Eastmont E-news
#17 September 2008
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Fair Games.
 
Do you remember the Olympic Games? You know: Beijing, Phelps, Usain Bolt, Nadal; the Bird Nest and the Ice Cube; the robotically perfect Chinese divers and the humanly imperfect US relay sprinters.
 
bird nest 
The Beijing Olympic Stadium aka Bird's Nest
 
All this seems so far away already doesn't it? A fading medley of emotions and images and impressions and results, slowly making their way to some remote areas of our brain. We've already moved on, moved away, our attention grabbed by some fresh attention grabbing stuff. Like the Democratic Convention for example, complete with huge crowds, emotional speeches, tears and smiles and even fireworks, followed by the Republican Convention, more, hum, conventional: cleanly predictable speeches, much less emotion, less smiles, less tears but
 

RNC protests

more tear gas; and smaller crowds too, even if you add  the protesters outside the convention center, estimated at about 10,000. 

 And no fireworks.  No fireworks, just a little bomb, dropped on stage, fresh from Alaska. Quite a blast I must say, quite a surprise! We'll see in the next few weeks if that bomb is going to explode, or implode, or whether it was just a prop. Either way I won't applaud.
 
Anyway, back to the Olympics, before we totally forget about them. I for one was quite happy that there was no boycott or obvious demonstrations even though I'm no friend of China's human rights records and its illegal occupation of Tibet. But I don't like when athletes are being used for political reasons, they have enough to worry about,  with all the training, contract signing, avoiding all the the drug tests,  and making sure they don't sweat too much in their  country's flags when celebrating their victories.
 
 swiss flag
 
And counting medals. Very important that, counting medals. So important it seems that it should be an Olympic discipline in itself. The US got the most medals but the Chinese claimed victory because they had the most gold. Two superpowers acting like little kids arguing about their collection of keychains or baseball cards. We even heard or read that this comparison was unfair because China's population is more than 4 times that of the USA. And I agree: that's totally unfair.
 
So let's be fair: Let's take into account the human reservoir of both countries and see how they fare on the fair scale: the USA had 0.36 medal per million people and China's 0.08 medal per million. That's 4.5 times more! Now that's what I call a beating, fair and square! Sorry China, you lose.
 
Actually they both lose, because if we use the same medal per capita count for all countries, our USA with its 110 medals sinks to the 45th spot while China dives all the way down to  68th out of a total of 69 medal winning countries. Nothing to brag about, really. Pathetic even.

So who was Numero Uno then? Who won the fair medal count?
It was the Bahamas with a ratio of 6.51 medals/million! Congratulations to this country that got only 2 medals (silver in Men's 4�100 relay and bronze in Men's Triple Jump) but has a population of a little more than 307,000, about the same as Pittsburgh, PA . Second? Jamaica. And third? Iceland!!! Yes Iceland, third with one single silver medal won by their men's handball team. The first large and industrialized country on this list is Australia, placing 5th while my own little country of Switzerland comes in 25th with 6 medals and a population of less than 8 million Helvetians; not bad 25th, sort of a neutral position, very Swiss.

If you want the complete list and other interesting facts about the Olympics, click here : That's where I found some of the info above. (I had started computing these numbers myself, like I had done for the 2004 Olympics, but gave up when my eyes started to play ping-pong together, and I found enough websites that had done the job already, my thanks to them!)

Truly, if we wanted to be really fair, we should also take into account the GDP of each country, the ease of access to training facilities, and a lot of other socio-economico-geo-political factors, but I'm no statistician and I don't want you to fall asleep just yet. You can do a little googling yourself after all. But I need to add just a few more words if you'll alllow me, to put a finishing touch to this fairness concept: two very revealing excerpts from a bunch of articles I found on line dealing with that subject:

"In the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the Zaire women's basketball team lost by 60 points to an American team that was hard to compete with in more ways than one. Zaire coach Mongamaluku Mozingo told The New York Times. "We have excellent players," he said, but "We do not have indoor courts. So our players train outside. They train in the heat. They train in the sun. It's an open field. You have two posts, and kids are playing there." With the price of a basketball equal to two months' salary, Zaire had only one ball for training. Uniforms and airfare to Atlanta were donated by NBA player Dikembe Mutombo"  (He could have donated a couple of basketballs too, if you ask me.)
 
And:

 "Now consider the training regimen of American swimmer Dara Torres, who won two silver medals in Beijing. The New York Times reports in a different article, "With a head coach, a sprint coach, two stretchers, two masseuses, a chiropractor and a nanny, she spent at least $100,000 a year preparing for these Olympics."  And that's not counting the new Speedo LZR swimsuit, designed with help from NASA, which costs a hefty $550. I don't think the Kenyans have a swim team.
 
lzr swimsuit

 
What does all this blabla have to do with Art, are you asking me? Again.

Well, actually there is an obvious link between the Beijing Olympic Games and "Frequency Vertebrae",  Maggie Nowinski's new exhibit that just opened at the Elusie Gallery. I won't tell you here, you'll have to come and check it out yourself. Not a big deal anyway, Maggie's work is totally worth it. Read on!
 
 
 
 The Elusie Gallery
 is happy to invite you to see
 
Frequency Vertebrae:
A Studio Process in Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture
 by
Maggie Nowinski   
 
Cellularll.nowinski
 
September 6 through October 4
The Artist Reception happens this Saturday, 5-PM,
during the now traditional and well attended Art Walk Easthampton
 
I'm very happy and excited about this exhibit! I don't usually host solo shows of Easthampton Artists and here bang! I book three in a row. Three talented artists working in different media and exploring different artistic and personal horizons. Nowinski is the first and
 
Path.nowinski
 
this is what she says about this exhibit:
 
"This exhibition represents part of a current state of my studio art process. The paintings, drawings and sculpture are an emotional and conceptual response to my search for connections, meaning and communication. This inquiry occurs via natural and unnatural frequencies and in the midst of the overwhelming circumstances of waste and the exploitive practices of consumer culture all of which leave an imprint on my body and internally and externally. Painting and drawing function is a means for me to meditate, make sense of and reflect on these ideas as I attempt to locate a central pattern or visual vertebrae."
 
 
So come and join us this Saturday, Nowinski's art is worth your visit and Artwalk Easthampton is a real cool way to spend the early part of your Saturday evening. To find out what else is happening during Art Walk, click on the link on the left column.
 
 
ATTENTION DEADLINE APPROACHING:
 
The Eastmont Art Fund
 wants to help you help others
  
The Eastmont Art Fund is inviting non- profit organizations to submit application to become the beneficiary of it's third annual fundraising art exhibit.
 
The Eastmont Art Fund's main concept is to
involve the local art community in fundraising events for local organizations to their mutual benefit, while rewarding contributors with artwork with a value equal or even greater than their contribution.
 
For more information or to request an application form, please call Jean-Pierre Pasche at 413-529-9265 or e-mail at [email protected].
Deadline for applying is September 15.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Another unique feature of the Eastmont Art Fund is that contributions to previous editions of the Art Fund remain possible as long as the editions have not sold out. Proceeds will continue to be given to the respective organizations and royalties to the artists.
 
 
echodale farm. madsen
 
Proceeds from the sale of
"Echodale Farm" by Doris Madsen will benefit the Pascommuck Conservation Trust  
 
 
 

eaf2008.alter-muri

 and proceeds from the sale of Leni Fried's
"The Faces of Katrina"
will benefit the Rosenberg Fund for Children.
 
 
You can now purchase your print directly from the Art Fund page of our website. Once there you'll see that you can also order the 2009 Art as Witness Calendar that will be published at the end of October. A great and thoughtful gift idea. Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will benefit the Rosenberg Fund for Children and the Eastmont Art Fund.
 
Thank You!
 
 
To the highest bidder! 
 
 
 Last months' auction was very successful and the bidding fierce, so we're doing it again!
 
Up for auction is:
 
"April Showers"

april cat

 April Showers a  limited edition giclee print by Amy Bock.
The image size is 16" x 18.5" and the frame size is approx. 23" x 26". The retail value of this framed poster is $645.00
Bidding starts at $100.00 and the reserve is very low. You can either bid by dropping by the old Town Hall, calling 413-529-9265 or sending a email at [email protected]. Bidders will be notified if outbid and bidding will end on Sptember 30th.
 
Good Luck! 
 
 
A few more words before signing off: thanks to all of you who responded to the August Newsletter. As I have said I always welcome feedback and now I will even know not to pluralize the word "feedback"!
I also learned that "regurgitate" has not been your favorite newsletter title (I agree with you. . . ) and that I keep making mistakes. Minor ones like saying that I was "happy" when some of you decided to unsubscribe from this newsletter.
 
6 of you did!
 
Major ones too: I told you that Americans drove 2.9 billion miles less in June of 08 than they did in the same month of 07. It was actually 12.2 billion miles! At least I was not exaggerating.
 
That's all my friends and, as usual: thank you for reading!
 
 
Jean-Pierre Pasche