Sorry, folks, if you are not familiar with our TAG environment, you might be scratching your head about this week's selection. Mr. Martin is our computer science teacher who likes to hassel me about art. The truth of the matter is that he has been in the closet about his true feelings about art. Look what the closet had hidden - a NEW (from Berkeley) tie-dye T-shirt that extends beyond the psychedelic into universal quantum vibrations! Woah, Mr. Martin - be still my beating heart - obviously color spins YOUR world just like MINE!
Toast. An interesting medium for the artwork of Lennie Payne from the UK. He's been working in this medium since 1996. How does he do it? He explains on this website that he has to flatten and dry out the bread first. Then he works with different tools like gas burners, knives, sandpaper, drills and paint. He seals it to preserve the work and keep it from being eaten by little critters (que horrible to invest in biodegradable art and have it nibbled away!). I do want to comment on the use of units that are assembled to make an overall art piece - I am personally attracted to this artistic device. What was the quantum leap that led Lennie to his artistic vision? First, you burn some toast. Thanks, Mr. Martin!
Technology is one of my favorite things! For those of us who were born mid-20th century, we remember time without technology. I know I'm dating myself here, but I still marvel at the tools that we have at our finger tips that open the world of knowledge to us. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has the most incredible Timeline of Art History that is completely interactive, in depth and incredible. I encourage ALL of you to check out this site - go dipping around in time and check out the art! I bet you can't check just one!
I am constantly amazed to see where the artistic vision takes people. Willard Wigen creates his artworks in the eyes of needles and the heads of pins. The viewers must look at this artwork through microscopes when it is on display! You must visit his website to see more about him and his artwork. When creating his art, he uses biofeedback to slow his body systems down in order to work in between heartbeats and breaths for the ultimate physical steadiness! Wow! Willard is a perfect testimony on the human drive to seek out new, seemingly impossible challenges. Things are only impossible if we think they are!
I love the work of Keith Haring. My Art I students get twisted up if they can't make "real art" (you know - something they can tell what it is). We have been working hard at that, looking at abstract expressionists, color field artists, etc. I haven't shown them Keith Haring, but I need to. His art is so approachable, so grounded and so universal that people can relate to the emotions and ideas he communicates through his art. His life was short, 1958-1990, but his work powerful! Check out his kid's site - it makes you want to be a kid again ---- and do some art!!!
As a high school art teacher, I have had the distinct pleasure of having lunch pizza parties in my classroom for the last two days with anywhere from 40-100 kids diving for pizza slices like it was the last food on the planet. Admittedly, they were hungry. However, I have come to the conclusion that an adult MIGHT be able to get ALMOST anything they want from a teenager
I have loved this image ever since I was a child. Long ago, there was a wonderful publication called "Horizon" that my parents subscribed to. Days when I was home ill, I thumbed through these books, looking at the spectacular artworks, reading the articles about literature and listening to classical music. As I begin to find out more about Klee, I see that he valued the "primitive" and especially the art of children because of the directness and innocence of their artistic approach. A man after my own heart, he drew from botany, astronomy, physics and psychology. His work spanned the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, yet his work still looks fresh and contemporary. If you are not familiar with his work, check him out!
Click on the headline and check out this site that has interactive color illusions. We don't really think about the relationships of one color to another and how they impact each other. They have tremendous influence on each other. The eye is easily fooled! See for yourself!
A few years ago I was visiting a museum with my aunt and stumbled onto the work of William Morris. There was a stunning exhibition of his work that deeply affected me. This was long before I became a teacher of Art History. But even then, his use of glass and bronze to reinterpret ancient artifacts pushed a primordial button in me that left me breathless. Morris worked in Dale Chihuly's glass studio exploring that medium. Chihuly's work is certainly fantastic - splashy, grand in scale and compelling. But Morris's use of archeology and pagan cultures as subject matter connects our modern viewpoint to ancient times in a visceral way that spans the ages.
I'm in Houston this week attending an AP Studio Art Summer Institute at Rice University. I really started getting excited about my trip on the drive to Houston when I saw billboards advertising this exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Body Worlds has been traveling around for awhile, but this is my first opportunity to view it. Dr. Gunther von Hagens developed a process called Plastination which preserves the human body from decay. Donors have willed their bodies to go through this process which create the exhibit. What a revolutionary process!! During the Renaissance, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci were obtaining cadavers for the purpose of studying the anatomical structure of the human and the beginning of serious science illustration began which greatly furthered developments in medicine. The human body continues to offer the greatest challenges for artists - understanding the structure of our bodies is the first step in successfully capturing their magic in art. The exhibit runs through September 4, 2006 at the Houston museum. Worth a trip to Houston!!
An interesting discussion was had at a recent dinner party about the meaning of modern and contemporary art. As a new art history educator, I felt compelled to defend modern art (which I like!) to one fellow who thought it was nonsense. I encourage my students to have an attitude of personal acceptance or rejection to any art object, with the caviat that the viewer needs to be able to articulate WHY they like or dislike a piece. This site, The Art Renewal Center, is an interesting one! They reject the modernist aesthetic and claim that the only path to meaningful art it through the masters (many of whom they claim have been left out of the "canon"), through realism, universal themes and skill. I have purposely linked to their mission statement (which is always a good place to start). This site has a ton 'o stuff to peruse. I see some interesting discussions in my future!
The exhibit at the Phillips Collection in Washington shows artists such as Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso and Winslow Homer feature the work they did as children. See the story link above to NPR's coverage of the exhibit. 
The artist of the week is Chuck Close. He is a painter and also a printmaker building his complex images with layers and layers of colors. When I was poking around the internet, I found out that I had missed an exhibit of his work at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth by two days!!! I'm still not over this!!! Just goes to show that I need to stay up on my museum calendars so I don't miss out again! Oh, the pain of it all...... Anyway, printmaking is on the board for the beginning of the year in my Art I classes, so I'm interested in artists who use this technique for their work. If you have the time and inclination, check out the link below for a 30 minute video of Chuck Close with a gallery owner. Great interview and insight into the artist's work.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5095353369406214540&pr=goog-sl
A friend asked me about the calendar reproductions I have of Gustave Baumann in my bathroom, causing me to research him for this week's feature artist. I admire his work tremendously - woodblock prints that have great depth and texture, works that vividly show the colors and the air of the American Southwest (one of my favorite places), and an incredible sense of design in his compositions while reflecting the natural world around us. Analyzing one piece of his could keep you busy all day! The fact that he builds his images layer by layer gives me great appreciation for his skill and patience as an artist. If you happen to be traveling to Santa Fe this next year, check out the exhibit of Baumann which runs to Sept. 9, 2007! Here's a link to the info: http://www.mfasantafe.org/display.php?menu=view_exhib&ex_id=40
This site is so valuable! Robert Genn lovingly sends out his missives about so many aspects of art: the
Coffee, the elixer of our day, vital to productivity, but so much more than that! An opportunity for contemplation, play, fellowship, and Art!
Joe Bob says, "Check it out!"
