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In today’s episode, we discuss:

Early Writing and Blogging (00:01:29) Ana Maria shares her early experiences with writing, starting in middle school and launching a blog to publish her writing and thoughts.

Education and Professional Experiences (00:04:51) Ana Maria discusses her studies in romance studies at Harvard, her thesis, and her various professional experiences in communications-related jobs.

Transition to Full-time Writing (00:07:06) Ana Maria talks about focusing on writing full-time after the birth of her son and the unexpected success of her book of poems.

Discovery of Blockchain and NFTs (00:12:27) Ana Maria shares her journey of discovering blockchain and NFTs, her motivations for digitizing her poems, and her participation in on-chain poetry collections.

Building an Audience and Community (00:16:44) Ana Maria discusses her strong belief in supporting poets, her dedication to her mission, and the importance of hard work and community building in the digital art space.

Impact of Blockchain and NFTs (00:24:22) Ana Maria reflects on the value of the technology aspect of NFTs and blockchain in providing authentication, recognition, and the need for effort in building an online presence.

The digital poem auction (00:27:26) Ana Maria's experience with the Sotheby's auction of her digital poem, "Cord," and its significance in the contemporary art scene.

The literary potential of blockchain (00:35:40) Ana Maria's discussion of the literary potential of blockchain, including her involvement in Bright Moments Buenos Aires and the creation of "Paperwork," a collection representing the digital and physical materiality of poetry.

Writing discipline and process (00:40:58) Ana Maria's approach to writing, including the discipline, editing, and authoring process, and her experience finding inspiration in daily life.

Collaboration and new collection (00:44:02) Ana Maria's collaboration with artist Melissa Wiederrecht and the upcoming collection "Miss Metaverse," exploring the representation of self in the digital space and the labor involved in creating an online presence.

Mentioned: theVERSEverse, Harvard, Sothebys, Bright Moments, Art Blocks, Melissa Wiederrecht, CORD, Paperwork, Gazell, Art Dubai, Alida Sun, Sarah Ridgley, Jonas Lund, Auriea Harvey, Mieke Marple, Sara Ludy.

Until next time,

- Kaloh

You can collect this episode on the blockchain for just ~$5.

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Kaloh’s Podcast Episode #2: 0xFAR.

Francisco, aka 0xFAR, is an engineer, generative artist, and entrepreneur. He is the artist behind the Taproot Wizards (Bitcoin Ordinals) and multiple generative artworks like War Games. His work focuses on 3D and virtual worlds, combining code and AI techniques.

Join ~9000 art fans to get my newsletter and podcast in your inbox!

In today’s episode, we discuss:

• [00:02:00] Formal education as a civil engineer and after as an architect (Southern California Institute for Architecture). He always wanted to be an artist, but it wasn’t a common career path in his family.

• [00:06:00] Experimental architecture project winning the best thesis award gave FAR confidence to pursue an artistic career.

• [00:10:00] Designing Major League Baseball stadiums (Atlanta Braves) and being involved in experiences like the Super Bowl as a computer set designer.

• [00:15:00] Working with Stephen Prina in his degree at Harvard.

• [00:19:00] Curation in the Web 3 space, gatekeeping, and his collaboration with Anika Maier and Expanded.art.

• [00:23:40] Discovering NFTs and starting to share his art.

• [00:29:10] Why is Bitcoin Ordinals exciting?

• [00:33:50] Being the artist behind Taproot Wizards and the story behind the project.

• [00:40:05] War Games and participatory art.

• [00:43:05] FINE and getting funded by a16z — only 30 companies were accepted out of 9,000.

• [00:47:05] Bitcoin Ordinals are way simpler than Ethereum NFTs. Learn more about Bitcoin Ordinals here.

Until next time,

- Kaloh

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Here is the latest 5 Digital Artists to Watch issue (no paywall 😉)

Thanks again for your support!

The last day of June is here, so it is time for another 5 Digital Artists to Watch issue. I share five artists I discovered over the past month in this monthly series.

🔐Note: this issue is for premium members, those that referred at least 1 friend over the past month, and those who answered the feedback form I sent a few days ago.

Refer your friends here

Before we get started, I would like to reveal the names of the May Edition artists:

• Chelsea Jones

• Paolo Čerić aka Patakk

• Anika Vendel

• Kyle Mills

• David Szauder

Let’s get started…

The first artist to make the list is Torsten, whom I discovered via his latest generative collection — Entry Through the Print Shop — which was part of the Flatlands exhibition that was curated by Haiver and released via Alba.art.

Entry Through the Print Shop by Torsten Sauer.

As I researched more about Torsten, I discovered he creates art not only with p5.js (which is the most popular library in this medium) but also uses R coding language. Data scientists and statisticians use R (I spent hours back in University learning it — not very user-friendly for developers, but statisticians and mathematicians love it).

These days I find myself learning and enjoying photography more than before. Taking shots from my environment makes me more present, and curating a library of photos that could be used to train AI models feels exciting. From my blockchain photographers’ exploration, I found Joelle’s work.

She is a landscape photographer based in the Canadian rockies who's work consists of minimalist landscape & astrophotography. You can be part of her expedition journeys through remote and mesmerizing landscapes on her social media.

Hypnagogic hallucinations by Joelle JB.

More recently, she started to explore AI art. Her first collection is titled Hypnagogic hallucinations on Foundation.

“Inspired by surreal dreams, unique landscapes, art history, and costume history. Some of the pieces will be recreated with photography once the collection is sold out, allowing me to combine my fashion design, special effects makeup & photography skills.”

I met Rahul this month through an Art Blocks artists session where I was invited to share my learnings in the digital art world. Rahul was one of the artists in the audience and is also part of the Art Blocks product team.

“Through my work, I’ve grown a deep admiration for art.”

Semblance by Rahul Iyer.

His first generative art collection, Semblance, will be released on Art Blocks in July.

One of the most compelling aspects of generative art, apart from its emergent nature, is its accessibility. Viewers can experience the art from the comfort of their own home and interact with it through something as simple as a click. Semblance takes advantage of this by giving viewers control of the work, encouraging them to explore the tension between their private and performative selves.

To be honest, I didn’t discover Joanie this month. He is an established artist and climate activist who was around from the early days of hic et nunc — being fundamental in its rapid adoption. Nevertheless, I didn’t look closely into his art practice before this month, so including him felt right.

Point Cloud (turmoil) by Joanie Lemercier.

Lemercier’s Point cloud series was featured in the New York Times as part of a story to illustrate the ethical challenges of using the very energy intensive Ethereum blockchain. Now that the structural flaws of inefficiency have been fixed (Ethereum moved from PoW to PoS) Lemercier is back to the Ethereum blockchain after a 2 year break.

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/climate/nft-climate-change.html

Taken from Sotheby’s website.

Joanie recently released Nuages possibles via fxhash, the first generative collection that uses both fx(params) and the redeemable module.

Eliza is widely known in the Shaders community, as she is not only an artist but also an educator. You can find multiple guides, recordings, and code examples related to the never-ending shaders rabbit hole under her name.

This month, the Canadian artist (who lives in France) participated in the GENERATIVE group show — organized by Fakewhile — with two multi-edition pieces: aer and lux.

aer by Eliza Struthers-Jobin — animated.

Her generative collection inlim:in was featured at Art Basel Paris+ fxhash interactive minting experience.

Atemporal iridescent fragments of the in between. The series is inspired by the many liminal spaces and unseen influences that permeate the visible universe and its participants. Created with GLSL, every piece of the series is generated using the space around the visible object to cast its shape. The series creates a gentle and colorful expanse through which viewers might contemplate what it is to exist at an infinite threshold.

I hope you had a great time with this newsletter decision because I sure had a blast putting it together. It's weird, but I'm increasingly hooked on discovering and researching digital artists.

Until next time,

- Kaloh

Tezos is a decentralized blockchain that utilizes smart contracts to facilitate secure and transparent transactions. It was designed to be a self-amending blockchain, allowing for seamless upgrades and improvements without the need for hard forks. Tezos aims to provide a robust infrastructure for building decentralized applications (dApps) and digital assets. With its focus on governance, security, and scalability, Tezos has gained popularity among developers and investors alike.

Tezos logo

To further understand Tezos, let's delve into how you can buy Tezos, some technical aspects, and explore the top NFT marketplaces within this blockchain ecosystem.

Kaloh’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

To acquire Tezos (XTZ) tokens, you can utilize cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase. These exchanges provide a user-friendly interface to buy, sell, and trade various cryptocurrencies, including Tezos.

Simply create an account, complete the verification process, deposit funds, and then search for Tezos on the platform. Once you've purchased Tezos, you can transfer the tokens to a secure wallet for storage.

Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, Tezos does not rely on traditional mining mechanisms like Proof-of-Work(PoW). Instead, it adopts a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, where token holders can delegate their XTZ to validators who participate in block creation and transaction validation.

By delegating XTZ to validators, users can earn additional Tezos rewards. This approach promotes network security and incentivizes token holders to actively participate in the Tezos ecosystem. You can delegate your Tezos directly to your crypto wallet. Keep in mind when you delegate your Tezos, you aren’t forced to stake for a specific period of time — this is called liquid staking.

When it comes to storing your Tezos tokens securely, there are several notable wallet options available. Here are a few favorites:

Autonomy is a specialized mobile wallet that provides a seamless and secure experience for managing Tezos and other blockchain assets. It offers a user-friendly interface and supports features like staking, delegation, and easy token transfers. Autonomy also supports other blockchains, including Ethereum, expanding its utility beyond Tezos.

Temple is a web-based wallet designed specifically for Tezos. It offers a simple and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to manage their XTZ tokens. Temple supports delegation, staking, and also provides integration with various Tezos dApps.

Kukai is a non-custodial wallet for Tezos that emphasizes security and privacy. It allows users to generate and store their private keys locally, ensuring full control over their funds. Kukai supports delegation, staking, and seamless interaction with decentralized applications.

Tezos has also become a prominent blockchain for hosting non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Several NFT marketplaces have emerged within the Tezos ecosystem, offering a diverse range of digital artwork and collectibles. Some popular Tezos NFT marketplaces include:

fxhash is an NFT marketplace built on Tezos that focuses on generative coded art. It provides an open platform for generative artists to create, showcase and sell their creative coded art. They have incorporated innovative blockchain features like fx(text), fx(params), and, more recently, the redeemable module.

fxhash is a generative art marketplace and minter for all artists and collectors.

objkt.com is a curated marketplace for digital art and NFTs on the Tezos blockchain. It has a mission to list and index all tokens on Tezos, therefore, you can find all Tezos art. Besides their extensive library of NFTs, objkt.com released objkt one to focus on 1/1s artworks and have been working to improve the discoverability aspect for collectors.

Teia, previously known as Hic et Nunc, is an open-source and decentralized NFT marketplace on Tezos. It offers a platform for artists and collectors to explore and trade digital art and other digital assets, fostering creativity and community engagement. Among the different community initiatives, Teia works as a DAO and their governance token will be launched in 2023.

While the aforementioned marketplaces may have undergone changes since the publication of this article, you can refer to "An Introduction to Tezos NFT Marketplaces" for a more detailed overview below.

And if you're interested in learning more about Tezos and its performance in the market, you might want to check out this article on the top-selling Tezos NFTs below.

The future of Tezos is full of potential and developments. The platform's self-upgrading features and flexible governance system make it one of the most promising blockchain projects around. Tezos is constantly expanding its network and connecting with various stakeholders to make further improvements to its platform. With its potential to revolutionize multiple industries, Tezos is poised to make a huge impact on the world and transform the way we do business. As more people discover its unique features and capabilities, Tezos is sure to keep growing and help shape the future of blockchain technology.

Until next time,

- Kaloh

Consider subscribing to Kaloh’s Newsletter to receive my articles for free in your inbox. For the full experience, become a premium subscriber.

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I will transfer an upcoming NFT drop in hic et nunc to your wallet as appreciation. Anyone that subscribes in May will receive it, so share the word with artists and collectors ;)

Remember, new subscribers can also send me one NFT, and I’ll add it to the Shilling Section of one of the upcoming editions.

Sounds good? Just reply with your:

1. Tezos address.

2. URL to your NFT (if you haven’t already).

3. Your Twitter handler (if you haven’t already).

Cheers,

-Kaloh

Train of Thought by _tmist

I’m not sure what caught my eye. Was it the sun? Or maybe the waters condensing into clouds? Or perhaps the birds? Train of Thought invites you to animate the different elements and get lost in your… thoughts. I enjoyed this composition so much that it became my first NFT purchase.

The author is _tmist (Gabriel Melo), an NFT creator from Brazil. Gabriel jumped into the digital art world six months ago, and he has made fantastic art since. The author found inspiration in the rock band Dream Theater. In his own words:

“I was really inspired by an album from a band called Dream Theater. The name of the album is Train of Thought. I always loved the art of their album, but it is very obscure. I wanted to create something related to what this album goes through for me, so I ended up making two versions of this art. The one you are seeing is the most colorful, I wanted to put a little melancholy element in the color of the train and also in the waters with that smoke coming out of them, each element of this art reflects what I felt listening to this album by the band.”

He uses the Digital Collage technique. It consists of taking images or photos from platforms such as Pixels and combine them into well-balanced scenes. Most of his creations take four to five shots, but in this case, he used six: the train, the sea, the birds, the red clouds, the waves, and last but not least, the sun. The sun has become a trademark throughout Gabriel’s work.

_tmist uses Gimp as his tool of choice. In some cases, he uses Glitch Lab and Mirror Lab in his smartphone (not for Train of Thought).

“As a Linux user, Gimp offers everything I need. It is simple and lightweight.”

• Check out more work from _tmist on his Instagram or ShowTime.

• Bid on Train of Thought on OpenSea.

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