john t. unger studio

Sandblasted glass art by Zephyr

Sweet! I just got a great big box of beautiful sandblasted art glass by Zephyr via UPS today. I am gonna have the Coolest Home Bar Evar!

I couldn't get very good pictures indoors today, so I decided to use some of Zephyr's pics below so that you can see how cool her work really is. And let me tell you, when you see it in person, it's actually so much better than you would think from the photos (mine or hers). For one thing, the glassware she designs onto is much thicker and more durable looking than the pint glasses I'm used to seeing in commercial settings or stores. Not sure where she gets those. And the sandblasted designs stand out more in person. And the glass itself is really nice and clear (well, except on the tinted glass of course).

I rarely visit Ebay, so I can't quite remember how I found Zephyr's art there. But I was immediately so totally taken with it that I had to track her down and talk about buying in quantity. I mean, yeah, I did send her a message through the system but I was so jazzed about her work that I really wanted one of everything (which would actually be hundreds of pieces not just the 18 designs you see below). So I did some clever googling and wound up at her website Zephyr's Art. She's very fun to talk to and we've had a few fun exchanges of email.

We ended up doing a trade, which is something I really enjoy when it works… I sent her a 30" Beach Burner Portable Bonfire and she sent me the best barware I could ever hope to hoist around a fire. I'd have been perfectly happy to spend cash money, by the way… (shipping and materials for the firepit wound up costing just as much as buying the glass) but trading is kind of fun for its own sake, because of the connection you wind up with. I know that while I'm having a little bourbon out of the fish skeleton Hi Ball glass Z made, she could well be sipping a beer by a fire held in the Beach burner I sent her. It's a cool thing.

Zephyr Rocks! Go buy a bunch of her art, right now. There are slightly different collections available on her Etsy store or her Ebay store so you should probably check them both out.

You know what, I wouldn't even mind if you bought so much of her work that I only had the second coolest home bar ever!

Hugh MacLeod Frickin' Rocks

Hugh MacLeod drew one of his famous "Cartoons on the back of Business Cards™" for my new venture, Emoodicon. Rock On. I love the grimacing face… easy to tell what mood that signifies!

I'm still kinda trying to talk him into doing a whole set of GapingVoid images for the ring 'cause I love the idea of seeing his work on everyone's hands. If you dig the idea of a GapingVoid set, leave a comment so Hugh can see there's a market for it. I'm hoping that the Emoodicon ring turns out to be a great example of his whole Social Object concept.

Here's a pic of Hugh doing the drawing at BlogHaus, which seems to be the hippest happening of the moment here at SXSW.

Yet another fun infocalypse video

I have to say, the idea of Larry Lessig as US Secretary of Justice really appeals to me!

via TechCrunch

Terminator Vs Robocop: Brilliant Mashup

Mya Meets Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud is a total freakin' genius, but he's also a nice guy. If you already know he's a genius, you can skip to the part of this post below the Amazon links and find out how I know he's also good folks.

When I saw that Scott McCloud had a new book out and was on tour promoting it, I immediately started writing a post about it (then Firefox crashed and other things happened, etc. and I didn't go back to it). I knew that I'd find an excuse to write about it sooner or later. It turns out that last night's lecture in Maine is the happy occasion.

The first thing I did when my daughter Mya told me she was interested in writing and drawing comics was get her a copy of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. It's also the first book I recommend to anyone who has a need to communicate clearly with other people, whether they're in the arts, business or any other field.

Understanding Comics is a comic book that explains how comics work, but it's more than that… it's a clear, concise look at how to tell stories, how to get ideas across and how information is processed. I'm going to stop raving now and just refer you to Amazon if you haven't read it yet. Regardless of whether you're interested in comics per se, I guarantee you'll find the book entertaining, thought provoking, educational, and eventually, well, indispensable.

Okay, a little more raving, I can't quite help it. Understanding Comics is the best book I've ever read on maing art of any kind. Now I'll stop.

 

 

So, anyway, last night Mya got to go see Scott lecture at the Maine College of Art. To be honest, I'm a wee bit jealous, even though I suggested it when I first noticed that he was going to be in her area. I'll get my chance to see him when the tour reaches Michigan. Mya enjoyed the lecture and she found the presentation by his daughters Winter and Sky interesting. We didn't get a chance to talk at great length last night, but hopefully Mya will leave a comment here with her own description of the event. It's better first-hand.

The cool thing happened after… Mya had taken along six pages of her most recent work in comics, and during the signing Scott took the time to read and critique it. She was so psyched that she called me the minute she got back. Hearing her that excited and inspired really made my day. I deeply appreciate Scott taking the time to reach out to a younger fan, especially because of what she said next:

"You were right Dad, famous people really are just people… they're not hard to talk to if you have something to talk about."

Over the summer I'd encouraged Mya to reach out to people she found interesting and interact with them as peers— after all, all of my friends really dig her. She's heard stories from me about some of the writers, bloggers, geniuses, artists and so forth I've met online and developed friendships with, but she wasn't comfortable with the idea of just approaching people she didn't know. She's 17 and a little shy sometimes.

Thing is, like myself, Mya lives in a pretty isolated rural environment where she often finds it difficult to find people who share her interests. She's lucky to have some great teachers at her school and a couple friends that she can talk to, but overall, there's not a lot of people she can have really deep talks with. So after meeting Scott and getting to talk with someone who's been a total hero of hers, that whole idea of reaching out seemed a lot more doable. It could have gone the other way, of course… if he'd been the kind of artist who doesn't do well with fans, she might have walked away totally crushed. But I think their interaction may inspire her to start making an effort to get to know some of the other people she reads and to become more interested in participating on blogs. I hope so, because I think it will make her life a lot richer in many of the same ways it's improved mine.

That's what makes the blogosphere so special… it makes it possible to connect with people in ways that really weren't as easy before. Before blogs, it really wouldn't have occurred to me to just call up an author who had written a book that paralleled what I was working on. And if I had, they might not have appreciated it much. What's changed with blogs is that the interaction between author and audience has become part of the process… There are ways that this benefits the author, and ways that it benefits the reader, but the key benefit is that I think it gives up-and-coming artists more ways to learn, grow and move forward. And that really benefits everyone.

Part of what I enjoy most about being an artist is that interaction with the audience and with other artists… I love teaching, presenting, and sharing what I know. I dig encouraging kids and adults to think creatively and to try things that might have seemed beyond their reach. I love hearing stories about other people who do the same.

Thanks Scott!

Below is the first page of the comic Mya shared with Scott. I'm still waiting to get my hands on the next five (going on six) pages. I can't wait until she starts doing all of her work in Illustrator and posting it to a blog! I'm pretty curious to see where the story is going after starting with the lyrics to Strange Fruit.

 

Nice work, Rachel!

Rachel Thomas sent me the following email a while back:

I'm an art student at William Jewell College in K.C., MO and I really admire your work. I've been attempting a bottle cap sculpture for my sculpture class. If you don't mind me asking, I was wondering how you attach your bottle caps to the plywood. Do you use just nails or some sort of superglue as well?

I replied with some quick, basic advice about the sort of nails I use for my bottle cap mosaics, but I think she had finished the piece before I got back to her. Rachel used hot glue and Super Glue for her mermaid.

I asked if she would send me a photo of her finished piece and here it is. Pretty cool! I especially like the way she did the tail fin… the multiple colors work really well.

If you haven't seen my bottle cap mermaids that inspired Rachel you can check them out at the new portfolio blog here and here. Or go to the bottle cap mosaic index to see all the work I've done with caps.

Technorati Tags: art, bottle cap, bottlecap, crown cap, folkart, mermaid, mosaic, outsider art

Conversation With Hugh MacLeod

 

I just got off the phone (well, Skype) with Hugh MacLeod. This morning he posted his Skype
handle to his blog and is taking calls. I had only just added his handle to my contact list when the laptop rang and there he was. Cool. (actually, I was gonna finish my coffee first to make sure my brain was firing, but it was fine. He's an easy guy to talk to.)

For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, Skype lets you make free phone calls from your computer. You should go get it right now (yes, really, there'll be a test later). Hugh is an artist (he might deny that) and marketing genious who's been at the front lines of blogging and web 2.0 since before the hype. He's also one of the people that has managed to make blogging a viable business model in ways that are more interesting and useful than the paid advertising model. What initially brought him an audience are his amazingly true and funny cartoons on the back of business cards, a series of incisive posts on how to be creative and his concept of the global microbrand.

So, was it good for me? Hell yeah, hope it was also good for Hugh. The skype call was cool because it made it easier to talk about some of the "off the record" stuff that I've long wondered. Sometimes voice can be a lot more human than typing… in fact, probably most of the time. There's no editing. So now I know a few "secrets," which is fun. And I had an opportunity to talk about some of the ideas we share without having to lay it all out online, which can be a good thing. Besides, he said nice things about what I've accomplished and hell, it's always nice to hear praise from someone whose work you admire.

I love being able to put a voice to someone whose work I've been following for so long, and who I feel like I've come to know pretty well over the last couple years through comments and emails. Hugh was pretty much the guy who inspired me to take blogging seriously as a way to increase the market for my art and design and it has seriously paid off. The global microbrand concept has worked well for me. Although I haven't yet quite reached the level of fame and fortune that his projects have, I'm making a living doing what I want and I'm able to make that happen from pretty much the dead center of nowhere…

 

Traditionally, artists need NYC or LA if they're gonna make it, and most of them don't make it. I mean, hey, the market is a lot larger in a major city, but compared to the entire world? And I seem to be able to reach the world just fine from here. So yeah, I feel like it's been a good ride and I think it's only gonna get better.

 

 

I love that one. It really doesn't describe most of my experiences in the blogosphere, but it does crack me up. Hugh is one of the glaring exceptions to the cartoon… Opinionated? Rough? Scathing? Sure. But he does actually give a shit about people. He's always been approachable, which I think has been one of the keys to success for bloggers who make it. And yeah, although we don't always agree, I think on the whole we see the worl in a pretty similar fashion. Anyway, I guess the point here is that if you have something to say, or are doing something interesting, most of the big names will take the time to check it out. And those who don't? Don't let it get you down… just refer to the above cartoon.

 

 

So here's the deal. If you've been reading this blog (or my other blogs) and you feel like you have something to discuss, or hell, even if you just wanna shoot the shit about any of the topics I cover, etc. go download Skype and give me a buzz. Add johntunger to your contact list and click the button. I haven't yet activate the voicemail feature, so if you don't get through the first time you can always reach me by email or regular phone too. I've made a lot of good friends in the last couple years through blogging, and really, it's always cool to know more about who your readers are. If people tell me what they like best, or don't like as much, etc., it makes it much easier to improve the blog.

I'm always interested in hearing what people have to say and finding ways to make my work better for them. A lot of my best work has been custom stuff that I did based on the input of clients… I see it as a collaboration, and I enjoy the process of adapting other peoples idea to my own vision. It's a cool challenge that seems to help everyone feel more involved and engaged (including me). Rock on.

Technorati Tags: gapingvoid, hugh, macleod, hughmacleod, skype, conversation, cluetrain, marketing, blogging, blog, business, humor, blogs, creativity, advertising, art, cartoon, branding, globalmicrobrand, microbrand

Unattributed

"Basquiat, who was closer to Snoop Doggy Dogg than Bach, was from a street tradition that is arrogant and confidant enough that it doesn't need to respond directly to any cultural tradition or set of rules. Jean, like the boxers he idolized, could knock you flat with one quick well placed jab.

"His drawings (often lists of words) are a sort of "Cliff Notes" from Hell for a Western Civilization class that has never been taught. Each word in each Basquiat painting or drawing pummels the Western Tradition into empty jargon. In Basquiat's work, Roman emperors, Leonardo da Vinci, and Saturday morning cartoon characters are all footnotes in the same history.

"No wonder people, especially academics and critics, get touchy discussing Basquiat.

"Basquiat worked in resonant fragments, and anyone who tries to fit the pieces together in a neat design will be disappointed and frustrated in the end."

I'm not sure whose essay I'm stealing those quotes from… It was something I found on the web and can't find anymore. I found two other sites quoting parts of it, but neither of them attributed it either. Still, it's a nice bit of description and kind of fits in with the idea of adding notes and quotes to the blog. "resonant fragments," yeah.

New Post at Land + Living

I spent the morning yesterday going through various archives and files, lining up artists and designers I want to cover for Land + Living. Jim Rose was pretty much my main inspiration when I started making furniture, and came immediately to mind as a good place to start. Read the article here.

Matt Camp Rocks

My long-time pal Matt Camp has posted a bunch of his songs at SoundClick as free downloads.

Matt and I go way back to my days as a wandering poet… jamming all night and storming the dawn from the wrong side. Highlights of the tracks posted so far include Cryin' Blues, Burn Out Blues, and my personal favorite: Ballad of A Bad Coyote, a song he put together from the words of an email I sent him a few years ago. I'm still waiting (that's a hint Matt!) for a recorded version of Standard Service Blues, a song he wrote which had it's origin in an antique Standard Service enamel sign I used to use as a headboard for my bed after dating a particularly picky girlfriend. Heh. Naturally, it was all in fun…

Anyway, Matt has a talent for nailing the broader mythological aspect of life to the wall, right out where you can see it writhing in plain sight rather than just glimpsing it from the corner of your eye. Part of the project I'm working on now includes a spiral galaxy on two walls and the ceiling of the bathroom, made from tiny squares of mirror. When I described it to Matt, he immediately replied:

sweet Jesus, they gave you the bag of stars!!
mythological history repeats itself!

Because, you see, one of the best stories I used to perform was about how the stars got in the sky… and how Coyote pooched the first major public art project. It hadn't even occurred to me that I was repeating the steps of my favorite trickster, yet again… For those of you who haven't heard the tale, I've posted it here.