Paddlin' near Pedro

Mike Watt kayaks seemingly every morning. I would never have expected to see one of the greats of punk get so obsessed with sunrises, sunsets and lighthouses but I have to admit it is nice to find his images so often in my mailbox. Of course, it has a lot to do with the Secondman's Middle Stand, and his new look on life after coming so close to death...

I haven't had time for art, lately, so thought I would share a couple of his images with you (the bottom one was taken on Thanksgiving, I think). I hope to get back to my stuff after Thanksgiving. The installation at the Lux in Lincoln will take up most of next week. I will post some images of that as soon as I can

Tyrone Guthrie ~ Lake

This was a photo I took for Mark Roper of the lake near the Tyrone Guthrie Center at Annamakerrig, Ireland. I was going to do a drawing for him (never found the time) but liked this photo enough that I thought I would print it and send it to him. Unfortunately, I never did that, either.

Mark: Do you visit this site? Want a photo? Let me know

Stink Tanks

The more I hear cable news interview members of “Think Tanks” the less I feel like listening to the news. Most disheartening of all, even NPR has become increasingly guilty of this habit. There is something distinctly fishy about journalists’ dependence on expertise from these groups.

Think tanks often seem to be little more than PR departments or advocacy groups spreading propaganda to push whatever ideological agenda for which that group claims expertise. Almost always funded by large corporations, businesses or foundations, think tanks exist both on the Left and on the Right, but seem to be dominated by much more conservative groups, such as the Heritage Foundation (with funding by such hard liners as Richard Mellon Scaife). I have come to distrust any “expertise” coming out of these so-called intellectual institutes.

I can’t find the author of the following, but one writer put it this way: “Think tanks are like universities minus the students and minus the systems of peer review and other mechanisms that academia uses to promote diversity of thought. Real academics are expected to conduct their research first and draw their conclusions second, but this process is often reversed at most policy-driven think tanks.”

So why are journalists depending so much on them? Laziness? The continuing focus on media profits over real investigative reporting? I can’t say.

Jonathan Rowe once said “think tank” is a misnomer because thinking is the last thing they do. “They don’t think. The justify.”

A friend reminded me of an article I posted by Bill Moyers months ago about the decline of journalism and what it means to the health of any democracy. The ever growing dependance on information provided by think tanks makes me increasingly concerned about the future of both journalism and democracy in America.

Track the toolbag

When the astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost her toolbag during a spacewalk a few days ago, I immediately wondered how long it would stay in orbit and whether I would be able to see it or not. I used to frequently track the Shuttle and International Space Station when I lived out West (great viewing). It is still fun to spot either the ISS or Shuttle passing overhead.

It looks like there will be a good opportunity to see the toolbag in the next day, or so. There are several sites that predict opportunities to spot it. It sounds like it will continue to orbit until maybe June of 2009, at which time they think it will finally re-enter the atmosphere.

We might see it above Omaha around 6 PM on the 29th, just ahead of the ISS.

Happy Thanksgiving, pt 2

A Thanksgiving Prayer from William S. Burroughs

Figure textured

This is a test texturing (coloring, etc) of the angel figure. He is supposed to look a little dirty, but instead looks more splotchy. I will have to experiment more, later

Happy Thanksgiving

This video has already had 2.5 million views. I am amazed some people haven't seen it, yet. It has gotten a lot of play, but since I have been asked about it I thought I might as well post it for those of you that haven't been blessed with it, yet. You really should watch it to the end. The last turkey and comments that go along with it are a holiday treat.

FYI - Moments before this interview, she pardoned one turkey to save its life.

Fox "News"

So a year ago Fox invites guests onto the show, such as Schiff, who tell them exactly what they need to know. Then idiots like Ben Stein make fun of him over and over, again. A compilation of nutty clips. News? Uh, yeah...

The White Album - 40th Anniv.

The White Album - The Beatles

For those interested: The White Album has for a long, long time been one of my all time favorite albums, even while containing a few of my LEAST favorite Beatles songs - songs they wrote and recorded in their mid-20's, by the way. I used to have a very cool collector's edition that was on white vinyl - sadly, it was later ruined. When it was first released on CD, it became the very first CD I ever purchased. That led me down a path of CD buying that has led to several thousand CDs.

I listened to this NPR story when it was played live, then listened to it again over the weekend during their "listening party" where they played the album in its entirety. Even if you aren't a big Beatles fan, give it a chance. Admittedly, I am not their biggest fan, either - I just think the album was revolutionary and at the time I first heard it (years after it was released), it changed my perception of music, in general, and the band, in particular.

If you've never really given the full album a chance, at least listen to a bit of history...

Click here if you'd rather download the Podcast

Climate Crisis Coalition

Remember this image from last year?:

That piece was for a global event organized by Climate Crisis Coalition. Artists, performers, writers and activists from all over the globe participated in the one day event.

I took the quote from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, then cast a small portion of the quote with red ice and placed it in the show. It melted over the next few days. Last Spring, I brought the piece back along with the outstanding Jamie Burmeister, who helped me set up the event for Earth Day, 2008.

This year, I promised the Climate Crisis Coalition that I would bring the piece back, with a new twist, for the next CCC global event which officially takes place on Dec 6.

I will post more information as the time approaches, but the actual event will begin the evening of Dec 5th and be left to melt over the full day of Dec 6th.

War*Mart

It is like watching war games (click on the image to watch)

A friend of mine thinks it is silly of me that I stopped shopping at WalMart about 12 years ago. But, when I admitted I had been in a WalMart several times since deciding to never step foot in a WalMart again, he found my reasoning "hilarious" but thought my intentions were sketchy. You may not find this hilarious at all, but here is the explanation, anyway:

One summer, while traveling across the States, I had to stop to get gas and use a restroom. I got the gas. However, the restroom was out of order. I had to find a restroom soon, but I was in a tiny town with few options. Then I noticed the local WalMart and remembered they have public restrooms. I concluded at that moment that it was okay to go in one as long as I wasn't buying anything. Then decided from that point on that whenever I traveled across the States (I do this a lot) it would be okay for me to frequent WalMart stores as long as the only reason I went in was to drop a nasty, stinky BM.

My friend thinks I should start a movement (ha). He thinks people all over America should do it.

Now, of course, like so many others, you have a little less respect for me, eh? Too bad. Stand in line.

Yet Another Angel

I can't believe I have created so many versions of the angel figure, but considering he is the title character, I guess it is important that I get him right. This time I am trying to give him a slightly 1950's feel (Mad Men?), but also out of shape (man boobs and a potbelly - although he looks more pregnant than out of shape... ugh).

I might return to an older version of the angel, but for now, this is what I have been working on this week.

Obama Weekly Address

Don't worry. I won't post this every week. I just think it is slick that he is changing the decades-long tradition of Radio Addresses by turning them into video addresses that will be on YouTube. I don't recall a President Elect becoming so vital two months before he even takes office.

Lesson Example

You will need Quicktime to view this, but if you have everything properly installed, then you can view this movie (or right click and download it to your desktop). This is just a tiny example of what the lessons will be like on the DVD that I will give all of the participants of the SNC workshop. The DVD will have tons of lesson files on it. I will also be creating new lessons for CS4, soon.

Lake Tahoe Workshop

Every summer for the past decade, I have been invited as a Visiting Artist to conduct workshops on digital media for the Summer Visiting Artist Workshops program at Sierra Nevada College (a small private college in Incline Village). It usually focuses on Photoshop with some Illustrator thrown in. It looked like I would be doing a workshop on animation this coming summer, but due to the requests, it looks like it will focus on Photoshop, again.

If you ever want to take a 5 day workshop and learn everything from the basics to the most fancy tricks you can do with Photoshop (seriously cool stuff), this is the place to be. Plus, I am working on a DVD of lessons files (detailed Quicktime movie files) that participants of the workshop will get to keep for free.

It is such a blast every year, and Tahoe is the best place to attend a workshop like this. And the people are fantastic. It is a highlight of every year for me. It looks like it will be July 20-24, and I will post again when the time gets closer. It is also a pretty exclusive little club. They can only accept 10 participants, so although it isn't many people, you certainly gets lots of individual attention.

I have also been doing the t-shirt designs for the past few years, too. Here is the design from this last summer. The year before had cool glow in the dark printing. This next summer will be the 25th anniversary, so I better think of an extra special design...

Sweet Briar Redux

All photos © Kate Gorman from SBC







Wow - turns out a great photographer and student at Sweet Briar has been watching the blog since my silly lecture and sent along some images to show you what a beautiful campus it is (especially in the Fall).

Sweet Briar College

While at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA), I did a guest lecture at Sweet Briar College for David Griffith's class. While preparing for the lecture, I went through tons of old photos and found some good stuff.


This first image is of the Lost City in Bophuthatswana, Africa, where I worked for about 4-5 months. The Lost City is a project Sol Kerzner created to attach to Sun City (think Las Vegas in South Africa) so it would be more family friendly. CNN did an article on him, recently. We created "ruins" out of cement to make it look like it was an ancient city that had been destroyed by a volcano.


This is my crew (Blaine isn't in the image - argh. I need to find a pic of Blaine)


This was at the Henry Doorly Zoo. We were constructing rainforest trees (I helped sculpt and did all of the painting).


We would go through all this work to make them look great, and they would take the wires you see in the previous image and hook things to the wires such as fire alarms. Kind of spoils the effect.

Anyway, I talked about a lot of different things at Sweet Briar College, but the focus was "process," so I showed lots of images that showed how and why I create things. I think the lecture went okay...

I have spent the last few days dealing with computer issues and cleaning my office and basement. I hope to get back to art by this coming weekend. Updates will be slow here until then.

One Electoral Vote

EDIT: It happened

They have been talking about this every day since the election, but it was finally declared by the Omaha Weird Herald (as my Dad likes to call it) that Obama took one of the five Electoral College votes. Yes, the EC split for the first time in Nebraska's history. Finalizing the count, including the rest of the early voting, which I did, plus provisional ballots could take until sometime next week. That is very unlikely to change the outcome.

Finally... I can get back to art. That is, once I reorganize my entire house and the studio, which could take at least a week.

Congrats Obama

Feel free to leave a comment. Don't worry about the anti-Obama hate-mail coward that signs "anonymous." Even if he is full of hate and anger, at least the rest of you can feel good about things.

It is a good day.

VOTE

Holding my breath tonight and all day Nov 4th. Waiting impatiently for Nov 5th to get here...

[edit: Calm down, people. You don't like Obama? Fine. Keep it civil - "With friends like these..."]