S+ART

Photo Films

 

Films and photographs, two story-telling methods based on a shared concept, rarely cross paths in their traditional applications.  For one, photographs provide a sense of memory or past occurences while films show the perspective of events occuring right now, along a linear sequence, wherever they may be despite their setting along the historical timeline.  Both require someone to work the equipment with the ability to convey an idea, message, or storyline, plus the ability by those in front of the camera to help convincingly translate those ideas. While photographs are sometimes featured within a film, it is usually a fleeting occurence in conventional movies.  But, sometimes the two mediums are combined. 

 

Photo films, also known as photo-roman and ciné-roman, are experimental cinematic films consisting entirely of still images set to voice-overs, music and sound-effects.  The result is referential with a dream-like sense of watching a memory, and can evoke feelings of foreboding or loss, depending on the subject matter. 

 

Examples of the photo-roman are the 1962 French sci-fi La Jetée, which comprises 28 minutes of still photos that tell's the story of a prisoner in a post-apocalyptic Paris who time travels to chase the memory of a woman from an ephemeral moment in his childhood.  Chafed Elbows, on the other hand, is a "manic comic parody" of the Greenwich Village bohemian scene that uses mostly still photographs taken by director Robert Downey, Sr., with a 35mm camera and developed at Walgreens in 1966. 

Other photofilms include Hervé Guibert's  Suzanne et Louise (1980) and Le Seul Visage (1984), Benoit Peeters' and Marie-Françoise Plissart's  Fugues (1983), Droits de regard (1985), and Le Mauvais Œil (1986), and Christian Bruel's and Xavier Lambours' La Mémoire des scorpions (1991).

 

See this art form for yourself this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art. The Filmic Photograph, part of the Photofilm! series, is a free, 90-minute presentation of photofilms from over the past 30 years. 

 

-Angela

 

 

Heighten your Senses

 

 

 

 

Carlos Cruz-Diez, Chromosaturation, 1965, refabricated 2010. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Iwan Baan. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

 

This past weekend I took the opportunity to visit the recently opened exhibition, Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space at the Hirshhorn Museum. The show features illuminated works of light, spatially conscience and tangible installations, and audio-visual performances by five Latin American artists. You begin the interactive exhibit on the second floor of the museum. Suprasensorial is unlike your typical exhibit at many museums, where one is accustomed to viewing two-dimensional artwork, abiding by the no touching, 2 ft. distance rule. Not in this case. Instead of viewing a painting or any form of artwork visually from a distance, Suprasensorial invites you to walk into, around, and touch the pieces of art. Some visitors, myself included, were looking for signage that blatantly clarified this, advocating, “It’s okay, please touch! Please don’t hold back!”

 

On view in the first gallery and later in the show were works by Artist Jesus Rafael Soto, a key figure in the Optical Art movement. Soto’s earlier pieces challenge the viewer’s basic perceptual awareness in the traditional media of painting and sculpture, while his later work expands the concept with the sensory experience of touch. When you visit the show, you will recognize Soto’s inviting sculpture, Blue Penetrable, complete with museum goers moving hazily in between hundreds of dangling blue nylon strings. Artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez was also concerned with destabilizing space using optical illusions. Diez constructed a three sectioned installation titled Chromosaturations, implementing three hues of fluorescent lights: blue, magenta, and green. When you walk into each space, the vibrancy of color is so strong and impactful that it becomes rather difficult to distinguish where the floor meets the wall. The colors also appear to overlap and intertwine within each room, creating a visual distortion. To help preserve the pristine white floor of Chromosaturations, the museum provides disposable footwear to slip over your shoes. Can’t say I’ve ever had that experience at a museum before.

 

  

Jesús Rafael Soto, Blue Penetrable, 1969, fabricated 1999. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Iwan Baan. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

 

 

Before reaching the Hirshhorn, Suprasensorial was exhibited at MOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, CA. Displayed in a similar manner, the exhibit includes the works of the same five Latin American Artists. However, MOCA displayed the installation, Cosmococa—Programa in Progress, CC4 Nocagions by artist Hélio Oiticica and filmmaker Neville D'Almeida, which features a swimming pool. Yes, an indoor swimming pool in a museum.

 

Here’s a video link as proof: (fast forward to 3:50 for the swimming pool footage)http://www.moca.org/audio/blog/?p=1302

 

 The pieces in Suprasensorial would not effectively serve the purpose the artists intended if visitors weren’t encouraged to walk through, feel and actively immerse themselves in the space, light, and color of the works. Don’t be shy, test out your senses at Suprasensorial to see the sensation of the experience for yourself!

 

The show is on view at the Hirshhorn Museum until May 13, 2012, so add it onto your to-do list!

 

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~ Margaret McClung

All About Pastels: Using Oil-Paint Sticks

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If you are like me and have a preference or more practice with oil based mediums, then you will be very pleased with the quality of oil-paint sticks. Oil- paint sticks are exactly what you would guess: oil paint in stick form. What keeps the paint from bursting out is the addition of special waxes, which enable them to be molded into this stick form. Along with painting, oil-paint sticks can also be considered a drawing medium.

In my Pastel class, I have been learning more about the different brands and types of oil pastels. I am using oil-paint sticks similarly to pastels, as a drawing and blending tool, which allows me to utilize various pastel techniques. Here is what I have discovered:

For first-time use, brand new sticks must have the protective skin of wax film removed off of the tip of the paint stick. It’s easy to do this with a cloth/ paper towel.  After a day or two the wax coating reforms to keep the paint from drying out.

Ah-Ha, the wax sealing reveals the creamy oil paint… Now, you’re ready to go.

Once the paint stick touches your desired surface (can be primed canvas, Masonite, acid-free sized paper, or fabrics), you will see the richness of the oil color and the difference when applied lightly or with pressure. I have noticed that the oil sticks become creamier in texture when using a slight force of pressure.  I prefer this result, as I like to make expressive, gestural lines.

Oil-paint sticks are compatible with a range of drawing and painting mediums, including oil, alkyd and acrylic paints, oil pastels and pencil. I recommend using the painting sticks on top of painting mediums, opposed to trying to mix and blend the different mediums.

For blending and brushing, there are special colorless paint-sticks  available, which increase the transparency of the colors. You can also use the same brushes and thinning mediums that you use for oil painting, such as Turpentine/Turpenoid. By adding a thinner to your paint stick you improve the flow of color. Being a fan of texture, my go-to method of blending is applying paint in thick layers, and then modeling it with a paintbrush or knife. This way, the paint remains workable for several hours.

Several brands of Oil Sticks include:

Winsor& Newton Oil Bars 

 Sennelier Oil Sticks

Shiva Artist's Paintstik / Student Grade Paintstik

R&F Pigment Sticks Opaque Assortment 

*Note, because there are variations in chemicals, texture, handling properties and drying time among different brands, I advise against mixing brands in the same art work. Instead, try sampling each brand individually.  

 

                 

Still Life, Oil-Paint sticks on paper by Margaret McClung

 

I hope that you can find your own use for oil-paint sticks, whether it is for painting/drawing, touch ups, outdoor painting, or another means.

Here’s a quick video tutorial on painting with oil-sticks: http://www.ehow.com/video_5996013_paint-oil-sticks.html

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~Margaret McClung

This Week in Photographic History

 

This week marks the anniversaries of two significant events in photographic history, which continues to evolve. 

 

On February 21, 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated the very first instant camera which combined chemicals and light-sensitive material in a self-contained, self-developing, one-step system that produced a positive photograph in about one minute.  Inspired by his young daughter's impatience at having to wait so long to see pictures, Land applied the principle of diffusion, which is the movement of a component under the influence of a physical stimulus (or the rollers in the Polaroid camera) to distribute the necessary chemicals over the light-sensitive surface and yield the photograph that appeared before our eyes, almost as if by magic.  The lucky members of the Optical Society of America were the first to witness this breakthrough when Land first unvieled the concept sixty-five years ago, following his development (pun totally intended) of light polarizing filters used to control glare in sunglasses, automobile headlights (he even did work with stereoscopic photography).  The first Polaroid camera hit the stores in late 1948 and fans immediately cleared the shelves of all 60 units on the very first day.  Polaroid Corporation, which his company was now called, planned a little better the following year and manufactured at least 1.5 million Model 95 folding viewfinder cameras.  Obviously, Land's 3-year-old daughter wasn't the only person who couldn't wait to see their pictures and the Polaroid became a big hit, spawning an industry of instant film products and establishing the phrase "take a Polaroid" in both photographic history and popular culture.

 

 

 

 

                                                   

Polaroid Land Camera Model 95 - the first commercially-available instant camera developed by Edwin Land and the Polaroid Corporation in 1948.  Photograph by Eugene Ilchenko.

 

 

 

If he were still alive today, Ansel Adams would have celebrated his 110th birthday on February 20.  His iconic photographs of the American West and Yosemite National Park are immediately recognizable and established him as a integral figure in nature photography and wilderness preservation.  Adams was also a consultant to the Polaroid Corporation that his buddy Edwin Land co-founded and used Polaroid products to produce thousands of photographs, including El Capitan, Winter, Sunrise in 1968.

 

 

  

El Capitan, Winter, Sunrise (1968), Ansel Adams

 

 

~ Angela

Quote of the Day

                             
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 In Honor of President's Day:

"The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation's purpose...and is a test of the quality of a nation's civilization."

 ~ J.F.K Statement prepared for Creative America, 1963

All About Pastels: Wolf Kahn's Captivating Colors

“People mistakenly think that art is about nature, or about an artist's feelings about nature. It is instead a path of enlightenment and pleasure, one of many paths, where nature and the artist's feelings are merely raw material.”~ Wolf Kahn

 

               
     Wolf Kahn, Aura, 2005, Screenprint. The Smithsonian Associates Art Collectors Program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wolf Kahn, My Barn on a Summer Night, 1982. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Mrs. Grace Borgenicht Brandt and Mrs. Margarete Schultz, 1987.    

  

I have been attending a pastel class, here at The Smithsonian Associates  and one of the main influences has been the work of Wolf Kahn. I am entranced by the rich and expressive quality of his use of color. When I look at the pieces, Aura and My Barn on a Summer Night, or any of his works for that matter, I am awe-struck. I find that it is no easy task to capture the brilliant hues of color, like Kahn successfully does.

The celebrated colorist, Wolf Kahn, was born in Germany in 1927. Kahn came to the US in 1940, where he began his career and studies as an artist. Here, he studied and was an assistant under the abstract expressionist, Hans Hofmann . In Aura, and as seen in many of his other landscapes, Kahn captures the essence of nature in his sublime use of color. Kahn creates a horizontal distraction and tension of warm vs. cool colors in My Barn on a Summer Night. Kahn’s unique style has transpired into a fusion of expressive spontaneity that we see from colorists like, Henri Matisse, Mark Rothko  and from his mentor, Hans Hofmann. Kahn continues to produce works today and has regularly been featured at galleries and museums across the US. You are not far from the pieces featured in this article. Both works are displayed here in Washington, DC, at the Hirshhorn Museum and The S. Dillion Ripley Center.

Who Knows? Maybe, by the end of my pastel class I will have a colorful, Kahn inspired picture to feature here!

~ Margaret McClung

 

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Angela's Tips: Camera Bags

I bought my current camera bag in November 2001 as I was preparing to go to Paris, alone; my first time out of the country.  I didn't think the bag that I had was appropriate - it was a backpack and fine for carrying around a camera and a few lenses, and plenty of room for other stuff, too, but hard to get into in a hurry.  I didn't really want to spend a lot of time stopping to go through my bag.

After researching camera bags for a few days, I settled on a canvas messenger style that could be worn across my torso rather than on my back.  Two of the pockets had velcro, which I despise, but it wasn't very sticky, so it was tolerable. 

The bag came with removable foam inserts that created compartments to protect whatever it was that I needed to carry.  One pocket was perfect for a wallet, the other carried film, I could slip some filters and extra batteries in the smaller zippered pockets, and the big open pocket on the back was ideal for maps, a guidebook, postcards, a small notebook, a magazine, and anything else I needed to cram in there.

That bag was been to seven countries, I have no idea how many cities, and has pretty much been at my side every outing since I bought it. 

Then, about two years ago, my cameras started to get bigger and didn't quite fit as well as the 35mm cameras.  I got the crazy idea that maybe I needed a newer bag with more room and started seeing some newer bags a few of my friends were carrying.  One of them seemed to have everything I could ever want in a camera bag: a wider main compartment and bigger inside pockets.  After stalking it online for a few months, I received it as a birthday gift that year. 

I immediately transferred everything to that bag and used it every time I went out shooting while my trusty messenger bag sat alone and sad in a corner of my room.  Even though I could carry the Mamiya TLR AND the Bronica 4x6 AND a 35mm WITH an extra lens PLUS film, it didn't take long to realize that this new bag's design wasn't going to work out.  Its design had flaws: getting cameras out was difficult and slow and the bag's weight distribution was awkward and uncomfortable.  More and more, I noticed that I was returning to the old one.

Both bags went to Italy.  After the first day carrying around the new bag, I switched back to the messenger and it never let me down.

But, after 9.5 years, it's starting to show its age.  During my trip a few weeks ago, I noticed a tear.  Over the course of the weekend, that tear grew into a huge rip.  It won't be long before the top flap detaches from the bag entirely.  This makes me sad.  That bag has been with me everywhere.  I don't think that design is still being made.

I guess I'll have to start looking for a replacement.  It will be a long process just to find one that comes close.  Of course, I could just use some duct tape.

 

What do you look for in a camera bag?  Do you have a favorite one?  Please let us know in the comments!!

~Angela
  

Painting Alternatives: Improvising materials

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I find that one of the biggest setbacks as an artist, especially as a painter, is the expense of purchasing art supplies. We know that quality does matter in art. Unfortunately, high quality does come with a very high price. However, there are ways to cheat the system and still stay satisfied. From teachers, friends, and fellow artists, I have discovered some great alternative painting materials that can be used in place of store bought materials.

Without splurging on your life savings, here are some cheaper art material substitutes you can use instead:

Substitutes for canvas material:

Cardboard serves as a really great acid free base because once treated with gesso the cardboard becomes less absorbent, preventing the paint from soaking onto the surface. The best type of cardboard for painting is thin cardboard, infused with epoxy resin , which creates a waterproof long-term base.  Not to mention, cardboard is recyclable so you can feel guilt-free.

Masonite or hardboard is another common substitute for canvas. Masonite is the brand name of a type of board made from wood chips and resin, with a smooth and rough surface on either side of the board. Both sides can be painted on, depending on the type of texture you’d like to create. I suggest sanding and applying several coats of gesso to remove any impurities.

Oak, poplar, pine and plywood make great painting surfaces that are moisture resistant. It is important to sand the panels and prime the surface with a couple coats of wood primer, gesso will work as well.  One thing to keep in mind with wooden panels is the weight and bulkiness of the paintings. I find this to be a disadvantage, especially when I need to transport my work.

Glass and metal are other possible surfaces for painting. Glass surfaces must be primed first and can be painted with the use of tempera, oil or if you’re in the mood to splurge a little, you can purchase custom colored paints/adhesives for glass.  Metal sheets like aluminum, steel, and copper, can be used with oil paints (no need for primers) or other paints which will require an oil-based primer or varnish to protect the colors.

A heads up: if you’re painting with oil, you should be aware that oil paints do tend to degrade the quality of paper (esp. thinner paper) over time, making the paints brittle and dull.

You are not the first to use these substitutes! Some great masters of painting that used these various surfaces include, Edourard Vuillard, Albrecht Durer, Toulouse-Lautrec and Leonardo Da Vinci.

There’s more! Other cheap replacements include:

Instead of purchasing a wooden or plastic palette, you can use aluminum baking trays found at your local grocery stores. I buy these metal trays in bulk and use them for both acrylic and oils. They are insanely cheap, store well, and come in various sizes and depths.

If you use painting knives and aren’t very picky when it comes to quality, you can save yourself money by buying plastic, durable painting knives at Hardware shops. Places like Home Depot and Lowes sell different sizes in painting knives and also offer brushes for use of different paints. Painting knives work really well for creating texture, flat planes of color and mixing paint on your palette. Also, a piece of glass, wrapped with durable thick tape at one end is another effective and cheap solution.

I am always searching for brush cleaners that can do the trick quickly, yet thoroughly. I find Murphy’s soap and Gojo cleaner to be the best fast acting products for cleaning oil brushes. I have made this common mistake before: solvents like turpentine and turpenoid (odorless), do in fact wipe the paint off the brushes but are not meant to clean the brushes. These solvents can actually dry out and tear the threads of your brushes if left in the thinner for too long. Turpentine/turpenoid are best used for thinning mediums, easy removal and touch ups, and drying layers of oil paint.

Here are some links of alternative methods/materials:

http://emptyeasel.com/2010/04/12/three-alternative-surfaces-for-oil-paints-besides-stretched-canvas/

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7361687_use-cardboard-permanent-art-projects.html

http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/a/hardboard.htm

http://kimcpell.ipower.com/artblog/?p=164

http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/ss/painting_knife.htm

http://www.trueart.info/brush_care.htm

 

Do you find this helpful or have your own recommendations to share? Let us know by leaving a comment or two!

~Margaret McClung

In Tribute to Black History Month

Jacob Lawrence, Cabinet Makers, 1946. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966

 

In celebration of Black History Month, I wanted to begin the post by giving a brief bio of a well known artist whose works are displayed here in town!

Artist Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), whose painting is featured above, was one of the prominent African American painters of the 20^th century. As depicted in his artwork and throughout his career as an artist, Lawrence placed great emphasis on the history and struggles endured by African Americans. Lawrence’s career skyrocketed at the young age of twenty-three when he completed the sixty-panel set of narrative paintings, called The Migration Series. The series marks the story of the migration of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the South to the North after World War I. Visit The Phillips Collection, where even-numbered panels from The Migration series are on view or venture to the 3^rd floor at The Hirshhorn Museum to see other paintings by Jacob Lawrence.  

 

The big to-do’s around town worth checking out for Black History Month:

Smithsonian Black History Month 2012 Event Calendar : In Celebration of Black History Month there are several events taking place at various Smithsonian venues throughout the month of February. This site features heritage videos, kid’s activities, “Family Memory” storybooks and other related resources.

 

Black History Month at the National Museum of African Art: Features the performance of  Haitian-American musician, Daniel Roumain, on Saturday, February 25. The Museum will also be hosting their 2012 African Art House Film Festival , on every Thursday evening in February. Also, stay tuned for this months after hours, Africa Underground on February 24, 2012!

 

On view at the National Museum of American History is the exhibit, Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello:Paradox of Liberty from The National Museum of African American History and Culture. The exhibit recognizes six slave families living at Jefferson’s estate, Monticello. The exhibit takes a deeper look into slavery along with the family’s ties to religion, literacy and struggle for freedom. The exhibit remains open till October 14, 2012 at.

 

African Voices  at The Museum of Natural History is a permanent exhibit that examines various themes in the life of Africa’s peoples and cultures. The exhibit includes historical and contemporary objects, interactive stations, and various personal testimonies.

 

Anacostia Community Museum - On view in the permanent collection, Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia highlights the history of baseball in Washington, D.C. from Reconstruction to the second half of the 20^th century.

 

In addition, here’s an online source worth exploring:

Smithsoniain.com-Black History & Heritage Month : If you can’t make it to any of the featured exhibits/events, here’s the site for you. This online dedication hub to Black History Heritage Month consists of articles rich with history and stories of legendary African American leaders and role models in the country. The site also includes personal testimonies from President Barack Obama, poet Rita Dove, and legendary dancer, Maurice Hines.

 

If you know of any other Black History Month related events or exhibits on view please fill us in! Thanks!

 

~ Margaret

Losing Negatives

I learned a very important lesson last week.  For now, it is easier and faster to outsource my printing since I do not have a dedicated darkroom or a lot of time to spend there (it's pretty addictive and very time-consuming), and I prefer to use a lab located in the Southwest (and, have for a long time).  Last week, I was expecting a delivery of prints and got concerned when I arrived home from work on Friday and they were not there. So, I called the lab to find out when it shipped and, according to the tracking info, it had been delivered Thursday morning, about 36 hours earlier. Ugh, what? That box had prints, which can be replaced, but also contained the negatives, which cannot. I searched the building, the dumpsters, the bushes out front, talked to a few neighbors, none of whom had seen a box at my door the day before. I was convinced they were lost forever.

 

This print order was to complete a portfolio with some of my favorite and best work, so it was sort of like wiping out a big part of my photo collection if they were gone, and I came very close to becoming physically ill. The phone call I made to the post office did not go well, though I was assured they would do all they could to track my package. Next, I posted a note on the front door of my building asking if anyone had received a box by mistake or seen one around and prepared for the worst. At this point, I had accepted that my negatives were gone and there was nothing more I could do.

 

Here you may be thinking that I could still work from the scans, right? Although I do scan most of my negatives, the initial scans are done quickly at a resolution too low for printing to protect them online.  And, since I print traditionally, high-res files of my photos aren't necessary and take up a lot of hard drive space. BUT! They sure would save the day if the negatives were ever lost or damaged, I now realize.

 

Later that night, a neighbor knocked on my door with my box - it had been delivered to his door with several others of his own the day before. Turns out, that physically-ill feeling also comes with relief.

 

So, what's the lesson? I could start by making a high-res scan of each negative (the entire strip, actually) before sending them out for printing as a back-up copy. I will also re-evaluate the ways I mail and ship them, consider adding insurance, and possibly require a signature for delivery or have them held at the post office for pick-up. 

 

Granted, those who shoot digitally don't run this same risk of lost negatives, but what if your hard-drive(s) fail? Everyone benefits by having a back-up plan, literally, to protect work from being lost forever. 

 

If you would like to share your own ways of backing up work, whether digital or film, please let us know in the comments.

 

-Angela