Susan Ressler's photography makes me think of Paul Strand and Dorothea Lange, with a bit of mysticism thrown in. Ressler creates images that sear into our visual vocabulary and reflect what people are feeling when their inhibitions are relaxed. Her two new portfolios, which she calls "Tales of Smoke", complement each other: one, from New Mexico, shows Americans on the Fourth of July; the other is from France during Carnaval.

Alan Bigelow creates multimedia interactive stories for the Web - we could call them quickflix. Originally a traditional fiction writer, he turned to Flash programming in 1999 and now uses it as his primary medium.

East of Nowhere is an exhibition of contemporary art from Central Asia in the post-Soviet era. Taking place in Turin, Italy, it showcases an extensive overview of artists from Kyrgystan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Taijikhstan and highlights some of the issues of concern to these areas.

In 2008, Anthony d'Offay made a gift to Britain's museums consisting of a traveling exhibition of contemporary art in which each artist is given an entire room to show work. In cooperation with the British and Scottish governments, the idea is to show a more in-depth view of an artist than is usually provided in galleries and museums, to have Artist's Room travel throughout the region and be free of charge to the public.

The Wellcome Collection is presenting an exhibition called "Exquisite Bodies". With ample online illustrations, the exhibition focuses on the wax figures used to explore medical conditions in the 19th century. These anatomical models were meant to supplement the shortage of fresh cadavers for medical students.

ReMap2 is a creative online site designed to introduce visitors and viewers to contemporary art galleries in downtown Athens, Greece. By clicking on Gallery Shows you will get a sampling of the works being shown during the 2nd Athens Biennale, which runs until October 4th, 2009. Each gallery shows multiple images, so you will get an excellent overview of what's being exhibited at the Biennale.

U-ram Choe is a South Korean artist who uses stainless steel, acrylic, and robotics to create elegant, imaginary biomorphic forms.

Andrew Carnie fuses space and time lapses in the fields of art and science. He employs slide projections, dissolve systems and video projections against a dark ground to create narratives of the human body.

Here's a fun project for the creative among you. Eon Human claims they can create a three dimensional head from the photograph that you provide. It's free of charge.

National Public Radio, in their All Things Considered program, tells us about Book Glutton, an interactive web site that allows readers to chat about their readings as they read. The comments and interactive features remove the isolation factor from reading and are particularly helpful with dense texts like Shakespeare and Milton.

E. O. Hoppe is considered the Richard Avedon of his time. Photographing during the early 20th century, he portrayed celebrities in politics and literature in America and Great Britain between the two world wars. Little known by the general public but much valued by connoisseurs, Hoppe was described by Cecil Beaton as "The Master" in an introduction to Hoppe's autobiography titled "One Hundred Thousand Exposures". (Click on Galleries to see some of his images.)

Several months ago we discussed a series of books called "Post Secret" in which people were inspired to share their intimate thoughts and feelings via anonymous postcard. The project became so popular that there is now an online site called "Post Secret Blogspot". Part Confessional, part therapy, the site offers a guilt and penalty-free outlet for feelings that are difficult to admit to others.

I found these wave photos at stumbleupon, in their arts section. They are quite spectacular.

c.Corinne Whitaker 2009