Getting “Personaland” with Art

The art world has gone way beyond brick & mortar galleries!  I recently heard about a new, unique online art forum called Personaland & participated in an online art exhibit.  I was pleased to see how fun, original & interactive the site’s creator, Stewart Wilson, has made the site so I asked him to be my next guest blogger so he can tell us how this concept came to be and how you can participate….

Personaland is the destination of my forty year journey of making the Personas – my “wrapped representatives from another dimension here for peaceful purposes.” As I have made these sculptures, the embodiment of human potential, they have guided me. I have made over 31,00 individual figures in human and animal form which has been distributed and exhibited world-wide. During this time, I have founded and been Executive Director of two non-profit arts organizations, Public Image (NYC 1981-84) and Artwell Gallery (Torrington, CT (1995-2011). I have been a public school art teacher. The Personas are about human connectivity and community building and I feel that they were my gurus in my artistic trajectory. Since retiring from teaching, I have attended dozens of meet-ups, conferences and workshops where I have learned 21^st century skills and connected with hundreds of talented people. Personaland has been a quest to create an online cultural platform and community for artists of all media – visual, film. literary and performance arts. Personaland is a welcoming, peaceful, respectful destination that uses the latest in digital technology for positive purposes – screens for good.

Personaland is an online global village for the arts – an internet sanctuary whose mission is to unite us through our humanity, creativity and community. With an invigorating blend of entertainment, enchantment and culture, we are designing novel adventures and opportunities for you. Our global group and individual art shows have exhibited over 100 artists from nearly two dozen countries, We are adding exciting new activities every month, bring greater satisfaction to an ever growing audience. https://www.personaland.com

We’re now accepting artwork of all media – images, music, film and words – for our December global group show “Community.” No entry fee https://personaland.com/submit/community-exhib.php

We have Persona Horseback and Dragon rides to our online individual and global art shows, Art Shop, dancing flowers, wishing well and fun games

What’s your Art History IQ? Play the “Name the Artist” game and contest at the Game Bazaar: https://personaland.com/tent/art-clue/

We’d love your participation!

Stewart

Podcasts, Tattoos & Favorite Things

What do these 3 things have in common?  They are all new art exhibits and art interviews happening now…and I’m happy to be involved with all three of them!  Spring brings out the motivation & creativity in many of us so it’s a great time to create new work or get out & experience what’s going on in the art world.  Social media makes this easier than ever, especially with podcasts !  My friend at the XFactory hooked me up with the awesome guys at Know-Shit Podcasts to do an hour long interview about everything from what it’s like to be a full time artist, to the Gothic & Steampunk scenes, mythology, spirituality & more!   I hope you’ll take some time to check it out, & listen in on future podcasts as well, as they have many interesting guests.  Here’s the link to my interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjFT7TLpCF4&feature=share

As for Tattoos, they are an ancient art form that has gone thru many changes and stereotypes but is now more respected than ever as a true art form and is being honored in a new art exhibit at Atelier Rosal in Rahway, NJ!  Amazing works depicting tattooed people and art by artists who’s work has ended up on a walking canvas as well as images addressing this much maligned but now popular art form. Show runs thru June 7, 2018.  74 East Cherry St., Rahway, NJ.  
https://www.facebook.com/AtelierRosal/

Digital photo collage using actual x-ray images.

I’m happy to have 2 of my “X-RAYted” digital photo collages in this show and the exhibit will also coincide with a huge biker fest in town Sat. May 12.  Here’s the Facebook invite page for details:   https://www.facebook.com/events/1803649219938141/

This town wide, free event will be the perfect place to see tattoo art at it’s best, both in the gallery and on human canvases!

Finally we come to “a few of our Favorite Things”.  This is the latest theme for the new art exhibit at the South Brunswick Municipal Gallery, which opens Fri. May 18, 6:30pm-8pm. It’s a free event, with refreshments served, that features art from many local NJ artists focused on things we feel a connection to, that bring back memories and tell stories!  I’ll have the photo below, “NOLA VooDoo Window” in this exhibit.  Show runs thru Aug. 5, 2018.
540 Rt. 522/Ridge Rd., Monmouth Jct., NJ www.sbarts.org

So, there are many ways you can get involved with the arts this spring, whether it’s attending a gallery show, a biker tattoo outdoor fest or listening to a podcast from the comfort of home…or all three!  Either way, I hope you enjoy these free and creative events…& stay tuned for more to come this summer!

A Beautiful & Powerful Art Exhibit

“Beautiful and Powerful Statements” is an art exhibit featuring the arts of calligraphy and re-purposed materials.  It opens Saturday, January 28, 2-5pm at Nails in the Wall, the Gallery at St. Luke’s, 17 Oak Ave., Metuchen.  The exhibit includes nearly 70 pieces in many media, from photography and video to fabric, ceramic and glass as well as all manner of re-purposed materials. Work from all over the U.S. and as far away as Israel is included in this show, along with the work of New Jersey artists. The approach to calligraphy was a very broad one and was open to any work that was text-predominant. That has allowed us to include not only work with elegant traditional calligraphy in many diverse languages, but other pieces that are very powerful and direct. “Anatolia” by Woodbridge, NJ artist Gozde Ture includes a quotation from the Orkhon Inscriptions with calligraphy in the Goturk alphabet that speaks about time. Ruth Schreiber’s works, from Israel, while connected to the Hebrew Scriptures, employ a “fantasy writing” using porcelain and other images. And California calligrapher Beverly Womack creates her work using layers of materials and images. The photography-based altered prints of East Orange artist, Onnie Strother, on the other hand, use bold text to speak directly to their viewer, and Georgia-based Craig Wilson’s almost stream-of-consciousness words dance all over the page. The art from “repurposed materials” makes their statements by way of the material itself…employing everything from actual bees and beeswax as Montclair artist Art Paxton does in “Buzz”, to the steampunk-related cast-offs used by NY artist and teacher Seth Apter, and another Steampunk influenced 3D piece by Lauren Curtis, as well as a piece by  Metuchen artist Amy Brooks in her work “Post-Truth Apocalypse”. “We were sought to incorporate in the show work featuring calligraphy or text that made, individually and collectively, a powerful statement. We were also interested that the work accepted using re-purposed materials had an inherent, accessible beauty. We were constantly weighing those two interests as we reviewed the work and decided what would fit well in this show, so that each piece really was appropriately “Beautiful and Powerful, “ noted Gallery Board Member Robert Hopkins. The Opening will be carried by Facebook Live, beginning around 2:30pm. This will be especially helpful for the artists who live great distances. It will allow anyone who wishes to log on to the Nails in the Wall Gallery FB page and interact with the visitors present at the gallery. Nails in the Wall is in the midst of its fifth year presenting international, interfaith exhibits of high-quality fine art. To learn more about the gallery, visit www.nailsinthewall.org or call the Director 732.322.6512.  Link to the Facebook invite:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1765730973753205/

I’ll have this large, 3-D Steampunk style box in the show.

SITTING BEYOND YOURSELF

These certainly are trying times….economically, politically, spiritually…and for many of us, we don’t always know how to cope….and I think creative people tend to feel this even more intensely….so my friend, a very creative, spiritually attuned person, Stephen Fountain, agreed to share some of his insights with us….

SITTING BEYOND YOURSELF     By Stephen E. Fountain (c)2016

(“Power of Words” (c)Lauren Curtis)

Sitting… for hours upon hours, days upon days and month after month, getting so much done, and yet, nothing accomplished. You sit some more, unable to see and wondering what you have been doing in the past year. Feeling drawn to this technological vortex, pulling oneself away can be a delightful journey into a world yet discovered. Sometimes you flail in inertia, as if on the event horizon of a black hole in the deepest of space. Who can hear you? I make my own music to reflect the sound of my heart. Paddling through the cosmos, taking my time to observe the regal beauty of stars stories behold, while the brunt of society focuses on their little box, sitting on the edge of their chair, while electors and electees waltz in a room that covers the doom of their lying gloom, and people, blindly aware, clap and cheer and leave their intuition and instinct to rest in a tomb. Surely the world has gone mad or has my isolation allowed me to view a world I never knew, that I thought was in sync with me. I feel lost in expression that has voided its own appeal, competing with sugar coated commercialism that they drink so wildly, as if they cannot notice their under garments fit so perfectly. Praying for change, it is me that has evolved while the world remains grasping in its ways. Where am I going and what will I do? Times like this obsoleting movement bring me to a place of screaming torched solitude, where I am in harmony with the groundhogs waddle and the hummingbirds buzz. I tend to my garden in beauty and peace, while at the same time I continue to sit and stare and my endless work, knowing that my soulmates are there, yet flattened and splayed like a supernova. What really is important when everyone is sounding their view and no one listens? Inside my process I hide as I yell and long for the beings of light and love to stop building their utopic doom. Like memory gongs, in a sea swallowing me, I transcend depths that become steps. Looking back, it was me drowning in my own illumination that the world had misplaced. They refuse to learn and instead they stay where I was. I hope they follow my steps instead of bedazzling in their own dread.

To learn more about Stephen & his organization…

ATHEZOC

Design, art, music, literature, humanities, elements, inventions, temple, spiritualism, travel, environments, science, culture, community development.

http://www.thezoc.org

The pen creates words & art in this new novel.

It’s very satisfying, as a freelance artist, to be able to bring an author’s words to life and that’s what I’ve had the honor to do over the last year and a half for author Samuel Omega Salt (Hawaii) and his fact-based novel,  “PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One”.   This fascinating, spiritual journey is a riveting read and I have been commissioned to create pen & ink illustrations to accompany this novel.  I look forward to continuing work on volume two this coming year!

Now, here’s more details about “PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One” & how you can purchase your copy….

“PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One” book cover

Samuel Omega Salt’s new book “PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One” is a fact based story about being the proverbial black sheep in a religious family.
Recent release “PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One” from Page Publishing author Samuel Omega Salt is an all too true account of a young man under constant scrutiny, who manages to implode his family and his father’s ministry.
Samuel Omega Salt, a former rebel without a cause, has completed his new book “PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One”: the true story of growing up the son of a preacher, and making one terrible choice after another.
Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Samuel Omega Salt’s poignant tale describes the life of Zachariah Wolf. Young, healthy, and the son of a minister, Zachariah’s life choices are constantly under examination. While his siblings seem capable of maintaining the superior standards of conduct expected of a pastor’s family, Zac is not. He constantly gets into trouble causing his mother to resort to extreme tactics of discipline.

Firehand (c)Nov2014 pen & ink by Lauren Curtis

Zachariah’s personal struggles conflict with his great athletic achievements. The doors of opportunity open as he gains popularity, which he uses to his advantage. He engages on one relationship after another; including the university president’s daughter, an affair with the police chief’s wife, and an IRS agent. Zac’s failed marriage disgraces the family, which causes the congregation to split; taking down his father’s ministry along with it. Through all of his struggles he learns a lot about life, faith and the will to survive. In the end, he is able to see beyond his own existence and saves the lives of two young girls from certain death, reaffirming his faith in God and gaining a sense of peace and purpose.

Car Crash (c)Feb2015 pen & ink by Lauren Curtis

Readers who wish to experience this revealing work can purchase “PK: Preacher’s Kid – Volume One” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play or Barnes and Noble.
For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.
About Page Publishing
Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors’ books, including distribution in the world’s largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create – not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at www.pagepublishing.com.

Church Exterior (c)Sept2014 pen & ink by Lauren Curtis

Guest Blog #3: Vila Spiderhawk, author

I just finished reading a wonderful book, “Hidden Passages” by my friend, author Vila Spiderhawk & I wanted her to be my next guest blogger. Here’s a blurb she emailed me about her spiritual, beautifully written and meaningful books about the transformations women go through in all walks of life:

Info. about Vila Spiderhawk's novels

My Sound of Art DVD on TV!

My friend & UK musician, Mark Sheppard, & I created a music/art DVD/CD last year and it’s been getting rave reviews! Now it’s being featured on an episode of the art/spirituality TV show out of California, Bridging Heaven & Earth!
To see the episode (#243), here’s the link & info:

TWO Magical New Bridging Shows with Panache Desai and John Sherman Now Available Worldwide 24/7
PANACHE:

JOHN:

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Great news….our two new Bridging Shows # 245 and # 243 with world-renowned spiritual teachers, Panache Desai and John Sherman, along with the amazing videos of Lauren Curtis, Mark Sheppard, Shawn Galloway, Nina Goncharova, and Lessia and the magical art manifestations of Greg McGrath, Irene Bendykowski, Shirl Lee, and Daniel Holeman, are now up and available worldwide……

We think they’re just magnificent and joyous……….
it’s all very, very exciting……
ENJOY!!!!!!!
For any additional information, contact us at info@HeavenToEarth.com or call 805-687-2053, or go to the “Bridging” websites at: http://www.HeavenToEarth.com and http://www.HeavenToEarthArt.com . The Bridging Heaven & Earth Foundation is a 501(C)3 non-profit, educational, tax-exempt, organization.

If you have any thoughts, dreams, feelings, and/or visions that you’d like to share with us, or any ways you’d like to collaborate with us, please contact us at any time.

We Love You and are extremely grateful for all your help, inspiration, and support.

dedicated to the Oneness