Reaction to Picasso and 2 more 24 x24 inch works

The think what made the Picasso show at VMFA so interesting and amazing to me was the fact that I had not seem over 90% of the work on display ever before.  It was so neat to see the studies and sketches that led up to his final paintings/sculptures. I just wish they had been displayed together as opposed to having  a lot of the sketches and studies in the crowded hallway.  The works that appealed to me the most were the 3-d collage type pieces with the mixed media/found objects.  I liked the dimension of them, but at the same time they gave off similar feeling as the 2-d works.  They were different media, but clearly his work and style. 

I just finished my last 2- 24x24in pieces with my circles, making a total of 4-14 x14in and 4-24x24in. A few of them still need some fixes and reworking, but what I have been inspired to do next as I move up to my next size (36x36) is incorporate layers of 3-d media and found objects...maybe even some wax layers too.  I will start with just wood and then expand from there.  I want it to be obvious that the new 3-d piece fit within the series, yet give them their own multidimensional qualities. We'll see how it goes.

The attached image is 2 different 24 x 24in pieces.  Enjoy.

~Linda

new RAINE BEDSOLE exhibition @ Gallery Bienvenu in NOLA

As a number of you expressed interest in Raine Bedsole's work I thought you might be interested in her new show. There is a link to the catalogue embedded below - if it doesn't work please try this one.

Norma's opinion

I counted twelve different mediums in this exhibit. How lucky are we to have to opportunity to see this group of work in the midst of our class!? I'm more motivated to mix it up. Use what's not supposed to go together.  Which brings me to the question. There was talk about mixing oil and acrylic. Was it, "don't use oil after acrylic" or the other way around? Why? Makes me want to do it!

 

I enjoyed seeing the Portrait of Dora Moar. I have used this in my art class to teach my students about Picasso, portraits, oil pastels, and point of view. To be up close to this painting was exciting to me. I probably irritated some people because I needed to get my nose up close to this painting!

 

Aside from this painting, I also loved seeing the sketches and studies that have been preserved and displayed.

 

 

Sarah's Impressions of the Picasso Exhibit

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed over how crowded the exhibit was. I found it especially difficult to enjoyed the long hallway that contained the sketches and etchings, as the guard kept saying "Feel free to move along." I think I will go back over Spring break during the week.

That being said, it was marvelous to see the crafstmanship of the pieces, as you just cannot get that in a photograph. There was one piece that I found especially interesting: Large still life with a  pedestal table. The thing that I found with the real work that is missed in photographs is that Picasso had incised lines into the paint, revealing under painting.  This made me think about my quest for transparency in my work, and my desire to partially conceal and reveal in my work. Something to think about.

For some reason, I have been unable to paste onto this message. Ahh, the joys of technology. I will keep working on that.


Sarah

Proposal inspired by Picasso-Bob

The painting "Pipe, Glass and Playing Card" in the Picasso exhibit immediately spoke to me.  It is a small rather unassuming piece that had two outer concentric bands of white framing a color still life.  It made me think of art work employing concentric squares as compositional elements by Rothko and especially Albers in his "Homage to the Square".     The use of the two banded areas of white/neural color framing the image suggested itself as a compositional approach to my current work in both the dragonfly and figurative subject series.      My first piece starts with Chinese newspaper covering a 16"x20" canvas.  I envision the two outer neutral bands as layers of translucent gray and white that allows some of the paper to show through as texture.   Instead of a still-life image, I will probably use a color transfer of a dragonfly for the first piece.   I'd like to further explore the concept with a figurative subject; perhaps using a group of figures and on a larger scale.

Bob's New Work

This new work is not available for display at tomorrow's critique.

Linda Keefer -- Images of Work for VMFA trip

The 3 images on the left are 14in x 14in on wood chip board.  The two on the right are 24in x 24in on plywood.  Each work was completed using a layering process of acrylic paint, acrylic gel medium, paper (rubbed off which left fragments for texture and some disrupted coloration), acrylic glaze, lots of sanding of layers, and even more acrylic.

Sarah's work for Saturday's critique

I cannot seem to add pics to the blog due to size, and I hate the small resolution, so here is a link to youtube, I have added a new movie with my pics-http://www.youtube.com/user/srameyart#p/a/u/0/ehhNCLDrc00


Sarah

Norma

enclosed are the paintings I'm going to bring to Richmond on Saturday.

VMFA Field Trip Resouce Links / Itinerary

9:45 meet at Main Entrance of VMFA
Directions and Parking: http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Visit/Directions_+_Parking.aspx
(street parking in the neighnorhood is also ok)

10:00 tickets/admissions/coffee at The BEST CAFE in the VMFA
http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Visit/Hours_+_Admission.aspx

10:30-12:30 PICASSO
http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Picasso/

12:30-1:30 LUNCH BEST CAFE / CHOICE / Retrieve artwork from cars
http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/BestCafe/

1:30 - 2:40: GROUP CRIT/ Multi-Purpose room of the Pauley Center (the VMFA education center located across the sculpture garden from the VMFA / next to Parking Deck)
http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Calendar_and_Events/Tours/Pauley_Center__Then_and_Now_Tour.aspx

2:45 - 5:00 open time for art programming of your choice - info links below to help:

*VMFA collection and other special exhibitions:
http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Exhibitions/Dynasty-and-Divinity-Ife-Art-in-Ancient-Nigeria/

*Richmond gallery listings (all within walking distance of each other)
Main Street Galleries:
Reynolds Gallery: http://www.reynoldsgallery.com/
Main Art Gallery: (above a fabulous art supply store) http://www.mainartsupply.com/currenta.html
Red Door Gallery: http://web.mac.com/reddoorgalleryva/RED_DOOR_GALLERY/HOME.html
Page Bond Gallery:http://www.pagebondgallery.com/
The Visual Arts Center of Richmond:http://visarts.org/exhibitions

Broad Street Galleries (all within walking distance from each other but downtown)
1708 Gallery: http://www.1708gallery.org/
Quirk Gallery: http://www.quirkgallery.com/homepage.php
ADA Gallery: http://www.adagallery.com/
Ghost Print Gallery: http://ghostprintgallery.com/current-show/
Art6: http://art6.org/
Gallery 5: http://www.gallery5arts.org/Home/Home.html

Manchester Galleries: (just over the James River from Shockoe Bottom)
Artspace: http://www.artspacegallery.org/
Heather Russell Projects: http://www.russellprojects.com/about.htm
Plant Zero: http://www.venturerichmond.com/downtown/projects-manarts.html

*Carytown Culture (within walking distance of the VMFA)
French Film Festival at the Byrd Theatre
http://www.frenchfilmfestival.us/

Retta - 4 pieces for Saturday critique

The collage faces are 16x20 using painted paper and a variety of other papers.  The standing image of Liberty is 24x36, done on a political poster using paper, paint, and other found objects. The faces I had intended to build them up with more materials and tear away, but I liked the strength of the color and shapes so left them as they were. I might continue with a 30x40 painting of a face or make a collagraph with cardboard and print it or do rubbings from it (or both).  My forward motion is in flux.

 

Retta

Betsy new work

These paintings , 24x24 on canvas, continuing my series of pond subjects were influenced by the Earthquake, Tsunami in Japan.  We have family living there, thankfully they are safe. But an event like this connects us to the family of mankind, and I felt compelled to express  that in my work.  Each day  I collected the  devastating newspaper images  incorporating them into my work along with bits of  catalogs, papers and mementoes  from  various trips to Japan.  These paintings are titled "Tears of the Buddha, Gardens of Sendai."

VMFA itinerary

Everyone -
I just heard a prediction for snow in northern Fredericksburg for Saturday, March 26. It is spring! Lets hope the prediction is wrong.

In the meantime please plan accordingly:

The VMFA opens at 10am.
Meet at the Main Entrance at 9:45am. Bring photo id. If you are a current member you can park for free in the VMFA parking lot.

Everyone who is NOT a member should be sure to have their VCU email address if you would like to purchase student membership for $10. You also have the option of purchasing a teacher's membership for $40. which comes with additional resources. Visit the VMFA website for more info.

10:00am Purchase tickets, You may purchase coffee in the Best Cafe
10:30 - 12:20: see PICASSO
1:30 - 2:40: critique in the Multi-Purpose room of the Pauley Center (the VMFA education center located across the sculpture garden from the VMFA)
2:45 - 5:00 open time for the VMFA collection, Richmond gallery listings I'll provide, French Film Festival at the Byrd Theatre, etc.

Stay tuned for maps, links, and changes in the schedule due to the weather.

It is ESSENTIAL that you respond to the email I mailed earlier today to confirm your participation, who you will be riding in with and that you will bring something for the critique!

Please post the work you plan to bring on your class blog in advance. Visiting each other's blogs will inform everyone as to the direction of the work - as we won't have hours and hours to tell the story of how your arrived at the work you decide to bring.

blog addresses:
http://watermediatoday.blogspot.com/
http://mixedmediastudiopractice.blogspot.com/

The email I sent also includes my cell phone number in case there is an emergency!
Please phone me if you are late or have URGENT issues.
After 9pm or on the weekends
Amie

Bob's New Work:

Here is one of the new pieces.  It is 24"x20"

Richard's work : Here's what I'm working on at the moment.

Richard has sent you a link to a blog:

Here is my new post. See you on Sat.

Blog: Richard's work
Post: Here's what I'm working on at the moment.
Link: http://richardswork.blogspot.com/2011/03/heres-what-im-working-on-at-moment.html

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Bob's Proposal

I propose to continue exploring some of the mixed media combinations that I explored with my dragonflies series only this time with the human figure.   The first set will be an initial series of five canvases ranging in size from 12”x16” to 20”x24” and in black & white.   The subject will be a female model I photographed a couple of years ago and the artworks will include multiple images of her layered on the same canvas.     Additionally I would like to resolve four pieces on canvas I started last year.  Now that I have explored mixed media in our experimental assignment I feel that these pieces can be completed and look forward to their resolution.    Time permitting I would also like to expand on a couple of the experimental dragonfly pieces in a larger format. 

Creative Brain Lynne

I was finally able to watch the Creative Brain video with Charlie Rose.  I was most interested in the way that Chuck Close and Richard Serra work by creating problems and then using techniques to solve those problems.  I think that I work in a similar way.  Of course, I would not presume to compare my work to theirs .  But I think as artists we want to convey an idea and we think it will look a certain way and then during the process of actually doing the work, the work can change from the original idea.   In my experience, I needed to train my brain to think in a different way.  I always had something inside me that wanted to convey something in an artistic way, but I didn't come to creating art until well into my 30's.  I went to a very strict Catholic school and I believe that that early training stifled me in ways that I am still trying to uncover.  It was inspiring to hear the insights of these artists and try to relate it to my process of "creating".  When Serra spoke to internal motivation, I knew that I had always had that in me but needed to have an outlet to express it somehow.  I also think that being with fellow artists and working together is so beneficial to us because we need that dialogue to move on from one way of doing things to another.   It is also the viewer's  reaction that is important to our art.  I'm sure we have all experienced the thrill of being in a museum and seeing art that moves us in a way that is almost a religious experience.  The interesting thing is that we all experience different kinds of art in different ways.  What moves me might not move you in the same way.  So I guess we keep on working because we have to.           Lynne

the brain interviews, Charlie Rose....

Among all the interesting ideas raised, there were several that I found either great-funny, great truths, and/or great insights. "I don't know what I think until I read what I wrote." Wonderful!! I think a lot of art is like that.

The fact that everyone agreed that "imitation" or the development of skills was an essential underpinning of "the new" in order for it to be "the great" was a really important  point in the recognition of competence as a basis for whatever was called "creativity" by outsiders.

I loved the idea that the artist only went halfway in creating something "new". The viewer had to bring it home, so to speak, in reaction to the creation.

Richard Serra said he was really interested in materials. He talked about the changing nature of space, which is abstract, but then defined it in terms of materials, in the creation of it's nature. I liked the way he talked about his process.

And who ever knew that Melville was in love with Hawthorne? Wow. Interesting little tidbits floating around all the important stuff. Fun, nevertheless. Although I doubt poor Melville thought it was fun.

I also really related to the idea that both artists talked about backing themselves into a corner, which they then had to figure out a way to get out of. That's a kind of problem solving, but it seems to me that it also incorporates another thing that was said at a different time. I think it was Close who said that he didn't so much solve problems as he tried to figure out WHAT problem( s ) to solve. He also talked about restrictions freeing him to solve those problems more easily.

All of these insights I thought were really interesting, and seemed to be totally without guile or pretentiousness, which was really refreshing.

The idea that has caused me the most speculation, though, is that both men were very sensitive to the idea that they didn't want to do anything that had been done before. While they didn't create a causal relationship between the processes they described and that basic tenet, I think that their success in truly breaking new ground in the creation of their art is why they stand above many fine artists who work to create "the new", while actually creating variations on the old. These guys really did it.

Maybe they were in the right place at the right time. Maybe they created the right place. None of that was raised as a major question, because of course it is another issue entirely, having more to do with a collective reality of their audience than with the creativity of their individual reality. I think that would be a good topic of discussion.

I love Charlie Rose.

Christine

 

Two more of Linda's

These two are both 14 x 14 inches, layered acrylic/sanding removal of acrylic on wood pressboard.

Fwd: [A Mixed Media Studio Practice] Fwd: Nita. Wings

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Blogger" <no-reply@blogger.com>
To: adamsjc7@comcast.net
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2011 11:19:58 PM
Subject: [A Mixed Media Studio Practice] Fwd: Nita. Wings

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: adamsdr@comcast.net
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Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2011 11:17:41 PM
Subject: Fwd: Nita. Wings

, 2011 9:59:32 PM

Subject: Nita. Wings

Play slideshow Save all photos Want to save all these photos at once? Learn how

Online pictures are available for 30 days

 

 

Sketch & wash. Portfolio Aqua Sketch

Pen and ink with Bic grip roller pen

Line with Prismacolor marker

Acrylic/plastic glue, rub n' buff

Watercolor, salt, ink

oil pastels

conte chalk

collage

Acrylic and gold. In Progress

Contact print and foam core

Modeling paste & oil sticks

Modelling paste & acrylic. In Progress

Oil sticks

acrylic

Collage. In Progress

Rub n Buff/ paint

Texture magic/ oil

plaster/acrylic/ink/canvas/foamcore

Get Windows Live Mail to create your own photo e-mails

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Posted By Blogger to A Mixed Media Studio Practice at 3/05/2011 08:19:00 PM

Nita

I am in Texas on family business and have been sending things
but they seem to go no where!!  Betsy sent a slightly different
address so if yiu get this I will send images tomorrow.  Nita

Linda's Response to Creativity and the Brain

Greetings all,

I really enjoyed the video and discussion because Serra and Close are two of my favorite artists. There were two topics discussed that I was particularly interested in.  

First off, I agree completely about the value of interacting with other artists/people.  One of my favorite things about teaching art in the setting that I do, despite class size, is that we have art 1 and advanced students in the room at the same time.  It drives the younger students to work harder and the advanced students to do the same because they want to be "better" than the young ones.  Likewise, seeing and discussing the work of other adults, makes me work harder. Like Sarah, I do like working in my own space, but I enjoy having the opportunity to interact with others, see their work, and experience and learn new processes. I find the idea exchange very valuable. 

Secondly, I like Chuck Close's comment about the untrue notions of inspiration and beliefs that each work of art is an unexpected discovery. And the idea that "inspiration is for amateurs and the rest just get to work." When I was younger and now with my students, I see them waiting for that "light bulb" moment when things suddenly make sense and an idea drops in their lap. Now, I find that I am more interested in naming "problems" and finding solutions.  I am "inspired" by the things I see and hear and then figuring out the "how."  How they were made and how I can recreate the visual effects differently.  The art tends to create itself while I work through my discovery process.  Sometimes, actually most times, I enjoy the process and my interaction with the work more than the final product.

~Linda 

creativity and the brain from Norma

Wow. Every time I learn more about Chuck Close, I am amazed by him! The obsticals he has overcome are incredible. I know that this video was not about him and his disabilities but I really think it is important to teach our students about him! How many of us know a student that continuously fails in school. The one who is in trouble, who can't read or do math. This same child amazes us with his creativity and ability in our art class!

 

I do believe that creativity takes hard work and dedication. The creative soul also needs others to grow. As teachers, we should take what we learn from this video and these gentlemen (and the lady) and use it in the classroom to encourage our students to take pride in their strengths. Norma

 

Sarah's Comments on the creativity video

I thought that the video Creativity and the Brain was incredible (once I figured out that I had to just click on Richard Serra's face to make it play)!  The point that I found most interesting was when (I think it was Chuck Close) was talking about his relationship with Serra and others while in college at Yale. He said that what was important was the togetherness, rivalry and talking about art.  It really made me think about the set up of this class, where we interact on the blog rather than in class. I will be honest, I love not schlepping to class every week, as I have always been so much more productive at home than in the classroom. Watching the videos on artists has been incredibly productive, I wish I did it more…I think I need to commit to blogging more. I have had an interesting break through in my thoughts about my process, so I will make a post with some photos in a day or so.

Sarah

Betsy's triptych

 

Betsy's Proposal

I am planning a series based on a lively, whimsical exploration of  a pond with all of it's seen and unseen inhabitants, flora and fauna. .   The first three paintings are a triptych painted  with acrylic paint on wallboard; incorporating collage, photo transfer and oil pastel, each 24x24.   I'm forwarding a photo of the first painting and hopefully the triptych as well.  I plan to continue the series with at least 9 or 12 paintings in this same size.  The next three paintings will be on board and the 3 after that will be on stretched canvas.  I will assess at that time whether I want to paint a 48x48.  

Richard's work : more

Richard has sent you a link to a blog:

Check out my progress

Blog: Richard's work
Post: more
Link: http://richardswork.blogspot.com/2011/03/more.html

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Retta - proposal of creative goals and initial image

This is a collage in its initial stage.  I plan to do a triptych in red, silver, and blue with Lady Liberty images in a monochromatic pallete, 16 x 20 inches.

 

At this stage, I am getting the form arranged and will confront the surface as I proceed.

proposal from Norma

Hi Amie, I'm trying again. You might have guessed, I'm technologically challenged! I've attached it and pasted it. Hope this works.

Norma

 

Artist's proposal 

My plan for this class is pure creativity! After doing the preliminary 24 exercises, I found the process quite enjoyable and employed multiple works at one time. I want to do more of this in a larger scale.

I will start with 24 x30. It's a size I have worked with before. I will not draw or plan these paintings in any way. During the previous 24 experiments I tested various mediums to find what I could use that would remain flexible. I will start with color, mostly reds and pinks. Then I will allow these paintings to take me where they lead. I want to concentrate on building my surface with different mediums. I intend to do all of these on canvas. I will use acrylic paints, modeling paint, paint sticks and collage materials of various types. I intend to do four in the 24x 30" and four 36 x 48".

Norma's proposal

attached you will find my proposal for class

Sarah's latest

This is what I completed last night. I used one of the transfers that I showed in class (you can still see a bit of the map showing), painted several layers of acrylic ink (I like the transparency) drew with charcoal, then lightly tinted the fruit with the acrylic ink.

Sarah