Teaching Drawing at CAC

Very excited to find myself teaching Drawing Fundamentals at the CAC.  Due to a dramatic prequel,  I only had a single day to prepare for the class, so I grabbed my dusty copy of Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain AKA Learn to live like a Dyslexic, and pieced together a rough curriculum. (I'll be fleshing it out this week)

For this first class, I leaned hard on the Left - Right brain theory, believing that the most common problems in learning how to draw is turning off that hyper critical left side so the creative right side can take some risks and start to really see the world around us.

So, a few exercises to derail the left side and feed the right, such as the drawing above. It's a copy of a drawing by Degas. And yes, it is upside down because it was drawn upside down. Doing this allows you to more easily see the lines and shapes as simply lines and shapes, and not as a head, right hand, left hand, buttons, a pocket... all of which the left side already knows what those things look like, so it's going to draw what it knows and not what you are really looking at.

Next week, we'll be looking at blind contour drawing...

PS- And a big Thanks to the CAC for thinking of me when they needed help.

And The Idea Fund Grant Goes To...

This was my second time to apply for an Idea Fund grant. The first was in 2009, as a joint effort with Beam, Plank and Flitch, constructing 6 public wood benches made from urban harvested trees. That one missed because I think the judges thought it was to pedestrian and not art centric enough. Although sense that time Dallas has become over run by urban harvesters.

In 2011, I applied with the Automated Cordycep Project:

The Automated Cordycep Project is about playing with a narrative; it’s about combining sculpture, nature, and science, with a gorilla approach to exposing the public to a sci-fi narrative of near future disaster…

And the prize… went to somebody else. Actually 10 somebody elses. I looked over the list, and can say that on first glance, they all look like solid proposals. Each having a large friendly public component, which I think is where my project might have been lacking. Mine had public interaction, but more on the level of terrorizing large crowds with remote controlled cars infected with a parasitic fungus.

So. I’ll add this to the list of impressive art organizations that I have applied to but have not been accepted by. It is said that if you don’t get rejection notices, you’re not trying hard enough, which I do think is true, although I really do prefer the non-rejection notices.

Wordpress Move Not So Fast

A few months ago I thought it was a good idea to up date my website and blog by combining them into one Wordpress theme. Now, as I look at the calender, I see that I have spent enough time on this simple conversion that I could have white washed the whole ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. AND it's still not up and running. Guess I'll need more paint to do the walls.

Dallas Aurora After Glow

It's been a few days sense the Dallas Aurora event in the Dallas Arts District. People are starting to post images and videos. One of those in by my good friend Mark Birnbaum, who unbeknownst to me shot this great video of my installation. Thanks Mark!

Aurora 2011: A Thing To See And Do

Water Walls Dallas Arboretum

I have felt for a while now that I should be spending less time at the computer. All those hours logged on has left me feeling a bit like a big wooden log. So, it's up early, a balanced breakfast, walkies, perhaps a bit of yard work, and get involved with a few art events to get me out of this damn house!!!

Aurora 2011 is one such event. This year it's being held in the Dallas Arts District. 97 light and sound installations will turn the 19 block area into a night of color. The big power switch will be flipped on this Friday, October 28th at 7:30pm-12:00 midnight. Here's the Art and Seek post.

Fountain Place Park Dallas TX

I missed being part of the Aurora 2010 because I was in Italy, which I enjoyed completely and blogged about maybe a bit to much. That said, I have been waiting all year for the next Aurora event. This time I am in town, busy at my computer spicing together bits of video... So much for getting out of the house, or the walkies, or the balanced breakfast.

White Rock Lake 2 AM

I am producing 2 videos that will be projected onto the west garden wall of the Meyerson Symphony Center. Both videos are about water. One is natural footage of ponds, streams and puddles as seen in the top 2 photos above. The other video uses the same footage and manipulates it by re-filming the clips multiple times to produce color separations and distortions, as seen in these bottom 2 photos.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

This will be my first time to show any of these videos publicly. Very excited about it, and about seeing all the other installations, too!

After the Auditions

The 3 winners of the TEDxSMU Auditions were very solid choices. Belinda Baldwin, Jasmin Brand, and Will Clarke each demonstrated a well crafted comfort with the stage and presented topics that were intriguing. Each topic could be easily be expanded into longer in depth presentations.

Sarah Hodge has posted a complete recap of the evenings presentations. Thanks Sarah for doing that. I mentally missed half of the presenters while trying to calm down from my turn under the spot light.

Here is my totally self absorbed, center of the universe recap of the evening:

From the beginning I did this for the fun, and because it was my way of showing support for TEDxSMU. I have seen how sending out a Call To Artists can result in lack luster returns in both quality and quantity. Happily in this case, TEDxSMU did end up with over 50 applicants. Dallas does have a lot of engaging topics and dynamic people.

Each of the 13 presenters approached the microphone differently. Some had that envious natural ease, some followed learned presentation techniques, some approached it as a short performance, 3 minutes on the dot. And some, well 3 minutes can be a long time.

Personally, I follow the school of practice, practice, practice. I practiced until all the cats ran out of the house. Then I went down to the railroad bridge and practiced some more.

Reflecting back on my performance, I can see where it lacked clarity, and where I verbally stumbled. Sense a part of me seems to enjoy this form of punishment, maybe I should seriously educate myself in the art of public annunciation. But where to start?

TEDxSMU Auditions: Time is Ticking Away

When I signed up for the TEDxSMU Auditions it was the middle of August when the Texas heat was so intense you could fry up a whole chicken on the hood of your Ford truck.

Now it's October, I have survived, I have also realized I signed up and/or volunteered for things like a man soon to die. October has become an out of my comfort zone experience. This audition being what my Dad would call a personality growing experience.

So here it the ruff draft. I'll be one of 13 people presenting a 3 minute lecture on a topic of our own choosing. 4 judges and an audience pole will decide who goes on to present an extended lecture at TEDxSMU in December. Here is the itinerary. Thank god I"m not going last, but on the other hand most of my friends are well known for running late...

Brad Ford Smith                "What People Reach For When Things Fall Apart"

Christian Genco                "Outsource Your Brain: Why Everyone Needs to Learn How to Program."

Golbahar Dadyan             "Unlocking the Creative Genius: Living the Dream Circuit"

Jon Eric Fountain              "Follow My Heels"

Will Clarke                           "Seeing Through The Haze: Why Do We Haze?"

RJ Daum                               "Wild Mustangs, Wild Life"

Short Break- music

Sean Springer                    "Making Good Product: Inspirations, Sensations and Values"

Stacy Cherones                 "Make Cafeterias Complete"

Jasmin  Brand                    "What Ike Turner & Social Media Have in Common"

Belinda Baldwin                "The Power of You"

Darren Collins                    "Disaster Relief Housing: A Clown's Perspective"

There will be a short intro of each speaker- just name and talk title.

Each speaker will only have 3 minutes. Anyone that goes over 3 minutes will be pulled off the stage, but in a fun way :)

Doors open at 6:00 and we will begin the program at 7:00. We will have one short break with live music by Kerri Arista. She will also perform at the end while we are counting ballots and the judges deliberate. A winner will be announced that night.

We strongly urge any additional guests buy their ticket online since we will only be selling tickets at the door if we don’t sell out before. Ticket link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2042078913/mcivte