A Work in Progress

Well, I did it.  I opened my very own Etsy store.  It’s not the usual way they go on Etsy but it’s what I want to do.  Or should I say, it’s how I want to approach it. We’ll see how well it works.

I just have four items in the store right now but I will be adding to the store every week.  I also added my Etsy link on the right side of this blog with my other links.  I put on my Instagram page as well.  I suppose I should put in Facebook too but I rarely use Facebook anymore.  We’ll see.

This is pretty cool though.  And it’s step one in the plan.  We’ll see…

This image is a close up of what is at my Etsy store.

And this image is a close up of what is currently at my Etsy store also.

Felix LA Art-Fair

So, Art-Fairs.  I didn’t go to this one but I kind of wish I did because it seemed different.  I did read about it in ArtNews though.  The article; “‘Everything Feels MoreIntimate’: Felix LA Brings New Life to Art-Fair Circuit” by Janelle Zara, posted on February 15, 2019.  You should read Ms. Zara’s article because it is interesting and I’m not going to redo what she did in my post.  This is what I learned for me though – you can buy t-shirts (art t-shirts or really t-shirts with art on them) at Art-Fairs.  Which means to me, I can sell art t-shirts.  Also, this Art-Fair was held in a hotel, not a convention center or the like.  Galleries set up in rooms in the hotel.  The hotel was the Roosevelt Hotel and, from what I read, the place has a lot of history.  The article had a lot of discussions on the feel of this Art-Fair compared to the big box type of Art-Fairs.  But what I gleamed that seemed most important to me was the price ranges some of the galleries were selling art at.  For me – because I’m trying to sell work – that is useful information.  Along with that part regarding t-shirts.

Diante Yarber, Stephon Clark, Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland, and Trayvon Martin

This was originally a post from my old blog site that I have since closed.  I decided to redo the post here because it was Trayvon Martin birthday on February 5^th and Sandra Bland’s on February 7^th.  If you read any of this blog in the past you know that most of the time I blog about my art, photography and inconsequential stuff.  Nothing too heavy.  But sometimes things just hurt too much and, though they were not killed by the police, Trayvon Martin’s and Sandra Bland’s birthdays made me think about how the police murder us – people of color – African Americans – black people.  And the sentencing hearing this past December of the police officer, Van Dyke, who murdered Laquan McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014 in Chicago, brought more things back to mind.  Van Dyke was sentenced a month or so ago to only six years and some months for the murder of Laquan McDonald.  His sentence only reinforces things we already know.

Diante Yarber was killed by the police on April 5, 2018, in Barstow, CA.  That’s just up the road from where I live in Victorville – a 30-minute ride at best.  You can read about it.  I did.  That young man was murdered.  Like Stephon Clark was murdered on March 18, 2018, in Sacramento, CA.  These stories get a day or two then are gone but the coverage on the orange guy never ends – the circus act is none stop.  These murders bring to mind that video by Childish Gambino, “This Is America”.  That video is so on point.  Much like Marvin Gaye’s album, “What’s Going On” was on point for the 70’s.  Well, Marvin Gaye’s album, “What’s Going On”, is still on point today too.  I know there are a lot of things that we need to be focused on – a dwindling supply of fresh water, climate change, reaching the point where our population growth will exceed our ability to feed everyone, etc.  But the orange guy or sports or entertainment dominates our lives.  We need our news feeds to be focused on the pressing issues that matter.  And we need to keep those names fresh in our thoughts – Diante Yarber, Stephon Clark, Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland and Trayvon Martin.  With the exception of Trayvon Martin, they were murdered by the police.  With the exception of Sandra Bland, whom they said committed suicide while in jail in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015.  Sandra Bland was wrongfully arrested and would probably be alive today if that did not happen.  Law enforcement officers are those who are supposed to “protect and server” us.  But, as usual, the murders of these human beings only reinforce things we already know.  So, we need to say their names, every name, so that we do not forget what happened to them.  We need to say them all to help motivate us to change things for the better.  We need to do something to make our world a better place for us, for our children – because our lives, black lives, do matter just as much as any other lives.  I think I’ll listen to the Roots, “Rising Down”, as I list a small fraction of the names of those who were murdered by police officers:

Michael Brown Jr. (Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo.)

Terence Crutcher (Sept. 16, 2016, in Tulsa)

Philando Castile (July 6, 2016, in Falcon Heights, Minn.)

Tamir Rice (Nov. 22, 2014, in Cleveland)

Alton Sterling (July 5, 2016, in Baton Rouge)

Walter Scott (April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, S.C.)

Aiyana Jones (May 16, 2010, Detroit, Michigan)

Eric Harris (April 2, 2015, in Tulsa)

Rekia Boyd (March 21, 2012, in Chicago)

Tony Robinson (March 6, 2015, in Madison, Wis.)

Rumain Brisbon (Dec. 2, 2014, in Phoenix)

Eric Garner (July 17, 2014, in New York City)

Jordan Edwards (April 29, 2017, in Balch Springs, TX)

Freddie Gray on April 19, 2015, Baltimore, MA)

Oscar Grant III (Jan. 1, 2009, Oakland, CA)

John Crawford III (August 5, 2014, Beavercreek, Ohio)

Photo LA – 2019

Yesterday, I went to PhotoL.A. – 2019, at the historic Barker Hangar, in Santa Monica.  It was raining.  Not a light shower or drizzle, it was raining.  You can still see the art fair today up until 4pm, (I believe but check the link above to be sure) but the earlier you go today (opens at 11:00am) the better chance you have of not being rained on.

For me, it was a good photography art fair.  I liked the old location in Los Angeles better but this this still worked.  I saw a lot of really good work and I saw work that made me feel good about the work I’m doing with my images. My website shows a lot what I’m doing except my Motion Project – it’s not ready to go on the site yet.  But this might have been my last Photo L.A.  You know when you get that feeling that something is out of sorts – something is not quite working.  The last time I went to this art fair was 3 years ago and I got that same kind of feeling then too.  I have experienced that “feeling” in different setting and places from here to the other side do the world – and I have had these “feeling” since I was a child.  No one said or did anything to me nor did I see something along those lines.  But there is non-verbal communication going on all the time – I have learned to be cognizant of it.  But this is a great event for photographic art lovers.

I even met Ms. SusanSpiritus at her gallery’s booth, G05.  That was cool but I was really awkward – there went my first impression.  And I met the artist Ms. Hui Yi, who was with the SoPhoto Gallery out of Beijing.  Yes, all the way from China to participate in this art fair.  That’s cool and she was nice – she briefly explained her work to me too.  Photo L.A. is really a great chance to see some exceptional photographic art.  If you can make it today, you should go.  It’s not free but you’ll see some amazing work.

 This is what I drove through to get to Photo LA.

 It doesn't say it on the label but this is from the Susan Spiritus Gallery.

And this is one of Ms. Hui Yi's images I took of her post card.