The best skill...

The film Watership Down helped to put me on a path to becoming an animator...  And currently, I'm still traveling.... 

What put you on a path towards creativity?

The newest piece from James Bowman (Poochie) 

seeing Me 3

#Art #Artist #Portrait #Impressionism #Impressionist

"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST"

1. What is your name?
- Crys Darling

2. Where are you from?
- Columbus(Ohio) is my home

3. What do you do?
- Eco Fashion Designer specializing in custom costumes for clients and runway

4. What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- Growing up as a kid with modest hand-me-down clothing inspired my Eco fashion line, Label Yourself. I created my line to inspire others to express their own true beauty and style through fashion

5. What is your view on the state of the arts?
- Art classes in school saved my life and made me the artist I am today. It breaks my heart that schools are taking art and music out of schools when children are naturally creative. Art and music allows them to express themselves.

I'm so passionate about it that I created an Eco Fashion Club at Berwick School with junior high students. The kids learn to design their own creative fashion and at the end of the year model during our runway fashion show.

Most importantly we inspire the kids to express their true beauty through design, fashion and art.

The frivolous, easy A

With the heavy push towards STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, there seems to be a need to eliminate arts education. Now this is simply from my own observation and research. But the arts, at least here in the United States, is regarded(in my opinion) as being frivolous and unnecessary. I bring this up, because it reminds me when I took Art 170 at my Alma mater, Ohio State. This course was beginning drawing. And it not only was a requirement for art majors, but it was also offered as an elective, available for non art majors.

This class was memorable, not because of the subject matter or professor, but because of two students who were not art majors. What stands out was that both of these individuals thought that Art 170 would be an easy A. From the first day of class, both of these non art students were lost. The principles, and ideas presented, totally dumbfounded the two of them. It was so difficult for these individuals to grasp line, shadow, volume, and perspective. And just as they were getting the hang of using pencil, the professor would switch to charcoal, then pastels.

Over the period of the course, I became friends with both of these student. Whenever they had trouble, I became their impromptu art tutor. As it should have been, the professor was much harder on the art students than those taking this course as an elective. The two non-art students I befriended, actually received better grades than me. I came out of the class with a B+.

By the end of the class, these two friends revealed that Art 170 was the hardest class that they had ever taken. They didn't expect how technical the principles of art would be. These two also didn't expect art class to be so labor intensive. Now, this course was five days a week, for two hours a day. In addition to almost non-stop drawing for two hours, there were a number of outside assignments that we had to complete. Along with learning the principles and working with various drawing media, we practiced extreme amounts of repetition.

I challenge everyone to take a professional art course. I'm not talking about a casual one day workshop for just a few hours. I'm talking about a class that stretches ten to fifteen weeks, for one to three hours a day, five days a week. It is important that non-artists see, not only how much goes into the learning of art, but where art is used throughout daily life. This piece may only touch upon visual arts, but all arts are vitally important to everyday life.

I hope everyone will take the time to look at everything around them. From the clothes you wear, to your computer or tablet, your car, your furniture, to every man-made material around you, someone designed it. And their training most likely started in a course like Art 170...

Kassi was selected for the Minority Filmmaker Showcase in Baltimore, Maryland

* My film, Kassi was accepted to the Minority Filmmaker Showcase, presented by Reel Independent Women. *

Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Time: 7pm - 11pm

Ticket Price: $12 General Admission and $9 Creative Alliance Members

Location: Creative Alliance at the Patterson

3134 Eastern, Avenue 

Baltimore, MD 21224

‪#‎Kassi‬ ‪#‎AnimatedFilm‬ ‪#‎Animation‬ ‪#‎Indie‬ ‪#‎IndieFilm‬ ‪#‎Art‬ ‪#‎Film‬

Online Premiere of the animated short film, Kassi

 Today is the public, "Online Premiere" of our film, Kassi... This will be screened for FREE, until Friday, April 24th. I truly hope that everyone will enjoy this film. And for those who truly like this, please spread the word....
Kassi, Animated Short Film

If you are looking for a good kids book, please take a chance on my newest e-book, Joe's Question

Joe's Question

In the town of Punctuation, exclamation points live with confidence and purpose. But question marks are constantly trying to find their way. Joe is a question mark, who today, is trying to find his purpose in life...

If you are looking for art, please visit the portfolio of James Bowman

Art of James Bowman
Second Art page of James Bowman

"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST"

1. What is your name?
Shirah Neumann

2. Where are you from?
Buffalo, NY via Los Angeles, CA

3. What do you do?
Artist/Painter and Non-Profit Arts Administrator

4. What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
I have been painting since I was a kid. It has always been an important part of my life such that I don't ever remember not painting. Eventually I learned how to push my work beyond a boundary to arrive somewhere new. I like connecting with other people who can do this in their lives. These are artists, writers, philosophers, creative problem solvers, etc. This is a big part of why I also enjoy working for arts non-profits. I like having my own solitary practice and also engaging in the community and supporting the work and ideas of others.

5. What is your view on the state of the arts?
It is difficult to be an artist and make a living solely from one's art. I think that this has always been the case. I know many people who do it in very good and meaningful ways and I admire them. The state of the arts is a big phrase. What does it mean? Is it the state of the art market? I read a lot of frustration in peoples' opinions of the current climate. I can't imagine it any different. There are many ways to be successful as an artist. There is also the state of how the arts are successfully or unsuccessfully providing for culture. I read something recently about how the arts may be lacking in their coverage of the contemporary political climate. I have a hard time knowing if this is true because isn't if often that we don't understand an era or an art movement until it has passed? I think that there are many artists who are heavily invested in their participation in culture and politics. There are others who are heavily invested in esoteric and aesthetic studies. Then many who argue that all art is political.

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- My name is Madge Scott 

2) Where are you from?
- I came to the United States from Jamaica thirty years ago.

3) What do you do?
- I tried many things as a new immigrant but pursued nursing as a career. I actually stumbled upon art when I found my young daughters discarded paints. I returned to them when my son went missing in 1997 and tried painting from the calenders in  my home. Princess Diana died around the same time and I was inspired by her way of dress, so I began to carefully look at her pictures and copying what I saw.I still was not comfortable and felt that there was still more I had to do; learning to draw.  Looking at mathematical shapes and reading many books on art helped me tremendously,  I have never had an art class.

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- A terminally sick husband pushed me into making a decision whether or not to pursue my nursing career,  I chose to care for him and surrendered myself and my art to the universe.There's a force which propels me , no questions about that, a gift from the universe. The discovery of my work in 2005 was amazing for me and I was  suddenly launched into a new world. 
I have been successful in this new venture and feel that art is the only reason for my saneness. I continue to learn from my inner; it's rewarding.  

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- As a black artist, I find that we are being pushed aside.  We have to work extremely hard to keep our work in the limelight. We need help, there's not much help coming to us as far as I can tell. My own experiences tells me that we have a fight on our hands.Supporting each other and coming together and sticking together is a key to bringing attention and respect to a wonderful world of super creative people. .

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Curtis Wilcox

2) Where are you from?
- Boston, Massachusetts

3) What do you do?
- Artist and Author 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- What inspired me, this crazy world. ....

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- The art world is so full of jealousy now, that's wild.....

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
 - Frederick Marshall.

2) Where are you from?
 - Columbus,Ohio

3) What do you do?
 - Print operator and Artist.

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
 - Friends, family, and I had two cousins who liked to draw. One drew realistic pictures the, other was into comics. I was into both, so I took from both and learned through them, until I went to school.

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
 - It's OK I guess, depending on what you like but not sure as far as on the state of the arts.

It's the return of, "FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST"

If you are a visual artist, dancer, writer, filmmaker, graphic designer, animator, musician, actor/actress, poet, singer, or all around creative person, we are looking for you. The five questions are below.

1) What is your name?
2) Where are you from?
3) What do you do?
4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
5) What is your view on the state of the arts?

For those who are interested, please send us a message here, or through our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ExodusExpedition...

The first review of our newest short film, Kassi

"The Independent Critic" review of Kassi

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- My full name is Raymond Curtis Billingsley. I use "Ray" professionally. - 

2) Where are you from?
- My background is from the south, North Carolina to be exact, but my family migrated to New York's Harlem at an early age. -

3) What do you do?
- I write and draw the syndicated comic strip CURTIS. It's syndicated under King Features Syndicate, the largest syndicate in the world. It currently appears in 370+ papers worldwide. CURTIS is credited with breaking the boundaries, thus opening the door for many of the strips of a similar genre. www.billingsleyart.com -

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- Nothing really inspired, except for my older brother who also draws. I've been drawing as a child, as many artists say, but I became professional at age twelve, and have been published regularly ever since. It's been over forty years now and still going strong. -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- My view on the state of the arts is quite complicated. I've seen some art which is really good, but some of them need to strengthen their writing skills. On the other hand I've seen work that could use a lot of practice! Some depends too much on the computer to enhance their work when they should be working harder to improve the artwork itself. I feel some put their work out there on the internet before they are truly ready, but arrogance makes them think otherwise. -

Taming the "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

What would it be like to live in the middle of a swamp, in a post Katrina or post apocalyptic world? What if you saw this world from the imagination/reality of a child. That's where I arrived when I opened my eyes to the film, Beast of the Southern Wild. The film opens in a celebration with the people of the "Bathtub", a community living in the middle of the Mississippi delta, inside of a levee. This community is a hodgepodge of races, cultures, the eclectic, and the strange. The narrator of this unusual story is Hushpuppy, a tough, spunky, and independent six year old girl, who is raised by her equally tough but slightly off father, Wink.

As I watched this film, I couldn't tell where realty crossed to fantasy or when fantasy reawakened again to reality. In between listening to the heartbeat of every animal she came upon, or handfishing with her father, Hushpuppy envisioned the escape of prehistoric beasts, released from melting polar ice caps. For her, the universe had to always be in balance, and the escape of these beasts represented just that. The film moved as it were visual poetry, weaving in and out of realism and the fantastic mind of a child. I wonder if adults would have the flexibility to still absorb or understand the idealism of such an imagination.

For a first time effort, director and writer Benh Zeitlin runs full blast into a visually stunning, epic, and artistic piece. It's also hard to believe that the stars of the film, Dwight Henry(Wink) , and the truly amazing Quvenzhané Wallis(Hushpuppy) were just regular people discovered in Louisiana. This film will either disappoint with its confusion, entrance you with its artistry, or leave you longing to understand its meaning. But whatever you take from this film, I hope that you would appreciate the remarkable talent of Quvenzhané Wallis, in a performance that I hope will be awarded come Oscar time.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" Official Trailer

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Ryan - 

2) Where are you from?
- Miami - 

3) What do you do?
- cg supe at buck. - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- toy story -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- Commercial art has been booming for thirty years, since cable tv, the Internet, and cheap printing. Fine arts has descended into Tiny niches mainly because it has been fragmented into many many pieces via subcultures. Fine arts reaches fewer and fewer people -

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE ARTIST

1) What is your name?
- Aiko Tanaka - 

2) Where are you from?
- Japan - 

3) What do you do?
- content development, marketing etc. - 

4) What inspired you to pursue your creative career?
- my interests in media x culture -

5) What is your view on the state of the arts?
- unlimited -

The Question