Music producer Quincy Jones is leading a call for President Obama to appoint a Cabinet-level representative for the arts—an "art czar," if you will.

The Washington Post reported that the exact duties of a secretary of culture or the arts are unclear, but the main goals are supporting arts education and unifying cultural policy:

"We need a voice that looks broadly," said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, a national lobbying group. He is advocating a senior position, not necessarily a Cabinet post. "We are calling for a person at the executive office level who understands there is a National Endowment for the Arts, but also understands the arts portfolio in the Education Department, the State Department—and in addition to the nonprofits arts, is looking at cultural tourism, broadband access and trade through records, movies and videos."

Obama has said he would increase funding for the NEA and arts grants, and ensure artists would have access to health care and fair tax deductions. Establishing a Cabinet-level position would require the assent of Congress.

The online petition has garnered more than 200,000 signatures. What do you think about appointing an art czar?

From Charles Sovek, in the November 1992 issue of The Artist's Magazine:

The easiest way to make gray with an opaque medium is to mix black and white. The richest grays, however, are made by mixing complementary colors.

This is where I spent my afternoon:

Filming a segment for a new project: Artists Network News! It only took us about an hour and a half to film a two-minute segment. (The ArtistsNetwork.TV director threatened to put together a video of my outtakes.)

You'll be able to watch the news clip around the middle of February here and on the Artists Network YouTube channel.

Andrew Wyeth's Winter (1946, tempera on board, 31 3/8x48)

So sad about the passing of modern master Andrew Wyeth, who died this morning at the age of 91. The New York Times obituary is moving and right on target:

Wyeth gave America a prim and flinty view of Puritan rectitude, starchily sentimental, through parched gray and brown pictures of spooky frame houses, desiccated fields, deserted beaches, circling buzzards and craggy-faced New Englanders. A virtual Rorschach test for American culture during the better part of the last century, Wyeth split public opinion as vigorously as, and probably even more so than, any other American painter including the other modern Andy, Warhol, whose milieu was as urban as Wyeth’s was rural.

You can read more about the artist's life at the Farnsworth Museum, and you can add a comment to the Andrew Wyeth memorial blog.

From David Pyle, in the January 1994 issue of The Artist's Magazine:

Act like a professional. "I don't have to be businesslike; I'm an artist." If you've said this before, you're fooling yourself, and you'll probably be taken advantage of. Successful artists place a premium on professionalism and good business practices.

Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey's iconic image of President-Elect Barack Obama will be on display in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery before he takes office, according to the institution.

The original is a 5-foot-high mixed-media collage, but versions of the image were widely replicated on stickers, posters, T-shirts and buttons leading up to the election. (At right is a popular version.) The image was also used on the cover of Time for its Person of 2008 issue.

Shepard Fairey is best known (to me, at least) as the guy who did the Obey Giant stickers and the art for a lot of rock albums.

Independent film company Ellipsis Entertainment is having a poster contest for its next film, "The Moon Under Glass." Here's the synopsis:

Hal is living a perfect life. Everyone adores him and everything always seems to fall right into his hands. He's got the looks, he's got the charm and he's got Dali, his new girlfriend. Little does Hal know...his whole world is built around him.

You can use photos from the film to create a poster, or create your own artwork—I think that'd be really cool, to use the photos and film description to inspire a new piece of art. The first place winner gets a full size print of the artwork, two tickets to the premiere of the movie, a copy of the DVD upon release, and acknowledgment in the film's credits. Two runners-up get copies of the DVD.

The deadline for submissions is March 14, 2009. Click here to see all the guidelines and download the poster kit.

Stephen Magsig paints scenes from the rust belt every day and sells the paintings on eBay. Above is Detroit, Paris of America! (oil, 5x7), number 507 in the series from Postcards from Detroit.

Via Visualingual