Fixing Broken Cities From a Field in Rural Central PA

What in the world, you might be asking, does fixing urban landscapes have to do with being in a field at Mt. Gretna?

I'll be in a field all day tomorrow and Sunday because Arts on Union is participating in the Mt. Gretna Arts Show. By the way, don't look for me in the village proper, I'll be IN the field.

Anyway, during those lulls in activity, I will be reading John Kromer's newest book. Artists are fixer-uppers by nature and it just so happens that during the day, I research and write urban policy in my job at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Like I tell anyone who will listen, being an artist and writing effective policy are all about thinking OUTSIDE the box, so my careers work well together.

What makes this all the more interesting is that today in the mail, I received a postcard soliciting art submission for a show titled "Structures" and the postcard features what appears to be urban buildings on the cover. Hmmm... just yesterday, while reading Kromer's book, I started to think about building a new show based on urban landscapes.

Coincidence? NOT!

By the way, while you can count on hearing more from me about "Fixing Broken Cities," I do encourage you to pick up the book. Kromer is a friendly, practical writer. So, it's not like I am asking you to read academic jargon.

Finally, you don't have to live in an URBAN environment to experience blight and all the social ills it brings. Folks in boroughs, townships, towns and villages face similar problems and the solutions, while not one-size-fits-all, often relate and integrate.

If you decide to read the book or begin thinking about re-claiming your community, look me up. I'm all about place-making. I am, after all, an artist.

See you at Mt. Gretna.

Documenting a Day

So, I challenged my digital photography photo students to document a day in their life.

This challenge is meant to do several things: compel them to carry a camera at all times, compel them to use the camera, compel them to make many, many shots of ordinary things while looking at composition, compel them to not worry about making art until they feel comfortable with their machine.

Here's the teacher's version. I documented last Friday ... long day ;-)

Art- no longer the budget whipping boy?

Read this! Please. Thanks. I'll have more to say later. Meanwhile, you are welcome to start a discussion here.

When I Clean the Studio, I find ...

Preparing to take my art to Mt. Gretna this weekend, I am also cleaning up the studio. This means that I am finding all sorts of good infobits about which I intended to blog or which I intended to put in my notebooks. (Let's not talk about intentions today, eh?)

One of these infobits is a Watercolor Artist Magazine article about the late George Luks, a native coalcracker who painted the working men and women of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal fields. I've always been a fan of his, not because I paint the same theme but because I spent years photographing the coal region. So, I studied Luks' use of composition and value, which are terms used in all art media. I often return to look at his work, and to paintings by others in the Ashcan School. It was not about beauty, you see. It was about using art to capture real-life moments in time and real life for low-income, working class people and their communities.

Please do take a minute to look at some of Luks' work.

As for me, I return to cleaning up the studio and reviewing my old intentions.