REVOLUTION: To Revolt or Revolve?

Detail of Wave painting by MB Boissonnault

I have been thinking about revolution and what it means to an artist. The word is loaded with meaning - to revolt or to revolve? It also contains the word 'evolution'. So the question arises in my mind, are we really tearing down the status quo and forging new paths in art, or are we simply evolving and revolving around the same concepts as we always have?

For me this is a personal and philosophical question that can be directly applied to my art. To dispense with the rigid and rule based in favor of exploring and rebelling to create new work. But we can see that revolution within society also creates strong ripples in the art community. As the collective intuitive of the group of artists turns its attention to the tide of new thinking they incorporate these ideas into their work, knowingly or unknowingly.

Many feel that artists are the canary in the coal mine – the first to notice and say what others are too afraid to voice. The first to feel the change and not be able to repress their reaction to it. Recently a local show went up in Ojai called Water Works II. The show had been formulated far in advance of the recent drought in California but what was surprising was how many artists were looking at water as a subject to explore.

When artists pull the collective attention to a dire issue they facilitate the evolution/revolution of the conversation and ideas by giving it a visual focus. It is the horrible/beautiful that art can be, such as Delacroix and his view of the the bloody and violent French Revolution, that stands the test of time once all the revolutionary rhetoric has faded away.

Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix

There is an old saying, "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." By arming ourselves with the knowledge of the past we promote a revolution in ideas, but the lack of knowledge dooms us to another revolution around the same path of history as before. 

Good Beginnings and Good Endings

Convergence, Jackson Pollock, 1952

When I start a painting, I want to lay down a great base to work from but when I finish a painting, I want to recognize the perfect moment when I should walk away from the canvas. It is similar to a love affair – in the beginning; you are on your perfect behavior, trying to create a great impression for your lover. As the affair starts to lose steam, you still remember when everything was a beautiful event making it difficult to recognize the moment to say enough and walk away. You don’t want to destroy the gorgeous memories you have already made with one bad memory of the end. Beautiful beginnings leading to graceful endings are the ideal.

The start and the finish are the big moments in life and in art – everything else is just getting to or from one of those points. The ability to see these two moments is what separates the experienced artist from the student. Looking at the Jackson Pollock painting above, you have to ask yourself how he knew when to stop. How did he know when he had the perfect amount of paint on the canvas? Yet some artists never see an ending - Claude Monet was rumored to travel to museums with a small paint set in his coat and when visiting one of his paintings, he would pull out the set and touch up his work. I suppose you could call that a series of revised small endings.

There is energy in life and art imitates it through process. Embarking upon the journey starts with the first step (to paraphrase the famous Chinese proverb.) Ending the journey requires either knowing where you are headed or at the very least, recognizing it when you arrive.

So here is to the journey, which starts with the energetic and hopeful first step but ends with an elegant final step and a look backward to view the progress that was made.

I Don't Do Crafts

This is the only craft project I have ever completed - a shadowbox for my daughter's six grade graduation. 

The only reason I did it was because I didn't want my kid to be the one with the parent that didn't do one! 

I don't do crafts. As a result of not having the "craft gene" I feel guilty and worthless at this time of year. This was amplified when my daughter was young and there were certain parents (yes, even some fathers are more crafty that I) who would wow everyone with homemade cards, beautiful decorated cookies, stunning holiday tables, or scarves and baby blankets they had been knitting for months in trendy Italian yarn. I would look at the onslaught of creativity and wonder what was wrong with me? After all - I am an artist, trained in my artform, good with my hands - why wasn't I crafty?

Even my daughter seemed to value the crafty moms and wanted to hang out with them. The jewelry designing moms were a particular hit. The extent of my craftiness was merely an extension of my work – I would draw her notes to go home with a friend for a playdate - that was my big claim to fame. Why couldn't I have built a "Rube Goldbergesque" sculpture that moved little dolls, representing my daughter and her friends, from one room to another via a complex system of pulleys and tinker toys? Maybe my expectations got in the way? You think? But as my daughter grew older I found myself wishing I was motivated to make a wreath for the front door, or custom holiday cards. Then I woke up!

It is unfair for me to think that I should have been expected to apply my art skills to the tasks of decorating my life during the holidays. Some people do it seamlessly but not I! Within the last year I have been experiencing what is commonly known as an "empty nest" with my girl in college. She doesn't come home for Thanksgiving and now all I want to do on that day is something nice for someone else, get Chinese, curl up and watch a movie. The last year has been a process of getting to know myself as an artist all over again. I have realized that there are a lot of reasons why I am not crafty.

For some people crafting items that bring their family and friends joy is an active expression of community. I too love to express respect for my family, friends and neighbors but even my wedding was potluck! Why because in the case of my wedding it was the action, the internal dialog, and the moment that mattered to me. It is maybe the same reason I hated taking photographs for years because I didn't want the camera between me and the moment. That has since changed with my iPhone. Now I take so many pictures they are clogging up my digital memory but I still don't upload them to a crafty photo Christmas card that I would order online.

This attitude could go back to childhood when my mother, a true hostess by all standards, would have a mini breakdown before every holiday gathering in her quest to have everything perfect. My mother was so detail oriented she even special ordered smaller hot dog buns for our childhood birthday parties. As an adult I truly appreciate the hardwork she put into Christmas morning and the kid parties but all I remember is her being frazzled and frantic.

In true daughterly fashion I have rebelled by keeping it simple and redirecting my "crafty" tendencies to my illustration projects or my magazine. With that in mind – my daughter will probably be the Martha Stewart of her neighborhood, delighting her own children with the perfect knitted holiday sweaters, made from really cool Italian yarn, and lament in her own blog about how I never did crafts for the holidays when she was young.

If I Only Had a Brain

 Ray Bolger sings "If I Only Had a Brain" in the 1939 classic movie, "Wizard of Oz".

 

“I could think of things I’ve never thought before and then I’d sit

  and think some more.”

Thinking is important to our development as a culture – thinking creatively is vital.

CCI – the acronym for "Cultural and Creative Industries" and the idea that new economies are about selling ideas while the old industrial production model would be selling things. America was an industrial production leader for many decades ushered in with the vision of Henry Ford. In 2013 are we being left in the dust because of our archaic notions about our educational infrastructure? It's Brawn Power vs. Brain Power.

I am thinking specifically about education. We have been slow to adopt new ideas therefore a large portion of our society has been left behind - but not in the way the "no child left behind" legislation of the Bush administration would have suggested. Our population is being left behind as other industrialized nations move from production oriented industries to Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI).

For a country to be competitive in design and creative thinking education is a vital element and yet the US is still experimenting with systems and undervaluing the field as a whole. Finland is a good case study of a country that has successfully refocused itself from being an industrial production economy to a growing CCI economy. Even though it is a smaller country than the US, without significant ethnicity and/or religious confilict it is a current example of what can be right in an educational system.

Investment in Education: Forty years ago, the Finnish government decided the path to economic recovery would involve a stronger educational system. They implemented stringent teacher-training guidelines requiring every teacher must have a fifth year master's degree and teacher training school. Consequently, their teachers are pulled from the top ten percentile of students in the country and given the same status as a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. 

The status and value put upon the teaching profession not only encourages the best and brightest to become educators but also sends a message to society as a whole that thinking and training are valued. Since Finnish teachers are given autonomy in the classroom and encouraged to develop new educational thinking the education system again reinforces the idea that they are a society that values creative innovation and respects the abilities of its professionals.

In contrast, you have the American education system, which closely monitors the curriculum, teaches to the test, overvalues test taking, and is straddled with economic burdens which makes it difficult to implement new ideas. The American system currently ushers untrained teachers, fresh out of college straight into the classroom in an effort to keep the schools functioning but not necessarily flourishing. This is a corporate model for education, which is an extension of the old idea of a production-based economy. 

The production-based model measures quantitatively the effects of education upon its product (i.e. the student), rather than the development of creative thinking and successful problem solving. It is one of the contributing factors to why our younger population is at odds with the current culture. Their world is a fast moving, tech based, economy that they need flexible thinking skills to survive but instead they are being handed a group of archaic skills that are only good for following orders and producing product – the old industrial model. This style of education is producing an indefinable, widespread anxiety among young adults as they emerge into the work world.

Technology: The second element in the development of a CCI economy is technological development and wide spread access to the Internet, which in turn provides the knowledge and content to create new products. There have been several Congressional bills over the last few years that would have effectively put the control of the Internet into the hands of the service providers. Fortunately, these bills were defeated but had they been passed the United States would have set itself back several years in technological development – perhaps a move from which we might never have recovered. In a recent development and with tremendous foresight, major universities are putting their curriculum and some classes online for public access. The idea to socialize education is good for society as a whole and with regard to the development of a CCI economy, universal Internet access is the key to facilitating that. 

Once again, I look at Finland as the successful experiment – the Ministry of Education and Culture launched the “Development Programme for Business Growth and Internationalization of Creative Industries 2007-2013.” The idea that technology, education, and the creative ingenuity of their population could significantly increase the bottom line of their GNP was forward thinking and proved the right move to make.

Functional Social Structure: The third and most difficult hurdle for the US to overcome is to create a functional social structure. This idea can be examined on a micro level to gain insight as to how it impacts us as a nation on a macro level. For example: if the parents in a divorced family are antagonistic towards each other the children can suffer intellectually because they focusing upon coping with their emotional response to a fractured social structure. However, if the divorce is supportive, with open lines of communication and tolerance for differences the children can thrive intellectually and feel less need to focus their energy upon solving the emotional issues. Of course, this is simplistic but it is meant to show the importance of pulling together as a nation rather than against each other. 

Currently our social structure is deeply divided which is starkly illustrated during each national election as the population divides into red and blue states. There are religious, social, economic, and racial differences that pull us apart and cause our focus to shift from the fundamentals of pulling together. Using Finland as an example in this case is where we part company completely. Finland, and many smaller European countries, although they can have problems with religious and ethnic antagonism, have smaller populations of people to influence when shifting their country into a CCI economy. This could single-handedly be the biggest hurdle the US faces today. While adversity can often lead to startling leaps in creativity from individuals, it is when a country pulls together that you see world leadership born. In the current world economy many countries come to mind that could be potential candidates for that honor but the US is not one of the stronger contenders.

With our uneducated, reality TV based culture, we have turned our backs on our greatest export – the creative intelligence and ingenuity of our people. The promotion of a creative economy needs to become a concept that is understood by the individual American and something they are committed to with foresight and intelligence. If we understand that, the model of what we are educating ourselves for will shift from "how to build things," to "how to think of things" and we would begin to heal our social structure and legislate creativity into our government. 

These are utopian ideas but we are seeking answers. This article was inspired by one column on how charter schools are using young teachers in a transient manner to fill the leadership roles in our classrooms. This seems symptomatic of our band-aid approach to our future as a nation. This idea as well as many of our "knee-jerk" emotional short-term responses to long term issues will have the same effect that fast food had on America – it will satisfy an immediate need but ultimately it will be unhealthy for all of us.

Art + Message = Change

 

Political posters, like the ones shown, often have a clear message to be brave, to speak out, to have hope, "We can do it!" or in the case of the United Farm Workers grape boycott, "Si se puede!" These posters were effective calls for reform and revolution.

Recently I have been drafting a call for art submissions, on behalf of 3.1 Venice magazine, for a poster project revolving around the idea of non-violence as activism. It is part of a much bigger editorial mission to provide possibilities to promote peace on a local level.

During the course of writing the submission guidelines I realized that the artist's statement - the thinking behind the imagery will be almost as important as the image itself. I wanted to address the recent violent events in Boston and (closer to home) Santa Monica, California with images that reinforce the desire to live peaceably.

I researched images that had a significant impact upon our culture - images that we used as a rallying point - images that create change because they are so compelling people share them willingly. The saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words," is accurate when promoting a desire for change. Sometimes more can be said with one well designed political poster than a thousand word editorial. Art allows for a fluid exchange of ideas on a conscious and subconscious level.

While thinking about the series of articles for the next issue of 3.1 Venice, I began to see the symbiotic relationship between art and activism. The public seemed numb to the recent shootings at Santa Monica College with my friends and colleagues barely posting comment about it. But what could we say that hadn't been said? What change could we effect by talking about it? Which lead me to think - how do we empower ourselves?

The images of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and more recently Occupy Wall Street creating social change through non-violence was a goal, an ideal. I don't pretend to have the answers but art is a powerful tool to create awareness and perhaps rally people to action - if you display a poster that is so compelling, so beautifully designed, so brave, so intelligent that you can't help but speak about it, post it and share it then, that art has become a catalyst for change.

This is certainly not a new idea - it is just a good idea. We are a society in crisis and the average person wants to find their voice, they want to create positive change, they want to live in a peaceful world. We simply have different ideas about how to achieve that. But if the teachings of the great leaders of the non-violent protests have shown us anything it is that answering violence with repression or more violence only perpetuates a cycle of destruction. We need to change our thinking – to do that, we may need to be still for a moment and take in the inspired thinking of an artist with a message.

The Collective Consciousness of "I"

 

3.1 Venice magazine – cover art  ©  Taylor Barnes 2013

I had a dream. I actually had an epiphany. I had a moment. Maybe a moment of insanity! But I did it. I started a magazine.  3.1 Venice was born May 30th, 2013 – weighing in at 60 pages and measuring 8.5" x 10.5".

I can use "I" with a sense of humility because I was the instrument for the idea. Much like giving birth to my daughter - I have a sense of bringing her into the world and having guardianship over her but what happened after that was her destiny, not mine.  

I just happened to have the skill set the universe required and it used me to get the word out. But the idea came through me like a Japanese bullet train. Four weeks ago it was a conversation at the local coffee shop, a statement of conviction, "I am starting a magazine." Four weeks ago, it was an impulsively bought domain name, 3point1-venice.com and a temporary web site proclaiming an arbitrary release date of May 25th. There was no particular reason for that date (and I missed it by five days) except to proclaim to the world that "I" was starting a magazine.

But the power of conviction is what convinced me that my little village of Venice Beach, California, was interesting enough to warrant a magazine – after all, there had been two before me. The publication and the website came fully realized and in four short weeks the universe ushered to my door everyone and everthing I would need to make this a reality. 

The theme of the first issue revealed itself very quickly and it certainly was not what I would have thought if you asked me at the beginning of this journey. The very first interview, with a wonderful urban farmer, Matt Van Diepen, led to an entire issue built around the farm-to-table movement here in Venice. Each story lead to another and the discovery of the people who make our community unique. We have musician Finian Makepeace talking about Mycorrihzal Fungi and his dreams for a community garden, a profile on the modern ukulele band The Ooks of Hazzard, and a piece about Chance Foreman's film, One Day in Venice. There are other stories – The Learning Garden and the Seed Library, and interviews, art, video, photography. Everybody had something to say! All of these stories emanated from the 3.1 square miles we call Venice.

But it's the design process that was affirmed and revealed during the creation of this publication. The idea that I could be so deeply involved with the subject matter, that I could have a vision and be the guardian of it was a renewed experience. I have been here before but it has been awhile and I'd forgotten how intoxicating it can be. This project was a joyful coming together of all my skills in one place. Today, three days post launch, I am exhausted from all the joy.

I found myself in the middle of a process of collaboration, discovery, invention and communication that was energizing and inspiring and I am reminded why I love publication design so much. There is a bit of withdrawl now because it is a heady experience to bring something to fruition that was just a dream four weeks ago. But every time I look at the sixty pages of original content and the list of talented contributors, I am in awe of how creative humans can come together to build something more powerful than the singularity of it's parts.

Even though I started this post with references to "I", "I", "I" – I am ending this post as the collective "I." Think of the Borg of the Star Trek series. They were individuals all tuned into one mind – this is the "I" I am referring to. Collective Consciousness driving many people towards one binding mission. In this instance it was to create, even for a moment, a sense of community and awareness that you are not alone in the world. "I" is also "eye" when spoken, so the use of "I" with reference to a magazine could be interpreted as "I see."

View the first issue of 3.1 Venice at issuu.com

Venice is Becoming Beige

BEFORE AND AFTER

The Laughing Buddha is gone.

The loss of this mural is emblematic of a greater wrong being done to the community of Venice. 

People move here because we have a rich street culture, infused with creativity and bubbling with anarchistic energy. Venice was once home to a cultural revolution, dog town, street performers and famous the world over for it's unique artistic inspiration. We had live jazz, amazing chalk art on Abbot Kinney, nude poetry readings at a local coffee shop, bikers and surfers side by side... and artists. 

The artists made this community – they defined it with their murals, their clothes, their music. People were attracted to their world and wanted to feel a part of the rare, incandescent creative climate – they moved here in droves hoping it would rub off on them. 

Many of the newly transplanted "investors" were not comfortable living with the slightly unpolished and unpredictable nature of Venice and decided to change it into something more palatable and less discomforting. In the process, they impacted the visual culture of the city. Similar to when an animal goes extinct in an environment and that ecosystem is changed forever - changing the landscape and not encouraging our urban artists is forever changing our "artistic ecosystem."

We are becoming beige - witnessed by the "after" photo above. Venice has never been beige!

Other cities hold their street art in high esteem – London, Paris, Buenos Aires, San Paolo to name a few. The art can exist side by side with great buildings of other eras. The streets are a fertile ground to grow the next generation of artists and history has shown that many make the jump from street to museum – Toulouse Lautrec or Banksy, just two examples.

Artists are the "cultural caribou" of the world – wandering from site to site – creating a community were there was none – and moving on when the environment no longer feeds their needs. Venice was that place but judging by how easily the Buddha was wiped from the world, with the stroke of a beige paintbrush, artists can easily be disrespected and forgotten. Venice is a fragile artistic ecosystem.

I wonder what the world would be like, if someone thought the Sistine Chapel would be cleaner and more modern with a coat of beige paint and they got rid of that busy and outdated ceiling mural? 

I Don't Know Where I am Going...

I Don't Know Where I am Going... ©Taylor Barnes

This piece is exploring the idea of weightlessness, both emotionally and physically. Titled, "I Don't Know Where I am Going," it is a response to moments when we are carried into unexpected directions, we can't see the way, we feel disoriented, and there is a loss of control — it is not always a bad place to be. The element of air and a sense of openness is prevalent in these recent pieces. Don't we all crave a feeling of freedom and possibility? A sense of "where will I land next?" Savor the moments when routine is challenged, because tremendous inner growth is often the reward. I have a feeling this theme will reoccur over a few more pieces.

Goddess of Freedom

Broken ©Taylor Barnes

Personal work is always so interesting. You never know what may emerge from the inner depths of your mind. Recently I took a friend up on the idea of participating in a guided meditation for 21 days. I was certain I would never follow through and if I did I would find it impossible to sit still.

To my surprise I have become addicted to the stillness. The imagery that I see during these moments has been rather self-revelatory. The idea of floating has been dominating my inner thoughts. Floating has so many correlations emotionally that I can't even begin to define what this means to me. So rather than write about it I have decided to do some illustrations around the concept of floating and weightlessness.

This one is about breaking free of the constraints of the material world. Hope and gratitude are also present on the journey. I call her a goddess because she is demonstrating my higher self in it's finer moments.

Selfless Portraits - Altruistic Art in the Facebook Era

Selfless Portrait by Taylor Barnes

Recently, I came across an article about a new Facebook app, Selfless Portraits. The idea is to create spontaneous, hand-made art based upon the prompt of a Facebook profile photo. In return someone will create a piece based upon your photo. It is anonymous and random which, is very appealing to me.

An artistic challenge - no matter how it is posed - can reinvigorate our commitment to our craft and help us the hone our creative decision making skills as an artist. I can honestly say that how I chose to approach such an open ended project surprised me.

As I reflect upon my process, twenty-four hours later, I feel that this public art experiment was a wonderful, private moment shared by my mind, my hand and my instinct.

As I approached this sketch I had planned to go with color and at the last minute decided I wanted to work in pencil. Color was the natural first choice because of the vibrant tulips but once I made the decision to go black and white I was primarily working with shape, line and shadow. If this was going to be interesting then those elements had better be compelling.

I started with light shading but quickly realized that the man in the photo was more interesting than the tulips he was holding. - His hands carried all the character - full of expression and life, they became the portrait.

The face is barely there as an anchor. The piece built from the foreground to the background. And then I was left with the tulips.

I love to draw flowers and struggled with the idea of making the tulips the only color or at least rendering them. But it was their shape, bisecting the man's face and casting shadows that was far more interesting than the eye-catching color. The shape was the designer's choice. I created an added element that could only have worked in black and white.

When I finished I realized that this exercise in a quick portrait of a perfect stranger had opened up the process and showed me a little more of how my artist's mind works to solve a creative challenge. Patience, the willingness to give yourself over to the challenge one moment at a time, the spontaneity of changing gears when an new creative opportunity offers itself are the elements of process.

I suppose some would call this artistic growth... I call it fun!

The End of the World and Angel Visits

Egyptian Angel by Taylor Barnes @ 2010

Of course I have to pose this question now. I tried to avoid it. I tried to ignore it. I tried to discount it. Then today, while getting my morning coffee from the local coffee shop, this is the conversation I overheard:

Young, cute, 20-something girl talking to scruffy bearded 20-something guy:
"I plan to spend the last week of my life in church praying all day. Do you want to come? There is plenty of room in God's house."

Guy: "Nah. If that's gonna be my last week on earth I plan to spend it somewhere in the dessert trippin' my balls off."

This little snippet of conversation got me to thinking about the very thing that I did not want to think about before my first cup of coffee - immortality and our very existence. Lately it seems my world is a confluence of strange spiritual concepts. There is the idea of spiritual self-determination, that my every thought manifests my reality. There is the idea of the universe and it's omnipotent power over all of us and that has a sense of fatalism to it. And then there are angels...

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I would mind if she sent some angels to visit me. I felt like it was a strange concept to wrap my head around but at the same time I have had some profound spiritual events in my life that maybe could only be attributed to the actions of angels... so why not? It seems the angels have a very precise schedule, they travel for 5 days and stay for 5 days. So mine are not due to arrive for a few more days. But I am anticipating this event on several levels.

The days my angels will visit is roughly the week before the world ends. Hmmm - seems advantageous but not the point to focus on. This visit has also caused me to examine intent. Is the power of our intention, focused as a group, so powerful that it can manifest our reality? What does that say about the end of the world? An entire planet of people anticipating and visualizing the end of the world. Meanwhile I have my angels visiting. Talk about a conflict of ideas.

My angels are supposed to give me hope and guidance. I am supposed to make three wishes and let the angels help to manifest them. This is a big responsibility. Remember the fairy tales and the people who squandered their three wishes? I certainly do not want to end up with unexpected consequences to my selfish motives! How I could not wish for the saving of the planet? And what else could I possibly wish for on a personal level that would be so important? A new car, or a trip to Italy seem trivial in comparison to saving the world. I want to be selfish and throw caution to the wind by saying the world will be just fine and we will all wake up on December 22nd to a bright and shiny world. No matter how I rationalize it I still have this idea looming over me... the end of the world.

Intent is everything. So in my quest to come up with the perfect wishes I've come back to intent. The couple in the conversation above represent two perspectives on the end of the world; one is intent upon saving their soul and the other is intent upon living in the moment. Both perspectives are valid to the individual.

Isn't this the energy that art is created from?

My intent is that life thrive and continue every time I pick up a paintbrush. I am hopeful that an audience will be there to appreciate the work when it is finished. My wish is that we love and live well and not at the cost of the planet or others. So I would say, if the angels can manage this, some enlightenment for humanity and a new car for me (preferably one that is not harmful to the environment) would be nice.

Libra the Balancing Act

Libra design available on zazzle.com (©Taylor Barnes 2010)

Today was the autumnal equinox and the beginning of the astrological sign of Libra. The equinox is one of two times in the year when the day and the night are of equal length and Libra represents the sign of balance. So it seems fitting to reflect at this moment on balance in design and life.

As artists we strive for balance in our work. We try to create a visual that is weighted equally between many elements (type, illustration, color, etc.) and allow the viewer to take in the whole message without distraction. But there is the opposite end of the spectrum – that rare designer that can take chaos and orchestrate it so artfully that it is a delight to feel "off-balance."

But if you dig deeper the working artist also needs balance in the home and studio. Emotional distraction (such as my daughter just now walking into the room to yell "hi" to me as I am writing this blog post) or financial imbalance can retard the creative process. 

I once knew an artist who taught me this lesson (ironically he was born under the sign of Libra.) I noticed that although he worked a full time job he was very productive in the studio and always showing his work. I asked him what his secret was and he said that he had simplified every other area of his life so that the most complicated thinking happened when he was making art. He had five white button down shirts, five pairs of jeans, he ate the same lunch every day, and kept to this routine no matter how boring it might seem. But he produced a lot of work and seemed very happy.

I tried this for myself and found I did get more done. I have also discovered that whenever I give in to my caprices and let go of structure I get nothing done creatively. I end up "giving away" my creativity to my teaching, my child or my clients. In the end I am disappointed, out of whack and want to get back to center artistically. My survival instinct as a creative will kick in and cause me to do something to correct the situation but that causes a new imbalance as well.

Balance – the equinox of ebb and flow of ideas, money, love and harmony in one's life. That is the goal. However... that being said, it is the chaotic times that have produced some of the greatest inspiration in my life. Being human is not easy!

Nothing up my sleeve...

I have been having fun in the studio for the last few days. The process of creating and exploring new ideas is positively magical. I entered full of angst and worry, and I emerged…well I emerged!

Below is a new design I did for a t-shirt. The message is my friend's but I think it is so appropriate for the times. I am about to put the finishing touches on my new line of products and what is driving me is my belief in myself. To everyone who has a dream –

 

copyright Taylor Barnes © 2010

Muffins as Art

Visit Muffin Films by Amy Winfrey to watch all of these dark and witty little animations.

I am including one of my favorite websites to visit for a little humor. The site is old (2000) and the flash animation is simplistic but it is the IDEAS behind these little films that are so engaging.

In the classic fashion of Eward Gorey's cartoons (1925-2000), or the Addams Family by Charles Addams (1938-1998), Muffin Films perpetuates the innocent images of muffins in a very sinister manner.

The muffin seems be to the stepchild of the currently more popular cupcake (see the MadFadder.) But maybe Muffin Films can help reprise the popularity of the lowly muffin! That can be the power of art in popular culture.

I hope you are intrigued - one more note - once you watch these films you may think twice before you bite into a big delicious muffin!

Bruce Lee - an artist

This is a very rare interview with Bruce Lee - a brilliant actor, philosopher and founder of the founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement. He died too soon and today marks 37 years since his passing. If you don't know who he is start by watching "Enter the Dragon," the movie he is probably most famous for in America. He influenced an entire generation of Chinese action heroes and still none of them could quite capture his humor, intelligence and sheer force.

Why am I devoting a post to a man who practiced Kung Fu on a blog about design? Bruce Lee illustrates that art has no boundries in its expression. Kung Fu was his art and he practiced it with the same grace and devotion as a painter or a musician. To watch him in action is to be inspired to do better with your own work. To strive a little harder.

Bruce Lee was known to be very dedicated to the training of his body. His body was his canvas. When you watch this video pay attention to how fast his hands and legs move. The camera can not catch the motion - it is a blur. In the 60s and 70s his artistry inspired boys (and some girls) all over the world to take up Chinese martial arts.

He was a brilliant flash on earth but his legacy lives on.

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E

The "E" bothers you, doesn't it? It is incongruous to the meaning of the word structure. The word feels as if it can't stand on its own. As you read down the letters you expect a certain symmetry to follow the function of the word.

I picked this photo of the Paris airport because of the structure. Everything in the photo is composed based on the architect's vision. As I was looking at this picture I was thinking of the need for structure in our lives. Our moral structure, our societal or governmental structure, our personal structure that we impose on our lives. It occurred to me that in design we start with structure but some of the more challenging designers then break from the the obvious formulas or expectations. Designers like Tibor Kalman or David Carson made entire careers out of breaking the rules.

The question to ask is when is the right time to break the rules and mess up the structure. Obviously not by moving the "E" off the bottom of the word. Even that could have worked if I had used a very stressed font that already felt "unstable." Then the off-balance "E" would have been expected or almost anticipated.

The second part to the question of structure is how do we break the design to make it even stronger than before? I know there are no easy answers to this question but I would say that many new inspiring new ideas are born out of instinct, rebellion and experimentation.

But in the act of breaking the structure it still needs to be respected. Order needs to be formed even within visual chaos. It can happen by the chance of colors grouping in not so arbitrary ways, or scale being used to define space and then the chaos is laid upon it. However we choose to risk breaking the structure we alway have to offer the viewer a new way to see that creates a new order in their thinking.

But the truth is that even in breaking the rules the most rebellious designers often become predictable for the particular set of rules that create the structure to their individual look - and they become imitated. Eventually their rules become the rules to be broken. Structure prevails in the end because of the human need for order.

Venice Beach - seductive and inspiring

graffiti on a store window in Venice Beach

You may not see what I see in this photo but it is inspiring to me. The play of texture, the white accent of the type, the natural grid formed by the window; it is the type of street art that goes into your subconscious mind and creates a library to pull from later as a designer.

I have watched Venice Beach change along with the rest of the world but there is something different - something resistant to change in this community. It has a "spiritual vortex." Every time I think development is going to smother the spirit of this unique place it rebounds and shows its funky side again. The weather brings out the performers on the boardwalk. The election brings out the aging hippie political reformers. The close-knit community brings out the grass-roots publishers and organizations.

In a sense this is a barometer for that old saying "the more things change the more they remain the same." As the world of design zips along with one technological breakthrough after another the basics never go away. We still need to get our ideas across in the most succinct manner possible. As designers we have to make color and font choices but we also need to keep our spirit. That is what makes us unique and our work worth looking at.

I wrote "dare to be square" as I reflected on this indomitable spirit of Venice Beach. This place inspires me because it takes on the new, integrates it with the old and creates a fascinating hybrid. That is my personal goal... to be a 'fascinating hybrid.'

Venice is covered with outdoor art; stencil art on the sidewalks, graffiti, wall murals, tagging, sculpture and if you count the street musicians and outdoor painters it is almost too much to take in. The rules get broken here because there is no monetary reward for what the artist is doing. It is simply a pure expression of their "spirit." But if you look closely street art has the roots of all other great art movements at its core. Social expression.

If I had a nickel for every client who came to me and said "I want an edgier look" I would be very wealthy now. But edgy changes and is not easily defined - until you look at the art people are creating on the street, then you see it. The best of these cutting edge ideas will later make it into the lexicon of modern design.

But to translate those ideas and make them work for the larger public you need to "dare to be square." The basics of good design make those gritty street ideas work for the rest of the world.
'Daring to be square' is the method by which one becomes a fascinating hybrid.