Under Construction

Hello Designers!

This blog is under construction-it will be getting new icons, symbols, graphics, and a new layout!

Stay tuned, and have a relaxing Friday!


Peace,

Ella

KAWS, Artist insight of the Month

Hello Designers! 

Happy Friday! 

I hope you are getting ahead in design work, and about to kick off the weekend with some relaxation. {:

It's always great to look to the past for inspirational artists and art. However, I wanted to bring to your attention that there are many great artists in the present. Therefore, about once a month, I will be posting about a living artist, and his/her biography, style, concepts, websites, and shows.

The artist for this month is KAWS.

KAWS started out as a street artist in New York City. He grew up in the City tagging (see this link & the first definition listed to understand the term "tagging" http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tagging  ) newspaper stands, buildings, advertisement, and other various parts of the urban landscape. Here is one example of his earlier work:

His most recent work has been for the 2012 Macy's Day Parade. He created the banner and advertisements for the parade. He also redesigned the MTV VMA Awards. Both of these projects are pictured here:

Although, KAWS started his career off as a street artist, he has been exploring and working within advertising, vehicle wraps, commercial products, and fine art. KAWS is most recently known as an artist that is blurring the lines between commercial art and fine art. He creates studio pieces for fine art purposes, but he also has a line of commercial art and brand, in which he creates art pieces for the purpose of being sold.

*Interesting fact: KAWS is his artist name, and he selected the letters for his name based-on how he visually liked the letters, not based on the sound they make. Many people would argue that true artists see letters as shapes, rather than as letters that form words.

For more information on KAWS, go to his website http://www.kawsone.com/shop .

For more on his collaboration with the MTV VMA Awards, visit http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2013.jhtml


I hope this gives you a starting point for thought, and possible inspiration.

Have a great weekend!

Peace,

Ella Bella
follow me on twitter for more Design tweets @upperecshelon

*Information courtesy of urbandictionary.com, The CBS SUnday Morning Show 2012 personal interview with KAWS, MTV.com, kawsone.com. Images courtesy of Google Images. Remember to always give credit where credit is due!*

Under Construction

Hello designers!

An update for the blog: It is under construction!

Within the next few weeks, there will be a few changes, such as: the blog layout, and symbol key.

With this update on the blog, I leave you a quote for this Friday:

"Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself."

-Walter Anderson

A lot of life and your art has to do with not the failures you encounter, but with how you deal with the failures.

TGIF!

Peace,

Ella

Banksy: food for thought.

Hello Designers!

Happy Friday! I hope you have all been having a great summer. The LC Art Guide Review blog is back starting this Friday.

I thought I'd kick off the revival of this blog with a British street artist: Banksy.

Known to be from London, and sought after constantly by the police force, his attention has not only attracted the officials, but people around the world. Banksy has become known for using urban landscapes-buildings, sidewalks, walls, and more-as his canvas.

His outside art work usually includes graffiti images that provide as a commentary on larger world issues, such as: consumerism, government law policies, environmentalism, among other issues. His work ranges from comical to serious, and is constantly being covered up-deemed illegal, and radical.

Banksy is known for his persistence, and for creating pieces of artwork in light of famous events-he created two large murals for the 2012 London Summer Olympics (pictured below, pictures courtesy of twitter, Gerard McCarthy &WFMU). 

As an artist, Banksy conveys strong philosophies and social commentaries. When making art, it is important that you create or design for a cause that inspires you. For example, Graphic Designers are often encouraged to work for cliental that have overlapping interests. This way, you will be even more passionate about your design. Banksy clearly is passionate about his statements. Are you?

Here is a website that displays Banksy's work-some food for thought.

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

**Click on "Banksy", and it will take you to the website.
**For the full article, "Banksy interrupts the Olympics", go to 

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/07/banksy_interrupts_the_olympics.html


Peace,

Ella Bella

Follow me on twitter @upperecshelon or comment on this post!

Top most photograph courtesy of google.images.com. Title of the artwork unknown. The bottom most photograph, courtesy of colorlines.com, unknown title. Remember to always give credit where credit is due!

And...we're back!

Hello bloggers!

After many months of the inactivity on the Pocket-Sized "Essential Review for LC Art Students, the blog will be back this Friday, 8/2!

I will continue to post a review every Friday-spanning from websites to galleries and even TV shows.

Any questions or comments? Comment on this blog post, or message me on twitter @upperecshelon!

Until then, happy designing!

Peace,

Ella

**Share these helpful blog hints on your social media! Click the icons on the bottom left underneath this post to share to gmail, blogspot, twitter, facebook, and Google+ !

20 Minutes of Real Education about our Education System

"In my opinion creativity is as important as literacy."
 -Sir Ken Robinson

Welcome back Designers!

I hope you had a very relaxing break...as it was 5 weeks long! Whether you were banging on your house door wanting to come to campus, or being dragged back by your parents, the second semester has commenced!

Remember this advice, that I hold close, from Professor Pumphrey: Get ahead on your school work in the first 2 weeks! <This will set you up for success and help to establish your second semester routine!

To start off the semester, I would love to share with you this video by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson is an English Author, and advocate for integrating more art in schools. I'm usually not one to devote 20 minutes to youtubing (although it can be very easy with all of the funny videos!), but this is definitely a worth-while video to watch as an artist/art appreciator.

This video will enlighten a new perspective to you about why the American Public School system developed, what it values, and why more art should be included! This is valuable information to hold on for when you are asked, "What are you going to do with a major in Art?", or , "Why is art even important?". Well, now, you have a factual, highly-supported answer to give them!

Without further ado, Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=iG9CE55wbtY&list=PLF75A4178A6676E1F&index=1

Follow/contact me on twitter or through this blog:
@upperecshelon

Peace,

Ella Bella