Art Lovers discussion
Comments from the Moderator
I agree that the art industry is often about elitism, over actual creativity. A couple of years ago I was disgusted to read that some galleries will not exhibit work by an artist who does not have 'qualifications' that is just a travesty of art in my opinion.The Barcode/optical illusion is actually an example of something I always decried in art until I saw one live - I think I mentioned it once before - I only saw the 'dancing' after staring at it for a while in person. When I saw the movement I was inclined to give the work more credibility than I had been before, but I would never have noticed it if I had not listened to the person I was with; they said 'just look at it for a while'.
It does make me curious about putting up some of my earliest work, the stuff from my formative childhood and pieces I left unfinished or didn't care for just to see what people make of it.Of course I'd have to put some thought into re-titling them.
Aaron wrote: "It does make me curious about putting up some of my earliest work, the stuff from my formative childhood and pieces I left unfinished or didn't care for just to see what people make of it.Of cour..."
I would love to see those, Aaron!
Heather wrote: I would love to see those, Aaron! ."
:) how are they managing to get stuff scanned these days? When I was in college I had access to an industrial sized scanner, I suppose there's companies that do this?
:) how are they managing to get stuff scanned these days? When I was in college I had access to an industrial sized scanner, I suppose there's ..."I have no idea
Hello all!I just wanted to draw to your attention (if you haven't already noticed), I rearranged the folders in the group bringing those in which we have more activity toward the top. Hopefully this will help everyone to find or see new posts, especially in those folders to which we add comments more often.
I also want to add that I am SO impressed with the maturity of our interactions with each other as members in this group in which we all have one common interest.
Compared to other groups in which I take part, I believe we have a more cultured and sophisticated group of members. Thank you all who have been participating in one way or another! I believe our recent minor dilemma has been resolved and I am thankful to all of you!!
Honestly (and without bias) I think this is one of the best groups in which I take part. Not speaking just as a moderator, but being one of you and learning for myself from the expertise and knowledge of you all!
You are all awesome!
Aaron wrote: "It does make me curious about putting up some of my earliest work, the stuff from my formative childhood and pieces I left unfinished or didn't care for just to see what people make of it. Like I said Aaron, I would love to see your earlier work (or any of your work for that matter). I don't know how to scan images to upload them here, and actually, if you figure that out, I would like to know how to do it, too.
We have a thread called Talent of the Members where you can share your work with us.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
There are already several threads, you can just begin your own.
I'm looking forward to it! (hint hint) ;)
I know I have posted this before, but for all our newcomers, Welcome!It is exciting to see the activity going on now in the group and I've noticed we have both the 'seasoned' members and new members. I just want to thank you all for being part of the group and I hope you enjoy it at least as much as I do. Because this group excites me! Not just because I moderate it, but because I learn so much and have a lot of fun. I stop in here every once in awhile if I'm home during the day and check out the latest. It's a nice reprieve for a few minutes.
I invite anyone and everyone to join in if you so choose. Or if you just want to lurk, lurk away and I hope you can get something from the rest of us!
Also, even if you don't want to participate any more on any post, feel free to introduce yourself. I always want to know a little more about new members. I want to add, if you have any questions, problems, advice or just to say hi, you're welcome to send me a message anytime. I will always return it (sometimes it takes maybe a few days) I will respond!
Again, glad you're with us!
Just a note: NO constant negativism, criticism (especially of other member's and their posts), and overall cynicism will be tolerated in this group. I believe it makes the bulk of the members have a less than positive experience here.A comment stating your dislike for a work of art, or an artist, etc. is fine. You are welcome to state your opinion. But constantly belittling everything in the group will not be tolerated.
Such people will (and have been) removed.
For those of you still here in the group, I'm happy you're here! Please join us those who are not active, I'm sure it can be a positive experience for you.
And to those of you who are currently participating, I appreciate you and hope you are enjoying the group!
You're very welcome! My pleasure really!
Heather wrote: "I know I have posted this before, but for all our newcomers, Welcome!It is exciting to see the activity going on now in the group and I've noticed we have both the 'seasoned' members and new memb..."
I'm Joe. I joined recently.
Heather wrote: "Just a note: NO constant negativism, criticism (especially of other member's and their posts), and overall cynicism will be tolerated in this group. I believe it makes the bulk of the members have ..."Thank You also.
Welcome Joe! Glad to have you. We have some interesting and some fun threads going on right now. Hope you'll join us!
Aaron wrote: "It does make me curious about putting up some of my earliest work, the stuff from my formative childhood and pieces I left unfinished or didn't care for just to see what people make of it.Of cour..."
Still waiting, Aaron.... :)
Hello everyone!I want to bring your attention at this time to the effort and work put in to organizing our mess of a group bookshelf! Please meet Lance Charnes, a new member of the group who has offered to organize our shelf.
Please check out the product of his efforts! I think he has done an outstanding job at organization.
Now, with more shelves into which we can post art books we would like to introduce or contribute, I encourage anyone and everyone to take the opportunity to add more books! We can all discover what all is out there, the plethora of literature related to art is enormous and I doubt there is anyone in the group who is familiar with all art books.
Again, I encourage everyone to peruse the recent, updated group bookshelf.
Well done and thank you Lance!
Great job! Please add an amazing book I received as a gift. Lance did such a terrific job, I hate to mess up the organization.Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life
Aloha wrote: "Great job! Please add an amazing book I received as a gift. Lance did such a terrific job, I hate to mess up the organization.Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life"
Wow! That looks like a fantastic book! I totally added it to my to-read list and hope to get to it sooner rather than later!
Thank you for posting that, Aloha!
Aloha wrote: "Great job! Please add an amazing book I received as a gift. Lance did such a terrific job, I hate to mess up the organization."Go ahead and add the book (it most likely fits in both "Individual Artists" and "Art Theory & Criticism") -- it's hard to seriously mess up the shelves unless you decide to rename them as shades of green or whatever.
Also, thanks Heather and Aloha for your kind words..
Hello all!.Please excuse my absence, I have had some unfortunate medical issues that needed to be addressed this last week or so. I'm fine, no worries, I'm back!
I hope to be able to catch up to you! I'm very satisfied that the group goes on! You are all awesome!
So for now we only have one member who has her own thread. And I have given it to her and think she does an excellent job! I want to add, if anyone would like their own thread, please let me know and we can start that. You can PM me on what you would like to commence and I will announce your personal thread to the group. Let me know!
Alright, so I edited the placement of the various threads, bringing older ones more toward the top. Hopefully this may help us think of topics we want to post in other different threads? LG thread is rocking! But maybe we can comment in some other threads, vary the group a bit? Any other suggestions or comments? Just a thought.
How about a thread on, If you were a painter or artist in another medium, what kind of work would you like to do and who would serve as mentors? What materials would you like to use?
Geoffrey wrote: "How about a thread on, If you were a painter or artist in another medium, what kind of work would you like to do and who would serve as mentors? What materials would you like to use?"Great idea, Geoffrey! I'm ALWAYS welcome to ideas! After 9 years of this, I'm all out of ideas. So thank you! I'll do that right now. And you can take it away with whatever you intend, if you so desire!
Lobster Girl's thread rocks! I think it is partly how reliable she is- I am afraid I just can't commit to that sort of reliability though, too much else to do....
Good morning, or afternoon, or evening everyone!I just want to comment this morning as I'm reading the recent posts by our devout members, I appreciate the knowledge, experiences, and opinions expressed by everyone. There is so much of the art world and art itself that I don't know and I learn from each of you all the time.
I want to personally thank all of you for keeping this group alive, holding and increasing my overall fascination with art, and enhancing my knowledge daily!
You're awesome!
You are the one that is awesome, Heather. You do all the work to keep this group together and growing and always come up with some interesting ideas to refresh our interest in participating. I thank you so very much...you are a treasure.
Judi wrote: "You are the one that is awesome, Heather. You do all the work to keep this group together and growing and always come up with some interesting ideas to refresh our interest in participating. I than..."Thank you so much, Judi! You made my day!!!
Wow, you are all so busy! I hope everyone is doing something fun, unique, interesting, and memorable!Not so much action today, hopefully it will pick up and we can learn more and know each other better! Especially you new members!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!
:) I wish I was doing something fun! These days I have two hours of commute to work a day, to a shift working job which is often very challenging and not always in good ways. Whinge,whinge.On the bright side, I am about to move to the coast, I look forward to trying to teach myself to paint the ocean - I can imagine no greater challenge.
I’ve been running the DMV obstacle course. I may recover by tomorrow.
Deborah wrote: ":) I wish I was doing something fun! These days I have two hours of commute to work a day, to a shift working job which is often very challenging and not always in good ways. Whinge,whinge.On the..."
Two hour commute isn't fun, no.
But that is a great quest, Deborah, to teach yourself to paint the ocean, I think that would be a huge challenge, well for me it would be!
Ruth wrote: "I’ve been running the DMV obstacle course. I may recover by tomorrow."You're funny, Ruth!
Heather wrote: "Ruth wrote: "I’ve been running the DMV obstacle course. I may recover by tomorrow."You're funny, Ruth!"
Five and a half hours it took me! Plus I fell in the parking lot and broke my glasses.
Ruth wrote:Five and a half hours it took me! Plus I fell in the parking lot and broke my glasses."wow, that is not funny! I'm sorry Ruth! I hope today is better for you!
I hope you are feeling better today, Ruth and will have a relaxing weekend. I care about all our members! I wish everyone a wonderful weekend!
August 22, 2018Hello everyone! I hope all are doing well, as well as possible...
There has been much less activity lately, and I know life gets in the way of this and other hobbies and interests sometimes. I know mine has these days! I'm sorry I haven't been as active as I would like. I have so many more ideas but haven't had time to implement anything yet!
Question: Is this month's topic--Mirrors, boring? Is there little interest in the subject or pictures posted? I try to vary them from just the 'woman looking in a mirror' type painting. But maybe we are all just really busy.
This is an honest question, I have another topic chosen for September that I hope will be interesting, but we still have 9 days left of this month.
Is there something else you would like me to find for the remainder of this month? Remember, this group is for YOU, not me, so I am able to and more than willing to cater to your suggestions and thoughts.
Please share how you feel regarding the Picture of the Day and I will see what I can do (if anything).
Thank you!!!!
Heather wrote: "August 22, 2018Hello everyone! I hope all are doing well, as well as possible...
There has been much less activity lately, and I know life gets in the way of this and other hobbies and interests..."
Hi Heather
My reply is much the same as always. I don't post much because I don't know much. I do enjoy the threads I read, but I don't read everything.
I liked the picture of the day this month. I thought it was a great theme!
Thank you, Carol! It has been fun finding new paintings I’ve never seen before.As for not knowing much, I feel so incompetent to moderate a group with members so much more knowledgeable than I am! I feel that my comments are novice or I don’t comment on my own thoughts because I feel I don’t know enough to comment.
So no worries about not commenting much, I totally understand!! I’m just glad you’re here and from the comments you’ve left in the past, I’ve always thought you were insightful and observant and think you really add to the group. So thank you for being with us!
Heather wrote: "August 22, 2018Hello everyone! I hope all are doing well, as well as possible...
There has been much less activity lately, and I know life gets in the way of this and other hobbies and interests..."
Hi, Heather. Sorry for my long silence, too. There's so much going on everywhere in the world so there isn't much of a downtime in the newsroom. Also only recovering from flu. I may not be able to interact with posts, but I lurk here whenever I've time to spare. Love the paintings from the previous month. Makes days lighter. :)
Ker Metanoia wrote: "Sorry for my long silence, too. There's so much going on everywhere in the world so there isn't much of a downtime in the newsroom. Also only recovering from flu. I may not be able to interact with posts, but I lurk here whenever I've time to spare. Love the paintings from the previous month. Makes days lighter. :) "Oh wow, yes there is so much going on in the world, I don't know how you would have time to sleep! I'm glad that you peek in every once in awhile and I hope to hold your interest as maybe a few minutes of relaxation.
Heather wrote: "Hello everyone!... There has been much less activity lately, and I know life gets in the way of this and other hobbies and interests..."True enough. School started up so there was prep and other activities. I also admit to being a spasmodic participant in pretty much any group I belong to.
By the way, I think you are a terrific moderator. You have a way of finding the productive middle, the place where one doesn't have to know too much to be involved but is interesting to folk who are better informed. And I think that makes your monthly themes really interesting. So thanks!
Heather wrote: "Ker Metanoia wrote: "Sorry for my long silence, too. There's so much going on everywhere in the world so there isn't much of a downtime in the newsroom. Also only recovering from flu. I may not be ..."Oh, yes! This group has been a constant source of joy! I would love to drop a few lines sometimes, but I don't feel like I'd add substance to the discussion so I digest information from other members instead. :) I agree with Ellen about you being a terrific moderator. I could imagine it must be hard keeping things going. Congratulations! And thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
Ellen and Ker Metanoia! You are so nice, thank you for the reassurance you have given me about moderating the group. Your comments made my day! I'm glad you find the group enjoyable. And I am glad you're here!
Hello Everyone! I love this group, of course. You already know that. But I'm pretty excited about the theme I picked for October Picture of the Day but it didn't go over well with some members of the group. And it was welcomed and appreciated by others. So as I posted in other places, I am still posting the macabre paintings in the Halloween thread in the Holiday folder. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... while I changed the theme in the Picture of the Day.I just want to invite you to check it out! I've found some (IMO) good stuff! Hope you enjoy! Note: Not for the faint-of-heart or those easily creeped-out!
Hello all!Just a heads up, I am going through HUGE changes in my life right now and will be in and out of town for the next two or three month starting tomorrow afternoon. I can't post from my phone (I have a lame, old phone that won't let me see much of this site).
So please excuse my absence on the days I don't post. I hope the group will keep on going, I'm confident in the knowledge and interest in those members here.
Feel free to post as you please in the folders already created and know you are welcome to start your own thread, also.
Have fun!
Heather wrote: "Hello all!Just a heads up, I am going through HUGE changes in my life right now and will be in and out of town for the next two or three month starting tomorrow afternoon. I can't post from my ph..."
Hoping the changes are positive Heather. All the best!
Good luck! Upheavals can end positively; I just recently moved jobs and towns and after the dust has settled, I am pretty sure it was the right thing to do.
Art Lovers
Books mentioned in this topic
Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life (other topics)Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life (other topics)
Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture (other topics)
The Painter of Modern Life (other topics)
The box could in fact symbolize something, the blank canvas pieces I'm not really sure are they supposed to be windows to our own soul or the artists?
The pure white canvas I saw in an exhibit screams of an intellectual game, none of the students in my class could get away with promoting a blank canvas, and yet because this artist already went through the intellectual rigors they're allowed to.
That essentially says art is not about expression, but it is about ego, and elitism (in that particular case).
There is in fact modern art I enjoy, just not anonymous base form.