Susan Blase Archives - TheAppWhisperer

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 5 May 2019

05/05/201905/05/2019 by Joanne Carter

“Whenever the world throws rose petals at you, which thrill and seduce the ego, beware” Anne Lamott. I was told a similar thing, not quite so poetically, when I was promoted and became the technical editor of a print camera magazine, many years ago… it’s long gone. “Many congratulations Joanne, but keep those feet on the ground“, cautioned the main editor of the title. Sound advice, but doesn’t it get a little boring sometimes? For years now, I’ve noticed that I have become more and more sensible and it’s getting frustrating. I’m organised, at least in my mind, it might not show physically in my office. I keep my children’s diaries, as well as my own ticking over, day by day. I attend fabulous five star art events, around the world, I attend school meetings with senior teachers, I view the most breathtaking art – on a daily basis, I share my life with the richest most eloquent artists I’ve ever had the good fortune to befriend, I read and respond to specialist medical reports, I attend countless hospital appointments and physical examinations monthly and each time, return home, to remain forever sensible and organised. Even my car, is so understated that it only occurred to me recently, why it was that every single time I look into my rear view mirror on the motorway, that there seems to be a horizontal row of traffic a good 100 yards behind me, the reason being, the British public appear to believe this is an undercover police car and I’m about to turn on my hidden blue lights to anyone who overtakes me. It’s actually quite useful, I can get to destinations much quicker and my car remains untouched when unattended (unusual for around here).

To desire is as good as to possess and I think, I’ll just keep being judicious a little longer, at least until I can fully reveal what I’m working on, after that, I can assure you, my feet won’t touch the ground, yours won’t either and the only blue lights we’ll see, will be the ones at the celebratory party!

Thank you to all the talented artists for submitting your works to our showcase this week. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here. You can also submit images to our Instagram tag for this section #mobilephotographyandimagery.

Oola Cristina, Chris Feichtner, Paul Yan, Jun Yamaguchi, Clint Cline, Lydia Cassatt, Robin Robertis, Allyson Marie, Karen Axelrad, Catherine Caddigan, Jennifer Bracewell, borisbschulz, Poetic Medium, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Yasuo Furue, Tracey Grumbach, Rita Colantonio, Kristie Michele Art – Kristie Benoit, Joseph Cyr, Kat McClelland, Lawrence Lazare, Damian De Souza, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Susan Blase, jon jon, Kate Zari Roberts, Susan Rennie, Judy Wahlberg, Rob Pearson-Wright, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, p.a. hamel, Michael Brunsfeld, Lorenka Campos, Candice Railton, Gianluca Ricoveri.

Music this week is ‘Anchor’ ©Stephanie Schneiderman

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 21 April 2019

22/04/201921/04/2019 by Joanne Carter

Earlier this year, I attended the press view of ‘A Fortnight Of Tears’ by and with Tracey Emin, at The White Cube Gallery, London. What has interested me, particularly, since the exhibition are the wide ranging and diverse reviews and critiques of this show. Having spent time speaking with Emin, as well as sharing the exhibition and space with her, I felt closer to this artwork and to her psyche than I ever have before. Many of the reviews were critical, she is an artist who has always attracted harsh critics. Her most infamous work “My Bed” (1988), is in many ways, metaphorically, part of this exhibition. It’s re-inacted as fifty huge iPhone selfie images displayed on the gallery walls, taken as she awakes in bed, displaying plastic surgery scars, moods and various nightgown changes. In an interview, she describes to Griselda Murray Brown, Financial Times, how this exhibition relates, “the Bed for me, is the closest thing that I have to [these] works because I stained that bed, I cried in that bed, I shit in that bed, I fucked in that bed, probably vomited in that bed. Everything that that bed is, is in [these] paintings”. Her theme of art has been the same for sometime, over 30 years, and consists mainly of abuse, abortion, love, loss, death, so not for the fainthearted but to define this recurring theme in one word, I would choose ‘life’. She has relentlessly been criticised for yelling about rape, this was before the #MeToo era and her response to that was “Of course I’m screaming about rape. Why shouldn’t I be?” frankly, I couldn’t agree more, don’t you? “I kept trying to say [this] to people years ago”, Emin continued. “Suddenly I’m allowed to express myself and to have the language and the voice that I’ve had for years and years. Now we’re in a time where we can put things right, and this is what my work is about”. Critics continue to urge her to ‘move on’ but much of the true grit of life, is incessant.

Another recurring critical aspect of Emin’s art and again it’s one that is repeated throughout the art world, is ‘is it art?’. I wonder why we are still asking this question.

In 1988, Richard Woodward wrote a feature article in the New York Times discussing recent photographic work, entitled “It’s Art, But Is It Photography?’. He went on to say “It isn’t clear anymore how photography should be valued or looked at, where within our museums it should be exhibited-even what is or is not a photograph”. In the late 1800’s debates literally raged about the status of photography, ‘is it art or not?’ critics hollered. Amusingly, (or not, depending on your sense of humour), in the 1920’s even Edward Weston accused pictorial photographers of making ‘pseudo paintings, instead of photographs’. Of course the debate has shifted full circle. Since the 1960’s , the question of whether photography is art became irrelevant with the acceptance of photography into museum collections. But the question once again shifted in the late 1980s to ‘Is it photography?’. It could be said that the prestigious Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York was not accepting of the depiction, not of art but of photography and in turm, what could be concluded, as photography. Prior to the 1990s MOMA had not given an exhibition to David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman among others. It seems the theory being the work of these artists might have been art, but not photography.

This is an extract of a larger piece of writing that I am working on and it is relevant today in our era of mobile photography and art. We have made huge strides to encompass what we know is the most formidable and time changling art today but we still have further to travel. This weeks mobile photography and showcase, highlights once again the pioneering artists pushing the boundaries, challenging the status quo. Colour and wild creativity flourish, each visionary coherently embracing dreaming, while awake. Enjoy!

Music this week – ‘Ghost’ ©Jacob Lee

Gianluca Ricoveri, Rita Colantonio, Tuba, Kathy Clay, Fleur Schim, Kate Zari Roberts, Jun Yamaguchi, Candice Railton, Erik Beck, Nick Kenrick, Joseph Cyr, Poetic Medium, Erik Viggh, Susan Blase, jon jon, AleDi Gangi, borisbschulz2009, Catherine Caddigan, Mark Swanson, Johann Veers, Deborah McMillion, Ivan_sl, Francesco Sambati, Cristina Rossi, Clint Cline, Sherrianne100, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Rob Pearson-Wright, Susan Rennie, Amo Passicos, klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, 123ems, Lorenka Campos, Karen Axelrad, Ian Clarke, Tricia Dewey, Ioannis Sidiropoulos, Heather McAlister, Jane Schultz – before.1st.light, p.a.hamel.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 7 April 20019

07/04/201907/04/2019 by Joanne Carter

After scoring a hat trick, I am back! As some of you will have noticed, I was off last week. Not one to take life easy, I managed to cram it with, Mother’s Day, my 50th birthday and a serious lung infection. An accomplishment even by my own standards. The lung infection leading the way, I spent my days and continue to do so, (desperately trying to avoid another hospital admission), dosing up with antibiotics, sleeping sitting upright (it can be done, I’ve learnt, once complete exhaustion sets in) and reading a wide variety of books. I got it down to two books every two days, a record for me. This is all in sharp contrast to the preceding two weeks where I, at least felt like, flew around Amsterdam and swanned around Paris, with a scrum of journalists in close contact throughout, trying, initially politely, to avoid some persistent esoteric amorous advances. No doubt, the grounds I picked up the lung infection but that’s a little unjust; I feel quite hip these days, sharing a serious autoimmune disease with a raft of celebrities. ‘Lady AppWhisperer‘, has a bit of a ring to it, don’t you think? The main treatment for serious autoimmune diseases (for the uninitiated) are strong immunosuppressant drugs. These are delivered to my home address every two weeks, straight from a refrigerated van, handed to me in person and placed immediately into my own fridge (middle shelf, with nothing touching the contents, ‘not too close to the back, front or sides‘, my nurse voiced, as she inspected my placement). Then every two weeks, I inject myself, the fun part is I get to select the location, will it be my left or right thigh this week? Or perhaps and I’m still striving to gain confidence, will it by my abdomen, just along from my tummy button, hmm – the mental battle continues for that one. The result is that in order to reduce the immune system attacking itself, my immune system is reduced to next to nothing, therefore, any bugs floating around, once caught, take quite a bit of shifting and this lung infection is still lingering and I foresee, will continue in a similar vein for the next week or so. It’s proving to be the hardest secondary illness I’ve had, since original diagnosis to eliminate…

Speaking of books, one was bought for me this week by my eldest son, Jake, ‘Do No Harm’ by Henry Marsh. It’s a book by a neurosurgeon (Henry Marsh) of forty years and once picked up, hard to put down. Perfect when you’re confined to bed. Reading the accounts and surgeries of his poor patients, certainly helped to keep my own predicament in perspective. One quote from this book stays with me “Anxiety might be contagious, but confidence is also contagious” and of course, that’s what we strive so hard, to build here at TheAppWhisperer for the community of talented mobile photographers and artists that share their work with us. This weeks mobile photography & Art Showcase is a bumper one (I missed last week, see above), as it plays out, you’ll view, what is sure to be called, a ‘superbly original and exquisite spellbinding twenty first love story’, asserted by many of the major mobile photographers and artists operating in our world today. It’s pure poetry, mysterious and yet glittering, enjoy!

Music this week – ‘You’re Still With Me (alternative ending) ©Ali Handal

Rita Colantonio, Deborah McMillion, Kristie Benoit, aka Tman, Jon Arne Foss, Paul Toussaint, Lorenka Campos, Isabel Afonso, borisbschulz2009, Paul Yan, Tomaso Belloni, Candice Railton, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Susan Detroy, Kat McClelland, Jun Yamaguchi, zeeyan, Eduardo Llerandi, Ian Clarke, zeeyan, Eduardo Llerandi, Ian Clarke, Linda Hollier, Clint Cline, Catherine Caddigan, Laila, Oola Cristina, Gianluca Ricoveri, Vako Darispanashvili, Kate Zari Roberts, Judy Wahlberg, Susan Blase, Michael Beresin, Hanni K, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Montse Abad, Karen Axelrad, Yasuo Furue, Basak Aytek, Poetic Medium, Catherine Caddigan, M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Susan Rennie, Tuba Korhan, Fleur Schim, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Paula Broom.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 24 February 2019

25/02/201924/02/2019 by Joanne Carter

“Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.” ― Toni Morrison, Beloved. I read a lot as a child and I still read a good deal as a adult. Beloved, by Toni Morrison is one book that I read as a teenager, that really stayed with me. My great friend Rachel and I were hungry for literature, we read the same books, at the same times and then studied and reviewed them together. Rachel went on to teach A level literature at a grammar school. Beloved is not an easy read, compared I suppose with something like To Kill a Mocking Bird and by saying that, I do not mean to portray the latter as ‘easy to read’, but it is an incredibly rewarding read and it’s one that never gets tired. “Beloved is one of the few American novels that take every natural element of the novel form and exploit it thoroughly, but in balance with all the other elements. The result is that it is dense but not long, dramatic but not melodramatic, particular and universal, shocking but reassuring, new but at the same time closely connected to the tradition of the novel, and likely to mould or change a reader’s sense of the world”, Jane Smiley. Morrison has just published a new book, spanning five decades its said ‘underscores her rage and linguistic brilliance‘. The title is ‘Mouth full of blood’ and I hope to read it soon.

Literature is on a par with photography and art, they’re not dissimilar, each image tells its own story and that story is interpreted by the reader based on their own life experiences. Each image has been created with the upmost intelligence and hope. It is about the relationship between the artist and the viewer, it is important to become literate in both art forms. “writing with photographs constitutes not a minor subset of literary practice, but [is] rather a founda- tional aspect of the modern reading experience” (Beckman and Weissberg xiii). I am planning on expanding on these thoughts in our forthcoming book ‘Away with Words’ and would love it if you would contribute. To find out more about that, please go here.

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Laila, Robi Gallardo, Deborah McMillion, Jean Hutter, Kerry Mitchell, Robin Robertis, Sergiy Beliayev, Peter Klein, Oola Cristina, Karen Axelrad, Susan Blase, Deborah Field, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Qingxian Guo, Chet K, Candice Railton, Kat McClelland, Vadim Demjianov, Kate Zari Roberts, Luc Borell, Jun Yamaguchi, Lydia Cassatt, Deborah Field, Catherine Caddigan, Gianluca Ricoveri, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Juta Jazz, Barbara Braman, Susan Rennie, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Borisbschulz2009, ritacall, Fleur Schim, Clint Cline, Eduardo Llerandi.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 17 February 2019

17/02/201917/02/2019 by Joanne Carter

When my eldest son was at boarding school, there was the most incredible sensory garden for all the children to enjoy, it was an empowering experience and helped many of the children to blossom. A sensory garden has the ability in many ways to become a sensory room. If you’re not familiar with the umbrella term ‘sensory room’ they are essentially rooms, with special lighting, music and objects, a therapeutic place, one of safety in which to deescalate experiences and promote self care, resilience and recovery. When we view art, it’s important to use all five senses too, as much as possible, to not just look and move on but to really try to understand the image, to get into the picture, literally.

Mobile art is as much about presence as the senses, about the awareness of what it is to move through it. Whether the artist themselves has fully utilised all of their senses when creating the art, we can heighten our own experience by not only cascading into the picture but by creating circumstances in which that might happen. When we participate in life with all our senses, whether we are in a sensory garden, a sensory room, viewing art, or making love, it is a far more rewarding form of participation and one that you will feel all the better for by throwing yourself into.

In keeping with my New Year Resolutions, this week you’ll find me at the Intercontinental Park Lane Hotel, as I start preliminary judging the Pink Lady Food Awards.

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Clint Cline, Sergiy Beliayev, Susan Blase, sculptorli, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Oola Cristina, Paul Yan, Eduardo Llerandi, Laila, Kat McClelland, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Deborah McMillion, Scott Simpson, Jean Hutter, Lorenka Campos, Shel Serkin, Jose Matos, Catherine Caddigan, Ade Santora, Rita Cal….., Jun Yamaguchi, Anastasia Potekhina, Hanni K, Enio Godoy, Candice Railton, Gianluca Ricoveri, Arko Rayhan, Juta Jazz, Sherrianne100, Rob Pearson-Wright, Kate Zari Roberts, Maarten Oorwijn, Qingxian Guo, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Barbara Nebel, jilllian2 – Jill Lian, Karen Axelrad, ArrrRT eDUarD, Debara Splendorio, p.a. hamel, Maurizio Zanetti.

Music this week is ‘Love you Forever’ ©Ryan Huston

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr Group Showcase – 16 September 2018

16/09/2018 by Joanne Carter

I love literature almost as much as I love visual art and this week I’ve been indulging in ‘The Letters of Sylvia Plath: Volume II, 1956-1963, edited by Peter K Steinberg and Karen Kukil. The relationship between Ted Huges and Sylvia Plath as we know, was astonishing in its intensity and Plath’s letters, deeply private. The tragedy of their lives is no more acute when you consider what could have been, two immensely gifted poets, who found each other and then literally tore each other apart. Hughes who cheated not only physically but emotionally published poems which Plath discovered, each one a passionate love poem to his lover, ‘describing their orgasms, her ivory body, her smell, her beauty’ and then expressing in a ‘world of beauties he married a hag’. To Plath ‘the knowledge that I am ugly and hateful kills me’. Physically, it’s now known that not only did Plath suffer a miscarriage in February 1961 but her letters reveal the reason, ‘Ted beat me up physically a couple of days before my miscarriage’. How is it that two people, so, on the surface perfectly suited, could penetrate their hatred so intensely within one another? No one is normal but has humanity learned nothing? And thus, I flung myself back into the beautiful world of mobile photography and art, such an evolving and vivid transition. This week I have carefully compiled an extraordinary variety of images as we continue our own revolution in art. When you play this film, you’ll discover a show with a very pure and simple focus: the spectacle being, our radical new way of making art. Enjoy!

Thank you to all artists for submitting your works. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here.

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Don’t forget to check out our online gallery and print sales here.

Music this week is ‘Love is Within Reach’ ©Chris Pierce

Dixon Hamby, Tricia Dewey, Jun Yamaguchi, Amy Ecenbarger, Linda Hollier, Clint Cline, Lorenka Campos, Gianluca Ricoveri, Oola Cristina, TSOriginauzx, P.a. hamel, Kathy Clay, Daniel Piraino, Tomaso Belloni, Fleur Schim, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Armineh Hovanesian, borisbschulz2009, Pier Luigi Dodi, Karen Axelrad, Corbicus Maximus, Candice Railton, Valeria Cammareri, Rudy Ja, Albion Harrison-Naish, Lusion, Ger van den Elzen, Marguerite Khoury, Dina Alfasi, Louis Chibbao, Susan Blase, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Deborah McMillion, Fracesco Sambati, Clint Cline, Susan Rennie, Ioannis Sidiropoulos, Sherrianne100, Mark Walton1, Alan Evans, Mimages,

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr Group Showcase – 10 June 2018

10/06/2018 by Joanne Carter

“Happily ever after is a very relative thing. I’m grateful that I get to be alive”, this is one of the many excerpts from the deepest conversations I had for many years, with our mutual friend, dear Carolyn Hall Young. I miss her immensely, everyday and everyone I’ve ever spoken to, who has known her, … Read moreMobile Photography & Art – Flickr Group Showcase – 10 June 2018

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr Group Showcase – 20 May 2018

20/05/2018 by Joanne Carter

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style”, Maya Angelou – I couldn’t agree more…

What’s happening now in the mobile art and photography scene, as in so many genres of art right now, is a revolt. It’s been building for sometime, but there’s now more urgency. And with that, artists are implored with a range of apocalyptic anxieties. Change is on the cards, however mindful we are aware of this pictorial elegance, we need to support it with passionate pleas and deft authority. At TheAppWhisperer we have a special relationship with our readers, a shared sense of purpose and a commitment to understand and illuminate our times. The depth of our deep sense of duty and responsibility to our readers is to honour the trust your place in us, we ask you to stand by us, we’re just getting started!

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Y F, Deborah McMillion, Cecilia Sao Thiago, Damian De Souza, Susan Blase, Kathy Clay, Lorenka Campos, Korhan Kumral, Jun Yamaguchi, Gabriele Rodriquez, Robi Gallardo, Jillian2 – Jill Lian, Luison – Lrh, Clare Pickett, Tomaso Belloni, Amo Passicos, Valeria Cammareri, Shel Serkin, Lorenka Campos, nashira1901, Sergiy Beliayev, Candice Railton, Gianluca Ricoveri, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Donna Coburn, Clint Cline, Poetic Medium, Susan Rennie, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Linda Hollier, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Barbara Nebel.

Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr Group Showcase – 6 May 2018

06/05/2018 by Joanne Carter

Today, it’s World Laughter Day and I’ve already started… There is too much tension in our nation, our stress levels are too high, none of us are getting out of here alive, relax… When we join with others in laughter, we know how good we feel, remember? It creates social bonds, as we recognise that we’re are experiencing similar emotions, simultaneously. The therapeutic effects of laughter have been clinically studied since the 70s, but Dr Madan Kataria – who developed laughter yoga in Mumbai – is credited with bringing laughter therapy into the mainstream. Kataria set up the first laughter club in 1995. There are now more than 5,000 laughter clubs worldwide. Join with me today, lets celebrate together, we all deserve a thoroughly seductive laughter workout. My agenda this afternoon consists of stripping in my back garden. It’s a red hot bank holiday weekend here in England (very unusual) and it’s high time for my stripping table to make a reappearance into my very beautiful and private garden, where I will spend several hours stripping upon it and drinking lightly chilled Rose, glorious. My love to you all, join me, lets get stripping (whether you have border terriers or not) and laughing, together!

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Valeria Cammareri, Rob Pearson-Wright, ArrrRT eDUarD, Marianne Rieter, Candice Railton, Jun Yamaguchi, Catherine Caddigan, Tomaso Belloni, Das Nicholls, Paul Yan, Jill Lian (jillian2), Kathy Clay, Hanni K, Kate, Mark Swanson, borisbschulz2009, beatrice chappillon, Lydia Cassatt, Sheldon Serkin, Jeronimo Sanz, Susan Blase, Sally Allerton, Damian De Souza, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Susan Maxwell Schmidt, Gianluca Ricoveri, Gina Costa, Lorenka Campos, Deborah McMillion, p.a. hamel, woltarise, Barbara Nebel, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz.

Don’t forget to check out online gallery and print sales website if you want to pick up a unique gift for your mother for the upcoming mothers day in the US.

Mobile Photography & Art Flickr Group Showcase – 21 January 2018

21/01/2018 by Joanne Carter

A work of remarkable cinematic scope, this weeks Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group Showcase portrays an unusual mix of qualities, combining powerful social realism with poetic lyrical resonances that derive from precise imagery and fascination with cultural observations. Revealing the challenges of life around the world right here, right now, at a time when women’s lives in particular are becoming substantially illimitable. ‘We tell ourselves stories in order to live’ wrote Joan Didion, one of America’s greatest essayists and that’s true, of course but in my mind, we create imagery in order to breathe. Enjoy!

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Linda Hollier, Gina Costa, Karen Axelrad, Deborah McMillion, Mim Keo, Clint Cline, Lindy Ginn, Damian DeSouza, Michael Beresin, Dixon Hamby, Tomaso Belloni, Clare Pickett, Y F, Poetic Medium, Cathrine Halsor, Lorenka Campos, Armineh Hovanesian, Susan Blase, Abdalis 3k60, Hanni K, Dina Alfasi, ArrrRT eDUarD, Nika Kutsia, Alex, selin1968, Ralf Παῦλος , Valeria Cammareri, pa.a hamel, Heather McAlister, sculptorli, Candice Railton, Lydia Cassatt, Francesco Sambati, jill Lian, Maddy McCoy, Marguerite Khoury, Giupower, Jun Yamaguchi, Sergiy Beliayev, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker, Barbara Nebel, woltarise, Catherine Caddigan, Ile Mont, borisbschulz2009, Ginaluca Ricoveri, Louise Whiting, Jean Hutter, Sheldon Serkin.