(from almost anywhere in the Incarcerated States of America)
I’ve blogged about this before, so please forgive me if this sounds like a broken record (those over 50 may actually “get” that reference). I find it incredible (literally) that the nation that wraps itself in the flag of “Land of the free, Home of the brave.” imprisons more of its citizens by far than any other nation on earth. With only 5% of the world’s population the U.S. boasts 25% of the world’s incarcerated population…
Thanks to Linda at the Online Criminal Justice Degree who provided me with the very effective info-graphic shown above.
[My father was a pacifist pulpiter, so I rant about things like this quite naturally—is that a valid excuse? He taught me maxims such as “if you live by the sword, expect to die by the sword,” and “you can tell a tree by its fruit…” Geez, that sounds self-righteous!]
…
From the moment we are born,
the world tends to have a
container already built for us
to fit inside: A social security
number, a gender, a race,
a profession or an I.Q. I ponder
if we are more defined by the
container we are in, rather than
what we are inside. Would we
recognize ourselves if we could
expand beyond our bodies?
Would we still be able to exist
if we were authentically
‘un-contained’?
~~Paige Bradley~~
(wherever)
I usually only try to feature design, art, initiatives, ideas, quotations, and work by others that I feel is good, edifying, or exemplary in some way. Today I’ve succumbed to passing on a selection of pretty awful tripe… more here, if you have the stomach for it.
“Thanks” to my friend Marie-Aline Oliver… please accept my apologies.
New York, New York
Chilean-born artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz seeks to create works “that can remind people of their mortality, invite them to look again at their lives and question their daily routines.” His obsession with the dichotomies of life and death are present in his sculptures, public art works, consumer objects, furniture, and even fashion…
Victoria, British Columbia
Prolific art director, designer, illustrator, and poster-proficienado Andrew Lewis is conducting the first Summer Poster Workshop from 6-10 August at the Vancouver Island School of Art in Victoria. This follows similar workshops Andrew has held in El Paso, Texas and Bogota, Colombia. You can find further details here.
Best wishes, my friend!
(sustainability quotable | unknown source)
Winnipeg, Canada
Andrew Valko has made himself the laureate of disconnected encounter: the master of incomplete ceremony. Almost without exception, his paintings and drawings are episodes in an ongoing fragmentary narrative in which we are obliged, as viewers, to fill in the details of a story that he only hints at. Valko knows that viewer and voyeur are close in meaning. These radiant paintings glow with a sense of golden unhappiness. On the basis of this new work, Andrew Valko legitimately anoints himself the master of the ambiguous gaze. —Robert Enright
I met Andrew when he graduated from a two-year program in graphic design in the late 1970s… his illustration skills were exceptional. I offered him his first job (actually, he was our first official “employee” at CIRCLE) which lasted all of six months. He was clearly cut out for a career in capital “A” Art, and I wished him nothing but the best. We’ve stayed friends over the ensuing decades, and I’ve had the privilege of commissioning his painterly talents for a number of different stamp designs we’ve created for Canada Post. Andrew is one of the most focused and consistently hard-working painters I have ever encountered; combined with his exceptional talents there was never any doubt that he would achieve great success!
All paintings shown above are ©Andrew Valko.
See titles of works (and many, many more) here.
