Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference 2012

This will be the fourth year that American Artist magazine arranges a major art event that brings together famous artists who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise, and dedicated artists seeking to improve their skills and learn more about the art world.

The Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference 2012 offers a program where participants will experience hands-on and interactive workshops, demonstrations, lectures, panel discussions and special presentations throughout the four-day weekend.

Weekend With the Masters 2012 will allow emerging and seasoned artists to develop skills, enhance their creativity and approach their work and art as a whole from different points of view, thus earning an experience that will prove relevant throughout their artistic development.

As similar to previous edition, many are the names of renowned artists that will participate in this year's event. Most of their workshops are included in the flat rate.
Class descriptions for each one of the instructors and a list of materials for each class are available.
Each participant will have to carry their own art materials.
Refer to the schedule of classes by day and time for a more complete information.

The Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference 2012 will take place September 5- 8, 2012 (add-on day Sunday, September 9) at the luxurious Rancho Bernardo Inn, near San Diego, California.
A flat rate of $1395 (optional additional fee of $75 for September 9 critique session), allows you to sign up for as many half- or full-day demos and workshops as you would like over the four days, as well as access to all evening events (please refer to Class Structure and Fees page).
 If you register before May 9, 2012, the Flat Rate is $1,295.
Single tickets may be sold, space allowing and on a first-come, first-served basis as available.

World Press Photo 2012 Lisbon, Portugal

From 27th April through 20th May 2012, the Electricity Museum in Lisbon, in partneship with Visão magazine, hosts the World Press Photo 2012 exhibition tour.

This year's edition gathers over 160 awarded photographs selected from over 101254 images submited by 5247 photographers from 124 countries.

Samuel Aranda was the winner of the World Press Photo of the Year 2011, with a photo taken on 15 October 2011 while he was working in Yemen on assignment for the New York Times.
The photo depicts a woman holding her 18 year old son Zayed in her arms, victim of tear gas during the clashes in Sanaa, inside a mosque used as a field hospital by demonstrators against the 33 year-old regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The photo became a reference image of the Arab Spring (الثورات العربية‎)

The World Press Photo 2012 in Lisbon, Portugal, can be visited Tuesday to Sunday (10.00 - 18.00).
Entrance is free.

IndieLisboa'12

The 9th edition of the International Independent Film Festival IndieLisboa started today and will run until 6th May, offering a vast reportoire of  independent cinema from all over the world.

Regarded as the main Portuguese film festival, IndieLisboa'12 seeks to bring to the public new films and new directors from the universe of independent cinema, focusing on the author's creativity and independence. This objective is complemented by a programme that includes a seminar, debates, master classes, special screenings and the chance for the public to meet the authors of their favourite films.

The younger audience was not forgoten. The IndieJunior includes screenings from a competitive section catered for children between three year-old and fifteen year-old,  presented to school pupils and to the general public
IndieLisboa'12 also offers a video library comprising more than 3000 submitted films for the present edition, available in specially reserved booths to accredited professionals.

Worth mentioning is Viennale's 50th anniversary this October. IndieLisboa will honor the moment with a program showing five films, one for each decade, a selection based on what organizers feel to be the Viennale's essence.
During its exhibition, the public will have the chance to learn how creativity can overcome the financial budget and present a product that can compete with some major productions; if not in terms of marketing, at least in terms of quality.

Please refer to the Information section for useful info, namely on how to purchase tickets, contacts and accomodation.

Call for Applications: The 4th Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course

Since its inception in 2009, the Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course has been aknowledged as  platform for open discussions on curatorial practices and theoretical discourses of contemporary art and the biennales’ strategic and aesthetic approaches.

In 2012, the 4th edition will present "Biennale as Social Media" as its principal subject. Recurring to workshops, discussions, lectures by the visiting professor and group study, participants will be given an understanding of what is or what can be considered a biennale in today's art world.
Visits to museums, galleries, and artists’ studios in Gwangju and Seoul will also be scheduled.


Special lectures will be led by the 9th Gwangju Biennale Co-Artistic Directors and the 5th Gwangju Design Biennale Artistic Director. Several renowned professionals will be invited as guest lecturers to discuss their vast experience in the field.

The number of biennales has multiplied since the 1990s  and although some are regarded as a reference by artists and galleries, others have emerged that may be considered as no more than blockbusters.
How the role of a biennale as a catalyst of emerging artists or the affirmation of seasoned ones, or its role as an incubator for experimental art practices and freedom of expression has evolved during these years, as well as it comunicates with the public as a form of cultural practice, are some of the topics on which lecturers and participants will focus.

Course participants will take part in the preparation of the 2012 Gwangju Biennale under the supervision of the Biennale’s co-artistic directors. The participants are asked to make a group presentation during the final week.

This course is designed to provide young curators with opportunities to receive in-depth training. Thus the age restriction has been set to 35 and under. The Gwangju Biennale will grant tuition and accommodations to all of the selected participants for the entire course in Gwangju, South Korea. Participants will be responsible for their round-trip airfares to and from Gwangju and living expenses during their stay.
The entire course will be conducted in English and will take place between August 13 and September 8, 2012.



- Application submission period: April 24 – May 15, 2012


- Application requirements

1. All documents should be written in English.

2. Application must include:
  -Application form (available for download at the bottom of notice)
  -CV (Curriculum Vitae)
  -Motivational statement explaining the applicant’s interests and the purpose for applying(1,000 words max.)
 -Supporting materials: One or two copies of the most relevant published materials for curatorial/ exhibition related projects that the applicant participated in.

3. Submitted documents and/or materials will not be returned.

- Submission process: Send by email (curatorcourse@gb.or.kr)

- Notification: Successful candidates will be contacted around mid-June, 2012

The 4th Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course is hosted by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation & Gwangju Metropolitan City.

World Press Cartoon 2012 winners: Egil Nyhus and Aristides Hernandez Guerrero

The Grand Prix of the 8th edition of the World Press Cartoon Sintra 2012, was attributed ex aequo to the Norwegian artist Egil Nyhus and to the Cuban artist Aristides Esteban Guerrero during the awards ceremony took place yesterday, April 20th, at the Olga Cadaval Cultural Center. Both will share a €20,000 cash award.

Egil, winner of the Caricature category, submited a portrait of the former FMI director Dominique Strauss-Khan, depicted as a piggy bank behind bars. The caricature was published on May 2011 in the Romenikes Blad newspaper.

Aristides aka Ares, winner of the Editorial Cartoon category, participated with a work published on October 2011 in the Juventud Rebelde newspaper, where an air bombing is represented with bombs in the form of Liberty statue torches.

In the Gag category, the first prize was awarded to the Romanian artist Pavel Constantin, who submited an image of a universal assembly with animals seating on top of nuclear waste barrels.

The second and third prizes in the Caricature category went respectively to Javier Carbajo Alfonso(Spain) and Riber Hansson(Sweden). David Vela(Spain) and  Goran Divac(Serbia) were attributed the second and third prizes in the Editorial Cartoon category, while Omar Turcios(Colombia) and Agim Sulaj(Albania) were awarded with the second and third prizes in the Gag category.

For the World Press Cartoon Sintra 2012, the organization received 861 cartoons submited by 402 participants from 56 countries. The juri, composed by António Antunes(Portugal), Fernando Puig Rosdo(Spain), Jean Mulatier(France), Lisa Donnelly(USA) and Peter Nieuwendijk(Netherlands), selected 343 works by 260 artists.

These works will be on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Sintra until July 30, 2012.

Guided Tours in the Capela de São João Baptista (Igreja de São Roque)

                         

Celebrating the conservation and restoration of the St. John Baptist Chapel (Capela de São João Baptista) located in the Saint Roch Church (Igreja de São Roque) in Lisbon, which occurred between November 2010 and March 2012, the Museu de São Roque (Saint Roch Museum) is hosting a series of activities from 19 April to 26 May 2012.

"O restauro da Capela de São João Baptista - redescobrir o seu esplendor"  the programme will be presented as follow.

Guided Tours and Art Workshops:

The St. John Baptist Chapel (Capela de São João Baptista) and its collections: features and singularity; thematic guided tours catered for adults. Free individual participation with previous registration during the following days:

April: 21 (10h) and 28 (15h)

May: 5 (10h), 12 (15h), 19 (10h) and 26 (15h)

Registration for organized groups can be taken from Tuesday to Friday (10h00-12h30 and 14h00-17h30).

Maximum of 30 participants per visit.


Guided Tours to the St. John Baptist Chapel and its Goldsmithery and Church-vestments:

22 of April, 10h and 15h – Italian

29 of April, 10h and 15h – English

6 of May, 10h and 15h – French

20 of May, 10h and 15h – Spanish

Free individual participation with previous registration. Maximum of 30 participants per visit.


Lets Know  the St. John Baptist Chapel:
A cycle of visits with games and art workshops dedicated to children from 6 to 12 years of age.
The event will allow children to explore and get acquainted with the materials and techniques used in the construction of the chapel and at the same time stimulate their attention to the importance of conservation and restoration.

Free individual participation with previous registration during the following days:

April: 21 (15h) and 28 (10h)

May: 5 (15h), 12 (10h), 19 (15h) and 26 (10h)


Lectures:


Spring in Saint Roch (Primavera em São Roque)
- Cycle of thematic lectures about the St. John Baptist Chapel

19 April - 18h30
Art and Politics: The St. John Baptist Chapel in Saint Roch.
(Arte e Política: a Capela de São João Baptista em São Roque)
Lectured by António Filipe Pimentel Phd.

3 May - 18h30
The mosaics in the St. John Baptist Chapel: techniques and conservation issues.
(I mosaici della cappella di San Giovanni Battista: tecnica esecutiva e i problemi di conservazione)
Lectured by Solange Muralha

3 May -19h00
Scyentific analisys of the St. John Baptist Chapel's mosaics
(Análise cientifica dos mosaicos da Capela de São João Baptista )
Lectured by Solange Muralha

10 May - 18h30
The St. John Baptist Chapel: concealed details.
(A Capela de São João Baptista: pormenores ocultos)
Lectured by Belmira Maduro

10 May  - 19h00
The pedestal flooring of the St. John Baptist Chapel: characteristics, conservation and restoration.
(O supedâneo da Capela de São João Baptista: caracterização, conservação e restauro do estrado de altar)
Lectured by Tiago Dias

17 May - 18h30
Gold, gold, gold...
(Oro, oro, oro…)
The liturgic vestments ordered to Rome for the St. John Baptist Chapel and for the Holy Ghost Chapel in the Saint Roch Church of Lisbon.
(I paramenti liturgici ricamati a Roma per la Cappella di San Giovanni Battista e dello Spirito Santo nella Chiesa di San Rocco di Lisbona)
Lectured by Professor Marialuisa Rizzini
The lectures in Italian will be translated simultaneously.
Free individual participation with previous registration. Maximum of 40 participants per lecture.


For information and registration, please contact:

Tel. (351) 213 235 421
       (351) 213 235 824
       (351) 213 235 065

Email: info@museu.saoroque.com

More information about the São Roque Church in Lisbon and how to get there, as well as further places to visit in the city, can be found here.

‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ Los Angeles 2012

‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ was created by artist Luke Jerram and since it started touring in 2008, soon caught the attention of the international artistic community.
The event has taken place in several cities worldwide, encouraging the interaction between the public and the artists, often unveiling unknown talents.



For 3 weeks that started on April 12, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra brings ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ to L.A.
Local artists and community organizations were invited to decorate 30 pianos that are featured across Los Angeles County and are at hand for everyone to play, in celebration of acclaimed conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane’s 15th anniversary as LACO music director.

On April 26th at 8:45pm, the one night only pop-up tribute Love Letters to LA: Pianos Live, will take place around the piano located outside of the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Kicking off the final week of the pianos’ LA visit, this admission free concert will feature stripped down, unplugged performances by over a dozen local artists. Each artist will perform one song – a cover of their choosing of what “Los Angeles” means to them. The event is produced by karmeck Productions and James Gannon with support from LACO, Tadpole Audio, and the Egyptian Theatre.



A page was especially created for ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ Los Angeles 2012, where people can learn more about this project, find the location of the pianos across L.A. and are invited to submit their photos, videos and stories about the event.

ColorADD® - A tool for colour blind individuals

About 8 years ago, Portuguese designer Miguel Neiva started working on a project to improve the life of colour blind individual. His objective was to create a universal and intuitive tool that could be applied to several sectors, including design, industry, education, transports, hospitals, etc.

During the development of his project, Miguel did some exaustive research, contacted several doctors and ran a study with colour blind individuals. He realized that he was dealing with a limitation that wasn't - still isn't - fully understood by society, thus lacking support and causing many embarrasing situations to daltonics.

According to his research, 90% of communication is made through colour; 41.5% of daltonics senses social integration issues; 48.8% has felt embarraced for not choosing the best colour; 37% of colour blind do not know which type of colour blindness they have; among other relevant data.

To help colour blind individuals to surpass their dificulties, Miguel Neiva created ColorADD® COLOR IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR COLOR BLIND PEOPLE, an intuitive and inclusive tool that adds to the concept of colour through the addition of a system of symbols easy to understand, not only by daltonics but by everyone.
A system like this one, not only improves the life of colour blind people, but also enables a better communication between them and those who aren't.

Based on a monochromatic system language (five simple symbols, represent the Primary Colors - Blue (Cyan), Yellow and Red (Magenta), plus Black and White) the ColorADD Code enhances its own logic and allows rapid and easy color identification by colour blind people. Sustained by “the Color Theory” – secondary colours are obtained by mixing / adding two primary colours, and so long, offers a graphic code that is unique, inclusive, universal and transversal to society and markets.

ColorADD® is already been used by several sectors and has gain recognition worldwide. Its author has been invited to seminars about daltonism and has speached at Co-Lab (a social inovation co-laboratory) and at TEDxTalks.



Did you know that 10% of the male population has a specific degree of colorblindness ?

Paul Cézanne's "The Boy in the Red Waistcoat" found in Serbia

A stolen Paul Cézanne's painting was recovered during an operation coordinated between Swiss authorities and officers from Serbia's Anti-Organised Crime Unit.
The painting in question is "The Boy in the Red Vest"(also known as The Boy in a Red Waistcoat) or “Jeune garçon au gilet rouge,” an Oil on canvas (79.5 x 64 cm) painted ca. 1888/90 and worth €83 million. Three other versions of the painting are in museums in the US.

Three elements connected to the theft were arrested in Belgrade and in the southern town of Cacek. The alleged leader of the gang, Ivan Pekovic, was caught in a car park after a car chase through the streets of Belgrade. The gang was also found in possession of a substantial collection of firearms and more than €1.2 million in cash.

The painting was stolen February 2008, when the thieves, speaking German with Slav accent, burst into the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection, ordering the staff to lie down on the floor while they took the Cezanne and three other masterpieces: Dega's "Place de la Concorde," Monet's "Poppy field at Vetheuil" and Van Gogh's "Blossoming Chestnut Branches." With near €120 million of stolen art, it was considered one of the major art robberies in the last 20 years.

At time the Swiss police recovered the Monet and the Van Gogh in a psychiatric hospital car park soon after the robbery, but the Cezanne and the Degas disappeared without trace; with an estimated value of €8 million, Dega's "Place de la Concorde" (1875) is still missing.

This recovery of stolen artwork happens near six months after the Serbian police found two paintings by Pablo Picasso, also in Belgrade: "Tête de Cheval" (1962) and "Verre et Pichet" (1944), which had also been stolen in Switzerland only two weeks before the assault.

Art stolen in Western Europe is sometimes either smuggled through Serbia and onto Montenegro, or taken to Kosovo.

The People & Planet International Photography Competition 2012

Entries are open for The People & Planet International Photography Competition 2012, accessible to amateur and professional photographers anywhere in the world.

The organizers are looking for 53 extraordinary photos of various genres, including portraits, landscapes, animals, objects, or any combination of these, preferably with particular focus on social-justice or environment issues; better if telling “good news” stories. These photos will be published in the 2013 People & Planet: Social Justice & Environment Diary and Calendar, which raises money for our group of about 50 Australian charity partners.

Participants can submit up to a maximum of 4 photos of their own authorship. The photos must have a title each, include 3 to 5 sentences describing each one of them and the social-justice(s) and/or environment issue(s) raised by the photo, and the place where it was taken. You can submit photos previously published elsewhere.

Images can be colour or B&W, but must be at least 300 dpi resolution, supplied in JPEG format, with a maximum file size of 10 MB. We like minimal Photoshop-ing, and we will usually exclude photos where Photoshop-ing is obvious.
Other participation rules can be consulted on the peopleandplanet.org.au website.

Entering The People & Planet International Photography Competition 2012 is free. Submissons must be sent to peopleandplanet@peopleandplanet.org.au by 22 April 2012. The winners will be notified by 1 June 2012.

Winners will be selected by the competition Judges:
Michael Cebon (People & Planet Diary and Calendar Editor)
Rodney Dekker (Documentary Photographer)

A 1st Prize of A$1,500 and a 2nd Prize of A$500, both cash, will be attributed to the authors of the best two photos. The author of the photo selected for the cover of the People & Planet Diary & Calendar 2013 will receive a A$500 cash award.
All 53 winners will receive a free copy of the 2013 People & Planet Diary.

This is a great opportunity to have your photos published and achieve international recognition, while at the same time supporting a good causes. You can even use part of the prize to buy some calendars and offer them to your friends and relatives.

Known as the 'Painter of Light', Thomas Kinkade died at the age of 54

Painter of bucolic and idyllic settings, famously known by his stone cottages, Christma's scenes and classic Americana, Thomas Kinkade passed away during his sleep last Friday at his home in Los Gatos-Monte Sereno, where he lived with his companion Amy Pinto.

His paintings are characterized by their glowing highlights and saturated pastel colors. Through The Thomas Kinkade Company, millions of printed reproductions and other licensed products have been sold, thanks to an effective mass marketing machine.

Born on January 19, 1958, he claimed by to be "America's most-collected living artist." Admired by many and criticized by others, Kinkade, who characterized himself as "Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light", a phrase he protected through trademark but one originally attributed to the English master J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), died at the age of 54 on April 6, 2012.

From 2008 and directed by Michael Campus, the movie Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage tells the story of Thom, an art school student who in his 20s determines to make the transition from amateur to professional painter to help save the family's home located in Placerville, California. In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1977, his mother Maryanne Kinkade had fallen behind in her mortgage payments.

Da Vinci's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne at the Louvre

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, a Leonardo da Vinci's oil on wood painting (168 cm × 112 cm (66 in × 44 in) depicting St. Anne, her daughter the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus grappling with a sacrificial lamb symbolizing his Passion as the Virgin tries to restrain him, is being exhibited at the Louvre together with all surviving related works.

Leonardo had already represented these figures together in The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist, sometimes called The Burlington House Cartoon, a charcoal and black and white chalk drawing on eight sheets of paper glued together.

Commissioned as the high altarpiece for the Church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne was started in 1501, as it was first mentioned in Isabella d’Este’s correspondence, and it was left unfinished upon his death in 1519.

The painting was recently restored with the aid of the C2RMF (Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France), however this process wasn't exempt from controversy. On 7 October 2011, Le Journal des Arts, a Paris art publication, reported that the restoration posed more danger to the painting than was previously expected.

The exhibition includes compositional sketches, preparatory drawings, landscape studies and The Burlington House Cartoon (National Gallery), brought together for the first time since the artist’s death and revealing his lengthy meditation and succession of solutions he had envisioned for this masterpiece.
Other painted artworks by Leonardo are also used to illustrate how Saint Anne is the true culmination of the artist’s numerous and varied explorations on nature and art.

In order to bring out the full scale of Saint Anne's innovative nature, the exposition also strives to reposition the artwork in the iconographic tradition of its subject (The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne) and affirm its considerable influence on Italian art in the early 16th century.
More recent tributes to the artist by Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, and Max Ernst bear witness to the masterpiece’s longstanding influence.

Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, can be visited at the Louvre (Napoleon Hall, beneath the Pyramid) from March 29 to June 25, 2012.
The exhibition is organized by Vincent Delieuvin, curator in the Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre.

Zach Bodish finds an original Picasso print in Ohio for $14

Would you expect to find an original limited edition Picasso print in a thrift store?
Neither would Zachary Bodish when he entered the Volunteers of America thrift store on Indianola Avenue, Ohio.

The Columbus, Ohio resident had been to the store a couple of times, but wasn't having success in finding anything of interest to him. It was then in one of his visits that something aroused his attention... "I saw the Picasso part, part here that says Picasso, sticking out from behind some other artwork," Bodish told WCMH.

Zach noticed the paint thickness, and paying a closer look he discovered that the linocut print, made for a ceramic exhibition in France in the year of 1958, was numbered 6/100, had "original print, signed proof" written in French and Picasso's signature in faint strokes of red pencil.

After confronting the signature with other Picasso prints, Zach's expectancy became more realistic. A fact that would later be confirmed by the words of Swann Auction Gallery vice president Todd Weyman, "It looks right as rain to me," he said.
According to Weyman, the print could fetch up to $6,000 at auction.

Lucky Zach Bodish, who bought the original Picasso print for $14.14, will probably sell it, since he lost his job two years ago and money is tight.

"Fly Killer" Art History Comic Strip

(c) The author