Artography, A collaboration of Photographers and Artists

Artography.  The name itself is intriguing.  As soon as I heard it, I knew I wanted to be involved.  I have loved taking pictures and painting pictures for as long as I can remember.  Why wouldn't it be natural to unite the two? I hadn't really ever looked at it in this way before.  What a unique and wonderful experience it has been for me.  I decided to go into this from the "Photographer" side. I could have chosen to take an "Artist" piece as well, but let's face it...I'm a bit busy these days, so I just chose one and stuck with it.  I was paired with a local artist that I did not know (Kait Whistler Seyal) and it was great.  When my mind wrapped around initial thoughts of integrating actual art with my photographic art, I kept getting stuck in the thought process of my photographing something that was temporary.  An art project that could be made, but not last forever.  My photography freezing that moment in time.  I thought of the very cool sidewalk drawings that seem to defy reality and sometimes gravity.  I thought of the extremely creative fruit books I bought for my kids and love to turn the pages on, where common fruits and vegetables are transformed into sure cute, smiling little critters.  Yes, I love them all.  What can I say? They make me smile.  I think every one of them are so creative. :)

           

            

I even thought of the crazy toast art and how unique and cool some of those were. 

Then my thoughts turned to a recent photo session I had with a friend, Amelia.  It was a maternity session and I was so captured by her spirit and glow as she carried this child.  I have also been thinking a lot about the earth and what we can do to show mother nature our love.  This brought on the idea to have the artist paint or draw an earth on her belly.  While the idea is a beautiful one, it had been done before.  Kait pushed me to challenge myself to think a little deeper on this piece.  To make it thought provoking.  While I will still say that the angle we were going at with the "Mother Earth" idea was a good one (and one I would still like to do), I'm happy with the road her "pushing" took us to.  We spoke many hours about our political views and takes on society.  We learned about where our passions were.  And while we learned that we are two different people with many unique characteristics (aren't we all?), we also found many shared interests and passions (animals and zombies, go figure!).  We found common ground (laughter) on an image and a direction that we were both happy with.  Many of you know my views on education and in case you don't, just search the Race to Nowhere post I made recently.  The image really speaks for itself, but illustrates everything I feel about the direction society is going with trying to resume build our infants throughout their childhood lives.  I love the anger and frustration I was able to capture in little Street's face and am eternally grateful I was able to capture such a hilarious image of little man's unhappiness.  I am super happy with what Kait was able to do with the image and we both agree it is such a nice balance between our artistic efforts.  The baby image is one of mine, and the books/titles were digitally created by me in Photoshop.  She took those images and did her magic with them by using Xerox Transfers and her own artistic techniques using an inspired street art style of Banksy and Sheperd Fairey.  I seriously couldn't be more pleased with her translation and the way she handled the images.  The photos I took don't even do it real justice as touching it and seeing it in person does.  The transfer is uber cool and the texture the piece has is seriously gorgeous.  It adds a distressed and edgy feel to a very cool piece of art that scoffs at societal pressures to join in the Harvard Rat Race for your kids in hopes for a happy, healthy future generation.  We hope you love it as much as we do. 

The Artography 2011 show is open to the public today and tomorrow only from 6 p.m.-midnight. View a newsclip here regarding more details.

It is located at The Creation Gardens Market Hall on 725 E Market Street, downtown Louisville.

There are many extremely gorgeous, cool and unique pieces of art there that benefit 3 local charities. There will be live local bands playing throughout the entire exhibit hours.  I hope to see many of you there.  For more information, go here or to the fb page.  Come experience the great artistic culture of Louisville and support a good cause at the same time!  Below are some other pieces that caught my eye...but trust me, there are oodles more to choose from in a very diverse platform and price range.  There is truly something for everyone!  Enjoy!

I will likely post a gallery of all the pieces after the event.  Consider this a sneak preview ;-).  If you can't make the show (if you are out of town, otherwise I expect you to!)...check back here for the complete gallery. :)

Signing off....

Kassi

FAT TUESDAY~KING CAKE!

Okay, so through our homeschooling journey, we have found it beneficial to teach our children about all different types of holidays and their meanings.  Yesterday, my husband brought us home a King Cake...a popular traditional cake of Mardi Gras.  

It was a colorful way to teach the kids what Mardi Gras is about and why people celebrate it.  Even though for many, the true reason has been lost in translation for many years.  It was fun to teach them about the significant colors and what they stood for~yellow-power, purple-justice and green-faith.

 They got to decorate their own king cake and we explained about the reason the cakes were made and that they were named after the 3 Kings that came to visit Jesus.  Perhaps the most fun part of the cake is the hidden baby Jesus doll inside.  

Daddy cut the cake very carefully as to not "hurt" the baby Jesus.  Each of the kids agreed that if he was found in their section of color that they decorated, they would get to keep the doll.  All the kids were very excited to decorate and eat the cake.  Mostly because they wanted to find the golden baby Jesus.  Back in old times, the doll was actually made of gold or porcelain.  Nowadays, they are plastic :(, but the fact that it was still gold in color excited them all. 

So the kids anxiously searched their pieces to find nothing but yummy cinnamon braided dough, frosting and colored sugar.  Mom and Dad select pieces as well.  Dad found something suspiciously hard in his...can you see it?

We let Gabe dig it out, since it was his chosen/decorated "color"...green (which represents "faith"...would you have expected to find Him anywhere else??)

FOUND!  Okay, so the kids weren't so great at being happy for him (see Cayleigh's face in the background...yes, she really wanted to find Him).  Lucky for Cayleigh, Gabe is actually a very good spirit when it comes to sharing and let Cayleigh "babysit" Him for the first week.  LOL

 While this is a traditional Catholic Holiday, we find it to be most beneficial for our children to know and understand as many religious traditions as they can.  We believe it promotes and encourages acceptance, understanding, love and tolerance for all faiths.  We do not want to raise our children to not understand others.  And while we are not Catholic, we certainly are Christian and anything that helps us to remember our savior is fine by me.  What many people don't know about Mardi Gras is the close relation it has to Christmas.  We found it to be a fun reminder of our savior's birth and learned a lot that we didn't know regarding the holiday and it's meaning.  How it turned into what it is for many folks today is truly beyond me.  We found the King cake to be a fun, hands on approach to learning about Mardi Gras.  You can order your own King Cake via the internet at Gambino's Bakery or if you get lucky, may find one at your local grocery or bakery.  Happy FAT TUESDAY!!