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May 2003
Story
+ Photographs by JR Compton
Pyramidion of the royal scribe Amenhotep-Huy reign
of
Ramesses II,
1279-1213 B.C.
Sakkara, granodiorite
Like the other images on this page, it is in
The Quest for Immortality, Treasures of Ancient Egypt at the Kimbell
in Fort Worth.
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site. Become a Supporting
Member to get your own web page, entry in DARts shows and full
access to all Members-Only pages — including our ever growing and
changing page of artist's opportunities for only $65 / year.
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A Potential Exhibition Possibility
I haven't heard from our real estate benefactors in awhile,
so I've been thinking about other venues for a DARts Exhibition.
The easiest one yet, started happening
months
ago when Northwood University in
Cedar Hill's James Martin E-mailed
me about needing shows for his gallery. That notice is
still posted
on the
M-O Ops page. It
will probably happen next September, when Northwood students return
to classes.
I told him, "essentially, it would be a DallasArtsRevue membership
exhibition. I don't know who would participate, but it would fit well
within our "tradition" (all of one show, so far)
of being the youngest established floating art game in town."
He liked the sound of that. He said, "Your
idea for a show sounds interesting.
Please follow up with me on artists and interest." Which is what
this Ramble is primarily about.
I also asked what his gallery was like..
Maat Before Thoth, god of scribes,
as an ibis
c. 664–332 B.C., wood and bronze
"My gallery area is essentially
a long hallway with track lighting. There is probably 50
ft. of exhibition space on each side with 2 or 3 breaks for
door entrances. We have grids that are on the walls and triangular
grids which can be moved around to suite our tastes and a
lot of artists like to use them to spice up the appearance
of their collections and exhibits.
We have security cameras
to watch the artwork and the building is locked nightly after
evening classes (around 9 or so) and is also locked on Sunday
and part of the day (the evening) on Saturday."
 
Sheila Cunningham's slides
should give you
some idea of what the Northwood space is like.
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I still don't know what are the grids
he speaks about or how they work. Maybe
someone will explain it to me.
I suspect their shows would continue for about three
weeks (already seven times longer than the
Tranquilla show) and might
include
some sort
of lecture and certainly an opening. I love the idea of spreading
the DARts gospel to students.
Apparently they will print and mail out invitational
postcards, although we may have to design them. We might even get
to have some sort of informal artists' panel.
I know from nothing about Northwood, and still have
plenty of doubts, but I thought I should proffer the suggestion.
I also suspect we could refine this show at one of the DCCCD
campuses later on.
As usual, I don't want to put in just one piece from
each Supporting
Member. I'd rather we showed three, to give enough
flavor so visitors — mostly students — can discover
each artist's
oeuvre.
If it's a popular idea, someone might have to jur the
work.
Are any DARts Supporting Members interested in showing
in this possible DARts show?
See related concepts explicated
in the official
DallasArtsRevue Membership Exhibition proposal to the Bath House this
year. See also a discussion of another still
potential DARts
show in the last Midnight Ramble.
Relief of Amum (outlined detail)
reign of Thutmose III, 1479-1425 B.C.
Thebes, Deir el-Bahari
Temple of Djeser-Akhet
painted limestone
Ch-ch-changes
The number of visits to "the
cover" dwindled
seriously the first part of this year. But the number
of visits to Membership
Index page has
more than taken up the slack.
Ever the follower of fashion and statistics, I've changed
the cover, so it now looks like an actual cover, with all the
blurb/links to
everything important (well, a lot) inside. And I change
up the Members Page every
couple of weeks, like I used to do with the cover,
back when it was a repository for stories.
I am utterly astounded at the popularity of the Membership
Index page. Somebody popular somewhere else on the web
must have a link
to it, but I don't know who or where.
I'm delighted that the people who actually pay for
and support this site
are getting a lot of the glory right now.
Please, if you're showing your
work anywhere, no matter what the venue — or you win some accolade
(like David Hickman getting named The Texas 3-D Artist), let me know,
so I can steer
more visitors
to your member pages.
Speaking of which, you should know a few other
things about the current version of the Membership (index) page.
Listed
after each Supporting Member or DARts Subscriber's
name is a tiny date indicating when your membership
is up.
This is a lot
easier for me than sending out notices in a timely fashion.
Good bureaucrat, I'm not.
Thoth, god of writing and knowledge, as a baboon
New Kingdom?, 1550-1069 B.C.
sandstone
Also, under the index list is a Top
20 that I update
about once a month, showing whose page(s) are the more popular
among all of
member pages.
Thanks to several of your suggestions, these Rambles
are no longer Members-Only (M–O).
Please, if anyone has any other suggestions, E-mail
them to me. I thrive on changing this site. Feedback
is listed below.
I have lately added several new opportunities to the
M-O ops page, and made
several updates to the Gallery
Information Page.
I've already
fixed
more than several dozen bad links on important pages.
That was sure embarrassing to have so many bad links.
I've created a new, custom 404 page (you've probably
seen it already, but if you really want to see it again or for the
first time, just type http://www.DallasArtsRevue.com/anything else
that comes to mind that's not already an actual page here), so when
people get there — page
not found!, they have a variety of pages to choose from. It's
like a junior version of our Index page.
There's
no longer a picture there, in the hopes that the page downloads
ferociously quickly.
As Steve Jobs (Mr. Pixar and the founder and savior of
Apple Computers) used to say, "wicked
fast."
And
it seems to be working. The average number of page
views has risen from one to 1.6 and lately to two whole pages, meaning
a lot of
the 404ed masses try one real page address, too.
Overall, despite some ebbing and flowing among specific
pages, DARts still gets just at 30,000 separate visits a month,
although the average
time spent
on this site has come down lately.
Oh, and I changed the color
of time — the pink I used
to use to denote dates and times was too much like the red
I use(d) to mark titles and publications, so I changed it to
a more noticeably different pink.
Another something I learned this semester (though not
all at my Web Development class at El Centro; I've also been reading
lots of good books on the subject.) — is that
colors should be discernable, even by people who are color blind.
Of course, I'm not, so I still don't know if the new
pink helps all that
much, but I like it better, as it confuses me less. And that's
progress.
One, experimental part of this particular Ramble,
is that, although I linked it from the
cover and the
Quest for Immortality revue on the calendar, I have not and will
not for awhile, notify the members and subscribers of its existence.
Just to see who's paying
attention.
Amenhotep, son of Hapu, as a
scribe
reign of Amnhotep III, 1390-1352 B.C.
Thebes, Temple of Karnak
granodiorite |
Old Friend
Finding Amenhotep,
son of Hapu at the
Kimbell was like seeing an old friend. I knew there was
something strongly familiar about him, but it took
several minutes of staring
at this bigger than life-sized figure before I finally
recognized him.
He's the very guy former DARts comix artist Don
Mangus used
to create his Give So Art May
Live cartoon I've been using
for the past 20 years to help gather DARts on paper and
online subscribers and other supporters.
Check him out in all of Mangus' glory and my own,
misdirected, hand (Photoshop) coloring at
the bottom of the DARts Index Page.
|
Networking + Re-upping
I'm underemployed again, so if anyone knows
someone who needs or wants help starting or keeping going
a web site or needs
digital photography,
please E-mail me.
Meanwhile, an amazing high percentage of you are resubscribing,
and I thank you so very much for that. Of course,
it is pretty
much
the bargain
of
the century to not only get a web page with what
you want on it (within restrictions),
but to have someone promote it regularly. But I'm
still very appreciative.
Thanks, gang,
; j r
(Now begins the task of finding illustrative photographs
for this page. Lessee, what have I shot lately that was
not at White
Rock Lake...?
) Oh, yeah. Egypt Meets Forp Woof! Perfect. Wow! That was quick.
I started this page only late this evening. First
place I looked at recent photos was surprisingly apt and
appropriate.
Love
the scribe
as
babboon...
It's now, I think, finished (even spell checked),
and it's only 3:10 ayem.
Talk about timeless art.
All this wonderful art and a download time of
only 13 seconds. Pretty quick for a Midnight Ramble...
Osirus
resurrecting
Twenty-sixth Dynasty, 664-525 B.C.
Horbeit
gneiss, with a headdress in electrum and gold
Support this site.Become a Supporting
Member to get
your own web page, entry in DARts shows & other benefits,
or sign up as a DARts
Subscriber for
full access to all of
DallasArtsRevue's information pages.
Most
recent letters are on top.
On June 9, I wrote to
James Martin at Northwood asking:
So far, the artists who have shown interest in
this show include Nancy
Ferro, Robert Berry, Chris Fulmer, Elisabeth Schalij and me.
Others
would probably sign on once we get it going, have a calendar,
etc.
When might it be possible? What rules and regulations
do you have about
shows there? Would it be possible to hang art salon style,
or does it
all have to be lined up in one neat row?
He responded:
No rules about the exhibit. We can do pretty much
what we want.
I'm very excited about the interest in the show. For something
this big, I
would like to do it right when school starts again in the early
fall.
Probably around the first of September. What do you think? Talk
to you
later.
James P. Martin
Director of Arts and Activities
Northwood University
J. R.
Northwood Institute is affiliated with the business
school of the same name in Michigan (?). The art program was
supported
by people like Betty Murchison and Evelyn Lambert.
I think Chapman Kelly was involved and I know that Bob
Wade taught there. As you can imagine with Bob, it was
a very lively program. The art program later moved to an
old house on Gaston (?). I haven't heard anything about
the program there in a long time.
Paul Rogers Harris
I looked at the space
and talked with James Martin. I was going
to have show there in the fall, but it looks like I will
have one at Northlake, which would be better. I would rather
participate in a member show at Northwood. I like James Martin,
very enthusiastic. Hope we'll go ahead with it.
Elisabeth
Schalij
I wonder whether we might
be better off attempting to
have our next group show at one of the DCCCD campuses instead.
They're closer, much easier to find, more established as
places where people go to see local art, so more likely to
draw more than a purely student audience, and they are generally
open to show proposals, although perhaps more booked than
Northwood.
Certainly, several DARts Supporting Members work at DCCCD.
what do they (you) think? -JRC
Here are the slides from
my show, Near And Far at
Northwood University's Butler Gallery in January 2003.
I enjoyed working with James. He was very enthusiastic
and really wants to expose the students to art. He wanted the
artist reception to be on a week night, so the students could
attend, but only a handful did. They sent out postcards for me,
but that far from Dallas, on a Thursday night, I didn't expect
anyone to make the trip. And no one did.
He was a little anxious that people weren't coming
and wanted to know if anyone from my list was coming. They had
sent up a nice table of food, and the students that came were
really nice... [My] Northwood experience was very positive, and
I would do it again.
Sheila
Cunningham
The Northwood exhibition
sounds like an interesting possibility. I
enjoyed working with folks at the Tranquilla exhibition and
will gladly help again if we decide to go for it there.
Chris
Fulmer
I like the idea of
the Northwood Show. I recently did a show
at Tarleton State College in
Stephenville. I had a blast and the students were excited
and enjoyed the show as well. I even sold a couple of paintings.
That show lasted a month so the students and faculty
had a chance to see it. The comments were very positive.
Thanks for getting my Darts pages up and running
again. I missed it. Thanks for keeping us out there.
Robert
Berry
Northwood sounds very good.
I am interested in being part of that. Tranquilla sure sold quickly
after your exhibit.
They (the realtors)should be thinking about that again! Thanks,
JR
Nancy
Ferro
The house did sell quckly after our show there, but the contract had been signed before
the show. Apparently, the real estate people are very busy
selling houses now. ;j
r
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