AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

There are only 2 months left for The Painting Studio class but now I am seriously debating on not attending any more.

Part of the course outline stated: "One-on-one coaching and group interaction will assist students in resolving problems and finding the confidence to generate their own aesthetic voice.". That sounds good but I am finding this is not the case. The past few weeks in art class I have been struggling with a particular piece. I wanted to create (for myself) a tribute and personal inspirational piece of Beatrice Wood utilizing her amazing black and white pics from her book "Playing Chess With Heart: Beatrice Wood at 100". Initially I could easily envision the abstract background but as I continued to paint things went awry. Okay that's fine, this happens. So I painted 3 different abstracts but still I couldn't get the piece to work. Somewhere along the line I had lost my initial vision. I decided to paint the whole canvas (4' x 5') black and start over. As I was painting the canvas black my instructor came over to check out the situation. He knew from the start what my original intention of the piece was and he told me, "It's too literal. You could easily do an abstract and say it's a tribute to Beatrice, you don't have to put her pictures on the canvas. If you want to use her pics why don't you make a collage instead.". I didn't say a word but of course various thoughts ran through my head, mainly, "I thought you're here to be supportive and help a student when needed, not tell them their piece is stupid and they shouldn't be doing it. And if I wanted to make a collage I would have done that in the first place! UGH!! ". He didn't literally say my piece is stupid but I sure felt that way. I had ZERO support for what I wanted to create. He's an abstract painter as well but different from me but that doesn't mean that what I want to create isn't of value, it's valuable to ME and that's what matters.

http://www.savefile.com/files/165704

Here is the link if you are interested in performance time for the 12/9/06 Holiday Bellydance Showcase in Fort Collins Colorado!
Shahravar

Hello Good People. It is the first week of our fringe festival here. If anyone is interested the website is

http://www.norwichfringefestival.co.uk

There is a city art trail, live music, poetry, and theatre with the Fringe Performance Showcase.

Later.

Music to broaden your prospective. An award-winning, eclectic mix of genre written by Sun Bell and purrformed by 'bell the cat'. Recorded using ProTools on a Mac. Music video, Untamed Heart (track one from Songs From The Wild), released soon! Open to constructive criticism. Very interested in music licensing and college gigs or similar size venues.
SunBellMusic.com

Here is one of the postcards that sold in Ottowa recently.

I have been asked to make a fabric postcard for a prestigious fundraiser event in Switzerland. I have no objection to doing this, but hey, if I put the price asked by charities on my own work I would never make a sale. Guess just to get out there and get my name known is a benefit, as well as supporting an important charity.

A lot has been happening with me this week. I am still pecking away at the back of the mirror (it will look nice when it's finished, hee!hee!). Seriously, I have found that working on it in short bursts is good for me. In the meantimes I work on my other projects (and the housework). The best news is that I am improving myself by the day. Doctors are not a patch on Mother Nature herself.

I hope that all is well with everyone. As I have said, I like reading and seeing such wonderfully diverse talents pouring out of you all.

I read my first copy of the AMP newsletter (thank you for that) and I concur that our little AMP site is getting as big as the world. I think that common resect and friendship will see us grow as our world should grow - together. Art is a positive dialogue that crosses all barriers. We prove that ourselves.

I've often found it ironic that my Master's in Social Work is in Administration and Community Practice, yet I've yet to find a job where the opportunity to develop communities hasn't been thwarted or completely nonexistent. In my current job, the administrators have seen fit to choose (with no formal hiring process) individuals with no professional training to fill positions such as Volunteer Coordinator. They've done absolutely nothing over the past year and when I've stepped in to help and gotten immediate results, I've been received with resentment. I will give them some slack in that they've been asked to fill these roles in addition to their other full time positions.....I need to stop writing this stuff down because it makes it very clear that I need to look for another job! Anyway......If you don't know where I'm going, you might want to stop reading now because this is going to be one long-ass blog

(this is a sign that was anonymously posted on a building in Spain)

This building was designed by an unknown architect in an
irrelevant epoch and never belonged to an important person.
The complex does not show any original architectural solutions,
nor does it conserve any important works of art within.
No memory is kept of any significant historical events occurring
on this site. No known personality was born, lived or died here,
nor is any excellent artist or sublime poet still working here.

I'll be performing at 12 Galaxies http://www.12galaxies.com on Friday, Oct. 13th and at the Kinky Salon http://www.kinkysalon.com on Saturday, Oct. 14th!

This will be our San Francisco debut and we're very excited to come play with you!

You can find a few more details on my website: http://www.verotica143.com