CPEP may refer to:

* the Contemporary Physics Education Project at the University of Michigan;
* “Computer Professional Education Program” at the Australian Computer Society;
* the “Center for Preservation Education and Planning”, a collaboration with the United States’ National Trust for Historic Preservation;
* the “Communist Party of East Pakistan”, later Communist Party of Pakistan
* the “Committee on Printed and Electronic Publications” of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry;
* the “Comité-directeur de la Caisse de Pension des Employés Privés”, Luxembourg’s largest private-sector pension fund;
* “Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program”, a standard of Psychiatric Emergency rooms.

The Contemporary Physics Education Project, CPEP, was formed in 1987. The group of research physicists, college teachers, and high school teachers grew out of the Conference on the Teaching of Modern Physics held at Fermilab in 1986. Its first effort aimed to supply a chart for particle physics teaching that would rival the Periodic Table of the elements. The first version of this chart was published in 1989.

CPEP has created four charts emphasizing contemporary aspects of physics research: particles and interactions; fusion and plasma physics; nuclear science; and cosmology. Over a quarter of a million of these charts have been distributed.

The group has created website support for teaching for each of the charts (available through the website www.cpepweb.org).

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is an association for information and communications technology professionals. Its stated aims are “to advance professional excellence in information technology” and “to promote the development of Australian information and communications technology resources”

The ACS was formed on 1 January 1966 from five state based societies. It was incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory on 3 October 1967. Since 1983 there have been chapters in every state and territory.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities.

Its mission statement states:

“The National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education and advocacy to save America’s diverse historic places and revitalize our communities.”

History
The National Trust for Historic Preservation headquarters, also known as the Andrew Mellon Building, located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The building is a National Historic Landmark.

In 1947, a meeting convened by David E. Finley, Jr. culminated in the creation of the National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings. This group was able to obtain the congressional charter for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which President Harry S. Truman signed on October 26, 1949. Finley served as the National Trust’s first chairman of the board, remaining in the position for 12 years.[1]

Recent controversy surrounding the organization occurred in 2004 when the Beaux Arts marble-clad Century Building in St. Louis was demolished to make way for a parking garage, alongside the support of the Trust. It had provided tax incentives to save another historic building across the street but had failed to intervene on the Century Building. Despite much popular support to preserve the building, the corruptive actions of City Mayor Francis Slay had pushed forth the demolition with relative ease. Many have labeled the Trust’s current president (Richard “Dick” Moe) a disgrace for letting such a historic structure fall. Many historians and architects have lamented the city and the trust’s decision to destroy such an integral piece of St. Louis history. As such, many have called for Moe’s resignation.
[edit] National Trust Historic Sites

Twenty-nine sites are designated as National Trust Historic Sites. Most are owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and operated by other non-profit organizations (e.g., Farnsworth House); some are owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (e.g., Drayton Hall); and some are owned and operated by other non-profit organizations and hold a long-term cooperative agreement with the National Trust for Historic Preservation (e.g., Lower East Side Tenement Museum). These sites currently include:

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Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its technique and use of pointework from classical ballet, although it permits a greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines set forth by schools of ballet technique. Many of its concepts come from the ideas and innovations of 20th century modern dance, including floorwork and turn-in of the legs.

George Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of contemporary ballet. Today the style he developed is now known as neoclassical ballet, a style of dance between classical ballet and today’s contemporary ballet. Balanchine used flexed hands (and occasionally feet), turned-in legs, off-centered positions and non-classical costumes (such as leotards and tunics instead of tutus) to distance himself from the classical and romantic ballet traditions. Balanchine also brought modern dancers in to dance with his company, the New York City Ballet; one such dancer was Paul Taylor, who in 1959 performed in Balanchine’s piece Episodes. Balanchine also worked with modern dance choreographer Martha Graham, expanding his exposure to modern techniques and ideas. Also during this period, choreographers such as John Butler and Glen Tetley began to consciously combine ballet and modern techniques in experimentation.

One dancer who trained with Balanchine and absorbed much of this neo-classical style was Mikhail Baryshnikov. Following Baryshnikov’s appointment as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, he worked with various modern choreographers, most notably Twyla Tharp. Tharp choreographed Push Comes To Shove for ABT and Baryshnikov in 1976; in 1986 she created In The Upper Room for her own company. Both these pieces were considered innovative for their use of distinctly modern movements melded with the use of pointe shoes and classically-trained dancers — for their use of “contemporary ballet”.
New York State Theater, home of the New York City Ballet

Tharp also worked with the Joffrey Ballet company, founded in 1957 by Robert Joffrey. She choreographed Deuce Coupe for them in 1973, using pop music and a blend of modern and ballet techniques. The Joffrey Ballet continued to perform numerous contemporary pieces, many choreographed by co-founder Gerald Arpino.

Today there are many explicitly contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. These include Alonzo King and his company, Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet; Nacho Duato and Compañia Nacional de Danza; William Forsythe, who has worked extensively with the Frankfurt Ballet and today runs The Forsythe Company;Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, who are Co-Founders of Complexions Contemporary Ballet; and Jiří Kilián, former artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theatre. Traditionally “classical” companies, such as the Kirov Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet, also regularly perform contemporary works.

Ballet entails more than just putting on a tutu and dancing all over the stage with pointed feet. There is so much more to this craft beyond what the eye can see. The average person would find it extremely difficult to perform a ballet.

This is an art in which you must possess an extremely high level of passion, patience, determination, skill, creativity and professionalism. Without all of these elements we would not be able to enjoy such great ballets as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

You cannot compare such an art to those of an actor or an actress because unlike televison, there are not any stand-ins or stunt doubles; it is all quite natural and real.

Most people are most familiar with ballets that have graced the television screen a time or two but there are so many others in existence. There are many styles of ballet. You can enjoying the classics and more contemporary ballet styles.

Have you seen Giselle? Giselle first premiered back in 1841 in Paris. I am a helpless romantic and when you see it, it will definitely put you in the mind frame of Romeo & Juliet or Othello. I challenge you to see it. I have watched this a number of times and I love it. When I watch a ballet, I break it down and put it in a way that I can best understand it and I always try and apply to my life. I always take something away from watching ballet. It is full of expression, passion and it has a great story to tell.

Whether you are a ballet lover or someone who just appreciates the art of dance it is a great experience to go to the ballet. You can broaden your horizons and go to a classical, neo-classical or contemporary ballet but whichever you choose take a great friend so they too can enjoy it.

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Anything Is Valid Dance Theatre is one of Australia’s most innovative, project based contemporary dance companies in Perth. The company was founded in 2006 by Serena Chalker and Quindell Orton, graduates of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and is unique as it specialises in improvisation for a found audience and the performance style is largely influenced by the flashmobbing culture. The success of the company hinges on the philosophy of taking contemporary dance out of the theatres and into public spaces to increase the audience awareness and appreciation of the art form.

In 2009 the company was commissioned by Australian electro band Empire Of The Sun to choreograph and film the music video clip Standing On The Shore in Lancelin and to choreograph their debut Australian tour for Parklife . AIVDT has been featured at the Fremantle Festival, Joondalup Festival, Live@Woodside, Mt Lawley Café{culture}Festival, Australian Youth Dance Festival, Fairbridge Festival, one of Australia’s largest folk music festivals[5], Perth Cultural Centre Markets, Putting On An Act “Best of” Gala as well as working with PropelArts WA to stage a mass youth flashmob in the Perth CBD. AIVDT also undertook a creative development and mentorship with improvisational artist Jo Pollitt, taking the Perth CBD by storm with their peripheral Perth Festival Event “They’ll Be Dancing In The Streets”. This project was funded by the State Government of Western Australia through the Young People and the Arts Panel. AIVDT was also been funded by the Joondalup Council for a 2 week residency at Hillarys Boat Harbour under the Arts Development Scheme.

Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs systems and methods found in modern dance and postmodern dance. Contemporary dance draws on modern dance techniques as well as newer philosophies of movement that depart from classical dance techniques by altogether omitting structured form and movement.[citation needed]

Pioneers of contemporary dance include Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Mary Wigman, Francois Delsarte, Emilie Jaques-Dalcroze, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Rudolph von Laban, Loie Fuller, Jose Limon and Marie Rambert. Dance techniques and movement philosophies employed in contemporary dance include:

* Alexander Technique[citation needed]
* Bartenieff Fundamentals
* Contact Improvisation
* Dance Improvisation
* Feldenkrais method[citation needed]
* Hawkins technique
* Horton Technique
* Humphrey-Weidman technique
* Graham technique
* Cunningham Technique
* Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis
* Kinesiology
* Pilates
* Release Technique
* Yoga

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The Shanghai Restoration Project is a contemporary electronic music band formed by Chinese-American producer Dave Liang. The group’s first eponymous release, inspired by the Shanghai jazz bands of the 1930s, combines traditional Chinese instruments with modern hip-hop and electronica. The project debuted as MSN Music’s “New Artist of the Week” in Jan. 2006, reaching #1 on the site’s Top 100 Electronic Albums Chart that month. The release gained recognition globally, rising to the top 10 in several electronic charts, including Amazon, iTunes, and MSN Music. The first track from the debut album, “Introduction (1936),” was selected as the theme song for a worldwide TV advertising campaign for Kenzo Parfums (a division of Louis Vuitton) in early 2007. Other tracks have been featured in promotional campaigns for Microsoft, Rhapsody, TiVo, and SanDisk. In 2007, SRP partnered with China Records (the Chinese government’s record label) to release Remixed and Restored, a project remixing select classic Chinese hits from 1930s Shanghai. Japanese electronica singer MEG is releasing an album in 2009 entitled “journey” which will be produced by the band.

Stonehouse is an urban area in Gloucestershire County, in the local government district of Stroud, in the mid-southwest of England. Stonehouse sits between the town of Stroud and the M5 on the A419. The Stonehouse urban area is heavily industrialized.

Stonehouse is served by the Stonehouse railway station on the Swindon-Gloucester Golden Valley line. Prior to 1965 the Stonehouse railway station was known as the Stonehouse Burdett Road station, as there was a second Stonehouse station at Bristol Road on a separate line that still runs from Bristol and Gloucester. The Stonehouse Bristol Road station closed to passengers in 1965 and to freight the following year. Locals still sometimes refer to Stonehouse station as Burdett Road station.

The area gets it name from Stonehouse, a stone manor house built prior to the Norman Invasion, that was noted in the Domesday Book. After the establishment of William the Conqueror upon the throne, Stonehouse became the property of one of William’s cousins, William De Ow. At that time the manor grounds included a vineyard and two mills. In 1327 manor master John Maltravers was convicted of being involved in the murder of Edward II. Maltravers fled to the continent. Stonehouse manor house burned down in 1908. A Grade II listed manor house was built on the property and it now serves as Stonehouse Court Hotel, next to St Cyr’s Church.

Both are on the remains of the Stroudwater Navigation, dug in 1779. The last toll on the canal was paid in 1941. Save for some areas adjacent to other property holdings, most of the canal was officially abandoned in 1954. At present much of the canal is being reclaimed and restored as part of the Cotswold Canals Partnership. Property values along the canal have increased nicely since the restoration project was announced.

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Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects is a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles and Berlin, run by Susanne Vielmetter.

The Gallery was established in 2000 and moved to its current location in Culver City in 2004.

Artists it represents include Rodney McMillian, Andrea Bowers, Edgar Arceneux, Wynne Greenwood, Ruben Ochoa and Wangechi Mutu.

Susanne Vielmetter Berlin Projects, a Berlin depandance of the Gallery, opened in February 2007.

Rodney McMillian (born 1969, Columbia, South Carolina) is an artist based in Los Angeles.

McMillian holds a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. He studied art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2002.

McMillian’s work has been exhibited at the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Studio Museum in Harlem New York, the Herning Art Museum in Copenhagen, and The Royal Academy in London. His work features in collections including the Harald Falckenberg Collection and the Saatchi Gallery. He is represented by Susanne Vielmetter in Los Angeles and Praz-Delavallade in Paris.

Los Angeles (pronounced /lɒs ˈændʒələs/ los-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], Spanish for “the angels”) is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2) in Southern California. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nearly 12.9 million residents.Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most diverse counties[4] in the United States. Its inhabitants are known as “Angelenos” (/ændʒɨˈliːnoʊz/). In 2008, Los Angeles was named the world’s eighth most economically powerful city by Forbes.com, ahead of Shanghai and Toronto but behind Chicago and Paris.

Los Angeles was founded September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the river of Porziuncola).[6] It became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its independence from Spain. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, Los Angeles and California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States; Mexico retained the territory of Baja California. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.

Los Angeles is one of the world’s centers of business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, technology, and education. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. As the home base of Hollywood, it is known as the “Entertainment Capital of the World”, leading the world in the creation of motion pictures, television production and recorded music. The importance of the entertainment business to the city has led many celebrities to call Los Angeles and its surrounding suburbs home.

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The U.S. government’s Strategic Computing Initiative funded research into advanced computer hardware and artificial intelligence from 1983 to 1993. The initiative was designed to support all the various projects that were required to develop machine intelligence in a ten year time frame, from chip design and manufacture, computer architecture to artificial intelligence software. The department of defense spent a total of $1 billion on the project.

The inspiration for the program was Japan’s fifth generation computer project, an enormous initiative that set aside billions for research into computing and artificial intelligence. As with Sputnik in 1959, the American government saw the Japenese project as a challenge to its technological dominance. The British government also funded a program of their own around the same time, known as Alvey, and a consortium of U.S. companies funded another similar project, the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation.

The goal of SCI, and of these other contemporary projects, was nothing less than full machine intelligence (known in the 21st century as “strong AI”). “The machine envisioned by SC”, according to Alex Roland and Philip Shiman, “would run ten billion instructions per second to see, hear, speak, and think like a human. The degree of integration required would rival that achieved by the human brain, the most complex instrument known to man.”

The initiative was conceived as an integrated program, similar to the Apollo moon program,[5] where diifferent subsystems would be created by various companies and academic projects and all of them would be brought together into a single integrated system. Alex Roland and Philip Shiman write “While most research programs entail tactics or strategy, SC boasted grand strategy, a master plan for an entire campaign.”

The project was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and directed by the Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO). By 1985 it had spent $100 million and 92 projects were underway at 60 institutions, half in industry, half in universities and government labs. Robert Kahn, who directed IPTO in those years, provided the project with its early leadership and inspiration.

By the late 80s, it became apparent the project would not succeed in creating machine intelligence at the levels that had been hoped for. Insiders in the program cited problems in communication, organization and integration. When Jack Schwarz ascended to the leadership of IPTO in 1987, he cut funding to artificial intelligence research (the software component) “deeply and brutally”, “eviscerating” the program (writes Pamela McCorduck). Schwarz felt that DARPA should focus its funding only on those technologies which showed the most promise. In his words, DARPA should “surf”, rather than “dog paddle”, and he felt strongly AI was not “the next wave”.

Although the program failed to produce machine intelligence at the levels that had been hoped for, it did help to advance the state of the art of computer hardware to a considerable degree. On the software side, the initiative funded development of the Dynamic Analysis and Replanning Tool, a program that handled logistics using artificial intelligence techniques. This was a huge success, saving the Department of Defense billions during Desert Storm.

The project was superseded in the 1990s by the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative and then by the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program. These later programs did not include artificial general intelligence as a goal, but instead focussed on supercomputing for large scale simulation, such as atomic bomb simulations.

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The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is a contemporary art museum in St. Louis, Missouri. As a non-collecting museum, it promotes meaningful engagement with the most relevant and innovative art being made today. The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (or CAMSTL) is located at the corner of Spring Avenue and Washington Avenue, right next to the The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

There are two major different types of art galleries, but once you get past those two distinctions, there are as many different types of art galleries as there are types of art.

Art gallery is the name given to a place where some type of visual art is displayed. The two different types of art galleries are the art museum and the contemporary commercial art gallery. An art museum is usually publicly owned and is not in the business of making a profit, but rather displaying and preserving art. It also exists to educate people about art. Some examples of famous art galleries in the United States are the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C, and the St. Louis Art Museum.

Contemporary art galleries or commercial art galleries have the purpose of selling art rather than simply displaying it. There are as many different types of these art galleries are there are types of art. Many of these galleries are just in the business of selling works of art and will offer pretty much whatever is available. Other art galleries tend to specialize in one type of art or another.

The different types of commercial art galleries include rental galleries and co-op galleries. The rental galleries rent space to artists for the purpose of selling their art. They are not as common as the galleries that retain more control over their offerings to the public. The co-op gallery is usually run by a group of artists that share the expenses of operating the gallery in exchange for the opportunity to exhibit their work in it.

Another way of looking at the different types of art galleries is the subject matter and form of art work exhibited. Certain galleries might offer only local art, or modern art. Some may be themed art such as historical art or wild life art. They may offer only religious art. Some galleries specialize in regional or national art. For example, Asian art might be the theme for a gallery or European art. Some galleries offer only photographs or sculpture.

Regards of the type of gallery, the purposes of the commercial art gallery are to get art in front of the public. This is not done so much for educational or purely art appreciation reasons, but to make sales and profit. This statement is not intended to make them sound overly crass. Art galleries have encouraged the progress of art by providing opportunity to artists to exhibit their work and make a living. It might be said that the art museum is the place for the art of the past and the art gallery is the place for the art of the future.

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Transition Gallery is a contemporary art project space in Hackney, East London. It is run by artists Cathy Lomax and Alex Michon. Transition Editions the gallery’s publishing arm produces publications to accompany shows as well as two bi-annual magazines Arty and Garageland.

Transition Gallery was founded in October 2002 in a converted garage close to Victoria Park, Hackney, London, and is run by artists Cathy Lomax and Alex Michon to show work by established and new contemporary artists.

Show titles have included Golden Fluffer, The English Museum, The Painting Room, Awopbopaloobop, Prozac and Private Views (the first Stella Vine solo show), Goth Moth and Girl on Girl. There is often a provocative polemic accompanying the shows. The Girl on Girl (January 2004) text stated:

Girl on Girl examines a new sensibility in art. Made by girls and about girls it makes a virtue of discontent, sexual disruptiveness and bad manners. This work reclaims the girly and the slutty not in a riot girl, feminist or ‘woman in art’ way but with a cultural celebration, that has both the shy and the brash as equal role models. Think PJ Harvey, Frida Kahlo, The Slits, Karen Kilimnik, Artemisia Gentileschi, Patti Smith, Meg White, think sense of conviction and to hell with the consequences.

Transition Gallery received press attention in February 2004 when a painting exhibited by then-obscure artist Stella Vine was bought for by Charles Saatchi and given international media coverage for its controversial depiction of Diana, Princess of Wales. It was titled Hi Paul Can You Come Over and showed the Princess with heavy eyes and blood dripping from her lips.

In March 2004, Liz Neal’s Archway council flat studio was recreated as an installation inside the gallery for a show called The Lair of the Lotus Eater. Her work was exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery’s New Blood show in the same year.

In 2005, Evening Standard critics, Nick Hackworth and Brian Sewell, visited the gallery. Hackworth wrote: It looks like a small garage workshop, but instead of Star Motors the legend reads: “You don’t have to be blonde to be an artist, but it helps.” Inside, the walls are papered with magazine pages, photographs and postcards on the theme of quintessential Englishness; among them are paintings by Lomax and Michon. There is a subversive innocence about the installation.

In 2006, the gallery moved slightly further west to Regent Studios, which is also home to the MOT gallery, and close to the gallery hotspot of Vyner Street. The gallery address is Unit 25a Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, London E8. The nearest tube is Bethnal Green. Other galleries in the area are Vilma Gold and Keith Talent.

In the summer of 2007 Transition organised the bank holiday weekend art festival O Dreamland on the Kent coast with the Folkestone based Club Shepway. Participating artists included Lucy Harrison, Delaine Le Bas and Russell Herron. The second Transition off-site event was That’s Entertainment which was part of the 2008 Whitstable Biennale.

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes or simply Francisco Goya was a Spanish artist of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. Many consider him the Father of Modern Art. Goya was born on March 30, 1746 in Fuendetodos, Spain. In 1749, his family settled in Zaragoza. At the age of fourteen, the artist had the good fortune of having the painter, Jose Luzan Martinez as his tutor. Francisco later moved to Italy to further his interests in art. Here he met the great painters, Tiepolo and Antonio Raphael Mengs, who influenced Goya’s style of painting to a great degree. The artist returned to Zaragoza in 1771 and got the opportunity to paint a part of the dome of the Basilica of the Pillar, and frescoes for the local cathedral. These paintings pushed him to the threshold of fame.

Francisco Goya studied with artist, Francisco Bayeu, and later married Bayeu’s sister, Josefa, on July 25, 1773. Bayeu was instrumental in helping the artist get work at the Royal Tapestery Workshop. Here he had the opportunity to work on tapestry cartoons and went on to paint sixty-three cartoons for two royal palaces. These cartoons depict the lifestyles of the rich & the poor, and the old & the young. “The Blind Guitarist” is a notable piece of work from this genre. Goya’s proximity to royalty helped him achieve many projects. Between 1785 and 1788, he painted “The Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter,” “Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuriga,” and “a child’s portrait.” These paintings established Francisco as a portrait painter. He was appointed a painter to the king in 1786. In 1789, during the rule of Charles IV, he was promoted to the status of a court painter.

In 1792, Francisco Goya became deaf after a prolonged illness. This affected him psychologically, which reflected in his series of aquatinted etchings, published under the title “Caprichos (1799).” “Out Hunting for Teeth” and “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” are a couple of etchings from this series. In 1799, he worked on the cupola of the “Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida.” Notable of Francisco’s works during this period are the portraits of the Prince of Peace and many other eminent personalities from the Spanish nobility. During the Peninsular War (1808-1814), the new Spanish court accorded the artist the same respect as before. In 1812, Francisco Goya painted “The Charge of the Mamelukes” and “The Third of May 1808.” He was painting a series known as “The Disasters of War” when his wife, Josefa, died.

Goya’s some of the best projects are “The Nude Maja (1800)” and “The Clothed Maja (1803),” which were considered to be the first female nude portraits in Western Art. In 1816, he published “Tauromaquia,” which were etchings on bullfighting. “The Black Paintings” and “Disparates” reflect his mood during his period of exile from 1819 to 1824. Goya died on April 16, 1828, painting until his 82nd year. The changes the world underwent are seen in his art, which spanned over a glorious period of sixty years. The potential artistry of Francisco Goya influenced the likes of Picasso and Manet.

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Sartorial Contemporary Art is a project-led space set up by artist/curator Gretta Sarfaty Marchant. Marchant’s aim is to use the gallery to present work by both emerging and established artists and to promote the exchange of current ideas and practices which reflect their activity and instigate cultural dialogue. The gallery is linked to an art publication called,The Rebel magazine.

Sartorial Contemporary Art was founded in 2004 as a project-led space by Gretta Sarfaty Marchant in her personal artist studio / exhibition space located in an 18th century Georgian house on Kensington Church Street. Gretta’s aim is to use the gallery to present work by emerging artists and to promote the exchange of current ideas and practices which reflect their activity and instigate cultural dialogue.

In October 2008 Sartorial Contemporary Art moved to Kings Cross becoming one of the largest new contemporary art galleries in London, with 6000 square feet of exhibition space. Sartorial is known for its commitment to ground-breaking art and for its unparalleled support to artists.

Sartorial Art Ltd Editions publishes “The Rebel” magazine as well as books of selected artists to promote and document their practice. Working with artists allows us to create small editions of prints encouraging their continuing involvement and the exchange of ideas within the gallery.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891) born Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyaya, was a Bengali polymath, Sanskrit pundit, educator, social reformer, writer and philanthropist. He was one of the greatest intellectuals and activists of the 19th century and one of the pillars of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born on 26th September, 1820 to a Kulin Brahmin family at Birsingha in the Midnapore District of Pre-Independence, Undivided Bengal (now in West Bengal, India). He spent his childhood in extreme poverty. But this did not deter him from his chosen path of achieving his life’s goals.

Ishwar commenced primary education at the village school – pathshaala – an indigenous Indian school where language, grammar, arithmetic and other shastras were taught to youngsters. He was a student known for his dedicated learning, modest manners, supreme honesty and great respect for teachers.

His parents, despite dire poverty, somehow managed to send him to the city of Calcutta for higher studies after he finished his early education at the village pathshala.

Ishwar studied at Sanskrit College, Calcutta from 1829 to 1839. He applied himself to learning with full discipline, diligence and perseverance – in the most arduous of circumstances. He passed successive annual examinations with exemplary brilliance. His meritorious performance in every field of study rewarded him with prizes and scholarships which were a welcome relief in his impoverished financial condition. In this institution, he came in close contact with many Sanskrit scholars who left an indelible mark on his young impressionable mind.

In 1839, he graduated in Law examination conducted by the Hindu Law Committee. He gained mastery in many shastras or disciplines – kavya (poetry), alankar (rhetorics), vedanta (vedic literature and anthology), smriti (philosophy of law), nyaya (logic, science and jurisprudence), and jyotish-vidya (astrology).

He bagged all the prizes and scholarships for best performance. Evaluating his stupendous results in the above courses, the College Committee endowed Ishwar Chandra with the Honorific Title of Vidyasagar (Ocean of Knowledge) in 1839 when he became a Law Graduate.

The Sanskrit Title “Vidyasagar” has the Etymology of Vidya = Knowledge and Sagar = Ocean, thus meaning “Ocean of Knowledge.” The appellation of this Name is identified almost exclusively with Ishwar Chandra due to his many scholastic achievements.

On 29th December in 1841, at the age of 21, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar started his career as the Head Pundit of Fort William College, Calcutta. He joined Sanskrit College as a Professor in 1850. Satisfied with his hard work and his immense contribution to the betterment of the education system, his remuneration was doubled. Soon afterwards, he was appointed Principal of the Sanskrit College.

Concurrently with this position, in 1855, the government also appointed him as the Special Inspector of Schools for the districts of Hooghly, Burdhwan, Midnapore and Nadia in the then Undivided Bengal of Pre-Independence India.

Vidyasagar was consulted in all educational matters by Sir Frederick Halliday, the first lieutenant-governor of Bengal.

He was also an honorary office bearer of several organisations including Asiatic Society and Bethune Society. He also received honors and felicitations from many social, cultural and scientific organisations.

Vidyasagar: A Mother’s Son

Vidyasagar’s mother had a very deep-impacted spiritual influence on him all his life. He always remembered his mother’s words and deeds, who had made many a sacrifice for her son.

She taught her son not to be concerned with only worldly education.

In her opinion, the shallow ones acquire all kinds of scholarship, but have little understanding of who and what they are. By study alone, a man does not get rid of his lowly ways. Through scholarships, one cannot acquire complete wisdom. Why pursue studies which end up in death? One should study so as to free himself from death. Spiritual Knowledge can make one achieve such Immortality. It is enduring…Worldly Knowledge is temporary and transient. For earning one’s livelihood, worldly education is necessary. But this education should be acquired only to lead an independent life, with limited wants.

Therefore, Vidyasagar was encouraged by his mother to not only pursue his academics but also embark on a Spiritual Quest.

Vidaysagar was very fond of his mother and was very obedient of her. Once during his early education years, while he was staying and studying away from home, his mother asked him to come and visit her. When he arrived at the river bank, all the boatmen refused to cross the river because of an impending storm. Unable to persuade anyone as all the boatmen were afraid of the bad weather, he started swimming across the river. This anecdote of his life not only symbolizes his fearlessness and bravery but also his blind obedience to his mother whom he loved and revered very much.

On completing his education and taking up his first job assignment, Ishwar went to his village at Barsingha one day, to attend a folk festival. The women of the village had donned their best clothes and jewellery to attend the festival. His mother also went but in tattered clothes. The son could not bear to see his mother’s impoverished plight.

He said, “Mother, you have neither good clothes nor jewellery. I am distressed to see you like this. Please let me know what ornaments you wish to have!”

The mother replied, “This is not the right time, son. I shall let you know at the proper time”.

When Vidyasagar rose to the higher positions in his career, he again returned to his mother and asked what ornaments she desired. “I shall get them as fast as I can”, he said.

His mother told him that she wished 3 ornaments, but she would disclose what they were later on, as the opportune moment hadn’t yet arrived.

The son in the course of years reached one of the highest positions in the academia, and once again he entreated her, “Mother, I have some money now. Please let me know what jewels you would like. I shall get them for you.”

The mother said, “Son! I can now wear those jewels. There are 3 ornaments I would like you to give me:

“In our small village, I am grieved to find that the children have to go to distant places for education. The 1st ornament I desire is that you should set up a primary school in the village.

Our people in the village have no facilities for medical care. Please set up a health care centre here. This will be your 2nd ornament for me.

The 3rd ornament is something which you have to do by yourself. In the days to come, your reputation may grow. If anybody asks, who is your mother? You may mention my name. Your conduct must be such that you must share with others the benefits of the education you have received. Do not go after wealth. The worshipper of the Mammon will not yearn for God. The observance of this is the 3rd ornament I desire from you.”

Vidyasagar did everything that his mother wanted by opening up the school and health centre in his village and followed her words of wisdom throughout his life.

Vidyasagar and Indian Education:

Vidyasagar travelled all over Bengal in the capacity of Inspector of Schools. This gave him the opportunity to witness the pervading darkness and superstition amongst the illiterate, uneducated masses of Bengal. He was so distressed by all the malpractices he saw and esp. the exploitation of women in the name of religion, that he hurriedly established 20 Model schools in a short period of only 2 months.

He realised that unless women of the land were educated, it was impossible to emancipate and liberate them from the terrible burden of inequalities and injustice imposed on them by the oppressive Hindu society blinded by false beliefs and derelict customs. He worked relentlessly and opened 30 schools for girls in Bengal. In order to promote the education of girls, Vidyasagar made door to door calls, requesting parents to send their daughters to schools.

As Special Inspector of Schools, Vidyasagar also used his position to encourage landholders and other wealthy people to establish educational institutions. Within his inspection zone, he was instrumental in founding many schools, several of which were for girls. Some schools were established at his own initiative and with his financial support. Vidyasagar’s philanthropy was proverbial. It is said that half the money that he got from his salary and the royalties of his published books was kept reserved for helping the distressed.

Close Encounters with Vidyasagar:

Vidyasagar was a very righteous and fearless persona with unparalleled courage. He never deviated from his goals despite all adversities. He never compromised on any matter of substance neither in fear nor for favors. Here are a few of his life’s anecdotes to exemplify his outstanding personality:

# Ishwar Chandra stuck to the traditional Indian attire of his home-spun cotton Dhoti-Kurta, woven by his mother. He was once denied entry into a club by the gatekeeper as he was not dressed according to the dress code of the club. He then went back home, changed into a suit and was promptly given admission by the same gatekeeper who refused to recognize him before. At the dinner in the club, he kept on talking to his clothes and prodded them to have food. The host and the other guests at the party were bewildered and then he explained the incident with the gatekeeper. He elaborated that respect is increasingly being accorded to sartorial affairs, rather than cerebral affairs.

# Once, while he was traveling to a village for one of his regular speeches to the masses, a young officer, who wanted to listen to Vidyasagar’s lecture, got down from the train with a suitcase to go to the lecture hall. Vidyasagar also got down from the same train with a suitcase to go to the Lecture hall.

The young officer was shouting for a coolie. Vidyasagar went to him and said, “Why do you need a coolie to carry this small suitcase? Can’t you carry it yourself and save the money?”

The young officer replied, “It is not in keeping with my dignity to carry my suitcase. I am an educated person.”

Vidyasagar told him, “The hallmark of education is humility and not pride. If you cannot carry your own bag, how are you carrying your body? If however, you cannot carry your bag, I shall do so.” Ishwar carried the officer’s suitcase, acting on his life’s motto of “simple living and high thinking.”

Vidyasagar left the suitcase where the officer wanted it. The young man then offered money to his ‘porter’. Vidyasagar told him, “To serve you is my reward” and went away.

The young officer then left and started proceeding to the venue of the meeting. He was stunned to see people welcoming Vidyasagar with garlands in the Lecture-Hall. He realised that the man who had offered to carry his suitcase at the station was none other than the respected lecturer of that evening, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He felt ashamed that he had made such a great man carry his suitcase. He reflected. “What is his education and what is mine? I have behaved like a monkey. I am like a glow worm before the sun”.

# Once when Vidyasagar went to visit the the then Principal of Hindu College, Mr. Kerr, he was offended by the latter’s rude manners as the he didn’t get up to welcome him, instead kept sitting on his chair, resting his booted legs on the desk upfront, with a complete disregard for showing any courtesy to his native visitor. Mr. Kerr was reported to have been very displeased on his visit to the Sanskrit College at a later date, when this same behavior was reciprocated to him by Vidyasagar as a Tit for Tat!

# There was another incident when Vidyasagar happened to travel by train in a compartment with some Englishmen. He sat between the two of them. One of them asked, “Who is this donkey?” The other man asked, “Who is this pig?” A third English man asked, “Who are you?” Ishwar Chandra coolly replied, “I am a human being sitting between a donkey and a pig.” The three Englishmen felt ashamed of themselves as they didn’t expect him to know and speak English.

They felt even more awkward when they saw a large crowd of persons with garlands waiting to receive Ishwar Chandra when he descended from the train. The Englishmen then realised that though many Indians might appear simple and unlettered, they were inherently wise and educated.

Vidyasagar and Women’s Liberation:

The enactment of the Act of 1856, legalizing widow remarriage and the Civil Marriage Act of 1872, abolishing polygamy and child marriage and encouraging widow remarriage, owed a great deal to Vidyasagar, whose writings and activities had helped to create public opinion in favor of these social issues.

Perhaps Vidyasagar’s greatest legacy is his unflinching resolve to change the plight of Indian women, especially in his native Bengal. Being a devout Hindu himself, he sought transformation of orthodox Hindu society from within. As the principal of the Sanskrit College, he encouraged scholars to study ancient sacred texts and interpret them for contemporary usage. His study of ancient texts convinced him that the debilitating status of women in 19th century Hindu society had less legitimacy according to the scriptures, but had more to do with the existing power relations in society.

The prevailing social custom of Kulin Brahmin polygamy ensured that aged persons (often on the verge of death) married teenage girls and even children. The ill-fated girl used to be widowed very soon because her elderly husband died in old age. The life of such girls for the rest of their lives was full of woes and miseries like abstinence, torture, discrimination and deprivation.

These hapless widows were prohibited (as spiritual sanction) to abstain from consuming meat, fish, onion and garlic. Everyday, they had to rise before dawn to conduct their diurnal religious rituals, bathe in icy cold water and wrap a clean white sari around their wet bodies without drying themselves, and pick fresh flowers with dew-drops, to offer prayers to God. By custom, they were the last ones to eat in the household, or went without food observing various religious fasts.

They had to dress in plain white cotton saris and remain with their shaved off, hairless heads for the rest of their lives to render them unattractive to other men. They were usually abandoned soon after their husband’s demise and despatched to their parental homes, with their parents bearing the entire expense of their upkeep in addition to the financial burden of the wedding and dowry.

Some widows would even be thrown out of their houses or sent to religious places like Varanasi or Vrindavan in India, supposedly to pray and purify themselves, but in reality, they frequently ended up as prostitutes, rape victims and unsupported mothers.

Vidyasagar was very deeply moved by the plight of these hapless widows.

Vidyasagar’s heart melted at the pain and suffering imposed by the society, often in the name of religion, on Indian women. Polygamy, ban on widows from remarrying, child marriage, gender inequalities, keeping women away from the light of education, depriving them from property rights, etc. All these malpractices deeply distressed him.

He took up his pen, called discussion meetings, ran seminars and saw Government officials. All these efforts were directed to wipe out the evil traditions of the nation. But his call fell on deaf ears. On every instance, dictates from Hindu shastras were forwarded by the clergy as an excuse. So Vidyasagar set out to prove them wrong.

He conducted extensive research into Hindu scriptures and puranas and tried to explain that there was nothing against widows marrying a second time and why polygamy was an evil and hence unacceptable.

As the principal of the Sanskrit College, he encouraged scholars to study ancient sacred texts and interpret them for the times. His study of these texts convinced him that the debased status of women in 19th century Hindu society, the bias in law against female inheritance, wealth and property, and the social prejudice against female autonomy and education was not sanctioned by the scriptures, but had more to do with the prevalent power relations in society.

For his stern stand against polygamy, he was virulently attacked by the conservative Hindu religious groups and also received threats of physical violence and death. But nothing stopped Vidyasagar from what he had set out to do. His iron-will prevailed till the very end. On 26th July 1856, widow re-marriage was legalized by the then Government of India.

To prove that his compassion for widows was not empty rhetoric as some might have assumed, he even encouraged his son to marry a widow. He also established the Hindu Family Annuity Fund to help widows who could not remarry. He financed many such widow re-marriage weddings, often getting into debts himself.

Vidyasagar: The Compassionate Reformist

Though he was very outspoken and blunt in his mannerisms, yet Vidyasagar had a heart of Gold – full of mercy and kindness. He always reflected and responded to distress calls of the poor, sufferings of the sick and injustice to humanity. While being a student at Sanskrit College, he would spend part of his scholarship proceeds and cook paayesh (rice pudding) to feed the poor and buy medicines for the sick.

Later on, when he started earning, he paid fixed sums of monthly allowances to each member of his joint family, to family servants, to needy neighbors, to villagers who needed help and to his village surgery and school. This he continued without break even when he was unemployed and had to borrow substantially from time to time.

Vidyasagar did not believe that money was enough to ease the sufferings of humanity. He opened the doors of the Sanskrit College to lower caste students (previously it was exclusive to the Brahmins), nursed sick cholera patients, went to crematoriums to bury unclaimed dead bodies, dined with the untouchables and walked miles as a messenger-man to take urgent messages to people who would benefit from them.

When the eminent Indian Poet of the 19th century, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, fell hopelessly into debts due to his reckless lifestyle during his stay in Versailles, France, he appealed for help to Vidyasagar (who was also known to all as Dayar Sagar – the Ocean of Kindness, for his immense generosity), Vidyasagar laboured to ensure that sums owed to Michael from his property at home were remitted to him and sent him a large sum of money to France.

Vidyasagar’s Published Works:

Vidyasagar devoted most of his time in writing reformist literature and text books. He also wrote biographical notes on numerous noteworthy personalities in the history of the world so that the young generation could be inspired by reading the great examples of their endurance, hard work, honesty, patience, perseverance, courage, determination and philosophy of life.

Betaal Panchavinsati – 25 tales of a Betaal (Demon) published in 1847 – a translation from the Sanskrit Kathasaritsagara on King Vikramaditya and his Betaal, is one of the most popular works of Vidyasagar in Bengali Prose.

Other notable Literary contributions by him include Banglar Itihaas (1848), Jivancharita (1849), Shakuntala (1854), Mahabharata (1860), Seetar Vanavas (1860), Bhrantivilaas (1869), Oti Alpa Hoilo (1873), Aabaar Oti Alpa Hoilo (1873), Brajavilaas (1884) and Ratnopariksha (1886).

But the most far-reaching and controversial of his Social Reform Monologues are:

Bidhobabivah (Widow Remarriage – on widows’ rights to remarry) the First Exposure (1855)

Bidhobabivah – (Widow Remarriage – on widows’ rights to remarry) the Second Book (1855)

Bahubivah – (on Banning of Polygamy) the First Exposure (1871)

Bahubivah – (on Banning of Polygamy) the Second Book (1873)

Balyabivah (on the Flaws of Child Marriage) – publication date not known

Vidyasagar is also famously known for his Educational Book of “Barnoparichoy” – a first book of the Bengali alphabet to introduce children to the alphabetical letters of the Bangla Language. The term “Barna” means Letter (of the alphabets) and “Parichoy” means Introduction. This book on the Bengali alphabets and their elementary usage is illustrated with very interesting pictures, which was an entirely innovative and novel concept during those times.

Vidyasagar died on 29th July, 1891 at the age of 70.

His stature as an educator, reformer, writer, scholar and philanthropist grew to such great heights that the whole nation, irrespective of race, religion and caste, mourned his sad demise. The newspapers and magazines were flooded with obituaries and features applauding his deeds and achievements; poets and writers, including the poet-laureate Rabindranath Tagore, wrote poems and prose in his remembrance.

Thus, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a legendary figure who played a significant role in all aspects of Indian life – be it education, culture, religion, ethics or literature.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

For seventy-five years, the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks has played a significant role in the historic preservation movement in Philadelphia by restoring, furnishing and presenting to the public its four distinguished house museums: Grumblethorpe, Physick House, Powel House and Waynesborough. While remaining committed to preserving and interpreting the past, Landmarks is moving into the future with a renewed mission to expand beyond business-as-usual, explore new conceptual territories, create new collaborations and make its houses relevant to today’s audiences. To that end, working with founding curator Robert Wuilfe, the organization in 2006 created a new program called Landmarks Contemporary Projects.

Landmarks Contemporary Projects is a program of exhibitions, residencies, screenings, lectures, performances and educational strategies that is bringing new and experimental contemporary culture from Philadelphia and beyond to historic sites. Landmarks Contemporary Projects tries to provide a thoughtful alternative for audiences, creative opportunities for artists and new partnerships with other organizations. The core of the program is an exhibition/residency program in which Landmarks invites artists to explore and react to its properties and collections and create site-specific installations. By providing an experimental atmosphere in which artists are free to create new work and question basic assumptions of historical preservation, Landmarks hopes to stimulate discourse and challenge accepted approaches to both house-museums and contemporary art.

Even though Patrick Walsh uses a camera for his artwork, he doesn’t think of himself as a photographer, nor would he call the resulting pieces “photography.” Instead, Walsh approaches his work as a painter might, and paints with the camera itself. The camera is the paintbrush and the photographs are the brushstrokes of his Photomosaics: large-scale ruminations on people, places and things that he filters through the camera lens, then pieces together. The end results — flattened out images that show us what we only perceive in our peripheral vision — are rendered much deeper and broader than the sum of their original parts.

Walsh, who studied graphic design and advertising at the Parsons School of Design in his native New York City, and who painted as a hobby, created his first piece over thirty years ago when he was location-scouting for a feature film. He discovered a location that could not be captured in a single image. So, he shot many, using a Kodak instant camera, and stapled the photographs together. The result intrigued him and Walsh soon found himself making deliberate forays into the Southwestern desert and along windswept Pacific coastlines to find subjects for his art.

Each time Walsh pieces together countless photographs that he has shot to create a single image, he tells a new story. His subjects are as varied as Dennis Connor fronting his sailboat, an empty baseball stadium, the desert or a verdant rain forest. And while the end result may feel spontaneous, the process is anything but, says Walsh. Each location is carefully considered, revisited, and the work is thoroughly thought out before Walsh opens his aperture to gather the images.

For instance, for a piece commissioned by the Los Angeles Dodgers – a photomosaic of the empty stadium – Walsh shot 26 rolls of film for a piece that turned out to be 11 feet long. That commission led to another, by the Baltimore Orioles. The resulting 7 foot long photomosaic of the new Camden Yards was featured at the ball club’s reception for the All Star game. Both works now hang in the stadiums’ private clubs.

Once the film is shot, Walsh shapes the experience with the photographs. “I’m creating a composition with multiple photographs and yet within those photographs there will be a beautiful one all by itself. I’ll put it into the mix. The overall impression is what matters to me,” says Walsh. “I want you to step into that picture, it’s like a window. I want you to feel you’re there.”

In addition to his Photomosaics, Walsh has a distinguished career as a director and producer in the advertising industry. He has won eight “Clios,” four “Cannes Lions,” an Emmy nomination and over 300 additional industry honors including two films in MOMA’s Permanent collection.

Walsh is a director member of The Director’s Guild of America
and The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, (The Emmys).

Walsh’s work has appeared in museums, galleries and private collections
internationally.

Born: New York City
Education: High School of Music & Art, Major: Art, New York City
Parsons School of Design, Major: Graphic Design, New York City

PAINTING WITH THE CAMERA®

COLLECTIONS:
Museum of Contemporary Art, Hot Springs, AR
Los Angeles Dodger Baseball Organization, Los Angeles, California
Baltimore Orioles Baseball Organization, Baltimore, Maryland
New Orleans Museum of Modern Art
Mother Road US 66 Museum, Barstow, California
Palazzo Exhibitione Museum, Rome, Italy
Western America Railroad Museum, Barstow, California
Embassy of Brazil, Rome, Italy
The Oppenheimer Fund, New York City
US State Department Art in Embassies, Collection of the Ambassador

ONE MAN SHOWS and EXHIBITIONS:
Desert Art Collection Gallery, Palm Desert, CA May 2009
SoHo Studios Gallery, New York, NY June/September 2008
Desert Art Collection Gallery, Palm Desert, CA March/April 2007
Art Rome Photography Competition, First Prize Worldwide, 25,000 entries 2007
Art of Photography Show, Juried selection, San Diego, California, April-June 2006
9517 entries, only 104 selected for “Art of Photography Show” honor
Agora Gallery, New York City, NY, March-April 2006
Juried selection, Alternative Media Exhibition, October-December 2005
Galerie Gora, Montreal, QC, Canada, March 2005
Milford Crossing Gallery, Milford, CT, September 2004-January 2005
Landmark Gallery, Tarrytown, NY, June-September 2004
Turning Point Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC, 2003
Masters of Light Gallery, Durham, NC, 2003
Discovery Museum, Bridgeport, CT, December-March 2003 as Featured Artist
Masters of light Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC, 2002
Morales Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC, 2002
Nathanson’s Fine Art Photo Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2000 – 2001
JazCaf Gallery, Rome, Italy, June 2000
Invisible Dog Gallery, New York City, 1998
BBDO Corporate Gallery, New York City, 1991
DMB&B Corporate Gallery, New York City, 1989
Marylou’s Exhibit Gallery, New York City, 1987
Hammerquist Gallery, New York City, 1983

EXHIBITED AT ArtExpoNY, NY 2003, 2004, 2007 • Jackson Hole Art Fair, July, 2006
EXHIBITED AT: ArtExpoAtlanta 2005 • Palm Springs International Art Fair 2004

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies. It was first developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications. The word permaculture is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture, as well as permanent culture.

The intent was that, by rapidly training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals could design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society’s reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying Earth’s ecosystems.

While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following. This “permaculture community” continues to expand on the original ideas, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of publications, permaculture gardens, intentional communities, training programs, and internet forums. In this way, permaculture has become both a design system and a culture of rewilding the human species.

This definition was supported by Australian P. A. Yeomans (Water for Every Farm, 1973) who introduced an observation-based approach to land use in Australia in the 1940s, based partially on his understanding of geology. Yeomans introduced Keyline Design as a way of managing the supply and distribution of water of a site. Holmgren based his EcoVillage design on the keyline principle, (see WikiMapia view)

The work of Howard T. Odum was also an early influence, especially for Holmgren . Odum’s work focused on system ecology, in particular the Maximum power principle, which examines the energy of a system and how natural systems tend to maximise the energy embodied in a system. For example, the total calorific value of woodland is very high with its multitude of plants and animals. It is an efficient converter of sunlight into biomass. A wheat field, on the other hand, has much less total energy and often requires a large energy input in terms of fertiliser. Another early influence was the work of Esther Deans, who pioneered No-Dig Gardening methods. Other recent influences include the VAC system in Vietnam which is a government supported system to build Vegetable Aquaculture and Animal enClosures that cycle resources.

In the mid 1970s, Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren started to develop ideas that they hoped could be used to create stable agricultural systems. This was a result of their perception of a rapidly growing use of destructive industrial-agricultural methods. They saw that these methods were poisoning the land and water, reducing biodiversity, and removing billions of tons of soil from previously fertile landscapes. A design approach called “permaculture” was their response and was first made public with the publication of Permaculture One in 1978.

The term permaculture initially meant “permanent agriculture” but was quickly expanded to also stand for “permanent culture” as it was seen that social aspects were an integral part of a truly sustainable system. Mollison and Holmgren are widely considered to be the co-originators of the modern permaculture concept.
Observation develops design e.g. Termite mounds inspiration for passive climate control in modern housing

After the publication of Permaculture One, Mollison and Holmgren further refined and developed their ideas by designing hundreds of permaculture sites and organizing this information into more detailed books. Mollison lectured in over 80 countries and his two-week Design Course was taught to many hundreds of students. By the early 1980s, the concept had moved on from being predominantly about the design of agricultural systems towards being a more fully holistic design process for creating sustainable human habitats.

By the mid 1980s, many of the students had become successful practitioners and had themselves begun teaching the techniques they had learned. In a short period of time permaculture groups, projects, associations, and institutes were established in over one hundred countries. In 1991 a four-part Television documentary by ABC productions called “The Global Gardener” showed permaculture applied to a range of worldwide situations, bringing the concept to a much broader public. Excerpts are available online through YouTube.

Permaculture has developed from its origins in Australia into an international “movement”. English permaculture teacher Patrick Whitefield, author of The Earth Care Manual and Permaculture in a Nutshell, suggests that there are now two strands of permaculture: a) Original and b) Design permaculture. Original permaculture attempts to closely replicate nature by developing edible ecosystems which closely resemble their wild counterparts. Design permaculture takes the working connections at use in an ecosystem and uses them as its basis. The end result may not look as “natural” as a forest garden, but still has an underlying design based on ecological principles. Through close observation of natural energies and flow patterns efficient design systems can be developed. This has become known as Natural Systems Design. (Dr. M Millington and A Sampson-Kelly)

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Art & Project was Amsterdam’s leading contemporary art gallery in the 1970s and eighties, as well as the name of an influential art magazine published by the same gallery between 1968 and 1989.

Every project should have a quality plan. In reality, very few do. The two main reasons people don’t produce a project quality plan are: It’s too complicated and they are overwhelmed by the jargon of quality in relation to compliance with standards, metrics and a range of acronyms. So let’s break this down into more simple terms to get a better understanding of how to run a plan.

First off, what is quality? This definition will vary in every organization depending on their goals and mission. Quality has been defined by J.M. Juran simply as “fit for use”. H. James Harrington states “Quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations at a cost that represents a value to them”. Generally speaking we could all agree that the definition is to make sure whatever is delivered is within the quality expectations of the organization.

If the quality of your goods and services are below acceptable quality standards you are on the fast track to closing shop. When your organization under performs there are consequences. Keeping an eye on quality will prevent any serious fatal mistakes. A project quality plan will help you know what you need to measure, what the acceptable outcomes are, and how to accomplish all of this.

A project quality plan is how and when “Quality Events” and “Quality Materials” are applied to a project. How the “Quality Materials” are applied to a project. They are the activities undertaken using “Quality Materials” to validate the quality of the project. The artifacts used within an organization to assist a Project Manager improve quality in the project e.g. Templates, Standards, Checklists. These materials are used in “Quality Events”. Technical project quality is usually judged by asking three questions: Does the system comply with corporate standards for: user interface, documentation, naming standards etc.? Is the technology stable? Is the system well engineered so that it is robust and maintainable? By asking these questions you will get a better idea of where the quality of your program is. A project quality plan needs to includes a number of elements. You must identify what needs to go through a quality check? Typically what needs to be checked are the deliverables. Any significant deliverable from a project should have some form of quality check carried out. A requirements document can be considered significant. Also, what is the most appropriate way to check the quality? If the end result is that a particular deliverable should meet a standard, then part of the quality checking should focus on compliance with the standard. This would indicate a “Standard Audit” could be the best approach. When should it be carried out? Most “Quality Events” are held just prior to the completion of the delivery.

If however there are long development lead times for a deliverable, it might be sensible to hold earlier “Quality Events”. For example, if development of code for a particular module will take 10 weeks, it may be worth holding a code inspection after 4 weeks to identify any problems early and reduce rework.

Before beginning your project quality plan you should also identify who should be involved and what materials are needed.

Producing a project quality plan is not complex. It involves identifying all the deliverables at the start of the project and deciding how to best validate their quality. There is an overhead in undertaking quality checks but this is offset by not having to fix things further down the line. Inevitably, the later you find a problem, the longer it takes to fix.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

IBID PROJECTS is a contemporary art gallery located in London. The gallery represents several international artists including David Adamo, Jānis Avotiņš, Guillermo Caivano, Ross Chisholm, Anthea Hamilton, William Hunt, Christopher Orr (artist), Michael Portnoy, Olivier Richon, Daniel Silver, Anj Smith and Marianne Vitale. Established by Magnus Edensvard and Vita Zaman, it first opened in 2002 on Cambridge Heath Road in London’s East End, UK. At present the gallery is located on Vyner Street, a major hub of East London’s art scene.

In the last six years Jānis Avotiņš has exhibited at the Ludwig Forum, Aachen, kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Villa Manin Centre for Contemporary Art and Prague Biennale. Anthea Hamilton has exhibited in group shows at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, London, Barbican Art Gallery, London and most recently had a solo show at Kunstverein Freiburg

CPD or not CPD? That is the question. The aim of this essay is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of which it has been said “is fast attaining an as yet unchallenged status as orthodoxy” (Sadler-Smith and Badger, 1998). The CPD Institute defines its namesake on its website as “the systematic maintenance and improvement, of knowledge, skills and competence, and the enhancement of learning undertaken by an individual throughout his or her working life.”

Specific issues that will be explored within this text include why CPD is undertaken, whether it should be voluntary or mandatory for professionals, with whom the responsibility for CPD should lie, what constitutes CPD, and how it is delivered. Additional discussion will center around the level of support that is offered to individuals engaging in CPD, how this activity is measured and monitored fairly and effectively, and the future of CPD. Finally the overall value of CPD will be considered. The main sources of material for this essay are theory and opinion from academic journals, high quality newspapers and other relevant literature.

From a high level perspective the primary motivation for an individual to undertake CPD activity is as part of his or her ongoing professional development throughout their career. There are many grounds for CPD from a personal perspective, outlined perhaps most succinctly by as ”

1. Because it is necessary to avoid losing one’s license to practice;
2. Because it is enjoyable in itself;
3. Because it enables a person to make up lost ground;
4. Because it enables a person to maintain his or her current position;
5. Because it enables a person to get ahead of the competition;
6. Because it affirms a person’s identity as a good professional” (Rothwell and Arnold, 2005).

However it is not only in the interests of the individual actually developing themselves but also for a number of other relevant stakeholders, mainly the professional’s firm given that competent members of staff should ultimately lead to superior profits, the professional’s sector (including regulators and overseeing bodies) upon which is bestowed a sense of pride in that its constituent members are upholding high standards, and the economy as a whole in that the population can be confident that the industries delivering goods and services in the marketplace are capable and take a collective, proactive approach to doing so. This opinion is supported by Madden and Mitchell who describe the logic behind CPD as “formulated with regard to the needs of the professional, the employer, the profession and society” (Madden and Mitchell, 1993). CPD can also be valuable to colleges and universities who support it, encouraging the forging of links with real world business.

The picture that has been painted of CPD above is clearly a very positive one but there are issues that have been identified in the way that it’s delivered, particularly as to whether CPD should be a voluntary or a mandatory exercise. In their research Jones and Fear state that “The sanctions model occurs where there is a mandatory requirement for members to undertake CPD, and where non-compliance may result in sanctions” (Jones and Fear, 1994) and that “The benefits model, which is usually found in new or developing institutions, emphasizes the benefits of CPD to the individual” (ibid.).

The former is usually in place where members of a profession are required by law to attain certain qualifications or statuses whilst the latter is found where this is not the case (although there are exceptions). An important implication for professional bodies imposing mandatory CPD requirements is that they can “risk alienating their established members” (Watkins, 1999) which “may engender resistance and impede engagement” (Rothwell and Arnold, 2005). It has been argued, however, that “if it was of a purely voluntary nature, CPD would become minimal” (Jones and Fear, 1994) and that “the ‘requirement’ to undertake CPD can also have the happy effect of assisting professionals in putting pressure on their employers to support them in undertaking activities for their own professional development” (Taylor, 1996). In one survey, nevertheless, “The vast majority (85 per cent) [of professional body members] stated that they were not in favour of mandatory CPD” (Jones and Fear, 1994).

The divide between supporters of voluntary and mandatory CPD respectively is not the only inherent issue however. There are also differences in opinion as to with whom the responsibility for CPD should lie, which is very much centred around the waning concept of the “Expectation of a ‘job for life’” (Middlehurst and Kennie, 1997). Watkins argues that “If the majority of professionals can no longer expect to stay with one employer for life, an employer can no longer be relied upon to provide the training necessary for the professional to continue performing the job efficiently and effectively” (Watkins, 1999). This view that the professional is very much responsible for their own development is backed by Rothwell and Arnold who state “Ownership of CPD needs to rest with individuals, otherwise they may feel alienated from it” (Rothwell and Arnold, 2005).

However on the flip side it can be contended that a firm is liable to support its staff to an extent in terms of a “development contract” (Herriot and Pemberton, 1995) which ties in with Argyris’ ideas surrounding learning individuals and hence learning organizations (Argyris, 1991). Watkins develops his view outlined above, stressing that “This new emphasis on mentoring and the stakeholder approach suggests that CPD is increasingly being viewed essentially as a partnership between the professional, the employer and the professional association – a partnership which is informed by, and takes into account the needs and requirements of the client” (Watkins, 1999). As outlined earlier in this essay CPD has a number of stakeholders so it would seem prudent and fair that they should each take a level of responsibility for it.

It’s all very well considering whether CPD should be voluntary or not and with whom responsibility for this development should lie but a vastly important question arises as to what actually constitutes CPD and how it is delivered. Sadler-Smith, Allinson et al. outline three core methods of learning, namely: self-directed, for example reading journals; traditional, for example attending courses; and work-based, for example taking part in projects (Sadler-Smith, Allinson et al., 2000). Their research found that self-directed methods of learning “were rated as less effective by respondents [professionals engaging in CPD] than traditional methods and work-based methods of learning” (ibid.) which “raises important questions about the perception and validity of self-directed learning as a method of CPD for personnel practitioners” (ibid.), particularly significant perhaps as these methods “have been heavily promoted by the UK government” (ibid.).

This has been further analyzed by Rothwell and Arnold who suggest that the delivery of CPD opportunities should depend upon the individual. They claim that engagement with CPD “may depend on an individual’s ability to learn, their cognitive style, or dispositional factors” (Rothwell and Arnold, 2005). Further support for the diversification of CPD offerings comes from Watkins who states that “professional development is not just a question of specifying taught courses for defined core skills but a matter of developing the all-round potential of the individuals concerned” (Watkins, 1999). Jones and Fear add that “the concept concerns more than simply undertaking formal training” (Jones and Fear, 1994).

Having built up an impression of whose responsibility CPD is and how opportunities can be delivered it is clear that a certain level of support is required to engage individuals, whether from their firm, their overseeing body or their educational institution. Argyris states that “because many professionals are almost always successful at what they do, they rarely experience failure” (Argyris, 1991) and that “because they have rarely failed, they have never learned how to learn from failure” (ibid.). Sadler-Smith, Allinson et al. speak of “the ‘learned helplessness’ engendered by traditional education and training systems” (Sadler-Smith, Allinson, et al., 2000). Jones and Fear add that “It has also been noted that it is always those who need CPD most who are least likely to do it” (Jones and Fear, 1994). It was stated earlier that CPD certainly requires joint ownership but perhaps the theories presented here suggest that a sense of encouragement is necessary from the professional’s firm and overseeing body, a period of hand holding throughout the initial stages of CPD, which will ultimately generate the rewards discussed at the beginning of this essay for all stakeholders involved.

This environment does not seem to exist at present in that professionals do wish to engage in CPD but are not being given the type of support which is necessary. Jones and Fear identified in their research that “Eighty per cent of respondents stated that their organization would support their CPD through time, while 60 per cent stated that their organization would support their CPD with financial assistance. It is therefore a little surprising that, although most organizations are willing to invest resources in their employee’s CPD, many do not have a coherent CPD policy” (ibid.). Jones and Fear cited a case where the former Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD, now the CIPD) offered a range of CPD support material to its members, which had been exhausted within two years only to be replaced by a watered down version (ibid.). Given that the organization in question was to some extent spearheading the CPD cause, this is a prime example of the evident lack of ongoing support that professionals require in order to take full advantage of the benefits of CPD.

As with the areas covered so far, difficulties have been reported as to the way in which CPD activity is measured and monitored. Given that CPD is effectively development it’s a reasonable expectation that the results of this development can be registered in some way. Traditionally professional bodies have set a minimum number of hours of CPD per year to which their members must comply alongside an additional reporting requirement. However, as per Rothwell and Arnold “the focus on ‘hours’ as an output indicator was felt to be less helpful than attitude to CPD” (Rothwell and Arnold, 2005) and “Record-keeping for CPD is seen by many professionals as a chore” (ibid.). Their research uncovered feedback from professionals such as “I do the CPD: recording and writing it all up is another matter!” (ibid.).

Taylor further implies a potentially damaging consequence of handling this issue improperly, asserting that “the practice of monitoring CPD, which is designed to maintain high standards in professional practice, has the ironic effect of encouraging a behavioral inclination which it should be a part of any profession’s ethics to eschew, namely, deception” (Taylor, 1996). Clearly CPD can be of no value if professionals are to some extent forced into lying because the record of their development is seen as a pointless labor rather than the valuable exercise that it should be. Watkins also disputes the hours-based system stating “Although this system was relatively easy to organize, today many professional bodies see it as being of limited value and are moving towards measures based on ‘outputs’ and defined competence” (Watkins, 1999). Jones and Fear’s research supports this view in that “Some 70 per cent of those surveyed stated that they were in favor of accreditation certificates for their CPD” (Jones and Fear, 1994).

CPD has become an important part of many professionals’ lives and important consideration should be given to its future by those who oversee structured programs, be it industry bodies or academic institutions. Rothwell and Arnold propose that “given the increasing complexity of working life, the accelerating pace of change, and the declining half-life of knowledge, the push for CPD is likely to become even greater” (Rothwell and Arnold, 2005). The Government is pushing ever more for the improvement of skills throughout the economy, particularly with the recent launch of the Learning and Skills Council’s In Our Hands campaign. Just this month it has been reported that the Chartered Insurance Institute, Institute of Financial Planning, Securities & Investment Institute and Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland have announced a merger intention including a statement that “a framework of continuing professional development will be agreed and then implemented” (Lumsden, 2008).

There have been multiple other positive reports in recent months to suggest that CPD is moving from strength to strength, especially thanks to technological advances. An article forming part of the Financial Times’ Professional Development 2007 Report which details the ongoing innovations in internet based learning applications cites a number of cautionary comments, however, including “As a firm [PKF (UK) LLP] we are still very skeptical about e-learning, certainly as a substitute but even as a complement [to face-to-face learning]” (Baxter, 2007). This extract illustrates that those considering the future of CPD echo earlier concerns outlined in this essay. Sadler-Smith, Allinson et al. add “Further research into learners’ attitudes towards self-directed and flexible methods is desirable if the opportunities presented by many of the latest innovations in teaching and learning are to be fully realized” (Sadler-Smith, Allinson et al., 2000).

CPD or not CPD? That is the question. Throughout the course of this essay a number of issues central to the purpose and value of CPD have been considered. It has been established that there are multiple motivations and benefits for a range of stakeholders and that these entities need to work together in conjunction for CPD to be of any great value. It has also been demonstrated that professionals are not partial to mandatory CPD or indeed tedious recording mechanisms to prove their development.

Additionally it has been observed that the support available to individuals undertaking CPD is not as effective as it could be and that the content and delivery of CPD programs, whether academic or not, should be tailor made rather than generic to all participants. CPD is certainly a valuable tool if implemented effectively and could equate to the difference between a good career and a great career for the professional. However in order to unlock its potential it is clear that the organizations charged with its delivery do not remain out of touch with individuals’ needs and begin to offer increasingly bespoke options leading to valued accreditation. These bodies need to instigate an open dialogue with professionals, firms and their peers so that all parties are fully aware of ways in which they can maximize the success of CPD and set the paving of its future direction into place.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Deitch Projects is a contemporary art gallery in New York City founded by Jeffrey Deitch.
Since opening with a performance by Vanessa Beecroft in February 1996, the gallery has presented nearly one hundred and eighteen solo exhibitions and projects, ten thematic exhibitions, and a few public events. It is known as a gallery where many of the most well-known artists of the past decade–Cecily Brown, Inka Essenhigh, Barry McGee, and Kristin Baker to name a few–began their careers.

I wasn’t around for the Lower East Side during the 70s and 80s, but I feel like this New York City neighborhood still holds true to its reputation as a breeding ground for the arts and for attracting the in-crowd. Recently, Deitch Projects, in association with the Keith Haring Foundation and Goldman Properties, restored Keith Haring’s Houston Street and Bowery mural, which was created during the summer of 1982. It was only up for a few months, but it was exemplary of the scene and the people apart of it at that time.

The mural was unveiled on May 4, 2008-Keith Haring’s 50th birthday. I walked past it everyday this summer, and it became apart of my cultural memory too. Despite the difference of decades, I feel like this mural resonated with younger generations unaware of the original. Not because it was a Keith Haring, but because it embodies a history and lineage of artists and creativity that has been passed down to the current Lower East Side community. It seems like this piece is about remembrance of the people who opened up a space for the community now. Just a couple of blocks down, there are secret gallery spaces, studios, restaurants that screen movies, and cafes that sell local designer’s first lines. It’s a community whether or not people recognize it. Keith Haring’s mural reminded me of the fact that this community is still around.

Deitch Projects recently hosted a show of Keith Haring’s work called “The Ten Commandments” that ended on February 15, 2009 in their Long Island City space. His metaphorical interpretations of the commandments are sometimes antithetical or abstract in interpretation, but the massive scale of these 25′ tablet shaped canvases are bound to impress. This is the first time they have been shown in the United States since its first showing in Bordeaux at CAPC in 1985.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

In 1957, the Ford Foundation began to explore the relationship between arts and American society. Resulting from a suggestion by Norman Dello Joio, the Young Composers Project (YCP) was founded in 1959. Funded by the Ford Foundation and administered by the National Music Council, the project placed young composers (age 35 and under) in public school systems as composers-in-residence.

From 1959 to 1962, 31 composers participated in the project. They discovered that many music educators were not prepared to deal with contemporary music. In 1962 the YCP was elevated from a pilot program to one of the ten major projects of the Ford Foundation. The Music Educators National Conference (MENC) submitted a proposal to the Ford Foundation that the project be expanded to include seminars and workshops on contemporary music in the schools, and that pilot programs be established in public schools. In 1963 the Ford Foundation awarded MENC a grant of $1,380,000 to organize the Contemporary Music Project for Creativity in Music Education. YCP continued under the title Composers in Public Schools. By 1968, 46 more composers had been matched with public school systems.

One of the first activities of the Contemporary Music Project was the establishment of 16 workshops and seminars held at various colleges throughout the country to help teachers better understand contemporary music. Six pilot projects were established in schools, including the Baltimore, San Diego, and Farmingdale, New York systems.

In 1965 the Seminar on Comprehensive Musicianship was held at Northwestern University. Its purpose was to develop and implement means of improving the education of music teachers. In 1967 a symposium was held at Arlie House in Warrenton, Virginia to discuss means of evaluating Comprehensive Musicianship. The resultant document, Procedures for Evaluation of Music in Contemporary Education, offers guidelines for the evaluation of techniques and attitudes acquired through comprehensive musicianship studies.

In 1968 the Ford Foundation gave MENC a grant of $1,340,000 to administer the Contemporary Music Project for and additional five years. MENC contributed $50,000 per year. From 1968 to 1973 the Contempoary Music Project consisted of three programs: Professionals-in-Residence to Communities, the Teaching of Comprehensive Musicianship, and Complementary Activities.

The exceptionally talented Contemporary Country artist Ty Herndon has released him CD entitled Right About Now. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Ty Herndon fans, and Contemporary Country fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Right About Now Ty Herndon’s artistic excellence is on full display as Herndon has once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be him best work to date.

It’s a rare day indeed that I get a CD from an artist that I can truthfully say does not have a bad track in the bunch. I’m more than happy to announce that’s exactly what I must say about this one. There simply is NOT a bad one in the bunch. No fillers here at all.

Contemporary Country music fans will recognize some of the well known contributors on the project including Ty Herndon and Others plus a few other notables as well.

Overall Right About Now is an outstanding release. What I call must have music. I give it two thumbs up and is most definitely a worthy addition to any Contemporary Country collection. Truly an outstanding Contemporary Country CD. One of those that is completely void of any wasted time, as each track is simply superb.

While the entire album is really very good some of my favorites are track 2 – In The Arms, track 3 – You Still Own Me, and track 10 – If I Could Only Have Her Love Back

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 5 – Right About Now. Wow!

Right About Now Release Notes:

Ty Herndon originally released Right About Now on January 9, 2007 on the Quaterback Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Someday Soon

2. In The Arms

3. You Still Own Me

4. Mighty Mighty Love

5. Right About Now

6. Love Revival

7. Hide

8. Mercy Line

9. We Are

10. If I Could Only Have Her Love Back

11. Better Day

The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford.

The foundation makes grants through its New York headquarters and through twelve international field offices. In fiscal year 2007, it reported assets of $13.7 billion and approved $530 million in grants[1] for projects that focused on strengthening democratic values, community and economic development, education, media, arts and culture, and human rights.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The Contemporary Physics Education Project, CPEP, was formed in 1987. The group of research physicists, college teachers, and high school teachers grew out of the Conference on the Teaching of Modern Physics held at Fermilab in 1986. Its first effort aimed to supply a chart for particle physics teaching that would rival the Periodic Table of the elements. The first version of this chart was published in 1989.

CPEP has created four charts emphasizing contemporary aspects of physics research: particles and interactions; fusion and plasma physics; nuclear science; and cosmology. Over a quarter of a million of these charts have been distributed.

In the real beginning… Allusions to the Bard’s ‘pen is mightier than the sword’ statement in view of the true power of knowledge acquisition can be traced back to Africa’s scientific traditional history. Proud ‘Cradle of Civilization’, birthplace of professions such as agriculture, metallurgy (Mapangubwe’s Rhino), medicine and cosmology (in Dogon tradition). These examples point to a continent that has greatness written in its destiny. However it has been over a century since the phase coined by author Thomas Pakenham as ‘The Scramble for Africa’ marking an ushering in of colonialism, one of history’s longest lasting movements thriving morphologically today under the pseudonym; ‘globalisation’.

We may be generally associated with strife, conflict and poverty but there’s a lot more to the continent than meets the flat screen… and herein lies the rub. Sweeping true African potential under the carpet appears to be a cursed trend that dates as far back as the origin of the Pyramids. Dr George GM James’ thesis – A Stolen Legacy, revealed that ‘the Greeks were not the authors of Greek philosophy’, that in actual fact they merely rode the waves of Ptolemy, Aristotle and Socrates, based on ideas ’stolen by a few wayward and dishonest Greeks’ from none other than the ancient Egyptians.

It may be interesting to note that Dr James died under ‘mysterious circumstances’ shortly after its publication.

Our young pioneering astrophysicist friend, Dr Rodney Medupe has great involvement in such a revival today through a venture joining Mali and South Africa’s governments toward preserving ancient document libraries. The millions of manuscripts from the 14th and 16th century when West Africa saw Islamic scholarship at its peak, as Louise Tudor Jones so acutely underlined during a conversation she conducted with Medupe for the Argus. The project sees law, astronomy, medicine, botany, optics, math, Islamic studies and poetry among other disciplines converging through the team set upon it. Our hero is joined by a mathematician, historian and astronomer reinforcement toward this great revival of neglected African legacy.

…there was the word… The media is a primary source of knowledge dissemination and although many of the continents people do not have the luxury of full access, imagine Africa with an equal opportunity stake in its global monopoly, affording an advantage of being impeccably discerning with regards to the nature of events splashed across its powerful network.

Reality now is still different, with these forbearings largely forgot. Angola’s less-fortunate walk barefoot to school in oil and thousands of refugees have fled from mineral-rich homelands while their birthright is plundered. This unfortunate Darwinian ranking system, combined with derelict global media trends have resulted in a continually distorted view of the contemporary African economy. It must stop. Now.

Meticulously managed media conglomerates go to great lengths to prevent elements that could negatively impact the psychology of governance, among other political factors from slipping through in any way. If the laws of physics hold true and there are two sides to every coin, then shining a spotlight on Africa’s ignored array of hidden potentials such as its attempts at good governance and recovery in the face of many challenges could one day usher in a golden era where the continent’s spoils may actually begin to reflect on the face of its people.

This well-contained and monitored media system would be carefully aligned with politics in order to diligently nip the origin of any potentially harmful myths or threats to the economy in the bud. Every possible constituent would be harnessed toward its fiscal advantage. There would be talk of unity, pride, patriotism and the possible rewards of reaching for the “African dream’. Who would expect anything less from the continent with the most valued abundance of natural resources and mineral wealth than an equally thriving nation.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

1. Observe and interact – By taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
2. Catch and store energy – By developing systems that collect resources when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need.
3. Obtain a yield – Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback – We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
5. Use and value renewable resources and services – Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources.
6. Produce no waste – By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
7. Design from patterns to details – By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.
8. Integrate rather than segregate – By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
9. Use small and slow solutions – Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.
10. Use and value diversity – Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.
11. Use edges and value the marginal – The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
12. Creatively use and respond to change – We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

For example permaculture focuses on maximizing the use of trees (agroforestry) and perennial food crops because they make a more efficient and long term use of energy than traditional seasonal crops. A farmer does not have to exert energy every year replanting them, and this frees up that energy to be used somewhere else.

Traditional pre-industrial agriculture was labor intensive, industrial agriculture is fossil fuel intensive and permaculture is design and information intensive and petrofree. Partially permaculture is an attempt to work smarter, not harder; and when possible the energy used should come from renewable sources such as wind power, passive solar designs or biofuels.

A good example of this kind of efficient design is the chicken greenhouse. By attaching the chicken coop to a greenhouse you can reduce the need to heat the greenhouse by fossil fuels, as the chicken’s bodies heat the area. The chickens scratching and pecking can be put to good use to clear new land for crops. Their manure can be used in composting to fertilise the soil. Feathers could be used in compost or as a mulch. In a conventional factory situation all these chicken outputs are seen as a waste problem. So in factories cooled by huge air conditioners, the chicken waste is extracted. All the energy is focused on egg production. Thus it is a further principle of permaculture that “pollution is energy in the wrong place”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

No pattern should be hard and fast and depending on the design considerations they can be broken. An example of this is broadscale permaculture practiced at Ragmans Lane Farm, which has a component of annual farming. Here the amount of human involvement is a key factor influencing the design.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Some projects are critical of the use of animals (see vegan organic gardening). However not all permaculture sites farm the animals. The animals are pets and can be treated as co-habitators and co-workers of the site, eating foods normally unpalatable to people such as slugs, termites, being an integral part of the pest management by eating some pests, supplying fertilizer through their droppings and controlling some weed species

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The Three Sisters of maize, squash and beans is a well known guild. The British National Vegetation Classification provides a comprehensive list of plant communities in the UK. Guilds can be thought of as an extension of companion planting.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

1. The canopy
2. Low tree layer (dwarf fruit trees)
3. Shrubs
4. Herbaceous
5. Rhizosphere (root crops)
6. Soil Surface (cover crops)
7. Vertical Layer (climbers, vines)

An eighth layer, Mycosphere (fungi), is often included.

A mature ecosystem such as ancient woodland has a huge number of relationships between its component parts: trees, understory, ground cover, soil, fungi, insects and other animals. Plants grow at different heights. This allows a diverse community of life to grow in a relatively small space. Plants come into leaf and fruit at different times of year.

For example, in the UK, wild garlic comes into leaf on the woodland floor in the time before the top canopy re-appears with the spring. A wood suffers very little soil erosion, as there are always roots in the soil. It offers a habitat to a wide variety of animal life, which the plants rely on for pollination and seed distribution. The productivity of such a forest, in terms of how much new growth it produces, exceeds that of the most productive wheat field. It is in this observation — of how much more productive a wood may be on far less fertilizer input — that the potential productivity of a permaculture design is modelled. The many connections in a wood contribute together to a proliferation of opportunities for amplifier feedbacks to evolve that in turn maximise energy flow through the system.

Here is a photo of a layered warm temperate garden in NSW, Australia (courtesy of PermacultureVisions). There are several layers: the canopy layer is Inga edulis (ice cream bean), the middle stratum contains plum and peach, mango, mulberry and nurse plants such as native wattle. There are shrubs such as sage and woody herbs, ground covers such as sweet potato and vines such as passion fruit and kiwi fruit. The tubers consist of onions and taro.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

<strong>”This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.</strong>

1. Awareness of the patterns that exist in nature (and how these function)
2. Application of pattern on sites in order to satisfy specific design needs.

“The application of pattern on a design site involves the designer recognising the shape and potential to fit these patterns or combinations of patterns comfortably onto the landscape” Sampson-Kelly. Branching can be used for the direction of paths, rather than straight paths with square angles. Lobe-like paths of the main path (known as keyhole paths) can be used to minimise waste and compaction of the soil.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

* Observation allows you first to see how the site functions within itself, to gain an understanding of its initial relationships. Some people recommend a year-long observation of a site before anything is planted. During this period all factors, such as lay of the land, natural flora and so forth, can be brought into the design. A year allows the site to be observed through all seasons, although it must be realised that, particularly in temperate climates, there can be substantial variations between years.
* Boundaries refer to physical ones as well as to those your neighbours might place on you, for example.
* Resources include the people involved, funding, as well as what you can grow or produce in the future.
* Evaluation of the first three will then allow you to prepare for the next three. This is a careful phase of taking stock of what you have at hand to work with.
* Design is a creative and intensive process, and you must stretch your ability to see possible future synergetic relationships.
* Implementation is literally the ground-breaking part of the process when you carefully dig and shape the site.
* Maintenance is then required to keep your site at a healthy optimum, making minor adjustments as necessary. Good design will preclude the need for any major adjustment.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.