Tidal Bore Studios

Finally getting around to posting...

2010-04-06T15:55:00.004-03:00

Here are some pictures of a few pieces I have been working on.

Sketch Practice

2010-03-12T16:39:00.001-04:00

Practice, practice, practice

2010-03-09T11:49:00.001-04:00

Too Long...

2010-03-09T11:15:00.007-04:00

It has been too long since my last post. I have moved and unpacked boxes that have been in storage for 7 years. Now I have finally gotten down to work on several pieces. Here are some of my photos that have gone through "fixing in post" editing process. Soon I will scan some of my ink and pencil drawings that have been coloured using watercolour paint.

the Debate

2009-10-15T11:22:00.002-03:00

Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth art installation One and Other just finished. Google it to learn more. The great thing about this project is the debate it has sparked. What is art? Should we stop the high art and low art divisions? How do we work together? Can many people with different agendas create one work of art?

I simply want to bring recognition to this great experiment and say "let's continue the discussion."

Maritime Stories

2009-10-02T11:32:00.002-03:00

The Story

2009-10-02T11:13:00.002-03:00

Your never think that your story is that interesting. Or the story of the land you have grown up in. It is too familiar and too close. It is so much a part of you that it is uninteresting. The story is no strange enough to be interesting. Its like running your hand along a smooth surface, we only notice the imperfections. If you run your hand over that surface for hours, days, years then your fingers go numb and you notice nothing.

Look at things from a different view point. A different angle shows a new surface. Or travel to someplace very different for a few months. When you return, things will look different. All that to say that every story is interesting… eventually.

I used to think that the Maritimes was supremely uninteresting. After having lived ‘away’ for several years I understood that our stories were beautiful and interesting because you don’t hear them from anywhere else. I lived in a dry land at the foot of the Rockies. I lived in the USA during the Bush years. I was dying inside. I missed the ocean and the stories and people that lived by the water.

Tell the stories. They are beautiful. Tell them in whatever way you can.

The Artist as Visionary

2009-05-20T10:39:00.004-03:00

In a previous post, I brought up the concept of art being visionary. What can we do as people? What should we do? What should we not do? When should we say "just because we can doesn't mean we should?" I know that is from Jurassic Park but it is applicable. Art should show the terrible or beautiful scene of what would happen if we continue along a certain political, scientific, sociological, or belief path. Art can encourage and discourage and the what ifs are important to see and hear.

The artist should play the part of a PROPHET or SEER. The artist should be a futurist. We can see where people can be, we can speak hope into lives, we can see where things are now and the potential of the good that can become. We, the artists, can portray that good. If people don't have a vision of what they are trying to reach, then they die. They either give up and become complacent or they make an island full of dinosaurs that will only end badly.

Tell the story, paint the picture, design the image, build a sculpture, and collage. The thing is that we need to do it. Once again, the artist doesn't live in a vacuum but in the community of human beings on this blue marble of a planet rocketing through space.

Check out the Nasa Art contest and see a practical exhibition of what I mean. Or check out online pics of the Sistine Chapel.

Youtube Sara Watson

2009-05-06T11:19:00.000-03:00

check it out

Art news: invisible car

2009-05-06T11:09:00.002-03:00

This invisible car project is great. First of all its a brilliant idea. As a SF geek I appreciate the whole desire of creating tech for invisibility. Pardon the pun but this piece gives great vision for invisibility.

That is one of the things any work of art should do. Art should be visionary and give vision to the engineers and politicians and policy makers and business folks. The artist should be the dreamer. The artist is the thought pioneer that blazes the trail for the engineer to follow. That is what Sara Watson has done. She made a car invisible, not through slight of hand, or any trick, but through vision and hard work. You can't tell me that was easy.

I just simply want to say kudos to you Sara. Well done.

Technology and Art

2009-04-24T15:47:00.000-03:00

It is amazing what is happening these days as technology and arts merge and fuel each other. How many of us geeks are also artists at heart? I think this is definitely a discussion we as artists need to have. Not only we artists but engineers and computer programmers, and all of us. It comes back to the fact that art is not created in a vacuum but by groups. Perhaps the artist creates a piece but the reality the artist is influenced by many and that includes the engineer.

The cool thing is the possibilities this creates. So many more people can create music, or movies, or photos that actually get a chance to be seen by people. Technology has increased the ability to create and display and appreciate many forms of artistic expression. Those artists that are particularly steeped in technology portray hope or caution us if nothing changes. They are the prophets that actually let us see the future.

Even sites like io9 consistently post articles that showcase the possibilities new technology gives the arts and artists. Here and here are a couple examples. There are many more places that showcase future art.

The Apple Computer company has grabbed onto this. They endeavour to design high quality machines that look pretty. I am not plugging them as a company but they do try and take beauty into account in the design of technology.

Its time for all artists and techies to talk about the future and the present and to work together to accomplish more then we ever could as an individual voice.

Short and Sweet

2009-04-06T16:27:00.000-03:00

Here are a few links that have helped me:

OWL is a great writing resource. Split infinitves always confound me.

Discipline yourself and write that novel using this daily guide.

Great for fonts!

Amazing film company, those Focus Features guys.

Finally for today is the IPL.

Otherwise check out your local photography guild or writers' workshop. Also, look at the homepages of your fav authors. They often have lots of good advice and are willing to give people a hand.

The Only True Failure is Quitting

2009-03-20T10:47:00.000-03:00

You can quote me :)

"The only true failure is quitting." jolabreeze

For some reason, our human society uses primarily quantitative measurement for success and not qualitative. Failure usually means that numbers are bad (low or high depending on what is bad). I think, in part, people do this because it is easier. Easier does not mean better it just means... less effort. Also, people do it because they believe it to be objective. We all know that objectivity is the voice of reason and god. Objectivity says that if two boys love the same girl then we should cut the girl in half so each boy can have a piece. (sure this is oversimplification but this blog is about success and failure and not about subjectivity and objectivity) I think we need to (at least begin to) redefine success and failure.

How many artists have never had a showing but create beautiful pieces? How many authors have seen only rejection because their work cannot be marketed well not because it isn't well crafted? How many brilliant TV shows are cancelled after one season? (art is art here not high or low). We could ask these types of questions for each discipline that falls under the heading "Art." This is true for other domains in society as well. The business entrepreneur who runs a big company usually has had 3 to 5 bad experiences under her belt.

We have all had episodes of Crash and Burn in our lives. That happens. We should begin to look at these not as failures. Not because we do not want to face facts (there are those numbers again) but because we can learn and grow and be inspired by these events. They can be difficult AND good at the same time. This failure thing has a whole plane load of baggage with it called shame. I say forget about shame and embrace the Crash and Burn/difficult and good phenomenon of humility. Sure, we feel pretty shitty. But shit can become manure that produces beautiful flowers and nourishing veggies (i know that is corny but you get what i mean). Hubris is bad and the humble heart may not be big and bold but it is kind and strong.

These days I have come to see and believe that true failure is quitting (wallow in that shame). True success is simply not giving up. And that is a beautiful thing.

Gimme Shelter

2009-03-17T18:37:00.000-03:00

I know this io9 article is about shelters for the apocalypse. But I think it is a beginning for shelters for homeless people here and now. Wouldn’t that be a great exhibit. A group of artists design personal shelters. Do two copies. Sell one to raise money. Give one away to a homeless person. Even do it as an instillation piece. No more cops giving a guy a hard time but now he is art and can live there.

Okay, if you haven't read the article, go back and read it now. Or at least skim it. Ready? Lets continue.

Sure, there are implications and complications. How does this solve the problem? How do we as artist make sure we are not simply using someone who has no home? These are the questions we need to wrestle with. We need to be torn and broken. I think that questing process makes us better artists.

This quest is active. We don't get so bogged in the question that we become inactive. The thing is, this shelter art could be a start of something. Who knows where it would go? Isn't it better to start to do soemthing instead of doing nothing because it might not be the best thing. These days, I lean towards imperfect action is better then inaction. See” practice makes perfect” entry below.

The artist/engineer could create something that may revolutionize the planet and finally provide, at the very least, temporary and affordable housing to those who truly need it. That is the challenge to me, to you. I need to seek out the help with the practical engineering side. Go team.

Not so heavy...

2009-03-07T15:12:00.000-04:00

Re-reading the last few posts I realize they are on the heavy side of life and art. What can I say? I do have a strong sense of responsibility and an above average sense of global scope that is not tempered by too much cynicism. I think people can make a difference and affect change. I think that more people working together to affect change have exponentially more ability then the individual.

I really admire guys like Chihuly who encourage teams of artists to work together to accomplish something. It is a rare thing to have artists working together. To work well, everyone needs to be humble. One of the few other places you see artist working together is on the movie set and sometimes on the TV lot. The horror stories form these places are when an actor goes all diva or a studio exec forces a vision based on money and not on truth, beauty, and art.

Personally, I would always rather work as a team then as the lone ranger. It may not be easier but it is ultimately better.

The Artist and Responsibility

2009-03-02T10:31:00.000-04:00

There seems to be a stream of rationale through the artist community that art is for art sake, that destruction is as creative as creation, and that we may express anything as long as it can be draped in the creative. Too often, this feels like we, the artist, abdicating responsibility. Art should not be self-centered. The point is for the piece to be viewed and experienced by others. Could one say that self-centered art is not art because, by its nature, art is other-centered?

No one walks through this life without responsibility. No one walks truly alone. We are not islands to ourselves but a community or at the very least a community of communities. There are more then 6 Billion of us on this blue marble hurtling through space. There are those who have no one to speak for them; women and children trafficked as slaves for drudgery and sexual exploitation; victims of genocide like the Karen people in Burma; the disenfranchised trapped on the streets of any major city in North America. The artist is responsible for these people.

The artist should be an advocate. The artist has authority in society. We can stand up and speak out so much. We can build up people and societies. We can create beauty where there is only ugliness and darkness. We have authority. The artist has responsibility equal to that authority. We have a responsibility to create with purpose. We can give a voice to the voiceless. We can yell and scream louder then most to draw attention to those who can only whimper.

Art should always have purpose and the artist have responsibility

Practice makes perfect

2009-02-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

I have realized over the past few years that practice does make perfect... or at least you get better at it. Whether you write, take pictures, snowshoe, or pray, the more you do it the better you get. Also, if you do it every day, even for just a short while, you get better.

Along with this, I realize that perfect scares people and makes people a little crazy. I think in art and life it is more important to be honest then perfect. People appreciate honesty way more then perfection. Perfection seems to stop people from doing anything. It was an epiphany for me when it hit that starting something new will always be messy and that is okay. An honest mess is better then trying to attain and sustain perfection.

So to pull the two together. If you want to get better at something then try to do a little of it every day and don't be concerned with how good it looks up front. Practice honestly and you will get better as a by-product if nothing else.

I went almost five years without taking a serious picture. When I wanted to get back into it, i tried hard to not be who I was or to try and take that quality photograph. I do try and take at least one picture every day. I have gotten better but I am not the same person I was half a decade ago (thank Jesus) and the photographs take that into account. They may not be perfect but I do hope they are honest.

The Beginning

2009-02-06T09:25:00.000-04:00

This is my first foray into blogging. I am not sure what this will become. It is an experiment in purposed writing and creativity. What does it mean to be an artist? A writer? A designer? A filmmaker? A teacher? A learner? A pilgrim? A pioneer?

How do values and belief and personal spirituality inform what you create?

And go.

Now.

Start.