-45 °F in Wisconsin? WTF!

In Wisconsin it is -10 °F or -23 °C right now with warnings of wind chills as low as -45 °F (about the same Celsius) and they predict it is going to be even colder Wednesday!  Stay SAFE Wisconsin!  BTW: it is a chilly 64 °F or 18 °C here in Kuwait...

Continuum 2013

My artwork included in the exhibit:

Notes from Arabia: The Arab Delegation, 2011

Notes from Arabia: True Faith, 2011

Continuum 2013: In Retrospect Denis Sargent

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A retrospective exhibition of work by Denis Sargent
and selected work of former students

EXHIBITION DATES: August 30 through September 27
CLOSING RECEPTION: Friday 5 -8 pm, September 27, Gallery Talk, 6:00 pm

Arts Center Gallery is located at 2400 E. Kenwood Blvd., above the Theatre lobby. 

Beginning 09/04/2013, Gallery hours are:

Wednesday 10:00am - 6:30pm
Thursday 10:00am - 6:30 pm
Sunday 1:00pm - 5:00 pm

Professor Denis Sargent retired in May 2013.

Continuum 2013: In Retrospect celebrates Denis’ significant contributions to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Peck School of the Arts, and the Department of Art and Design with an exhibition of Denis’ artwork and the selected work of his former students.

If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Art and Design office by telephone at (414) 229-4200 or e-mail atart-continuum@uwm.edu.

If You Are Considering a Teaching Position in Wisconsin...

If You Are Considering a Teaching Position in Walker's Wisconsin, Please Be Aware:

•You Will Be a Probationary Teacher Forever. Walker's Wisconsin is the only state in America where all teachers have lost tenure or career status.

•At the Same Time that Governor Walker Has Made Billions of Dollars in Cuts to Public Education ( the Deepest Cuts in Wisconsin's History), Governor Walker Has Proposed Increasing Aid To Unaccountable Voucher Schools By 32 %. No state in America has made more severe cuts to public education than Wisconsin.

•Governor Walker Specifically Targeted Teachers With a Rule Change Forever Limiting Teacher Raises Well Below the Inflation Rate.

•In Walker's Wisconsin, Many School Districts Are Reducing Salaries, Eliminating Benefits, and Increasing Teacher Workload: Use the information on the District pages to find out which school districts are aggressively repealing the gains teachers made over 40 years of collective bargaining by enacting regressive employment rules requiring extended teacher workdays, 60+ hour workweeks, required weekend work, adding weeks of teaching or inservice training to the contracted year, eliminating preparation time, taking away sick days, eliminating retirement benefits, and making severe reductions in salaries and benefits.
•Governor Walker & his Republican Allies have repealed Equal Pay for Equal Work laws in Wisconsin. This opens the door to paying male teachers significantly more than female teachers as was common in Wisconsin prior to the 1970's.
•Before You Sign a Contract, Find Out the Amount of the Contract Breakage Fee. Many school districts have imposed massive contract breakage fees (often $3,000+) to limit teachers' ability to leave for a better employment opportunity. A good rule of thumb for job candidates: The most demanding, even abusive districts to work for often have the highest contract breakage fees. Once you sign that first contract, they HAVE you and are going to do everything possible to keep you from leaving for a better career opportunity.


http://networkedblogs.com/LxoU6

Wisconsin mine to be sold to a Chinese-owned corporation?

My 2008 artwork "Wisconsin China Made" guerrilla installed in Milwaukee
 and exhibited in the show Seeing Green.

"... we now find out about this obscure provision that could allow the mine to be sold to a Chinese-owned corporation. ... people have a right to know who is behind this, who stands to benefit and why this provision is buried in the budget rather than being debated on its own merits.” 

Public Deserves Answers to Questions Surrounding Mysterious Budget Provision to Benefit Foreign Countries

Example of my 2005 artwork critiquing the sale of Milwaukee Electric Tools to a China-based corporation.  This work was shown in multiple exhibits including the Wisconsin Triennial.

for those saying the mining bill will "create jobs"

• The bill does nothing to guarantee that jobs will be created for Wisconsinites.
• The bill opens the entire state to mining and plays favorites by placing the needs of the mining industry above those of every other economic sector.
• The bill forces other businesses to subsidize mining companies’ profits.
• The bill does nothing to mitigate the boom-and-bust cycle that Wisconsin experienced during the early days of the timber industry and earlier mining enterprises.
• The bill exposes taxpayers to costly lawsuits.

Read more:http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/editorial/gop-mining-bill-fails-on-job-creation/article_a94a3814-665c-11e2-92b0-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz2IzyvUzIZ

GOP mining bill fails on job creation : Ct

host.madison.com

What do responsible business advocates say about the proposal from Gov. Scott Walker and his legislative allies to radically alter Wisconsin’s rules for the development of mines?

Selling Out Wisconsin

"The corporate influence and biased nature of the proceedings were evident throughout the day. According to Williams’ rules, the bill’s sponsors would be given 10 minutes to speak, and the Department of Natural Resources would be given 5. Everybody else was supposed to restrict their remarks to 2 minutes, with time allowed for committee members to ask a maximum of two questions.

But it was no surprise when the CEO, Chief Engineer and lobbyist for Gogebic Taconite – the company that is proposing to blast a 1,000 foot deep open pit mine 21 miles long and half a mile across at the headwaters of the Bad River near the shores of Lake Superior – took up nearly an hour of the committee’s time. GTac was also allowed to show pictures and graphs – something others were prohibited from doing."

The Million Dollar Bill

Mining Votes Will Make Or Break Wisconsin and Leader' Good Names

BREAKING: Public hearing scheduled for the Open Pit Mining Bill for Wednesday, January 23. Learn how you can help protect these hills here: http://bit.ly/13NVZj6   Image of Penokee Hills: Derek Johnson

A lawmaker voting "aye" for the bill is saying... 'I want to clear cut the Penokees, blow a pristine mountain range to smithereens, gouge out miles of open pit scars and release tons of acid runoff into publicly-held rivers, lakes, streams and the Bad River Band's treaty-protected water, wild-rice food supply and culture.'

Mining Votes Will Make Or Break Wisconsin and Leader' Good Names 

Ryan and Walker say Obama should have saved a Wisconsin GM plant that went belly up... but it closed before Obama even took office! Make Sense???

Last night Paul Ryan, from the great state of Wisconsin, in a speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, told the lie that President Obama broke his promise to keep a Wisconsin GM plant from closing.  There are a number of problems with his statement but the main one is that the GM plant closed while President Bush was still in office!  Later Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker repeated this same lie.  

Did Barack Obama break a promise to keep GM plant open?

www.politifact.com

If the hometown of Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan has had an icon during his lifetime, it was a sprawling General Motors auto assembly plant. For decades, the Janesville, Wis., plant gave thousands of people a comfortable living...

My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to the Sikh community of Wisconsin...

My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to the Sikh community of Wisconsin... very sad day... I may be half way around the world but I am with you in spirit...

West Allis Votes: Corporations are not PEOPLE!!!!

Whoa! I did not know my homies were so rad!!!! Finally proud to be from 'stallis!

Voters in West Allis, Wisconsin Move to Amend | Move to Amend

movetoamend.org

WEST ALLIS – Last night West Allis, Wisconsin, a conservative Milwaukee suburb, voted overwhelmingly to reject the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling. Republican Party primary voters approved a resolution calling for an amendment to the US Constitution to establish that corporations ...

Open season on sandhills? Send our crazy legislators home!

 Sandhill Crane parent with child maybe four weeks old.  http://www.birdphotos.com

Lawmaker wants hunting season for sandhill crane - m.JSOnline.com

m.jsonline.com

Plain Talk: Open season on sandhills? Send our crazy legislators home

host.madison.com

Here's still another reason why we've got to return to a part-time Legislature and get these people out of town...

Urge Members of Congress to Support the NEA

Arts Wisconsin

Last week, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee passed the Interior Appropriations bill, which proposes to fund the National Endowment for the Arts at $135 million for FY 2012. If enacted, this $20 million cut would be the deepest to the NEA in 16 years. This legislation now heads to the House floor, possibly to increase the cut even further or eliminate the NEA altogether. Send your message today!

Federal: Urge Members of Congress to Support the NEA

capwiz.com

The Americans for the Arts Action Center provides you all the one-click tools, tips and information you need to voice your support for more culture in our communities, more arts education in our schools, and more arts in our daily lives.

Mary-Louise Schumacher on the Milwaukee Art Museum's "Summer of China"

Review: 'The Emperor's Private Paradise' at the Milwaukee Art Museum - Art City

www.jsonline.com

The Qianlong emperor, aside from being the longest ruling emperor in China’s history, was also the most painted. He was famously image conscious with fleets of artists who were his era’s equivalent of handlers and spin doctors. He commissioned paintings of himself mounted on a horse...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker lied about collective-bargaining law!

Walker: Collective-bargaining law doesn’t save money

By Zachary Roth zachary Roth – Fri Apr 15, 3:57 pm ET

Remember how Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin was insisting that his controversial law to end collective bargaining for most public employees was needed to help save money and balance the budget?
Well, he's now acknowledging that's not exactly true.

During testimony before the House Oversight and Government Affairs committee in Washington, Walker, a Republican, was badgered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) about how much money his law would actually save, reports the Capitol Times of Madison. The topic of the hearing, after all, was state and municipal debt, so Kucinich wondered how the collective bargaining law was relevant.
After some hemming and hawing by Walker, Kucinich asked flat out: "How much money does it save Gov. Walker? Just answer the question."

"It doesn't save any," Walker responded.

Last month, the effort by Walker and Wisconsin Republican legislators to pass the collective bargaining measure brought thousands of protesters to the state Capitol for weeks. The bill ultimately passed, but is on hold after Democrats challenged the procedure used for passing it.
Walker and Republicans have said that the law is needed to help reduce public-sector pensions and benefits that they see as lavish, and balance the budget. Democrats and unions have said they're willing to negotiate on those issues, and see the law as an effort to curb the political power of the labor movement.

And it looks Walker just bolstered their case.

original story here:  Walker: Collective-bargaining law doesn’t save money

(Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Capitol Hill, April 14, 2011.: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Wisconsin for SALE!

I've tried to stay away from Wisconsin politics on this blog but what the Republicans did last Wednesday evening was unconscionable... see link below for one of the best article that I have read on it (funny that this is coming from the UK and not US media?):

Scott Walker's real agenda in Wisconsin | Michael Hudson and Jeffrey Sommers | Comment is free | gua

www.guardian.co.uk

Michael Hudson and Jeffrey Sommers: The Republican governor's budget plan would open the state up to a corporate asset-grab not seen since robber baron capitalism

returned to Kuwait...

Just returned to Kuwait after 6 weeks travel in the USA and China.

China was as good as always and I never fail to have a wonderful time there... spend 4 days in Beijing visiting galleries and artist's studios... (finally met Ai Weiwei (BTW: I was the first person to start the wikipedia article on Ai Weiwei ))...two weeks at The Pottery Workshop in an artist's residency program in Jingdezhen making porcelain artwork in the birthplace of porcelain... and a quick 5 days checking out art at the ShContemporary Art Fair in Shanghai...

The US was great too... mostly I just visited with family and friends... saw my sister in Portland for the first time in many years... it was great to see her kids, husband and their new log cabin home... Milwaukee- visiting the rest of my family and old friends was good and I even got to go camping and canoeing up North for a few days...

Exhausted from the constant travel and jet-lag but went to a Ramadan Ghabqa dinner sponsored by AUK this evening... the food was abundant and good and it was great to get together with many of my good friends in Kuwait...