meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

I need to stop listening to National Public Radio in the morning, it's giving me indigestion. The economic outlook has many of us wanting to crawl under a large, light-dampening blanket with a "wake me when it's over" sign pinned to the top. Speaking of blankets...

I have long admired these huge felt banners by Wendy Mueller, commissioned for the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. They are so gnarly and exotic...like the skins of an imaginary, prehistoric beast.

I see these as totems to the "percent for art" public art programs. Will funded public art go the way of the dinosaurs?

With all of the doom and gloom economic news filtering through my not-so-dark glasses and rock and roll damaged eardrums, it's no wonder that my bear-shaped subject below has taken to the bottle. Who will help him? And who will help the rest of us?

Above: "Bear Hits the Bottle" - Ives Street, Fox Point, Providence

For those of you in my neck of the woods, let's help ourselves by committing to vote for change on November 4th. The priority makeover our society desperately needs is a long-horizon goal, but we can at least do our best to put some better people in the driver's seat.

I'm up to my eyeballs today, (which is why, naturally, I'm off-topic pointing out neato websites instead of getting on-topic). I've been thinking about artist-run online communities lately, and the circuitry (or lack thereof) between them and a wider audience. Musing on this with clicks, apparantly, I rediscovered TinyVices.com, an artist-run online gallery out of New York, curated by photographer and publisher Tim Barber. While it's not exactly intuitive to navigate (again, circuitry) there is a deep well of juicy content here, ranging from individual artist portfolios to TV Books, Barber's on-demand artist book publishing service. Leading the virtual racehorse to the actual track, this online venue provides many real world opportunities for the participants, including gallery shows and book launches. Looks like one is coming up next week, if you're in Chelsea:

Today I'm thinking about...supplies. I spent a good part of my day exchanging community-building ideas with a very large group of Providence arts community stakeholders - a forum which required supplies like: sharpies, kraft-paper, coffee, pushpins, sketchbooks...which led to more socializing (requiring supplies like beer and bar snacks).

If you think about it, most activities require supplies of some sort, so why not get them from a source you can feel good about? As part of my "if you can't make it yourself at least buy handmade" mission, I'm participating in an Etsy community supply sale this week with crostini*VS. Head over to Etsy, and search "Team ESST" for creative supply deals from fellow artisans and craft suppliers.

It just occured to me as I was hauling veggies back from the Farmer's Market that I haven't posted a Lost and Found pic in quite a while. So here is one to keep the roster flowing. This particular find reminds me of why I left the music industry, and brings to mind the old adage: "It's better to burn out than to fade away..."

Above: "Rocker Girl Up A Tree" - East Side, Providence