UMVA Portland Chapter starting!

Portland, Maine is starting up a new Union of Visual Artists of Maine (UMVA) Chapter. See the event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/830346420372528/

A network of artists committed to sharing resources and knowledge to learn, grow and inspire. The meeting is open to the public and will focus on:
Our goal at the meeting will be to:
1. Membership
2. Introduce ourselves and hear what people want UMVA Portland to be and why they are here
3. Planning first art show for April (themes /locations)
4. Planning the first lecture discussion with Robert Shetterly (early Feb)
5. Figure out future meeting times, studio visits, lectures, discussions and growing the group

Perhaps a short screening of Maine Masters Series: Imber's Left Hand (time permitting)

The Pudding Factory Photo Story

Dancing, body painting, art, music all inside a Pudding Factory

This is the photo documentation of my trip from Portland, Maine to Hoboken, New Jersey for a grand art show! It was my first time in New Jersey and this post is dedicated to Shandra Stark, for putting on the show.

3AM, I woke up. Groggy. And with some interesting bed hair. I had a 45 minute walk to the bus station so... I struck a pose

I struck this pose and rushed out the door with a suitcase filled with bearded bunnies.

I took two buses. It took 6 hours. I sat in some very interesting bus stations terminals and took two NYC subway rides. I wandered the streets of New York until finally finding the PATH subway and found my way to Hoboken, New Jersey.

The Pudding Factory was crammed into this business district. Auto shops on one side, band practice happening on the other side. From the outside you would never guess there was anything fun on the inside.

Just peeking up the steps, I knew I was going to like this place. I watched a group of people dismantle a giant indoor trampoline, trying to make room for the bands and a dance floor.


This is River Clark's mannequin. By this time, all the artists and musicians were flooding into the building. I was building the auction room and running errands. I met Ocean Clark, who I managed never to take a photo of somehow. His work is in the background of many of the following photos.

I set up a wall of bearded bunnies above this piano. You cannot really tell from here, but the white spots on the wall are vintage sheet music used as wall paper.

Herra Terra, the band, began setting up.
Artist William Springfield finished up his prints, as the VIP gathering began.
View from the ladder.

Then musician Lyle Divinski sat down and sang some really amazing songs
James McAndrew followed, with a great performance.
People started filling up the VIP section. This is 4 floors below where the bands were going to play.
The view from the street. It is funny to think behind this very unassuming garage door is the biggest green screen in New Jersey. Tonight, it also was home to a bomb art show.
I got to meet these 5 artists, from all across the country. Amazing artists, amazing guys.
Body painter, Kirk Dupuis, showed up to do some black light body painting on model Jessica Mellow.

Herra Terra rocked upstairs, and the glowing hoola hoops made an appearance. I think they broke by the end of the night, or at least were dismantled and spread around the building.
Kirk invited me to jump in and do some painting with him.
I decorated Jessica's back. This is what it looked like before the black light.
Super Volcano was the second band to play. While I missed most of Herra Terra's performance, I was dancing during Super Volcano's killer set.
I noticed the chalk art happening and quickly added a sketch to the ground.

I was in-between carrying artwork up four flights of stairs for the auction portion of the event, so I only had a minute to do anything with the chalk.
Jessica Mellow and the lead singer of SuperVolcano
His face kind of became the torch of Jessica's statue of liberty theme. Kirk, was painting some really interesting things. People took a million photos of these projects while they were happening.
Here is my contribution for the black light body painting. I worked around the peace logo.
Bianca also volunteered to be painted. She had mentioned to me being interested, and Kirk painted her while the bands were performing behind her.

It is always funny how a photo of dancing crowds can often look like a photo of motionless crowds. There was much movement here.
Mark Williams took these great photos, showcasing the finished work.
Again, Mark Williams photo, of Kirk Dupuis bodypainting, on Bianca, and Jessica Mellow

the next morning, slightly hung over, I stumbled back upstairs to find a deserted room. I take a quick photo and rushed out the door to catch my bus back to Portland, Maine. In the end, it felt like a one day dream. So many things happening all at once, sandwiched between 14 hours of busing and subways.

Artist on Twitter!

I am looking to add all artists on twitter. Add me:http://twitter.com/williamhessian
I want to stay in contact with:

painters on twitter
artist on twitter
illustrators on twitter
printmakers on twitter
abstract painters on twitter
ceramic artist on twitter
art galleries on twitter
comic book artists on twitter
experimental artists on twitter
performance artists on twitter

and anyone else that might fit inbetween.
Find me at twitter: http://twitter.com/williamhessian

Leave a comment with your link, so we can add you.

Humble Voice website for artists

If you ever asked yourself, how do i get my traffic to my art blog? I've got the answer, thanks to the blog catalog community. I wrote a topic asking this very question: Any tips for blog promotion?

I got some amazing answers, you can read them all by clicking the link. however, thanks to those smart people I have a list of great links to new sites to check out, sign up for, and to set up profiles for.

The first on my list... the artist website Humble Voice. It took a while to get my profile set up, but it seems like a pretty neat site and you can see my profile on Humble Voice. If you are an artist, musician, poet, or painter Humble Voice seems like a great place to park a profile and link drop.

As I go through all the great advice from the forum post, I will be letting you know where I am appearing all over the internet. If you are curious which 20 websites I have accounts (including my own sites) you can see the complete list on my website contact page. The list will continue to grow.

Earlier this year I posted a blog about the 10 websites all artists should use, and have gotten some great feedback there as well. If you are a new artist, or an old artist looking to bolster your on-line presence, it is the best place to start.

Underground Hidden Art

When ever i get a few minutes, I try to google or flickr search for hidden art. I have a strong affinity for free hidden art projects, as you probably know from the dozen free miniature art hunts I have done the past 48 months.

In my search today, I found two really amazing artists you should all check out. A mixture of hidden art, graffiti art, political art and much more. I was lucky enough to find them and then spent a good amount of time browsing their work.

The first artist is Sammo371, who is creating amazing art and "Take it! It's Yours" projects hiding his art in odd public locations. I find his work to be exactly the type of thing I love, and think the art, the photos and the way in which he performs the act to be really phenomenal. Here is a great photo with a tiny artwork he has left. Make sure to see more of Sammo's guerrilla art projects




Never2501 was the next artist I found, and find his robots really cool. However, his murals on old abandoned structures are simply breathtaking. It was hard picking out which one to use to show you, but this was one of my favorites. Especially since it is gigantic, and really beautiful. Never2501 also is doing many art projects that directly speak to me, and to my interests, with the hidden art, murals, monsters and robots. There is not much more you can ask for in an artist in my book. Make sure to see more of Never's work.




While browsing those two artists, I then stumbled across one of the coolest sites ever: The Wooster Collective. It is just something you need to go browse for yourself. It may be my new homepage.



If you enjoyed this post, make sure to see my ever growing Complete Guide to Hidden Art

10 websites all Minnesota Artists should be using

Starting with the most important, I am going to list the most important websites all Minnesotan artists should be on (this is also applicable for ALL artists, just ignore #1, #3 and #4). The list is important for both new and old artists. Start at the top and go down the list, each one will help you as an artist in the internet age.

1. Mnartists
Every artist from grade school to retired hobbyist should have an account on Mnartists. The website is full of great information on art shows, galleries, grants, articles and much more. You can browse thousands of great local artists, and see what is going on in galleries around you. The forum is one of the best places to talk to other artists and get really great feedback. The other great thing is that anyone who sees your art, meets you or hears about you can visit the website and search your name. If you are signed up they can see your work, and contact you. My mnartist page continues to bring people to my website, and helps many artists I meet at art fairs, and festivals find me if they cant find my business card. If you are going to do anything on this list, sign up for mnartists, and create a good profile (it will take a while, but it is worth it!)

2. Myspace
If you have your own personal website, then myspace can simply be a portal to lead people to your own website. If you dont have a personal website, sign up for myspace, its free and its almost as good as having your own website. I have 2000 friends on my william the canvas killer account and nearly all of them are artists. It's a great place to network and meet other artists from the Twin Cities or around the world. I post all of my art on myspace, and within a few hours can get dozens of people to see my art and give me feedback.

3. Minnesota Arts Board
If you want news and info about grants and scholarships you need to get involved with the Minneapolis Arts Board. You can bookmark it, or read through are start marking up your calender for deadlines and meeting times. If you plan to be a serious artist, start working on your grant writing and proposals. Every great artist I know claims you have to be turned down 20 times before you will get a grant, so start early, and apply often. You will get better each time. I've been turned down 12 so far, so I'm getting closer.

4. Springboard for the Arts
If you are looking for assistance in any way, springboard for the arts (who have a great new website) are there to help. I personally a few of the workers, and have had a great response from them whenever I have had questions or needed advice. I search their site for jobs, grants and also added my artwork to their site. They host business skills for artists classes, and other great tools for artists.

5. Etsy
The artist's Ebay, is Etsy. It is by far the best place to sell artwork online. It costs 20 cents per item listed, and it goes up in your custom shop. I have sold 33 items so far from my shop, and have been very impressed with the site.

6. Craigslist
When I have enough time, I check craigslist everyday. If I need a part-time art job, this is the first place I come. I have found a number of small jobs, art commissions, and new fans on the artists section. I also post all of my art show opening here, and announce when I am selling new art on-line. I know for a fact, 4-5 people have become collectors of mine from craigslist alone. If you do not already use craigslist, simply go there and start looking around. It is a great tool for free materials in the "free" section, or for finding cheap paint that people do not want, or finding other artist to collaborate with. Almost anything you can think of, you can do on craigslist.

7. PayPal
Many people are nervous about getting involved with online money services, since they are rumored to be unsafe. I use paypal from the library, coffee shops and local computers and it has never been a problem for me. All artists, that want to make a good home for themselves online should be using Paypal, because its the best way to accept credit cards, and instant money from art collectors all around the world. The other great thing about paypal, is you can easily set up 'donation' forms, so people can donate money to you. Paypal does take a small percentage of your earnings, but it is still a good option if you want to sell artwork online, advertise online, or buy materials online. Like when I buy all my art materials from Blick Art Materials, my favorite art supplies store.

8. Flickr
This is one of the best free photo sharing websites on the internet. Flickr can be another great portal to get people to see your art and lead them to your mnartist, etsy shop or personal website. You may even find people who want to buy your work just from seeing it on your flickr account. Flickr makes it easy to upload many photos at once, and then allows you to post them all over the internet.

9. Blogger
You do not need to write to be a great blogger. Many artists sign up with Blogger to get a blog to simply post their art. This blog you are reading right now is my own artist blog, and I make a few dollars selling advertising space on the side. If you are an artist who signs up for a blogger account, add me to your friends and we can trade links. You can decide how much time you want to dedicate to a blog, but its very easy to simply sign up and upload your art whenever you have time.

10. www.you.com
Create your own website! I did this a long time ago, so I may not know the easiest way to design and create your own website, but having a blog, myspace and mnartist account will get you started; converting your content to your own website is a great next step. You can see my personal artist website and get an idea of what you might want. I buy my website space from bluehost for about 50 dollars a year, and really enjoy it. Cheaper hosts are available if you search around.

legos, walker, hidden art & american politics

The past few weeks have been a blur of activity. I have been teaching LEGOs to kids in Edina and St. Louis Park schools through the Youth Enrichment League. At the same time I am working a couple of days a week at the Walker Art Center.

I spent last weekend performing my biggest (and actually far too big) art hunt, which was a real struggle to accomplish given the time frame in which I have prepared. However, the Minneapolis Art Hunt was really fantastic and reported over 200 thousand hits to my website. It did not hurt, and was a nice bonus to be featured on the local WCCO news.

During the actual art hunt Matt Semke and myself met in a paint in the park art battle. This was Billy Vs Matt #10: 10 foot poles and an axe! If there was not enough going on this sleepless weekend, we picked up the ten foot poles, tapped on some paint brushes and proceeded to paint pictures from ten feet away at the Steven Square Fall Festival in Minneapolis. The best part was when we randomly chose a member of the audience (who was there to buy baked goods and watch a dog show) to chop up our artwork. See picture below:



The losing artwork was voted on by the passing crowd while we painted. Make sure to read more about our art battle.


The most absurd part of this entire time period has been the stark contrast being doing a million things at once (which includes an overlap of everything going on above) and then being standing in a Walker Art Center gallery for 8 hours with only my mind to keep me occupied. I could write 20 blogs about my experience as a guard monitor at the Walker Art Center so far, and I've only been there a few weeks. The blogs would have more to do with how the center is run, what I think of the artwork, and the crazy ideas that pop into my head during the actual shifts.

The extended period of time in which I am standing in those galleries I am coming up with a million ideas, a million art projects, essay's to write, speeches to give, manifestos to draft, business plans to follow etc etc. It is really a surreal feeling to have so many varying ideas and knowing that I can only follow up with one or two of them at a time.

The reason I am writing this particular post is simply to help myself reorganize the next few weeks of my life, and understand what I am working on. By writing it here, I can also feel productive and be expressing to you what is coming next in the world of William Hessian (aka the canvas killer):

What is next:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

More bearded bunnies
Another batch of new bunnies are being created (currently at 70), and hand drawn variations are being sent around the country in Art-O-Mat vending machines.

100 miniature animals

I have booked a show (of which I hope are many) of my miniature drawings. I have not even started to create these little guys, since it feels like only yesterday I finished drawing the 35 miniature octopi for the minneapolis art hunt. The miniature will be shown in the Jamestown Art Center in or around February 2009.

American Politics
I am all ready to film a very short miniature art video, featuring a series of drawings which I call American Politics. I am hoping to do this in the next two weeks.

Card Game
For those of you that know me, you've probably already played it, and for those of you that follow this blog have probably heard about it. Those that have not can easily learn about it on my live journal.

Printable Mazes
The one other small project I am working on is a series of experimental printable mazes. The idea is to be able to make these mazes free on my website for anyone to download and print off. There will be an initial run of 12 mazes, that will be small and diverse.

The list above along with a growing list of concepts and ideas that I want to accomplish in the future will be a big part of the future of this blog. I will also be featuring other Minneapolis artists, talking about my Walker Art Center experiences, and posting a whole slew of drawings and paintings which I am trying to sell on my etsy shop.

Link Trade for Artists

Part of my interest with this blog is to meet and communicate with other artists. I have met some really cool artist bloggers since I started the Bearded Bunny Art blog. You can see their websites on my link bar on the right side.

If you are an artist, that has a blog to trade links with please e-mail me:

william.

hessian

@gmail.com

Send me your url, name of blog, and add me to your art blog. I will return the favor and add you to my link list. I would also like to make more art friends on all social websites like digg, blog catalog, mybloglog, deviant, artwanted, myspace, facebook, twitter and more. If you currently own any of these networking sites, search for my name (william hessian) and add me to your friends.

To help our artist community I also write blog about other artists and their work/ projects. This helps me learn more about who you are as an artist, and helps me readers get to know new artists. Let's network.

Webcomic interview with Ben Gordon

I interviewed a great Web Comic mind, Ben Gordon. He has a lot of great insight into the world of webcomics! Enjoy the interview!

Q: You seem to have your hand in a lot of great webcomic sites, including writing and creating Lil' Nyet and Scratching Post, and keeping tabs on many more. What exactly have you done, do you do, and where can one see the work?

A: I do two comics in collaboration with my wife, "Pug." Scratchin Post is an old school, funny animal comic, featuring a community where the citizens are dogs, cats, pigs and other animals instead of people. The plot revolves around a daffy Labrador, two quarrelsome Russian cat sisters, a family of poodles and some cats who live in a vacant lot.

Li'l Nyet is a short form humorous satire about the futility of repressing the human spirit. It's set in Russia under the Soviets. Nyet is a demon in the Ministry of Security, and her form suggests a theological angle: that evil cannot prevail against hope. I'm Russian, so this is real fun for me.

Psychedelic Treehouse is a sprawling site full of resources, reference, art galleries, directories and commentary dedicated to web comics. It also has a sizable link list, and the only major directory of comics collectives on the web.

Floating Lightbulb is my web comics blog, updated daily. The name is from the lightbulb that appears over a character's head when he has an idea.

Flavorwhip is a web comics collective Pug and I co-founded with Nathan Castle, who does Seamonster. It's intended to specialize in long-form, color comics. Malachi Sharlow, who does Redmask, is our newest member.

I recently started an experiment: a forum focused on the discussion of web comic promotion. Interested people can contact me at any of my sites for info.

Q: As far as promoting your two main webcomics, what methods do you take? Do you pay for advertising, if so, where? And what is the best method to find readers?

A: The best method for finding readers is to be irresistibly interesting and post updates seven days a week. Of course, that kind of update schedule is impossible for most people, so the next best thing is to have an update schedule and post reliably.

We spent a lot of time jiggering our sites; then, when it was time to promote, we joined EntreCard to get a quick boost. EntreCard owner Graham Langdon had just asked me to help establish a web comic section on his service, so I put my sites there for ballast while I spent a couple of months recruiting others. We picked up some steady readers and got lots of mail and other signs of progress, but in the end we disagreed over the management approach toward a few bad apples who I feel are undermining the site, and I left.

We've started pay ads through Project Wonderful, and we are trying ads on dozens of sites. I got some great advice about starting via Barb Jacobs, who does Xylia, so we won't be newbs for too long.

We also pursue trades. Since Scratchin Post features the cat breed Russian Blues, we contacted Russianblue.org and they put our banner on their site. We promote them at every opportunity.

Free link sites like Belfry are important too. I imagine everyone will want to be on the new ComicSpace site due this summer, unless the design is a flop.

Q: I notice you do not run paid advertising on your webcomics. May I ask why?

A: A few reasons. We were adjusting our site lay-out as we learned, and didn't want to be moving ads around like furniture. We're also wary of how the page will look with ads. We'll try ads on the other sites first, to learn, then maybe copy We the Robots' layout strategy. We want to build traffic enough to make ads worthwhile for people.

Q: Some of my webcomics, if chosen, might include animated gifs, floatover animations, unusual panel size, to help enhance the story. Do you think gimmicks such as these add anything to a webcomic, assuming that they are used effectively?

A: They add page load time and browser SNAFUs! But that doesn't mean that done right, they aren't great. They are all tools of the imagination, but they are not substitutes for it. My personal favorite is a subtle one -- run a mouse over the title of We the Robots.

Q: One of my goals, is to create a webcomic that can in the end of the run, if successful, be turned easily into a publishable print format. Do you feel that is something your webcomics may one day turn into?

A: We are older than many web comics people, and have a background in print books and zines. We've been very careful not to close the door on print by planning format and coloring to accommodate it. If we have a successful comic, we'll print it. The business model can't rely on print, but it must hope for it.

Q: In the grand scheme that is the world of webcomics, what is the hardest thing to make your comic a success? And what tips would you give to me, being somebody that would be trying this for the first time?

A: We must all confront the fact that we will never get the appreciation and respect we deserve. Observers underestimate the work and over-estimate the positive reinforcement from readers.

Consequently, you have to do a comic that you love. You must enjoy doing it, and you must feel affection for the characters. We took several years to develop Scratchin Post -- although Li'l Nyet came together in less than a month.

Remember I'm trying to figure out how to make my own comics successful, and it's frightening, even for a seasoned entrepreneur like me. When I look at the top comics, the majority of them have no soul and are noticeably shallower than the top print indy comics. I can't name more than one or two web comics with 10,000+ readers I admire, though there are some I respect. There is no hard evidence that there is an big audience on the web for my work. I'm counting on finding readers around the globe, and contemplating releasing Li'l Nyet in Russian.

Q: Besides your own, what are your favorite webcomics?

A: In no order: We the Robots, minus, Ugly Girl, Zip and Li'l Bit, Seamonster, Redmask. Probably the most famous one I read is Cyanide and Happiness, but the multiple writers means there are competing visions of the universe, and I see lost opportunities to develop some witty story arcs.

I'm intrigued by a new one called Weird Fishes.

All these comics, including mine, can be subscribed on Piperka.

(end of interview. thanks to Ben Gordon for all his wisdom)

also see the interview Ben Gordon did with me, and vote on which webcomic I should make here.

Web Comic interview!

Ben Gordon, webcomic creator & enthusiast has agreed to do matching interviews with me. Here is his questions and my answers, and soon I will post my questions and his answers. Ben is a part of these websites you should all check out:

Red Menace
Scratching Post
Flavor Whip
Floating Light Blub
Psychedelic Tree House

To the interview:

BG: You're a professional artist, so you know the rough and tumble. From where you stand, how do the opportunities look in web comics today by comparison?


I think online artwork is a very smart thing to do now days. With the ease of Google Adsense and easy adspace selling companies like Project Wonderful it seems like any skill one might have translate into potential success. Webcomics seem to be a great way to tell a story and find an audience.


BG: More people are discovering web comics every day. What was your introduction, and how has your experience progressed?

One of the first things I ever did when I had a computer with internet was find webcomics. I've actually never found one that help my attention longer than a year or so, however I enjoy finding archived runs of webcomics and reading the entire collection. The way webcomics gives a reader instant access to the backlog, makes it a very exciting encounter. If you like this comic.....read it all right now. As webcomics evolve and become more impressive, its nice to get a variety from all over the world, with thousands of stories of subject matters. It is becoming a very monumental way to tell a story.


BG: You recently polled your art blog readers, asking which of eight themes they preferred if you develop a web comic. What was learned?

So far not as much as I would hope. I want to continue to feed my readers and art collectors to this voting process. The vote is partially to convey that I want my audience to feel like they have influence on what I create. It is also a way to get feedback on my ideas, I have a history of getting overly excited about an idea that nobody wants to see. I want to do everything I can to keep that from happening.


BG: When I use page hits, fan voting and awards to identify the most popular web comics, the range in sophistication of those titles is enormous. Looking at the more primitive art styles and mixed writing quality of some of the popular title must make success look easy. Or does it make it look random?

Interesting question. I think each webcomic can appeal to an entirely different crowd. Which is why webcomics have so much potential. You can set up star wars action figures and simply add word bubbles and have a successful webcomic. If you know what audience you are attempting to please, your writing and artwork can vary. I think a lot of people can get lucky, but most comics that are successful seem to know exactly who their are writing for and how to get them to read their work.


BG: One thing I know about success: a really good comic stands a much better chance than one that is just OK. Some comics creators are content to do their strip and aren't expecting to break out. But there are many who are very hungry who are going to fail, and entering the web comic world means breathing in the fumes of desperation. How do you plan to cope?

You mentioned to me the concept of "short form comics". I am not completely familiar with the term, however, I do know that all of my concepts are based around the idea that there is a concrete beginning and end. I have no interest in starting a story that cannot finish in 5 years. I would much rather create a short run, or do a chapter, with no schedule as to when the next chapter may be created. I understand the desperation of simply being an artist, and realize setting small goals is the best way to go. Plus, there is nothing worse than dissapointing your readers.


BG: What web comics catch your eye?

I seem to research webcomics more than i read them recently. I like the way Red Mask looks, being computer generated. I also enjoy the many Battle Chaser-esque fantasy style that a lot of people seem to be creating. I have to admit i feel the writing in most comics are lacking, although i find some of the funniest webcomics and most addictive are typically not very impressive artistically, and thus not eye catching.

BG: Will you share some links to your art?

Indeed. Here is an image i planned to use for the cover of a collection of 4 page graphic novels. This is one of a few sketches for my immortality blog. Also a link to my creature illustrations .

Painting with Ten Foot Poles

Billy Vs Matt 9
Painting with Ten Foot Poles
Labor Room - Adventure Festival
Center for the Independant Artists
Minneapolis, MN
June 6-8th, 2008

Since 2004 artists Matt Semke and William Hessian have been involved in 8
art battles. Battles have included destruction of art, designing free
energy machines, cave man vs dinosaur, paint offs, monster axe battle, and collaboration. The ninth installment at the Center for Independent artists will feature a battle to see which artist can better wield a ten foot paint brush. The two works of art will be voted on by the onlooking crowd, and the painting with the fewest votes will be defaced. No sooner than the work is ruined do the two artists then sit back down to battle in another round of *Ten Foot Paint Brushes: Billy Vs Matt 9.*

The Labor Room features more than 20 artists who are create art live in front of the onlooking crowds. Come see photographers, painters, mixed media, ceramics, sculptures and more. The work produced at the show will be up on display in the gallery for weeks afterwards.

Red Hot Arts Festival!

May 31st and June 1st is the weekend that the Red Hot Arts Festival comes to Stevens Square Park. Live music, live artwork, food, events, excitement! I went last year and had a blast.

This year, Matt Semke and myself are getting involved by having an art battle! Billy Vs Matt 9: Dinosuars Vs Cave Man. The art battle will take place live, as the onlooking crowd can vote on which artwork would win in a battle....the losing artwork will be chopped up with an axe, and no sooner than the losing work is destroy do Matt and myself sit down for the next round of Dinosaur Vs Cave Man. I will make a post with more details about it.

Check out the amazing list of artists that will be at this years art festival:


Aneesa Adams
Erika Backberg - www.teatreedesigns.com
France Barbeau - http://franceflick.blogspot.com/
April Barnhart - www.myspace.com/aprilsjewelrybox
Chris Bart - www.chrisbartdesign.com
Caleb Barton
Michelle Barlow - www.loosewirestudio.etsy.com
Jenna Brouse - blog.jennabrouse.com
Mok Buakaow - www.mnartists.org/julaporn_mok_buakaow
Jocelyn Bullock
Megan Burns - www.myspace.com/goldhoax
Robyn Carley
Keli Catalano - http://catalanosoapco.etsy.com
Manuel Cevallos - www.mnartists.org/manny_cevallos
Jonathan Clark - www.jclarkfineart.com
Sherri Dahl - www.mnartists.org/sherri_dahl
Charles Denton - www.storyofdim.com
Beck Derobertis - www.bringmossback.com
Ryan Dyer - www.ryandyer.com
Jason Ericson - www.mnartists.org/spoon
Samah Fahmy - www.studiosamah.com
Tim Feeney - www.timfeeney.net
Toni Feist
Venessa Fielder - www.juniperpear3.devaintart.com
Kendra Gebbia - artbykendra.com
Gina Germ
Jason Gillman - www.jasongillman.net
Lucas Gluesenkamp - www.fuedalmembrane.blogspot.com
Marissa Grasmick
Cris T Halverson - http://crist.home.mindspring.com
Brandon Hanna - http://apt51pottery.blogspot.com
William Hessian - www.williamhessian.com
Aaron Hinkel - www.mnartists.org/aaron_hinkel
Homer
Ana Hunter
Martha Iserman - www.bigredsharks.com
Lindy Jepsen
Jasmine King
Cody Kiser
Abbey Kleinert
Jess Knelhopfer
Karin Knudsen
Jennie Lanners - www.jenniethepotter.com
Anna Leahy - http://www.mnartists.org/anna_leahy
Amy Lesch - http://amy.lesch.googlepages.com
Joe Lipscomb
Dave Logsdon
Andrew MacDonald - www.flickr.com/photos/andrewmacdonald
Rebecca Jo Malmstrom - www.duckieuglings.com
Michael Mason - www.martists.org/mike_mason
Andy McInnis
Libby Meissner
Ann Meyers
Meghan Molenda - www.mepottery.com
Elizabeth Mongomery
Alex Morso - www.mnartists.org/alex_morso
Margaret Nimocks - www.margarette.etsy.com
Kelly Nordahl - www.bellykelly.deviantart.com
Vicki Olson - www.7two7glass.com
Mary K Peterson
Christopher Pole - www.thisisnotasquare.com
Erin Sayer - www.erinsayer.com
Michael Scortino
Sabra Sherer - www.sparklyart.com
Matt Semke - www.catswilleatyou.com
Ashley Shelby - www.ashleyshelby.com
Aly Snyder - www.brackleberry.com
Zach Swenson - http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t44/zacharyedwardclair/
John Terwilliger
Willa Thornburg - www.robert-thornburg.com/willaburke/
Marci Tiesel
Tim Traver
Jill Van Sickle - www.artworkbyjill.com
Garland Villanova
Guy Wagner - www.students.mcad.edu/~gwagner
Koren Walsh - www.blisshoops.com
Emily Walen - http://emnemily.deviantart.com/
Leslie Weddell
Matt Wells - www.lizardmanart.com
Willow Wicklund
Jeannie Willias - www.jeanniesdeathbyart.com



It's an impressive group, I personally urge everyone to check out Martha Iserman's amazing drawings, Matt Well's futuristic ink drawings to get a sampling of the talent that will be at Steven Square park.

Get involved!
http://www.redhotart.org/

Killer Art Show

Killer Art Show

Part of my job at Billy and the Old Man is curating and hanging art shows every two months. This month I have gathered 6 great local artists from Minnesota. I am a big fan of the artwork of these artists and I hoping for a great show.

Along with setting up the artists, I also work on getting musical performances for our art openings. For the Killer Art show I have two one man acts, Cronkitte Satelite (Ryan Simonet) and Adam. Also, for the first time we are getting a Jazz band in the doors to play. We are very excited.

Poster

Along with gathering the musical and visual artists to display and perform, I also create the postcards, market the shows and hang the shows. It is a large workload every two months, but I really enjoy pulling everything together. I created three different postcards for the Killer Art Show and also created the poster which you can see above.

If you are in the Minneapolis area, you need to come check out this art show. Free wine and cookies, live music and great local artists! What more could you want?

Check out my Art Tour 2008 and also Airbrushing projects. If you want to see more of my popular bearded bunnies check out the Bearded Bunny posts.

George McKim- etsy featured daily

http://georgemckim.blogspot.com/




George McKim

A fellow artist blogger. We both sell work on etsy.com, I sell bearded bunnies and he sells paintings collages and prints(as seen in the example above). His work is extremely bright, expressive and colorful. The playfulness in his work reminds me of Joan Miro, although his colors are more of a Van Gogh pallette. His prints are also especially technically impressive. As a printmaker myself, I can really recommend checking out the details in his work.

His Blog

George McKim also runs an art blog. This art blog is currently doing daily post featuring someone's artwork on etsy.com. This is a neat way to see some of the very impressive artists featured on the underrated website etsy.com.

If you are not aware of etsy, it is basically ebay geared towards arts and crafts. The site is a lot more affordable and market specific. If interested you should see the comparison of the two auction sites at ebay vs etsy.

Make sure to check out Georges' blog and leave him some comments on the fine work he is featuring.

If you enjoyed this blog also see blogs about other great artists like Matt Semke, M.Heisler's SLOBOTS, and trees that draw

Ripple Self Portrait

Yesterday, I recieved a comment on my myspace advertising an open call to artists. The open call asked for portrait work to be created and then mailed to Ripple Portrait in England. It is a worldwide show displaying postcards from potentially anywhere in the world.

Here is the post I found on myspace:




I also browsed around the Ripple Online website and found some very neat projects that they are working on. I suggest any part time or full time artist checking out the website and participating in the Ripple Portrait project.

My Portrait

A few nights ago, prior to knowledge of this show, I could not sleep and ended up sketches 3 quick self portraits. I then used those sketches to create my mailable postcard as seen in the picture above. I use ball point pens and prismacolor markers to complete my self portrait. I am looking forward to seeing it appear on the ripple website and having it hanging on a wall in england.

If you are an artist and you do join in the portrait project, please send my a picture and link and I will add you to my blog.

For other art projects please see: the Tower of Bunnies, the blog featuring my portrait of three girls, and Skin Art