martha lever’s 25 year history with calligraphy
Martha Lever of Jacksonville, Florida is one heck of a calligrapher and she’s got a fresh, punchy little blog to go with her talent. If you’re doing any kind of art journaling, visual diary, lettering, or sketchbook work you need and I repeat….you need to give a click.
She says, “I am a lettering artist (that’s a calligrapher who uses calligraphy as an art form rather than just wedding invitations) although that is an art form too. I have been practicing the art of calligraphy and lettering for 25 years. It is a difficult art to learn and it takes much patience, practice, and blood, sweat and tears. But the rewards are so great that you just can’t quit. I also am a mixed media artist and have been learning about this art for several years. It is fascinating all they mediums and techniques you can include in this wonderful kind of art. I will attempt to create an art piece a day. It might be calligraphic lettering of some kind, mixed media painting or watercolor. But the important thing is that I CREATE!!! Just creating is so important— and to enjoy the process–no matter how it turns out.”
is animal cruelty new pornography or new 1st amendment censorship?
Subject: College Art Association signs anticensorship amicus brief for upcoming First Amendment court case
CAA has signed an amicus curiae brief, prepared by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), regarding a crucial First Amendment issue now facing the US Supreme Court.
US v. Robert Stevens involves part of a federal statute (18 U.S.C. § 48) that makes it a crime to own, possess, or display depictions of animal cruelty if the acts portrayed are illegal in the state where someone owns, possesses, or sells them—even if the acts portrayed weren’t illegal when or where they were performed.
A conviction in US v. Robert Stevens was recently reversed on appeal on the ground that the prohibition on the depiction alone violates the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case in the fall.
CAA and NCAC believe Section 48 is unconstitutional because it could deter and punish the production, distribution, and even the simple possession of constitutionally protected speech. If the lower court’s decision is reversed, not only will some lawful expression depicting animals being killed or injured be subject to criminal sanction, but the ramifications are also far-reaching: Congress and the states could outlaw the creation and possession of artworks that depict certain types of conduct simply on the basis that the conduct itself is illegal.
This would chill a wide range of expression, including, potentially, art that depicts such criminal activities as terrorist acts, drug use, and certain types of sexual behavior. Although CAA does not condone cruelty to animals or any other sort of unlawful conduct, CAA has long and firmly opposed artistic and scholarly censorship of all kinds.
See http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.collegeart.org/news/2009/07/28/caa-signs-anticensorship-amicus-brief-for-us-v-stevens/ for more information and http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.collegeart.org/pdf/CAA-NCAC-amicus-brief.pdf to read the full amicus brief.
We encourage your thoughts? If you’re an artist working in the areas of animals, pornography, or 1st amendment censorship – let us know how this impacts you.
the fine art of dan white’s kansas city jazz musicians photos
The Alexandria Black History Museum, 902 Wythe St, is featuring the work of Dan White, who spent almost two decades photographing Kansas City jazz musicians. The result of his work is The Fine Art of Jazz, a series of 50 black-and-white portraits of Kansas City jazz musicians. The exhibition also offers a look into the performers’ lives through excerpts of interviews with the musicians. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a suggested admission of $2. For more information, visit www.alexblackhistory.org or call 703.838.4356. Read another fantastic review here. The official ABHM press release is here.
wpa’s exhibition of photos from artfile online
FotoWeek DC 2009 EXHIBITION: Framing the Economic Downturn (FED)
Curated by Jim Hubbard, award winning photojournalist and Creative Director of Venice Arts, at Gallery O/H, 1352 H Street NE, Washington, DC
Deadline for entries: Works on the ArtFile Online must be tagged by 5:00pm on September 2, 2009
As part of FotoWeek DC 2009, WPA will present an exhibition of photography selected exclusively from the ArtFile Online (AFO) by the acclaimed documentary photographer, Jim Hubbard. In 1989, Hubbard created Shooting Back, a Washington-based organization dedicated to empowering children at risk by teaching them photography. For this exhibition, Hubbard invites photographers to submit works that are relative to today’s economic hardships.
“…This new exhibition will explore the human drama and its various visual forms against the backdrop of the current and former economic meltdowns that have left millions of our fellow Americans outside the American dream and framed through the lens.”
-Jim Hubbard
Download the Call for Entry Form >>
play with your food – longwood garden’s harvest design competition
Longwood Gardens invites you to participate in a harvest design competition that will take place during a extraordinary display with thousands of vegetables arranged in creative & artistic designs!
On September 5-7, 2009 , Longwood will feature arrangements including an artichoke archway, tomato towers, a 12′ wide chandelier of golden corn, squash and lemons, and ten large-scale floral designs created by our continuing education students.
The community harvest design competition will be judged by top experts from Better Homes & Gardens magazine, leading florists and gardening professionals.
Entries must be at Longwood between 2:00 and 5:00 pm on Friday, September 4, or between 7:00 and 9:00 am on Saturday, September 5 to be considered for cash prizes. No pre-registration is required.
More than 50% of the design must be fruits and vegetables. Designs should be artistic and creative, using only natural elements. Judging categories are: homegrown, locally (farmer’s market) purchased, grocery store/supermarket purchased and vegetable critters. Children are welcome to participate in all categories! For more information contact Karl Gercens at kgercens@longwoodgardens.org.
about us
Shauna Lee Lange creates life effectiveness strategies for global women and girls through relentless work in achieving equality for women in the digital divide. Digital literacy, women and the Internet, and how the lack of women’s technological advances creates economic and political disparity are all pillars of how information and communication technologies MUST act as catalysts for global feminism and equal rights.
I believe the single most growing threat to the physical, emotional and financial health of women worldwide is information systems illiteracy and when left unaddressed, will eventually lead to women’s complete exclusion and invisibility to the extent that it will ultimately trump and surpass existing or historic strongholds!
I have many experienced years in management consulting, leadership training, and serving the public in advisory information brokering. What that means is that I am qualified to work towards empowering women and communities to envision, enlarge, and exemplify their best based on sound practice, research & analytics, and contemporary techniques.
I also teach, write, lecture, exhibit, jury, curate, build teams, assess performances, motivate, research, promote, counsel, conceptualize, market, facilitate and measure. Recent subjects include access to technology issues, social hierarchies, cultural elite, art as economic leverage, technology literacy as anti-poverty, information societies, net neutrality, and the absence of women in technology developing professions.
Previously, I was the very first woman-veteran founder of a full-service arts advisory, design studio, and organized creativity expertise providers in the Commonwealth of Virgina (founded in 2006) with a motto: “progressive art, global women, and creative empowerment” or “more art is more love”. I also served 6 years with the U.S. Navy on Italy’s island of Sicily and over 15 years nationally with the U.S. Federal Civil Service as a management, program, and transportation analyst.
Fully believing in the therapeutic impact and applicability of the arts, education, technology and creativity in one’s life, I work to encourage people to embrace full expression aided by education, free speech and free expression. My own inspired, self-taught, late-emergent, exhibiting artist art work concentrates on these themes in vintage and contemporary thematic collage, art journals, visual diaries, sketchbooks, and paper & book arts in the exploration of personal geographies.
Social equity requires a commitment to women’s equality. Women’s participation in the information economy carries enormous value to all girls and women. Technology literacy for women is a strategy I intend to tirelessly illuminate, use and promote for true liberation, global connectedness, and leveraging tools in societal struggles.
Conquering the digital divide means a focus on: 1) infrastructure; 2) limited telecommunications networks; 3) bandwidth capacity issues; 4) non-availability of hardware & software; 5) poor transportation networks; 6) uninterrupted power supplies; 7) non-availability of financial resources; 
non-availability of trained technicians; 9) lack of technical maintenance staff; and most powerfully, 10) prevalence of negative attitudes.
If those challenges weren’t enough, women in China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil AND fully developed countries like the United States most often face difficulties in technology access with: a) male attitudes; b) lack of family support; c) institutional barriers; d) facilities issues (such as transportation or child care availability); and e) insensitive aid workers or instructors. These obstacles create an often unexplored gender dynamic in the world of technology where there is now limited effort to fully address issues of access, content and the positive impact of technology where women’s lives are concerned – not a women’s agenda, but one of ultimate human and civil rights. Civil rights in a technological age – a multidisciplinary, fascinating journey that I fully invite you to accompany.
703.960.0616
shaunaleelange@gmail.com
All rights to this site and its contents are retained and all original artwork is copyrighted. Click here to learn more about our licensing and permissions for text and artwork through Creative Commons. The firm of Shauna Lee Lange is comprised of professional service providers and administrators. Proud 2010 members of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the National Association of Investigative Specialists (NAIS). Life Coaching Certification was achieved in 2010 through the Advanced Life Coaching Institute (ALCI). Shauna Lee Lange is also member in good standing with the International Coach Federation (ICF) through March 2011. It’s important that coaches stay in the know about field developments and that they network with other coaches. We participate through Coach U and the ICF in the Career Coaches Special Interest Group which helps us give to the profession on an ongoing basis. We also hold Certifications in Civilian Leadership Development as a Trainer for Mentor/Assessment Training; Management Development Certifications for Leading People; High Performance Development Model; Ethics Training; Mastery in Alternative Dispute Resolution; Team Skills; and multiple other skills proficiencies in quantitative and qualitative analysis. Shauna Lee Lange is an advocate of 1st Amendment Free Speech, Net Neutrality, Open Internet, and Social Media.
