Some Sketches

Here are a few sketches - some are on values and the other on volume

Here I used an eraser on a wash of vine charcoal

Here I used compressed and vine charcoal, as well as graphite

Getting the volume

Horizontal lines only

Manhattan

Marianne Dages

A primarily printmaking artist, Marianne Dages, came to speak about life in studios, how to change your art in Tyler to art in the real world and into a career, and about some other artists', along with her own, experiences. I found this lecture to be one of the more helpful and useful ones because it was really very real, and what many young artists go through when they first realize they need to turn their craft into something to make a living off of. First off she talked of other artists and how they compose their studios, because let's face it when you get out of art school a studio isn't going to plop into your lap! So she explained there are community studios, partner studios, and personal studios. However, a good way to begin is to start in a community studio where one can feed off of other artists influences and ideas, as well as take in the fact that the environment is full of materials and space. She also talked of how some artists make a living, commissioning their work and also paying the bills doing work for companies. She explained there are options with working as an intern, and noting that the degree that you get might not be the field of work you end up in. Lastly she talked about this transitional place for artists in North Carolina called the Crucible at Penland, I believe. Dages says that this is the place where you will truly discover if art is for you because it basically is so secluded and you have nothing else to do but art. Personally, I would want to find out if they had a summer program or something because I think that would be good for me to find out if this is my direction, because although I love art inside and out, from creating it to looking at it, I still am unsure if this is my calling.

New York Times Art Review: Roy Lichtenstein

I came upon this article that read the headline “Following the Dots Around the City”, and it was from there I was caught. Upon further discovery this was a review on one of my favorite artists, Roy Lichtenstein, an American Pop artist. It seems that this fall there are three Lichtenstein shows all spread out across Manhattan. Roberta Smith, a senior critic for the New York Times, wrote the article and detailed, quite nicely I thought, how Lichtenstein’s work is the epitome of New York in the fall. This quote is from her article, I believe clearly states the feeling that one gets from Lichtenstein, “Lichtenstein’s art forms an ode to the Americana of comic books and commercial art, but it has about it a brisk cosmopolitanism that is also New York at its most New York, which is in the fall. The closest analogy may be musical: the songs of Broadway composers like Cole Porter, which radiate the energy of vernacular language being put in perfect working order.” She goes on to talk of how Lichtenstein’s pieces are always in “perfect working order” and how his use of Benday dots are always on point. She organizes her review very well with the recommendations of which of the three galleries should be the place to start (in this case she said that the Morgan Library & Museum was, with some of Lichtenstein’s black and white drawings from 1961-1968). She says in starting with these pieces one gets the feel really of how Roy Lichtenstein got a style, and it clearly shows how much effort and care he put into his “ultracool look.” Smith then adds little snippets of Lichtenstein’s life to the article. I had no idea that he taught at Rutgers University, which interested me because that was one of my top two schools when it came time to decide where I would go to college – I think we know where I chose. However, it made me wonder if had I known when I was deciding would that have changed my view of Rutgers. No matter, the review continues with a little more biography, pointing out that Lichtenstein was part of the army for sometime in his 15 years away from New York City. Truly though what caught my attention was the fact that there was a change in medium for Lichtenstein. Not that many artists don’t change mediums; it is just that this change from wet media to dry media really evolved his work. With this he could first draw out his designs and then go over it with ink and that would enhance the image with values, thicknesses, and more. This is shown in “Bread and Jam” to the left. Here, Lichtenstein is able to mix, as Smith says, “fake image, real light.” I completely agree with Smith here, that the image really pops among the others and I find myself drawn to it. I just love that he mixes modern, abstract with reality. That is something that I would like to get out of my own art. Then at another show for Lichtenstein’s work, the Leo Castelli, there is a change of pace in his work, showing some pieces by him for the very first time. For instance, one in particular is a small oil painting called, “Indian.” Here is Lichtenstein’s interpretation of a man, reduced to tangled lines. It shows an interesting switch from his industrial style to a painterly piece. Smith says it perfectly: it is “on its own.” To sum it up, I think that this article clearly displayed what Roy Lichtenstein is about, and what his art is. I wish I would have a chance to see these shows after reading this review. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/arts/design/24lichtenstein.html?ref=design

Candy Depew

For the lecture on Sept 21, the artist Candy Depew came to talk about her work, her apprenticing, and her style. I really enjoyed this speaker and her quirky presentation of just pictures of her work and then the little stories she had to go along with every picture. She is so accomplished as an artist, doing installations in big shows, creating a school, and also spending time in different areas exploring new means to her creativity. She creates such whimsical designs and it really changes the way a space may look. I also really was interested in hearing about her apprenticing of young artists, as well as taking on interns. She explained the difference of how interns may come and go but her apprentices (she has 2) are with her for life. I would definitely consider being her apprentice or intern, not only because of her amazing work but because it would be a great, opening opportunity. I wonder if more artists do that or if it is just a beginning thing with her. I am seriously going to look into it.

Text Assignment

For this computer assignment we were supposed to take text and make pictures out of them. One had to be abstract, one representational and one expressive. That last one I don't think I did correct so that's not on the slide show. Other than that, enjoy!

View all

Get your own

Thoughts on Tues Sept 14 Lecture

The speaker was an artist named, Peter Hanley, who came to talk about, to be honest I am not very sure. I tried to latch onto the point of his speech but what I ended up getting from it was not what I think the intension of his speech was. I learned that he doesn't use a studio to do his work and that to do presentations he used a neat little program that is better than powerpoint for presentations called Prezi. The program in fact I thought to be actually one of the more interesting things about his presentation. It wasn't something that showed his points in a slide by slide basis but used zooming and web type setup to go from one topic to the next. It was really quite intriguing. But overall, I think the point was to highlight that you do not have to be conventional to be an artist? He seemed to be very interesting as an individual but I don't think I really took anything from it other than a new insight to a cool presentation tool.

Thoughts On Tuesday (Sept. 7) Lecture: Bauhuas Movement

The lecture on Bauhaus and its progression into today's society I thought gave great inspiration to us young foundation students. The whole premiss of the speaker's speech was talking not only about the history of the Bauhaus movement but also to highlight the fact that this was a movement determined to really get down to the bottom of what the principals of art were and what an art student really should be learning. Because of that the classic styles of art were there but not entirely focused upon. For the first time artists were able to use imagination and mix in the traditional teachings with the new ones. Then the speaker brought this to present day. Tyler is not just a place for success for a future career but also to highlight that an individual can use basic skills that the school will teach you and then apply it to a specific field. Along with that some great websites were introduced to hit the point that we may live in the "future" but there is a future beyond this one and people are doing things to improve it. One website that was suggested by the speaker to take a look at, I happen to look into thoroughtly and found that it is a competition for new and innovative ideas that people turn into actual products to better our society. 2010's winner was for "The Eyewriter", a mechanism used to help those with paralysis write and create and draw with their eyes despite their handicap. Truly is amazing.

I know for me, learning about and listening to that lecture has opened up some interesting thoughts to me as to what possibilities there are for a career for me in creativity. If you want to look more into "The Eyewriter" there is a 5 minute video on the website below and some information about it, I recommend it for sure. 

http://2010.futureeverything.org/abouttheawards/eyewriter2

Response to Videos from Foundation Computers

After seeing these videos, that tragically I forget the names of, however my idea to take notes at the time has saved me for this post, I really felt like this is our culture and it is as simple as that. Unless one lives underneath a rock, we all know about YouTube and other sites like it, dedicated to giving each individual a voice into the great space known as the internet. It is in this way that people feel they can get recognized for the simplest and most inane things. This includes what the one video from TED.com talked about with people taking songs that have already been made and remixing it. Remixing is to today what doo-wop started in the 1950s. It is all the rage! I think it is all for the entertainment value. Perhaps it is because originality is few and far between now but I also believe that it is all in good fun. It is not to steal someone's work to remix a song, it is for the sake of getting one's name out there. For instance, some friends have showed me a recent remix done to a news report that clearly was not meant to harm anyone but to just give light to a sticky situation. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvNS5TzvwM&feature=fvw

A Still Life

Adventures in Philadelphia

In a little dinner excursion into the city, my friend, Josh and I encountered actually very little. I know the city pretty well so it was more me showing him around. We ventured to south street first via the subway. It was quite quiet there but we found some interesting stores and Josh had an awesome time at the comic book store. We ended up walking all the way to old city where we found some beautiful brownstones. From there we were desperately in search of food so we headed towards center city to a little Sephardic Jewish diner, of sorts, which they almost didn't let us into because the kitchen was closing, but we managed. From there we decided the city was pretty dead so we headed back. I know that I have had better experiences, as far as exciting goes, in Philadelphia but I did get some awesome pictures and some good quality time with Josh. Overall, love Philly, love old city the best, and it was a good day for sure.

View all

Get your own