E-mail the editor with positive, negative or other comments or feedback to anything on this site or in Dallas art. Tell what page you are referring to. Sign it or don't sign it or use a fake name, if you'd prefer. Note if you do not want your letter published — although I'd prefer to get your opinion without a signature than not get it. Letters will only be edited for space and sense. If you're mean about it, I won't edit at all.

December 8

Because somebody who had been what I thought of as an important friend, unfriended me in real life, after I said something about somebody important to them, putting me into a dither, wherein I questioned what I am doing and why, I asked a very literate friend who's always pointed me in the right writing directions, to crit my work and keep me honest and forthright.

This was her response:

"From the begining when I published this rag in printer's ink on paper,
"I claimed it and me to be "fiercely independent."

That's you speaking — my dear. There is really nothing more I can say or pray — about. I read what you write and though sometimes it is fright-ful l … it always resonates.

You don't need me to crit. You feed me the grits — and gravy of the "arts" in Dallas. More importantly — you nourish yourself.

It is endearing of you to ask me for crit. It is immensely more important that you speak — unabridged — for "art" — for me — for all those artists who lack the back-bone to speak back to the emperor. You've earned the right to do so. You are right to do so. You are (usually) right!! So SPEAK, BEAK!! (You are beginning to be bird-like - you know. Like a pelican - with a gullet full of stuff to digest — words, images — things which don't matter to viewers — but matter to the pelican.)

With affection,
TJ

November 18

A friendly good Friday morning from Eastern Canada!

It's a beautiful, cool morning here in New Brunswick, our first skiff of snow has arrived over night and the last fading autumn gold colored larch needles are rapidly falling to the ground.

I was on my second cup of freshly brewed coffee when I looked at an e-mail reply from the folks at NAPP, the Scott Kelby Group. My earlier e-mail request to NAPP' "Help" line was, "How do I photograph my wife's needlework that has been framed behind glass?" I explained to NAPP that I perhaps had the photo gear to do it (several flashes, light stands, shoot-thru umbrellas, etc.) but this was new territory for me, especially where I did not want to take the items out of the frame.

NAPP' s answer, or lack thereof, was that this was not in their Help Line domain, but they did provide two web links, one being your siteL http://www.dallasartsrevue.com/resources/How-to-Photo-Art.shtml#ggglass

I anxiously read your suggestions and will certainly give them a try when I am ready to start this project in the midst of our what should be, upcoming cold winter.

I write this e-mail however, to express my joy in finding what I think is one of the best sources of information on photography that I have come across on the web.

I consider myself a photo enthusiast, in other words, I do not make money on my hobby, but photograph for the joy of it; a hobby started back in 1973 when my wife presented me with my very first film SLR, a Practica.

From that beginning, I quickly found a love for photography and moved rapidly and eagerly to understand the intricacies of this great field; I only wish now, that back then, early 1970s, that there were people like you around that could offer advice and guidance.

The digital camera era brought with it a whole new "world" to understand. I, like you, garnered the then-popular Nikon D200 but soon lusted for other models, the next best and greatest, so called more improved DSLRs. I did eventually acquire a Nikon D300 and D700 but also my very first m 4/3 camera a Panasonic Lumix DMC G1. My lust now is for the next (hopefully 2012) iteration of the Fuji X100.

I have now been sipping on my third mug of coffee, enjoying page after page of text from your web site; I cannot believe how much photography content you have put on your site. I surely have many more later hours to enjoy your photography web content and read your essays.

I will certainly bookmark your site, not only to revisit on a frequent basis, but to recommend to folk in our local photo club. Although over the recent years I have come to understand the digital camera issues, I nevertheless enjoyed your articles, your presentation skills (graphics, etc.)

The recommended link I received from NAPP to your web site was like finding a gold nugget this morning. All the best!

Don J J Carroll
 

My index of photographic pages on my sites has been updated and needs more stories to be added when I can track them down, but it's the best there is, so far. — J R C

November 15 2011

J R,

I have taken over the publication of the fine art calendar and I saw your comments under the event listing in the DallasArtsRevue Calendar. I have to tell you that I never thought of Jennifer as a saint, but she was definitely visionary.

The calendar that she gave away to 14,000 homes for the past 5 years was the best way that I know of, as an artist myself, to advertise and get work in front of the people most likely to purchase art. This demographic doesn't typically go to gallery openings and we know for sure the recipients keep our books and many either purchase the pieces in the book or commission pieces as a result. Nothing else does what this book can.

Printing these books costs nearly $60,000 every year plus there's delivery, etc. Artist's fees don't cover it when you count the cost of photography, the kick off event and the 2-3 exhibitions every year. Sponsorships make up the balance of the costs most of the time, but not always. Jennifer took out a second mortgage on her home to fund the book the last few years.

So, artists who are serious about their art as a business pay to get their work advertised in a publication that is quite effective. I am one of those artists.

I hope this clarified things and thanks for listing our event.

Best,
Andrea Davis

I stand by my comment: "Jennifer Culbertson charged artists to be in the datebook she often gave away to residents of Highland Park, so many artists do not consider her to be a Dallas art saint. — J R Compton"

November 14 2011

Hi JR,

Thank you for covering Art Con 7 and I'm pleased to hear that you had fun.

I especially loved your fashion shots! Every year as I'm running around the venue, I catalog the interesting outfits I see. It makes me happy to see a mix that ranges from mohawks to the occassional Missoni piece.

Also, I'm glad to hear that you didn't have to wait for a shuttle and that parking went well. While the art is critical to the event, I also want to make sure people can get in and out easily, that the beer lines move swiftly, the parking lots are well lit and feel safe and that the line for the Port-a-potties is bearable.

This is the second year that we've had food (we actually don't charge food vendors anything to participate, we just like having them around so our attendees can grab a quick bite if they'd like).

This was the first year we've put our volunteers in orange shirts, the goal was making them easy to find in case an attendee had a question, etc. Glad to hear that they stood out.

A couple of quick clarifications. First, the artists came on site the Friday before the event rather than Thursday and KERA's Art&Seek actually hosted the Con Artists gallery where anyone could make a piece if they felt struck by the creative urge. If they wanted to take their piece home, the price was $5 and the proceeds also went to Musical Angels.

I'll get the artists names for you. Next year we'll go back to having a the artist's name on a label along with the QR code.

Thanks,

Cari Weinberg

October 31 2011

Hi JR-

Just read the essay and loved this phrase: “These concepts are difficult to write or think about, because they squish around. Press on it here, it goes there.” It reminded me of one of my favorite analogies; “like trying to box up warm Jello”.

An interesting essay. Later you mentioned artists who change their formats frequently and considered that perhaps they are trying to hide from their true selves. Gad-I hope that is not true of me! I prefer to think that as a late blooming artist (and still SO MUCH to learn) that I am still exploring and testing all the possibilities. Nevertheless, good food for thought!

Anne Neal

September 28 2011

Hello,

I find your site very useful but very unorganized. Is it possible to search the artists not only by their name, but also by their style/medium of work? For example, if one is new to the area and is unfamiliar with the names of these local artists, I think it would be more helpful is someone could search only "sculptors" or "modern paintings" or something along those lines so one could more easily filter through the names to find what one is looking for. Otherwise, great website! Thanks,

A. Lamarre

Yes, this site almost exactly reflects my personality. Nice thing about computers, I can put everything I know in "one" place. There's actually significant logic in the basic organization of the site, but it may elude you, because I set it up.

I do offer a rather robust intra-site search utility from Google, where you can use [and], [not] and other Boolean operators to narrow or widen searches. It's what I use to find anything here. Search for sculpture or sculptor, if you want to find references for those.

Nothing's stopping you. The search utility is linked at the top right of almost every one of my more than 500 DallasArtsRevue pages.

August 30 2011

JR,

The strips of meat in the picture are bacon. [link now; later when that Art Here Lately is not the Art Here Lately, its link will be here] I remember as a boy, "fishing" for crawdads was always successful if you used bacon.

Thanks,
Steve Reneau

PS I frequently visit your site and enjoy it very much

August 14 2011

JR;

I love your comments on my painting. [Link later]. When I was a child I had a very terrifying nightmare. I had to go get in bed with my parents and still am affected by it when the memory returns vaguely. It was in regard to Chicken Little's "the sky is falling" story. Little did I know about fusion, radio active particles and nuclear radiation.

I do see everything in the context of a story book with a maniacal parallel ending. Everything looks sweet and cute, yet covers evil with candy coated veneer. Clinging to iconography from my childhood is a way of coping with trauma and representing it to myself in a safe way. Kind of like people who have DID (disassociate identity) create a split alternate to take their mind into safety.

I liked your observation and just wanted to tell you.

Julia

August 13 2011

For several years I have been very impressed with your website's ability to pull together in an approachable format, the visual art scene in Dallas. I have been even further impressed with your photographic renderings of the same.

I was in the process of "joining" as an artist your DallasArtsRevue when I read your take on the MAC members' show. My name or CV is unimportant but my art was less than 10 feet to the right of a work that you referenced with admiration, a work that was indeed competent but otherwise unimpressive.

I don't believe I have an exaggerated sense of self worth, your website's references to the artistic response to criticism are well founded, but do you ever feel that you may have missed the mark with such a declaration and such a diminutive explanation of not venturing further based on "the heat" — a phenomenon quite oppressive yet quite expected here?

What about my work did not move you at least to the level of a mention? Any criticism may not be appreciated but read with interest — the work sold but that has never been a metric for good work for any of us.

CB WN

The heat was an excuse. As usual I found the pieces I had something to say about, photographed them so I could, then I left. Whoever bought your piece obviously has different taste from mine. I rarely just mention work. Either I have something to say about it, or I don't.

August 6 2011

Your site is great and should be widely known, in my opinion you write the best and most thorough art criticism in Dallas. What does one do to be a supporter or member or whatever?

- T (Thor Johnson)
http://www.thorrific.com/

I sent him two links. The Easy Way to become a Supporting Member of DallasArtsRevue, because so many people complained about all the details I went into in the Full Version that they will gradually or eventually also need to know.

August 3 2011

Hi J. R.
First off; loved your article... [Link later] It made me laugh more than a couple times.

The piece "of poop" lol, in the pink room was created by myself. Titled "learning" was started in 2008 and has been exhibited at centraltrak in the vicious pink show. It is an ongoing evolving artwork. The materials are children's toys, computer parts, polyurethane foam, polyester resin, wood and various fasteners. Dimensions variable.

The reason I was laughing is because the picture with the caption "Mary was here" is actually not an artwork but that babies' walker/mobile unit. I do see the similarities. Lol

While I did, loosely put this show together, I probably would not use the term organize and definitely not the term curate. I basically was given two and half weeks to do something as a send of for this home and decided to basically have fun with it and provide an environment for these artists to show guests to the show what they could do. We all know that can be a risky proposition but I definitely feel successful with my goal of having fun and letting the artists have fun. Something we don't always get to see in the Dallas art world.

You are welcome to quote me on anything I said here, and feel free to respond if you have any more comments or would like to chat. Thank you again for the interest in the show and taking the time to write about it.

Val Curry
www.valxcurry.com

July 25 2011

Thank you for [your] article on Showing [How to Start Showing Your Art]. I am currently living in Brazil and read his article online which was helpful and practical. I am in my forties, draw and paint but never got my foot in the door. Everything helps. Looks like Dallas has a nice arts community.

Best,
Victoria Valadao Napier

February 14 2011

Hi,
I'm an artist-designer from Los Angeles. I've found your site, it looks interesting, so I would like to submit my art, but not sure — do you accept california-based artists, or yours domestic only ? If you accept everybody's art, — on what terms ? Do you charge entry fees or anything ? Thanx.

Anyway, If you would like to take a look at my art that over 400,000 people likes — welcome to my youtube channel — my username is Sofia2009MetalQueen or find me on myspace as Sofia Metal Queen. Have a good time ;)
 

Nobody from Lost Anjalose ever asked me that before. The reason I call this thing DallasArtsRevue is because I have this peculiar notion that promoting Dallas artists is the best thing I can possibly do.

We seek and find art in Dallas and maybe as far away as Fort Worth. We have members from anywhere and we charge them to be members, which funds support this site. Check out the simple How to Join page or the more detailed What You Need to Know to Make the Most of Your Membership pages for full info.

In recent years, we have further contracted coverage from too far away to much closer in, although I still continue (as the NPR people say) to draw the line outside Loop 12. Once, when I was still printing on paper, this publication was renamed by the bunch that became D-ART as Texas Arts Revue, and the TARts acronym drove me nuts, and I knew I did not want to try to cover all of this state, so LA is way too far away.

I.e., uh, no, I don't think so, but thanks for the laugh,
J R Compton, editor, etc.
 
 

J R,
I'm doing a biography on Otiz [sic] Dozier and Jerry Bywaters. Do you still have their art available on computer? I have a copy of an article by DAR [sic] from Nov. of 2004 on Dozier. Please email what you may have if at all possible. Thanks,

Candy Howard, V.P.
Texas Visual Arts Association
 

And people wonder why I'm a grump. Here's somebody who wants something from me, but she doesn't say what exactly or where she found the reference (A URL would have been helpful.) She doesn't say please, just says to email what I have. I should have just told her "no," but I had in mind [unexpressed] expletives and was rude back.

Someone writing a history should at least be able to spell the first name of the persons she's writing about and be specific about what she wants. I did an in-site search (I do not have all 400 or 1,310 (depending which software I believe) DARts (Not DAR, that's the Daughters of the American Republic, a somewhat different organization.) pages memorized, but I found several small JPEGs of Otis Dozier's work about halfway down the A Recent Survey of Art in Dallas - Part 2 page, from 2004, when modems were so slow JPGs were tiny.

She apparently did not contact The MAC, which the story mentions and probably published a nice color catalog of the show. Seems like I have one around here somewhere.

There's also an Otis Dozier preliminary sketch for a lithograph at Peregrine Press halfway down this other page from my own collection and a tiny jpeg of another Jerry Bywaters classic 1937 Share Cropper painting that David Bates responded to on our Paired Art from Dallas Artists and the Dallas Museum page about a show at whatever D-Art was called that week

J R Compton
Editor/Publisher
DallasArtsRevue.com

January 21 2011

Dear Mr. Compton,

In your assessment of the Glitch show at CentralTrak, you ask someone to please refer you to some good video art. I respectfully point you to the Glitch show at CentralTrak — give it a second visit, this time without the big crowd. The chaos of the opening certainly contributed to your impression; that was the worst possible presentation for video art. Put on the headphones (sound is half the medium) and give each work at least one minute.

If I may, I'd like to offer some well-intended words for context:

Please bear in mind that there is practically no market for video art. Artists like myself who are devoted to it are not after a "quick sell" because there is really never any illusion of possibility for a sale — we aren't working with video to make a living. We're doing it because we're deeply devoted to our craft, to contemporary art, and to wrestling with the medium of our historical moment.

It was the large crowd that detracted from the presentation of the work during the reception, not the installation of the work. Moving image / sound work in gallery spaces intended for objects & still images is notoriously difficult to install. I thought the show organizers made very good decisions with the resources available to them. The ideal exhibition for video art is often an acoustically controlled "black box" space, but that is rarely practical

Video art doesn't communicate at the speed of TV or film or painting. It challenges what we expect to happen on a screen because video artists have had enough of the endless sameness of media 'production values' and Hollywood. Video art is generally slower than TV or movies and tends to require more time from audiences than objects or paintings. Each work tells a story. Allow it time to unfold.

Respectfully,
Shane Mecklenburger

I would agree that as a reviewer of video art, I'm pretty useless.
J R Compton
 

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