Artists are constantly strung to their work while simultaneously (and rather obsessively) focused on all possible creative endeavors. The driving force behind great arts seems to be this OCD quality and need for creative perfection.  Artists, as well as designers have an extreme case of extroverted intuition. A constant need to observe, interpret, and make. This is with cost, the artist will become a loner, not nearly as social. A tremendous interpersonal frustration forms. The individual artists needs social context, and are driven away from this need by the creative pursuit. What is this individual to do?

Creative thinkers are now imbued with endless social possibilities online. Personal links and networks across continents can form, all while the artists is scudded away in the confines of his dark studio. Essentially, web social media has given artists a modern day form of communication (a movement in a sense). Sites like core77.com have brought thousands of artists/designers together in one spot. Issues in design are brought to the masses and discussed through forums and blogs. Individual and company portfolios are laid out for all to see. These web communities merely reflect creative group-think persona that has been around for ages. Artists are provided with an outlet to observe as well as a path to communicate.

Since the cavemen, artists have reached out to each other (a need driven by their lack of social context). It seems as though every great creative period involved major communities of artist. Grand masters of the renaissance period collaborated with peers and students. Salvador Dali amongst other great painters intermingled during the surrealist movement. Artists worked with each other in studios, some even lived together. This is really no different today save for that creative communication has been optimized through the Internet.

I find it rather odd when individuals detest the advantages of web media. I hear stuff like “Twitter and Facebook are destroying our privacy.” The truth, is that web media is just a more fantastic tool by which people can communicate, especially for those creative types. No longer are people of similar interest confined to groups within a small geographical range. The “isolated artist,” has web media to provide that that potent outlet for social context. Old habits are treated with a new means solution.

Perhaps Starbucks enlisted me at too early an age with Grande Caramel Macchiatos and its many variations. How could I even compare leaf-flavored hot water to a caramel chocolaty caffeinated shake that my mom somehow allowed me to drink before school?

In the last year, though, I’ve voyaged out to discover what the big deal was, why my dad, who remembers nobody’s name remembers Earl Grey’s when he’s sick, why my roommate always makes a cup of chamomile before bed, why the English dedicate a whole time in their day to the brew.

Enter: Sarah Rose. Author of the new release For All The Tea in China.

It’s kind of strange how things work out. One day a weird girl is weirdly wondering about why people don’t find tea that weird, the next, she’s interviewing the author of a book about the history of tea!

Rose’s For All the Tea in China is a nonfiction book that reads like a fictional page-turner. As you travel with Robert Fortune on his journey through China to steal the recipe for the beloved beverage, you realize that putting some dried leafy stuff in hot water is a perfected, ancient art. There was a time when tea made the world go round. It influenced foreign policy, and it catapulted men into adventures into the unknown. You could say that tea is drink that launched a thousand ships…or one man, Robert Fortune, with the tenacity of a thousand ships to bring tea under British power.

I got to interview Sarah Rose, a native of Chicago, about For All the Tea in China. Here’s what she had to say:

1. How many cups of tea did you drink while writing “For All The Tea in China?” Or, oh no. Are you a coffee drinker?

For about 2 years in the middle of the book, I couldn’t touch the stuff. I would look at a cup of tea and shudder. I got over it. Now I love tea again. (and no, I’m not a coffee drinker)

2. I follow you now on Twitter. You Tweet a good amount of clever and fun 140 or less characters. As a writer and published author, why did you join Twitter? Does Twitter and other forms of new media “do” anything for the modern writer?

I joined for mercenary reasons, I thought Twitter might be a good avenue to promote FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA. There is a pretty active tea community on Twitter. But once I got on, I was hooked. Twitter is a running diary of randomness, a way of keeping up with the world, with tea, and with friends.

3. You recently Tweeted: “Am excited possible new gig will include mag content for iPad – cool new world for #writers” What is your “new gig,” and what do you see the iPad and similar technology has in store for writers.

Since it’s still in the realm of the possible – not the confirmed – I can’t say more yet. But it’s just so easy to buy things on the iPad, I think there’s real hope for the written word there. Not as much because of the multimedia capacity – though that’s awesome – but because it’s the easiest way in the world to spend very little money quickly. And I’d really like to see magazines and books survive so I’ll hope for magic.

4. As a Chicago-based blog, and being a Chicago native myself, I have to ask: Does being a Chicagoan influence your writing or your inspiration?

Being a Chicagoan influences everything I do. First of all, it is the greatest city on the planet. I feel overwhelmingly lucky to have grown up in a place that boasts a deep pool of talent with very little bullshit. It’s a good place to become good at things, no one is watching you fail. No one cares. Then you move to the East Coast and everyone thinks you’re so talented and normal.

5. For All the Tea in China narrates mostly the adventures of Robert Fortune and his escapades to bring Chinese tea to the English masses. Do you see Fortune as a hero or a thief? You explored China, too. While writing your book did you ever feel a kinship to Fortune? Like you were both searching for something in China?

Fortune and I were in a struggle with each other. I would sit down at my computer thinking, ok, Bob, you and me, we’re in this together, can we please make a page work today? His Victorian arrogance frustrated me, but I also couldn’t help but admire his pluck, his swashbuckling improvisation. He spent three years in China, a stranger in a strange land, in the name of science and commerce. My first experiences in China were much less glamorous – I was a backpacker right out of college and Hong Kong is where I went broke, so I got a job and stayed. Returning for the book, I had a mission: to find what was left of pre-nationalist, pre-communist China, to see if there was anything old left in the most rapidly modernizing place on earth.

Was he a thief? In modern eyes, most certainly yes. At the time there was no sense that botanical products could obtain any kind of intellectual property protection whatsoever. There was no intellectual property. But he knew what he was doing was illegal, that the laws of China expressly forbid his presence there.

6. You say writing For All the Tea in China took five “grueling” years. Why so grueling? And for the sake of our tech buffs out there, what word processing did you use?

Grueling isn’t the half of it. Five abusive years. Five miserable years. Five years of degradation, abject poverty, frustration, humiliation. Publishing is a ridiculous business. No one with self esteem should ever write a book.

For the tech buffs, I used word 2002, I think. Someday I’ll need a fancier version, but see poverty above.

7. I heard through the grapevine, aka Twitter, that you recorded your voice for the For All the Tea in China audio book. What was that experience like? Have you listened to the final product? Have you used any other new methods to market your book?

I did record the audio! We just won some fancy awards for it – from Library Journal and AudioFile (Phile?). It was probably the very last time I’ll ever read For All the Tea in China, so it was kind of touching. And it was isolating, I was alone in a booth every day for a week. Just me and the product of all this labor. But I’m so happy I got the chance to do it – I actually had to audition to read my own book.

I would do anything to sell this book. A writer needs readers. If I thought it would help to bake cookies for every single person who sent me a bookstore receipt proving they bought the thing, I would. It has always been my hope that tea shops would pick it up, what the industry calls “non-traditional retail sales”. Michael Harney, of Harney and Sons, sells it. But it’s too disappointing to walk into tea shops in every city asking for it and only finding “Three Cups of Tea”

8. I understand your research came from mostly Fortune’s journals. What other methods did you use for your incredible research? What role did the Internet play in your research?

I made several trips to the British Library in London, where the remainders of the East India Company documents are kept. It’s a wonderful place and I had a mad crush on the brain of their China expert. The Company documents provided a good check on Fortune’s personal memoirs, I could confirm where he was when and what he was doing. I also spent a lot of time flying home to the Regenstein Library – my mother still lived in Chicago then. It’s the greatest open stack library on the planet, a tremendous resource, the entire world should bow down before the Regenstein and kiss what used to be Stagg field. (beware the radiation)

The internet was more helpful in the last years than it was in the beginning. When I began this project, I stood in the basement of Regenstein xeroxing all of Fortune’s books because they were only for sale for $145 by some rare academic press that made its money gouging libraries. Now everything is available on Google Books – I can download Fortune to my eReader. Oh, brave new world.

9. I left your book with a much deeper respect for botany and tea. The time and science that goes into each. What would you say was the most important thing you took with you after writing this book?

I, too, fell for the botanists in a big way. I’ve come to think of them in the same way I think of the guys at Xerox Parc in the 70s, the geeks who paved the way to a technological revolution. Nothing was ever the same again.

And personally, I have developed a healthy wariness of book writing. When I proposed this book, I was young and green, hopeful and optimistic. Now I am old and wizened and feel every mile, every disappointment . So really the most important thing I’ve learned is how truly special books are as a form. For two or three nights, or over the course of an airplane ride, some stranger engages with a project from my pen. I command their attention. They imagine my thoughts and follow my story. And people actually like it! I get letters. There is no magazine story that powerful – well, none that I’m likely to write, anyway. I’m still not certain writing books is worth all the pain – but the reward is profound.

10. What do you see for yourself in the future?

Someday I’ll write another book. I’m still feeling pretty bruised. Every time I talk about a new project, it ends up sounding like I’m describing weight lifting.

So for the moment I’ve had a great year travel writing for various magazines. It’s even more financially ruinous than writing books, but the immediate perks are better.

I need to earn a living. So I’ve been thinking about getting a real job. You know, one of those plentiful, rewarding, glamorous writing jobs.

For All the Tea in China can be found in a bookstore near you, or online.

(http://www.amazon.com/All-Tea-China-England-Favorite/dp/1400165377)

Or download a copy to your Kindl.

Follow Sarah Rose on Twitter: @TheSarahRose

In a nutshell Google Me is a social network that doesn’t have the restrictions that come with G-Mail like Google Buzz did. Other than what it doesn’t have, Google is playing it low-key and letting the speculation run rampant and spread word for them. All they are saying is that it will be a much simpler networking tool without all the games and spam messages. (Roughly the same thing Facebook said when they went up against MySpace.)

This would actually be Google’s third try at running a social network. The first try was way back in 2004 when Facebook was in its infancy. The Orkut caught on in Latin America but was a dud in the United States and Google Buzz was drowned out in complaints of privacy breaches and glitches that revealed private data. Of course you don’t get to be a company as big as Google without learning from your mistakes, right?

Google has had a habit hyping up their new products. Every year Google has a new and revolutionary product and sometimes that works in their favor and sometimes it doesn’t in the case of Google Buzz it just didn’t live up to its hype. As I said, this time Google is keeping quiet about exactly what Google Me is, preferring to let to build a groundswell by using sites like Wired. Com and G4tv to get people talking about what exactly what they have coming.

Google certainly learned the value of picking a good time to launch. Facebook has been getting some bad press recently for breaches in privacy and information exposing glitches. There’s even a movie coming out in the fall that could cause Facebook and the people behind it some headaches in the media (See trailer) If Google can spin Facebook’s bad press into good press for them this could be the break they’ve been waiting for.

So how does Facebook respond to all this? If I were their marketing wizard I would publicize the new privacy setting and talk about cracking down on spammers and bots.  I would promote Facebook like they did back when they took on MySpace.  They were the place to hold conversations, stay in touch with friends, and above all downplay all the bells and whistles that they’ve added over time and focus on the networking aspects.

One of the reason’s Facebook has been so successful is that it has shown a remarkable ability to adapt to what people want. When Twitter became a hit, Facebook quickly retooled their front page to assimilate with their ideas. If Google is going to beat Facebook it better do something that catches on quickly and surprises Facebook by doing something fairly innovative.  They said Google Buzz would be revolutionary but it turned out to be just another version of 4-Square using your G-Mail account.

Google has said they will launch Google Me later this year.   The odds are we’ll know pretty quickly whether or not it’s a success.   A massive launch like this is either a hit right out of the gate or it’s nothing and there are only so many times Google can announce they are taking on social networking before people stop listening so this could be their last shot at it.  As far as your own advertising dollars there could very well be a downturn in Facebook traffic as these privacy complaints pile up.  If internet privacy becomes a big issue Facebook will most likely find themselves doing some major damage control.  If Google Me can set itself apart from the rest it could be an interesting way to get your message out there.

news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20009159-265.html

edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/06/28/facebook.attitude/?fbid=EcJX7RW-7kT

www.inrumor.com/in/all/will-google-me-compete-facebook/

mashable.com/2010/06/30/google-me-rumors/

Ryan: How many times have you answered the question “What is a Choonimal?”:

Chris: At least 5x per event, and roughly 2x a week, so that would be about 204.34x a year. Math.

Ryan: What is a Choonimal?

Chris: Ha! Choonimals are a bunch of rabid, gnarl-toothed, crook-eyed, kinda scary but kinda cute animals my friends and I dreamt up in high school and continue to create even though we should be acting like grown men by now.

Ryan: See what I did there?

Chris: Yes, I saw that. So now it’s 205.34x a year.

Ryan: When you first started drawing these crazy cartoon creatures, did you have any expectation as to where it might take you?

Chris: None of us did, no. Initially we just drew them in class to aggravate our teacher and classmates and make each other laugh. We forgot about them for a few years, and rediscovered them in college. I’m not really sure how this next part happened, but we started drawing them on people at parties with markers, and next thing I knew, there was a line out to the moon of people waiting to get a Choon drawn on them. So, we finally accepted the fact that people kind of like them, so we decided to put them on shirts to allow the disease to spread a little more.

Ryan: Given how abstract some of your Choonimals are, do you ever get inspired by their real life counterparts? Or do your ‘Choons’ simply swim around in the back of your mind?

Chris: Most of the Choons I draw were inspired by the real animals, or by recommendations from fans. I watch a lot of nature shows and keep my eye out for the dumbest looking animals on the show, like the Star Nosed Mole (pictured right) and the Elephant Shrew. Strangest creatures. I want one.

Ryan: Cool, weird or both. What was it like seeing someone you don’t know, have a tattoo of the artwork you create?

Chris: AMAZING! Nothing is more exciting than seeing a rogue fan come up to me and say, “LOOK! I GOT A CHOON TATTOO!” It floors me. I’ve been collecting an album of them all, and I actually just came across two new ones this week!

Ryan: Choonimals recently released some big news. Have you stopped smiling since your Warped Tour Announcement?

Chris: We are all ecstatic for Warped Tour! It’s kind of surreal to think we will be at all 43 dates, touring like a band. I’m not sure I really know what to expect. I’m so excited to meet all the awesome bands, fans, and people we expect to see there. I think that will make it all worth it in itself.

Ryan: Choonimals has always been committed to giving back. Why is it so important for you guys to be involved in philanthropic endeavors?

Chris: I think a lot of people live in their own little snow globe, where every thing is perfect and happy and full of glitter, and all the bad stuff they see on the news is happening outside their little bubble. It’s extremely important, not just for us, but for everyone to do their part and show that we all live in the same bubble. I’ve personally seen some horrific things in far off lands that people do not realize exist, simply because they can’t SEE it. We get involved with charities mostly to expose the problem and issues at hand. The money we donate hopefully leads to other people doing the same, telling someone, etc.

Ryan: What’s one question you wished more people asked?

Chris: “Where did the name “Choonimal” come from?” (They’re named after an old lady named Choon that worked at an Arby’s during our high school years).

Ryan: So it’s not “are you single?”

Chris: No, it’s definitely not that, haha.

Ryan: If you could grant life to one Choonimal , which one would it be? and why?

Chris: That is the best question I’ve ever been asked. I’m going to have to say the Grauff (pictured left on a Choonimals shirt), because it’s neck is so crooked, and it looks so confused, that I would love to see it try and hang out with other giraffes in Africa. I’m actually laughing right now just imaging the scenarios in my head, haha.

Ryan: What ultimately motivates you to do what you do?

Chris: The confused smiles on peoples faces when they walk by our booth, the tattoo’s from devoted strangers, the kind words from our fans, the never ending ideas spawning through my head, I could go on and on.

Ryan: Thanks a lot Chris, best of luck with your big summer. Anything else you want to say?

Chris: Snakes are just really long necks.

To learn more about Choonimals, visit their website at http://www.choonimals.com/

The Vans Warped Tour will make a stop in the Chicago area on July 31st at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. If you’re there, make sure to stop by and say hello to Chris. Tell him the Stairwell blog sent you.

Who’s Tim Gunn? He’s a fashion sage/life mentor to all who take his always-dead-on advice. Oh, and he co-hosts my favorite reality TV show, Project Runway. In each episode, Gunn checks in on the competing designers during challenges and says things like “this worries me” or “make it work!”

Beside the fact that I’d sit down with Tim Gunn and ask him questions that have absolutely nothing to do with fashion—Do you like Diet Coke? What do you think of this health care stuff? Can we do this again?—he’s really opened my eyes to fashion design and all of its facets: concept, textiles, tailoring and styling.

So, I was more than excited when Chicago’s Art Institute fashion student, Lisa Rigney, invited me to see her at work.

Lisa Rigney is a third year, which means the project for the May 7th fashion show is three looks. For those of you who aren’t familiar with fashion design and construction, that’s a lot of look to make, and yet, Rigney seemed very calm and composed. Her coolness (which I’d like to point out means both her calm affect and fierce swagger evident in her neat-o shirt she spruced up with some found fabric) might have something to do with the fact that she knows what she wants to create and is open to evolve.

Rigney says fashion is her little world that she can control. It’s not just about becoming a seamstress; it’s about making art. Part of her art is inspired by the Slow Fashion Movement. Think of Slow Fashion as the opposite to stores like Forever 21. Slow Fashion garbs are made with all materials organic, recycled or fair trade and produced for the long-term.

Slow Fashion means more time thinking about each piece of the puzzle. And you can see these ideals in Rigney’s own process when you notice how the wheels have been turning in her head for quite some time.

For example, she takes the notion of her father’s structured UPS uniform, an iconic costume she’s grown up with day after day, and deconstructs it to conceptual fashion.

The overall theme for her three looks is “One last hissy fit before I grow up.”

If I were to chime in Tim Gunn-style here I’d say that for a hissy fit, the work is beautiful, innovative and most definitely, art.

Here’s what Lisa has to say about her craft:

Q: When people think of fashion design, many things come to mind, from elite runway shows to mass production in some far off place. What does fashion design mean to you? And why are you pursuing it?

A: I think fashion has an amazing ability to keep an individual actively engaged in life. What a person chooses to wear is always a reflection of their immediate surroundings: the weather, the society, the time. The repetition of getting dressed can seem mundane, but it is sometimes the first active decision we make in a day. In return, I believe a fashion designer always has to be actively engaged in his or her immediate environment, to either cater to it or break it.

Q: As an emerging fashion designer, what do you want to bring to the world of fashion? What do you want to change about it?

A: We have witnessed tremendous advances in communication technology. The world has never been so small, and the ability to comprehend the amount of people on our planet has never been so large. Networks of people are no longer determined by physical location. Instead, we have the ability to form networks based solely on similar interests. I think this factor has started to fragment the fashion industry a bit, allowing those interested in fashion outside of New York, Paris, and Milan to experience what is happening on the runway via live video streaming, blogs, and twitter almost as soon as those sitting at the shows. My hope is that the fashion industry will continue to be fragmented and niche markets will start thriving.

I think that designers have such an amazing opportunity to slow down the fashion cycle and make clothing consumption more sustainable. I’m not talking about sacrificing good design and replacing it with tree-hugging hemp wear, but taking on a design challenge that involves the whole system, from sketch to material to manufacture to marketing to disposal that provides consumers with a product that is guilt free and of high quality.

Q: Tell me about the SAIC spring fashion show. What is the importance of the show and what will you be presenting and why?

A: The SAIC fashion show is going to be really exciting this year. It’s going to be held in the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute Museum. It’s just an honor to be able to show our work in such a beautiful space that houses some of the best modern art in the world. Students in the fashion department core program focus their entire second semester on preparing garments for the show. The show gives us all an opportunity as students to experience a professional runway show, and it is treated very seriously among students and faculty. We really try to focus on using the body as an active armature for visual and artistic expression, challenging the way we perceive the body and how we interact with the world we live in.

Q: Why is Chicago a good city to study fashion? Are you ever inspired by the city?

A: Chicago is a great city in which to study fashion because it is culturally rich in a lot of ways, but there isn’t the same pressure and competition that a city like New York might present to a student of fashion. I have personally found that without the pressure of trying to fit my designs in an existing market, I’ve been able to solely focus on finding my own unique path as a fashion designer. I think it’s a wonderful way to reach your potential as a great designer: to experiment and find a personal visual vocabulary first, and then figure out how to market your designs later.

Q: How have the last few years changed fashion design at the student level in terms of technology? What’s now possible? New computer programs? Machines? How computer savvy can a fashion designer get these days? Educate us.

A: It really feels like a lot of students are turning to programs like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create fashion illustrations or at least to prepare their designs for a portfolio presentation. SAIC requires all students to have a Mac laptop, and each of us is equipped with the Adobe Creative Suite, so I think that is proof it’s becoming more and more important as a designer or an artist to be able to use these programs.

I personally do all of my design illustrations on the computer simply because I found a method that simulates the way I like to create. I start by experimenting with materials and shapes on the dress form, and then I scan or take pictures of these elements and collage them on a figure in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

We have access to other advanced equipment like laser cutters that can cut materials based on computer design files, a heat press that can fuse materials together, and a computer embroidery machine. Overall I think it’s really important or at least beneficial for a designer to be computer savvy. In my experience, almost everyone who is interested in seeing my work would prefer to see a website, a disc, or a pdf rather than a material portfolio, and having the ability to use programs myself to enhance the presentation of my work has been really beneficial.

Q: How in your eyes will technology change the way you and other fashion designers just coming up in the industry produce designs and get noticed?

A: I really think fashion designers will continue investigating video to showcase their designs as opposed to photography. There are a lot of designers collaborating with video artists now, and I think it’s really exciting. Blogs are really huge in terms of exposure. I myself have 5 or so blogs I look at everyday to see what’s new in terms of design, and there is really no other medium that can spread information so quickly. I think blogs are reaching a level of sophistication in terms of content and aesthetic that is comparable to high end magazines, and I think they are going to keep going in that direction.

Q: What didn’t we ask? What are your predictions for fashion design in the next 10 years?

A: Part of me thinks that crazed closet Project Runway fans and sons and daughters of Home Ec teachers will start a DIY movement for fashion design similar to the knitting craze that budded a few years ago. Posting print friendly patterns on the Internet and demo videos for how to construct it. I think a DIY fashion movement could be really cool, maybe there already is one that I don’t know about. It seems like those within the fashion industry try to maintain an elitism that intimidates the public, making fashion design inaccessible, but I think the more that the mystique of the industry becomes exposed on the Internet, people will start seeing it as more accessible. It’s amazing what the Internet has enabled in the past few years in terms of offering professional creative tools to the common public. With the ability to download free software that is almost as good as the professional versions and instructional videos on YouTube. I think that would be awesome if people started posting patterns of a clothing design they created. It could be a really effective alternative to buying interesting fashion on a small budget, and would actually be a sustainable manufacturing solution. Most fashion magazines like Harpaar’s and Vogue used to provide patterns of the latest fashion in the early 20th century, using the Internet could be a modern take on it.

And, of course, I had to…

Q: Would you ever audition for Project Runway?

A: Probably not. I think the show is entertaining, but the designers on the show are put into such a vulnerable state. The contestants work hard for their rewards, but I think they must miss a more natural process of achieving success, where things are learned over time through experience, not condensed into a short amount of time in high stress situations. It just seems like a shortcut to me.

The 2010 SAIC student fashion show is this Friday May 7th.

Lisa’s Chicago Slow Fashion recommendation:

Frei Designs http://www.freidesigns.com/

Q: How did you get started with the podcast?

A: It started in May 2009. I was working in documentary film and video production and getting into green blogging. I started to question where my food came from and I attacked those questions by starting OrganicNation.tv. Using video and social media tools came naturally to me as a way to share what I learned with the public.

Q: So is that the best medium for the message?

A: Definitely. The videos and the blog work well together because we provide links and resources for our viewers to explore subjects in more depth.

Q: Current TV also started with online videos and a blogging community and you’ve done some things with them. How did that come about?

A: I started submitting to them a few years ago. They’re great because they showed that there is a place for our kind of online videos to be viewed by a large number of people and have built a community around that.

Q: Switching gears a bit to social media, what do you do on a daily basis to build your fan base?

A: I make sure I am always updating with the latest content whether it’s something I’ve created or something from someone else. I try to be generous with the community and support others’ work. Hopefully they return the favor.

Q: What is your number one rule of building a social media fan base?

A: Listen first. Look at your competitors and get the landscape of the community. Find influential users on a social media platform (like Twitter) and pay attention to how they use the tool to communicate. That’s actually more than one. (laughs) One thing people don’t realize is that you can’t assume people are going to know about your new page, social media profile or video. You have to get the word out via your website, newsletter and other ways. For example, sometimes I’ll post a link to a company’s Facebook page on their Twitter feed just to make sure everyone knows the brand is on that platform as well.

Q: What new social media tools are you using?

A: I really love Vimeo. Hootsuite is another good one. Squarespace.com is good too. We built OrganicNation.tv on that one.

Q: Social Media can be a very unpredictable medium, sometimes things come together and sometimes they don’t. When you need to change something that’s not working, what do you do?

A: Giveaways and contests are a great way to spark conversation. I found that people follow you just for the chance you might give them something. Sometimes I post something controversial just to get people talking.

Q: What has surprised you most about your followers?

A: I didn’t realize this many people where interested in farming. We get people in city who really want to know where their food comes from and I’ve also been surprised by how many social-media savvy farmers there are online! I’m glad we have a very well rounded and well read audience.

Q: Do you change things based on your follower’s comments?

A: Definitely. We did an entire series of blog posts called “Dirty Dozen” (www.organicnation.tv/blog/category/dirty-dozen) based on what people wanted to know about the benefits of certain organic foods and products over their conventional counterparts. We encourage our viewers to post articles and share information.

Q: What do you do to encourage fan generated content?

A: I ask my readers lots of questions and I try to respond to all of them. I know I hate it when I ask a brand questions on a platform like Twitter and no one responds. It shows that they really don’t care about their fans. And sometimes it’s harder than others. I worked on a social media campaign for a women’s fashion line and it was easy to get teenage girls to talk about their dresses. But something like a joint pain supplement was harder to get people to talk about.

Q: So how did you manage that?

A: In the case of doing social media strategy for the joint pain supplement, I just made sure to keep the message positive and fun, at least as fun as possible (laughs) but as long as you keep the page active and answer questions the people will come.

Q: Do you feel it’s hard to keep people’s attention online and cut through the static of everything else vying for people’s attention?

A: Of course. I want to continue making videos and you do have to get views to do that. We want to make sure we are entertaining but we maintain our integrity. We’re happy with an average of 1000-2000 views per video. It’s really all about finding your niche market.

Q: Is it hard to keep up with a constantly changing market like social media?

A: Not really. I think people are too fixated on the tools – it’s all about the community you’ve built. I’m invested in the content, not just the tools. In the end, platforms like Twitter and Facebook are a way to connect with people and communicate a message. OrganicNation.tv has achieved lots of success with Twitter, but if something else came along that worked better I would spend more time there.

Q: What kind of gadgets do you work with?

A: I love my Android G1. I take it on the road with me when we go filming and post pictures and updates. I have to take breaks from it so I don’t get overworked but it’s great.

Q: You mentioned going on the road and filming recently, anything else you have coming up that you want to talk about?

A: The road trip is awesome. This May, we’re taking OrganicNation.tv on a Southwest tour through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. We’ll be test driving a Ford Fusion Hybrid during the trip and we’re thrilled to be sponsored by Motel 6. It’s going to be fun. And of course at NobleTree Media, we’re working with a lot of great brands to grow their message online.

Q: What is your 3-year plan for OrganicNation.tv? Where do you hope to see it growing and evolving?

A: Right now we’re focused on continuing to cover the latest issues and innovations around sustainable food in each region of the U.S. So far we’re filmed on the East and West coasts, the Midwest and soon the Southwest. We still want to cover the Great Plains, the Southeast and Hawaii. We also want to develop a interactive mapping tool so that people can geo-tag photos and videos of the sustainable food movement around the country. Our goal is to create a visual landscape of the exciting things that are happening and give people both a local and national context for it.

http://www.organicnation.tv/

http://www.twitter.com/DorotheeRoyal

http://www.twitter.com/OrganicNation

http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2010/04/best-of-green-food-and-health.php?page=26

I’m not a dog person (you can blame my parents for never getting me one), so I instinctively took a step back for every one I took forward as the retriever leapt toward me with thick drool flinging from its mouth.

“Hot Glass?”  the Hell’s Angel asked me.

“Uh…yeah!” I answered.

The Angel opened the door, the retriever jumped through and I followed the gruesome twosome into the warehouse.

Through a dim concrete hallway and past a chalkboard with scribblings of classes offered, the space opened up like the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin (Not familiar with this?  Think claustrophobic sand avalanche turns glorious high-ceilinged work space.  An English-speaking Arabian tiger may or may not be involved.  God, I love Disney.)

This place is an adult’s playground; everything that your parents told you not to do as a kid is happening right here:

Rock music playing too loud. Check

Massive fire in open oven.  Check

Men playing with fire.  Check.

That’s just how glass blowing goes at Chicago Hot Glass.   It’s the Harley Davidson of fine art.  It requires the obvious artistic eye and technical skill.  But it also demands the cajones to brave the burns.

And like the diamond in the rough warehouse we were in (another Aladdin reference.  Now I’m just that girl who’s obsessed with Aladdin), the process of making a refined, smooth, beautiful piece of glasswork is a crude and callous one.  As much as the finished projects may look as if they were begotten in an artist’s loft so white it glows celestial, Chicago Hot Glass is far from heavenly with multiple fires burning and men spinning glass on something reminiscent of a devil’s pitchfork.

After the Hell’s Angel disappeared into his glass-making haven, I met up with John Barbagallo, a similarly bearded man minus the dog. There was no doubt in my mind he didn’t also ride a motorcycle.  He assured me immediately that Chicago Hot Glass was the best place to be—Chicago’s only public glass studio on the brink of expanding for more studio space for lamp and bead making.

I admired his enthusiasm to make the hard sell.

“So how long have you worked here?” I asked John.

He shrugged, looked around the place as if it were Christmas morning and this is what family and home truly meant, “I don’t work here.”

My pen stopped moving, and I looked up.

“Yeah, I took an eight week class and never left.”

Now that’s love.

John then led me past the artist, Joseph Ivacic leading a private lesson and guiding his pupil as he blew through the long pipe to expand the molten-hot glass.

He took to me to a wall with metal shelving barricading an entire back corner and lined with unfinished glass pieces of every color and every shape.  John showed me his work which he explained he’d been working on for a very long time now.

“It looks finished to me!” I praised.

But he assured me that there was much much much more refining to do.  My eye caught an orange vase with a post-it reading “Not For Sale…Yet”.

“There’s a lucky few who manage to pursue a career in this.”

That’s when John passed me on to Pearl Dick, a resident artist at the Habitat Gallery who also teaches classes at Chicago Hot Glass. Pearl is cool looking and could probably also rides a motorcycle.

She shows me her collection of heads she’s been working on since 1997.

She tells me it’s still not done, and as she explains the process of creation, I get the feeling it will never be done. You start with an idea. You try to execute it.  And when something inevitably goes wrong—you get one shot to work with the glass at the perfect temperature—you either become inspired by its flaw, or bust.  Pearl noted that it’s the “happy accidents that propel you forward.”

My inner monologue: kinda like children.

Glass blowing is mind blowing.  I don’t have enough breath to blow up birthday party balloons let alone an orb of molten glass.  But there are people around Chicago who find solace here, who enjoy the risk in the craft, the burns, the inevitable mistakes and the refining, refining and refining.

There is something about taking an ingredient so basic and natural as sand and creating decadent art.  Out of the studio, the best glass pieces find home in lavish apartments, museums and galleries.  As for Chicago Hot Glass’s students, they bring their work home, a trophy from the underworld of art, no doubt, carried home on motorcycles.

Chicago Hot Glass is located at 1250 North Central Park Avenue

Chicago, IL 60651 | (773) 394-3252

Find out more about CHG and classes www.chicagohotglass.com

Two years ago I studied abroad in Florence, Italy where the wine is cheaper than water, and certainly cheaper than Italy’s version of my usual drink of choice, Coca Light. After four months under the Tuscan sun, I returned home somewhat plumped from copious servings of everything and teeth, to my dentist’s disdain, tinted purple from habitually making the more economical choice of hydrating myself with the house vino—a thrifty decision in terms of saving Euros. And the more fun one.

Part of this wine-drinking four month rendezvous can be attributed to the fact that I was enrolled in my Italian university’s wine tasting class (a more fitting name for the class would be Wine Guzzling 101). We talked about a region in Italy, opened up a few bottles of vino from said region, and drank until we realized class had been over a couple hours ago. Donato, our fine Italian professor – or so he said – taught us about the wines by asking us what we tasted and by always agreeing.

“Citrus?”

“YES!” Donato would shake his head furiously while pointing at the student in absolute agreement no matter what.

“M&M’s?”

“YES!” went Donato. (A student was just asking her friend if she wanted some candy.)

While I retained very little of the actual curriculum—come to think of it, I’m not so sure there was a curriculum—I returned to the states with an appreciation for wine and an unexpected appreciation for my own taste buds. We can’t all hold Merlot in such contempt as Paul Giamatti in Sideways.

Two years later, enter LUSH Wine & Spirits into my life. I was late to a friend’s party where I’d promised to bring wine and had, of course, forgotten to pick any up. Running in the rain looking for a liquor store, I passed LUSH on West Chicago in the Ukrainian Village. I entered disheveled and desperate. The store looked and felt as warm as library, with wines as numerous as books.

“Can I help you?” asked a woman behind the counter.

“Uh…Do you have any not really fancy wines?” I asked, camouflaging my tight budget.

“I don’t like to say any of our wines aren’t fancy, but we have a great assortment of wines under $10.”

I liked her immediately. She helped me find a $10 pinot grigio that I loved and was a hit among my friends later that night.

My experience at LUSH was comfortable, enjoyable, and even, educational. The spirit of LUSH counters the belief that owning the taste buds for wine is as difficult to obtain as entry to the Old Boy’s Club. LUSH believes that you can begin your experience right then and there.

In order to learn more about LUSH and its credo, I interviewed West Town LUSH’s GM, Rachel Driver, to get a closer look at the store from an inside perspective.

If I learned one very important thing from Rachel, it’s that I am apparently not drinking enough. If I learned two things, it’s that the people at LUSH are extremely passionate about their business and want you to join in the fun.

Here’s what Rachel had to say:

Q: The world of wines can seem snooty to people who would never know how to properly sip a wine let alone identify tannins, count legs and say things like “Ah yes, lovely. I do smell the merde de poule.” (chicken shi- droppings). What makes LUSH different?

A: LUSH is about exploring wine and finding what fits you. Each staff member is selected for their personal preferences, personality, and palate. No cookie cutters here! And, each of us is a serious nerd…extremely interested in the topic of all things fermented. We are always attempting to expand our knowledge through reading, researching, and putting the juice in our mouth…talking about it and sipping some more.

We bring this to the table with each client, encouraging customers to sip with us, chat about it, and create a personal vocabulary for what they like or do not care for. We really won’t judge what anyone is drinking…we encourage being adventurous and crafting a comparative experience with various styles of wine.

Q: The fermented drink is an ancient thing, but LUSH makes wine a modern experience from the physical layout to its customer service. There is even the virtual LUSH: You have a website, you tweet and you blog. How has the web influenced your business?

A: We use all available mediums to get the word out. I think we do the most legwork in person, specializing in face to face personal relationships with our customers. But, it would be silly not to utilize the available, free social media platforms. And, again, we like to keep wine playful and fun, even when we are dead set serious about the subject. So, we have a very small presence on Facebook, but our managers often Tweet, and the blog is such a great way for each of our staff to share random snippets of research, episodes of drinking at work and elsewhere, and document what we are excited about at any particular moment. We are rather chatty, and these forums give us an outlet to further indulge.

Q: What is your go-to wine? Tell me everything about it.

A: Oh goodness, I was afraid that might come up. I very very rarely drink the same bottle more than once. With so many amazing choices and new options presented each week, I am always tempted to taste something new and exciting and different and weird. But, I tend to gravitate toward Italian wine…Piedmont or the Marche, and sometimes Campania…I like my wine to taste like dirt, the earth and the place it came from, the tradition and careful innovation, even.

Lately, I have been drawn to low alcohol, light and mineral-ly European reds…a lovely old vine Grenache from the Languedoc that is tossed in whole cluster with carbonic maceration, native fermentation, and aged in concrete vats, or a gritty, herbal Austrian St. Laurent…or, to totally twist things around, I have been mostly taking home off dry whites to pair with my dinner or a good read…Oh, I could go on…but, I didn’t even answer your question! My apologies.

[It’s okay, Rachel]

Q: LUSH seems to have an education credo. Where did it come from and how do LUSH staffers perform this on a daily basis?

A: I am the child of two teachers. It was inevitable that I would bring education to the forefront. But, as a business, we are very interested in drawing back the curtain on the mystery and snob factor that is associated with wine, sharing the love of booze with one and all. And, as a staff, we tend to be highly educated academics with a penchant for loving the quirky and eclectic nature of wine. So, if you ask a question, we will be on a mission to answer it or find the answer.

The training regiment at Lush is fairly intense, mainly due to our focus on having each staff member intimately know our products, the producers, the grapes, the land…it is more about wine as an experience than a commodity, and we want to be able to keep the consumer informed. And, we want anyone to be able to walk in and grab a bottle and be confident that it will be tasty rather than a gamble. Part of working here is becoming immersed in the minutia of the vine. We all love it so much and are thrilled to share.

Q: [I can’t help but ask] Do you ever get drunk at work?

A: Drinking, or rather sipping and spitting, is encouraged and a mandatory part of most work days. However, this is a business and we remain professional while on the job. A tight balance, yes, but our policy.

Q: What is something about wine that you wish more people would know? What do you teach your customers? What do you want your customers to leave with?

A: Grapes are the only natural medium through which the land in which it grows is an important, even critical, determining factor in taste. The vine absorbs pivotal flavors, minerals, and essence through the water and the dirt, tingeing each grape with an essential character that should be evident in the glass. And, wine is basically a raw, natural product crafted by farmers into a lovely, edible piece of art. Of course, you can manipulate the wine, but you can also let it shine. Also, I am obsessed with unfiltered wines that are aged on the lees…the texture and the flavor and the dead little yeast cells with B vitamins are just so intriguing! But, in relation to our clients, I really, truly, want each customer to drink what they like. I am all for experimenting, trying new things, getting educated and such…but drink what tastes good! Your tastes and preferences will necessarily change over time, and knowing how and why is what we attempt to teach. I want each client to take a bottle home that they like, that fits in with their lifestyle and tastes! I highly recommend being playful, though, and always learning about the juice! We aim to have customers trust us, but also engage in a dialogue, interact and get hands-on with wine.

LUSH Wine & Spirits has three locations in Chicago: Roscoe Village | University Village | West Town

You can meet Rachel at the West Town shop.

And while that may seem like a cheesy description, I stand by it; because there is no one more superhero-like in my eyes than the person who drives to work every day from Chicago to Northern Indiana and back.. For us artists out there, we share our deep envy admiration for those lucky few who can magically pull in some bank to subsist on while practicing their craft. And although incredibly humble and modest and perhaps in denial, Ryan Browne pulls it off—perhaps not as idealistically as every artist would hope for (i.e. absence of day job + tree that grows money)—but he has yet to stop drawing despite his daily commute.

Browne graduated from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in illustration. He will tell you himself that he was knee-deep in artist-pretentious-syndrome, donning a black wool turtleneck, black coffee, cigarette and a beret (at least that’s what I imagine when someone utters “pretentious” and “artist” in the same sentence). He neglected his beloved comics to designate school time to the more prestigious major, painting; however, when he realized he’d been spending all his spare time drawing comics, he threw pretense to the wind and gave into the so-called lowbrow art of comic illustration and story making.

Browne has recently self-published and distributed his original comic book God Hates Astronauts – which may be the best title I’ve ever heard. The comic is a miraculous result of a self-imposed “24-hour comic.” It’s exactly what it sounds like. Browne sat down with no preparation and drew for 24 hours straight. He explained that it yields the best ideas. Like an impulsive 6-year-old I blurted out “Wait. Do you go to the bathroom?!” A long pause, and from the other side of the table, “Yes.”

As I mentioned before, I’m no aficionado, but I know awesome eye-catching illustrations when I see them, and God Hates Astronauts not only catches your attention with its hilarious title, but its use of color, humor and big ass bears. Browne is currently working on a new book entitled Dutch Vs. The Future, which has a plot more complex and intelligent than my senior thesis.

So, over a beer in Logan Square, I asked Ryan about his craft, and although I’m no expert in comic book illustrators, I know someone who’s incredibly passionate about their art when I meet one.

Here’s what Ryan had to say:

Q: How did you fall into art, and more specifically comics?

A: I love drawing. Honestly, I’d be drawing right now if I had a pencil. I’m an imagination whore. (Momentary freaks out that that’s inappropriate; when I assure him it’s not. I don’t think…) I like making stuff up. I like making myself laugh. It’s kind of selfish.

Q: In your opinion, where do comics fit in on the “art spectrum”? Are they more than entertainment?

A: Like any fine art, they are so labor intensive. At the same time, they definitely function more as entertainment. They tell a story. They don’t have to be interpreted like a painting might be. I’ve always felt like the world of comics is an exclusive club that you were either part of or not.

Q: Where do you see the place for comics in popular culture?

A: It is an exclusive club. Of man-children. There is a place [for comics], but the problem is that comic books don’t have any new readers. It’s a dying medium. The people who used to read them, still read them. But comics aren’t gaining any new readers. Video games, the internet—it all distracts kids from reading comics. On top of that, and maybe because of that, a lot of comics are geared toward adults. So gaining a younger audience is the big challenge right now. America’s the only place where comics are thought of as children’s literature, but at the same time we tend to market toward adults.

Q: How does your work translate to the web?

A: I wish it did! I feel like an old man when it comes to the internet. (Browne is still under 30). I have a disinterest in online networking. It just doesn’t click with me. I just recently joined Facebook because my friend made me.

Q: What attracts you to comic illustration and story besides the fact you basically can’t stop drawing?

A: There are no limits. A comic book is like a movie; it can have all the special effects you want. It can be any genre you want. Comic books are essentially storyboards for movies. A lot of times movies are based off of comics and we’re not even made aware of it. It’s also self-centered. I try to make myself laugh. I like when something I’m working on makes me laugh, and there is an awesome payoff when someone else laughs as well.

Q: What are your professional aspirations and other comic book illustrators who’s careers you admire?

A: My inspiration…definitely Mike Allred, writer of Madman and Geoff Darrow of Shaolin Cowboy. My goal would be to do a comic—write and draw—and get paid for it. Get paid well enough to continue making them. Like I said, I didn’t go to art school because I like money.

You can read more about Ryan on his web site http://ryanbrowne.net/ and see more of his great work.

Q: Once you knew you were going to be a visual artist or at least work in the field of visual arts, what kind of artist did you imagine you would be?

A: Before art school I had visions of only the fine arts; during art school, an interest in the fine arts and whatever it took to be there by studying only the fine arts courses. I took no commercial art courses. I did take extra life drawing, and extra anatomy classes. In anatomy alone I have 122 credit hours of study. After art school a total effort to only be in fine art.

Q: What and where was your formal training in art?

A: I studied formally for four years at the American Academy of Art, Chicago.

Q: Did one artist or mentor make a particularly strong impression on you as a student?

A: Claude Monet; John Singer Sargent; Zorn; Sorolla and Richard Schmid

Q: How would you characterize in words your style of work as it has evolved over the years?

A: In the 70s, I was working in Conte Crayon and a small amount of pastel. I used the earth tones alone such as my recent portrait of Abe Lincoln. All of it had an aged look to it, perfect for the Indian portraits I did at that time. Southwest Art Magazine did a story on me in the early 70s. The aged look needed to change as I saw that the women (the main buyers) passed by my work. I noticed the men found my style interesting, but were often not allowed to buy it. Evolved from limited colors to extreme use of colors. I was soon using five sets of pastels and 13 colors when I painted in oil, to create an impressionistic style.

Q: How have others characterized your work? What recognition are you most proud of?

A: “Mr. Garrison’s paintings are exciting. They vibrate; they have a lyrical quality; they are alive; they have emotion in them. And his choice of colors is always so right.” Corrine Shane, Art Consultant and owner of Investinart, NY, NY (an agent that rep. me in the NY area) She wrote this of me 15 years ago for a magazine review of my work. To answer the second part of your question, my one-person exhibit in a Paris gallery, and being the Guest of Honor with the Pastel Society of France annual exhibit, both two years ago was for me the best recognition so far. As for my murals, I was given a standing ovation by the the representatives of Iowa and the combine Chamber of the Iowa Capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa. I’m also privileged to report that recently I’ve been having my paintings represented in Hilligoss Gallery on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Q: What was your reaction to emerging digital arts technologies in the late 80s and 90s?

A: New ideas, good or not so good, are always going to be developed. But I was willing to look it over and see if it could improve any area I was working in.

Q: Did you think you should adjust your own career path? Why or why not?

A: No, I felt I should stay on the route I had chosen, because those were the years I was developing my new interest in the medium of pastel. This is when I received awards from the Pastel Society of America, and they said of me: “The Pastel Society of America is quite fastidious and demands the highest caliber of fine art. Mr. Garrison is a vivacious and convivial person that one would be proud to know. When you work with Mr. Garrison, you will, without a doubt, enrich your life as well as your business.” Also, I had been receiving mural commissions each year so I said to myself ‘Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke’ But in small ways, I did make adjustments.

Q: You are well known in France not only as an artist, but as a seasonal resident. When did you decide to spend winters in France? What did you hope to capture or accomplish by doing so?

A: When I discovered a beautiful French madame named Cécile, and we could warm-up those French winters, I hoped to expand and paint the land of Monet (my favorite artist), and see what kind of landscapes I could develop and create there. Normandie is very paintable and I did some of my best paintings during those years living in France. I just received an award in New York for another piece I painted there.

Q: You still sketch for your paintings with paint and unmounted canvas on site, then develop your paintings further from these sketches. Why not use a quality digital camera to capture your ‘sketch’ images and paint from that?

A: The use of digital camera is not as extreme as a projector. (Norman Rockwell projected his photos then outlined around them) By painting a sketch on location, or even Plein Air (which is a finished painting in one sitting), an artist can capture more then the likeness of trees, a snowy mountain, villages, etc. All the surrounding landscape that would not be seen in the painting but is felt by the artist, as he paints, is important. In capturing this atmosphere you discover it’s a fleeting experience. A quality sketch must be captured within a two hour time table, or the sun changes and its a different effect; shadows, intensity of the sun. But this is still a plus over the digital camera. By having a short time frame, you’re forced to look at and capture what is most important. And do it right now! A photo, you can take any amount of time. But this causes you to lose the focus of the original mood. At least it does for me. Over the years, I’ve taken many photos and later as I looked over the images I’ve wondered what I was seeing that day that interested me enough to take that photo. I had lost those inspiring feelings, the mood I once felt. Even a sunrise or sunset, with their extreme shortened timing of only a half hour to capture the mood, is better with paint. I have gone with both camera and the painting experience and I still prefer the painting sketch. We do have a great digital camera and use it for the details we could not remember or have time to paint in. We know we live in the 21st century and this great technology is available but a photo is never as good as the real colors only your eyes can see.

Q: What are you doing now with technology to assist in your mission to create art and find a home for it?

A: Its a great help with details. Even Degas and Sorolla used the camera in painting better. Also, both Cécile and I take photos of our work in progress while still on the easel. We can see areas that need improving…such as anatomy or values not quite right. I ‘m going to develop a business with prints of my paintings ( Giclée, prints on canvas, posters ) and of course, we will use the high definition digital photos for this project.

Q: What advice would you offer young artists, in both digital and more traditional media, as they embark upon their careers?

A: During my four years in art school, often I was told: “Learn the rules and then learn how to break them.” I would say this thought process has influenced all the art reforms in history. From the small developments to major ones such as Cubism. Do not restrict yourself in creating or thinking. It takes consistency, courage, and focus on the expression and style you have chosen. Always learn from the Masters. Stay humble because you can always improve.

Visit David’s web site at david-garrison.com