S+ART

A Breath of Fresh Air

 

                 
                     h ttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bagan.jpg

We have all walked by artists who are feeling daring enough to paint in the open, knowing some spectators might be negatively critiquing or distracting them with glares. Don’t let that disconcert you. Try painting or drawing ‘en plein air’ (in the open air), like many Impressionist painters did, such as Monet, Pissarro, and Renoir, who dedicated much of their time to painting outdoors. Springtime and the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC are just two reasons why you should begin setting up your easel and mixing your paint outdoors. By observing and rendering surroundings that are physically present (rather than view from a picture), you can then focus on what you see, not what you imagine or intellectualize about the subject.  

You also don’t have to go crazy with locations. Sometimes, I travel as close as my backyard to capture the sunset peaking in-between the trees or to the nearest park for a slight change. When drawing or painting in the open air, you are giving yourself the freedom to choose any spot you so desire, instead of being limited in a four-walled space.

 Here are some suggestions of local spots:

- The National Arboretum

- The National Mall and Memorial Parks  and The Tidal Basin

- The Smithsonian Gardens (eleven different locations to choose from!)

- The Franciscan Monastery Gardens

- Rock Creek Park

- Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

- Or even set up watercolors or pencils at your local coffee shop  and gaze out the window.

Depending on your medium of choice, you’ll need a Plein Air Painting Checklist for guidance. Remember, to travel light!

 

Painting by Sandra Warren Gobar. The Smithsonian Associates.

Not quite ready to try this on your own?  You’re in luck! The Smithsonian Associates will be presenting a Studio Arts class, Painting and Drawing En Plein Air instructed by Sandra Warren Gobar, taking place on Saturday, April 21-May 5 at 10:30am. Using your medium of choice, surround yourself in nice spring weather and local gardens such as the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden  and the Native Landscape Gardens at The American Indian Museum.  

Enjoy!

Facebook us @Smithsonian StudioArts

Follow us on Twitter @SmithsonianSA

~Margaret McClung

Upcoming Studio Art Courses and an Evening Seminar

 

Can you believe it's already March 15?  I know!  And, in just one month, the Studio Arts department starts up a new round of courses in digital media, painting, drawing, photography, and more.  I think I'm interested in the Travels With a Digital Nomad evening seminar on May 3.  

 

 
Andrew Evans uploading an Australian water dragon to Twitter while on assignment in Queensland, Australia. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke)

 

In this two-hour seminar, National Geographic travel writer Andrew Evans, known as the Digital Nomad who has visited all seven continents, talks about travelling the world in an interactive way using social media.  Because, face it - your family and friends want to hear about your trip to Thailand and they don't want to wait until you get back.  Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites allow travellers to stay connected with folks back home even while swimming with sharks in the South Pacific or perusing a souk in Morocco.  Of course, you'll need to get out of the water first, but you know what I mean.  Besides, all those photos?  You're gonna want to share them right away.  We want to see them right away!

 

Evans will describe how he uses social media to share photos, create videos, and use your phone to document experiences while exploring far-away lands and penguin attacks.  Before you head off, learn more about how to share the adventure while still exploring. 

 

The seminar costs $40 ($30 for members) at the S. Dillon Ripley Center on May 3, 2012 from 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. 

 

-Angela

"Sign it, Date it, and Call it a Painting"

                     
Photo by Margaret McClung

 

 During my last pastel class, instructor, Sandra Warren- Gobar prepped the day’s session for a still life and figure drawing lesson.  Each class was designed in a similar format: beginning with a critique of assigned homework from the last class (optional), drawing warm-ups, discussion of hand outs, tutorials, and finally, let the drawing commence. In the critiques and lessons, Sandra introduced vocabulary of art, like tension, finding your personal palette and various techniques of pastels.

 The positive, friendly atmosphere among students and the instructor continued to flourish with each class. Everyone was willing to contribute in some way, whether it was by lending a sheet of paper or offering some encouraging feedback.  I must admit, I’m not always a fan of critiques. Too many times I fear the disapproval from my teachers and fellow students. This was not the case in Sandra’s class. She always offered constructive criticism. Her pleasant and kind demeanor resulted in students readily accepting and applying her suggestions. She may suggest cropping your composition, increasing the tension, and making your colors pop more.  Then we were ready to “sign it, date it, and call it a painting”.  

 The most memorable lesson I learned from Sandra’s teaching in the class, was the concept that “drawing better is about seeing better”, because when we “see better we render art better.” I plan on implementing these idioms and practices throughout my growth as an artist. Thank you Sandra for such a valuable experience!

 

Photo by Margaret McClung

Please feel free to leave your own critique and comments!



Facebook us @Smithsonian StudioArts

Follow us on Twitter @SmithsonianSA

~Margaret McClung

Multiplicity: Worth multiple visits!

          Hallway view from the exhibition, Multiplicity at The Smithsonian American Art Museum

                                                            Photograph by Margaret McClung

                                                

 

Highlight pieces: Jim Dine, Singing and Printing I, 2001

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard), 1985

 

Yesterday, I walked into the American Art Museum not fully aware of the current exhibitions on view and was delightfully surprised to come across the show, Multiplicity (Nov 11, 2011-Mar 11, 2012). Multiplicity consists of 83 prints, with incorporated mediums such as aquatint, woodcut, acrylic paint, and screen print by forty-five known contemporary artists. Some of these highlights include works by John Baldessari, Chuck Close, Susan Rothenberg, Kara Walker, and Sol Lewitt. In the show, Multiplicity takes on a different meaning for each work. Some pieces seem so obviously constructed as one print, repeatedly processed to create one image and where as other works are multipart, series and sequences to create a theme.

 

As I walked through the exhibition, I couldn’t help but gravitate towards the brighter, larger scale works, such as the pieces by artist Jim Dine and Barbara Kruger. Jim Dine’s piece, Singing and Printing I, was instantly recognizable to me. I knew I’d seen this famous female figure before, but without looking at the label I wouldn’t have been certain. I wondered, is it just a trick of contemporary art, that you feel like you have to take a second look to be 100% certain? I felt a sense of relief when my hint of doubt was justified. Yes! Dine has frequently used the classical image of Venus de Milo, the Hellenistic sculpture many of us are familiar with, representing love and beauty. This work of Dines is the first in the series of prints titled Singing and Printing, where he takes the same woodcut image of Venus then adds a different color scheme and technique of painting in each print. Dine is exploring the ‘multiplying’ of various representational and symbolic meanings.

 

In her piece, Untitled, artist Barbara Kruger takes the text, “We will no longer be seen and not heard” and composes 9 individual prints which come together as one visually stimulating work. Kruger asks us, the viewers, to consider the idea of her piece in a cultural context. Again, here the artwork is never really considered to be definite, not only are the images multiplying, but the representational meaning does as well. Could the artist be signaling the “we” as women, a specific group of power or as a general audience? By using verbal language and implying the use of sign language, Kruger is creating a deliberate, open ended message which she repeats in her other prints.

 

Along with Dine and Kruger’s works, there are many other distinguished prints in the show that are worth seeing. I strongly suggest taking some time to visit the museum, as I know I will again (multiple times!). In accordance with the exhibition, there are several programs running which you can check out here:

 

http://residentassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=223897

 

http://residentassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=223684

 

~Margaret McClung

Joseph Cornell: A Treasured Artist

Peter Karp "Wheel of Nature"

Joseph Cornell was an artist whose work really exemplified the saying that “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Cornell lived from 1903 to 1972 mostly in New York City. He lived his early life in Nyack, New York with his two sisters and one brother who suffered from cerebral palsy. When he grew up, he moved to New York City and led a humble life mostly due to poverty and spent a great deal of his time taking care of his disabled brother. He was never a particularly social man which allowed him to focus on his artwork.

Cornell is known as being one of the pioneers of installation art. However, his work was not as out of the box as a lot of the contemporary installation art is today, but rather in a box. Cornell loved to collect little trinkets and such. His installations were constructed out of these “found objects” that were then compiled in shadow boxes to evoke an emotion or idea. Some of his work such as his well known piece, The Medici Slot Machine requires the viewer to interact with the piece by handling it. Cornell also created paintings and surrealist short films along with his boxed installations. His boxed masterpieces serve as examples of the principles of found objects and collage assemblage which is what allows Cornell to be regarded as a pioneer in the art world.

The artwork of Joseph Cornell may parallel the saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” but also transcends it because the “treasures” that he created allowed him to become part of modernist history. In a way, Cornell himself serves as a parallel by transcending a poverty stricken life by becoming a treasured artist.     

Facebook us @Smithsonian StudioArts

Follow us on Twitter @SmithsonianSA

~Griffin Baker

 

 If you would like to learn more about Joseph Cornell and his artwork, come to the Joseph Cornell and Your Museum of Ephemera All-Day Seminar and Studio Workshop where you can get the first-hand experience of creating your very own Cornell inspired boxed installation.

Check out the link below:

 http://residentassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=223240

Fall classes and workshops

 

As many of you know, several years ago I took one of the darkroom courses offered by the Smithsonian Associates and have been waiting for the right time to take another one.  Most courses last eight weeks and right now, eight weeks is a lot of committment.  I was pleased to find that the Resident Associates program also offers one-shot lectures and seminars in addition to the courses - ideal for someone like me who has a problem making it to class every week.  One evening and I'm done?  Sign me up!

 

One lecture that caught my eye is Eye on the President happening Monday, September 26.  In this seventy-five minute session, John Bredar, executive producer of National Geographic Television, talks with three Presidential photographers - Bob McNeely (President Clinton's photographer), Eric Draper (President George W. Bush's photographer), and even Pete Souza (President Obama's photographer who also worked at the White House during the Reagan years) - about the challenges of documenting a Presidential administration as well as capturing their personal side.  How else will we have the images we see in retrospectives or biographies?  Bredar will also be available to sign his book, President's Photographers after the lecture.  Tickets are $30 for general admission or $25 for Members. 

 

Another documentary photographer is the focus of Edward S. Curtis: The Shadow Catcher, an evening seminar on Tuesday, September 27.  Curtis spent his career documenting the lives of our country's Native Americans, recording tribal and traditional customs of more than 80 tribes, traveling with his own mobile photo lab consisting of equipment, technicians, and researchers, all on a horse-drawn wagon.  His collection of over 40,000 photographs is one of the most significant collections of traditional American Indian culture ever produced.  George Horse Capture, senior counselor emeritus to the director at the American Indian Museum and the great-grandson of Horse Capture, who was photographed by Curtis, describes the photographer's visit to the A'aninin Tribe of Montana.  The seminar also includes film footage as well as an explanation of Curtis' goldtone development process.  General admission tickets to this evening seminar are $40.

 

Take a look at the entire schedule of seminars and lectures offered by the Smithsonian Resident Associates program.

 

For you who can commit to an entire course, check out the full course listing that includes Open Darkroom, Joy of Photography, Studio Portraiture, Fall Landscapes along the Potomac, Alternative Photographic Process courses, along with many more, all starting up in October.  Register before they fill up and let me know what you're taking!

 

Have a favorite instructor?  What's been your favorite course so far? 

 

-Angela

 

Playing in the Dark

 

A few years ago, I took a photography class at the Smithsonian Associates with Leland Bryant. It was an introduction to 35 mm photography and included developing and printing. Well, I wasn't new to photography and had been developing my own film for years, so I was mostly interested in the printing part. While I had put together my own darkroom and had been printing quite bit of my own work, it was difficult, I was inefficient, missing some valuable information, and the whole process was really wasteful( and expensive!). I took the course to learn directly from someone rather than trying to follow books or online procedures, and I really learned a lot, and it was fun having a couple hours set aside every Sunday in a well-stocked darkroom. Leland provided direction in a wat that helped me to better understand how filters work and how to actually make a test print obtain a properly contrasted and exposed final print. It was great.

I could have really used Leland's direction last night.

While a friend is away for a couple weeks, I am taking advantage of his enlarger-equipped windowless bathroom to spend some quality time in the dark with my negatives. Lately, I only print when there's a specific need, and sometimes I end up paying for someone else to do it for me to save time. Since I have such a backlog, I figured I should probably put together a collection of future prints for future use. Besides, it's fun!

Did I mention that I could have really used Leland's help last night?

So I mixed up the chemicals, turned on the safe light, pulled out the filters and paper, got my sharpie ready, and flipped through the pages to find the first photo to work on.

 

 
 
I saw him in Piazza Campo de'Fiori the day I arrived in Rome, sitting on a bench, carving some leather. He was there on that same bench when I returned to Rome a week later. He didn't speak a lot of English, but let me take his photo and showed me some of his work. There was a lot of detail and nice light in this photo, so I decided to print him first.

Leland always suggested starting with a grade 2 or 2.5 filter to get a baseline test print, so that's what I did. I exposed the test strip for 5,10,15,20, and 25 seconds at f/3, and transferred it to the tray developer. Within a few seconds, the entire strip of paper was black. Great.

Things would be a lot easier if all of my negatives were properly exposed, but that's not going to happen, so let's move on.

I stopped the lens down one step to f/4, repeated the sequence, and transferred the paper to the developer where it, once again, turned black. Awesome.

 I removed the filter, stopped the lens down one more stop, repeated the exposure, and waited for the paper to turn black. It did, but the five-second exposure actually had a little detail! Now we're getting somewhere.

By this time, the bathroom was getting stuffy and I was getting frustrated. I dropped the Sharpie and it rolled somewhere I couldn't immediately find, so I stopped making notes on the test prints (Leland is shaking his head, I just know it...) but, I finally worked out the proper exposure/time/filter combination for a good print. Next up: burning.

While his face and clothes were perfect, the bricks on the sidewalk and the piece of leather on the bottom right corner were washed out. Once I exposed the paper for the first round, I reset the timer for 2 seconds and used a piece of cardboard to block the light so only the areas that needed it were further exposed. Success!

 If I remember correctly (remember that I dropped the Sharpie and stopped making notes), the final print was obtained from a three-second exposure of the overall negative, with an additional two seconds on the top right and left corners and on the bottom right, at an f/stop of 3 and no filter. I made the eight copies.

 

If I had regular access to a darkroom, I would definitely spend more time printing for fun rather than out of necessity. In doing this, I would better understand how all of the elements work together to create a properly exposed print. I have access to this bathroom for two more weeks until my friend returns. I'll be there a lot this weekend...

-Angela-

 

 

P.S. This is Leland

Pastels: From The Ground Up

 

Limitations crash to the ground when I recall my own past involvements in painting and pastel classes. Whether it is at a University or an institution, artistic restrictions often cloud one’s experiences. Words such as, “basic,” “standard,” “usual,” “normal,” “store-bought,” “dependence,” “discomfort” and simply just not the right fit, fill my head.

 

For those aspiring beginners, or artists who simply love to try new things, here’s the chance to share a unique hands-on workshop filled with independence and versatility. Have you ever wanted to share in the experience of creating your own media or be the master of your own artistic vision through individually made color, size of media, or form?  Have you ever wanted to create that “special” color that fits only your work and vision? If this is the experience you seek, From The Ground Up: Making and Using Pastel and Pastel Papers (Sat., July 9 - 23, 1 - 4:30 p.m.) is most definitely the course for you.

 

Pastel is defined as an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment with a binder or glue. In this unique class instructed by Michael Gilbert, participants “will go beyond store-bought pastel colors and custom papers to gain creative control over your supply options in this hands-on workshop.”

 

Pastel Creation Process

 Glass Surface for Pastel Workstation

 

 Adding Measured out Pigment and Combining with Binding Solution

 

 

 
Creating mixture and then paste

 

 

 
Cutting pastel paste into Unique pieces

 All Photos are Courtesy of Phyllis Franklin

 

-Matt Weiler

(NatuRe)al Sensations

Peppers by Gary Shankman

Where is the love, passion, and enjoyment for simple touch, tastes, smells, and sounds? The love for nature needs to be expressed through different forms; what better way than to study the cultural landscape, social scenery, and physical world that surrounds us daily. First one must “see”!

 

“The first objective of an artist is to observe- to study nature” – Gary Shankman, Instructor

 

The goals for all individuals should be stretching ideas and creativity within themselves, then have it in-sync with the surrounding world. In order to achieve this perspective, one must explore nature and life physically and mentally with all sensations.

 

This state of mind is perfectly exemplified in Gary Shankman’s:

 

 The Still-Life in Pastel (Sunday, June 26 - 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) still available!

 Landscape Painting at Brookside Gardens

4-Session Daytime Course (registration closed; stay tuned for upcoming programs!)

 

Gary Shankman strives to obtain a respect and understanding of nature while interacting on a personal level with what is observed in the outer world. His passion, knowledge and expertise are prevalent in his work and teaching philosophy. Please take the opportunity to check out Gary Shankman's bio to learn more about his background, objectives and goals as well as more information on the classes. 

 

On the Corner by Gary Shankman

 
Lakehouse by Gary Shankman

 

Have a great start of the week! Remember to start "seeing"

-Matt Weiler

 

Neon Light Sculpture Class

The Smithsonian Associates Studio Art department provides a core curriculum each term in addition to several specialty classes that are only offered occasionally. One such class is Neon Light Sculpture taught by Craig Kraft who has been teaching with the Smithsonian Associates for over a decade. He teaches Neon Light Sculpture in the winter session and his class generally fills. I had the pleasure of attending his first lecture which was informative and inspiring. When one thinks about sculpture, neon light is not a traditional material, nor does it normally make one think of fine art; rather one thinks about the commercial aspects of neon. However after seeing Kraft's work in person, these pieces are clearly art. I was able to see the work that went into their creation and appreciate the intensity within the sculptures themselves.

    Class begins with an introduction to neon light, including basic properties and elements of neon light,  its history and development, and examples of work from other artists  using neon light. In subsequent  classes participants will work with one tube of neon and learn to bend the tubes,  as well as observe demonstrations of the process of tube bombarding, and rare gas filling. While this all sounds like one needs to be a master of neon light in order to participate that is not true. The class is open to beginners as well as advanced students.

    Kraft has an extensive educational background, he received his BA as well as his MA from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He has exhibited widely throughout the US, has led the International Sculpture Conference two times, and has both public and private commissions. One of his most recent public commissions, "Vivace" is now installed at the new Watha T. Daniel- Shaw library in Washington DC. Please go see this great piece in person these sculptures look amazing up close!

 

  Kraft has been sculpting with neon for over thirty years.  His newest work as most artists work does, has evolved a great deal from his earlier figurative work. In my humble opinion these newest pieces which Kraft calls Unintentional Drawings, are very successful. Below are his Unintentional Drawings #1, #2, #3. What drew me to these Unintentional Drawings was the contrast between their free and careless appearance and the detailed work that I know went into their creation. Work that while creative and rewarding is also exacting and time consuming.  I was also attracted to the narrow palette of color Kraft used in this series.

 

 

  Please visit Kraft's website for more information about the artist: http://home.craigkraftstudio.com/

-Patricia Burns-