Like border violators, graphic designers Jan Cummings and Peter Good have crossed the line that separates personal subjective visual art and public objective visual communications that serve the needs of businesses and institutions. Sometimes, for Cummings & Good, the distinctions between art and design become ambiguous. A fortunate condition for us who love creative visual arts.

Join Cummings & Good in their gorgeous new gallery space, Posters & Prints, for AIGA Connecticut’s 3rd Breakfast Epiphany as the design team discuss forty years of “Turning Design into Art and Back Again”.

Together, Cummings & Good can be described as: Design legends, AIGA Fellows, illustrators, painters, entrepreneurs and pillars of the community.

October 13, 2010
7:30am to 9:00am . . . but you know how good conversations can get…
Coffee and light breakfast fare will be served.

Cummings & Good, Chopin Leaf Poster

Cummings & Good
3 North Main Street
Chester, Connecticut
860.526.9597
www.cummings-good.com

This event will be limited to 15 attendees only and we expect tickets to go fast.
Register today at:
www.connecticut.aiga.org

The AIGA Connecticut Breakfast Epiphany Series is an open, intimate conversation with a thought leader and 10 new friends. Topics are designed to traverse the borders of business, creative and nonprofit communities for eye opening and unexpected discussions. With a creative or industry professional leading the way, these mini-events are hosted throughout the state and cap at a maximum of 10 guests. This is not a lecture series. This is an opportunity to start your day with inspiration and good conversation.

AIGA Connecticut Presents A New Morning Series: Breakfast Epiphany - Creative Inspiration and a Cup of Joe.

We are pleased to announce a new morning series by AIGA Connecticut. Breakfast Epiphany is an open, intimate morning get-together with a top level graphic designer, creative or thought leader, and 10 new friends. Topics are designed to stimulate imaginative thinking and inspiration and will traverse the boarders of creative and business industries, and nonprofit organizations. Attendees can be assured of some eye opening discussions.

With an industry professional leading the way, these mini-events are hosted in prime locations throughout the state once a month. To keep it intimate, events are capped at a maximum of 10 guests. This is not a lecture series. Nor is it a workshop. This is an opportunity to start your day with inspiration and lively conversation.

IN THE PINK
A Celebration of Women’s
Strength, Beauty, and Healing
Artwork of Family, Friends and Survivors
of the Breast Cancer Experience

Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Show runs: September 29 – October 23, 2010
Hygienic Art Annex Space
13 Golden Street
New London, CT

A call to artists to participate in a show of works that express the breast cancer experience and the healing process from the point of view of survivors or that of friends and family.
We welcome all to this celebration to begin Breast Cancer Awareness Month and enjoy the Hygienic Art Galleries and Art Park.

Love. It’s what makes your heart sing. It’s rapturous moments of complete joy where everything seems perfect and the stars are all aligned. If we are creatives, we yearn to design, write, draw or paint with love too . . . but in the course of our days, the creative juju can get lost. We run our businesses, find ourselves more involved with paperwork, administrative tasks and a never-ending stream of meetings. We forget what it’s like to be deeply involved in the process of creation just for the love of it.

Sharing design love is the mission of founder, Troy Monroe, who along with founding members Rich Hollant, Constanza Gowen-Segovia and Brian Grabell created Design is Love.  With a gorgeous site design and welcoming language, Design is Love invites you to help share and shape a unique creative community with heart. But DIL isn’t just a meeting place for designers. If you are a non-profit, Design is Love can help you too by matching your needs and goals with a creative who believes in what you do.

I receive many notices from art organizations and galleries which masquerade as press releases. Today I received a press release from an fairly well established gallery. The email was without a subject line. There was no content in the body of the email, it wasn’t addressed Dear Lisa or Dear Press Editor, and there was simply an attachment without explanation. This happens a lot. I hit delete.

Sometimes I get two, three or even four emails from the same organization in the course of a week . . . sometimes even within 24 hours. I generally stop reading at this point because they are approaching spam. One of the first things I learned in PR was . . . Don’t piss off the press!  No one benefits from this. As such, I thought it might be time to take a look at the proper way to write and distribute a press release.

Join us for one of the most enjoyable art events in Connecticut coming up June 3, 2010.  Art After Hours sponsored by the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Phoenix Companies presents Justin Lowe – MATRIX 159 from 5-8pm and AIGA CT joins the mix with Bad Ass Movie Night at 8pm with a special screening of the award winning film Herb & Dorothy.

My last experience at the Wadsworth’s Art After Hours was a splendid evening.  Music and cocktails after work amidst an elegant museum setting. Attend a gallery talk, enjoy music and other live performances, take in Justin Lowe/MATRIX 159 and then join AIGA CT in the museum’s art deco theater for the film. Thanks to the Wadsworth, admission to the Arts After Hours reception and BAMN screening is free to AIGA members.

The Amistad Center for Art & Culture Presents
High Water Marks: Art & Renewal After Katrina

Art exhibition will celebrate New Orleans cultural history and commemorate the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

A new exhibition featuring the works of contemporary artists entitled, High Water Marks: Art & Renewal After Katrina, will open May 1 at The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.  The exhibition will explore the legacy of Black artisans in New Orleans and the achievements of a range of artists who have documented the city’s devastation and are committed to the city’s recovery. High Water Marks is on view from May 1- September 19, 2010.

The exhibition consists of thirty –one works, photographs, mixed-media and installation pieces, many by artists who have a connection to New Orleans. It will include material from The Amistad Center’s collection such as  a 1915 post card of a Praline Seller; 19th century works such as the lithograph of John James Audubon  by New Orleans- based artist, Jules Lion’s (1810-1866); and works by 20th century artists such as Deborah Willis, Charly Palmer,  Malaika Favorite, Lewis Watts, Radcliffe Bailey, Bradley McCallum, Jacqueline Tarry, Willie Birch, Luis Cruz Azaceta, and New Orleans native and currently Hartford area-based artist, Donald Boudreaux.

From New Orleans’ earliest days, the work of Black artisans made the city a colonial prize and distinguished it from other ports.  A Sunday morning walk through the market in New Orleans in the 1800s would feature the vibrant presence of Black women vendors shouting the praises of their food. Since then,  the city’s jazz legacy, culinary achievements, architecture, art, and distinct Creole culture, have made New Orleans a continually fascinating destination for visitors and a city that continues to insist upon the relevance of arts and culture.  Five years after the horrific hurricane hit,  the arts remain an essential aspect of New Orleans and central to its post-Katrina renewal effort.

An on-line gallery guide for the exhibition will be available at  www.amsitadartandculture.org. An audio guide via cell phone will accompany the exhibition.  Major support for this exhibition is provided by the J. Walton Bissell Foundation. Additional support for this is made possible jointly through contributors to the United Arts Campaign and the United Way Community Campaign.  Educational materials and programs are sponsored by the GE Foundation. The Amistad’s Center’s general operations are supported by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

Founded in 1987, The Amistad Center for At & Culture is a not-for-profit cultural arts organization housed at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum For more information about The Amistad Center visit www.amistadartandculture.org or call (860) 838-4133.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is located at 600 Main ST. in Hartford, Connecticut.  The Museum is open Wednesdays to Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Please visit www.wadsworthatheneum.org for more information.

This article was created for this last weekend’s Career Strategies for Visual Artists Workshop presented by Greater Hartford Arts Council.

Every artist should have an online portfolio. Many artists however are either too busy making art or simply just don’t know how to get started. If you do have an online portfolio this article will help you make it the best it can be. If you don’t yet have one, the tips and resources here will help you as you begin to develop your artistic showcase.