From the desk of Artistic Amanda…

This past weekend, my city was hit with 16″ of rain, flooding our streets and stealing homes, businesses and livelihoods. The following article was written by my friend, Patten Fuqua and featured on Section303.com, a Nashville Predators hockey blog. I couldn’t have expressed it better myself:

What I am about to write has absolutely nothing to do with hockey.

If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.

The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.

Does it really matter? Eventually, it will…as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite possibly the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.

But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.

Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant beyond all reason to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives…and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.

Because we are Nashville.

As an artist and citizen of Nashville, my heart beats for this community. In addition to donating my time and resources to clean-up efforts, I wanted to do something to document this event as well as give back. Patten and I partnered with other members of the community and created this t-shirt design. Proceeds will benefit the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. For more updates, please visit the We Are Nashville Facebook page.

35 Beautiful Examples Of ‘Urban Decay Photography’ via Smashing Magazine.

My 3-day trip to the Lowcountry can be summed up by blue skies, good eats, and an outsider’s view on the inside art scene. Charleston art: the city breathes it. Inspiration can be found everywhere – from the brilliant colors of Rainbow Row to the delicate presentation of a 3-course Prix Fixe meal at McCrady’s. As a visual artist and graphic designer though, what really caught my eye was the ornate wrought iron gate-work proudly displayed on the faces of homes & offices alike.

The oldest remaining ironwork in the city dates to the Revolutionary War period, although ironwork balconies appeared on Charleston houses as early as 1739. This early iron is wrought iron; iron which has been molded and pounded into shape by a blacksmith using a forge, anvil and hammer. Wrought ironwork of the 18th and 19th centuries features scrolls, fleur-de-lis, leaf and flower patterns, spears and wiggletails. Philip Simmons, Charleston’s best known blacksmith, has continued this time-honored craft and has created some of the city’s most treasured pieces.

“My musical instrument is an anvil. I guess some of you have heard me play…a tune on the anvil, the old blacksmith tune…I’m proud of that anvil, really proud…It’s very dear to my heart…That anvil fed me when I was hungry and that anvil clothed me when I was naked. That anvil put shoes on my feet.” – Philip Simmons

With the Carolina city so rich in color, culture and creativity, it’s no wonder Charleston is becoming a hot spot for artists of every medium, including culinary masterminds and fashion moguls.

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I have lived in Nashville for nine years and am puzzled as to why no one has told me about the First Saturday Gallery Crawl till now. The downtown gallery crawl occurs the first Saturday of each month from 6-9pm. It’s completely free and open to the public… and really right up the alley of anyone who is in any way interested in the arts. A complimentary shuttle is even provided by the Downtown Partnership. If it’s possible, this recurring event made me love this city a little more.

As an artist myself, I always love looking at other artists’ work. The creativity in this world simply amazes me. The following were some of my favorites of the night:

The Rymer Gallery on 5th Avenue is exactly what you think of when someone mentions a downtown gallery: a large open space, brightly lit, with two back hallways and a loft for additional hanging space. A gorgeous venue and probably my favorite of the night.

You know you like a work of art when you wake up the next morning still thinking about it and that’s how I felt about Jordan Eagles‘ collection. Small framed works lined the stairs leading up to the Rymer Gallery loft and when reaching the top, Jordan’s “UR-26″ is staring you in the face. Similar to the “UR-15″ piece pictured here, “UR-26″ embeds a circular sunburst in a dark background, with little tongues flickering into the internal space of the piece and casting shadows onto the wall behind. The media… are you ready? Blood and copper preserved on plexiglas, covered with UV Resin.

Eagles experiments with his material to find the range of colors he can get by methods such as aging the blood or mixing it with other materials. He has started mixing in crushed copper, which can produce a metallic sheen like “UR17,” another fireburst-type image with a combination of metallic and bloody red in the central element.

Using clear resin, Eagles’ paintings have a slick artificial surface that contrasts with the organic qualities of the blood. The resin also makes the paintings safe—when you hear about paintings with blood, the initial reaction may be that it will be gross, or even a biohazard. The resin encases the blood and puts it at a safe remove. The entire collection was breathtaking.

On the same street, the Tinney Contemporary Gallery was holding the Stop Look Listen exhibition which featured new works from Lyle Carbajal (painter), Sharon Lee Hart (photographer) and Jason Lascu (sculptor). It was Lascu’s work that first caught my eye. Rather, it was hard to miss as the first piece to the left of the entrance was a wax man standing at the base of a ladder that reached all the way to the ceiling.

Lascu is a local Nashvillian artist focusing his work on combining figurative images and found objects that honestly express and illustrate poignant experiences and encounters which have shaped his life. As I went around the room and saw more and more wax men – some with bunny ears, some with dunce hats, some with masks – I noticed their faces and the emotion in their eyes. Impressive attention to detail, in my opinion.

The final favorites were side by side showcases in the Arcade at the Andrew John Gallery. The work of Andy Anh Ha was full of brightly colored lotus flowers. His artist statement reads,

“Text is used to elaborate the meaning of the lotus flower understood as ‘creative power and purity amid adverse surroundings.’ The lotus is an important aspect in regards to the relation it has with my culture and way of life. It represents my upbringing as a 1st generation welfare recipient and how my life has transformed. Through obtaining knowledge and culture, success has blossomed for my family and I.”

The work I enjoyed most was a large piece with a newsprint background covered with a whitewash. A large red lotus was painted on top, much like this one here. The entire thing was coated with resin to give it a crisp sheen. Such classic beauty.

Next door, John Hung Ha’s vibrant-colored fish was the perfect way to wrap up the night. Always fascinated with marine biology, the artist says he enjoys capturing the unique characteristics of the Koi fish and the goldfish.

“They have different characteristics and produce a positive energy that symbolizes prosperity and good health. …I think the most appealing thing about my work is the variation of media I use. My process involves oils, acrylics, enamels, fabrics, papers, laser-cut stencils, interference paint, and varnish.”

I have to agree with him. Just like fish scales shimmer in the water, John Hung Ha’s work – laced with sparkly beads and glittery residue -  shimmered across the showroom. If I’d had the means, I would’ve taken all the fish home with me.

Today would have been the 97th birthday of influential American artist, Jackson Pollock. If you’re not familiar with his work, you might recognize it as spontaneous outbursts of liquid paint.

Number 31, 1950

Pollock typically began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor, and developed what was later called his “drip” technique. The drip technique required paint with a fluid viscosity so Pollock turned to then new synthetic resin-based paints, called alkyd enamels. Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist’s paints, as “a natural growth out of a need”. He used hardened brushes, sticks and even basting syringes as paint applicators. With this technique, Pollock was able to achieve a more immediate means of creating art, the paint now literally flowing from his chosen tool onto the canvas. By defying the conventional way of painting on an upright surface, he added a new dimension, literally, by being able to view and apply paint to his canvases from all directions.

When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a sort of ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well. -Jackson Pollock

In the process of making paintings in this way he moved away from figurative representation and challenged the use of easel and brush. In February 1956, Time magazine dubbed Pollock “Jack the Dripper” as a result of his unique painting style. He passed away just six months later.

In honor of his birthday, visit this site and create a masterpiece of your own. Here’s mine: