New Blog Site and Website!

I just realized that this site had not exactly "gone under" even though I transfered the previous posts to my new blog site on Squarespace 6 (the old site is on the previous Squarespace 5). So if you have found this site from an old link or subscription, please visit me at http://susie-monday.squarespace.com/blog or at http://www.susiemonday.com. 

Thanks for looking and thanks for taking this journey through cyberspace with me!

Fearlessly Sketched Torsos

 

What a great weekend. Six artist participants and my co-teacher Sarah Jones and I spent the last  two and a half days in drawing heaven. Is there anything better than having nothing to do but draw? We worked in many media, from many perspectives, with lots of input and insight from within and without the room. The first exercise was a variation of a project from Jane Fasse, whose wonderful blog  delivers art quotes daily to my inbox. AND her art quote one day last week (a timely gift from the universe) was the exercise we started with this weekend.

You can read her version here. We did the same, except I asked each person to stay with their own "claimed torsos -- 3 or 4 per person) for the entire hour and a half of drawing in response to visual prompts that were projected on the wall. The prompts were also from Jane -- a Pinterest board of figerative art.

Other exercises we pursued were more about "realistic" drawing, but this one loosened us all up, and provided a wonderful visual feast to work from -- enlarging all of our ideas about figurative drawing. I'll share other results later this week, so stay tuned.

 

App of the Week: THINK

The app.

This week's app is one just for inspiration and information: THINK by IBM. It's a world of information, infographics and cool ideas -- I am using some of the mapping info in some new pieces of work. Most of all, THINK is an example of the new kinds of publications that web-based content makes possible: visual, nonlinear, beautifully designed.

Here's how IBM describes it on the page about the exhibit and the app.

(Some readers reported issues with the link -- still works for me, but here's the link to the itunes app page as well. )

An exploration into making the world work better

Consider the advances of the past century. The way science has improved our daily lives. The possibilities unleashed by technology. The things we can do today that earlier generations could not even imagine.

Yes, this is about better information, tools, algorithms—but that's not all. It's about the deeply human quest to make the world more livable, safer, more efficient, more sustainable. Our enduring drive for progress has given us the capacity to see the world with greater clarity... to map what we see... to understand its dynamics. All of which builds shared belief... in a better future, and in the way each of us can act to make it so.

Lesson plans that go with the app and exhibit.This is part of IBM's commerical and cultural DNA -- it draws on the same tradition that saw Ray and Charles Eames designing interesting and novel exhibits in NYC for the company.

See what you think and tell me one idea you have for using what you see in your own work in the comment section, and I'll enter your name in a giveaway for a copy of THE MISSING ALPHABET, The Parents Guide to Developing Creative Thinking in Kids. 

P.S. I hope you'll sign up for my newsletter and stay in touch as I launch a round of great iPad workshops online. Either use the form on the sidebar or go to this link: http://mad.ly/signups/69874/join

Goal Setting/Goal Keeping

Just a little inspiration today, from kids. From futbol.

A film by El Cangrejo.

Video from KarmaTube