Ten of Thirty

An original intaglio print of an oil refinery in Roxana Ill. - etching and marbleization. This one will be sent as a postcard to a good friend studying in Budapest, Hungary.

The Meaning Multiplies

The Meanings Multiply from Tom Nagel on Vimeo.

The 2011 Undergraduate Juried Art Excellence Exhibition, or undergrad art show, is the collective effort of students creating, framing, and presenting their original work, as well as the faculty who assist them. Professor Jim Van Dyke, of MU's art history department, juried this year's show. Five finalist were recognized for their work and received cash prizes. Sidney Pursel won this year's best in show for her two video pieces titled "Hair" and "Indian Dance",which discuss Native American identity. 106 pieces are featured at MU's Caleb Bingham Gallery. The show runs from February 14 to February 24.

Nine of Thirty

It was good to be back on campus after the blizzard. I spent some time browsing the McDougall collection in the journalism library. After I took home Arnold Newman's great book of portraits, I found this surprise on the inside cover.

A study of neighbor Sally Geniec's eye. This time with a little flash added

Eight of Thirty

Chartrand eyes the deep blanket of snow covering the neighborhood, while being eyed himself by the photographer. This time with a macro lens.

Seven of Thirty

Cabin fever in the bunker — the photographer imagines warmer climates in this obligatory mustache photo shoot. Though his beard would have been a warm appendage in the midst of a blizzard, the photographer longingly missed the site of his own jaw line.

Six of Thirty

Midnight snacks are prepared by a late night visitor, Erik Haugsby, in the comfort of the blizzard bunker.

Five of Thirty

Chris Chartrand enjoys the candle lit ambiance of our upstairs neighbor's apartment. The third story domicile provided exciting views of the snowy scene blanketing East Campus.

Four of Thirty

Chris Chartrand, with the onset of cabin fever, contemplates his own mortality holding the deflated body of Edvard Munch's The Scream. Once a lively roommate, sometimes surprising Chris exiting his room or entering the shower, The Scream sprang a leak and croaked with any hopes of leaving the bunker in the snowstorm.

Three of Thirty

Bunkered in a basement in a blizzard is a good time to enjoy the pleasures of the literate life.

Web Site Critique

The web offers a plethora of sites with great photography and reading material. To find two sites worthy of critique, I visited Arts and Letters Daily or ALDaily.com. The website links web publications’ most interesting new content daily as well as keeps a great list of fascinating periodicals.

For this critique I looked at the commercial More Intelligent Life by the Economist and the nonprofit Guernica Magazine, which is likewise a magazine of arts and ideas.

The clear difference between the commercial and non-profit online magazines is the busyness of the page. More Intelligent Life is surrounded by advertisements. Moreover, a picture link to feature stories changes every few seconds. The site displays content in gray boxes or on a white background. An extensive menu exists on a black background, while sub menus, some for advertisements, have different styles.

The non-profit Guernica, on the other hand, has a very clean and calm display. There are two commercial ads using images, both for Boston Review, which are stationary. Near the bottom of the page is a Google ad listing websites, which is less distracting than the many ads on More Intelligent Life.

Both magazines primarily feature articles, yet both use photos as promotional illustrations. Yet, there is a clear difference between how each uses images. Guernica certainly has more beautiful photos, which drew me towards the site more than More Intelligent Life. There’s a reason for this advantage. Where as More Intelligent Life doesn’t credit its images, it seems that Guernica puts more effort into finding great photography. For example, most pictures are credited to professional photographers and link to websites. They rest, which is many, are from Flickr accounts with appropriate links. The diversity of sources infers that a lot of work is done to comb the web for great shots. Moreover, with a less distracting, white background and less ads, viewers can appreciate photos more.

In addition, Guernica offers a better presentation where photos are most importantly features — the arts sections. For each article, More Intelligent Life features a large photo of an artwork at the top of the article and smaller images with the article. Guernica makes use of slide show, with same format as the Missourian, to show images of art much larger and on an equal footing for each piece.
The lesson learned from this comparison is that photographs ought to be given respect for their significance. If the Economist’s More Intelligent Life wishes to illustrate its articles, it should question how display alters the effect of an image on the viewer. Guernica, which displays photos and articles so well, may want to consider featuring more photojournalism along with it’s insightful articles and art reviews.

Sources:

http://www.aldaily.com/

http://moreintelligentlife.com/

http://www.guernicamag.com/

Day Two of Thirty

Day Two: When news of the snow day came Monday afternoon, the neighbors and I went to Hitt Street (Gasless) Minimart to stock up on provisions for the blizzard. Seems we weren't the only ones. Here, Chelsea waits in line while Sally is eager for hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps.

Day One of Thirty

Day One: Gabe poses through the distortion of a lens removed from the camera. Having guests in town is great. So is experimenting.