I am so proud of my artistic progress this year. Although I do not think I have fully found myself as an artist, I think I am really close to gaining some clarity in my art. I experimented a lot with oil paint this year and found that I really like to work with bright colors and heavy texture. I discovered that my favorite way to work with oil paint was by applying it with a palette knife and making textural, dynamic marks, so I plan to make my next art pieces using the same technique. I also found that I am really drawn to the dramatic qualities of pen and ink, so I made two pieces using this media. I am really happy with how these pieces turned out. Not only do they connect to my existing theme of joy and nature, but they also introduce new possibilities for artistic exploration through the themes of organic, natural elements versus geometric, man-made elements and negative space.
One thing I noticed over the course of the year was that it was much harder to create art at home than at school. I associate home with relaxation and identify it as a place of respite, rather than a place of work, so it is harder to be productive there. I understand now why artists chose to rent out studios, rather than have art spaces in their homes. Additionally, I discovered that I am a more productive artist when I listen to music that matches the aesthetic of the art piece I am working on. I will try to listen to appropriate music whenever making art in the future. This year I also discovered the value of having an art website. There were multiple occasions where I found myself trying to describe my art and my artistic visions and I fell short. Luckily, I was able to simply pull up my art website and show people exactly what I was describing. Whether I was talking about one of my art pieces, a lecture I experienced, or an artist I took inspiration from. Overall, I would say I have learned a lot about myself and my art this year and, although I know I am never done learning and being an artist is a lifelong journey, I am so happy that I have come this far and I am excited to build on my art experiences at MLWGS in the future.
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I watched an incredibly interesting lecture on Latin American Art History given by VMFA Statewide Partner Speaker Dr. Jeanette Nicewinter. She focused on the textile art of the Inkas or the Tawantinsuyu. One thing I learned was that Andean textiles were used not only as an artistic form but as a form of communication, indicating people’s rank and occupation. Textiles were incredibly important and valued because weaving symbolized the fabric of the universe and the process of making these textiles was time, resources, and labor intensive. In fact, the textiles were so important, that the people who made them were known as aclla or scared/ chosen women. The Inkas had such an interesting culture of weaving, textiles, the idea of camay, stone construction, and the belief in a sun god and anyi. I was amazed by their ability to create so much art and develop such a complicated culture in only 100 years. The level of complication in their belief system, art and architectural production, and of course in their recording-keeping system all seem to indicate a much longer existence. This makes me wonder how much of the Inkan culture was newly created and how much was borrowed from other cultures. I was also amazed by the fact that Inkan weavers (aclla) were able to lay 300 threads per square inch. I wonder if this was accomplished by really thin threads or just by incredible handiwork and the ability to apply intense pressure to the threads. I really loved how the textiles were so closely connected to the landscape of the Inkan empire and I wish I could create my own oil paints, using natural materials, so that my paintings could be more closely connected to the natural places they portray.
Colin Fraser is a Scottish painter who works with egg tempera to create his detailed still lives and landscapes. He was born in 1957 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Fraser studied art at Brighton Polytechnic before moving to Sweden where he currently works and lives. Fraser's work is exhibited at the Catto Gallery (in the United Kingdom). He has had exhibitions at this gallery in 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2019. These exhibitions can still be viewed on the Catto Gallery website here: https://cattogallery.co.uk/artists/colin-fraser-egg-tempera-artist/. Fraser's painting style involves small brushstrokes of tempera paint and layering. He pays careful attention to light and its affects, which is amplified by the qualities of tempera paint. Additionally, the aspect of his work that I was first drawn to was his painting technique: broken color, the very painting technique with which I am working. I liked that his brushstrokes were much smaller and his canvases much larger, making his artworks more realistic. I also appreciated how he paid attention to light, especially since my goal for my current project is to use a defined light source and play with the effects of light in my broken color landscape paintings. I am especially drawn to this painting because of the incredible detail it holds. All of the individual brushstrokes, especially in the field of grass, come together to create this lovely landscape and portray all of the little shadows and highlights of the vast field. You can see how Fraser paid attention to lighting on the trees on the right, where the light shining through the branches is portrayed by a color switch to amber, as well as on the small blades of grass in the field, and in the mountain range as it approaches the sun. I also love the mystery that the chair adds to the landscape piece. It adds an element of the human that the landscape is otherwise completely free of. I believe I can apply a more detailed and smaller brushstroke to my broken color landscape painting that will help portray more details and varied texture. Additionally, I like how Fraser changes the color of the trees where the light hit them into amber and will be using this color-changing technique in my next piece. If you press the button above, it should take you to a video. This video highlights Fraser's inspiration, process, and chosen medium: egg tempera. It is shot at his studio in Sweden. One of the most profound things I learned from this video was the idea that there are three entities at play as you paint. The first two are the painter and the viewer. The painter can get lost in the painting process and paint intuitively. The viewer is able to step back from he painting and make intellectual decisions about what should be done. The third entity is the painting itself which can sort of instruct you on what to do next. The painting itself needs some things to be done to it and it will try to signal them to you. Fraser believes you need to get lost in the process and let the painting become what it needs to be. I like this idea of the three personas and will be thinking about this the next time I paint. Asking myself: what do I think this painting needs as a viewer, a painter, and the painting itself?
This lecture was so incredibly detailed and informative. I already knew most of the historical information about Japan including the Edo Period and the Shogun, the Tale of Genji, the Japanese Tea Ceremony, and the opening of Japan from my global studies, English, and art classes from sophomore year. Some new concepts revealed to me during the lecture were the third understanding of Japanese aesthetics: Yugen, and the writings of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki. Yugen is a concept related to Buddhist teachings and is a type of depth and mystery associated with beauty. Yugen is a graceful beauty seen in the sadness of human life and is often connected to otherworldly beings. Tanizaki was writing essays during the unrest in Japan in the 1930s that called for a rejection of Western culture and a return to old Japanese customs. His writing was very nostalgic, looking with melancholy, or Sabi (the second understanding of Japanese aesthetics), upon traditional Japanese architecture, materials, fashion, and practices. I find the idea of Wabi, Sabi, and Yugen to be so compelling and actually prefer these to the western ideas of beauty. I wonder how many times I have felt Yugen or Sabi and not associated my melancholy feeling with these ideas. If Tanizaki was looking nostalgically towards the past and felt like Japanese aesthetic was lost, I feel like he was only referring to Sabi and Yugen. If Wabi is an everyday, regular beauty, then shouldn't Wabi always exist even as ideas of "everyday" objects change? I am so excited to apply these parts of the three understandings of Japanese aesthetics to my paintings and I feel like I already have been including them to a certain extent. I certainly do not include the simplicity or melancholy emotion in my art, but I use the concept of imperfection a lot as a paint roughly textured repeated dollops of vibrant oil paint.
Art Therapists work in the mental health and human services field and are responsible for providing therapeutic treatment to a wide variety of patients by having them use the creative process and actively make art. Art Therapists must work to find the best ways to treat their patients engage them in helpful ways to visual art processes. To become an art therapist you need an educational background in human development, psychological and behavioral disorders, counseling theories, therapeutic techniques, and visual art. The American Art Therapy Association requires that therapists have at least a master’s degree from an institution recognized by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs or the American Art Therapy Association. It addition to this schooling and clinical training, art therapists must obtain credentialing by the Art Therapy Credentials Board and some states require a license to practice art therapy, not Virginia however. In order to become an art therapist you must receive your master’s degree in art therapy, for your undergraduate degree, however, you just need to choose a major that includes psychology, sociology, communication, and studio art classes. The only two accredited art therapy programs in Virginia are at George Washington University and Eastern Virginia Medical School. Some of the top programs for art therapy are at New York University, Florida State University, and George Washington University. I watched the RVArt Talk with Stanley Rayfield and it was a lovely interview because not only did I learn more about his work, but I also learned about his approach to art and how I can apply some of the same ideas to my artist pursuits. Rayfield makes portraits and through his art attempts to bring people closer to God. Rayfield explained that he has an idea ahead of time of a specific series or a process that he is doing and compared his preparation to the writing of a script for a movie. He finds his subjects like a writer finds an actor and in addition has to feel spiritually led to choose them. I felt like this was a very effective analogy and reminds me of Vermeer's use of the model in the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting. The model was embodying a character than Vermeer created, rather than herself. Rayfield also talked about how he got into art in the first place. Inspired by peers in his school who could draw amazing things, Rayfield challenged himself to draw everyday and he improved quickly and grew to love making art. I think I should attempt this challenge as well as I have been doing less observational drawing recently and I know how beneficial it can be. Additionally, I want to create a habit of drawing everyday, so that when I move on from high school, art becomes a foundation/ sanctuary when I feel lost or confused. Finally, Rayfield talked about his artistic journey and emphasized the fact there there is not just one path to success, and we should follow where our work leads us, rather than taking the most common path. This really resonated with me and will definitely come into play as college decision time comes. The thing that resonated with me the most, however, was Rayfield's comparison of his search for artistic purpose to a race. At the beginning you can't even see the finish line, but as you keep running you slowly begin to see how to achieve your purpose. Right know, as a high schooler, I don't really know what my purpose is, but I can be content in the fact that I am moving forward, both artistically and otherwise, and will eventually know where I am going.
An art historian studies and tries to understand both works of art and artists from history. One of the responsibilities of an art historian is to analyze art artifacts, identifying their origin and importance by using research and historical knowledge. These people also work with art in museums by studying and preserving art pieces. It is a heavily research based career, historians frequently publish their findings and review research of others in the art history field to ensure true information. Finally, art historians are sometimes required to assist museum curators in the exhibition or presentation of art collections.
To become an art historian you need to earn at least a Bachelor’s degree in Art History, however many prospective art historians also pursue a Master’s degree or a Ph.D. To be involved in the restoration and preservation of artwork, historians often have to earn an additional degree in fine arts. In addition to these degrees, art historians should have good writing and interpersonal skills and should try to get experience in the field through internships. Some universities that have really good art history programs are Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University. Museum Curators have many responsibilities such as finding and buying art, cataloguing the art, assembling a comprehensive exhibit, and overseeing the management of the exhibit. A curator must organize collections of art, often to create specialist exhibits. Not only must a curator organize these exhibitions, they must research and find these pieces, keep records and write about each of the pieces, and ensure the collections are preserved correctly. Curators are usually hired by national, local, and independent museums. In order to become a curator you need at least a good undergraduate degree, however the job can be very competitive so many aspiring curators also get a graduate degree. People can technically become a museum curator with any degree, but the degrees that are most helpful include anthropology, art history, exhibition management, history, art, archaeology, or arts administration. Some colleges in Virginia that offer good preparatory degrees are George Mason University (Art History and Arts Management), Sweet Briar College (Arts Management), and Virginia Commonwealth University (Art History). Some of the colleges highly regarded for their Museum studies programs are Harvard University, John Hopkins University, and Northwestern University. This sculpture focuses on adaptive reuse in order to promote sustainability. I reused pieces of plastic, aluminum, cola cans, old t-shirts, and dried flowers to convey the ecological issue this world is facing. The clothing industry is responsible for not only human rights violations, but also pollution through microplastics, chemicals from shirt dye, and more. This rough sculpture, that could definitely hurt you, is meant to show what the world could become if we do not start to live sustainably.
“Through the Looking Glass” [Wildfires; COVID-19; Quarantine; Downturn; BLM; Beirut]
This collection of six paintings is an abstraction of events in 2020. I wanted to continue working with abstraction while addressing current issues. By playing with colors, shapes, textures, and layers, I painted my perceptions of this year. |
Emma LindleyHi! I am an art student at Maggie Walker and I am so excited to share with you my thoughts, my art ideas, and my finished works. I hope you enjoy! Archives
June 2021
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