I’ve watched this video several times in the past, but it’s something I keep returning to watch.  It speaks to the power of design and I wanted to share with you. Presented by TED – Ideas Worth Spreading.

AIGA Connecticut is doing it again and is presenting what promises to be another extraordinary workshop.  On March 10, 2010, award winning photographer and writer, Sean Kernan, will talk about real creativity.  This is not the creativity we learned in school or at work, but the stuff we knew from the start. The workshop will explore how our basic creative impulses affect our lives and our work and how new thinking can open our eyes to the wonderment of what might be an enhanced creative lifestyle.

According to AIGA CT, this workshop will not help you get work, fall in love or make you healthy, but it might just get you back in touch with those creative ideas that you perhaps might have had as a free thinking child.

Sean Kernan

Sean Kernan  lives and works on the Connecticut coast. His photographs have been shown in museums around the world, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Museum of Photography in Greece, and the Whitney Museum in the United States.  Mr. Kernan has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Communication Arts, Graphis, and the Atlantic Monthly. He is the author of Among Trees (Published by Artisan Books, May 2003) and The Secret Books, with Jorge Luis Borges.

This event is $40 for AIGA members and $50 for non-members. If you sign up to become an AIGA member at this event, the event is FREE!
To purchase tickets, visit AIGA CT Online

I’d love to get to know you.  Please drop me a comment and introduce yourself. Don’t be shy.

And writers, photographers, musicians, designers and you, too.  Maybe I’m preaching to the choir here, but this morning I attended a social media and power networking breakfast and was surprised at the number of people who weren’t taking advantage of social media to promote their businesses.  Social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) is one of the greatest tools available today in which to market your work and your talent. Hell, it’s a great tool just to meet some excellent people.  Never before have we been able to promote our work to people around the corner, the nation and around the world with the click of a mouse.  Social media makes it possible. Millions of people have a Facebook page and/or a Twitter account… There’s a lot of networking you could be doing right now.

You are not just an artist.  You are an entrepreneur and you’re in the business of selling and promoting your work. The world is changing.  Business models are changing.  Social media is a tool for positive change.  It’s important, now more then ever, to reach out to like-minded people and be a part of the change. I know you are probably thinking, “Holy cow, I don’t have time for that nonsense. And who cares what I had for breakfast?”  Using social media is not about what you had for breakfast.  I guarantee you that marketing using these online avenues only takes about 10 minutes a day and it will make a huge difference in your business plan.  Simply log on and tell your fans, in 140 characters, daily news from your studio or gallery.  Talk about your process or your challenges.  Create a page or group just for your business.  You can create lists to organize your followers according to your interests.  To save you time, there are applications such as Tweetdeck which will allow you to type one entry and display it over several social media networks automatically.  Update Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin all at once.  You’re done.

I’m a believer in social media.  In just the last year, social media has revolutionized my social life and my business life in the most remarkable ways.  I’m now attending art events that I wouldn’t have even know about in 2008.  I’ve met artists, photographers, gallerists, and world class journalists.  I was invited to sit on the board of AIGA CT because of my connections on Facebook.  I’ve gotten writing assignments, retained clients and even went camping because of social media.  I’ve learned a lot.  All these connections created new connections and best of all…new opportunities.

I’d love to share some tips and resources for social media here with you.  Are you using Facebook?  Twitter or Linkedin?  Or does the whole notion of social media just freak you out?

You can find me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lisa.mikulski or creativeartsguide
Twitter: @lisamikulski or @creativeartsg
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lisamikulski

I’m pleased to share with you a recent interview, conducted for Creative Arts Guide, with abstract artist and sculptor Ted Mikulski.  Over the past year, I’ve received quite a few requests to interview Ted from readers here at Lisa’s Blog and at my old blog, ArtLOOK.  Sooo… being ever so careful not to subscribe to nepotism, I must give the readers what they want!  Yes, Ted is my creative and talented cousin… but that shouldn’t stop me from saying nice things about him and his work.

Ted Mikulski

CAG: Hi Ted, thank you for granting this interview. You started out as an architect and transitioned to art. What compelled you to make that move and how’s it going?

Ted: I did go to school for architecture and it is something that I love.  However, I don’t love the slow unstable 9 to 5 ladder climbing that ensues after graduation in the profession of architecture (assuming you can find a job).   Not that I don’t like to work hard, I just don’t like ladders.  I have always had a strong passion for modern and contemporary art.  I think art was something that was inevitable for me.  I am loving every minute of it.

CAG: Do you find similarities between architecture and art or are they completely different fields/processes? Contrasts?

Ted: They tend to be similar in nature, though in architecture form follows function.  It is not art’s job to serve any purpose, other than to draw emotional response from its viewer.  It is, of course, important to recognize that architecture can most certainly be art, but I find that it is few and far between in this country.  What I would really like to see is more installation art integrated into architecture.

CAG: You are an abstract artist. New England is a difficult venue for abstract art. What is your feeling about this?

Ted: Being an abstract artist is not an easy task in this area for sure.  I always say that if I wanted to make a living in this state I would go paint landscapes or beaches. That is simply not the art I am attracted to.  In many ways, I feel comfortable being an abstract artist in an area where it is not readily understood.  I feel comfortable teaching and reaching out to those that have simply not been exposed to it.  I like to create that which cannot be captured by a photograph. There are also other incredible abstract artists in New England that seem to be largely overlooked.  Not because they can’t make it into galleries, but because it seems abstract paintings do not fit with the colonial suburban motif.   I think it would be a wonderful gesture for a major museum to have a contemporary collective abstract show in New England.  You would be amazed at some of the work no one sees.

Ted Mikulski 'It's a Party' 40"x30"

CAG: We agree!!  Can you tell us a little about your process.

Ted: In terms of painting, my process is becoming more technique-based as time goes on.  I do not use a brush directly to the canvas but instead lay the canvas flat and impose my paint through velocity and density.  I generally mix 10-40 hues of color (depending on the project) and then alter the paint’s density.  That way I can control how the paints interact with one another.  The flow or movement of the final product can be control by gravity.   A painting generally takes about 6-8 hours of constant moving and manipulation.

My sculptures require the same process mentioned above, though on a sculpted medium. My current sculptures are created from insulation foam and a fiberglass resin.  I feel that they are an advancement of my abstract concepts.  They allow me to work in space as well as color.

To complete the equation you add some music and a beverage.

CAG: As a relatively new artist, what marketing tools have you found most helpful to launching your career and why?

Ted: The Internet of course has been wonderful for marketing.  The Internet is the new billboard, you just have to catch people driving on the right road.  I have my website, seeabstract.com as well as my blog.   On top of that I have taken advantage of the popular social media outlets, Twitter and Facebook.  As mentioned earlier, abstract art is largely ignored in New England and the Internet has been great in breaking through that regional barrier.  Also, since galleries and venues are scattered throughout the state, the Internet allows those curators to see the work instantly.

Of course with ease of presentation you have over-saturation of artists.  I think it is important to remain focused and continue updating all your new work online to keep your fans coming back.
I also do not want to overlook the fact that in order to be considered a part of the art world, you must be active.  I try to attend as many gallery openings as I can and support as many venues as possible.  I find it to be far more exhilarating than being amongst 10,000 drunken concert fans.

CAG: You had a great opening at the Black Rock Gallery recently. What are your plans for the near future? Tell us a little about the NBMAA.

Ted: The Gallery at Black Rock was a wonderful gallery for my recent work.  I have been showing at quite a few venues over the past couple years and after this exhibition ends, I will be spending the rest of the year in the studio.  I am looking forward to creating work freely and not focusing solely on what needs to be in a specific exhibition.  My next major exhibition is a solo show scheduled at Iona College in NY in 2011. My installation ‘Photosynthe-this’ which debuted at the recent opening has been offered to my favorite Connecticut museum, The New Britain Museum of American Art.  There is no guarantee they have space for it due to its massive size but I would be happy to see it go to that wonderful organization.

CAG: With the release of your first book, Art is Dead, you’re launching yourself headfirst into the wider world of the arts. Explain the philosophy that drove you to write this book.

Ted: I have always been interested in art philosophy as well as the creation of art.  The story I always tell is what happened when I first asked my first students at Tunxis Community College who their favorite living visual artist was.  Only 2 students out of about 70 could answer the question.

Soon, after pursuing the topic of art in America a bit further, I found out that I was not alone in my feeling that art appreciation was at a major low point.  It seemed that a majority of artists were disappointed about our current society and its relationship to art.   I found that everyone in the art community seemed to be talking about it, so I decided it needed to be written about.  I also tapped many of those opinions and included them in the book as a way to gather a more compelling outlook of art today.

CAG: Tell us how writing felt to an abstract artist as a form of creative expression.

super cool sneaks

Ted: Writing the book was an interesting task.  I would often rationalize my thoughts in the book while I was painting.  I would have to stop painting and quickly write down concepts and ideas that required further investigation.   Like much of the art I create, I felt a thirst that seemed unquenchable until I completed the project.

CAG: Why/how do you choose the varying mediums that you work in? We love the sneakers.

Ted: Ha, the sneakers are the most fun for me right now.  Truthfully, I would draw or paint on any and all mediums that would be presented to me. I would love to paint an airplane for example.  I feel like so much of what is manufactured today is just that…manufactured.  I think artists should be hired to paint or draw on buildings, furniture, cars, you name it.  Speaking of which, there may be a Mikulski art car in the near future. Shhh.

CAG: Thinking back to when you first got into art, what were your original expectations and thoughts and how have those related to the reality of being a working artist?

Ted: That is a great question and one that young artists often do not consider.  I have not been doing this very long, but when I first entered the art world I had lofty dreams of having my work in museums and traveling the world (I still might).  It is not every artists intention to become the next Andy Warhol or Salvador Dali, but I think secretly we all have that desire to one degree or another.  I think that dream is harder to achieve than becoming a rock-star, but I think that is what makes it so worthwhile.  I believe that with talent and determination, an artist of any medium can achieve great things in the art world.  The one crucial thing I came to quickly about being an artist is that talent alone is not enough.  Without long-term perseverance and drive, the art will remain in piles on a studio floor.  A working artist these days cannot simply be an ‘artist’.  One must be a businessman, marketer, salesman, negotiator, and about 20 other things.

Regardless of whether or not one’s art becomes widely recognized or largely forgotten, it is not important.  The only importance is the artist’s ability to express there innermost desires in a visual way.

CAG: What would you like our readers to know?

Ted: I don’t think anyone chooses art, I think art chooses the person.  The ultimate high for any artist is being able to do what you love.  I have been fortunate in that respect.
I often hear from friends and patrons that I should move to NYC since abstract art is undervalued here. But it becomes part of my responsibility to get my work understood and appreciated by those who don’t understand it.  I think that is what art is all about.

There are some exciting new projects that I am presently working on.  I imagine this will be an extremely productive year for me. I have quite a bit to explore and I am looking forward to it.

CAG: And so are we Ted. Please keep us posted on the news coming from your studio. Thank you.

This interview was compiled by Lisa Mikulski and Kyler Mikulski for Creative Arts Guide.  At present, CAG is only available on Facebook, but we have a website coming soon. Creative Arts Guide is promoting fresh ideas and visions in the Creative Arts.  We embrace all the creative arts in hopes of uniting the poet, the painter and the pianist. Please fan us on Facebook.

Please share this interview or leave us your thoughts with a comment below.

I have an aversion to quitting.  Quitting just seems to be an easy way of getting out of a difficult situation.  This notion was probably instilled in me by my mother who would advise me when things got tough, “Oh Lisa, stop being such a baby. Think of this as a challenge.”  Mom was tough for sure!  Because of my upbringing, it has always been my belief that you will never fail unless you quit. As a result, I’ve probably stayed in certain situations for much longer than required. I assign adjectives such as ‘tenacity’, ‘persistence’, and ‘patience’ to any given matter that requires an extra boost of courage. I’d now like to revise this philosophy.

For the past five years or so, I worked very hard on a particular client relationship.  Dragonfly prides itself with cultivating relationships with its clientele and this client was generally pleasant enough.  I had respect for his experience and his work.  The client also could be very difficult.  Micro managing and projects coming in to my studio at the 11th hour were becoming a lifestyle.  The account was challenging on a monthly basis but clearly no reason to quit.

After four years or so, things became much more difficult.  I found myself all too frequently on the receiving end of verbal outbursts and fists slammed upon the table top.  I witnessed my design work crumbled up and thrown into the trash.  I worked through holidays, weekends, and late into the night because of some “graphic design emergency”.  I postponed vacations and often got phone calls at 7am.  Rarely did I hear a simple ‘thank you’ but my invoices were always paid on time.  Still not a reason to quit?

Over the past week, when desperately hoping to enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday with my family… in came but yet another series of requests for work to prepare for Art Miami Basel in December.  Despite having spent several weeks already assisting this client in preparing his website and marketing materials… micromanaging was the name of the game and many revisions and additional requests for work were made.  The client was stressed and now so was I.  Unpleasant emails were exchanged several times a day.  As I sat at my desk that holiday weekend, miserable and sad, I began to draw what I titled “I Hate Who I Am When I Am With You.”  Now there was a reason to quit the account.  The whole situation was awful and despite the lies, the threats, the demands and the civil disobedience, it was sad.  Ending a relationship of any kind is emotional… it’s a divorce.

Monday morning I completed all work required, penned my resignation and my reasons for doing so. Relief flooded over me like a warm bath.  I’m sure my ex-client felt the same way as I don’t think people who are nasty are happy about their behavior.  During that same week, I received an invitation to join the AIGA CT Board.  I accepted. My long standing, non yelling clients came through my door with reasonable requests for work.  I made phone calls and reached out to old clients and possible new ones.  Positive things were replacing the negative.

I learned a valuable lesson.  Sometimes quitting is exactly what needs to be done.  Sometimes quitting allows us to move on in creative and exciting directions.  It makes room for new opportunities and allows us to look at life with fresh and rested eyes.  At this point, I am happy and thrilled about my future, my work and my clientele.  Never ever will I allow someone else make me hate who I am when I’m with them…and if you should find yourself in this type of situation, neither should you.  Go forth and plant positive seeds in the universe.

Have you had a similar experience?  How did you handle it?  Share your thoughts with a comment below.

I’m not sure if Balam Soto is a genius or just motivated beyond the standard human condition. I do know that Maestro Balam is fearless and that his story is not only inspirational but perhaps one of the more intriguing artist stories you might read this season.

Quiet and unassuming, Soto’s persona is one of kindness and grace but when it comes to his work the man is a warrior. Only twelve years ago, this Guatemalan artist made his way from a small village in Central America to Hartford Connecticut. He knew no English but he knew he wanted to be an artist in America. He had never taken a cab or used a computer. Twelve years ago Maestro Balam Soto had never even owned or held an actual paintbrush or swiped color against the tooth of a canvas.

Flash forward: In April 2008, Balam was honored with a Diploma of Recognition as a “Maestro” by the National Constitutional Assembly of Guatemala for “being a valuable and outstanding Guatemalan with international success.” The Casa de la Cultura of Guatemala in New York has also honored “Maestro Balam Soto for his brilliant artistic career in the visual arts” and he has received a Diploma of Recognition from the Consulate General of Guatemala in New York. Maestro Balam is now a successful full time artist, webmaster, lecturer, educator, husband and father with concurrent art exhibitions and plenty of requests for interviews.

“I knew when I was a little kid that I wanted to be an artist. The economy in Guatemala was very tight so I would make art with mud, stones, leaves and trees,” says Soto. “In Guatemala everything is very lush and I remember I would direct my friends to help create circles and designs with the flowers and leaves.”

With the unfolding of a creative mind, Soto grew older and in school he came across a painting shown in a book. He thought, “Wow, this would be amazing to do.” He had no idea how to begin. “I had no clue how to stretch a canvas or get paint.” In examining the picture in the book… “It looked to me like some cloth on a frame, but in Guatemala cloth and paint was extremely extremely expensive.” Soto began to save his money and was finally able to obtain some tempera paint from the local store. Now he needed canvas and a frame. He cut up his mother’s bed sheets and went to his Grandfather to get help building a frame. “I also knew I needed a brush and they were real expensive. I would have to save for another year if I wanted to buy one. I remembered I had worked with bamboo and I thought ‘I could probably use that for the handle of a brush’ so I got the bamboo and hollowed it out. But now I needed something to apply the paint with. I thought ‘Ahh… I can use my hair. I cut off my hair and taped it to the bamboo.’” That was Maestro Balam’s first paintbrush.

Balam attended the University of Guatemala and was presented with the opportunity to go to the Rain Forest. “I love the rain and so I decided I was going to go and move to the rain forest for the rest of my life.” It was there that he met his future wife Shelli. “We fell in love in the rain forest,” says Soto. “But Shelli lived in Wethersfield, CT and I had to make a choice between the rain forest which I loved and the woman I loved. I chose the woman.” It was Soto’s in-laws who presented him with his first set of art supplies. Balam spent the next 2 years painting in his in-law’s basement.

It is not just Soto’s talent and fierce pursuit of art that makes him unique. It is also his love of learning that propels him to embrace all that is available to him. “The first time I went to the library in the US, I was amazed. There was ocean of books waiting for me,” reflects Soto. But Soto didn’t read or speak English. A friend provided him with a book of archeology. It was a very thick book… and all in English! But Soto had always wanted that book and so he spent days and months with his English to Spanish dictionary translating the archeology book. That was how Soto learned English.

He further developed his English skills by taking classes at an English as a Second Language course. “I remember I really wanted to do that. But I was afraid to take the bus. But I took the bus to the class and was the only student to show up. That teacher loved to teach and for 6 months, every single day, I went to that class.” The teacher was a retired Electronic Engineer and he saw that Soto had a different way of thinking. The teacher knew about computers and showed Soto the technology. “How do you make all this stuff happen using just 0’s and 1’s? How does this work?” asked Soto. Again teacher and student embarked on the learning of a new language…computer programming. Today Soto is experienced in web design, flash, php, Unix, Linux, networking, database construction and programming. He has received a diploma in Computer and Industrial Electronics. This technology has become a part of his artistic palette.

Life is a journey and it is the steps we chose to take, or not take, that define our life. As humans we develop and Soto was developing at super human speed and loving every minute of it. After some time, he began to feel disconnected from the art he was producing. “I began to feel like I was going to die if I continued to work with oils… both in a creative way and in a health way.” He began to go for walks and picked up found objects with which to make art. He also discovered acrylics. “I really liked this medium. Water for mixing, Water for cleaning up. They were less expensive and they allowed for some interesting effects.”

“There is a tremendous amount of effort that goes into making art. And while some may not understand that process, when they look at the art… they feel it,” says Soto.

Maestro Balam now creates mixed media paintings, murals and installations in a unique style of modern art. He utilizes both traditional mediums and digital technologies in his creations. This blending of art and technology define his style and he is one of the few artists to embark upon this type of groundbreaking work. In fact, most things about Soto’s work are unique to what we might call Western Art. This combination or juxtaposition of medium, application, and theme are all a direct result of Soto’s Mayan ancestry.

Themes that reoccur in Soto’s work include the sun, the rain, Mayan spirits and saints such as Maximón (pronounced “Mashimon”.) The artist uses turquoise, jade, glass, beads and wood in his creations. “In my culture of Guatemala the idea of spirit is very different. We have so many spirits… there is the spirit of a mountain, the spirit of water. As I grew up my grandmother taught me about Mayan mythology. She lived in a very traditional house. She cooked on a fire in the fireplace and at night she would talk to me about these things. It would be so dark and her face would only be lit by the light of the fire. She told me about this magical world and how spirits interact with humans, and so when I say I’m connected to my roots it comes out in my art.” There are so many languages (influences) that come into play in art and while some art works can be technically perfect in execution they may lack spirit. “There is a tremendous amount of effort that goes into making art. And while some people may not understand that process, when they look at the art… they feel it,” says Soto.

How we see and think about mythology is timeless and yet it evolves while still remaining the same. The way Soto uses color, the way he paints (he paints on the floor), and the way he explores ideas are outside of the western mind. And from the mind of Balam Soto comes the notion of Modern Thinking, a phrase he has developed to explain his philosophy and his mission.

Soto explains the concept like this:

“Technology has completely changed our mode of thinking in modern times; it has created a concept that I call modern thinking. To explain this concept, I first need to define the traditional model of thinking that we used before the advent of modern technology, in particular before the development of the Internet. Growing up in a small town, I knew one tiny piece of the world and nothing more. Information came to us very late and through one channel, if it arrived at all. Even recently before the Internet, people’s access to information has been severely limited. This model has changed drastically for those who have access to modern technology, including the Internet, radio, television, etc. Information comes to us rapidly and through several channels. As a consequence, it expands our concepts, ideas and potential. Modern thinking is dynamic, upgradeable and modular… using an analogy, it’s similar to open source software.”

As humans we are constantly developing and evolving. As a people our potential is astounding. Art reflects society and how we have changed… it reflects how we think. Study of art history will show that 200-500-1000 years ago, art reflected a very different perspective from society and thought. Life went on at a much slower pace. Today we are influenced by communication and globalization that comes to us very quickly. Art will and should reflect these new sensibilities. “It’s a philosophy really. I’ve been studying Socrates, Plato, Nietzsche and of course the Mayan philosophies to have a sense of what that is all about. The more knowledge you have of all these things the more meaningful your art and your life become.”

Soto’s tangible expression of modern thinking is his development of an interactive “artware.” His vision of virtual reality and spiritual reality is somewhat one in the same. These things are untouchable. Through the use of technology it is Soto’s mission to create an artistic platform whereby one can interact with art. The possibilities are staggering.

“Modern thinking is dynamic, upgradeable and modular… using an analogy, it’s similar to open source software.”

Everything continues to inspire Maestro Balam for he truly sees with fresh eyes. He thinks outside the box. “Is there a box?” he asks. It is this kind of attitude or clairvoyance that can set our world on fire with remarkable and beautiful things. Knowing someone of this caliber can cause us to reach higher, do more, learn languages, study literature, create art, and never say we don’t have time to fulfill our dreams.

Maestro Balam Soto is an artist, designer, computer programmer, curator, educator, and lecturer with a trail of credits and exhibitions to his name. Upcoming shows include venues in New York City, West Africa, and the Tri-state area. Please visit his website www.balam.us for more.

This article was originally published by INK publications in November of 2008.

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