Thursday, July 1, 2010
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.
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!
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
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