Women in Art - Video

Check out this video (link in the post headline) that shows 500 years of women portrayed in art. Incredible.

Op Art

Victor Vasarely (1908-1997)Vega-Nor, 1969
Check out the display in the hall at school to see more of his work.)

6 days until the election - boy, the tension is super high - fundamental shifts in reality - seemingly polar energies in the country - 'you're either fer 'em 'r against 'em - crazy, wild energy.

I was thinking about the blog, trying to go to sleep, but I was just too wound up from a heated political conversation with a relative. There were also media loops and sound bytes circling in my head. Then it came to me: op art. That was totally it - two opposing forces in perfect harmony with each other. Typically, it's the high contrast and energy vortex of the lines that overtakes the frontal cortex. Rods and cones in a frenzy. The site linked in this post headline takes you to a FABULOUS, small website about Op Art.

Artist of the Week - Justine Smith

Money, money, money! That is one of the major topics in the news right now - AND, we get minute by minute updates - what's up, down, gone, promised, lost, hoarded, slashed or stashed. It got me thinking about artists that might work with money, so I googled and found Justine Smith, a British artist whose medium is primarily paper and can be more specifically money. Here's what her website has to say about this piece I'm featuring, "Money Map of the World" 2004/05.

"Her work is an exploration of our relationship with money and our response to it, in a political, moral and social sense, whilst also exploiting the physical beauty of the note. A Banknote is not only an abstract representation of our labour, but the imagery depicted on it also symbolises the ideas and ideals of a given country's culture and the society that its people live in.

The 'Money Map of the World' compounds many of Smith's ideas relating to money. This piece of work took seven months to produce and is made up of banknotes from every country in the world. The images and cultural symbols on the banknotes are significant and can give an indication not only of the economy of a given country, but also important aspects of its culture. Aside from more obvious images of the local flora and fauna, one can also see elements of a country's history, religion, its aspirations and defining achievements. In some areas such as the Middle East, spiritual and cultural alliances can be seen as groups of countries appear to merge due to the similarity of Islamic design on the banknotes. One can also see economic alliances such as the Eurozone, or West and Central African states, which share common currencies between a group of nations. Similarly, one can also see traces of old empires - some countries borders are naturally formed by rivers or mountains, but other countries borders are man-made and to an extent divided by money."

Have you ever thought about the artistic design that goes into money? The images that are promoted, the ideas, the POWER symbols. When do we stop "seeing" money - what does it represent to you? What do you think about the cutting up of money to create an art piece? We "buy" materials to make art; is it the same when we "buy" money as an art material? Look at the areas certain bills covers - does that indicate the power of the country? What makes some countries money stronger than others? Interesting stuff...

Student Work - AP 2D Studio Art

There is a wonderful little book I bought years ago entitled "Inspirations for Embroidery Mail - Book of Days" by Jytte Harboesgaard and Debra Virgens. The two women began embroidering equilateral triangles and sent them to each other as a form of communication. After many years, they had 48 embroideries that were collected into an exhibit at The Danish Museum of Decorative Art in Copenhagen. A small sampling of their efforts is displayed as a triangle montage.

I gave my AP Studio art students an assignment based on this idea...take a geometric shape and explore pattern, design and color in your own piece. I feature K.C.'s terrific solution, sans color, but with such strong design and precision of line the color is not needed. Her exploration is innovative and exciting! Bravo K.C.!!

Art Block

What happens when you have an idea in your head but are having trouble getting it down on paper?

Thanks for asking this question, Alex J! Blocks can be annoying and frustrating! My advice is really pretty simple....draw, draw, draw. Transferring an idea you have in your mind's eye to paper can sometimes be difficult. I suggest you just sketch small parts of your idea and keep after it. Try to grab on to some part of your vision. Are there some special colors (do a quick color study), are there some dominant shapes (block out the shapes to see how you can organize the composition), what art material do you want to use (PLAY with that material by exploring what kinds of lines and value you can get)...these smaller steps can get the juices going and can help get into your idea.

Art class and Assigned Projects

Hello Ms. K's Chester Academy Grade 8 art class! Glad to see you are continuing to visit my blog! LS commented on the Art & Stress post, and I feel like I HAVE to respond directly to them, Ms. K's class and my own art students! LS's comment was about the lack of stress when he/she worked in the privacy of their own place versus working on assignments in the art classroom they might not choose for themselves and how those were stressful.

Well, this comment is just tooooo juicy and I feel I MUST respond to this issue! It is a common remark made by art students everywhere! LS - I do know how you feel! Remember, your teachers have been to some formal art training too, and we remember working on projects that we didn't pick AND possibly were resistant to! I suppose life would be so much nicer if we could just do what we wanted all of the time. BUT, I am asking ALL art students everywhere to open your minds to what I have to say about this!

One way to think of our brain is to liken it to a muscle. And just like muscles, they adjust to certain jobs that they do day in and day out without exerting any additional effort. What's really interesting about the brain is how it is organized into two hemispheres with very different jobs - sequential, rational activities (the left brain) vs. creative, intuitive activities (the right brain). This site about "Art and the brain in the learning process"says that, "By using more the left hemisphere, considered as rational, we do leave out the possibility of taking advantage of the benefits brought by the right hemisphere, such as creative imagination, serenity, global view, capacity of synthesis and ease of memorization, among others." It is very important that we stretch and challenge the right side of the brain in order to have an all over better functioning brain. Listen to what else they say: "When we lead all our life exercising almost exclusively the functions of the left hemisphere, or the right side, then degenerative brain diseases, so feared such as Alzheimer Disease, for instance, appear. We need therefore, to stimulate the diverse areas of our brain, helping the neurons to establish new connection, diversifying our fields of interest, searching to know ourselves better to act with more accuracy and precision."

Exercising is the key word here! We need to engage the brain in new and different activities in order to keep it healthy and ready for new challenges that might pop up. And that ALSO means using our left brain for those logical, sequential endeavors like math and computer science. A fully exercised brain is a strong, healthy, happy brain!

Back to the art classroom....your teacher (no matter who it is) is giving you a variety of assignments to explore different techniques, materials and ideas. Left to your own natural preferences, you might not discover something new and wonderful! See what a professional artist has to say about "Building the Creative Muscle". I especially like what he has to say about this process: "Studio tricks, attitudes and physical exercises jiggle the liquid brain into building the creative muscle." It gets down to venturing into new territories that might be out of your comfort zone (thereby creating "stress"). But you know what that old saying is - "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". Perhaps art students around the world can think of those assignments as adventures and possibilities. Only YOU know what you are going to find by exploring!

Keep up the great work art students! (P.S. - this is my drawing of the muscles of the head I "had" to do in figure drawing class. Thank goodness I got the opportunity to try this! The abilities I "didn't know" I had helped to increase my excitement about art!

Art and Stress

I love teaching art, but there can be a conflict in that there is no time for ME to make art! Ay carumba!! Now, if you love making art, you know that NOT making art can be super stressful. There's a need to release those creative ideas, but more importantly, during the art making process, your brain switches into a neutral zone and stress seems to vanish.

I teach in the Dallas Independent School District, and the last month has been very stressful. Our district was over budget last year and this millions and millions of dollars. The solution reached was to lay off hundreds of people in the school district - administration, teachers, counselors - the fickle finger of fate reaches into unexpected corners. We lost our new counselor this week, Mr. Villa, and though he was with us a short time, we are sorry he fell victim to the RIF.

With everything going on in the national financial scene, my own general anxiety level has been high AND I have felt like I've been living in parallel universes between national and local school district emergencies. Time to make some art. I decided to make the project that my AP Studio classes are doing - a design project using geometric shape to explore pattern and design. Oh, joy! It was fun and healing. I highly recommend it! Check out the link in the title of this post to find out more about do-it-yourself art therapy!

Student Work - AP 2D Studio Art

The last project of the six weeks was a still life drawing. I love setting this up. I've invested in several different masks that are worked in with other objects (the usual pillows, bottles, baskets, etc.) for exciting focal points. Navi Dhaliwal's drawing is featured because of what he wrote on his critique sheet. He was concerned that in drawing the objects, he gave them his own twist instead of portraying them totally realistically. But, he said, he liked his drawing that way and so did I. It's tricky business drawing from life. Sometimes the most faithful portrayal can be made, but it loses the spark of the individual artist. I think it is more exciting for the viewer to see the objects through the artist's lens...dynamic and personal.

Redneck Art made with BBQ Ribs

Ha! William sent me this great link for another food art blog entry.....BBQ sauce! The You Tube video is fun....I wasn't sure where they were going for a bit, but then it all started coming together. This would be a monochromatic painting, using tints and shades of the same hue, art students!

Student Work - AP 2D Studio Art

We have started a new year in Studio Art and I am starting a new feature...I will highlight student's artwork from my class so you can see what we are up to. This assignment was to create a composition using letters and numbers. Janeth chose to spin off Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" from his blue period. This period was between 1901 and 1904 and was characteristic of monochromatic color work. Janeth has created a very successful solution, using the tints and shades of blue in the letters to create the modeling of the figure. Great work! Oh, and check out this site to learn more about his blue period!

Artist of the Week: Jean-Luc Cornec

Jean-Luc Cornec created this exhibit for the Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt in 2006. These images flew around the web and got to me through my affiliation with the Dallas Handweavers and Spinners Guild. That group loves sheep! In fact, many years ago I collected images of sheep...such docile and comforting animals they are. Making art out of recycled materials is great on so many levels; it's totally clever - you have to scrounge, but don't have to buy fancy, expensive art materials - it's fun making something wonderful out of cast-offs - it brings the public's awareness to "stuff" and the issues we have with disposing of our "stuff" - and it really shows the creative spirit in all of it's glory! The link in the title takes you to a post by Doug that is a fabulous treatise on this particular installation as well as the importance of recycled art. Be sure to read his post!

Artist of the Week - Mario Mariotti

The post title link will take you to several images of the fantastic ingenuity of the late Mario Mariotti, an artist from Florence, Italy. Knowledge is so important, but creative thinking is invaluable in all walks of life. His work is evidence that there is creative potential in things that are common, everyday and right under our noses!

08/09 Academic Decathlon Image #1

Metropolitan Cathedral (Art during the Colonial Era)

This cathedral in Mexico City (also known as Catedral de Mexico) was built by Claudio de Arciniega and others, 1573–1817. Hernán Cortés (the conqueror) destroyed Aztec temples that were on this land and ordered the construction of a Catholic church built on the same site. The cathederal was built to look like those in Spain. Watch this short YouTube video - be there now! You can get more detailed information from this Wikipedia page.

I LOVE MY BLOG! I got a communication from a teacher of art classes for grades 6-7-8 at Chester Academy in Chester NH that was interested in being epals with me!

Judy Krassowski sent me this question to respond to, "This week 8-1 Art is working on a 10-figure pattern/linear or radial collage that features their colored pencil drawings of wooden figure models that incorporate pattern to enhance shape and form (we'll be posting all classworks on Artsonia in the next few weeks). From this project, we utilize classroom students as live figure models for a watercolor experiment and then (AND THEN!) we begin our charcoal (with a bit of eye color) self portraits! What advice do your students have for creating artworks of people whom you know?"

I can't wait to see your projects! They sound really interesting. Soooooo....what advice do I have? It's so simple and so hard at the same time, and your teacher may have said this to you before, but it bears repeating. Develop the way you SEE things! Many art students draw what they THINK they see, not what they actually see! Example - when drawing a person, we usually draw what we think the head (or feet, or hands) looks like instead of looking at the actual lines that are formed by objects. Notice what kind of lines are created in objects - straight, wavy, angled, so many kinds of lines. So LOOK while you draw and don't take your eye off your subject. The more you draw what you see, the better your drawings will become. Oh, and let me know how my advice works out for you! Send me a comment when you work on your projects! Good luck!

Ms. Miller

Artist of the Week - Banksy

Graffiti can be a controversial subject. Before I went to Rome this summer, people told me how ugly it was because of all of the graffiti there is in the city - well, there were some sections of Rome that DID have a lot of graffiti. Certainly the largest issue is that of personal property...would YOU want someone painting stuff on something you paid for and owned? Probably not. But it can't be denied that it is an art form that lives on and is very dynamic.
Banksy is a British artist that takes graffiti to a new level...check out his website. What makes his art so interesting to me is the juxtaposition of imagery with political ideas. This image shows two young children with traditional beach toys, yet the trees seem to have been blown over by some terrible storm. The additional contrast of color with grey tones adds to the tension in his image. Fascinating guy.....oh, and he pulls some pretty funny art pranks you can see on his site....check out the video links!

Apple Logo Fosters Creativity

I saw reference to this article on another blog - visual exposure to the Apple logo can cause more creative thought as stated in ScienceDaily (Mar. 30, 2008). In a Duke University study, students were briefly flashed with the Apple and IBM logos - subliminally. Each group was asked to list uses for a brick outside of building a wall, and the group that had exposure to the Apple logo had more creative and unusual uses listed. A great example of visual culture and how branding affects us on a subconscious level. Fascinating stuff; I have been talking to my students about the impact of visual culture in their everyday lives for some time now. I am a recent convert to the Mac, iLife and all that that entails. Just yesterday, I put my own Apple logo decal on the back window of my Beetle (how cosmic that I just saw this article!) and I have my own testimonial...I am definitely thinking more creatively since I got my MacBook!

Where have I gone?

Months have passed.....sometimes I say that it feels like I am hurtling through the space/time continuum. Teaching, a heart surgery and a conference would be the explanation for the absence. I love my blog and hope you, the viewer find enjoyment! Let me know what you think!

The Art of the Rubik's Cube

There is a quiet craze in our school over the Rubik's Cube - students shuffle through the permutations looking for the "solution". Brian Chorr is the driving force behind the popularity. He recently sent me this link "Ms Miller, here's some of that stuff I was telling you about." with this link in the post title. Okay, Brian - it is blog worthy! I had no idea you could create patterns using this puzzle machine! I thought it had one desired solution (matching one color on each plane) - au contrair! Now I see the pure potentiality of artistic creation in rubik's dimensionality. Oh, and dear reader, as my students already know - multi is my favorite color! Viva Rubik!

Artist of the Week - Kim Nguyen

Oh, the holidays! What a sweet time -for teachers and students a much needed break. But what also comes along are gifts - food, sweets, gift cards, all greatly appreciated. But when a student gives a gift from the heart, a tear comes to the teacher's eye! Kim is a student in my AP Art History class. One day while lecturing, I noticed she was folding paper during class. Having had busy hands during my life, I was not angry, but curious about what she was doing. She told me about a bird she was making from her folded paper, and I asked that she let me see her creation before she gave it away. This is the photo of the bird she gave away - beautiful. And, to my surprise, before leaving for our holiday break, she gave me my own bird in white with pink and yellow accents! Kim, I will treasure your gift always. Here is what she wrote about the process.
"Origami is a type of art that began in Japan many centuries ago. This creative art of paper folding requires lot of patience and time. I was 9 years old when I was inspired by this model of a bird that my dad brought home from work one day. For 2 consecutive years I've wasted a lot of time and papers in order to try and copy that model, but for some reason the body of the bird never quiet came out right. It bothered me to the point where I just decided to give up. However, one day a thought just came to my mind that reversed my decision...I simply changed up the way that I was putting the pieces together and BAM the body came out as I wanted it be, and from there I continued to build up the neck, wings, and tails. It was a confusing process at first, but the final product paid off. Since then I've been cutting and folding alot of papers during my spare time so that I can have it ready for assembling whenever it is called for. :D
The process for making this bird is quiet confusing and complicated for the beginner, but once you get the hang of it then it's not so bad. The part that I hate doing most is cutting and folding of those tiny pieces of paper. It can take me days up to weeks, depending on how many pieces I need and how much spare time I have, which is not much lately. Once ALL the pieces have been folded then I could begin to glue all the pieces together. The first part is the body, the part where I had the most trouble with. Then I built up the 2 wings. After that I would assemble the tails (there are 3 in my model). The neck and "feet" would be last because they are the easiest parts to make. This might sound easy but it's not!"
Thank you Kim! You are an artist after my own heart - creative, diligent and generous!

Driftwood Horses

I'm thinking about 3 dimensional art today and remembered this email I got from a friend a while back with pictures of horses made of driftwood. Really beautiful! One of the biggest problems for these works is balancing the sculpture since horse's legs are really thin compared to their body mass. I've linked the artist's website to the title for more viewing of the process as well as her work.