Analog Girl in a Digital World

 Phoenix Fire

digital image by Rosa Phoenix

I grew up in a mostly analog world. 

I was born around the time that the first personal computers were coming onto the scene, although most people didn't have one at that time. 

My family's first computer was a Commodore Vic 20. You couldn't do much with it, except play some primitive video games like Frogger. I learned how to type on a manual typewriter in my dad's medical office.

When I was a kid, I learned BASIC programming. My brother used it to create a picture of the space shuttle, programming it line by line, pixel by pixel, a slow and arduous process.

In high school I created a zine. I printed out the text on the computer, in columns, and literally cut and pasted them into my pages, and I used the photocopy machine to produce some blurry copies.

I learned photography with real film, and we processed the film in a darkroom, with chemicals. You wouldn't see your image until you saw it emerge in the chemical bath, under the eerie red light of the darkroom.

I moved to New York in the 1990's. When I was 18, I took a summer film class and we filmed with 16 mm black and white film. We edited by literally cutting the film with a blade, and splicing the cuts together with tape.

"When we go to digital, everything will change" the instructors were always saying. 

Everyone in the film industry was looking forward to this magical future age, when everything could be changed with the push of a button.

BookBook MacBook case

by Twelve South

I worked for a publishing house for a little while. 

The people there, editors and publishers, also spoke of the coming digital age. 

They weren't looking forward to it. Publishing was already a dying industry. 

They knew these were the last days of print, that e-books would kill the publishing business. They didn't know how much time they had left, but they knew that it wouldn't be long. Soon their jobs would be obsolete.

Everything about the publishing house was agonizingly slow. Stacks of manuscripts were marked with red pencils, and then they were typed all over again with the corrections. Paper was everywhere. 

Going from manuscript, to galley, to published book, to distribution, could take a year.

Unsolicited submissions came in the mail in big mailbags and bins, and were promptly thrown in the garbage.  

These wanna-be authors didn't know how to get their novel in front of the editors. 

They didn't have an agent, they didn't know the editors, they didn't have the right connections. 

No one had the time to read their words and stories.

digital collage by Rosa Phoenix

Now the digital world is here. Our whole world is changing fast.

There is nostalgia, there are things that I love about analog. 

I prefer the tactile pleasures of painting with paint and brush, to making digital art on the computer. 

But I love my computer too. I love the creative programs like PhotoShop and Illustrator, with its layers, the Undo button, changes that can be made with the click of a button. To me it's magic.

I love books and print, but I don't miss the cultural gatekeepers who determined which stories would be told and shared with the world, and which would never see the light of day.

fire girl image by MISHA
digital collage by Rosa Phoenix

I love self-publishing on my blog and my website.  

I love the democratization of expression that the digital age makes possible. 

 I love reaching people all around the world, who I would never get to meet in person, and share my art and ideas with them. 

I love not having to go through the middlemen--the agents, the editors, the cultural gatekeepers, who have to look out for the bottom line and ask the question "will it sell?" 

That isn't a concern that I have.

I know now that I've been waiting for this day to come, all my life.  

I was born in an analog world, and I am also a part of the digital revolution. 

I love to use my hands and heart to create, and I also love my computer, which is another creative tool, that also allows me to reach the wider world.

P.S. the title of this blog post comes from a song by the fabulous Erykah Badu, who has embraced digital media.

I Love Old Books

book by TeoStudio

Now that we have e-books, real books are becoming obsolete. 

I've said farewell to many of my favorite bookstores, where I used to hang out for hours. I loved the soft chairs, the smells of the books and discovering books and authors.

Sadly, these places where I spent happy afternoons have all gone out of business. Sorry, but Amazon.com and the iPad just aren't the same!

I will always love old books. I have some really old ones I've picked up, I even have one that is 100+ years old.

Luckily the art of bookmaking is still alive and well. And there are even some new uses for old books, too.

miniature book by TeoStudio

I discovered TeoStudio on Etsy. This wonderful bookbinder uses worn, vintage leather and antique hardware to create one-of-a-kind blank books.

book by TeoStudio

Another Etsy seller, spoonfulofchocolate recycles old books into cute handbags.

recycled book handbag by spoonfulofchocolate

book handbag by spoonfulofchocolate

For my birthday I got this wonderful case for my MacBook. Made by Twelve South, it's called Book Book.

BookBook by Twelve South

The best part is it smells like an old book.


I also love PaperBlanks line of dayplanners, address books and journals that look like beautiful old books.

PaperBlank dayplanner

Do you cherish old books? What about bookstores? How are you adjusting to the transition to digital media?



LINKS


TeoStudio on Etsy

TeoStudio Vintage Journals Blog (please take a look if you are interested in the book-making process...it's fascinating!)

Spoonful of Chocolate on Etsy

Twelve South

PaperBlanks

BIRTH OF A PHOENIX * www.rosaphoenix.com is LIVE!

 

www.rosaphoenix.com 

is 

LIVE!

I'd love it if you check out my new website!  

I designed and created it myself.

This is the grand opening of my business, Rosa Phoenix Art + Design.

I offer graphic design and writing services for artists.

I design and create quality classic artist promotional materials for print and the web.

I love working with artists to promote their artwork.

I learned graphic design while working for New York art galleries, promoting international artists, in the 1990s.

I didn't stay in the New York art scene.

Life took me in different directions.

Now I seem to be coming full circle, back to the world of art and artists.

I wrote about some of the changes that returned me to a creative life. The story is "How I Became An Artist and Environmentalist."

I took the name Rosa Phoenix to signify rebirth.

Here we are in 2010. I've spent the last 3 years in school, updating my computer and design skills, and creating my own art, designs and graphics for web, print and other media.

I've also been painting and creating original art, and in 2008 I had my first art show.

Now I'm in business.

I'm hoping that the creative life will support me as it has sustained and strengthened my spirit.

I'm pretty excited about my creative adventure, and I'll be using this blog to keep you posted on my progress and news.

I'd appreciate your feedback on the website.  

I chose to go live on Feb 14, 2010 for the Lunar New Year, 2010, Year of the Tiger, and also for Valentine's Day! 

A time of new beginnings, looking forward to springtime, and a time to share love.

Thank you for visiting me here on my blog. 

I'm overwhelmed by the interest, encouragement and feedback that I receive here. 

Everyone helps me along on the creative journey. 

You all are a continual source of inspiration and warmth that I channel into my art!

Happy New Year! 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Happy Rosa Phoenix Day!

www.rosaphoenix.com

True Mirror

photo by Plus 

"Who sees the human face correctly:

the photographer,

the mirror,

or the painter?"

- Pablo Picasso

A friend showed me the True Mirror. 

It gives me a true (not reversed) image of myself.

I've never seen myself like this, except in photos or video, but never in real life. 

I quickly notice that I tilt my head to one side, and my smile is crooked.

photo from the True Mirror website

It's interesting to look into my own eyes. 

I am able to make a connection with my own reflected image. 

I get a friendly feedback from the mirror, 

as if I am actually connecting with another person, 

and not merely gazing into a mirror.

The makers of the True Mirror explain:

There are a few key reasons for why the True Mirror reflects the real you.

The first is the all-important eye-to-eye contact -- the strongest way we understand what people are saying.

When you communicate with every other individual in the world, your eyes always meet left-eye-to-right-eye and right-eye-to-left eye.

This normal biological pattern conveys information "just so".

With traditional mirrors, where the right eye picks up the right-eye reflection, and the left picks up the left's, you are experiencing a highly unnatural way of gathering information about yourself. You don't communicate with anyone else in the world in that pattern.

The result is that we always feel we are somehow different than everyone else, often in a negative way. 

I wonder if this is why I experience self-critical feelings when I see my own reflection in a regular mirror. 

Looking at myself in the True Mirror, I feel more curious about myself, and less critical.

Here is the link to True Mirror website:

http://www.truemirror.com/ 

Mannahatta Project

Inwood Hill Park

photomontage by Rosa Phoenix

 The Mannahatta Project poses this question:

"When Henry Hudson first looked on Manhattan in 1609, what did he see?"

The Mannahatta Project at the Wildlife Conservation Society attempts to re-create the island of Manhattan before it was settled by Europeans. 

For those familiar with modern-day, urban Manhattan, it also provides points of reference to the city as it is now.

The Mannahatta Project superimposes two maps together, using Google Maps interface to navigate between them.  

Two layers of Manhattan merge together: the 1609 version was re-created according to historical maps, and the modern-day version comes from Google Maps.

Use the slider at the bottom to move in between the maps, or click on the 1609 map to see what's there today. You can also enter a Manhattan address, or search for a landmark. For example, on the 1609 map, I click on what looks like a marshy wetland in upper Manhattan.

What is now the city block of 93rd and 94th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue was once a very different place.  

When I click on the link "what this place was like in 1609" I get a listing of all the wildlife, plants and animals that would have inhabited this area at that time. I'm surprised that the original inhabitants of the island included mountain lions, bears and foxes.  

The 1609 map layer also shows the villages and trails of the native people who lived there at that time.

Check it out for yourself here:

http://themannahattaproject.org/explore/mannahatta-map/

The Mannahatta Project is also featured in the September 2009 National Geographic.

Click here to learn about Inwood Hill Park, site of Manhattan's sole remaining native forest.