Some people have asked me why I write this blog and mostly it is because I want to develop better writing skills, but I also have an insatiable appetite for knowledge and that includes understanding people, cultures, art, etc. With this information, I try to make connections. The benefit of this appetite is that I have a good grasp of marketing and advertising, which helps me in design and business. See … full circle, right?

It is obvious from the subject of my posts and the website links I have listed, that I am becoming more passionate about sustainability and what it means to us as a nation and throughout the world … but also, what does it mean to marketing and business? How are all the connections being made?

Ultimately, the marketing climate is changing and there is a need for products that appeal to people’s want of sustainable products so they feel like they are doing good for the earth, but feeling good and actually doing good are two different things. As design, marketing, advertising and business people try to sell you something, they really have the power over the truth. Right now, the need to advertise and market your product as a sustainable one is growing at an alarming rate. As consumers, we still have to watch out for frauds and as marketers, we have to be sure that we are actually giving good information to consumers.

I have found two good articles on this subject that I wanted to share. The first one is from Laurie Lamson, a professional writer and filmmaker, who emailed me her article titled, Cutting-Edge Marketing for Cultural Creatives. This article addresses the push versus pull style of selling that we have been seeing more of lately.

The other article is a free download from a management consulting firm called ReCourses. The title of this article is “The Sad Fade of Branding, and When Sustainable Isn’t.” To read this article, you need to sign up with your email address, but there are many other valuable articles for creative businesses to learn from here. Link to free position papers.

 

Danielle Van Ark, a photographer based in Amsterdam, has gotten some attention lately for her eerie series of photos entitled, “The Mounted Life.” These photos let the viewer’s mind interpret the scene the way they like, but the animals are indeed “stuffed” and can be found in the back storage room of natural history museums. These images are intriging to me because they seem too still or rigid and in the wrong environment. The straight lines and the materials in the background aren’t natural. Something is not “right” here.

You could make an environmental interpretation or statement out of these photos. The fact that we visit natural history museums to see animals on display is odd, although I have been myself and enjoyed the visual learning experience. Can some animals only be seen in a museum now? What does that say about us?

You can read an interview with Danielle Van Ark about this photo series on the I Heart Photograph Blog. 

If I share an artist’s work on my blog that I would like people to be aware of, it is important to note that all the artwork, including photography, is the copyright of the artist. If said artist sees their work on this blog and wants it removed, please contact me and I will remove it immediately. 

A friend sent this ultra hip website link to me today … Feel More Human.

I love the idea of combining a blog with a shopping site featuring well designed products. The site offers some eco-friendly products for home (lighting, furniture, decor) and life (jewelry, bags, health and beauty). On the blog side, there are resources for green living and even a place to sell your stuff in the classified section. Feel More Human also donates 1% of sales to a network of 1,469 environmental organizations worldwide with a program called 1% For The Planet: Keeping the earth in business.

Jill Stalowicz, a founding partner, really hit the mark on this one. 

  

Ever wonder where your coffee comes from?

Crop to Cup Coffee Company allows you to see the farmers and know their story. Crop to Cup represents the farmer by providing technology and marketing services that will connect them to interested customers in the United States. The goal is to improve the quality and integrity of coffee served everywhere.

This is a good way to have full transparency in coffee farming and to make sure that the product is fairly traded. The great part of Crop to Cup is the availability for direct product feedback through reviews and ratings as well as message boards.

There are several coffee houses and markets in the New York and Chicago area where Crop to Cup coffee is sold or you can purchase your own online.

 

 

 

Today, I just want to share a photographer with you. I will let her glorious photography speak for itself. These two photos are from her “domesticated” series. Go to Amy Stein Photography to see more and read her statements about the work. 

If I share an artist’s work on my blog that I would like people to be aware of, it is important to note that all the artwork, including photography, is the copyright of the artist. If said artist sees their work on this blog and wants it removed, please contact me and I will remove it immediately.

ArtParis is celebrating its 10th year as a event where established and emerging contemporary artists are invited to exhibit side by side on an international level at The Grand Palais. This large event will showcase work from 115 French and foreign galleries with more than 2000 square feet of exhibit space and will feature 20 artists. This year’s title “Traversées,” which means “Crossings,” embraces the crossing from one generation to the next and crossing from one country to the next. This year’s exhibit will highlight emerging talent of the Arab world which encompasses African, Asian and European cultures. Brahim Alaoui, the curator, explains the purpose of the exhibition:

“As a synthesis between East and West, contemporary Arab art will appear in all its diversity, inviting us to observe multiple crossings, between time and space, from one media to another. This exhibition will mostly display the works of young emerging talents who will exhibit their art alongside the leading artist of the preceding generation, in an attempt to show the polymorphous nature of modern art. Apart from their use of the tools of modernity, these artist share in common a desire both to exhange ideas and to question the prevailing orthodoxy.”

Photos from previous years from arnaudt:

 

At the same time, Tokyo will hold their first international contemporary art fair called 101 TOKYO. Japan’s growing art market has signaled a expansion of the art community and 101 TOKYO is featuring 28 up-and-coming galleries from 14 countries with artist working in the mediums of painting, drawing, photography, video, installation art and sculpture. 101 TOKYO will be held in partnership with the third annual Art Fair Tokyo. 

Photo from last year’s Art Fair Tokyo from chiaki:

 

Hundertwasser (December 15, 1928 - February 19, 2000) was a visionary Austrian artist, architect and environmentalist with a mission to reconnect humans with nature. His work was bright and organic…always staying away from straight lines. You can see the green roofs with trees in the photos above. He also incorporated vegetation on the inside of structures, with trees coming out of windows. His stance on the environment was clear in 1990, when he made this statement:

“There are no evils in nature. There are only evils of man. When man thinks he has to correct nature, it is an irreparable mistake every time. A community should not consider it an honour how much spontanous vegetation it destroys; it should rather be a point of honour for every community to protect as much of its natural landscape as possible.”

To read the rest of this statement and more of Hundertwasser’s philosophy, click here.  

Photo credits: Top image: Joachim S. Müller, Second row, left: rytc, Second row, right: Crystalline Radical, third row: diwan, fourth row, left: marcelgermain, fourth row, right: scottpartee.

Over the Easter holiday, my husband and I were able to explore some of the wooded walking trails in our hometown. The Tennessee Valley Authority Nature Loop is a good trail for bird watching and wildflowers. Over the past two years, the Tennessee Valley Authority and volunteers have removed the privet hedge that grew along the trail to allow more wildflowers to bloom this season. For more information on this trail, visit Local Hikes.