10 Artistic Careers With The Brightest Futures: NEA And BLS

Good news for artists. I have gone in and out of the arts profession a number of times and keep going back to it. As they say, content is king.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Geri Montano Socio-political Artist

I Dream of Falling

Geri Montano was born in Colorado. She is a multiracial contemporary artist emphasizing her Native American heritage; Dineh (Navajo) from her fathers lineage, French, Spanish and Comanche from her mothers.

Montano has been an artist all her life. She received her formal art education from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1997, graduating with a BFA in interdisciplinary arts which included drawing, painting and sculpture.

After graduating from SFAI she worked as a sculpture assistant and gave various mixed media art workshops. Montano has a strong interest in working with under-represented members of her community. She enjoys and believes in giving back to community as her part in making the world a better place. She is currently a visual art instructor for developmentally disabled adults.

Her work has been exhibited in many gallery group shows, including Diego Riviera Gallery, Workspace Ltd.  Gallery, Michelle O’ Connor Gallery, and most recently SOMArts Cultural Center.

Montano has participated in a variety of art practices including political street theater with Praxis Artists where she designed costumes and performed. The group formed in Seattle after the World Trade Organization citizen uprising.

She is currently creating provocative, mixed media drawing/collage works using acrylic ink, graphite pencil, and magazine cut-outs. The works will be used in a wall installation.

Her work is inspired by personal experiences relating to socio-political and feminist themes.

Montano’s work juxtaposes aesthetic qualities with subversive imagery, combining aesthetic, thematic and technical skills. Montano impresses emotional and powerful ideas on the viewer, never shying away from controversial or taboo subjects.

She was awarded a Creative Capacity grant. Grants such as these support her current project titled, “Traded Moons” an exhibition dealing with the topic of sex trafficking of Native American women and girls. She is creating this exhibition to give voice to the women and girls, and bring much needed public awareness and dialogue which are the first steps in catalyzing change.

 

Collectors Share a Special Bond with Artists

When you purchase a piece of art or clothing, or jewelry, or a recording from an artist, you are taking a piece of that experience home to live with you. Every time you wear, or listen or walk by the art, memories of the time and place and shared spirits return.

When you buy a recording from an artist at a club you remember who you were with, what you wore, how much you danced, and how happy you were, each time you play the music. You relive the night over and again and again. That is why people who do not buy music at a store buy CDs from a band at a club. It is not about the music or the band. It is the night that they want to capture.

Artists set the stage with flowers, food, wine and music, and invite the public to participate as guests. These informal gatherings encourage social interaction, unlike the hushed formal atmosphere in most galleries and museums. Art events are special places, where people go to meet and mingle, to engage in conversations and share ideas.

People who need to look for a primarily red painting that goes perfectly with the red and green striped couch that sits in a beige room on a deep burgundy carpet, carry out those tasks elsewhere.

Informal encounters and memories of the good times are reflected in art that hangs on the wall, around the neck, or plays on the stereo. Living with art keeps the creative spirits alive.

M Eliza

Henry Paul, Outlaws, Blackhawk, and Luck

In working on the Beaux Arts book, I discovered Henry Paul, who founded one of the first southern rock bands in the 1970′s called the Outlaws. In 1974 the Outlaws were  lucky to be the first rock band signed by Clive Davis on his new Arista Records label after he left Columbia Records. His ego was riding on their success so they were going to succeed. I connected with Henry through Roger Salzillo. Henry responded with the following:

Hi Eliza, I’m responding to your interview request. I hope this note finds you in good health and doing well…

Hi Henry, I read somewhere that your first live performance was at Beaux Arts. Who turned you onto it?
I’m not sure how I found out about Beaux Arts. It was a subterranean destination for the beat fringe.

About what years were you there?
I started going to Beaux Arts in 1966 and hung around there on and off until 1970.

What was your first impression?
It was as close to cool as I could find in the bay area. Counter culture all the way!

Which players impressed you, helped you find your style?
There were so many talented singer songwriters around back then. Their names escape me but I do remember Danny Finley. I remember Barry Sims, a guy named Tom, and a guy named Doug. the guy named Doug I think went on to be a dam tender in Roulet Park.

Who did you play with there?
I played with everyone in the back room where you hung out before you went on. That’s where I spent most of my time. When I went up to play on stage I played by myself.

When/where did you meet Richard Leps?
I met Richard Lepps at the White Springs Folk Festival. He was there with Michael doing their duo deal.

Did he ever make smoked mullet for you?
I’ve never had Richard’s smoked mullet but I have gone clamming with him and Buddy Klein down in Tera Cia Bay.

Who influenced your move to rock, or was it country rock?
8. I think like Steven Stills and Richie Furray from the Buffalo Springfield or Jesse Colin Young of the Youngbloods I was motivated in that direction with the advent of the album Highway 61, or Bringing It All Back Home.

I love southern humor, lyrics like “Everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” What inspired your first hit? Ok your favorite song, whether or not it was a hit?
9. I’m inspired by some of the more subtle nuances of love, separation, death, and dreams.

What changes do you see coming up?
10. I’m still involved in my musical career on an everyday basis. I have visions of the future and I’m engaged in the efforts to bring that to life. It’s like looking at the world through a tube. You see a little scene very clearly and not much else.

I’ll give you a call Where do you live?

Henry

p.s. I’ve attached a song about growing up in the sixties. It’s called “The Line Between The Numbers”

Henry Paul site, Outlaws, Blackhawk

Take a Hike with Carol Selter

Virtual Hiking

Carol Selter has taken the virtual experience to the limit with her latest work, on display though December 31, at Gallery 16 on 3rd St. at Bryant in San Francisco. The next exhibit will be at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz.

Carol took the idea of a stay-at-home wilderness experience, her love for nature and passion for capturing it on film, and added some time, to construct a new vacation concept for busy people who can’t take the time to get away themselves.

James “Jaime” Madden, Audio Archivest

I was on a plane thumbing through a magazine when I read a story about the man who discovered an old Jim Morrison film shot during his student days at Florida State University. I was interested in the story behind the find in the words of a professional archivest. I talked to Jaime and he agreed to this interview.

Is film your specialty? No, actually audio is my specialty. I had experience working with film and I put that to use in dealing with the material that made up the project we working with when the Morrison film was discovered.

Buffalo International Film Festival

Interview with Ed Summer, director and founder of the Buffalo International Film Festival. They are sponsoring a new motion Picture History Tour in Buffalo. See the link above for details.

I was looking for Joe Krysiak, who founded Project Artaud, the first artist live/work community that was established in San Francisco that is still operating, and discovered Ed Summer’s Wikipedia file. Ed was kind enough to fill me in on the theater history of Buffalo New York and what he remembers of Joe from his early acting career, when he shared the stage with him. History is one of his passions.

History of Theater in Buffalo - The first theaters in Buffalo, New York were built well before the Civil War and a lot of them lasted well into the 20th Century. In the early 1900′s the city had over 60 millionaires, making it the richest city on the planet. Money came in waves, starting with the Eerie Canal built in 1820’s, it brought a huge amount of trade and traffic through the city. The second wave came from the steel mills erected along side the erie, steel mills were followed by flour mills. For a while, Buffalo was the largest producer of flour in the world. In 1900 the Niagra Power Project was constructed and Buffalo became the first city on earth wired for electricity.

All this money and power, built a lot of theaters for the wealthy patrons, and brought a lot of talent to the area…

Read the rest of the story

BIFF blog

“Quote of the Week”

“I can’t change the world, but I can make people look at it.” – Robert Pacelli, filmmaker

Glorinda Marie, The new Hallmark sweetheart!

Hallmark puts out many great movies that touch the heart. I was fortunate enough to interview a talented actress who plays a role in the upcoming Hallmark original, “The Christmas Card” starring Ed Asner. Who is she? Glorinda Marie. The new Hallmark sweetheart!

Paving the Road to Stardom: Who is Glorinda Marie?

Many of you may already know her work as she has played in numerous films as both the lead and supporting actress.

Some people are just born to act, and those who are know it early on.
“I was 6 years old when I started acting. Then, I wrote, directed and of course, starred in my 8th grade play! My dad to this day says he can not take a ‘candid’ picture of me because I always know where the darn camera is. But, I would say I seriously pursued acting as a career since 1995. As a non union actor I played many roles in indie & corporate films, on stage, and also in local commercials. I joined SAG just recently, in March 2006!”…Read the whole story.

Dan Allison Crime Novelist

Dan Allison Remembers Beaux Arts

Dan Allison is a professed crime novelist who draws heavily from his past lives. Beaux Arts, being one of the more colorful places around, finds its way into his stories. I found Dan on-line, though a google search which turned up one of his characters reminiscing about an evening spent there.

I was very interested in talking to fellow writer inspired by my muse so I arranged to meet Dan for brunch at the 36th Street cafe on 36th Street in downtown St. Pete for brunch and a chat. We ordered the breakfast special and coffee. A sip of java was all it took to take him back to where it all began. His story poured out in a steady stream that would have made Karaoke proud.

Dan was in high school in 1969. “It was right off Park Boulevard but it always seemed difficult to find, even when it was there, I’m sure I couldn’t find it now that it’s not there.”

Get the whole story