Forgetfulness - Billy Collins Animated Poetry from smjwt on Vimeo.

I saw this animated short awhile ago & just recently discovered the great talent of it's writer, Billy Collins. His poetry is sweet, funny and heart-breaking all in one. This one's a heart-breaker.

as director, i orchestrate and promote the sharing of creative process. however, in mr. steve world, i also wear the hat of critic quite happily, at times even gleefully.  this may result in a loss of popularity but i assure you, i sleep soundly at night. been stewing on this. check it out. no way to spin this, 555. the work was in no danger of imminent destruction and was certainly accessible to the interested (though i think the term "death trap" in freep article is a little harsh.) very plain, very simple: you "harvested" this without artist consent for personal gain. this is about preservation for YOU. please do not ordain yourselves stewards or guardians. it's insulting. any arts related mission you may promote is fraudulent. you're thieves. i might applaud a zealous act of tagging over your ill gotten wall piece. hell, i might even fund it.

mrsteves facebook provides commentary about lots of things and occasional streams of sound logic.

We all know getting a job is important.  It's why we go to school.  Yes, we like to learn, but we also know that it takes money to learn...a lot of it.  At this point in my life (having just graduated from A&D), things are a bit more leisurely and less stressful, but I'm also on the brink of having to pay back my student loans.  Ah yes, summer after college.  The perfect time to revamp my résumé and apply for a 'real job'...or maybe a couple part-timers.  Whatever works.

A plus side of being an artist is that I'm not tied down to a boring, text-heavy résumé.  Oh no.  I get what we call in the biz an artist's résumé.  Just like my drawings, I get to jazz up my resume with personality.  Here's where we all get to pretend we're graphic designers.

An important thing to keep in mind is that you don't want to go overboard.  I've designed and redesigned my résumé enough times that I am only now beginning to find a happy medium.  It's important to make it interesting, but also to make it clear and legible.  Take something you like (a color, an interest, or your medium of choice), and think of how your résumé can show that you are X kind of artist.  For example, when I was really into video and animation, I made my résumé in 3D and it came with an attached pair of 3D glasses (not a joke).

Also a recent A&D graduate, Jenna Lyn Utter found her happy medium between work and play by employing a cover sheet along with the bundle of cover letter and résumé.  You can't tell here, but the floral paper is slightly transparent.  I'd hire her.

Artist résumés are allowed to be a little more personal rather than just a list of jobs and achievements.  Employers want to know what you can bring to the table, and with hiring creatives that includes knowing their personality.

[Note the 'Personal' section in Emily Skaer's résumé]

Ok, if you really need it spelled out for you...

And, finally, my current résumé.  Oh, c'mon, you knew it was coming.

It's comforting to see a wide variety of talented people out there also looking for work; often times you blame yourself for not being able to find work & this network gives a more uplifting view.

spring is here. i'm teaching at wayne state but, i may try and fine time to polish up on my dance moves. i don't know freddy, but apparently he's quick.

Well, it turns out that 'Little Otik' is just one of many films by Jan Svankmajer that are more than just amusing. Born in Prague in 1934, where he still lives today, Jan Svankmajer attended the Institute of Applied Arts and later the Prague Academy of Performing Arts (Department of Puppetry). His career led him through involvement with the Theatre of Masks and Black Theatre, and later Laterna Magika Puppet Theatre, where he began working with film. Jan's films incorporate elements of animation and puppetry to create surreal, grotesque, gothic tales full of surprise and wonder, touching on the very absurdities of human existence.

Instead of me twisting my own words into a knot trying to describe the films, go ahead and see them yourself, if you haven't done so already! I've attached a favorite of mine, 'Food, Part 1&2', to this posting. You can find more on youtube and on his website: http://www.jansvankmajer.com.

However, if I could do it all over again, there are definitely a few things I’d change.

What I wish I had known before IP:

1) Do not take a full course load for both semesters as an IP student.

No, this is not vomit... Though the color scheme is puke-worthy. This was my schedule Fall 2009.

See the reddish brown? That means “overlap.” Unfortunately, U of M doesn’t readily give out Time-Turners, so I wasn’t able to pull a Hermione Granger and be in multiple places at once. However, I did happen to own several very realistic cardboard cut-outs of myself and therefore appeared not to play hooky compulsively.

Just kidding. I have my ways.

2) Your computer will be a senior citizen among other computers by senior year.

My laptop, once able to run Pandora, Photoshop, Illustrator, and OMGPOP (or iminlikewithyou, back then) simultaneously, couldn’t manage to open my most important Flash project when 2010 rolled around.

That said,

3) Get acquainted with computing sites on campus – if your project requires it.

If you had asked me what “GroundWorks” was any year prior to my senior year, I would’ve guessed that it was a landscaping company. However, in my 11th hour, the brilliant people at GroundWorks helped me finish my project in a few swift motions.

Along the same lines,

4) Spread out your belongings aggressively to reserve computers or secure better ones.

I’ve been that girl… The one that puts her jacket on top of a PC and walks around the Fishbowl until a Mac becomes available, and then quickly dumps the contents of her bag onto it to prevent anyone from claiming the computer before she returns from retrieving her jacket.

Whatever. That’s why I get a reflective computer screen and you don’t.

5) People who are not in art school will misinterpret you when you refer to IP as “IP.”

Self-explanatory.

And finally,

6) Uh, try to learn more things so that you can make a longer list when you look back at your IP experience.

Yea. I’m sure that if I had given special consideration to the aforementioned points, WebMD would not currently be the first thing that appears upon typing a “w” into my address bar.

Leave the internet-influenced diagnoses for the morning afters when you slowly, but not always surely, recall why you wouldn’t be surprised to have newfound liver problems.

Moma has a great spread on the exhibition with live feeds on the performance to boot. I like this interview below when she talks about her realization that if she wanted to seriously explore the borders of ego, physicality and existence, there was no closer medium than her own body. 

Radical monk, stunt woman and aesthetic artist rolled into one unique human being: wow. Marina was here last year as a Penny W. Stamps speaker-- she held the theatre in breathless silence as showed her work.

"The minimum wage machine allows anybody to work for minimum wage. Turning the crank will yield one penny every 5.04 seconds, for $7.15 an hour (NY state minimum wage). If the participant stops turning the crank, they stop receiving money. The machine's mechanism and electronics are powered by the hand crank, and pennies are stored in a plexiglas box."

Working my way through college & even after I had my fair share of minimum wage jobs, and know how cruddy it is to work so hard for such a small paycheck. Glad this piece is calling attention to the issue. I think the suits should have to use this machine before they can hire anyone on for minimum wage at their companies.