In Defense of the Fluid Self: Why Anaïs Nin Turned Down a Harper’s Bazaar Profile by Maria Popova “I am more interested in human beings than in writing, more interested in lovemaking than in writing, more interested in living than in writing.” Celebrated diarist Anaïs Nin has been on heavy rotation here this year, but it is only because her daily private reflections reverberate with timeless, universal resonance. Nin’s gift for articulating the paradoxes and vulnerabilties of the human condition shines with exceptional brilliance in this particular entry found in The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947 (UK; public library). In December of 1946, Harper’s Bazaar editor Leo Lerman asked Nin for a short auto-biography to use in a profile feature. Dear Leo[…]I see myself and my life each day differently. The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947 also gave us Nin’s exquisite words on the role of emotional excess in creativity, her timely reflection on technology and the meaning of life, and her keen profile of architect Lloyd Wright. Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
A Community That Values Its Own Commitment to the Local Arts! Susan Appe, PhD What would make where I live a better place? I want Broome Country, upstate New York to value its own commitment to the local arts. The evidence is out there. I first started noticing this with my students. While certainly not a representative, scientific sample, it surprised me. And the students in my class are not the only ones attending and supporting local arts. Case in point—on March 13, 2013 the Broome County Arts Council’s (BCAC) United Cultural Fund (UCF) awarded $228,000 to organizations and individuals working in the arts in Broome County. We know that at the local level, local arts agencies are a primary channel of arts funding (Toepler & Wyszomirski, 2012), therefore, the BCAC’s model is a familiar one for those of us engaged in local arts. However, still, the UCF is one of only seven such programs in all of New York state, one of only two in upstate, and the only one in south central New York. References Toepler, S. & Wyszomirski, M.
Generative art Joseph NechvatalOrgiastic abattOir,2004 computer-robotic assisted acrylic on canvas created by viral-based C++ software Installation view of Irrationnal Geometrics 2008 by Pascal Dombis Generative art refers to art that in whole or in part has been created with the use of an autonomous system. "Generative Art" is often used to refer to computer generated artwork that is algorithmically determined. Examples of generative art[edit] Music[edit] Johann Philipp Kirnberger's "Musikalisches Würfelspiel" (Musical Dice Game) 1757 is considered an early example of a generative system based on randomness. Visual art[edit] Software art[edit] Architecture[edit] In 1987 Celestino Soddu created the artificial DNA of Italian Medieval towns able to generate endless 3D models of cities identifiable as belonging to the idea.[9] Literature[edit] Writers such as Tristan Tzara, Brion Gysin, and William Burroughs used the cut-up technique to introduce randomization to literature as a generative system.
Anaïs Nin on Embracing the Unfamiliar by Maria Popova “It is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar.” We’ve already seen that life is about living the questions, that the unknown is what drives science, and that the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. John Keats wrote of this art of remaining in doubt “without any irritable reaching after fact & reason” and famously termed it “negative capability.” But count on Anaïs Nin to articulate familiar truths in the most exquisitely poetic way possible, peeling away at the most profound and aspirational aspects of what it means to be human. In a diary entry from the winter of 1949-1950, found in The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 5: 1947-1955 (public library), which gave us Nin’s whimsical antidote to city life and her poignant meditation on character, parenting, and personal responsibility, she observes: Educators do all in their power to prepare you to enjoy reading after college. Donating = Loving Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter.
A City, and an Artist, Finding Their Authentic Creative Voice Christy Bors It was during my third year as an undergraduate art student (Go Slugs!) that I met Frank, my abstract painting professor. I’d never been more frustrated with a syllabus or a teacher in my whole life as I’d been with Frank. The careful, thoughtful, planner inside me cringed every day in that studio. The bi-product: A six-foot tall canvas spread wildly with a cake frosting texture of Alizarin Crimson and Flake White oils. I hated it. “Don’t touch it anymore—it’s finished.” And so, I let it be praised. It took me months of scowling at its presence before I realized that I hated that painting (which forever remained titled “Untitled”) so much because it didn’t resonate with me. That hollowed sense of accomplishment is an emotion that can strike creative people of all genres. Working now out of my hometown as an arts administrator, I recognize this fight in my own creative community. I see Napa’s arts district as a burgeoning embryo.
Bruno Munari on Design as a Bridge Between Art and Life by Maria Popova “The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing.” In the preface to his 1966 classic Design as Art (public library) — one of the most important and influential design books ever published — legendary Italian graphic designer Bruno Munari, once described by Picasso as “the new Leonardo,” makes a passionate case for democratizing art and making design the lubricant between romanticism and pragmatism. Revisiting Munari’s iconic words is at once a reminder of how much has changed, and how little — but mostly a timeless vision for design’s highest, purest aspiration. Munari begins: Today it has become necessary to demolish the myth of the ‘star’ artist who only produces masterpieces for a small group of ultra-intelligent people. In the introduction, he cites Maxim Gorky: Munari cautions against holding on too stringently to conceptions of what art is and isn’t: Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
Anaïs Nin on Real Love, Illustrated by Debbie Millman by Maria Popova “Where the myth fails, human love begins. Then we love a human being, not our dream, but a human being with flaws.” To celebrate beloved author and dedicated diarist Anaïs Nin, here is the second installment in my ongoing collaboration with author, artist, philosopher, design interviewer extraordinaire Debbie Millman, based on a 1941 entry from The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 3: 1939-1944 (public library). Like our first collaboration, this beautiful typographic collage drawing is based on one of Nin’s most timeless insights on love, culled from her many volumes of diaries and her love letters with Henry Miller. Like last time, the artwork is available on Society6, with 100% of proceeds benefiting A Room of Her Own, a foundation supporting women writers and artists. Complement this beauty with Nin’s timeless meditations on the meaning of life, Paris vs. See more of Debbie’s beautiful visual essays and poems online and in print, and follow her on Twitter. Donating = Loving
Bringing Backstage Onstage with Social Media Kelly Page Imagine, if we saw social media more like an artist’s studio or cafe and less like a marketing channel? While walking through the exhibit, Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects at the Arts Institute Chicago last November, I felt like I was seeing into the private design space of the architect. The exhibit was an installation of an architect’s studio with concept drawings, full-scale project mockups, material samples, and photographs of completed work that now form part of the Chicago city skyline. The work of the artist backstage, however, many don’t experience. Imagine for a moment, however, if we did? Social media use in arts management I spend a lot of my time exploring how arts organizations use social media and what I often read is content dominated by the voice of the marketer, marketing at me—a mix of call-to-action posts such and social media promotions focused on driving traffic and ticket sales. My advice is simple—Do not use social media for marketing.
What Makes a Great City: Anaïs Nin on the Poetics of New York by Maria Popova “Just bring your own contents, and you create a sparkle of the highest power.” This week, I’m in Malmö, Sweden, where I’m opening a session on cities at The Conference. In pondering the question of what makes for a thriving city brimming with robust public life, I was reminded of a passage from a letter Anaïs Nin wrote to her lover Henry Miller, found in the sublime A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller, 1932-1953 (public library) — a tome you might recall from recent literary jukebox installments. Dated December 3, 1934, this letter stands in stark contrast to Nin’s grim take on New York in comparison to Paris some five years later, but it bespeaks the same exhilarating enthusiasm for the city that Jan Morris captured a decade later and that New Yorkers and visitors of all eras have been — sometimes reluctantly, sometimes wholeheartedly, always inevitably — infected with: I’m in love with N.Y. Donating = Loving Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter.
New to the Community: A Love Story Set to Beethoven Jenifer Thomas I am a fairly recent transplant to a city with a vibrant arts scene chock-full of healthy arts organizations, beautiful parks and architecture, wonderful public art, a squadron of young professionals getting involved, and our very own culinary smorgasbord: a signature chili (you either love it or you hate it), mouthwatering ice cream, and questionable breakfast meat. Where is this cultural mecca, you might ask? Cincinnati’s varied offerings come with an equally diverse community of people. The Cincinnati ethos is evolving, and many organizations are doing great things to get engagement that is more reflective of our community and encourages we locals to put our personal stamp on the Queen City. Recently, after two years of living in Cincinnati, I fell in love. It happened in the most unlikely of places: the concert hall. Think it sounds cool? Not only did the community come out in droves to the events surrounding One City, One Symphony, but live performances sold out.
The Greatest Books of All Time, As Voted by 125 Famous Authors “Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work,” Jennifer Egan once said. This intersection of reading and writing is both a necessary bi-directional life skill for us mere mortals and a secret of iconic writers’ success, as bespoken by their personal libraries. The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books asks 125 of modernity’s greatest British and American writers — including Norman Mailer, Ann Patchett, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, and Joyce Carol Oates — “to provide a list, ranked, in order, of what [they] consider the ten greatest works of fiction of all time– novels, story collections, plays, or poems.” Of the 544 separate titles selected, each is assigned a reverse-order point value based on the number position at which it appears on any list — so, a book that tops a list at number one receives 10 points, and a book that graces the bottom, at number ten, receives 1 point. In introducing the lists, David Orr offers a litmus test for greatness:
The Space Race Chase Maggiano There are a few things I have come to believe are true: Justin Bieber’s monkey is more famous than I will ever be; there are more self-proclaimed artists in the world than at any time in history; and the arts are the next big export—both here in Washington, D.C., and abroad. All three of these truths lead to a problem we have in our cultural communities. We need more space. With YouTube, an iPad, and Kickstarter, anyone can create and distribute art while sitting in front of the computer in their underwear (no…not THAT kind of art). Some artists can even launch careers from the keyboard. I have learned that many people in my community feel the same way. While finding performance space is often the key stumbling block, locating adequate rehearsal (or studio) space is an equally important challenge. One way to overcome this problem is to throw money at it. For those of us who don’t have $100 million lying around, there are other great ideas.