Tonight!

Alright, tonight is the night. I love that we get a chance to "start over." Imagine if there was never a break. Whether it is a physical divider or simply metaphorical, it is nice to wipe the slate clean. This past year has been tough, especially for those of us here in Michigan. I think as the clock strikes midnight tonight, we need to all invest in the same resolution. We need to trust one another and ease up on survival mode. We will not improve if we only look out for ourselves. I believe everyone is beginning to work together now, and that is the only cure for the country's illness. Happy New Year to all who stop by. See you in 2009!!

On the Right Street

"We cannot have a thriving Wall Street without a thriving Main Street."
-Obama

We are all connected. When one falls.. all falls. This means it takes all of us to pick this country back up again. Please support your local businesses when shopping this Christmas.

Holiday Budget

I thought I would post some ideas on how to be creative during the holiday season. Even though your holiday budget may be tight, there are other ways of giving a priceless gift without overextending your wallet. Photo gifts are always a fantastic gift. Special photos are to be cherished, and have value aside from currency. A nice site to visit is Snapfish for this sort of gift. What else is great about this site is that you can upload your digital photos, create the gift online and have it shipped to you or the receiver in mind. The site even has a section dedicated to gifts under $20 to assist with holiday budgeting.

Another great economically modest gift is creating a cool mouse pad for someone. I am always on the search for unique mouse pads, and I don't know if you noticed but mouse pads can get expensive! For a fancier sort of craft you can visit this site. However, the drawback for this creation is you will need to be a bit computer and image savvy. So, for a more hands-on experience you can also follow these instructions. A mouse-pad is also something that someone will put to use and keep for an extended period of time. I have posted a photo of a creative pad for inspiration.



These are just a couple of ideas. You can browse online for more. Here is a site that offers some more creative ideas on making gifts. Remember if you do not feel comfortable solely giving hand-made gifts you can combine them with less expensive purchased gifts to raise the value of your overall offering. Good luck and happy holidays!!

Longing for Art

I have been so wrapped up in pushing my graphic and web design career forward that I have neglected my fine art. My friend, and one of my mentors, Anne Mondro has joined a new gallery in Chicago. The gallery, American Contemporary Gallery, hosts a handful of very talented and diverse artists. As I was browsing the artists and their work I stumbled upon these pieces that I have posted here.

These two paintings made me still. That is what happens when I encounter a piece of art that speaks to me - everything becomes still and for a moment I seem to understand it "all." Art, like these two paintings, whisper the secrets of life. They whisper things about connection and order. How amongst the day to day randomness there is a design that we can neither control or understand. These two pieces are very inspirational to me and they resonate to my inner artist and humanness.

Flash Exhibit

Gallery Project presents Flash, an exhibition of original graphic art of tattoo culture worldwide. What used to be reserved for warriors, carnival performers, and other people on the fringe of society, tattoos now adorn us all. Their decoration guides their wearers into life's chaos and helps to define their individuality in the face of its conformity. The images are chosen talismans that protect, evoke memories, capture emotions and express opinions. The artists responsible for these creations are unique. Their canvas is alive, ever changing and imperfect. Their canvas can feel pain, and these engravings are permanent marks on a dynamic surface. There is a unique synergy between the artist and their living canvas that leads to the creation of an artwork that is personal and unrepeatable. This sub culture of artists has founded, maintained and evolved its traditions without any mainstream support or recognition, a social network of artists, creators and collectors that has evolved outside the contemporary art context.

This sub culture of artists has founded, maintained and evolved its traditions without any mainstream support or recognition, a social network of artists, creators and collectors that has evolved outside the contemporary art context. This showing of paintings, drawings, and graphic art, reveals some of the imagery and iconography which describes this culture. Curated by Jeff Zuck, owner of Name Brand Tattoo in Ann Arbor, and Alexa Lee, former director of the Alexa Lee Gallery, these artists represent the current state of several living global tattoo traditions. The artists include: Adam Forman from LA, Mario Desa from Chicago, Chriss Dettmer from Hamburg, Jeff Zuck, Kerri Baker, Leo Zulueta, Jen Munford, Mike Aul, Ethan Zuck and Dianne Mansfield all from Ann Arbor, Mike Dorsey from Cincinnati, Bill Falsetta from Ann Arbor, Tomas Garcia from Barcelona, Adam Shrewsbury from Cleveland, and Jason June and Guy Ursitti from Fun City Tattoo in New York City. Flash is a tribute to tattoo creators and enthusiasts, and is recognition of their artistic and cultural contributions. Gallery Project is a fine art collaborative. Its mission is to provide a venue for contemporary art that is culturally aware, individualistic, courageous, and thought provoking. Gallery Project is located at 215 South Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor. Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 9; and Sunday, noon to 4. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, call 734-997-7012 or e-mail at galleryproject@gmail.com. Visit the website at thegalleryproject.com.

Halloween

The season is changing now, time to pull out the winter coat if you haven't already. A fun place to consider taking the family is Wiard's. Events include country fair, hayrides and a haunted house. We go every year. Another event I would like to promote is through an organization that Ann Arbor Designs actually does creative work for. I have posted the flyer, but it is strategic race of sorts - but on bicycles! The race, Night of the Living Tread, is a yearly occurrence with this being its third annual appearance. Check jimmyrigged.com for more details.

Obama

“I believe that America's free market has been the engine of America's great progress. It's created a prosperity that is the envy of the world. It's led to a standard of living unmatched in history. And it has provided great rewards to the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon for science, and technology, and discovery…We are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other's success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers.”
— Barack Obama, New York, NY, September 17, 2007

I am so excited about this election. Being a part of the current generation and trying to break through vocationally has been a struggle. Every American has their own trials in our current economy. Whether it be trying to maintain a current lifestyle, attempting to create a life or losing everything all together; we are all suffering together. Something needs to give. I was raised to believe that I could accomplish anything if I worked hard enough. My parents never put restraints on me, they supported whatever I wanted to do. When I wanted to take piano lessons they bought me a piano, when I played in a band they put up with hearing drums in their basement, when I worked on my art they dealt with the mess. Now a mother, I instill those same ideals into my son. I want him to pursue anything he finds an interest in. I will never tell him that after working hard through college he will have to settle for whatever job he can get. That is not the America I love. If someone has the skills and the drive, they should be able to get to that place where they can benefit the community and themselves the best they can. I refuse to lose hope and I am thoroughly excited to be a part of the up and coming era of change.

Illustration vs Graphic Design

There was a time when students went to school for either Illustration or Graphic Design. Illustration is "a visualization such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form" (wikipedia). Graphic Design "can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may utilize typography, visual arts and page layout techniques in varying degrees to produce the final result of the project" (wikipedia).

So what is the difference? Well, generally Illustrators do not perform Graphic Design and Graphic Designers do not create Illustrations. That statement is beginning to faulter, however. Everything and everyone is becoming global. Designers and Illustrators must function across all platforms, although the two are very different. Illustrators create visual depictions of concepts. Whether it be via cartoons, actual drawings, digital renditions - Illustrators construct the beautiful eyecandy that goes into the layout.

The Graphic Designer is the collage artist, in layman's terms. He/she gathers the illustrations, photos, type, copy, paper, color and all other odds and ends that come together to create an entire communcative piece. The Graphic Designer finds a way to juggle all the elements effectively to ultimatley deliver the end result - the message.

Design at its Best

I stumbled upon Phire Branding while researching design in my area. There is not a day where I am not researching design and absorbing all I can. By saying that I research on a daily basis, when I take the time to focus in on a particular designer or firm, it certainly means that I have found something valuable. Phire Branding's web-site makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It is so intuitive, as I feel completely in tuned while it displays its contents. It moves from left to right, from top to bottom, supporting my natural instinct to absorb information.

Phire Branding is Flash at its best. Their usage of the program is exactly why I am learning it. The site is so organic and seems to have a life all its own. With every click there is something new and compelling, while maintaining the consistency that is so essential in design. This site is fantastic, so much so that it must be shared. Here is an article about the firm if you would like to know a little more about them.

Time for Flash

I have been struggling to catch up with the web world lately. I made it my goal to learn Dreamweaver, but all along I kept hearing that I really needed to know HTML and CSS. I wanted to learn correctly, and work correctly, so I strove to learn. I have been dabbling with code even though the designer in me wants to just work away in Dreamweaver, referring to the code only when there is trouble. Even though I thought I had come so far, I kept feeling as if I was still behind because I had not learned Flash.

Well, this is going to change. I finished my last Dreamweaver/CSS course and now I looking to Lynda.com for lessons in Flash. As of right now I am learning the drawing tools, which are already really cool. Flash is like Illustrator with some extra gadgets. Not to mention the way Lynda offers the information is extremely effective. The courses are ideal for a designer since they are all video, therefore visual. So here I go..

CSS Issues

When starting a style sheet everything seems to go fine. One thing I have to watch carefully is to connect each page to the same style sheet, so that's easy enough. However, an issue I am finding is sometimes I will try to set a style and it will not work. This dilemma leaves me guessing over and over again for long periods of time. I fool around with making the style external and even internal to get it to perform. This trial and error can leave me with repetitive and even useless code in my style sheet. So, these are the cliches I need to work out. When this happens I look in the code and I just can't figure out why it is not working. I am guessing there must be a style already defined that conflicts. I know the rule of thumb is "work from the outside in." That might be my problem too.

826michigan

I donated a piece to 826michigan. Although it did not sell at their silent aution they are now trying to sell it on their ebay auction. The details of their auctions can be found here.

"826michigan is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around our belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success."

If you have never stopped by 829michigan, you really should. They have turned the front half of their building into Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair - which is way cool. They even have a 2-XL robot in there!! Does anyone remember these guys? Stop by there some Friday night, its a blast.

Flash...yes I know..

No, I have not forgotten about you my dear Flash. I just want to give each and every vehicle of my design the attention it deserves. I have dabbled in animation years ago in a college course. I also used to be addicted to Final Cut Pro for a few years, and that program is similar to the setup of an animation program. I have used sound software as well, so I am not completely ignorant to Flash's infostructure.

I am going to learn Flash as soon as I am finished with handy dandy CSS course. These days a designer needs to know everything. It seems like there was once upon a time where everyone had their responsibilities. There was a designer, an illustrator, an animator, a web designer... Nowadays you have to be cross platformed, no doubt about it.

Anne Mondro

Here is a video featuring Anne Mondro. I consider Anne a mentor, a professor and a friend. She is amazingly talented and detailed.

New Site!!

Okay, after viewing the traffic of my fine art site I decided to redirect all my attention and focus solely on my design for now. The new site Ann Arbor Designs showcases my graphic and web design portfolio. Once I feel comfortable with the success of this site I will rework my fine art in later. I am still in the process of completing my last CSS course and then it is on to Flash! Then perhaps I can add some more pizazz to the new site.

CSS Craziness

I have been building this site and using my new found (still developing) CSS skills. So I think I am ready to revamp the Ann Arbor Artist site. I could just go on and on in constructing a site. It is amazing how far it comes from where it starts. I put it up and I think its done..nope. When it comes to design in general, that is just the way it goes. The design has to sort of "settle" after putting it together. There has to be a period of time where the designer is allowed to detach from the work. Unfortunately in the real world, things have to be put together so fast that natural perfecting of design is not allowed to happen, so the designer must force himself/herself to step away.

When I'm designing I end up closing and opening the window I am working in, just see what my first reaction is to the design as it pops up. I try to put myself into a third party perception when I do this. I do it more than one time over and over again, and usually my eyes will continuously go to the same spot, then I know that is the element that needs adjusting. There is a time, however, where everything just "flows." Its a perfect jive, well at least for now until a few years goes by and you look back and realize you would have done this or that. That is the way it should be though. If there ever comes a time when I can't look back and reflect on all I have learned, then I am not doing my job as a designer.

One Last Class!

I am enrolled in one last web site class. I have now taken Dreamweaver, HTML, intermediate HTML and introductory CSS and this final course is intermediate Dreamweaver and CSS. My idea was always to gather up as much information as I could before jumping into the site's redesign. I wanted to go into it knowing how it was suppose to be built as to not have to backpedal (I hate backpedaling). So, I hope to get the new site up by the end of next month. It is really hindering not having a successful place to exhibit my work, it looks as if I am some amateur. Well in some ways I am but not for long!!

Renovation

I have not written in a while and I apologize, although perhaps no one reads this anyway. I have been very busy with advancing my graphic design career. My plan is to revise my web site and it will serve as a dual host for my graphic design and my art. The process will be timely, so please forgive my absence. More importantly please forgive my web site I know it needs serious work.

Talk to you soon!!
Elizabeth

Aging With Attitude Documentary

Aging with Attitude Art Exhibit

SafeHouse Show

This was a very powerful show. I donated my piece to SafeHouse and now can be found in their lobby.

rEVOLUTION

Show this Friday featuring "The Story of the Wood." It will take place at the Duderstadt Center. Opening reception starts at 7pm.

Aging With Attitude

The show was fantastic!

Show At Cafe Ambrosia

I am participating in a small show at Cafe Ambrosia. The show is Friday, February 22nd from 8-11:30pm. There will be great coffee and live music as well.

Aging with Attitude

I am participating in a show at the Slusser Gallery. The piece is titled "Le Bain." It depicts the functionality of a woman. As she ages she becomes the agent rather than the participant. Her life absorbs more purpose. The tools symbolize her responsibilities. The porcelain tub is her youth. This piece is an etching with acrylic on steel. The show will run from March 7-28 2008 with the opening reception on the 7th from 6-9:00pm.

Finished

I finished the piece, it is titled "Mama's Little Boy". I let the steel sit in the etching solution for almost an entire day. It is a challenge to work with portraits on steel, because the metal curbs the organicness of the figure. Since I am working with etching solution, there is a sence of unpredictability. I actually enjoy this aspect because I am forced to conform to the piece rather than the other way around. Saying this, a viewer must accept that there will be flaws in my pieces and some might not be able to do that. My work is meant to be humble and simply tell a story. I am not a grandoise person, therefore my art will never be. They are simply observations from my point of view in life.

The trickiest thing about creating this particular piece was dealing with the black and white. The problem came when I was picking colors for the stain of the wood. At first I went with a "storm gray" but combined with the wood it almost seemed green to me. I did not want the frame to take any precedence over the piece, so choosing an accent color was out of the question. After much stress, I decided on a cool blue, which I am still unsure about. I figure the blue speaks appropriatly to a little boy, so that alone let me rest.

Process

First I determine what it is I walk to talk about in a piece. In this particular piece I have decided to discuss being a mother. An idea for a piece first starts with a photograph. Sometimes I go out and take a roll of film with the intention of collaborating the images in a design to create new work. I had this photo of my son from over the summer, and I just think it is such a perfect capture of him. He is communicating with me through his eyes and he is so very happy. Of course I had a good deal of negative space to deal with once I place him at the very left side of the composition. I needed an element that was appropriate for the feeling the piece encompassed, but also it needed to be something that would float the eye around. I chose the bubbles for exactly this purpose. The piece is simple and hopefully speaks for itself. It is about childhood and innocence. After I created this design I laid it out on steel and it is etching as we speak. I think I am going to keep the final product black and white, because for one I have not done a black and white piece, but for two I believe its subtleties will preserve the elegance I wish to resonate. We'll see..