art + artists - sculptors, arts blogs, exhibition

individual artists
 • Gabriel Warren. The first sculptor to be sent to Antarctica by the [US] National Science Foundation, refers to himself as a landscape sculptor who "...attempts to tread as lightly as possible on the earth. [His] metal pieces are fabricated from very thin sheets; [and] despite a massive appearance they are quite light and easy to move, install, and hang." The work on the right is only 38" x 18". His easy interface between geology and art makes the works especially appealing to me.
 • Ana Flores is a sculptor who gathers "...artifacts from nature [that] suggest their own stories and what slowly emerges are cultural, and mythical narratives...." What evolves may be carved hands that morph into tree limbs, or troll-like trunks reaching into the sky. Her environmental works have been featured at I-Park in East Haddam, CT.
 • Christo. Famed conceptual artist Christo lost his partner/spouse Jeanne-Claude last fall, but he continues with awe-inspiring projects like the Arkansas River in Colorado. As Christo + Jeanne-Claude's collective works go, I continue to remain impressed about the New York GATES project. Here's a link to photos of the Gates taken by a couple, Lori and Al, from Philadelphia.

compendiums
 • White Noise of Everyday Life is a weblog about photography and contemporary visual arts. Here's a sample of night photos of the the rebuilding of the Hoover Dam Bridge taken by photographer Jamey Stillings.
 • Design Boom. Current trends in industrial design.

upcoming exhibition in NYC
 • Umbrella Arts, a small, innovative gallery run by Margaret Bodell and Mary Ann Fahey, and shall host a new exhibition, 95Arts, curated by Sean Corbett, is a collection of works from artists who live along the I-95 corridor. Show opens on 10th, July 2010. Gallery hours: Thursday through Saturday 1PM - 6PM and by appointment. 317 East 9th Street, NYC. 212-505-7196

---

IMAGE CREDITS TO: 1- Gabriel Warren Euneclasteia 1, from the Rhegmalogia sculpture series; 2- 95 Arts logo.

other voices - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Orator - 106-43 B.C.

The Enemy Within

"A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.

An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city.

But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

For the traitor appears to be no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.

He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.

A murderer is less to be feared.
The traitor is the plague."

scams - Nicholson Barnes

Got an unsolicited snail mail letter today. Spiffy! My address was even hand lettered with real ink. It came from some people with Arizona postmark and was

"...pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 round trip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel... and the retail value is up to $1,400.00.
     We have attempted to contact you several times. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you by July 7, 2010, we will have to issue these tickets to someone else."

     The letter was signed with the name "Laura Day" (again, real ink that ran when I soaked it, impressive!) Vice President, Travel Awards Division. The letter indicated they had offices in "New York, Chicago, Los Angeles," provided an e-mail addy and a website.
     So I looked it up.
Their website assures me that:

"We, at Nicholson Barnes, are convinced that superior customer service and award programs are the future of developing trust and relationships with the communities we serve..."

and that...

"Nicholson Barnes is the country’s leader in incentive management. Across many industries and service sectors, Nicholson Barnes assists companies of all types with marketing and activities utilizing promotional gifts and sales incentives."

     Now getting excited (was already beginning to plan where I'd travel) I went to the "Contact us" section of the site. But you know what? It offered no street address or phone number. Only a blind box that you could send a letter to and ONLY IF you gave them your own street address, phone number and e-mail.
     I looked around the site some more. Unlike the letter, the site asserted that they had offices in: • Albany, NY • Tucson, AZ • Winter Garden, FL • Provo, UT • Newark, NJ (okay, that's close to NYC) • Austin, TX • San Francisco, CA (same state as LA) • Portland, OR and • Charleston, SC.
     Beginning to come down from my elation, I did a Google search for the company, and added "scams" after the name. Boy was I disappointed and surprised to find this: an Arizona Better Business Bureau alert published in the Tucson Citizen.
There are, apparently, seventeen (17!) different company names sending out virtually the same letter. One of them, Patterson Bell, has a street address in Tucson, AZ at 4811 E Grant Rd, STE 261 85712.
     According to Google Maps this put the company's offices in a shopping mall, with an Outback Steakhouse nearby. None of the named businesses in the Tucson Citizen scam warning article can be found there. However, one business is listed as being in Suite 261. What business is that? None other than the Arizona Small Business Association.
     I sincerely hope that no one working at ASBA has anything to do with the scammers; though it shows the scammers certainly have a wry sense of humor.
     Forewarned is forearmed.

---

FOR WHAT ITS WORTH DEP'T: The "Page Source" info indicates that the site's format was lifted from a WordPress template.
UPDATE: I got this from Leslie Barrett at ASBA:

"The asba office moved across the hall (same location) last Fall into Ste. 262. The firm you are referring to moved into asba’s old Ste. 261. It is my understanding that the suite is now empty and that the previous tenants have vacated; perhaps due to the pressure from the media visibility, etc.

And the Arizona Better Business Bureau wrote:

"Yeah, these letters have been going out under various names since at least last November. The only way we're able to stay on top of all the name changes is because consumers like yourself let us know. Thanks again!"

other voices - BillP

"I believe a long time ago that God got hurt; that is why people got hurt"
BillP

---

IMAGE CREDITS: William Blake - "Ancient of Days"

fitful wanderings from the web

 • Homeless Man Speaks. Short, pithy statements with well chosen images. Brilliant!
 • La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse, 405 Capitol Avenue Hartford, Connecticut. They are having their 2nd year anniversary [under the ownership of Virginia Iacobucci] tomorrow afternoon. Wish I could go, but I am working. I'll be exhibiting some of my artwork there in October 2010.
 • Just an Inkling. Only occasionally posts; a Christian with a Soul, if you know what I mean. Click on some of his earlier entries such as Showing Mercy or Oxymoron, the latter about Christians and Social Justice.
 • Motorcycle Philosophy on why men join bike clubs. Right now the site's author [who tags himself as a "Southern California-based blogger, affiliate marketer, motorcycle rider, and beer drinker..." is on an extended bike run to Alaska, which sounds like a fine thing to do right now.
 • Wikipedia on Aggressive Behavior. I was particularly interested in what influence neurotransmitters and hormones had on being aggressive. Even more specific, I was curious about the psychiatric drug Risperdal and if it had any effect on contributing to aggressive behavior. It can. I didn't find the specifics on Wikipedia, but it helped provide details [later found at DoubleCheckMD] the other article didn't have.
 • EHS Today used to be called "Occupational Hazards" and says it's purpose is to "...inform safety, health and industrial hygiene professionals in the manufacturing, construction, and service sectors about trends, management strategies, regulatory news and new products that help them provide safe and healthy work sites." Also provides a plethora of tales than show us BP and W R Grace are not the only caustic polluters, not by a long shot.

---

IMAGE CREDITS TO: Instant Artist - A software program popular during Windows 3/1 and Win95 days.

environment - Gulf Emergency Summit

My friend Jason King sent me this link. The site provides detail I have yet to see on TV. I believe it speaks for itself.

---

The Emergency Committee to Stop the Gulf Oil Disaster:
504-644-7214
gulfemergencysummit.org
gulfemergencysummit@gmail.com

The BP oil blowout is an environmental catastrophe, bringing great peril to marine and wildlife in the Gulf and threatening ecosystems of the planet. The spill is still out of control and spreading. It jeopardizes communities and livelihoods. The government and BP have proven unable and unwilling to stop the disaster, protect the Gulf, or even tell the truth. The people must come together now to stop this nightmare.
This 15-minute video of Kindra Arneson, the wife of a Louisiana fisherman is well worth watching. Not that it is any surprise but, guess what, we're not getting the whole truth from the media.

---

IMAGE CREDITS: 1- Code Green cartoon by Stephanie McMillan, who also maintains an entertaining weblog named Minimum Security, "The thrilling story of revolutionaries saving the world from ecocidal maniacs!"; 2- Fishing Closure Map US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

distractions - Claymation does Verdi's Traviata

The Chorus of the Bohemians

exhibitions - BAC Gallery 107 Main

Some images from the North Adams, MA opening

Left Pic: Ian Grey - photos; Will Brady - collage, painting + photos; Beth Davis - fabric works; Dawn Nelson - painting
•
Right Pic: Violet Wilcox - painting; Mary Weissbrodt - jewelry; Beth Davis - quilts; Ian Grey - Photo; Dan Bellows - pottery

Left Pic: Violet Wilcox - paintings; Dan Bellows - pottery; Mary Weissbrodt - Jewelry
•
Right Pic: Mary Weissbrodt - jewelry; Beth Davis - quilts; Dan Bellows - pottery

Left Pic: Bruce MacDonald - painting + tinted etchings
•
Right Pic: Will Brady with his painting [Pilgrims] and two collages. Dawn Nelson's painting in background

There are a few other artists whose works didn't get in the pictures. My fault. Some had not yet been put up when I was there. These artists include: Jordan Pagan - collage; Terry Taft - painting; Jen Huberdeau - masque/painting fusion; Michael Dunn - Silversmith; Anna Kronick - stained glass and paper etching.

By all means, get down to the show and see our work. Check out the other Down Street Art exhibits as well... and stay tuned for our special "Social Comment" show at the end of August.

original work - Winter - Route 9 North

With temperatures hovering around 30 degrees C, it seemed apt to post something that might cool the viewer down - even if only vicariously - with an image from when the temperature was well below 30 degrees F.

everyday life - What I write about

Seriously now... about my subject matter.
     Not long after I started blogging I got a letter from someone complaining that my content is "...all over the place..." The reader said he couldn't tell what I was going to write about next, that this was disconcerting and that he thought that others might find it off-putting. He further cautioned he believed that I'd have trouble sustaining repeat readership because of this. Finally, he indicated that while he found some of the things interesting, I ought to limit my focus to one or two key areas ["...like, politics, for instance"] and write longer more thought about pieces.
     Well, I just didn't know what to say. I hope he continued reading me.
     I could be producing one of those things that endlessly repeats, spam-like, key words about specific subjects, like "health care" or "Student Loans." You know, the ones that have no profile or e-mail attached. Or I could write droning self-absorbed prattle about what CD's I just got or how boring history class was yesterday...or about my cats. But I don't. [well, sometimes, I might write about cats ~ mine as well as others.]
     I do listen and consider what people send and suggest to me. But right now I see little reason to change my format. So, this is an explanation of what I write about, and why.
     The name Short Notes, came from a column I wrote while working pre-press operations at a newspaper chain in the Adirondacks, oh - years back. They were literally "short notes" because the column ran pretty much the length of space we needed to complete the final pages of the paper.
     This site is an outgrowth of that and a personal journal I've been keeping since Christmas 1980. It's always been quasi-public. Online, it's even more so. But since it's my own set of reflections, I write pretty much about what's in the front of my mind. I'm not trying for a focused audience.
     Sometimes what I touch upon really is "...all over the place." Compared to the handwritten journal, my subject matter is fairly disciplined and terse.
     I'm not a linear thinker. My synaptic responses twist and tangent all over the place; rather like some of my conversations. I have a long-established interest in almost anything [well, I can't abide idle gossip, remain impatient with chatter shows and quickly lose interest in the drivel that passes off as news] so I'm apt to write about anything else that interests me.

     My interests include:
• human rights, • environmental concerns, • mental health, • life as a visual artist, • non-traditional families, • aboriginal culture, • sustainable technology, • permaculture, • 21st century feudalism, • progressive politics, • community planning, • achievable utopias
~ as well as other subjects I'm not thinking of just now.

     As for politics, I believe that there are plenty of folks, far more tuned into political shenanigans than I, so why go for a crowded venue?
     I don't want to waste anybody's time, so I try to write about or link to things that would inform; educate; spark thought; bring beauty into someone else's life; to amuse and distract from the grind that is life in the 21st century; and to direct folks to places where they can get more details. Simple as that.
     Finally, it's a personal website for gosh sakes! What's on yours?

---

RESPONSIBLE OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS ENCOURAGED. ABOUT THE IMAGES: That's me at the tender age of 12 out back of my grandfather's house one Easter Sunday in one of the few pix extant of me wearing a tie. You ought to have seen the straw hat! The image to the left is a doodle I titled "Writer's Block"

distractions - signs on a bulletin board

---

FOUND AT: Arr the Kraken

other voices - Richard J. Machowicz

"Being a warrior is not about the act of fighting.

It's about being so prepared to face a challenge
and believing so strongly
in the cause you are fighting
that you refuse to quit."

---

notes: Richard Machowicz founded Bukido Institute after years of serving as a Navy Seal. Read Mike Mahler's interview with him; IMAGE CREDITS TO: 1- Comradeship, 1937 by Josep Thorak. Sculpture originally in front of German Pavilion at 1936 Paris World Exposition, from Werckmeister's Totalitarian Art page

fitful online wanderings

 • Elena Filatova has been traveling by motorbike to Chernobyl for years "...because one can take long rides there on empty roads." She also takes wonderful photos.
     She reports that "The people there all left and nature is blooming. There are beautiful woods and lakes. In places where roads have not been travelled by trucks or army vehicles, they are in the same condition they were 20 years ago... Time does not ruin roads, so they may stay this way until they can be opened again... a few centuries from now".
     I have been following her site since 2003. She continues to travel there and document what she finds. She is also selling copies of "Pluto's Realm" - a photo book of her journeys for $35 USD per copy. I'd love to join her on her rides, but first I'll have to get my own Geiger counter.
 • Implementing Olmstead. The Americans with Disabilities Act is now 20 years old. The Supreme Court decision stating that people with disabilities should not be warehoused in institutions is now 11 years old. Discrimination is still rife. The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law continues to call for an end to segregated housing for people with psychiatric disabilities.
 • Ever wondered about the differences between annual and perennial plants? Peripatetic blogger Al Fin shares with us his finds about developing perennial versions of major grain crops.
 • While on the subject of gardening, I'm impressed by the site developed by FAST, Faith and Sustainable Technologies. A group interested in spreading the Gospel while teaching people how to be self-sufficient. Here's links to a range of documents they have compiled on subjects from aquaculture to tanning hides as well as their remarkable Bio-intensive Approach to Small-scale Household Food Production Handbook.
 • For my money Pam's House Blend has been providing the most insightful coverage of the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Elena Kagen. So far, the ideological opposition has lambasted her for her questionable support of Darkies having equal rights and by inviting Queer-baiting fag bashers to testify.
     Not only is the president of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins [you know the former friend of rent-boy habitue Dr. George Rekers] to testify, but so is David Kopel, who once wrote an op-ed opposing gay rights claiming straight people's children would be forced to be taught by a man in a dress.
     Ah yes! there's nothing like the stale air of bigoted predictability with the Opposition.
<- Opposition Party Loyalists gathering their support.
 • Speaking of opposition, and philosophically troglodyte hermits the 2010 Texas Republican Party Platform does it's best to push back the sordid curtain of social justice that was the 20th Century. It is kind of weird reading a document that opens with the statement that "Throughout the world people dare to dream of freedom and opportunity.", then goes forth to trash the principles that would ensure those freedoms. Ron's Log has done an admirable critique of the foolishness inherent in this diatribe/treatise.
     The entire document has been published free courtesy of the Texas Tribune.

---

IMAGE CREDITS TO: 1- Elana Filatova's 2010 Chernobyl photo album; 2- Faith + Sustainable Technology's [FAST] Bio-intensive Approach to Small-scale Household Food Production Handbook; 3- Historic Alleys and The Savages of Calicut.

environment - Oil at the Beach

dark side - addictions

"Addicts tend to dwell in the ecstasy of ignition, that moment when endorphins are first beckoned and the show begins, but in a more sober, retrospective light, the fact remains that addiction's primary aspect is boredom - the getting and using of the same substance over and over until death, jail or recovery intervenes."
David Carr

I did not select the quote above; a friend who admits he has a problem with addictions, did. When I went to visit him he excitedly pulled our Mr. Carr's article for me to read. "Isn't he so right when he speaks of boredom.?" I mentioned that (in relation to the endorphin kick) my friend has often referenced going on with alcohol use until he got "that click!" I further responded that I wasn't really sure - being addicted to substances has never been my demon. Besides - I rarely find myself bored.
     My friend momentary looked perplexed, then made an "aha" look, acknowledging he finds himself bored quite a lot. Then he agreed (with himself as much as with me) that he needed to do something about this. I found myself agreeing.
     Now, the boredom, and repetitive substance abuse, and that search for the "snap" is a bit what the film "Still Life", posted here, is about. Grim, but it seemed an apt feature to put with the quote about addictions.

---

QUOTE FROM: Mr. Carr's review of a book, "Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man" by Bill Clegg; the film short, Still Life, was produced by Brookstreet Pictures.

everyday life - towing

When your car breaks down and it has to be towed in for repair, the event can be immensely frustrating. So how frustrating is this? the tow truck that needs a tow after pickup up a couple of clunkers? The side of the broken down truck says: "You call, we haul"

fitful wanderings from the web

 • Path to Freedom is a grassroots, family operated, original urban homestead located in the midst of Pasadena, CA.
   Surrounded by urban sprawl and just a short distance from a freeway, the Dervaes Family have steadily worked at transforming this ordinary city lot into an organic and sustainable micro-farm.
   The website documents the many steps the Dervaeses have taken and hopes to inspire fellow travelers on their own life-changing journey. They also maintain a regular weblog documenting how their efforts plays out.
 • OtherStream is what got me focused about blogging. I had been keeping what I called an "online journal" ever since the days of Prodigy dial-up service. David's acerbic wit, together with his keen observations about the "gay community", and a refreshing sense of good graphic design, had me hooked. His site was then called Planet SOMA; I've followed his wanderings of-and-on, ever since.
 • We make money, not art is a blog team that writes about the intersection between art, design and technology; and about the way artists, hackers and interaction designers (mis)use technology.
   The Make Money writers (there are three full timers) cover everything from conferences to international biennials, to workshops for Elvis Impersonators where "...the workshop aimed to address questions concerning the legal definition of impersonation and authenticity."
 • The Abandoned Missile Base VR Tour. One of the first "urban Spelunking" sites I ever came across, and particularly well designed.
   Say the site authors: "This presentation will take you on a full tour of a decommissioned, abandoned underground missile complex. The site was opened many years ago by explorers and vandals, and in fact the technology therein was nearly obsolete by the time the bases were completed in 1963, so there's little "secret" about it beyond the location of these sites, which we will not reveal here."
 • A boon to the psycho-pharmacology industry? British proto-journalist Elvin F. Verdad reports that Mental Illness can now be diagnosed in unborn children!
   Through controversial procedures, Dr. Ordlin Beanhauser (UK) and Dr. Howard Mindsettler (US) are able to, they claim, determine mental disorders based on a fetus' movement patterns, general discomfort caused to the mother, and a baby's reaction to Barry Manilow music and recordings of Ben Stein droning on endlessly about nothing.
 • Future Scanner. This site scans the internet for all kinds of conjectures and prognostications about the future, and what we might expect to see. Sometimes that means linking to a TED video about the Bernoulli theorem E(u|p,X) = Σx∈ p(x)u(x), other times, articles like what bathrooms will look like in the future. A good place to stay productively busy while wasting time online while at work.

---

IMAGE CREDITS TO: 1- local scene; a work of my own; 2- Elvis Was Here, 2008, Photograph by Thierry Bal published on We Make Money, Not Art; 3- Elvin Verdad's FaceBook Profile picture.

psyche/mental health issues - Side effects of psychiatric drugs

FROM THE Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) WEBSITE:

     Psychiatric drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics and stimulants have serious, life threatening side effects and patient’s are rarely warned about the full risks of these drugs.
     International drug regulatory agencies including the U.S. FDA warn that commonly prescribed psychiatric drugs can and do cause worsening depression, mania, aggression, psychosis, depersonalization, diabetes, hallucinations, suicidal and homicidal thoughts, heart attack, stroke and sudden death. And what’s worse, these are drugs commonly being prescribed to children and even infants.
     CCHR has long fought for full disclosure of psychiatric drug risks, and was one of the first organizations to expose the suicidal and violent inducing effects of antidepressants as far back as 1991, calling on the FDA to take action and issue public warnings.
     It would take the FDA 13 years to finally issue black box warnings on antidepressants causing suicidal ideation.

NOTE: I'm often wary of sourcing CCHR* for its critiques, because of their historic ties to both the Church of Scientology and the disparaging label of "anti-psychiatry". However, this is a good video with a punch based on facts, not advertising bromides.
     But being critical of Big Pharma's own historic negligence at owning up to adverse side effects of psychiatric medications does not make one either a Scientologist or anti-psychiatry. Just stating the facts.

---

CLARIFICATION: * CCHR is the Citizen Commission on Human Rights International. It was co-founded in 1969 by members of the Church of Scientology
and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus Dr. Thomas Szasz at a time when patients were being warehoused in institutions and stripped of all constitutional, civil and human rights.

poetry - What is his Axis One?

WHAT IS HIS AXIS ONE?
The smartly dressed psychiatrist
Practically yelled across the room.

WHAT IS HIS AXIS ONE?
She cried out, the sharp glint in her eyes
almost bouncing light off her
Severe
designer earrings.

WITHOUT KNOWING HIS AXIS ONE
I’m not certain we can treat him

There are, after all, standards for admission
They have to be met!
And if we cannot determine his Axis One
He doesn’t meet the standard.

But we’ll never determine his Axis One
If all he does today during this meeting
is just sit there –
Crying.

---

READ AT THE: Mad Pride Festival / Held at Wisdom House / Litchfield, CT / 13 July 2007

poetry - EASTERN

EASTERN

When I was a kid
the place where I lived
was a squat cinder block building
they called “the Cottage”.

Inside there was a rubber room
with thickly lined walls
one could slam ones’ self into
without really doing much harm.
I got to spend a bit of time there
when I was bad.

This was nothing like the room they used
the next door over
for the really bad kids.

When a really bad kid went into that room
the Counselors would call the rest of us together
in the hallway, outside the room
where we could look through the window in the door.

Through that window
we could see, four feet above the floor
the brown tinged blocks
as we would watch
a fresh application get added
to the otherwise white walls.

“If you are really bad
You’ll get to go in there too!”

lesson learned.
If you were only partly bad
You get the rubber room.
At least, there, you get to be left alone.

---

READ AT THE: Mad Pride Festival / Held at Wisdom House / Litchfield, CT / 13 July 2007

poetry - Therapies I have known

Therapies I have known

Valium - How nice. I really don’t care if I’m caught dancing naked in the street
Mellaril - Itchy scratch brain. Itchy scratch brain ...And I can’t do anything about it
Haldol - New exercises for my tongue!
Thorazine - Dense grey tarpaper wrapped around my medulla oblongata
Navane - Bright blue pills that enhance the effects of marijuana
Zyprexa - How’d that bowling ball get in my belly?
Psychiatrist - Six months of silence and he speaks, but only briefly
Concrete blocks and sledgehammer - Hours of concentrated slamming creative destruction leads to extreme fatigue and blissful, rested sleep
Friendships - That works.

---

READ AT THE: Mad Pride Festival / Held at Wisdom House / Litchfield, CT / 13 July 2007