Sun Mu is a North Korean artist who has excaped to South Korea and is now turning his training in propaganda painting into a voice for free expression. Check out Sun's work here and read the New York Times article on his intriguing journey as an artist.
If you take my heart Don't leave the smallest part I've no need to live if you're to come up gone An as my life turns to a song And if and when I treat you wrong No I never want to hurt our family
And I would give up everything No this is not just about me And I don't know a plainer way to say it Babe And they may pay us off in fame Though that is not why we came And I know well and good that won't heal our hearts
We came for salvation We came for family We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away We came to break the bad We came to cheer the sad We came to leave behind the world a better way
Now if I'm walkin' through the rain And I hear you call my name I will break into a run without a pause And if your love laughs at your dreams Well it's not as bad as it seems Either way one of them has got to go And if you take of my soul You can still leave it whole With the pieces of you own you leave behind
We came for salvation We came for family We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away We came to break the bad We came to cheer the sad We came to leave behind the world a better way
And I would give up everything And if you were to come up clean And see you shine so bright in a world of woe And they may pay us off in fame But that is not why we came And if it compromises truth then we will go
We came for salvation We came for family We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away We came to break the bad We came to cheer the sad We came to leave behind the world a better way
Casey and Emily Lewis, owners of Beechwood Metalworks in Burlington, NC, are creating art that reaches a very specific community; the sick patients and their families spending days and nights in hospitals. If you have ever had to spend time there yourself- and I have spent many many days there with sick family- you know that the view from a hospital room can be depressing. Often the view includes parking decks, more buildings, and heating/ AC units. Casey and Emily have found a way to bring a smile to those who look out their window and find metal sculptures of flowers and animals waiting patiently to be discovered. Such unexpected whimsy can bring a smile to even the sickest patient- and what good medicine that can be.
Beechwood has installed sculptures at UNC Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill and at St. Francis Children's Hospital in Tulsa OK. More locations are in the works.
President Obama is not the only agent of change. Artists worldwide like these good people from Playing for Change - Peace Through Music are binding together to become an upstoppable force for a better world. While you listen to this wonderful song, think about the possibility for good that our world village can now accomplish. Then, find a way to add your voice! Stop watching the news and worrying! Stand up and make something for PEACE, JUSTICE, and a BETTER FUTURE. The momentum is there- join it!
Heres is a Bill Moyer's interview with PFC founder Mark Johnson on this Project.
Do you teach art? If so, join this research project from the University of Chicago. Here more information from the press release I received:
If you are a teaching artist in any discipline (visual arts, music, dance, theater, writing, etc) or manage teaching artists, register for the First National Teaching Artist Research Project at http://teachingartists.uchicago.edu
The Obama campaign pledged to advance arts education and to create an ArtistsCorps, and that means the coming years will be important for teaching artists. What we learn through this study will help assure that new policies and practices create meaningful opportunities and real support for artists who do extraordinary work but who have rarely been recognized. Whether you teach in a school or a community site (a church, a prison, acommunity art center, a youth or social service agency or a street corner), what ever your art form, whether you teach adults or children, we want to learn about your experience. The more artists we include in this research, the more inclusive, accurate, and helpful the study will be.
This study focuses on teaching artists who live or work in the metro areas of Boston, Providence, or Seattle, in Chicago, and in these California communities -- the Bay Area (Alameda and San Francisco Counties), Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Salinas, Bakersfield, and Humboldt County. So, if you're a teaching artist, or if you run a program that hires teaching artists, and live or work in one of our study site areas, please use the above link to sign up!
Even if you are not a teaching artist, everyone can help us by forwarding this email to all of your contacts who are.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or ideas of ways that we can reach out to more teaching artists. All those who complete the survey will be given a free CD of two amazing stories about teaching artists from Ira Glass' radio program 'This American Life'.
Tina Firesheets, News and Record reporter, has a new story out The Stone House, a retreat in Mebane, NC created for community activists and others. Check out the story online.
My son just shared this video with me. It's by Brett Dennen. The song is called "Ain't No Reason" off of his album So Much More. It's powerful. Listen to the lyrics carefully and watch the video all the way through.
Andrew Wyeth has died at age 91. I just looked through a wonderful book on his art and noticed how he created so much over the 1940s to the 1990's. His work remained consistent and has a timelessness to it. I remember looking at an 8MM film on his work in Junior High School. As a kid, he was the second artist I fell in love with after Norman Rockwell.
This painting of his is at the NC Museum of Art and shows a young boy running down a hill. It was painted after the death of his father, N.C. Wyeth. I have been told the hill represents his father. I connect with this work having lost a father, step-father, and grand-father - all men who meant a great deal to me. I know the loss his family is feeling. His work remains on many a wall, but more importantly in the hearts of minds of so many.
I raise my brush in silent tribute to a great artist.
This video reminds me of my childhood when I made dioramas and played with that oily clay. Take a moment from your busy life to enjoy this quiet song by the Weepies and this imaginative claymation.
Rich, a young British artist, has started a movement with the simple but profound statement: Art is the Cure. Being creative helped save him from the darker demons and as he shared this fact he has found others who it has helped as well. Check out his website and consider buying one of his t-shirts or joining his facebook group.
THE CLUSTER PROJECT is an online collaborative art exhibition that surveys the social, historical, financial, and technological underpinnings of cluster bombs. The web exhibition will display some 22 installations (or rooms or bomblets) made by a variety of artists using animation, illustration, photography, video and other techniques.
For one of the works called WHAT THE PEOPLE KNOW, we invite teachers to help us involve student artists and journalists from around the country in interviewing citizens in their communities. *****
While the United States has traditionally manufactured, sold and used the great bulk of cluster bombs around the world, it’s citizenry knows virtually nothing of the weapons, nor does it want to know. It is this combination of complicity and ignorance that The Cluster Project seeks to confront.
One of the works in the project, What the People Know, involves student media-makers questioning people in their communities. These will be simple man-in-the-street interviews in which subjects are asked, “What is a cluster bomb?” They are then invited to discuss whatever they know about cluster munitions. The resulting material will then be sent to The Cluster Project where it will be collected and brought together in an exhibition installation.
Our goal is to gather responses from all fifty states. *****
For university teachers of video production and related subjects, this assignment can take as little as a single class period. We will help provide information for the classroom context that explains both the nature of cluster munitions and the aims of this project. We will also include a brief protocol for the production shoot including the required questions and issues regarding location and approach.
Students from any discipline can participate, but they must have access to video and audio equipment and have a basic knowledge of field production.
All collaborators and institutions involved in the project will be credited.
Students participating in What the People Know should benefit from their collaboration in a national art project, their practical experience in the documentary tradition and a greater awareness of their nation’s role in the use, sale and development of dangerous weapons.
Contact either Erich Woodrum or Bob Paris below:
Erich Woodrum, producer of What The People Know, thinkhuman@riseup.net
Bob Paris, director of The Cluster Project (and Assistant Professor in Kinetic Imaging at VCU’s School of the Arts in Richmond, VA), parisikov@theclusterproject.com
Too much coffee mixed with a powerful movie on the transience of life ( Benjamin Button) caused me to stay awake all night last night. In the middle of these episodes of insomnia, I often despair about growing old and useless. This morning's light brings to me a story in the paper on Joshua Silver, a grey beared physicist, who has invented a way to bring affordable prescription grade eye glasses to the poor around the world. By self-injecting small amounts of silicon into the lenses, these glasses can be adjusted by the wearer. Wow! Hundreds of thousands of these have already been distributed worldwide. The US military have bought thousands to give away in Africa. His business, Adaptive Eye-care is selling these glasses at about $19.
Whenever I get down- like last night- something like this comes along to remind me that one is never too old to make a difference in the world. Maybe I am biased but I also believe the creative mind, put to work for good, is the antidote for many late night despairs. Except for opthomologists, billions more worldwide will live (and sleep) better because Joshua Silver believed an idea could make the a better place.
You may have heard of this blog written by one man in Gaza and another just outside in Israel, they call themselves Peace Man and Hope Man respectively. Peace man is trapped amid the violence in Gaza. Their blog was featured on NPR yesterday. Here is a link to the blog. Be sure to see the earlier post here on the Arte.TV site that shows life on both sides through video and interviews.
"Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact." - William S. Burroughs
Welcome
Welcome to my blog on art and activism. This space is dedicated to artists who are making art that is both visually engaging and conceptually focused on issues of social importance. In short, art that seeks to make the world a better place. Be prepared to be challenged, provoked, and hopefully inspired.
There is a thing in me that dreamed of trees, A quiet house, some green and modest acres A little way from every troubling town, A little way from factories, schools, laments. I would have time, I thought, and time to spare, With only streams and birds for company, To build out of my life a few wild stanzas.
And then it came to me, that so was death, A little way from everywhere. There is a thing in me still dreams of trees. But let it go. Homesick for moderation, Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away.
If any find solution, let him tell it. Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation Where, as times implore our true involvement, The blades of every crisis point the way. I would it were not so, but so it is. Who ever made music of a mild day?
"If you ask me what I came to do in the world, I, an artist, will answer you: I came here to live out loud. "
- Emile Zola
feed back on this blog:
"Your work showcasing contemporary arts and activism is so refreshing and necessary, a calm to divisiveness and a balm to the spirit. I very much appreciate you tracking our work and the work of so many committed artists in a culture desperate for truth, beauty and grace. Thank you ever so much. Please keep up your excellent work.
"Recently heard from a guy named Lucas who has a magazine called Roots. He's found a place for our tiered justice installation. He saw us first on your blog site. Want to say thank you." -Frances
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There is always
"There is always a moment in any kind of struggle when one feels in full bloom. Vivid. Alive. One might be blown to bits in such a moment, and still be at peace....To be such a person or to witness anyone at this moment of transcendent presence is to know that what is human is linked, by daring compassion, to what is divine."
Alice Walker
"El hombre es solo la mitad de si mismo: la otra mitad es su expresion."
"What are they feeding me?" by Sun Mu.
