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'Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all.' This fall, the Homeless Children's Playtime Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., is holding an auction to support their programming. Capitol Hill Arts Workshop instructors (c'est moi!) were asked to make a piece of art for the event. I came up with a birdhouse sculpture using recycled materials: birdhouses, a shutter, old nail polish, crepe paper left over from someone's birthday party. It's a whimsical piece for a group dedicated to providing Washington's homeless kids with a safe place to play. The Playtime Project's fundraiser will take place on Oct. 8th at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the event. #Unreal #Sculpture #Birdhouses #RecycledArt #FoundObjects #FoundArt #BirdArt #Whimsical #Quirky #Collage #Birds Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
In A Dream in a dream i stay with you. the sun, blinding and bright, wrinkles my eyes. my skin turns brown; it blends with my tangled, uncombed hair. i lay lazy; my heart slows.. air is taken in with ease while the ride rhythmically hits the shore. so often you are a treat, to be savored and remembered. the wonderful wind, blows over me. the salty sea heals wounds, cuts, and scrapes. gritty, scratchy, sand cradles my flesh; sweet and warm for scuffed winter feet. so often you are a treat, to be savored and remembered. i feel small and content laying here with you; feelings of no remorse in front of the endless sight. i am alone, without the burden of loneliness. may i stay with you? i'll never return to the cramped city, the congested city filled with hustle and scam; while ambitiously waiting for a train or a bus, waiting for the right place, the right time -- no, that isn't you. you see no point in hurrying the day. no fear for the future. i am pleasantly lost with you. i hope not to grow too old, and forget that day i slept with you. so often you are just a treat, to be savored and remembered. #Unreal #Poetry #Photography #NeelyJohnson #SafeLove #Memory #ScrubbedRaw Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Diamond's Blood Words: Charice Cejas Image: Deniz Zeynep See through frosted windows, Slash the gleaming glass! Shards of crystal fall to snow, Dye it red with diamond’s blood. Curse the damned illusions, Cast away your mask! Scattered specks of clarity, Dye them red with diamond’s blood. The walking corpse of chivalry Tips his tattered hat, Shreds to pieces your perfect dress, Dyes it red with diamond’s blood. #Unreal #Poetry #Photography #ChariceCejas #DenizZeynep #Illusions #Clarity #Unmasked #Imagery Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Underneath My project, “Underneath,” is an exploration of female identity and sexuality conveyed through literature and illustration on underwear. The medium and process include embroidery, illustration/handwritten text with fabric ink, cut fabric, and additional materials. Each pair can stand alone as a single object, or make a more powerful statement as an art piece as a complete set. The concepts meant to be interpreted from this work include women’s sexual oppression, undervalued sexual identities, and self-expression. The phrases on the patches are quotes that I find particularly impactful and relevant to gender/sexuality. Feminist authors, philosophers, and activists like Anne Koedt, Luce Irigaray, and Gayle Rubin are a few of the women whose words influenced me to create this body of work. Koedt’s "Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm" is a compelling essay that provides an argument as to why society downplays the importance of clitoral stimulation and encourages vaginal pleasure. Freud’s sexist theories along with his brutal, burdensome claims of female sexuality were also strong motivators for this work. I included his notions of penis envy and male sexual dominance to critique this perspective and contrast it with more liberating ideals. Though critiques of his assumptions are thoroughly included within Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Feminine Mystique, as well as many other feminist works, I found it important to include a bit of Freud’s implications to educate and inform, as well as for creating clear direction and purpose for the work by opposing his claims. The most important things I hope people can take from “Underneath” is a better understanding of how a male-dominated society can and does directly influence female sexuality. The goal is liberation from sexual oppression, freedom of expression, equally obtainable gratification, and standards. #Unreal #Underneath #Underwear #Panties #Feminism #Feminist #Womanhood #Sexuality #Quotes #Embroidery Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
A Home for the Soul By Elizabeth S. Gilliam-Hedgepath Drippy Dreamscapes. When I was still in college and during the years shortly after I graduated, my work had all of the venom and statement-making intention I could muster. The paintings were heavy, metallic, intricate, and utilitarian. Then, one day a few years back, a painting emerged out of somewhere deep and lovely in my brain. It was a soft, blue, ethereal light and drippy thing. It begat a subtle transition into a desire for my paintings to impart peace and evoke nostalgia for a world only visited in dreams. I want to create images of things that feel familiar but that have never existed. I have always wanted that, but my work has grown with me and I now like to think of myself as a creator of surreal dreamscapes. I don’t even have a website yet, so it’s hard to think of myself as a real 21st century artist sometimes, but I suppose that is just my way of staying a bit more primitive, or maybe an excuse for being a bit too much inside my own head. Drippy, Oozy, Suspended Madness. I am crazy about science. If I didn’t have art rolling around in my head all day I like to think that I would have made a fine scientist. Because of this, the natural world and my fascination with the endlessness of space all show themselves in the pictures I create. I love exploring balance, suspension, and contrast within my work, as well as lightness both in terms of weight and illumination. We humans have such heavy, busy, wonderful, tragic, exciting, intricate, dichotomous lives. Everyone needs a happy peaceful place—a home for their soul. Physically I think mine is somewhere in the misty mountains of western North Carolina. Mentally, it is somewhere in the painted light blue, drippy, suspended oozy beautiful madness I have made on canvas. #Unreal #FeaturedArtist #Painters #Paintings #FantasticalArt #Nostalgia #Dreamy #ScientificInfluence #NorthCarolina Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
See Through My Hands My palms taste the clouds and think of blueberry cream. Cobbler and clobber may be two different words, but both pack a hit. Does that explain why I no longer have fingernails? Reach, sun dog, reach. Run, sun dog, run. I may be blind, but I am not toothless or tongueless, armless or legless, mindless or dreamless. I have eyes so don't call me eyeless. Can you hear rainbows and smell butterflies? #Unreal #Poem #Blindness #Empathy #Compassion #Fingernails #Fingers #Hands #Palms #Feeling #SensoryDetails #Senses Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
SidewalkLike my concrete seat. Cracked. Exposed underbelly. Green nude. I pray. Pen in hand. A rant to the deaf; a question. My colored spit. Chalked and tacky. A spread flesh display. Grey. Clouded over. Wet and scuffed white. My run off incites. Sewage. Drained. Guttered. Left for collection. #Unreal #Poetry #Photography#EleniKanakis#DenizZeynep#Exposed#Cracked#Imagery# Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Untitled Him & Her "Untitled Him" , oil and acrylic, 30" x 40", 2012 I’ve always found nudity in art alluring due to the fact that society rejects public nudity, but celebrates nudity publicly through art. Exploring this concept lead me to research 16th century censorship in art brought on by the Roman Catholic Church. After learning of alterations imposed by the church on ancient Greek and Roman statues by way of having their genitals covered or removed, I was inspired to paint “Untitled Him," in 2012. This year, 2014, I’ve returned to the concept by painting “Untitled Her," which explores the contemporary religious censorship of the female body. "Untitled Her" , oil and acrylic, 30" x 40", 2014 #Unreal #Art #Paintings #Untitled #Him #Her #OilPainting #Nudity #Religion #Censorship #HumanBodies #BodyImage Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Safari An American family went on safari in Kenya. They saw: wildebeest, lions, cape buffalo, vervet monkeys, elephants, a leopard, warthogs, reticulated giraffes, an olive baboon, mouse birds, dwarf mongoose, plains zebra, pink flamingos, and too many Thompson’s gazelles. The little girl cried because they had come all this way and not seen a rhinoceros. Her daddy apologized on behalf of all humanity for greed, corruption, and the inability of his generation to save the Earth’s natural heritage for hers. The ranger said the preserve had several rhino, but the tours don’t see them often because they’re such loners. It was better this way, because those animals are aggressive and wild. Didn’t the little girl like the elephants better? He didn’t want her to see the hornless carcass he’d found that morning or the guards posted near each rhino with their scary guns. The girl didn’t sleep that night, thinking of all the pictures of the pretty rhinos in her room at home. The father didn’t sleep that night, wondering if the guide was telling the truth. He continued to feel guilty and inadequate. They did not see: the moon casting glimmers on the watering hole or the ginger steps of the three-toed feet as the black rhinos came out of the bush to greet their friends and neighbors with sniffs and nose-rubs. As they ate, drank, made love, and checked in with each other, their horns glowed ghostly white and their black eyes glinted. The little girl might have cried to see that they were even more beautiful than her pictures at home. And when the sun began to color the sky a deep purple, they huffed their goodbyes and went their separate ways before the groaning trucks and shouting humans came back again. #Unreal #FlashFiction #CreativeWriting #ShortStory #Fiction #Safari #Illustration #Africa #WildAnimals Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Memory and Dream Flags Old photos and illustrated dreams transferred on various cloth. #Unreal #Art #Patches #Fabric #MixedMedia #Memory #Dreams Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. |