East Texas Web Design
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:09:12 +0000
Here at It’s A Grind Coffee House|Dallas, we are proud to support the local artists in our community. Which is why IAG|Dallas has teamed-up with local non-profit organization Art Love Magic. With a network of 300+ visual and performing artists, Art Love Magic is all about “connecting communities to their artists.”
Support local artists: All local art on display is available for purchase (unless otherwise noted). Ask your IAG|Dallas barista for more details if there is a piece you would like to take home. And it should be noted that IAG|Dallas does not charge commission on any artwork sold; all artists will receive 100% percent of the marked sale price. For your viewing pleasure, visit IAG|Dallas, and you’ll notice that our showcase of local visual artwork is continually changing throughout our coffee house.
Coffee, Connection and the pursuit of Community.
In our continued efforts to further create connections between our community, we present to you, FEATURE BLEND. A weekly GrabYourBeans.com article that connects you with local artists and the stories behind their artwork. Without further adieu, our FEATURE BLEND artist of the week:
Eddie Walker
AS A FINE ARTIST:
I’ve been airbrushing for about 25 years now. I don’t do T-shirts or any other type of wearable art that can be bought at your local mall. I have nothing against wearable art, but for the fact that there are plenty of other artists that fill that niche.
I really enjoy doing Cowboy Art. Having grown up in east Texas, it’s the cowboy life and folkish life in the country that sticks with me. Much of my subject matter deals with a cowboy, western, or southern feel of some sort. Recently, I’ve begun branching out into portraiture and other figurative works. Yet my main goal is to portray the down-to earth feel of a moment in time that would be lost once you look away. At the same time I enjoy the challenge of portraying cross cultural images in my works. Scenes that I, myself enjoy during a double-take. By crossing my subject matter with cultural spectrums I attempt to bring a bit of harmony among people into my works. For me, ambiguity in my subject matter is fine because it opens up my work to the viewers’ interpretation; in my works, questions are much more exciting than answers – once you have the answers, the journey is over.
I like to use the Paasche line of airbrushes such as the AB, VL, and VSR90. But I have no problem using other brands such as Binks, Iwata, or Central Pneumatic. The paints that I like to use are usually water based acrylics, gouaches, textile paints, and watercolor. I typically work in 4-color; that is, I use only CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black to produce all of my colors. Plus, white as an opaque or brightener.
Much of my technique consists of a base placement of the subject first in magenta, then adding the other colors in no specific order, increasing the level of detail until the work is finished. I enjoy using black throughout, but much more in a chiaroscuro application towards the end. My one main rule on all of my work is to never actually touch the canvas until the work is done – only then will I pick up a fine tip brush to sign my name. Once that is done, the work gets a final spray coating of clear lacquer or varnish to finish the piece. All of my fine art surfaces are traditionally and individually prepared by hand, treating either canvas or hardwood birch paneling, or any other flat surface for that matter, with gesso or primer. I supply framing and the hanging hardware. My airbrush art also includes commercial illustrations such as album covers, various background art, and murals.
AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER:
I first began designing business cards, flyers, stationary, business forms, and newspaper ads when I was still in high school. After graduating from North Texas State University in Denton, Texas back in 1985, I was employed at one of the largest book publishing firms in the business. Thirteen years of experience there had me traveling to different summer workshops around the U.S. to design yearbooks and educational materials. All the while I also learned all I could about prepress graphics and production art, package design, and various forms of multimedia production such as web design and interactive applications while creating brochures, flyers, ads, album, yearbook, and magazine covers.
Today my day job is as a graphic designer with the Dallas County Community College District. With over 25 years of experience I create graphic design and layouts ready to be delivered to the print vendor or service bureau. Additionally, I am Advertising Design Manager for ArtLoveMagic, an artist collective located in the heart of Dallas’ own Deep Ellum arts district.
AS PART OF ARTLOVEMAGIC:
My first taste of ArtLoveMagic was at Visions in November 2008 where I was greeted with nothing but smiles and art. Art was being created live and the artists were talking about their art. I was blown away because I had been long imagining an art venue far removed from the gallery motif. The next show I attended was Underground in January 2009 and I was hooked. I felt the inspiration of just wanting to create again, but more so, to actually get down to doing it. There was no way I was NOT going to seek out the founders and introduce myself. The rest is history.
ArtLoveMagic has been my primary salvation in allowing me to rejoin the ranks of the fine and studio artist and has reawakened my creative bohemian spirit that had been primarily dominated by the day-to-day grind. I have shared in a multitude of events to create live art, talk about art, be inspired by art, and to help, support, and inspire others in art.
Being a part of this collective has afforded me many opportunities to network with others involved in all aspects of the arts, including poetry, dance, music, film, and much more. I have sold art and been commissioned to create art due to my participation with ArtLoveMagic and have no illusions about the great things to come from this collective.
Yet for me, with all the great personalities involved, ArtLoveMagic is more like a bunch of friends getting together to do something great and meaningful rather than a non-profit organization. For me its more like a family.
Visit: http://www.eddiewalkerart.com/ and be sure to stop in at It’s A Grind Coffee House|Dallas were you can view a variety of local art and other FEATURE BLEND artists.
13 comments:
SkyeSo beautiful, Debi! So true & so beautiful!!!
Thank you!!!
your words tend to make me close my eyes and imagine it all. so quiet, so light and full of misty images. all shimmering and faded. when i close my eyes i feel it all and become immersed...when i open them i feel a bit let down, as if behind my eyelids i had truly been there. but no, it was a mirage of daylight dreaming. dreaming of blue and the smell of heat and the sound your voice whispering the words.
love you monday and everyday.
r
Now you're making me think about what colors San Francisco is. We don't have ozone, we have fog. But we both have grey.
Beautiful post and very inpiring in such a soft way.
my heart . it skipped a beat as i read this . it softened as i let the words wash over me . i understood
Vicki's Bit-o-earthSomeday I must visit East Texas. The place where you are sounds like a color I would love... not unlike the colors of Central California. Beautiful post Debi~
winnsangelsBreathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking. Thank you.
mrs mediocritythat is beautiful, truly. you make my heart ache, my mind sing, my soul dance, in sorrow, with joy, all at the same time. thank you.
Deborah CarrPrecisely that.
What could be a more perfect ending than to mingle with the world and be a part of what lives and breathes and grows?
...and to live again to inspire another.
What really amazes me is all the different ways/moods/emotions you evoke with this color.
And yes, assimilation is a good thing and so is staying connected to where you came from. It's all good!
I love that thought that we inhabit where we are. Beautiful words!!
GigiAh, the power of place -- so true and so well said.
I'm a native (West) Texas 'girl' now living in E. Texas and I must admit I have a rather complicated love/hate relationship with our home state. Some days, I struggle with my 'grace of place' and I can't stand it here -- the heat, the humidity, the racist redneck in Walmart who just called someone n____er, and the ignorami who can't be bothered to keep their dogs inside a fence to prevent them from becoming road kill. Other times, I'm entranced by the beauty around me -- pine trees and peach trees, vineyards and vast lakes, crystal clear cold turquoise rivers for tubing, friendly open hearted folks who mean well and trust you to come back later to pay them for the basket of tomatoes you didn't have enough cash for at the produce stand on the highway. Texas, what a vast and complex country we are.
I'm also in my 50's, drive a big old Jeep suv and say ya'll and fixin too (among other things) with absolutely no aplogies.
Blessings,
G
P.S. And I can shoot a gun ^.^.
such beautiful words. i like the surprise of the new seasons.
your forsythia is already blooming?
Oh my god you are such an incredible writer. I long to be able to express myself in this way.
Have you ever read Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels? When I read her words, prose or poetry, I sink into a different state of consciousness....I feel as though I am having a waking dream...her words possess a part of my imagination and I feel I am just under the surface, flooded with thoughts and feelings and memories. I lose track of where I am in real space and time. And sometimes I have to read the words again, because I have lost myself somewhere along the way and have to retrace my steps to fully grasp what she is writing about.
And this is also how I feel when I read your words. Submerged in a beautiful daydream. You make me wish I could exist in this state all the time.
- Posted in Ready Made Web Designs
