Surface Tension: Beauty and Fragility in Lake Michigan
A collaboration project between by Nelson Armour and Ted Glasoe
It’s a beautiful summer day in Chicago. The sun beats down on the azure waters of Lake Michigan, the fifth-largest lake in the world. Gentle waves lap the sands of a beach. Puffy clouds drift across the sky. But no one is in the water. The lifeguards stand watch over an empty beach.
Why? Because raw sewage has fouled the water. It was released into the lake after a torrential rain overwhelmed the municipal storm sewers. This scene has become all too common along the shores of Lake Michigan and in much of the world’s water supply.
But untreated municipal sewage overflows are only one of the threats to the health of our water. For example, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes (greatlakes.org), other major areas of concern for Lake Michigan are nutrient runoff/algae growth, plastic and plastic microbeads, pollution from petroleum refineries and other industries, pharmaceutical pollution, and invasive species.
So we are faced with two uncomfortable realities: Lake Michigan is a beautiful, vast, life-sustaining natural wonder and, at the same time, a valuable resource under silent siege from pollution and other perils.
In Surface Tension, we explore these opposing realities. Ted Glasoe’s photographs of Lake Michigan invite us to contemplate and appreciate the lake’s power and its ever-changing moods, textures and colors. Each of these is juxtaposed with a Nelson Armour photograph of the lake altered to unsettle the viewer. These multilayered images reveal the unseen forces and traumas that threaten the lake.
Surface Tension challenges viewers to reconcile the outward beauty of Lake Michigan with the dangers that lie beneath the surface. It also asks that we all consider how our water is being polluted and what we can do to protect our water supply.
stARTup Art Fair is a unique contemporary art fair for independent artists. The boutique hotel fair provides artists and art enthusiasts with direct access to the art world, in three major cities across the country: San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. The founder, Ray Beldner is himself a sculptor and new media artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He started this fair as a response to issues he faced as an artist in the 21st century art world. His work has been reviewed in several national publications including Art in America, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and can be found in many public and private collections including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California.
Are you protecting yourself from online art scams? In this episode Sergio talks to gallery owner Renée LaVerné Rose about identifying red flags and prevent possible scams to artists and galleries. Increasingly, scammers get more cleaver in there message and pursue of victims. Artists need to be savvy and smart to protect themselves. Share this episode with your friends.
Join Sergio and Dr. Yanina Gomez as they share their latest free eBook resource for working artists. The Artist Survival Kit 2017: Organization and Productivity Guide will help you organize your art career and use resources to help be more productive.
In this podcast, you will learn about tools for managing social media, back up your art, manage your inventory, sales, time and project management, learning and much more. Do not miss out on this useful episode and share it with your artists friends.
Download the Artist Survival Kit free eBook at: http://www,theartistnextlevel.com
Tim and Suzanne Smith are a power couple whose career path took them from the New York art scene to open a successful art gallery in the Miami area.
Sirona Fine Art is a grand showcase for artists who embrace classic academic structure and technique, yet have an understanding and facility within the modernist landscape in which their work is viewed. Art can appeal to the senses, the emotions and the intellect equally or separately, as long as it connects. Creators who skillfully present their ideas and personalities, constructed with a masterly hand, these are the artists Sirona Fine Art represents.
Do you feel like time is always running short? Do you find yourself struggling to keep up with all the things you have to do as an artist or creative? Stop chasing the world around and get practical strategic advice from Sergio and Dr. Yanina Gomez on how to manage your life/work balance in a way that makes sense to you. In this Part 2 of 2 podcast episodes, we unpack this topic with a few effective tips so you can experienced a more balanced life.
Do you feel like time is always running short? Do you find yourself struggling to keep up with all the things you have to do as an artist or creative? Stop chasing the world around and get practical strategic advice from Sergio and Dr. Yanina Gomez on how to manage your life/work balance in a way that makes sense to you. In this Part 1 of 2 podcast episodes, we unpack this topic with a few effective tips so you can experienced a more balanced life.
What happens when the plans you make for your art career do not go as you wish they would? What happens when plans have to change? In this episode Sergio & Dr. Yanina Gomez address this issue and provide 4 practical suggestions to avoid feelings of frustration and defeat before they pop up:
Have you ever been asked to facilitate an Artist Talk during your solo exhibition? Chances are that if you have been showing for a while, you have been asked. Perhaps more than once. Yes, it is the dreaded “artist talk” many artists fear about. There are good reasons indeed. For once, you are in the spotlight and people are staring at you and your every move. Aren’t we supposed to make the art and let the people figure it out on their own?
Well, it turns out Artists Talks are not such bad idea after all and you do not have to be intimidated by them. In fact, a successful talk may result in greater self-confidence, can lead to increased sales, greater friendships, new connections and future opportunities. And, who wouldn’t want this?
In this podcast episode, we help you get ready for your next Artist Talk.
In this episode, Sergio Gomez chats with Thomas Griffin, CEO and Founder of Artsquare about launching an online platform designed to help artists manage their art career. ArtSquare is an online platform designed to save time managing your art career by instantly publishing your artwork to multiple online platforms that work best for you.
In this episode, Sergio Gomez talks with Elias Martin, Director of Floating World Gallery about the world of collecting, the art market and the future of international art fairs.
As a dealer, curator to private clients, collector, and educator with 16 years of professional experience, Elias has helped build important private collections and has placed works at notable public institutions. He is passionate about educating both his clients and the public on the fine art of woodblock prints in the Ukiyo-e, Shin Hanga, and Sosaku Hanga traditions, as well as on contemporary Japanese sculpture and painting. He has a special place in his heart for Sosaku Hanga and has personally amassed one of the world’s foremost collections.
In this episode, Sergio & Dr. Yanina Gomez celebrate the 100th episode of the Artist NXT Level podcast with a countdown to the top 5 downloaded episodes thus far. Then, they explain what the Art NXT Level is and what it has to offer for contemporary working artists.
John P. Zilewicz Jr. is an Artist, Art Educator and advocate for the Visual Arts. Zilewicz works out of his home studio in Arlington Heights. His artwork ranges from works on paper to found object assemblage. He is a full time Art Educator and has been teaching visual art for the past 19 years. Zilewicz is currently teaching at Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois where he has been working since 2005. In 2014, Zilewicz and a group of 4 art teachers developed one of the largest high school art exhibits in the state of Illinois called the Illinois High School Art Exhibition. The show has gained national recognition around the country from top art schools, colleges and universities. Zilewicz is currently serving as the Illinois Art Education Association's Northeast Council Vice-President. He frequently conducts artist workshops around the state of Illinois for teachers and students. Zilewicz was the recipient of the Illinois Art Education Associations, Art Educator of the Year 2016.
The IHSAE is a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is the advancement of visual arts education through exhibition. The organization maintains its guiding principle of a show developed by teachers, for students. The entire organization is run by full-time art educators who collaborate with corporate sponsors, art schools/colleges/universities, and participating high schools to celebrate the artistic talents of Illinois high school art students on a grand scale.
Since 2014, the IHSAE has been responsible for awarding high school art students more than $30,000 in cash and prizes, facilitating 150 early college program scholarships, and connecting over 600 high school seniors to tuition scholarship offers totalling more than $50 million. Each year the IHSAE continues to improve its ability to connect our participating high school students to future post-secondary opportunities in the arts.
The Rev. Paul-Gordon CHANDLER is the Founder and President of CARAVAN: an author, interfaith advocate, arts patron, social entrepreneur and an American Episcopal priest. He grew up in Senegal, West Africa, and has lived and worked extensively throughout the Islamic world in leadership roles within faith-based publishing, relief and development agencies and churches. Most recently, he served as the rector of the historic St. John’s Church, Maadi in Cairo, Egypt (2003-2013). He has curated high profile exhibitions at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, Egypt’s Museum of Modern Art, Metz Cathedral (France), St. Germain des Pres in Paris, Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, London’s St-Martin’s-in-the-Fields and St James’s, Piccadilly.
Background on CARAVAN, the global coordinating body
The I AM exhibition builds upon nine successful years of strategic East-West arts initiatives implemented by CARAVAN. CARAVAN is an international peacebuilding arts NGO that originated in Cairo, Egypt in 2009, with the objective of building bridges through the arts between the creeds and cultures of the Middle East and West.
CARAVAN’s experience demonstrates that the arts can serve as one of the most effective mediums to enhance understanding, bring about respect, enable sharing, and deepen friendships between those of different cultures and faiths in the Middle East and the West. A flagship initiative of CARAVAN is the globally recognized annual CARAVAN Exhibition of Art, a unique arts initiative that brings together many of the premier and emerging artists from the Middle East and the West. These CARAVAN exhibitions have resulted in unprecedented gatherings of renowned Middle Eastern and Western artists who use art for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. These exhibitions have garnered attention from the international press, media and art world, and attract thousands of visitors. For more information on CARAVAN, see: www.oncaravan.org
Following on from the strategic successes of the CARAVAN peacebuilding art initiatives, the I AM exhibition takes the same message of intercultural and interreligious understanding and harmony around the world.
Finance Expert Michael Pak provides practical tax advice for visual artists. Michael Pak is the Chief Financial Officer of FiveCurrents. He received his B.A. Degree in Business Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D. from the UC Hastings College of the Law. Prior to joining Five Currents, Michael served as the CFO for a private equity investment firm, and as a business manager for entertainment industry based creative artists, executives, and production companies.
Anabel was born in La Habana, Cuba, in 1974, in a Cuba that was picturesque, quirky and resourceful – a Cuba that laughed through the pain – characteristics that are reflected in her own persona. Her family left Cuba for Spain when she was 9, and there her father secured a scholarship for her to a private Catholic school. It was here that she began to acquire her appreciation for art, at that time mostly for the great classic artists and their works; and it was here that her formation as a self-taught artist commenced.
She was uprooted again at 14 when her family moved to the US, to Miami, like so many other Cuban exiles, to make a new life.
Her high school education complete, she studied Business Administration, deaf to the voice of her soul that constantly reminded her that her passion is art and that her life should follow that passion. And so she graduated from college very well prepared to “make a living”, but empty and dissatisfied; knowing that making a living is not equal to living itself, but blind to her true calling and not knowing where to turn. In the midst of this existential search for meaning her life suddenly took a 180 degree turn and she decided to become a nun, entering religious life.
She entered two different congregations in different parts of the world, first in Miami, followed by service in Fatima, Portugal. During eight years of religious service, bound by vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, she anonymously produced dozens of art works in different mediums; works that currently grace churches, convents and the homes of private church patrons.
In 2011, after much soul searching, she envisioned a different future for herself and left religious life, returning to Miami, to face new challenges and create a new future – a future where her art, now free and without restrictions, truly reflects the journey to self-acceptance that has been her life.
Today Anabel lives with her partner and their two dogs in Coconut Grove, Florida.
In this episode, Chicago based artist Michael Coakes shares his journey and gives tips on how to photograph your art. Michael Coakes grew up with the influence of the 60s and 70s pop culture and an attraction to a diverse array of artists from Mucha to Rembrandt, Michael displayed a serious passion for art even in his pre-teen years.
As a mostly self-taught artist he has created many drawings, paintings and photographs in the years since. His predominant style early in his artistic career was photorealist painting. More recently his mediums and concentrations have expanded to include photography. He shows his work in gallery exhibits frequently and his work is in private collections around the world.
In this episode, Sergio Gomez chats with Barcelona-based artist King Farish about his work and the new Wool Factory in Barcelona.
King Farish moved to Brooklyn in 2005 and had his first studio in Red Hook. Over the following years Brooklyn was the base for stints in Vermont, Amsterdam, London, and Chicago before moving to Los Angeles in 2013. He attended Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in 2011 and received a full fellowship to Vermont Studio Center for a summer session in 2013.
King moved with his wife and son to Barcelona in 2015 and started laying the groundwork for Wool Factory A.I.R. in 2016. Jules Buck Jones was the first artist in residency - January 2017.
In this first episode of Season II of the Artist Next Level podcast, Sergio Gomez talks about the importance of maximizing the momentum every opportunity brings your way. From exhibitions to special projects, think about what you can do t maximize your efforts past the opening night.
In the last of three episodes related to goal-setting, Sergio and Dr. Yanina Gomez discuss the importance of tracking progress throughout the year.
In Part 2 of the series, Sergio and Dr. Yanina Gomez share valuable information in this first podcast related to setting goals for your art career. Download our FREE Goal Setting and Progress System for Artists and get ready to make 2017 your best year ever.
In this episode, Sergio & Dr Yanina Gomez discuss setting goals and asking the right questions that lead to the right answers. Download the FREE Goal Setting and Progress System for Artists at http://www.theartistnextlevel.com/goals
Conversation with artists Michiko Itatani and art critic Jason Foumberg. Hi Point Contact. Retrospective at the Zhou B Art Center. October to December 2016
Itatani's work has been seen in more than 100 solo and group exhibitions nationally, and internationally. Most recent exhibition of her new work was just closed at Linda Warren Project, Chicago.
Her works are in many public and private collections, including Museu D’art Contemporani(MACBA), Barcelona, Spain, Olympic Museum, Switzerland, Tokoha Museum, Japan, Musée du Québec, Canada, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, State of Illinois Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art, MI, Erie Art Museum, PA, Maier Museum,VA, Cincinnati Art Museum, OH, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum, MI
Itatani is a Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has taught at many other institutions, for example, SACI, Florence, Italy; University of Bonn, Germany; Royal College of Art, London; China National Academy of Fine Arts, China; Tokyo National University of Art and Music, Japan.
She has received National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Marie Sharp Walsh New York Studio Grant and John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship among others.
Julia Martin’s latest series of paintings focus on single figure female faces, rendered with expressive lines and tonal complexity. Guided by instinct she explores line and color to develop compositions. Using layers of non-objective colors, Martin realizes unique faces on canvas that communicate individual personality and identity. Her wooden sculptural work complements her paintings conceptually and enables her the freedom to explore a more hands on process. Martin searches for inspiration within herself to make art that expresses what she knows and feels as a woman. “The feminine flows freely out of me for obvious reason, but there’s a cocktail of deep-seated strength and vulnerability in women that I find utterly fascinating.”
Buddy Jackson’s new series of paintings, gum dichromate prints, and bronze sculptures highlight body and facial expressions, which poignantly evoke the beauty, strength, and vulnerability that permeates the human condition. Jackson’s focus on representing women comes from his admiration of their perseverance despite inequalities “little boys are taught by society—by school, by coaches, by their dads, by their moms, by everybody—that feminine traits are bad. But then we expect these little boys to grow up and respect women. Jackson’s representations of women are guided by what he sees in himself and his rejection of binary gender stereotypes that restrict men and women from revealing their authentic physical and emotional selves.
One objective of this exhibition is to introduce artworks by two prominent Nashville artists to Chicago. I am interested in beginning a conversation about art from the South. While many Southern artists receive national and international recognition, many remain underrepresented in terms of prevalence and prominence. An exhibition such as this is an opportunity to see two artistic voices that are examples of the fine art being produced in Nashville, TN. Martin and Jackson do not represent the whole of art from the south. In fact there is no single narrative of southern art, but these artists are significant contributors to the fabric of the rich, diverse art being produced. Martin and Jackson create skilled, imaginative artworks with eclectic color and form and whose subjects and details provoke contemplative moments.