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Listen W/O Prejudice - The Review
Artist Spotlight
Female Superheroes
Its not Cool when...

Listen w/o Prejudice-The Review; Lady J.


My title of this review is aptly named. I must listen w/o prejudice and be open minded to new artist and the message in their music.  My review of her CD is fair and objective.  I took the time to listen to her music at home and wrote what I thought. 

Blowin’ up the Spot – An early look at local artist on their way to the top!

LADY J, Washington, D.C.

Lady J is on her way to the top.  A D.C. native who released her debut “Self Control” and music video on-line June 18, 2012,  Her music speaks to her generation and delivers a message for all to hear.  Her delivery may seem hardcore by some, but Lady J speaks in a context all her fans can understand.  Each track Lady J shows diversity in her style, switching her flow and displaying her lyrical intelligence that grabs the listener’s ear, which can be heard on the second track, “I’m the Truth.” She sings on the last track “Zone Out,” which shows her ability to switch her style and showcase her other talents.  Her collaborative work with Multiple Man, and Fat Trel, gives her music a unique sound that stands out among the current sound of D.C. rap.

Lady J’s listening party was held at the Crown Hookah in Adams Morgan. It was a party with many family, friend and supporters for this up and coming Rapper/Singer.  I was pleased to attend and have a first listen to her CD.  She is setting the standard for female rappers in the area, with a driving force of heavy beats behind her. Lady J is blowing up the spot in the metropolitan area. Sure to go nationwide with her style, this D.C. native’s debut is an introduction to an artist who is sure to deliver.  

You can check out Lady J’s video YouTube and get her music on line. Support your local artists, this is one Lady you don’t want to sleep on.

Facebook.com/createladyj

Artist Spotlight


This post spotlight is for two. The stunning photography of  Christine Krizsa, and the interactive art of Tom Noll. Both artist I met at artomatic and their work has stood out among many there. Plus, they are friendly people and enjoyed telling me about themselves.

Christine Krizsa

I borrowed a picture of Christine from her website, hope she's not upset bout that.lol  Check out what she has to say about her work. 

Christine Krizsa

I am a native DC Metro area mul­ti­me­dia artist, free­lance graphic designer and pho­tog­ra­pher.

I have been inter­ested in art and design for as long as I can remem­ber. I was always draw­ing or doodling just like many other children, but I was con­stantly draw­ing and doo­dling: set­ting my inter­pre­ta­tion of the world around me to paper.  Then, I dis­cov­ered the world of fine arts, pho­tog­ra­phy, and design. I dove in head first and haven’t looked back since. The cre­ative world has end­lessly inspired me to pro­duce works that my imag­i­na­tion has con­jured up. I feel a strong desire to com­mu­ni­cate art and design visu­ally to a world that seems so literal.

For me, artis­tic cre­ativ­ity was never a sim­ple out­let for my youth­ful energy. It was a sanc­tu­ary. Art was a foun­tain from which I often drew peace and refresh­ment; a source of joy and peace in a world that was some­times con­fus­ing to my young mind. Indeed, as I grew older, the means avail­able to me of trans­lat­ing the world only grew wider and more var­ied. Rather than grad­u­ally los­ing its grip on me, the call of fine arts grew more com­pelling and imperative.

Even­tu­ally, I found pho­tog­ra­phy, or more accu­rately:  in high school it found me. My mother’s first cam­era was a Polaroid, and for my entire child­hood it was the means by which my family’s mem­o­ries were recorded. Hun­dreds of my family’s trea­sured moments were memo­ri­al­ized on this unique film. One day my father gave that cam­era to me. He knew that not only would I cher­ish it as an heir­loom, but that I had a gift for see­ing the world around me from a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive than most. To this day it is one of the great­est mate­r­ial gifts I’ve ever been given. Although I have a large col­lec­tion of cam­eras rang­ing from dig­i­tal SLRs to vin­tage cam­eras, the Polaroid has never quite lost its unique hold on me, due in no small part to fact that it was spe­cial to my par­ents. This medium is espe­cially dear to me for these reasons. Currently, I’m work­ing on hon­ing my skills with my dig­i­tal SLR. These pieces are but a mere reflec­tion of her work which hope­fully will con­tinue to grow along­side my experience.

Since college, I have become increasingly inter­ested in the world of design and and wear­able art based on my pho­to­graphic and graphic design works. Today, I’m focused on com­bin­ing these three cre­ative worlds into one in my work.

I enjoy traveling as much as possible especially to Paris, I've only been there twice now. Every time I visit it feels as if.. I'm living in a "dream". With my most recent work, I've tried to create my photos to look as if they were vintage postcards from the whimsical and romantic city of lights. 

When people look at these photos they tell me about their excitement and anticipation for their upcoming trip to Paris. Some would tell me they dream of visiting Paris one day. Others would tell me that these images reminded them of their visit there.

If anything, I would just like to give the viewer a moment or two, to escape and be transported somewhere else a place they to dream of. Hopefully I've possibly succeeded in doing so.

-Christine Krizsa

www.krizsa.com

TOM NOLL -Environmental Sculpture Artist - "The Recycler of Nature"


Tom Noll is a prolific man, being all at once a whimsical artist, sculptor, landscape designer, avid nature lover, and advocate for all things recyclable and eco-friendly.  When he combines his sculptures and garden design he believes in: "Art in Landscape Design & the Art of Landscape Design; Creates a Transformative Zen Place to Enjoy Forever."  His motto's are: "Reduce, Reuse, Re-purpose, Reinvent, Rebuild, Replenish and Recycle nature; hence, Save the Planet" and "Let's make recyclable Art in Honor of Mother Earth"!


He wanted to be a recycle-jewelry designer, but soon found out that with his big thick thumbs that was not going to work well, so he changed his plans to decorative sculptures that he has no problem handling. These pieces can be displayed outside or inside homes, office buildings, art centers or museums.

He applies his recycling ideas to his 3-dimensional Environmental Sculptures: may they be his rebar (steel reinforced metal) and sandstone sculptures or his colorful wood/metal/stone Totems known as "Tom's Tinker Toys."  He uses salvaged industrial resources and "nature found materials." He likes how these textured, rough and raw metals "envelops, protects and displays the stone or wood; in general, nature."


He is also a first-time children's illustrated book writer, who now lives in the Bloomingdale neighborhood in Washington, D.C.  He made a name for himself in the Manassas, Virginia area as the imaginative "White bicycle Fence Man" for his home's creative 30 white bicycle fence, which he decorated appropriately for major holidays or seasons.  For over 15 years his "White Bicycle Fence," and his Zen-like Gardens and Sculptures were a local tourist attraction and served as his inspiration for his first children's book in his "Recycling Creatively with LT" -series. Tom's book "The Bicycle Fence" will make its debut in the fall.


If interest in seeing his portfolio, purchasing a sculpture or commission for a specific space, please contact Tom Noll at tomnoll55@gmail.com or (202) 518-7070h (571)201-3032c.







Female Superheroes
Following an awesome essay by Thera Pitts, some jackass named Josh Tyler says we don't need more female superheroes. "There’s a reason Wonder Woman is the only noteworthy solo female superhero anyone can name."


Wonder Woman may be a girl, but her audience was never really comprised of women… Catching bad guys is not a common female fantasy. Ask most women which movies they’re most looking forward to in 2009 and odds are that it’ll be something starring Julia Roberts… There’s nothing wrong with that. Men and women simply have different interests. Men are interested in action movies with heroes blowing things up and saving the girl. Men are interested in imagining themselves as ass-kicking heroes. Women are interested in movies about relationships and romance and love. Women are interested in imagining themselves finding the right guy and dancing till dawn. Little boys play with guns, little girls play with dolls. Neither version of play is superior to the other, it’s just different. Nobody is out there trying to force men to get interested in movies about romantic weekends in Paris, so why are we so dead set on forcing women to get interested in movies about beating people up? There’s something unintentionally sexist about it, it’s as if we’re saying women’s interests are somehow inherently inferior, and to be validated they must instead find ways to be more like men.

Okay, okay. Now your head can explode. Shall we begin?

First: I'm a woman who hates Julia Roberts. I hated that hooker with the heart of gold movie, found it to be condescending and nauseating, and I am not looking forward to seeing anything she does in 2009. By the by: Selling yourself on a street corner while waiting for Prince Charming? Not cute.

Second: I loved Wonder Woman when I was a kid. I had Wonder Woman underoos! A Wonder Woman swimsuit, which I wore with roller skates! I wanted to spin around and have my outfit change, I wanted to chase bad guys and kick ass, and I still do. I love Coffy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Fifth Element, Resident Evil, Underworld and all kinds of stories in which a female — possibly wearing tight leather pants — is powerful, gorgeous and super-human in her strength and ability to drop-kick a fool.

Third: There's nothing sexist about wanting a female superhero; there is something sexist in assuming that all women only want to see Sex And The City-type movies, that women are a monolithic block who all act the same way and want the same things. Women are multifaceted with varied interests. I never played with dolls as a child and I know I am not the only one. Why can't the next generation look up to Wonder Woman, Catwoman or She-Ra the way my sister and I did? Why is Carrie Bradshaw the only acceptable alternative? And since when is it a man's place to tell women what they do and do not need? Dude. Give me my goddamned Christopher Nolan-directed Catwoman and shut the fuck up. Is anyone with me? -Jezebel.com 2009

My addition/Fourth: There's nothing wrong with wanting to see a female superhero of a different ethnicity. Growing up with images of what white women could achieve with a little know how and money, there were no positive images of black females anywhere let alone a black female superhero. I found there are several sites devoted to the black superhero, female and male.  More attention is given to the male characters, but the female superheros are bad ass and kick ass.

Aliyah Bishop

I have more than enough images of the white female superhero. I would like there to be positive images young girls of any color, race, that she can relate to and use some of these as a positive images for herself. There aren't a lack of female role models, but rather a lack of black superheroes for us to believe in.  In today's technology based society, its hard to imagine that someone would want to believe in a super hero. Some of the best ideas comes from the influence of super heroes. 

Nothing against Super Girl, Cat Women or any of  the other popular female superheroes.  How many black female superheroes can you name other than Storm?

I went in search of the black female superhero and found a few good websites that focus on an action female who is top notch at what she does and is just a bad ass as any other female superhero.  Most work to achieve a common good. Of course this is my opinion and other people may differ.

To view images of black female superheros and get a description of their abilities check out WorldofBlackheroes.com.

To see images of female black super heroes check out

http://www.myspace.com/blackfemalesuperheroes/photos/245304#%7B%22ImageId%22%3A245304%7D 

More to come on this topic. I will explore the history of the female superhero, including all female superheroes and what their role or influence of women today.

Agent 355

It's Not Cool When...

It's not cool when I participate in an event and have my one of my pieces stolen.  If you read my facebook page, I posted a picture and little something about it.  I'm still heartbroken and missing my piece. I filed a police report, but the chances of getting it back are slim.  I'm disappointed that what turned out to be a great experience overall ended in a violation of me and my work. I take it really personal.

Hope where ever you are "Falter" that you are in good hands and they take care of you.

Thank you all who view my blog!
hope you find it entertaining and informative.

Until next time, catch ya at the same blog time, same blog channel!!