2021 Artist Nominees for Best of the Net

As the editor of Artist Watch, the monthly column at the online international arts magazine Escape Into Life, I have the opportunity and privilege to nominate three artists for the 2021 Best of the Net anthology, with gratitude to Sundress Publications for offering this award series! Nominees' work must have been published between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Please join me in congratulating the nominees.

Please click the links below to view each column with the work for which the artists have been nominated:

   Dan Reisner, "George Floyd", Bronze (Photo: Ron Kedmi)

Artist Watch, Dan Reisner, May 20, 2021

Hansa, "Madonna del Mare Nostrum (Or, Cloak of Love)", Oil on Canvas

Artist Watch, Hansa (Hans Versteeg),  April 15, 2021

 

 

Adrienne Stein, "Earth I", Oil on Linen

Artist Watch, Adrienne Stein,  July 16, 2020

Thought for the Day

Poems are really good at being uncertain.

Tweets, not so much.

~ Kaveh Akbar

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Quoted from "The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat With Kaveh Akbar," The Rumpus, August 31, 2021

Kaveh Akbar, Iranian-American Poet and Scholar; Author, Pilgrim Bell, Calling a Wolf a Wolf, and Portrait of the Alcoholic; Poetry Editor, The Nation

Thought for the Day

[The] art of life is the art of community [. . .]

where the readiness to engage actively on behalf

of the common good takes precedence over the success

of one's own demands and over group interests.

~ Frank Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger

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Quoted from Frank Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger, Psalms 3: A Commentary on Psalms 101-150, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2011), page 479

Frank Lothar Hossfeld, Professor of Old Testament, University of Bonn, Germany; Author

Erich Zenger, Professor of Old Testament, University of Munster, Germany; Author

New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life

 

Malachite Muse, 2021

Oil on Linen, 80 cm x 80 cm

 

© Elise Macdonald

 

PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGE

 

Today's new Artist Watch at the international online arts magazine Escape Into Life showcases the gorgeous paintings of Elise Macdonald, currently a resident of South Africa. 

Elise, who paints every day and has created online a remarkable following around the world, studied art of the University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, which awarded her a bachelor's degree in fine art. In no time, her experimentations with airbrush painting brought her success. Following time off for parenthood, Elise returned to painting with oils and brushes. Her work sells out within days of completion.

This month's Artist Watch features seven of Elise's paintings, her Artist Statement, and a brief profile.

Thought for the Day

Love sees what is invisible.

~ Simone Weil

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Quoted from Simone Weil, Waiting for God (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2009), page 149

Simone Weil (1909-1943), French Religious Philosopher, Essayist, Poet, Dramatist, Social Critic, Political Activist

"The Question of God", Public Broadcasting Service

Thought for the Day

It is hard work to live into this generative love, and it is

what we are made for: to paint light into darkness, to sing

in co-creation, to take flight in abundance.

~ Makoto Fujimura 

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Quoted from Makoto Fujimura, "Find God in the Arts: A Theology of Making" at Center for Action and Contemplation, August 18, 2021

Makoto Fujimura, Artist, Writer and Author 

Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making (Yale University Press, 2021)