ColorADD available for iPhone and iPad

 Created by Miguel Neiva, ColorADD® COLOR IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR COLOR BLIND PEOPLE, is an intuitive and inclusive tool that adds to the concept of colour through the addition of a system of symbols.

 Based on a monochromatic system language, the colorADD code allows a  fast and easy colour identification by colour blind people, as well as unique, inclusive, universal and transversal.

 Programmed by Rui Seica, ColorADD® is now available for iPhone and iPad, with versions for Android and Windows Mobile following soon.

 After downloading the app, which has a price of only €0,89, the user only needs to point the camera to the surface and its colour will be imediately identified on the screen, with a caption containing the colour's name and its symbol.

 With a double touch on the screen, the user can freeze the image and slide a chromatic ring to a specific area, allowing a more precise result if needed. The results can be automatically shared on social networks.
It's also possible to analize the images saved on the mobile device.

 ColorADD has numberless applications, including in the industry, education and healthcare. Several official institutions and private owned companies, have already adapted it.

 Teacher-librarian Sílvio Maltez is the author on an ebook (only in Portuguese) about how the ColorADD system works. The preface is by Miguel Neiva.

Golden introduces MXR Virtual Paint Mixer

For those who want to try their hand at mixing colours without waisting a single dime or having to clean the palette and a few brushes before getting a reasonable approach to their objective, Golden Artist Colors inc., has recently launched the MXR Virtual Paint Mixer.

 This new and free tool, matched to the characteristics of Golden paints, enables artists to mix paint by choosing the colour, adding it to one of the tubes on the right and then sliding the caps according to the desired mix. Through its numeric system, users can use L*a*b, RGB and CMYK colour systems to reach colour formulations.

 Another interesting and useful characteristic of this new tool, is the chance of being able to choose a colour from the spectrum and have its formula presented or to upload an image, select a colour from it and getting its mixing formula. This last one is quite important because the way we see colours depends on the other colours that surround them and sometimes it's not always easy to separate colours.

 Up to 18 mixtures can be saved per session and users can print the results, send them by email or even share on Facebook.

La Petite Escalère - International Residency Program Spring 2013

 Applications are open for La Petite Escalère's Spring 2013 residency program for international visual artists (Photographers and video artists are encouraged to apply)

 The program will last between April 30 and June 30, 2013 and will provide its residents with the opportunity to develop a specific project or pursue personal research in a unique setting and offers full accommodations, a weekly stipend and transportation to and from LPE.
 Located in the Southwest of France, on the banks of the Adour River, La Petite Escalère offers two residencies each year, one in the spring and one in the fall, each time hosting a single artist (two artists if developing a collaborative project) for a minimum of 1 week (2 for international artists) and up to 4 weeks at a time.

 Covering approximately 70 acres of marshland, meadows and wooded areas, LPE enables a close relation with nature and visual artst, naturally bringing up related artistic practices. Nonetheless, residential artists are invited to develop their own approaches and creations in an open and personal dialogue with LPE, its territory and heritage.
 No production is required at the end of the residency. Each resident is free of his/her time and work during his/her stay at LPE. But he or she agrees to dedicate half a day per week of residency to education programs, meeting and sharing with different groups around their work and experience.

 The application form must be sent by mail only and no later than October 15, 2012, together all the required documents. No reminder will be sent and no additional documents will be accepted. Incomplete applications will be discarded.

 Successful applicants will possess artistic excellence and commitment, affinity with LPE's missions and concerns. In order to facilitate the resident's stay at LPE and the outreach and education programs around his/her work,  the ability to speak French, English or Spanish is a must.

 The interview with pre-selected candidates will take place before December 15, 2012.
 A final notification will be sent no later than January 15, 2013

 Residents for the 2013 Spring Residency will be selected by LPE's Board, together with an artistic committee comprised of distinguished art professionals, artists and intellectuals.

Two categories of artists will be more specifically considered:

•On one hand emerging artists for whom such an experience would contribute to career development.
•On the other, established artists for whom LPE can offer a fresh approach to nature and sculpture.

A publication documenting the residencies and conceived in collaboration with the residents is published and distributed by LPE each year

NB: The Spring 2013 residency is limited to visual artists. Applications from other disciplines will not be accepted. For information about upcoming residencies, please check LPE's website.

How Art Can Help People With Disabilities

Proclaimed in 1992, the annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons takes place on the 3rd of Decemmber.
The theme for 2011 is “Together for a better world for all:
Including persons with disabilities in development.”

We live in a society where laws and benefits fall far behind the needs of disable people and their families, and in many countries those laws are constantly disrespected without any sanction. Moreover there's a gap in terms of educating people in their relation with each other, especially between the so-called normal and those with disabilities - People with disabilities make up an estimated 15 per cent of the world’s population. Almost one-fifth of the estimated global total of people living with disabilities, or between 110-190 million, encounter significant difficulties. Furthermore, a quarter of the global population is directly affected by disability, as care-givers or family members.

One of the most successful methods of providing disabled people with personal development and social integration is through the arts, especially in the case of children.
Art enables dexterity development, a better perception of space (including negative space and relation), colour, form and many other things. It is also a great opportunity to end individual isolation, as art projects can be completed in group.
Several resources for those working with special needs students in the arts, can be found online or by contacting official and private institutions.

Several art projects for children can be found at Julie Voigt's blog Art for Small Hands.

New Postgraduate Program at European School of Visual Arts (EESI)‏

Since Documenta X (1997), under the direction of Catherine David, that documentary has conquered its place in the field of contemporary art.
This is put in evidence by the inclusion of documentaries at contemporary art festivals and how they can complement each other, offering a more comprising perception.

This postgraduate program is conceived for students in art or cinema, young exhibition curators or art critics who wish to extend their training through a year of experimentation around the interplay of issues between document and contemporary art, without being confined to a single technique or material.

Its diversity allows it to cover areas such as: promoting a collective dimension to work, following through production, producing materials (films, texts, exhibitions, performances), carrying out work on theory and art history, calling for modes of exhibiting, encouraging experimentation, analizing documentary protocol and the issue of archiving, blending knowhow and practice, and drawing on the European dimension by looking at the problems of translation.

The year will conclude with an event: a cycle of projections, exhibition, publication, seminar, conference and meetings whose form will be decided on by each group. An annual publication will expose the activities of the postgraduate program, gathering the artits' works and the contributions of the guest artists.

With the aim of establishing the work of the postgraduates in the fields of art and research, and supporting their work in terms of production, the postgraduate Program "Document and contemporary art" is associated with Le Confort Moderne,concert hall and exhibition center, based in Poitiers. It benefits from the dynamic of exchanges between an art center and an art school. A partnership between CalArts, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (California) has also been renewed. This postgraduate program is also associated with l'École nationale supérieure d'art de Bourges (France).

The postgraduate students will have use of the school’s technical facilities and a grant of 4000 Euros. The group will be composed of four young artists.
The artists, critics, exhibition curators, and producers linked to the postgraduate diploma projects or artistic affairs, will be present throughout the year.
Two artists will regularly attend and meet the postgraduate students to support their work. Staff from the European School for Visual Arts will also assist the postgraduates in their studies. A seminar will be organized at the end of the year to review the methods applied in the course of the diploma and in artistic research.

Candidates to the Postgraduate Program must hold a recognized diploma, equivalent to level 1 (High School graduation certificates + 5 years of study in higher education) from a national or international institution. After a preliminary selection from the candidate’s artistic dossier, application letter and curriculum vitae, the candidate will be invited to be interviewed by a panel of experts.
The artistic dossier/portfolio should include documentation of the work produced by the candidate (texts, photographs, films, catalogues and articles). For cinematic or audio works, the candidate should select extracts with a maximum of 12 minutes.
The application letter (maximum length 2 pages) must outline the candidate’s career, previous experience and fields of interest for the postgraduate diploma program.

Submission deadline for artistic dossier and application letter is 10th September 2011. The interview will be held on 23th September.

The application must be sent to:

European School of Visual Arts
Post-diplôme
134 rue de Bordeaux 16000 Angoulême

E-mail : direction.post-diplome@eesi.eu

European School of Visual Arts, or École européenne supérieure de l’image (EESI) is an art school born from the will of the cities of Angoulême and Poitiers to gather resources and create an artistic institute at a regional scale with international exposure.

Association des Pastellistes Belges

A new association dedicated to the promotion of pastel has been recently inaugurated in Belgium, following a successful pastel exhibition in the Floreffe Abbey where the public demonstrated great enthusiasm concerning the medium.

With the aim of creating bridges between pastelists and their public, as well as connecting with other associations and promoting artistic initiatives, the Association des Pastellistes Belges counts already with near 50 enthusiasts, including from the North of France.

On August 6 (10h00 - 16h30) it will take place in the pedestrian streets of Namur, an initiative to make the public familiar with the medium and learn about its possibilities.

An exhibition is already anticipated for April 2012.
It will be called "1er Salon du Pastel" and will occupy six halls of the Floreffe Abbey (Abbaye de Floreffe).

The association was founded by Claudine Boignet and is located at:
12, rue de Libérateurs
5100 Jambes, Belgique.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Extending from prehistory to the present day, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated by the Museum's collection.

Since its start in 2000 that curators, conservators, and educators from the Metropolitan Museum continue to dedicate a great deal of their time researching and writing the Timeline, continuously developing its scope and complexity, reflecting the most up-to-date scholarship.

The Timeline of Art History is is indexed by chronology, geography, theme, and subject, encompassing four main categories:

World Maps and accompanying regional maps that can be used within a selected region or time period.

Timeline that includes a chart of time periods, representative works from the museum's collection and a historical overview that permits visitors to compare art from around the globe at any time in history.

Thematic Essays focusing on specific themes in art history, such as artistic movements and periods, archaeological sites, empires and civilizations, recurrent themes and concepts, media, and artists. Each thematic essay is complemented with links to related themes and timelines.

Works of Art are placed in a comprehensive chronological, geographical, and thematic context. Each image can be enlarged for closer scrutiny and is accompanied by supporting material, including when available, links to technical glossaries on CAMEO and artist biographies from Oxford Art Online.

A General Index providing a more direct search and a Bibliography comprised of over 3000 Metropolitan Museum of Art publications, complement this invaluable art resource.

Funded by the Heilbrunn Foundation, New Tamarind Foundation, and Zodiac Fund, the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History is an invaluable reference and research tool for students, educators, scholars, and anyone interested in the study of art history and related subjects.

Visit this page to know the names of those who have contributed to this project.