The Digital Book

Cover of Key Note

I have yet to try digital book displays like the Kindle. I know that the digital book would save space. However, for my purposes I have found books made of paper efficient enough. Plus I like to make notes by hand in the margins of my books. This favoritism for the tangible has not stopped me from exploring digital possibilities.

Recently, I have been working on digitizing two of my artist book projects. One of these projects, entitled Key Note, I uploaded to my website yesterday. The analog version of this book was bound in the codex form. This book in part illustrates a scroll that continues from page to page till the end of the book.

Detail of Key Note

Recreating this exact scroll in a codex relationship online is impossible because a web page does not have a literal front and back. For the online version of the book, I created a window that limits what is seen to the scale of a single page and I added a scroll bar that allows the viewer to advance through the narrative. By limiting what can be seen, the online version becomes similar to the analog book and becomes manageable, given the size constraints of a webpage.

For my purposes, creating a webpage is about conventions of usability. In the case of Key Note, not being able to see the whole picture or story at once is beneficial because it creates a sense development and allows the audience to be surprised along the way.

For the complete online version of Key Note click here.

Steve Emmett

I am a little behind the times regarding news. Recently, I heard that the painter Steve Emmett had died suddenly in 2008 and in 2009 there was a memorial exhibit at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania's Bruce Gallery. From the memorial retrospective the University has produced an extensive catalogue. Emmett was a professor of painting and drawing at Edinboro University from 1988 till 2008. I got to know Steve during the fall 2004 semester while I also taught at Edinboro.

We would chat from time to time outside of the art building. Also on occasion I could hear him lecture to his class in the room next to mine. We shared some of the same students and I realized that Steve was a well-informed and serious artist. From his website and other information I found online I learned that he spent much of his life in the Northwestern part of Pennsylvania above Pittsburgh. His paintings often appear deeply personal and indicated a complex inner life that seemed to contrast with his calm outward personality.

Gallery director and Professor John Bavaro states at the end of an interview with GoErie.com that he would love to see Emmett get national exposure. Emmett's work serves as a reminder that there are artists quietly making important art outside of large urban areas. There were 60 paintings in the retrospective exhibit and many can be seen at his website. I have included several of my favorite paintings by Emmett below. Hopefully, I am giving Steve a little more of the exposure he deserved.


Steve Emmett, 100 Pound Wait, 1993


Steve Emmett, A Place to Stay, 1991


Steve Emmett, Shell of a Man, 1995


Steve Emmett, Hare, 2007

Spring Break

This March, I took a trip to Seattle and traveled into the mountains east of the "Emerald City". I did not venture into museums or galleries this trip but I did enjoy the outdoors. I have included here several views from this journey.

Above is a hill at Gas Works Park. The park is situated, not far from the University of Washington, at the edge of Lake Union . Below are two other views of the park.

Having grown up in Pennsylvania, I am continually amazed at the shift in landscape as one travels from Seattle east. One gets to see water, snow covered mountains, and then desert all in a three hour drive.

Above is a mountain found in the Wenatchee National Forest not far from Leavenworth, WA. On the return flight, back to Philadelphia, I was lucky to get a good view of Minneapolis and captured the image seen below. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Re-Review Or Gone But Not Forgotten

The exhibit has come down (“Imprint/Impact" at Bucks County Community College). The review I wrote has been posted at The Artblog. However, I thought now would be a good time to post a link to the review in case it was missed. The review highlights not only the exhibit but also the state of the arts in Bucks County (a county known for the "Pennsylvania Impressionist" movement.) Click here for a link to the review.

Books of Mold by Gail Deery

Seeing Snow

Recent snow storms in Pennsylvania have allowed me to take a closer look at snow. I am reminded of the painter Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) who keenly observed how circumstances effect the appearance of snow. When a storm is brewing a range of grays compete; when the storm passes (and the sun is shining) the shadows can hold stunning blues. At sun rise and at sun set, following the storm, the snow can glow with pinks, purples, and oranges. I am also reminded of the short time in which the trees hold the snow. Snow fall causes trees bloom with white until the warmth and wind melts and shakes the snow to the ground. For me this is a reminder of the flowering of the spring and provides a respite from winter routines. Below are samples of Rockwell Kent's artwork.

Recharged

I am aware that my blogging output has steadily decreased as the months have past (shame on me). I have noticed that I either forget my camera when I go out or I bring my camera and the batteries are dead. This situation has not help my blogging. However, I am proud to say I acquired a new fifteen minute battery charger. So more images should be forthcoming.

Secondly, I have been distracted from blogging by web design. I have recently redesigned my website www.kipdeeds.com and it includes a short film I made this fall about drawing.

Now I will get out there and mix it up.

Fall News

This fall I have been taking courses in web and media design at Bucks County Community College and I am learning many fantastic programs, techniques, and processes. Soon I will have post-able examples of my progress. So far I have made ice cream melt in Adobe Flash, a poster in Photoshop, a kangaroo logo in Illustrator (it is a copy but I am mastering the pen tool), and finally I have made a button which when pushed meows like a cat. Other than school work, I have made new drawings and have made one journey to "The Big Apple". While in NYC, I sought out Paul Klee's drawings at the Met. Below is a work I saw at the Met. It is titled One Who Understands and is dated from 1934.

Paul Klee, German (1879-1940)

Finally, of note, I will be having an exhibit at the Abington Art Center which runs November 28 - January 31 2010. An opening is scheduled for Saturday December 12 from 3 to 5pm. Also on December 5th the Art Center holds a "Coffee Break" at 9:30 am and I will talk about the exhibit and coffee will be sampled.