Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Neat Stuff’ Category

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!: So Cal Edition

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , , , on September 25, 2014| 8 Comments »

Art on Tap Class at Claremont Craft Ales

Art on Tap Class at Claremont Craft Ales

Sometimes your work physically goes to far distant places, such as those paintings that have went to embassies in Nepal, Uganda and Kuwait that  I wrote about yesterday.  But sometimes your work travels in ways that you can’t predict.

An online acquaintance forwarded the above image to me yesterday.  It was a strange sensation, seeing this mass of what looked to be 25 of my paintings looking out at me.  It took me a few seconds to figure out that I was looking at an art class that had reproduced one of my paintings.

Doing a little research, I discovered that this was an event called Art on Tap that is operated by Otterspace Arts in Claremont, California, east of Los Angeles.  Every several weeks, they hold this event at a local microbrewery, Claremont Craft Ales, where all attendees are instructed in how to paint works that have been selected by online voting.  They have recently chosen to make copies of paintings from Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keefe, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.  And me.

Even though I am pretty sure most of those in attendance had never heard of me or my work  before, I was still really flattered by this.  I know that this has taken place on a more local level, at kids classes in my area and one for adults at an Arts Council in the Finger Lakes, but it was gratifying to see my work’s imagery moving outward in this way.  I recognized at an early stage in this journey that creating images that are instantly recognizable as yours is one of the most important , and most difficult, steps in establishing yourself as an artist.  And seeing this photo made me think I was almost there.

I also liked their Facebook ads for the event.  I would like to think that there is a Sasquatch somewhere enjoying my work.  At the bottom is the original image.  I hope they enjoyed painting this painting and hope that it hangs with pride in their homes.

Claremont CA Art on Tap Otterspace adClaremont Original GC Myers Image

Read Full Post »

Nobumichi Asai and Projection Mapping

Posted in Neat Stuff, Video, tagged , , , , on August 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I recently came across the work of Japanese digital artist Nobumichi Asai, who is a master of the art of projected illusion.  Much of his work is done on a grand scale, seemingly transforming a location  through time and space such as the Yokohama Odyssey , which can be seen in the bottom video here.  In it he takes an audience seated in an the basin of an old dockyard and takes them through time to old Yokohama and much more.  Even on film it is quite stunning.  I can’t imagine what the effect must be in person.

But just as stunning is his work on  a much smaller scale.  In the top video below, he transforms a models face with a sort of digital makeup, all just a projected illusion.  The model is free to move her head as the projectors compensate seamlessly through a process called Omote Real Time Tracking.  It’s a pretty stunning transformation and I can see this expanding onto the stage to allow for incredible effects on live performers.  It’s an art that is technologically and aesthetically in polar opposition to what I do but it is remarkable and potentially beautiful nonetheless.

Take a look below or go to the site of Nobumichi Asai to see more of his work.

OMOTE / REAL-TIME FACE TRACKING & PROJECTION MAPPING. from something wonderful on Vimeo.

DOCKYARD 3D PROJECTION MAPPING / YOKOHAMA ODYSSEY from something wonderful on Vimeo.

Read Full Post »

Breaking It Up

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , , on August 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

Jigsaw Planet Resolution Bay GC MyersI had a comment from someone this morning that mentioned a post from a couple of years back about a site that used my images for online jigsaws.  Coincidentally, someone had asked me at the opening of my show about the possibility of using my art on a puzzle and I had told them about this same site. I hadn’t thought of this site for the longest time.

Called Jigsaw Planet, it allows users to upload any image and create an online puzzle that they can work on their computer screen.  They are not as difficult as some of the larger normal puzzles in that the largest puzzle only has 300 pieces but it has its own challenges. Some are broken into angular shards that makes matching the shapes quite a bit more difficult.

Just for fun, I put up several pieces from the Layers show now hanging at the West End Gallery.  Click here or on the image at the top to go to the site. It’s a pleasant little diversion.  By the way, the image at the top is Resolution Bay,shown below.

GC Myers- Resolution Bay 72 sm

Read Full Post »

Gallery Talk at the West End!

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , on August 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Shine Your Light

GC Myers- Shine Your Light

I’ve written a number of times here about giving talks at the different galleries where my work is shown, where I speak for a bit and field questions.  It usually ends up as lively discussion,  like a conversation between friends .

And sometimes there’s a little more, a little extra as a show of my appreciation to those folks there who have supported my work over the years and those who think enough of it to spend an hour or so at the talk.

This coming Saturday, August 9th, I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery in Corning.  And , yes, there is an extra to be had at this talk that starts at 1 PM and runs for about an hour or so.

There will be a drawing for  a painting from my studio along with some other surprises at this Gallery Talk so if you’re in the Corning area this Saturday, please come in to the West End Gallery on Market Street.  Maybe you’ll leave with a painting!

PS– It is not the painting shown here, Shine Your Light, which is part of my show,  Layers , now hanging at the West End.

Read Full Post »

Swinging at the End of the World

Posted in Neat Stuff, Photography, tagged , , , , on August 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Sean Hacker Teper/ National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

Photo by Sean Hacker Teper/ National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

This photo, taken by Sean Hacker Teper, was one of the finalists in the 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.  This photo, taken at the End of the World swing in Banos, Ecuador, captures a man on the swing overlooking an erupting Mt. Tungurahua on February 1st of this year.   Shortly after the photo was taken, the area was evacuated because of an incoming ash cloud.

This photo captured my eye immediately.  It reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish painting with the blue of its sky and the way the sunlight illuminates the spewing ash cloud and the trees in the foreground.   The swinging man’s posture along with the color and airiness give this a sense of whimsy and delight that makes an interesting contrast to the sense of fear and wonder produced by the erupting volcano.

To see the rest of the top photos from this contest, click here.  There are some amazing shots.

Read Full Post »

Another Homer in Cooperstown

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 31, 2014| 2 Comments »

 

Winslow Homer- Watching the Breakers

Winslow Homer- Watching the Breakers

When you say homer in Cooperstown, you would normally think of the Baseball Hall of Fame located there.  But until August 24th, the Fenimore Art Museum has an exhibit of paintings from American master Winslow Homer from the Arkell Museum collection.

We took a quick jaunt out to Cooperstown yesterday to see this exhibit and were pleased with the scope of the show which showed fine examples from all the phases of his career.  It had some of his illustration paintings from the Civil War, seascapes in oil and watercolor and his  light filled tropical watercolors.  It really gave you an idea of how talented he was across mediums and how well he controlled the  light in his work.

My personal favorite was  On the Beach, featured below.  It was panned critically in its time, generally for all the things that make it feel vibrant in a contemporary sense– primarily its almost abstract composition of bands of color.

Japanese Prints at the Fenimore

Japanese Prints at the Fenimore

However, for as much as we liked the Homer show, it was group of Japanese woodblock prints that really caught our eyes.  It hung in the same space that held my 2012 show and it transformed the space completely.  Inspired by the local but widely renowned Glimmerglass Opera‘s production of Madame Butterfly, this group of prints,  some from Hiroshige and Hokusai, shows Japan as it made the transition into modernity at in the latter half of the 19th century.   It’s enlightening and elegant at once.

There is also a fine group of historically based paintings of New York state from painter L.F, Tantillo.  They are extraordinarily detailed and luminous in the way they are painted.  A really unexpected delight as you head down to see the Thaw Collection, the museum’s famous collection of American Indian art masterpieces.

So, if you are in central NY any time soon, I really urge you to take a side trip to Cooperstown.  There’s baseball and great art in one lovely lakeside village.  What more could you ask?

Winslow Homer- On the bEach

Winslow Homer- On the bEach

L.F. Tantillo- Manhattan Sunset

L.F. Tantillo- Manhattan Sunset

Read Full Post »

Cut Rock

Posted in Biographical, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , on July 12, 2014| 4 Comments »

Murrine Glass by Loren StumpI came across this photo of a piece of murrine glass, which is made in long rods that contain patterns that run trough the entire length of the rod.  When the rod is cut at any point it reveals the same pattern.  It is normally done on a small scale that results in small cut discs with colorful patterns that are used in jewelry and in glass paperweights, among other things.  This masterwork of the form, done  by Sacramento-based artist Loren Stump, takes the form to a grand scale with a Renaissance-inspired scene with several full figures and a wonderful dark background that sets off the deep colors.  You can see more of his work at his website, Stumpchuck, or you can take a week long class with him at the nearby Corning Museum of Glass at the end of July.

Seeing this work reminded me of when I worked at the old A&P factory many years ago.  It was a huge building that sprawled over 37 acres that made all sorts of foods.  They claimed it had the capacity to produce enough each day to feed everyone east of the Mississippi.  In my time there,  I worked a number of jobs throughout the plant from  cleaning out the antique looking machines that bagged and sewed the teabags that were filled with tea that came from wooden crates with exotic markings and locales like Ceylon and scouring the inside of huge semolina tanks in the pasta department to making all forms of candy– jelly beans, candy corn, chocolate covered cherries, etc.

One thing I never did was make the rock candy which so reminds me of the murrine glass.   But I really enjoyed seeing them make it.

Cut-Rock-CandyI would often stop while passing through the hard candy department and watch the workers work the masses of glass-like candy on tables with mechanical arms that came in from each side to knead the candy into a ball.  They would then place the mass on heated rollers that would turn the mass into a uniform roll.  They would take these rolls of various colors and arrange them into patterns within one large roll on those same rollers.  They would then hoist the larger roll onto a machine that had telescoping rollers that fed the candy into a machine that stretched it until it was small enough to cut into bite size chinks of candy, like those shown just above.  It was fascinating to watch as were many of the processes there.

It seems like there is little in common between this candy and the work of Mr. Stump, which is shown in more detail below, but it is the same basic principle.  I wonder if you can buy cut rock candy with such an elaborate design?Murrine Glass Detail Loren Stump

Read Full Post »

Brain Doodles

Posted in Influences, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , on June 26, 2014| 2 Comments »

Matisse with chalk drawing of Picasso- Brassai Photo

Matisse with chalk drawing of Picasso- Brassai Photo

There was an article the other day on Brain Pickings that contained some words on inspiration and creativity that Pablo Picasso had passed on to famed photographer Brassai during the many times that he had photographed and interviewed the artist over the course of thirty years.  It’s a short article with only a few points and, more importantly, a link to an earlier article concerning Picasso’s views on success .  Both are interesting articles that I recommend but what caught my eye was a photo  accompanying the first article  of Henri Matisse with a chalk drawing he had done while blindfolded.

It reminded me of an exercise I periodically use where I attempt to draw faces with my eyes tightly closed.  It usually  involves a single line and is pretty rudimentary.  The whole idea is to be able to visualize an image in your mind and  follow it there with your hand, overcoming the disconnect that comes with the closed eyes.  There are moments when the concentration kicks in and I can feel my hand and the image in a sort of harmony.  It’s a nice little brain exercise.

Seeing the Matisse photo made me want to get a chalkboard and try this exercise on a larger scale, where the sweeping motion of the arm and hand might be easier to synchronize with the mind’s image than with the smaller strokes of  pen on paper such as those below, done on  old newsprint with a ballpoint pen.  They are certainly nothing to celebrate but what I am looking for is a certainty in line and curve  as well as a similarity to my own eyes-open doodles. In that aspect, I am pleased.

Give it  a try.  It’s a nice little exercise for your mind…

GC Myers- Blindfold DoodlesThis one below was done slightly larger and with a few minutes of practice.  Both the size and practice improve the image.

 

GC Myers- Blindfold DoodlesTh

Read Full Post »

McElcheran’s Businessman

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , , on June 23, 2014| 6 Comments »

William McElcheran- Che Fa?I used a quote yesterday from William McElcheran, describing him simply as a sculptor.  I thought I should at least give him the benefit of showing some of his work here.  You might recognize his work even though his name might draw a blank.  He described himself as “Canada’s least-known well-known artist” because few people know the artist behind his public sculptures that dot Toronto and many other Canadian cities.  He is best known for The Businessman, a rotund  and haplessly human character that is satirical but not bitingly so.

McElcheran, who lived from 1927 until 1999, had an impressive work ethic  from early on that allowed him to pursue all manners of creative endeavors.  He was a talented draughtsman, painter and sculptor in many different materials as well as a highly accomplished  architect with over 20 churches and public buildings to his credit.  But it was his Businessman that carries his legacy forward.

William McElcheranBeside the obvious humor in his depiction of the Businessman character, I think that they work so well as sculpture because of the lightness and grace of the figures themselves.  There is a wonderful sense of balance in the figures that takes away any sense of heaviness which I think also takes away some of the ironical bite which makes them all the more palatable, especially for daily viewing in public spaces.

So, there is a little something to put with name behind that quote.

William McElcheran- The Pursuer

William McElcheran- The Conversation William McElcheran The Encounter William McElcheran Businessman on a HorseWilliam McElcheran- The Crowd

Read Full Post »

The Overview Effect

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, Photography, tagged , , , , , on June 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

earth-full-view 1972It’s hard to believe that the first time we were able to see the Earth in full-view was a photo taken a little less than 42 years ago, by the the Apollo 17 astronauts in December of 1972.  This Blue Marble  image that changed our view of who we are, allowing us to see ourselves from the outside as a whole,  and became part of our worldview.  It is an image that is so powerful that we immediately absorbed it and it seemed as though it had been with us forever.  Yet it is a relatively young image for us.

From looking down on Earth from space, many astronauts have had an experience that has been called the Overview Effect.  It is a  sense of awe and sudden understanding as they see the relationship of all things on the planet to one another and how little protects us from the harshness of space.  They sense that we are all interconnected and all actions effect the whole.

It is a  mind-altering view.

There is a website called the Daily Overview that has a film  that, with the help of several astronauts, t describes the Overview Effect .  The website also  features striking shots of Earth taken from satellites on a daily basis.   Most of the images are of man’s transformation of the environment , some startling in the way they scar the face of our planet and others with a highly patterned beauty.  I have always been attracted to overviews of the landscape, to take that different perspective, so this is a natural for me.  I believe this is as close to being an astronaut than I will ever be.  Check out their site to see many, many more views.

Daily Overview -boca-raton-florida-from-above-aerial-satellite Daily Overview -brondby-haveby-denmark-from-above-aerial-satellite Daily Overview -central-park-new-york-city-from-above-aerial-satellite Daily Overview vineyards-in-huelva-spain-from-above-aerial-satellite

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »