Caravaggio - Super at Emmaus

I wanted to be a lawyer. Constitutional law, in fact.  So, in 1993 I went back to college as an adult with two small children at home and all the many responsibilities of a grown-up.  Attending college as an adult was certainly challenging. I remember saying “How much harder can this be than a full time job?”  Let me tell you…it was a lot harder.  I attended Middlesex Community College, in Middletown, Connecticut. I worked hard at my studies because like a bad credit report, I had to reinvent myself.  I had attempted college once before right out of high school and, rather than study, I found partying more to my liking.  My failure at college was, of course, documented on my transcript and my past worked against me.

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

Perhaps I’ve been reading too many business marketing and motivational books.  Seth Godin, and The Red Lemon Club have provided me with advice on how to be more productive and extraordinary. Taking them at their word, I’ve decided to conduct an experiment as part of my approach at living a bigger life of art and design. I’m ditching TV.

This measure is requiring a certain amount of bravery on my part. While I don’t watch that much TV anyway, there are certain times when I really truly just want to relax in front of the tube and let it take me away.  It’s candy for my brain.  Regardless, this week I’ll be calling up my satellite provider and canceling my account.

It’s not just a matter of wanting to be more productive… if I wanted to be more productive, I could always elect to just not turn the thing on. But, my Directtv bill is approximately $90/month and I find that ridiculous. I don’t receive the premium channels such as Showtime or HBO.  Nope, that $90/month goes for perhaps 4 channels I watch regularly and a whole bunch of other channels I rarely use.  I’ve called Directtv and eliminated some channels in attempt at making the monthly bill less like extortion, but that only brought my bill down by about $15 and eliminated Ovation TV, which I loved.  So with the support of my kids, off it goes and here are the benefits we’re hoping to gain:

1. More productivity and a enhanced lifestyle
2. I can either save that $90 or use it toward attending a social event.  That’s $1,080/year and that’s some significant vacation money!!
3. Less stress… I find that often the background noise of TV causes stress for me.  Quiet is good. Music is good. Bombs blowing up, repeated bad news, loud TV commercials…BAD.
4. I can enjoy television and programs without the monthly bill.  I can rent DVDs from the library. Watch Hulu.  ABC provides many of their regular programs online at abc.go.com. I can read the news online or in print.  These things are all “On Demand”.

I think that with the economy being such as it is, and with the inflated prices Comcast, Directtv and others are demanding, television will eventually go the way of the dinosaur.  Why should we pay $90+ when we can get what we need for less and On Demand.  My mission, my attempt, is to take back control.  Come on, join me.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

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 spend a lot of my time driving around.  There are meetings with clients, exhibitions, art openings and now additional responsibilities as I assume the role of Public Relations Chair for AIGA CT.  It seems I’m always in my car.  Once I get home there are my kids, and their friends and their friend’s friends.  There are 3 cats and a variety of musical tunes coming from every room.  So when I get the chance, like tonight, to be at home alone… it is bliss.  I usually remain in total silence.  I have no music on, no TV. I’m happy to listen to the clock in the living room gently ticking.  The cracks and pops of house noises.  I light a lot of candles and I am able, finally, to breathe deeply.

It is this solitude that I need when writing.  It is this solitude that brings me peace and the writing which ensues allows me to express myself in words that issue from my soul.  Sometimes the words fit together so nicely, I can’t imagine who wrote them.  Sometimes the words come so dreadfully hard that I know who’s writing them.  As I reflect on the weeks events, on the art or design I’ve seen, I’m able to assimilate the colors, the patterns, brush stokes and typography and if given the opportunity… it is in these moments of quiet I am able to absorb what I’ve seen and let them become a part of me.  Writing allows me to again reflect upon and then express my thoughts. It helps me sort things out. Sometimes it seems that if I don’t write things down I haven’t actually experienced them.

The stereotypical writers life sounds so romantic.  A fire crackling in the fireplace of some cabin. The writer at her desk, with a bourbon or red wine at her hand.  Outside the rain drizzles against the windows… or perhaps instead it’s snow. Our hero, a solitary figure, toils away late at night pondering an angle or perhaps the newest character.  “It was a dark and stormy night…”

It’s still romantic to me. I love being a writer despite the fact that I fought against it for years.  And sometimes it is, in fact, the stereotypical things that I bring to my desk.  But beyond the blush, there is a bigger matter at stake.  Reality.  As a writer with deadlines and obligations I am not always able to find the solitude.  When writing for a publication, there have been many times when music is coming from every room (I wear earplugs), my cell rings or beeps relentlessly, or I am rushed because of an upcoming appointment.  There are more days than not when the words will not come.  There might be art that I do not like or issues to stand against no matter the controversy.  I must speak my mind. Writing is labor intensive and it is not for the faint of heart.  But the amazing thing is when a gallery whom I’ve reviewed calls me up, or sends me a handwritten personal letter, expressing thanks for a review I did.  “We had 60 people come into the gallery this weekend because of your article.”  Wow… The awesome power of words!  Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Bullshit they won’t.

Writing has the power to move the universe.  It can cause people to do things… or not.  It can bring you to tears of sorrow or make you laugh with unbridled joy.  The act of weaving words together in a most perfect way can be headier than drugs.  It is for all these reasons, the good and the bad, that I call myself, finally, a writer.

Every year for the last 4 years I have looked forward to obtaining the annual calendar from the design team of Cummings & Good in Chester, Connecticut.  Artful and unique, these beautiful creations serve first as an embellishment to any office or kitchen, but then packaged in a canister the happy calendar owner can roll it up at the end of the year and keep a year of events as a time capsule.  These calendars are not just a palette for date keeping, they celebrate a yearly theme… Love, Work, Play, and this year Books. Each month of 2010, a literary theme is illustrated and illuminated… A Book of Photographs, Alphabet Book, Sketch Book, Book Case, Cook Book, and Scrap Book are some of the subjects explored.

The variety of  letterforms, imagery, and illustration on these calendars are examples that have made Cummings & Good the amazing design team that they are. It is a labor of love. For more than three decades the award-winning Cummings & Good have created compelling design solutions for Fortune 500 companies, arts organizations, educational institutions, and special events.  For the past 16 years, the team has created these gorgeous keepsake calendars.

Design of Time: Ten Years of Cummings & Good Calendars, an exhibition, is presently on display at Thomas J. Dodd Research Center Gallery and Corridor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut through March 5, 2010.  The exhibit highlights the calendars and covers from 2001 – 2010. The creative process is demonstrated from concept sketches to the final printed pages as well as original art, photographs, constructions, news articles, correspondence, and promotional items. Slow Latin Groove Project will play at the opening reception on Sunday January 24 from 2-4pm.

January 19th – March 5th, 2010
General exhibition Mon – Fri, 8:30 – 4:30 PM

Sunday, January 24th
Opening Reception 2 – 4 PM

Peter and Jan would love to see you at the opening.

Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
University of Connecticut Libraries
Storrs, Connecticut
(860) 486-4500

The Dodd Research Center is adjacent to
the Homer Babbidge Library.

View Directions

Get your own calendar from the Cummings & Good Website
Also available at Mohawk Paper’s Felt & Wire.

Visit the AIGA CT Website

Join me this Thursday January 21, 2010 at 7pm for:

OBJECTIFIED (2009), 75 min.
Gary Hustwit, director

From the director of “helvetica” comes the 2nd documentary in a film trilogy on design. Objectified offers a fascinating look at industrial products and design, the designers and their responsibility in creating them, and our relationship with those objects.

“The term objectified has two meanings. One is ‘to be treated with the status of a mere object.’ But the other is ‘something abstract expressed in a concrete form,’ as in the way a sculpture objectifies an artist’s thoughts. It’s the act of transforming creative thought into a tangible object, which is what designers in this film do every day. But maybe there’s a third meaning to this title, regarding the ways these objects are affecting us and our environment. Have we all become objectified?”
-Gary Hustwit (from his “objectified’ blog)

Steven Holden, NY Times : “Objectified, Gary Hustwit’s documentary about industrial design, is as sleek and handsome as any of the new and improved household items it exhibits”.

Ronnie Scheib, Variety: “Witty, engaging and exquisitely crafted.”

“Entertainment weekly gives objectified an A! You’ll never look at your toothbrush (or your next any product) in quite the same way after watching this astute, elegant inquiry into the purpose and process of industrial design.”

Join me this Thursday, January 21, 7pm at:
EO Art Lab
69 Main Street
Chester, CT
06412

phone:
860.526.4833

$7.50 donation
free popcorn
byob