New Show and Art from Collection Artist Hubert de Lartigue

An amazing new show at Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York features a series of beautiful paintings by Hubery de Lartigue including 3 from the Collection which are shown below:

Collection Artist Colleen Asper in New Show at Steven Wolf Fine Arts in San Francisco

Colleen Asper - The Trial

October 4 – November 14, 2007
Reception: Thursday, October 4th, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

In The Trial, Colleen Asper's show in the project room at Steven Wolf Fine Arts, the New York-based painter has produced an existential mystery in which the architecture, ceremony and rituals of a court trial are rendered in soft, otherworldly photorealist tones while the nature of the crime and the circumstances of the trial are conspicuously left out.

In Franz Kafka's iconic novel of the same name, the narrator Josef K can never discover the details to a crime of which he is accused and convicted. In Asper's Trial, it is the viewer who's left in the dark. In a series of carefully wrought watercolors and a single oil, details of a court proceeding mysteriously unfold. Flags are flown. Oaths are taken. Testimony is given. Evidence is discussed. The scenes and the actors are familiar--if not from life then at least from television—but there is something elusive and impenetrable about them. They provoke anxiety, demand interpretation and ultimately come to feel ominous in an era of government wiretapping and secret trials.

The negative space in Asper's narrative alerts the viewer to the trial's inability to sustain its own reality without the consensus of an audience, and thus provokes us to question our faith in the trial process as, at bottom, a simple pursuit of truth and justice. It also invites the viewer to reflect on the role of the artist as witness. Asper's practice is designed not just to question the reality of powerful cultural constructions, but also draw back the curtain on the work of the artificer in granting that reality to it. The sheer fact of its being painted as opposed to its being photographed or filmed, and the deployment of "stars" from well-known past trials works to confuse reportage with entertainment and verisimilitude with invention.

Experiencia and Earthworks Partner with Chicago Science in the City Tour

Sights and Scenes from the Kickoff at Daley Plaza

Nice Note from Alderman Ed Burke about Experiencia

We had a great visit with Alderman Edward Burke at Experiencia and received this nice note from him as a follow-up.

Msgr. Kenneth Velo Visits Experiencia and Flashpoint Academy

Msgr. Velo is Senior Director of Catholic Collaboration at DePaul University & President of Big Shoulders as well as a long-time family friend of Experiencia Director of Development Barbara Pollack.

Sun-Times Article on Entrepreneurs includes HAT

Knowing when to say no

Brad Spirrison TECH MATTERS | Entrepreneurs must balance vision with discipline when seeking new opportunities

October 1, 2007

While true intelligence might be the ability to process competing thoughts simultaneously and still function, the smartest way for entrepreneurs to build multiple businesses is to focus on one company at a time.

"I do things sequentially," said Howard Tullman, a serial entrepreneur and turnaround specialist who currently serves as chief executive of Flashpoint Academy. "Right now I have four or five business plans on my desk that I don't have the bandwidth to look at. I really try not to over commit."

Tullman, 62, has been actively involved in at least a dozen ventures since he founded insurance software company CCC Information Services in 1980.

Flashpoint, which has raised approximately $16 million in funding and opened its Loop doors to digital media students last month, is Tullman's third recent foray within the for-profit education industry. He is also chairman of immersive learning firm Experiencia, which has a management team in addition to $6 million in funding. And five years ago he saved culinary school Kendall College from preparing its own last meal.

Tullman said he benefits from the "repetitive relationships" he develops over time when he stays in the same industry.

He finds one relationship especially helpful.

"It's sort of fun to keep on bumping into the mayor," he said. Tullman previously courted City Hall when he moved Kendall from Evanston to Chicago, and later when building out Experiencia's museum-like facilities at the corner of Halsted and Chicago Avenue. "When I went to see the mayor for Flashpoint, he was already way ahead of the curve."

This Friday, Howard and younger brother Glen Tullman, who runs Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, will keynote the biennial TiECon Midwest event at the Hyatt Regency. More information about the program, which is produced by the Midwest chapter of the Indus Entrepreneur's Global Network, can be found at www.midwest.tie.org.

All or nothing

Most early-stage businesses constantly face multiple challenges with limited resources. While full-time CEOs find it hard enough to manage in this environment, trying to split operational focus among two or more enterprises is virtually impossible.
"You can't be a person leading a startup and committing only 10 or 20 hours per week," said Troy Henikoff, a founder of SurePayroll.com and other businesses. He also teaches entrepreneurship at Northwestern. "It is so hard to start a business as it is, I can't fathom reducing your odds by doing two at once."

Henikoff, who is 43 and founded his first venture in 1986, guides companies from the idea stage to self-sustainability. SurePayroll, founded in 1999, is the largest online payroll-processing firm in the country, and processes $3.5 billion in payrolls annually. Henikoff most recently ran Amacai Information Corporation.

Last month, Henikoff incorporated Free Lunch Inc., a company that builds applications on top of social networking services such as Facebook. Local venture capitalist Mark Achler, an investor in SurePayroll and a serial entrepreneur as well, is also involved in the venture.

Free Lunch is one of a few prospects Henikoff is considering for his next full-time gig.

"I have four or five opportunities bubbling up," he said. "But once I commit to something I'm all in."


Entrepreneurial polygamist

Coudal Partners, a West Loop creative communication agency whose clients include the Chicago Blackhawks and Go Roma Italian Kitchen, is also in the business of creating its own clients.

The seven-person firm operates an online advertising network, a niche media company and two retail businesses that it created from scratch. One of its creations, CD and DVD packaging retailer JewelBoxing, is generating more income than any of the firm's clients.

"We are not serial monogamists where we date one girl after one girl after one girl," founder Jim Coudal said. "We date them all at once."

On Oct. 29, Coudal Partners, in association with 37Signals and Segura Inc., will host the Seed Conference at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The one-day workshop, which will be limited to 135 attendees, will be devoted to the fusion of design, entrepreneurship and inspiration.

"We are paying our mortgages and our kids tuitions while having fun doing creative work," Coudal said. "But when we are able to do that in service of something we own, it is tremendously satisfying and occasionally lucrative."

Knowing when to say no

Entrepreneurs must balance vision with discipline when seeking new opportunities

New Art from Collection Artist Jamie Adams

"Jeannie with a Fur Cup" 2007

Flashpoint Academy Bird's-Eye View of Cubs' Playoff Celebration

The Cobalt Group Honored for 6th Straight Year as One of Seattle's Fastest Growing Companies

The Cobalt Group Continues to Rank Among Technology's Fastest Growing Companies

Cobalt a Deloitte & Touche Washington State Technology Fast 50 Winner for the 6th Time


SEATTLE, Oct 01, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Cobalt Group, Inc. the leading provider of marketing services to the retail automotive industry, announced today that it has been named to Deloitte's prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program for Washington State, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in the region by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, one of the nation's leading professional services organizations.

Cobalt's CEO, John Holt, said, "We are excited to receive this honor for the sixth time. With the help of our dedicated employees and loyal customers, we continue to lead our industry. We are developing a variety of new products and services to support our clients and help them exceed their own growth goals for years to come."
The Cobalt Group's 2002 - 2006 revenue growth of 165% resulted in a 23rd place ranking in the Technology Fast 50 for Washington State.

"To rank on Deloitte's Technology Fast 50, companies must have phenomenal revenue growth over five years. The Cobalt Group has proven to be one of the fast-growth success stories in Washington State and we applaud their dedication to making their vision a reality," says Larry Hile, a Partner in Deloitte's Technology, Media & Telecommunications.

To qualify for the Technology Fast 50, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 2002 and $5,000,000 in 2006, be headquartered in North America, and be a company that owns proprietary technology or proprietary intellectual property that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues; or devotes a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology. Using other companies' technology or intellectual property in a unique way does not qualify.

This year's Washington State Technology Fast 50 program is co-presented by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP and Perkins Coie, Citibank, AH&T Insurance and the Puget Sound Business Journal.

About The Cobalt Group

The Cobalt Group is North America's leading provider of automotive marketing services. For over twelve years, Cobalt's exclusive mission has been to help automobile dealers and manufacturers increase their retailing effectiveness and profits. Cobalt provides marketing services to more than half the automotive dealerships in the United States, Canada and Mexico and is endorsed by more than two-thirds of the world's major automotive manufacturers. Cobalt is endorsed by the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA).

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms and their respective subsidiaries and affiliates. As a Swiss Verein (association), neither Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu nor any of its member firms has any liability for each other's acts or omissions. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent legal entity operating under the names "Deloitte", "Deloitte & Touche", "Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu" or other related names. Services are provided by the member firms or their subsidiaries or affiliates and not by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Verein.

Deloitte & Touche USA LLP is the US member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. In the US, services are provided by the subsidiaries of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP (Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, Deloitte Tax LLP and their subsidiaries), and not by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP.