Watch the video to learn more about Twisted Sista' Scarves and how to wear them. Twisted Sista Scarves by Cyn (Enhanced) from Carbon Footprint Productions on Vimeo.
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- June 11, 2012
- Category Blog Featured Artwork Seeing Green
- Writen by cyn
It's that time again where creatives, prototypers, idea sharers, makers, geeks, artists, thinkers, and crafters melt and merge at Maker Faire NC. I'm looking forward to seeing my old pals and meeting new friends. Please stop by to see me at my table at Maker Faire NC 2012 at the fairgrounds in Raleigh in the Gov. Kerr Scott building. The address of the venue is 1025 Blue Ridge Blvd, Raleigh NC 27607. Se here for more directions. photo by Carrie Hafer I'll be at Maker Faire NC 2012 working on my Seeing Green project. Last year I collected data from participants and this year I am continuing the data collection, this time with video capture and a group plein air painting. I am also sharing data from last year, and will have small "green" paintings for sale. If you're not sure what Maker Faire is all about, see this video below for a quick view from last years event. The folks at Maker Faire need extra recognition as they work tirelessly year round to pull off this fantastic open-source event. Thank you Jon Danforth and Kevin Gunn!
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This article written as a guest blogger for Triangle Artworks, is the second in a series of “Conversations With” members of the creative community in the Triangle who are thinking big, working hard and making a difference in our Region.
I met Carrie Knowles at her studio off Bloodworth Street in downtown Raleigh. The quiet neighborhood and her comfortable studio were the perfect spot to catch up with this busy writer/artist. We talked about her writing, visual art, the importance of collaboration, and her most ambitious and exciting project to date, the Cary Cross Currents Chamber Music and Arts Festival.
You began your career as a writer and you are a visual artist as well. What was it about the visual arts that attracted your attention? I like how words can create images…visual images in our minds. Writing to me is both telling a story and painting a picture. Moving from the written word to a visual world was an easy transition. I’m not a trained artist, but I took a studio drawing class in college. I had this very unorthodox drawing professor who made us talk about what we were going to draw before he would let us draw. Not just talk about it, but discuss it in detail. We would spend the first two hours of the four-hour studio just talking about what we were going to draw. We’d look at the shapes, the shadows, the contours, then we’d take a break, get out our pencils and start drawing. I was the only non-art major in the class. One day, after class, the professor stopped me and asked what I did on Saturday mornings. He told me he had recommended me for a job. I got hired to teach art at the Detroit Art Institute with a group of art teachers from the university. I was the assistant teacher for the professors and had a great time learning about sculpture, printmaking, clay, and painting. After leaving school I continued to enjoy drawing and creating things but didn’t take myself seriously as an artist. For a number of years, I helped organize and run the Boylan Heights ArtWalk. I loved working with the various artists and putting the show together and as time went on I began to want to do more artwork myself. I like working on paper and use traditional printing methods in non-traditional, non-toxic ways. Various editors have often commented that I was a very “visual” writer. It is an easy transition for me to go from writing about something to creating an image about the same thing. I see writing and visual art as the same. You moved to Raleigh from Chicago years ago, before it was cool to be here. How did that decision affect your life? I had a great life as a freelance writer in Chicago, then we moved down here to Raleigh. I felt I had done something very, very wrong in some past life and was being punished. Thirty-three years ago, Raleigh was a very different town than it is today. It was shocking coming from Chicago. You couldn’t get dinner after 8 o’clock, the airport wasn’t an international airport … we couldn’t get anywhere without going someplace else to change planes first. Other than Friends of the College at the University, where my husband was offered a position, the arts culture was barely
visible. I wept for three years then woke up one morning and told myself to just get over it. If we weren’t leaving Raleigh then I decided to get involved and make Raleigh the kind of place I want to live in. I started volunteering with arts advocacy groups, Artspace, NC writers network, United Arts, Burning Coal Theatre, Raleigh Chamber Music Guild, and others where I built a lot of connections and met many friends. Read the entire article at Triangle Artworks.
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KONY 2012 - YouTube.
KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.
Sometimes you just have to say it or write it, when you feel it.
I have not researched this thoroughly nor can say I am knowledgeable on recent events in Uganda, Africa or anywhere where social injustice lives, but even if just a bit of this video and movement can help make a difference in our world-wide causes, I am "in support" it. I am in support of stopping crazy people behavior when it interferes with other peoples rights as humans on this planet. We as a collective people can't seem to stop the manufactured bad things that happen next door or 3000 miles away, but we can call it out, try, do something!, get out of our safe zone for a millisecond, and if possible change a few things, if not rewrite history. The Invisible Children movement has made some traction with Washington insiders and young people around the world, so chances are if you add your voice to this action, we will all visualize and experience a better world.
[I'm not writing about Facebook because they paid me to do write this, because they did NOT!]
If you have ever wondered what positive purpose Facebook could possibly have, or perhaps you are in the camp of thinking social media is a fad, farce or waste of time, I urge you to think again. Without social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace and tons of other social media outlets we would not be able to have unscripted, personal dialogue and vision into and with other countries, causes, and people. At the time of this writing Invisible Children on Facebook had these numbers:
2,938,855 likes · 2,356,424 talking about this
That's an incredible reach my friends, and in my opinion quite a force for change.
Yeah, sometimes on Facebook you might think it lame when your friends tell you about their morning commute, baby's first dribble, or where they checked in for dinner, but you also get the chance to see other pressing concerns for our society as well.... the classic good with the bad scenario. Personally I will take the good with the bad as I fear the alternative is worse. No social media equals no interactive dialogue or vision to places, people or things outside of my immediate view or local community. I treasure my community, local and global, including the lame and exceptional and especially my good luck in being born into a society where free speech is possible.
So I ask you, "what would you do if your child was abducted and forced to be a sex slave or rebel authorized to kill?"
HOW TO HELP:
Visit: http://kony2012.com
Donate to Invisible Children: https://stayclassy.org/checkout/set-donation?eid=14711
For info on Invisible Children: http://invisiblechildren.com
Maker Faire 2012 is coming to Raleigh in June! What is Maker Faire? Well, I see it as a collection of interesting individuals, small businesses, creative and geek folks, and the people who love them. Last year, I was a participant. I was next to a family that crafted wood products with a lathe and a family that sold chicken coops, or something like that! Some really fun companies were there like Fab Labs ( a place that helps folks make prototypes ) and Spoonflower ( a NC company that manufactures custom designs on fabric ) and I anticipate they will show up again this year. I have friends, locally and from out of state, who I look forward to seeing during Maker Faire, as we catch up in this very diverse and techn-geeky environment. If you go this year, I know you'll have a great time!
Read More We had another successful evening of PechaKucha Night Vol.10 Wedsnesday, February 22, 2012. We celebrated Global Cities Week along with over 60 other cities worldwide honoring the birthday of the first PechaKucha held February 20, 2003. The night had 10 planned speakers and one talk given impromptu by 4 willing pkn attendees. Soulful, love-rich, and live music by international singer-songwriter Kim Arrington was the highlight of of intermission.
Read More- October 5, 2011
- Category Blog Featured Artwork
- Writen by cyn
Change is Certainty Paintings at the Exchange Gallery - October 7-28, 2011 - I'd love for you to join me this Friday, October 7, at Visual Art Exchange, 6-9p (They are at a new location in the Warehouse District map ) in Raleigh for First Friday and opening reception for my new series, Change is Certainty. It's all happening downtown during Raleigh's First Friday Art Walk. It will be a lovely night to relax, walk and enjoy wine and snacks in local galleries. Bring your friends, it's lots of fun! Artist Statement for Change is Certainty No matter where you are in your journey of life, you can count on a couple of certainties. The sun will rise each morning and change will happen. Through these painting I explore the ideas and process of change. Bits of paper maps and line are included for many reasons. To remind us to stay grounded. That there is a defined path, no matter how uncertain it seems at the time. And to recognize the transient nature of our society. Follow me: @cynjustcyn on Twitter and use #changeiscertainty to follow this project Also, purchase original artwork, and be sure to check out my Holiday Shop of Cyn.
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Opening Reception: Friday, September 16 from 6-9 pm
The Scrap Exchange opens a new Green Gallery art exhibit on September 16. Shell We Tie a String to That features the artwork of Willa Brigham, Cyn Mallard and Sara McCreary. The exhibit explores fiber art and mixed media using themes relating to nature and shells.
Cyn Mallard will exhibit beach, sand and shell inspired mixed-media paintings using new and recycled materials as well as curate the show.
Joining Cyn is Emmy award-winning storyteller Willa Brigham, a member of the African American Quilt Circle in Durham, presenting portrait art quilts embellished with strings and shells and Sara McCreary who explores the use of string as an art medium with heryarn paintings, yarn orbs and ceramic pinch pots filled with pine cones wrapped in yarn.
Read the Scrap Exchange post here.
[caption id="attachment_473" align="alignleft" width="201" caption="Willa is hanging one of her portrait quits"]
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SPARKcon is here!
SAPRKcon is the South’s premiere creativity event showcasing the creative spirit that lives within each of us. During SPARKcon I try to participate in events that are fun and inspiring and sometimes a little whacky. For example, last year I donated my car to graffitiSPARK, was a cocktail judge at tastySPARK.
This year I am part of the SPARKcon Organizers Showcase an art collective of the many talented organizers that make SPARKcon possible through their passionate volunteer efforts. The exhibit is at Wilmoore Cafe, a great new spot downtown Raleigh for coffee, live music and food. I have to say my 2 paintings looked awesome and popped off the brick wall with intensity.
[caption id="attachment_480" align="alignleft" width="220" caption="Sunshine, 20 x 24"]
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Pronounced "jhee-clay", giclée is a sophisticated inkjet printing method. It merges the use of professional grade large format printers with archival pigment inks, acid free watercolor papers and canvas. By using custom profiles, precise color correction and expert scanning, pigment printing can render subtle gradations and many colors that would be out of range with other technologies. In general terms giclee is a French term meaning that something is being squirted on. It has to do with the fact that papers are being sprayed on with pigments by nozzles with an approximate diameter of one millionth of the diameter of a hair. So, when it comes to the question "What is a giclée print?", the answer is: a digital printer makes it, similar to the inkjets many have at home. But there are major differences between a home inkjet and a giclée printer. 1) The number of colors. These printers can have 4, 6, 7, 8 even 12! 2) The number and quality of nozzles. Nozzles engineering varies from piezo heads (nozzles vibrate with a crystal, no different than a quartz watch) to other systems such as thermal print heads. 3) The format. These printers can print up to 72" wide. No limit on the length. 4) The number of substrates that a giclée can be printed on. Our giclées on printed on pure cotton mould made papers from the most prestigious manufacturers in the world including Arches, Rives, Hahnemuhle, Crane, Fredrix and Epson.
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