A Brief History of the Sundance Film Festival

Every January droves of people and Hollywood stars descend upon Park City, Utah to attend the Sundance Film Festival. As odd as it seems to have such a well-respected affair in out-of-the-way Utah, the Sundance Film Festival is one of the world's top five film festivals. It shares company with Cannes, Toronto, Venice, and Berlin. But its origins may surprise you.

Everyone knows that Robert Redford founded the festival, right? Wrong. Despite the myth that makes Redford the instigator of the festival, it was actually started by a film graduate from BYU, Sterling Van Wagenen, and Utah's Film Commissioner, John Earle. Van Wagenen and Earle created the festival for three reasons:

1.to entice more film makers to Utah
2.to provide a showcase for American films (although the festival has since developed international categories)
3.to recognize films not made in Hollywood.

The festival's first year was 1978. Redford was there from the beginning, but as a member of the board of directors. Redford has lived in Utah since the 1960s, and it was only natural that he should be invited to participate. Part of the reason that Sundance has garnered so much attention is doubtless due to its association with Redford. And because he was (and is) such a big name, the story that he founded the festival has never been strenuously denied.

Rather than being held in Park City, the first two festivals were held 45 minutes to the west in Salt Lake City. And not during the winter. The change came for the third festival. Sydney Pollack (yes, THAT Sydney Pollack), who was also on the board of directors, insightfully suggested that holding the festival at a ski resort during the winter would set it apart. However, back then the festival was known as the Utah/US Film Festival. The name didn't change until 1991, when the name was changed to reflect the fact that Redford's Sundance Institute has sponsored the event since 1985.

The combination of famous patrons, a unique setting, and a growing reputation for high quality independent films has made Sundance a major event. It lasts for ten days, has expanded to include 10 individual sections, and has spawned a variety of activities around it. People even come to screen movies out of the backs of their cars on the streets of Park City, hoping to get noticed - or to just have a good time.

Some of the most revered independent filmmakers of our time have received their big breaks while showing movies at Sundance. Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, James Wan, Jim Jarmusch, and Kevin Smith all got their entrance into mainstream culture at Sundance. Additionally, movies like Clerks, The Blair Witch Project, and Napoleon Dynamite were all propelled into the mainstream and pop culture by their exposure at Sundance.

Quick Art Pieces You Can Do - Even If You're Not an Artist

Art is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak - and art takes many forms - from beautiful hand-painted pieces of intense imagination, or chunky-looking piles of junk that make you scratch your head and wonder. If you’re in need of some nice artwork on your walls, you’re no artist, and you definitely don’t have the funds to go shopping for expense artwork, make some yourself. You don’t have to be an artist to do so. Just use a few things around your house and a couple of things from a craft store. And, your art pieces will be so wonderful yet no one will know how little they cost.

Blank canvases attached to wooden frames make a great base for your art. Use foam or regular brushes and make horizontal swipes, allowing ridges to build from brush marks, and minor drips to remain. These wide stripes, in various colors, can represent everything from a sea scape to a field of flowers.

An example is a beach scene made wide, white stripes across the top of the canvas then wide, blue stripes across the bottom. Switch to a smaller brush and make some white stripes, without much pressure on the brush, across the blue section. You can add a yellow circle in one corner, if you wish, but don’t make it too distinctive. Foam brushes allow you to circle the paint without adding much detail.

An example of a field of flowers requires a blue strip across the top third of the canvas, with strips of white included, if desired, then a very wide strip of green across the bottom. Now use a small brush to dot your favorite color of flowers across the green stripe. The flowers don’t have to have to be all the same color, and can overlap each other, too. This gives the effect of one standing in front of the other.

Use these techniques to make many different scenes, such as beach, cornfield, field of flowers, pond with ducks, row of houses, group of kids, and other images. After you get the color on the canvas, add your own real touches, such as a small group of silk daisies, along with a few sprigs of greenery, glued horizontally across the bottom of the canvas. For a beach scene you can glue on shells or even use glue and sand to enhance the design.

Mirrored wall designs are often considered art pieces particularly if they’re arranged in a unique and modern way. Mirrors without frames, but with beveled sides, make the best artwork pieces. Purchase one large mirror, then several smaller ones to start the project. You’ll also need small wooden dowel pieces, of various lengths, from an inch to three inches.

Paint the wooden pegs silver or gold. Hang the large mirror on the wall. Glue two to four of the pegs onto the back of each smaller mirror with contact cement, then attach the smaller mirrors onto the large one. The arrangement is your own, but here are some suggestions: Place one of the mirrors in the top corner, with part of the smaller mirror rising above the large mirror, and the other part of the mirror attached. Add a second mirror, in the same manner, placing it below and to the right of the first small mirror. Position the second mirror to where it extends out slightly past the large mirror. Use different sized pegs for each small mirror to get an even different effect. There are zillions of these mirror designs you can do, combining large, medium, and smaller mirrors attached to each other, some separated, or scattered across the entire wall.

Copper or foil, found on a roll at craft stores, can be used along with stencils to create some unique and beautiful shapes. Choose nice frames and mats then center the copper or foil design in the frame. Make several shapes and arrange them inside of the frame in a design that suits your style. Attach one of the copper or foil shapes to the outside of the frame to add to the beauty of the design. These wall hangings look expensive but aren’t.

Use inexpensive, small slabs of wood and rub-on transfers to make various art pieces for your home. Or, cut out slick magazine pictures of flowers, an old barn, or another image that catches your eye. For a rustic look, slightly burn the edges of the picture before mounting it on the wooden piece. Use the pieces in a manner as the mirrors, or hang them separately across the top of a mantel. The wooden slabs come in any number of sizes, shapes and colors.

There are many ways of making quick art pieces even if you’re not an artist. Combine things that interest you, and fit into your color scheme, and use your own style to create any number of beautiful pieces for your home. You’ll have fun with these projects because if it pleases you, it’s art!

The Akron Art Museum is Moving

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Growing up one of my favorite activities was visiting the museum in Akron. Formerly the Art Institute, the museum has been in existence since the twenties and moved around a bit until it settled at 69 East Market Street. By the seventies, the focus had changed from offering a historical collection of art to one that provided the “finest modern and contemporary art” to patrons in Northeast Ohio. Renamed the Akron Art Museum in 1981 they moved across the street to an old post office in what is now their current location.This is how I remember the art museum; interesting abstract exhibits that took up the entire room and a plethora of huge paintings that covered every major post-modern movement one could think of, cubism, pointillism, you name it! I then left Akron for college in the early nineties and had learned about other museums in other cities, notably those in Cincinnati and Dayton. It was not until recently on a trip back to Akron that I discovered that the museum was moving closer to the edge of downtown and had a new, visually aggressive design. The new design fuses the old building from the seventies with a new glass structure. Coop Himmelb(l)au is the team behind the new look, unlike other museums in Ohio the Akron Art Museum is rather small, as only 1% of their entire collection can be shown in the current structure at any time. When the new building opens up in 2006, those issues will have been addressed and Akron will finally have a museum on par with those elsewhere in Ohio and architecturally comparable to those in cities like Washington D.C, and New York City, for a change.

What You Need Know about Caring for a Baby, Newborn to One Year

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0-12 Months: What You Should Be Aware Of If you have never been around small babies or infants before, there are some important things that you should know. Just because they can’t walk, it doesn’t mean that they are always safe. If you are new at babysitting, or have a new baby in your extended family, here are some important things that you should know before you volunteer to keep the baby. *You should never let a baby get out of your eyesight. Unless the child is napping safely in a crib, you should never leave the room that a baby or infant is in. *If you are changing a baby’s diaper on a high surface such as a couch, bed, or table, you should have one hand on the child at all times. Even little newborns that can’t roll over can stretch, or startle, which can lead to a fall. *If the baby is in a car seat, infant seat, or a bouncy seat, you should never place it on a raised surface. Sudden movements by the child, or a jarring of a table, can send the baby into the floor. *Make sure that the area in your home where the baby will be located is free of blind and drape cords. You should also make sure that the baby can’t reach electrical cords, or phone cords. *An infant should never have access to plastic grocery store bags, or dry-cleaning bags. They can suffocate. *A child’s crib should be free of pillows and stuffed animals. They can cause suffocation. They may look pretty, but a child should never be left alone in their crib or playpen with these. *A baby should never be allowed to sleep on a waterbed, or a bed that is pushed up against a wall. Also, babies should never be placed near an open window. *Never leave your home without the baby, even if it is asleep. You should not even step across the yard to talk to the neighbor. You never know when an emergency might happen, such as a fire, fall from the crib, or being locked out of the house! *You should never leave an infant with a small child. Even a 5 or 6 year-old child can think they are older and stronger than they really are. If they try to pick up the infant, they could drop him. Even a bear hug to an infant could break its bones. *All baby and infant car seats should face the rear of the car. Follow all instructions in regards to the car seat. *Never, ever leave an infant in the car. It doesn’t matter if you are just stepping in to pay for gas. Weather conditions are hazardous to infants. Also, your child could be stolen. *Always do a thorough investigation of your home, and especially areas where the infant will be. Small, minute objects can choke an infant. Babies always have their hands in their mouths. Anything that is in their hands will come in contact with their mouths. *If you are giving an infant a bath, remember that these little people can drown in mere inches of water. You should always have a firm grip on a baby when you are giving them a bath.