Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The Secret Muse: Intuition and the Sacred Process of Creativity

Kim Chestney Harvey, etherial material series, #1

The Muse Dialogue continues our discussion on the intersection of art and the spiritual experience with a reflection by Kim Chestney. Chestney is an artist with a long personal commitment to painting and an arts administrator in her role as the Director of the Arts + Technology Initiative at the Pittsburgh Technology Council. She is also the author of a book that explores how spiritual experience leads to artistic creativity and expression.

In this article, she reflects on the role of intuition in the creative life, and on the source of intuition. In the process she makes an argument on behalf of the “muse inside us all.” Read on in Chestney’s “The Secret Muse: Intuition and the Sacred Process of Creativity” (click here to read full article).

Art Creators: The Anxiety of Millennials

Annabelle Clippinger is an arts professional, both as a creative writer and an arts administrator as the Director of PITT ARTS. Yet she is also the parent of a talented young violinist, a senior in high school who now contemplates entering a conservatory. What are parent and child to do as they face this step? As Clippinger reports from one cellist, “the math” is clear about the odds for finding a position in an orchestra. Yet one has to wonder if that is the only reason one attends conservatory, and the only possible future career path. Conversely, Clippinger has her reservations about fine arts programs that require training in entrepreneurship and arts management — all in response to the anxiety in the age of Millenials. She writes, “The packaging and reselling of conservatory programs matches the anxiety of this generation.”

Join TMD for a continuation of our look at young classical musicians and the challenges facing emerging artists of our time with Annabelle Clippinger’s “Arts Creators: The Anxiety of Millenials” (click to read full article).

On Politics and Art

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial (Photo: National Park Service)

by Andrew Swensen

The occasion of recent political events and the celebration of past political achievements are on our minds this week, and The Muse Dialogue takes a moment to reflect on the role of arts and artistry in both realizing those moments and memorializing them. Andrew Swensen writes, “I cannot help but come to the conclusion that we need the arts specifically because of these and all the issues of realizing the good in our world.” Join the conversation by reading more, and taking your own stand on the place where politics and art meet.

Click here to read the full text of “On Politics and Art.”

The Allure of Liquid Fire: A Look at the Art and Craft of Glassblowing

“The Transportation of Water” by Zach Layhew (Photo: Nathan J. Shauils)

The Muse Dialogue opens 2013 with a continuation of our consideration of art and craft, and the places where the two meet…and the places where they diverge. Today we consider the art and craft specifically of glass blowing. The medium of glass offers an opportunity to create things of great beauty and things of commonplace utility. Kelly Englert investigates where the art lies and where the craft, with the help of glass artist Zach Mayhew.

Read on for a look at beautiful craft and well-crafted art in “The Allure of Liquid Fire” (click to read full article).

Film Festivals Revisited

The Harris Theater, owned by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and programmed primarily by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, is home to numerous local film festival screenings. (Photo: The Muse Dialogue)

Our third issue of the year examined the phenomenon of the film festival. The film festival has changed the dynamic of the art of film. It has opened up new paths for releasing films and brought attention to what has become a major force in the art world: the independent filmmaker. In case you started following The Muse Dialogue a bit later in the year, we invite you to visit this collection of articles.

Click here for the table of contents to Vol. 1, No. 3: Film Festivals

“Museums are particularly at fault for not implementing technology. The core of our mission is to ‘preserve old stuff.’ I think there is a fear that technology will outshine the art. In reality, it should augment the art or the visit – put the artwork at the center of the experience.”

The words belong to Joshua Jefferey, Manager of Digital Engagement at the Andy Warhol Museum. Today The Muse Dialogue issues an original interview with him as he discusses new technologies, the museum experience, and the Warhol Museum’s new app. Click here to read the full interview

Revisiting Our First Issue: Arts, Families and Children

Self-portrait silverpoint drawing by Albrecht Durer, age 13, 1484

We will be spending some time this summer to revisit issues over the course of our first year. Today we repost what has been one of our most popular series of articles, from Vol. 1, No. 1: Arts, Families and Children. (click to view table of contents for the issue)