Throwback Thursday: Red Carpet for Red Interactive

IN SEPTEMBER 2011, as part of the Phantom Galleries Project, John Heino and I curated a joint show in the New York Building of Superior called Red Interactive. Here's a glimpse, with additional links at the end.

This is it. The days are flying off the calendar like autumn leaves during a late season Nor'easter. The Red Interactive roll-out is rumbling into town this week. For those unfamiliar with the show, Red Interactive is an experimental art initiative conceived by Ed Newman and John Heino.

The open house, billed as a "must" event on the Twin Ports arts calendar, will be the evening of Thursday, September 22, but tomorrow we're slated to begin claiming the space at 1410 Tower Avenue with a full-scale setup scheduled for Tuesday the 6th.

There are still plenty of unknowns. For example, this week a surprise package of artwork arrived from China, each piece featuring a tribute to the color red. We have no idea where the next package of red art will come from, or what it will be.

Another component of the open house will be the 3-D Red Collaborative Sculpture. We're asking everyone who comes to the opening to bring something red that they can add to the "public sculpture." Whether it's a red key to a red door or a lock of red hair, we'll find a place for it... or ask you to.

The red-themed objects d'art will become a backdrop for red-themed performance -- music, dance, poetry. What's more, opening night will be catered by The Red Mug... and there may even be some red wine.

Parallel to this physical show, space and performances, Red Interactive will continue to maintain its virtual space on Facebook, which is serving to catalog the thread of interactions from our various artists, participants and friends. Some elements will move back and forth between physical and virtual Red Interactive spaces. This is open architecture. We welcome all artists, creative thinkers and people who simply enjoy art--particularly experimental projects. The only boundary is that this is a public arts project, so we ask that all physical and virtual contributions are appropriate for public display.

Are you reddy?

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Related Link

Local Art Seen: Phantom Galleries Superior Features Broc Allen and Michael R Smith

Red Is The Color

Red Interactive: The Movie

Flashback Friday: Start A Huge Foolish Project

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2011

In one of my files of notes and quotes I found this poem by Rumi and it spoke to me this morning. Its title is "These Spiritual Window Shoppers."

These spiritual window-shoppers,
who idly ask, 'How much is that?'
Oh, I'm just looking.
They handle a hundred items and put them down,
shadows with no capital.

What is spent is love and two eyes wet with weeping.
But these walk into a shop,
and their whole lives pass suddenly in that moment,
in that shop.

Where did you go? "Nowhere."
What did you have to eat? "Nothing much."

Even if you don't know what you want,
buy something, to be part of the exchanging flow.

Start a huge, foolish project,
like Noah.

It makes absolutely no difference
what people think of you.

--Rumi


I like the instruction here, "Start a huge, foolish project..." Why not? Why puddle around in the glum fog of nothingness when you have so much stirring inside of you that you don't know where to begin? Isn't it true that we concern ourselves too much with what others will think?

The poem makes me think of our Red Interactive project and the attempt by John Heino and myself to use an abstract concept, like the color red, to spark the imaginations of a whole world... engaging hearts and minds and cultures by spreading the red.

I think, too, of my effort to publish four books in two months. What a crazy notion when six months ago I had never published a one, though I did sell a book as part of a series that never was completed. Alas, this weekend my second book was published on Amazon.com as a Kindle edition. If all goes well, by mid-October -- and maybe next week! -- there will be a third, with the fourth to be available by November 11, two months after the launch of the first.

How about you? Where lies the dream that you are passionate about, but have been afraid to share for fear of what another will say. Treasure it. Nurture it. Feed it. And maybe one day your ark will save a world.

* * * *
15 September 2017
Booklovers: SATURDAY is the Zenith Bookstore Grand Opening in Spirit Valley on Central Avenue, West Duluth. Zenith carries my first volume of short stories, Unremembered Histories.
We dropped the price and there's no shipping expenses like when you buy from Amazon. The store is located across the parking lot from Beaners in the old Wild West. Any excuse is a good excuse to visit a bookstore. Grand Openings only make it that much sweeter.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Dream.

Deserted Cities of the Web

I don't recall precisely when I got my first Goldstar modem to link my Mac to the various worlds beyond my home town. The World Wide Web did not yet exist. But there were communities forming, via chat rooms on America Online (AOL) and I was exploring them. It was a year or two before the WWW emerged, accessible first with Mosaic, then later that year with Netscape. The online networking giant was only a fledgling then with a million members or less when I first took the name ennyman as my handle.

What I do recall is how invigorating it all was. There were chat rooms for everything, from writing and art to favorite authors, music, politics of all stripes, cars, history interests of all types, and on and on.

I taught a few writing "classes" in a chat room there where people typed "clap clap clap clap" at the end. I also did research on the series of articles I authored for The Senior Reporter exploring the issue of doctor assisted suicide.

Essentially, these forums enabled the development of short term or long term communities of people from anywhere in the world, if connected to the Web. One of these "communities" that I participated in included a former member of the '60's psychedelic band Strawberry Alarm Clock. I forget now the theme that gave our group coherence, remembering only that we existed for a space of time.

The internet as we know it today has fostered innumerable numbers of such communities over the years. Sometime around eight years ago I became part of a Ning community that shared art. The site became a means of not only seeing the work of artists in other countries but fodder for blog content.

Social media platforms like Facebook advanced the sense of community possibilities as well.  After our 2011 Red Interactive show as part of Phantom Galleries - Superior, John Heino and I created a Red Interactive "community" on Facebook in which friends and participants were encouraged to share art and photography featuring the site's red theme. Red Interactive had a lot of energy initially, but over time though carried forward by the initial momentum this energy subsided and the center of the community dissipated.

About three years ago Twin Ports Arts Align was formed here in the Twin Ports with more ambitious aims. The local nature of this online community included face-to-face meetings on a regular basis. But what I have noticed is the recent slacking off in participation, and the feeling I get is that another community is evaporating.

The internet has often been compared to the Wild West and the metaphor seems to hold. There were territories to be settled, rules laid out, and an influx of people driven by different passions, whether to
explore the unknown, or to make money through commercial endeavors, or to meet people and start anew. And like the West, there are ghost towns everywhere, places where a community once thrived and now all that is left are abandoned homesteads.

While listening to an old Cream CD the song "Deserted Cities of the Heart" was playing and I couldn't help but think of all these deserted communities on the web. According to Forrester research the web is changing yet again. The big buzz in recent years is around the idea of content. "Content is king" seemed to be some kind of Holy Grail in the realm of marketing your goods and services. However, making content is so easy today that we have a problem. There's far more content than there is demand for it. In other words, as one B2B marketing spokesperson notes, "the supply of content is growing, but the demand is static."

Is this what happened to all those communities? Initially they promise something but to what end? When it is easy to belong, it is equally easy to disengage.

Maybe an online town comes and goes because the reason for its existence is unclear.

Or maybe there's something happening but many of the community members would rather lurk than contribute. I mean, we live in a culture where the actors are few and the fans are many. Have television, theater and sporting events turned us into a nation of passive viewers as opposed to active players? Then it should come as no surprise when the same thing happens online, for the cyber-world simply mirrors what is taking place in our "real" world.

Just making an attempt to articulate a few thoughts that were passing through my head this past week. What do you think?

Cynthia Freeland's But Is It Art?

"From Andy Warhol's Brillo boxes to provocative dung-splattered madonnas, in today's art world many strange, even shocking, things are put on display. This often leads exasperated viewers to exclaim--is this really art?"

So begins the description of Cynthia Freeland's 2002 book on art theory at Amazon.com. The title says it all: But Is It Art? An Introduction to Art Theory. Her book is a stimulating read as the author attempts, in layman's terms, to help readers come to grips with how challenging it is to define why this is art and that isn't.

It's a problem that art students wrestle with and the public ignores, until their home town spends a quarter-million dollars on a sculpture that to taxpayers looks like an unhewn 300-ton boulder. 

The author begins with the shock artists. Why there is so much of blood in art today. By today, I mean the contemporary art scene of past few decades. Why would an HIV-positive artist hang rags dripping with blood over an audience that came to his show? Why would an artist make a movie of himself cutting off his penis one inch at a time? How is that artists feel that shock value is a necessary requirement for becoming noticed as an artist? 

Freeland cites John Dewey's 1934 explanation here: “Industry has been mechanized and an artist cannot work mechanically for mass production… “ For artists their work is self-expression. “In order not to cater to the trend of economic forces, they often feel obliged to exaggerate their separateness to the point of eccentricity.” (Art as Experience)

Does this reference to Dewey hold up, though? The community we live in here in Northern Minnesota is primarily service industry jobs. Or medical. Even in the manufacturing realm the majority of employees probably work in accounting and customer service, not production. I really don't think artists are artists as a reaction to mechanization and mass production. In fact, what I see today when I walk through the galleries and art fairs is the incorporation of mass production into the arts like never before with giclee reproductions and other print technologies taking artist's singular expressions and making them available by the hundreds.

As far as the use of blood by artists goes, Freeland notes that historically there has been a lot of blood shed within the context of religious rituals throughout human history. Mayans cut out still-beating hearts, the Greeks and Romans had their bloody rituals, and the roots of Judeo-Christian faith involve the shedding of blood. In fact, if you really stopped to contemplate some of the scenes that took place in the Tabernacle, you might even get ill at the quantities of blood and burnt offerings and the smells. No wonder they burned so much incense.

Freeland points out that when artists use blood it is shocking to us because it has been divorced from its ritual uses and therefore simply become something disturbing. This still doesn't explain why artists would use urine, semen and elephant dung. And in the back of my mind I can't help wondering, "What does your mother think of that?"

But then again, how much of this is really going on in the arts? I have been to countless art fairs, galleries and museums. I have never seen dung or feces displayed or urine or real blood, though at the Steampunk show this spring someone was carrying a vial of what he claimed to be wolf's blood. It fit the context of a role he was playing and most of us knew it wasn't real. And in our red-themed Red Interactive show last year, I heard at least two people comment that they were pleasantly surprised by the absence of blood or violence.

The book does a good job of raising all the right questions though and shows how the "big question" has no easy answer. As she points out Matisse was once described by the critics as a "wild beast" and anyone who knows his work would find this laughable today. Warhol's Brillo boxes and the Pop Art movement received the same brickbats.

Ivan Gaskill's review of Freeland's book at aesthetics-online.org begins by stating just how difficult this kind of undertaking really is, attempting to reach readers who are uninformed about art history and philosophy without addressing them in a condescending way. Despite the book's short-comings I recommend the book to all who are even semi-interested in engaging the arts today, whether artist, collector or just one of the many friends of the arts who simply go to shows to see what's new. It will give you things to think about, and maybe even answer a few questions you've wondered about. And if it raises still more questions, all the better. It will give us something to talk about when I run into you at the next art opening.

Wordless Wednesday: Red Interactive

Today's images were all taken from the collaborative social media art experience called Red Interactive. You're invited to check it out, "Like" it and contribute to your heart's desire.Spread the Red!

Wordless Wednesday: Beginning in the Red Zone

And ending in the Twilight Zone.

This set had as its origin an image by John Heino at Red Interactive, 

an international collaborative Facebook project.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Red Revisited

Photos/art courtesy John Heino, co-collaborator in last year's Phantom Galleries Superior Red Interactive show.

Ten Minutes with Photographer John Heino

Photographer/musician/business executive John Heino has been a friend for more than fifteen years, a relationship that culminated in this year’s Red Interactive collaboration. I asked John if he might share some of the thinking behind his various projects and the direction his creative work is currently taking.

Ennyman: Briefly summarize the past four years in terms of your increased passion for photography.

John Heino: I woke up at 3 a.m. one morning on the autobahn of ideas. I couldn't find an
exit and the traffic has been building ever since.

Each year, I get a stronger sense of the clock ticking down. There's a fine line between passion and panic. I still want to do it all before I ride west. From 3N6D to Artist Kamikaze III and Red Interactive to Radiance, every direction I've explored has yielded a treasure trove of imagery. The color-in-motion dance portfolio alone has infinite possibilities and I haven't grown the least bit weary of experimenting with it. Plus, my soul insists that I breathe the fresh air on the North Shore on a regular basis and receive the visual gifts nature sends my way. That's a very different creative space. It works on its own level for that niche (I've sold more northern lights images than anything else). Interestingly, the calendar fodder also has genre-bending potential when digitally combined with less orthodox imagery.

Enny: There are some recurring themes in your recent journey. Two of these are an interest in Dance and in Collaboration, both being present in 3N6D and in the recent Red Interactive show. How did these interests develop in you?

JH: The collaboration thread goes back to college art days. I couldn't get enough performance art or excuses to party. Something triggered a synapse from my 80's memory bank in 2009 and it manifested as 3N6D. Dance is a recurring element for me because the human form moving through space is such an image-generating juggernaut. Dancers give you streaming opportunities to capture the exquisite lines of bodies in motion. Jill Ellen Hall was amazing in 3N6D. In addition to her movement and positions, she put together unique costumes with engaging visual elements like the funky glasses.

I wanted Alan Sparhawk for the 3N6D soundtrack because of his creativity and intensity. We also share a key influence from our formative years—Leif Brush, a thought-provoking art professor at UMD. I didn't care whether Alan played guitar or blew into empty Blatz bottles. I knew intuitively whatever he did would fit. After all, we share a strand or two of that Leif Brush creative DNA.

As far as video, I was already engrossed in the photography and digital construction for 3N6D slides and I couldn't clone myself. So, I invited Chani Becker to do the video because of her talent with moving pictures and because she immediately grasped the concept of using time as the primary organizing element and letting a certain amount of chaos exist in the random associations that occurred when the four of us put our work together for the first time before a live audience.

You saw the magic when it all came together. It exceeded my expectations. The one thing I'm sorry about is that the 3N6D collaborators are so busy in their own worlds that we have not built on that success with a sequel or some other performance art adventure. The trouble with having too many frequencies open at one time is that projects become sporadic adventures shoe-horned into finite time constraints. They make a splash and then recede too quickly in the rearview mirror without being fully explored. Don't get me wrong, the high-profile splash is great sport. But I get the sense that any one of my collaborators and I might get to a higher level with concentrated development over a longer time line.

Enny: What new thing or things did you learn from Red Interactive?

JH: Relevance is increasingly perishable. Anything that involves social media has to constantly be fed content and prompts that elicit content-and it has to keep topping itself. Even then, it dies when enough "next things" arrive to draw attention to some other page. We've lost the regular participation of most of our Red Interactive friends who were posting all kinds of stuff early on. There's a few diehards we can till count on engaging, and we get a new "like" now and then, but I'd say we're more likely to die than fly at this juncture. And that's okay. Everything runs its course. Aside from the virtual dimension, I think we reinforced the notion that fun will engage people in art. The collaborative sculpture was amazing-both the process and the product.

Enny: Describe this new process of printing that you have been working with... what is it and what makes it so compelling?

JH: Well there's actually three facets: (1) experimental shooting, (2) using colored light to saturate images and (3) a process that produces prints that look like they have internal light sources.

The color-in-motion shooting approach I'm experimenting with involves colored light, moving dancers, slow shutter speeds and sometimes physically zooming and/or moving the camera during the exposure. "Alive" from the Radiance series is one of those images.

Once I load the images into the digital studio, I experiment with a variety of Photoshop tools to amp up the key elements of the shot. Some of the tools involved are the artistic filters (dry brush, chrome, etc.), vibrance, saturation, solarization and "apply image" to layer the image upon itself with tweaks to optimize contrast, color and other characteristics. I will sometimes apply a pure color field image to the original shot to boost saturation if necessary. The combination of experimental shooting and digital construction typically introduces multiple levels of abstraction. In this body of work, I am not looking to faithfully represent reality. I'm looking to create alternate realities. The thing I'm noticing is that certain abstract images seem to communicate more powerfully than straight photography.

Only recently did I become aware of what I believe is absolutely the best printing process to pop a saturated, abstract image off the wall. And that would be dye-infused aluminum. A company in California called Bay Photo will let you upload a high-resolution image (in huge sizes if you like), produce the image for you on dye-infused aluminum and ship it to you in about 10 days. You'll find the products under the heading "metal prints." There are options for finishes and framing, but the real attraction for me is the fact that these prints almost glow. If there's any ambient light at all, it's like it's collected, magnified and projected back out from the print surface. Really, it has to be seen in person to be believed. Metal prints are pricey--like $300 and up for large, flush mount-framed prints--but I think the "wow" factor is worth the price. If a lot of people start using it, I suppose viewers could become jaded and we might see another boom and bust sensation. I have a hunch it's here to stay for me, though, at least for this body of work.

E: Where do you see your work evolving to next?

JH: Tell me who my partner will be for Artist Kamikaze IV. Really, I do expect to collaborate more. I expect to shoot more. And I expect to spend more time in the digital studio with abstract images. How all those things ultimately come together is a sweet mystery at this point, but I know it will happen.

Projects like 3N6D and Red Interactive have given me confidence in the inevitability of creative triumph. I've developed a pretty good sense about where energy is coming from in my world. I'll be working with people who have that energy, passion and intensity. I'm not always certain where to aim it, but it's better to have the energy and search for a target than to have a target and no energy.

E: Thank you, John.

To find more of John Heino's work online, visit:
www.facebook.com/johnheinophotography
www.johnheino.com


Photo Captions, Top to Bottom:
Alive (from the Radiance series)
Gonzo Angel (3N6D series)
The District (Red Interactive series)
Essence (Radiance series)
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Red Interactive: The Movie

Last night's Intersections event was very special, and once again totally engaging. Time will not permit a fair accounting of the evening in such a short space of time, but here is a film that captures the essence of our Red Interactive open house in September. Check in and check it out.

Photo: Co-collaborator John Heino during our setup in the New York Building, Superior.

Red is the Color

In 2010 the color of the year was red. Or rather, the color that created the most buzz was red, as in the multiple-award-winning play that hit Broadway on the life and work of Mark Rothko, titled Red. As it turns out, the two-man Broadway show has been sweeping the theater scene and capturing audiences across the country.

A September NYTimes article, When The Color Is Primary, focuses on the artwork used to promote these various performances. Whether by means of illustrations, paintings or photographs, artists used imagination in as many variations as there are shades of red, from cherry, magenta and rose to auburn, burgundy and rust. The variety is fascinating, and more so if you're familiar with the abstract color fields Rothko poured his soul into.

While looking for this article online I came across a review of the play, which in some ways reminded me of My Dinner With Andre, another two-man play that got strong reviews from critics. I myself enjoyed both the book and film based on that particular play, but your head has to be in the right place. It's an intellectual stroll quite different from Transformers, Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill.

The 2010 Times review begins like this:

Even before you see his eyes, you’re aware of the force of his gaze. Portraying the artist Mark Rothko, Alfred Molina sits with his back to the audience at the beginning of “Red,” John Logan’s intense and exciting two-character bio-drama, which opened on Thursday night at the Golden Theater. Yet the set of his neck and shoulders makes it clear that he is staring hard and hungrily, locked in visual communion with the object before him.

Ben Brantley's Primary Colors and Abstract Appetites makes for a good intro to John Logan's two-man drama. For even more drama, read the readers' reviews.

On another topic with a red alert, tonight the Red Interactive gallery will again be opened to the public at 1410 Tower Avenue in Superior. On the docket is a multi-gallery event featuring the art environments in downtown Superior, an expression of the Phantom Galleries Superior. There will be a reception, walking tours, music and even a Tango dance lesson. Featured artists include Kathy McTavish, Sheila Packa, Erik Pearson and the Red Interactive collaboration of John Heino and Ed Newman. Doors will be open from 5:00-9:00 p.m.

Come celebrate with us.

More Notes from a Discussion About Art

Over the weekend I shared here John Heino's notes from Friday's Red Interactive Brown Bag Lunch discussion. I have a few notes of my own to pass along as well. At the end of the hour we all agreed that we'd hardly scratched the surface. Here are some statements with my own commentary added in blue.

Much of the exchange centered on the question "what is art?" Many in the group favored greater inclusiveness. "There's room for everything in art," one person said, "but I reserve the right to call something crap." This sentiment was shared by others.

Another expressed an aversion to "chaos" or "elitism", the two extreme ends of our dichotomy. "There is no absolute criteria. Everyone has something 'art' in their being."

Erika Mock shared a couple of books with the group. The Re-Enchantment of Art by Suzi Gablik was the first. The second was Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind. I double-checked and both can be found on Amazon.com.

Gary Reed, a local screen printer who has been making art most of his life, surprised me by saying, "I do not consider myself an artist." His creative work has impressed more than a few over the years but, he said, "I do it for myself." He was not one to lean toward the "all is art" camp. "That assemblage of chairs over there against the wall, is that art?"

This is exactly what the problem is for the post-modern art scene, because with enough rationalizing and a suitable artist statement, there very well might be an assemblage of chairs leaning in a gallery somewhere that is or has been called art. If so, then reviews will have been written in art publications, and the public might be called to view those chairs in a different light.

John Heino, moderating the discussion, shared his own story with regards to these issues. Heino had been an art student at the University of MN, Duluth, and completed an art minor. His career has been in the business realm at the executive level for more than two decades. Many times, he noted, he has been in business meetings where rigid perspectives could have been softened or even been illuminated by a more intuitive approach to the problem. Creative thinking has benefits that can't entirely be quantified.

He went on to say, "I am personally disappointed with what has happened these last 25 years in the schools. Art is a lower priority than it used to to and that's a bad thing."

He shared a lesson he learned from a photography professor. When he was a student he'd imagined himself as an Ansel Adams taking spectacular images. But it dawned on him that the spectacular scenes in the Rockies were not something he was going to happen upon here in Northern Minnesota. Would he have to travel to exotic locations to get the pictures he wanted? His professor said he was focused too much on what was outside the camera, on the scenery. The advice he was given was, "Don't take the picture. Let it take you."

John found this liberating. Suddenly there were all kinds of images because he was no longer locked in to a predetermined mindset as to what he was looking for. Years later, in business, he found this very same problem occurring. People came to meetings with predetermined objectives, and they don't listen to one another.

How do we elevate the importance of art? Benefits include helping young people better understand the creative process. Flow, non-language based communication and thinking outside our typical paradigms are all things with value. Understanding symbolism, intuition and unlocking invisible worlds... By means of the arts and the encouragement of creative expression, we have an opportunity to engage our young people and better prepare them for life.

Just sowing a seed. In the meantime... embrace the day.

Dialogue on Role of Art in Society Was Both Surprising and Engaging

During the noon hour yesterday a half dozen of us met for a Red Interactive Brown Bag Lunch Dialogue about art around the theme “Engagement or Chaos?” The main objective was to get clarification on what appears to be a problematic dichotomy in the arts. Is anything and everything art? Or is art only considered art after it has been “blessed” by the appropriately certified critics from on high? John Heino served as moderator of the discussion as we explored these two apparently contradictory propositions.

At the beginning of the hour we were each given a red marker that we were asked to place on a line that indicated where we personally stood with regard to this dichotomy. The line was numbered 1 through 10 with 5 being the middle of the road. On the extreme left we had Elitism and Control. On the extreme right we had Engagement and Chaos.

The dot placements proved surprising. One was toward the left, most were toward the engagement/chaos side of center and one was off the grid completely. Erika indicated that her unusual outside-the-box placement came from a lifetime of observing that many false dichotomies have been created when we make either/or assumptions. She sees the need to re-phrase the paradigm and see it as a circle with room for all perspectives. It was the first of many unexpected insights.

What follows are some of the notes John sent to me from yesterday's dialogue. An hour clearly proved too short and it became evident to all that we were just scratching the surface. Much more can be said.

What was especially valuable, and not recorded here, were the many stories and experiences that informed our personal perspectives. It was helpful, too, that John set up the dialogue in a manner that provided a level of non-judgmental trust in which everyone felt free to be open. John's notes from the discussion are here.

AND (vs. or)
Think of a circle [or perhaps a sphere] instead of linear spectrum
• Room for diverse expression
• Avoid judgment
• Inclusive

Pretty much room for everything
• Whatever criteria you come up with, there’s always something that doesn’t fit
• Reserve the right to call something “crap”

Don’t like either word—“chaos” or “elitism” in the context of art
• Everyone has something “art” within her/his being
• What is “art” will always remain subjective
• Engagement is the better choice

Contradictions
• There is a place for “high” art
• Appreciation at certain levels requires training
• BUT creativity is innate in all of us

Engagement may be the future of art.

People want to engage.

Where is art going in postmodern society?

Capitalism run amok is a problem.
• It seems to be all about the money

What happens with organic growth when it begins to look like chaos?

We need a new paradigm.
• Spirit-based, flowing
• Listen to each other
• Really see
• Pay attention to the intuitive world
• Notice where everyone is coming from

Social and economic dynamics over the past 25 years or so have resulted in art being less valued and less of a priority in society.
• Schools can’t afford art classes? It’s a choice. Political dynamics have allowed that choice, but that wouldn’t be the case if a majority of taxpayers and political supporters insisted that the arts be made a priority.
• Everybody loses when the arts are treated like discretionary spending. It’s more than just the sad shortchanging of something very important that makes us human. The insights students gain in the arts give them a broader tool kit no matter what they eventually do for a living. One-dimensional students become one-dimensional employees and unimaginative managers if they make it that far.
• Think of the cumulative negative impact of turning out less creative graduates. What has it done to earning potential of our young people? To business productivity improvement? To the wellbeing, competitiveness and economic performance of America? In reality, we cannot “not afford” to include arts as part of a well-rounded education.

What is value?
• Utilitarian?
• Aesthetic/beauty?
• What about the assumption that if a piece of art is expensive, it must be good?

"I don’t accept that anything is art."
• But I want to decide. I don’t want to be told why I should appreciate a piece of art.

I don’t really think of myself as an artist, but I have impulses to make things.
• If someone else enjoys it, that’s great.

If something called art is strange or inaccessible on its face, it may be because we’re not trained to understand what is happening.

In the end it proved a most interesting discussion. What happens next is anyone's guess, but some of these points will be posted at our Red Interactive page on Facebook, and you're invited to join the dialogue.

Enjoy the day.

Phantom of the Gallery Makes Appearance at Red Interactive Opening

Last night was our Red Interactive Art Opening in Superior, WI. Based on the energy produced it was an invigorating experience that evoked generous quantities of smiles, creativity, appreciation and at times even awe.

Red Interactive is the result of months of conceptualization and dialogue. John Heino and I have frequently expressed a desire to collaborate on a project together over the past few years, but we were not sure when or how or what form it would take until we saw the initial call to artists for Phantom Galleries Superior.

Phantom Galleries Superior (PGS) is one of six Phantom Gallery initiatives in the state of Wisconsin supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. PGS is a unique partnership between Superior Public Art Creating Community Environments (SPAC2ES) and Superior Business Improvement District (BID), the property owners, the artists, and the community. Use of properties is generously donated by the owners. Additional support comes from multiple artistic resources, the BID, and the Morgan Fund of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

One of the challenges for John Heino and myself centered on how to communicate our ambiguous, open-ended concepts in an artists description of the project in order to gain approval to obtain a space for our show. We knew our aim would be to engage a public, but the physical form this would take was undefined.

An early iteration of our thoughts went like this: Our work is about perception and connection. The connections are built around the various thematic meanings of Red. We were also striving through interactive social media to make universal connections involving multiple continents and cultures.

This kind of nebulous language left too much up in the air. Eventually we produced more concrete descriptions of where the project would go. This statement was ultimately pposted on our Red Interactive Facebook page:

The physical component of Red Interactive aims to open in the fall of 2011 in Superior, Wisconsin (specific date and location TBA) and run for two months. At each of three events, red-themed art and found objects will be collaboratively arranged in a 3D composition within the physical space. Each event will also feature red-themed performances (music, dance, poetry, etc.). Parallel to the physical show, space and performances, Red Interactive will have a virtual space here on this Facebook page and through the full array of online channels such as Twitter and blogs. Some elements will move back and forth between physical and virtual Red Interactive spaces. This is open architecture. We welcome all artists, creative thinkers and people who simply enjoy art--particularly experimental projects. The only boundary is that this is a public arts project, so we ask that all physical and virtual contributions are appropriate for public display.

The big thrill last night was the cross-section of visitors from all walks of life and the wildly wide range of participants in the collaborative sculpture. As imagined, the open-ended definition of what the show would be invited unexpected surprises. Jeredt Runions contributed sidewalk art directing citizens of Superior to the front door. And the surprisingly wonderful Phantom of the Gallery showed up to dazzle, amuse and delight all who were present in the early part of the evening. There's no business like (red) show business.

Another big thrill was the involvement of artists from all seven continents in last night's show. We invited many of them to follow us on Facebook while the show was going on and two artists from Ireland texted us to say they were enjoying the building of our Red Interactive sculpture as we streamed it live onto the Internet. At the top of this page is the Art Wall of China which garnered a lot of attention. At the bottom of this page is a parting shot of the gallery after the festivities were concluded, showing the results of our red sculpture composition. Everyone had been encouraged to wear something red and to bring something red for the sculptural assembly. It came together like a dream.

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who joined us last night, and to all involved in the process of making the Phantom Galleries Superior project possible, especially Erika Mock who curated our show.

Two more events are planned in this space as part of Red Interactive. At some point in early-to-mid-October we will be having a Brown Bag Lunch dialogue in the space where we explore the meaning of art in our lives, the importance of public art and the role of art and artists in culture. Then, on October 20 will be a four-hour multi-gallery event as part of Phantom Galleries Superior.

For more photos and commentary on last night's event visit and "Like" Red Interactive on Facebook.

Wordless Wednesday, Sort Of

Tomorrow night is our open house for Red Interactive, the international collaborative art experience John Heino and I have assembled as part of the Phantom Galleries Superior project. Images on this "sort of" Wordless Wednesday all tie in to the opening. Catering by the Red Mug, red-tiled floor, red-themed children's art from China, three-ring circus and the front entrance to the gallery space at 1410 Tower Avenue, Superior WI. Event begins at 5:00 p.m. We're rolling the red carpet out for you so we hope you'll join us.

http://www.facebook.com/RedInteractive

Red Interactive art opening slated for September 22 in Superior

Red Interactive is inviting the public to an art opening the evening of September 22 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 1410 Tower Avenue in Superior (the New York Building). The project is an experimental art initiative conceived by Ed Newman and John Heino as part of Phantom Galleries Superior.

Utilizing social media, Red Interactive has received virtual and physical submissions from six continents, a dozen countries and a dozen states over the past few months since its inception in May. This opening is the first tangible event presenting a sample of what has been happening in virtual space. Admission is free. Attendees are strongly encouraged to wear red.

On display will be the acrylic paintings and mixed media constructions by Newman and the photography of Heino as well as work by various contributors to the Red Interactive Facebook community which had more than 21,000 pageviews this past month. One section of the gallery is devoted to kids’ pictures from China. The event will also feature red-themed dance performances.

“We’re asking that everyone who joins us that night bring with them a red object that can be incorporated into a collaborative sculpture,” said Newman.

In response to the question, “Why red?” Heino says, “Red is a trigger and a theme. It could have been ‘blue’ or "farm animals’ or ‘show tunes for $100.’ The theme merely presents the first thread from which the ultimate tapestry is woven into fractals of infinity. Why red? Because it has such a rich array of connotations – passion, danger, romance, intrigue and the like.”

Phantom Galleries Superior is one of six Phantom Gallery initiatives in the state of Wisconsin supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. PGS is a unique partnership between Superior Public Art Creating Community Environments (SPAC2ES) and Superior Business Improvement District (BID), the property owners, the artists, and the community. Use of properties is generously donated by the owners. Additional support comes from multiple artistic resources, the BID, and the Morgan Fund of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

For immediate release, September 9, 2011

For more information about Red Interactive contact:
John Heino jheino@chartermi.net or (218) 590-1145

For information about Phantom Galleries Superior contact: Erika Mock erikamock@gmail.com 715.392.1150

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