Each site listed on the Metaart Domain index page has been developed for its own sake (with its own home page, layout, style and criteria for inclusion of content) and is relevant to metaart. Below are brief discussions of the relevance of:
After that are:
related to all the sites.
The Blue Octagon Gallery Site is focused on some visual artists who at this time have a strong presence in the neighborhood I live in. It celebrates and shows appreciation for their work.
Two of the key artistic ideas illustrated here are (duh) appreciation and celebration.
The Clare Puskarczyk Site engages with who Clare is and provides images of a selection of her work. It was created partly to encourage Clare to create her own site. Clare is an excellent painter and graphic artist, but she also has an educational intent and that intent goes beyond teaching people to produce objects of art. The way Clare lives is an inspiration to live artistically.
The artistic idea that Clare most clearly embodies is vision. Clare sees a vision she is committed to and then goes after it until it is manifested.
This is the site that Clare created. In it she put forth her vision of education graphically. Her vision of education is inspiring. In any case, the site was an example of art applied to a domain (education, not just art education) that we do not usually think of as fundamentally artistic.
The site was up for a number of years. It has been taken down at Clare's request to make way for what's next.
The Dance Magic Review Site is dedicated to bringing forth dance magic. It explores especially the subjective side of dancing. At first the site focused on dance magic in touch partner dancing, but now it also addresses free form dancing.
In a way the Dance Magic Review Site is simply metaart in the world of dancing.
The East Bay West Coast Site is the web site of a club and community that supports dance magic and is dedicated to celebration in dance. (See the Dance Magic Review Site for an exploration of similar values.) While the club has its own dynamic, it also is, in a way, a lab for exploring how to create a social context for artistic connections in the realm of partner dance. Two of the key artistic ideas have been appreciation and celebration (e.g. jams, birthdays).
Two ideas that have served the club well are:
It's not enough to have values. One needs to stay in touch with them. It's easy to get caught up in creating a structure that assures success and consistent performance but also leads a group to be less personal, and less focused on artistic values.
If you are attracted to swing dancing and the club's values you may wish to go to some of their dances. If you are thinking of creating a similar environment (in dance or in some other area), you may find the club's innovative approach inspiring and instructional. Example: Many problems that the founders saw in other clubs have been avoided by not having any money involved (including dues).
The Easy Role Playing Site aims to make the joys and power of role playing easily available to everyone. Role Playing can be a valuable tool in realizing that identity is constructed and becoming more deeply aware of other points of view. Since "Who are you?" is a central question in metaart and since "There is always another point of view." is a key insight that makes this role playing site quite relevant to metaart.
The role playing games described are designed to maximize role playing and minimize mechanics, thus making the impact of the above clearer. This makes this site even more relevant to metaart.
Hey, he wanted to have his own site. What could I do?
In any case, the main issue that Eugene engages with, that is modernity, is significant for metaart. There is much on his site to challange a reflective artist.
Also, the site illustrates the power of role playing. And it could be an inspiration for personal expression. After all, if Eugene, who is not even real, can have his own website whereon he expresses his views, surely those of us who are real, can do as well.
Firefly Play was originally created because the Silly Villains CGI which had been created for the Isaland Site was too grown up for Isabelle at that time and needed a different home.
The site illustrates how play leads to creation.
This site engages with who George is in many different ways.
This is the site I created for the enjoyment of my grandaughter Isabelle.
This site illustrates the inspiration that children can give for creation.
Jonathan is my son and this is the personal site that he has created. It's here partly because Jonathan is my son.
It illustrates that one can create a basic website using very simple HTML and a simple style sheet.
The MAC to Linux Site promotes some of the values of the MAC and Linux worlds. Of special relevance to metaart is the idea that a computer, computer language or computer community can be artistic. If you happen to be a programmer and an artist this could be an especially freeing insight.
The Margaret Batiuchok Site focuses on and celebrates the dance artist/dance teacher Margaret Batiuchok. Margaret's life demonstrates that an artist's way of being may show up in many areas other than the creation of obvious "works of art" such as dance performances. We see artistic values showing up throughout her life including:
The artistic value that I experience most clearly in her life is celebration. In Margaret's Master's thesis she celebrates "The Lindy" and four excellent Lindy dancers. Even the verbal part of her thesis celebrates Lindy and these dancers, but the video tapes (of her thesis) take celebration to another level. The tapes show both social and performance dancing. And there are cuts of two different birthday jams where we see Margaret celebrating her birthday fully.
The MetaArt Site identifies what metaart is, explores the essence of art, and encourages its exploration and manifestation. It engages with metaart directly. So it's rather clear why it fits in the Metaart Domain.
This site does not attempt to nail down a precise and inclusive definition of art. It makes suggestions, but leaves defining art for each person to engage with. This fits with the intent of metaart. What is sought is definitions, etc. that illuminate and empower for individual people.
The San Francisco Bay Swingers Dance Club Site supported and celebrated a swing dance club that has as part of its purpose "to encourage and foster Swing dancing as an art form" and that has a history of innovation in the evolution of Swing dancing. The site is now inactive.
From its inception, the club encouraged and supported the creation of other West Coast Swing dance clubs. (E.g. The Next Generation Swing Dance Club. E.g. the East Bay West Coast dance club.) And now there are West Coast Swing dance clubs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, throughout California and throughout the United States.
In 1968, a group of West Coast Swing dancers created the first West Coast Swing dance club in California (some say the first anywhere). Some of the innovations of the club and what followed were briefly described on the site as an inspiration to anyone considering creating a club related to their own passion.
The webmastering of these Sites is intended to be artful. Among other things, this domain is intended to illustrate that creating web sites does not have to be fundamentally difficult. It's primarily a matter of intention and attention.