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).