Sunday, December 22, 2013

Merry Christmas to all!



The final entry for 2013!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Christmas Presents

Joe’s Brown Craft Paper Christmas Packages



These packages aren't my art, but they are definitely craft art. Besides, it is Christmas, and I'm allowed to brag about my husband. If I told you that Joe, the expert package wrapper is doing our Christmas presents in craft paper you would probably think to yourself –

“Ugh, what is he thinking?”



Think again. These packages are sophisticated, and they show off the Christmas colors of the ribbons and other decorations beautifully. He has outdone all those self-help TV shows in which the ladies, and sometimes as well, gay men demonstrate their decorating ideas. That burst of brown and red on the top of the next package explodes like a Christmas fire cracker at the top of the wrapped bottle of 15-year-old scotch. Joe’s packages demonstrate once again the power of the “gay gene” when it comes to matters decorative.



As an artist, I of course have to put my two cents in. So, I'm adding some other possibilities - using cut fresh veggies like carrots, squash and potatoes with printing inks - to add patterns to the brown craft paper. Interestingly, the subtlety of these packages serves as a pleasant uplifting support placed round the bottom of the Christmas tree.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Heaven and Nature Sing


The 2013 Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida Christmas Concert series under the direction of Gordon Roberts begins tonight. Friday and Saturday performances, December 13, 14, and 20, 21 are sold out. However, the 7:30 P.M., Sunday, December 15th performance at Maurice Gusman Concert Hall at the University of Miami,
Coral Gables Campus is not. Tickets are still available at the Website, www.sundaymusicals.org, or by phone, 305-271-7150.  I urge any reader within two hours driving time to come hear us.  Should you attend, I personally guarantee you will leave with the joy of the Christmas season filling your heart to overflow.

I am fortunate to sing with this marvelous chorus and these wonderful chorus brothers. We seem to grow in maturity and quality with each new program. New membership this year brings us to 150 voices strong, and I believe that our goal to become one of the preeminent men’s choruses in the United States is on its way to being accomplished. The achievement of that goal will go far to fulfill the philosophical vision of the founders – “To Inspire Audiences, Move Spirits, Open Minds, and Change Hearts Through the Quality of Our Music, The Power of Our Words, and The Sight of Our Joy.”

Credits

Graphic Design for GMCSF by Marines Mazzarri & Luis Espinoza
Photography by Ginny Dixon

Saturday, December 7, 2013

December Graphics



Because this is the first entry of December 2013 I am reviewing graphics from the past 6 Decembers. These are diverse. The first for 2008, my version of love between LGBT partners at a time when it seemed that same sex marriage (aka "gay marriage") would take many years, sort of like pushing a jagged bolder up an extremely steep and rocky mountainside state by state. Instead, in 2013 same sex marriage is a reality in 15 states and the District of Columbia. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have to drag all the southern and some of the mid-western states kicking and screaming into the Twenty-first Century. The second December graphic, 2009, was my Website Christmas Card. The third, December 2010 spoke to my concern for middle and working class jobs having been outsourced to 3rd world nations by our super rich corporations, and to this day I say, “BUY USA” whenever it is possible. I selected the 2011 graphic from my political series of progressive/liberal artworks. It is a slam against FOX News, and the Supreme Court “Citizens United” decision, January 21, 2010 that granted “personhood” to corporations and added to the very real possibility of a super rich corporate takeover of our democracy. Finally, I include an illustrative artwork from my series of mixed media distressed paintings titled “The LGBT Pictionary.” Fairy Dust has a strong graphic element because it - like all of these (32 to date) artworks - is a hard-edged square, axial balance composition.

Additionally, as it is almost Christmas and we are in the middle of Chanukah the surround to my graphics entry is part of my photo of our 2011 Christmas tree.