Tuesday, April 28, 2009

S. Alan Dyson - visual artist


Check out his website here.

Steel crossmembers w/ rust - Sibley, LA

Metal filings - Sibley, LA


filings5, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Barrel-shaped raw steel - Sibley, LA


barrel-shaped raw steel, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Handle on a 1940's machine - Sibley, LA

Steel discs - Sibley, LA


steel discs, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Burned up truck in Sibley, LA

Wheel on a 1940's machine - Sibley, LA


wheel on a 1940's machine, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

My very first daisy I grew all by myself!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Censorship


As artists, we've all been censored, right?

At first, it's cool and radical & exciting to get censored!

Then, you realize, (1) you're not making any money when you get censored, and (2) certain people have the power to keep other people from seeing your work because that first set of people thinks the second set of people will/might/could be offended by it.

My art has been censored in several exhibits - at restaurants, in a church, at a Parkinson's Symposium at LSUHSC, etc.

Above is an image of my most recent "controversial" work. It was censored by a mainstream Christian church, which deemed it "too Eastern" to offer for sale to raise funds for a mission trip to Haiti.

The scripture I was asked to illustrate is Proverbs 1:1-7.

Thoughts?

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Abbie vs. Gorey


Abbie vs. Gorey, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

He'd have enjoyed this, I think!

Clemmie up close


Clemmie up close, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Clemmie is HUGE!


Clemmie is HUGE!, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

The plant that Noma gave us.

Les fleurs


Les fleurs, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Our first baby tomato of the season

Red tips in front of our yellow house

Red tip flower


Red tip flower, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

We've got beautiful weeds!

Little purple/white weed flower

Dixie's watching the peas grow.

Found a dark corner of the studio for Art Dog (a "gift" from my mother) to live.

Art Dog inspects the Liquitex.

Art Dog likes "Pat the Bunny."

Art Dog tries in vain to get the goofy palette off his tail.

Joseph vs. crawfish


Joseph vs. crawfish, originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Everything you need.


Everything you need., originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

Just getting started.


Just getting started., originally uploaded by debchrisjoseph.

If you must eat crawfish in Shreveport, eat at Shane's.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Bobby's Jihad on the arts in Louisiana

Arts administrators plan to appeal to Legislature today
The Independent Weekly (here)
By Mary Tutwiler
Thursday, April 02, 2009

Directors of every arts council and sizable arts organization statewide are gathering today as the House Appropriations Committee of the Louisiana Legislature convenes at 9 a.m. Deep cuts to arts funding, proposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, are expected to be on the agenda, and arts administrators are looking to the Legislature for help. “We are preparing for a pretty solid fight for the next couple of months while the budget is being discussed,” says Acadiana Arts Council Executive Director Gerd Wuestemann.

Last week, the arts community got the devastating news that the governor’s office is proposing to cut nearly $2.5 million, an 83 percent reduction, from Decentralized Arts Funding. The sweeping cut would leave little more than $500,000 for DAF statewide. Jindal also wants to cut statewide arts grants by 31 percent, slicing regional folklife funding in half and eliminating funding for artist fellowships.

The cuts are so deep that they will, for all practical purposes, eliminate the DAF programs, which the state has been building since the mid-1990s. Tourism is the state’s second largest economic engine, after energy. DAF funding helps support all sorts of programs, from huge events like Lafayette’s Festival International to arts workshops at small town libraries and rural parks and recreation summer camps. Arts administrators at every level are baffled by the disproportionate depth of the cuts — 83 percent compared to a 12.7 percent proposed cut from a total state budget of $12.810 billion.