Santa and the Christmas Tree, by Theo.
Theo’s imaginary world from his class at the Hammonton Arts Center
![the 2 snowmen made by THEO.
[The caption above was also written by Theo, age 6. He was very proud of typing it in. And before someone remarks, I pointed out to Theo that the character on the right had dress conventions that suggested female-ness and that he might call them “snowpeople.” He said, “no they’re still snowmen” and hit send.]](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxr1c2Y4gr1qz5mj0o1_250.jpg)
the 2 snowmen made by THEO.
[The caption above was also written by Theo, age 6. He was very proud of typing it in. And before someone remarks, I pointed out to Theo that the character on the right had dress conventions that suggested female-ness and that he might call them “snowpeople.” He said, “no they’re still snowmen” and hit send.]
Untitled. Francis (4yo). Drawn in “Theo’s Art School”, 1/2/2010.
I just got an email from Alyse Emdur, an artist in the Los Angeles area who’s started this project. I don’t know her but she wants to get the word out and I’ve never heard of anything quite like it. Here’s the description:
While teaching, I witnessed the presence of army recruiters in our educational environment. I am initiating a nation wide participatory project, Photograph a Recruiter and am inviting high school students to contribute. The project invites high school students to photograph the military recruiters in their schools! Through the act of looking back at recruiters, students are encouraged to engage in critical discussion about war and recruitment.
The ongoing growing collection of photographs, taken by high school students, will be uploaded on the website www.photographarecruiter.com. Select images will also be printed for exhibit in a traveling Photograph A Recruiter art show. For more information, or to submit image(s), write to, photographarecruiter@gmail.com
Burnished Polaroids around Philly circa 1996: The New York Times is asking for reader’s old Polaroids. Thankfully Archive.org does a good job of keeping my old personal websites accessible and here are some burnished Polaroids from the late 1990s. From left to right:
The technique (written around 1998): This is a style of photography I got into a few years ago. It’s appeal is simple: it takes little technical expertise and the process itself is limited in time. Everything boils down to basic form: a successful photo depends on setting up a good shot and then bringing it’s potential out in the burnishing.
Anyone who used Polaroids as a kid will remember the wait. When the film comes out of the camera, it’s still black. Within a few minutes a ghost of the photo begins to appear, a image which is fleshed out in about ten minutes time. During this time, the photo is developing inside of it’s plastic casing. If you press hard on the plastic before the photo comes out, all sorts of effects can be achieved. Depending on the pressure and temperature, you can get colors to bend, scratches to streak across the photo, etc. If done well, the burnishing can take on the effect of brush strokes and create an impressionististic photograph.
"You don’t test it because, at the point of being about to buy it, you’re in love! You’ve found something… It’s like being newly in love. Everything is candlelight and wine. Nobody hires a private detective at that point. It’s only years down the road when things have gone wrong that you say, “What was I thinking? What’s going on here?"
It’s hard to imagine now but there was a time in 2006 when Youtube didn’t own the video world, back when it was an independent project from some of the Paypal kids. I preferred its competitor Jumpcut, which allowed you to do simple editing online—splicing videos with pictures, adding headlines, etc. Then came the feeding frenzy: Google gobbled Youtube and Yahoo scored Jumpcut and the fate of the video services quickly followed the fortunes of its new masters.
Jumpcut is officially closed now, so I’m downloading my videos from there. They’re all short enough to repost to Flickr (another Yahoo property (so why couldn’t Jumpcut auto-import into Flickr? Grr…)). So here’s my archives from the early days of user generated video:
Francis Makes a Mess (Summer 2006)
This was a daily (sometimes hourly) occurence a few summers ago.
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Loading the FGC Gathering Truck (Summer 2006):
A big moment for American Friends, 2006 was the first time the main annual gathering of liberal Quakers was held on the West Coast. Jerimy P and Stephen D. boarded a rented truck a week before and drove the FGC Bookstore from Philadelphia to Tacoma, Washington.
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Theo sings the Thomas Song (Spring 2007):
The Thomas the Tank Engine song as sung by 3-1/2 year old Theo (don’t be confused by his initial description of it as the “Gordon Song”!),
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Francis Sings Elmo (Spring 2007)
Do you want to geogrfy? Theo. Crayons on paper. 2009.
Butterfly Eats: A meditation on Holland by Theo. Construction paper, glue. 2009.
“The Bee Eating the Nector”: Theo, 2009. Construction paper & glue. 9x11”
“Milk Comes from Cows on Dairy Farms”: More from Theo. Artist Description: “Well: that milk comes from dairy farms but people milk cows and what comes out is milk. This kind of milk is actually called cow milk.”
