Prima Gallery

Italian government’s ownership over the sculpture of Biblical hero David made by Renaissance period artist Michelangelo has been challenged by a local authority which claims the heritage statue belongs to Florence city.

Italy’s culture minister Sandro Bondi Monday described as ‘absurd’ and ‘inopportune’ a row that has erupted between the government and Florence city council.

Lawyers for the culture minister have presented a nine-page document claiming the 5.17-metre high marble figure, which draws over 1.5 million visitors annually, belongs to the Italian state.

But the mayor of Florence, Tuscany’s famous art city, insists the masterpiece belongs to the city council.

Centre-left mayor Matteo Renzi argues that when Rome became the capital of Italy, a decree in 1870-1871 assigned Palazzo Vecchio – where David was erected in 1504 – and all its contents to Florence.

But the government strongly disputes this claim and argues that history is on its side.

‘Against my will, I find myself involved once again in an absurd and inopportune row. Michelangelo’s David a symbol of cultural unity for Florence and for Italy,’ Bondi said in a statement Monday.

‘For propaganda purposes, the mayor of Florence is resorting to low tricks in disputing the ownership of this work of art,’ the statement added.

The Italian state, not Florence city council – created when the city was part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany – is the legal successor to the Florentine Republic, according to government lawyers.

The sinuous sling-bearing David, the slayer of Goliath, is the main attraction at Palazzo Vecchio’s Accademia gallery, and is worth 8 million euros in annual ticket sales.

These ticket receipts are pocketed by the Italian government, along with 30 million euros of revenue from other Florence museums, including the world-famous Uffizi gallery.

Museums and large art galleries are treasure houses of historic collections and famous art from many periods in history. Often there is less than a quarter of the collection on display at any time due to space.

In the film, European Vacation, the family exhausts themselves by trying to see every major art piece and famous painting in as many galleries and museums as they can cram in during a two week visit to several cities in Europe.

While their antics were hilarious, cultural overload and tiredness was the result of their futility in trying to see and do it all. This can sometimes be the unfortunate reality of such once-in-a-lifetime visits. Accept that in a limited time it is just not possible to see and do everything. But with a little planning, maximum enjoyment can be gained and over-tiredness avoided.

The best pieces in any collection are usually always on display due to popularity. However, to avoid disappointment, it is wise to check before a visit that a specific work of art is available, as it may be on loan to another museum for a traveling exhibition, or taken away for repair work. Some museums will have free entry at certain times but most will have either a ticket entry or bigger cities will offer museum passes to several.

Use the internet to search for the major cultural attractions for your chosen destination. Museums and galleries are often some of the best marketed and advertised attractions; check local papers, TV, radio and billboards. Tourist centers and libraries will carry leaflets and brochures for all there is to see and do. Hotels and guesthouses will also carry a selection and asking locals can also provide good insider tips on the best value, what is worth the trip and what to avoid.

Gallery Guides and Information Booths

On arriving at the museum or gallery, the first place to stop should be the information booth. They will have floor plans, exhibitions guides, information on when the next guided tour will take place and some even offer highlights tours.

Often there will be audio guide CD players in several languages, available for a small rental fee, which will play information about key pieces in the collection. These can provide good background information about a piece.

However, the most important thing to do is look. Look at the item and try to understand it. Who made it and why? What is it for? Is it confusing or upsetting? Why is the piece in the collection? Is it a good or bad example?

Sometimes it is enough to just walk around and enjoy the beauty of the pieces. Other items can totally baffle and may require further information or provoke further investigation. If a guide is around, ask questions. The guides are often volunteers and will know the collection very well. They enjoy talking about the collection and can often provide insightful information and added depth and understanding.

While a visit to a museum is educational, it should also be enjoyable. It can be fun to guess what an item is before reading the information plaques provided. Often the information center will provide activity packs for children or suggested routes around the collection if time is short.

Remember to take frequent breaks and rest stops. Often there will be restaurants and cafes in the building or eating areas provided if you prefer to bring your own refreshments.

Museum Themes, Interactive Exhibits

Many museums will have a specific theme such as war or industry periods showing farming equipment, aircraft, pioneer museums or science museums. These can be much more interactive, with hands-on activities, videos and lectures. They can often spark new interests or begin a family history search.

Many individuals and teams of specialists have researched, catalogued and preserved the collections. More recently, much effort has gone into presenting the collections using multimedia to enhance the enjoyment, and help visitors see, learn and understand about history, cultures and the world.

Every form of art has its own beauty. While carrying the special beauty, every art requires certain basic fundamental principles to be observed while doing the same. So the art of drawing has also a set of fundamental principles. Along with the growing practice of doing practical training, it would be necessary to know these art fundamentals, too. Here are some of the fundamentals of drawing.

Seeing The Shapes

Basically the visual art is matter of seeing. So an artist has to see very well the object to be drawn or painted. The shapes, yes, the shapes of the objects are of much importance. Once you identify the shape of an object well, you can think about its lining that would recreate the shape on paper or canvas. You can start drawing after getting exact idea of the shapes.

Light Effect

The intensity of light falling on an object indicates the areas of your operation. The light decides where to move your pencil or brush. Lighted area would take the lighter colours and the spaces getting lesser light would be darker. That is called the ‘value’ in the language of art. A good drawing would have the full range of the values, meaning all types of shades should be depicted as per their values.

Control and Consistency

Consistency is the maintaining of a particular style of drawing or painting. If you can do it, your artwork would be like your signature. People would see an artwork and they would recognize it immediately as yours. So to keep working on your own style is crucially important in the world of art. Moreover, if you have good control over the pencil, you can draw precise lining and shading. The structure of the objects drawn and their relative size would render an artwork aesthetically beautiful. At later stage, it would help in exploiting the fullest value of colours and creating rich textures.

No Room for Deviation

This applies to the portrait drawing. When you are working under a commission and are required to draw or paint the portrait of a person, a slight variation would ruin your entire work. A slightly bigger eye or a lip thicker than the original one could displease the person being portrayed. In portrait drawing, there is room for artistic imagination, but you will have to honour the reality, too.

Get Together All the Helps

An artist uses various resources while doing his or her pencil drawing or a painting. You can use your sketchbook or the photographs of the object or the scene to be drawn. Instructions available in and on videos would be a great help for the beginners. Finally, if you can spare regular hours of time, thinking about to attend a painting or drawing course would be a great idea.

Are you bored with your room design and want to brighten it up as soon as possible? If you actually don’t have much time and enough funds for a great renovation you can’t go wrong with a well placed, good wall art. A thoroughly chosen image printed on canvas and well specified size of it can become a really fantastic decoration of your dwelling. There is no doubt that wall art is an increasingly popular way to spice up your home’s decor.

If are an enthusiast of art and fond of a particular current as abstract, classical, impressionism, primitive, modern or others it is enough to choose the image and specify the available option such as size, framing and etc. You also can get any world-famous painting printed on canvas. Canvas printing high technology allows performing exact copies of the chosen painting reflecting even the artist’s technique.

If you long to set your sights to personalized wall art you can even use your own image or your personal photo and you will create a stunning decoration for your house.

Choosing an image for your room you have to look at several factors, including the right colors, the right dimensions, and most especially, an appropriate subject for your room.

Have you ever heard about multi-canvas wall art?
One choice for canvas art can be an enlarged photo of your family. This is a wonderful way to show off your latest family portrait; however it can look much more modern and stunning than a simple canvas print if you decide on printing it on multi-canvas. Thus you can create a truly customized canvas art.

Multi-canvas wall art is a special wall art that can be achieved by a simply picture or a photograph that you print over several canvasses. This tiled effect adds to the image an extraordinary and exceptional look. Unlike a large canvas print, multiple canvasses give you the sense of seeing more than just one image. Usually it consists of three different canvasses arranged in a single row, it is known as the triptych approach.

However, you can use much more than three canvasses and do them vertically or maybe even mix and match different shapes and sizes of canvasses like a puzzle picture. It is up to you to specify how many canvases you want to use, their size, how they are going to be arranged and what look the final product would have. Be creative and you will get a really eye-catching piece of wall art. Please do remember according to factual evidence it is not as simple as it could seem.

If you have one main image and you want to crop it into four, it might seem to you that a grid arrangement can be just the right formation. However, don’t jump to conclusion. If you feel that you would be able to bring more out of the picture using your own arrangement, go ahead!

If you are not sure in your creative abilities buying a ready-made multi-canvas wall art is that what you need. Specialists crop a given image effectively and arrange the canvases in an appropriate way in order to bring forth its natural beauty.

The flowers are in full bloom, the vegetables look ready to eat, the beach scenes beckon, and there is a glimpse of European travels, all inviting the viewer to "Through the Lens 11," photography by Anne Holland. Anne Holland has returned to The Stable for the second time in the last three years to exhibit her photographs.

The exhibit is Holland’s second at The Stable. There are 45 new pictures in this show.

"I sold 40 pictures at the two-hour reception at The Stable in January 2007," Holland said.

Holland’s life as a photographer began eight years ago. She was moving from her home in Wilton, Conn., to a condo in Danbury, Conn.

"When we put our house on the market I made a little photo book of our perennial gardens. Then it took off from there," she said. "I started making greeting cards with my photos and now my total sales of cards is 11,000."

When she first started taking photos, she borrowed her son’s camera; now she uses a Canon film camera and also has a small camera in her car.

Holland discovered The Stable while visiting her daughter’s family, who are village residents.

"There is nothing like this [The Stable] in Connecticut. It’s my favorite space," she said.

It takes five to six months to prepare for the show, she said.

Morning and evening are the best times to photograph, for the light, commented Holland. She said flowers are her favorite thing to photograph, especially roses.

"Wagon/flowers" was photographed in Palm Desert, Calif., with most of the floral photos shot in Descanso Gardens. "Yellow tulips," "Pink/yellow poppy," "Sunflowers," "Sepia rose," "Peach poppy," "Orange tulips," "Gerber daisy," "Orange zinnia," and "Purple daisy" are also being displayed. Orchids were photographed at the New York Botanical Gardens, as was Chihuly glass. A photo of water lilies was also taken at the Botanical Gardens.

During a trip to Siena, Italy, hats and the flowers adorning them hung outside of a flower shop that caught Holland’s eye.

"Whenever I shoot, I have an idea what people are looking for," she said.

"Blue/yellow pansy" was photographed in Myrtle Beach.

"Restaurant/bike" and "Pizza restaurant" show street scenes in Rome. The Food Court in Barcelona provided vibrant colors for "Cherries/peaches," "Radishes" and "Tomatoes/garlic." "Peppers/lemons" was photographed in Corsica.

Holland called "Tart," taken at Zabar’s Bakery in Grand Central Station, a fun food shot.

Beach scenes photos in the exhibit include "Pilings/seagulls," and "Two canoes" from Martha’s Vineyard, with "Sea shells" her granddaughter brought from Cape Cod. Atlantic City, Myrtle Beach, Cape May and Westport, Mass., also provided interesting shots. She photographed "The Alabama Pilot Boat," an early 1900s vessel, while on a ferry from Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard.

There is also a look at an Annapolis, Md. home called "Green Shutters."

Holland’s greeting cards are sold throughout Fairfield, Conn., and her photographs are on display at businesses in both Connecticut and New Jersey.

She is a member of the Candlewood Camera Club of Connecticut and has received outstanding achievement awards from the International Society of Photographers, first place in Westport magazine’s photo contest, and first place in the Orlando Sentinel’s photo contest. Her exhibits have been featured at Candlewood Camera Club and three libraries. She will be displaying at another library in April.

With all the galleries sprouting up along H Street NE, the neighborhood may be on its way to becoming Washington's next big arts district, and another addition this weekend will certainly help the area's credibility. G Fine Art, formerly housed along 14th Street, is taking up residence in the up-and-coming neighborhood.

The gallery celebrates its move to Northeast Washington on Saturday with a new exhibition and an opening reception. The work of A.B. Miner goes on display in "Naked," a show that strips down in more ways than one. In one diptych, Miner pulls back the curtain on his creative process, while a massive 12-panel painting shows a year in the life of a post-surgery expanse of skin from a landscape of stitches to a healed, though scarred, chest. Meanwhile the video piece "Fly 08" -- a riff on Yoko Ono's "Fly" -- features the interaction between an insect and a reclining nude figure.

Police have arrested two men in connection with $4,200 worth of graffiti damage throughout the city of Pittsburgh.

Police said their investigation began when graffiti displaying “CCK,” “3311,” “DRAMA” and "SLAVE” started appearing in the city in October 2008.

Police concluded that “CCK” was an abbreviation for “Crazy Cracka Killas,” a known graffiti group. Police said “3311” was the numerical value of each first letter in the alphabet, with both Cs equaling a “3” and K equaling “11.”

In February 2009, police said the graffiti was found in a men’s bathroom stall at a restaurant. The IDs of those inside were checked and Stephen Wadlow, of Pittsburgh, and Patrick Walsh, of Dormont, both 22 years old, were identified as suspects.

Police said both were interviewed the following month and received summons arrests.

Police said the men were responsible for damage to 10 different sites in the city, totaling $4,200.

Both men have been charged with $2,100 in damages and face seven counts each of criminal mischief.

Being an artist myself, I know how hard it can be to sell your art in the real world that is one reason you might what to try to sell your art online. A few years ago I decided to start selling my art online and I’m glad I did. Now, I’m not getting rich doing this, but I have made more sells online than I ever did in the real world. Plus I don’t have schlep my artwork from place to place.

Lets just take a look at some reasons you should consider selling your art online.

Convenience In the real world you have to sale your art in galleries, art festivals, fairs, libraries or any place that will allow you to place your art and sell it. Now consider you have to pack up your artwork and carry it to these places and in some of cases hung the work yourself. Also consider that the pieces that don’t sale you have to take them down, pack them up and carry them back to your home or studio

However, when you sell your art online you just put up some photos of your artwork on a website with some information on the size, medium and price and depending on where you put it you may be able to keep your artwork there indefinitely. Even if the artwork doesn’t sale on a site where it has to be removed, all you have to remove is a photo and some information. No packing and no carrying bulky paintings back and forth.

You Have Total Control By selling your art online you take over total control of your art career. No more middlemen telling you how much to price your art for and then taking a cut of your money when the art sells. Galleries will take anywhere from a 40 to 50% cut of your art sales. Art Festivals will charge any where from $200 to $500 fees just to be in the festival and demand that you have a certain amount of inventory, which you have to pay for. If you don’t sell anything at the festival you are just out all of that money.

If you sell your art online you can decide when where and how long you have your art up on a website and although there are some sites that may charge you to have your art on them, most of the places are free and the ones that do charge it’s usually a very small amount. Also most places where you can sell your art online will let you set your own price and won’t charge you a commission. So you can keep 100% of your art sells. Also on most places that allow you to put art on their sites, you can put up as many or as little as you want.

A Worldwide Customer Base When selling your art in the real world your art sales are usually limited to the place where your art is at the moment. If you are exhibiting at a gallery your art sales are limited to that gallery and the people that come into that gallery. If your art is being shown at a fair your art sales are limited to the people that see your art at that fair. I think you get the picture. For the must part in the real world your art sales is going to be limited to local or regional sales.

On the Internet you have a worldwide audience to market your art to. Because of selling my art online I now have my artwork in Japan, France, Great Britain, Canada and other places that I would not have been able to reach in the real world. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world you will be able to reach people from different countries. An artist in Italy can sell a piece of art to a buyer Russia or an artist in India can sell a painting to a buyer in the United States. Your online presence is your art gallery to the world.

The opening reception and awards ­ceremony for the Arts Council of Moore County’s 14th annual Young People’s Fine Arts Festival attracted a crowd of 500 young artists, art teachers and kinfolk to Campbell House on Friday, March 5.

First place awards went to Brooke Olinger, Episcopal Day; Halden Levin, Pinehurst Elementary; Victoria Landers, Sandhills Classical Christian; Wyatt Parson, Sandhills Classical Christian; Austin Cook, Vass-Lakeview; Berenice Lopez, Elise Middle; Miss Wolfe’s Second Grade Class, S.T.A.R.S Charter; Katie Lamb, West Pine; Grace Ann Longfellow, West Pines; Clem McKenzie, Pinecrest High; Amber Robinson, Pinecrest High; Caroline Hudson, Pinecrest High; Miranda Estep, Union Pines High; Jose Lavelle, Union Pines High; and Claire Lenahan, Union Pines High.

Winning second place awards were Chase Watson, Carthage Elementary; Ali Royal, Sandhills Classical Christian; Samantha Clark, Sandhills Farmlife; Bridget White, Sandhills Farmlife; Karina Franco, Vass-Lakeview; Justin Hall, New Century Middle; Austin D’Atri, S.T.A.R.S Charter; Claire Shadomy, Union Pines; Mason Williams, North Moore High; Sarah Wilson, Pinecrest High; Bernadine Dembosky, The O’Neal School; Lindsay Waters, The O’Neal School; and Bennett Westling, The O’Neal School.

Receiving third place awards were Nita Reynolds, Cameron Elementary; T. Dalton McBryde, Pinehurst Elementary; Eliza Athans, Sandhills Classical Christian; L’Asia Jackson, West End Elementary; Emma Williams, Elise Middle; Kestra Alzner, New Century Middle; Eli Cole, West Pine Middle; Stephanie McNeil, North Moore High; Megan Fruchte, Pinecrest High; Laura Ott, Pinecrest High; Heather Sinsley, Pinecrest High; Crystal Little, Union Pines High; and Sasha Richman, The O’Neal School.

Honorable mentions were given to Caleb W. Hickey, Blue Farm Academy Homeschool; Jackson Jernigan, Cameron Elementary; Khalita Person, Carthage Elementary; Bryson Steed, Vass-Lakeview Elementary; Maudie Chalfinch, New Century Middle; Mrs. Varner’s Second Grade Class, S.T.A.R.S Charter; Amber Robinson, Pinecrest High; Claire Lenahan, Union Pines High; Hannah Burns, The O’Neal School; Katie Dyer, The O’Neal School; Jodie Ballie, Camryn Baldwin, Danielle Howland and Victoria Strunk, The O’Neal School.

The “People’s Choice” award was given to Rachel Denneny, a fourth-grade student at Vass-Lakeview Elementary, for her 3-D sculpture, “Splatterbug.”

“The Arts Council would like to thank the ­festival’s major sponsor, George W. Little and Associates Inc., and Whistle Stop Press Inc. for providing the printing,” says Chris Dunn, ­executive director.