I just joined JaxCAL and wanted to share my latest painting entitled "Texas Border Rest-stop" 48" x 36" acrylic on canvas. If anyone remembers the Pedestrian Gallery near Five Points... it's been resurrected in a new location. Steve Williams' new space/gallery across from Bistro AIX is a perfect place for Juried and curated exhibitions. I am so excited at the prospect of having juried exhibitions because it gives exposure to new artists and artists whose work is considered too progressive or non-marketable. More info coming soon!

Sculpture Park Anyone

My friend Natalie Schoof just got back from Seattle and was inspired by this new sculpture park. Check it out Jax. Look what could be possible on the St. Johns River if we had the funding and the follow through.

For more info:

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/OSP/AboutOSP/default.asp

Fried Eggs are Flying at MOCA

Tomorrow night is MOCA in the Middle and we have a great film and special guest for our film series. When Fried Eggs Fly gets its big screen Jacksonville premiere Wednesday night. This is a funny, inspiring, upbeat film highlighting the impact of arts in education. This is a full-length feature documentary of a NYC public school’s arts project created by music teacher Bruce Mack. Using his skills as a teacher, he took on a challenge that few others could: he made a commitment to get 162 eight-year-olds to compose, perform and record original music with their parents. And he did it. Throughout the process, Mack fights the same battle everyday that teachers fight everywhere – boredom, apathy, and lack of confidence while teaching the most elusive of skills – self-discipline and self-esteem.

Bruce Mack will be here for a Q&A after the film and returns on Friday for an encore performance and Q&A at 1pm.

Wednesday night's film starts at 7:00pm. So come early and have dinner or drinks or BOTH before the film.

Interesting Read

I found this on the Salon.com website...it's an interesting summation of a new book, "The Trap," that looks at the disparity between "our" generation and previous ones, especially those of the 60s and 70s.

Enjoy

www.salon.com/books/review/2007/07/10/trap/

Social Dress New Orleans – 730 Days After

For Immediate Release

Social Dress New Orleans – 730 Days After
Public Art Installation by Takashi Horisaki
Unveiling at Socrates Sculpture Park, NYC
Free and open to the public
3201 Vernon Blvd (at Broadway) in Long Island City, Queens

Opening Reception: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Sunday, July 29, 2007
Exhibition Dates: July 29 - October 28th, 2007

Displayed on the East River overlooking the New York skyline, Social Dress New Orleans – 730 Days After is a ghostly full-scale latex replica of a demolished Lower Ninth Ward shotgun-style home.

Sculptor and performance artist Takashi Horisaki (b. 1974, Japan) is pleased to announce the unveiling of a public art installation at Socrates Sculpture Park. The culmination of a three-month effort at 1941 Caffin Avenue, in the still-devastated Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, Social Dress New Orleans – 730 Days After opens Sunday July 29th in Long Island City, Queens. It will remain on view through October 28.

Beautifully juxtaposing the bustling New York skyline with physical remnants of destruction in New Orleans, Horisaki has envisioned a way to make this tragedy tangible to those far removed from the disaster. It is the artist’s hope that his project will inspire further support for Louisiana’s recovery efforts.

Tuesday, July 10th, marks the completion of Horisaki’s mold casting and peeling process in New Orleans. He applied layers of latex mixed with paint to create a textured 3-D print of a house that will be demolished within weeks by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Later this month, the thin but strong rubber skin will be transported and stretched over a full-scale frame that mimics the original structure. Horisaki has worked with great urgency to complete the project. Racing to complete the mold casting, he has mobilized a community of active Louisiana artists, friends and volunteers. Since the project’s inception this spring, the struggle for the artwork’s creation has been documented on the artist’s blog (http://socialdress-neworleans.blogspot.com.)

In March Horisaki was granted permission by former residents to use the property, and soon afterward he learned of the Army Corps’ plan to level the house. Because 1941 Caffin was in danger of collapse and situated in an area of the Lower Ninth Ward heavily damaged by the storm, it was scheduled for demolition. Not sure how to legally complete his project in time, Horisaki met lawyer Bruce G. Whittaker, who read about the art project in the New Orleans’ Times Picayune. Whittaker volunteered to negotiate with the city so that the house could stand while Horisaki finished the latex mold.

Exposing some of the social, political and environmental systems at work within this fragile landscape, Horisaki’s project explores contemporary terrain shared by Gordon Matta-Clark, Christo, Maya Lin, and Robert Smithson. Social Dress New Orleans – 730 Days After monumentalizes the tragedies endured by past and present Louisiana residents. “A former professor told me how difficult it is for him to make his own artwork still, and so I wondered if I– a neutral observer, not exactly an outsider, but with some distance and perspective on the situation –could express their feelings through my sculpture,” says Horisaki. The artist spent his first three years in America living in New Orleans, eventually earning a BFA from Loyola University.

Driven by the desire to preserve coastal wetlands in the Gulf area, Horisaki explains, “Every day working at the house I can see so many lizards, bugs and creatures that I have never seen in other places. There is a variety of life that is unique to this place. It is rather beautiful, but it will disappear if the wetlands erode.”

DC Stimulates Artist Communities

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is a private, nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. We engage artists and arts organizations in community development and neighborhood revitalization efforts to stimulate economic growth, expand the city's cultural horizons, and improve quality of life in the nation's capital.

CuDC’s artist housing program seeks to counteract the fact that many artists are often priced out of the city, resulting in a loss of valuable creative capital to the District. Providing affordable spaces for artists to live, work and create is crucial to retain the creative and cultural capital that enables our city to thrive. Helping artists continue to live and work in the metro area preserves valuable access to the arts for area residents and encourages economic development and community revitalization.

Their latest project is the Douglas Street Project. The CuDC has partnered with Manna, Inc., to develop approximately 40 affordable work/live housing units for artists and their families at 2414 Douglas Street, NE, in the Woodridge area of Washington, DC. The intent of this project is to create work/live artist housing — units designed primarily as functional studio space with basic living space as an ancillary use. The renovation of an existing warehouse plus new construction will provide units ranging from approximately 700 to 1,050 sq. ft., in addition to 1,390 sq. ft. of flexible space for communal arts activities. To maximize artist eligibility, units will be available at two price points suitable for a range of low- and moderate-income households as defined by DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development. CuDC and Manna anticipate that units for low-income households will be priced starting in the mid-$100Ks. Units for moderate-income households will be priced starting in the mid-$200Ks.

If you got the Munny Hunny. We got your disease.

In the jungle.

Welcome to the jungle.
Watch it bring you to your shun n,n,n,n,,n,n,,n,n,n,,n,n,,n knees, knees.
I wanna watch you bleed.

Here's Urban Jackonville's post on the show with more info. Here. If the show is as hot as the flyer this will not only be a great art show but a kick ass design show.

Maybe this would be a good place for us all to meet up and discuss future projects?