If you live near Richardson in the DFW area, check out the Cottonwood Art Festival this weekend. Artists will include painters, sculptors, 2D mixed media, glass blowers, jewelry makers, metalsmiths and wood workers. Artists Nisha and Dan Ferguson,i.e. "DaNisha" are the featured artists for this event.

Musical performances include 2tone, Definitely Maybe, Oso Closo, Fishing for Comets, Southbound Texas 35, Jennifer J. Lee, The J.R. Byrd Band, and others. 

At least ten food vendors should be on hand as well. So if you're in the mood for some art-centric family fun, check out the festival at Cottonwood Park this Saturday and Sunday, May 3rd and 4th. 

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In its broadest sense, conventional wisdom considers art as taking an idea out of the air and creating something that didn’t exist before.

Susan Crane, an art student at the University of Maine in Farmington put American flags on the floor of a museum as a way to “make a statement.” She said she did it to “spark conversation and thought about how we really feel about our flag.”  She went on to say that about 95-98% of the people who came to see her exhibit didn’t walk on the flags.

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(Photo: Peggy Noonan)

Here are some my favorite American journalists who rarely fail to amaze me with their wit and erudition, powerful prose, and clarity of thought.

Peggy Noonan

She writes for the Wall Street Journal. Her Friday columns is a must reading for me. She used to be Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter. A devout Catholic and a committed Republican that I trust, despite the fact that I’m neither.

Her recent comments on Hillary Clinton’s turbulent candidacy should be enough to give you a sense of her depth and brilliance as a political commentator:

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(Novelist Norman Mailer during his salad days. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Have you heard about the Justine Larbalestier Survey?

Justine Larbalestier, a novelist from Down Under, conducted his own informal survey and asked his 18 "fellow Aussies, folks from the UK, Canada and the US" how much they got for their first novel. Seven of those who responded are full-time writers.

Here are the results:

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Photo by Quarlo.com

I’m a sucker for NYC photo blogs (PBs) because I love the Big Apple but I never had the chance to live there on a long-term basis.

So NYC photo blogs are how I try to get my regular fix of things-New-Yoark.

With every photo I remember once again how much I love this sultry, chaotic, and majestic Mother of All Cities.

Here is a short list of my top favorite NYC PBs, plus another which has nothing to do with NYC but one you should really support by visiting.

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(Best-selling author Dan Brown. Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Let's continue our empirical investigation into novelists' income with the League of Utah Writers (LUW) 2004 Survey.

The results of a survey that the League of Utah Writers conducted in 2004 with 234 writers re-confirm the plight of non-technical writers.

The survey found that the average income received from writing over 12 months for all writer members was a pitiful $2,705.

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(JK Rowling. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Novelists are among the worst paid writers.

Yes, the Steven Kings, Dan Browns, and JK Rowlings of this world get paid extremely well.

Actually, Rowling is said to be on her way up to become the first writer in human history poised to earn $1 billion over her career.

But the average novelist is practically hungry and driving that same old rust-bucket god knows since when.

It takes years to write a decent novel.

Then it takes equally long to find an agent.

And when years later, the book finally gets published, the advance is usually around $5,000.

That's all most novelists will ever see since royalties are not guaranteed. And even when they earn any royalties, the checks take months or sometimes even a whole year to arrive.

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(Photo: Gugenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain)

Frank Gehry has arguably been the most controversial architect of the late 20^th and early 21^st century. Just one look at his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain is enough to give an idea about his unusual approach to architecture.

A Gehry building is like nothing else you've seen before. It's outrageously creative, unique, and flamboyant. It's a classic head-turner.

As far as I'm concerned, Gehry is the unacknowledged founder of the "Why Not? School of Architecture."

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Claude Chabrol is one of my five favorite French directors. (The other four are Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and Francois Ozon.)

With a career spanning over 40 years, Chabrol gave us many fascinating films; some with thought-provoking innovations that reshaped my understanding of the 3-Act Structure.

Here I'd like to mention two of them that I especially like: the emergent antagonist, and multiple culprits.

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I cannot overemphasize the importance or significance of this. J. M. W. Turner is one of my top three favorite painters of all time. When I studied European art history for a semester in Copenhagen, it was Turner who caught my eye first and held it the longest. 

What is it about his art that makes me pause to enjoy?

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I'm going to use a lot of generalizations here, so if that is your only comment at the end, save it. 

After a profoundly enjoyable evening with a local writer's group, I walked away with a newfound sense of appreciation for artists. I am an artist, though you couldn't tell by my daily production. Duty calls for marketing messages that compel readers to act. But at my center, I am a poet and creative writer. 

And while the tips from Copyblogger, Problogger and dozens of blogging, branding, and marketing experts are invaluable for corporate blogs, the same principles are stifling and unnatural for many strictly creative types. I call all creative types "artists", because anything creative can be art: words, paint, dance, sculpture, song, design, etc. 

I've spent the lion's share of this site's existence on marketing principles recommended by the experts. The danger there is missing the forest for the trees. CultureFeast will be two years old in November. Prior to this, the only writing I showed anyone outside the office was poetry, prose, or journal entries that I felt were worth sharing. 

You have to be careful not to suffocate your art with marketing. It happens all the time. You have something worth sharing, but in order to get the public's attention, you have to walk a fine line balancing marketing and artistic sincerity. 

My advice: read the tips and study effective marketing strategies, but realize that they must not overtake the art. Balance. It's not a fun word. It's not a sexy word. Balance is not a popular concept, because it's one of those responsibilities people don't want to take the time to mess with.

Be true to your art. Look for ways to hone your craft that can make it more successful without losing power. Whether you post words, photos, or video, there are sure-fire ways to improve your presentation without sacrificing content. There are also plenty of opportunities to focus on results rather than the message.

There are enough self-improvement gurus already. Guard your art with your life! If you don't, you'll discover that the purpose of your art has declined from the pleasure of creation to that of recognition. Recognition is wonderful, but it's fickle and fleeting. The first and foremost active ingredient in successful artistry is quality product. Preserve quality at all cost.  

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