nft art - 79Au

79Au | 3.15-21

Hello from ETHDenver Pt 3!

This post was written by one of our long standing staff members who volunteered with ETHDenver, and offers an insider’s view of the recent event. Enjoy!

In February, I was one of the more than 15,000 participants and contributors of ETHDenver 2023, a Community and Innovation Festival that spans over a week at one of the largest gathering spaces in Denver, Colorado.

Compared with other crypto-centric events like NFT.NYC, ETHDenver has a larger technical focus, with #BUIDLers coming from around the world to build their projects on the Ethereum blockchain.

Unlike most attendees, however, I had the unique experience of contributing to the event as a Volunteer Steward and experienced the festival from a slightly different angle.

Working diligently with other Stewards, and with the help of 200+ volunteer Crew members, The Year of the Spork quickly became one for the record books.

The 6th annual event was host to fireside chats, solo presentations, a marathon #BUIDLathon, workshops and panels, and of course a slew of side events hosted by ETHDenver sponsors.

While we (sometimes not so) quietly moved around the event to assist attendees, Spork Whales, and speakers, it became apparent how dedicated this unique community is, making the festival outshine its previous iteration year over year. Having volunteered for last year’s Year of the Buffigwei, I was lucky enough to see many friendly faces I’d previously met in the space.

These same volunteers who stood outside in the surprise blizzard while greeting each and every registrant, and the same staff who’d flit from venue to venue up the block ensuring that each stage and event space could seamlessly pull off their panels and presentations, came back ready to bring it for 2023.

To better fit the growing community, the venue was moved to the sprawling National Western Complex and split into five main tracks: DAOs + Community, Decentralized Finance, Public Goods, Infrastructure, NFTs + Metaverse + Gaming.

The frenetic energy surrounding the wide breadth of topics kept the community buzzing for the 10-day span of the festival, but two of them caught my attention, NEAR Day and the Privacy and Security Takeover.

NEAR Protocol, a bit player at ETHDenver 2022, was front and center this year with an entire day dedicated to talks, keynotes, and workshops encompassing the ecosystem.

A handful of the biggest names in NEAR could be caught on the smaller stages hosting chats, like Illia Polosukhin, Marieke Flament, Matt Lockyer, and Alex Chiocchi.

Having learned about NEAR last year and interacting with most of these individuals on social media, it was an incredible feeling to be able to step back and listen to them speak about the protocol and the forward-thinking BOS positioning.

Participants in NEAR Day heard about the importance of creating a seamless user experience to drive mass adoption and sustainability in blockchain by focusing on real engagement, strategic long-term planning, and overall impact of development. We were enlightened by a breakdown (and a breakup) with the way newcomers are onboarded into Web3, and of course, the value in a fully decentralized identity.

The concepts delivered by NEAR span the entirety of the Web3 Space and reiterate what it is we’re moving toward.

Notably, we can’t move closer to mass adoption without a strong sense of security and privacy in the space, and the takeover of the Genesis Stage gave speakers an opportunity to impress this importance to the community at large. On March 4th, a series of Privacy Highlights held the stage to cover a wide span of topics from plausible deniability, attempts to encroach on privacy by outside entities, and the role Cypherpunks played in preventing users from being backdoored.

Closing with a keynote from security badass Sherri Davidoff, the founder and CEO of LMG Security, attendees (myself included) were left with a stark visual reminder that privacy is deeply interconnected with unity and security via her interpretation of the Fugio cent.

The beauty of ETHDenver is the ability of like-minded individuals to gather and learn about new technologies while pushing the boundaries of what we think we know and most of the panels and conversations delivered on that. The dynamic pace created by different types of Ethereum developers and community #BUIDLers gathering in one location sparked a sense of renewed optimism and excitement for the future of Ethereum, despite current market dynamics. It reinforced its reputation for being an Innovation Festival for the Community.

Giraffe Cupcakes is the Community Manager at Mint Gold Dust and has been working with ETH Denver community and events in 2022 and 2023.

Denver, Colorado.

Take a look at our 79Au zine’s ETH Denver pt 1 and ETH Denver pt 2!

Learn about the Illust <> Mint Gold Dust ETH Denver culture walk showcasing amazing NFT curations at venues around Denver! Check out the Illust ETHDenver event maps here: Click to view maps

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

79Au | 3.1-6

Hello from ETHDenver Pt 2!

There was a record-breaking 30,000+ registrations for the sixth year of ETH Denver! It was incredible to see all the new ideas and organizations entering the Web3 space alongside the stalwarts who have been here since the beginning! Welcome to the Bufficorn noobies!!

The crowds became overwhelming while waiting (forever) in line for food, or coffee and pastries in the mornings. Before we jump into the details, a final shout out to Reunion Bread that fed us (and many more people!) every morning. Their Golfeado, see below, is to die for.

Back to the event itself…. We went wandering dreamily through the ETH Denver ZenZone then visiting the IRL Gallery, meeting inspiring artists. Once such artist was the creative, inspiring, punk rocker Naji, who displayed his wares through his beautiful, one-of-a-kind Art NFts. Their clothing line can be found at youmustsurvive.store.

The program started with the opening ceremony with hundreds of Bufficorns singing on stage. To some it might sound cringy (think a mixture of glitter and Bufficorns), but founder Kelly LeValley Hunt claimed “this is just another day in Ethereum paradise!”

On Friday Kelly spoke on a panel on the Genesis Stage called “Investing in Web3’s Future”, discussing what she looks for when investing in new businesses. Hint: She puts an emphasis on the development team, the founders, product, and the business model.

Other amazing speakers we listened to on the same stage included Joe Lubin, Caitlin Long, and a call-in from Vitalik Buterin.

There were moving and enlightening presentations, including @ameensol talking about @UncahinIran, a DAO which provides legally compliant aid to Iran. He shone a light on a corner of the world that many of us do not think about; emphasizing the importance of paying attention to, and recognizing, human injustices and reminding us that so many people around the world are still fighting for basic freedoms. Something that we at Mint Gold Dust are very grateful for.

The second part of ETHDenver was filled with new connections, amazing speakers, and energizing after parties.

Our love for electric scooters deepened as we sped around the Mile High city; venue jumping during the day, and rolling up to dinners and parties in the evenings. We want public scooters in NYC!

As ETH Denver 2023 closed out, two highlights stand out. We headed over to the Galactic Garden Party at the Beacon in RiNo on Friday evening. The venue was magical, with sacred geometrical groove rooms and amazing dance vibes throughout.

And on Saturday night we got down with our partners at Illust, viewing art and dancing the night away to DJs while sipping on ice cold keg beer! So refreshing – an amazing end to an amazing experience!!

Take a look at last week’s 79Au zine, ETH Denver Pt 1!
We experienced the geo-located art from our platform IRL in Denver!
You can check out the Illust ETHDenver event maps here: Click to view maps.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

2 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 1.3-1.10

Featured Artworks of the Week

Interview with Chazz Gold

Today, we’re chatting with AI/Gan artist and photographer Chazz Gold about his journey into Web3, the tools he uses to create his pieces, and the intersection of AI and Photography. Keep reading for an in-depth look into Chazz Gold’s artistic process.

How did your journey in Web3 begin?

My web journey started in Clubhouse rooms in early 2021. At the time, I was working on a coffee table book concept with a project called “Shapes of The Divine.” When I got into web3, I decided to take that project to another level.

That project consisted of collaborating with over 150 different psychedelic, visionary artists from around the world and using their art to project onto the female form.

Adding to the already psychedelic nature of art I was using as projection, I began to mask out my subjects and use them as backgrounds. Then, I’d mask them out again to animate the backgrounds and take still photographs, adding motion to them in a cinematographic style using applications like Motionleap and Plotagraph.

The “Shapes of The Divine” project still lives on OpenSea as a collection. I have been working on taking a few pieces at a time, moving what is not collected onto my own manifold contract, and putting them back on auction on the platform.

25% of the “Shapes of The Divine” project sales are donated to a local women’s shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

How did you make the transition from photographer to AI artist? Do you find that there are similarities between the tools?

I discovered GAN art through Clubhouse. Those were the days of Snowpixel and Night Café. Google Colorful existed back then, but a lot of us did not know about it yet. I actually released a whole project called “Portraits From the Parallel Universe” on OpenSea. That was all portraiture AI artwork that I had generated with Snowpixel. It wasn’t long after that I had heard of photo bashing, which is using photography and running AI text to create image prompts with the photograph as an initial starting point.

I do find that there are similarities between the practice in the tools. I still use a lot of Photoshop to change any parts of an image I think needs modification. I still use my Lightroom catalog as a place to store, organize and keep track of all of my AI-generated images, and keep the original photographs for comparison.

Can you walk us through your process of Photo Bashing?

These days I use Google Collab folders, made by pharmapsychotic and his models. I have a heavy interest in cyborg, cybernetic beings, and the divine feminine; the mixture of those things inspire me to make art and helps me envision what the future looks like. I find it interesting that I’m using AI to create images that are very futuristic.

As for photo bashing, I use the initial image by uploading photographs onto Google Drive or Google photos and then use the web address of that image and put it in the Google collab folder too. I’ll play around with the different levels of strength. You can use a percentage of every initial image by using a decimal point system and providing the level of strength of the initial image as part of your final image.

Many of my initial photographs are pulled from my database of the “Shapes of The Divine” project or portraiture that I have done with models and friends. Being that many of my photos already have a professional look (and with the case of the “Shapes of The Divine” project, a colorful and psychedelic nature) the female form stands out prominently. They’re easy to use as an initial image or a basic shape of what I want the subject to look like.

I also create my own sacred geometry Mandela art using many different apps on my iPad, and sometimes I use those as initial images for my work. Everything that is minted on Mint Gold Dust was created with that process, rather than using base photographs of an actual person. I also involve very complex AI prompts to generate the images that I make, which I affectionately call prompt craft.

Have you read the last 79Au post on our New Year’s curation? It’s all about rebirth and renewal. View our latest article here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 12.28-1.3

Featured Artworks of the Week

New Year’s Curation – Reflection and Rebirth

From all of us at Mint Gold Dust, we wish you and yours a Happy New Year!

At the start of every new year, there is a lot of talk of reflection and transformation. This cycle of the death of the old, and birth of the new. Sometimes, this transformation and rebirth comes from a redirection, a moment of enlightenment, or even a death of the self.

To celebrate the new year, the Mint Gold Dust team has curated a selection of six artworks that remind us of the power of transformation. We have a lot of exciting things coming your way in 2023, and we look forward to having you on the journey with us!

Butterflies are universally viewed as a symbol of ultimate transformation. For this work, artist Butterflies in Space Joe created his own Space Opera using AI tools. In many ways, the dawn of open-source AI tools has ushered in a transformation in the Digital and Traditional Art space.

In this piece by Chazz Gold, we see the Celtic Goddess Cerridwen undergoing a transformation born out of enlightenment, wisdom, and inspiration. This work reminds us that in order to welcome our new self, we must say goodbye to the old.

“Keep Going” by Rakkaus Art is a personal piece about the artist’s battle with JRA at a young age. The treatment for this bone disease was to inject gold into their body weekly. As the artist got older, they compared this treatment to the Japanese art form of Kintsugi, the art of repairing something broken with gold. The act creates something new out of the old while celebrating the imperfections.

Water is an element that has long been revered as a symbol of healing and cleansing. In Kelon’s AR sculpture “Pure,” we see an adult figure made out of water, appearing to be in the womb. The work reminds us that the process of re-birth can happen at any stage of life.

One cannot be ready to face their new transformed reality without first engaging in self reflection. Giovanni De Benedetto’s “Premature 106” invites the viewer to reflect on our relationships with ourselves and fellow human beings, entering a meditative type state.

Rather than a straight line from life to death, “A Golden Return” by Hypnomancer depicts our life’s journey as paths merging, circling, and diverging with and around each other. We might enter as one person, and exit as another, but we must never forget the path that got us there.

Have you read our 2022 Yearly Wrap up? Check out the some of our notable 2022 collections in the last 79AU post of the year here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 12.20-27

Featured Artworks of the Week

Yearly Wrap-Up

As the year comes to a close, we’re reminiscing on past collections featured on Mint Gold Dust. From explorations on AI to collaborations on digitized murals and sculptures, this year was one for the books. Keep reading for a look back at some of our collections from this past year.

Machine Dialogues

Released this Fall, Machine Dialogues is an investigation into how artificial intelligence (AI) can inform the creative process. The artists of Machine Dialogues utilized AI tools across mediums such as Typography, Fine Art, Gaming Artifacts and more. Whether artists were experienced working with AI applications or were new to the programs, Machine Dialogues was an opportunity for them to experiment and expand their vision and art practice with AI.

Butterfly Space Opera

Created using various forms of AI by Joseph Munisteri, aka Butterflies in Space Joe, Butterfly Space Opera is inspired by classical modern artists and nature. What originally started as writing prompts for Munisteri’s poetry blossomed into a collection of operas filled with drama, tragedy, and spirit. This collection invites viewers to experience AI artworks as a collaboration between man and machine and challenge traditional ideas of art.

Dia al-Azzawi

Dia al-Azzawi, a pioneer of modern Arab art, launched his first NFT collection this past year on Mint Gold Dust. His fondness and love for his grandson, Frederick, and the importance of future generations inspired his work.

“I wanted to create a body of work that captures a young child’s energy using the traditional shapes and colours I grew up with. By embracing this connection between the old and the new, the Freddie collection allows me to leave a piece of my childhood in the metaverse for future generations to enjoy.”

Hope Campaign at SXSW

Austin-based muralist collective, HOPE Campaign, teamed up with Mint Gold Dust and Illust Space during SXSW to digitize murals by local Austin artists and mint them on chain. The physical artworks were originally on display at the convention center for SXSW 2022, however, by utilizing the power of the blockchain, these artists can now earn royalties and archive their artworks.

Mint Gold Dust Event Form

In 2022, Mint Gold Dust welcomed our community to events in New York, Miami, Austin, Denver, and Los Angeles. Next year, find out if we’re hosting an event near you! Be the first to know about our upcoming events by filling out our 1-minute survey below.

Have you seen our latest collection, Cu3ntos? Get all the details of our new curation here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 12.14-20

Featured Artist of The Week – Chazz Gold

Chazz Gold is a photographer, DJ, addiction counselor, AI/Gan artist, and NFT creator and collector.

“I have been featured twice at NFT.NYC as well as NFT.LA with my Shapes of the Divine collection. The first time I was featured with Searchlight.Art and this past time with Sabat and spatial XR’s stratosphere show. I am involved with a handful of metaverse projects where I have shown work including galleries Cryptovoxel and Decentraland.”

The Cu3ntos Collection

Last week, the Cu3ntos collection, curated by JenJoy Roybal, launched on Mint Gold Dust. The collection features work from LatinX NFT artists reflecting on the role of cuentos in their own journeys and cultures.

Cuentos are passed down from generation to generation, and thanks to the Blockchain, these artists are able to immortalize their own cuentos, building out their digital legacies for the future. Each unique piece highlights the intersection of storytelling and technology while exploring themes of identity on a personal and cultural level.

JenJoy Roybal writes about the collection,

“Identity is a complex thing and the diaspora of Latinos or Hispanics is riddled with conflicting perspectives and experiences. The rise of the term LatinX came out of a desire to be more inclusive of people who self-identify as having Latin American heritage – who are also LGBTQ, or any other number of nuanced differences – and yet the term still falls short of properly defining the vast, multi-layered, global society. Perhaps we can look to sharing stories to better communicate our culture and identities, rather than labels?

Cuentos are often seen as children’s stories or fables that teach a lesson, make people cry or laugh or capture important moments. In this show, LatinX, Web3 artists were invited to explore cuentos with a personal take on the journeys they have witnessed or the ones they are on. The artwork at times reflects on favorite stories specific to their own culture, or were invented anew.

This is an invitation to a conversation and to the discovery of artists via their stories and the cuentos they love, including their own.”

Explore the collection below:

Creatress is a VR Performance artist at the intersection of virtual reality and fine art. Using a VR headset and a custom soundtrack to inspire the energy of spontaneous creation, she creates 3D abstract sculptures in front of live audiences.

Her latest piece “MesoMariposas” is an exploration of the Toltec and Mexica ancient belief that butterflies are the souls of those who have lived short lives. This piece is a mixture of 3D sculpting and AI.

Lucia Diaz is a first-generation Colombian-American and the Founder of LUCIA DIAZ, a Latina-owned business that empowers and honors Latinas through high-quality Illustrations. Lucia’s artworks are created with the goal of providing cultural representation and pride so that mujeres poderosas can see themselves represented in the world.

Layla Pizarro is a Visual Feeling Art researcher and artist who is constantly experimenting with new concepts, ideas, and techniques. For Cu3ntos, she has minted a photograph of maize that was used in preparation of making Humitas, a traditional Chilean dish, during the height of the global pandemic.

“Latin-American cultures have been teaching their children about maize for millennia through stories. These stories are taught in many different languages but share a very similar origin story of the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, and as you go down into South America, the Sun God. The importance of maize goes beyond nourishment. It provides the community with purpose, working all together to cultivate and harvest. Each generation of our community grows stronger, smarter, and more resilient, along with the maize and our traditions.”

JenJoy Roybal is an artist, urbanist, writer, editor, and digital content creator. She is inspired by humanity’s oldest stories and artworks related to sacred rituals and sacred space.

“Horse-man, Fire and the Book” is a part of her new series inspired by the cuentos and pueblo Indian (Hopi & Zuni) story dances. To create this piece, she fed an AI with the story as she remembered it from her youth. The output resulted in a piece that reflected the nuances of memory, time, and projection.

“The viewer can draw their own conclusions about what tale is unfolding – in that way, I love playing with my memories while others project their own.”

Born in Harlem, NY, Dr. Lemny Perez is an Afro-Dominican writer, actress, psychologist, abstract NFT artist & collector. She is a curator for the NFT.Tips Search Light Curatorial team & is the former Coaching Lead & Secretary Board Member at the Dream Conduit, a carbon neutral non-profit DAO. Her latest piece, “Mama ‘heard voices'” pays homage to those who battle severe mental illness in her family and beyond.

“Mama- Matriarch
Born Halloween, 1925
2nd youngest of 12
U lost both parents by 16
Had 5 kids & married for 66 yrsYou drank warm lemon water every AM,
used food as medicine
& were tormented by p-noid,
auditory hallucinations—”

Mint Gold Dust Event Form

Did you read our interview last week with Trish Gianakas? Check out her interview in last week’s 79AU here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 12.9 – 13

Featured Artworks of the Week

Mint Gold Dust Event Survey

Interview with Trish Gianakis

Today, we’re speaking to artist Trisha Gianakis about her journey into Crypto Art, her history in the augmented and XR art space, and her plans for the future. Keep reading for a look at her artistry and process.

Tell us about your journey to the Crypto Art and NFT space.

I was introduced to CryptoArt in 2018 at the Art World Conference and have been following it until the technology got a little easier to use. I made my first NFT in Feb of 2021.

What was your inspiration behind your piece, Mother Earth?

Mother Earth is part of my cancer survivor story. Gratitude for being alive and how all living things are connected on this planet. Starting with my obsession with trees and bark during cancer treatment, I later found out bark was in my cancer medication. I have created several RAKU sculptures (a Japanese style of pottery) of bark and female faces coming out of the bark. Now I am making NFTs in AR to complement the physical sculptures.

You teach augmented reality courses. Tell us about your history within the augmented and XR art space.

This past summer I was selected to collaborate on various programming/projects for the BronxNet TV as part of the BronxNet team to build a state-of-the art XR/VR/AR Lab and Video Production Studio. I also teach at Bronxnet TV and at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City. I have a Master’s Degree in Computer Art Installation from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. As far back as 1999, I created my first VR experience. I have always been on the forefront of digital art and technology. In 2007 I started learning about augmented reality. In my first AR experience, I used Unity (2017). The software has come a long way, and now I use several programs (Spark AR, Spatial, Blender, TiltBrush in Oculus Quest 2, and more).

How have you seen your artistry change as time goes on?

My art has changed with technology, but I still maintain my healing themes of nature, humanity, and peace. I am very excited about incorporating my physical art with digital art to create immersive artwork.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a couple projects:

1. ArtWorlds created with TiltBrush, Gravity Sketch, Blender 3D and can be experienced in Spatial. You can view my new Metaverse Artworld gallery here. Another Spatial gallery, viewable here, also has a portal to my work too.

2. My project for the Bronx involves creating a Geofence map using Illust.space with pinned locations that launch augmented reality stories about historical figures, sculptures or landmarks in the Bronx. Some of the AR stories I plan to feature include watching the Piccirilli Brothers carve the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.; visiting Myles Davis’ grave while listening to his music; and listening to an Edgar Allan Poe poem at the Poe Cottage. I will be building these experiences using the Oculus Quest Pro headset, Lidar 3D scanning equipment, and various software applications to adapt the 3D objects, video, stills and audio files into a format that can be imported into augmented reality.

Missed our recap of our Fake Basel event earlier this month? Check out the highlights here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

4 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 12.3 – 12.8

Featured Artworks of the Week

Mint Gold Dust x Fake Basel

Last Friday, we celebrated Art Basel week with our community and showcased the Theo’s Gallery genesis collection at Fake Basel. Artists included Nathan Sonic, Mr. Yuk, and more. The collection also showcased a selection of RAREPEPES, including a set of 6 with the first NFT from CZ (PBOCPEPE) from 2017. The evening was a celebration of the strength of our artist and collector community that we have built over the last year. Check out highlights from the event below.

Along with a live music performance from Otto Von Schirach, we hosted an exclusive one-lot auction, “The Theo Phone.” This iPhone was a mystery lot loaded with an exclusive selection of rare NFTs from Theo Goodmans’s personal collection. In the end, the phone went to Crypto Art collector and advisor Fanny Lakoubay.

In addition, we hosted a second exhibition in Augmented Reality in partnership with Illust Space.

We were also excited to welcome artist Megan Troglio who re-created her recent NFT on Mint Gold Dust on canvas.

The virtual exhibition featured 15 artists from the Mint Gold Dust platform exhibiting works from a variety of disciplines including AI, digital painting, and more.

Stay tuned for more event announcements in 2023 from Mint Gold Dust!

Photography: Nathaniel Portillo

Miss our interview with Mint Gold Dust artist Mila Sketch on her transition from murals to NFTs? Check out the conversation here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

4 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 11.18-22

Featured Artworks of the Week – Rakkaus Art

Rakkaus Art is an intuitive multimedia artist interested in creation, connection, compassion and storytelling. Constantly pushing boundaries and experimenting with various techniques and materials, each creation is vibrant and unique. with its own story.

“I create visual stories from the energy and experiences on my life journey; everything starts with a feeling.” – Rakkaus

Upcoming Events with Mint Gold Dust

Mint Gold Dust will be in Miami next week for Art Basel! We will be throwing the opening party and live auction at Fake Basel in Wynwood on Friday, December 2nd from 6-9pm. Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the details. We looking forward to seeing you there!

Interview with Mila Sketch

Mila Sketch is a multimedia visual artist. She is recognized internationally and is known for her detailed and intricate large-scale murals, elaborate and meaningful fine art paintings, and digital art. Today, we’re chatting with her about her artistic process, NFTs, and the influence motherhood has had on her work.

You are well known for your iconic murals. How did you go from painting large-scale murals to creating animated digital artwork?

I started my artistic journey as a pointillist working with the ink on paper formats. I was inspired by M.C. Escher and his visual riddles. My series, Bags, exhibited at Pall Mall Gallery in London, emerged as a result. I continued to work in this style for a long time. Years later, I moved to the United States and became interested in public art. The idea of a street gallery fascinated me as I could reach an unlimited number of people and brighten their daily experiences with my murals.

Innovation and technology always interested me. Animation added a new dimension to my drawings and augmented reality came naturally as I explored adding color to my art and working on canvas and wood panels with industrial acrylics.

What drew you to start creating NFTs earlier this year?

A collector interested in my work at Art Miami in December last year asked if he could get an NFT with his 2D painting purchase. I created one for the Texas Birds artwork.

Your art often references historical figures, myths, and regional traditions. What inspires you about that, and how does it manifest in your work?

I love to move in space and create in different places, so travel for work inspires me to investigate and research. I love to translate the sense of the environment through culture and history in my murals and digital artworks.

Tell us about the two pieces you currently have on Mint Gold Dust.

Sophia the Robot was created during my pregnancy last year. I discovered the female body’s magical ability to bring a new life and the miracle of birth. It was painted on a wood panel with an AR feature, then the NFT was added. The painting was sold right away. It now lives in New Orleans.

I painted the Flourish when we lived on the Oaxaca coast in Mexico during the summer of 2021. I was blown away by the vivid colors and rustic environment around me. I connected technology and nature with the accent on sustainable future development in this painting. I used industrial acrylics on the birch tree panel. Then I digitally drew an NFT of it.

Many of your physical pieces include an AR component. Can you talk about that process and your app?

I developed the MilaSketch app so people could easily enjoy augmented reality for my equipped works. It is essential that not only single collectors can access this feature but also people who walk by my art in public places. Austin Bergstrom Airport has several of my works that demonstrate the AR addition. The app is free and available for download on major platforms.

You recently became a mother. Do you find that has influenced your artworks and what you are drawn to create?

Becoming a mother made me treasure my time. I structure my days differently and feel super-charged to create even more.

What will we see next from you?

I am working on several mural projects. Private fine art commissions and a new line of paintings are coming out in the next six months.

Have you read our Founder Kelly LeValley Hunt’s article on artist and collector royalties? If not, take a look at the article here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

4 months ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 11.9-17

Featured Artworks of The Week

Since beginning his digital art journey in 2001, VanDi has explored various mediums such as photography, film, and, most recently, digital drawing. earlier this year, VanDi began a new series of digital abstract paintings titled “Color Abstractions.” The artworks in this series sit somewhere between Bauhaus-style and Abstract-Expressionist style while leaning into modern color combinations that result in playful harmonious images. Each piece is designed to work both as physical and digital wall art.

Upcoming Events With Mint Gold Dust

You heard it here first — we’re going to Art Basel! From November 29th to December 5th, the Mint Gold Dust team will be in Miami for all things art and NFTs. Follow our Twitter to stay up to date on upcoming event announcements.

Mint Gold Dust Founder and CEO Kelly LeValley Hunt on Artist and Collector Royalties

Smart contracts for Crypto Art and NFTs have a myriad of unique features that separate them from a sale of an artwork in the traditional art world. One of the most hotly debated differences is the ability to distribute payment automatically to the artist and automatically send the art piece directly to the collector on the primary sale. Royalties are then automatically distributed after a sale on the secondary market and any subsequent sales. This is something that the traditional art world has never been able to offer.

Average NFT royalties on the secondary market typically range from 5 to 10%, and can be set at up to 20% on Mint Gold Dust. For most marketplaces, the creator can choose their desired percentage. Payments are distributed automatically via smart contract on the secondary market, and upon each subsequent sale. The challenge is if a collector decides to resell the work on a different platform to which it was minted, the artist’s royalties do not automatically follow. This is an important point for creators and collectors to consider when navigating the secondary market and is an area which innovators have been trying to address. However, the reality is that the complexity of managing cross-platform royalties is cost prohibitive and unaffordable in the long term for many Crypto Art marketplaces, especially in a Bear Market.

Recently the NFT community has been abuzz after a handful of the largest and most widely used commercial platforms announced potential plans to no longer honor established royalties, making them optional rather than respecting the creator’s chosen royalty percentage. As a result, over the past couple of weeks, the term “Zero-Royalties” was born.

Artists across the space voiced their opinions on one platform’s decision in favor of “Zero-Royalties.” The highly anticipated upcoming release, Badam Bomb Squad, posted their position via creator BobbyHundreds’ Twitter, stating:

Similar sentiment was echoed across the space with artists, creators, and platforms voicing their concerns. Artists and creators worried they would lose essential future income if royalties were not honored, inciting a protest that could not be ignored.

The comments on one platform’s Twitter thread echo this and are proof that the community will not easily forget the quick dismissal of one of the fundamental benefits and differentiators of creating art using blockchain technology. This platform has now reconsidered their stance and have decided to go in the opposite direction by enforcing creator royalties on their platform. While this is a win for those fighting for the creator’s financial legacy, an intervention like this still ignores the web3 ethos of decentralization and disrespects the part that the collectors play in the ecosystem. I think of this ecosystem like, ‘Does a flower grow and bloom without water?’

Mint Gold Dust Community Manager @GiraffeCupcakez comments, “Even with taking the time to build a creative solution that on the surface seems like a worthwhile fix, it’s not easy to dismiss the fact that this platform’s stance flipped only after public backlash.”

Enforcing collectors to honor royalties may also have the opposite of the intended effect, and perhaps the community should be spending time on changing the cultural ethos. In other words, rewarding collectors for opting-in to paying artist royalties rather than forcing payment should be encouraged. As an example, collectors who pay royalties could gain access to exclusive pieces not available to “Zero-Royalty Collectors.” Such a change would be a testament to the power of the NFT and Crypto Art community at large and just the beginning of the next “DEgeneration” of the Crypto Art ecosystem at work.

As we now have a new and improved way of transacting with Blockchain and cryptocurrency, we need to start thinking about how we utilize web3 to improve the economic system of every sector, and not just rebuild what we already had with this new decentralized technology. If we continue with old and out-of-date ways of thinking, we only repeat our existence–never evolving, never changing our world for the better.

Mint Gold Dust believes that royalties should be paid to the artist, especially now that there is streamlined technology to auto-distribute these payments on a single platform. However, in the spirit of true decentralization, we also believe that collectors should have the choice to be a “Zero-Royalty Collector”. Therefore we will be looking at options to implement a “Zero-Royalty Collector” search mechanism on the Mint Gold Dust platform for pieces of art that do not have royalties attached to them.

This will be accomplished by creating a collector verification system that categorizes collectors into 2 categories, “Plus +Royalty Collector” and “Zero Royalty Collector.” This membership program will offer incentives to collectors who purchase Plus Royalty Artworks while making room for those who choose to collect only Zero-Royalty Crypto Art.

This new model gives creators the opportunity to monetize their work the way they want on the primary and secondary markets on Mint Gold Dust. This is not technically addressing the broader picture of cross platform (secondary market) sales. At Mint Gold Dust, artists choose their desired royalty percentage for secondary sales on the platform upon minting, giving them control of their selling power. From the beginning, we have offered 10%, 15%, and 20% artist royalty options in our smart contracts, and soon we will be adding 0% royalties as an option. To learn more about our origin story where we discuss our founding royalty percentages, check out a podcast I did in 2021 here.

As the Crypto Art and NFT space navigates the royalty evolution, we will continue to provide a decentralized platform for smooth, on Ethereum blockchain transactions for artists, creators, as well as our Collectors.

Write your memoirs on the “Plus+Royalty” topic in your profile on Mint Gold Dust and share the link with us on Twitter or post in our Discord.

Did you read our latest 79AU article featuring interviews from Arabella, QueenEarth, and Everyday Research? If not, take a look at the article here for an insight into how they utilize NFTs as an extension of their artistic practice.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.