Journal of Creative Arts & Minds, Vol.2, No.2 – Dec. 2016

Journal of Creative Arts & Minds Vol.2, No.2, December 2016 An Original Publication of Jumbo Arts International Red Springs, North Carolina, USA

ISBN: 978-0-9965432-3-1 / ISSN: Pending Jumbo Arts International

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Journal of Creative Arts and Minds Published by

Margie Labadie, President John Antoine Labadie, Senior Editor Larry Arnold, Board Member

Electronic Links https://www.facebook.com/JournalofCreativeArtsandMinds http://www.jumboartsinternational.org

Jumbo Arts International Contact Information 217 South Edinborough St. Red Springs, North Carolina 28377-1233 01.910.734.3223 Editorial – John Antoine Labadie & Margie Labadie Design – The JCAM Team of Jumbo Arts International

The Journal of Creative Arts and Minds is a publication of Jumbo Arts International.

This electronic publication is free. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Jumbo Arts International President’s Message – 6 JCAM Editor’s Message – 8 VISUAL ARTIST PROFILES Antonio Montes – 13 Frank Dobrushken – 26 Howard Simpson – 37 Josep Maria Mariscal – 51 Juan José Roque Hidalgo – 63 Mel Strawn – 79 Mohan D. Sundaresan – 91 Pátkai Annamária – 104 Rusudan Khizanishvili – 114 Sudip Das – 126 Vijay Roy – 140 CREATIVE PROJECT REVIEWS 2016 Jaipur Art Summit – 154 INFORMATION FOR POTENTIAL SUBMITTERS – 159 FINAL WORD – 160

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President’s Message December 2016 JCAM Publisher’s Message In early December, John and I traveled half way around the world to take part in the Jaipur Art Summit; it was the highlight of our art, travel, and journalistic activities in 2016. As invited fine artists and journalists, we spent the better part of a week speaking with literally hundreds of visitors about our own art work, which was on display, and introducing fellow Summit participants to the Journal of Creative Arts and Minds. It was both an honor and privilege to be in India with so many kind, international artists and Arts supporters. Recognizing the importance of Arts in society, the Summit organizers formed a stunningly successful partnership to highlight the city of Jaipur and its creative heart. An article about the Summit is included in this issue.

Art and Travel are two of my greatest passions. For me, both words deserve to be capitalized!

Art allows my mind to wander to places far and near, real or imaginary, without ever leaving my studio. But Travel is for learning about the world empirically. Travel is for experiencing things that expand my mind and change my perspectives. Travel brings with it new tastes, new sights and sounds, and new friends. It is not a coincidence that the Journal of Creative Arts and Minds has similar goals.

It is my hope that our readers not only love some of the art they see in our pages, but that they are inspired to reach out and learn more about art and the places our artists live and work.

Through the JCAM, it is my hope that readers find a greater understanding of how ‘place’ affects art and artists. Perhaps the JCAM might even inspire some readers to explore new places to expand their minds and widen their own perspectives.

This issue of the JCAM features artists from the USA, Spain, India, Hungary, and Georgia. We hope you enjoy!

Margie Labadie JCAM Publisher & President, Jumbo Arts

International Red Springs, North Carolina, USA jumboartsinternational@gmail.com

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Margie Labadie “The Web We Weave #3” / Digital Artwork Exhibited in the “2016 Jaipur Art Summit” in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India in December 2016

Margie Labadie “The Web We Weave #1” / Digital Artwork Exhibited in the “2016 Jaipur Art Summit” in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India in December 2016

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A Message from the Editor It is now December of 2016 and we are again pleased to be able to publish Vol.2, No. 2 of Jumbo Arts International’s “Journal of Creative Arts and Minds.”

This is the end of our second year of publishing the JCAM. We are thrilled to bring our readers this more highly evolved edition to our readership.

Our JCAM publication is directly connected to our core mission to support the arts, creativity, and improved mutual understanding of life ways and creative passions on an international level.

The JCAM is a publication of its time. For example, the content for the 2016 issues has been developed entirely through social media. The JCAM has been grown though electronic messaging and emails, built through cloud storage, published online, and is viewable for free as a web-hosted PDF without restrictions.

As with our previous JCAM publications, the highly creative visual artists whose works are included in the December 2016 issue of the JCAM represent a wide range of countries, cultures, media, ages, and levels of experience. We value our relationship with each artist. Their written and visual work is treated with the same respect as we devote to our own creative efforts. Each artist’s submission is held as unique and is allowed to evolve relatively unhindered given the technical limitations of our current publishing format.

The JCAM receives questions about our submission process every week. The initial interaction with each of the visual artists expressing interest in being published in the JCAM is based solely on a dialogue about the artist’s artwork. After the initial dialogue all submissions of visual images are subjected to a standardized editorial review process.

It is only after the editors and/or a panel of reviewers have juried a submission that an offer for possible publication is extended to a submitter. And then the editorial process begins in earnest ....

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The December 2016 issue has brought certain editorial challenges that were interesting and educational for both submitters and staff. For example, as with other issues the editors received text submissions forwarded to us in languages other than English.

Fortunately, the electronic tools to translate from one language, or alphabet, to another seem to be improving almost on a daily basis. Using a variety of translation tools, and engaging in a productive dialogue with submitters, has allowed for the successful publication of “translated” articles that we might not have previously attempted.

The narrative portion of all articles is, as much as possible, cast in the original “voice” of the artist-submitter. Our editorial process attempts to provide clean and technically error free prose that still allows for the individual voice of each artist-author to come through.

We see this as part of the mission of Jumbo, and intend to improve and evolve this editorial practice to our submitters in future issues as well.

As readers might imagine, Jumbo Arts International’s JCAM publishing project is a well organized, highly collaborative, and time consuming endeavor. Our small Jumbo staff continuously seeks to identify and publish original creative work from local, regional, national and international sources that are known to us. Our outreach in this regard has greatly expanded our network since our pre-planning efforts began for the JCAM in 2014. It is our pledge to continue this process in the issues to come.

In this December 2016 issue we continue to offer reviews of creative projects with which we have had the good fortune to interact. It is hoped that readers will enjoy and be informed by this feature. As artists ourselves, the JCAM staff is happy to be able to share some of our successful creative connections with readers.

Our readers are our best way to network out into creative communities. Do you know of a visual artist or creative writer JCAM should hear about? Email us at the address below. We promise to answer all emails sent our way. Enjoy our latest publication!

John Antoine Labadie Senior Editor Journal of Creative Arts & Minds jcam.jal@gmail.com

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John Antoine Labadie “Meditations 13” (Detail) / Tradigital Image Exhibited in the “2016 Jaipur Art Summit” in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India in December 2016

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Antonio Macias Montes Maestro Antonio Montes is a Spanish artist and teacher who works and exhibits internationally.

JCAM: What is your professional name? Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

Where do you live now and how does it influence there?

Do you have family, friends or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life?

AMM: My professional name is Antonio Montes. I am, for the most part, an empirical, or primarily self-taught artist.

I was born near Malaga Spain, in 1954. We lived in a fishing village. That place influenced me so much as a child that I remember it even when painting today. But, perhaps in certain ways, I had to spend 40 years working as an artist for that village to be a part of my work. My location growing up was Andalusia, a place along the coastline, with a beach two minutes from where I lived. So, perhaps because of this, landscape for me is a source of inspiration in my artwork.

My life is art. My art is my life. When I am not making art I am reading about art, learning from creative colleagues, or sharing my art and thoughts with them. I think there is no difference between my life and art. These things are as one to me.

Certainly I have friends in different places, both in Europe and America for example. My friends and my manager, Jeny Alfaro, are very important for me. These good people help that support my art. My family and my wife are very important and they support me in my art making. I also have a granddaughter (only 10 years old) who has spent several years painting already in her young life. It seems that she inherited this from me, and perhaps she has some promise in art as well.

JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Can you describe the moment when you realized that creating something was what you had to do? Why do you make art now? How has your art changed or evolved over time? What are you trying to communicate with your art?

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AMM: My arrival in America in 1993 was a turning point in my artistic life. I toured Central and South American, Latin and North America, and in 2001 reached Panama.

There I met the teacher, and great master sculptor, Hector Lombana. It was Lombana who became my mentor. He encouraged me to make work in his sculpture studio. He would teach me what to do and how to accomplish all necessary tasks of an assistant to a professional sculptor.

The master would come to the studio at just the right to time to instruct me how make the molded parts by hand, he showed me how to the complete the work, and finally how to apply patinas. After some time, and when I was more experienced, Lombana encouraged me do my own sculptures too. He appreciated my work in sculpture and he was also the one who introduced me to painting.

With that first canvas given to me by the teacher I started painting with a brush as I thought one should. Lombana soon suggested that we leave the brushes and we began to use the spatula-scraper. He intuitively understood that my sensitivity was on the very tip of my fingers and the spatula-scraper was a much better tool for me. At one time, after the teacher put yet another canvas in front of me and invited me to paint with scraper, we had a moment of realization. When I started to paint with the same movement of the hand moving across the canvas I heard the voice of the teacher behind me saying I was “... born to use that tool.”

My work evolves from work to work. I try many things as art is very much about experimentation for me. I use materials such as PVC sheets, commercial banner material, and – of course – canvas. I am very proud of my art work and push to evolve my ideas and techniques with each new piece of art. Also, I am very proud to use the techniques of color transparency taught to me by old mentor master Hector Lombana.

JCAM: Do you have any creative pattern, routines or rituals associated with your artistic work? What element (s) of the artistic process do you like most and why? What is your most important artistic tool and why? How do you know when a work is finished?

AMM: I have no pattern or routine. I suppose this is so because when I sit at the canvas I am not often clear exactly what I am going to paint.

One of the elements I like most of my artistic creation, and one which allows me to make my works in an almost effortless manner, is the fabric banner material I now use.

Why is this so? This material allows me to move the spatula like a butterfly across the surface. Also, at the same time that I avoid a degradable material that in in 200 years may hurt the planet even more.

My most important tool is the spatula-scraper, the palette knife. This tool is what allows me to make my creations, as it is always adapting to the smallest sensitivity of my hands.

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JCAM: What are your goals for the future, both for work and life? What interesting project are you working on right now?

AMM: My goals for the future are that my art is valued by the public. Additionally, I am interested in staging a major exhibition to sell my works.

Also, I have a project to open a workshop of painting and sculpture for children and youth with disabilities and low-income and support new talent, for which I am in search of funds.

I am hoping that this article will bring my work to new publics and that this more widespread knowledge of my work and my goals will help push my projects ahead.

JCAM: Who or what inspires you? Do you have a favorite or influential living artist?

What work of art do you wish you owned and why?

AMM: The inspiration comes from within me. As I have traveled over the years I have always kept a journal. This helps me recall those things that are out of the ordinary, and it also lets me have a place to wrestle with my inner demons.

I have as a favorite teacher, Hector Lombana, who is my mentor, I do not have at this time any more than him.

One sees so many art works that are inspirational. But there are few that I have wished to own. But, if forced to choose one, I would like to own Picasso's “Guernica” which to me is one of the great works of the past century.

JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does "being creative" mean for you? What is the best advice you've ever had about how to be more creative?

AMM: I find ideas for my creative work in my experiences, whether it is a beautiful sun set on the seafront or a gray winter afternoon.

To me being creative is to do something different from others of the same order. The best advice on how to be more creative is to trust God and listen to my soul.

Last, working in art simply makes me a better person. Art has to powerful to do this for everyone I believe.

Contact information for Maestro Antonio Montes: Facebook: Antonio Montes, Antonio Montes artista plástico, Galeria Antonio Montes, twitter: Antonio Montes, Instagram: Antonio Montes, Galeria Antonio Montes, Youtube: Programa Antonio Montes, web: antonimontes.net, email:montesart44@gmail.com, phone: 0034665208538.

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Antonio Montes “El Futuro” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Simbiosis” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Primavera” / Acrylic Painting

Antonio Montes “Ventisca” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “El Jardin del Sultan / Acrylic Painting

Antonio Montes “El día Después” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Cuidad en Llamas” / Acrylic Painting

Antonio Montes “Enredo de Mujer” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Mis Dominios” / Acrylic Painting

Antonio Montes “Grietas en los Polos” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Consecuencias” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Atrapadas en el Tiempo” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Operacion Causta Justa” / Acrylic Painting

Antonio Montes “Otoño” / Acrylic Painting

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Antonio Montes “Año 2060 Invierno” / Acrylic Painting

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Frank Dobrushken Frank Dobrushken is an American artist who works primarily in the medium of photography. His artistic output has often been experimental but always grounded by the imagery and processes of the traditional photographic masters who have come before him.

The JCAM staff asked Frank to discuss his life and his work in capturing visual imagery through photography. “My name is Frank Dobrushken, also known professionally as Frank Dobrushken Photography. I was born in Los Angeles, CA. I moved to Seattle, WA at the age of 20, and lived there for 40 years before moving for love to Albuquerque, NM in 2013.

Growing up I was fortunate to live in an artistic household. My mother was a classically trained artist. Everything I did artistically was met with the highest encouragement. My brother, who died tragically at the age of 21 was probably the most talented in our family in all manner of the arts.

I was a union electrician in Seattle and retired in 2008. I was badly injured on the job in 1985 which put me out of work for ten months. As I was convalescing I realized that my job was putting me into an early grave. So by making lemons out of lemonade I decided to make my work be a tool for me and took many trips around the world that each spanned several months. Over the course of the next 15 years I travelled every chance I could and thus started my love of photography. These were the days before digital and my closet is full of thousands of slides from that era.

Since retirement my main creative focus is photography. I have embraced the digital format and have tried to learn comprehensively about it. In Seattle I’ve belonged to a camera club and entered many local competitions: I did quite well in these. Living in Albuquerque I belong to the Enchanted Lens Camera Club. This is a very large club of incredibly talented and encouraging people. I have been photographer of the year and had many awards since joining. Also getting first place awards at the New Mexico State Fair and ANMPAS shows.

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Creating my art through photography is an ongoing learning practice. I am stimulated by always trying something new and experimenting with various techniques. I have an eclectic style and enjoy many different genres of photography; landscape, street, events, travel, people, abstract, and architecture.

My true love is black and white imagery. I am drawn to that classical style with the rich and complex contrasts. Living in the Southwest has awakened me to countless possibilities with the fantastic light, scenery and cultural diversity. What is captured through the camera is just the starting point in my creative process. I am trying to bring out what is hidden in each image. My work changes constantly. I often revisit my older images to rework them.

While it’s hard to find a favorite amongst my images. I would have to say that my Lone Tree image has meant the most to me. It has also been the most critically acclaimed of all my images. Everything just came together in the making of this photo. It was shot on a cold crisp dawn at El Malpais in New Mexico. I had been to the location before and dreamed of making it in this way.

I go shooting as often as I can and try to tailor my images to certain themes that I am working on. I shoot for club competitions and just for fun. I try to edit images every day. I usually start at 5AM and edit for an hour. I post images to 500px and to Facebook. I belong to several photography groups on Facebook that specialize in various themes.

This stimulates my creative juices every day.

I really enjoy the entire creative process, from the physical camera and lenses to working in Photoshop and using filter tools. My favorite is Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 for my black and white conversions.

It’s really hard to know when an image is finished. I think that I am my harshest critic and always see things that can be improved upon.

In the future I may try my hand at infrared photography and video experimentation.

I used to have a business license but have given that up. It was hard to justify as a legitimate business as my expenses far exceeded whatever income I got. I do my photography for love, not income.

Nowadays everyone is a “photographer” and it is hard to sell prints or make a living in this craft. I have had exhibition shows in Seattle, and may again in Albuquerque. My first sale was to a friend in Seattle of my image “Whistler’s brother”. I do have a Smugmug website where anyone can buy my work. http://dobrushken.smugmug.com/ I will continue to refine and grow into the craft of photography and I will continue experimenting with new tools and methods.

I have been inspired by the old masters; Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others. I am continually inspired by countless photographers. These include Mitch

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Dobrowner with his incredible landscape and dramatic weather images, and Lee Jeffries with his loving and in-depth portraits of street people.

I’ve sometimes been asked what work of art I would like to own. I would love to own “Moonrise” by Ansel Adams. I see that magic moment when everything just came together in his creation.

It’s hard for me to know when I’m out shooting which images will work into my vision. I just have to load them into my computer and see what happens. Certain places make that much easier; such as Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches NP, and Chaco Canyon.

I am constant viewing other photographer’s work. I find great inspiration from how creative so many of them are. It helps push me to new levels in my work. I take courses and workshops, but it seems that my creativity takes on a life of it’s own just by doing.”

Frank Dobrushken “Archie Number14” / Photographic image

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Frank Dobrushken “Zombie Number 5” / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Solstice Dancers Number 11” / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Reaching Number 9” / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Sea Stacks Number 6” / Digital Photograph

Frank Dobrushken “Shadows at White Sands Number 2” / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Old Technology Number 4” / Digital Photograph

Frank Dobrushken “San Geronimo Church Number 3” / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Taos Pueblo Graveyard Number 10” / Digital Photograph

Frank Dobrushken “White Sands Number 15” / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Dome Dream Number 8” / Digital Photograph

Frank Dobrushken “Lone Tree Number 1 / Digital Photograph

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Frank Dobrushken “Big and Little Number 7” / Digital Photograph

Frank Dobrushken “Desert Rain Number 13” / Digital Photograph

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Howard Simpson JCAM: What is your professional name?

Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?

HS: My name is Howard Simpson. I was born in Newark, New Jersey. I can't say that my birthplace influences me on a conscious level. I live now in Los Angeles, California.

Los Angeles influences me because this is where I am now and everything around me influences me.

JCAM: Questions “about making art” When and how did you start making art?

Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do?

HS: I began making art in fifth grade when I had my first art class. In the class, when my classmates went “ooo” and, “ahh” ... that was when I knew I had to do this. I make art now to tell stories and because drawing is like breathing to me. I can't imagine life without it.

JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What element(s) of art making do you enjoy the most and why? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What are the art making tools you use now? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?

HS: I don’t have any real rituals as such. I do thumbnail drawings first. Then rough layouts. Next tight sketches. And then the final line art and/or color. The sketching stages are the most fun for me. That’s the time when I've given birth to concepts and ideals. Most of the time the work is never finished, I just have to stop and move on to the next piece of art. I use pencil and paper. And I am exploring new tools now with computer software, using it to create 2-D and 3-D art work.

JCAM: What's the first artwork you ever sold? Do you make a living from your art?

HS: The first artwork I ever sold was in elementary school. Another student name Craig, offered me money. I never realized I could make money drawing at that time, so it was quite a shock. Yes I make a living from my art.

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JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life? What interesting projects are you working on at the moment?

HS: I want to finish two graphic novels that I have started. My work is my art and my art is my life. So any goals I have are the same. I am working on web comics right now and that can be seen online: *Zone 26* http://tinyurl.com/webcomiczone26 It's the weirdest thing I’ve ever done. *Romantical Tales* http://tinyurl.com/jlrho7o My satirical look at old Romance Comics from the 1940s and 50s. *The Funnies* http://tinyurl.com/zua8tbh Humor comic strips.

Patreon pages https://patreon.com/abbastudios https://patreon.com/invite/nvkqvo JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist?

What work of art do you wish you owned and why? When addressing a particular work to be published in this interview: Can you explain what inspired this particular piece or idea?

HS: Everything around me inspires me. And up until a couple of years ago, I did have a muse, which I would never have thought was possible. But she's gone now, I hope I find another one day.

JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does “being creative” mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?

HS: Most of the time the ideas find me, I guess that would be called inspiration. Other times I am looking at the work of other artists. Or I'm just looking at things that exist in the world around me and it gives me ideals. Being creative every day to me means waking up every day and creating a piece of art without someone having to ask me for it. The best advice I was ever given how to be more creative was from Don Lantzy (one of my many art teachers) who told me,”Don't worry about style, just draw, style will come later.”

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Howard Simpson “Subway”

Howard Simpson “Men & Women”

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Howard Simpson “Maria Hill”

Howard Simpson “Thomas the Tank”

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Howard Simpson “Storm”

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Howard Simpson “Pirates cover”

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Howard Simpson “The Bride”

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Howard Simpson “Phantom cover”

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Howard Simpson “Page 3”

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Howard Simpson “Kolchak”

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Howard Simpson “Freaky Friday”

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Howard Simpson “Eleri”

Howard Simpson “Empowered”

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Howard Simpson “Desk”

by H. Simpson (after Dr. Suess)

Howard Simpson “Dr. Whoville Xmas”

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Howard Simpson “Chris Rock”

Howard Simpson “Delphi”

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José Maria Mariscal JCAM: José Mariscal grew up around pottery. Today he excels as a primarily self-taught, highly successful and very contemporary ceramic artist. He comes from a family of traditional potters. His father was born in Coin, in the south of Spain, and later moved to live in La Bisbal d'Empordà a traditional pottery village in Catalonia.

Mariscal began to learn the craft of throwing clay there when he was very young. Today Mariscal is well known for his crystalline glazes. Crystalline glazes are notoriously difficult to control and take a great deal of effort to bring to the public at a high level of craftsmanship.

Learning to control and manage this technique has taken Mariscal many years. In order to perfect his practice of crystalline glazes he began with a conversation with his friend Peter Ilsley. He continued by practicing and researching techniques on his own. His experiments continue today.

Many ceramic artists learn their craft in undergraduate and graduate programs in at institutions specializing in arts and crafts. It is accurate to suggest that Jose Maria Mariscal learned the basics of his craft from his father. Mariscal has lived with and worked in pottery since his childhood but has researched his own processes to discover the world of crystalline glazes, raku and other techniques and methods.

The ceramic work of Jose Maria Mariscal blends traditional Spanish folk art with a strong influence of form and color from a number of international traditions. Even so, Mariscal is very much a traditional potter in the way he approaches his work and his studio experiments. In this way, his work has been his primary teacher, and he has never made pottery as part of a formal ceramics course.

After working for many years with other ceramic artists and in various studios, in May 2003 José Mariscal opened his own studio. This studio has proven to be very successful. Now Mariscal Ceramics offers specialized ceramic products. One line of products features the latest fashion trends to sell mainly to other design shops. A second line features exclusive products for competitions, markets and exhibitions

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emphasizing crystalline glazes, reduction firings, ceramics textures, and unique pieces available nowhere else.

José Mariscal has conducted a number of workshops ( throwing workshops and Crystalline glazes workshops) in the United States, in Spain and in Israel. His creative ceramic work is exhibited and sold at prestigious international exhibitions and markets in many locations including: Spain, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Germany and the USA. JMM: “Porcelain, with its fine texture, purity and whiteness, allows me to explore relationships between form and surface in a way that is more rewarding than with any other clay.

Well thrown vessel forms offer infinite opportunities for subtle variations, but my particular concern, while attempting to achieve harmony and balance in the work, is to express my feelings for the natural world through the positive radiation of light and color.

Skies, sea and landscapes, together with the multitude of flora are a constant source of wonder, inspiration and delight to me. The sea and the universe, especially, have fascinated me since I was a child.

I find the perfection of crystalline glazes with the perfect amount of crystals between the background and the surface. My forms are classic and conservative and I have the ability to control the placement of the crystals in the surface.

I continue my research in crystalline glazes and I love to experiment with this technique in my glaze kiln. Now I am working in reduction in crystalline glazes and developing crystals in reduction.

My attempts have given me very exiting results. Nobody else I am aware of can develop crystals in reduction firings and I am writing an article about it.

The shape and the crystals. The crystals and the shape.... both are really important for me and I like to work hours and hours throwing perfect pieces and thinking in the final result once reduced in my kiln.

With the help of my wife Maite Ayllón I wrote some articles for “Revista Ceramica” and I conducted some workshops such as Dunedin, Tel Aviv, Pontevedra, The School of Ceramics of Manises ( Spain ) and throwing demos all over Europe (Aubagne, Gouda, Gmunden ... among others).

And I also hosted the 1st Crystalline Congress in La Bisbal, Spain in 2013. That Congress was a nice opportunity to meet great crystalline glaze potters from all over the world.”

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Josep Maria Mariscal Crystalline Ceramic

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Josep Maria Mariscal Crystalline Ceramic

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Josep Maria Mariscal Crystalline Ceramic - Detail

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Josep Maria Mariscal Crystalline Ceramic

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Josep Maria Mariscal Crystalline Ceramic - Detail

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Josep Maria Mariscal Crystalline Ceramic

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Josep Maria Mariscal Textured Ceramic - Detail

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Josep Maria Mariscal Textured Ceramic

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Josep Maria Mariscal The artist at work.

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Josep Maria Mariscal Exhibition Poster

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo JCAM: What is your professional name?

JJRH: My name is Juan José Roque Hidalgo. My works are signed as J.J. Roque.

It is important to clarify that my works are the product of digital transformations made using my photographs or drawings. These too are created by me. So, it's digital art in its entirely.

JCAM: Where were you born?

JJRH: I was born in a town called Montijo, west of Spain, in the province of Badajoz in the autonomous community Extremadura in October 1955.

JCAM: Does the place where you were born still influence you?

JJRH: More than the place, I think my family influenced me. In my time in Montijo, my father with his hobbies of music and painting, contributed in a decisive way.

I made some inroads into music as entertainment and painted some pictures without continuity. I remember being very small, I drew scribbles that my father called monsters or bugs. That made me draw more and more sheets of paper. It was an abstract world full of meaningless lines. These drawings and scribbles contained the movement and inner energy of a child of four or five years. My parents pushed us to imagine and to create. My mother was muse and serenity personified.

JCAM: Where do you live today and how does that place influence you?

JJRH: Since 1974 I have been living in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid. My initial job, for 28 years, was spent in a leading company in its sector. In my last stage in this company I began to have more contact with some computer programs and some tasks that pushed me to be creative in finding solutions. I had to look at things in more depth and to look for solutions to the problems.

Some of the problems led me to translate my ideas into images for which I had to look for (basic) drawing tools and manage them beyond their finality. I came to use some

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drawing palettes in a very personal way. With these images and PowerPoint I recreated, in my free time, animations that helped me to believe in the viability of some ideas to solve certain problems.

In 2007 I recycled myself and in 2010 changed my profession. Now I work in a hospital as an Imaging Technician for the Diagnosis (Radiology). This world has nothing to do with art – or maybe “yes” it does. Here’s what I mean. Seeing things differently sometimes activates the imagination and ideas come up to develop or experience at home.

JCAM: Do you have family, friends or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and your way of doing art?

JJRH: Some members of my family are related to the world of art (music, painting, sculpture, design). Support is unconditional. Among them, my brother Pedro (a painter) encourages me to believe in what I do. He is a real artist, I just try to enjoy without any pretense. For me it's a hobby and nothing else. I am aware of my limitations, but I enjoy what I do.

I do not want to forget my friend painter Rosim Moreno who also encouraged me to continue doing these works and the friends and friends artists of some Facebook groups that serve as inspiration to change and experiment. Of all of them I have learned to value the different ways of presenting their works, of their different styles.

With them I have learned to respect any artistic expression and even to appreciate the value of any style above my personal tastes. The mere fact of knowing that each work has a little of the interior of each artist is reason enough to value and see that behind there is work, effort and intention.

JCAM: When and how did you start to make art?

JJRH: Although I did not like to talk about art when I talked about my work, I ended up accepting that qualification in a reserved way. As I said before, as a child I already drew lines which showed a creative and imaginative mind like my father's; even then I saw some things in them. Now I see them (again) in the drawings and strokes of my granddaughter, Noa. In terms of art, I actually started doing "something" from 2001. It's on this date when I introduced myself to Adobe Photoshop in an autodidactic way. Later I began to make photography induced by my brother-in-law Ramiro. I can only say that chance causes me to find a way, a route, a system to use the tools of Photoshop, with which I apply transformations in my photographs.

These transformations trap me aesthetically and push me to continue experimenting to improve the results that I am getting. From discovering this tool I intend to get works

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that approximate the traditional (physical) painting, using photography as a palette of colors, shapes and brushes. Chance plays a very important asset in the results I get.

After the death of my parents (2011-2013) their memory drives me to make things and continue making changes until I arrive at these abstract environments of light, shadows, color and forms with which I imagine different worlds open to the interpretation of those who observe my works. The spectator is the one who gives life and meaning to the works.

JCAM: Can you describe the moment when you realized that making art was something you really had to do?

JJRH: It was when I discovered that the results of my transformations acquired a different value from the original photographs and that they were also confused by some artists who asked me about the technique I used – oil, acrylic, watercolor ... etc. In those moments I tried to investigate if what I do has a place within these artistic expressions.

At first I did not know where to stand. Then I learned that it is Numerical Art or Digital Art which is the right place to fit my works.

I had no intention of being in any area of the arts because everything was entertainment for me and I did not value what I did. Today I believe a little more in what I do, but I still think it's just a hobby. In the future ... well, who knows?

JCAM: Why do you make art now?

JJRH: I keep doing what I do for enthusiasm and entertainment. I observe that I evolved because I am still able to perceive and identify different opportunities to represent the things I photograph or see in my environment. I try to take advantage of the digital resources I am getting to know and the ideas that come to me when I see something that impacts me in some way.

JCAM: How has your work changed or evolved over time?

JJRH: It is changing as I discover many other applications that are interesting to me. I often use them in combination, and move in between them. Even so, most of the time I do the finishing touches with Adobe Photoshop.

At first the basis of the works were photographs of all kinds, but now I have incorporated photographs of abstract drawings that I made previously on the paper. The work with these drawings has been motivated by the moments that I dedicate to my granddaughter Noa. JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?

JJRH: I only try that the final result has a visual aesthetic suggestive and balanced in all its content. I want to see them perceive harmony, poetry of color, space, volume,

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movement .... At the end of what I consider a collection, I usually assemble videos combining the images with the music and the result is very gratifying. Music linked to the image enhances the works.

JCAM: Of the works published in this article, are there any that you feel especially proud of and why?

JJRH: None in particular. Everyone has their moment of satisfaction because they are the basis for improving the next job.

What surprises me most is the work of computer creators who are able to put into our hands those programs that facilitate the creation of our works. I admire those professionals enormously. Without them I could not do my works. So, perhaps 50% of the works are merit of these people and the other 50% of the author and the ability to see where others do not see.

JCAM: Do you have any creative, routine or ritual patterns associated with your art?

JJRH: I try to capture everything I can around me and then let myself be led by intuition.

I choose a photograph or part of a photograph, a drawing or part of it .... I always calculate the possibilities of what I select before starting a work. I start the digital transformations by selecting the steps that I have previously discovered with the previous works. I like to change the colors and the original lights. In many cases, I try to distort them until the photographs are unrecognizable.

JCAM: What is your best art tool and why?

JJRH: It is a combination of a camera, mobile phone, Adobe Photoshop and mobile applications like PicsArt or Prisma. The fact of incorporating the drawing on paper to be treated later with digital techniques gives me greater satisfaction. Of all the tools, those that satisfy me most are Photoshop and my critical eye. Perhaps the role begins to take more relevance to build my subsequent digital works.

JCAM: When do you know that a job is finished?

JJRH: When my visual aesthetic is harmonious to me and my intuition tells me that there is coherence in all the surface of the work. On many occasions I seek the opinion of my family before terminating a job too.

With the passage of time and as I discover something new, I recover works that I had previously discarded, to apply new effects that improve them and I am often pleasantly surprised.

JCAM: What new medium to create art would you like to pursue?

JJRH: Undoubtedly, non-digital painting. Painting on canvas, paper, wood ....

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JCAM: What is the first artwork you sold?

JJRH: It was at a charity auction. The work was the result of my first digital transformations on a photograph given to me by my friend and digital artist Ruy Vital who lives in Brazil.

JCAM: Do you make a living with your art?

JJRH: No. It's just a hobby – at least at this time.

JCAM: What are your goals for the future regarding your work and your life?

JJRH: As for art, at the moment I have no goals. I would like to make a presentation about my work, but I need time, money and determination. I may raise it in the near future. I am optimistic about that.

JCAM: What interesting projects are you working on right now?

JJRH: None in particular. I build works with the purpose of exposing them in the near future. At this point I may lack boldness and believe more that my works might be interesting to a sufficient audience. For now, I'm satisfied with using social networks: http://artedigitaloneuan.blogspot.com.es https://www.facebook.com/oneuan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLkQKdDwISrKYtKhanDnPWQ Here are two samples as videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKdrWo6BOKQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6FglJAStBA JCAM: What or who inspires you?

JJRH: When I accidentally discover an artistic path that strikes me, I take the time to create works in that line, but I always try not to be too long using the same constructions, although I do not rule out their use in other later moments. One of my sources of inspiration are the surfaces of the rocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz3V-ymFGYQ JCAM: Do you have any favorite artist who influences you?

JJRH: My brother Pedro has special ability to create and paint. I'm one of his fans. His collection "Trazadores" is magnificent. Also the painter Isabel Picazo. The color and light are inside.

This is a small example of their work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZNQIgEMM3g Pedro Roque https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emQMibBO0iM Isabel Picazo

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JCAM: What art work do you wish you owned and why?

JJRH: What I like is to admire the works that I see without importing the ideas or biography of the author. The great works are not only by what the eyes see, they are also because inside such a work is the personality, the character and the interior of the artist. All these factors are unrepeatable except through art.

JCAM: Where do you find the ideas that fund your art?

JJRH: Anywhere and everywhere. I like to observe everything that can put into action the imagination, everything that at first sight seems to go unnoticed: the surface of the floor, walls, ancient objects, vegetation, water, oil, a wrinkled fabric .... Everything suggests ideas to me.

JCAM: What does it mean to be creative to you?

JJRH: To be able to do something different, to realize the ideas without any complex analysis, to transgress stereotypes without reservations.

JCAM: What's the best advice you got for how to be creative?

JJRH: Try to do everything that goes through your head without fearing criticism.

“COLOR 115-14� / Digital artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “TALLER DE PRUEBAS - QUIJOTE” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “SUPERFICIES - ABST-H20” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “SUPERFICIES - ABST-ROC-1” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “GEOMETRÍA Y COLOR - 15” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “SOMBRA Y LUZ - 20” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “SOMBRA Y LUZ - 38” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “SOMBRA Y LUZ - 4” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “SOMBRA Y LUZ - 19” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “LÍNEAS Y COLOR - 3” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “LÍNEAS Y COLOR - 4” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “GEOMETRÍA Y COLOR - 11” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “GEOMETRÍA Y COLOR - 12” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “GEOMETRÍA Y COLOR - 3” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “GEOMETRÍA Y COLOR - 4” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “ESTRUCTURAS - 1” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “ESTRUCTURAS - 3” / Digital Artwork

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Juan José Roque Hidalgo “COLOR -12” / Digital Artwork

Juan José Roque Hidalgo “COLOR -13” / Digital Artwork

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Mel Strawn Mel Strawn is an American artist living in Colorado. He has had a long career in higher education and has held positions at several institutions including Antioch College, Western Michigan University and the University of Denver.

Professor Strawn’s art work is held in many important collections including: the Kirkland Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Ohio, and a number of corporate and private collections.

The JCAM Staff asked Mel Strawn to discuss his life in art.

“I started making art as a pre-teen. By the time I was 14 I was working on my own making oil paintings– mostly of landscape and romantic western animals and themes. Some were motivated by American Indian art that was viewable in the local Historical Museum in the (Boise, Idaho) State Capital Building. I was a reader and before entering high school was aware of both current American art and the history of modern art in particular. I was also familiar with a much broader, European art history, courtesy of a friendly frame-maker who allowed me to view his many reproductions of masterpieces of Western art hanging in racks for customers to buy and have framed.

The beginning of World War II provided much visual stimulus via newsreel footage that accompanied the local movies, Life Magazine and other publications. High school teachers both in Idaho and, by 1945, in Southern California were good influences–but most of my work was independent. After high school, a working scholarship to Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles provided a sound basic discipline in drawing and design and more directed disciplines in painting (water color and oil, both). I lived alone in Los Angeles at 17, working also in a grocery store after night school janitor tasks, and later in gasoline “service stations”. I had also worked as a carpenter’s apprentice and sawmill employee. I studied sculpture at the Los Angeles (later, Otis) Art Institute

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and one summer at Jepson, a small, private art school where I first learned lithography and studied more drawing under Rico Lebrun and his assistants.

I never questioned the art-making path I took as a teenager. Only after service in the Korean war and a subsequent job as a truck driver and then art school in Oakland to earn both BFA and MFA degrees did I consider becoming a teacher.

Art-making was then conducted for over a 32 year period along with teaching and, last half of that time, also administering in college and university art departments and schools.

My work is anchored equally in objective (representational) and abstraction-nonobjective interests. I’ve made some films and use photography both as an input to printmaking (digital and solar etching) and in its own right. My major body of work is in painting and printmaking with drawing as a constant companion.

Drawing is a way of accessing both other art works (I’ve drawn in museums and on architectural/art sites in various countries) and the endlessly intriguing “real” world of things, people and places.

I’ve been and continue to be more interested in discovery and ‘provoking consequences’ than in following a signature “style”. So – my work varies a great deal, somewhat to the consternation of art writers who seem to assume one “style” is the major (and marketable) mark of an artist. We live in dynamic times; change and adventure is part of the creative climate. Rather than ‘style’, I’m more concerned with the development and integrity of my sensibility – and rely on that for the overall effort and its results.

The works I’ve selected for this article are from various stages over many decades. They include some based on a limited number (4) of designed shapes as the sole components of any given work. This investigation lasted for about 14 years – mid 1970’s to about 1990. Affordable digital technology, in conjunction with photographic tools, launched an ongoing exploration in 1980. For the past several years this has come together in a return to conventional printmaking – actually, to intaglio in a new guise – solar etching.

Work continues in painting, now in acrylics, as well as photography, drawing and printmaking. In my 88th year I’m beginning to reflect on what it all adds up to… perhaps just a fascinating and intrinsically challenging way to live and share. The sharing is often fleeting (many people are uncomfortable in discussing art and/or their own thoughts and feelings about it.) Like many artists, both I and my equally productive wife are ending up with more works than we know what to do with.

This is somewhat frustrating and problematic, to say the least. Perhaps it’s not ours to worry about, but a dilemma probably shared by most artists who work mainly in the speculative, i.e., not commissioned realm.

My most recent project/exhibit is a local gallery show called Borders of some 140 + works. The focus is to show the pervasive role that drawing/image-making

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plays in various media. Borders that we construct in our mental categories, mainly of use to critics and historians but held by most viewers, are crossed as the basics of drawing and visual organization are common to all. I am emphasizing the “repurposing” of visual material – images, components and qualities – in various media, not necessarily those of the first manifestation. A construction may be photographed and, modified, realized as a large digital print or as a series of solar etchings in totally different materials and in different scale, even different associative titles.

I pretty much subscribe to a maxim encountered decades ago in art school: “Don’t do today what you did yesterday.” I’ve had only a few critical reviews of works over the years. One that annoys me is: that my shape/pattern-structure paintings (1970’s-90’s) were derived from a somewhat concurrent decorative style being shown in New York – mostly by a group of good woman artists. There was no relation, but art writers seem to need to show “influences” and trends. My interest in the combinatory possibilities of a very few visual elements as motivation was never mentioned. This interest reflected awareness of the relatively few (92) elements that endlessly combine to make up our natural world.

Shaped, tile-like parts, only 4 for any given painting, made up the designed parts of each work for those 14-plus years.”

“Geos” – “This work was composed by chance operations determining the position, color and orientation of each tile-like, rectangular shape with the exception of the central horizontal row for which I chose a contrasting color set.”

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“Chronos” – The year was 1980 (a personal favorite, perhaps by association with my father’s death at the time of the painting ....)”

“Negentropy I” – “From 1985, this and a similar work in very different colors were also composed using “chance” operations.”

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Mel Strawn “Beach Composition 2” / Acrylic on Canvas

Mel Strawn “Broke Hearts” / Solar Print

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Mel Strawn “Car Stack” / Drawing

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Mel Strawn “Escape” / Solar Print

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Mel Strawn “Last Empire” / Solar Print

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Mel Strawn “Dark Genie” / Oil on Canvas

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Mel Strawn “Can Shield Bars” / Acrylic on Canvas

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Mel Strawn “Bamboo Roots” / Drawing

Mel Strawn “Contact Yellow” / Digital Print

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Mel Strawn “Ascension” / Drawing

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Mohan D. Sundaresan JCAM: We are very pleased to bring our readers an interview with Indian-American artist Mohan D. Sundaresan.

Mr. Sundaresan has a unique approach to his work and we think readers will find his ideas about art and his working process quite interesting.

We asked Mohan D. Sundaresan to tell us about his background, his work and his artistic practice.

MDS: My professional name is Mohan; that is how I sign my work.

JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

MDS: I was born in Bangalore, South India and had a beautiful childhood. We invented things, and now when I paint, it takes me back to Bangalore as a child. So in a way it influences me very strongly. My childhood and upbringing are the foundation.

JCAM: Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?

MDS: I live in La Jolla, California, a beautiful place that is known as The Jewel. It’s made me feel like a jewel. Not only that; it has the most beautiful sunsets. It made me realize my sun never sets.

JCAM: Do you have family, friends or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making, and how do they make a difference in your life?

MDS: Friends, family members, they all support me to the extent that they wouldn’t like to disturb the comfort they feel I’m in. They are very encouraging, and I am blessed.

JCAM: When and how did you start making art?

MDS: This kind of art that I am doing, painting, grinding aluminum and things like that, I started in 1999 with the encouragement of my cousin. He is an artist and gave me a kick in the butt.

JCAM: Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something that you absolutely had to do?

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MDS: Ever since I was a child in Bangalore when we invented, created and made our own toys, and I guess that habit is still with me. I want to make my own toys.

JCAM: Why do you make art now?

MDS: It’s an obsession because there are so many things that I am searching for and I guess everyone is searching for. Being honest and truthful, showing both sides of me in my latest works, blended with each other, hopefully I can get some message across.

Silent message.

JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?

MDS: I’m happy that I’m always busy and that gives me room for evolving. But as far as what I would like to say, it’s the same as when I did my very first painting. Maybe someday I will be able to say what I have to say.

JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?

MDS: I want to instigate people to imagine. Imagination is lost. We are riding on other peoples’ imaginations from virtual reality and all these other elements, but we can also imagine for ourselves. What is within our reach, because our needs are bountiful, but wants and dreams are too far fetched. We can be satisfied, we can have comfort within our reach if we can only take a little time. If we can only be honest with ourselves.

JCAM: Of the artworks published in this article is there one of which you are most proud? If so why?

MDS: There is an aluminum piece “Mother and Child” which I was able to capture, I think, birth, where mother gives birth and the universe takes care of the child from thereon.

JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making?

MDS: When I paint it is fighting. Fighting thoughts from coming into my mind, because I want to be free, empty when I am painting and let whatever instincts or innocence take over.

JCAM: What element of art making do you enjoy the most and why?

MDS: The element that I like in art is the development of it. With my latest pieces I am so patient because they have surprises for me.

JCAM: What is your most important artist tool and why?

MDS: In any form of art, the most important tool is imagination. What is within you, your good sides and your bad sides, if you can be truthful and expose every bit of you, if you are innocent, it comes out, whether it is a in a painting or a sculpture.

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JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished?

MDS: Previously, I never knew when a work was finished because I was always trying to paint to satisfy the onlooker, and I never finished a painting. Most of my previous ones are not finished but they look finished. The present works that I do, when I have woven them, they are finished. I cannot change them.

JCAM: What are the art making tools that you use now?

MDS: As a kid in India we ate with our fingers. We did everything with our hands. When I paint, I come back to being a kid again. I like working with my hands, and if my hands can last I am happy.

JCAM: What new creative medium would you love to pursue?

MDS: I’ve tried painting, some sculpting, and worked with old scrap wood. I have done grinding on aluminum and now I am doing the weaving. I am just enjoying the ride and I don’t know where it is going to take me.

JCAM: What is the first artwork you ever sold?

MDS: The very first art piece that I sold was an aluminum four panel piece to a friend of mine. He was just blown away by it. Actually to me it had some intriguing elements to it; but according to me, I thought I had other pieces that were better than that one. But that was my first one so it gave me a thought to realize that I don’t have the taste of someone else. I have my own taste, so I do mine, I satisfy myself and I hope there is something for everyone.

JCAM: Do you make a living from your art?

MDS: I don’t live off my art, I live for my artwork. Art is something else nobody knows, even the artist. I wouldn’t call myself an artist. I occupy myself with art work.

JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life?

MDS: That’s a fantastic question because that thought came to me just yesterday. I am anticipating that which I am occupied with now. Where the next step comes I just leave it. I don’t question it now, because that is an element that would make me impatient, and I want to finish one thing and whatever impulses it brings me after the finished product, is what else my next project will be. I don’t know. I was sitting down looking at the (my) paintings at the gallery and I was thinking what is my aim in life. My only aim is to live it.

JCAM: What interesting project are you working on at the moment?

MDS: I am finishing a piece on canvas, a woven piece. One half of the woven piece is a painting that I made in 2009 that has been sitting in my studio for seven years. It is a very noble piece but I wanted to give it a new life. So I cut it into strips and am weaving

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it together with a new painting that I just made. The colors compliment each other and I am anxious to see the finished product.

JCAM: What or who inspires you?

MDS: As far as painting is concerned, the English painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851).

He had been painting from childhood, but when he turned around 70, that age which I am at now, he realized that he would like people to view his paintings with the mind instead of the eyes. If there was anyone who has really influenced me, it was the painter Turner.

JCAM: Do you have a favorite - or influential living artist?

MDS: All the good ones are dead.

JCAM: What work of art do you wish you owned and why?

MDS: If I see a piece or experience a moment, that stays with me always. It’s like a photograph. I don’t carry a camera and I don’t need to possess anything. It gets tattooed into me, it gets into my bloodstream. It is a part of me.

JCAM: When addressing a particular work to be published in this interview: Can you explain what inspired this particular piece?

MDS: The aluminum piece called “The Birth” (mother and child). I was inspired by the poem “On Children” by Kahlil Gibran. Children are the arrows, parents are the bows, and the universe is the future.

JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work?

MDS: It’s everywhere. Ideas are everywhere and they multiply when I go by, so I never lack for ideas. I like to be busy. It’s all a trial and error and suddenly something works and then you are just carried away. Imagining, and using just yourself, your body and mind and hands.

JCAM: What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?

MDS: I never got many tips. I guess somewhere along the way I made people realize that they don’t have a right to judge the taste of another person. And I leave it to that.

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “The Jewel” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “Silver Tongued Devil” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

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Mohan D. Sundaresan ““The Birth” (mother and child) / Aluminum Panel

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “La Jolla” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

Mohan D. Sundaresan “Nucleus” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “Humble Beginnings/Solitude� / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

Mohan D. Sundaresan The artist, with his work, at the T. Short Gallery

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “The End of the Tunnel” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

Mohan D. Sundaresan “The Winner” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “Cameron Crazie” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

Mohan D. Sundaresan “Eclipse” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

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Mohan D. Sundaresan “All Seeing Eye” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

Mohan D. Sundaresan “Bird in Paradise” / Acrylic on Canvas Woven

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Mohan D. Sundaresan Acrylic on canvas before being cut & woven

Mohan D. Sundaresan “Bird” - acrylic on canvas, after weaving, in clamped position

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Pátkai Annamária JCAM: We are very pleased to bring our readers an interview with Hungarian artist Pátkai Annamária.

Ms. Pátkai Annamária is very active in international exhibitions and her work has been exhibited in a large number of international venues.

We asked Ms. Pátkai to tell us about her work and artistic practice.

PA: My professional name is Annamária Pátkai – AWA Artless.

We fabricated this alias with my creative partner, when we thought that an artist needs an alias.

We kept this name, because the AWA perfectly symbolizes the symmetry and the geometrical forms I like very much.

The name Artless tells the reader that I almost don’t know a first thing about the technical side of photo shooting. Yes, it’s true. I do my work from feelings, from instincts, rather than consciously, by measuring or by professional training.

I live and create in the same house where I was born, in the home of my grandparents, in Hungary. My house is placed between two rivers, the Danube and the Tisza, in the suburb of a country town. It’s a quiet, uneventful neighbourhood, which in the viewpoint of creation has as much in the way of advantages, as well as some disadvantages.

Ever since I can remember, since my childhood, I have been creating. For me it’s a force. I have always moved with this creative force. I have always been driven by curiosity to reform, to change, to create something new, something extraordinary, something else. I work mostly from ordinary things. Perhaps I do this to defy having a routine. In the background of this, of course, was (and is) the need to search for my own identity, to express myself. For me it’s true now as I write this too.

My artwork has not always been as it is today. What has changed? Fortunately, everything! Mostly the tools. I was drawing, painting, writing poems, sewing, and knitting. I was a craftsman. Now I am more of an experimenter.

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Now, for only 3 years I have been expressing myself through photo shooting. In connection with photo shooting, I’ve been learning everything on my own, by selfeducation, and by practicing, which needs an awful amount of time and energy, so I’m hugely proud of all of my pictures, which I show to the readers of this international art magazine.

Photo shooting gives me a lot. I’ve learnt to see and to notice, by which I encounter every day more and more wonders. One of the greatest gifts I got from myself was the recognition of learning to “Watch the shadows!”

Nevertheless in the process of creating my favourites is the so called afterwork. This is the world of limitless opportunities for creation. The world of software and computer tools allows me opportunities only available to us today.

For example, the methods of photo editing, the filters, the combination of effects, and the out of ordinary combination of effects are the real pleasure for me. I use not only the most professional photo editing programs,I test everything and I often experience some joy in the elements of little, simple free programs. For my way of working these are often better for making work than the classical editing programs used by many others.

I work hard at making my art. I work with passion and enthusiasm, or I can also say that I experiment often and with great intensity. I can work on a basic picture for days, sometimes even for weeks, sometimes even longer. When it’s finished, it’s like a thunderbolt, a real catharsis.

I’m sure that all the creations of other artists that I have ever seen have an effect on me, but my own photos inspire me mostly and almost exclusively when I work with them. I have basic photos, made in the very beginning, which I often take out to create something new from them. This is the way of creating unique works, because even I’m not able to make exactly the same photo twice.

Retrospectively even I can’t remember why I formed a work exactly in that special way.

And later, perhaps I don’t even understand how could I have enough endurance, audacity and ideas for it to be pushed ahead. I always say that in these cases I got blessing on my activity. That’s all I know really!

Without help, knowledge and qualitative technical background, I had to find out things, which make the photos better, nicer, which make them work. So for me creativity means to find or to make the way for myself to create something from nothing.

So, as if almost from nothing, my creativity gave life to “Awaism”, which comes from the AWA alias. It’s a new art tendency, which basic principle is briefly “something from nothing” and I’m the only representative of it, yet.

What could be my advice in connection of creativity? “Think, make and don’t be afraid of failing!”

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Pátkai Annamária “Ghost Factory “/ Digital Artwork

Pátkai Annamária “The Dark Side of the Roof” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “Swirl” / Digital Artwork

Pátkai Annamária “Tangerine Dream” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “Rainbow 2” / Digital Artwork

Pátkai Annamária “Rainbow 5” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “Frog” / Digital Artwork

Pátkai Annamária “Lines” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “Cabbage” / Digital Artwork

Pátkai Annamária “Edges” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “Broken” / Digital Artwork

Pátkai Annamária “Broken 7” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “About the Sea 5” / Digital Photograph

Pátkai Annamária “Birds” / Digital Artwork

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Pátkai Annamária “Magnetic fields” / Digital Photograph

Pátkai Annamária “About the sea 2” / Digital Photograph

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Rusudan Khizanishvili JCAM: We are very pleased to bring our readers an interview with mixed media artist Rusudan Khizanishvili. Ms. Khizanishvili is very active in international exhibitions and her work is held in numerous public and private collections.

We asked Rusudan to tell us about her work and artistic practice.

RK: My professional name is Rusudan Khizanishvili (maiden name Gobejishvili). I was born in the Republic of Russian Federation in 1979. Even so, I am Georgian.

My parents are of Georgian origin. My family moved to Georgia when I was nearly thirteen. I cannot say that the place where I was born still influences me even today, because I was so small then.

However, my childhood, definitely, has had the main meaning, the influence, in my creative work over time. Since 1991 I have lived in Tbilisi – the capital of Georgia.

I can say with confidence that this unusual city influences me greatly. It is very beautiful city where the East and the West cultures are crossed and the attractive architecture of the city always gives me a lot of energy and food for imagination.

On a more personal note, I got married when I was very young and have two daughters.

Art school begin very early for me. I was nine years old when I entered to the art school.

I certainly can say that after that I couldn’t imagine myself without pencil and album for sketches. So I realized that this was all I wanted to do with my life and understood that.

My marriage didn’t change my decision to be an artist. My husband isn’t an artist but he always supports me in developing in my art life. I finished the College of Art and the State Academy of Art. My husband and my Mother have given me lots of support in that and since then. My daughters are very clever and sometimes I ask them their opinion about my work. I am so lucky because I have some friends who are interested in my art and we can talk and discuss my paintings. That supports me as an artist too.

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I have an elder sister, 10 years older than me, and when I entered the art school she started studying at university. So I started reading her program books and my life in books and reality intersected each other and – as an artist does – I needed to let it go out through colors and brushes. I still speak about myself in that way. I am an artist and I do things as artists do.

However, because my kids who were too small, I wasn’t able to travel to work at and attend art events and activities. It was just too complicated. So I started to travel with my exhibitions abroad only in 2011. And I can say that, since that time, my art works are changing, evolving, after each trip.

My activities and career in the arts is going well. I‘ve got a possibility to visit famous world museums and galleries, so this has a big influence on the development of my art nowadays. I am not most proud of any of my art work in particular, but I like some periods of my art as it is developing better than others. From what I understand many artists feel this way.

I never think about my past, because for me the most important thing is what I will make in future. I can say that I am most proud of my art activities recently. For example: last year I represented my country of Georgia at the 56th Venice Art Biennale of Art and ten of my paintings are now a part of the collection of the Shalva Amiranashvili Georgian National Historical Museum.

Some artist seem to have rituals and specific practices associated with their works. I don’t have any ritual about my art or associated with my art making. I make my art almost every day so I don’t need to have any rituals. I listen to music and read books and the most of my impressions and ideas are from them.

The canvas is an escape road or connection to the new world of my imagination. I see the canvas like a door. So, I create some kind of inter-dimensional portals in my painting, in so far as I use the image of the animals as a symbolic entrance between cultures, nations, and identities.

For example, my animals, those that populate my work, are a reflection of a past life to the present. They are also the doors which guide me to an unknown, perhaps, dark world. This artistic world is a mystical underground way which is neither romantic nor attractive. Therefore, I mean that hardships and storms of life are background to the new world of escape or freedom.

My artistic tools are a palette knife and brushes. These tools are very important to me.

Some people have asked me if, or when, I know an art work is finished. I cannot explain to anyone how I would know when my work is finished. Probably when I put on my last stroke of the paintbrush. This is mystical and is not able to be conveyed in words.

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Selling art work is essential to a working artist. I sold my first art work nearly 10 years ago. My first art work was sold in 2007 by online art gallery for $700 USD, it was a still life painted on cardboard. It will be difficult to make a living making art work. I do not know when or if I will be able to live from my art.

My family support me in may art making. I live together in perfect harmony with my family. I mean that I have lovely family and a favorite job – I make art. So I hope I will continue this way of living. However, in a professional meaning, I would like to be famous and make exhibitions in the very important art galleries and museums as well.

Many artists I know are working on specific projects all the time. Just now, I am not working on a specific project at the moment but I have started to make a new series of paintings called “Geometrical Mind.”

There are a lot of living artists who I really admire and I love their work. The list of them is really too long, but I can note some of them: Richard Serra, Anselm Kiefer, Takashi Murakami, Yinka Shonibare, and Nick Cave, among many others.

I’ve often thought about collecting art. Would I want to have art works form those artists I admire. Certainly I would! I would love to have any piece of their art work. I love art and have a dream to make a collection of significant art, art I love, in future.

Many people have asked me about creativity. How do I work toward being more creative? Who do I look to to assist me in my creative efforts? I think my ideas and inspirations about creativity are not different than anyone else’s.

My main ideas, my inspirations, they come from literature, from music, from architecture. Creativity is simply in the air we breathe.

Creativity is everywhere, and I can see it and feel it every day. Creativity is, perhaps, what feeds my life; what keeps me alive.

Being creative for me firstly means opening your eyes and carpe diem. And ... never stop making art, never!”

The artist at her exhibition in the CAB gallery in Amman, Jordan

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Yellow eclipse” / Acrylic on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “She is wearing the red dress” / Acrylic on canvas

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Migration” / Acrylic on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “The birds” / Acrylic on canvas

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Deer and the glass house” / Oil on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “River island” / Collage on cardboard

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Is she your favorite”” / Collage on cardboard

Rusudan Khizanishvili “Express yourself” / Collage on cardboard

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “The Pink,The Green,The Black” / Acrylic on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “The Royal Iguana” / Acrylic on canvas

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Twince” / Acrylic on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “Upside” / Acrylic on canvas

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Captain Fly” / Acrylic on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “Seven Moments Of Joy” / Collage

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “Aphrodite” / Acrylic on canvas

Rusudan Khizanishvili “Flowers for my Sweetheart” / Acrylic on canvas

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Rusudan Khizanishvili “A Diamond” / Acrylic & collage on canvas

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Sudip Das JCAM: What is your professional name? Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

SD: My name is Sudip Das. I was born in Kolkata, which is the birthplace of Indian Art. This inspires me.

JCAM: Where do you live now?

Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life?

SD: Kolkata, India. Yes, I’m born in an Artist family. From early childhood I saw Art & Sculpture, Music, etc. all around me. My father and brother are both artists. Babli Keshri is also a most important path of my life. All of the above mentioned people support and inspire me in my work.

JCAM: When and how did you start making Art? SD: I don’t know when I started making paintings. I saw Art from my very childhood in my house and I started making paintings. When I realized that is what Art actually is, at that time it had already become an essential part of my life.

JCAM: When and why do you make art now? How has your work changed or developed over time?

SD: When Dream blooms to open a Dream, it gives Pain, Enlightenment and then I draw Painting. Painting is my Dream, Dream is my Painting.

I love to experiment with my work. Development through time and Change through this Development has encountered my work. This Change has been both in my Subject and Ideas and Techniques.

JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?

SD: Relation! Relation with Me and my Soul and its existence. There is a deep relation between us and our surrounding living and non-living things, which inspires our dream,

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sorrow, love, dissatisfaction, demand, failure, protest, joy, politics and everything, even life and death. I am always on the way to express this relation through my paintings, by means of any mythological, historical or current event, where Past, Present and Future gets inspired by each other.

Here, I want to highlight something that a Canadian Artist and Poet told me on seeing my work. He told us all, “Sudip always experiments with colors, lines and various subjects. Over this year, his journey through the canvas was extraordinary. He consciously and constantly tries to move from the traditional Bengal school or Indian school of painting.The fact is that he tries to set himself different. He tries to give elements of Futurism in his paintings with a balanced blend of cool and warm colors ...”

JCAM: What is your most important artist tool(s)? What is your Art Medium and Material?

SD: Brush. I love to work on Egg Tempera and Water Color(Wash). I’ve tried different types of Medium but I like to work with natural items such as tea, coffee, henna, flower, some special types of leaves and earth pigment mixing it with egg yolk. While working with these items I find its resemblance with the Paintings of the Ancient and Tribal people. I enjoy it.

JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished?

SD: When it offers me joy and satisfaction.

JCAM: What are the art making tools you use now?

SD: Brush and Spatula.

JCAM: What new creative medium would you love to pursue?

SD: Besides Egg Tempera and Water Color, I would prefer Oil Painting.

JCAM: What is the first artwork you ever sold? Do you make a living from your art?

SD: “The King Achiever” was a Watercolor (wash). And yes, I make a living from my Art. JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life?

SD: I want to establish myself as a Professional Artist and I want to devote my whole life to Art. JCAM: What interesting project are you working on at the moment?

SD: I am working on the topic ‘Skull & Skeleton’ at present, for one of my collector’s project.

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JCAM: What or who inspires you?

SD: Me, my Soul and Nature.

JCAM: When addressing a particular work to be published in this interview: Can you explain what inspired this particular piece or idea?

SD: Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting ‘The Last Supper’ inspired me. I feel that if ‘The Last Supper’ was created in this century, my work shown here is how it would it be.

JCAM: What does “being creative” mean to you?

SD: To me “Being Creative” means to appropriately express my Soul and its existence.

“Full Stop” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “Sadist” / Egg tempera on canvas board

Sudip Das “Mankinds’ Last Supper / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “The Red Fruits” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “The Bureaucrat” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “Once Upon A Time” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “Maa” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “End of the Political Race” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “The Four Head - 3” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “Once Upon A Time - 2” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “Avatar” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “Once Upon A Time - 3” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Sudip Das “The Root of Life” / Egg tempera on canvas board

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Vijay Roy JCAM: What is your professional name?

VR: Vijay Roy is my professional name.

JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

VR: I born in Ahmedabad,but I finished my study in Baroda, Gujarat.

So Baroda is the place where I born as a glass artist.

JCAM: Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?

VR: I am living in Ahmedabad now. It is my home town. Baroda has given me birth as a glass artist and Ahmedabad has given me an identity and existence in the art world.

JCAM: Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life?

VR: Yes I am happily married person having two wonderful children. Prithvika Roy, a daughter, and Kabir Roy is my son. My life partner Rupal Roy has always motivated me to do something new and supported me at every stage of my life. My daughter Prithvika is 7 years old and she is also doing good work in glass.

JCAM: When and how did you start making art?

VR: Baroda is the place where I created my first glass art work. Since my childhood I am very much interested in painting. So I had chosen my study medium as painting and I finished my post diploma in painting. During my study I have come across to glass art which has fascinated me more. I felt glass is the medium in which I can express myself beautifully. That is why I call each of my art works a silent poetry. And luckily I got my first job in Glass Art Work Firm.

JCAM: Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do? Why do you make art now?

VR: Art is always my passion and hobby. I converted my passion into profession.

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JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?

VR: I am really happy that I am doing my passion as my profession and did not change this for any reason.

JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?

VR: Actually I am nature lover. So I keep essence of nature in my artwork. Also I feel one child in me who is free to make anything. I have given full freedom to this kid in me who is always come up with wonderful artwork at the end.

JCAM: Of the artworks published in this article, is there one of you are which most proud? If so, why?

VR: I have cast my daughter’s first frock in glass. As lots of emotions are connected to this. I have bought it for my daughter.

JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making?

VR: I don’t prefer to follow any patterns or routine for my work.

JCAM: What element(s) of art making do you enjoy the most and why?

VR: Nature always motivates me to put them into glass form.

JCAM: What is your most important artist tool(s) and why?

VR: My glass kiln and cutter is most important tool for me. Because glass cutter understand me and give a shape to glass. Kiln will give a final touch and create my final art work.

JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished?

VR: We are processing glass to certain temperature according to glass art form like fusing, casting, slumping etc.

JCAM: What are the art making tools you use now? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?

VR: As mentioned, glass cutter, glass kiln. I want to explore more in glass medium in the future. Glass was, is, and will be my medium of art work.

JCAM: What's the first artwork you ever sold? Do you make a living from your art?

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VR: I made a Bird nest which was holding glass egg, was my first artwork, I sold. Yes, now my art work is my full time profession.

JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life? What interesting project are you working on at the moment?

VR: Particularly in India, most of the artists don’t want to work in glass as a medium as it is so delicate to work. My goal is to start institute for glass where I can produce good glass artists and where there is no age bar for artist. Anyone can start working with glass to understand it more. I want to invite to my institute many glass artists who can work from molten globs of glass in order to fulfill my dream.

JCAM: What or who inspires you?

VR: My family always inspires me to do more. I think I got my art in DNA from my father, as it is he who was the first person to identify me as an artist.

JCAM: Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist?

VR: Yes, Mr. Randy Comer is my favorite glass artist. Whenever I see his art I feel blessed and I try to do more and even better work in glass.

JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does “being creative” mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?

VR: I have one inner kid with me who is watching the things happening near to him and he gets ideas to create something new. He is so curious to create new artwork. I feel being curious to know more is the real meaning of “being creative” for me.

“Salvador Dali Portrait” / Cast glass

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Vijay Roy Exhibition Poster

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Vijay Roy “Melting Me in Glass Sculpture” / Glass, Ceramic & Metal

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Vijay Roy “Glass with Sand” / Glass and Metal

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Vijay Roy “Green Glass Jar Form” / Cast glass

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Vijay Roy “Feather Platter” / Cast glass

Vijay Roy “Flower Platter” / Cast glass

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Vijay Roy “Bruce Lee” / Cast glass

Vijay Roy “Buddha” / Cast glass

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Vijay Roy “Square Platter with Leaf” / Cast glass

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Vijay Roy “Frock Casting” / Cast glass

Vijay Roy “Glass Installation” / Cast glass

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Vijay Roy The artist, with his glass & mixed media artworks

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JCAM: Review of the Jaipur Art Summit 2016

In its fourth year, the December 2016 Jaipur Art Summit was an exciting and varied event held in the Pink City of Rajasthan. This year it showcased the creative arts across multiple artistic media with artists from India and a large number of international locations.

The Jaipur Art Summit conducted a press conference on the 3rd of December 2016 at the Hotel Clarks in Amer, Jaipur. At that meeting a poster for the Jaipur Art Summit was launched which provided the details and schedule of the event.

When & Where: The Jaipur Art Summit was scheduled for the 7th - 11th of December at Ravindra Manch.

Theme: “To inspire a new generation of artists in traditional as well as unconventional art forms.” Furthermore, the event was designed to create a forum to provide direct exposure to the depth and range of various art forms. The event was constructed in order to present a variety of artistic disciplines in contemporary, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the various rare and traditional arts of India – and beyond.

Main Highlights: The event was comprised of different segments, for example: Art Talks

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& Discussions; Book Releases; Art Movies; Creative Work Shops; Art & Musical Performances; Demonstrations of Traditional Art Forms; International Artist Camp; Art Exhibition & Galleries Show; Calligraphy; and Art Installations, among others.

Participating Countries that participated in the Jaipur Art Summit included artists from: Austria, Argentina, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, Hungry, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Myanmar, New Zealand, Netherlands, Nigeria, Singapore, Sri-Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Vietnam.

Given the ambitious scheduling of the event, the 5 days of the 2016 Jaipur Art Summit were packed with creative activities, art and exciting displays of the work of artists from 25 countries, along with 478 participating artists from India, 745 student participants at 9 locations around Jaipur, and 24 artists in residence in the International Artist Camp.

Additionally, there were 22 speakers participating in art talks and discussions, 5 book releases, and 7 creative children workshops on site at Ravindra Manch in Jaipur.

This fourth edition of Jaipur Art Summit at Ravindra Manch saw an amazing response from the attendees. Many national and international galleries participated in the event showcasing the work of their artists. By the end of the last day of the 2016 Jaipur Art Summit, more than 48,000 persons had viewed and/or participated in the activities.

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Among the different artworks that were showcased at the event, there were many large installations. Every installation had its own story and all of them allowed viewers to reconsider their thoughts about Indian culture, heritage, folk art and design. For example, a king size Kathakali chair and a huge Rajasthani Kathputli, captured much attention.

The giant Kathakali throne suggested how art, furniture and design can be brought together with Indian art as a foundation for art making.

The Kolhapuri chappal, the quintessential Indian footwear, reminded the crowd how Indians (may) have forgotten traditional Indian art and design in the digital age.

The 2016 Jaipur Art Summit served not only as a platform for renowned Indian artists and the stimulating work of international artists but it also supported traditional and local artists of Rajasthan in showcasing their art and crafts.

A photo art contest was also run online on Photofie by the Jaipur Art Summit to let photographers across the country showcase their talent. The work of the contest winners was showcased at the Summit.

Whether one is a fan of paintings, interested in art movies, an avid reader or just an appreciator of art, the 2016 Jaipur Art Summit had something for everybody. Each day there were numerous book releases on various topics of art along with an art film showcase.

Participating art galleries like Lexicon Art Gallery, IMA Foundation and Atelier Habib showcased their artists as well. Jaipur Art Summit hosted so many artistic activities in 2016 it is literally difficult to list them all here.

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The Journal of Creative Arts and Minds Publisher, Margie Labadie & Senior Editor, John Antoine Labadie had the privilege of being invited to participate in the International Artist C amp. They joined with a very active population of Indian and international creatives on site. This artist residency provided a remarkable opportunity for participating artists to interact with a huge and interested public with both day and evening activities scheduled by event organizers.

During the 5-day International Art Camp, the participating artists were allocated a space in which to make and/or present their art. These areas were along the path traveled by the visitors to the Summit. As such, all artists interacted directly with the art viewing public from 10:00am to 5:00pm each day.

As John Antoine Labadie described, “In many cases, entire classes from art and design schools in Jaipur came by to view our work and discuss our art works and artistic practice. We met doctors and lawyers, college professors and authors, jewelers and business persons of all sorts – among many others. The crowds were friendly, observant, genuinely interested and persistent in their questions ... and their requests for “selfies” with us and all the other artists.”

All participating artists made and/or exhibited original artworks at the 2016 Jaipur Art Summit. As Margie Labadie explained, “John and I exhibited four artworks each at the International Art Camp. At the end of the event we donated two works each to the collection of the Jaipur Art Summit. All participating artist donated at least one work

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each to the ever-growing collection of the Jaipur Art Summit. These art works are part of a permanent collection that will be used to promote the event in the future.”

The Labadie’s overall impressions of the 2016 Jaipur Art Summit were very positive.

“Certainly, there is room for growth and development in all phases of the activities. Even so, there is no denying the enthusiasm of the organizers, the artists and the art viewing public. We were happy to participate in the 2016 Jaipur Art Summit and have been asked back to Jaipur for the 2017 event. We plan on being there!”

John Antoine Labadie “Meditations” 2016 Exhibited at the Jaipur Art Summit 2016

Margie Labadie “The Web We Weave #2” 2016 Exhibited at the Jaipur Art Summit 2016

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December 2016 Information for Submitters JCAM is a unique project of Jumbo Arts International which holds all rights exclusively.

JCAM is a juried publication. All submissions are reviewed by a panel of experts assembled by the JCAM editors.

JCAM publications focus on artistic creativity and publish original visual works and articles on the visual arts, crafts, creative writing, poetry, performing arts, interviews, reviews, and columns on subjects appropriate to the focus of the journal.

JCAM publishes twice each year: approximately on 30 June and 30 December. In order to assure timely responses, submitters should contact the JCAM editorial team well in advance of these publication dates – a minimum 60 to 90 days is suggested.

JCAM submissions: All requests for submission information should be sent to: jcam.jal@gmail.com Upon request, interested parties will be contacted and sent the basic information and documents required for the formal submission of work to JCAM editors.

JCAM publishes in English. Are non-English submissions possible? Yes, in certain cases JCAM editors will work with artists to translate into English text documents that are directly related to visuals that have already been accepted for publication.

Current JCAM information is available on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JournalofCreativeArtsandMinds Previously published issues of the JCAM are available online: https://issuu.com/jumboartsinternational Information about the JCAM publisher Jumbo Arts International is available online: http://jumboartsinternational.org/ All questions regarding the JCAM should be sent to: jcam.jal@gmail.com

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Journal of Creative Arts & Minds Vol.2, No.2, December 2016 “Final Word” With this publication of the fourth edition of the “Journal of Creative Arts & Minds” the Jumbo Arts International team celebrates the conclusion of its second year of producing and sharing its free online international artist networking project. As 2017 begins, it seems nearly impossible that the pre-planning of the JCAM was crystalized in a moment in Basel, Switzerland, nearly three years ago, after visiting one of the world’s largest art showcases. But our idea? Let the voice of each individual artist be heard.

The feedback from contributors and readers of the JCAM has been amazingly positive and tremendously useful in allowing this project to move ahead in a more informed manner while considering the ideas and perspectives of participating artists and writers from more than twenty countries. It has also been an honor and privilege to spend time in several countries with artists whose articles were published in the JCAM. And it is exactly where we hoped the JCAM project would take us, the staff of the JCAM as well, with this Arts-focused publication.

It is our wish to continue to grow the Arts and connect up “Creatives” around the globe through the effective use of ever-evolving new media resources. Certainly, there are many tools we might employ to extend our reach. But the Board and Editorial Staff of Jumbo Arts International have made a series of conscious decisions to “keep it simple” with our publishing projects. To date we have employed only those tools that can be freely accessed online because we want the JCAM to be free for both creative participants and readers. We hope it will be this way for some time to come.

As we close in on the second decade of the 21st century it is obvious that we as a society have become more interconnected than ever before in human history. Join us in conversation on the “Journal of Creative Arts & Minds” Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JournalofCreativeArtsandMinds/. Email us with your thoughts and ideas or submit your creative works for consideration. Thanks to everyone for your support. Wishing you all happiness in 2017!

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