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Artwork by Jason Mecier
Animation by Evan Henkel
Song by iMarkkeyz & Cardi B

Cardi B stimulates pop artist Jason Mecier during quarantine. "Now in this unknown time of Corona, she's looking out for me and my loved ones, so reassuring, she makes me as happy as I can be under the circumstances" says Jason. "Once Cardi hit the scene, I've been addicted. I immediately started putting together my Cardi B trashpile-shrine, then I lovingly assembled what in my mind is some of Cardi B's junk. I glued it all down, so that it looks like her!". Mecier's new masterpiece pays homage with sharp, corn-cob-fingernail humor, as well, he respects Cardi's Bacardi-Pedialyte humanness. Shit's getting real.

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Artwork by Jason Mecier Animation by Evan Henkel Song by iMarkkeyz & Cardi B Cardi B stimulates pop artist Jason Mecier during quarantine. "Now in this unknown time of Corona, she's looking out for me and my loved ones, so reassuring, she makes me as happy as I can be under the circumstances" says Jason.

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Glassblowing is one of the most beautiful, practical, and versatile art forms. Since the 1st century B.C, humanity has recognized the importance and value of shaping glass, due to its many applications extending from the practical to the artistic. We have developed multiple techniques to make the best use of this wonderful material.

If you're interested in learning about this craft, whether it is as a profession or hobby, you have to start somewhere.

That's why we brought this short guide, where we'll cover a few important aspects of glassblowing, in order to give you a better idea of what this craft is all about - and what you should do to get going in the right direction.

Glassblowing is the craft of shaping glass by blowing air into molten glass with the aid of a blowpipe.

With great glassblowing skills, you can create all sorts of glass objects that range from plates to full-blown statues.

Not only is glassblowing an incredibly satisfying art form through which you can freely express your creativity, but being a glassmith is also a reputable profession with the potential to earn a living.

Glass is so versatile that you can create pretty much anything with it. That makes it an excellent hobby, if you want to earn some money on the side, or create hand-made gifts for family and friends.

Walking into a glassblowing studio, you'll immediately notice a lot of hot objects around, reminding why people say glassblowing can be dangerous, if the appropriate precautions aren't taken.

The furnaces, which are meant to heat the glass to make it malleable.

The blowpipe, which is the main instrument for shaping and blowing air into the glass.

The marver, a table that shapes the glass cylindrically.

The jacks, steel tweezers which remove the glass from the blowpipe.

And many other small tools adding shape and detail to the glass.

First, molten glass is gathered from the furnace on one end of the blowpipe.

Then, the blowpipe is rolled over the marver to shape the glass cylindrically and symmetrically.

Once the glass begins to harden, it is taken to the glory hole (another furnace) to be reheated again. This is done continuously throughout the glassblowing process to prevent the glass from cooling.

While reheating and blowing the glass, the blowpipe must be rotated continuously, or the molten glass will slump downwards due to gravity, losing its shape.

Next, the glass smith blows air through a blowpipe into the glass until the piece reaches the intended size.

To create a particular shape and color, smaller tools come into play.

Next, it's time to remove the glass piece. With a tweezer tool called jacks, the glass is cut at the mouthpiece, allowing the glass to be removed from the blowpipe with one solid tap.

Our best recommendation is to take classes from a master glass artist at a local studio school.

Learning the craft at home is not recommended because handling the glassblowing tools without experience can be dangerous and tedious. It's best to work with experts until you have built a solid glass blowing skill set.

A master glass artist will help you eliminate bad habits right from the start, and provide insight for improvements. You will also have the confidence that you're creating glass art proficiently.

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Beginners Guide to Glassblowing - DMG School

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Glassblowing is one of the most beautiful, practical, and versatile art forms. Since the 1st century B.C, humanity has recognized the importance and value of shaping glass, due to its many applications extending from the practical to the artistic. We have developed multiple techniques to make the best use of this wonderful material.

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Here's blogs on how to create jewelry out of anything

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Here's blogs on how to create jewelry out of anything

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While perusing the deep depths of instagram, I came across this post from @least.waste that really stuck with me. I feel that a lot of times, the idea of reducing your own waste can seem overwhelming, or it may feel like small steps you are taking aren't making any sort of impact on the grand [...]

Welcome to the PUR (Plastic Uniquely Recycled) blog! Our goal is to create a space that welcomes new and exciting ideas on how to divert, reuse, and reinvent the plastics we come into contact with every single day. We are so excited to explore and share happy solutions to difficult issues involving plastic waste. We [...]

Welcome to Plastic Uniquely Recycled. We create stylish trendy jewelry that helps spark and ignite conversation about plastic waste issues. Additionally our jewelry helps beautify the world and the individual wearing it. Please check back soon for more updates!

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Ta This article was posted in the Mad River Union on October 20, 2019 and is published with the permission of Maggie Gainer. APPROACHABLE Friendly supermarket employees are recognizable in their natural habitat. Left, Miles Gonzaga and Jaime Graves at Murphy's Market in Sunny Brae.

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https://www.fantasywire.co.uk/robin-wight/

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Here are some of the most common Art Therapy techniques

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15 Art Therapy Activities & Ideas for Kids (Incl. PDF)

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Art therapy uses artwork to support individual wellbeing in a range of ways.

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How does engineering and the arts overlap?

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What Art and Engineering Can Learn From Each Other
By Dean Julio M. Ottino
Engineering produces stunningly beautiful objects - the Brooklyn Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, 1950s Ferraris, the Boeing 787, and many iconic products designed by Apple under Steve Jobs.

Like artists, engineers leave an aesthetic trail of ideas bifurcating and evolving through rough sketches, complex drawings, models, and mockups. Today we have photo-realistic computer renderings, virtual reality images, and 3D printed working prototypes.

We also see in scientific and engineering publications stunning images of objects and natural phenomena generated by an array of ever more powerful and deep probing scientific instruments, such as electron microscopes, X-rays, and so on. Many of these images are exquisitely beautiful and even artistic looking. In my earlier days doing fluid experiments with chaotic flows, I, along with others, produced myriad spectacularly artistic-looking images - interesting, beautiful, even inspirational images.

But is any of this art? No.

One does not stumble into a scientific discovery or into building an elegant machine any more than one stumbles into art. Intent matters. Without intent there is no art, and art is not the intent of science.

Science is about making the unrecognizable recognizable, turning the unfamiliar into familiar, and seeing a thread of unity behind dissimilar phenomena. While someone might enjoy the sight of milk gently mixing into coffee, a physicist might be able to extract how milk mixing into coffee contains the seeds of understanding of how regions can remain unmixed in oceans or why Jupiter's red spot persists. This is the essence of science: finding the simple picture that contains all pictures.

Art is the opposite. It is seeing something that one may have seen a hundred times before but in a different light, a new viewing that makes the familiar become unfamiliar. This is "bestrangement," as the Russian Formalists called it, or "perplextion." Sometimes described as the moment of awe, it is only the first step towards a critical engagement with art. Art is far from just the aesthetic concerns of shape, color, and composition -- it is about the why's and how's of a thing. And although it leaves the answers up to interpretation and questions unresolved, its utility is in bestowing upon the viewer the role of completing the work and inviting us to participate in a change of perception. It asks us to make distant and perhaps implausible connections that couldn't exist without a confrontation with the art itself.

Science and engineering are driven by purpose and ultimate objectives that can be simply encapsulated: Technology is about invention; science is about discovery. Art need not be driven by a purpose, at least not one that can be captured in a compact phrase. Objectives in art are as varied as artists: provoke, incite, irritate, challenge, reframe, shock, nauseate, reveal. Art exists essentially for its own sake, but it is not always self-referential. And it is most clearly not driven by beauty, though beauty can be an outcome. Some say art is about self-expression, a form of human response to the world, an attempt to capture something about it, to put a lens to some thing, creature, or feature of reality, or conversely turn a mirror back on us. One could argue that herein lies its utility.

While the outcomes of art and science are fundamentally different, there are significant benefits to bringing more visual, more artistic thinking into science and engineering. But there is more: The value in the intersection resides in enriching how the other side thinks.

Can this interface work when actually put to the test? Can one put together artists and engineers with loosely defined objectives to find common ground and engage in projects as co-equals?

Yes, but this is something that must be curated, not forced. At Northwestern, we have tested the idea with self-selected groups and loose objectives. In classes that combined engineering students with students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and from Northwestern's Department of Art Theory and Practice, groups developed new ways of visualizing social inequities in Chicago transit, games to facilitate interaction with autistic individuals, and ways to explore the commonality between sounds of laughter and sadness. The most rewarding outcome, however, was the collision of thought processes among team members.

But it isn't easy to move beyond small, self-selected groups who are often eager to interact. One needs to overcome stereotypes. Both sides have a romantic, almost cartoonish, view of the other. Scientists equate art with creation, beauty and inspiration, and sometimes with struggle; artists equate science and engineering with cold, methodical logic and a singular moment of inspiration when a great discovery is made. Engineers equate art with paintings, photographs, and sculptures, and leave out conceptual art, installations, and much more. Artists equate engineering with technology and not with the human factors and passions that animate it.

But it is precisely in the similarities and opposites where interesting things happen. Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, a colleague artist and MacArthur Fellow, has been engaging the sciences through discrete collaborations throughout his career. He has had collaborations with geneticists, meteorologists, iceberg hydrologists, and experimental systems engineers. Among artists at Northwestern, he emblemizes the bridging of the interface with engineering. His work has the power of putting things in a new and sometimes unrecognizable light. The collision of his art with engineering projects has resulted in upside-down modernist architecture, subjecting Brancusi's iconic Bird in Space at Mach 10 speeds, and large-scale rapid-prototyped iceberg stations.

His work is proof that ultimately, scientists and artists can connect through the need to make things, rather than talk about things. At a high level of abstraction and production the differences between artists, scientists, and engineers blur. They all rely on a singular need, craving or obsessiveness, and an ability to enjoy the process of creation for its own sake.

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How We Think | About | Northwestern Engineering

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By Dean Julio M. Ottino Engineering produces stunningly beautiful objects - the Brooklyn Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, 1950s Ferraris, the Boeing 787, and many iconic products designed by Apple under Steve Jobs. Like artists, engineers leave an aesthetic trail of ideas bifurcating and evolving through rough sketches, complex drawings, models, and mockups.

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           WELCOME TO MY ARTIFACT JOURNAL 

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           WELCOME TO MY ARTIFACT JOURNAL 

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Check out Nick Gentry...artist that uses recycled materials to create art

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Painting, collage, sculpture, exhibitions archive, bibliography, biography, store with limited edition prints, news and contact information.

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Check out modern glassblowing artist Martin Blank

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2015

Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN

2014

Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, WA

Toledo Museum of Fine Art, Toledo, OH

Dayton Celebrates Glass: Chihuly, Littleton, Labino and Beyond, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH

2013

Contemporary Glass Sculpture, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL

Northwest Collects, Museum Of Glass, Tacoma, WA

White Box Museum, Beijing, China

Ringling Museum, Philip and Nancy Kotlers Collection, Sarasota, FL

Coos Bay Museum, Coos Bay, OR

Naples Museum Of Art, Naples, FL

2012

Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, CT

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

50 Years of Studio Glass, Museum of Art & Craft Kentucky, Louisville, KY

Evolution/Revolution: 50 Years of American Studio Glass, Dennos Museum Center, MI

Fifty Years: Contemporary American Glass from Illinois Collections, Krannart Art Museum, Champaign, IL

Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI

2010

Go Figure, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University Contemporary Collection, Stanford, CA

Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

2009

Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA

2008

Steninge Palace Cultural Center, Sweden

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah, WI

New Britain Museum of America Art, New Britain, CT

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (2008 - Current)

2013

Schantz Galleries Contemporary Art, Stockbridge, MA

Hawk Galleries, Columbus, OH

2009

Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

Habatat Gallery, Chicago, IL

William Traver Gallery, Tacoma, WA

2007

Hawk Gallery, Columbus, OH

Habatat Galleries, Boca Raton, FL
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS (2008 - Current)
2013

Red, Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Gallery Artist Group Exhibition, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA

Art Palm Beach, with Echt Gallery IL

Visions, The Next 50 years, 41st Annual International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

SOFA Chicago, represented by Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

2012

Anniversary Edition: International Glass Invitational & Expose, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
American Studio Glass: Fifty Years of Extraordinary Achievement,
Richard and Barbara Basch Gallery, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL

Expressions: International Glass Invitational, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI

SOFA Chicago, represented by Habatat Gallery MI

2011

Project Room, Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

39th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Royal Oak, MI

Art Palm Beach, represented by Habatat Gallery MI

Art Naples, represented by Habatat Gallery MI

2010

Carving Spaces: Martin Blank & Steve Jensen, Hawk Galleries, Columbus, OH

S OFA Chicago, with Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

38th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

Art Palm Beach, with Habatat Galleries, FL

2009

Fluent Steps Series, Traver Gallery, Tacoma, WA

New Work, Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

SOFA Chicago, IL, with Habatat Gallery MI

Art Palm Beach, with Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

37th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Royal Oak, MI

2008

SOFA Chicago, with Habatat Gallery MI

SOFA NY, with Habatat Gallery Chicago

Art Palm Beach, with Habatat Galleries, Boca Raton, FL

International Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Boca Raton, FL

36th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Royal Oak, MI

Anton Art Center, Mt. Clemens, MI

2013

Red, Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Gallery Artist Group Exhibition, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA

Art Palm Beach, with Echt Gallery IL

Visions, The Next 50 years, 41st Annual International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

SOFA Chicago, represented by Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

2012

Anniversary Edition: International Glass Invitational & Expose, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
American Studio Glass: Fifty Years of Extraordinary Achievement,
Richard and Barbara Basch Gallery, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL

Expressions: International Glass Invitational, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI

SOFA Chicago, represented by Habatat Gallery MI

2011

Project Room, Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

39th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Royal Oak, MI

Art Palm Beach, represented by Habatat Gallery MI

Art Naples, represented by Habatat Gallery MI

2010

Carving Spaces: Martin Blank & Steve Jensen, Hawk Galleries, Columbus, OH

S OFA Chicago, with Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

38th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

Art Palm Beach, with Habatat Galleries, FL

2009

Fluent Steps Series, Traver Gallery, Tacoma, WA

New Work, Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

SOFA Chicago, IL, with Habatat Gallery MI

Art Palm Beach, with Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

37th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Royal Oak, MI

2008

SOFA Chicago, with Habatat Gallery MI

SOFA NY, with Habatat Gallery Chicago

Art Palm Beach, with Habatat Galleries, Boca Raton, FL

International Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Boca Raton, FL

36th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Gallery, Royal Oak, MI

Anton Art Center, Mt. Clemens, MI

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2015 Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN 2014 Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, WA Toledo Museum of Fine Art, Toledo, OH Dayton Celebrates Glass: Chihuly, Littleton, Labino and Beyond, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH 2013 Contemporary Glass Sculpture, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL Northwest Collects, Museum Of

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Check out a modern day Ukrainian plastic jewelry artist

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'Trash is a treasure', believes Mariya Sorokina. The Ukrainian artist goes to a recycling centre on the outskirts of Kiev every weekend to dispose of her waste responsibly. However, unlike most other environmentally-conscious recyclers, she returns home with 'treasure' or recyclable plastic that she will turn into glamorous accessories.

"I plan to make a necklace out of such elements. There will be several hexagonal cells and I will tie them with the help of wires which are electronic waste. And it can also make glamorous earrings," said the young artist.

Driven by a passion for sustainable fashion and a desire to keep Ukraine's environment clean, 27-year-old Sorokina founded her Re-beau brand in April 2018.

Her line of eco-friendly jewellery made of recycled plastic appeared on Ukrainian Fashion Week, collaborating with designer Roussin for their 2019 spring-summer collection devoted to responsible consumption.
Click on the video above to learn more about the young artist and her collection.

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Ukrainian artist turns plastic into jewellery | Living

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'Trash is a treasure', believes Mariya Sorokina. The Ukrainian artist goes to a recycling centre on the outskirts of Kiev every weekend to dispose of her waste responsibly. However, unlike most other environmentally-conscious recyclers, she returns home with 'treasure' or recyclable plastic that she will turn into glamorous accessories.

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See the contemporary ceramic artist in California.See how ceramics has taken off since the 2938 exhibition in San Diego

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/klā/ - a fine grained earth

/kraft/ - an activity involving skill in making things by hand

ABOUT CLAY AND CRAFT'S POTTERY And CERAMICS

CLAY AND CRAFT is a collection of ceramic or handcrafted pottery created by Nicole Novena ranging from kitchen and tabletop wares to home decor goods and jewelry. Each work of art is modern, simple and timeless. We believe in thoughtful, timeless design and follow a less is more approach with each handmade pottery creation.

Our goal is to create functional home goods for simple, modern living. Our drinkware, dinnerware and vases are equally beautiful as useful. Intended to heirlooms for gatherings and everyday rituals. Our pottery is often gifted to love ones, newlyweds and anyone who appreciates handcrafted home decor and interior design.

Named a "Best of San Diego" business by San Diego Magazine and an Etsy Design Award Finalist, our modern pottery and ceramics have been commissioned for television commercials, can be found in restaurants and is popping up in homes across the country.

Today, CLAY AND CRAFT is a small, home based ceramics studio located in San Diego in the seaside community of Encinitas, California. While we've refined our pottery and can be found in coffee shops, television commercials, advertisements, restaurants and homes across the United States, we're a continuously evolving, work in process that has been years in the making. We believe in doing what's needed today to get to where you want to be tomorrow. We're dreaming of bigger things but for now, we're rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty!

Follow our clay covered journey at @nicolenovena on Instagram or @clayandcraft on Facebook.

Nicole Novena - A San Diego, California Based Potter / Contemporary Ceramic Artist

Clay covered + forever making. And, currently creating pottery in San Diego, CA.

Born in Bennington, Vermont (home to Bennington Potters) and current resident of Encinitas, just outside of San Diego, California, CLAY AND CRAFT owner / ceramic artist, Nicole Novena was first exposed to clay in high school and has been creating ceramics since. She comes from a lineage of creatives; from everyday painters to successful film makers, her desire to create is a trait she is thankful to have inherited.

Since day one, Nicole has been drawn to simple designs and natural elements. Her work exercises restraint and discipline.

CLAY AND CRAFT is the output of 20+ years of pottery exploration coupled with 15 years of marketing + business experience.

In 2016, Nicole launched CLAY AND CRAFT.

Hooper - Our Pottery Studio Assistant

Hooper, a Bernese Mountain Dog, is CLAY AND CRAFT's trusted studio assistant. He is a rambunctious, loving Bernese Mountain Dog who adds a tremendous amount of personality to the studio. When not in time out for eating clay he provides loads of pottery studio support. He is beyond loyal and by our side every step of the way.

CREATE WITH INTENTION - Made in California with locally sourced materials. Our ceramics are timeless, minimal and thoughtfully designed to feel good and function well. We strive to create heirlooms that stand the test of time with a less is more approach.

LINK TO NATURE - From the earth's soil to functional, useful organic objects to fuel our everyday. We've found that magical raw yet refined blend. And, feel grateful to provide an outlet for others to connect with clay.

SLOW MADE - We're about getting back to the basics, conscious consumption, thoughtful gifting, celebrating handmade and championing modern artisan culture.

MADE FOR GATHERING + GIFTING - Intended to be shared with loved ones and gifted to those that matter most. Your home is sacred, we're honored to be a small part of it.

CREATIVITY IS CONTAGIOUS, SPREAD IT - We're on a mission to share our craft, encourage creativity and provide that much needed dose of creative care.

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Contemporary Ceramic Artist - San Diego - CLAY + CRAFT

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ABOUT CLAY AND CRAFT'S POTTERY And CERAMICS CLAY AND CRAFT is a collection of ceramic or handcrafted pottery created by Nicole Novena ranging from kitchen and tabletop wares to home decor goods and jewelry. Each work of art is modern, simple and timeless.

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Check out some modern metalworking artist

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Artistic metalworking has come a long way since the late Neolithic era. Today's artists benefit not only from a mountain of past culture and experience, but also from continuing advances in technology and unprecedented access to materials. From basic crafts that groups of children can do to mind-boggling industrial projects that require teams of architects and engineers to envision and years of labor to complete, the practice of metalworking has become intrinsic to societies across the modernized world.
The work of individual sculptors likewise continues to impress.
For millennia, individual artists have created phenomenal works of art out of various types of metal. Museums overflow with collections made from gold, silver, bronze, and steel. But advances in steel manufacturing have resulted in a significantly weather-resistant medium, which is embraced by English artist Robin Wight. Take a look at his amazing sculptures, which he painstakingly forms using galvanized and stainless steel wire.
Of course, metal only truly becomes fluid at very high temperatures. Finally, for the ultimate in upcycling, there is scrap metal and yard art. But not all scrap metal art is so basic.
The wire's workability, coupled with the artist's practiced hand, results in the sensual fluidity of the various fairy poses, as well as the illusory sense of motion as the wind seems to rip through the dandelion seeds. Much of Wight's sculptures have been commissioned for the gardens at the Trentham Estate in the United Kingdom, where you can view more of his work.

That is why it makes an excellent medium for these stalwart yet elegant tree sculptures, also crafted from wire from American artist Kevin Iris.

Examples of scrap metal art range from the simple to the stunning. They can be found at flea markets, farmers markets, and craft shows throughout the world. This is the type of project almost anyone can do using supplies found in typical kindergarten classrooms, like repurposing aluminum cans to make bird feeders, lanterns, and toys.

A studio in Thailand called BanHunLek shapes and welds scrap metal scavenged from junk yards - particularly defunct automobiles - to create models that would make any comic book or science-fiction geek drool. His work includes models of everything from Disney characters to characters from the Terminator, Predator, and Alien movies. One of his most impressive, however, is this Hulk, which virtually ripples with power.

Of course, Steiner Metalworking Solutions is a bit different than the art above, but not as much as you might think. Precision is still a necessity. Efficiency is key. Increasing productivity is essential. From abrasives to sawing solutions to precision instruments, our Metalworking and Industrial Supplies Division is awaiting your call!

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Metalworking Traditions Inspire Artists around the World | Steiner Electric Company Blog

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Artistic metalworking has come a long way since the late Neolithic era. Today's artists benefit not only from a mountain of past culture and experience, but also from continuing advances in technology and unprecedented access to materials. From basic crafts that groups of children can do to mind-boggling industrial projects that require teams of architects ...

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Art is used to help individuals in medical institutions...here's how!

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Art therapy is a treatment approach that integrates psychotherapeutic techniques with the creative process to improve well-being. Learn more about art therapy.

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African American artist are still striving towards a larger seat in the arts realm

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At age 24, Mark West is one of the youngest artists -- if not the youngest -- to open an art gallery in the Bronx.

As an African American gay male, West has become a springboard for other local African American artists -- especially those who identify as LGTBQ -- who often feel they lack a platform.

This weekend, the House of Mark West Gallery hosted "Celebrating Black Voices," an exhibition showcasing African American artwork, dance, poetry and music.

"Being here really means a lot to me because growing up as an African kid in a European space we only saw American artists," said performer Shishani Vranckx, a Namibian artist raised in the Netherlands. "We didn't know about African stars."

Vranckx teared up Saturday night before singing her song "Minority," which has been nominated for two awards at the Namibian Annual Music Awards.

"As a queer person of color ... you have to justify your existence everywhere you go," Vranckx said. "Being in this space, I am getting emotional being here with you guys, to be in this space."

"If I cry, just let me cry," she added.

For West, it's about creating a truly safe space without exclusion, a space he doesn't see available specifically for black artists in the Bronx.

"We want to offer emerging artists proper visibility," West said. "There is currently no space for these people to go."

For West, the gallery model has for too long involved black and brown artists looking for attention from whites.

"The new narrative is we can get support from our own communities," West said. "We can lift our own selves up. We can create our own content. We can produce our own film, open our own galleries."

After graduating from New York University with a liberal arts degree, West cycled through seven jobs in two years before landing a $60,000 position in corporate finance. In the hours he didn't spend in his cubicle, West poured himself into painting. His friends took notice and encouraged him to pursue it full-time.

West was hesitant, but decided to set up some of his paintings along 14th Street to see the public's reaction. He sold two paintings on the first day. The next weekend West sold nine pieces, earning enough money to cover his entire month's rent.

"I realized in the moment, 'I never have to apply for a cubicle again,'" West said. He quit his finance job six months later, after earning enough side money to start a small gallery.

West's Long Island Gallery opened in May 2019, and by its second packed show, guest artists were selling their paintings. West quickly realized his gallery wasn't only a space for his work, but a place to uplift the experiences and expression of all black voices. Seeing a need for such a space specifically in the Bronx, West moved his gallery in October.

The art that covered the walls of West's 500-square-foot gallery Saturday night ranged from surrealism to modernism to photography, all created primarily by local black or brown artists. Although widely different in style and medium, all the art had one thing in common: It was created by artists who had finally found a place to belong.

"Not to emphasize the pun, but it feels really surreal," Christian Santiago said, gazing at his 3.5-by-3-foot surrealism painting.

It was the first time a gallery had showcased his art.

"I never felt like I would do something like this," he said. "It's very rewarding."

Five-year-old Princess Prince, the gallery's youngest artist, has been creating art since she was 2. It was also the first time her art had been displayed in a gallery. She wore her favorite pink sweater for the occasion.

"I'm going to be famous today," Princess told her mother, Liz Lanette, on their way up the four flights of stairs to the gallery's door.

Three weeks earlier, her father had showcased his art in the same gallery for the first time.

"It's both of our first professional debuts," said Tashan Prince, who'd graduated from Lehman College in 2019 with a degree in fine arts.

"Her art, they're things you could see at the Met or MOMA. I went to art school and have an eye. I'm not just saying that because I'm her dad. I'm proud of her, really proud," he said.

Creating spaces for black and brown artists to connect is Mark West Gallery's ultimate goal.

"That's the first thing I say with every event we have is, 'Please connect with someone next to you. Don't leave here not knowing someone,'" said Kamara J. Hodge, the co-founder of K&B Productions, a production company working alongside the House of Mark West.

"We want people to leave with one friend or Insta buddy," said co-founder, Brandon Smith.

Their first-ever short film, "Bill and Robert," following the lives of two black, gay men in 1967, had its debut Friday evening.

At the end of each act, audience members pulled out their phones as artists shared their Instagram handles and website addresses. At the end of the evening, attendees stood chatting and exchanging contact details for an hour after the event.

"More often than not I'm the one person of color in the room," said Sheree V. Campbell, describing her typical experience as a woman of color who's worked nine years in production and entertainment. "Places like this, they give a platform for us artists to bring our work to light ... we need more platforms like this where we all just lift each other up."

Venus Air, a nonconforming, black, improv artist, glanced around the room and asked the audience: "Do you know who your brothers and your sisters are today?"

Leaning into each other's arms, glancing behind and in front of them, audience members nodded in collective understanding. "Victory is won when we're not alone," Venus Air said.

"I can't even explain how much I needed last night, and I didn't even know," Angie Swan, a black female guitarist who's played with with Fifth Harmony, Adam Lambert, and currently plays for David Byrne, said the day after the event. "To be in a space with so many fellow black artists was so cathartic and necessary."

From the moment artists enter his gallery to the moment they leave, West says his message is the same: "You are welcome here, you are accepted, you are home."

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Lack of representation prompts African American artist to open Bronx gallery

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At age 24, Mark West is one of the youngest artists -- if not the youngest -- to open an art gallery in the Bronx. As an African American gay male, West has become a springboard for other local African American artists -- especially those who identify as LGTBQ -- who often feel they lack a platform.

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Similar to the Industrial Revolution & Art... Will humans lose their jobs to computers???

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In a previous article, titled ' Why the future of work must be designed ', I stated "[if] history has taught us anything it's that disruptive paradigm shifting business models not only create a fortune for the first movers, they lay the foundation for other new business models, new market entrants, and new jobs to follow. Yes, robots will replace humans for many jobs, just as innovative farming equipment replaced humans and horses during the industrial revolution. However, in the wake of these changes, humans will be needed to create and deliver value in brand new ways for brand new business models." Even though it's only been a few months since I wrote that article, I am today more convinced than ever that this is true!

Before I go on, I think it's best to level set on what constitutes machines. In the context of this article (and probably the much broader global context as well), machines describe computers and computerized equipment, like robots, that have been programmed to learn, sometimes like humans. Occasionally we call this artificial intelligence (AI), other times we call this machine learning, and still other times we call this robotics...or simply bots. And, yes, these are technically different things. But, within the broad discussion related to the future of work, these are totally interrelated. Factory floors deploy robots that are increasingly driven by machine learning algorithms such that they can adjust to people working alongside them. Similarly, AI is being used to turn hand-drawn sketches (done by humans) into digital source code.

AI is not just a hot new buzzword either. In 2016 Tractica, a market research firm released a report that " forecasts that the annual global revenue for artificial intelligence products and services will grow from 643.7 million in 2016 to $36.8 billion by 2025, a 57-fold increase over that time period. As such, it represents the fastest growing segment of any size in the IT sector."

Similarly, "The Boston Consulting Group estimates that more than $67 billion will be spent worldwide in the robotics sector by 2025, compared to only $11 billion in 2005."

Companies are clearly developing their AI and robotics expertise with the idea that through these technological innovations they'll be able to A) cut costs; B) increase efficiencies; C) offer new value propositions; D) execute new business models; or E) all of the above.

Perhaps you're someone who sees doom residing within these trends. I don't blame you if you do. However, there are some really exciting examples where the opposite is true. In fact, the signals are all around us that the very same companies that are investing heavily in AI and robotics (and automation using these) are also finding that the best, most efficient, cost-effective solutions include humans and machines working together.

For instance, at Airbnb, the giant startup known for enabling homeowners to rent out their homes (and couches) to travelers, " is currently developing a new AI system that will empower its designers and product engineers to literally take ideas from the drawing board and turn them into actual products almost instantaneously." If you're a designer, engineer or some other kind of technologist, this could be a huge breakthrough. As Benjamin Wilkins, an Airbnb design technology lead, put it, "As it stands now, every step in the design process and every artifact produced is a dead end...work stops whenever one discipline finishes a portion of the project and passes responsibility to another discipline." In this case, human creative endeavors are transformed and enhanced by machines for usability and scale.

Source: The Next Web, ' Airbnb built an AI that turns design sketches into product source code '

Of course, it's not just machines and creatives working together either. In another example, Amazon has employed more than 100,000 robots in its warehouses to efficiently move things around while it has increased its warehouse workforce by more than 80,000. Humans, in Amazon's case, do the picking and packing of goods (in has more than 480,000,000 items on its "shelves"!) while robots move orders around the giant warehouses, essentially cutting " down on the walking required of workers, making Amazon pickers more efficient and less tired." Plus, the robots " allow Amazon to pack shelves together like cars in rush-hour traffic because they no longer need aisle space for humans. The greater density of shelf space means more inventory under one roof, which means better selection for customers. "

The above two examples describe a closed working environment, wherein machines are kept well away from the public eye (and foot). Yet, human-machine partnerships won't stop there. Recently, Effidence, a French company partnered with Deutsche Post to design and produce PostBot, an " electric-powered robot [that] can carry up to 330 pounds of letters and packages through the city, using artificial intelligence to follow the legs of its mail carrier through the entire delivery route, navigating obstacles in any weather condition. " While it's still in the public testing phase, like the Amazon warehouse robots, PostBot is designed to take the strain off of human postal workers, who often have to walk miles through (increasingly) dense urban settings, carrying lots and lots of heavy mail and packages etc. In the future delivering mail might seem like a stroll in the park whilst PostBot does the heavy lifting (and moving) of literally hundreds of pounds of our...Amazon packages.

What's most interesting about all three of these cases is that the machines make the processes they're helping to automate more efficient, which in turn makes it easier, faster, and less expensive to create, deliver, and capture value for the companies that employ the machines. As Dave Clark, the top executive in charge of operations at Amazon, told the New York Times during a recent interview, "It's a myth that automation destroys net job growth." The increase in overall productivity has, in some cases, created more consumer demand, which has created more jobs.

So, will machines replace humans for many jobs? The answer is unequivocal, yes. However, I assert that with every job taken over by machines, there will be an equal number of opportunities for jobs to be done by people. Some of these human jobs will be of the creative type. Others will require humans to hone their superhuman reasoning skills. In many cases humans and machines will find themselves in symbiotic relationships, helping each other do what they do best. People and machines can and will work together in the future...and they're already doing so today.

What do you think? How might we co-design (or co-create) the future of work together?

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Will machines replace humans in the future of work?

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In a previous article, titled ' Why the future of work must be designed ', I stated "[if] history has taught us anything it's that disruptive paradigm shifting business models not only create a fortune for the first movers, they lay the foundation for other new business models, new market entrants, and new jobs to follow.