My friend Jacey Dalton, who is a former NWACC graphic design student, has opened The Viewery located off the Bentonville Square. She is having an opening on May 9th. The doors open at 5pm and the sale begins at 7pm. I am planning on attending and it would be great to see some Art Club folks come out to support local artists and an NWACC alumna. I have included the link to The Viewery's myspace page, where you can find more info.
Sarah
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Letter from your President
Hello Art Club!
I hope that everyone has had a good semester! I wanted to remind everyone of our upcoming events. This Friday, May 2 is First Friday at Fusion Art on the Bentonville Square from 6-9 pm. Please remeber that Fusion is our community sponsor, so we need to show our support and attend. Afterwards, I would like for us all to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings in Bentonville for socializing. Last month we had a small group, and I would love to see more people come out. Also, if you haven't yet RSVP'd for the Terra Studios field trip on May 10t, please do so. There is a link on the right side of the blog where you can respond.
At the last meeting we decided to move the Field Trip to Terra Studios to Saturday May 10th, meeting at NWACC at noon and carpooling/caravaning out there. We still need to decide on a meeting place for folks who live in Washington County. We also decided to meet twice a month next semester. Hopefully more people will be able to find the time to attend with more frequent meetings. We are planning to schedule the meetings on different days of the week, to help with scheduling.
Our fundraiser went extremely well. We sold out of watercolor kits, reaching our goal of $500. I would like to thank Oscar Felan, our PR Co-Chair, for getting this ball rolling and for his personal donation to purchase the watercolor kits. I would also like to thank Stephanie Lewis, our advisor, for her donation of 2 Ipod shuffles for prizes. Thank you both for all that you have done for us.
At our next meeting we will be discussing the Terra Studios Trip, and deciding on a meeting place for Washington county folks. Mike Echols will be demonstrating his camera obscura that he bulit. And we will be discussing our goals for next semester and over the summer. Please attend the meeting so your voice can be heard.
Congratulations to all our graduating members! Please keep in touch. We can all benefit from your experiences.
I hope that everyone has had a good semester! I wanted to remind everyone of our upcoming events. This Friday, May 2 is First Friday at Fusion Art on the Bentonville Square from 6-9 pm. Please remeber that Fusion is our community sponsor, so we need to show our support and attend. Afterwards, I would like for us all to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings in Bentonville for socializing. Last month we had a small group, and I would love to see more people come out. Also, if you haven't yet RSVP'd for the Terra Studios field trip on May 10t, please do so. There is a link on the right side of the blog where you can respond.
At the last meeting we decided to move the Field Trip to Terra Studios to Saturday May 10th, meeting at NWACC at noon and carpooling/caravaning out there. We still need to decide on a meeting place for folks who live in Washington County. We also decided to meet twice a month next semester. Hopefully more people will be able to find the time to attend with more frequent meetings. We are planning to schedule the meetings on different days of the week, to help with scheduling.
Our fundraiser went extremely well. We sold out of watercolor kits, reaching our goal of $500. I would like to thank Oscar Felan, our PR Co-Chair, for getting this ball rolling and for his personal donation to purchase the watercolor kits. I would also like to thank Stephanie Lewis, our advisor, for her donation of 2 Ipod shuffles for prizes. Thank you both for all that you have done for us.
At our next meeting we will be discussing the Terra Studios Trip, and deciding on a meeting place for Washington county folks. Mike Echols will be demonstrating his camera obscura that he bulit. And we will be discussing our goals for next semester and over the summer. Please attend the meeting so your voice can be heard.
Congratulations to all our graduating members! Please keep in touch. We can all benefit from your experiences.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Circle of Life "Hats Off" Volunteer Banquet
Three art club members (Laura Fickett, Oscar Felan, and Sarah Carson) and the advisor, Stephanie Lewis were invited by Becky Buchanan, Volunteer Coordinator of Circle of Life Hospice to attend the annual volunteer banquet on April 12. Here are the photos from the event:
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Icons & The Russian Orthodox Church
Here's Dr. John Tuthill's and Fr. John Atchison's guest lecture to my Art History I class on April 2, 2008.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Theory of the Nude
by Richard Scott
Reproduced from this link.
My friends and family often ask me why so many artists paint (as they say) “naked people”. Some think that the nude is only pornography, while others just think that it’s out-dated in the art world. Most artists will tell you something along the lines of “we don’t see them as ‘naked’ we just see beauty”. Though this may be true, it doesn’t answer our question. As a classically trained artist myself I have a theory on why people make art using the nude. I think the first step in understanding the nude in art is to understand why people made them in the past, and why they continue to make them.
There are three basic categories of nudes, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive (sometimes they overlap):
The Ideal Nude: Originating with the Greeks, the ideal nude is just a concept really, the basis of which was most clearly explained by Plato. He stated that within all things there is a universal and divine “form” that defines it. For example: if you look at 100 trees, each individual tree will look different, yet they are all similar enough to categorize them as trees. What is the sameness or underlying quality of the tree which makes it a tree? This thing, this sameness, Plato called form. Greek sculptors such as Polykleitos took this idea and tried to find the ideal form of the human body. They used shapes in the human body, much like a musician would use musical notes to form a chord. The idea was to create a harmony through repetition and variation of certain visual elements of the body. Excellent examples of this are, of course, classical Greek and Roman sculpture, Leonardo da Vinci (who also could be mentioned in all of these categories for different works), Donatello, Rafael, and the Neo-classicists of the 19th century.
The Observed Nude: Originating in the Fayum portraits of ancient Greece in a technique of painting called Encaustic, which uses wax as a medium for pigment instead of oil or water. The main purpose of this originated in portraiture and was all about trying to capture the individual’s personality and particular appearance. Great examples of this can be found in the paintings of Rembrandt, John Singer Sargent, and ancient Roman portrait busts.
The Expressive Nude: This form is intended to do just what the name implies. The nude is used here as the main vehicle for the artist’s expression, usually with emotive, and in the case of the Renaissance, devotional purposes. Great examples would be the work of Michelangelo (who could be classified under ideal nude as well) and most of the artists of the modern period: Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Kathe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, and Paul Gauguin etc…
I would like to rephrase our original question in the interest of brevity and to be more specific. “Why is it that the most recurring subject in all of art history by far is the human face and body?” Modern scientific research also gives us a clue to the reasons behind our question. The human face and the human body are psychologically stimulating to the mind. Our brains are actually hard wired to recognize human form. Take, for example, a chimpanzee. If you look at three different chimps for 5 seconds, would you be able to tell them apart as individuals? Now if you look at three human faces for 5 seconds, I bet your success rate will be much greater. But a chimp can recognize and differentiate between other chimps much easier, just as you can recognize a human face much easier.
You might say, Ok I understand why we look at faces, that makes sense, but why nude? Well there are multiple reasons. First (and least important to me) is tradition. There is a long tradition predating even the Egyptians of recreating the human body. So, as a method of teaching art, there are lots of people who have done it before and so there are a lot of excellent techniques and examples for artistic training that have been developed which apply to other forms of art as well. Second, it is a test of skill. If one can make a believable representation of something that we are so familiar with, then everything else is a piece of cake. If I paint a chimpanzee you would be less critical of whether it looks real or not than a human face, simply because most of us don’t see chimps every day for our entire lives. Some artists get caught up in this challenge for perfection and are never satisfied with their degree of skill, (I know I never am) and so continue to pursue impossible perfection even though most people might not see the minute faults of the work which the artist does. –The next passage includes much of my opinion on the subject and is not intended to force my views on anyone, but merely to share another point of view.-
Third, (and most importantly to me) the nude, when I choose to paint it, is representative of something more than observation. My works are meant to evoke complex emotions or thoughts in the viewer, and are not meant to be decorative, though beauty is important to me. Since nudity is not often seen in normal everyday settings, it implies that there is something more to the interpretation. It makes the piece more intimate. For me, art is about conveying the complexity of life; its joy and its sorrow. If I paint a nude with a certain degree of sexuality implied, it is to communicate the dual nature of every human being. All of us, from the most pious, to the most base, from the greatest ideals of compassion and love, to fear and jealousy; we are all torn between what we are and what we wish to be. We all have some desire to do or see something greater than what is before us, and we all struggle with the desire for immediate pleasure. It is this tension between our animal and divine sides that I attempt to evoke; and in doing so, perhaps to help myself and others understand a little bit more about being human.
________________________
Other articles:
Nudity in Ancient to Modern Cultures by Aileen Goodson
"Depictions of Nudity" on wikipedia
My friends and family often ask me why so many artists paint (as they say) “naked people”. Some think that the nude is only pornography, while others just think that it’s out-dated in the art world. Most artists will tell you something along the lines of “we don’t see them as ‘naked’ we just see beauty”. Though this may be true, it doesn’t answer our question. As a classically trained artist myself I have a theory on why people make art using the nude. I think the first step in understanding the nude in art is to understand why people made them in the past, and why they continue to make them.
There are three basic categories of nudes, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive (sometimes they overlap):
The Ideal Nude: Originating with the Greeks, the ideal nude is just a concept really, the basis of which was most clearly explained by Plato. He stated that within all things there is a universal and divine “form” that defines it. For example: if you look at 100 trees, each individual tree will look different, yet they are all similar enough to categorize them as trees. What is the sameness or underlying quality of the tree which makes it a tree? This thing, this sameness, Plato called form. Greek sculptors such as Polykleitos took this idea and tried to find the ideal form of the human body. They used shapes in the human body, much like a musician would use musical notes to form a chord. The idea was to create a harmony through repetition and variation of certain visual elements of the body. Excellent examples of this are, of course, classical Greek and Roman sculpture, Leonardo da Vinci (who also could be mentioned in all of these categories for different works), Donatello, Rafael, and the Neo-classicists of the 19th century.
The Observed Nude: Originating in the Fayum portraits of ancient Greece in a technique of painting called Encaustic, which uses wax as a medium for pigment instead of oil or water. The main purpose of this originated in portraiture and was all about trying to capture the individual’s personality and particular appearance. Great examples of this can be found in the paintings of Rembrandt, John Singer Sargent, and ancient Roman portrait busts.
The Expressive Nude: This form is intended to do just what the name implies. The nude is used here as the main vehicle for the artist’s expression, usually with emotive, and in the case of the Renaissance, devotional purposes. Great examples would be the work of Michelangelo (who could be classified under ideal nude as well) and most of the artists of the modern period: Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Kathe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, and Paul Gauguin etc…
I would like to rephrase our original question in the interest of brevity and to be more specific. “Why is it that the most recurring subject in all of art history by far is the human face and body?” Modern scientific research also gives us a clue to the reasons behind our question. The human face and the human body are psychologically stimulating to the mind. Our brains are actually hard wired to recognize human form. Take, for example, a chimpanzee. If you look at three different chimps for 5 seconds, would you be able to tell them apart as individuals? Now if you look at three human faces for 5 seconds, I bet your success rate will be much greater. But a chimp can recognize and differentiate between other chimps much easier, just as you can recognize a human face much easier.
You might say, Ok I understand why we look at faces, that makes sense, but why nude? Well there are multiple reasons. First (and least important to me) is tradition. There is a long tradition predating even the Egyptians of recreating the human body. So, as a method of teaching art, there are lots of people who have done it before and so there are a lot of excellent techniques and examples for artistic training that have been developed which apply to other forms of art as well. Second, it is a test of skill. If one can make a believable representation of something that we are so familiar with, then everything else is a piece of cake. If I paint a chimpanzee you would be less critical of whether it looks real or not than a human face, simply because most of us don’t see chimps every day for our entire lives. Some artists get caught up in this challenge for perfection and are never satisfied with their degree of skill, (I know I never am) and so continue to pursue impossible perfection even though most people might not see the minute faults of the work which the artist does. –The next passage includes much of my opinion on the subject and is not intended to force my views on anyone, but merely to share another point of view.-
Third, (and most importantly to me) the nude, when I choose to paint it, is representative of something more than observation. My works are meant to evoke complex emotions or thoughts in the viewer, and are not meant to be decorative, though beauty is important to me. Since nudity is not often seen in normal everyday settings, it implies that there is something more to the interpretation. It makes the piece more intimate. For me, art is about conveying the complexity of life; its joy and its sorrow. If I paint a nude with a certain degree of sexuality implied, it is to communicate the dual nature of every human being. All of us, from the most pious, to the most base, from the greatest ideals of compassion and love, to fear and jealousy; we are all torn between what we are and what we wish to be. We all have some desire to do or see something greater than what is before us, and we all struggle with the desire for immediate pleasure. It is this tension between our animal and divine sides that I attempt to evoke; and in doing so, perhaps to help myself and others understand a little bit more about being human.
________________________
Other articles:
Nudity in Ancient to Modern Cultures by Aileen Goodson
"Depictions of Nudity" on wikipedia
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Interesting Trivia
Yesterday, I was talking with some students about this cooler I have at home with the Falstaff Brewing Company logo on it. I told them that it was the third largest brewery in the U.S. at one time and was centered in St. Louis, my home town. It was my parents' cooler and they gave it to me. It is easily 40 years old now and going strong.Last night, at the copyright presentation, I mentioned Jasper Johns' bronze sculpture of two Ballantine beer cans and how the beer company might sue him now but not back then. I queried the presenter on the reason.
Painted Bronze (Ballantine Ale)1960
Painted Bronze
14 x 20.3 x 12.1 cm (5 1/2 x 8 x 4 3/4")
Kunstmuseum Basel
Upon my research this morning, I realized that Ballantine Ale had fallen under the auspices of Falstaff Brewing Company in the 1960s--a strange cooincidence. Even stranger, was that as I was researching the Falstaff Brewing Company, the Lemp family, who started the company had a very familiar sounding name to me. Then it dawned on me: The Lemp family has a mansion in St. Louis called The Lemp Mansion, which is the most notorious haunted house in the city. So, there you have it: Jasper Johns, St. Louis, Falstaff Brewing Company, Ballantine Ale, and haunted houses: all connected. And, it is always nice to make connections in one's hometown. : )
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Good Feature Articles at ArtKrush
The issue is on contemporary painting -- alive and well.
Link
Link
Artwork by: Philip Akkerman
Self Portrait No. 104, 2005
Oil on masonite panel
15 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. / 40 x 34 cm
Courtesy Mummery & Schnelle, London
All rights reserved.
Self Portrait No. 104, 2005
Oil on masonite panel
15 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. / 40 x 34 cm
Courtesy Mummery & Schnelle, London
All rights reserved.
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