I have been interested in fantasy architectural drawing for quite a long time, and have been greatly inspired by work I have seen in that genre by friends and others.  It has been my intention for many years now to form or join some sort of group to share, exhibit, and promote these exciting artworks by so many talented artists.  I foresee a group of people producing wonderful art, inspired by what others have done, and in turn inspiring still more great works by their colleagues.  But many people doing works in architectural visionary art are full-time renderers, and have little time for going to meet people, even if it is to discuss something they love.  While I would still like to organize this group of artists to meet on a regular schedule (anything from monthly to quarterly, or longer), that organizational task remains undone.  

So how else to keep up the momentum?  The natural answer, at least for now, is a website.  The web offers the advantages of low cost publishing and distribution, and best of all, interested viewers can find you on their own, thereby reaching people you never would have guessed would be interested in your art.  Using targeted mailing lists for a publication is a form of preaching to the choir.  A website is relatively easy to put together and is available around the clock equally to anyone on earth with a computer and net access.  
  
  
That website is:  www.architecturalvisions.com 

First and foremost, architecturalvisions.com is meant to be a venue for bringing architectural visionary artwork and organic architectural design by a range of artist to a world-wide audience.  I hope it will serve as a catalyst to organizing a more closely tied group of artists and encourage the production of new pieces by providing a public outlet and peer support.  Other possible by-products of a successful site could be making gallery exhibits/sales a lot more likely, playing a role in education (by showing those architecture students that it does not have to be done just one way), attract artists that none of us knew about, and publishing poster/limited edition art prints for sales via mail or the web.  See the accompanying letter about the "e-commerce" part of my idea.  

At the moment, the site is up and functional, but has yet to be fully developed.  If you have any ideas to contribute about the site I would love to hear them. It also needs more art.  Is there anything you want to show? 
  
  
Specifics: 
  
Architecturalvisions.com will, at no cost to you, exhibit selected artwork, as space provides.  The work will be labeled with the  piece's title, any size/media/date information provided, artist's name, artist's location (ex: Brooklyn, NY, USA), a brief description of the work as written by the submitting artist.  A link can be provided to another website of the artist's and an email link.  Or just your name...whatever you are comfortable with.  Copyright will remain with the artist and will be listed on the site.  

One thing to remember is that a website is open to the public, and it is very easy to copy a picture off of the net.  However, the images are not of a high enough resolution to be useful elsewhere, and will have your copyright notice attached.  If there is something sensitive, don't put it into public circulation, be it a website, book or magazine.  Just a fair warning. 

  
Why now? vs. What are we waiting for? 
  
Architectural fantasy and organic architecture are things that I believe have yet to gain their proper place in the general public's attention, and thus are largely unknown to most people.  I feel that is changing.  It is my belief that these art forms will enjoy a much greater prominence in the near future.  

Firstly, there is that whole millennium thing.  People are going to expect everything to look and feel different in a new millennium, in much the same way we thought we would be somehow transformed on each birthday as children.  Because they are art forms that remain largely unexplored, they will look new, fresh and interesting to people.  Secondly, there is word of several museum exhibits on the horizon that are bound to raise awareness.  Additionally, advances in computer software has allowed industrial designers the freedom to model more organic forms, and these are showing up in things like cars and household appliances, increasing the average persons exposure to, and acceptance of, these forms.  Finally, there is my father Ernest Burden's recently published book "Visionary Architecture", McGraw Hill, a history of the organic and visionary movement in architectural art, featuring the work of a lot of people I hope will want to join the virtual exhibits of the new site.  

At this early stage I cannot predict how everything will come together, but I am very excited about the possibilities.  Please visit architecturalvisions.com and think about what we could do with it.  Then get out those sketchbooks!  

  
Ernest Burden III  
  www.architecturalvisions.com  
  www.oreally.com  
  www.nysr.com