Paper Airplanes – Happy Joy

This week, upon arrival at the Denver airport, as I navigate this architecturally dramatic facility, I’m funneled with the masses making our way, from the gate area, to the trains, to the terminal. When suddenly, gracefully overhead as we ascend the escalator, large versions of paper airplanes hover above. Probably steel, but with the familiar fold and form of the simple paper origami originals, they were a whimsical attention divergence.


When I arrived at the top of the escalator, I realized that they were also above the escalator across the way so I walked over there (to the surprise of the masses with whom I had been funneling along). A couple in the crowd even called out “hey” or “ma’am” …I turned to see some were concerned that I had lost my way and expressed concern that I follow the pack. I waved to these helpful strangers indicating with my phone in hand that I was stopping to take a photo of these wonderful suspended planes.

This ignited a curiosity that led me to investigate a bit more. I have since learned that they are part of the Denver International Airport’s Arts & Venues Denver: Public Art Program 1994. There are 140 of these suspended would-be-paper (steel alloy) planes and they are the work of artist Patty Ortiz titled Experimental Aviation. A well-recognized artist and curator of contemporary art with decades of art management experience she “believes that art intrinsically is a social object and when placed as an action in relationship with the viewer ad participant that art carries a profound interconnectedness within real experience.” And there I was experiencing the simple loveliness and joy that these airplane sculptures conveyed, in context with the often monotonous air travel experience.

Kids who love paper airplanes never seem to grow up. I’ve written about this before, in the blog about Federico Leon de la Vega’s TEDx Talks a couple of years ago. Watch his Talk and see the final scene as the planes fly through the audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9j_pLgCr1U

Paper airplanes are timeless tools of communication set flying from one person to another often with a secret note inside. Unfold and discover the message. Like passenger pigeons of days gone by…but unlike their obsolete and ultimately extinct message-delivering cousins, paper airplanes are timeless.

Never taking up the art, it has fascinated me forever. Origami seems to be originated from the Japanese word for folding – ori – and paper – kami = Orikami. Japanese art is so fine in all of its forms. And back to the paper airplanes, San Francisco hosted a competition Origami-Palooza complete with education and presentation of many facets of origami work including the Paper Airplane Challenge. Last month “The Paper Airplane Guy,” John Collins, the world record holder for paper airplane distance was there to assist in honing your paper airplane folding skills to insure greater success with your paper airplane flying! https://japancentersf.com/events/origami-palooza-great-paper-airplane-contest/

My happy observation of this past week and my advice with it – grab a piece of paper and try your hand at folding and flying a paper airplane!!!!!

Nature’s Valentine’s Greeting!!!

So when you least expect it…nature speaks. On a silent coastline on a great lake in the wilds of Wisconsin the stones on the beach offered a hidden alphabet of opportunity. Upon making this discovery, I searched for and collected just the right pieces and sent a love note to my sweetheart. Wishing he were there to share in the wonderful adventure that was hiking through the enchanted woods to this lakeside hideaway, I did the next best thing and found an expression of LOVE , took a photo and messaged off to him…technology and instant gratification – well, across the miles…

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The lovely white stones were amazing…I don’t know the geology…could probably Google it, but suffice it to say they were white and soft, angular but smooth, bleached and clean – massed in a thick bed for miles along the shoreline. I wish I could have taken buckets of them to do something…fill a large snifter, layer in the sink for the water to spill over and remind me of this scene, touch and fondle – they were so special, so uniform in size – such a natural phenomenon of raw beauty.

Paired with the rough, elegant, weathered, driftwood that was scattered along the rubble and upon which I carefully placed the stones, the composition was truly a work of art – inspired by  nature and assembled by my eager fascination with the media.

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Take away…love is all around – OH! has that been said before? Well…love IS all around us and to find an actual, natural formation of alphabet letters that allowed the simplest expression of literal words, to be transported across the miles,  was magic.

Art…design…nature…find it!!! Happy almost Valentine’s Day!!!!

Would A Love Letter Be The Same Without Handwriting?

After having seen Federico Leon de la Vega’s presentation at TEDX Talks in September and after having seen some of the work in progress over the past couple of years, it was a treat last week to be in his studio to see the collection exhibited up close and in person!

Presented on fabulously enormous canvases and a few smaller studies, these bold graphic statements compile a contemporary collection that is quite astounding. The premise is quite provocative.

The idea that handwriting is a basic human means of communication having evolved into the very personal flowing script of cursive that each individual can call their own – in their own style – it’s almost as personal as a fingerprint. It is an extraordinary human function that should be protected, revered and certainly not lost to the fast-paced technology of the digital age!

Making one’s mark on a surface…a piece of paper…to convey a thought, idea, instruction, story, a doodle on a paper towel – a love letter.

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With Valentine’s Day approaching, it brings to mind the idea of love letters. We read them throughout literature and listen to them in songs. We hear of them being saved over time by recipients in treasured boxes tied with ribbon to be read over and over or merely saved for others to find long after…

These magnificent oil paintings convey the art of handwriting. They celebrate the simplest marks of hand to canvas with brush and paint looping in circles and jutting in spikes – the primary strokes of handwriting. These primary strokes are the foundation of mastering the control needed to make the continuous flow of letters that become each person’s personal interpretation of the alphabet in cursive style and an exclusive means of communication.

Style – handwriting conveys personal style. Look at yours. Is it always the same or do you mix it up? Do you stay consistent or do you express different styles of your own handwriting for different purposes?  Look at your friend’s handwriting – would you recognize it anywhere?

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It is thrilling to walk among these great canvases with their color and  bold strokes. It is arresting to realize that they are so simple yet so complex in what they are saying. We must recognize the value of handwriting. We must not let it be dropped from our schools’ curriculum. We must continue to see the importance of the pure, mind to hand, raw emotion.

Powerful spikes require starting and stopping – control.

Loose loops also require control to maintain uniformity.

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After control is learned, expression can take over resulting in that personal style that becomes each individual’s identifying handwriting.

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Federico reminds us in his talk, about how we might have attempted to write a love letter for the first time and how many times it was crumpled because it wasn’t quite right. The failed attempts of recording our feelings as we strive to say the right thing, to express our deepest emotions. Yet once accomplished, those words hand-written mean so much more than the same words conveyed by type or digital communications.

“From my heart to my mind, from my mind to my hand, from my hand to the paper I place in your hand,  so you may fold it and keep it near to your heart. No delete!”

The digital world is all around us. We cannot escape it, nor should we. However, the human evolution and the brain’s development that mastered the art of handwriting is a place that could be diminished and lost if we do not continue the art and practice of personal expression through this extraordinary medium.

All we need is love – sent via a personalized handwritten letter from the heart. Here’s to a Happy Valentine’s Day !!!

An Artist in the House Inspired by Rhapsody in Blue

An artist in the house is a rare treat. Yes, you who are artists and those of you who have an artist in the family are spoiled by  this continuum of creativity bursting about you. As a designer I am of an artistic nature. I think in artistic expressions, react to artistic stimuli, and make decisions based upon aesthetic sensitivities that I inherently have.

But these weeks being visited once again by our dear friend and respected artist Federico Leon de la Vega and having him painting on the patio and in what we fondly refer to as the estudio-garage, we are surrounded by the unique scent of solvents and products peculiar to his trade of oil painting and the genius of his ability to express his observations on canvas.

Canvases scattered about with partially  completed masterpieces, ideas started and left to dry or waiting for further inspiration while others begin and take shape in varying degrees of completion. A mountain standing on end about 4′ long by 3′ tall, a lemon rind un-peeling in an abstract interpretation of the bright yellow fruit. A still life of citrus lemons and blue pottery creating a classic combination of color.

But in addition to this wondrous collection of colorful and dramatic paintings surrounding us is Federico’s ongoing project of  Mind Your Calligraphy which continues to grow and expand on this very compelling subject. As any of you who have watched the YouTube video by the same name know by now, this fascinating, universally important subject about cursive touches so many imperatives in our lives. ejercicio-preparatorio-2-federico-leon-de-la-vega

Based upon his passionate observations on the subject and translating those observations into paintings illustrating the concepts and precepts that frame this topic, Leon de la Vega is compiling an exciting body of work and references to bring this more to the fore. His recent invitation to speak at the TED-X Talks in Albuquerque this fall are a further step in bringing this essential topic to the attention of those who can make a difference.

Here are two new paintings depicting inspiration from handwritten music scores. Federico met with a client who has a great love of music by his magnificent glossy black grand  piano commanding attention in the corner of his sunroom.  The two began discussing how handwritten music scores, like cursive, allow the individual the quick personal freedom of jotting ideas on paper that can later be transferred to printed, digital means. And in fact those simple personal writings of notes on paper become quite valuable as they are uniquely and spontaneously penned by the hand of the artist. What could be more personal? The two men focused on Gershwin as they further discussed their mutual enjoyment of music, the unique appreciation and connection of expression through handwritten musical creations. Resulting from this conversation, the composer became the focus of these two abstractions of Rhapsody in Blue.  Gershwin diptych

 

 

 

The Artistic Expression of Cursive Handwriting – A Priceless Piece of Evolution

So for those who take the leap and delve into their artistic expression (reference last week’s pattisays…) – those who DO IT instead of critiquing “I could do that” –  are exploring vast depths of their awareness, sensitivity, and personal signature through a piece of art. But that same freedom of expression has been cultivated in society beginning with scribbles,  and the fundamentals of handwriting. From scribbles, scribble to basic block alphabetic B_after to the loop de loops of beginning cursive, ejercicio-preparatorio-2-federico-leon-de-la-vegathe lessons encourage and open doors to very personal and individualistic communication.

Most of us are all painfully aware that cursive is no longer taught in many schools. We are so seduced by technology that we are not selective about  what to save and what to advance beyond in this evolution. This conscious evolution may have a devastatingly regressive cost.

What is the danger?

The classic final question and answer in Beauty Pagents is something like “What is your wish for the world?” or  “What is the most critical issue facing  the world today?” Some might say “Global warming.” The truthful seemingly naive response we have heard for decades is “World Peace” or parodied version “Whirled Peas.” All kidding aside, this certainly is an important and noble quest – the root of which in today’s technology is “Nuclear War.” Yes, if we have nuclear wall everything else is moot. Education, clean air and water, whirled peas, nada. Well, shy nuclear war, another great issue facing our world today is the loss of the brain to hand expression via tool we take so for granted, handwriting.

Handwriting is a tool, yes. A tool to communicate private notes, grocery lists, love letters, instructions to the sitter and thank you notes for deeds so appreciated. Not to mention rough drafts for non-digital scratchings of the most intimate and possibly important historical communications on the planet.  A good friend is examining this troubling fact through his own artistic expression. Please visit the video Mind Your Calligraphy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mO7ctV05Js where Federico Leon de la Vega

explores the neurological results of this modern-day tragedy that has the potential to change civilization as we know it. Not to mention loss of certain very specific brain functions of human evolution!

The artist must train not only his eye, but his soul. Wassily Kandinsky

Without the basic form of  flowing handwriting – the motion with an ease of fluid, natural motion to convey one’s thoughts, ideas, emotions, needs, and desires, we erase a portion of the brain’s function. We erase the personal expression offered  and made available by the human connection between our thoughts and our hands – our tools. The control our hands to artistically pen calligraphy – unique to each individual  – is a priceless piece of evolution.

Returning to the artistic expression…Plein air painting and field studies for scientific research might be the last vestiges of our need to communicate and connect through nature. If not free from technology,  perhaps in concert with the tools of technology. Taking a digital camera, phone or tablet into the field while painting on-site or using the technology to process what is discovered and/or captured in the scientific field studies might be those last vestiges.

We know why, so let’s think about what influence we might have to continue the art of cursive. How to perpetuate the evolution of that which is oh so personal a form of expression and that has such a powerfully effective and essential connection to our brains.

Like Kandinsky observed – it is the soul of a person that is expressed through artistic media. And there is nothing more intimate than the seemingly simple connection through individualistically personal script. f4426e761a5ab09c179a23e22301df58-1000

 

 

The Art of Anime and a trip to the Marukai Japanese Market

Design through the eyes of a 13 year old. A 13 year old girl having had her birthday just last weekend and who is immersed in the world of anime. Anime is a style of Japanese illustration and animation. An exciting world of fantasy and action, good versus evil all wrapped in color and remarkable edgy design.  Simply stated in her words “anime is a style of Japanese cartoons of many genre.” Her current favorite is Magi and the Labyrinth of Magic. Anime Magi-The-Labyrinth-of-Magic The characters have large saucer-like eyes belying their Japanese origin. Their story-lines appeal on many levels for all ages.

Katarina loves to watch the cartoons, draw the characters and learn about the world from which they originate. So one of her birthday to-dos was a visit to the Marukai Market in San Diego. Instantly, upon entering “Tokyo Central” colors and forms scream from floor to ceiling producing a sensory over-load that made me take a breath. Katarina beamed at my reaction. She said  with her subtle delivery “See?  I told you.” 2016-04-16 San Diego Hoech P1130765

It is a startling graphic design extravaganza of cellophane wrapped brands, foil metallic labels, signs and glitz and packaging that suggests advanced art classes on the subject.   2016-04-16 San Diego Hoech P1130764 From over-sized dangling flowers to disco balls sparkling from the rafters, the place is alive with static animation. Well, monitors too airing the vary anime of this initial topic!

The merchandise is displayed in such multiples that they are a design of their own. The patterns and redundancy, characters and faces peeking from every inch of space. Row upon row of stuffed animals each with adorable expressions begging to be taken home.2016-04-16 San Diego Hoech P1130767

But it’s the design on EVERYTHING that is so amazing. To see such an emphasis on design. The importance and effect on every package. When comparing to like-kind of variety stores in the U.S., this is product design gone wild. The edifice itself is  but a box. Simple, clean and attractive from the outside,  inside is nothing but raw retail finishes. But it doesn’t matter because the back-drop is invisible. It is impossible for the eye to go beyond the products. It is impossible to see anything of the space other than its intense collections of contents.

2016-04-16 San Diego Hoech P1130773From beverage bottles to bears, pink kitties to hair and make-up lotions and potions, games and costumes – yes you too can dress-up like a bowl of Ramen Noodles or an egg yolk named Gudetama.

Although this amazing chain of markets is concentrated in California and Hawaii, it is worth investigating the Asian Markets in your area especially with an emphasis on Japanese products to see these colorfully artful expressions of graphic design, inspiration and imagination. 2016-04-16 San Diego Hoech P1130775 Thank you Katrink for this amazing experience we shared for your birthday!!!

Taking Pause to Value the Art of the Written Word

I awakened in the painter’s house with slivers of sunlight glistening through the bamboo shades, exotic chirping happily piercing the silence and cinnamon scenting the air from the open grill preparing the best French toast on the planet. P1110818

This place exudes thoughtful reflection and invites savoring the simple things of beauty and  meaning. P1110821

From intense and intimate conversations centering around the passions of life to convivial arguments and relaxed exchanges, those gathered at the estudio-café tables examine the events of the world from their own individual vantage points. P1110829Today the primary focus was a topic with which everyone seemed to view from the same perspective. All were in avid agreement as they discussed the recent exhibit in Mexico City from where the artist, Leon de la Vega, has recentlyjust returned. This significant event was an important auction where part of the proceeds were to benefit the Mexican Institute of Neonatology toward research on children’s learning and therapy and no less to benefit the artist expressing his concerns for the current state of affairs with the lost art of writing by hand. Federico's invitation P1110815

With the advancement of smart technology comes the dumbing of the people tethered to it.  Everyone…all of us…are victims and if we are to save the core of our humanity we must preserve our handmade, organic, communications. We have computer aided drafting and graphic programs, texting and video all of which negate the tactile, made-by-hand written or drawn creations of the human touch. To have a computer consistently come between the hand of man and his end results is a gap that will never be regained once lost.  Recovering this lost art, in so many forms, is critical to mankind. This all sounds pretty heady. But once you enter these spirited conversations you realize that the demise of past civilizations is not unlike this self-destructive path to which  we now bear witness. The beautifully insightful, well-crafted video in Spanish introduces Leon de la Vega’s collection and explains these observations which are universally recognized by those who are interested in taking pause to realize what is happening around us. You won’t need a translator.

In response to these observations, as the video explains, Leon de la Vega has embarked on an exploration of  communications by hand, incorporating them into sculpture, stylized images and abstracted interpretations. writing series P1110818

He is inserting into and embellishing on his artistic expressions in the form of calligraphy—which in its finest examples— has proven to be both art and literal communication through the ages. P1110838

But if one examines the very personal and expressive beauty of fine penmanship,  we realize that our schools are not even teaching basic cursive  to our children. Our schools are forced to chose between computer classes, music, art and even the basic direction to form the written word.  The  collection was very well received in Mexico City last month and a second exciting and thought-provoking exhibition/auction of work will take place in early February, also in Mexico City.