Observation

AGUAZERO Call for Art

Theme:
We are inviting submissions in water-based medium on or with paper.
The competition has an environmental agenda requesting submissions to reference the contrary character of climate change. For example, increased desertification and the escalating effects of weather events such as flooding and soil erosion.
The work should be based on observation, experience and invention. It must be as involved with the process and materials of painting/drawing etc. as with the response to climate change.
We are interested in works that invite close scrutiny and, like environmental events in the world around us, reveal themselves gradually and steadily over time, prompting reaction and renewed contemplation of the ecological challenges the world faces.
Prize:
A two week residency at Cortijada Los Gázquez / Joya: arte + ecologia, Andalucía, Spain including travel costs within Europe (not accommodation while in transit). Winners from outside of Europe can have their travel expenses paid once they are within the EU.
The winner will have sole use of a thirty square meter studio and 20 hectares of land for the period. Accommodation and meals are included as is collection and return to the nearest public transport system. Resident artists will be featured on the Joya: arte + ecología web page, which will include biographical information and images. The work undertaken during the residency will also be documented and entered into our archive.
http://www.losgazquez.com/en/joya/

Nomads: The Art of Observation

A Nomad student draws scenes from his neighborhood. Photo Credit: spartanrestoration.com

The Nomads take a good look at their own back yard in a drawing lab taught by artist and Cal Arts instructor Evelyn Serrano.  (See Sam’s post #3 for more on the Nomads also this link. )  The kids are told to take their time, to observe closely before starting to draw.

Click to view slideshow.

“Don’t compare your work to anyone else,” Evelyn tells them. “You are all different so your art will be different, too.”  She points out the details in a tree and the colors and squiggly lines of a nearby play set.   At the end of the session, the children seem eager to show their work to the rest of the class.  Evelyn says she is proud of them for being fearless, unafraid to take risks with their art.  Then Evelyn and Sam look over the spot where the Spartan trailer will be on display for the Nomads on November 6th.

This post is part of a series documenting Sam Breen’a Spartan Restoration Project. Please see his first post here and check out the archive here. The CSPA is helping Sam by serving in an advisory role, offering modest support and featuring Sam’s Progress by syndicating his feed from http://spartantrailerrestoration.wordpress.com as part of our CSPA Supports Program.

Anthill: how biologist EO Wilson turned science into best-selling fiction | The Observer

That lifetime has mostly involved the comprehensive study of a particular world that first intrigued him way back when: the world of ants. Much of what we know about social insects and the “superorganism” of the hive and nest has been a result of Wilson’s research and observation. Over six decades and 20 books he has detailed every aspect of ant societies: how they divide labour and spread knowledge, how they mate and fight, live and die. Wilson has used this wisdom – “sociobiology” – to make arguments about genetics and conditioning that have applications thoughout the living world, and which extend to our understanding of human nature and society. Much of that wisdom he has now brought to bear on Anthill, his debut novel, which has at its heart an extraordinary ant's eye view of the world, a social realist book-within-a-book of the rise and fall of a particular ant colony.

via Anthill: how biologist EO Wilson turned science into best-selling fiction | Science | The Observer.