Music & Mosaics

Very cool music. Very cool house.

Ship Mosaic Progress

On Saturday Nova & I went up to the cities for the day. First we went to the MAEP meeting at the MIA. It was a meeting for electing the new panel members. Nova went browsing around the museum while the meeting went on since she's not a Minnesota artist, but rather a Nevada artist (and therefore not eligible to vote).

After the meeting we did a quick retracing of Nova's steps to see the exhibits she thought interesting. Then we went to lunch at a little cafe on Raymond street called Jay's Cafe. We originally were planning to have lunch at Key's - also on Raymond street, but they close at 2pm and it was just after 2 when we arrived. Jay's is just up the block, so we walked there and had a great lunch for under $20.

We got to J. Ring Glass at 2:55pm and started looking at beads first. The clerk came over to us at a few minutes after 3pm and told us they were closed, and that we would have to come back on another day. When I explained that I live 2 1/2 hours away she let me grab the stained glass that I needed. The blue piece that I got was exactly the color that I wanted - I had the sticker off of a previously purchased piece. The tan is too light, too butterscotchy, but perhaps the shop in La Crosse will have the tan that I need so that I don't have to go back to Saint Paul before I can finish this mosaic.

After J. Ring Glass, we went to Mosaic on a Stick where Nova selected a few special items for the mosaic she wants to make. I got tan and blue grout for the mosaic. I also mentioned that I was planning a mosaic made of glass scavenged from the Mississippi river. The owner of the shop said not to grout it, that grout will get into the scratches on the glass and ruin it. It was great to get that advice.

After Mosaic on a Stick we went to Wet Paint and selected some papers for making books. Nova wants to make a book or two. She's making one using a technique she's done before, and later I will teach her the long-stitch book method that I know.

On Sunday I worked on the ship mosaic using the blue and white swirled glass I got on Saturday. Here's how the mosaic looks right now:

There's a bit of glare on the glass, but for the most part this is a pretty good photo of the mosaic.

It's getting closer to being done... Now I need to set up a photo space and the lighting for photographing mosaics without glare on the glass.

Facebook discussion

I've been having a discussion on Facebook that happened when I posted the following as my status/thoughts:

Shameful greed has lead to where we are in regard to healthcare, yet Republicans and conservatives continue to defend this immoral system. What a bunch of greedy hypocrites. They cart out their religion when it's about people's sex lives, but only talk free-market, free-market, at the expense of their neighbors, when it comes to real moral issues like health care.

While I love the spontaneous discussion that happened, Facebook's character limits have driven me here to continue the discussion...

CHARLA: amen.

DAVE: I guarantee, if they could get campaign funds from Satan himself they'd do it despite their "christian values".

HEATHER: Just to be clear, I'm pretty sure that there are democrats that are opposed to universal health care to...

DAVE: Right... I'll extend my above statement to any politician who claims "christian values" are important to them.

ME: Dave... the fact that we don't take care of everyone that needs care is THE moral failing in my book. And by "everyone" I sort of mean the world. And by "care" I sort of mean making sure that no one dies from hunger, inadequate living conditions, lack of access to healthcare, or murder/violence.

And I will say that the overwhelming majority of "christian values" indoctrinates I know only want to limit what others do or have access to. Their interests and passions are not to bring about a better world - or perhaps they want to define "better" for everyone. There are a few exceptions, but they truly are the exceptions.
not very articulate, but I'm at work and in a hurry...

ME: Heather - I think that what you are referring to is the government option and/or single payer health care.

In my status I did not say "universal health care" I said health care, although to be honest I believe wholeheartedly (absolutely, in the strictest form of the word "wholeheartedly" - with every part of me, to the extent that it almost physically hurts to think about it) that ALL the people of the world deserve to have health care. I believe universal health care is a right, not a privilege.

I wholeheartedly believe that parents should not have to sit with a sick child and decide between feeding the family (or keeping the rent paid) AND taking the child to the doctor. I have been in that position - it is a cruel torture, perhaps one of the cruelest a parent can face. The fear, the anger, the sense of abject hopelessness

I believe that children (and adults) should never have to die for lack of the ability to pay for a doctor's time.

JUDE: current option...sitting for hours in a public hospital and $4 prescriptions from Wal-Mart (a whole other story there) with your feverish child crying about an ear-ache. I love it when the bill-collectors call :) "Sorry sir/ma'am...I have no money but I am looking forward to talking to you tomorrow".

GLORIA:  Or in my case I have expensive full coverage where I work but they will not cover the drugs I need to keep my asthma under control. Frugs I have taken for years so I am forced to buy in canada. The same drugs for pennies on the dollar.

 HEATHER: i agree that something does need to be done with health care.... im just not so sure about universal health care.

ME:  Heather - don't think about the politicos wrangling about it. Or rather - think past their rantings - and I do mean ranting on both sides. Both sides have vested interests that go beyond this issue. The ones in power want to stay in power and the ones on the outs want in.

Think instead about the word UNIVERSAL. It simply means EVERYONE - rich, middle-class and poor. Everyone deserves to be able to take their kids to the doctor when they need it. To keep their kids well enough to do well in school. To make sure that their kids don't die from preventable things.

I believe what you have reservations about is the Single Payer option and/or the government-run program. Those are the parts of this that make people nervous - everyone, or nearly everyone, KNOWS we have to do something about healthcare.

We're already paying more through increased medical costs to everyone who can pay to cover the cost of hospitals caring for those who cannot.

damn this character limit in Facebook... there's way more to be said here - I'm transferring this discussion to my blog http://montagael.blogspot.com

Go there if you want to read my longer answer.

So here I am.

The thing that we need to work out is what it would really cost to get everyone the healthcare they need.

Unfortunately, given our current system there is absolutely no way to do that with any certainty. Health insurance has muddied the waters to the point where we really don't know what our costs should be.  How can we determine the costs of healthcare for all when:

1. we've never decided what the minimum care level should be - we will never be able to afford for everyone the way-out-there tests and treatments that the wealthy or the highly insured can purchase, or at least not the way healthcare is managed today. 
   
   
2. we don't know the health status for the millions who are out of the healthcare market due to their inability to pay - Jude's comment about sitting in the hospital emergency room with a child who has an earache is exactly what happens for people with no other healthcare alternative. When things are impossible, when their child won't stop crying from pain or is running a high fever, they end up in the emergency room because hospitals don't generally turn people away for their inability to pay (they just pass the costs along to those who can, increasing those people's insurance costs - not because they want to, but that they must in order to be able to continue giving care to anyone... talk about dancing in a downward spiral...)
   
   
3. we cannot pause long enough to actually think about this - between the concerns for feeding and housing our families, the worries about the economy in our country, the wars we are fighting AND the rantings of the politicos, we are jerked back and forth between the issues in a way that keeps us unfocused and overstimulated, resulting in either a simmering rage or a deep apathy.
   
   
4. and there are powerful interests that don't want things changed too much. I think I'm talking about the insurance industry, but there could be others that I just don't know about - in fact, it's pretty damn likely that there are...
   
   They want change, but change that won't eat into their profits too much, or even better, change that allows them to shed the unprofitable accounts and keep the profitable ones. 

Healthcare should not be a for-profit industry. That's the bottom line in my thinking. Sure, people say that we won't have the best doctors if we take away the profit-minded pay scale. I say we would have no worse doctors and we might end up with better doctors - doctors who are doctors because their PASSION is caretaking.

Make it possible for doctors to get their schooling, their training, without incurring debt. Make intellegence and creative thinking the criteria for medical school - not whether or not you can afford it. Open up the possibility for bright students of every economic class to become a doctor if that's their passion. Use our government to fund that kind of reform, to build the hospitals, to regulate care quality and care equality. Get rid of for-profit health insurance - spend those trillions of dollars spent on insurance directly on healthcare instead.

That would really change the world.

Upcoming Mosaics

Aside from the ship mosaic I have two other mosaics in the works. One will be made from glass I have gathered from the riverbanks of the Mississippi. This river-tumbled glass is limited in color palette of mostly clear that has been scratched up so much it is nearly white, a pale, pale green, two other shades of green, a couple shades of brown, and the odd red or blue piece. Much of it seems to come from old beer, wine or other beverage bottles that have been tossed into the river somewhere upstream from here. It gets tumbled with the rocks in the river by the current and wave action, giving each piece a softened look. I'm not sure if this mosaic will be a representational piece showing some recognizable imagery, or if I will do something abstract. I need to go beach-combing a couple more times to see what glass I find. Hopefully the river will be down a bit and more shoreline will be exposed. It takes a long time to gather enough glass for a mosaic from the bits and pieces the river gives me, so this will likely be a small mosaic, no bigger than one square foot.

The other mosaic will be a 1' x 3' mosaic of a rather earthy smiling Chinese dragon. I am doing this one with smalti. I just ordered about $400 worth of Mexican smalti from smalti.com. That's not all that much smalti - around 15 pounds or probably just enough to cover 4 or 5 square feet.

Ship Mosaic Progress

I've been working on the sky area of the mosaic. This photo isn't the best - it's hard to get high enough above the mosaic to get a full image of it. The circular object in the upper left corner is one of those flexible desk lamps.

You cannot tell very well in the photo, but the sky glass starts out lighter at the horizon - atmospheric perspective (a technique employed in landscape painting, designed to suggest three dimensional space in the two dimensional space of the picture plane, and in which forms and objects distant from the viewer become less distinct, often bluer, cooler or lighter in color, and contrast among the various distant elements is greatly reduced) and gets darker in color as it advances toward the top of the mosaic.

I need to get a bit more of the blue and quite a bit more of the tan for the right-side map area. The tan color I have is a bit too butterscotchy and too light. I need one that has more gray in it than creamy yellow.

Concerning Censorship

I have thought quite a bit about the issue of censorship this evening after some questions arose concerning the current show at the center...

*****************************************************

This discussion is a very important one. It goes far beyond this one exhibit, beyond this one artist, beyond even the arts center and our community.



In regard to the larger discussion, I am adamantly against censorship – not just as an artist, but also as a responsible citizen of a democracy. Censorship is a certain path to the enslavement of reason, critical thinking, and civil discourse, perpetrated by groups in power – or by groups willing and able to create a loud enough uproar. It chips away at the foundation of education, at the value of alternative ideas and the creators of those ideas, and, most importantly, at the heart of our power to make decisions for ourselves – it dis-empowers. Censorship is a response to a stimulus that has offended a particular ideology, and while censorship may seem desirable when you are of the censoring party, it is degrading and demoralizing when your viewpoints, ideas or creations are the ones being suppressed.



It’s been asked “Would you consider hanging photos or paintings depicting explicit scenes from dog fights?”  Myself, I would respond, “I might, if I believed the images to have artistic merit, and/or if they expressed an important social message.” Uncomfortable imagery, uncomfortable stories, uncomfortable ideas need to be explored and deconstructed, their meanings discussed, understood and considered. If we close our eyes and minds to the things that offend us, if we refuse to consider the ideas of the others, if we refuse to listen to those we do not agree with, we limit our growth and our vision, we set ourselves up to get blindsided by trends and social agendas, and we continue to foster the destructive division and rancorous dichotomy that is evermore apparent in much of the social discourse in this country. It is when we – both sides – carefully listen, and then respectfully express our agreement or our opposition to ideas and concepts that valid, meaningful communication happens. At the point when communication truly happens a working compromise is possible.  And although it is not the case in this discussion, I must add that if those who disagree with refuse to reciprocate with a similar respect it in no way negates our responsibility to continue to listen and communicate respectfully...



I am not concerned with following any one group's particular political correctness agenda and in regard to the controversial pieces in the show – it is my understanding that in general sadomasochistic culture is participated in by choice, not force and therefore only of concern to those who willingly participate.  I recognize that others may feel differently, and respect their viewpoints. However, I do not recognize this perspective as a valid position for censoring artistic expression. But for this discussion it is important to take into consideration the varied ways that the center is used by the community and the impact of imagery that some in the community may feel is graphic in nature. 



Ship Mosaic

Here is the mosaic as of this past weekend (didn't do any work on it tonight - still getting over the effects of a sleepless night last night and a migraine this morning).

The water is done. I'm starting the sky this week and hopefully I'll get up to Saint Paul to get more glass for the rest of the map area soon. I could order it online, but it's always so hard to tell what you'll actually get...

I took off one row of tessarae on the right side of the ocean. It did not look very good. You can compare this image with the previous post and see what I mean. There's one part of the front-most sail that I might rework too. So far I feel like I am getting the feeling of movement that I was looking for with the cuts and placement of the tessarae: the water looks like it is flowing around, back and forth as waves, except for the wake the ship is cutting; the sails look like they are stretched tight with the kind of wind that would be necessary to create the wake that I have here; and the land looks rather sedentary (ha!).

Still trying to come up with an idea for the skull & crossbones...

This time I  managed to get the colors pretty close when I optimized the image so you can see how it looks for real (although that depends on you monitor settings in the end...).

I'm still leaning towards a light blue-gray for the center section and a taupe-gray for the sides. Don't know for certain yet. I'll have to see how the sky works out.

Ship Mosaic Progress

Here's the ship mosaic as of tonight. At this point I have around 55 hours in it - probably another 40 or so to go.

I'm getting anxious to finish it. At this point I'm thinking a light blue-gray grout, maybe...

Both these images are a bit grainy since I was using the little camera and shooting in a low-light situation and for mosaics you absolutely cannot use a flash and get anything worthwhile... I'll take better photos with the digital SLR later. I left that camera at work and I did not want to wait until tomorrow to get the photos online (it's been too long since I last posted about the ship mosaic). I want to get some diffusers and spot lights and create a place in the studio for taking high quality photos of the mosaics. I priced some kits, but the cheapest was $100 and I know I can make them cheaper than that. I'd rather make them and spend the savings on glass.

This image shows most of the mosaic - although you cannot see a lot of it since it's covered with loose glass tiles and strips of glass.

This image shows a closer view of the sea - without so much glare on the glass.

I need to get more of the butterscotch-colored glass for the right side of the mosaic. What I bought earlier is a bit too light. I have plenty of the pale blue streaked glass for the sky.

The left-over glass will go with me to the intermediate class I am teaching in October & November. The beginning class will be working with the 3/4" vitreous glass tiles since they are a bit cheaper and easier to work with for beginners.

The Mead At Work

This batch has been fermenting since Labor day. I used honey from Abelisto's hives.

In a couple weeks I'll rack it off into the secondary fermentation bucket and add 10 cups of persimmon pulp.

All of this won't fit into the 5 gallon bucket I use for the persimmon mead - there will be a couple gallons of leftover that I'll add blackberries to.  I'll bottle the Blackberry as a sparkling mead.

Ten Lessons the Arts Teach

From The Arts and the Creation of Mind, by Elliot Eisner

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
   
   
2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.
   
   
3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.
   
   
4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.
   
   
5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.
   
   
6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.
   
   
7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.
   
   
8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
   
   
9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.
   
   
10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.

SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

Ship Mosaic Progress

I haven't posted for a while. Instead I've been canvasing and petitioning for health care reform. Been working on the Winona Arts Center website. The new school year started this past week. One of the cats peed on my computer and fried the cpu (which now stands for Cat-Peed-Upon at our house), during the night before Abelisto needed to print off his syllabi. Another one of our cats bit me bad enough that I had to get medical attention (and then talk to animal control and the local police - it's the law with animal bites, I guess) and take some really strong antibiotics which have trashed my digestive track. And weekend-before-last my 29-year old nephew had an aneurysm and a stroke and ended up temporarily paralyzed on the left side of his body (he's recovering and they expect him to make a full recovery over the course of the next year).

So it's been a wild two or three weeks.

I have been working on the Ship Mosaic though. Here's what it looks like right now:

I have around 37 hours in this mosaic so far, not counting supply runs. I'm guessing it will take another 45-50 hours to complete it.

I went to Saint Paul to J. Ring Glass, and got enough glass to finish it (I hope). So now I just need to crank out a couple hours per night on it and I should finish it by the end of September...

From one who has much

... much is required.

Spent the morning commute thinking about noblesse oblige.

Health Care Debate

Health / Health Care Policy
‘Public Option’ in Health Plan May Be Dropped
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: August 17, 2009
For President Obama, giving up on a public insurance plan could punch a hole in Republican arguments but could also alienate liberal Democrats.

Damn straight "it could also alienate liberal Democrats."

I'm feeling very alienated here...

It doesn't seem to me that setting up non-profit cooperative for getting the uninsured or the under-insured will be any more  effective than the faith-based assistance programs of the past administration. What non-profit is going to be interested in taking on the very poor and the very sick.

Instead of one administrative entity, we're going to have a plethora of smaller, isolated, administrative entities, all going their own way, all duplicating the management processes. There will be the same kinds of wasted efforts, and the same inequities that we currently have.

Health Care Reform Now - Please!

I don't know how you vote, I don't know your political leanings. That's not what's important here.

It's health care reform that is important. Just this past week our daughter Eme had to decide whether or not to go to the clinic for a possibly broken finger because she does not have health insurance - she's too old to be on mine, and the state has quit allowing single, childless adults to utilize MinnCare. She needs her fingers to work properly. Without medical attention, this was in jeopardy. Why was she forced to have to decide between incurring a large debt and possibly losing the use of a finger...? Why should anyone have to agonize over that kind of decision?

I believe that we need health insurance reform - I believe it wholeheartedly. Not only for those in my family that don't have it, but for everyone that doesn't have it, for every child that has to suffer through preventable illness, for every woman playing Russian Roulette with breast cancer because she cannot afford mammograms, for every man who is a heart attack waiting to happen and doesn't know it because he cannot afford regular checkups.

Please, please, please call your representatives in Washington D.C. Tell them to vote for the health care reform bill. You don't have to have a lengthy conversation to do it. It doesn't matter if you voted for them or not. Just tell them who you are and that you want then to vote for passing this bill. Email them. Sign petitions. Spread the word that this bill is not a vote for euthanasia or a government take-over of your healthcare decision-making. This bill is about getting our people health care. Access to quality health care should be the right of every citizen in this country. It is the responsibility of all of us to make sure that all of us are cared for with kindness, respect, and equity.

peace,
Monta

Read more...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Axelrod, The White House
Date: Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Subject: Something worth forwarding

Dear Friend,

This is probably one of the longest emails I’ve ever sent, but it could be the most important.

Across the country we are seeing vigorous debate about health insurance reform. Unfortunately, some of the old tactics we know so well are back — even the viral emails that fly unchecked and under the radar, spreading all sorts of lies and distortions.

As President Obama said at the town hall in New Hampshire, “where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed.”

So let’s start a chain email of our own. At the end of my email, you’ll find a lot of information about health insurance reform, distilled into 8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage, 8 common myths about reform and 8 reasons we need health insurance reform now.

Right now, someone you know probably has a question about reform that could be answered by what’s below. So what are you waiting for? Forward this email.

Thanks,
David

David Axelrod
Senior Adviser to the President

P.S. We launched www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck this week to knock down the rumors and lies that are floating around the internet. You can find the information below, and much more, there. For example, we've just added a video of Nancy-Ann DeParle from our Health Reform Office tackling a viral email head on. Check it out:

Health Insurance Reform Reality Check

8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage

1. Ends Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
2. Ends Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
3. Ends Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
4. Ends Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
5. Ends Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
6. Ends Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
7. Extends Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
8. Guarantees Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

Learn more and get details: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/

8 common myths about health insurance reform

1. Reform will cause "rationing": It’s a myth that reform will mean a "government takeover" of health care or lead to "rationing." To the contrary, reform will forbid many forms of rationing that are currently being used by insurance companies.
2. We can’t afford reform: It's the status quo we can't afford. It’s a myth that reform will bust the budget. To the contrary, the President has identified ways to pay for the vast majority of the up-front costs by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse within existing government health programs; ending big subsidies to insurance companies; and increasing efficiency with such steps as coordinating care and streamlining paperwork. In the long term, reform can help bring down costs that will otherwise lead to a fiscal crisis.
3. Reform would encourage "euthanasia": It does not. It’s a malicious myth that reform would encourage or even require euthanasia for seniors. For seniors who want to consult with their family and physicians about end-of life decisions, reform will help to cover these voluntary, private consultations for those who want help with these personal and difficult family decisions.
4. Vets' health care is in danger: It’s a myth that health insurance reform will affect veterans' access to the care they get now. To the contrary, the President's budget significantly expands coverage under the VA, extending care to 500,000 more veterans who were previously excluded. The VA Healthcare system will continue to be available for all eligible veterans.
5. Reform will burden small business: It’s a myth that health insurance reform will hurt small businesses. To the contrary, reform will ease the burdens on small businesses, provide tax credits to help them pay for employee coverage and help level the playing field with big firms who pay much less to cover their employees on average.
6. Medicare will be gutted: It’s myth that Health Insurance Reform would be financed by cutting Medicare benefits. To the contrary, reform will improve the long-term financial health of Medicare, ensure better coordination, eliminate waste and unnecessary subsidies to insurance companies, and help to close the Medicare "doughnut" hole to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.
7. You cannot keep your own insurance: It’s myth that reform will force you out of your current insurance plan or force you to change doctors. To the contrary, reform will expand your choices, not eliminate them.
8. Government will do things with your bank account: It is an absurd myth that government will be in charge of your bank accounts. Health insurance reform will simplify administration, making it easier and more convenient for you to pay bills in a method that you choose. Just like paying a phone bill or a utility bill, you can pay by traditional check, or by a direct electronic payment. And forms will be standardized so they will be easier to understand. The choice is up to you – and the same rules of privacy will apply as they do for all other electronic payments that people make.

Learn more and get details:
http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck
http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck/faq

8 Reasons We Need Health Insurance Reform Now

1. Coverage Denied to Millions: A recent national survey estimated that 12.6 million non-elderly adults – 36 percent of those who tried to purchase health insurance directly from an insurance company in the individual insurance market – were in fact discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition in the previous three years or dropped from coverage when they became seriously ill. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/denied_coverage/index.html
2. Less Care for More Costs: With each passing year, Americans are paying more for health care coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job. Americans pay more than ever for health insurance, but get less coverage. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hiddencosts/index.html
3. Roadblocks to Care for Women: Women’s reproductive health requires more regular contact with health care providers, including yearly pap smears, mammograms, and obstetric care. Women are also more likely to report fair or poor health than men (9.5% versus 9.0%). While rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure are similar to men, women are twice as likely to suffer from headaches and are more likely to experience joint, back or neck pain. These chronic conditions often require regular and frequent treatment and follow-up care. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/women/index.html
4. Hard Times in the Heartland: Throughout rural America, there are nearly 50 million people who face challenges in accessing health care. The past several decades have consistently shown higher rates of poverty, mortality, uninsurance, and limited access to a primary health care provider in rural areas. With the recent economic downturn, there is potential for an increase in many of the health disparities and access concerns that are already elevated in rural communities. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hardtimes
5. Small Businesses Struggle to Provide Health Coverage: Nearly one-third of the uninsured – 13 million people – are employees of firms with less than 100 workers. From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of non-elderly Americans covered by employer-based health insurance fell from 66% to 61%. Much of this decline stems from small business. The percentage of small businesses offering coverage dropped from 68% to 59%, while large firms held stable at 99%. About a third of such workers in firms with fewer than 50 employees obtain insurance through a spouse. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/helpbottomline
6. The Tragedies are Personal: Half of all personal bankruptcies are at least partly the result of medical expenses. The typical elderly couple may have to save nearly $300,000 to pay for health costs not covered by Medicare alone. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/inaction
7. Diminishing Access to Care: From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of non-elderly Americans covered by employer-based health insurance fell from 66% to 61%. An estimated 87 million people - one in every three Americans under the age of 65 - were uninsured at some point in 2007 and 2008. More than 80% of the uninsured are in working families. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/inaction/diminishing/index.html
8. The Trends are Troubling: Without reform, health care costs will continue to skyrocket unabated, putting unbearable strain on families, businesses, and state and federal government budgets. Perhaps the most visible sign of the need for health care reform is the 46 million Americans currently without health insurance - projections suggest that this number will rise to about 72 million in 2040 in the absence of reform. Learn more: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/assets/documents/CEA_Health_Care_Report.pdf

Lake Smalti

Here's the completed smalti mosaic - prior to cleaning off the excess thinset adhesive. The photo is pretty good for color rendition, perhaps a bit on the light side, but only just a bit. The photo of the mosaic after the adhesive was cleaned out did not come out very well - too dark and the colors had shifted. It's very difficult to photograph mosaics. I need to set up an area in my studio for taking photos that has the correct lighting setup.

This is a 6" x 6" mosaic that I did at the Smalti Workshop at the Chicago Mosaic School. Depending on your monitor resolution, you may be seeing it an nearly life-size.

If you're into doing mosaics and you have the chance to do a workshop or class at the Chicago Mosaic School you should, by all means, do it.

I love working with smalti, but it is an expensive mosaic material. I can get enough vitreous glass to cover a square foot for between $8 and $20. Stained glass can be more expensive, but not generally more than $25 or so for a square foot. Smalti on the other hand begins around $20 per pound and it takes roughly 3 pound to fill a square foot.

It's surely lovely stuff though. Well worth the cost. I just have to find a way to afford it - I need to find someone who would be interested in a smalti mosaic and get a commission - materials fees up front...

Chicago Mosaic School

Today I spent the day creating a smalti mosaic at the Chicago Mosaic School. I attended a 1-day smalti workshop taught by Andryea Natkin.

1-Day Smalti Workshop
Smalti is one of the oldest and most original materials of mosaic art. This thick glass tile holds light the way no other material can. Our exquisite smalti is manufactured at the Orsoni family factory in Venice, Italy using the same ancient techniques and traditions passed down through the generations. The colors of smalti are rich and offer the artist many possibilities to achieve dynamic mosaic works of art.
In this one day intensive workshop we will explore this beautiful traditional material by teaching students how to cut and set smalti, use tools such as a hammer and hardie as well as the more contemporary wheeled cutters. Each student will create a 6"x6" mosaic panel. Design, color and composition will also be covered. The class includes tools, handouts and a beautiful selection of Orsoni Italian smalti. This workshop is suitable for beginners and advanced students.

First we learned a bit about smalti (history & techniques). Then we were given some designs that we could choose from. I decided to do my own design.

Abelisto, Eileen and I had spent some time on Friday walking along Lake Michigan. It was a great day for it, the sky was stunning and the water was made up of such intense greens and blues. The wind coming off the lake was kicking up small whitecaps and bringing a delicious smell to us as we strolled along. 

With the view of the lake in my mind I decided to do a scenic mosaic rather than one of the abstract designs Andryea had for the group. I really like what I have done so far. I did not get all the way done, but I think I have made a great start.

This photo is really much bluer than the actual piece. I took the picture using the built-in camera on my new MacBook Pro. I'll have to take a better photo when I finish it. The actual piece is made up of four shades of a very pale blue, two shades of a dark turquoise, a blue-gray, a couple greens, indigo and purple. Oh, yeah, and a single white piece and one square of 24 carat gold smalti. I cut all the pieces except the white in half lengthwise, and placed them in an overlapping style (opus tessalatum). I started with the horizon and worked up just over an inch of the water before switching to the sky.

At the end of the workshop we displayed all our mosaics for a critique. Three of the nine of us managed to finish our mosaics. All of the participants did amazing mosaics.

I'll be finishing this mosaic when I get home tomorrow.

Damen Hall Mosaic

This is the mosaic that got me started with mosaics. I first saw this mosaic last August when Abelisto and I visited Eileen in Chicago. I could not stop thinking about it after we went back to Winona. I decided that I wanted to learn how to make mosaics.

We went back to see this mosaic yesterday. I forgot to bring a camera, but Eileen had her iPhone with her and took the photographs below.

The mosaic's theme is the physical sciences - it contains images of the human body, the periodic chart, a star and planets, a slide rule (remember slide rules?), a fish/lizard, crystals and an atom. It is in Damen Hall on the Loyola lakeside campus. It measures 9' x 45' and is made of smalti, some with 24 carat gold leaf in it.

 

  

 

A couple close-ups:

  

 

This mosaic is in a building on the Loyola lakeside campus that is scheduled for demolition. Hopefully someone will find a way to save the mosaic.

Ship Mosaic Progress

The ship mosaic is large enough that it is getting harder to photograph.

I've finished the sails on the ship, worked on the water a bit more and started the map.

This photo shows the map area in the lower right corner the best. If you click on the photo and look at the larger image you can see how I'm working on the rivers and the coastline. The rivers are glass rods cut into short sections (an idea from a discussion with Eric Schandelmeier).

The photo below shows the sails better.You can see where I pulled off the first glass rods that I was using for the ship's rigging. The rods were too close to the brown color of the glass for the wooden parts of the ships - they blended in too much. I ordered an assortment of rods from Delphi glass, but none of them really say "ropes" to me either. There are a couple colors that come close, but I'm not certain I want to use them. I'm going to Chicago this weekend for a smalti workshop at the Chicago Mosaic School. Maybe I'll try to find a glass store in Chicago and look for rods that are a color that will look like ropes. If I don't find a store in Chicago, I'm sure I'll be back in Saint Paul soon and I know of a store there to get the rods.

At this point I have 24 hours of work in this mosaic. I am really noticing a time savings by using the pastry bag for applying the thinset. Much, much faster than dabbing it on with a stick.

Ship Mosaic Progress

Don't have time to write much, but I wanted to post an image of the work on the mosaic from the last couple nights. I think I want to replace the glass rods (representing the ropes) with a slightly different color glass rod. These are too close to the color of the glass for the ship itself - maybe a more yellowish-gray-brown... if there is such a color.

 

Ship Mosaic Process

The ship mosaic is going well. Abelisto & I were out of town for a few days so I did not get much done on it since my last post. And now the mosaic workshop will be taking up two evenings each week for the next three weeks (that's okay since teaching workshops gives me money for mosaic supplies...).

We were in the Twin Cities for three days over the weekend. Abelisto was taking a beekeeper's class at the UofM. I explored Saint Paul, mostly the art supply establishments (bought lots of glass, some beads, and some great paper for making books - attended a workshop last week on making hand-bound books, more later).

Here's the most recent images of the mosaic:

The color is a bit off in these photos, but the design and andamento (the flow of the tessarae - tiles - in the mosaic) shows up fairly well. I particularly like the way the ship's wake is working out. The rest of the sea will be rolling, undulating waves, but I wanted an exaggerated image of the ship cutting through the waves - therefore, the  spirals of water.

You can see the pastry bag I'm using to apply the thinset. So far it's been an excellent method to use thinset. By using the pastry bag I'm not trying to dab a tiny bit of thinset to each tile with a stick, I don't have to keep opening and closing a bucket of pre-mixed thinset, or to keep mixing small amounts of it, trying to use it up before it dries out. The pastry bag makes controlling the amount of thinset used a simple matter, and the same thinset has been in the bag since the beginning of this project last week - without drying out. All I do when I am done for the day is squeeze out the last 1/4 to 1/2 inch of thinset from the tip of the bag, pressing the plastic tip very flat. It seals out the air enough to keep the thinset fresh and ready to go.

The Ship Mosaic

Tonight's work on the ship mosaic:

I think I'm going to like the way the rolling waves are going to come out. It was hard to stop tonight. I'd like to have a full day to work on it (or a week...).

It's really different working with thinset instead of Weldbond glue. The thinset adheres much tighter (nearly impossible to pull off misplaced tiles without breaking them) and it dries much faster, which taken together means I have to be dead-on certain about how the tesserae are cut and where they are going.

Drew first blood tonight when I was cutting strips of stained glass for the water (you can see some of them at the right side of the photo). The glass that got me was so shapr that I did not even feel it, I just noticed, all of a sudden, that there was blood all over the place. It's not a cut, just a puncture, but man, did it bleed. Tomorrow it will likely be pretty damn sore...

Starting another mosaic

Tonight I began working on the first of the Ships mosaics. This one is of a 17th century sailing ship in rough waters, with antique maps on each side.

The mosaic will be 37.75" x 44.5". The odd size is so that the finished piece will fit a specific spot where the person commissioning this piece will hang it. This panel will be one of four that make up the finished work.

This image shows the beginning glass work. You can see the mermaid figurehead as well as some of the other glass laid in. The large gray item just left of center is a large pastry/cake decorator bag that I've filled with thinset mortar (since this moasic will be displayed outdoors it needs to be put together with thinset rather than Weldbond, which is not totally weatherproof). I cut the end of the bag to dispense a 1/8" stream and use this to apply the thinset to the fiberboard. This helps conserve thinset and it makes far less mess than trying to use some sort of applicator to spread a small amount of thinset to the back of each tessarae. It's also much, much faster.

Swarm

Abelisto's bees swarmed today. It was amazing. At first I was sad that we did not "catch" them. But then I decided that it was cool that we contributed to the wild bee population!

Abelisto has photos of the swarm in a neighbor's tree.

Why I don't post images anywhere but here and my website

Here's a good reminder to READ the agreements you authorize over the internet - even if they are 20 pages long... and why I don't load my images on Facebook or MySpace or any social network or gallery site.

I hope Blogger hasn't changed their agreement since I last read it. I guess I'd better check.

www.austinkleon.com/

FASEM Show

FASEM is the Fine Artists of Southeast Minnesota. There's going to be a show in June & July here in Winona and one of my mosaics are going to be in it - Mackenzie in the Garden with Bees.

Single-payer Health Care Plan

I have to admit that I was behaving irresponsibly in regard to the Single-payer Health Care Plan. I was relying on the fact that people I trusted politically said it was a good thing and wanted it, so I should think it was a good thing and I should want it. I just did not want to do the background research about it.

Well this youtube movie gave me enough information that I will go ahead and research it a bit. If the claims in this slideshow are correct, I wholeheartedly want single-payer health care.



So how do we convince our government that we NEED this health care policy? How can we make our voices heard over and above the insurance companies? I think I need to be writing some letters.

Transportation

Today I rode my bicycle to work for the first time this year.

I'd wanted to start doing that when school let out and Abelisto would not need to be hauling books and papers back and forth. But between the weather and other things that were going on, it did not happen until today. I almost did not do it today. I was running later than I like for biking. I like to go early enough that the traffic is less (and early enough to take a shower before sitting down to work).

I am always amazed as I start biking each year, at the intimacy with your surroundings that bicycling brings to you. You're intimately aware of the wind - it's either helping you or holding you back (and it always seems to be blowing down the hill as I ride up to the university). You're intimately aware of the surfaces around you, the textures and colors. You're especially aware of the gravel and sand since those things can cause you problems.

You notice sound and smells - cars driving up behind you, kids yelling and laughing and crying, sirens wailing, some nearby construction, newly mown grass, vehicle exhaust, the city swimming pool, french fries and grilled burgers at the local pub.

You are intimately aware of your vehicle - you notice the smoothness of the shifting (or the roughness, perhaps), the feel of the brakes engaging, the sound the chain makes running over the gears and derailers, that strangely compelling tick-tick-tick that multi-gear bikes sometimes make. You actually notice the energy drag that improperly inflated tires create. You notice the placement and comfort level of the handlebars and seat. You notice the relationship between sprocket size and ease of pedaling and speed and distance covered with each rotation of the pedal crank.

You become intimately aware of your own body - burning muscles, tight breathing, sweat trickling down between your shoulder blades, the tenderness where your posterior meets the seat, the trembling muscles in your thighs and calves, the giddy disconnect of exercise endorphins, the feeling that you are powerful and sleek (even when you're not).

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A few days ago I told Abelisto I'd like to live in a car-free town.

Winona is small enough that you can get around on a bike or walk - at least most of the year (it's a bit rough in the winter when you've got either lots of snow or a bitterly cold wind chill or both). Unless you need to go up on the bluffs it's fairly flat riding/walking, something easily done even if you're out of shape.

If the neighborhoods had more of a mix of housing and commerce you could actually live without a car at all. Some of my kids have done so, one is doing it now.

We have bike bags on our bikes. Between Abelisto and I, we can get probably 6 or 8 bags of groceries on our bikes. Someday I want to get/build/rig up a bike trailer so that I could do more of my intown shopping on bicycle.

Art vs. Cooking

I should not try to do too many other things at the same time I am working on art.

Today I boiled the rice dry (and I was standing only 15 or so feet from the stove) while drawing the cartoon for the next big mosaic. Fortunately although there was 1/2 an inch of scorched short grain brown rice at the bottom of the pan, I was able to save a few cups of the rice and the scorchy flavor it ended up with actually complemented the smoky, spicy chipotle seasoning in the black beans and tomatoes that I was serving with the rice. So we ate it anyway - I hate waste.

The cartoon is for a mosaic of an early-eighteenth century galleon (hoisting a pirates colors), sailing through a rolling, undulating sea - one of a four-panel commission I am working on.

The mosaic will be 44" wide and 37" tall, and must be that size to fit in the space it has been commissioned for. Unfortunately those dimensions don't match the dimensions of the ship, which is taller than it is wide, of course. So I am thinking of adding a 17th century map to the left and right edges of the piece, having the coastal water colors fade gradually into the sea and sky colors I am using in the rest of the piece.

Might totally change my mind, though. I'll have to sketch it out in a couple full-sized cartoons to see what I think.

Here's the sketch I did today. It only shows the center part of the cartoon. The ship is a bit foreshortened because of the angle the photo was shot at. It's a bit hard to see since it is on brown craft paper...