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Art can take any form. Paintings and sculpture, we all know as art. Music and theater are also art. How about Urinals?

Can urinals be art? It’s obvious the designer of this urinal sure thinks that something as base as a urinal most certainly can be art. I know that I certainly hitched my pants up a little higher after using this one.

The Contemporary Arts Center, located in Downtown Cincinnati, is a gem. I have always been aware of the center, but I had never visited until today. As is the usual case, I could kick myself for not going sooner.

Jim and I decided that far too much time has passed since our last outing and Cinci just beckoned us with it’s restaurants and museums. The first Stop was Bakersfield, a little tacos, tequila, and whiskey joint in the OTR area. We filled up and got fueled up for the rest of the day. Next stop – CAC.

The CAC building is a piece of art in its own right, but we will save that for another time. The CAC does not have a permanent collection, but spreads temporary exhibits over 6 floors. We took the elevator to the top and worked our way down. One entire floor was dedicated to an exhibit of the work of Daniel Arsham. The sculptor had several pieces of freestanding human figures and 3 dimensional pieces mounted on the walls. Long story short and the exhibit was amazing.

Here are some highlights:

And of course, there has to be a photo of Jim taking photos. It is a rule of our outings. 1 Food. 2 Art or History. 3. Photo of Jim Taking a Photo. Sorry Jim, it’s tradition.

Oh, and don’t forget a photo of other people enjoying the artwork. Can’t forget that one either.

Hi all of you loyal readers. Every couple of years, I feel the urge to completely overhaul the look and feel of the site. This year, I also decided to take advantage of the moment and move the site from Type Pad to WordPress. TP is getting a bit long in the tooth and hasn’t been able to stay current.

While the transition is in progress, you will see this site changing on a regular basis as I groom the new design and experiment with some of WordPress’ features. Be patient and It will settle down in the next couple of weeks.

Mean while, have a great week ahead.

Tim

For the past few years, I have had the plesure and honor to be associated with an amazing photographer, Tom Dinning. As a mentor and inspiration, Tom is single handedly responsible for much of the growth in my photographic work. His guidance allowed me to become comfortable with my work as an artform and not as a simple hobby. He’s expanded my knowlege and my vocabulary of photography.

As part of his tutelage, my last assignment was to select twenty images and frame them in Photo Shop for a virtual exhibit, complete with artist’s statement. A fairly straightforward task. However, Tom has also inspired a sense of individuality and adventure in his pupils. We are free to explore our own curiosity and interests in the pursuit of new skills and knowledge.

So, I took the assignment in another direction. Where to begin?

My photos often inspire stories in my mind and I thought that it would be interesting to mount the photos on a wall next to the story that they’d inspired. However, I also know that images inspire different stories in the minds of the viewers that enjoy them. So, I wanted to pair photos and stories in a way that would not diminish the viewers ability to summon his on thoughts and words.  

As my thoughts crystalized, I imagined that an exhibit would need a poster…that is where my work actually began.

 

 

And of course, any exhibit of any worth would have to have a book. This is where I first paired the stories and images.

 

You can download and view the PDF here. (1184.3K)

 

You will notice the images contained in the book are not framed. Who takes photos of framed photos for use in a book? Not I. I did however frame all twenty images. You can see them on the last page in the PDF, but here is an example for you.

 

 

If you would like to learn how to use Photo Shop to place your images in a virtual frame, this PDF (242.0K) shows you how I did it.

I hope you become inspired to create your own virtual gallery of images or your own photo book. Even better, start to look for the story hidden in your photos and put those stories into words.

Tim