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by the originating artist. No reproduction or approximation of these
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June 2003
Story + Photographs by JR Compton
DFW Air Traffic Control Tower near
Royal Lane and visible from I-35 North
The DARts
Alert E-mail
This is the letter
I sent out to all DARts paid supporters on June 7, 2003:
In case you hadn't noticed, there's
a May version of JR's Midnight
Ramble at http://www.DallasArtsRevue.com/feedback/rambles/May_03.shtml.
In it, I describe at least one of
the 3 exhibition
possibilities we're actively working on now.
The
Ramble Index links all the Rambles as they come out.
The May 03
Ramble is remarkably short and to the point!
All Rambles are now public, per member
Marty Ray's suggestion.
Do any
Subscribers or Supporting Members object to this policy? Part
of how I sold subscriptions and memberships was by promising
periodic Midnight Rambles. Does it upset anyone that I'm
now making them public?
E-mail
JR.
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New since this ramble first came out
is something I've spent about 40 hours on, so far, and probably
a little more to go when I figure out what else to add.
DARts has many sub-indices, but now,
finally, I am developing a DARts
Index of Reviews. It has all the reviews I could
find on this site.
Please
let me know how — or if — you like the new
Index.
In the E-Alert, I reminded supporters
and subscribers the exact location of the Members-Only
Index, because I am stomping out links to that
hallowed document — on all other M-O (Members-Only)
pages, which could have been linked from non-member pages...
I hope that readers won't link to
pages that 404 (Page
Not Found) them, because they don't have a User I.D and a Password,
which only DARts Supporting Members and DARts Subscribers have.
I bought special software to check
links and was surprised to learn we have a less than 0.1%
rate of bad links here. (That's 30 bad links
out of 23,778 links checked on 1,458 pages. EarthLink's statistics
kicked back the identical data recently, so that's good news
for me.
Even more recently, I checked some
pages with my old software that does the same thing, only one
page at a time. It found a couple of those bad links, which
I fixed immediately.
Despite the low rate, we have kept
a 16% 404 rate since
early 2003. Which means that though DARts has few bad links,
we have many bad linkers.
After some thought, I believe
the deal is that the previous version of the 404 page had such
a nice, little index of DARts pages, that many people were
using it as an entry to this site. Unfortunately, a popular
404 Error: Page Not Found page looks like a lot of errors.
I deleted the index, which was
getting out of date, anyway, so readers will have to use the
new Art Crit Index or the old,
standard Site Index instead.
And it won't make me think errors are going on again.
To improve my precious
site stats — and
consequently diminish the frustration
many readers feel when they try to navigate this site,
I'm stomping out links to M-O pages on public pages.
Which means Subscribers
and Supporting Members will have to remember and bookmark ("Favorites" in
AOL) the M-O Index page, which
I will not link here for all the above mentioned reasons.
The Front
Page is still called The Front Page, but now
it's got the continuing EAT ART "column" of the latest
reviews that are too long or too involved to be on the calendar
pages.
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Disaster Alert horn in Flower Mound not
far from James Crowe's house + studio
Feedback Needed
2
More DARts Exhibition
possibilities set in motion
Northwood University logo
Northwood is
the 1st
of the
3 currently active potential
DARts Member Show possibilities. It is
explained at length in the May 2003 Midnight
Ramble.
It will be at Northwood Institute in Cedar Hill this September,
when their students come back to school.
An
earlier show possibility, now in bureaucratic
suspension, is "our
show at the Bath House" fully described
in the official proposal, about which
they aren't exactly saying yes,
and they're not exactly
saying no,
although they
are definitely saying maybe in 2004 or 2005...
The Bath House
has communicated about it, however, which is
more than they've done for some of this year's exhibition
proposals.
We suspect that no feedback indicates a definite no.
So, our DARts Membership Show at the Bath House is
still a definite maybe...
(although eventually, the turkeys on the Bath
House Idiot Selection Committee just dropped it. Coincidentally right after
I wrote a bit of art crit that pissed a lot of people off. Fuck them!
2. The DARts
Competitive Photo Show
The other upcoming show possibility will
be a Photographic Exhibition at
Dallas Darkroom. This is my idea, and even Kathy likes it, although
we've got zero feedback from DARts members, so far.
I'm calling it "photographic," because
it will not just be photographs themselves, but art that is photographic-related
art, as well.
I've been in correspondence with
Dallas Darkroom in
my long-time quest to teach Photography
Without
a Darkroom.
The class will be a
combination of learning to use that digital camera you paid so much
money for
and a basic
course
in digital photography with group discussions of work
and creative possibilities.
We were talking about my class and their
company when someone suggested having a DARts show there.
The space
is a little rough, and neither as large as the expanse at
Tranquilla or as clean and well lit as the space at Northwood.
But it is in North Dallas and inside the Dallas City Limits, so it
will be a draw for photo and art lovers here. And, if we clean it
up and use the front office, hallway and the dual
use
classroom/studio,
it could
be
an interesting
show.
We've talked about having
a three-day show, but it might be possible to extend it. Although
I just don't know whether it should be short or longer term. Any suggestions?
On the way home, Kathy and I discussed
the possibility of getting a big-name Dallas art photographer or
several to judge the show. Many are the possibilities, and few are
the
for-certains at this stage of this show's development.
The show would be open to traditional
and digital photographs, photographic based art, art employing photographic
techniques and photo-related art — whatever that might mean.
Definitions
will follow...
I hope this show will have some of the
better, more community and less commercial exhibition feelings once
associated with Allen Street Gallery.
I, of course, am fascinated with photography.
And it would be an appropriate theme for the space.
I don't want to only have
membership exhibitions associated with DallasArtsRevue — I hope
to organize a variety
of opportunities over the coming years, each of which will be
different and in some way, innovative.
Although I want to continue to have at
least one Membership show each year.
Exhibiting artists may join DARts as a
Supporting Member upon entry.
3. DARts
Show at JR's house
(This potential
exhibition and sale was cancelled,
because it contravenes
the White Rock tour rules, and also because only one DARts member
ever showed any
interest
in the
idea.
Thanks, Norman.)
It would have been a DARts Supporting
Member show at JR's house (this is Kathy's idea, and it's a good
one)
during
the White
Rock Lake
Artists Tour next October. My front porch,
living room, dining room, front
yard, back yard and kitchen will be completely denuded
of My Collection, hosed out and given over to our art for that two-day
show.
The week after, we'll have a Pick
Up (your art) Party, instead of a opening or closing
reception. Of course, we'll be
recepting guests and visitors all
weekend
of the White Rock tour anyway.
The Pick Up show will
double as this year's DARts Meeting.
The White Rock Lake Artists Tour is well-publicized
and attended. DARts hosted two
pages of info about it last year as
our first-ever paid advertisement.
JR's house is close enough to the lake to
qualify, and it's big enough to hold a bunch of work.
The number of pieces actually
on the wall will be limited per space available and the number of DARtsers
who'll
want to participate. But once a piece is sold — right off the wall
— on a cash and carry basis, the artist may place another similarly
sized piece on the same nail(s).
I don't know how we will decide who can
show what, but we'll figure it out. The space will be
limited. No more bring-everything you got, like at our
first-ever show at 1026 Tranquilla.
I suspect we'll be able to
sell a bunch of work — especially if they're priced to go.
I'll probably lock up the southeast
side of my house — except the hallway and the bathroom — during
the show. And I'll finally clean my kitchen!
Not sure about the back porch or back yard.
I'd love to see some big sculptures on the front yard and/or on the
front porch.
Pictures of this house will be linked on
the aforementioned Members-Only Index page.
My home is already a colorful place, and
we might even get around to painting the middle room. (A seven-year-old
boy long
ago called it a Truck Stop, when the words Dining Room did not find
the right resonance.)
It's now painted a fading beigy-pink color
called Apricot Dawn, which a former roommate said sounded like the
name of
a country
western
signer.
I've been thinking about a nice, bright orange color.
in Oak Cliff not too far from the VA hospital, I found
yet another something to be between tanks and me
Re-Membering
DARts Supporting Members who resubscribe may now have
a total of up to 7 images on
their page(s), and their memership is extended by one month to a
total of 13 months.
The end date of all current Supporting Members and Subscribers
are listed on the Members'
Pages Index.
Most
recent letters will be on top.
I think having a show at your house is a great
idea. But of course that's easy for me to say since it's not
my house. Awful lot of work for you to go through but I think
it would be a great show. If you decide to host the show maybe
you could put out a call for volunteers and let us know what
we can do to help you get ready.
The show at Northwood gets a tentative yes vote.
Looks like the comments from folks who have shown there are in
the OK to favorable
range. And any place that has lots of pretty coeds is good
with me.
As for the photography show...well, I am to photography
what Putt-Putt is to golf. I use those little throw-away cameras
you buy at the drug store. Not likely to enter that show
so
I have
no opinion on that one.
Looking forward to the next ramble....
Norm
James
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