Month: September 2018

The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition

Arts blogger

The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition has been supporting and benefiting the works of talented artists from around the world for 29 years. The prizes awarded to selected artists are designed to help these artists gain valuable exposure and advance their careers in the art world.

“Winning the competition allowed me to feel more confident in my work, and increased my exposure in the art world. I have nothing but praise for the competition staff and the staff at Agora Gallery. It was the best experience I’ve ever had in any gallery. I would love to enter again and have recommended the competition to many artists.” – Ed Moret – selected artist, 2013.

The competition awards include:

– Participation in an exhibition at Agora Gallery, located in New York’s famous art district, Chelsea.
– Cash Prizes
– Internet Promotion on ARTmine.com
– Valuable promotional packages by Everything for Artists (E4A.com)
– Art critic review to be published in contemporary art magazine, ARTisSpectrum

The competition juror this year is Mr. Carlo McCormick, one of New York’s noted culture critics and curators. He has written many books and catalogs on the subject of contemporary art and artists, and he lectures and teaches extensively at universities and colleges across the country.

The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition is sponsored by Agora Gallery and Everything for Artists, and partnered with The Children’s Heart Foundation, funding research and support for victims of Congenital Heart Defects.

Important dates for the 29th Chelsea International Fine Arts Competition:

– February 11 2014 – Competition opens
– March 18, 2014 – Entry deadline
– April 9, 2014 – Results announced
– August 22nd through September 11th, 2014 – Exhibition for selected artists

“I have very good memories of New York, Agora Gallery, and the whole team. It was an unforgettable moment! Thank you again for everything you have given me, not only on a personal level but also benefiting my artistic career.” – Brigitte Garcia – selected artist, 2013

The competition is open to all artists over the age of 18 from all around the world. All media are accepted with the exception of video art, film, performance art, jewelry, and crafts. In past years, selected entries have been diverse in media, including photography, painting, sculpture, and digital work.

Entries can be completed entirely online. Please read the rules and regulations before submitting.

To find out more, please visit the competition website: http://www.agora-gallery.com/competition/

To make sure that you don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity, sign up to the competition’s mailing list to receive reminders and notifications: http://www.agora-gallery.com/mailinglist/main.aspx

The Louvre, From Supply Depot To Art Museum

Arts blogger

The Louvre is generally regarded as the premiere art museum in France. With a collection of about 35,000 items contained in 652,300 square feet, it’s not hard to understand why. Why would you go anywhere else when every piece of art and antiquity you could ever want to see are contained in one place? But the Louvre is obviously not the only art museum in France. Several decidedly smaller art museums in France house collections comprehensive enough to rival the Louvre.

These lesser known but equally compelling museums include the Muse de l’Orangerie, the Muse d’Art Moderne de la Vile de Paris, even a geographically confused Palais de Tokyo – the list goes on. One particularly successful museum is the Muse d’Orsay. The Muse’s collection’s scope is admirable and covers several centuries of European visual and decorative art.

The history of this particular museum is long and illustrious. The Muse d’Orsay used to be a railway station, Gare d’Orsay. This railway station was built specifically for the glorious 1900 Exposition Universelle. This exposition was a World’s Fair held in Paris, and featured the rededication of the Eiffel Tower, which had been created for the previous World’s Fair. The Gare (“gare” means railway station in French) was elaborately constructed in the fashionable Art Nouveau style.

The design was the pride of the three architects who created it; Lucien Magne, Victor Laloux, and mile Bnard were top designers at the time. The vaulted ceilings of the Gare were made of tiny interlocking panes of glass, and intricate stone carvings paneled the walls. The sizable Gare, carefully crafted out of innumerable tan stones, overlooked the glistening Seine River.

For the time of the World’s Fair and up until WWII, the Gare . The Nazis appropriated the now-dingy railway station for transporting munitions, soldiers, and even looted possessions from European citizens. After the fall of the Third Reich, the Gare fell into further disrepair. The unstable economy of France prevented the Gare from getting the restoration it needed until the early 1970s. By that time, the station wasn’t large enough to adequately support a large amount of train commuter traffic. For a few years it was used as a hotel until in 1977. Because of faltering profits and public pressure, it was decided to convert the Gare into a museum. The conversion was complete in 1986 and was dedicated by then-president Franois Mitterrand.

Today, the Muse is home to an impressive collection of mainly French art. It is now well known for its broad selection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, of which it has the largest collection in the world, and is no longer a railway station. These include renowned artists such as Paul Czanne, Gustave Caillebotte, Mary Cassatt, Gustave Courbet, Paul Gaugin, and Vincent van Gogh, The list is endless.

There are even eighty-six Monet paintings in the Muse’s catalog. It also holds decent architecture and photography exhibits. While there are several larger Muses in France, the Muse D’Orsay should definitely be a priority for anyone going on vacation in France.

Martial Arts for Four Year Old Children in Keller and Fort Worth Texas

Arts blogger

At Peak Performance MMA we offer classes for children as young as three years old all the way up to as old as 65 years old. One of the amazing things about our 3 to 6 year old program is seeing the motor skills develop in the children. They are able to move and react to things that most children their age wont be able to do.

I highly recommend if you do your child whos 3 to 6 years old to get involve on the martial arts program so they can get a head start on life! They can learn how to react with body movement, how to counter their weight balance, how to move and how to balance. One thing we do in our program is we do a lot of games with the 3 to 6 years olds that so they can learn how to move, develop hand eye coordination, timing, balance and the list goes on and on. We play a lot of fun games so the kids dont realize their actually learning basic jiu jitsu, muay thai and mma technique. When they progress to our 7 to 12 years old classes, they have a huge head start and also for when they play other sports like football, baseball, basketball and wrestling.

I highly recommend you enroll your 3 to 6 years old in a martial arts program. Of course make sure its a black belt school, certified instructors and make sure they have a life skills program. Make sure the kids are learning not just self-defense but also how to act in life, how to meet people, how to greet people and how to be respectful. When they go to school gives them huge advantage because there are saying yes sir, no sir, yes maam, no maam and the list goes on and on so make sure get your child enrolled in the 3 to 6 years old martial arts program today if you have a child in that age group.

You will learn Self Defense, Gain Confidence, Discipline, and Get in Amazing Shape! We have lots of programs to choose from, please enjoy our website and call us today at 817-614-9325 to set up an appointment for a Free Private Lesson & Consultation to see how we will help you reach your goals!

Peak Performance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Muay Thai Kickboxing LLC http://www.peakbjj.com 133 Sports Parkway Suite H Keller, Texas 76244

Essentials of Karate Arts that you need to know

Arts blogger

The Art of Karate can be traced back to an event called ‘Pankration’ held during the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. This type of Japanese martial arts was developed in the island of Okinawa which was invaded by Japanese in the 17th Century. The invasion involved weapon ban while warrior invaders wore bamboo armor. With the help of Chinese experts on the island,

islanders kick or punch to penetrate such armor and disable the warrior. Since then, they developed karate training which aims to form unarmed combat techniques with hands and feet as lethal weapons.

Karate comes from the Japanese characters which mean “empty hand”. This fighting technique includes kicking, grappling, punching, locks and joint manipulation. It is widely known as an art of self defense and signifies a mysterious way of fighting which enables the executor to cause death or injury even with a single blow.

It doesn’t only focus on physical strength but also polishing inner self and spirit to eliminate weakness and boost strength.

Karate Practice and techniques in Karate training, a mix of extensive physical aspects and incorporation of psychological elements are highlighted. Karatearts is divided into four aspects such the basics, forms, sparring and weapons training.

The basics or kihon involves variety of styles performed in unison or a combination of techniques which is usually executed through pre-arranged drills in small groups or in pairs. Kata, which constitutes forms in Karate,

displays sequence of movements representing a variety of offensive and defensive postures. This concept will lead to real understanding of combat principles while developing correct posture and gracefulness. Sparring or kumite include knockdown karate, kickboxing variants and free sparring.

This technique is mostly notable in tournaments and employs grappling, kicking and punching. Lastly, training of traditional weaponry is the focus of kobudo.

Karate as a sport

The world of sports has witnessed how Karate arts dramatically evolved the last 20 years. With the aid of movies and television, its popularity increased throughout the world and even become part of the Olympic Games. Recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the World Karate Federation facilitates karate competition in the Olympic Games and develop common rules governing all the techniques. Sparring and forms may be demonstrated as a team or by individual. Judging for kata and kobudois through a panel of judges while kumite is judged by a head referee. Karate as a sport is aimed to express and display series of defensive and counter attacking movements. This effectively display how Karate evolved as used in self-defense.

Karate Philosophy

Intensive Karate training incorporates mental refinement and leadership essentials. Anko Itosu, Grandfather of Modern Karate, emphasized the importance of self-discipline and promoted the virtue of personal conviction. This aspect of karate teaches every karateka to practice courtesy, purge selfish thoughts and to be inwardly humble and outwardly gentle. For intent and focus practice, karate will help each karateka to effectively clean one’s mind from evil thought and to never be easily drawn into the fight. Indeed, the world of Karate does not only revolve around physical power and strength. This type of Japanese martial arts promotes the virtues of perseverance and will power. In karate arts, mastery of the craft is not totally physical. A karateka can only be self-improved by keeping within him heart and character.

Finding That Secret Martial Arts Shaolin Technique!

Arts blogger

When I was a child I wanted to learn secret martial arts. I wanted to know those mysterious fighting moves that would enable somebody smaller to smash somebody taller. I wanted to know that hapkido or jujitsu or whatever that would enable me to really trash the bad guys.

I began my study of Ed Parker Kenpo Karate, and the mysteries were at my fingertips. In those whirling movements were hidden fist martial arts, invisible and flaming dragon concepts, and down and dirty, take ’em apart fighting secrets. I was thrilled by the endless forms and techniques…but I couldn’t quite figure out the secrets.

From Chinese Kenpo I switched over to classical Karate. There was a secret Karate had, I just knew it in my bones, and I performed the karate kata until my body trembled. In the end, I could grab hold the dojo mat with my feet, and throw that classical power with the best of them, but there was no real secret to it all.

After Karate I made the transition to Kung Fu, with all those systems and variation there had to be a secret Kung Fu that would make me just really unbeatable! I threw myself into Shaolin Kung Fu and Kung Fu fighting and…I felt like a whirling dervish taking performance enhancers! But, in the end, I didn’t find that secret that would make me more than a superhuman being!

Okay, not just Shaolin, but maybe a specialized type of secret Shaolin! So I went looking for Bruce Lee Wing Chun…I wanted to be a Wing Chun grandmaster! I began beating that wooden dummy like he was yesterday’s eggs, doing the wooden dummy training until he needed bandages…but…I was just working hard, there was no secret gimmick that I could use, there was no…sigh.

So, not some sort of secret Wing Chun, but maybe aderivation on secret Wudan…that had to be the method! I explored Wudan Tai Chi Chuan, searched for secret Bagwa zhang, and spiraled through the world of mystical martial arts like tracers on a battlefield. And, great stuff, I could sink my mysterious and intrinsic energy right to the earth’s center, and spin like a planet full of windmills, but…where was that secret martial arts I needed so bad?

I did everything. Meditations on the secret of intrinsic energy that fueled the mysterious tan tiens and enlightened the glowing chakras of the greater macrocosmic orbit that led to realization in samadhi when I ascended from my skullular brainpan in the higher realms of paradaisical existence. But, and I say this with a bit of self reproach…I can’t find the secret!

I’m not young now, and in great shape, gonna last a long time, and I know there is a secret out there. And I can do martial arts fighting with the best of the young turks, slay herds of secret ninjas if I have to, so nobody can stop me from getting to that secret martial art…if I could only find it. Please…will somebody explain me…what is the secret?