A few flowers for your Friday.

More of my images here.

Flash Mob Dance

A flash mob dance is when a group of people come together seemingly spontaneously in a public place and perform a choreographed dance and then disperse just as suddenly. This craze has been taking place across the globe:

(here a flash mob dance assembles in a Liverpool train station)

The flash mob dance was even seen in an episode of the popular sitcom, Modern Family:

So if you think you have the moves and you've always had a craving to perform, participating in a flash mob dance may just be the thing for you!

Street Art: High or Low Art?

Where does this sort of art fit in the world of art? What kind of art is this? What does it achieve? Express? What does the Youtube access artists now have say about distribution of art/ideas? TONS of questions to be asked regarding this sort of stuff...enjoy :)

Artist Spotlight: Jagger Photography.

Guys... I love good photography. And I love good photography of love. Especially when the photographers happen to be a very cute married couple themselves. :]

Here are a couple of images shot by Jagger Photography. Enjoy!




Check out more here.

Tiger, Tiger in the Night

This is a sculpture from an Indian kingdom during the reign of the British Raj. It was commissioned by a Sultan who maintained rule independent of British authority, and represented the force of the king against the oppression of the British. Inside of the works are pipes that play sounds.

Lots of stuff going on here. Most important to me: This work, in my opinion, represents the struggle of human nature against the constraints of organized society. It is clear, in the end, which force has triumphed :(

Google Art Project.

Think of it as Google Maps for museums. The company's newest endeavor is Google Art Project, which allows virtual access to nearly twenty galleries throughout the world - and the list is sure to grow. The website allows the user to view individual art pieces up close and personal. Beside the piece is a window that provides the title and artist of the piece, as well as notes the medium, the size, various notes. Additional notes, audio commentary and the option to view similar artwork accompany the piece as well. Users are also have the option to add pieces to their own personal online collection for later viewing.

Not nearly as special as seeing the real thing - but pretty revolutionary all the same.

Support art: "The Last 5 Years."

How often do two people try to put on a full-fledged musical production completely on their own? Not very often, but it's up and happenin' in the SCU Theatre Department.

Faced with the task of putting together a vocal recital for their senior year projects, students Blake Coelho and Marisa Illo set their sights on something bigger: Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. The musical requires a cast of only two. And, as theatre kids, finding people willing to direct and stage manage behind the scenes would be a breeze.

It all sounded too good to be true. The hitch? Well, what else? Funding.


Blake and Marisa as Trevor Graydon and Mrs. Meers in last year's mainstage production of Thoroughly Modern Millie.
With their minds made up, Blake and Marisa created an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money for their ambitious plan. Here is an excerpt from that page:

Our names are Blake Coelho and Marisa Illo and we are seniors at Santa Clara University studying Theatre Arts and Music. As seniors we are given the opportunity to create and perform our own senior recitals showcasing the skills we have acquired during our time at SCU. We are taking advantage of this opportunity and have decided to turn our individual recitals into a joint production of a musical theatre show called “The Last 5 Years” by Jason Robert Brown.  The plot and music has truly spoken to us, and we want to share our passion for this story with others. Although we typically see ourselves as actors and singers we are now taking on the roles of director, stage managers, producers, designers, and so much more.
Because this is our senior project, we cannot charge for admission.  Therefore we need to fund the show through only donations. We were surprised to discover the costliness of putting on this production, however we will not let this stand in our way.  We need your help in order to make this dream a reality.

After reading that, how could you not consider donating a couple bucks to the cause? In thanks, Blake and Marisa are not only willing to guarantee you seats to the show but also will include your name in the program. How's that for karma? Give up today's Starbucks money and suddenly you're a bona fide benefactor and philanthropist!

Click here to read more about Blake and Marisa's production of "The Last 5 Years" to see how you can help out. They have just under sixty days to reach their goal and you could be a part of it!

Artist Spotlight: Ashley Moe.

Ashley Moe is a blogger and artist that I have been following for quite some time now. When I originally found out about her, she focused primarily on photography. While she still produces some beautiful images, she shares on her blog unique illustrations often organized into booklets and sometimes offers up some needlepoint designs. Regardless of the medium, the pieces are undeniably sweet.






See more of Ashley's work here.

Love Dance Live

With Valentine's Day just ending, it is important to remember not only who we love, but what we love. Dance is one of my loves. I love the freedom it gives me to express different ideas and emotions. I love that it is an art form present in every culture. I love that it is a way to connect with other people when words fail. As I was thinking about why I love dance so much I wondered if I was alone, or if other people love it too. That's when I stumbled upon the blog, District Dancer, and their list of why they love dance.

What do you love?

artshirt san jose

check out http://artshiftsanjose.com/ for info on bay area art - pretty cool stuff!!

Headshot session: Naomi.

Click here to see more.

Todd Schorr: American Surreal

Another pop-surreal piece ... sometimes modernity feels like a big bad joke! Todd Schorr works in acrylics and hand paints all of his pieces - for this sort of detail, such a traditional mode of work is unheard of today. He lives in LA and shows his work all over the nation. Check out Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery if you like what you see!

Review: The Winter One Act Festival.

Alright, so this will not be your typical review considering I was in this quarter's One Act Festival. Consider it to be more of a reflection on the whole process. Get ready for some existential stuff.

I love being in productions. I love being in small productions. I love having a cast I get to know well, and being able to work collectively on something about which we are all equally passionate. Because I love performing. I love acting and being able to retreat into a character's life for a while.

When you are an actor playing a role, there are certain parameters set by the script and nature of the show - but the rest is up to you. It can be fun and light; at other times, it is trying and painful. It all depends on the character and how the actor relates to the character. An actor goes on a journey to discover the life of the character; to discover him- or herself in the character. It is very much a symbiotic process - equal parts actor and character; equal parts collected and inspired.

The one act "Idols" deals with the French Revolution - very pertinent at this time, what with the revolution occurring in Egypt. It is all about the quest of people to gain their freedom, but asks the question: at what cost? My character lost her husband in the cause of liberty - and exploring her inner-workings was quite a task for someone as young and naive as I. Other actors faced similar challenges, so we spent a lot of time developing our characters and our characters' relationships with each other. A character is a constantly evolving, so it was a process from the beginning to the closing show today. At the end of the show, a cast would always like to think that it did not only a satisfactory job of conveying our characters genuinely, but that the audience was touched by this authenticity.

The cast.

Hokusai: Ghost

Japanese prints, while worthy of praise for their high art qualities, were more like a form of 'pop culture' in Japan from 1600-the mid 19th century. Only upon the opening of Japan in 1854 by Matthew Perry did the West begin valuing works such as these as high art. Hokusai is one of the most famous print makers in history. This print is of a ghost, another mythological creature that figures heavily in Japanese folklore. I find it striking how similar this image is of the ghost is to our conceptions of such figures today...the idea of the ghost is fascinating to me. Can we be ghosts while we live? Who haunts us and why? What do ghosts do and how? What a mysterious work. I love how his pieces are bold and literal but also require reflection. Anyways, the color and mastery of the flat space in this work makes it intense and rich. Color really does effect how things are received and perceived.

Come see SCU's Winter One Act Festival!

You might remember me saying I took publicity photos for the One Acts - here's the finished product!
This Saturday and Sunday at 2pm, SCU students will put on two short one acts called "The M Word" and "Made for a Woman," both directed by Christine Keating, and a full one act directed by Kandace Arens called "Idols" (in which I also happen to perform!). Visit the Center for Performing Arts online ticket office to buy your five dollar tickets! Hope to see you there!

The Body as Art

The human body can do amazing things. Everything from walking, to sitting, to running, to jumping, the body can do it all.

 (http://howto-nt.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-draw-human-body.html)

Dance simply pushes the body to take these normal, everday actions, and distort and extend them to look different and unique. It's inspiring to see people who have spent their lives cultivating their bodies as the instruments of their art. For artists such as dancers, mimes, acrobats, their bodies are the medium through which they express their art, thoughts, emotions.

 (http://www.alternativemedicinedirect.com/dance-therapy.html)

It's exhilarating to stand in front of an audience full of people and have nothing but your body to move and contort in order to communicate a message through. And the great thing is, it does not matter if the audience interprets the movements of your body exactly how you intended them to. Instead the audience is free to connect with what they relate to in the movement, the shapes they discern for themselves or the beat or pulse or any other element of the movement of the body.

 

(http://www.ufunk.net/en/insolite/irc-dance-movement-magnifique-video-de-danse/)

The art of architecture.

You might not be thinking about it, but chances are that if you are reading this, you are surrounded by a work of art. Yes, I'm talking about the very building in which you are probably seated at this very moment.

Architecture is, indeed, an art and, like any artform, it varies. Buildings differ in purpose, in aesthetic and style... and, like other art pieces, give as a little glimpse into the time period of their origin. Those of us who live in the Bay Area are so accustomed to contemporary American architecture of our time - modern with clean lines. Living here in Santa Clara allows us, however, to take a little peak into the past - aren't those historic Victorian homes gorgeous?

One of the best things about studying abroad in Italy was the architecture, because those big, beautiful, and in some cases, thousand-year-old structures, are quite literally everywhere! Perhaps those who live in Europe would not be taken aback by some of these buildings because to them, they seem commonplace. As for me, however, I was not about to take them for granted!

I want to share with you all a few photos of various structures around Italy that I was able to visit during my time abroad. Most of them are from Florence, where I studied, but you will notice a few images from Assisi, Venice and Rome. Enjoy!













More of the beautiful buildings of Italy here.

Pop Surreal - clayton Brothers

early 2000s painting by the Clayton Brothers from LA. The entire movement is cool - check out La Luz de Jesus gallery for some of cool stuff...Sadly, Clayton Bros. don't do art like this anymore. I love the metaphor - have any of you read Twain's 'Mysterious Stranger'?

IMAGES!

Santa Clara University's main dance performance, Images, is this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Louis B Mayer Theatre. The performance is a mix of ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz and hip hop! It showcases 5 faculty choreographed dance pieces and 3 student choreographed pieces.

For tickets call the CPA at (408) 554-401, visit their website http://www.scu.edu/cpa, or visit the box office!