National Arts and Humanities Month

October is National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM), our opportunity to recognize and celebrate the positive impact the arts bring to our schools and communities.

Real art doesn't get covered by styrofoam plates

You may remember my ire-filled rant at the FCC's rules bringing America to it's proverbial knees in fear, i.e. an anatomically-correct sock puppet was "blurred" on TV. I still scratch my head over how the FCC allows the TV show ER to show a breast that has been blown off by gunfire, i.e. no nipple, yet obligates a production studio to blur a sock puppet breast.

Well, imagine my abject horror to read this article in the Virginian-Pilot about offensive artwork being covered by styrofoam plates at Waterside's Mayer Fine Art. The photo shared by the V-P was sans decoration, so I had to see personally how the art-loving public would decorate the plate pasties. The gallery was closed so pardon the glare from the plate glass. The tasteful tassles are clearly visible as was the table of art supplies (to the left) provided by the gallery.


Thanks to gallery owner, Sheila Giolitti, for sharing the drawing by Erika Risko, Moore College of Art & Design in Philly. Both received bad press coverage over this incident which, ironically in America today, means GOOD press (ANY press is GOOD press).

While on one hand I think I can understand the reason for the covering (the gallery is next to the 2nd floor entrance of Jillian's), but I agree with one recent poster on the Urban Planet forum in a thread about the Virginia Arts Festival:

"We need more edge, more variety and a greater appreciation for what is going on in the rest of the world. Real art confronts--isn't always nice."

Read the comments after the V-P article. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority thinks this reaction was overkill and a bit ridiculous.

It's art. Maybe not your taste, but it's art.

Chalk the Walk ARTsplosion in Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach's BeachStreetUSA brought us the 4th Annual Chalk the Walk ARTsplosion this weekend. Artists and “wanna-be's” used VB's boardwalk as their canvas, using a simple medium, probably one we've all used: chalk.

Here are some fine examples of the artwork. The 1st shot is the actual "before" picture taken, the 2nd is the shot altered by me thanks to a great graphic design program. This year's theme was Totally Television!

The winner, 1st Place Professional:

BEFORE

AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER


Notice a distinct public broadcasting theme here? If you like the pics, click on any of the AFTER pictures for a larger, downloadable file.

Here's some pics from the 2006 event, thanks to the neighbors at Chick's Beach 'hood.