A Look at Art & Design

Happy Holidays

Thank you for stopping by and reading ArtLOOK.  I've gotten some lovely feedback from you and I look forward to sharing 2007.  Happy and safe holidays all.

The Happiness Factor

I've been reading and seeing a lot of reports and articles about happiness and how to get it.  These things are all over the place!  CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta did a thing about monks being happier than regular folks because they meditate 12 hours day and it does something to their brain.  MSNBC has an article about researchers investigating the pursuit of happiness and another about how we're all competing to be the "most stressed out."  Stress is, after all, so chic.

Doesn't this all seem so silly?  There are actually researchers studying how people can become happier.  Hey guys, here's some clues: How about clean up the government, end the war, lower the price of electricity rather than continually raising it, health care for all or at least the kids and elderly, peace and love and holiday joy for all. Some of us are optimists and some are just (no matter what) not, but come on...why are we spending money on researching happiness rather than on the remedies?

Politics and the US news

Well...much has changed in Washington. Maybe now I can begin to watch the news again!?

Americans for the Arts :: 100% of Arts Ballot Measures Pass Nationwide

Just received from Americans for the Arts:

Americans across the country overwhelmingly approved arts and arts education ballot measures and elected pro-arts candidates at the local, state, and federal levels.

The Federal Outlook:
Funding prospects for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and for arts education improve significantly with the replacement of current Republican House leaders, who received grades of D and F on Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC's 2006 Congressional Arts Report Card. Top Democratic House leaders Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) each received a grade of A.

We will also see dramatic changes in the chairmanships of both the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees, which exercise funding jurisdiction over NEA. Both Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) were defeated in their bids for re-election. Neither had ever proposed a funding increase for the NEA. By contrast, longtime House Subcommittee Ranking Member Norm Dicks (D-WA) received an A on the 2006 report card and has consistently pledged significant increases for the NEA if he ever became chairman. Burns's victorious challenger Jon Tester (D-MT) is a former music teacher who responded favorably to the Arts Action Fund PAC's candidate survey.

The State and Local Outlook:
While the 2006 mid-term elections predominantly attracted voters who were interested in voicing their concerns about national issues, thousands of voters turned out to support critical local ballot measures that had a direct impact on the arts. All ten of the local ballot measures tracked and supported by Americans for the Arts Action Fund passed overwhelmingly, as did a state ballot measure on the arts in Louisiana. The cities and counties with local arts ballot measures include Akron (OH); Alameda County/San Leandro (CA); Alameda County/Berkeley (CA); Austin (TX); Cuyahoga County/Cleveland (OH); Marin County (CA); Portland (OR); Salt Lake County (UT); San Francisco (CA); and Santa Clara County (CA). These local and state measures will infuse millions of dollars for arts education programs in local schools and increased funding for cultural facilities and general operating support for nonprofit arts organizations.

My thoughts on Steve Irwin

My family and I are saddened by the death of Steve Irwin.  What does this have to do with art and design?  Absolutely nothing. But Irwin's excellence and passion translates through all fields and walks of life and I wanted to recognize that here.

Mazen Kerbaj's Blog Kerblog :: Drawings, Music and Commentary from Beirut

I encourage you to visit Mazen Kerbaj's Kerblog.  Read the comments as well.

From Kerblog's August 5 post:

Testament
it seems that this blog is censored in the united arab emirats. i received more than 10 emails assuring this. if this is true, it means that it is possible to do it on a larger scale.
two things should be done to address theses issues.

first, if every person who read this and know people in dubai or abu dabi can download ALL of the drawings and send them by emails there it would be great. you should also ask to the people to make them availbale for as much people as possible there.

second, regarding the possible shut down of this blog one day (the more it grows the more i am afraid of such a censorship)...

Link: KERBLOG.

Beirut Won't Cry

An Inconvenient Truth :: Al Gore's Fight on Global Warming

I just returned from seeing Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth with my two boys. It was illuminating. Of course, if you haven't heard or considered the facts (yes they are facts) about global warming maybe you are a member of the present US Administration but even though my family has a pretty good grasp on the concepts, the movie really pointed out the sense of urgency on how our lifestyles and politics are affecting this planet.

Gore presents some pretty compelling facts and figures. In addition, if an image is worth 1000 words then the photography of geographical effects already inflicted will, I'm sure, affect you. More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050. And most startling for me was that the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free by 2050 causing an increase in the sea levels of 20 feet. This would conceivably wipe out parts of California, Manhattan, Florida, The Netherlands, Scandinavia, Calcutta and Beijing just as example. If you thought the 2005 situation in New Orleans was a horror show...it would be nothing compared to the 100's of millions of people affected by this ice melt. 2050!!

I'm not a crusader, but I encourage all of you to go see this movie. Especially those of you living here in the US because we are the biggest abusers and the time to stop being apathetic is now. I was happy to learn from the movie that while the US hasn't signed the Kyoto agreement, there is a growing list of US states and cities that have made a commitment to the accord. 9 Northeastern states are involved in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and as of Dec 2005, 192 cities representing more than 40 million Americans support Kyoto. If you go see this movie, start being forward thinking right away and bring a friend. There is hope, and as the facts state, we can reverse this crisis but we have to start right now.

For more info on how you can fight global warming visit www.climatecrisis.net

Check out the Blog

See an interview with Gore on YouTube

Accountability In Design

Well this got me fired up! It's a subject so near and dear to my heart I don't even know where to begin.  It all started when I read today’s post, "Branding Tragedy" from Eric Karjaluoto on ideasonideas. It's absolutely 100% a great article and thank god someone is finally addressing this and addressing it in an intelligent and thoughtful way.

I am a news junkie. My mother was a news junkie. She read 3 newspapers front to back everyday and watched the evening news at 6:00 and 11:00. She taught me that to get a true idea of a story or situation one had to read from many sources. She stressed Editorials. Both pro and con; democratic and republican. As a woman of 2006, I have found that this advice still holds true. I read the newspaper and several online news subscriptions (from a variety of countries), and I find that today it is harder than ever to get at the actual FACTS. Reporting FACTS…wasn’t this once the mission of the news media?  No opinions, no hype. Just the facts.

Karjaluoto writes, “…I now simply accept it as a weak and tacky fashion of advertising; yet, my peers and I are generally quite critical and aware of such trickery–I question whether the entire population is as on-guard regarding the legitimacy of claims made in such a forum.”

Today I watch news media on TV where people are yelling and screaming at each other their “opinions”. They call this debate. I watch for the 100th time fodder about Paris Hilton, and Brad and Angelina’s new baby and I wonder…isn’t there anything else more important going on in the world today? Surely there must be…why aren’t they talking about it? What’s happening in Amsterdam, Brazil, Finland or Tokyo? Why is it all just hype and glitz? I plead to my TV….Someone please just tell me the facts so I can make up my own mind. Leave Brad and Angelina to Entertainment Tonight but when I watch NEWS…give me news!

Ideasonideas takes this a step further. Eric Karjaluoto writes about the state of the media today and how as designers we are partly responsible for the glitz and hype and how we can thoughtfully and responsibly correct it. Let’s also consider this “shift in the web” called 2.0 and as we discuss ideas about web standards and accessibility why not also give thought to accountability in the visual graphics we create. Let us not gloss over the “experience” and shine light only on the “sensational”, but consider in design and advertising what is true.

Yes YES Eric…let’s do it. You and me and supporters and friends…let’s start a campaign called “Operation Accountability”. And let’s make a logo for it but without the metallic forms, lens flares and definitely not rotating. Surely as creatives we can do this!

Uniting Nations...yup.

Did you know that...The name LEGO comes from the Danish words "Leg Godt", which means "Play well". In Latin it means "I put together".

The United Nations: Fighting Everyday Racism - The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is marked every year on 21 March with activities led by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, New York and at the field-presences. This year’s theme is Fighting Everyday Racism.

How ironic that the United Nations should post this image for advertising The International Day for the Eliminaton of Racial Discrimination.

The UN says this ad was not intented as a diliberate dig at the Danish (home of LEGO) and the Muhammad caricatures. LEGO doesn't see it that way. The UN has since taken the image off it's website, without comment.

LEGO - About Us: Corporate Responsiblity

Office of United Nations High Commission for Human Rights - Fighting Everyday Racism