Creative Cauldron - Miso of Melbourne Tweet

It occurred to me that it might be a good/enjoyable/worthwhile/useful idea to do a regular post on my influences and showcase other artists or ideas that have made me stop and go 'wow'. Useful for me to have a reference. Fun to do. Enlightening for you. These have become the Creative Cauldron posts, where I explore the biggest influences on my art. Most of these are visual styles and techniques. Some of these are more about mind-set, attitudes and mental inspiration. I guess you could call them all muses of one form or another.

Miso. I like the soup. And I love the work by the artist who goes by this name.

Miso is a street artist in Melbourne. She, yes she, is nowhere near a run of the mill street artist. For starters, she's not a guy. Instantly sets her apart. And then she creates in paper. Yes, paper, of all mediums. Thin newsprint, posca markers, acrylic paint, a stanley knife and wheat paste.

I'd seen her work around for ages, but hadn't quite clicked that what I was seeing and liking was the work of one artist. Until I went along to see a screening of "Melbourne Ink" by French duo Romain & Julien, which is a documentary on the graffiti/street art scene in Melbourne. It's full of characters and there's plenty of the egotistical, macho guys with spray cans who've mastered how to write their made-up name in a fancy way (congratulations, you may now graduate from kindergarten).

And then there was Miso. Someone really contributing ephemeral beauty to the city. Whimsical, poetic, sublime, almost mythical images to ponder or just make you smile.

My favourite part of the film was the scene where Miso is walking along a street at night carrying a reusable shopping bag. She stops, pulls out a drawing on paper, unrolls it up against the wall, reaches into the shopping bag again, pulls out a wide brush covered in paste, and paints the glue over the picture, sticking it to the wall. Then puts the brush back in the pot in the bag, picks up the bag, and continues on walking.

Super.

Her Flickr stream is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/city_of_reubens/sets/72157594452840186/

Her blog is here:

http://cityofreubens.com/

There's a great interview with her here:
http://www.thedesignfiles.net/2009/09/interview-miso.html

And another great one here:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2579328699_8e225477d1_o.jpg

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Creative Commons vs Copyright Tweet

I remember when photocopiers became available for public use. There seemed to suddenly be a big hoopla about copyright. Suddenly there were going to be hordes of people photocopying entire books and reselling them. Schoolkids had to 'watch out' or else they'd get caught photocopying sections of books for studying, homework and school projects. And then sense prevailed and the concept of fair use caught on. Who on earth would photocopy an entire book anyway? It would usually cost more and the quality was rubbish.

There were tapes and then CD's. You weren't meant to copy using these either, but everyone did. And as long as it was for your own personal use and you weren't out selling the copies you made, no one knew or cared. Often you'd copy some music from a friend, take it home, listen to it over and over, and end up at the concert, buy a T shirt and some other albums and hey presto, the band has a new fan.

And now we have the internet which is a giant copying machine on steroids. I admit, it is insanely easy to get hold of anything you want online. But the paranoia over copyright is coked up and suffering hysteria. It's as if a revelation has occurred. People copy other people's work. Shit!

Why are people so paranoid over people copying their work? I mean, I totally understand being pissed at someone for sneakily copying and then profiting from your work. These slimy unimaginative rock dwellers deserve to be tied down and eaten alive by rats. Get your own damn thing to sell. FFS get permission to use someone else's work to generate cash.

But why is so little distinction made between sharing a creative piece with friends as a fan, spreading your obvious enthusiasm and respect for the work and artist to other people who you think will also be appreciative, versus slyly making money from someone else's creativity? I don't get it. Once it's in the world, it'll be copied. Fact. But there is a universe between these two scenarios.

And it appears that I'm not alone in these views.

Creative Commons has been put together for creators who want a middle ground between all rights reserved copy-any-of-this-and-you-die full draconian copyright, and nothing at all. Think of Creative Commons as 'some rights reserved'. It is a licence based on copyright that allows works to be legally available for sharing, on certain conditions.

My conditions are here: http://www.wherefishsing.com/contactprivacy.html

I hold all the commercial rights to any work I produce, including royalties. So if you want to make a buck from my creative output, contact me. We may be able to set up a deal. But if I say no and/or catch someone deviously profiteering from my work, I'll first set the fleas from a thousand camels on their eyeballs, and then have my lawyers suck the financial life from them.

Otherwise (a la NIN),
please post it on your blog,
share it with your friends,
publish it in your zine,
include it in your video,
etc.

And some final thoughts by Cory Doctorow:

"My fans’ tireless evangelism for my work doesn’t just sell books — it sells me.

This is why I give away digital copies of my books and make money on the printed editions: I’m not going to stop people from copying the electronic editions, so I might as well treat them as an enticement to buy the printed objects.

Most people who download the book don’t end up buying it, but they wouldn’t have bought it in any event, so I haven’t lost any sales, I’ve just won an audience. A tiny minority of downloaders treat the free ebook as a substitute for the printed book — those are the lost sales. But a much larger minority treat the ebook as an enticement to buy the printed book. They’re gained sales. As long as gained sales outnumber lost sales, I’m ahead of the game."


A Bunch of Useful Links
http://creativecommons.org/
http://creativecommons.org/choose/
http://commons.berneguerrero.com/2008/04/02/is-creative-commons-anti-copyright/
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-6357305-1.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/10/rupert-murdoch-charging-for-internet
http://archive.icommons.org/articles/art-intercom-featuring-painter-joy-garnett
http://digg.com/dialogg/Trent_Reznor
http://craphound.com/content/download/

This work by Fiona Morgan of WhereFishSing.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.

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Urban Creatures Tweet

The potential that people busy past every day. These are maybe what could be seen if people slowed down. Take a breath, focus on a point, attune, relax. These are what I find in the patterns around me.

And so to begin:

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A Diary of Becoming - Round Four - Nov 09 (and Dec 09 and Jan 10) Roundup Tweet

Where On Earth Have I Been?
Gah. Has it really been 3 months? What's happened? Which hole did I fall into?

Hmm, well there was a cancer scare (false alarm I'm relieved to say), there was the getting stuff done, then there was a large illustration contract, followed by having the inlaws stay for xmas. Then there were two road trips to Adelaide (a gig and then a wedding) - Adelaide is a day's drive BTW - and lastly another large illustration contract. So rest assured that whilst I've been away, it's been a full schedule. Perhaps I could be more organised on the blogging front while busy in future. Something for me to work on improving.
And while we're on the topic of needing improvement... from the last roundup;


Not So Good Stuff

• Pictures and prints for the market stall - haven't happened. Though I've produced plenty of pictures, all of them have been of the medical variety for contract. No use for a market stall.

• Market stall preparations - not all bad, but definitely delayed, as per above. I have though, scored a fine trestle table from eBay and have an RSS feed spying out for a suitable cane/bamboo room divider which I intend to paint white and hang pictures on as a backdrop to the stall. I'm now thinking that a stall will be more suitable for the next warm season. Part of a grander plan.

• Email friends - not done yet (grrrr). However this will be ideal to do when the big fun project is launched.

The Good Stuff

• The art collector lectures that were cancelled last year are back on and I'm in. Can't wait. They start next week.

• Modify blog header. This task is done. It should now be perfectly plain to tell when the blog is the current page.
  

• Creative commons. Investigated and pondered upon. Look out for the blog post this time next week which will explain what it is and my views on copyright in the world today.

• Art collectives. Researched. And blow me down there's one in Ballarat. And a cool one in Bendigo. And the Abbortsford Convent in Melbourne grabbed my interest too. It was enlightening and somewhat horrifying to learn that most places work 6 to 12 months ahead with their exhibition schedules. Yikes.
  

• Strategy session. OMG!!! So much awesome. More later.
  

• CD commission. Done, and now more required. Cool.
  

The Unexpectedly Great

• While the medical illustration contracts certainly took a great chunk of my time (annoying), and the client suddenly decided partway through that everything was to be done in Illustrator (really irritating), the wonderful unexpected result is that I now have a solid grasp on Illustrator. Nothing quite like learning on the job. So that's an extra feather to my cap. I think I'll slot it in next to the Photoshop feather!

• But that's not all!!! Thanks to me getting peeved with how long it takes me to write these posts, I decided to do something about it. Now I'm touch typing at a modest 22wpm (words only). Yay. Onward and upward.
  

The Awesome
Discovering the coolest project that covers a whole bunch of my interests that will tick the full gamut of artistic and online experimenting that I want to do and it was right under my nose. Right in my face actually. Thanks to hubby for pointing out what has been hiding in plain sight. The recipe series. Seasonal, vegetarian, fully illustrated. It's gonna keep me busy for a full year. Fine details still to be sorted, but there will be downloads, polls, prizes, videos, prints, loads of scrumptious meals and artwork and a complete book at the end. I'm excited.


So, The Get Done For February...

• Improve my touch typing to include numbers. Same speed.
  

• There's a bunch of recommended professional art organisations. Methinks I should join them up.
  

• Shadow Creatures. Or maybe Urban Creatures. In any case, a second installment on the Found Creatures. A suitable creative project for this month otherwise full of...
  

• Planning for the recipes. So many questions to find answers for... Printing. Dinner exhibitions. Videos. Publishing. Scheduling. Publicity. Classes? Ways to get you guys involved...

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