The point of being alive is that we know it’s limited, and there’s no magic, no rabbit up your sleeve that you can pull.
— Tilda Swinton
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Posts Tagged ‘art’
Except Art
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Universe Within & Without
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, artists, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity. It’s our attempt to influence things, the universe internal to ourselves and external to us.”
— Mae Jemison, Doctor and Astronaut
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This Could Get Tricky
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, biology, color, inspiration, perception, Thoughts on September 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Mr Man and I recently went on the hunt for the perfect blue gift for a friend. We did eventually find a beautiful piece of handblown glass in a dark blue with silver flecks. Lovely.
The only issue, we later discovered, was that our goal should have been a color that was closer to teal. So not the deep blue of a falling dark sky, but the vibrant green-tinged hues of a Caribbean sea over a white sand beach.
Regardless, the piece was still pretty. And it brought up the question of whether one person’s idea of blue is the same as another’s.
And then this site came across my desk: Is My Blue Your Blue?
If you think the page color is blue, click the button at the bottom right. If you think it’s green, click the bottom left. And don’t be surprised when it starts to get tricky!
For more on this topic, check out this article on the variability in color perception, and interpretation, in humans.
The science of color perception
A lot of factors feed into how people perceive and talk about color, from the biology of our eyes to how our brains process that information, to the words our languages use to talk about color categories. There’s plenty of room for differences, all along the way.
For example, most people have three types of cones — light receptors in the eye that are optimized to detect different wavelengths or colors of light. But sometimes, a genetic variation can cause one type of cone to be different, or absent altogether, leading to altered color vision. Some people are color-blind. Others may have color superpowers.
Superpowers? Yes, please!
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You Can Do Anything! *
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, creativity, inspiration, itch reflex, NASA, persistence, the world-changing powers of caffeine, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Adventure, with Trolls!
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, activism, adventure, art, creativity, inspiration, magic made real, nature, sculpture on July 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
This is just all kinds of delightful:
Giant Trolls in Detroit Lakes Bring the Public on a Fairy Tale Adventure
The Danish artist has continued to expand his work in America and has just completed his most ambitious project ever with Alexa’s Elixir. Located in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, the exhibition takes people on a journey to solve a riddle and find a Golden Rabbit.
Sculptor, recycling artist and activist Thomas Dambo makes giant trolls and shares them with the rest of us. And when they say “giant,” they mean it!
If you happen to be in the Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota, this looks like a lot of fun.
WHERE ARE MY TROLLS ? LOST 9 SCULPTURES IN MINNESOTA! – YouTube
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How to Make Your Soul Grow
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, advice, art, artists, creativity, inspiration, Writers on July 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Kurt Vonnegut’s letter to the graduating class of New York’s Xavier High School is good advice for all artists, or anyone hoping to “experience becoming.”
Here it is read by another artistic treasure, Gandalf Ian McKellen:
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Why Should Bots Have All the Fun?
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #peoplebeforeprocessors, art, creativity, innovation on June 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“I want Al to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for Al to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”
— Joanna Maciejewska
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A Few Reasonable Words
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, kindness, Thoughts on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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I Remember
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, memory, music, Thoughts on February 6, 2024| 1 Comment »
I tried to resist posting the Tracy Chapman / Luke Combs duet of Chapman’s “Fast Car” because it is everywhere. Why did I break down and change my mind? Because music, like writing and other forms of art, is a transformative time machine.
Tracy Chapman Duets “Fast Car” with Luke Combs
Listening to the performance, I remember who I was when I first heard the original song. I remember the road I’ve travelled to get to where I am. And I remember running down the steps at the Harvard Square T station and realizing that Chapman had been there before me, playing to distracted commuters as she built her own road to the future.
It’s also just a really good song.
And I love that a new generation is getting to hear it in a way that emphasizes the shared humanity, challenges and goals of its singers, and listeners.
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A Wonderful Thing
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, community, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I recently had an article featured in the Winter 2024 edition of Review Tales. (I’d share the essay but unfortunately it’s not freely available.) If you click through the magazine links, you’ll see my article highlighted in the bottom right-hand corner of the cover. I’m writing about something with which I am all too familiar! “When the Muse Takes a Holiday.”
* Find Review Tales at Amazon and B&N.
I will say that the promotional elements of creative work can be a little challenging. I’ve never been that comfortable talking about myself.
It’s not about me, I want to say. Art is about us, and the world we create together.
“It can seem like it’s about, Look at me! Like me! Approve of me!’, but I think it’s really about finding your people. It’s about connections, especially when you grow up feeling different and like you don’t have a community. Through art, you’re able to find that community, which is a wonderful thing.”
— Maya Erskine, on why she’s drawn to acting despite “a childhood in which she desperately wanted to blend in”
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