is no fantasy
themed art show going on during the month of October. Yes, there
probably are more maritime and landscape artists in the area, but
fantasy if a filed that is growing every day and won't be held back
of stopped just because you don;t want to play. Maybe if we had a
fantasy themed art show the kids would get involved in the Arts
earlier and we'd have a chance to capture their little souls before
television and vampire movies turn them to the Dark Side.
The
more time you spend in the community the stronger the community
support for art and artists becomes. Halloween is the prefect vehicle
for that sort of connection and if you aren't doing something special
for all of the boys and ghouls maybe that's the problem.
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