Category Archives: Sidewalk art

Artists Bring the Streets To Life with 3D Art

2D street art, such as graffiti and stencil art, is nothing new. For decades street artists have been transforming cold concrete streets and allies into feasts for the eyes. But a brand new army of artists is bringing streets to life with 3D art that dazzles the eye and stirs the imagination.

To a child, 3D street art can easily be misconstrued as having been created magically. While there is a supernatural feel to such art, it is mere human artists, not magicians, who create the magnificent displays.

If you have not seen 3D street art, you are missing out on something special. Allow this article to take you from the roads of Tehran, Iran’s capital, to the buildings of Miami, Florida, and experience the magic of 3D art for yourself.

Street Art Makes the Common, Extraordinary

When an artist fashions 3D art, he or she expands on a 2D art display, extending the creation beyond the perimeters of the 2 dimensional world. 3D art literally reaches out to touch you, and begs to be touched and experienced in return.

Here are some locations where the streets have been graced with 3D art:

Tehran, Iran Artist Medhi Ghadyanloo has transformed Tehran with his brilliant artwork. In the CNN index, “What’s the secret behind these eye-popping street art illusions,” it says, “Ghadyanloo has painted over 100 murals across the Iranian capital, giving unsuspecting drivers good reason to do a double take, as the fantasy blends in with the real.”

Paris, France – A once-plain underpass in Paris has been rendered exquisite by a hovering anamorphic image created by TSF, a French art crew. The crewmembers used paint and a chopped-down tree to create the artistic effects they wanted.

Miami, Florida – One of the most moving displays of 3D street art is titled No Art for Poor Kids, and can be found near the Jose De Diego Middle School in Miami. Artist MTO created a statue of a child standing with his face toward a building, wearing what appears to be a dunce cap. This is both ironic and significant because, as explained on the CNN website, it “highlights the plight of [the] middle school, on the edge of Miami’s Wynwood gallery district, where this year’s Art Basel parties kicked off. There, on the doorstep of the glitziest art-buying festival, a tight budget means there’s no money to hire an art teacher and the 600 students are denied access to art.”

3D Street Art Fosters Change

The 3D art display near the Jose De Diego Middle School proves that 3D street art can be both controversial and transformational. It is in-your-face and refuses to be ignored. It’s safe to say that this genre of art has the potential to change culture as we know it.

Check out more astounding displays of 3D street art here.

Is there a 3D street art display in your locale? If so, how have people responded to it? Do you think such a display would enrich your community?

Read more Segmation blog posts about art and color:

Street Art Affects Major Cities Across the World

The Graffiti Artist and Street Vendor

Can Trash Become Artistic Treasure?

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Where Urban Life Meets Natural Art

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The image above may look like a gardening project gone wrong, or a lot of effort to set up a unique photograph. However, neither of these options can explain the image.

Art can take on many forms and serve many purposes. The photograph above showcases the collaboration of art and nature. It serves as a medium for discussing the importance of growing awareness for both nature and art in urban areas.

This photograph is just a tiny piece of a larger project. The French village of Jaujae celebrated the 10th year of its Arts and Nature Trail program by spreading 1,400 feet of living turf throughout the community.

In this urban city there is little room for art or nature. This extensive stretch of turf weaves its way throughout the city; up stairs, around corners and down streets calling one and all to experience both nature and art.

The 3.5 tons of natural, living turf grass is meant to bring both art and nature into an urban area that would otherwise be overwhelmed by its stone structures. The goal is to provide urban dwellers with a link to all things artistic and shine light on the beauty of the natural world. This winding band of grass serves as a connection for the individuals of Jaujae with the place where art and nature meet.

This endeavor forces individuals to take a moment away from their everyday activities and appreciate that which is creative. It urges the public to support both the arts and projects that bring the natural world into the city. This creative, artistic idea definitely calls for attention and support in a way that a simple garden never could.  It literally attempts to use art to connect man with the environment.

The grass path that runs throughout the city is only a temporary installation. However, it will be interesting to see how this artistic effort works to inspire not only the people of Jaujae, but also others who wish to discover artistic ways of bringing communities together through nature.

Image made available by Web Urbanist – Local Designs to Global Destinations

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Chalk Art Transforms the Sidewalk into a Canvas

For many, chalk brings back childhood memories of scribbling figures out on the sidewalk, playing hop scotch in self-made disproportionate boxes, and being saddened each time the rain washes everything away. Today, many professional and amateur artists never leave the driveway. There are many different mediums to work within, but one of the fastest expanding niches of chalk artists transforms the sidewalk into a canvas. Concrete is still king.

So what exactly is chalk and where does this stuff come from?

Chalk is a form of limestone, a soft, typically white, sedimentary rock. It forms from the accumulation of mineral calcites -which also makes it a porous rock, similar to pumice. This quality can make chalk a challenge to work with, leaving holes and unfilled patches on the canvas or pavement from a seemingly solid and even stroke. Still, chalk has a variety of uses: teachers use it on blackboards, gymnasts use it for grip, pavers use it for painting evenly lined parking spaces, and artists use it in a variety of forms from varying degrees of hard and soft chalks, to chalk pastels and even liquid chalk.

Using Chalk for Art

Working with the challenge of this porous mineral, artists have envisioned and developed increasingly complex and abstract ideas that have been executed by such famous sidewalk artists as Kurt Wenner. In fact, the work of Wenner and other artists like Ellis Gallagher and Julian Beever have created an overnight cult following in some major cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Their work has been the center of many email chains, sparking interest all across the globe in their incredibly intricate, three-dimensional works of art.

Techniques for Chalk Artists

Some noteworthy techniques employed by many artists include various approaches to blending and the use of the “Wet Effect”. Dipping or soaking your chalk in a container of water for up to 6 minutes achieves this effect. This softens the chalk, making it malleable enough to work like paint. From here, the possibilities for blending and shading become endless.

So get inspired, grab a bucket, and give it a shot! If you don’t like what you come up with, there’s always the hose…

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Discover the Artist in You

When did you discover the artist in you? Was it the first time you held a paint brush? Or the time you received praise for an art project?

Whenever it was, Segmation wants to know because Segmation allows artists of all kinds to reach their fullest potential.

Discovering the artist in you and encouraging art in others is important because art is an integral part of culture. As an individual, it showcases who you are, where you’ve come from and what you represent. Not to mention, your creativity spurs creativity in other people, allowing all forms of art to expand.

Here are some tips to discover the artist in you and encourage art in others:

(1) Practice Art
(c) See-ming Lee: Flickr

No matter what area of art you excel in, if you follow the motto, “Practice makes perfect,” your art will thrive. Set aside time to practice art every day or a couple of times per week. Whether you paint, draw, photograph or practice other types of art, make sure to do so on a regular basis. In addition to practicing your preferred art, incorporate fun, leisure artistic activities into your routine. Noticeable improvement will ensue.

(2) Study Art

(c) Michael Caven: Flickr

What are the famous works of art that influence your style and culture? Are artists like Chagall, Monet, and Da Vinci on your list of inspirational artists? When is the last time you visited an art museum? Thanks to Google Search, you don’t need to go far to acquire information about your favorite artists. Set aside time every week to discover more about important artist who influence you and those around you.

(3) Look for Art

(c) Mike Baird: Flickr

Art is all around us. In fact, it is in everyday objects. When taking a moment to observe art in nature, architecture and even table-leg carvings, you gain perspective. This infuses your art with unique qualities! So look for subtle, and often times unintentional art that surrounds you and use it for inspiration.

Another way to discover the artist in you is to be active in artist communities. These communities are available in person and online. Segmation is an online community that encourages artists to reach their fullest potential. Share your art experience with us, and as a result, share and inspire a community of artists.

Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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A Closer Look at the Color Red www.segmation.com

A Closer Look at the Color Red.

Be my Valentine by www.segmation.com

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You’ll find in our SegPlayPC Be My Valentine pattern collection. This is a fun, off-beat set of great colorful digital patterns. We know you’ll enjoy coloring these great patterns! What a great stress reliever as well.

Gorgeous art painting patterns to color and relax with. You don’t have to be a professional artist to enjoy this. Join the fun today! Segmation.com

Valentine’s Day is celebrated around the world on February 14th. It’s a magical day where lovers express their love for one another in many traditional and untraditional ways. In today’s time, candy, chocolates, flowers, and heart filled cards are usually given as gifts in many cultures around the globe. Our set of Valentine themed patterns includes many illustrated graphics of the holiday including roses, candy, cupids with arrows, dragons and puppies in love, and couples in love. Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
This set contains 24 paintable patterns.

You can find a wide collection of Be my Valentine Scenes paint by number patterns and is available at the Segmation web site. These patterns may be viewed, painted, and printed using SegPlay™PC a fun, computerized paint-by-numbers program for Windows 7, 2000, XP, and Vista. Enjoy!

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Leonardo da Vinci – The Renaissance Man www.segmation.com

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You’ll find in our SegPlayPC Leonardo da Vinci pattern collection. This is a fun, off-beat set of great colorful digital patterns. We know you’ll enjoy coloring these great patterns! What a great stress reliever as well.

Gorgeous art painting patterns to color and relax with. You don’t have to be a professional artist to enjoy this. Join the fun today! Segmation.com

Leonardo da Vinci was an amazingly talented and well rounded individual who lived in Italy during the Renaissance period (1500-1600). His talents included architecture, engineering, mathematics, music, and of course painting. Considered one of the greatest painters of all time, we are excited to bring many of his famous works into the creative world of SegPlayPC (No doubt Leonardo himself would have enjoyed this form of painting!). This collection contains all of his well known images including the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Bacchus, The Baptism of Christ, Madonna Litta, Annunciation, and many many more.

You can find a wide collection of Leonardo da Vinci Scenes paint by number patterns and is available at the Segmation web site. These patterns may be viewed, painted, and printed using SegPlay™PC a fun, computerized paint-by-numbers program for Windows 7, 2000, XP, and Vista. Enjoy!

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Leonardo and Picasso: Artists of Their Times www.segmation.com

Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso are two of the most famous painters in history (if not the most famous); one a Renaissance genius renowned for his skillful realism, the other a modern legend and co-founder of Cubism.

Did you know that even though Leonardo’s Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world, he only produced less than 30 paintings in total? Even then, many of them were left unfinished. Picasso, on the other hand, created nearly 2000 paintings – plus sculptures, drawings, ceramics, and hand-pulled prints that combine to over 50,000 works of art! (To be fair though, Leonardo also left behind a substantial number of drawings, sketches, and pages full of notes.)

One reason for this vast difference in the number of paintings produced is that both artists were products of the times in which they lived. When Leonardo was alive, artists didn’t have the luxury of creating art for art’s sake. Instead they were commissioned by the church, guilds and wealthy patrons to create paintings and sculptures that were expected to depict certain themes. For this reason, Leonardo needed to find work where he could. During times of war, he had to work as a military architect and engineer, designing methods of defense. Making art took a backseat to the work necessary for survival.

By the time Picasso was born 362 years after Leonardo’s death, the world was a different place. Artists had more freedom than ever to paint what they wanted. Self-expression in art was more widely accepted and expected. Instead of being commission-based, most artwork was sold in galleries to private collectors, as money flowed more abundantly through society than it did during the Renaissance. By the 20th century, successful artists such as Picasso were able to sustain themselves from the sale of their artworks alone, and did not need to seek alternate forms of employment to make ends meet.

These factors may contribute to the reason why Picasso created so many more artworks than Leonardo, even though Leonardo is the creator of the most famous painting in the world. Who knows what more Leonardo could have accomplished if he’d been alive in modern times?

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Segmation Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

ChromaBlend Art Game by www.segmation.com!

ChromaBlend by Segmation

ChromaBlend by Segmation

ChromaBlend Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

Longtime Segmation SegPlay™ contributor, Susan Richardson, has created an exciting set of multi-colored images for us to use with SegPlayPC™ These chromatic patterns are a joy to look at and utilize a vivid color palette. Have some psychedelic fun with the ChromaBlend collection! Cascade, Confusion, Eyes in the Round, Expand, Fractured Rainbow, It’s Raining, Neon Impression, Organza II , Marbled, Orange, Purple, Pink and Blue, Rainbow II, Stirring of the Water, Spring Through My Window, Square Circle I, Surreal Dream, The Blues, 3D IV and Wave collections are included.
This set contains 20 paintable patterns.
ChromaBlend

Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!

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William Blake English Romantic Artist by www.segmation.com!

William Blake by Segmation

William Blake by Segmation

New Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

William Blake (1757 – 1827) was a English Romantic Age painter, poet, and printmaker. His wild imagination and idiosyncratic views has helped make himself held in high regards by art critics. He began his career as an engraver and also did relief etchings. His views on conventional religion were controversial as were his views on the 19th century “free love” movement and Age of Enlightenment philosophy. Our pattern set has most of his recognized works including “Ancient of Days”, “Newton”, “The Ghost of a Flea”, “Jacob’s Ladder”, “Glad Day”, The Lover’s Whirlwind”, “Nebuchadnezzar” and “Los”.
This set contains 24 paintable patterns.
William Blake

Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!

Be a Artist in 2 minutes with William Blake from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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