Art as That Which Extends our Consciousness

I thought this was a thought-provoking addition to the city landscape: "With a background in architecture and an avid interest in street art, web development, and DIY culture, Berlin-based artist Aram Bartholl explores the relationship between the online and offline worlds, continually questioning the impact on our lives of the digital age...Currently in residence at New York’s Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, his most recent excursion into public space is the Dead Drop project, a set of USB drives cemented into the physical fabric of the city."Here's the link

The Jung Center

If you happen to be looking for places to exhibit your work you might consider the Jung Center at 5200 Montrose, right around the corner from the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The center extends the work and philosophy of Carl Jung, the twentieth century Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytic psychology who was one of the greatest researchers in dream analysis and symbolization, and who considered the arts to be a window into the soul.
The guidelines for submitting a portfolio to be reviewed by their art committee can be found on their website. Briefly, you submit a CD of your work by April 30th to be reviewed for one of nine exhibitions that will be launched the following year. It costs you nothing to exhibit but traditionally artists donate 20% of their sales back to the Center.

If you're interested you might want to check out the space during April when Woodlands artist Liz Hill will be exhibiting her work "Le Quattro Artists" there. It opens Saturday, April 14.

Images courtesy of the Jung Center and Gonzalez Studios  and Liz Hill's blog.

Marshall Stephens is Back!

Wow!  Our Harris County Public Library website gurus have just revised our website to make it more efficient, and I think you'll find they have accomplished their goal. I was blogging about Tomball Art League's Marshall Stephens, who has just hung his paintings in our Meeting Room for the month of April. Our shiny new website will now link  directly to this blog, so all you have to do is click on this link-- Marshall Stevens is Back! --to connect right to it. Fantastic.

Come and see Marshall's new exhibition!

Free Business Success Seminars at LSC-Tomball Community Library

Get Ideas, Get Connected, Get Business

A number of you sell your artwork, which means that as well as being artists you are entrepreneurs. The Lone Star College Small Business Development Center, in conjunction with LSC-Tomball Community Library, are hosting three excellent speakers this month and next. Improve your networking and marketing skills!

The CEOs of Networking

Wednesday, March 21, 8-9 am
Mitchell From, founder of My Referral Network and partner at Element Payment Services will help you determine which networking organizations to join, how many to join, and how to work them for maximum effectiveness.　

Social Media - Trend or Blip on the Radar?
Wednesday, March 28, 8-9 am
Terri Craig of MYMResults will show how YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogging, and Facebook are here to stay and how you can use them to grow your business.

Create Potential Client Lists
Wednesday, April 4, 8-9 am
Kam Draper of Infogroup USA will show you how to master the use of ReferenceUSA, a large database of businesses and customers, available free at your library website.　Expand your business by identifying key prospects and competitors with contact names, sales volume, employee size, and more. Created marketing lists and delivery routes.
All sessions held in Room L129　
No pre-registration is required. There will be a drawing for prizes at the end of each session.

Go, Painters in the Spring Show! (Then Come-on over here afterwards)

Today I want to tell everyone how excited I am about the upcoming Tomball Art League Spring Show and Exhibition!  Good luck to everyone who is competing this weekend, and all my encouragement to those of you who are hanging your work just for the fun of it. (We have many wonderful motivations for painting, don't we.) 

The library is once again inviting all the winners--that's everyone with a ribbon--to hang your winning 2D pieces in our first floor meeting room for the rest of March. We'll be waiting for you next week to bring in your work. It's not necessary to call ahead, but if you want to, our number is 832-559-4200. We're open Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and we'll take your painting any time you can drop it by.

While you're here, you might step up to the second floor where Milam Schverak has his fabulous papier-maché figures and some watercolors on display at the top of the stairs. Hazel, Willow, Penelope, Arthur, and Ichabod are gathering a lot of amazed attention.

We have just ordered a lovely frame to hang on the door of the meeting room, in which we will post the name of the person or group exhibiting that month. We've been feeling the lack of this for some time now and have just found an appealing solution. I hope you'll like it.

The image I've selected for this blog is Elsie Vera's Red Peppers, a winner in last year's spring show that we had the joy to look at here afterwards.  

A Video of Jesus' 40 day Fast

After not posting at all for a few weeks I post three times in one week. Isn't that how art inspiration goes? For those of you interested in story illustration, this YouTube video which appeared on my Facebook page this morning may be of interest. Simon Smith, a British illustrator, does a fascinating job of bringing to life a familiar religious story.  A Video of Jesus in the Wilderness by Simon Smith

Earl Staley at Pearl Fincher Museum

This just crossed my desk this morning so I want to pass it on. Earl Staley, a fine arts teacher at the Lone Star College campus in Tomball,  has taught and coached a number of Tomball Art League members. So many of you may want to take in his exhibit and reception at the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts. His artworks will hang at the museum until March 4th, and this Friday, February 24th, he'll be participating in a reception there from 6-8 pm.