Friday, July 28, 2006

New Fall Class at Pratt

The following class is now open for registration. Sign up soon!

Drawing and Dialogue with the Masters

Ever have a baffling visit to a museum or gallery? Get on familar terms with famous artists as you learn what to look for in their work AND how to talk about it with confidence in this hands-on art appreciation and drawing class. We interpret paintings, drawings, and sculpture from Michelangelo to Matisse using graphite, charcoal, ink, and colored pencil, then share our discoveries with one another in open discussions. Feel your confidence grow as you learn to see, use, and verbalize the concepts that build a work of art, including negative space, light and shadow, color, and composition, as well as mood, concept and viewpoint. We develop a vocabulary of art terms and practice using it in a fun and active environment. Class culminates with a visit to the Frye Art Museum.

10am - 1pm, 9/21 - 10/26
Number of Sessions: 6
Course Fee: $160

Pratt Fine Arts Center



Julia Hensley
Velazquez/Infanta Study 2
Graphite on paper
4 x 5 1/2"
2005





Diego Rodriquez de Silva y Velazquez
Maria Teresa Infanta of Spain
1561-1654
Oil on canvas
12 7/8 x 15 1/8"
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Here are answers to some questions about this class from students. Let me know if you have others.

Q: "Master artists" - does that mean I have to be an advanced student?

A: No. The master artists are the ones we will be studying. The class is open to all.

Q: If we are "interpreting" does that mean I have to already have a "style"?

A: No, though you may find the class helps you uncover and explore personal ways of working. In making our own study of a work by another artist, we first learn how the work is designed. But we break free of the original and make the work our own by learning how to make variations on the theme and use it as a creative springboard.

Q: Will this class help me in my own work?

A: Absolutely. The class is designed to strengthen your drawing and creative skills. It also aims to give you a language for analyzing other artists' work that can equally be applied to your own.

Juried Show, St James, NY

Two of the collages I made on a residency at the Weir Farm Art Center in Connecticut earlier this year (see Residency Notes, posted May 4, 2006) have been selected for a juried show at the Mills Pond House Gallery in St. James, New York.

The juror is Colta Ives, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Saturday, August 26 - Saturday, September 23, 2006
Opening reception: August 26 from 2-4pm

Smithtown Township Arts Council
Millls Pond House Gallery
660 Route 25A
St. James, NY 11780
631-862-66575
www.stacarts.org



















Left:
Julia Hensley
65th & Roosevelt; 2006
Gouache-on-paper collage
7 3/4" x 6"


Right:
Julia Hensley
65th Red/Green; 2006
Gouache-on-paper collage
7 1/2" x 6

Gee's Bend Quilts at Greg Kucera

If you see just one exhibit this summer in Seattle, make it this one.

Fifteen quilts and several dazzling prints by the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama are on view at Greg Kucera Gallery through September 2. More work will be on view in Tacoma, and again in San Francisco in the fall.

The Saturday after the show opened, I was lucky enough to attend a talk by three of the artists: Mary Lee Bendolph, Loretta Pettway, and Louisiana Bendolph. These extraordinary women are like messengers from another culture and time, and their stories, their warmth, and their sheer presence sent palpable ripples through those who saw them and heard them speak (and sing).

Built in larger blocks than conventional quilts, the Gee's Bend compositions are bold, alive and confident. The dynamic, surprising color arrangements place them beyond the category of pure craft and firmly in the realm of art (despite the fact that their makers had never heard the term "artist" until recently, much less applied it to themselves). While the designs are visually powerful, their impact is additionally poignant because of the function of the objects, the recycled fabric and the history of the makers.

Greg Kucera Gallery
Quilts of Gee's Bend

Image:
Lola Pettway
Housetop Variation, 2002
Tinwood Ventures