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Germans Embrace Artist as a Homegrown Hero

Sep 4, 2012

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Richter is one of my faves

This exhibition took place earlier this year. The last time I saw a Richter painting was at the Lannan Foundation in Los Angeles some 25 years ago. The images is stil fresh in my nimd. the he play with surface and imagery amazes me and  he is my painter’s painter. If you ever get the chance to see a Richter painting the travel is worth the time. It is no wonder that people are undaunted by the elements to see his work. I agree he is one of the best. Read and enjoy.

Posted under the Creative Commons License 4.0 attribution.

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Photo Credit- Tobias Schwartz- Reuters

BERLIN — Undaunted by the layer of snow crunching underfoot, hundreds of art enthusiasts stood in a line stretching halfway around the Neue Nationalgalerie on a recent morning here, eager to see the Gerhard Richter retrospective.

“He’s the greatest living German painter,” said Monika Dietz, 60, an eye doctor from Berlin, when asked why she was braving subfreezing temperatures to see the Richter show. “With everything I’ve heard and read and seen about how important he is, I wanted to see for myself.” → Read more

Universal Concern that Creativity is Suffering at Work and School

Aug 30, 2012

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The more research that I do I am finding that we are falling behind in our ability to be creative and support creativity at home, in schools and the workplace. Adobe released a study this past spring on how creativity is suffering. The results showed that Americans think their lack of time, money and tools are barriers to creativity. Rightly so, the American system is slowly grinding the gears of conceptual and critical thought to a halt by adopting an ideology that only looks at the productivity of test scores in the educational system. This has resulted in massive cuts to teachers jobs, and is disproportionately cutting History, Physical Education and both the Visual and Performing Arts.  The arts represents at least 37% of the entire population who are visual thinkers and problem solvers. This is why I am working on the Born to Draw Art Program because it is a way to bring drawing and the arts to children and adults, to get people to use their hands and minds once again.

See the www.borntodraw.com website  Let me know how we might be able to create a space where we can roll out the Born to Draw® art curriculum.

Universal Concern that Creativity is Suffering at Work and School

SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 23, 2012 — New research reveals a global creativity gap in five of the world’s largest economies, according to the Adobe® (Nasdaq:ADBE) State of Create global benchmark study. The research shows 8 in 10 people feel that unlocking creativity is critical to economic growth and nearly two-thirds of respondents feel creativity is valuable to society, yet a striking minority – only 1 in 4 people – believe they are living up to their own creative potential.

Interviews of 5,000 adults across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan expose surprising attitudes and beliefs about creativity, providing new insights into the role of creativity in business, education and society overall.

Workplace Creativity Gap The study reveals a workplace creativity gap, where 75% of respondents said they are under growing pressure to be productive rather than creative, despite the fact that they are increasingly expected to think creatively on the job. Across all of the countries surveyed, people said they spend only 25% of their time at work creating. Lack of time is seen as the biggest barrier to creativity (47% globally, 52% in United States).

Education Concerns More than half of those surveyed feel that creativity is being stifled by their education systems, and many believe creativity is taken for granted (52% globally, 70% in the United States).

“One of the myths of creativity is that very few people are really creative,” said Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. “The truth is that everyone has great capacities but not everyone develops them. One of the problems is that too often our educational systems don’t enable students to develop their natural creative powers. Instead, they promote uniformity and standardization. The result is that we’re draining people of their creative possibilities and, as this study reveals, producing a workforce that’s conditioned to prioritize conformity over creativity.”

Creativity Rating: Japan Ranked Most Creative The study sheds light on different cultural attitudes toward creativity. Japan ranked highest in the global tally as the most creative country while, conversely, Japanese citizens largely do not see themselves as creative. Globally, Tokyo ranked as the most creative city – except among Japanese – with New York ranking second. Outside of Japan, national pride in each country is evident, with residents of the United Kingdom, Germany and France ranking their own countries and cities next in line after Japan.

The United States ranked globally as the second most creative nation among the countries surveyed, except in the eyes of Americans, who see themselves as the most creative. Yet Americans also expressed the greatest sense of urgency and concern that they are not living up to their creative potential (United States at 82%, vs. the lowest level of concern in Germany at 64%).

Generational and gender differences are marginal, reinforcing the idea that everyone has the potential to create. Women ranked only slightly higher than men when asked if they self-identified as creative and whether they were tapping their own creative potential.

Four in 10 people believe that they do not have the tools or access to tools to create. Creative tools are perceived as the biggest driver to increase creativity (65% globally, 76% in the United States), and technology is recognized for its ability to help individuals overcome creative limitations (58% globally, 60% in the United States) and provide inspiration (53% globally, 62% in the United States).

About the Adobe State of Create Study The study was produced by research firm StrategyOne and conducted as an online survey among a total of 5,000 adults, 18 years or older, 1,000 each in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan. Interviewing took place from March 30 to April 9. The data set for each country is nationally representative of the population of that country.

For more information on the research results visit Adobe State of Create Global Benchmark Study and Adobe State of Create Infographic.

The Nine Nobel Peace Laureates Call on NBC to Cancel “Stars Earn Stripes”

Aug 13, 2012

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From the Nobel Women’s Initiative

 

New show promotes an “inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence”

Rigoberta Menchu Tum giclee print can be found in the shop and portfolio on this website

OTTAWA – August 13 – Nine Nobel Peace Laureates today issued an open letter to the Chairman of NBC Entertainment, as well as General Wesley Clark and others involved in the new “reality” show premiering tonight on NBC—“Stars Earn Stripes”—calling on them to walk away from the show immediately.

In the letter, the Laureates—who include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams and President Oscar Arias Sanchez—note that “war isn’t entertainment” and challenge NBC’s promotional line that that such a television program would be “pay[ing] homage to the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and our first-line responder services.”

The Laureates say that the program pays homage to no one and is “a massive disservice to those who live and die in armed conflict and suffer its consequences long after the guns of war fall silent.” → Read more