Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival
Saturday the kids and I attended the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival. It was beautiful weather for an outdoor fair. This is the 22nd year for this annual juried fine art festival. Over 150 artists and artisans participated in this year’s festival.
My prime motivation for attending was to see what other artists were up to. I confess to having largely ignored the artists specializing in sculpture, blown glass, jewelry, and pottery. My focus was on the work of the photographers and painters.
With respect to photography, one thing was evident: digital photography has become the dominant form of photography. Photographic works came in three basic forms. The first form was what I would call pure photography which consists of photographs with no apparent digital manipulation. The second category would be photographs in which various types of digital manipulation were evident - at least to someone experienced in such matters. The third category would be photographs that had been digitally altered to resemble paintings - a path most frequently taken by those working with Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter.
I have no personal bias either for or against any of the three aforementioned categories. Rather, the only thing that matters to me is the end product. If someone can take a well composed photograph and skillfully manipulate it to create a convincing painting that is superior to the original photograph, then kudos to that photographer-artist. After all, the final image is what counts.
There were a number of traditional painters present at the art fair as well but for the most part their work, mostly executed on large canvases, was uninspiring. I found this to be particularly true of the abstract artists - though there were a few whose work was inspired.
Thinking back, one thing I don’t recall seeing were any purely digital paintings. Nor were there any artists whose work was the result of a 3D render. Being a fan of space art and astronomy, I was also disappointed to see no space art nor any astronomical art. The closest was a digital photograph of the Aurora Borealis.
Speaking of space art, the reason I am writing this entry so late (oops make that early) is because I spent Memorial Day and this evening (now yesterday) preparing artwork for the Space Art Show at the International Space Development Conference in Orlando Florida. I also created a 13 x 19 inch congratulatory space art card for Peter Kokh, the recipient of the National Space Society’s 2009 Gerard K. O’Neill Award For Space Settlement Advocacy. I do hope that Peter enjoys the card/artwork.
Until next time, Ad Astra
, an unnamed NASA official is quoted as saying “We don’t give ticker tape parades for robots.” We remember Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, but who remembers Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, or Surveyor? The last element is the United States flag, the symbol of the nation that went to the Moon in peace "for all mankind." I must say how fortunate I consider myself to be in being a witness to this, humanity’s first small step into the wider cosmos. 
. One of the paintings discussed in this book is Road with Men Walking, Carriage, Cypress, Star, and Crescent Moon by Vincent van Gogh. Being astronomically oriented, my focus was on van Gogh’s portrayal of the sky, star, and Moon.
(6.2 x 3.9 inches)
(12.8 x 8.0 inches)
(19.2 x 12.0 inches)
