Artdog Quote of the Week

The quirky, talented artist John Hendrix created this collage for St. Louis Design Week.  I thought it was a great thought and a cool image with which to close out the year.

IMAGE CREDIT: John Hendrix gave me permission to use his image, which I found here. Please give yourself the visual treat of browsing his website and blog!

You think Halloween is Scary? Try Yuletide!

Forget the bogeyman. Krampus carries "delinquent" children to Hell.

Meet Krampus.

He is the terrifying opposite of St. Nicholas' sweetness and light.  He, too, carries a sack--but his is NOT full of toys and candy.  He uses it to capture naughty children and carry them off to Hell.

Yikes!

The magazine The Atlantic recently posted an online slideshow of images of costumed "Krampus" figures that are a feature of Yuletide festivities in Alpine parts of Europe. I chose several to share with you here, but for more explanations and images I urge you to see the whole show.

The lighting effects of torches and bonfires in the night add to Krampus figures' menacing appearance.

How many future years of therapy do you think this guy has inspired?

Wouldn't want to meet this one in a dark alley, either!

Scary as they may seem in the right light, I bet the guys who design and wear these costumes have a load of fun doing it. 

You can't tell me this guy didn't build his "devil go-kart" in his garage and chortle over how cool it looks in the dark!

I have friends who delight in putting on elaborate productions to "haunt" their yards or porches for Halloween. They have kindred spirits in the Alps, I'm sure.

Krampus chariot rides!  What a rush!

Lighting and ambiance give the wonderful costumes their full power.

The photos I liked best in the slide show were the ones that gave a glimpse of behind-the-scenes.

This is my favorite photo of the whole slide show. Inside the fur, under the horns--the spirit of St. Nicholas lingers in the hearts of ordinary guys putting on a helluva show.

To all my readers: Yuletide blessings, and . . . watch out for old Krampus!  :-)

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to The Atlantic for publishing these images!  What a different view they give of the Yuletide season!

Artdog Quote of the Week

Here's a thought for the Holidays.

IMAGE CREDIT: Photo and design are by Jan S. Gephardt. If you wish to use them please give attribution and link-back.  May your holidays be warm and bright!

A New Sound from an Old Sketchbook

Leonardo Da Vinci strikes again! Well, with a lot of help from his friends and admirers.

Especially with the help of one particular Polish admirer and astonishing polymath named Slawomir Zubrzycki.  He took a look at this drawing and made a whole lot more sense of it than I can:

Meet Da Vinci's invention, the "viola organista," as drawn in his sketchbook.

Here is a video from the AFP News Agency that gives you both a glimpse of the instrument in action, and a taste of its sound:

Give yourself a moment to sit back, maximize your screen for a good view, and listen to this amazing new sound, extrapolated from the pages of one of Leonardo's sketchbooks.

Here's another video, showing Zubrzycki at the keyboard, performing about ten and a half minutes worth of music for a concert audience in Krakow, Poland.  This video was recorded Oct. 18, 2013 at the International Royal Cracow Piano Festival:


I wanted a closer look at this instrument, and I thought you might, too:

Mr. Zubrzycki and his amazing construction: no muted hues for Mr. Z!

Here's one view "under the hood" of the Viola Organista.

And a bit more detailed close-up.  I still don't know how it works.

I'd like to thank the NPR blog, Deceptive Cadence from NPR Classical, for turning me on to this instrument's existence.  There also is an interesting article on the background of this instrument on the Musical Assumptions blog by Elaine Fine.

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Wikipedia, for Da Vinci's sketchbook image of the viola organista, shown at the top of this post. Many thanks also to the AFP News Agency and YouTube for the first video, and to Slawomir Zubrzycki and YouTube for the second, longer video. The three photos of Zubrzycki at the keyboard and the "under the hood" views are from Tygodnik Powszechny and Tomaz Wiech/AFP, via Laughing Squid (You may enjoy the accompanying articles, too!).

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: The photo is mine, as is the design.  Please use with attribution and a link back, if you like it.

A Beautiful New ArtHouse in Overland Park!

Nicole Emanuel does not think small.  What is more, she follows through on her big ideas.  Nicole is the founder and Executive Director of the InterUrban ArtHouse in Overland Park, KS, an ambitious and growing organization in the Kansas City metro area.

Interesting visuals are everywhere you turn.

On December 11, 2013, the InterUrban ArtHouse opened its doors in a new, beautiful space that offers a place for a range of programs and events, studio spaces for artists, and even a small retail area for the sale of artwork.

The space is available for rental, but the organization also sponsors several regular events here, too.

I dropped in during the afternoon of the open house and took some pictures. They offer a glimpse of the new space. But you really should come take a look in person, if you're in the KC metro area!

A flexible open area in the middle of the ArtHouse space offers many possibilities.

Here's the nook by the Blackberry Castle Productions studio.

Assistant Director Nick Carswell greeted open house guests from the reception desk, aided by a volunteer.

The conference room seems kind of bare, compared to the rest of the space, but it's functional.

Blackberry Castle's Reggie Banks, Sr. stands between the reception desk and the small retail area.

IMAGE CREDITS: The InterUrban ArtHouse logo is from the organization's website.  All the other photos were taken by Jan S. Gephardt, with the ArtHouse staff's permission.  Please use only with attribution and a link back.

Character Sketches

Who says we only get to be talented at one thing?  Certainly not creative people!

Think of Tony Bennett, who both sings and paints, or Michelangelo Buonarroti, who sculpted marble, painted (including the Sistine Chapel), and also was a noted lyric poet of his time.

Profile image for Les Lethal's Larryville Blue on Facebook.

We lesser mortals who are creative also can be good at more than one thing.  I'm a  decent artist, I tried to be a good teacher (performance art), and I am working on becoming a published fiction writer.

In the course of doing research for my novel-in-progress, I have come across yet another multi-talented creative person, whom I'd like to introduce here.

Les Lethal is his cartoonist name, but in his "other life" he's a Denver police officer. I hope his policing is as clear-eyed as his cartooning, because if so he's an outstanding cop, too.

What I appreciate most are the telling details. The sound authenticity of the caricatures comes through for me in the comments from Les's audience, 7,287 of whom have "Liked" his Facebook page.

One of Les's recurring themes is his collections of character-caricatures, offering comical views of various categories of law enforcement officers. The first one I encountered was his Officers Career Progression.

The book I Love a Cop, written as a resource for law enforcement families, outlines a very similar progression of phases in a typical career, only they tell it "straight." Humorous it may be, but this cartoon also seems to be dead-on accurate.

Knowledgeable comment-writers have remarked on the progression in Career Progression from the belt full of gadgets on the Rookie to the less-cluttered duty belts of the older officers (who have figured out what tools to keep, and which get in their way); the thigh-holster and protein shake carried by the "Rooster," and many other touches.
Whether your medium is words or pictures, the details are crucial, for a good portrait!

Les also has done a series of The Characters of Law Enforcement. Once again, based on comments, the more you know about these specialties and the individuals who work in them, the more amusing these caricatures seem to be.

Here, with his permission, are The Characters of Law Enforcement, Parts One, Two, and Three:

Here is Part One. No one and nothing is sacred in Larryville, it seems.

Part Two adds to the collection.  Several seem to be responses to comments made on the first image. (For those who need a clue, a "BwaB" is "a Bitch with a Badge.")

Part Three probably isn't the end of the series, but it's the latest one so far. Again, some of these appear to be inspired or informed by comments on earlier images.

Les does not shrink from spoofing anyone, and that includes himself.  He recently produced this little gem for Halloween. Note that it is based rather closely on Part One, shown above.

Recognize anyone?

You don't have to be on Facebook to see Les's artwork. Check out his website, Les Lethal Cartoons, especially both his Gallery and Products pages.

IMAGE CREDITS: All images in this post are copyright 2013 by Les Lethal, and may be used ONLY with his express permission (Thanks, Les!)  Please do not re-post or publish any of them without contacting Les and obtaining his permission first!

Artdog Quote of the Week

As artists, we both create places of enchantment . . . and need them.  What is yours?

IMAGE CREDIT: My photography, my design work. Use with attribution and link back if you like it!

iPads for Orangutans in Kansas City: part of a bigger movement

We are just beginning to appreciate the intelligence of other species.  An unexpected side benefit of recent developments in consumer electronics has been an increased ability to explore the realm of non-human intelligence.

And the Kansas City Zoo has enlisted its orangutans in one of those explorations.

The orangutan in this photo is unnamed in my Internet photo source, and I'm not sure what zoo it's from.  Whoever this orang is, he or she is exploring some of the available apps.

The headline writers have been having a field day with the story (my favorite of the many predictable puns: "There's an ape for that!").

But at the heart of it is a project from the New-York-based nonprofit Orangutan Outreach, called Apps for Apes, that seeks to make life in zoos a bit more interesting for the primate species many believe is the next-most intelligent to humans.

This is Iris, of the Smithsonian Zoo, with her "Apps for Apes" iPad.

The Apps for Apes page for Orangutan Outreach explains that "Orangutans are highly intelligent creatures who require mental stimulation to keep from growing bored and depressed."

It lists three goals of the Apps for Apes project:
"1. To provide stimulating enrichment & immediate gratification for the orangutans using iPads,
"2. To raise awareness among zoo visitors of the critical need to protect orangutans in the wild, and
"3. To promote the conservation efforts of Orangutan Outreach."

Orangutan Outreach does NOT recommend allowing the apes to hold the iPads themselves, for safety reasons. This is an illustration published by Maclean's.

One reason why it's important for orangutans to be happy and interested in life, even when confined to zoos, is that their natural habitat in Sumatra and Borneo is disappearing rapidly. It may be gone as soon as 2022, so the day may soon come when the species must reproduce in zoos, if it is to continue to exist at all.

Having a healthy orangutan population includes their mental health--and with these intelligent apes it's vital to keep them engaged.

IMAGE CREDITS: The first image of an orangutan using an iPad comes from Bubblenews.  I am not sure where it was taken.  The photo of Iris in DC is from an article on the RedOrbit website. The illustration from Maclean's accompanies an article that pulls together information about various zoos, the Apps for Apes program, and the studies being conducted by Suzanne MacDonald of York University (York, ON).

Jellyfish Burger, Anyone?

Welcome to what I intend to be an ongoing series of images that visualize concepts in the areas of science, technology, mathematics, and/or engineering (or what we educators call the STEM disciplines).

Here is Jellyfish Burger, by Dave Beck and Jennifer Jacquet

Jellyfish Burger, 2009, by Dave Beck and Jennifer Jacquet

Today's image made the National Science Foundation's list of Best International Science and Engineering Visualizations in 2009.  Unfortunately, things haven't improved much since then!

The New York Times created a slide show of the winning images, which you may enjoy.  Here's how the NYT captioned this one:

Jellyfish Burger, Honorable Mention, Illustration
Without changes in global fishing policies, the seafood of the future is rubbery, according to Dave Beck, a digital artist, and Jennifer Jacquet, a marine scientist, creators of this 3D digital composite image. "The jellyfish burger is so close to becoming a reality, we can taste it."

For a little more information about this image, please see this article from Volume One.

As someone who has started to feel guilty any time I even contemplate eating certain kinds of seafood, this image really hit home for me (to become "part of the solution," check out the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch lists).

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the New York Times for this image, and to the National Science Foundation for calling it to everyone's attention!

Holiday Essentials

Every family develops traditions, in my experience--and mine is no different.  The one that's upon us as I write this is Thanksgiving.  It is traditionally the one my household spends at "our house," with a cherished circle of family and friends gathered around the Thanksgiving feast, or joining together for a walk to our local-but-internationally-famous event, the Plaza Lighting Ceremony.

A view of the Kansas City Country Club Plaza Lights and the crowd in 2009

Lately, my family's holidays seem to have been anything but "normal," however. Last year we spent a bittersweet Thanksgiving at my father's lake house in Arkansas, which we knew would probably be the last, and it was.  Dad sold his longtime home (our cherished relaxation retreat) in April, and moved to a much-safer-for-him retirement community.  It was a necessary change, but none of us was happy about the necessity.

The view of the lake from Dad's wrap-around porch is one of many things we miss about his former home in northwest Arkansas!

This is my daughter's motto.

While we were in Arkansas, my aunt in the San Francisco Bay Area suffered a health crisis that set us up for many changes in 2013. She was hospitalized the day before Thanksgiving--we got the news while we were on the road south--and unfortunately she has been unable to return home since. 

My son and daughter traveled to California in December to evaluate the situation, and my daughter moved there "for as long as needed" in January, to be my aunt's household manager, "dog Mom" and much-needed patient advocate. This will be her first Thanksgiving and Christmas away from us.

Part of my daughter's duties include caring for my aunt's Miniature Schnauzer Fritz (L), as well as her own pack: (center-to-R) Border Collie Cole, Toy Fox Terrier Luna, and Rat Terrier Anika.

A small glimpse of former Christmas glory.

My mother-in-law has had even more wrenching changes to deal with.  For decades she reigned as Queen of the Family Christmas, but as she and my father-in-law have fallen into ill health, and especially now that she is a widow, Christmases have become a pale shadow of their former selves. 

She marked last Christmas by spending a final night in her home on Christmas Eve, and moving officially into a nearby assisted living facility on Christmas Day afternoon.  I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for her.

Wine and memories.

It's hard not to see all the changes as losses.  But if we live, we see changes.  My family currently includes three octogenarians, the youngest of whom is 85.  Both of my children are young adults, of the age when people usually marry and have children if they are going to.  More changes are inevitable.

Traditions and cherished rituals may seem like the "meaning of the season," but they, too, eventually either morph into new versions or fall away as they become impractical.  It's another category of changes that can seem like losses.

The challenge lies in finding the essential, eternal goodness at the heart of the holiday, that which remains in place, no matter what else changes.  We are thankful for recent blessings, for memories to cherish, and for the persistence of love between family and friends--whether they are near or far away, living and drawing breath, or living in memory.

At their heart, holidays boil down to love--or they don't boil down to anything at all. 

PHOTO CREDITS: I took the Plaza Lights photo in 2009.  My husband Pascal Gephardt took the photo of Beaver Lake from Dad's porch during the Thanksgiving visit in 2012.  The little "Lilo and Stitch" image and quote is from the Facebook page of my daughter, Signy Gephardt (currently her profile picture). Signy took the photo of the "California Canines" in the loft at my aunt's condo in Daly City, CA. 

Either my son Tyrell Gephardt or I took the photo of my mother-in-law's Christmas decorations in 2006, one of the last really "like-old-times" Christmases there, but already shadowed by my father-in-law's ill health. My son Tyrell took the final photo at Dad's lake house last Thanksgiving: A favorite wine (Stonehill Norton) and one of my dad's glasses, commemorating his ship the St. Lo, sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.  The survivors still hold reunions, but those traditions are necessarily changing, too.

Two Personal Pieces Achieve Closure

A couple of pieces of my artwork have found their intended homes lately. 

Neither of these pieces was ever part of my competitive fine art collection, nor was either created for the sf convention art show market. Instead, each was a piece made specifically for a person I know.

The first is a little piece I made for a relatively new friend.  Ann recently celebrated her 80th birthday.  A group of us created an appreciation piece in her honor, a special hat adorned with Minnie Pearl-style tags that each bore a note  recalling a memory, favorite moment, or other appreciation.

This is the miniature piece Ann's Hat, created as an appreciation.

Since I didn't know her as well as some of her friends, I opted for a visual appreciation: Ann is a woman of truly distinctive style.  She favors large rings and brooches, colorful scarves, and vintage hats. I always enjoy seeing what she wears to our monthly gatherings.

I was in California for her party and presentation, but I hope she liked my offering.

I created the other piece for my Aunt Bobbie, who has been a collector of hippopotamus-themed artwork (mostly small sculptures) for as long as I've known her (i.e., all my life).  

The piece I created for her actually has been in the works since 2011 and was not delivered till 2013. In the course of creating the final image, I developed several techniques that I have used in subsequent works, most notably all the floral/herbal works created so far in 2013.

Bobbie's artwork portrays a hippo of the Okavongo, among the papyrus mats that are a feature of that river.  It is titled Hippo at Home.

This is a photo of Hippo at Home, in its original mat.

Bobbie's had a very rough year. Starting with an illness that forced a trip to the Emergency Room on the night before Thanksgiving 2012, she's been in and out of the hospital and a rehabilitation facility, and at present lives at a boarding care home (where she recently celebrated her 85th birthday) in South San Francisco.

To compound the problem for all of us, she has for many years lived far away from the rest of her family: my sister is in Dallas, and I'm in Kansas City.  She has many friends in the Bay Area, but sometimes there's no substitute for family.  My daughter Signy Gephardt (a jewelry designer about whom I've blogged in the past) now lives nearby at Bobbie's condo, and acts as Bobbie's patient-advocate, household manager, and dog-caregiver.

Unfortunately, while I got the mat/frame in focus, the artwork is NOT.

This fall, partly thanks to Signy, Hippo at Home received a much-needed mat-makeover.  It was delivered while I was visiting in early October, so i got to see it. 

Although I tried, I couldn't get a very good picture of it in its new triple mat and shadowbox frame, created by Aaron Brothers of Daly City, CA. It is now hanging in Bobbie's room at the boarding care home, right above her TV. 

IMAGES: all photos are by me, of my own artwork.

Great Opening for State of the Arts Prairie Village

Man, the Prairie Village Arts Council sure knows how to throw a party!

 

I apologize for the long time it has taken for me to get my act together and get back to blogging--I intended to write this post a month ago.

I was honored this year to be included in the State of the Arts annual juried art exhibition, sponsored by the Arts Council of Prairie Village, at the R.G. Endres Gallery at Prairie Village Municipal Offices, Prairie Village, KS.

The piece accepted to the show was Nine-Part Herbal Harmony.

I owe a big debt of gratitude to my son Ty Gephardt, for delivering the artwork on the specified date, while I was in California on family business, and then making sure it was picked up on the specified date, while I was in Oklahoma on other family business.  Where would we be, without family???

I did make a brief cameo appearance in town--just in time to attend the reception, held October 11 at the R.G. Endres Gallery.

The highlight of the whole evening for me, however, was my chance to meet with a man who has been an inspiration since the very beginning of my foray into paper sculpture.  I think I first saw the artwork of Shannon Manning at the former Heritage Gallery in Prairie Village, in 2004 or 2005, and I've been an admirer ever since.

Manning's wonderful paper sculpture Endangered also was in the 2013 State of the Arts show, and he attended the opening with his wife. He is a delightful person and a wonderful artist. Please visit his online gallery to view images of his paper sculpture artwork!

PHOTO CREDITS: Many thanks to the City of Prairie Village, for the image of the buffet table at the Oct. 11 2013 reception. The images of Nine-Part Herbal Fantasy and the tent at the reception are my own.

And I used to think Math was boring

The "Visual Insight" page of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) includes some wonderful images.

Take the one I've "borrowed" here, titled {6,3,3} Honeycomb in Upper Half-Space, by Roice Nelson. I encourage you to access the article about this image on the AMS site.

I also encourage you to look at Roice's blog, which has some more wonderful imagery based on mathematical concepts that I don't understand.

I detest having to say I don't  understand the math (and I'm still angry over the way I was taught math in elementary school, which so profoundly bored me that I became viscerally aversive to later study of the discipline).

However, I am thankful that I don't have to understand it to enjoy this image.  I simply realize that if I did understand the math, I probably would enjoy it even more.

I am delighted that mathematicians now have access to computers that can create such images, and that I have access to an Internet that allows me to see and share them.

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the American Mathematical Society, John Baez, and Roice Nelson, for this wonderful image!

Book Review: A sure-fire author's semi-misfire

Book Reviewed: True Blue (2009)
Author: David Baldacci
Published by: Grand Central Publishing

I recently have been raiding my aunt’s bookshelf (I’m visiting), and just finished reading David Baldacci’s 2009 book True Blue.  It was compellingly written and held my interest throughout, but I found it ultimately unsatisfying.

The basic setup: Mace Perry is a former Washington DC cop who has just served two years in prison after being framed for crimes she did not (willingly) commit.  She’s the main protagonist.  Her sister Beth is the DC Police Chief, a fact that both complicates and simplifies her life. 

Her sort-of-accidental sidekick is a lawyer named Roy Kingman, who is a former collegiate basketball player and now works for a high-end law firm.  He discovers the second body of the book when he opens the fridge in the break room and it falls into his arms.

David Baldacci sure knows how to hook in a reader.

True Blue was one of those “over the top” books: exaggerated characters pulling badass shit and getting away with it.  Vast, deep government conspiracy.  Fabulous wealth and massive, corrupt power.  All that stuff. There was a lot of basketball, some patriotism, and a lot of ambiguous morality. 

I found its resolution unsatisfying because the protagonist solves the crime, but does not achieve her primary objective—and in the process, she and Roy break a lot of laws, for which they do not seem to answer. Although there appears to be a mutual attraction between Mace and Roy, we never get any action, beyond a fairly chaste kiss.

At the end of the book I don’t have much sense of “what happens next.”  What will Mace do now?  She’s still not a cop.  Will she and Roy wander off in separate directions?  What will Roy do, now that he’s been canned from his cushy job?  I checked to see if Baldacci wrote a sequel, but apparently not so far, so we may never know.

Image Credits: The cover image is courtesy of the author's website.  The True Blue page there includes a link for purchasing the book, as well as a short synopsis and background information. The photo of Baldacci is taken from an interview (well worth reading) on the Bitter Lawyer blog.

21st Century Teaching "Grin of the Week"

My son sent this to me a while back:

This is from "Encyclopedia of Entertainment" on Facebook.  In light of my opinions about digital media in the classroom (see my article "Teaching like it's 1980" from back when this blog was called "Artdog Educator"), you can probably guess my reaction.  I hope you enjoyed it, too.

Image credit: See above.

Book Review: Suzie Ivy's "Bad Luck" makes good reading!

Book Reviewed:
Bad Luck Cadet & Bad Luck Officer omnibus (2012)
Author: Suzie Ivy
Published by: Bad Luck Publishing

I read a goodly portion of Bad Luck Cadet & Bad Luck Officer: A True-Life Adventure by Suzie Ivy (2012) while waiting for and riding airplanes.  Originally written as posts for her blog, they are nicely divided into readable chunks.  Thus, they turned out to be perfect for a day punctuated by multiple interruptions.

But I am here to testify that they also can be as addictive as popcorn if you have a longer stretch of time.

Suzie Ivy is a natural writer with a great sense of humor and terrific stories to tell.  Although she desperately needs a proofreader, I found her true-life adventures both fascinating and highly readable.

Her saga begins at the age of 44, when a riding accident lands her in bed with a broken hip.  In pain and facing a midlife crisis, she spotted an ad on a drugstore bulletin board.  Her hometown, which she refers to as Small Town, Arizona, was seeking police academy candidates for a class to begin six months later. 

Author Suzie Ivy has a natural writing gift.

Not everyone—okay, almost no one—would have seen this as an opportunity for a  44-year-old woman who was 40 pounds overweight and had a broken hip, but it rapidly becomes clear that Suzie is not “everyone.”  

Through her blog posts, she takes her readers along with her to the Police Academy, and when she miraculously (her word) survives to graduate, we then get to ride along for the start of her career as a “midlife police officer” in Small Town.  And what a ride it is.

I ran across her “Bad Luck Detective” blog when researching police-related blogs for my novel.  I ordered the book to gain some badly-needed insights.  Started reading for research, and by page two I was hooked as a reader, too.

If you are interested in reading about police work—or, quite frankly, if you are interested in a great story about the triumph of the human spirit—buy and read this woman’s books.  The link I've attached is to her Amazon page, where both print and Kindle versions are available.

This is the first of several “Bad Luck” books she apparently means to write and publish through her Bad Luck Publishing company. I’m looking forward to reading them, just as soon as they are available.

Image Credits: Many thanks to the Criminal Justice School Info website's "Interview with Detective Suzie Ivy" article, for the book cover image! (The interview is worth reading, too).  Thanks also are due to the Independent Author Network for the photo of Suzie.