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Buy Outside the Box
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Buyoutsidethebox.com is a website dedicated to Creative Consumerism™, which is the art and science of bringing art and fine, handmade things to the doorstep of buyers who enjoy thinking, and thus buying, outside-the-box. Ruth Mitchell, founder of the company and a seasoned journalist, keeps you up to date concerning art, travel and other relevant cultural topics.
Walking through the Plaza in Santa Fe during the July Spanish Market I was greeted by a small girl with a big smile. “Hi,” she said with a big toothy grin.
“Hi there,” I mirrored her enthusiasm. I had just met Marissa Chavez, aged 10. I thought she was helping her mother who stood in the background. But then wasn’t I in the youth section of the market? The sun shone and it was a very pleasant 80 degrees. I dreaded going back to 100 plus degree temperatures at home.
I took another look at the bird carvings in front of the small, friendly girl. They were excellent. I examined them more closely and was drawn to one particular sculpture. Read more here...
Art lovers everywhere can celebrate withthe recent announcement by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville that they are launching a four-year collaboration between itself, the musée du Louvre, the High Museum of Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Curators from each of the partnering institutions are working together to shape the themes and installations, and works will be drawn from the collections of all four institutions. The first installation premieres at the Louvre on January 14, 2012 before traveling to the other collaborating museums, and will explore the birth of American landscape painting through the works of Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand. In addition to works by Cole and Durand, the installation will include an earlier painting by Pierre-Antoine Patel the Younger which inspired Cole's work after the artist saw it in Paris.
At each of the museums the works will be displayed within their permanent collections galleries to add new dimension and nuance to the museums' own holdings. The six paintings in the inaugural installation, titled "New Frontier: Thomas Cole and the Birth of Landscape Painting in America," at the Louvre and "American Encounters: Thomas Cole and the Narrative Landscape" at the two American venues, include:
Thomas Cole, The Cross in Wilderness, 1845 (Louvre)
Thomas Cole, Landscape with Figures: A Scene from 'The Last of the Mohicans', 1826 (Terra Foundation)
Thomas Cole, The Good Shepherd, 1848 (Crystal Bridges)
Thomas Cole, The Tempest, 1826 (High)
Asher B. Durand, View near Rutland, Vermont, 1837 (High)
Pierre-Antoine Patel the Younger, The Summer, 1699 (Louvre)
Following its premiere at the Louvre, the works will travel to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR (May 12 — August 13, 2012) and the High Museum in Atlanta, GA (September 22, 2012 — January 6, 2013). The organizing themes of future installations and their tour schedules will be announced at a later date.
On January 14, 2012, in coordination with the opening of its installation, the Louvre is hosting a symposium, "American Art: New Projects and Installations at the Louvre and at Museums in the United States and Around the World" that will feature presentations by the leadership of all four partnering institutions and other speakers including Guillermo Solana, chief curator and artistic director of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, and Bruce Robertson, art history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Among the topics that will be addressed are the re-installation of American art collections and the development of distinguished private and public collections of American art. The symposium and a program at the Louvre on February 13 are supported by American Friends of the Louvre and the Mark Pigott Lecture and Research Fund.
"For the past several years, the Louvre has been revitalizing its interest in American art," said Henri Loyrette, president and director of the Louvre. "We have partnered with various institutions to organize exhibitions and conferences about American art and will continue to do so as we strive to build our own collection in this area. This project is a natural extension of our previous collaborations with the High and the Terra, and responds to a great demand for seeing and studying American art in France."
"As the newest museum devoted to the study and presentation of American art, we are a natural partner in this collaboration," said Don Bacigalupi, director of Crystal Bridges. "We are excited to share works from our collection and spread awareness about American art history worldwide."
In addition to lending works from its distinguished collection of American art, the Terra Foundation is providing a grant to support the collaboration.
Thomas Cole, Landscape with Figures: A Scene from The Last of the Mohicans, 1826, oil on canvas, Terra Foundation
Antzee Magruder's paintings are made with cloth. And it is a true wonder to see just how clever she is at carrying out her mission.
"I have always had a fascination with fabrics. Since I was a young child I have sewn, knitted, crochet, embroidered, cross stitched. I would sit with my mother and grandmother and work on projects. It has always been my dream to be an artist. Using fiber, cloth and paint came from various classes I attended and books I have read. Each medium seems to work so easy together and the result is always interesting."
Working as a contract costume designer for Opera Memphis also led Magruder to further her creative process. "The costumes are a mix of all types of elements and fabric to make a beautiful presence on stage. This process led me to using the fabrics in my art. It inspired me to experiment and let the fabric be used like paints."
Raku pottery differs from other kiln fired pottery in that it is removed from the kiln when it is extremely hot.
Horsehair pottery is so named because of the use of actual horsehair to create a unique look. Is a method of decorating pottery through the application of horsehair and to heated biscuit ware fresh from the kiln. The burning horsehair creates smoke patterns and carbon trails on the surface of the heated ware that remain as decoration after the ware cools.
The decorating is performed when the ware is between 480 and 700°C; any lower and the horsehair won't combust, any higher and the carbon will completely burn off leaving no decorative effect.
This beautiful shallow bowl by artist Jean Handley is a perfect example of this rustic firing technique.
While the upcoming generation is waking up to the fact that they may never own their own home, much less have a career for which they were educated and went into debt to procure, we at buyoutsidethebox.com usually prefer to remain neutral on political discussions. But it is hard to remain silent when things are crashing so quickly. We don't consider art a luxury, but visual expression that feeds the soul.
When people are worried about providing food for the table, however, art quickly gets put aside for more pressing essentials. We have come across several astounding visionaries this week on the internet, and want to share their ideas with you. What they have to say crosses all party lines and seeks to correct what corporate greed will not.
Take what you like and pass it on please. Let's make our nation strong again.
Warren Buffett, "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term's), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above, pass it on.
I grew up in a hunting family, my father actually served as a duck hunting guide at one time and we raised Brittany Spaniels,bred for their ability to retrieve.
My father took me on a few hunting trips, but once I actually lucked into downing a duck, it was all over for me. Never would I purposely target animals again, no matter how delicious they are cooked up. While I'm not a vegetarian, I certainly would be if it were left up to me to supply the freezer.
What in the heck does this have to do with art? Well, while on a press trip to Big Cedar Lodge, I experienced for the first time the incredible Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri. We were taken to the fabrication shop where the magnificent chandeliers, cabinets and carvings are created for the stores, and for Big Cedar Lodge. You don't have to be a hunter to appreciate the great lengths that have been taken, for these now 57 stores across the country, to be incredibly artistically directed.
Pictured is one of the artisans, Josh Cozort, who gave us an in-depth demonstration on how he creates the copper relief items that adorn chandeliers and light fixtures.
Also, while on the trip we experienced a fly fishing lesson at the Dogwood Canyon nature park, which was really a blast. The park is adjacent to a huge land reserve of thousands of acres where bison and elk are allowed to roam freely.
While attending the AIA Convention in Hot Springs recently with Mitch, we ran into Anthony Taylor, one of the developers of the Quapaw Bathhouse. He graciously invited me to try out the spa and report my findings. Well, Nirvana!!!
It's really great to see the National Park Service has finally found a way to get developers into "Bathhouse Row" and let them create a modern luxury spa experience. You'll find my article here.
We hear word giclee a lot these days. It comes from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray.” The term was coined back in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne working at Nash Editions. He wanted a name for the new type of prints they were producing on the IRIS printer, a large format high resolution industrial prepress proofing ink-jet printer adapted for fine art printing. He was specifically looking for a word that would not have the negative connotations of "ink-jet" or "computer generated".
The term “giclée,” has now come to be associated with prints using fade-resistant, archival inks (pigment based, as well as newer solvent based inks), and archival substrates primarily produced on format printers using the CMYK color process. A wide variety of surface materials are used including various textures and finishes such as matte photo paper, watercolor paper, cotton canvas, or artist textured vinyl. Artists generally use inkjet printing to make reproductions of their original two-dimensional artwork, photographs or computer-generated art. Professionally-produced inkjet prints are much more expensive on a per-print basis than the traditional four-color offset lithography. But the results are impressive as it is difficult at times to tell the difference between an original work and a giclee.
These large-format inkjet prints can cost more than $50, not including scanning and color correction, versus $5 for a four-color offset litho print of the same image in a run of 1000. Four-color offset lithographic presses have the disadvantage of the full job having to be set up and produced all at once in a mass edition. With inkjet printing the artist does not have to pay for the expensive printing plate setup or the marketing and storage needed for large four-color offset print runs. This allows the artist to print and sell each print individually in accordance with demand, making inkjet printing an economical alternative. Inkjet printing has the added advantage of allowing artists total control of the production of their images, including the colors and the substrates on which they are printed, and it is even feasible for individual artists to own and operate their own printers.
So learn how to say the word. It makes owning artworks, hardly distinguishable from the original, feasible at a much lower price.
Sondra Seaton, an award-winning signature member of Mid-Southern Watercolorists, Arkansas League of Artists and the Arkansas Artists Registry, has studied at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, Arkansas and privately with her mentor, Amy Hill-Imler.
Sondra's work continues to evolve. She often creates collages using her own watercolor paintings, or uses rice paper, feathers, and other materials to create collage images. A recent move to Heber Springs, Arkansas has brought new subject matter into Sondra's work. She often paints fly fishermen, river scenes and birds, which provide a more emotional element to her work.
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Walking through the Plaza in Santa Fe during the July Spanish Market I was greeted by a small girl with a big smile. “Hi,” she said with a big toothy grin.
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