It’s A Grind – New Venue, New Shows!

December 11th, 2009 ArtLoveMagic had our very first show at It’s A Grind Coffee in Deep Ellum.  We called it, “Unplugged Fireside Sessions” to honor the four acoustic acts and the toasty fireplace that warmed the hearts and fanny’s of many attendees.  All were feeling festive, most partaking in the delicious Christmassy beverages that were offered, while being attentive to the amazing live art and music happening all around them.

Our music lineup for the night included the jazzy Lenny’s New Legs, singer/songwriter Zachary Scott Pohl, The pop-duet GaydenLee, and the folky-zombie goodness of Parallel Play.

The live art was a unique blend that featured Conor Muldoon throwing pottery, Joe Townson painting, and Jen Sulak doing live portrait photography.

And we’re doing it again…

This time we are featuring live art from:

Eddie Walker – Air Brush

Josh Dryk – Fire Painting

Carissa Battaile – Vintage Portrait Photography

Sarah Brown & Keanna Pohl drawing/watercolor collaboration

and Aaron Garcia – Painting

Live Music will be powerfully performed by:

photo by Jen Sulak

Lenny’s New Legs

Elle

and Arianne Patty

ArtLoveMagic presents Art & Coffee at It’s A Grind, 2901 Indiana Blvd, Dallas, TX 75226 January 8th, 7:30pm – 10:30pm *FREE*

For Artists | Now, if you can e-mail, you can blog…

Setting up a website for yourself as an artist can be daunting.  After all, where would you start? 

A new blogging platform–Posterous –now allows you to create your web presence simply by sending e-mail.  And best of all, it is simple.  In fact it is so simple that you don’t even have to sign up for an account. You can simply send an e-mail with the content you want posted to post@posterous.com and voila! your posterous stream has begun. (Of course, you will likely want to claim your account to give ownership to the content posted so you can manage it.) You send text alone or attach photos (jpg, png, gif), video (avi or mpg), mp3’s or documents (doc, pdf, ppt) to your e-mail and they are posted in real time.

How to use Posterous

Say, for example, say you want to post a simple blog post with an image. In your e-mail, make the subject your title line. Make the blog post your e-mail text. And attach the photo you want posted with your content. Once you hit “send” a few seconds later the content is formatted and goes live. What makes Posterous different from Blogger or WordPress–who also let you post content via e-mail–is that Posterous will not only post the content to your Posterous page, but also to every other account you have linked to it…Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, etc. Making it very easy to manage all your social media sites through a single outlet. Of course, you won’t always want to post the same things to all of your accounts, so Posterous has an option for that. To post everywhere, you would send to post@posterous.com. To post only to twitter, send your e-mail to twitter@posterous.com. Flickr? flickr@posterous.com. Your blog? blog@posterous.com. You can even
combine them: facebook+blog@posterous.com.

Smart Posting of Content

One of my favorite features is that Posterous is “smart” when posting your content. Content over 140 characters sent to Twitter is shortened as a link. MP3’s that are posted (simply by sending as an attachment with your e-mail) are put into a player so that the post shows up as an easy to press “play” button. Photos are resized to be web friendly, and video is transcoded to a flash player that shows in your browser. (They host the file so there is no work to do.) URL’s are posted as a link, but if you send a YouTube link, Posterous automatically embeds the player.

They also make it easy to post multiple examples of your art by simply sending multiple photos via email.  Posterous automatically creates a gallery of those images.

How Much Does it Cost?

As with most social media platforms, Posterous is free, though you can likely expect advanced features to be released in the future to allow the team at Posterous to make some money.

Additional Features

Posterous supports tagging, analytics and group posting of content.  Easy instructions for these features–and others–are simply a click away in the FAQ file. 

And in case you are wondering, yes.  I did this blog post via Posterous.  It really is that easy. 

 –Cathy Hutchison

ARTISTS, save $$ and re-stock your studios!

Aaron Brother’s Semi-annual Penny Sale Starts This Saturday (26 Dec 2009)!!   

Buy any size Canvas or Photo frame at regular price and get another Canvas or Photo frame (equal or less value) for a penny!

The sale will run for 30 days!  They get new shipments in each week. To find the nearest Aaron Brothers go to: http://www.aaronbrothers.com/ and type in your zip code.

Shop till you drop!!

(Thanks for the heads up on this Essie)

Michelle

Maya: Emerge By Michael Lagocki

Over the past year or so I, Erin Little, have been very blessed to meet some of the most creative and talented people I know through a non-profit organization called ArtLoveMagic. The band I play bass in (Rin Tin Tin) was approached at a Zounds Sounds show by Justin Nygren (a founder of ArtLoveMagic). He gave us his card and told us that he was interested in booking us to play shows. We had no idea at the time that we would become very close with the people of ArtLoveMagic.

Rin Tin Tin has played a zillion of ArtLoveMagic’s Art and Coffee shows. These open mic nights are held at Saxbys Coffee in Farmer’s Branch and serve as a showcase for poets, musicians, painters, and damn near every kind of art you can think of. At one of our first Art and Coffees, we watched another founder, Michael Lagocki, recite an incredibly moving poem that spoke to us in an astonishing way. His poem is titled Maya: Emerge and describes man’s desire to do good combating the compulsion to be selfish. His poem illustrates the aspect of our very human nature to put ourselves first when others should be the most important.

I truly admire Michael Lagocki, here is
Maya: Emerge


This world is a Maya.
It’s a metaphor for self.
True connection feels like heaven- isolation feels like hell.
We’ve always known it was illusion, yet still it hid the truth.
So we’ve been waiting and debating, we’ve been organizing proof. We’ve been analyzing roots cause we’ve been strategizing moves. We’ve been gathering and cataloging hints and lies and clues.
See it’s easy to get lost when you’re trying to put a puzzle together, even when you know it’s a game.
Because how do you do a puzzle when the pieces keep changing? …when the size and the shapes and the colors and the names and even the picture on the BOX are all in constant shift, and they’re breathing in and out and they’re moving around like this, and you thought you made progress but you find yourself back where you thought you had started, still craving what you lacked, and you scream
“I’ve been trying, I’ve been doing right. I’ve been reading holy books, sayin‘ prayers every night. I’ve been walking the faith. I’ve been giving to the poor. I have been begging God to open the door.”
But you know the truth is you’ve been both. You’ve been the sacred and the profane. Yeah, you were honoring the Name when you weren’t taking it in vain. And you were giving to the poor when it didn’t occur to you to hoard. And you were lifting up your gifts when you weren’t demanding more.
But hey, that’s what life is, it’s a paradox of sorts.
You are a vibration in the body of God, moving back and moving forth.
So why don’t you ease up a bit? Stop providing so much stress.
You didn’t come forth here to judge yourself, you came here to express, to think and feel and bless, to open up your chest, to use the language of your soul to birth magnificence. The wise ones will rejoice. We are at a time of choice.
We need to feel your voice.
Step forward and be heard. Reclaim the gift of word.
Creativity, vitality, through poetry: emerge.”

-Michael Lagocki

If you would like to hear Michael recite his poem, go to the music section of ArtLoveMagic.com
http://artlovemagic.com/homebase/radio_02.htm

- Original article posted on A lot from a Little, by Erin Little

Local comic book artist covers the Observer

Kristian Donaldson, who gained national attention with his art on the comic Supermarket, draws the cover of the new Dallas Observer. Kristian’s signature style of sharp color and contrast depicts a moody Deep Ellum environment. Congrats on a beautiful image.

Giving holiday gifts that support local arts

This is our December campaign. Spend at least a portion of your holiday goodness on local art. That way, your gift gives THREE ways. To the reciever (they get a cool uncommon or even UNIQUE gift) to the local artist (who desperately needs support in the form of interest and dollars to keep going/growing) and to yourself (knowing you did something worthy- vs. just throwing more money at Best Buy).

On our facebook page has many links to local artists offering holiday gifts and services. You can reach it at facebook.com/ArtLoveMagicDallas.

You can also scroll down here and see a few more gift ideas.

The Perfect Date Night- Art and Coffee

(photo from Gobestarticles.com)

Every Friday night is a happy time for me. We rush out the door, drop off the kids at my parents’ house, and go out on our weekly date night. It is a beautiful thing, this triangle of happiness- my parents want to see the kids, the kids want to go to Grammy and Papaw’s house, and my husband and I want to escape for the evening. Why mess with perfection?

Date nights usually consist of dinner and a movie or concert, followed up with a trip to Starbucks. However, since our budget has gotten slimmer, we’ve been trying to find alternative sources for entertainment. So I was thrilled to discover Art and Coffee, which combines it all- a free concert/ art show at a local Saxby’s Coffee Shop.

When I stopped by Saxby’s, I was surprised to see it packed full of people everywhere. They had set up extra chairs outside, so people could enjoy the music while sipping their coffee. Each performer was different, which made for an interesting show. There were a few country singers, some insightful singer-songwriters, and even a futuristic electronica duo. I was thrilled to see so many local musicians in one night.

Inside the coffee shop, artists were busy creating and talking with customers. I really enjoyed browsing through the different pieces of handcrafted jewelry, photographs, and artworks. I chatted with the artists and asked questions about their materials and specific pieces that stood out to me. There was even a space set aside to create your own painting out of coffee, grinds, and water. I hummed along to the music outside while I painted a coffee rainstorm on my paper.

I left Art and Coffee, inspired by the music and art… and the huge chocolate chip cookie I had bought. I loved meeting so many local artists and musicians, and I even had my own original coffee painting to show off. It was a wonderful evening out- very cost efficient and lots of fun.

Art and Coffee is held the first Friday night of each month at Saxby’s Coffee Shop in Farmer’s Branch from 7:30-10:30. Get there early to sign up and perform at the open mic, or just grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the show! More info at www.artlovemagic.com.

-Michelle Townsend Wallace

More Holiday Gift Ideas: Gummy Greeting Cards

You can now order Jenice Johnson’s Gummy Greeting Cards via a PayPal requested donation of $3.50. Please send this post to everyone you know and support one of our most amazing photographers in the Dallas area! It’s super easy to order. Just take a gander at the following images and see which one you like. Then just click the PayPal donation link below to purchase! And you don’t need PayPal to do this at all. There is a place at the bottom of the PayPay page that directs you to how to pay without an account. Drop Jenice a line at artsbyjphotography at gmail dot com and tell her which one you would like and feel free to email her if you also have any questions!

Gummy Lights

Snowglobe Gummy

Gummy Free-For-All

Gummy Gift

Holiday Gift Idea – buy local

Any fans of comics or hiphop or street art on your list? Get them a copy of the new issue of GhettoManga magazine created by local artist Samax Randolph. This is a VERY fun book with incredible energy.

Unique gift. Blesses a local artist.

buy it at http://www.ghettomanga.com

ArtLoveMagic Unplugged – The Fireside Sessions

On December 11th ArtLoveMagic will partner with a new venue – It’s A Grind (Deep Ellum Location), with a cozy, aromatic and delicious new concept.  Some of Dallas’ finest Acoustic musicians will play along side It’s a Grind’s toasty fireplace surrounded by a few hand picked Dallas live visual artists.  While the music is all acoustic, the individual acts couldn’t be more different.

Zachary Scott Pohl has become a Dallas favorite of the singer/songwriter genre through the fine craft of words and story telling to moving music with memorable melodies.

GaydenLee, an indie pop male/female duet is coming out to celebrate the release of their latest EP, “Songs for Thursday”.

The three members of Lenny’s New Legs lead by Deborah Driscoll, will remind you of times gone by with their original soulful, jazzy numbers.

Finally, Parallel Play will be playing their first show back together since the ‘Zombie Hand incident’.  These guys will make you laugh.  ‘Nuff said!

And then there are the Visual artists…

Connor Muldoon – Sculpture

Joe Townson – Abstract Painting

Charlise Hill Larson – Painting/Mixed Media

Jen Sulak – Photography

December 11th * 7:30 – 10:30 pm * Free * It’s A Grind Coffee * 2901 Indiana Blvd, Dallas, TX 75226