No other artists in the history of art have been so closely identified with each other as Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh. Their often volatile relationship has been dramatized in numerous books and movies, focusing particularly on their nine-week stay together in Arles in southern France during the final months of 1888. An experience that began positively, signaling the start of an artistic colony, the Studio of the South, but ended in tragedy in an incident universally known, whatever your background in art. For just a few days before Christmas, Van Gogh cut off his ear (actually his ear lobe) and started his long descent into mental illness.
We know the details from Gauguin, because he was there. According to his account, he was the original target of Van Gogh's frenzy, caused by the latter's realization that his friend Paul was leaving him. However, Van Gogh turned his anger upon himself. "Vincent had returned home after my departure," Gauguin related shortly afterward, "and cut his ear clean through. Then he put a big beret over his head and went to a brothel to take the ear to a wretched girl...."
Gauguin and Van Gogh never did see each other again. Vincent would commit suicide over a year and a half later, leaving to posterity some two thousand works of art.
Yet, there is a sequel to this story. Because Gauguin and Van Gogh continued their friendship at a distance, exchanging letters up to Vincent's death. Their mutual love and passion for art bonding the two, even during Vincent's sojourn in a mental institution, where he was allowed to keep painting, creating such masterpieces as Starry Night, often considered a symbol of our times.
A different subject, though, connected Gauguin to Van Gogh: the sunflowers, another icon of Vincent's vision of life. For Vincent painted them expressively for his friend Gauguin, back in August, 1888, in anticipation of Paul moving into the house that the two would share in Arles. "Now that I hope to live with Gauguin in a studio of our own, I want to make a decoration for our studio," Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, "Nothing but big sunflowers."
Soon after, Vincent decided to decorate Gauguin's bedroom instead with the paintings of the sunflowers. And the beauty of that room haunted Gauguin during the thirteen years that he survived Vincent. Paul would write of the unforgettable sunflowers with purple eyes that shone golden in the sunlight passing through the curtains of his bedroom. "They bathe their stems in a yellow pot on a yellow table. In the corner of the painting, the signature of the painter: Vincent," Gauguin would remember long after, as if he could still see Van Gogh's extraordinary creations before him.
Even when Gauguin moved to the exotic world of Tahiti where he lived for most of the last decade of his life, he could not escape the memory of Vincent and the sunflowers. Sick, alone, and far from his native country of France, Gauguin probably spent his days dwelling on the past, especially his time with Vincent. For in October, 1898, close to ten years after first viewing the sunflower paintings that had filled the walls of his bedroom in Arles, Gauguin wrote to a friend asking him to send some sunflower seeds.
So in the midst of the tropical flowers of Tahiti, Gauguin tended his garden of imported sunflowers until 1901, when was he was ready to recreate them with his brush. Not one, but four canvases would result, as if Gauguin could not stop until he had fulfilled his own vision of the sunflowers. Two of them, both titled, Still Life with Sunflowers on an Armchair, are darker, more naturalistic in appearance, while Still Life with Sunflowers and Mangoes blooms with the dream-like colors of Gauguin's imagination. Sunflowers with Puvis de Chavannes's Hope overflows its wooden Tahitian vessel with the bounty of fertility and growth.
Soon after their completion, Gauguin would leave Tahiti for the Marquesas Islands, a remote island chain located 750 miles away. He would die a few years later, in 1903, ultimately becoming like his friend Vincent, one of the legends of art.
Arts and Entertainment
Thank You all been supporting Art Entertainment™ 2011
April 24, 2011
Why Do Cardboard Furniture Craft?
I have often been asked: "Why do you deal in cardboard crafts?"
I must confess that it is cool. Imagine, having the ability to create, through your own efforts - easily and cheaply, any furniture you fancy. Whether it exists already, or comes from your own imagination. Whether it is something you need and can't find on the market -you can plan, design, and create it in a few days. Doesn't it sound like a dream? There is nothing like sitting back on an armchair and enjoying, it being your own creation.
I have discovered cardboard furniture several years ago, and on the same night - I created my first furniture.
Ok, I agree that not everyone can create furniture just by looking at it on the Internet. But for that very purpose, I am here - I undertake courses where I teach the whole Torah of cardboard crafts, and I deliver detailed designs for people to create and get similar satisfaction as I have. I supply schemas, videos and written description so every one can build their own cardboard furniture.
What is exceedingly charming is that anybody can design and create his own furniture. You just need to render your imagination it. The soft and light material (Cardboard) makes it an ideal craft for parents and kids to do at home. There is no need of heavy machinery to process it.
I have immense satisfaction to see the thousands of people that create their own furniture by themselves.
What do you need to start? Tools and materials value under 50$. The main raw material is cardboard which we can get freely from any cardboard recycle center. The rest are glue and some finishing material (like paint).
The benefits of using cardboard are:
a. Cardboard furniture is ecological furniture. Mainly because, cardboard is perishable raw material and also recyclable.
b. The furniture we create is ecological as we use reused cardboard. Instead of recycling it we use it as it is and use it in our furniture. Less paper waste, less cutting trees, less methane gas and many other benefits
c. Cheap raw material - Cardboard can be obtained freely most of the time. The furniture cost is determined by the finishing product we use.
d. Cardboard furniture is light-weight. Making it easily movable when doing house hold work.
e. Fed up with furniture look? Want to upgrade? Very easy, in a small amount of time you can paint, change, add or remove elements from existing furniture to get a whole new masterpiece!
f. Your imagination is the limit - you can do almost anything using cardboard: From simple frames to sofas, from bookcases to baby beds and desks.
g. The furniture created is rigid and loaded with heavy load, because of the cardboard structure and the processing technique.
h. The cardboard is soft and easy to process. This makes it very suitable to women who want to practice a "do it yourself" hand craft. This also eliminates the need to use heavy electrical machinery, make it a perfect craft to do at homes, and with the kids.
i. The cardboard is very forgiving to building mistakes. Mistakes can most often be covered by adhesive paper and painted.
I must confess that it is cool. Imagine, having the ability to create, through your own efforts - easily and cheaply, any furniture you fancy. Whether it exists already, or comes from your own imagination. Whether it is something you need and can't find on the market -you can plan, design, and create it in a few days. Doesn't it sound like a dream? There is nothing like sitting back on an armchair and enjoying, it being your own creation.
I have discovered cardboard furniture several years ago, and on the same night - I created my first furniture.
Ok, I agree that not everyone can create furniture just by looking at it on the Internet. But for that very purpose, I am here - I undertake courses where I teach the whole Torah of cardboard crafts, and I deliver detailed designs for people to create and get similar satisfaction as I have. I supply schemas, videos and written description so every one can build their own cardboard furniture.
What is exceedingly charming is that anybody can design and create his own furniture. You just need to render your imagination it. The soft and light material (Cardboard) makes it an ideal craft for parents and kids to do at home. There is no need of heavy machinery to process it.
I have immense satisfaction to see the thousands of people that create their own furniture by themselves.
What do you need to start? Tools and materials value under 50$. The main raw material is cardboard which we can get freely from any cardboard recycle center. The rest are glue and some finishing material (like paint).
The benefits of using cardboard are:
a. Cardboard furniture is ecological furniture. Mainly because, cardboard is perishable raw material and also recyclable.
b. The furniture we create is ecological as we use reused cardboard. Instead of recycling it we use it as it is and use it in our furniture. Less paper waste, less cutting trees, less methane gas and many other benefits
c. Cheap raw material - Cardboard can be obtained freely most of the time. The furniture cost is determined by the finishing product we use.
d. Cardboard furniture is light-weight. Making it easily movable when doing house hold work.
e. Fed up with furniture look? Want to upgrade? Very easy, in a small amount of time you can paint, change, add or remove elements from existing furniture to get a whole new masterpiece!
f. Your imagination is the limit - you can do almost anything using cardboard: From simple frames to sofas, from bookcases to baby beds and desks.
g. The furniture created is rigid and loaded with heavy load, because of the cardboard structure and the processing technique.
h. The cardboard is soft and easy to process. This makes it very suitable to women who want to practice a "do it yourself" hand craft. This also eliminates the need to use heavy electrical machinery, make it a perfect craft to do at homes, and with the kids.
i. The cardboard is very forgiving to building mistakes. Mistakes can most often be covered by adhesive paper and painted.
Car-Less Places: Oaklavia
Oakland, California - At 10 A.M. another "Ciclavia" session began. Oaklavia, as it is called in this instance, is a special metropolitan area in which a formerly car-dominated downtown district is temporarily transformed into blocks of wide open space where even toddlers play safely in the middle of the street.
Ciclavias have occurred in other cities such as New York and elsewhere. This is one of the first to happen in Oakland.
My wife and I have lived our whole lives in Oakland but we've never experienced it without cars in the streets, so we decided to check it out.
The car-less spaces weren't quite contiguous but the police and the event volunteers ensured that cyclists and pedestrians didn't wait long, or at all, to move between each car-less segment.
To be honest, even with police blocking oncoming traffic, it was still tough to relax in the middle of the street. Seeing a mother and child in the roadway was truly surreal. No fear of imminent death in these two: just joy at being out on a Sunday in a wide-open space.
Once the lack of car noise and the abundance of space set in, it truly was liberating and incredibly stimulating. Events like this and cycling in general flood you with so much more detail about your surroundings than you would normally get. Being in a steel and glass enclosure moving at high velocity (aka a car) robs you of so many parts of a place.
The smells of all the food alone made the trip worthwhile: like those from an outdoor café setup in the street in front of Ratto's Market & Deli, not to mention the Oaklavia barbecue.
Moving through downtown this way, you just plain notice things you didn't know were there. My wife (the gardener) found a little garden half of a block down from the city jail, with a nice view of the Federal Building in the background. Who knew? How would you know given that this one-lane boulevard (aka freeway) is what the garden sits along. Today, without the fear of imminent death by car, we could literally stop and smell the roses, or at least the tomatoes. Yum!
While we were investigating the garden, we met an event volunteer. His sweet cargo bike can haul up to 600 lbs. and cost $1,100. That's more than my friend Randall can haul on his Bilenky. Awesome.
All in all, Oaklavia was a huge success in giving people such great new perspectives and experiences on their city. Now, if this kind of car-less open space could just be made pervasive and permanent.
The cyclavía website specifies that these temporary spaces are purely for recreation. This essentially turns streets into a temporary park. This is a wonderful thing. However, removing cars from a business district like this is reminiscent of another type of space that has a more lasting and possibly more profound impact on one's life: the plaza.
Europe is full of these plazas, piazzas, and platzs, i.e. massive car-less spaces where people gather, not just on weekends but everyday, e.g. Trafalgar Square, St. Peter's Square, Marienplatz, etc. In these places, you feel safe from cars not just while you recreate but while you work, dine, shop, run errands, etc. In other words, you feel safe from cars virtually all the time. Living life without the fear of imminent death by car is a refreshing if not a profound shift in your mind's focus. Suddenly, brainpower currently spent on parking, driving, and dodging cars is available to ponder other things. Ponder the possibilities of that.
Europe is not necessarily more enlightened about public spaces. They've got their share of car-obsession, -dominance, and -congestion. These plazas are simply legacy spaces left over from the pre-car era. Since much of the U.S. was designed and built during the car-obsessed 20th century, we have relatively few car-less places. "Drive-through" everything seems to be our legacy in many cities. Fortunately, many in the U.S. feel this needs to change.
The sponsors of Oaklavia, for example, Walk Oakland, Bike Oakland are working hard to diversify our streets from cars. Another site representing proponents of this idea is the Livable Streets Initiative. There are, of course, many more. Nevertheless, as illustrated in Vegas, there's a lot more to do.
Ciclavias have occurred in other cities such as New York and elsewhere. This is one of the first to happen in Oakland.
My wife and I have lived our whole lives in Oakland but we've never experienced it without cars in the streets, so we decided to check it out.
The car-less spaces weren't quite contiguous but the police and the event volunteers ensured that cyclists and pedestrians didn't wait long, or at all, to move between each car-less segment.
To be honest, even with police blocking oncoming traffic, it was still tough to relax in the middle of the street. Seeing a mother and child in the roadway was truly surreal. No fear of imminent death in these two: just joy at being out on a Sunday in a wide-open space.
Once the lack of car noise and the abundance of space set in, it truly was liberating and incredibly stimulating. Events like this and cycling in general flood you with so much more detail about your surroundings than you would normally get. Being in a steel and glass enclosure moving at high velocity (aka a car) robs you of so many parts of a place.
The smells of all the food alone made the trip worthwhile: like those from an outdoor café setup in the street in front of Ratto's Market & Deli, not to mention the Oaklavia barbecue.
Moving through downtown this way, you just plain notice things you didn't know were there. My wife (the gardener) found a little garden half of a block down from the city jail, with a nice view of the Federal Building in the background. Who knew? How would you know given that this one-lane boulevard (aka freeway) is what the garden sits along. Today, without the fear of imminent death by car, we could literally stop and smell the roses, or at least the tomatoes. Yum!
While we were investigating the garden, we met an event volunteer. His sweet cargo bike can haul up to 600 lbs. and cost $1,100. That's more than my friend Randall can haul on his Bilenky. Awesome.
All in all, Oaklavia was a huge success in giving people such great new perspectives and experiences on their city. Now, if this kind of car-less open space could just be made pervasive and permanent.
The cyclavía website specifies that these temporary spaces are purely for recreation. This essentially turns streets into a temporary park. This is a wonderful thing. However, removing cars from a business district like this is reminiscent of another type of space that has a more lasting and possibly more profound impact on one's life: the plaza.
Europe is full of these plazas, piazzas, and platzs, i.e. massive car-less spaces where people gather, not just on weekends but everyday, e.g. Trafalgar Square, St. Peter's Square, Marienplatz, etc. In these places, you feel safe from cars not just while you recreate but while you work, dine, shop, run errands, etc. In other words, you feel safe from cars virtually all the time. Living life without the fear of imminent death by car is a refreshing if not a profound shift in your mind's focus. Suddenly, brainpower currently spent on parking, driving, and dodging cars is available to ponder other things. Ponder the possibilities of that.
Europe is not necessarily more enlightened about public spaces. They've got their share of car-obsession, -dominance, and -congestion. These plazas are simply legacy spaces left over from the pre-car era. Since much of the U.S. was designed and built during the car-obsessed 20th century, we have relatively few car-less places. "Drive-through" everything seems to be our legacy in many cities. Fortunately, many in the U.S. feel this needs to change.
The sponsors of Oaklavia, for example, Walk Oakland, Bike Oakland are working hard to diversify our streets from cars. Another site representing proponents of this idea is the Livable Streets Initiative. There are, of course, many more. Nevertheless, as illustrated in Vegas, there's a lot more to do.
Three Types of Famous Unitards
Traditionally, gymnasts, acrobats, circus performers and dancers wear the unitard. It is a one-piece garment that is basically a combination between a leotard and tights. The unitard covers all of a person's body, but does not restrict movement in anyway. Lycra is blended with either cotton or polyester to create a stretchable fabric. Now we know what unitards are, lets take a look at some famous pop culture icons that have worn them.
The Super Hero Unitard
The superhero is always seen fighting crime whilst wearing a unitard. Spiderman, Superman, Batman: they have all sported the tight fitting outfit. If you watch the re-runs of the 60's Batman episodes, you will notice that both hero and villain are wearing the tight-fitting costume.
The man responsible for superheroes dressing like this was Lee Falk, who created "The Phantom". This superhero first appeared in a newspaper cartoon in 1936 and in its prime was read by over a million readers ever day. Falk got his inspiration for the superhero unitard from the images of Robin Hood and thus, the superhero outfit was born.
The Rock Star Unitard
Freddy Mercury was the first of a new breed of rock star to sport the garment. He paved the way for other flamboyant musicians to express themselves on stage. The 1980's saw an influx of hair-sprayed rock stars scissor kicking their way across the stage wearing these outfits. Popular pop stars of today have shot promotional music videos wearing them as well. From the iconic Britney Spears videos to the new singles being released by Lady Gaga. Every pop siren knows the effect a stylish unitard can have on their fan base.
The Cinematic Unitard
The garment can be used for more than fashion or performance. The unitard has been used to make motion capture possible. The character Gollum in the Lord of The Rings films made possible by a unitard. The actor playing the part wore the tight fitting garment that had motion detectors attached to it. These sensors would be picked up by a special camera and then painstakingly digitally transformed into an animated character. The same process was used in the hit movie, Avatar.
As you can see, this garment has cemented its place into popular culture. Whether you are a contortionist, a theater performer or a professional dancer, the chances are that you have worn one and taken advantage of the unrestricted freedom of movement it gives you.
The Super Hero Unitard
The superhero is always seen fighting crime whilst wearing a unitard. Spiderman, Superman, Batman: they have all sported the tight fitting outfit. If you watch the re-runs of the 60's Batman episodes, you will notice that both hero and villain are wearing the tight-fitting costume.
The man responsible for superheroes dressing like this was Lee Falk, who created "The Phantom". This superhero first appeared in a newspaper cartoon in 1936 and in its prime was read by over a million readers ever day. Falk got his inspiration for the superhero unitard from the images of Robin Hood and thus, the superhero outfit was born.
The Rock Star Unitard
Freddy Mercury was the first of a new breed of rock star to sport the garment. He paved the way for other flamboyant musicians to express themselves on stage. The 1980's saw an influx of hair-sprayed rock stars scissor kicking their way across the stage wearing these outfits. Popular pop stars of today have shot promotional music videos wearing them as well. From the iconic Britney Spears videos to the new singles being released by Lady Gaga. Every pop siren knows the effect a stylish unitard can have on their fan base.
The Cinematic Unitard
The garment can be used for more than fashion or performance. The unitard has been used to make motion capture possible. The character Gollum in the Lord of The Rings films made possible by a unitard. The actor playing the part wore the tight fitting garment that had motion detectors attached to it. These sensors would be picked up by a special camera and then painstakingly digitally transformed into an animated character. The same process was used in the hit movie, Avatar.
As you can see, this garment has cemented its place into popular culture. Whether you are a contortionist, a theater performer or a professional dancer, the chances are that you have worn one and taken advantage of the unrestricted freedom of movement it gives you.
Grids and Zones: The Virtual Pokemon World
Gaming can be odd. In space games, it seems logical that the virtual space of the game would be divided into quadrates, and in each of these 'territories' different races would live. We humans have done this to the earth with nation states and within those nations created states, prefectures, and counties. We also do it by putting up fences or walls around our houses in the suburbs.
But this is not true for nature. Swallows migrate regardless of national borders and grasshoppers could give a whit about the fence that separates your grass from mine. Not so though with the Pokemon game. In the game, as well as in Pokemon animation, only certain Pokemon live and can be caught in specific sectors. Why the game was designed like that I'm not sure. Obviously, fish don't live in trees and parrots don't nest with penguins. But nature is quite fuzzy and the Pokemon geography is anything but.
By the way, there has been a new release of the popular Pokemon video game called Pokemon Black and White. It is so popular that Webmasters are postings warnings of slow servers due to all the heavy traffic in response to the release. Spinoff merchandise like Pokemon Black and White stuffed toys (called plushies); Pokemon Black and White cards for the evermore-challenging Pokemon card game, and new Pokemon Black and White promo cards are selling like crazy. The new Pokemon Black and White plush toys inventories are hard to keep in stock as well.
Of course, for the new Pokemon Black and White game a new sector has been created as the place to go to catch the new Pokemon. All the other old Pokemon are still waiting for you trainers as well of course. What is never explained in the game though is why Pokemon do not wander out of their sectors like normal animals would. Are their fences around them keeping them in?
It's just as easy to design a 'random appearance' game as a 'contained' one. I think the game is designed to help the gamer keep sense of what Pokemon he has caught and if wants a particular new one, where to go to catch it. Dividing a game into sectors also ensures that the player will end up seeing all there is to see sooner or later. Like Mario, Pokemon is basically a maze game. You can design this in two ways. One, you can make the game linear like Mario so that each successive level is either more difficult or different in strategy, finishing out at a 'top.' Pokemon is more about winning battles in arenas though in a quest to becoming a Pokemon master. Does the fact that sectors are restricted in Pokemon take away from the game? I don't think so.
But this is not true for nature. Swallows migrate regardless of national borders and grasshoppers could give a whit about the fence that separates your grass from mine. Not so though with the Pokemon game. In the game, as well as in Pokemon animation, only certain Pokemon live and can be caught in specific sectors. Why the game was designed like that I'm not sure. Obviously, fish don't live in trees and parrots don't nest with penguins. But nature is quite fuzzy and the Pokemon geography is anything but.
By the way, there has been a new release of the popular Pokemon video game called Pokemon Black and White. It is so popular that Webmasters are postings warnings of slow servers due to all the heavy traffic in response to the release. Spinoff merchandise like Pokemon Black and White stuffed toys (called plushies); Pokemon Black and White cards for the evermore-challenging Pokemon card game, and new Pokemon Black and White promo cards are selling like crazy. The new Pokemon Black and White plush toys inventories are hard to keep in stock as well.
Of course, for the new Pokemon Black and White game a new sector has been created as the place to go to catch the new Pokemon. All the other old Pokemon are still waiting for you trainers as well of course. What is never explained in the game though is why Pokemon do not wander out of their sectors like normal animals would. Are their fences around them keeping them in?
It's just as easy to design a 'random appearance' game as a 'contained' one. I think the game is designed to help the gamer keep sense of what Pokemon he has caught and if wants a particular new one, where to go to catch it. Dividing a game into sectors also ensures that the player will end up seeing all there is to see sooner or later. Like Mario, Pokemon is basically a maze game. You can design this in two ways. One, you can make the game linear like Mario so that each successive level is either more difficult or different in strategy, finishing out at a 'top.' Pokemon is more about winning battles in arenas though in a quest to becoming a Pokemon master. Does the fact that sectors are restricted in Pokemon take away from the game? I don't think so.
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