Famous faces in a crowd: Intricate artworks see big screen stars recreated in paintings of dozens of tiny figures By Craig Alan

Famous faces in a crowd: Intricate artworks see big screen stars recreated in paintings of dozens of tiny figures By Daily Mail Reporter At first glance these celebrity portraits appear to have been created from aerial photographs of dozens of people. But a closer examination of this series, by Atlanta-based artist Craig Alan, reveals that the tiny figures were actually painted into place. Mr Alan, 40, has created paintings of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Elvis Presley, as well as the Statue of Liberty, with his realist technique. Fun & Info @ Keralites.net Small people, big star: This portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Atlanta-based artist Craig Alan may look like an aerial photo, but is actually created with dozens of tiny painted figures Fun & Info @ Keralites.net Flight of fancy: Mr Alan's series, which includes a second piece featuring Monroe, was inspired by some photographs he had been taking from a sixth-floor balcony The intricate paintings are predominantly black-and-white, with just a flash of red in the lips of the Monroe and Hepburn pieces. His painstaking efforts are well-rewarded though - a single piece from the 'Populous' series can sell for up to $50,000. The artist says he first came up with the idea after after taking photos of the street from the sixth floor of an apartment block. Fun & Info @ Keralites.net High art: Audrey Hepburn is among the stars featured in the portraits, which can sell for up to $50,000 Fun & Info @ Keralites.net The Elvis Presley piece shows the late music legend's face recreated with hundreds of tiny figures. Each has its own shadow making the photographic effect even more convincing 'I was at my mother's apartment in Alabama watching people on the beach from the sixth story balcony,' he explained. 'I started photographing them and then I noticed a pattern through the camera. 'In one shot, the group of people appeared to have formed an eye on the screen - this started my creative wheels turning.' Mr Alan says the decision to recreate familiar celebrity faces was an easy one. Fun & Info @ Keralites.net Crowd-puller: Even the Statue of Liberty has had the Craig Alan treatment, completing the series 'Portraits always came easily to me, so it was only natural that the two should be combined,' he said. And the positive response to the works has been a thrill. It’s rewarding for me as an artist to watch people’s reaction to my work and to see them get such enjoyment out of it,' he added.

Arts appreciation course in Pune for teachers and parents of school children

Support Needed for Arts Appreciation Course in Pune
Thu May 3, 2012 10:39 pm (PDT)

Chitrabodh
The visual arts hardly ever occupy the minds of ordinary people. On the rare occasions that they do, they fill people with numerous fundamental questions – for example, what constitutes visual arts? How do you define that? What makes anyone create a work of art? What goes on in the mind of the artist as he creates? How does one decide what is good or bad art, or art that is beautiful or not beautiful? Can't I decide that by myself? Do I need to train myself or open myself for that? What faculties do I need for that? Fundamentally, do these arts relate to me in any way? What difference does it make whether they relate to me or not? In general, do the arts make a difference to anyone at all?
Ordinary people do not get satisfactory answers to such questions in a language that they can understand. People then ask the final question – 'Why should I expend my energy and my facilities in that case?', which they can then answer clearly as – 'You should not.' As a result. people just give up and 'Visual Arts' becomes a closed chapter for them.
This does not end here, though. People also tend to deride or ridicule what they do not know or understand, or what does not directly concern them. This tendency spreads rapidly and also gets transmitted to future generations. This happens easily in the humanities and the arts, since they do not get the same esteem that subjects like mathematics, science or technology get.
This needs to change. The onus for effecting this change of course falls on artists, educators, critics and enthusiasts associated with the visual arts. Keeping this in mind, Su-darshan Art Gallery and Palakneeti have come together to conduct an arts appreciation course - Chitrabodh.
The workshop will be held from May 31 to June 3 for teachers and parents of schoolchildren. The reason behind this restriction is obvious. These are the two entities responsible for children’s development, be it positive or negative. If they understand why visual arts are important in life, this knowledge will automatically trickle down to children. This cannot be achieved by just pinning children down to some coaching class. The source has to be enriched first; hence the workshop is for parents and teachers only. We would like parents and teachers from all over Maharashtra to participate in this workshop.
The participation of ‘Palakneeti’, an eminent organization in Maharashtra for parenting. should alone clarify well enough our commitment and our vision. Moreover, many eminent personalities will be conducting lectures and demonstrations in the workshop. Some of the people who have already confirmed their availability for conducting lectures in the workshop are as follows:
Sudhir Patwardhan (Painter) Dilip Ranade (Artist and Curator) Nitin Kulkarni (Art Professor) Vasant Dahake (Writer; president of the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan 2012) Sachin Kundalkar (Filmmaker) Samar Nakhate (Professor of Film and Media studies; Former dean, Film and Television Institute of India) Nachiket Patwardhan (Architect, Filmmaker) Varsha Sahasrabuddhe (Educationist)
The active involvement of these well-known people from various fields provides the participants with a unique opportunity. Further to this, we would like to record the lectures conducted during the workshop. Copies of this recording will be given to workshop participants. We would also like to preserve this recording for future use in similar workshops and would like to make it available as an educational tool on a non-profit basis. For this, we would like to seek financial assistance from your organization. We will be grateful to you if you could consider giving us financial assistance for the same.
Sincere thanks, Madhuri Purandare & Pramod Kale - Su-darshan Art Gallery Sanjeevani Kulkarni & Shubhada Joshi - Palakneeti (http://palakneeti.org/)