Brad Lander's Magic Show Brilliant Sleight of Hand--- And Slight to the Community....

This is a very worthy read from the CG CORD/Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development blog. 
http://carrollgardenspetition.blogspot.com/2016/08/brad-landers-magic-show-brilliant.html

For anyone with the remotest interest in the clean-up of the Gowanus Canal and the soon to be here zoning changes and new development/s.... this read is a must!

Our electeds could and should do so much more for our community, especially since they are spending our tax dollars!....

 Above: Our very own Councilman Brad Lander

Bartok Anyone? Liam Veuve and Puck Quartet at SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University

Bartok anyone? My eldest son, Liam Veuve, and the Puck Quartet attended the SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University in June of this year. 

Here is their stunning Bartok String Quartet No. 1 performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPNti3wItyI

More Photos taken from: "From New York to New Jersey and Back"

Of course this category of photographs is very broad.  I like it that way.  Many are taken from the car.  I like that too.  I love to capture motion with a still camera. LINK The one below was taken last year at the bottom of my street.  Of course this view is gone replaced by a giant development and new luxury condos.  I used to love walking down to see this however.

Sometime I use my photos for artist activist purposed as I did with the above cell phone photo I took of the Gowanus Canal water standing on the 9th Street bridge.  Disgusting isn't it?  Is that what all those high rent paying people do not mind looking at and call a "recreational waterway"? I guess one day it might be one, but not for ten more years at least while the EPA works it's magic.  See the accompanying blogpost LINK if you would like to read about some of the issues. T.S.

Did you know?  

"The Gowanus Canal, located in Brooklyn, NY is one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the nation. This 1.8 mile long, 100 foot wide, canal was built in the 19th century and historically was home to many industries including manufactured gas plants, cement factories, oil refineries, tanneries, and chemical plants. After nearly 150 years of use, the canal has become heavily contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, sewage solids from combined sewer overflows, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)." LINK

More Auto-Portraits

As I mentioned recently LINK I have been posting some of my photos recently from various photographic series I am compiling.  One of the categories is "auto portraits" (I prefer this word to self portraits as I like the word "auto" for several reasons.  Anyhow this is one of my favorites. below.  Actually this one fits into my "From NY to NJ and Back" Series as well. It's a driving photo and if you look carefully you can see the menacing auto behind me. T.S.

WPU/William Paterson University Summer STEAM Workshop 2016

I just presented a Adobe Spark Workshops for Paterson Public School Teachers Attending our WPU Summer STEAM Institute*.  This Institute was a great success and is featured in the NJ news as well as the WPU Education Department Facebook Page which features this Youtube.  In attendance were: public art and content area teachers from Paterson Public School District in Paterson, NJ;  William Paterson University art, science, and math "Professors in Residence" like myself;  the WPU Dodge STEAM Grant Manager, WPU Administrators, WPU Communications people, and the press.

Is Adobe Spark perfect?  Of course not, but it is FREE and it is very inspiring for classroom teachers with little or no art and graphic design background.  It enables both them and their students to tell compelling visual stories in multiple formats in minutes and to share them freely with a wide variety of social media platforms as well as download them to the desktop, and or get a URL for them to place elsewhere, e.g. Google Classroom, or a blog where all students can access them.

While technology ought NEVER replace hands-on art making activities (and plenty of these were also featured at the WPU STEAM Institute), technology does have a definite role to play in the future of art, and STEAM art education, both as a new medium, and as a new communication tool.  T.S.

Adobe Spark
https://spark.adobe.com

Adobe Spark FREE iphone and iPad apps:
Adobe Post
Adobe Page
Adobe Video

Youtube
General Info/Teacher Talking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdLR7MLiKM0

Youtube
Adobe Spark Video/Young Person Talking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHXtueraiXY

Adobe Education Exchange
edex.adobe.com

"Up and Running with Adobe Spark (Use Spark in Your Classroom)"
https://edex.adobe.com/spark/

Adobe Spark Professional Development
https://edex.adobe.com/professional-development/workshop/adobespark/section1/step3

Adobe Spark Step by Step (For Teachers to give to Students)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LfGAvvHdSdZpbhI8a3fG1RLZ0OGioot6iXsACU8w


Adobe Spark Edu Guide PDF Link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ttljGrHxMmLTRiTzcxaHZkREE/view?usp=sharing

*The WPU STEAM grant is funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
See our STEAMEmpowerment Blog:
LINK

It is also part of the WPU PDS/Professional Development School School Network
LINK

No Words

James K. Galbraith, a founding member of DiEM25, spekas on 'Plan X'

The words below are reblogged from Yanis Varoufakis LINK  and Greek Left Review Link. T.S.

 

James K. Galbraith, a founding DiEM25 member, writes exclusively on DiEM25’s site about his latest book and his contribution to the first SYRIZA government’s Plan X – a defensive plan to be activated if Greece’s creditors made good of their threat to throw Greece out of the euro in response to the new government’s determination to re-negotiate the troika’s failed ‘Greek program’. Yesterday, on the first anniversary of the courageous OXI vote of the Greek people, the Greek oligarchic media were trying to exploit Galbraith’s book in order to have Yanis Varoufakis indicted, censured or, simply, vilified. Their venom against OXI and Varoufakis is proof that the memory of the Athens Spring still haunts them. In the article below, James K. Galbraith makes it abundantly clear: The team working in the Finance Ministry, under Varoufakis, was the only side during the 2015 negotiation that did its duty fully and…

Read More at LINK

Auto Portraits: Exploring Myself in the World

I have taken many photographs of myself in a variety of settings and am beginning to see the idea is holding me as a longer term, sustained project.

All the shots are spontaneous, natural shots.  I see nothing (or have just a general idea) in advance of the image until I actually catch the moment, and later see the "film."  Of course, there is no film, this is all digital. I like working this way very much as it allows me maximum flexibility.

 Here I am taking a NYC Subway Ride 2016

I am interested in becoming the setting of my photos, of being a subject who at once blends with her background.  Philosophically this has a meaning for me.  I spend much time and energy fighting, (always with others) as an artist activist, for the things I hold most dear, for example the comprehensive and speedy clean-up of the Gowanus Canal.

 Here I am taking at the Gowanus Canal 2016

But I also like to adopt an opposite posture for my art work, a non-aggressive blending in with things as opposed to fighting them.

 Here I am in Gowanus Brooklyn near a nice tree 2016

This flight as an artist gives me the energy I need to fight the next fight on the ground.  Does this make sense?  To 'take up weapons' such as the pen, the voice, on one hand for a specific reason and cause?  And then to surrender to the surroundings completely as an artist creating photographs?  This is me.  I like to engage with a variety of situations and identities. T.S.

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

I hope this year as Americans we will all take the time to reflect upon ourselves as a country and on what we truly stand for. T.S.

 Brooklyn NewYork iphone pic c.Triada Samaras 2016

From New York to New Jersey and Back

I have taken many, many photographs on my commute from New York to New Jersey and back again.  I use a couple of different cameras, nothing fancy.  All the shots are spontaneous, natural shots.  I see nothing (or only an idea) in advance of the image until I actually catch the moment, and later see the "film."  Of course, there is no film, this is all digital. I like working this way very much as it allows me maximum flexibility.

Commuting is a journey all unto itself and I will have a lot to say about being behind a windshield while I view the world at large.  There is a sense that one can touch and even grasp the world at large, but there is a stillness and a privacy which comes from being behind not only a camera, but a pane of windshield glass.  I will save the words for another time, however.  Now, the images ought to suffice.

I am starting a new web page featuring some of these photos and am begining the process of editing them for writing.  I am really in love with many of these pics.  I hope you might be too.

So here is number ONE:

Brooklyn NewYork iphone pic c.Triada Samaras 2016
And here is version 2 of Number One (below):

It is absolute dizzying how many small changes one can make while editing.

Number Three (below) is an unaltered iphone6 pic of Downtown Manhattan. 

Yes the world looked exactly like this to my iPhone camera that evening.

New York, NewYork iphone6 pic c.Triada Samaras 2016

While I could indeed edit this one a bit, I like leaving it "naked" as the moment was truly extraordinary.

Liam Veuve and Puck Quartet at Stanford University Chamber Music Seminar

Okay so I am going to gush like a mother for a second...(please excuse me) 
Check this out....
My "cello son" Liam Veuve and his/the Puck Quartet are playing in this hall today at Stanford University where they were invited to participate at the Chamber Music Seminar there.  https://music.stanford.edu/events/upcoming-events

 Bing Concert Hall Stanford University

And let me not forget to mention his fabulous and talented girlfriend Marina Kifferstein and her impressive musical accomplishments!

 http://www.marinakifferstein.com/

If you wondering , "Did they meet in music school?," I let you make a reasonable guess.

What more can a proud parent ask for?

I am truly blessed.

Triada 

Yanis Varoufakis: "A discussion worth revisiting at this historic post Brexit juncture"

Yanis Varoufakis 

A discussion worth revisiting at this historic post Brexit juncture 

https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/06/24/a-discussion-worth-revisiting-on-this-pivotal-post-brexit-day/

 

Above: Yanis Varoufakis Founder DiEM25 Democracy in Europe Movement 2025

  
"Today is a historic day. Post-Brexit the EU is entering a new, furious phase of disintegration. DiEM25’s initial response can be read here. Tomorrow I sum up my reaction in two articles (one in The Guardian and one in Project Syndicate – plus a Greek one in Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών). Till then I think it useful to revisit the 26th April discussion I was honoured to have with Noam Chomsky at the New York Public Library." Y.V.    LINK

More Information:
 
"What's DIEM? really?" by Yanis Varoufkais 
https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/04/02/whats-diem25-really-reply-to-open-letter-by-souvlismazzolini/ 

The Brexit May Just Be The Beginning of Anti-European Votes
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-brexit-may-be-just-the-beginning-of-anti-europe-votes/?ex_cid=538twitter 

A "Game Changer" in the Maine Art World: The New CMCA/Center for Maine Contemporary Art

A Maine Art Game Changer!

             The New CMCA/Center for Maine Contemporary Art

Above and Below Images :  The new CMCA designed by Toshiko Mori 2016

Recently I had the pleasure to interview the dynamic and visionary Chief Curator/Executive Director, Suzette McAvoy, of CMCA/Center for Maine Contemporary Art. McAvoy is preparing in earnest for a long-anticipated event this week: the opening of the CMCA's new facility** Sunday, June 26th, 2016, designed by architect Toshiko Mori in Rockland, Maine.  Under the vision of Ms. McAvoy, the CMCA is expanding its mission to advance contemporary art in Maine and to inspire others to both engage with, and support it.

WHEN: **Opening Sunday, June 26, 2016   1-6 PM
WHERE: Center for Maine Contemporary Art, 
21 Winter St., Rockland, ME
MORE INFO: cmcanow.org

207-701-5005

When I asked her to name the most exhilarating aspect of the new CMCA, Suzette McAvoy, Chief Curator and Executive Director explained to me, "This striking new facility and world-class architecture by international architect Toshiko Mori gives us the physical space and the creative possibility to elevate our mission at CMCA to a far greater level. Our goal at CMCA has always been to support the high quality and distinctive contemporary artwork being created in Maine by Maine artists and by artists having a connection to Maine. We want to grow our ability to support, sustain, and showcase contemporary art by artists connected to Maine and to share this art with the world."  (Image Above: CMCA Director, and Curator, Suzette McAvoy)

I wondered out loud about the history of CMCA, and she continued, "Many well-known names have exhibited here in the past including Louise Nevelson, Alex Katz, Lois Dodd, Neil Welliver and John Walker, some at points in their careers when they were not so well-known. Some of them started their careers here at CMCA. Our new CMCA facility will be a catalyst for us to carry forward Maine's exceptional legacy in American art on a whole new scale."  

Above:  Image by Rollin Leonard Vernal Pond on exhibit at CMCA starting June 26, 2016 LINK 

                                                                                       

I asked McAvoy about art education and outreach to the public at the new CMCA.  McAvoy, former Farnsworth Museum Chief Curator, answered, "We aim to engage with the public by providing a wide variety of art educational  programs for art viewers and creators of all ages including: Art Lab, Leaps of Imagination, and Look Inside.  These programs fuel the imagination, stimulate forward thinking and cultivate conversations using contemporary Maine art often as a prompt. In our new facility, CMCA will hold lectures, gallery talks, video screenings, workshops, and special events to create a broader and deeper public awareness, public engagement and commitment to Contemporary Maine Art. We want to make contemporary Maine art alive and palpable for others."

Above:  The new CMCA designed by Toshiko Mori 2016

The opening of the new CMCA building will coincide with an indoor/outdoor exhibition of the artist Jonathan Borofsky, a Maine artist who is also an international superstar.  Borofsky, who has had a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, lives and works in Ogunquit, Maine but has not shown his art in Maine for over 40 years.

Above:  New work by Jonathan Borofsky at CMCA

Art historian Daniel Kany, writing for the Portland Press Herald, stated the new Toshiko Mori-designed building 'is a game changer in terms of leading Maine art spaces, our statewide cultural demographics and the future of Maine's art market." Kany added, "Leading with Jonathan Borofsky for the initial exhibition in the main room is a stroke of brilliance. What convinced Borofsky, in part, to do the show is the fact that his studio is almost the exact same size as the 50-foot-by-52-foot gallery.  I saw the installation taking place and we are all in for a treat." LINK

Above:  New work by Jonathan Borofsky at CMCA

With a home and studio in Lincolnville, Maine for more than sixty years, Alex Katz, another world-renowned artist, will exhibit his small paintings at CMCA starting this Sunday.  Katz "produces small-scale oil paintings at the start of all of his works, regardless of finished size.
Intimate, direct, and fresh, Katz's small paintings reveal his close connection with his subjects and a side of the eminent artist's work that is rarely seen." LINK  

Above: Small work by Alex Katz at CMCA

I also spoke to CMCA Board Member Karen Brace, former principal and co-owner of a technology company and a close friend about the new CMCA project in Rockland. Brace is always visibly animated and energized talking about the new CMCA and her participation in this project.

She said, "Though a small organization, we have a big mission to support Maine artists and contemporary art in Maine. With the CMCA's move to Rockland, a growing and vibrant arts community and destination, CMCA will now have an increased exhibition and educational opportunities and will have a projected $35 million economic impact on this area. Because we intentionally do not have a permanent art collection, all of our resources go towards fulfilling our mission through exhibitions, lectures, educational programs at CMCA and in local and island schools (all in rural or low income communities), events, etc."

Brace continued, "This new phase in our evolution is so important to our relevancy in the contemporary art community and to the services that we can provide. For instance, while attendance to our previous location (in an old livery stable!) was approximately 8,000 annually, we anticipate 35,000 - 50,000 visitors annually to the new building. Membership is also rapidly increasing, and our opening exhibits would never have been possible in the previous location. A big jump from the old stable, the new building was designed by Toshiko Mori, award-winning and internationally-known architect." 

With so much to experience at the opening of the new CMCA this Sunday, Rockland, Maine looks like the place to be this weekend!  

Triada Samaras

More Info:
Help to Make Possible CMCA's extraordinary new home in Rockland, Maine, by making a donation to the Capital Campaign. I am told all donations large and small are welcome!

Capital Campaign

Coming Exhibitions at CMCA  LINK

Membership at CMCA LINK
(Artist Membership includes a listing in on-line Artist Members Directory with link to Artist's website; Opportunity for Artist's studio to be featured in Open Studio blog; Four additional image submissions to CMCA Biennial Exhibition; 100% tax deductible. $40.00)