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Emily Rogers Opening at Sierra Arts Gallery

A Portrait of West Wells is a photo collection and story done by talented Emily Rogers. Her photos almost speak when accompanied by historic narration of a colorful past. My first question of Rogers would be how did she embark on the journey of past lives and homes? Through research I discovered that Rogers often sat in the back seat of the family car, as her parents drove around Michigan making up stories for old houses. Surprisingly something that bored her as a child would turn into her life's work as an adult. Rogers successfully captures the ambiance of each home in the collection. She also skillfully relays interesting antidotes that entrance the viewing public, and piques their interest. Which brings me to my second question of how did Rogers decide upon the Wells Avenue area? Yes, some the houses are quaint and lovely. While others scream longingly for attention, a bit of tender loving care that maybe they once knew and enjoyed. Talking houses, they each have some interesting and colorful stories from past residents, long gone and forgotten if not for the new attention from Rogers.
The wall of matching old news clipping with yellow post-it notes explaining important antidotes of former inhabitants, is well thought out and researched. The photography of angles and framing, carefully denote each scenario, for a job well done.

Assignment 5 collaborative animation project jess and vic

Street Vibes Meets Dada... Reno, Nevada 2011

http://www.ubu.com/film/herbst.html 17:45
In the video short "Street Vibes Meets Dada... Reno, Nevada 2011", I followed a format for digital Media 245 to edit together video clips and photos in the Dada Style, using the original soundtrack of the 1922 Dadaist Manifesto by Helmet Herbst and attempting to replace my visuals and a video piece from the Oslo Filmfest into a preset concept. Recent pictures of Street Vibes bikes and riders seemed to repeat the almost 100 year old  Dada philosophy of art not being art while still being a statement of self expression and freedom to experiment.  As the Dadaist had bad reputations and were driven out, parts of Street Vibes were cancelled. Central to Deutschland Dada was the communication of a world of revolution. The piano boogey reminds me of my Grandmother"s playing and rings in the theme of past meeting present.

La Bella ... Continued

When beauty withstands the test of almost 500 years, it is truly La Bella. Painted in oil on canvas in 1536, Titan's masterpiece, La Bella: Woman in a Blue Dress exhibits a glimpse into the sensuality of Venetian style. On view until November 20, 2011 at the Nevada Museum of Art (NMA), the recently restored classic portrait is available to the public. On Friday, October 7th at noon, Art Historian Brett Van Hoesen displayed a series of slides and lecture with questions and answers at NMA on the topic of Renaissance Portraiture. La Bella was compared to other of Titan's works including The Portrait of the Duke of Urbino, 1536, The Duchess of Urbino, 1536, Woman in a Fur Coat, 1536, and the Venus of Urbino,1538. Many questions surround the identity of the female model inTitan's female portraiture, particularly those painting commissioned by the Duke of Urbino himself. In the era of Venetian wealth and prosperity was La Bella a mistress or Courtesan of the prosperous Duke? The jewels adorning her delicate face and elegant costume would suggest as much.
My questions along this line were, would the Duchess of Urbino allow such portraits to hang in her castle?
The answer was that this was an early form of pornography which met some need of the Duke's.
After a close-up inspection of the treasured painting I would also inquire as to the age of the model? She appears to be in her early teens to me, which brings up other issues of child pornography. Who would have thought?