I had commented under Gail's chapter 5 comment about
visiting Murano, Italy. Here are the pictures of the studio and chandelier I was
referring too.
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Reminders
First, do not forget the final: a work of art influenced by our readings. Any media (does not have to be one of the media's we study) and a 500 description of the work.
Second, Junction
The classes for first session are
Glass Blowing,
Angie Heath and Bob Rynearson
Experimental Drawing (appropriations/collaborations/installations....everything that is discouraged in the TEKS or VASE)
Jeff Wheeler
Clay (there may be one or two spots open)
James Watkins
Seminar ( on artists books)
Me
there may also be a one week class on web design but you would need to be already very good with computers...more information later
Second Session
Photography (digital and B/W)
Robin Germany
Printmaking
Manuel Gonzales
Fresco Painting (traditional style but your content)
Fredrico Vigil
Extended Media ( Mixed media, animation, installation)
David Lindsey
Let me know if you need more information on any class.
Second, Junction
The classes for first session are
Glass Blowing,
Angie Heath and Bob Rynearson
Experimental Drawing (appropriations/collaborations/installations....everything that is discouraged in the TEKS or VASE)
Jeff Wheeler
Clay (there may be one or two spots open)
James Watkins
Seminar ( on artists books)
Me
there may also be a one week class on web design but you would need to be already very good with computers...more information later
Second Session
Photography (digital and B/W)
Robin Germany
Printmaking
Manuel Gonzales
Fresco Painting (traditional style but your content)
Fredrico Vigil
Extended Media ( Mixed media, animation, installation)
David Lindsey
Let me know if you need more information on any class.
Chapter 6
I find this chapter moving because of the impact and influence of the G.I. Bill on the arts and the crafts movement. I am a military brat and thus have a soft spot in my heart for all military, I am married to a retired Marine and when I was in grad school and a teaching assistant I had some Viet Nam vets in my class. Also I know the attitude was not just more mature or a better working ethic but also a real life sense of humor and no time for mickey mouse classes. No wonder I teach the way I teach.
This chapter also has honors one of my role models...Beatrice Woods. There are some short videos of her on You Tube but I also encourage you to find a copy of her book "I Shock Myself". A wonderful delight. There is a second book on her 100th birthday that is mainly images and short statements. So much life, so much art.
During this same time there was an issue in California called the "Zoot Suit Riots", look it up. There is also a musical/movie. Not the nicest time in our history but still a part of what we are.
So, for the extra question I want you to think about crafts/arts and the relationship to recovery or healing. Think about a time in your life or the life of someone you love. How did it help? Did it help? What was the craft/art? Considering all the issues facing today's education system, what are we doing wrong with the arts
This chapter also has honors one of my role models...Beatrice Woods. There are some short videos of her on You Tube but I also encourage you to find a copy of her book "I Shock Myself". A wonderful delight. There is a second book on her 100th birthday that is mainly images and short statements. So much life, so much art.
During this same time there was an issue in California called the "Zoot Suit Riots", look it up. There is also a musical/movie. Not the nicest time in our history but still a part of what we are.
So, for the extra question I want you to think about crafts/arts and the relationship to recovery or healing. Think about a time in your life or the life of someone you love. How did it help? Did it help? What was the craft/art? Considering all the issues facing today's education system, what are we doing wrong with the arts
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Chapter 5
This chapter covers a very hard time in America, yet at the same time the crafts continued on its meandering road towards acceptance and success.
Aside from your regular questions, I would like for you to consider the following: in this chapter a number of craft schools are discussed: Cranbrook, Penland, Black Mt. College and their European inspiration The Bauhaus, so think about Junction or what you think Junction might be and describe the school of your dreams. The length of classes, the faculty, the subjects, the space, and anything else you might come up with... money is no object.
Aside from your regular questions, I would like for you to consider the following: in this chapter a number of craft schools are discussed: Cranbrook, Penland, Black Mt. College and their European inspiration The Bauhaus, so think about Junction or what you think Junction might be and describe the school of your dreams. The length of classes, the faculty, the subjects, the space, and anything else you might come up with... money is no object.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
EBrown Response to Chapter 4
Sorry, getting the same html error again (although on a different computer than last week and also trying three differing browsers).
Chapter Four:
I took copious notes again on the ceramic artwork and artists, but also this time the textile artists. I had to hunt down images of Ilonka Karasz after the book casually mentioned she created 186 covers for the New Yorker magazine. I practically ate up the images I found; many of my favorite childrens' books were illustrated during the mid-to-late 20s to the late 40s, and Ilonka's work had the same aesthetic qualities I find so appealing in printed works. A little primitive or folksy, a little painterly. I recommend searching for more images; I was able to find some of her wallpaper patterns and textiles. Also, the description of textile artist Lydia Bush-Brown's work as "silk murals" set up a wonderful play in my mind between fabric and paint and what each "should be." Bush-Brown seems like Zorach in her treatment of material; make what you want without paying too much attention to the rules of the process. The variety in textile technique in this chapter was great! Some were exploring simply the way weave affected end product (Rodier) while others printed their design onto the fabric (Reeves).
I fell for Henry Varnum Poor. Two words were heavily outlined in my book: self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Perhaps because my secret dream is to one day make the plunge into having a full on studio of my own to work in day in and day out, but also how amazing is it that he BUILT his own house and studio?! Not only did he build the house but he built a pottery wheel (kick wheel, I'm sure) and taught himself--in trial by fire, literally--the ins and outs of firing a kersosene fueled kiln. I just love hearing about people that decide to do something and go out to conquer it. Best part about Poor's section in the book: "When he died in 1970, his kiln was ready to be fired." I hope when I go, I'll have continued to work up to the end. I'm taking with me from this chapter the gumption of Henry Varnum Poor: think it, want it, do it.
The discussion about Native American pottery made me think of one book that I recently read after attending an educators' workshop put on by the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Meadows Museum. Although the workshop was about Bhuddist cave temples, the lecturer recommended we read Craig Child's book "Finders Keepers" (Little, Brown and Co. 2010). Mainly his book covered the American southwest and the plight of Native American caches of pottery and artifacts. The book was amazing. Let me repeat (and catch your attention), THE BOOK WAS AMAZING!! <--truly. Childs covers so much in the book that makes one rethink ownership and rethink art collections, whether publicly held or private. He goes into detail about the spiritual implications for the Native peoples; when we unearth what they interred, it interrupts their life cycles. To quote, "My upbringing and my culture say we only let things go once , only put people away [bury] once, and hope no one will disturb them. We hope they will slowly return to the earth... Everything lives, everything has a spirit--grass, rock, vessel--and at some point they turn back." The book not inly covers Pre-Puebloan artifacts, but discusses a very interesting story of a Taoist (Daoist) monk guarding a lost library of Tibetan treasures in the Himalayan mountains (chapter 7 "History of Urges"). So, in order to not deviate too long from discussion of our chapter 4, I found myself thinking of the implications of ownership and culture while reading about the boon of Native American makers in the 20s; the Anglicanization of pot making, the making up of authenticity (Louisa Keyser and Cohns), and the breaking with traditions (gender roles in making and sharing/recording of patterns). Perhaps this is a tad Machiavellian of me, but it does not bother me that the motives of the Anglos assisting the Natives weren't all pure; what is important to me is that there was interest in these Native ways of making and the interest caused a contemporary record to be made and also encouraged the continuation of these practices.
One final thought on Chapter 4 (although I'm realizing I haven't touched at all on the topic of Art Deco and the wood/precious metals works), the phrase toward the end of the chapter in the section "the Last of the Old TImers" stuck out to me amidst all the art we've seen. "Beauty of form began to be regarded as more than incidental." It's the transition from folk pottery into studio pottery; from pottery as purely production to pottery for pottery's sake. We might find the idea of making an object without concern for it's overall aesthetic very strange indeed, but consider that these "old-timers" were traditionally making a ceramic product for its function without much regard to it's form. I think part of what makes the face jugs so appealing is their very awkward shaping. I'm sad that with the shrinking of our world (although global connectedness is awesome), we loose uninterrupted, uninfluenced, very quirky ways of making.
Chapter Four:
I took copious notes again on the ceramic artwork and artists, but also this time the textile artists. I had to hunt down images of Ilonka Karasz after the book casually mentioned she created 186 covers for the New Yorker magazine. I practically ate up the images I found; many of my favorite childrens' books were illustrated during the mid-to-late 20s to the late 40s, and Ilonka's work had the same aesthetic qualities I find so appealing in printed works. A little primitive or folksy, a little painterly. I recommend searching for more images; I was able to find some of her wallpaper patterns and textiles. Also, the description of textile artist Lydia Bush-Brown's work as "silk murals" set up a wonderful play in my mind between fabric and paint and what each "should be." Bush-Brown seems like Zorach in her treatment of material; make what you want without paying too much attention to the rules of the process. The variety in textile technique in this chapter was great! Some were exploring simply the way weave affected end product (Rodier) while others printed their design onto the fabric (Reeves).
I fell for Henry Varnum Poor. Two words were heavily outlined in my book: self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Perhaps because my secret dream is to one day make the plunge into having a full on studio of my own to work in day in and day out, but also how amazing is it that he BUILT his own house and studio?! Not only did he build the house but he built a pottery wheel (kick wheel, I'm sure) and taught himself--in trial by fire, literally--the ins and outs of firing a kersosene fueled kiln. I just love hearing about people that decide to do something and go out to conquer it. Best part about Poor's section in the book: "When he died in 1970, his kiln was ready to be fired." I hope when I go, I'll have continued to work up to the end. I'm taking with me from this chapter the gumption of Henry Varnum Poor: think it, want it, do it.
The discussion about Native American pottery made me think of one book that I recently read after attending an educators' workshop put on by the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Meadows Museum. Although the workshop was about Bhuddist cave temples, the lecturer recommended we read Craig Child's book "Finders Keepers" (Little, Brown and Co. 2010). Mainly his book covered the American southwest and the plight of Native American caches of pottery and artifacts. The book was amazing. Let me repeat (and catch your attention), THE BOOK WAS AMAZING!! <--truly. Childs covers so much in the book that makes one rethink ownership and rethink art collections, whether publicly held or private. He goes into detail about the spiritual implications for the Native peoples; when we unearth what they interred, it interrupts their life cycles. To quote, "My upbringing and my culture say we only let things go once , only put people away [bury] once, and hope no one will disturb them. We hope they will slowly return to the earth... Everything lives, everything has a spirit--grass, rock, vessel--and at some point they turn back." The book not inly covers Pre-Puebloan artifacts, but discusses a very interesting story of a Taoist (Daoist) monk guarding a lost library of Tibetan treasures in the Himalayan mountains (chapter 7 "History of Urges"). So, in order to not deviate too long from discussion of our chapter 4, I found myself thinking of the implications of ownership and culture while reading about the boon of Native American makers in the 20s; the Anglicanization of pot making, the making up of authenticity (Louisa Keyser and Cohns), and the breaking with traditions (gender roles in making and sharing/recording of patterns). Perhaps this is a tad Machiavellian of me, but it does not bother me that the motives of the Anglos assisting the Natives weren't all pure; what is important to me is that there was interest in these Native ways of making and the interest caused a contemporary record to be made and also encouraged the continuation of these practices.
One final thought on Chapter 4 (although I'm realizing I haven't touched at all on the topic of Art Deco and the wood/precious metals works), the phrase toward the end of the chapter in the section "the Last of the Old TImers" stuck out to me amidst all the art we've seen. "Beauty of form began to be regarded as more than incidental." It's the transition from folk pottery into studio pottery; from pottery as purely production to pottery for pottery's sake. We might find the idea of making an object without concern for it's overall aesthetic very strange indeed, but consider that these "old-timers" were traditionally making a ceramic product for its function without much regard to it's form. I think part of what makes the face jugs so appealing is their very awkward shaping. I'm sad that with the shrinking of our world (although global connectedness is awesome), we loose uninterrupted, uninfluenced, very quirky ways of making.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Chapter 4
This is one of my favorite chapters in the book because of it's introduction to SW crafts/arts and SE folk art, and the emphasis on textiles. In addition to your three standing questions of what surprised you, what impressed you and what are you taking away I have another question for you ...how do you personally and professionally balance the old with the new? Tradition with contemporary? Or if you prefer answer this extra question: how much of your household is handmade?
A few observations and a story or two.
When reading this book a few years back questions came up concerning basket making as a "women's art". Because I did not have a qualified answer, we contacted the Heard Museum in AZ and asked if all basket makers were women. A wonderful woman answered that traditionally women where the basket makers of most tribes/nations. That at times there would be he/shes who much like Hosleen Klah cross gender barriers to excel in a craft. She added that today a number of men have taken up basket making in order to preserve the craft. So what difference does gender make?
Continuing with that thought, when reading Ilonka Karasz and why her work was considered too domestic to survive over time contemplate what is consider "important" art. And why.
As a grad student in printmaking I remember a woman who did a beautiful litho of the piles of laundry she had to do weekly. She had two children under the age of 2 and used cloth diapers. When she showed her work during review the work was totally dismissed by the professor as "too mundane" while praising the prints of downhill skiers done by the male students. This literally was a turning in my life as an artist. Who has the right to chose my subject matter or determine what I find important?
Much of the discussion in this chapter is on the influence of markets or promoters on the art itself. The selling of tradition or the manipulation of the tradition or is it? In the book "Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change" by Wm. Cleveland and Patricia Shifferd, there is an interview with flute artist R.Carlos Nakai. He discusses how there are always those that want him to only play Native American music because he is responsible for keeping the music pure. His response is that he does not know a pure Native American or one from just one tribe or nation. That as time goes on so does culture. He follows the flute and its music around the world. So, when reading this chapter consider how much do we really know about other cultures vs. how much do we make up based on movies/t.v. or myths. What is your culture? Literally, where are you from and what makes up your family culture. How far back can you take your cultural history?
A few observations and a story or two.
When reading this book a few years back questions came up concerning basket making as a "women's art". Because I did not have a qualified answer, we contacted the Heard Museum in AZ and asked if all basket makers were women. A wonderful woman answered that traditionally women where the basket makers of most tribes/nations. That at times there would be he/shes who much like Hosleen Klah cross gender barriers to excel in a craft. She added that today a number of men have taken up basket making in order to preserve the craft. So what difference does gender make?
Continuing with that thought, when reading Ilonka Karasz and why her work was considered too domestic to survive over time contemplate what is consider "important" art. And why.
As a grad student in printmaking I remember a woman who did a beautiful litho of the piles of laundry she had to do weekly. She had two children under the age of 2 and used cloth diapers. When she showed her work during review the work was totally dismissed by the professor as "too mundane" while praising the prints of downhill skiers done by the male students. This literally was a turning in my life as an artist. Who has the right to chose my subject matter or determine what I find important?
Much of the discussion in this chapter is on the influence of markets or promoters on the art itself. The selling of tradition or the manipulation of the tradition or is it? In the book "Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change" by Wm. Cleveland and Patricia Shifferd, there is an interview with flute artist R.Carlos Nakai. He discusses how there are always those that want him to only play Native American music because he is responsible for keeping the music pure. His response is that he does not know a pure Native American or one from just one tribe or nation. That as time goes on so does culture. He follows the flute and its music around the world. So, when reading this chapter consider how much do we really know about other cultures vs. how much do we make up based on movies/t.v. or myths. What is your culture? Literally, where are you from and what makes up your family culture. How far back can you take your cultural history?
Brea's Reupholstering Pictures
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I made two sets of cushions (top and bottom) for the couch.
One with the pattern fabric (the same fabric the entire couch is reupholstered
in) and a metallic linen and natural duck cloth which is featured below. All I
had on my phone with the pattern cushions was a picture of half the couch. You
can zoom in and see some of the nail head trim around the arm. The nail head
trim is also at the top of the couch behind the cushions, at the bottom, and
sides but you can't see it in the picture. I will try to take more pictures
later.
The couch with the other set of cushions (metallic linen and natural duck cloth)
.jpg)
My headboard. (my bed wasn’t made in this pic...sorry :))
There is nail head trim around the boarder which is about 2 inches in from the
actual sides and the padding inside the trim sticks out about an inch higher
than the boarder to create more depth. I will try to take more pictures of what
I am talking about.
.jpg)
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These are also two chairs I bought at a garage sale. They
were in terrible condition so I sanded them and painted them and made a cushion
for them. This project only took me about two hours so it was really easy. They
are in my office at work :)
To upload a photo you just go to the "edit “section and
within that section you just click on the icon shown below. It’s the
"Insert Image Icon"
Once you click on it another box pops up and you just click
on the browse button and it will take you to your documents to select the
photos you want.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
EBrown Chapter 3 response
Frankly, I enjoyed the shorter chapter this week (looking ahead Chapter 4 appears quite lengthy), because it gave me more time to reflect over the reading and to research points of interest.
I didn't find it surprising that we still only see white, wealthier artists listed again in this chapter. At this point in our American history, minorities remain excluded from the mainstream and many lower socioeconomic Americans don't have the luxury of time to pursue artistic endeavors; nothing I say now can change that reality. However, we will soon read of the Harlem Renaissance, a time of great production for African American writings, music, and art. You and I both know that African Americans were making literary, musical, and artistic works prior to this time, yet it's as if our nation began to look outside the "traditional" to see that "oh! These people make art, too!" Hopefully, as we move further through American history we will begin to see more representation from ALL Americans.
Marguerite Zorach, and her husband William, have a tiny segment within the chapter, yet the image of her work stuck in my mind throughout the week. The feeling her piece "The Sea"--created by bright, pure hues and organic, curving lines--was so starkly different from the images of other textiles in our book thus far. It also stands apart from the works in glass, wood, and ceramics. Perhaps the jewelry we've looked at reaches the feeling of Zorach's the closest, but most of the A&C work we've seen, even if light in color, has felt heavy in design or over-contrived in design. To clarify that a little more, A&C artisans sought to create natural works based on originality and handcrafted workmanship, yet most examples we've seen seem reduced to flat, stylized motifs. Whereas Zorach's work breaks from stylization and from the overly geometric into this realm of "painterly composition." Her composition is planned out, yet retains the feeling of looseness and happenstance. I'm sure she was influenced by painters and other fine artists she knew personally and professionally (i.e. the Fauves). I was particularly excited to read that she and her husband maintained a relationship with Gaston Lachaise, a favorite figurative sculptor of mine. I can see a shared vocabulary in the depiction of the human form (a style choice of the 1910s, 20s). But perhaps her work retains this feeling of "painterly composition" because she viewed her work as paintings rather than textile pieces.
I underlined/scribbles/starred frequently in the segment about Janet Payne Bowles. She, like Zorach, pushed the boundaries of convention in her craft and made surprisingly modern forms. I found it interesting that she and her husband lived in Helicon Hall community started by Upton Sinclair--as we all know, author of "The Jungle." This alone intrigued me enough to hunt down a little more information, where I came across this 1909 article from the NY Times about the community and its demise in flames:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf_r=1&res=9406E5DB163EE233A25754C1A9659C946697D6CF
It is a long article, but provides lively context into the people we are reading about. As I was reading about JPB, I was also struck with the thought that it seemed "modern" for her husband to be a drug addict, although addiction is hardly a modern invention. Sometimes we feel as if our generation has a patent on certain vices, but certainly we aren't the inventors of addictions or other vices from the dark side of humanity. After these two difficult life events, JPB goes on to teach and make metal art. I found a 1924 publication of "International Studio" that others might find interesting; it contains more images of her work and insight into her life: http://www.chicagosilver.com/bowles.htm. Another aspect the author included in this section about Bowles that I find interesting is that even with all her achievements and accolades, JPB felt compelled to lie about her work. Perhaps this is a common compulsion for artists? We feel lots of pressure to remain "at the top" and pad the record because of an insecurity that perhaps we aren't producing at the rate of our peers/competitors. How often have I read another artist's CV and thought "she showed THAT much in 2010?! I must not be trying hard enough."
I am taking away from this chapter thoughts on originality and history. At the start of Chapter 3 we are reminded that the dominant thought of the day was "[to] dispense with references to the past" and that historicism was "bad taste and intellectual weakness." Again we hear mention of Frank Lloyd Wright's rejection of historical motifs (something that caught my eye in Chapter 2). Yet the very act of making also creates history. FLW might be surprised to see how his designs, his motifs, have become a part of design vernacular. Revivals and trends in aesthetic are cyclical, going back thousands of years into human history. What we value today, or for the next 50 years, was probably a popular school of thought a hundred years ago in one culture or another and we will be shocked into change by a "new" aesthetic coming onto the scene. We have to remember that to create art is to create history; we will end up as a blip on that timeline someday, too.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Chapter 3
This is a short chapter but it is filled with subtle hints that influence art today. First always keep in mind who is considered or written about and who is left out. What are the issues of race or class? Consider the concept that folk art is to craft as craft is to fine arts. How many ways do we as educators or as artist divide or make critical decisions based on a bias.
Also, in this chapter there is the further discussion on art as healing or occupational therapy. How does this play a part in your art making or teaching or outreach. Remember in Chapter 2 the Saturday Night Girls Club (ceramics for young women immigrants)? The rest of the story was a motivation to keep these women off the streets and away from prostitution. Can art save lives?
As we read each chapter compare this information with what you were taught or never taught, does the new information make a difference in how you will work? An example would be the rise of needlework...who even does needlework today?
A final question. Furniture continues to play a large part in this time period so what is your favorite chair. Not from this time period but in your studio or home. The chair you dream in or sketch in or take a nap in.
Also, in this chapter there is the further discussion on art as healing or occupational therapy. How does this play a part in your art making or teaching or outreach. Remember in Chapter 2 the Saturday Night Girls Club (ceramics for young women immigrants)? The rest of the story was a motivation to keep these women off the streets and away from prostitution. Can art save lives?
As we read each chapter compare this information with what you were taught or never taught, does the new information make a difference in how you will work? An example would be the rise of needlework...who even does needlework today?
A final question. Furniture continues to play a large part in this time period so what is your favorite chair. Not from this time period but in your studio or home. The chair you dream in or sketch in or take a nap in.
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