Seattle Art Museum’s Post

How we show up for the world can look a lot different than how we show up for ourselves. ~PJ W. I am a true Marvin Gaye fan - but not for the reasons you might think. I actually became even more of a fan after reading his biography and realizing how imperfect he was. I think it is common for us to look at celebrities and elevate them in my minds to be flawless. Not the case my friend...He was absolutely flawed. Marvin struggled with liking himself, addiction, toxic relationships with family and lovers and oddly enough confidence and terrible stage fright...but he was also an Icon and a Legend. Proof that two seemingly opposing things can be true at the same time. Don't compare yourself to anyone, no matter how famous or how fabulous. We all have our stuff. If you are interested in learning more about this mindset - check out Manif8st Mindset Coaching!

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a performance of '1776,' a musical on the background story of the days leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. While we all have studied it as historical events, this moving performance presents the human side of our founding fathers. Like all well-meaning people with diverse viewpoints, they too struggled with the clash of personalities, debates on ideas (e.g., John Dickinson's disagreements with the Declaration itself), clauses to include and remove (e.g., Edward Rutledge's insistence on removing the section regarding slavery), timeframes (e.g., Thomas Jefferson feeling the pressure from John Adams to finish writing).   This struck a chord with me as we often lament at how divided the present society has become on every issue - small or big. However, there was never a time in history, nor will there ever be where humans don't argue about different interpretations of problems or ideas on how to solve them. In fact, these are key strengths that separate homo sapiens from other species - imagination and creativity.   With that understanding, let's give each other grace as we approach this election season with the election day less than a month away.   Even more closely in daily life, we often face the same struggles that those wise men faced. Working with colleagues and partners on problems to solve at work with multiple and often conflicting views can sometimes feel exhausting or seem self-serving or agenda-laden. Let's remember to give each other grace in that context too. Let's start with the assumption of good intentions, that people are following their conscience to the best of their knowledge and ability. 

Would you buy a used harmonica? What if you knew its history? What if you discovered that this used harmonica was given to Jimi Hendrix by Bob Dylan? Would you buy it then? The value of something does not always derive from its inherent presence. Sometimes, the context of how something came to be is all one needs to re-evaluate its worth. But, you don't need to be Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan for the story of your art to matter. All you need is the story itself. On our new platform, ID.art, we provide the ability for artists to not only digitally host their portfolios, but contextualize each piece with the story of how it was made, what inspired it, and what it means to you. This is what augments the value of art. This is what piques human interest. Sign up for FREE today. Take your used harmonica to THE used harmonica.

In sport, ‘excellence’ is well-understood as an absolutely essential prerequisite. Many policy makers, arts council members, and dumbing-down academics prefer that the arts are kept in a state of enforced mediocrity at best, by rejecting the concept of excellence. Real standards in the arts would reveal how threadbare are the basic skills of many of those today who claim their work is more important than the masterpieces of the past - but want to avoid others having the chance to experience the latter, in which context their own work will be seen as wanting. As Catherine Bennett points out: ‘Hint for funding applicants: engage, as Stalin also used to recommend, “with the stories of the contemporary nation”; avoid “excellence” and its synonyms. “Terms like excellence,” the ACE authors advise, “are indicative of the way in which opera and music theatre still retains unhelpful hierarchies about what kinds of work are valued.” “Good”, while permissible, should appear in inverted commas.’ https://lnkd.in/esqvRzEH

What should Taylor's next Era be? Burlesque? Circus? According to RYA those are two of the most popular genres for Swifties! Check out our post to learn more about #creativeAI https://lnkd.in/eeNa4WwG

The term Modernism came about in the late 19th century, and despite its focus on alienation, it is considered a socially progressive movement influenced by technology and industrialization, among other things. The creative world can thank the experimentation of Modernism for Abstract Art, Stream-of-Consciousness literary style, and Montage in cinema. Modernism sought to find new ways of expressing reality, if that is even possible. You’ll get varying opinions on Modernism, so the term Postmodern invites even more speculation and differentiation. Creatively, concepts like the Mixing of Genres and Styles, the Merging of High and Low Culture, Irony, Parody, ‘Retro’, and the Incorporating of a Political Dimension into creative works are all hallmarks of Postmodernism. Global music superstar Madonna is actually referenced as the prime example of Postmodernism, due to her embrace of the above, as well as her exploring the idea of fragmentation and her challenging of foundational beliefs. The range of discussion about these two societal and cultural movements covers the 1870’s up to the 1990’s, so we’ll keep things very simple from here. Tune into KQUA.org this Sunday @ 3p PT

It’s simple. We often don’t stand a chance against the secular media world when it comes to artistic innovation (even though all of western art was pioneered by us) because we try to play it safe in so many ways. Somewhere along the line we correlated artistic risk with “scandal”, “immorality”, or “heresy.” This is not the case. Now, are there cases where someone abandons their morals, values, and beliefs just to be noticed, accepted, and seen? Yes. But that doesn’t need to be the case. Risk is not sin. On the contrary risk is inherent to the disciple. It’s risky to get out of a boat and walk on water. It’s risky to proclaim the Gospel. Artistically: It was risky to incorporate an organ into liturgical music for the first time. It was risky to debut stained glass windows to catechize the lay faithful for the first time. WE HAVE TO START TAKING RISKS IF WE WANT TO GET THE ATTENTION OF THE NEXT GENERATION. If you’re ready to take risks, contact me. 👍🏽

From Royal Court to City: Classical Painters vs Modern Artists From the royal courts of the Renaissance to the bustling digital world of today, the daily lives of classical painters and modern artists couldn’t be more different. In this article, I explore how classical painters had more opportunities for work through patronage and commissions, while modern artists navigate the complexities of social media and digital platforms. Dive in and join the discussion: How has the role of the artist evolved over time? https://lnkd.in/dDFsYXmc #classicalpainters #modernartists #socialmedia #Renaissance

Here is a link to "David Bowie: The Art of Self-Invention," my latest post on Cultural Capital-Art, Politics, and Everything Else. https://lnkd.in/eKWCKPZd

One thing that's almost impossible to do casually is to understand much of the popular culture of a given time and place one hasn’t lived in. Single artifacts may hint at it but robbed of context can be misunderstood. In that regard: since I was a teenager I've been fascinated by numerous recordings of singers who were popular in the first half of the twentieth century - there's often a kind of beauty there that I can't quite put into words. Three such are Enrico Caruso (1871 - 1921), Beniamino Gigli (1890 - 1957) and Jussi Björling (1911 - 1960). I've known their recordings for many years now, but didn't have much visual image of them in my head, other than their portraits on album covers. But someone the other day introduced me to this late 20th century documentary on the three of them which makes clear how they used the latest technology to become so famous. The details are different from how it's done today, but in some ways it's all quite familiar. The existence of old film, self-caricatures (see post image) and other material makes clear how well Caruso managed to project his charisma to the world; and Gigli and Björling's awkwardness had a certain charm as well. Anyway, just interesting. A sort of glance at the history of the early days of music-meets-audio-technology-meets-visual-technology-meets-business-models-meets-celebrity. https://lnkd.in/dWVERjju