Friday, December 11, 2009

Business of Art Class Portrait


Which one of these creative artists is YOU?

Monday, December 7, 2009

winding down--but to be continued

The final week of classes was last week and this week is final exams. One 100 question final in HTML is tonite. The worst thing about this is the Timing. It happens same time as the Monday Nite Football game at Lambeau Field. Action on this piece of Wisconsin frozen tundra will loom HUGE for the victor and their chances for extending their season into the Playoffs. A good team from Baltimore plays the Green Bay Packers, who have looked good playing some weak teams.
They have also played poorly against some weak teams so tonite's result will depend on which team shows up.
I enjoy the HTML class too much to cut and I don't think the teacher would let me bring in a small portable tv set, or take the test in the lab while following the result from the nfl.com website.

Hopefully I will do well on the exam and the Packers will do well on their testing by the Ravens so that when I finally get to find a tv broadcasting the game, we will all be happy.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Allison Saar lecture at SB City College


The final Fall 2009 Fine Art Department Lecture Series episode is this Wednesday, December 2, at 4:30 and anticipating an SRO type crowd, the location is Physical Science building room PS 101.

I attended the Opening Reception on November 13 from which I offer an unassuming grainy snapshot.

The work is powerful in its clear symbols and in its relating to the life of the artist and her relationship to the world as a woman and as an African-American.

The exhibit is at Atkinson Gallery from November 13 till December 11.

I can't wait to hear what she has to say about her art. You should be curious also.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Home Stretch

Thanksgiving Holidays--all 3 days --signify that the Home Stretch is coming around the corner now. The Business of Art class has two work projects due instead of classroom lectures.
We make two presentations, the first one, on a step of our Roadmap that we take during 'Implementation Week'. The Final is a presentation about our overall Roadmap.


HTML class still has a few concepts to learn. Frames done. Forms almost done. XML as a meta-language. Other miscellaneous goodies to mention about.

still some fun learning to accomplish.
I hope to get some nourishing Turkey and Accessories for the journey.
THANKS to YOU ALL.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Culver City Art District Road Trip

The Road Trip to look at what ART is being Exhibited in the Culver City Art District was a great success. We were able to leave the car parked and walk a few blocks on Washington, then a few blocks on La Cienega and we saw at least a dozen galleries and their offerings.
For the most part we were greeted by Gallery personnel who were happy to answer our questions and passionate in explaining what the art they were showing was about and the processes involved.

I have a new term to riddle out--'non-historic gallery'.
I saw some 'photorealistic painting' that was focused on such a tiny part of the object that it was abstract color rectangles. A new way of thinking of realism.
I saw huge graphite drawings that were realistic and must have taken forever to create.

When we asked about local eating places, one gallery owner told us his favorite restaurant was on Milpas street. This is not in the Culver City area but Santa Barbara's own SuperRica and he will drive up to get the number 12 and the number 16 especial. I hope he gets an extra order so he doesn't have to drive again the next day.

We checked out the new 'million dollar gallery'--the big white building without a sign yet, still with workmen inside doing finishing touches.

In our Beverly Hills stop we learned the story of artist Chuck Connelly, who was good enough to be in the group of New York big -time success stories of 40 years ago but somehow fate didn't call his number then. He survived a self-destructive path involving drinking but kept painting. In the movie New York Stories, he was the basis for Nick Nolte's role. The gallery owner found out about the artist, tracked him down in Philadelphia and produced a Los Angeles show of his art to great success. There was a movie on HBO about Chuck Connelly, they are producing a sequel, the gallery owner is producing a movie too and best of all Chuck Connelly has been given a new life of success. You can see his art at Trigg Ison Fine Art through November 24.

I hope your turn and mine come up before 40 more years. With just the right connection.... Moral is, though, keep working and keep making YOUR art.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Networking with Culver City Art District

Bobs Open Studio Class

will be taking a Road Trip next Wednesday, November 11, Veteran's Day Holiday, when the Schott Center campus is closed. So far we have 1 car with 4 students willing to go. I hope for another car or two and some more students.

The importance of expanding our network and establishing a relationship with individuals in this area and connecting with the world of art is important for growing our art survival.
The art shown here is Contemporary, Figurative, of Today, and made by regular Artists like YOU and ME.

Email invitations were sent to the class roster to join.
Stay tuned.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Heard this week in class

The thing about having very smart teachers is they use Vocabulary in a precise way.
As Ross Perot would say, "I am all ears..." to hearing new terms, so fire away.

The Business of Art class had for today the agenda of Accounting principles, which were nicely simplified into a couple of math formulas.

I need to learn this Accounting STRUCTURE to keep track of the money aspects of THE BUSINESS that is bobsart ART.
I have to make Balance Sheets and Income Statements.
I didn't THINK I had any Income.
The Couch Cash was spent months ago.

My business needs to have strong Goodwill established so it can be Porting this into successful Transitions of Work.
It needs to avoid Execution Problems by anticipating Downtime Factors and learn How to Track to Monitor and Generate the right Reports.
The Business has to start Projecting Revenue and Expenses and find the Break Even Point.
On the way to the Bank I check my pocket dictionary for Return On Investment (ROI).

I wonder if Roy's restaurant was created so Roy could cook or so Roy could have a Roi.

I ponder more.
How is the storage capacity holding up against the Inventory Cycle?
If I get too many referrals will that cause problems with my Fulfillment service?
I realize the need to Punch Out One Message, hard and often. The Use of Point of Purchase displays is consistent with using e-mail Blasts and E-vites.
Are there enough deductions to protect the income and still have favorable comparisons to similar-industry's Run Ratios.

What is my Flex Number and does it really mean that my Net Worth is Negative?
I have to go now and find the Gating Item, because my Opportunity Cost is going too fast.
If I can just Identify and get to my Demographics with Podcasts or Facebook, I'll be fine.
And cooly DIGITAL, too.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Adult Ed Community Forum

The California state budget cutback affects our adult education program. The available class list was Decimated this term, with even more cuts forecast for the next term in January.

There is a meeting of the Adult Education Administrators tonite, October 27, from 5.30 to 7.30 at the Schott Center Auditorium.

Here is my point of view on the value of the art classes which people love but which are also on the chopping block for eliminating, so that job training can be the focus of Adult Ed.

'Vocational training' is like programming a machine to repeat a task precisely, for 40 hours a week, for XYZ corporation.

Taking a 'personal enrichment class' works on the level of your human soul and your entire head to toe Being. You learn new things, you solve problems as they arise, and your capabilities Grow, letting you Discover YOU have the ability to tackle any job or task.

It's the Bigger Picture we need to see here. Where is the TRUE payoff?

Training robots for XYZ? Or, Nourishing our region's age 21 and over adults, some with vast experiences, to befriend and to collaborate with?
This is our real Community we need to not Kill.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Mid-term Test

Upcoming Monday--perhaps a past Monday when YOU get to this post--will tell the tale of how much HTML, XHTML, and CSS I have absorbed and been able to recall its correct form to fill in the correct scantron bubble. The teacher considers this test an 'evaluative' process to let the student know where he stands regarding learning the stuff of web-mastering.

I feel good about the material but in it's form it is easy to overlook a piece like a "<" here or a" "" " there. You know, the details. A comma between two tags in a CSS rule means an entirely different useage than no comma.

My hope is for the uncertain answers, I can narrow down the 5 choices by a couple to give me that 1 in 3 odds at passing the question. Like I say, check with me Tuesday. I will be relieved knowing what I don't know. That sounds like a Rumsfeld briefing: "we don't know what we don't know. We just know that we don't know."

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Healthy Web Marketing

This title is from a presentation in the Santa Barbara City College Fe Bland Forum by Lorrie Thomas on Friday, October 9, 2009.
The new tools for marketing yourself on the Internet are happening because of the explosion of social media online now and the large number of worldwide users.
Your Facebook page, LinkedIn data, Twitter account, Blog for your comments, Flickr for sharing photos, and YouTube for sharing videos, are your modern methods of communication and connection and collaboration.
Use these, build your content, and build your network.
There.
The Lorrie Thomas talk took about two hours.
I just said it in much less.
But, also, I did say much less.
To hear Lorrie more fully:
Web Marketing Therapy

Saturday, October 3, 2009

CSS for the HTML class-WTF?

What does CSS, HTML, WTF have to do with anything?

Well, the last one I know because I heard about it on the radio this morning.
It seems that my home state, Wisconsin, has been having some trouble promoting tourism to the state. (I hope that the quality control on its VIP products---CHEESE and BEER!---hasn't been slipping. I have experienced some ultra-fine Wisconsin beer this week-Simpler Times, from Monroe, Wisconsin. There is no problem in Monroe, Wisconsin that MY experienced taste buds detected.)

Today's radio told me that the state tourism federation--Wisconsin Tourism Federation--was not having their acronym properly appreciated. I say, what the f...., I mean, WTF!
Can't you all just plan a trip to the midwest before the first snow flakes arrive. Now is perfect time to see all the beautifully colored leaves.

CSS and HTML.
I have a very fine library book explaining CSS from a designer's point of view. The book was due yesterday. I can't renew it because someone has placed a request for it.
I already have to pay 25 cents fine for today. I have only worked my way through the first two chapters. I have to return the book NOW. WTF-I will just use this as my excuse for flunking the CSS part of the mid-term exam.
Unless of course I am vacationing in Wisconsin then. You know---WTF.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Intellectual Property

My Business of Art class had an excellent lecture last Friday delivered by the teacher and it revealed her knowledge and grasping of the concepts involved in legally protecting your art and you as an artist.
What you create is called 'intellectual property'. Protecting your property involves copyrights and trademarks, and a lot more. I am not going to reveal the details of the lecture--that is probably copyrighted by 'Teach' and I know she doesn't make available her PowerPoint slides. Just our fast scribbled notes survive.
A lot of the aspects of being a successful artist involve spending time and doing things we don't want to do. We just want to spend our time creating art.
Not creating a business.
But the two must go hand in hand.
So, in your pursuit of a successful art career, I hope YOU don't have to spend too much time learning about:
  • 'Cease and Desist'
  • Intellectual Property
  • uspto.gov
  • 'Look and Feel' lawsuits
  • trademark infringement
  • 'tangible expression'
  • trade secrets
  • trade dress
Maybe Mother was right, after all. Maybe I should have been a Lawyer.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Business of Art Class visits Contemporary Arts Forum

Field trips have the potential to be interesting and there was no disappointment when the SBCC Business of Art Class went to the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum this past Friday. We had the pleasure of listening to Executive Director Miki Garcia devote way over an hour to talk, and talk fast, with continuous ideas and revelations, and commentary on how things really happen in the art world.
How building a network and staying in touch and keeping the network updated on what you are doing seems like the important thing to do.

We live in the time of constant generation and sharing of media files and various groupings of individuals to exchange data and information instantaneously. It's not only What media-OBJECT the artist generates, it's which of the many channels do you want to use to distribute it and to whom? Virtual galleries and virtual interviews are virtually happening as we speak. Did YOU send out a VIDEO today?? Do your part to live beyond your time.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Glossary

I am studying HTML working my way through an excellent online tutorial. The topic is "dictionary list" and I am told that this is an excellent way to make a Glossary.
Now, every time I think of "Glossary" I have a fond flashback to grade school and my first remembrance of our textbooks. Not that I remember exactly what content was in them (bad stuff like Religion, and Grammar I am sure). I remember making covers out of some plastic/oil cloth type of material, folding and taping, to protect the used book's actual cover.
And more fondly I remember being told that these books had a "Glossary", usually near the end. This was a special section because it was filled with many new words and what these words meant. This was a learning process I enjoyed and even today I daily go to the dictionary to find out the meaning and origin of some word.
I have in my box of old family photos, a couple of report cards from when my dad went to the one-room Bean Schoolhouse for his grade school education. I have a 'brown book' (before 'blue books' I guess) that he has written in a numbered list of words and definitions and the books they came from. He must have used a nibbed pen and ink from a well at his desk to make his Glossary. At that time the handwriting is unhurried and neater than his later style, when he had six children and a wife to be thinking about.
Today on the radio I heard a report announcing that by now Google has scanned the entire contents of millions of books. A claim of '100 years of knowledge'. Of course all the text is searchable, and the radio announcer promised 'a new way of reading'.
I see it now. Instead of coming across a word and looking up it's meaning in a glossary or a dictionary, you click on it so some money changes hands and you are offered a chance to buy whatever it is through Google AdWords. Pig in a Poke, anyone?

Saturday, September 12, 2009

html class update


last Monday was the labor day holiday so we didn't have class, even though the first assignment was due on that date. It's pretty cool because we can do assignments and turn them in from our home computer. If we don't need help from the instructor or a tutor we don't need to go to the computer lab.
I had finished the first two assignments and turned them in so I am ahead of the game. I am using the break to work through the tutorials and a couple of HTML books I have at home. I want to get a good grasp of the procedure to 'mark-up' the document, and how the different tags are correctly used.
With this more methodical study I have learned a few things already. I don't want to get behind.
I am actually enjoying this learning. I find it so important to be learning something especially where there is some technicality involved. And even though the 'design' part comes later with study of CSS-(style sheets), I am enjoying using the tags by hand and making a simple web page.
I made a web page for the Open Studio Art class I teach in Adult Ed. Check it out.
http://www.bobmask.com/workshop.html

Friday, September 11, 2009

visit to local art gallery

Today the business of art class had a field trip to a local gallery. Actually, two galleries in one. there is a vintage side, almost all dead artists, and a contemporary gallery, for the living stable of artists. We had a wonderful presentation from the gallery owner and from the contemporary curator. It is all about business. these people are in the business of selling art and they have big time expenses to cover each month like rent, staff, marketing. They know their clients and they know what their clients are interested in buying and THAT is what they put on their walls.
It looks like I might have to come up with some landscape paintings.
That CAN'T BE ME talking.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

I like the way teach's ART looked on a GLASS PLATE

So, I did attend the first Business of Art Class and listened to the teacher's presentation. I think pretty much all 30 students were enthused by the positive energy and success story of Professor Nicole. Her background and success in Business is evident and what we want to feed from. She promises to show us different approaches to try, some of which we won't like and some of which we will. She didn't promise any miracles, only that we must be fearless and keep trying no matter how many rejections. She has been working her methods for several years now and she will help us develop an approach or pathway.
A key element is to develop 'the incredible power of flexible thinking' and we have a written assignment to use the Internet to research Free Art Opportunities. So I'm buying into Prof Nicole's process. What does it mean that I actually think HER ART-work looks GOOD on the GLASS PLATE she showed us? Can YOU see some of my FAMILY PAINTING images on a Back-to-School Backpack???

Sunday, August 30, 2009

First "Business of Art" Class

Friday rolls around and I roll out of bed early enough to be in the classroom at least 20 minutes before the 9 a.m. start. I have read and printed a copy of the class syllabus from the City College website and I have brought a portfolio of my artwork like the Professor asked us to do.
I had a basic concern because I consider myself a 'fine artist' and I didn't want 'to sell out' by creating products to sell. I want to be recognized as a unique 'fine artist'.
I enjoy art history and biographies of artists. In my study of Art I have been taught to learn from other established artists. We all deal with the same problems of composition and have the same tools like lines, color, shapes. The way to grow as an artist for me involves combining solutions from the great artists with my subject matter and exploring art that way.
Can this Business of Art Class help me find a way to market my art?
Will it instead influence me to change my approach into making products I think will be sellable?

Starting HTML Class

There were no assignments yet so having the Lab session before the lecture meant there was no need to go to lab. So I had three hours and I went to the Library. I found a great new book titled Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel that was subtitled, Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.
This seems to be a bridge between my two classes. I read through half the book and wrote 13 pages of notes in my HTML class notebook. Now I have more ideas and homework projects to work on.
The first lecture in HTML class introduced the assignments and how to post them to the college server. For having and using THIS BLOG, I will receive 10 extra credit points.
Could all the pieces be coming together?
I find I can do the assignments from home and I complete the first assignment and send it to the server.
So far I am slightly ahead since the assignment is due next week.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

another New Start

This week I am (once again) enrolled at Santa Barbara City College. I am taking two classes. (right brain, right side of left brain)
Computer Science HTML class
Business of Art class
It seems like THIS SEMESTER is different. It seems like I have a plan. I am taking classes that will help me to succeed in my wish to continue to live in expensive Santa Barbara
Will the Business of Art help me find a way to create the endeavors that fulfill my soul?
Will the HTML class open a door to computer work and a way to earn some money?
Will THIS SEMESTER be different?