The Seeds Which Result in Enthusiastic Inspiration.

When is the seed planted for a child who might just pursue a career in the arts, architecture or related design fields? How did the aptitude and interest first present itself? When are varied interests honed into a focused passion? If you’re reading this as a “creative,” do you remember the earliest exercises flexing your creativity?

As an budding interior designer, I always enjoyed changing my room and futzing around the  house arranging accessories and still-life groupings. Color was always important as were patterns and textures.  Balance seemed intuitive too. I loved visiting art galleries and I became aware that I noticed and possessed an appreciation for art in its many forms, styles and media.  I derived great joy from recognizing beauty, potential and the creative process.  It followed to the out-of-doors too as I loved the gardens, layers of trees  and made truly organic “forts” in the log pile nestled in the fallen oak and tulip poplar leaves of my childhood.

I also practiced landscape design – trimming English ivy meticulously from underneath so as not to whack off the front edges. I created exotic fern gardens by finding indigenous ferns in the woods and bringing them into the less wild pockets of our wooded backyard – arranging and placing them just right. Spider plants procreated their dangling off-spring that I trimmed and rooted in multiple clay pots lining our patio wall waiting to mature over the summer and be presented as gifts to admiring plant lovers.

Upon returning from a lively Padres and Cardinals baseball game last night, we were greeted by a spot-lit city and pompous parallel parade.  Our boldly preciously precocious 7 year granddaughter

had created a magical world with all manner of pets, creatures, super heroes and trinkets  adorning the architecture and riding in the parade of colorful vehicles.

 

The lighting was particularly effective as it cast shadows and illuminated the many elements and characters that animated the scene. This is the perfect temptation for rival siblings to destroy. One sweeping sword  or outstretched arm would send this amazing project to rubble. Tonight however there was no such rivalry resulting in destruction. Rather it was protected and revered until we arrived home for the presentation.

“You like my  city, don’t you?” was the confident query – set-forth with an affirmative assumption – regardless of the questioning format, of the comment she delivered. Yes the city and parallel parade was quite exceptional. So much so that it inspired thoughtful observation and examination including this writing today.

As I knelt down and captured various angles of the structures, towers, tiers, columns, pediments and facades with my trusty phone, I realized that this took a tremendous amount of material.  The raw wooden building blocks were nostalgically familiar – the very same blocks, triangles, square and round columns, bricks and cubes with which I had built towering structures as a child. Creativity can certainly be spawned with limited resources and often results in remarkably ingenious results, but as  looked around this particular scene, I discovered baskets, bins, boxes and piles of things. Things with which  to create a limitless fantasy world.

These, paired with her wonderful imagination, were the tools of this creative child who had a treasure trove of parts and pieces, characters and vehicles providing countless components waiting for the imagination to assemble into this and other amazing scenes. Singing while she works, it is evident that this child is over-flowing with artistic expression.

The fantastic architecture and design we admire today was spawned by creative minds using existing tools or inventing new elements to create and ultimately construct seemingly unimaginable buildings around the world.  Yet they were imagined and they became realities from fantastic dreams and ideas, bravery and determination. A creative will that was once a seed of enthusiastic inspiration.

Happy Mother’s Day to all, with a particular emphasis on mine for all of her creativity and encouragement though the years, of my many phases of artistic exploration, appreciation and expression.

 

 

Hearts Are At The Heart Of It All

Su mundo es corazones. Artist Paola Alonso Rangel is at the heart of Vallarta and literally that is the name of her shop, Corazon Vallarta, where she thrives amidst the bustling activity in the old town, on a busy street corner, with much traffic flowing by both in vehicles and on foot.

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A man carrying a frightening large pane of glass about 6 feet long by 3 feet wide effortlessly and without intimidation marches down the street with taxis and buses bouncing by him. I cringe at the site and the young shop attendant, Nidia, shrugs with a smile and says “It’s Mexico.”

With Valentine’s Day nearing, this exciting little shop offers a wealth of opportunities to find just the right gift to say “be mine!”

Paola’s little Chihuahua, Pecas (Freckles), suns on the front step seemingly oblivious to all the activity swirling by. She is front and center of all that is happening in Corazon Vallarta.

A designer and hands-on artist of nearly everything she sells in her shop, Alonso Rangel is a model of organization and time utilization. She has her machine fine-tuned and knows just what it takes to create, prepare, produce and market her work.

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In the well-lit back room of her little tienda, she has all of her art supplies neatly organized on sturdy shelving sparing not one square inch of available space. Her computer plays soft Spanish songs that, with the fan blowing gently, creates a pleasing atmosphere where she designs and paints with a couple of assistants to assemble and package her work to sell.

As is true of most urban storefronts, the fine grit that is continuously accumulating from the dusty streets and vehicles in passing contributes to the concerns of successful retail presentation. Hers and others in this type of scene perhaps suffer more due to the cobblestones which collect and distribute ongoing layers of the sooty, dusty, fines.  So everything is kept painstakingly clean and wrapped in cellophane  – just another stage of the process that makes her conscientious practices so impressive.

From colorful wooden puzzles, picture frames, key hangers, boxes and magnets, the expansive home decor and gift collection, on which she collaborates with her brother in Guadalajara, is a treasure of her designs and creativity. All manner of colorful animals with whimsical expressions are the subjects of her puzzles with a bit of flowers and fruit in the mix for a generous variety of choices. Alonso Rangel designs all of the pieces while her brother and his crew with a manufacturing studio in Guadalajara do all the mill-work, brilliantly colorful painting and glossy lacquer finish.

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Other of her work is comprised of original one-of-a-kind creations on canvas and wood, heart-themed all in keeping with her heart-felt passion for  corazones.

She efficiently sets-up her own assembly line of stages of production, with Pecas supervising closely, so that her by-hand (hecho a mano) originals are always filling the walls and shelves and being lovingly selected by customers to take home.

Steel heart sculptures, wooden cut-outs, carvings, and more are the multi-media of her continually, seemingly endless creative concepts and body of work!

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Thank you Paola for all of your inspiration – by design!

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The Art & Architecture of Gingerbread Houses

Art and architecture meet all the time. Sculptural forms, building models, buildings themselves, sketches…but at this time of year, the fanciful world of gingerbread houses takes the spotlight and, in this recent scene we encountered, offered a beautiful fund-raiser while at it!!!

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As we pulled away in the pre-dawn hours of the  morning…we felt the chill in the air and the glow over the mountain sending us on our way.

We traversed across the terminal and before cutting over left to the escalator, we spied—at the same time—a wondrously tall Christmas tree adorned with airplanes and ribbon…and surrounded by an amazing collection of ginger bread houses on display in some sort of fund-raiser fashion.

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Upon closer inspection, the fantasy became tangible. The individual structures took on a form of expressive life in their individual attention-getting style. Each one was quite unique incorporating rivers and ponds, vehicles and foliage of all manner.

It is a Christmas tradition to create a gingerbread house full of fantasy and fear, hope and salvation. From the simple joy of baking traditions for Christmas, to the many versions of fairy tales that save children from the wicked ones in the woods creating and story-telling surrounding these magical edifices makes gingerbread houses a staple of the winter holidays – all the while offering architectural design and  construction projects for all ages. Below, see the Hanukkah version of this adorable house.

I just read a great piece by Tori Avey in which she summarized the history of gingerbread. http://toriavey.com/?s=gingerbread

She references architectural design with the fact that: Elaborately decorated gingerbread became synonymous with all things fancy and elegant in England. The gold leaf that was often used to decorate gingerbread cookies led to the popular expression ‘to take the gilt off of gingerbread.’ The carved, white architectural details found on many colonial American seaside homes is sometimes referred to as ‘gingerbread work’.

Having been raised on the east coast, describing houses with ornate “gingerbread” detailing was part of our vocabulary. I now see it in Rocky Mountain Victorians and California seaside cottages. It always conveys a quaint, welcoming feeling.

Avey further states: Gingerbread houses originated in Germany during the 16th century. The elaborate cookie-walled houses, decorated with foil in addition to gold leaf, became associated with Christmas tradition. Their popularity rose when the Brothers Grimm wrote the story of Hansel and Gretel, in which the main characters stumble upon a house made entirely of treats deep in the forest. It is unclear whether or not gingerbread houses were a result of the popular fairy tale, or vice versa.

Recently the record for world’s largest gingerbread house was broken. The previous record was set by the Mall of America in 2006. The new winning gingerbread house, spanning nearly 40,000 cubic feet, was erected at Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas.

Everything is bigger in Texas!!!

The house required a building permit and was built much like a traditional house. 4,000 gingerbread bricks were used during its construction. To put that in perspective, a recipe for a house this size would include 1,800 pounds of butter and 1,080 ounces of ground ginger. Sounds more like a gingerbread resort!

So as we walked around this wonderful display at the ABQ Sunport and marveled at the colorful creativity, I knew this was the story for today.

The cartoon in the paper that morning also found  humor in the subject.

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And to further galvanize that thought, we arrived in San Diego to find Keira proudly presenting their half-eaten, already picked apart gingerbread project in the center of the kitchen table. T’was the joy of gingerbread houses—post construction, eating them!!!

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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

 

 

Fear of Artistic Self-Expression

Fear of entering the world of artistic expression. The pressure to perform. The pressure to create something worth the exercise. Many people will not take that leap and experiment with their creativity due to undue self-imposed pressures. Are YOU one of those people?

NIKE says “Just Do It!” What a simple yet powerfully motivating mantra!

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso
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How many times have you witnessed or even thought this yourself? The common reaction to expressive, primitive art or art that deconstructs to simplicity is often “I could do that.” The style belies the complexity of the mind that created it – it belies the creativity of the artist behind the work – it belies the significance of the work.

Anyone who has tried to emulate a seemingly simple rendering of an image knows that it is not as easy as it seems. And the seemingly simple image is usually NOT that simple. Texture, color, detail or lack thereof, not to mention control of the composition, is deceptively difficult.

As Picasso explored his artistic imperatives, he experimented with what he knew as formal renderings ultimately deconstructed and manipulated to convey different perspectives and interpretations of his subject matter during different periods of his life experiences. Composition, color, manipulation of reality – artistic interpretation. Easy peasy? – not so easy.

 

But it is not about copying anyway. That has been touched on in my previous blog about The Art Forger. It is about the spontaneity or the planned conception and evolution of the original piece. The spark of creativity and ability to express it – in whatever medium.

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Rachel Housman paints fanciful interpretations of landscapes of the southwest.

And it’s also not only about great, recognized art – but anything that is expressed by the individual – it is that connection that is the magic behind one’s view of the world. A reflection of their thoughts and experiences and desires.

I surmise that is it about allowing yourself the freedom to keep it simple. Not to over-work it. Like a child – as Picasso references…just keep it simple for starters. Distill whatever it is you want to express…pare it down.

Peggy Zuris painted passionate interpretations of the world around her. Bold colors and brushstrokes applied swiftly with a purpose. Michelle Chrisman sees the world with similarly bold strokes and exciting colors applied with great artistic expression.

A human being is essentially a spiritual eye. Whatever you really see, you are that. Rumi

Artistic expression is an extension of the person – it is a reflection of their being – who they are. And the great fun and joy derived from having a gallery and presenting various art pieces to the public is knowing the artists behind the work. Not to mention it is a happy place to be surrounded by joyful expressions that make you smile.

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Virgin de Zapopan Acrylic on Canvvas Caresse Kruithof de Chavez

 

 

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.