Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Flashbulb Memories of Air and Movement

Flashbulb Memories of Air and Movement
by Beatriz E Ledesma  Chicago, IL, United States
theme: Travelogue
project: SBP 2013

You can view my book here:

http://www.sketchbookproject.com/library/11549#page-slide_1

This project began with the Art House, an independent Brooklyn-based company that
organizes global, collaborative art projects. The Sketchbook Project is an evolving library
that features more than 27, 542 artists' books contributed by creative people around the globe.
They also operate the Brooklyn Art Library, an storefront exhibition space in Williamsburg
home to all their project.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Third Coast Diaspora Exhibit


Third Coast Diaspora
 
produced by


Chicago As A Point of Arrival and Departure

Opening at the Fine Arts Building

Friday, June 14, 2014
6 - 8 pm

 Come see work by Chicago artists
Samuel Gillis, Terry Dixon, Kevin Swallow and Chris Davis!

Presented by Chicago Art Leasing
Curated by Joshua Ginsberg

Fine Arts Building
2nd Floor Gallery
410 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago IL 60605
312-566-9800

3rd

Monday, June 10, 2013

Cool Blog

I found this cool blog called "It's about time". The blogger is a woman by the name of Barbara Wells Sarudy. Apparently she keep different blogs but states about this one to be "more personal. It scours history, art, nature, & everyday life for unique perspectives, uncommon grace, & unexpected insights..." I enjoy receiving her e-newsletters as they are full of interesting paintings and information on the artists. I thought that you might enjoy it too.

Here is the link to the blog:  http://bjws.blogspot.com/
 

Why Music Makes Our Brains Sing- NYTimes Article

A very thoughtful short article on neuroscience advances on the studio of the brain and music.
"...Some 50 years ago, Wilder Penfield, the famed neurosurgeon and the founder of the Montreal Neurological Institute, reported that when neurosurgical patients received electrical stimulation to the auditory cortex while they were awake, they would sometimes report hearing music. Dr. Penfield’s observations, along with those of many others, suggest that musical information is likely to be represented in these brain regions..." You can read the rest of the article following the link below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/why-music-makes-our-brain-sing.html

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Visionary Art


Twilight Warrior by Elvira Baranova
 I subscribe to the newsletter of the Visionary Artists. Their images makes me gasp in admiration every time I view them. I love!!! their images and also the refinement in painting technique. Above there is only one sample image by Russian visionary artist Elvira Baranova; she is one among other exceptional artists in this vein of painting. I just feel it deserves to be shared with all of you.
The website to their online gallery is below a short explanation taken from Wikipedia.com on the difference between visionary art, surrealist art, and fantastic realist art that can be of help to some of my reader.

"The American Visionary Art Museum defines Visionary art as "....art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself." In short, Visionary art begins by listening to the inner voices and inner perception of the soul. It goes on to say that visionary art is a product of an inner process, and may not even be thought of as art by its creator...."


"Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality." Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself..."

 "The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism is a group of artists founded in Vienna in 1946. It includes Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer, Rudolf Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter, Anton Lehmden and Fritz Janschka, all students of Professor Albert Paris Gütersloh at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. It was Gütersloh's emphasis on the techniques of the Old Masters that gave the fantastic realist painters a grounding in realism (expressed with a clarity and detail some have compared to early Flemish painting) combined with religious and esoteric symbolism..."
 
So here is the link. Enjoy it!!
http://visionaryartgallery.weebly.com/

Revealing the Neuroscience of Creativity

Have you thought what makes a person to be creative?...
Developments in neuroscience and the technology field allows us to peer into the brain. Rex Jung, assistant research professor of neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico writes about it here:

http://www.templeton.org/templeton_report/20130530/

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Latest Paintings- On Stage and Figs

Oil on Wood  8" x 8". Copyright 2013. $200


"Figs" is very much related to my childhood. As I may have mentioned in an earlier posting, I grew up in a house full of fruit trees and one of them was a fig tree. I was always curious about this tree: leaves are rough to the touch and the stem spills a milky substance that is sticky when you cut the leave from the tree. My father used to make "higos en almibar"(figs in syrup) very often and we all savored it as a cold desert at lunch or dinner. Ah! What a gastronomic delight!

 
Oil on Canvas  11" x 14". Copyright 2013. $650

EBook FREE During the Entire Month of May






My book Mandalas: A Personal and Visual Journey into Mandala Journaling is also in ebook format.






Now available in Apple's iBookstore:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id631059976


Or at blurb bookstore:
http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/382903-mandalas

For the entire month of May the ebook is free. 
I hope you take advantage of this opportunity and/or pass the information to others interested in the topic

"Herb & Dorothy 50 x 50"- New Documentary

A new documentary on Herb & Dorothy Vogel, the NY collectors who managed to build a wonderful collection of minimalist art on a government employee's salary, are the focus of a new documentary by Megumi Sasaki. The HuffPost online published an interview with Dorothy that, in my opinion, is worth the reading.
Here is the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/artinfo/people-need-to-follow-the_b_2950888.html

Animated Popup Books

Janet Chafin is the director of Offramp Gallery in Pasadena, CA. She keeps a blog in the HuffPost-
art & culture section. I follow her there.
Recently I came across her article about animated popup books, "a new genre" of popup books. She takes the reader through four animated popup books videos that I think worth of viewing, if you are inclined to do so. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-chafin/popup-books_b_2854699.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications



Children of the Decree- Romanian Documentary


You might find of some interest a Romanian documentary made freely available by Florin Iepan, the director of the movie:

Children of the Decree - Full Movie

"Placebo: Cracking the Code"- YouTube Video

Here is a fascinating documentary (2002) about the science and psychology of placebos, centered on a gathering of the Harvard Placebo Study Group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvbQnMvhQFw

Saturday, April 6, 2013

My First Book was Just Published. Take a Look!


Mandalas: A Personal and Visual Journey into Mandala Journaling discloses and document a personal and experiential process I went through at the time when I was trying to adjust to living in a new country. In the book I highlight the importance of symbols as a way to communicate our own deep hidden messages, insights that can emerge from our unconscious mind in visual images. I specifically address the impact that mandala-making had on my life during a confusing transitional time, and how it can create for you, the reader, a similarly enlightening and transformative effect.
Here is the link:

http://www.blurb.com/user/store/beatrizld

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Latest Painting and Its Process

Oil on Wood. 8" x 8". Copyright 2013.

 $200
 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Pop Culture: Hillary White

I love White's interpretation of "The Last Supper" (by 16th century German artist Hans Holbein the Younger) which she titled "The Best Supper". View the slide show here: