http://www.artandabout.com Engaging with the creative force in everyday life Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:45:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My favorite columnist, Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle, assembled some thoughts on how word-based people feel when asked to go visual. It ran on my birthday, which was perfect because he could have been describing my life. Not only is drawing, painting, and even photography a frustrating and ... http://www.artandabout.com/2010/04/21/word-based-brains-and-visual-based-brains/ I have titled this post with someone else's title. I'm hoping it is not construed as plagiarism, since I do it only because I cannot improve on the brilliance behind it, and trying to paraphrase it or do a catchy headline for my blog would be demeaning and insulting. Please ... http://www.artandabout.com/2010/01/20/the-big-invisible-moving-pieces/ I am constantly in awe of when, where and how art will spring forth in our world. This article ran in the San Francisco Chronicle last November and I continue to think about it as an inspiration that no endeavor in our lives needs to be merely mundane: Artist whose ... http://www.artandabout.com/2010/01/20/thinking-outside-the-tool-box/ One form of creative expression about which I contemplate occasionally is graffiti. Mostly, I'm talking about the mural-like paintings that appear on large public structures, and not simple profanity or scribble scrabble. I believe that someone picking up a paint can and creating art is, at its essence, engaging the ... http://www.artandabout.com/2010/01/20/graffiti-%e2%80%94-creative-expression-or-vandalism/ Here are a couple of people who get it, and when I read their prose, I shouted, "Hear, hear!" Why California must fund music education Ted Barone Friday, July 31, 2009 The budget straits the state of California is facing are forcing our leaders to make a series of pernicious choices with legacy implications. ... http://www.artandabout.com/2009/08/24/artpeople-who-get-what-its-all-about/ You can see by my stellar record in keeping up the Art and About "column" since it evolved from newspaper to Web, that I'm not as sparked to write in blog form as I was for the paper. I think I was fueled by the fact that at one time, ... http://www.artandabout.com/2009/06/26/whats-going-on-with-art-and-about/ At my last posting, I was agonizing over the definition of art and my own hypocrisy regarding that definition. In my cliff hanger ending to my column, I was staring at two blank canvases thinking that my art, or any art created by my family, wouldn’t be good enough to ... http://www.artandabout.com/2008/10/27/art-crisis-resolved/ I haven’t posted in 5 months. At the last posting, I told you that I was involved in some personal artsy projects that were taking me away from my writing. This is true, but not a full disclosure. We had some much-deferred maintenance in our backyard and pool area that couldn’t ... http://www.artandabout.com/2008/08/22/my-personal-art-crisis/ The thing about living an artful life is that sometimes, living in the arts occludes writing about it. I've been sidetracked by some personal projects lately, but have also encountered some Art and About supporting material to share. A terrific documentary aired on PBS called "Freeway Philharmonic." It's about the folks ... http://www.artandabout.com/2008/02/22/art-and-about-themes-in-other-resources/ I keep notes on my computer when my kids say something about the arts that I find poignant. Many times, these thoughts turn into Art and About columns. Sometimes, I compile them, print them out and paste them into their scrapbooks. One day, I hope they will read their quotes ... http://www.artandabout.com/2008/02/03/making-up-a-song-a-day/