Desert "glacier" looks to mix art, science

CBS News - Is it a piece of art, or a groundbreaking water experiment in the desert?

Take the design of a leaf — nature's master at absorbing the sun's energy — and cover its 2,153 square feet surface with solar cells. Under the face of the elm leaf-shape structure are cooling condensers that soak up humidity from the desert air. Even in the hottest conditions, it will produce a layer of ice on the leaf's ridged underside — so the theory goes.

Ap Verheggen's vision of creating a "glacier" in the desert is a statement. It's not meant to solve the world's ever-worsening water problems, but to demonstrate, as he says, that the seemingly impossible is indeed possible.

For the Dutch artist, his sculpture will be a cry of alarm at the rapid pace of global warming. Impractical in itself...read more.

A child's eye for enchantment

Sunday Morning Herald (Australia) - When Sarah Davis sat down to visualise the story behind the alliterative verse penned by friend and children's fiction author Christopher Cheng, she put aside her sketchbook and watercolours.

Davis's brief from publishers Random House was to give Cheng's words, written a decade before, context and a unifying narrative.

Given the countless combinations of story and pictures that have been used, you'd expect there to be little room for innovation in children's book illustration. However, new illustrators are stretching boundaries, experimenting with art forms and using digital technology to interpret stories in styles that suit a book's mood and setting.  Read more.

Digital Art Works. The Challenges of Conservation

E-Flux - For a few decades now, digitalization in the art context has enabled and simplified the processing and distribution of data. However, the preservation of new media artworks, in particular those that are digital-born, but also those subject to digitalization after their creation, is rendered difficult by the rapid pace of technological change. This circumstance creates uncertainty concerning the preservation and transmission of the artistic products of our time.

The exhibition Digital Art Works. The Challenges of Conservation aims to shed light on the variety of questions that art institutions and artists...read more.

Canon launches Pixma Pro-1 flagship photo and artwork printer

Digital Arts Magazine - Canon has launched its new flagship Pixma Pro printer for gallery-quality prints of photos and artwork. The company says that the Pixma Pro-1 is the world’s first A3+ printer to feature 12 separate inks.  Read more.

Visual arts a hit at area schools

Bakersfield.com - Bakersfield will play host to art teachers from across the state early next month at a convention titled "Preserving the Arts Through Creativity and Advocacy." And considering what's been going on in local visual arts classrooms lately, it's no wonder.

"Things are better now that they have ever been," said art teacher Hank Washington, who has been teaching at South High School for 38 years.  Read more.

NEoN Digital Arts Festival 2011

List (UK) - Digital arts festival NEoN is once again transforming Dundee into an electronic playground for six days. With its series of film screenings, live music, DJ performances and workshops, NEoN’s main aim is to create works of art that couldn’t have existed before the computer age.  Read more.

Wall Street Journal (blog) - TheBlu is a virtual ocean, where audiences can use Wemo’s “Maker Media Platform” to buy user-created animals and plants to populate their screens and jump around to various oceanic vistas. Each of the creatures and items available for sale are designed by artists, animators, software engineers and developers from around the world, who receive a cut of the profits whenever one of their creations is bought. To date, over 100 artists have contributed.  Read more.

BMW Tate Live Will Explore Art in the Digital Space

PopSop - BMW and Tate Modern London have announced a major partnership called BMW Tate Live. The four-year project will explore modern performance, interdisciplinary art and curating digital space.

A series of artist performances created specifically to be broadcast ‘live’ online will mark the launch of the project.  Read more.

The Digital Art Economy: How is the internet changing the way art is made and distributed?

Financial Times - Unlike the music or publishing industries, the art market hasn’t really felt the nudging negative effect of the digital world on its traditional financial model. The art world’s conventional structure is based around objects and a pyramidal model of exclusivity, neither of which lend themselves to virtuality.

But clearly the digital domain, with its increasing technological possibilities, has to emerge as an alternative and credible platform. Among the Frieze Projects, newly commissioned work shown during Frieze Art Fair, and this year supported by...read more.

Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc. dies at the age of 56

Washington Post - Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., passed away on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at the age of 56.

Born on February 24th, 1955 in San Francisco, Steven Paul Jobs was adopted as an infant by Paul and Clara (née Hagopian) Jobs. While attending Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, Jobs began working at Hewlett-Packard where he met Steve Wozniak.  Read more.

Iconic Kodak struggles in digital age

USA Today - Buffeted by foreign competition, then blindsided by a digital revolution, photography icon Eastman Kodak is fighting for survival after a quarter-century of failed efforts to find its focus.

The 131-year-old company that turned picture-taking into a hobby for the masses and became singularly synonymous with capturing memories has tried to bat down sudden talk of bankruptcy. But concern about its grim prospects has hit fever pitch after it enlisted a legal adviser to explore ways to revive its sagging fortunes.  Read more.