Art, Coffee, Tea and blogs

Founded in 2011, The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.” Focusing on works that have fallen into the Public Domain this site alternates between collections, essays and a curator’s choice to present a treasure trove of information to view, build upon or just use at you like for your own projects.

The essay Harry Clarke’s Looking Glass is Halloween timely with its exploration into the ghoulish tone of this Irish artist. His most popular book Faust which uses many images of the artist face takes on an incredible array of stench and loathing. But don’t let me influence your judgement, check it out along with many other wonderful items on this site.

What happens when a 12,000 lb. steamroller meets up with an inked MDF board covered in linen? The members of Articulate Ink decided to find out. According to Michelle Brownridge, Articulate Ink’s co-director,  “We thought that Culture Days would be a really fantastic opportunity to do an activity like this, engage the public with printmaking in a rather in your face way,” Check out the Barb Pacholik’s coverage of Culture Days in the Leader Post out of Canada for the result.

Articulate Ink was formed in January 2010 by four graduates of the University of Regina Print Media department, It has grown and today is an artist run facility with a passion for printmaking and a consistent dedication to being involved in the community.

Ever wonder what the palette of Gauguin or Whistler looked like. Or maybe you’d like to see Pollock frozen in time as he throws paint, or look over the shoulder of Thomas Hart Benton as he takes a moment to survey the development of one his famous murals. That’s what the work of Joe Fig gives you. He’s an American artist and author best known for his paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs that explore the creative process, the working lives of artists, and the spaces where art is made. As an artist I love to see how other artists work. It helps to calm that crazy feeling of isolation you get as an artist.

 David Hockney says, "I think the first person to draw an animal on a wall would have perhaps been watched by someone. And then, when he'd got the animal down, the person would've grunted or something, and said, 'I've seen something like that.' " This falls in line with his idea that looking and showing are as old as time.

National Public Radio, (NPR) explored Hockney’s ideas in a recent Morning Edition hosted by Susan Stamberg. The text of that show with the 80 year old artist is insightful and surprisingly straight forward. It contains great links to an upcoming documentary and information on the Tate Museum retrospective coming in early 2017. Someone send me airfare and I’ll gladly go and cover the opening.