Category Archives: Authors and Poets

John Ruddy – Oculus Deus at Paul Vincent Gallery in Hoboken

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Last Sunday I attended the wonderful opening reception of local artist, John Ruddy, at the Paul Vincent Gallery in Hoboken. The gallery gives an artist the space to spread their art out into multiple rooms, and during the afternoon we all moved into one of the rooms for a special musical performance by Cris Nyne. It’s wonderful to see the artists community come out and support one another and the place was hopping! Different types of artists crowded the rooms, painters, photographers, actors, etc…

John Ruddy’s art was quite original. What I loved was that he treated the frame and the wall surrounding the picture as part of the piece. The frames were decorated, the walls were decorated… it made me think where does the art begin and where does it end? It makes me realize art is not just a picture on a wall, (not that I thought this, but it’s a nice reminder) but everything surrounding the piece and me as well.

Have a look at some of the folks who attended and John Ruddy’s work.

“Lemonade” The Movie, Bravo to Erik, For Doing What I’ve Only Thought!

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On the CBS evening news tonight, they featured Erik Proulx, who has created the film, “Lemonade.” After Erik lost his job as a senior copywriter he started a blog called, “Please Feed The Animals“ to help other advertising professionals reinvent themselves. Erik is the creator, executive producer and writer of the movie and he interviewed various creative people who had lost their jobs and shows what they are doing now. These creative people realized they now had the time to do the things they’d only dreamed about. Credits include: Directed by Marc Colucci, Directors of Photography are Peter Nelson and Will Van Hazel, Edited by Andre Betz. Producer & Executive Producer, Jennifer McKenzie, Producer, Carrie Jacobson, and Producer, Scott Burtnett.

It takes a lot of courage to set out on a new path and I look forward to seeing and hearing their stories.

I am remembering the year 1993, when I was an art director for Macmillan Publishing. After working with them for three and a half years, the company went bankrupt and once the banks took over, they found that the only solution was to tear the company into two pieces, and sell those pieces to Prentice Hall and Simon & Schuster. Almost all the employees working for Macmillan were let go, and yes, I was one of them.

At the time I panicked, as most do, when they find themselves out of work. I tried to find a job, but it soon became clear that it wasn’t going to happen. I’d say the reason was because there just weren’t enough art director jobs to go around, and no one was leaving to make room. So, the only solution was to start my own design company. I had the good fortune of friends and colleagues who helped me get going.

As time marched on, I knew I needed to expand my design skills and added website design/development in the late 90s. Knowing both graphic and website design has helped me through the toughest of times, after September 11th, and today with the economic crisis.

There is nothing in the world like being your own boss. Having the freedom to plan each day as it comes. For creative types, it takes a very serious commitment to be freelance. It’s also a truly rewarding life to be able to do what you love. I can’t imagine my life without design and meeting new people each day.

I look forward to the start of this new decade and will welcome all the opportunities that come my way with enthusiasm!

Now when is this film coming to NYC or NJ?

You Call THAT A Website?

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Okay, I may be in a lousy mood, and this is going to sound like a rant, so get ready!

If one more person builds a website without caring that it looks like crap, I don’t know what I’m going to do!

Recently, an artist friend contacted me because he wanted to start a new business. I was hopeful, because what I’m best at is a new business start-up, logo design and giving them, their identity… that all around consistent look. I also love working with the arts community. I spoke with him and we discussed various things, but… today I got an invite, and realized he had just pushed ahead with the site, without me. Now aside from losing a potential client, I went to look at the site to see what had been developed. To say I was disappointed and horrified is an understatement.

There are (links) pages that don’t even apply to his company. So does this mean he copied or worse, another site’s pages and is planning to just update the content when he has time?

What could he be thinking?

Why do people feel so urgent? Pushing their information out there, without any control to how it looks, or if it will attract an audience. This has really sent me into a depression, and the realization that on the web, content will always win over style. I suppose only on the web this may be true. When I’m looking for something or shopping, functionality and directness will always win over pleasing design and pictures. But don’t we want to push our content out there in a pleasing way?

There has to be a balance between the content being current and wanting it to look nice. We’ve got to make any client, whether an artist, musician, author, small business owner or fortune 500 company understand that these things go hand in hand. And an artist should know better!