When we visited the UT Visual Arts Center recently, we had the opportunity to visit Ry Rocklen, a Los Angeles-based artist that is in residency at the VAC. Ry’s exhibit entitled “ZZZs” is based around the idea of sleep. He talks about it during the interview, so have a listen, and go out to the exhibit at the opening on September 24-26.

Austin is getting ready to welcome another great art facility, the UT Visual Arts Center.  The VAC is part of the Art + Art History Department and is located on the UT-Austin campus.  Gallery Director, Jade Walker, tells us about the VAC and their upcoming opening.  Enjoy!

“That’s the power of the smile”.  Kathleen speaks these words during this video, and she’s seen it firsthand.  How a smile can turn a stranger into a friend.  How a smile can warm a cold bus or train.  She continues to forge links between people with her art and presence.  Take a few minutes to get to know her.

Here’s another guest blog post, this one from the Austin Creative Alliance.  Did you know that Austin-Artists.com videos get placed on their NowPlayingAustin site, and that site gets approximately 20,000 visitors/month?  Learn more by reading about all the Austin Creative Alliance has to offer!

NowPlayingAustin.com

A leading online resource for arts and cultural information for Austin and Central Texas, NowPlayingAustin.com offers a large database of area arts and cultural events; venue and organization directories; classes and workshops; jobs, auditions, and classified ads. Partners and sponsors make this a free listing service for the entire arts community. The site gets approximately 20,000 visitors/month. Anyone can submit Event Information or an Individual Artist Profile free of charge. Now Playing Austin: Submission Tips

Auditions:

G.A.C.A.’s Unified General Auditions serve professional, working actors in Texas. They are open to all actors, union and non-union, local and regional. The auditors in attendance are Central Texas’ top producers, directors, and casting agents. This year, we are pleased to have faculty and graduate students of the University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film participate in hosting our auditions. Auditions will be held on Saturday, September 28 at the Salvage Vanguard Theater.

Free Night of Theater:

Since its inception in 2005, Free Night of Theater has boosted awareness of the nations arts organizations, while building new audiences and driving single ticket sales.  Continuing in this tradition, Free Night 2010 will seek out new audiences, invite current theatergoers and arts patrons to try a new theater or arts venue, as well as ignite interest and create awareness about the variety of arts options in Austin and across the country. In 2009 Free Night of Theater celebrated its 5th anniversary in over 120 cities from coast to coast with 714 arts organizations offering over 65,000 tickets to more than 2,000 performances nationally! Free Night of Theater 2010 will kick-off nation wide on October 14th. Tickets will be offered between October 1 and October 31 at FreeNightOfTheater.net

Get Your Art On:

Get Your Art On, a program of Greater Austin Cultural Alliance, is a city wide celebration of art, culture and creativity in honor of Americans for the Arts’ National Arts and Humanities Month and the the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division’s CreateAustin cultural planning initiative.

B Iden Payne Awards:

The “Austin Tony” Awards celebrate the best of the austin theatre community. More details will be released soon!

For more information about the Creative Alliance, read our blog at nowplayingaustin.wordpress.com, follow our weekly podcast http://nowplayingaustin.podbean.com/, or read all about our Creative Alliance at austincreativealliance.org.

It’s all in the details-video interview with Jann Alexander from Roy Gatling on Vimeo.

Jann Alexander is a photographer and painter that has made a name for herself in Austin. Jann is the creator of the “Vanishing Austin” photo series, capturing images of iconic buildings and signage in the city. Jann also owns and operates Austin Details Art + Photo gallery in downtown Austin. You’ll want to get to know her, so have a look!

Austin Details Art + Photo is a fantastic new gallery in downtown Austin by Jann Alexander.  She has announced several calls for entry around specific themes.  Be sure to click on MORE… to see the full post.

The Calls for Entry are:

The Neon Show

American loves neon. And Austin’s full of it.

Austin is a town that worships neon. It lights up our life all over the city, as it does all around the country. We’ll pay homage to the art of neon with our gallery’s Grand Opening and exhibit reception on September 16,  The Neon Show.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT if you are an emerging or established artist creating original works in neon or about neon, especially with neon itself, or painting, serigraphy, film/video, traditional or digital photography, where the subject matter shows neon. Enter by August 23 to have your art considered for exhibition.

Essence: The Truth in the Portrait

The best portraits convey a hidden truth.

How do you portray your subject’s hidden qualities–the essence–in a portrait? We’re looking for your creative responses for our October 15 exhibit, Essence: The Truth in the Portrait.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT if you are an emerging or established artist creating original portraits, in any media, especially painting (oil, acrylic, pastel, water color, etc.), serigraphy, film/video, sculpture or mixed media. Enter by September 17 to have your art considered for exhibition.

24 Hours in Austin

Go on assignment to provide a glimpse into one day in the life of Austin, Texas.

We’re considering online portfolios for a one-hour assignment on one September day on location in Austin, Texas, for our November 12 exhibit, 24 Hours in Austin.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT if you are an emerging or established artist creating original visual art and photography, in any media, 2-D, 3-D or video/film. Enter by September 1 to have your online portfolio considered for assignment for one hour during one September day in Austin, Texas.

Best of the Fests

We’re rounding up the best art from Austin’s holiday festivals under one roof: ours.

If you sell your creative work at any of Austin’s holiday festivals, you’ll also want to sell it at our gallery during Best of the Fests, opening December 4 to coincide with the Downtown Holiday Stroll and the  Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting. Our location at 8th & Congress is ideal to attract shoppers at the annual Congress Avenue festivities, with our opening exhibit timed to appeal art lovers.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT if you are an emerging or established artist creating original work, in any media, that will be displayed at any Austin holiday art festival. Enter by November 5 to have your art considered for exhibition.

Tattoos have been around for centuries, but when Austin-Artists.com met Dan Henk, we found tattoo art that is way different than we had seen before. Dan’s style is best described as realistic, and much of his art comes from the horror genre.  Check it out!

Multi-talented artist Ricardo Acevedo likes to push the envelope with some of his work, and whether he’s doing graphic design, writing poetry, making music or doing a photo shoot, he brings a passion for all things creative to his work.

We at Austin-Artists.com are now offering artists the opportunity to provide a guest blog post, along with photos/video of their work. Stefanie Distefano is our first!  She does some great work and also teaches.  Be sure to visit her website, www.flamingoranch.com, too.

There is nothing more fun than being knee deep in a mosaic project. Currently, I’m installing one at D&B Auto on Live Oak and S. First street.  The piece that I’m working on is a Dia de Los Muertos joy ride ~ SWEEEET! It’s coming together nicely…let the good times roll.

Suvi’s Walk was designed as “world music for mosaics”.

Her friends, who really are from everywhere, came to my studio and made the flowers that created the tile garden leading up to her sweet bungalow.

It’s a brilliant piece representing all her girlfriends as well as Suvi’s amazing spirit.

My favorite piece at this very moment is the fish bridge. it’s simple and powerful. One thing I know to be true of my work is that there is so much meaning in every piece and whether or not you know about it or even notice the words or details, you can feel it.

Another of my favorites is the huge floor piece on my porch. These are all recycled floor tiles glazed and fired in the kiln. My friend Maime and I drew her the day Farrah Fawcett died, so her name is Farrah. She’s probably 15 ft long and her wings stretch 10 feet out. There are flowers all around her. She’s pretty awesome…

What makes my mosaics special:

The collaborative effort that goes into each one. So many fingerprints in the project give them something we can all relate to. You sense the spirit of many hands. The fact that there are handcrafted tiles in there — perfect little amazing pieces of art within the larger piece.

Recycled tiles — I use floor tiles, bathroom tiles, anything I can get my hands on. This adds it’s own element for completing the circle.

Pieces of mirror! Reflections of yourself; your own interpretation. You become a part of this art …. not to mention the disco effect dazzling us in the sun.

You can see more of Stefanie’s work at her website.