Something that has always interested me, outside of my great passion for basketball, has been art. Art means many things to many types of people. Whether it is painting, photography, sculpture, film, design or music; all of these things have an element to them which encapsulates artistry.
So for a while I’ve had the idea to bring together basketball and art in one place, to celebrate the amazing art that is produced by people that love the game. As far as I know, there is no one place dedicated to the celebration of basketball-related art and I would like to create a place which highlights some of the true great artworks that are produced in our international basketball community.
Hence, I give you bartsketball.
Origins
The concept of bartsketball was originally to create an entirely new site for the project. However, time is always a factor. I’ve had a lot on my plate in this stratosphere, including A Stern Warning, my role as Editor at Stacheketball and the newly acquired stewardship of the Bloguin-wide NBA site, NBA Base Line. So I decided to make this a part of A Stern Warning for now and we’ll wait and see (and hope) that it out-grows this home, forcing the domain bartsketball.com to come into full use.
What you can expect
The way this project will run, will be in the form of a community — one that will grow continually with time. This is not MY art. It is everyone’s art. The intention of bartsketball is to showcase what is being put out there in the community, thus giving it more exposure and sharing it with those that have a love for the bartsketball movement.
We will be posting examples of art in basketball from years gone by, as well as up-and-coming examples of the same. In fact, the first post at bartsketball will involve an element of both the past and the future — look out for it on Monday.
The boundaries of the project will move with time, as ideas form and more importantly as the community gives its input into what they want to see. Initially my ideas for bartsketball are to focus on the following P’s:
- Photography
- Paint/Pen/Print
- Photoshop
- Prose (poetry/art in the written form)
- Physical (sculpture etc)
- Philm (yes, that is a stretch, but Film doesn’t start with a “P”!)
There is a multitude of great work out there which I’m sure everyone can point to. And that is the idea of the project — to get the input from as many people as possible and highlight the work which they’ve come into contact with or produced themselves.
How can you be involved?
Please, please, please feel free to be involved in the bartsketball project. You are personally invited, purely by reading this post.
Do you know of some art in your local area that is basketball-related? Take a photo or find a link to it online and send it to me.
Have you produced some art yourself which is basketball-related? Please, email me and we can arrange to showcase it on the site.
Do you have some favourite basketball-related art that you’ve checked out over the years in any of the above “P” forms and would like to give a pat on the back to the artist responsible? Send me an email.
The idea is that the community can write posts, or simply post images of the art work concerned and they will be featured here. Email me at ASternWarning (@) gmail.com with the subject “bartsketball” and fill me in on what you would like to be exposed through the project. Or use the contact page.
We’re lucky enough to already have a couple of contributors onboard with posts headed your way next week, but the idea is to have as many opinions and tastes shared as possible. I have a stack of basketball-related artists I’d like to showcase — some of them you’ll certainly know, others you may not. And I’m sure, in turn, you can educate me no end in your world of bartsketball.
This is an exciting day.
