Create Look Enjoy

All About Artmaking: From Student to Professor, From Film to Digital

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:08:00 +0000

The hardest part of artmaking is living your life in such a way that your work gets done, over and over - and that means, among other things, finding a host of practices that are just plain useful.

A piece of art is the surface expression of a life lived within productive patterns. Over time, the life of a productive artist becomes filled with useful conventions and practical methods, so that a string of finished pieces continues to appear at the surface.

From Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Some three decades ago book co-author Ted Orland and I crossed paths in the film darkroom at Stanford University; he a professor, me a student. Today, I am a professor, guiding students in the digital darkrooms at several Massachusetts colleges.

I recently finished reading Art & Fear. Bayles and Orland contend that for artists who teach full time, finding the opportunity to create art can be challenging. Right now, in between semesters, I realized that I myself have been too busy teaching and grading to shoot pictures. So I carved out a morning to stroll with my camera through Greenfield, Mass.

Possibility

The backlit shapes of this trash barrel beckoned.

Abstract Universals

I got close to the container and set my lens intentionally and specifically out of focus to highlight visual rhythm.

Springtime Miracles

One of the gifts of teaching is that now while I shoot, my feedback to students swirls in my brain. Using the rule of thirds? Making precise depth of field choices? Creating meaning beyond the obvious? Here, the green leaves swayed in the breeze faster than the flowers, so I held my camera steady and slowed the shutter speed to catch some background blur.

> the = of the Parts

Wilson's Department Store lives on as a store of yore. For this in-camera multiple exposure, I shot three individual letters of the store's sign and the camera layered them into one image.

Reflecting on Change

With this double exposure, I photographed a bricks and mortar building and then held my camera upside down to photograph a newer stucco structure across the street. When this image formulated before my eyes on the back of my camera, my artistic excitement took verbal form: "Yeah, baby!"

Back in the Stanford film darkroom, we worked on perfecting a craft that had been around for decades. Tonight, preparing to teach a new class on Digital Storytelling, I took a brand new iPad out of its box and within less than the minutes needed to make a paper print with chemicals, I was connected to my wireless network, capturing stills and shooting video.

In the end, it's not the technology that matters. Concurring with Orland and Bayles, I believe that artmaking (a verb!) is in the doing, of maintaining the discipline to create and follow "productive patterns".

Learning by Drawing: Portraying Reality with Abstract Paintings and Black and White Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:13:00 +0000

I am a huge fan of using sketchbooks to learn about art.

Figure 1 - Before

I sent some postcards of one of my Reality-Based Abstractions. The Cubist painters inspired these in-camera multiple exposures. I stuck one of the postcards in my sketchbook.

Figure 2 - After

Inspired by woven mats I saw in the Oceanic collection at the Peabody Museum at Harvard, I cut another postcard into strips and interlaced them.

Guidelines

About a month later, I absorbed the Picasso Black and White exhibition at the Guggenheim. Using pen and pencil to draw this painting allowed me to really look and linger. I noticed the artist's initial drawn outlines that delineated the areas that he later filled in with tones.

Form

Using just pencil to create planes and values, I labored to recreate "Figure". Notes jotted in my sketchbook: "Ironic, that at points, I felt I was not recreating a Picasso perfectly. A Picasso! An abstraction! Of all things."

Balance

After relaxing by leaning into and laughing at my fears, I drew this imagined ball rolling on a tightrope.

Fruits of Labor

At the end of the afternoon, nearly dizzy from art overload, I drew this profile. Looking closely at the Picassos taught me to look closely at reality.

Classwork

I relayed some of these observations a few weeks later as I taught a Zentangle^® drawing class. In most cases, with Zentangle, we draw with black pens on white paper, adding shading with regular pencils. In this class, we reversed the formula.

The discussion of black and white led one student to recall the futility of looking at art history books during the era when such books were printed solely in black and white. Another described how they felt that black and white photographs portrayed the reality of a situation better than color photographs.

Time Marches On

Interesting, this idea that black and white photographs are more true to reality than color ones. I believe that portraying a single subject from multiple perspectives simultaneously (like the Cubist painters) can depict reality more clearly than a "normal" painting. What do you think?

"Best Faculty In-Service Day Ever" - Teaching a Zentangle Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 12:13:00 +0000

“Will there be any competition?” the Director of Athletics asked me just before I began teaching a Zentangle^® workshop at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, a college preparatory boarding and day school for girls, grades 7-12, located in Greenfield, MA.

“No,” I replied, “this about the whole group coming together.”

“Two teams?” he asked hopefully.

“Sorry.”

My workshop was the afternoon session of a professional development day held just before classes resumed at the school after winter break.

Zentangle is a relaxing and easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from structured patterns. Students draw on 3.5 inch squares of fine art paper referred to as “tiles”. The term “tile” stems from the unifying ritual of combining artworks completed in class to form a mosaic.

“The best meeting ever - no one talked,” quipped the Director of Instrumental Music, as the participants assembled the first mosaic and closely examined each other’s art.

An English teacher exclaimed, “We should do a whole school Zentangle.”

"We should exhibit these," an Administrator chimed in.

A Spanish teacher noted how quiet the room was while the faculty and staff members worked on their creations. “We had been talking about the need for “quiet” in the lives of our girls. So this really set a great tone.”

“Did you find any competition?” I asked the Director of Athletics at the end of the workshop.

“Only what prices these different pieces might sell for,” he replied, gesturing towards the mosaic of freshly drawn Zentangle artworks.

I later heard via email from the school’s Director of Communications. “I just wanted to write to thank you for leading us in Zentangle yesterday. I think everyone was really excited by it - I saw two Facebook posts by faculty members showing off their work. The title of one Facebook album was "Best Faculty In-Service Day Ever."

I just thought you should know that you've engaged the SBS faculty with a creative process and inspired us to look to the world for pattern and rhythm.

Personally...I was able to melt into the ink for a few hours and escape the deadlines and tough work schedule that I have on tap for the next 10 weeks."

Mosaic #1:

The "tiles" above are the first Zentangle artworks ever drawn by the workshop participants.

Since I taught a set of structured patterns, unity exists between the creations. However, since each person approached the patterns with their own style, each artwork is also unique.

Click for more information on Zentangle.

Thank you for your interest -
- John Nordell, M.Ed. & Certified Zentangle Teacher^tm

P.S. Big thanks to Hank Mixsell at Stoneleigh-Burnham for taking these photographs!

Mosaic #2:

[ ] Windows on the Artistic Process [ ] and Election Day [ ]

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:13:00 +0000

A week and a half before Election Day, I swung by a lunchtime gallery talk given by Ellen Alvord at the Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art: African American Artists and the Experimental Printmaking Institute: The Janet Hickey Tague '66 Collection. Alvord's talk effectively mixed technical details along with the aesthetic approach each artist brought brought to printmaking, whether David C. Driskell carving and printing the top of a stool or Faith Ringgold alluding to her story quilts by printing marks that evoke actual thread stitches.

Melvin Edwards, Untitled, 2005
"The material is the metaphor for what you want to create."

Sculptor Melvin Edwards used a laser to cut a 1/4 inch thick aluminum plate to print this striking image. From the notes jotted in my sketchbook: Slave blacksmiths created chains at night to make extra money to buy their freedom.

After the talk I discussed with Alvord teaching the creative problem solving process and she generously printed out for me the article Let's Get Serious About Cultivating Creativity by Steven J. Tepper and George D. Kuh. (Download the PDF.) Inspired and energized, I drove home along the Connecticut River corridor, pondering cutting and then printing aluminum.

Plate and Stencil

The day before the Obama-Romney showdown, I started cutting some aluminum flashing bought at Home Depot. Laboring to cut the material a matte knife, I flip flopped between yearning for the precision and power of Melvin Edward's laser and enjoying experimenting with refining methods to cut the shapes I desired with the tools I possessed.

Nature's Adhesive

Knowing of Faith Ringgold's powerful symbolic use of the American flag in her work, and with the election nigh, I combined the two ideas. Aiming for art rather than craft, I eschewed glue and attached the punched aluminum stars with sap from a pine tree.

Process and Product

Watch the whole process unfold:

Both Sides Now

On my way in to vote, I worked with the light penetrating a Scott Brown for Senate sign.

Process

Posing for a picture, I made my marks with care and precision, imagining I was teaching my Zentangle drawing students.

Compass Points - Walking to the Polls

Leaving the polls, I delved into making multiple exposures.

Thank you - Melvin Edwards - for the inspiration.

I outline the artistic process as follows in the syllabus for my digital photography students at American International College:

Prepares - Contemplates: plans, sketches, thinks, writes, looks at art and works on basics.

Practices - Creates: tests techniques, experiments, has fun, produces art.

Makes Mistakes - Redoes: takes risks, seeks peer and instructor support, tries again and learns from failure.

Presents - Appraises: Online exhibits, reflective journaling and critique.

Create Art. Look at Art. Enjoy your Life. © 2012 John Nordell

Reverse Evolution - A Return to Drawing with Berries and Feathers

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:06:00 +0000

Several years ago, my monkey alter ego Chuck Darwin produced a prize winning video that explained the technical nuances of digital color management: The Theory of the Evolution of Color Management. The primate scoffed at primitive humans that once used berries for ink.

Free Ink - Berries by the Roadside

Well, in this video, I risk Chuck's censure by mashing and using Pokeweed berries to make ink for drawing with a feather.

I loved the imprecision of using the feather. Occasionally, a chunk of mashed berry would become lodged inside my quill, leading to thick, explosive lines.

Tactile

Nothing like homespun art supplies. I have stockpiled pine tree sap to use in lieu of glue for an upcoming printmaking project. Stay tuned!

P.S. If you find yourself inspired to mash and draw, please keep in mind that the Pokeweed berries are toxic.

Metaphorical Mental Ladders

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:55:00 +0000

I can clearly remember the clang of a riot cop's baton striking the aluminum ladder carried by fellow photojournalist Rick Friedman as years ago we covered neo-Nazis exercising their right to free speech in Boston. I also remember the same cop taking aim and hitting the bone at the joint of my right knee. I guess Rick and I needed such encouragement to move back from the action.

Acknowledging Honks

Why was Rick carrying a ladder? Anything to get a different angle on things. I thought of Rick as I brought my ladder to get a fresh viewpoint on the picket line of union nurses staging an one day strike in early October protesting an impasse in contract talks with Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, MA.

Quite a thing for nurses to go on strike. The nurses told me that the offered contract will adversely affect patient care given the terms related to overtime pay and sick time guidelines.

Dog's Eye View

I have no idea what the contract issues really are, nor what a just resolution would be. However, it is clear that both sides have very different points of view. With this shot, I crouched down for a low angle of registered nurse Karen Boyden leading chants.

Viewpoints. Points of view. Angles. Stances. Sides. Perhaps we all need to carry metaphorical mental ladders to aid understanding those who think differently from the way we do.

From Ink and Paper, to Thread and Cloth, to Light and Pixels

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:25:00 +0000

      I met Susan Garfield-Wright
when I taught a Zentangle^® class at the Cancer Connection in Northampton, Mass. I taught the class while researching the correlation between participating in a Zentangle class and well-being.

     Zentangle describes an easy to learn and relaxing method of creating beautiful images from structured patterns.

     It was Garfield-Wright's first Zentangle class. At right, is the artwork she created.

     Self-described as an art quilter, Garfield-Wright realized during the class that "these designs are meant to be quilted on things.”


     So she headed over to A Notion to Quilt in Shelburne, MA and used the longarm quilting machine to experiment with "drawing" Zentangle patterns with thread.

     I enjoyed discussing with Garfield-Wright her explorations with the mixing of mediums, as well as the ways she plans to incorporate Zentangle concepts into future quilting projects.

   When creating as a photographer, I often shoot multiple exposures, that is, taking several pictures in succession of the same subject and then programming my camera to layer the variations into a single image.

     My goal with this process of abstracting reality is to portray the inner essence of a subject by presenting multiple views simultaneously.

    From ink and paper, to thread and cloth, to light and pixels.

    Note: This fall I will be teaching the Zentangle drawing method at A Notion to Quilt. The classes will progress from learning Zentangle fundamentals to applying these creative concepts to the world of quilting. © John Nordell

Triple Exposed Concrete Steps

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 22:50:00 +0000

Before

After

©John Nordell

The Art of Frontloading Seeing

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:23:00 +0000

Waiting for the Rain

In my classes on Visual Literacy, I used to ask students to identify their visual diet, as what you look at affects what you see.

     Now, after studying Visual Culture concepts while working on my Masters of Education in Arts Education, I will add this question: "Why do you look at what you look at?"

     On a morning bike ride, this roadside storm drain beckoned my attention and I grabbed a shot with my cell phone.

     The grid of boxes with shadows evoked for me the variety of similar patterns found in Zentangle® artworks. Many of these designs are based on deconstructing the patterns of human culture.

     Ahh, the glorious cycle of life imitating art imitating life imitating art. But wait, what is art?

Storm Drain

Each pattern used when drawing with the Zentangle method is called a tangle.

The names of these tangles, clockwise from top left:

Drupe

Cadent

Beeline

Cubine

Click for more on Zentangle.

Imagine There's No Electricity

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 12:09:00 +0000

There are three billion non-users of energy in the world. I found this statistic at an exhibition on energy use at the Museum of Science in Boston.

Digital Fingerprint

I decided to briefly become a non-user of energy and wondered what use I could make of electricity dependent technologies.

Printed Circuits

So I deconstructed (literally) an obsolete computer, inked the extracted innards and printed them on paper. I made further use of the components as instruments.

Evocative and Provocative Pedagogy: Toward a Culture-Changing Curriculum, an outstanding seminar presented with verve and style by Olivia Gude at this year's National Art Education Association convention, no doubt influenced these explorations. Thank you Olivia.

On Knowing that You are Living - Acts of Valor and Henry David Thoreau

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:43:00 +0000

Heading northward towards Keene, New Hampshire, I saw a sign for the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Winchendon, MA.

Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery

Having just watched Act of Valor, a movie based on actual US Navy Seal operations, I found my way to the cemetery to pay my respects.

Time Passes

One of the movie Seals dies while saving his comrades in an extraordinary act of valor. The film concludes with an effort to make sense of life and death, quoting from a poem (excerpted here) by Native American Chief Tecumseh:

Flowers

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

After the Swim (Walden Pond)

Transendentalist Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, chose living in the woods to make sense of living and dying:

Walden on my Mind

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

Book of Life

Parallel phrasings, yet perpendicular paths.

Touching History with Art - Walking in the Footsteps of Sojourner Truth

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:17:00 +0000

For my Art and Human Development class, I put together a webquest that addresses the life and times of Sojourner Truth: A Sojourn for Truth. This online lesson guides students through a series of projects in which they use art to represent and retain what they learn about history. The ultimate goal is for students create a thesis statement by which they define their truths. And guess what? I found my truth in the process. Shot with an iPhone:

I chose Sojourner Truth as a topic because she is a courageous and colorful historical figure. She stood up for what she believed in. That she did what she did at the time she did it is worthy of deep respect and admiration. She was also my choice because of the local connection. I found it deeply meaningful to see and sketch the house she lived, to do grave rubbings of an ex-slave’s grave across the street, and to touch and observe with drawing and photography the life size monument of Sojourner Truth in Florence, Mass.

What is your truth? Drop a comment!

Creating a Student Gallery Activity Guide for Environmental Art at MassMOCA - Journey to Seeing Green

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:09:00 +0000

For my Art and Human Development class, I just put together a gallery activity guide for students visiting the Under the Sea Kidspace exhibition at MassMoca. Many of the exhibiting artists use found trash to express their views on humans and the environment.

Message in a Bottle - The Sands of Time

I went to the beach in Boston in search of trash to make environmental art myself. I found this artifact, the seawater in the bottle's neck frozen.

Click here for the complete story, presented in the dynamic Prezi format. (If you give presentations, want to move beyond Powerpoint and are not familiar with Prezi, you might like it.)

Using New Media and Aerosol Cheese to Interest Youth in Poetry

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:35:00 +0000

How to use New Media to interest youth in poetry? Have them take pictures, create music and then make a video. I created this video for Jack Prelutsky's Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens using a point and shoot digital camera and iMovie, for my course on Language Arts and Literacy at the Middle Level. To accentuate the feel of the poem, I concentrated on image duration and the effect of the music.

Then next step was to write an original poem and then shoot video to accompany it. With apologies to Walt Whitman, here is Extra Cheesy.

Big thanks to Clifford and Sorrel at Upinngil Farm in Bernardston, Mass., where there is fun to had!

Small Town Occupiers - Fighting on the Homefront

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Wheelchair bound decorated Marine veteran Jack Kelley from Greenfield, Mass., fought in Vietnam. He is now fighting again for his country.

2nd Time I've Fought for this Country - I am the 99%

He says he is fighting for the soul of the middle class. He feels the middle class has been destroyed by rapacious banking practices and corporate money machinations. He is fighting to get money out of politics. "I am part of a grassroots movement that is actually doing something, that has changed the dialog from debt reduction to jobs. I am in no way a spokesman or a leader. I am a grunt."


Class Warfare? We Didn't Start It

He was joined by others demonstrating in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. I tried to capture the brick building former industrial feel of Greenfield, Mass. The protestors lined Main Street near the town green.

We Are 99% - Standing with Occupy Wall St.

In the center of the town green is a Civil War Memorial. At the top is an eagle, combating snakes in its nest.

Rationale for Celebrating Diversity Through the Arts

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Below is the supporting statement that I wrote for my graduate class on Celebrating Diversity Through the Arts. My mother, a former library development officer, extols the virtue of looking for books in library stacks, as books adjacent to the one that you seek can prove to be gems. I found the concept of "species-centrism" using this method.

Hands On

Schools cut arts education to focus on standardized test prep. Critics claim that most teachers are unprepared for roles as multicultural educators since 90% of teachers are white and 36% of students are minorities (Parks, 2004). Furthermore, as student diversity increases, time restraints might necessitate ignoring certain groups, negating the goal of fully inclusive multiculturalism (Adejumo, 2002). Alternatively, a broad-brush approach to cultures can lead to superficial treatment.

I believe, however, that the arts are a wonderful way to celebrate diversity and to guide students towards visual and cultural literacy and academic thriving. Therefore, I will counter these criticisms.

Beyond Black and White (Venetian Blinds)

Sternberg (2010) listed qualities of creative thinking – create, design, invent, imagine, suppose – and gave examples of how these key artistic ideas relate to learning across the curriculum. For example, challenging students to “Invent a new means of transportation.” Likewise, Baker (2011) studied the effect of music and arts instruction on the state test performance of 8th graders in Louisiana and concluded that students excluded from arts instruction to focus on math and English did not increase their scores. However, scores for students that attended music class were significantly improved.

Art: The Heart of Education - Greenfield (MA) High School

The white teacher/minority student ratio will shift as minority populations continue to grow, but teachers learning about their students’ cultures is a key tenet of effective teaching: know thy students. Provided teachers work through their own biases and prejudices, Roland (2006) points out that: “The Web offers unprecedented access to the work of countless artists from historically underrepresented cultural and ethnic groups.” This easy access to material makes for easier inclusion of all cultures that are represented in a classroom.

In our class, James Rollins (whose article mentioned Music In Our Schools Month) reminded us that authentic multicultural education needs to be continuously woven into curriculums, rather than ghettoized into superficial theme months.

Intertwined Synapses (Rail Yard)

Andrea Swenson’s arts exemplar of her elementary students drawing portraits of each other demonstrated not only powerful artistic expression, but also pairing Limited English Proficiency students with native speakers in an engaging task allowed for socialization and English language development. Likewise, creating an art project relating to English Language Learners’ home cultures activates background knowledge and creates important connections to school learning. (Carrigo) Prior to his captivating participatory drumming arts exemplar, Shawn McGann noted the many ways music can reach Special Education learners, including building self-esteem and integrating development of cognitive, motor and emotional responses.

Many Kinds, All Corn

The possible downfall of multicultural arts education is the focus on how students are different and different from each other. These differences can be fodder for teasing or bullying. Therefore, it is vital that teachers incorporate “species-centrism” into their arts education. Species-centrism suggests that “we can appreciate that the arts are common to humans of all times and places (Dissanayake, 1992, p.15).” This central task of creating a unifying connection as “inhabitants of the Earth who also belong(s) to many social groups (Matonis, 2003, p.37)” is key to using the arts as a vehicle for global education and understanding.

From Mandarin to Sanskrit to Jeans

Artist, educator and photojournalist John Nordell received a Masters of Education in Arts Education from Fitchburg State University.

Adejumo, C. O. (2002). Considering Multicultural Education. Art Education, 33-39

Baker, R. r. (2011, May 1). The Relationship between Music and Visual Arts Formal Study and Academic Achievement on the Eighth-Grade Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Test. Online Submission, Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University. 212 pp Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Carrigo, D. Strategies for working with English Language Learners. Center for Collaborative Education, 1-6

Dissanayake, E. (1992). “Species-centrism” and Cultural Diversity in the Arts. Seminar Proceedings: Discipline-based Art Education and Cultural Diversity, Santa Monica: The J. Paul Getty Trust

Matonis, M. (2003). Towards Multicultural Awareness: Problems and Perspectives. Dialog and Universalism, 1(2), 27-38

Parks, N. S. (2004). Bamboozled: A Visual Culture Text for Looking at Cultural Practices of Racism. Art Education, 14-18

Roland, C. (2006). Promoting Respect for Diversity. School Arts, 16

Sternberg, R. (2010). Creativity is a Choice, Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/UTDslides/sternberg-creativity-is-a-decision-3415440

Visual Thinking - Creative Comprehension

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Street Art

I felt a thrilling chill as my psychology professor at Fitchburg State University explained that the ability to see from multiple perspectives is a key aspect of adolescent cognitive development. What does Tamika imagine that Judy is thinking about Jose?

Public Works

This idea deeply resonated with me as in my photography classes for aspiring professionals I returned again and again to the concept of photographing a single subject from multiple perspectives.

Guide Lines

I was so excited because now when I teach adolescents, I can use this photographic approach for the dual purpose of teaching how to see and how to think.

Prius and Possibility

So then, a few days later, I was reading a chapter on text factors for promoting comprehension in Gail Tompkins's Literacy for the Middle Grades. Discussing the importance of point of view, along with other story structure elements such as plot, setting, characters and theme, the author mentioned several stories told from the viewpoints of multiple characters. Bingo. Now I can add a reading component to this concept of learning to think and see from multiple perspectives.

Can't wait for my next class!

P.S. Enjoying conceptual artist Sol LeWitt's wall drawings fundamentally altered and enhanced the way I see and appreciate line - and life.

Organic Pam. Really?

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 02:02:00 +0000

I think the title says it all. Please see my previous post comparing organic versus sustainable. The post includes an image of petroleum intensive rows of plastic cups of fruit at a Whole Foods Market. Discussing the image with a friend, he commented: "They are destroying what they are creating."

Is the Propellant Organic?

Ingredients: Organic Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Grain Alcohol (Added for Clarity), Lecithin From Soybeans (Prevents Sticking), And Propellant.

Nature Nourishes Group Exhibition at ArtSpace Hartford: Images and Artist Statement

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:40:00 +0000

(Hope to see you at the opening reception: Friday Aug 19, 2011 6-10pm ArtSpace Hartford, 555 Asylum Street, Hartford, CT, 06105 If the parking lot behind the gallery building is full, across the street is parking at the train station.)

The tipping point for me: during the year end holidays I saw a man walking through a mall in Boston, lovingly cradling his iPad, looking at the screen with reverence and love, oblivious to reality taking place around him.

Inside Looking Through

I find this approach living troubling and distressing. It's akin to reality TV: sitting and watching other people live their lives rather than having a life yourself.

This iPodus Americanus sighting prompted a New Year’s Resolution: spend less time on the computer. I have written fewer blog posts and more postcards, spent fewer lunch breaks in front of a screen and taken more walks, and have embraced the here-and-now of physical reality rather than an untouchable cyber one. I’ve read novels, used dictionaries and phone books, and spent more time outside.

Like a Shell and Seeds on a Pod

I am not against everything digital. I am, however, talking about perspective.

Using a digital camera, for example, allows for freer experimentation, due to instant image feedback and zero costs for film and processing.

Earth, Water and Flora

This freedom spurred the creation of the images submitted to Nature Nourishes. Earth Water and Flora and Visible Photons - Do thoughts Have Mass? are in-camera multiple exposures.

Visible Photons - Do Thoughts Have Mass?

I used a slow (½ second) shutter speed and moved my camera during the exposure to create the impressionistic Like Butter.

Like Butter (Sunrise Over the Connecticut River)

Often in the morning, on my way to teach, I stop alongside the Connecticut River to meditate. Many times I pause my practice to grab a camera and shoot (see the double exposure - Cycles of Life). These in-the-moment experiences with nature feed me.

Cycles of Life

I recently photographed anti-nuclear activists holding a vigil in Brattleboro, VT on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Brattleboro is 6 miles from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Vermont Yankee's reactor is the same model as those at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

Nuclear fears began to grip me during my next morning meditation, as my riverside sacred space is about 17 miles downstream from Vermont Yankee. “Is the water radioactive?” I wondered.

However, as I sat in my car and focused on my breath, I felt that the flowing river connected me to all beings. “We are all vulnerable,” I thought.

Suddenly, a moist, warm, nourishing breeze blew in my car window and carried my fears out the other side.

The Sounds of a Quiet Ride in a Chevy Volt

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:03:00 +0000

It was so much fun to take a ride in a Chevy Volt with Watson Collins of Northeast Utilities.

Electric Motor Quiet, Gas Generator Not As

A Chevy Volt has a gas generator (left) that creates electricity to run the electric motor (right) when car's rechargeable battery is depleted.

Firing Up

Northeast Utilities - Western Massachusetts Electric Company has begun installing plug-in electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in order to study how the recharging affects the company's distribution of electricity.

Traveler and Auto Can Recharge Overnight

Officials from the utility company had a Chevy Volt dual gas - electric car on hand to demonstrate how the charging system works at a charging station at the Courtyard Marriott in Hadley, Massachusetts. The hotel sees the charging station as a way of providing "cutting edge" services to its guests.

Universal

Inserting this plug into an Electric Vehicle connects the vehicle to a charging station.

Responding to the green marketing claims of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf manufacturers, a friend's elementary school daughter pointed out that generating the electricity to charge the vehicles still creates pollution. Her solution went something like this: Perhaps the old mills along rivers could generate electricity for the cars.

These still images and more are available for licensing at The Image Works.

I Spent the Day Photographing with Sam Abell, Jay Maisel and Hundreds of Hallmark Students

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:09:00 +0000

What a day! A dream photography workshop!

Sign of the Times

Now, well, er, um, I was not actually physically present with all these photographers, but their spirits were with me.

Harbor Wharf

Along with industry legend Jay Maisel, National Geographic photographer Sam Abell regularly speaks at Hallmark Institute of Photography, where I teach. During a recent talk Abell delighted in stories detailing his approach of first framing a scene, and then waiting patiently for wonderful events to unfold that add life, complexity and depth to the final image.

"Old Ironsides" Needs Additional Protection in the New World

I imagined Abell's soothing voice in my head, narrating with mounting interest the layers of meaning and metaphor that emerged as I worked towards this picture of the USS Constitution in Boston, Massachusetts. The vessel is nicknamed "Old Ironsides," as attacker's cannonballs used to bounce off the ship's wooden hull.

A fence mounted on the pontoons protects this oldest commissioned warship in the U.S. Navy from attacks by sea. I photographed workers posting signs on the fence: U.S. Navy Restricted Area - Use Of Force Authorized

Shadowy terrorists with plastic explosives replacing known foes with cannonballs makes for a world far different from George Washington's, who ordered the ship's construction.

Each morning at 8:00 a blank cannon round is fired, followed by raising Old Glory as The Star-Spangled Banner plays. This salute ritual commenced in 1798 and recently came under fire as nearby condo owners complained about the noise.

Rush Hour

Leaving the Navy Yard, on my way to the North End, Boston's Italian neighborhood, I stopped to photograph a contemporary ritual: morning bumper to bumper traffic flowing over the Zakim bridge into Boston. Like Harbor Wharf above, this is an in-camera multiple exposure.

Thinking like a photojournalist, I wanted to capture the diesel coating on this school bus. I followed it through the streets, jumping out of my car at stoplights to shoot.

Light, Color, Gesture

The situation evoked Jay Maisel speaking about seeing an ephemeral scene and the "terror" of trying to catch the light, subject matter and moment, before it melts away forever. My resulting image was more art than journalism. Maisel's recipe for creating a memorable photograph: Light, Color and Gesture. (Gesture does not have to be human. It can be a light that is on, for example.)

il Tricolore

The bus led me into the heart of the North End and a free parking space. Into my fifth year of teaching, I have graded hundreds of assignments and carried out numerous critiques. Teaching is a good method for improving your own photography.

This is why I say that my students accompanied me on this day of shooting, as echoes of my comments on their work swirled in my consciousness: fill the frame with storytelling details, avoid bright areas in the corners, be in charge of where you want your viewer's eye to go, learn the rules so you can consciously break them, work each subject thoroughly, get close...

With my students, I try to simultaneously nurture their raw creative fire while pointing them in a intentional, commercial direction.

Mangia - Mangia

My stock photography editor at Photolibrary, Phyllis Giarnese "joined" the crowd on today's photographic outing as well. Giarnese manages to simultaneously nurture my fine art eye while encouraging me to shoot in a more commercially viable manner. Add human narrative to your solitary visions.

I hope that she will be interested in marketing these three North End vignettes.

Behind the statue of Paul Revere, the North Church peeks out from the mist.

Tweet if by Land, and Facebook if by Sea

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

From Paul Revere's Ride

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Texting No. 2

I am fascinated and concerned by the ubiquity of hand-held mobile screens. Note the iPadus Americanus with Paul Revere and these Harvard University seniors waiting for a shuttle bus.

Inside Outside

My day ended with a superb ice cream cone from J.P. Licks: Coffee Oreo and Chocolate M&M.

And this post ends with a big thanks to Sam, Jay, Phyllis and all my students.

Brattleboro Vermont Anti Nuclear Vigil Held on the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:39:00 +0000

Looking at this still image, can you almost hear the chanting?

Namu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo

Now, take a look/listen to/at this video.

Six miles from Brattleboro is the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Vermont Yankee's reactor is the same model as those at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

Thank You For Honking

The demonstrators also received an occasional middle finger, or a driver revving his truck and intentionally spewing exhaust.

Smart - Safe - Sanitary

I ducked into a restaurant to use the bathroom and the concept of using electricity to dispense a paper towel in this age of the BP oil spill and the Fukushima crisis seemed excessively wasteful and unnecessary.

Peace

There were representatives from: Citizens Awareness Network, New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, Nuclear-Free Future and Taprock Center for Peace and Justice. Also in attendance was Yukio Iimura from Japan, who is in America for three months, walking, chanting and drumming for various causes.

Hand and Shell

The Jabiluka hand symbol represents Aboriginal opposition to uranium mining in Australia. The red and yellow background matched perfectly with the colors of a nearby Shell gas station sign. Using the image overlay function on my Nikon D200 digital camera, I combined two separate images to make this one.

The Weekend: Brought to you by Labor Unions | From Wisconsin to Bangladesh to Boston to Greenfield | Black & White 120 Film Shot with a Yashica Mat!

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:29:00 +0000

Have you ever felt guided? To a person? To a cause? To a place? To a theme?

In Boston over Spring Break, I noticed flyer taped to a lamp post for a rally in support of poorly paid tomato farmers organized by The Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Ever the photojournalist, I jotted down the organizer's website. I probably noticed the flyer since I was reading Kate Furnival's The Jewel of St Petersburg, a richly textured tale of class conflict and violence in revolutionary Russia.

Bye Bye Borders

A couple of days later, driving to meet a friend for lunch, I listened with increasing disbelief and mounting concern to a Democracy Now report tracing the parallels between the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York, 100 years previously, where locked exit doors led to the death of young women workers, to a recent fire in a textile factory in Bangladesh, where again, locked exit doors fatally blocked routes to safety.

The Last Book Buyer?

After lunch, I headed to Newbury Street to photograph evidence of the bankrupt Borders bookstore chain.

Shoppers flocked to the nearby H&M store. So I went in myself, looked at the labels of the nearest sweaters and knew before I could read the words that the country of origin was Bangladesh. According to the Democracy Now report, young Bangladeshi women protesting for better working conditions are hosed with dye laden water to facilitate their arrests.

$9.95 - What is the True Cost?

"Where are all these groups of giddy young women coming from," I wondered. Spring break shopping, perhaps? Some items were two for one. Imagine drilling straight through the earth from Boston to Bangladesh to compare the lives of these young female shoppers with the young female sweatshop workers.

To find events to document, I signed up on the The Coalition for Immokolee Workers website for labor action alerts. A week later, even before I received an email about the action, I heard about a rally on a community radio station.


*Now Retired from Media, He Takes a Stand*

Retired broadcaster Ted O"Brien spoke to the crowd, mentioning historical labor protests, such as the 1912 Bread and Roses textile strike in Lawrence, MA, led by women.

Carpenters Local 108 (Springfield, MA)

In solidarity with the labor protests in Wisconsin, a coalition of labor unions and citizens groups, such as Jobs with Justice, rallied in Greenfield, MA in support of rights for union labor and public workers.

Coalition

The rally took place on April 4, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. At the time of his death, Dr. King was in Memphis to support the sanitation workers strike.

Spend some moments and contemplate these faces and messages:

Stop the War on the Working Class

A Tax on the Corporations - Not Attacks on Workers

Corporations are not People

Hard Hat Flag Stand

On the Importance of Touching Things: Unplugging from the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 02:12:00 +0000

I'm making good on my New Year's resolution to spend less time on the computer. I devoured Dan Brown's thriller The Lost Symbol. Then, while visiting family in Cambridge, Mass., I walked into independent Porter Square Books in search of my next read.

The Feel of a Book

Just seeing shelf after shelf of books artfully displayed made my heart sing. I asked one of the booksellers to recommend an intellectual thriller along the lines of The Lost Symbol. Minutes later I departed, eager to read Impact by Douglas Preston.

Turned Pages

Later that day I worked on sending cards announcing my inclusion (image below) in The Green Show at the Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tenn. Thinking of each recipient, whether gallery owner, friend, family member or colleague, I wrote: I am so excited. My first juried show! Although I essentially wrote the same message on each card, it felt sincere, compared with a Facebook or Twitter shotgun blast.

Farm Gears

I suddenly wondered if I was spelling "juried" correctly, so I consulted ~~spell check~~ a dictionary.

Tactilian Living

The next weekend I sat down and read for three plus hours straight and finished Impact, ripping through the pages, my heart thumping. The experience let me to make a Facebook query, "With a printed book, we call it a page-turner. What is the analogous term when reading an iPad or Kindle?" The replies: A finger burner. A pixel shifter. A good book. A finger glider. Do you have any suggestions? We are in the age of making up new terminology.

Connected by Color

It has been delightful to receive (appropriately green) congratulatory postcards from friends. I popped one such card in my camera bag along with a show announcement, thinking to photograph them, only to realize my current book, Clive Cussler's The Silent Sea, was yet another shade of green.

Up until this post, like many bloggers, I would link a book I mention to Amazon. If a reader bought, I would get a small percentage. Deciding to put my money where my mouth is, I have stopped this practice. Instead, I suggest you plug in your zip code at this site to find your nearest local bookstore: Indie Store Finder

For those who like reading on their iPads and shopping locally, take a look at this solution on Baristanet.com

Truth, Metaphor, Teaching | Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand | Film, Digital, Multimedia

noreply@blogger.com (John Nordell) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 03:49:00 +0000

He (Alfred Stieglitz) insisted photographs are not description but metaphor. "Photography is my passion," he said. "The search for Truth is my obsession."

Last week in photo history class I read these lines from Carol Strickland's engaging piece in the Christian Science Monitor on the Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

O'Keefe

I was once a Monitor staff photojournalist. At a writing seminar I attended, the presenter advocated dropping a series of metaphorical gold coins throughout your article, sparkling nuggets to maintain reader interest and anticipation.

Light Reading

Ms. Strickland's gold coins were a series of quotes relating to photography's hard won acceptance as an art form.

Searching for Subtlety

A couple of days after the photo history class, I drove to meet students in Northampton, Mass. for field trip. I kept thinking about Mr. Stieglitz's ideas: He insisted photographs are not description but metaphor. "Photography is my passion," he said. "The search for Truth is my obsession."

Shoot for the Stars

I felt compelled to take metaphor-laden photographs, mostly stereotypical. A boarded up mall with a cell phone tower in the background, for example.

I wound up at The Botanic Garden of Smith College, photographing plants in the Conservatory and my students working on their craft. Their respectful behavior and creative imagery made me proud.

Speaking of teaching, students and the history of photography, I just put together this video about Hallmark Institute of Photography, where I teach: Old School using New School Technology.

Question: When you create, what concepts propel you? Truth? Metaphor? Having fun? Or do you just do it?

Or?

Drop a comment!