Typography by Ale Paul

Typography by Argentina based designer Ale Paul. Ale Paul is one of the founders of the Sudtipos project, the first Argentinean type foundry collective.

Ale’s career as an art director landed him in some of Argentina’s most prestigious studios, and handling such high-profile corporate brands as Arcor, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Danone, and others. With the founding of Sudtipos in 2002, Ale shifted his efforts to typeface design, creating fonts and lettering for several top packaging agencies, along with commercial faces.

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How To Be Creative?

MacLeod highlights the value of authenticity  and hard work, and reveals the challenges  and rewards of being creative.

"So you want to be more creative in art, in business, whatever. 
Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years".

by Hugh MacLeod 

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Why Do We Study Art?

Why Do We Study Art? We study art because by doing so we learn about our own creative expressions and those of the past. The arts bridge the gap between past and present, and may even be the primary means of exploring a culture that never developed written documents. For example, the prehistoric cave paintings dating as far back as 30,000 B.C. reveal the importance for early societies of hunting. Their wish to reproduce and ensure the survival of the species is expressed in faceless prehistoric female figurines whose breasts and pelvis are disproportionately large. Prehis- toric structures, whether oriented toward earth or sky, provide insights into the kinds of gods people worshiped. Without such objects, which have fortunately been pre- served, we would know far less about ancient cultures than we now do. We would also know less about ourselves, for art is a window on human thought and emotion. 

Activity:
1- Read the text and answer this questions:
1- Where we find the earliest records of art?
2- What are the three great arts of the West?
3- Why the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids?
4- What was declared "the bird"?

2- No moore than 90 words describe your opinion about the art 

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Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist.

Velvet Underground album cover by Andy Warhol

Warhol's artwork ranged in many forms of media that include hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music. He was a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1985, just before his death in 1987. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. Andy Warhol is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.

Campbell's Soup I (1968)

Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titledEight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.

Warhol died in New York City at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. According to news reports, he had been making good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital before dying in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia. Prior to his diagnosis and operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors. His family sued the hospital for inadequate care, saying that the arrhythmia was caused by improper care and water intoxication.

Warhol's grave at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery

Warhol's body was taken back to Pittsburgh by his brothers for burial. The wake was at Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home and was an open-coffin ceremony. The coffin was a solid bronze casket with gold plated rails and white upholstery. Warhol was dressed in a black cashmere suit, a paisley tie, a platinum wig, and sunglasses. He was posed holding a small prayer book and a red rose. The funeral liturgy was held at the Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church on Pittsburgh'sNorth Side. The eulogy was given by Monsignor Peter Tay. Yoko Ono, John Richardson, and Nicholas Love were speakers. The coffin was covered with white roses and asparagus ferns. After the liturgy, the coffin was driven to St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, a south suburb of Pittsburgh.

Statue of Andy Warhol inBratislava, Slovakia.

At the grave, the priest said a brief prayer and sprinkled holy water on the casket. Before the coffin was lowered, Paige Powelldropped a copy of Interview magazine, an Interview t-shirt, and a bottle of the Estee Lauder perfume "Beautiful" into the grave. Warhol was buried next to his mother and father. A memorial service was held in Manhattan for Warhol on April 1, 1987, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.

Warhol's will dictated that his entire estate — with the exception of a few modest legacies to family members — would go to create a foundation dedicated to the "advancement of the visual arts". Warhol had so many possessions that it took Sotheby'snine days to auction his estate after his death; the auction grossed more than US$20 million.

In 1987, in accordance with Warhol's will, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts began. The Foundation serves as the official Estate of Andy Warhol, but also has a mission "to foster innovative artistic expression and the creative process" and is "focused primarily on supporting work of a challenging and often experimental nature."

The Artists Rights Society is the U.S. copyright representative for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for all Warhol works with the exception of Warhol film stills. The U.S. copyright representative for Warhol film stills is the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Additionally, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has agreements in place for its image archive. All digital images of Warhol are exclusively managed by Corbis, while all transparency images of Warhol are managed by Art Resource.

The Andy Warhol Foundation released its 20th Anniversary Annual Report as a three-volume set in 2007: Vol. I, 1987–2007; Vol. II, Grants & Exhibitions; and Vol. III, Legacy Program. The Foundation remains one of the largest grant-giving organizations for the visual arts in the U.S.

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Art Therapy in Schools

About Art Therapy
Art therapy can be beneficial to people of all ages, but it is especially useful for children and adolescents. Art is a natural form of communication for children because it is easier for them to express themselves visually rather than verbally. Art making has also been shown to enhance cognitive abilities, improve social skills, and encourage selfesteem in school-age children.
Art therapists are mental health professionals who are skilled in the application of a variety of art modalities
(drawing, painting, clay, digital and computer-driven, and other media) for assessment and treatment and are
specifically educated to use art in therapy with individuals of all ages. We hope that this information will give you a greater understanding of how art therapy can be used to improve learning and develop cognitive, motor, social, and creative skills in the classroom and as a support service to school-age students.

What Do School Art Therapists Do?
School art therapists are proficient in a wide variety of art-based
techniques to evaluate students’ cognitive and emotional development, academic strengths and problems, and sensory-motor, social, and behavioral skills. Based on this evaluation and consultation with school personnel and parents, art therapists provide art experiences to help students improve learning, interpersonal skills and behavior, and/or physical abilities. In the US, they also establish individual goals and
objectives for students Individual Educational Plans (IEPs). Depending on goals for improvement, students may receive individual art therapy and/or group art therapy. Art therapy may be used to facilitate students’
expression of feelings, enhance positive behaviors, increase self-esteem, augment cognitive abilities, and/or improve social skills. Helping students reach their fullest potential within the educational environment is the overriding goal of art therapy in all cases.

What Student Populations Benefit From Art Therapy?
School art therapists work with students who have a wide variety of needs, such as learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, mental retardation, physical disabilities, behavioral disorders, and emotional disorders, among others. For example, an art therapist working with a child with ADHD may develop activities to help reduce impulsive behaviors, enhance interpersonal behavior, and improve study skills and classroom performance. Or, in working with a student with sensory-motor

How is Art Therapy Different From Other Types of Services?
School art therapists are uniquely proficient in and knowledgeable about using art-based assessments and tasks with students of all ages. Art expression provides children and adolescents a way to communicate aspects of feelings, perceptions, and development in ways that words cannot. Art therapy combines both visual and verbal approaches to help students meet goals and objectives for improvement and complements school counseling, school psychology, and other pupil services.

For more information about art therapy and to join our community, visit:
www.internationalarttherapy.org | www.arttherapyalliance.org
info@arttherapyalliance.org | info@theiato.org
For more information, see the following:

Books & Articles:
Bush, J. (1997). The handbook of school art therapy: Introducing art
therapy into a school system. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
Prasad, S. (2008). Creative expression: Say it with art [art education
and art therapy in schools in India]. Virginia, US: Author.
Safran, D. (2002). Art therapy and ADHD: Diagnostic and therapeutic
approaches. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Stepney, S. (2001). Art therapy with students at risk: Introducing art
therapy into an alternative learning environment for adolescents.
Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
Malchiodi, C. (1998). Understanding children's drawings. New York:
Guilford.
Kearns, D. (2004). Art therapy with a child experiencing sensory
integration difficulty. Art Therapy, 21 (2), 95-101.
Riley, S. (1999). Contemporary art therapy approaches with adolescents.
London: Jessica Kingsley.
Pleasant-Metcalf, A. & Rosal, M. (1997). The use of art therapy to
improve academic performance. Art Therapy, 14 (1), 23-29.
Silver, R. (2000). Developing cognitive and creative skills through art:
Programs for children with communication disorders or learning
disabilities (3rd Ed.). New York: Albin Press.

Websites:
School Art Therapy in the US [Janet Bush website], visit: http://
www.schoolarttherapy.com/school_art_therapy.htm
The Art Therapy Connection is a not-for-profit organization
dedicated to serving children who are at risk of failure in their
school setting; visit http://www.arttherapyconnection.org/
Art Therapy in Schools & Educational Settings, visit: http://
www.internationalarttherapy.org/psychoeducational.html. View
film on art therapy program and download PDF of school art
therapy ethics.

© 2010 International Art Therapy Organization & Art Therapy Alliance; prepared by Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, ATR-BC

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I Like Cities; Do You LikeLetters?

I Like Cities; Do You Like Letters? Introducing Urban Typography in Art Education
by: Ricard Huerta

This article proposes a study of the letters and graphics found in the city, while at the same time opening up unusual spaces linked to the cultural arena and visual geographies for the creation of learning spaces in art education, introducing urban typography for training teachers. The letters in urban spaces can help us reinterpret the patrimonial fabric of cities. With the help of typography, visual arts educators have a powerful graphic resource with which to articulate the complex communicative network of streets. We suggest walking as an aesthetic practice; strolling around the city as a very cultural means to motivate our students. We have at our disposal in our cities a genuine museum woven together with the threads of the alphabet.

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Antonio Berni

Delesio Antonio Berni (14 May 1905 – 13 October 1981) was a figurative artist, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. He worked as a painter, an illustrator and an engraver. His father, Napoleón Berni, was an immigrant tailor from Italy. His mother, Margarita Picco, was an Argentinian, daughter of Italians settled in Roldán, a nearby town.

In 1914, he became an apprentice in the Buxadera and Co. vitraux factory, receiving to Buenos Aires, which was attended even by President Marcelo T. de Alvear.

In Paris, he became acquainted with a number of people, such as Louis Aragon, a French writer and one of the leaders of Dada and surrealism, who influenced him artistically and introduced him to André Breton, poet and critic. He also befriended Henri Lefebvre, who initiated him in the reading of Karl Marx. With the combined influence of his friends in politics, and of Giorgio de Chirico's works and René Magritte in the arts, he finally embraced surrealism and Communism. He began helping Aragón in his anti-imperialist struggle in Paris, where Chinese, African, Vietnamese and other minority people were abundant. Berni distributed a newspaper for yellow people and illustrated other publications. In the meantime, he studied surrealist painting and poetry, and the work of Sigmund Freud. One of his illuminating moments came when he met Tristan Tzara in 1930.

His style of surrealism does not resemble Miró's automatism or Dalí's onirism; he instead took Chirico's style and gave it a new content.

By 1930, Berni was married and had a daughter. Shocked by the news of a military coup d'état in Buenos Aires (see Década Infame), he decided to go back, and settled first in the countryside, and then in Rosario, where he worked in the town hall. He organized an association of artists and students, and was briefly a member of the local Communist Party.

In 1932, he exposed his surrealist paintings. It was the first display of this art movement in Latin America, and the public was not accustomed to it; the critics condemned it. In 1932 he painted La Siesta y su Sueno.

Argentina was under the rule of a conservative dictatorship, a problematic time full of social struggle, workers' strikes and unemployment. Rosario was a picturesque display of decadence, prostitution andmafia gangs. The world as a whole was moving towards darker times, with totalitarism, the rise of Nazism in Germany, the Spanish Civil War, etc. Berni felt surrealism was far removed from this, and started moving away into social realism, starting in 1934 with two paintings called Desocupados ("Unemployed people") and Manifestación ("Protest").

In 1945, Berni painted one of 12 frescos on the cupola of Edifício Pacífico in Florida Street, Buenos Aires. Today the building houses the shopping arcade Galerías Pacífico where his work is still visible after 4 more frescos were added in 1990.

In the 1940s, Berni met and studied Pre-Columbian art during a journey through Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, whose influence can be felt in a painting, Mercado indígena ("Indian market"). This decade was one of revolutions and coups d'état in Latin America, including Argentina in 1943. Between 1948 and 1951 he painted Masacre ("Massacre"), El obrero muerto ("The dead worker"), and another "Demonstration", with people carrying symbols of peace, on the year of the first hydrogen bomb test by the United States.

From 1951 to 1953, he lived in Santiago del Estero, a province in the Argentine north-west which had suffered and was still suffering massive ecological damage, mainly overexploitation of the quebracho tree(for its tannin and its hard, durable timber) by a few landowners who exploited their workers. In the following years, Berni's works reflected this natural and social tragedy. In 1955–1956 he painted the seriesChaco, depicting the similar situation in Chaco; it was exhibited in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Bucharest and Moscow.

By this time, he also painted some suburban landscapes, and then he invented two stock characters that would make his works recognizable worldwide, Juanito Laguna and Ramona Montiel'.

Following bum March 1976 coup, Berni went to live in New York City, where he painted, did engraving and collage, and exhibited some works. He painted 58 works that were meant for an exhibit in Texas, but were never displayed there, and were recovered and brought back to Argentina after his death, in 1982. New York struck him as luxurious, consumistic, materially wealthy but spiritually poor. His works showed this with a touch of social irony.

In 1981, his paintings became more spiritual and reflective. He painted apocalyptic murals for a chapel in General Las Heras, Buenos Aires; a Cristo en el garage ("Christ in the garage"), and the opposition of nature and humanity through a naked woman lying in the sand under the moon, this harmonious night disturbed by the passing of an airplane. Berni died that same year, on October 13.

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What is Art?

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Video of the Day

The Boy Who wanted to be a Lion

2012

Directed by Alois Di Leo

Max is a seven-year-old deaf boy growing up in the 1960s. One day he goes on a
school trip to the zoo, where he sees a lion for the first time. A feeling begins to grow
inside him that will change his life forever.

more info: blog.theboywhowantedtobealion.com/

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Image of the Day

FLOATING PEOPLE ON INVISIBLE BICYCLE

Amazing photo-manipulation project by chinese photographer Zhao Huasen where floating people go along the streets with  invisible bicycles!!

More Info: http://www.feizi-gallery.com/

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Architecture of the Day

TRES HERMANAS HOUSE

This project seeks to fulfill the desire shared by three sisters. A home built in the landscape and tradition of the area, environmental friendly and full of corners to enjoy.
This refuge is generated from three independent units, three sisters and their families, three cottages with great views and good guidance but also with a certain intimacy between them. Three houses together but no riots, a field, a common courtyard, a place to fit all the cousins, a place to fit all friends.
As housing architectural object is to merge with the surrounding landscape, a valley of vineyards and olive groves, making clear its geometry confusing and expectant materiality, pending a more contextual determinants of herself. An uninhibited architecture that awaits to transform over time, as the sun is coming back gray facades and signs are appearing of a joyful life.

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ORIGAMI AND PAPER | MARC FICHOU

In this work, ORIGAMI & PAPER, the artist Marc Fichou, wants create a piece where the image cannot be separated from its referent, thus creating a visual link between past and present. This concept naturally led him towards origami because of the reversible character of its folding process: each can be unfolded back to its creases. In his series, the sheet of paper contains both the photographic and the material memories of its past origami form.Origami and paper are one and the same thing at two different times, in two different spaces and in two different shapes.

As for representing animals, a form associated with the outside world, it enables one to first direct the gaze towards the three-dimensional space of the picture. Then, once a mental connection is made with the medium, the attention is drawn back to the surface of the paper and to our own material space. The final piece is both a photograph and a sculptural object where folds in the picture blend with the real folds, thus blurring the line between image and matter

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