Racial Disparities

I am reading an article about race and class and how it affects the education system in America. This article focuses on urban education in particular. What defines urban education and how is it different from suburban? According to the piece it is defined by color. When we speak about diversity, we are referring to the integration of people of color into an area or in this case, school. So why do I bring this up on a site where I talk about art? Simple. It's the makeup of students on campus. It's the inadvertent segregation that is created by the students. It is also the fact that while I was enrolled in school as an undergrad I was told in front of my class that I would have a harder time as an artist because I was a person of color and I was female. It is also because I witness that minorities have a harder time receiving validation for the same effort put out by their peers. The talk I hear about integrating school is received poorly and why? Have people not let go of their prejudices yet ... the answer is no... and the canvas to me has become my new race. It defines me by an open array of color which no one can easily connect to me. Maybe then I will be treated equally instead of predisposed ideas are brought to the table and inhibits creation

Thrash 'Til Death

My most recent painting. This was painted for a friend. <3 .

refelection to thee

oh what i wouldn't do to be held in your arms
like restless wind whistling outside in the drifts of snow
memories plowed through the streets so empty
my mind confronted with tunes of sorrowful solitude
oh what i wouldn't give to lay my head onto a bed
whose springs supported our love so gentle
under nights forsaken path
where neither head nor toe knows which way we will go
the smell of your skin still settled in my sheets from not too long ago
where fermenting words still linger in your absence
for what i wouldn't do to hear you whisper i feel the same way too
and heed the mistakes that never came to pass
for we were a memory i never thought time would outlast

Poem for Sorrow

He left his fingerprints behind as evidence he had been here.
Scraping the reminder of his kiss from my tongue with the back of his lips.
How I longed for another one.
Pillows stacked in the drift of tangled bedsheets.
Warmth emanating from his flesh.
Mine curved into the pits and slopes of his side like a feeble kitten. Smitten.
His absence a scare.
Tears melding the nights shut.
I wish despair were a fortitude of I love you's, that way I could ignore his silence.
Metal scorching our ears like hot soup. Stealthily.
My appetite preceding the loss of his touch.

face value

what is the face value of art? i dont feel like people take into the same consideration the handmanship of fine arts as they do graphic arts. why is this? you are sure to make more money sitting behind a computer "making art" than using a paintbrush and paint on canvas. this baffles me. the digital age has desensitized peoples ideas of art. art is no longer skill and technique but rather advertising. who can sell an image faster and more efficiently. this saddens me

sculpting

when i was NYU getting my filling fixed by a dental student, i talked to the dentist, as i am sure most people do when they get work done on their mouth. for that matter, i think talking in general is common with any doctor. the doctor upon hearing that i went to school for art, said he wanted to see my art. i gave this no mind as most people say this in passing once they hear that your an artist. its normal. the difference here is, he brought this up multiple times while working on my teeth. sometimes at points where i could not respond because my mouth was pried open so he could reach the molar in the far back.... not fun. my mouth is tiny. amusingly he said 'i am a sort of artist as well. i sculpt'. staring at him, because there is no other place to look aside from maybe nostrils, i gave a perplexed look so he could elaborate.... 'i sculpt teeth, there is a sort of art to that no?'. even with my mouth ajar, i smiled and gave a slight nod. maybe he is right. maybe perception is a major part of art. society decides what is and what is not art just as much as the artist themselves.

to be an artist...

Do you have to be good at drawing to be a good artist? one of my sisters always tells me that she "can not draw". i always tell her that she doesnt need to draw well in order to be a good artist. aside from that fact, i think she can draw better than she claims she can. i think the idea behind the image is more important than the skill. yes, the skill is important and can be imperitive to the design but it is not the end all and be all of the artists vision. take picasso for instance. he paints woman with 3 breasts and eyes where their noses should be...his skill is not defined by how accurate he is able to paint the human form but rather the concept of the human anatomy. even an artist like Cy Twombly who is one of my personal favorites, paints with so called scribbly lines deceptively like a child...i can't tell you how many people i hear say, "i could do that". but i beg to differ. No you couldn't. Cecily brown is another artist with whom i love..her images are hidden behind smudged lines and scratched lines. these artists define art by execution and subject, and skill...no one more of an artist or less of one because they do not create art that looks like a photograph like Dega or Cassat, both of whose art i adore as well.
so what makes an artist an artist? is it merely a self proclaimed label one gives to themselves or is it one given by society. how important is it to be able to paint realistically. and if it is not important to know how to create on paper something that is visibly recognizable why do so many art schools put emphasis on this in the classroom?