Month: September 2011

Artist I Admire: Bill Cunningham

| Mac

Okay, so I realize this confirms that I have been living under a rock. Also I realize the fact that I don’t have cable or satellite television is no excuse, as Bill Cunningham is a newspaper man, but alas I must admit I’d never heard of him until I saw Bill Cunningham: New York (great film!) on iTunes the other night.

Here is the trailer:

As discerned from the film here’s what makes Bill so admirable, in no particular order:

  1. He wouldn’t even consider himself an “artist”
  2. He is abashedly eccentric
  3. He is completely devoted to his craft
  4. He isn’t in it for the money, in fact he turns it down as he feels it would cost him his freedom
  5. He has been practicing his craft for years
  6. His photos are beautiful (IMO)
  7. He is using old school technology
  8. His attention to detail, ownership and passion of the whole process from the subject material to the photographs to the the page layouts is inspiring

Lastly what makes him truly admirable is that he’s a poet and philosopher on many levels, fashion, politics, photography, culture; He had a great quote in the movie “It is as true today as it has ever been; He who seeks beauty will find it”.

Creative Challenge: Pen Name

| Mac

A creative challenge that came about within a FA101 class discussion was to fashion yourself a creative handle, a pen name. I have had handles for online things before, but I had never attempted to craft one with meaning.

So I let that percolate away in my super-concious, and out the other end of the process came: “Creatio Collegiate”, here is why.

“Creatio” has Ancient Greek and/or Latin roots, and is the root for the english word creation. Creatio has connotations of the natural world (rather than man made items) and may also invoke spiritual or god like themes.

“Collegiate” of course evokes collaborative, inclusive, friendly and betterment themes.

So taken together the pen name “Creatio Collegiate” is about collaborative, friendly creation with the aim of self improvement; specifically becoming more well rounded, and appreciative of the many beauties our existence has to offer. I used the Creatio Collegiate name as my Vimeo handle to support the sharing of my FA101 creative acts during class. Exploring-Art.com is a continuation of this theme, and an attempt to sustain it beyond my current continuing education activities.

What is your creative pen name? Why? Don’t have one? Well now you have your first Creative Challenge! Good luck!

Poetry for Peace: Bloody Hands

| Mac

So some late night inspiration floated up from my super-conscious and prevented me from sleeping… so I wrote this poem in response to the Poetry for Peace competition. The poem is entitled Bloody Hands.

Bloody Hands
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Murdering civilians has always been wrong.

Our ability to do so has exploded exponentially with the rise and fall of atomic bombs.

Yet we chose to repeat our old habits of war, insulating ourselves in ignorance with labels such as al-Qaeda or Vietcong.

We must confront our deliberate delusions, we must soberly see, murdering civilians will always be wrong, it will always shame you, it will always shame me.

Dismantle our bombs, lay down our guns and dispense with our disputes.

We are all related, human, people, no matter where we are born. We must come together and mend the world we have allowed to be torn.

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If you like this poem you can vote for it here.