Annie-July 2010

ANNIE

SYNOPSIS:

Annie brought botanical drawings of her house plants. She is exploring the juxtaposition between wild nature and that of the artificial interior world . Her number one technical concern is illustrating the layers and patterns and composition of the windowsill setting. Some of her pieces depicted this notion with straight-forward illustration as well as collages of physically separate layers.

She also presented the progress with her 'cat book', stories about her cat for her Montessori students. The books are without words so the illustration bear the weight of the story.

FEEDBACK:

We encouraged her to continue with her creative process as we were all very much enjoying the results. Annie is proficient at tackling the technical problems that she sets for herself resulting in thoughtful work.

Alexandra-July 2010

ALEXANDRA

SYNOPSIS:

Alexandra brought in new t-shirts to be made available in the market section of the Pitchfork Music Festival, July 16-18 in Union Park. The new shirt designs reflect a melding of her new urban environment with that of her childhood rural upbringing (for example, vegetables with headphones).

FEEDBACK:

Because much of her work is street-art based, the notion of life in a lifeless environment was discussed. She notices in her daily commute by bicycle that street art colors an otherwise seemingly empty environment. Also, bringing the idea of the street as a venue even to those who only viewed the gallery as a true venue for fine art. Banksy's recent movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is an inspiration http://www.banksyfilm.com/

Ellen- July 2010

ELLEN

SYNOPSIS:

Ellen presented drawings that further developed her thoughts and images for future paintings. Based on the vernacular of murder ballads and mid-western folklore.

FEEDBACK:

Ellen needs to experiment with who and where the viewer is within the work through framing vantage points, etc. Figure out best practices for preparatory drawings for paintings (for example, translating black and white to color, defining details to large scale format).

Christina- July 2010

CHRISTINA

SYNOPSIS:

Christina presented small transformative drawings based on the folk tales of the Selkie Girl. The drawings depict the woman changing from the seal to the woman and include the viewer as voyeur. There is an intimacy in this transformation which is staged in the domestic setting of a bathroom.

FEEDBACK:

Continue creating multiple drawings for future paintings; seek out as much live reference as possible (ex. Natural History Museum, Field Museum, Aquarium).

MAY 9, 2010: ART SALE

JUNE 5, 2010: Critique and Field Trip to Roger Brown House

ROGER BROWN FIELD TRIP
June critique group began with the visit to the Roger Brown House/Museum. Below is the web information and summary from the website about Roger Brown.

http://www.saic.edu/webspaces/rogerbrown/brown/index.html
Roger Brown Study Collection
1926 North Halsted Street
Chicago, Illinois 60614
773. 929-2452

 
Roger Brown was recognized nationally and internationally for his significant contributions to the history of Chicago art and to Twentieth Century American art, through his distinctive, original artistic vision, and his works in many mediums. He was known for responding adroitly to the fabric of 20th Century life, through works that addressed a range of subjects and issues, including: natural, architectural, and urban landscapes, the dichotomy of nature and culture, disasters of all types, current and political events, social, religious, and popular culture, autobiographical, personal, and sexual issues, the art world in many guises, cosmology, mortality, history, mythology, transformation, transportation, and the weather. It was an amazing visit. The house is crammed floor to ceiling with an array of objects. They range from fine art to folk and just plain weird. It was strange to be in a house that has all the items just as they were left. There was even a rusty scale behind the toilet! But it was also beautiful to see the object and artwork that he collected, AND how he lived with them in his life.

Back at the ranch so to speak, the art group began by talking about the Roger Brown house experience. Ellen was surprised and saddened by the general upkeep of the house. It was literally falling apart around the artwork. Ellen wondered how Roger Brown would feel about maintaining his collection that way now- if he would rather it be removed than be in that state. It started a conversation about artist intent, how have or don’t have control of our images. Esp. after death. Annie brought up her recent experience at a card convention and licensing fair where people were buying and selling images to become everything from wrapping paper to greeting cards. That was the complete antithesis of the Roger Brown experience. One was the precious preservation of an artist’s life despite the decay of time; while the other was all about images that were sold to be discarded in the mass culture. Definitely thoughts to mentally chew on…….

CHRISTINA
This is the fourth month that we have discussed this painting and it is coming to completion. The back “wall” color, behind the foreground figure was resolved successfully. There is now more depth behind the figure and the color does not compete with the foreground. It was suggested that Christina paint from more rooms to help facilitate the description of imagined space. The “watching” character was filled out more and defined more but still needed to be pushed to a sense of completion that the fore ground character was given. Even in shadow its depth and definition needs attention. The painting is in its final finish but needing its “push past done” finish. Christina looks forward to starting a next series of works based on fairy tales and transformations.
See more of Christina’s work at: http://www.ChristinaCornier.com

ELLEN
This past month she has begun a new larger painting that was still wet at critique time. Instead she brought back her inspiration boards and drawings that are the preliminary work for further development of the paintings. The painting was shown via facebook to the group (ah the joys of technology). It is a direct manifestation of the inspiration boards and the collation of images therein. A Thomas Heart Benton-esq. landscape with silhouettes and some tragedy. The title of this painting is “I intend to leave you behind”. (The banner will eventually state those words.)
Annie brought up Japanese Bunraku puppets in response to some of the images Ellen had on her inspiration board. There is a particular puppet that begins as a beautiful woman but whose face splits apart to become a demon. This was great reference for an artist dealing with vengeful spirits. It inspired her to research more on Japanese mythic demons- great stuff!


link to youtube vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0AcnEKA7s

ANNIE
It was her first time at the scissor collective but she was a classmate of Ellen’s at the Kansas City Art Institute. Annie’s work deals mainly in patterns and fields. Layers of different plants with their leaf lines carefully rendered weave in and out of each other giving the impression of ordered chaos. We all agreed that the images had a variety and accessibility that we could see them as large as wall prints or as small as a card. They are also so well done and appealing that they could be fine art or something more commercial. Exciting to see how they progress over the summer. In addition to the plant images Annie brought sketchbook images of children’s books she would like to do. She is a Montessori teacher and feels the need for meaningful books that are both beautiful and simple and hold universal human truths for children. We all discussed some of our favorite children’s books that really inspired us.
Annie: Cartes is a painting cat
Christina: In and out of the garden
Ellen: anything by Dr. Suess and Maurice Sendak

LAVONE

She brought images that inspired her and will keep her artistic focus going through the summer and her bar exams!!! Go Lavone!

MAY 1, 2010 : Critique

ELLEN
She brought the painting “ whore house” from last month. Though she had originally gotten feedback that everyone liked the house in black and white she choose to color it. The house became pea green (or pee green) with hot pink legs and baby blue structural accents. There was paper “plywood boards” that were attached to the painting to add a derelict feel to the house. Rain and water were also added to give a flooded feeling and a feeling of impending disaster. There was some conversation about adding text to the lower part of the painting in the style of the Mexican Ex- Voto paintings. Ex voto paintings (similar retablos) recall dangerous or threatening events that actually occurred and which the person survived, thanks to the intercession of a sacred person- God, Mary or a saint. They are made as a way of thanking the sacred person for their protection in precarious situations such as surviving an illness or earthquake. The text in Ellen’s paintings is proposed to commemorate the floods of 1993 and the inhabitants of the house being washed clean by its waters-“saved” or purged from their evil ways… we will see if that is a successful addition to the painting or not. We also discussed the use of “stickers” – paper or vellum that has been drawn on and then is stuck onto the painting to see if the addition is something that needs to be permanently painted on. Just a tool for trying new things while not having to commit to them.
Ellen also brought inspiration boards for her next series of works. These board were a collage of images and text that were spring boards for new drawings leading to paintings. They included Tomas Heart Benton images, nude ladies, Japanese waves, tattoo imagery and song lyrics. She was able to use these to organize her thoughts on a series of works loosely inspired by murder ballads, revenge and resurrection.


LAVONE
This was Lavone’s first time to the critique group. She is currently in law school so she is balancing art and a very heavy school schedule. We discussed some options for “on the go” art that she could always have a journal, small watercolor palette and some pens with her so while on break she can sketch and relax during class breaks. She brought a photograph of an abstract painting and two nude drawings for the palette and chisel figure class. (1012 N Dearborn Chicago IL 60610-see schedule of classes and open studio time at paletteandchisel.org) We all were very excited to learn about this local inexpensive resource. The two nude drawings were examples of a long pose and a shorter pose and we discussed the qualities that can be captured quickly vs. over laboring a longer pose. We talked about how we liked what we saw on the digital camera—a painting with lush colors and form. They reminded me of Richard Diebenkorn paintings. Lavone revealed that there are often human forms within the abstraction and that either are taken over by the abstraction or are carved out of it. She spoke about some past work that was more figurative and personal in its narrative and that she wanted to move past such a personal place. Her narrative comes from her Iranian heritage and her family’s cultural persecution under Saddam Hussein. Lavone’s grandmother was no longer allowed to wear the clothing that was a signifier of her Christian heritage. In her painting and she juxtaposed herself against a traditional doll wearing the clothing that her grandmother was no longer allowed to wear. There were issues with dress within the world of being a lawyer (pantsuit vs. pant skirt!) that she was experiencing that drew some interesting parallels to the dress constraints her relatives felt. We also spoke about Detroit and Iran as both her homes and that both are devastated and in ruins. This was all great fodder for art making the group agreed and that she didn’t have to make abstract art for it to be accessible or transcendent. There is a saying “personal is political” or “ work with what you know”. When we get down to speaking our own truths it’s amazing what others can connect to and it actually becomes a bigger statement by its intimacy.

CHRISTINA
Working still on the original oil painting-figure kneeling with figure in the shadows. We all agreed that the subject as it stood was strong- there was nothing that would be added to the painting and all that was needed was the technical finishing. The figure in the back (the watching figure) would be shrouded in a silhouette, darker and less intensity and backlit. There was some discussion about the “back” wall behind the kneeling figure and how that was in transition. There were some new colors and mark making that helped it be less solid green but there was still a need for depth or space behind the figure. We looked at paintings by Lucian Freud and how he used color and brush stroke differences (Short and fast for hair, slow and wide for walls) to help his figures have depth in their environments. Often times it was as subtle as having cooler colors more greens and blue in the hair in the shadows rather than more brown, which can be warm and then have a bright or light edge of color between the hair and the wall color. So many small tricks that facilitate illusions of space!
Christina talked about her desire to have a more fantastical element to her work. The little mermaid (folk tale not Disney!)) had been a subject she wanted to explore as well as other folk tales of female animal transformation. We encouraged Christina to take some of the environments of voyeurism into the folk tales. We both thought of the bathtub scene from the movie Splash as an example!