Urban Art Rangers -

Urban Art Ranger Information Flyer

by Joanna Spitzner
- a project of the Public Arts Task Force -

I thought I'd post this because I think it's such a great idea. One of the things that I'm constantly faced with at my job is almost exactly the same as regards getting out there and communicating with a diverse community. While my own efforts may be more like preaching to the choir, this sort of community-based patrol is one of the missing pieces of the arts & culture puzzle. Especially so as it relates to community needs, identifying community assets, dialog, education and building bridges of trust and respect. Speaking of trust and respect, my hats off to the 40Below Public Arts Task Force collectively and to Joanna Spitzner specifically for taking up this initiative. For anyone who's involved with the responsibility of keeping up with redesigning the funding and support infrastructure of the arts - dry-white-toast reads of reports, strengths/weaknesses assessment, re-structuring philosophies and such like - this sort of grass roots working model is exactly the stuff that your average egghead management type never seems to be able to translate. Okay, so now that I've made the $20-a-word speech aimed at that particular sub-set of geek speak and buzz word commandos, what I really want is a badge and a uniform! :D

Wild root -

"Wild: Original Photograph"
photograph by Terry Walter

The annual visit from Aunt Terry also brought a bundle of terrific photographs taken on one of those Alaskan Cruises that have become so popular in the Era of Green. Forgive that I repeat the information from MICKMATHERSARTBLOG again here. All I really meant to do was show the original photo seen at today's post. This is untouched other than for a little cropping and straightening of the tilted image. If you haven't already been over to see the manipulated image, go have a look. :)

A tribute to the Finnish Sisters: Part II -

"Finnish Cottage - Study #1"

fractal flame by Mick Mather

If you got here from MICKMATHERSARTBLOG, here are four (4) progressive studies that make up today's post over there. This is the original crop taken from a flame in one of my fractal generators where the only manipulation was to resize it for my working frame. That left things really grainy, jaggedly and loose, a lot like a sketch using colored pencils or pastels in a way.

"Finnish Cottage - Study #2"
digitally manipulated flame by Mick Mather

The next step in the process was to change the background color. That was easily accomplished in the fractal generator and a necessary step to achieve the final, night time tint. That's right, we're thinking ahead and all the way to the end right from the beginning.

"Finnish Cottage - Study #3"

digitally manipulated flame by Mick Mather

Layering the two previous flames was the next step in the process before running the composite through another filter to add a little atmosphere to the mix.

"Finnish Cottage - Study #4"

digitally manipulated flame by Mick Mather

The composite of layers 1 and 2 were run thru the same filter a second time to have some choices in patterning and light. It was then layered into Study #3 as seen above. One more filtering maneuver was used and layered into Study #4, seen here, to achieve the final image. If you arrived here from somewhere else and want to see it, go to MICKMATHERSARTBLOG.

My Desktop -

"My Desktop"

print screen by Mick Mather

I was tagged by HPY this morning along with 5 others at her blog. I don't do a lot of these tagging things - in fact, I still owe one to somebody - but this one, with all of the TOP SECRET covers seemed fun. Since I'm supposed to tag 5 more people, you're it if you're reading this. Stop over to HPY's place for the details.

Walking the Creek Walk -

"Looking Southeast, Franklin Square"
photograph by Mick Mather

As mentioned at MICKMATHERSARTBLOG, here's a peek at one small part of the developed Creek Walk that actually runs right along the eastern bank for about a tenth of a mile. Most of the completed trail is above and left behind the trees seen above, but I digress. I walked this route today with Mark Moncavage, ex patriot Philadelphian and local landscape designer. We met at the PARK(ing) Day 2007 event a few weeks ago and made arrangements to walk this marvelous little nature trail close to - and soon to be extended through - the heart of the City of Syracuse. My current area of interest as regards public art is to see the establishment of a Sculpture Trail along the creek. I have a vision that will include large and small sculptural works as well as living sculpture that will take advantage of Mark's expertise as a landscape designer. Ideas went flinging back and forth. From small gardens to sculptural earthworks, from topiary and espalier to well placed mini-groves of cherry trees. All of this with a planned design meant to encourage bikers, walkers, boaters and tourists to get off the road, out of the car and onto the creek walk and be led along from one surprise to another as they wend their way along the gently curving and twisting pathways. It was a good conversation and another beautiful day that looked exactly like you see it above even though it was taken over a year ago. Don't ask, but it's Ken Kesey's bus in mind at this particular moment of reflection while writing this - F U R T H E R.

Community Mural Project -

"Community Mural Project 2007"

photograph by Mick Mather

I had the pleasure of working for a few hours on this project that was initiated by my good friend, Michael Berman. He currently has over 25 paintings on display at The Delavan Art Gallery and in this Annex where the "Live Painting with Michael Berman" project was created. The next step is to have the piece sealed for protection from the coming weather and then find a location where it can be exhibited in a public place. Michael and I will meet about that in the weeks ahead. If you have any ideas, let us know. While I'm here, I respectfully ask that you visit MICKMATHERSARTBLOG and have a look at my digital artwork.