Since I recently created a Flickr group where my classmates and I can pool our photos from the group show, I have made it this week's Friday Featured Flickr Group. Click the images in the slide show to see them full size and click the links in the captions to read the bio of each participating artist.
If you like what you see from the slide show and will be in the Chicagoland area before December 10th, you should stop by to see the art in person.
I'm closing out this month's series of Flickr groups related to Chicago Artists Month with Gapers Block A/C - Chicago Arts & Culture.Gapers Block is a local news blog and its Arts and Culture section holds a wealth of information on upcoming cultural events throughout the city. The Flickr group allows members to post photos taken at cultural events, as well as share original artwork. These photos stream on the Gapers Block A/C blog, and may even be featured there, as one of my paintings, Fever Dream, was.
As you view the slide show below, you will probably see pictures taken at many of the Chicago Artists Month events.
Just Chicago Art is just what it says it is, art by Chicago residents. According to the group admin, the rules are as follows:
Art in Any Medium by Chicagoans Chicago residents only. a) Your photography as art b) Photo of your personal non-photographic art c) Photo of public/street/another artist's art d) All of the above Hooray Quality :) Boo...Quantity :(
Because of these rules, it is very well-curated and thoughtfully put together. Just Chicago Art is another great destination for emerging local artists and a great source of inspiration.
Continuing the theme of Chicago Artist Month, this week's Friday Featured Flickr Group, Chicago's Emerging Artists, is a group that highlights the work of emerging artists from the Chicago area. The group was founded by artist Nando Leira and its mission is as follows:
A new group for emerging artists looking for galleries in the Chicago area... we may gather to set up a group exhibition or even get a contact to share a studio... new art projects... etc.
Let's exchange knowledge... and see each other's work...
If you are an emerging artist in the Chicago area or want to show your work here, this would be a good group to join and contribute to.
Since October is Chicago Artists Month, I thought I'd share some Flickr groups dedicated to the work of Chicago artists. So my readers who don't live in the Chicago area can still participate virtually, even if you don't get a chance to get out and see the artwork in person.
This week's group is Chicago Artists. Here's what the group's founder has to say:
I wanted to create a space for Chicago Artists who are known, unknown or unshown. A place people could show their work and maybe network with each other about shows, or places looking for artists or simply meet and say hello to fellow Chicago artists. All mediums are welcomed...painting, photography, sculpture, etc etc!
With over 3,000 pictures contributed by local artists, this group is a great place to get a virtual tour of the Chicago art scene.
Have you ever had trouble deciding if you should visit an art museum or a zoo? Or been bogged down at work and wished you could escape from your desk and spend time with some animal friends? Then you should take a trip to the Drawn Zoo group on Flickr. The group features drawings of animals from nearly every imaginable class and phylum. And if you are an artist with some animal art in your portfolio, this is a great place to share it.
If you are ever looking for inspiration for your interior design projects, look no further than the Interior DesignFlickr group. With a little under 5,000 members, it is a great place to share your work with other designers, and with over 26,000 pictures in the group pool, you'll never run out of great photographs to look at. The Interior Design group is one of the groups where I have posted my photos from NeoCon.
We all share a pleasant affliction - the urge to create on paper.
The smell of smooth creamy paper sends our hearts aflutter. The delicate tinkling of nib against inkwell accelerates our pulse rate. We stare endlessly at the first blank page.
Welcome to Notebookism. This is the place to indulge yourself with kindred spirits.
Notebookism will showcase our stories and the methods to our madness, product reviews, mods (a.k.a. hacks) - the kind of links you've gotten used to in my other blogs. If it’s notebook-related, let's hear about it.
Armand B. Frasco Founder
Notebookism is more than just a Flickr group. It's an artistic movement that even has its own blog. Rather than cropping out all evidence of their drawings' locations, members of notebookism show off the sketchbooks that house their artwork.
I'm not sure when my love affair with mid twentieth century interiors began. Could it have been when I first embraced the retro styles of late 90's fashion? When I took an art history class at U of C called "Art of the 1960's?" Or when I took a history class that focused on the events that happened between 1945-1970? Whatever the case, I find myself quite enamored of the design aesthetics of the era. So much so that I am a regular reader of Atomic Ranch magazine. And if I couldn't build my dream house, I'd be happy to live in an atomic ranch of my own.
The rooms in the Mid-Century, Modern Interiors group would fit right in:
Furnishings and interiors — both mid-century modern and current designs inspired by the clean mid-century aesthetic.
A showcase for art, created while being paid to do something else. Often done in secret with basic materials like sharpies, bic pens and highlighters. Drawing on the job. Doodling. Drawing during meetings. Any drawing done while you should be doing something else.
Some of you may know about the addiction I have battled all my life, an addiction to doodling. I cannot stop drawing when I have any sort of writing instrument in my hand. It's an urge that just takes over. It began when I was in kindergarten, and I never really grew out of it. Since Flickr is a site where like-minded people can get together, it didn't take me long to find a group of people who share the same compulsion to draw. And so they formed a group called I Drew This At Work. Not that I know anything about that anymore. It's just one more reason why I use a laptop to take notes at work instead of a pencil and paper.
I think you'll be pretty impressed with what all these artists were able to accomplish while getting paid to do something else:
While taking a contemporary art class in design school, I created a series called Happy Accidents. The idea was creating art unintentionally, using things like palettes or dried up tubes of paint. What the contributors to Glitch Art are doing is the digital version of this:
The train of 1s and 0s has derailed and you're left with something that originates out of the resulting chaos.
Glitch is a short-lived fault or malfunction in a system. Whenever camera lenses erroneously save the data of what they see to it's recording device or whenever the binary code of an image file gets corrupted (intentionally or accidentally), the final result is a faulty image, which we call Glitch.
Please only post images that have had authentic digital glitching through computer or digi-cam error. This includes databent images (eg. inserting randomness with a hex editor).
Please DO NOT post images that have only been manipulated in image editing software (unless it's the software that has failed and glitched the data) or abstract images made up of authentic light - these will be removed from the group.
One of my most favorite interior design books of the last few years is Jonathan Adler's My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living. The accomplished ceramicist and interior designer tells readers just what rules ought to be broken in order to create personalized spaces with exuberant colors. So I was very pleased to find a Flickr group devoted to this design philosophy:
Inspired by Jonathan Adler's book, this is a place to share your favorite objects and spaces - the ones that make you giggle or smile when you glance at them.
Remember the premise of the Toy Story franchise, that toys have a life of their own unknown to their owners? The Secret Life of Toys Flickr group subscribes to this idea also:
This group is about collecting photographic evidence that toys get up to things when people are not around. Well, not just that - It is also simply a space to collect good images of toys for everyone to enjoy.
If you love to look at colorful imagery, you'll love Catchy Colors.
Our photo pool is all about Colors - DEEP, INTENSE, STRIKING, VIBRANT, RICH, CATCHY COLORS not 'composition', not even 'angle' - JUST COLOR as you can make out from our group icon. As with us folks, we are all about FUN...very laidback, color loving, respectful bunch.
And with over a million images, you'll never get bored. See for yourself:
In keeping with my theme of re-purposing objects and creating art with them, I wanted to share this group today. It's called Trashion Nation. Here's what it's about:
Love dumpster diving? Do you see infinite "re-use potential" in other peoples trash and throw-outs?? Welcome.
Trashion nation is about finding creative ways to re-use trash, thrifted and found objects. If you make art or other stuff from TRASH, FOUND, RECYCLED, THRIFTED and SECONDHAND MATERIALS, post your images here. Main mission to share ideas to make other peoples trash look good!
What are we looking for?? The projects shown here should be made from nearly 100% recycled or secondhand materials (not including paints and threads ect.). Turning trash into treasure... You get my point.
We especially love "before and after" images and pictures of making the project.
Trashion Nation is a great source of inspiration for creators of found object art.
Flickr is home to such wonderfully creative people. I don't think I would ever have tried to do The Doll Project had I not been inspired by the photos the members of the Toy Dioramarama group have taken. Here you will find everything from pictures of the misadventures of Star Wars Storm Trooper action figures after hours, to a day in the life of HO scale train people, to beautiful miniature environments built for ball-jointed dolls. See for yourself:
Continuing the Women's History Month theme, I wanted to share this Flickr group today. Well really it's more than just a Flickr group. It's a movement:
REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN, LLC ™ is a global movement advocating the empowerment of females in reclaiming their freedom of individuality, self-esteem and unique beauty. Where silent compliance once resided must now exist a commanding voice of revolt!
Ever felt like you weren't thin enough, pretty enough, athletic, tall, short, normal, curvy, sexy, smart, wealthy, successful or PERFECT enough? RRW™ serves as an all-seeing eye and a leader in holding media, corporations, and the fashion and entertainment industries accountable for their influences on women. Our REAL Allies Network™ dedicates itself to providing vital information and resources, and serves to speak for the silenced voices of REAL WOMEN™ of every generation, regardless of weight, race, nationality, age, sexual orientation or religion.
We must declare our independence from the controlling forces of big media and corporations. As long as we're being brainwashed into believing that curves should be feared or that wrinkles equate to age without beauty, we will continue to suffer from a distorted sense of self. Addictions, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, perfectionism and self-injury are only a few of the many ways our inner-turmoil is surfacing. We can't afford to wait any longer.
REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN™ calls for the complete overhaul of society's unrealistic and detrimental standards placed upon women. The only kind of "perfection" that exists is that which innately resides within each one of us.
We are a REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN™. How have you been affected?
What you'll find at this group is a set of pictures of all kinds of women, young and old, from all over the world, just being themselves, as well as a forum for thought-provoking discussions about women and the media.
This group is open to all nationalities that have any type of photographs relating to "Black History" or "The Black Experience".
Feel free to send historical photographs of anything relating to African-American culture.
Members of the Black History Flickr group have compiled a great collection of images. Whether you are looking for a picture of Black socialites from an old black-and-white back issue of Jet magazine, or pictures of Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring, you can find them here. From Amiri Baraka to Barack Obama, from Josephine Baker to Eartha Kitt, to the numerous unsung heroes of the civil rights movement... The Black History Flickr group is an archive of photos that document Black American life from the late 1800's until the present. It is a great place to find pictures of famous African-Americans as well as a place where you can learn about the accomplishments of others who may not be as popular in history books.
Since February is Black History Month, this month I will be featuring groups that display pictures from throughout the African diaspora. This week's group is Black Media Art and Illustration. The group's owner describes it as
a gathering place for artists of all races, colors, and ethnic backgrounds to share and celebrate themed African and African American commercial art. Work here primarily geared towards design, illustration, character design, comics, film, 3D, logos, and photography. Discuss how African Americans are portrayed in media today.
The group features a great array of art by many different artists and illustrators.
Okay, since I am supposed to be a "serious artist," isn't it about time I got down to business and shared one of the serious art groups I am part of? Okay, fine. Here goes. This week I bring you Art Directory, a colossal meta-group with over 30,000 pictures in it. That should keep you busy for a while!
