Blinded by the Light

Welcome to Chapter 17 of my Book Passages series. This image is an interpretation of a passage from a yet untitled novel by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier. Mary is the voice behind the words at a wonderful news and review blog for art and culture in Milwaukee called Crickettoes. From the brief passage that she provided to me for my Book Passages series I cannot wait to someday read her finished novel. Until then, we have this brief passage and my accompanying images. Enjoy and always think and act by sharing your thoughts on the images. Some behind the scenes images are also available by stylist Addie Kidd. Thanks to both Addie and model Kristin Sutter for creating such an enjoyable photo shoot.

"Untitled Novel" by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier:

"There are some who view the world through a very small lens and though they live in three dimensions they perceive only two. Armed with this outlook, they operate daily with a fundamental conviction that all that exists does so solely in relation to their own existence and all that happens serves a purpose of meaning.

She is not a small lens viewer, but lying there on the floor, unaware of her surroundings, her subconscious mind begins to replay a scene from her childhood. It was a time long before she had wholly grasped the truth that she was just one on a planet populated by billions, before she had fully realized that the culture she was growing in was just one in an enormous, divergent sea of traditions and beliefs. It was a time when her lens was very, very small and she needs to be back there again, if only for a moment.

Proposed Budget Cuts to Milwaukee Arts Board

If you believe in the value of ART in Milwaukee please send Mayor Tom Barrett an informed letter/email on why he should reconsider such a hefty slashing of the Art's Budget. 75% is not a cut it's a massacre. mayor@milwaukee.gov

Below is a letter by Alderman Michael J. Murphy:

Dear Members of the Milwaukee Arts Board and fellow Arts Organizations,

As you may already know, under Mayor Barrett’s proposed budget for 2010 the Milwaukee Arts Board will lose approximately two thirds of its funds. The Mayor has recommended cutting $110,000 from the 2009 allocation of $160,000. The subsequent result of this action will also be a loss of $25,000 matching grant dollars from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

I am clearly opposed to such a cut; the largest reduction in any department. This proposal would result in a total loss of almost 75% of the board’s funds. I thus encourage you to attend the Joint Public Hearing being held by the Common Council and the Mayor on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 6:00 PM in the Common Council Chambers, Third Floor, City Hall, 200 E Wells Street, to share your concerns. As many factors are taken into consideration when determining the next year’s budget, it is important that the Common Council hear your voices in opposition to the Mayor’s budget.

I look forward to seeing you at the hearing to support art in the City of Milwaukee. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call me at 286-3763.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Murphy

Alderman, 10^th District

Eddee Daniel, Accidental Art

Eddee Daniel is an outstanding photographer that is at the forefront of environmental issues through his fine art photography and activism on these very contemporary issues. While working on his book Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed, Eddee began to notice that the fences put up for various construction projects often created "Accidental Art". He used his creative eye to compose a body of work with these construction fences that are at times abstract and other times more documentary in nature. He didn't stop there. Eddee turned what could have been a traditional photography exhibition into an installation exhibition by bringing the construction fences into the gallery. These fences create unique shadows through the light streaming in from the sky light windows of the gallery by suspending them above the exhibition space. Additional fences are used as a backdrop to frame the photographic prints. The viewer is reminded of the purpose of fences and their ability to divide, keep out and partition people and things. Check it out before it closes.

Eddee's Accidental Art Installation Exhibition is on display at Carroll University through October 11. A closing reception will be held on October 10 from 10am to 12pm.

ArtSlant

With the Book Series winding down (only four left to create) I have been spending more time with the marketing and promotional aspects of this body of work. I have to say that I absolutely hate this part of it. Nothing drains me emotionally more than the administrative tasks of sending out query letters to galleries, filling out applications for Juried Shows, etc. Not to mention you begin to feel a bit like you are prostituting yourself with all this self promotion but it is a necessary part of the journey and development of an artist. It all becomes a bit more tolerable when you get an email like I received today saying I was selected as a Showcase Winner for an on-line Juried competition.

Jurors:

Our September 2009 panel includes:

Fons Welters, Director and Owner of Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam

Lee Campbell, Independent Artist/Curator, London

Lynn del Sol, Director, {CTS} Creative Thriftshop, New York City

Natasha Egan, Associate Director & Curator, Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago

Maud Piquion, Director, Maud Piquion Gallery, Berlin

http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/showcase?sublist=6^photography

It helps having the wonderful support I've received from friends and family as a motivating force through this journey. Thank You All!

Mass Nothingness

An excerpt from William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury completes Chapter 16 of the Book Passages series. This passage provided my biggest challenge yet in this photographic series. Heavy on character development this excerpt was very difficult to interpret without getting a better idea of the background of each character mentioned in the passage as well as an overall summary of Faulkner's complex intent of the novel. So for the third time in this visual journey I had to get some brief information on this book so that I could proceed with the interpretation. Below is my interpretation of the submitted book excerpt. Your feedback is always appreciated.

William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury:

"I could smell the curves of the river beyond the dusk and I saw the last light supine and tranquil upon tide flats like pieces of broken mirror, then beyond them lights began in the pale clear air, trembling a little like butterflies hovering a long way off. Benjamin the child of. How he used to sit before that mirror. Refuge unfailing in which conflict tempered silenced reconciled. Benjamin the child of mine old age held hostage into Egypt. O Benjamin. Dilsey said it was because Mother was too proud for him. They come into white people's lives like that in sudden sharp black trickles that isolate white facts for an instant in unarguable truth like under a microscope: the rest of the time just voices that laugh when you see nothing to laugh at, tears when no reason for tears."

A Jerry Belland Original

How exciting last Sunday to have the small Art Group I participate in meet at one of our members studio. Jerry Belland has an amazing creative space on the fourth floor of an old factory building in Racine. In this space are his tools, paints, easels, couch, chairs and many, Many of his paintings and sketches. What a visual feast it was. Jerry creates some mind bending paintings that challenge our relationship with self, religion, society and morality. It was an amazing late afternoon of creative discussion. I new when I walked in that I would have to leave with a Jerry Belland Original. As an artist and a parent putting soon to be two kids through college I don't have the funds to purchase art at this time. I hope the day comes in the near future when my desire for a piece of art and my means to obtain it are equal.

So, I filed through Jerry's bin of sketches knowing that the work on the walls was out of the question given my current economy. I selected a sketch that matched a beatiful painting on the wall of Jerry's studio. When asked if I could send him a check for the sketch Jerry graciously replied, "We will work out a trade". How cool is that! So now I have a Jerry Belland original.

It is so perfect too given my long established ba humbug holiday attitude and given my personal opinions on religion. Gotta love the Pin-up!! Thanks Jerry for hosting a great evening, generously sharing your art and I can't wait to see what image of mine sparks your creative excitement.

Oil Painting

Wow! Welcome to chapter 15 of my Book Passages series. I can't believe that I've been traveling this visual road now since February. It has definitely been one of the best road trips I've ever taken to date. The excitement and enthusiasm of discovery is still there but I must admit to some road fatigue. Five more chapters left after this one. Hope you have enjoyed being a passenger on this visual journey as much as I've enjoyed being your tour guide. Enjoy the ride as we begin the last leg of our journey together. Please keep the dialog coming, it's like buying the audio tour at a Museum exhibition and I really appreciate it. Thanks!

Chapter 15 is a passage from the book, Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford.

"How far we have come from the hand oiling of early motorcycles is indicated by the fact that some of the current Mercedes models do not even have a dipstick... There are now layers of collectivized, absentee interest in your motor's oil level, and no single person is responsible for it. If we understand this under the rubric of "globalization," we see that the tentacles of that wondrous animal reach down into things that were once unambiguously our own: the amount of oil in a man's crankcase."