Artsramble Archive

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November 7, 2006
Spotlight: the Artsrambler
by Constance Pappalardo
[This article started as correspondence, but as it had the makings of an
email interview, we suggested to Ms. Pappalardo that she add an introduction
and commentary and perhaps organize it into something that might be
informative to the readers. She remained an artist in journalist's
clothing–what else can an honest artist do, after all–and took the
liberties her innate creativity demanded. Thus our qualifying statement
here. This interview is less documentary than adaptive. In fact, we
declare that Ms. Pappalardo has devised a brand new genre: the Interview
Adaptation. There is truth in the following interview, if not completely
factually accurate.]
Preamble from the Author:
How did I end up here anyway? Like Dorothy stumbling into Oz…. I found myself at the Artsrambler's doorstep, one link leads to another… and along with a slight bump on my head, I also found an innate desire to bang on the door and seek entry. But, I must say… it was daunting at first, the door was open but I felt unsure as to my welcome..after all I am a Cary artist and in some circles that is a an oxymoron! Here were Raleigh artists, Durham and Chapel Hill artists, some conceptual, avant-guard (if you like…) … minimalists… some carrying huge chips on both shoulders, political, sexual and edgy as Hell but still, I wanted IN, these are not weekend painters, hobby painters, retirees who paint for relaxation (good grief! playing with nitro-glycerin would be more relaxing than art!)…. I suppose that what I am trying to express in my usually long winded fashion is that the community here at Artsrambler is … sincere, honest and serious and if you are also so inclined, even if you are serious about different issues… if you are serious about the color yellow, you should feel welcomed here.
So desire to dialogue, to touch base with a world I very much call my own, a world of ideas and dreams, beckoned and I posed some questions to Artrambler's administrator
such as follows:

Pappalardo:– And….. when someone on Artsramble signs… "Administrator"… is that you? Rivera?

rambler: Ahh here we are treading on to the thin ice.
rambler continued: Rivera is Rivera. Those who sign their entries are those with their chosen signin names.They all have profiles for you to investigate. There is only one Artsrambler. I wanted this to be the masked man equivalent for various reasonsl. I did not want this blog to become a one-person ownership. I didn't want the buzz to be ,"Oh HER blog!" Instead I wanted to be an administrator who would set up a forum for the arts community to dance on. ballroom dancing,street dancing, minuets and ritual fire/Deity ballets. Of course this is meant metaphorically. My idea is that y'all are out there, many carrying chips of granite and marble on your hefty shoulders, suspicious of some scam. Best get over that and see whatthis can do for you. There are others who have the trouble of reading on the Internet. I utterly sympathize with them. Drives me buggy. But just print the thing out. Seems to work. Finally there are my well-respected colleagues who feel too much verbage about non-verbal pieces destroy it. I understand that. Bad criticism makes me and any other working artist nauseous.But it is not always this That's the point. You make a painting, a sculpture and there is an invisible wall around it, built by all your ideas and processes and intelligence and instinct. These are my sweet colleagues for whom I have the highest respect.
They seem themselves living in the purest ether, in the tradition of hell-raisers of the late-19th century and beyond.But I suggest that even this a a benign passive-aggressive, but
nonetheless cynical game we on the Side of Good play. "Corrupt" does not apply. Artists, good truth filled artists aren't corrupt. But in their makeup–points picked up from Art School perhaps, School of Hard Knocks perhaps– are susceptibilities to the insidious thinkingof them and us. "Them" cannot possibly understand what "us" do in our
worlds. Thus "Them" is treated variably with in genuine sweetness, or mistrust or disdain (when one is in a bad mood.)

Pappalardo: And…. if I wanted to write an article, pose a question, start a discussion… what is the procedure? And to put work up for sale?

rambler: If you wanted to write an article, pose a question, start a discussion, then Constance, you would write one suitable for a magazine of this intent. You'd send it to me and I would schedule it for the next available upload. I would not edit except in the very unlikely circumstance that the article contain a flat out
untruth or a personal attack. In those case, I still wouldn't edit but would request you revise your thoughts. If you couldn't, depending on the degree of difficulty in the content, I would either follow the statement with a bracketed comment from Artsrambler and/or post afollow up more explaining our view.
If you want to put a piece up for sale you have two options:
1. Investigate the gallery on Artsramble.
Read the fine print at the bottom of the first page. If you are
someone we can trust to kickback10% to our enterprise under the
provisions stated, we will consider your work.
2. You may want to bypass this whole shebang. Please Investigate our
Classified Ads. We go all out for the advertiser here,, making the
images as large as the jpeg can sustain, as many images as the
advertisers wishes, etc. A pittance.

Pappalardo:
In the latest postings you write:
:…So we made the decision to not only continue but to spread the love. We hope to involve the whole state. The new Banner will simply read "Artsramble, an on-going discussion of Art," with no "of the Triangle." We depend on you to submit articles about what you think; discussions of your favorite artists; reports of your own projects. In short, everybody is a critic".
Are you ready for a deluge? Expect to hear all about the growing Cary art scene.

rambler: My hope is that such a deluge would be balanced by a deluge from other communities in North Carolina. If the articles after a while do not collectly show coverage across the state, we’ll cut this thing out. We’ll just stop.

Pappalardo: Do you all, you invisible ones…. meet on a regular basis or is this purely a cyber-relationship? Are you the founder or was this a joint venture? an idea born out of too much espresso and not enough sleep? A dialogue stated at a neighborhood haunt that needed to be shared beyond the existing circle? Roots! Tell us all about the roots!

rambler: Read about us on artsramble, in the about section. As for the invisible ones–well, they’re invisible. And it wasn’t espresso. I wear a blue collar. It was Carolina Pale at Players Retreat.