Friday, June 27, 2014

tim jenison's vermeer

      "Tim's Vermeer" is a documentary film, directed by the performer Teller, produced by his stage partner Penn Jillette and Farley Ziegler, about inventor Tim Jenison's efforts to duplicate the painting techniques of Johannes Vermeer, in order to test his theory that Vermeer painted with the help of optical devices. The film premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in limited theatrical release in the United States by Sony Pictures Classics on January 31, 2014.

Vermeer's "The music lesson" is Tim's obsession.
      Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer (Dutch: [joˈɦɑnəs jɑn vərˈmeːr]; 1632 – December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He seems never to have been particularly wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.
      Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for lapis lazuli and Indian yellow. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.
      Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes. "Almost all his paintings are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women."
      Recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death; he was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbraken's major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting (Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists), and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries. In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing sixty-six pictures to him, although only thirty-four paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Read more . . .
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incredible losers become incredible masters

      Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote". Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time. Read more . . .
      Two excellent videos to show to high school art students at the beginning of the school year. Teach the young, "patience is the virtue that pays in the end."


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Monday, June 16, 2014

"plain & fancy: american women and their needlework, 1700-1850"

Plain & Fancy cover art.
Plain & Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850 by Susan Burrows Swan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

       This comprehensive survey of American needlework written by Susan Burrows Swan is a very entertaining read for those of you who love to learn about Early American art history. Although some of her writing is weak in the area of understanding how religious history influenced the kinds of topics that women pursued, her overall coverage of the genre is certainly appropriate within the arena of textile methods and women's social history.
       I acquired the book from a library discard shelf and as usual, it was a valuable teaching resource that should never have been classified as "discard material." These kinds of books are needed for research and education of our young people. Ms. Swan writes in a style that teens can read easily and with some degree of patience. Because of this, her work is a valuable treasure for teachers who integrate both literacy and art.
       This being said, however, it is obvious that she writes about religious topics from a disposition of one who does not have any true connection with those who practice religion, an unfortunate circumstance often plaguing those authors who have written about the history of art in our museums for the past fifty years. It is difficult to write about religion from an agnostic or atheistic point of view. It's like writing a book about war without ever having had to live through one, if you know what I mean.
       Art history is a difficult subject to write about if one does not share deeper connections with the artists that go beyond the surface study of an object or museum collection. So much of what inspires religious topics in art comes from deeply rooted belief and this belief should be explored with the same depth of study that one gives to the art object itself. For what is art if it does not reflect life? Where does it's true value come from? Art is not merely object, it is also reflection of human experience.

The needlework collections are from the Winterthur Museum, Delaware.

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Friday, April 4, 2014

the "together" art journal page

This “Together” art journal page was created with a little help from “Elegant Floral Designs,” by Dover.


       I designed a simple heart pattern, transfered it directly onto my original book page and then drew lines where I needed to cut with an Xacto blade. As you can see in the photo, I slipped another magazine beneath my page to give cushion for the blade. This was very important! If you don’t remember to do this you will have multiple slashing throughout the entire volume; xacto blades are sharp!


       I then cut along the lines in order to begin a paper weave. See how clean the cuts are? I have chosen to incorporate parts of the images on the original page into my design. This will not only be a lesson in paper weaving but also in the repetition of colors, lines, shapes and themes in order to create a cogent artwork.

A collection of papers I keep just for paper weaving.
 

I wove a paper heart directly into the page and glued down the edges as I went.


       Three entirely different surface treatments are pictured in this art journal page: a paper weave, applied lace, and Dover clip art cut and pasted into the arrangement.


I frequently combine paper and textile fiber in the same collage. I love the added textures.


       The tan parts of the design were colored with layered tissue papers and Mod Podge. I also drew directly onto the layered surfaces with black ink markers.


       A wedding photograph of my Aunt was also incorporated into the page. Wasn’t she lovely! The verse I included here is in the public domain. I only had room for the first and last stanzas. I will post it on the blog for those of you who would like to include it on your own journal pages.


       I love a sophisticated palette. The subtle variations of white and the formal black lines combine well with this vintage wedding theme.


The finished product. I submitted it to Dover for their 2012 contest. You can visit their pinterest files here and submit something yourself.

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the "warhol" art journal page


       These art journal pages were obviously inspired by Andy Warhol. Can you guess what they are made from? Vinyl. The flowers come from a recycled old shower curtain. These were stitched into the book of course, no glue would properly hold them. On the right page, I included a pocket for mementos and letters.


A close-up of the loud, splashy design. I made no attempt to conceal the stitching. 

       
       My art journal sampler is getting loaded. Soon I will need to paint on my sample pages only. I like to work with a variety of textures, however, so that my students can learn that the sky is the limit in the manipulation of materials. “Upcycling” is the key to creating unique art journals.

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the "may basket" art journal page


The “May Basket” page from my art journal is sewn from cast-off lace mounted onto red fabric. The lower half of the basket was a sleeve from an old gown and the handle is made from gathered lace. The lace flowers came from a tattered doily of some kind. The verse is by Longfellow,
Maiden, that read this simple rhyme,
Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;
Enjoy they fragrance of they prime,
For O! it is not always May!
I thought the rhyme appropriate given the condition of the lace. May baskets bring to mind old childhood memories. My little girlfriends and I would hang bundles of freshly picked wild flowers from the door knobs of our neighbors, then we’d ring each door bell and run to hide before it was answered. The older Residents always looked so surprised as they would exclaim loudly, “I wonder who gave me such beautiful flowers!” knowing full well tiny imps were hiding in the bushes giggling softly.


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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

selecting and preparing an art journal


A selection of store bought journals from my oldest daughter’s stash.
How to Choose And Prepare An Art Journal
  1. Old books make great altered journals but select these carefully, some are quite valuable. Research a books’ value by surfing the web a bit. If you take a valuable book to a dealer for an opinion, he or she may not give you an ‘accurate’ point of view. This is because if you should decide to sell it to them, they want to get it for as little possible. This will allow them to sell it for a greater profit. I took an antique book in once to ask a dealer about it’s market value. He told me that he wouldn’t give me more than five bucks for it. So, I kept it. However, I discovered later from an English bookseller that it was worth approximately 100 pounds! It’s a good thing that I didn’t use it in an art project.
  2. Bindings on old books should have stitched signatures because these will withstand rough handling without falling out.
  3. Choose an old book that has no mold if you can help it. Mold, if not killed, will just keep on growing and growing and growing.
  4. Interesting pictures or photographs inside of an old book can either add to or detract from your own art work.
  5. Old smelly books just keep on smellin’ bad, don’t use these.
  6. If your old book has yellowed pages this means that there is a high acid content in the paper and possibly the inks as well. These pages will eventually fall apart. Even if you Gesso them or reinforce the pages with glue, eventually they will crumble into dust. A less valuable, contemporary, hard cover book with sewn pages is really a superior canvas to work with.
  7. Don’t forget to consider how you will alter the cover of the book as well. Some covers are easier to alter in particular ways than others.
  8. You may wish to simply purchase a blank journal with or without lined pages. These are very affordable and some come with covers that are quite decorative.
  9. I prefer to either start a journal without lined pages or to use a book that has specific images on it’s pages but don’t feel guilty about your preferences. Journaling is personal and every artist has their own way of interpreting the quality of a ‘blank canvas’ so to speak.
  10. You may wish to select a particular type of book for it’s original written content as well. Your journal project may in fact include the original text or the text’s meaning to lend to it an overall quality.
  11. If you select a large book and add heavy layers to the pages, the pages may tear. So if you plan to add a significant amount of ‘stuff’ to the pages, choose pages that are heavy and durable to begin with.
  12. Think about gluing some pages together for strength and also about removing some pages to make room for new content.
  13. If you intend to carve the pages of your book, use old phone books for the task. These pages are easily manipulated in paper carving.
  14. If you intend to emboss your pages, choose heavy weight pages without a glossy finish.
  15. If you intend to cut elaborate designs with an xacto knife, choose a resilient pages with a glossy finish or acid free paper pages.
  16. If you intend to fill your art journal with keepsakes or precious drawings I recommend that you purchase a blank journal with acid free pages.
  17. Pages from a book should be prepared with an acrylic sealer if you intend to paint these with oil paints!
  18. Ink can bleed into watercolors, acrylics or oil paints depending upon the chemical nature of the materials used to make the original book.
  19. Some glue does attract mice, crickets and other insects. If you must store an art journal that is valuable, store it in an airtight container/tin container that can not be gnawed through.
  20. Attach hangers securely to your altered book prior to working with it, if you intend to display the book on the wall.
  21. If you are working with wet materials on the pages, give each alteration plenty of time to dry before continuing to the next alteration. Books can and do warp when they are altered. Allow for plenty of drying time and you may be able to prevent some warping.
  22. Press dry pages by stacking heavier books on top of your altered book over night.
  23. Use spray fixative to bond pencil, chalks or pastel drawings to your art journal pages. The odor fades in time and your work will be better preserved.
  24. You can use a soft pink eraser to remove excess dirt from an old book.
  25. Leaving a book with exposed moldy pages in the bright sunshine for a day or two will kill some very common mold spores. However, you will still see the mold on the pages if you do not cover it up with something else.
  26. Using a copyrighted book for a personal art project is not illegal, nor is photographing your altered pages and posting these within the context of an article. Copyrights for books are breached when work is republished in it’s original state by someone who does not own it or when similar derivative works are published without giving appropriate notice or payment due to the original owner. Neither of these copyright laws are applicable to artworks made with actual books used as raw materials. Books of any age or publication may be used as raw material in an artwork if the book is being treated as an object of interest, not as a republished text. This is why, for example, film makers may use any books they like as objects on a set or why photographers may take pictures of books without being penalized. In both instances, those who use the books alter them far less than a typical collage artist does. I have included this information because there are many people on the internet who do not have a clear understanding of copyright law.
  27. There are also teachers who are misled about their own use of copyright from books as well. Although teachers may use information from books within the context of a classroom without fear, this does not include republishing that same information on the web. In other words, just because you are a teacher in a classroom, this doesn’t give you the right to republish somebody’s work “carte blanche” via the internet as actual text unless it is in the public domain or is used as a quote. In either case, teachers are allowed to photograph books and post these photographs inside of articles about the books or other content. Those quotes I use on this blog fall inside of what is considered to be legal use. Poetry that I give to students to include in their art journals is always in the public domain.
  28. The conservative use of one artist’s artworks within the context of a cut and paste collage is also legal if those images are cut and pasted from original product that is sold to the masses. In other words, anyone may purchase wrapping paper, cut and paste with it onto a collage without asking for permission to do so from the designer. The same almost always is true of magazines and books as well, if you are first purchasing the product in order to do so. The circumstances change, however, when you photocopy a copyrighted image that is under copyright and that has not been deliberately distributed as product in the first place. Then you must get permission to copy it and paste it from the artist. Now there are exceptions to the rule. If the image comes from a web file where the artists have given permission in advance for artistic, private use, then you are free to use the work in collage. How do I remember all of this? Well, did you pay for a product in the first place? If you did, then you can certainly dismantle it for a one-of-a-kind art journal. Just don’t misrepresent the pictures as your own actual photographs or try to profit from them as newly published product, capiche?
I selected this old fairy tale book for an altered 
quote/art journal. I like the humorous illustrations; 
I feel these will lend themselves to very silly quotes.
The edges of the book are covered with mold.
 I will need to clean this off before I begin to use it.
I have removed many of the pages to 
make room for new artistic additions.
I left the pages with funny illustrations in my book. 
I will include these within my design.
It is easy to see where I have begun to remove pages 
from each signature in an alternative art journal.
Resolve general problems with an old book before you begin to alter it by:
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assigning art journals to art students

The inside front cover of my “Art At The Museum” journal. The pocket on the left contains art history games I learned while taking a course at the St. Louis Art Museum for k-12 art certification.
      An excellent art journal reflects the personality and intimate experiences of it’s creator. My journals are about topics that I am interested in either exploring or sharing with others. These interests do not always appeal to the young however.
      I believe it is necessary for art teachers to keep assignments in the classroom current and challenging. Art activities are often influenced by trends but to produce work for this reason alone is not necessarily sound judgement. Fortunately, I discovered many years ago that educators can easily produce popular academic assignments for their students with just a bit of tenacity and a large portion of study.
      This summer I will be working on an art journal that I intend to use as a sampler in my future classroom. This is one of the many ‘perks’ of my teaching profession. In order for me to teach a project well, I must produce it myself. The sampler, I feel, should reflect diversity in both methods and topics in order for it’s contents to inspire so many different personalities inside an art classroom.
      I’ve posted here a brief listing of those pages that I’m considering for an art journal assignment in order for student industry/study to measure up to state and national academic standards. Apart from these required pages, my students should also be expected to include several of their own page ideas.

One of 50 some odd pages dedicated to lesson plan ideas from my “Art At The Museum Journal.” This page was dedicated to a chair design project.
10 Broad Ideas for Art Journal Page Assignments:
  1. Include an illustrated poem on a page. The poem should either be written by you or be in the public domain. The poem should be about art and a work of art.
  2. Observe a behavior assigned in class and journal a reflection based upon your thoughts concerning the behavior.
  3. Watch and assigned video and create an artistic response to the video. Then record your response on a page in your journal.
  4. Read an assigned article and articulate a response to it on a journal page.
  5. Work with one or two other people in the classroom to create a collaborative work and then include a piece of it on a journal page.
  6. Reflect upon a visit to a museum, art fair, open art studio event or gallery exhibit as a journal entry. Include a couple of photographs depicting the event and yourself in the same photo as proof of your attendance there.
  7. Include a page inspired by your own genealogy.
  8. Include a page inspired by your own cultural heritage.
  9. Include a page using paper pop-up technology.
  10. Create a thematic page based upon the artistic technique of your favorite painter.
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the elements of pop-ups

      “With this book you will be able to touch, see, and study each of the elements of pop-ups as they are designed to work. You will be able to see exactly how each score folds and how each glue point is to be glued. You will be able to work and view each mechanic. Don’t be afraid to take these pop-ups apart. Just promise to put them back together!”

      I want to teach my students about the mechanics of pop-ups but, I don’t want them to destroy the lovely samples that I have in my collection. I purchased the copy from a local Barnes & Nobel in order to prevent this type of curious destruction. I think it will help along with a selection of youtube videos.

      By David A Carter and James Diaz, Copyright 1999 by Little Simon, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

Related Articles Published by Simon & Schuster:

 Some of the world's best examples of pop-up books have 
gone on display to the public at the National Library of Scotland.
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the moving alphabet book

      “Learning the alphabet can be fascinating…fun…and easy. Turn the wheel and a new image appears in the cut-out window. Turn it again and again until you have seen four different pictures in all. Each letter is surrounded by marvelous drawings of animals and objects that start with the letter. Find and identify nearly 250 images in Tony King’s delightful illustrations and colorful photographs. And if you are stumped, a complete list of all the images can be found on the last two pages of the book.”
      Alphabet books make wonderful assignments in advanced design courses. Not only do these kinds of projects stretch the imagination but alphabet projects also make impressive additions to any young designer’s portfolio. Above is a book I will use to show students before assigning the project.

 By Tony King, copyrighted in 1982 Published by General Publishing Company

 Visit The Alphabet 100 Ways

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the fantastic book of board games


      “There’s never been a book quite like this! It has fourteen especially created board games you can play, by a galaxy of today’s best illustrators. From Suzanna Gretz’s inimitable teddybears’ first game of droughts to Angela Barrett’s elegant version of ludo, this book has games for every member of the family.”
      I purchased this book at a St. Louis book fair this year; I thought it would inspire my students. I plan to write a lesson plan based upon game development and this book supplies wonderful examples of “how” a variety of illustrators with multiple viewpoints might interpret such a challenge.

 Board Games Included in The Book Are:
  1. Root The Loot by illustrator Jez Alborough (view video Creating the Ducks Books)
  2. Ludo Park by illustrator Angela Barrett (visit The Night Fairy)
  3. The Amazing J. Slingsby Grebe Gold Medal for Utter Brilliance Game by illustrators Quentin Blake and John Yeoman (video Collaborations in the 70s)
  4. Pigs In The Pantry by illustrator Tony Blundell (Read his biography)
  5. Lost In The Wood by illustrator Catherine Brighton (more children’s books)
  6. Heavens Above! by illustrator Peter Cross (interviewed by Alan Hewitt)
  7. Picnic or Teddybear’s Draught by author Susanna Gretz and illustrator Alison Sage
  8. Cheese by illustrator Satoshi Kitamura (read his biography)
  9. The Phone Game by illustrator Shoo Rayner (visit his brilliant website)
  10. Bumbledon by illustrator Tony Ross (Interview with Tony Ross)
  11. Don’t Do That by illustrators Ralph Steadman and Helen Wire
  12. Alice in Wondergame by illustrator John Talbot (his professional resume)
  13. The Game of Goose by illustrator Fulvio Testa
  14. What-A-Mess In The Bone Race by illustrator Joseph Wright (view his professional cartoonist portfolio)
Articles About Board Games:
Lithograph Examples of Board Games:
Free Printable Board Games:
Board Game Collectors:
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"Board game designers need a place to try out their prototypes. Some invite people to their homes for "closed" sessions, but I like to have a place that is open to the public. It encourages participation by other gamers and budding game designers. Several years ago, I was happy to meet Michael at his newly-opened gaming cafe in Berlin, the Spielwiese, and it has been the perfect place for our Berlin group of game designers to meet every since. The concept of the gaming cafe and Ludothek (you can buy and/or rent games there as well as play them in the cafe) is also very original and a popular attraction in Berlin's hip Friedrichshain district, attracting an international crowd. And now, it's become the testing grounds from dozens of published board games from Berlin designers, as well as a destination for visiting game designers and hobbyists from around the world." Jeffrey Allers
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