Art League instructor Danni Dawson, whose work you may recognize from the front of The Art League School catalog, let us stop by her portrait painting class last week to see a very interesting portrait painting demonstration. The demo was all about building up a portrait by layering planes of color. Here’s part one:
You can watch part 2 here, and all of our artist demos so far are up on YouTube in this playlist. Check them out!
Susan O’Neill won the Anne Banks Collage Award this month for her work Connections, on display in The Art League Gallery as part of the “Earth” exhibit through April 30. We asked Susan to tell us more about this collage and her work in general.
What is the inspiration or idea behind Connections? What materials went into creating it?
Susan: I’m inspired by different cultures, relationships between people, nature, and the earth. How each are interrelated, and how they inspire and effect one another. The materials that went into creating the collage, Connections are from my travels, and the experiences and people in these places. My interest in collage began when I lived in Japan.
How do you think “Connections” fits into the “Earth” theme? What do you want the viewer to come away with?
I want to express the multiplicity of life, intermingling and supporting a new experience that offers unfamiliar combinations or connections to the viewer.
As the winner of the Anne Banks Collage Award, why do you work in collage, or why did you choose to for this piece? Do you usually work in collage?
Currently, my main focus is the human figure. However, I find working in collage therapeutic and visually exciting so I’m always attracted to exploring this medium. During the last 2 years I completed two large collage commissions where I explored these same themes — earth, culture, and how they relate. This took my collage to a larger format and new materials which I would like to pursue. These commissions consisted of a triptych and a diptych. Connections was an opportunity to continue this theme. Continue reading Q&A with Award Winner Susan O’Neill
Announcements courtesy of FindArtInfoBank.com:
77th Annual National Juried Art Exhibition – NY
Deadline: May 15, 12. You must be a resident of the United States to enter. Possible $3500 in prizes. Read more at http://www.cooperstownart.com/national.html Qualifications: Open to U.S. residents. The CAA seeks excellence in all media and styles. All work must be original and completed within the past two years. Works previously shown in the gallery are not eligible. How to Apply: All entries must be postmarked by May 15th and submitted with a filled out prospectus available at www.cooperstownart.com. CD entries must be 300 dpi JPEGs. JPEG filenames should reflect titles. No enhancement, except cropping is allowed. Please note that any work deemed misrepresented by its slide/CD will be declined. There is a non-refundable entry fee of $20 ($18 for members). This fee entitles the artist to two entries in one category. Sculpture is allowed one additional detail image per entry. Check or money order should be made out to the CAA.
Park City Public Art Board Seeks Requests for Qualifications for a Pedestrian Tunnel Mural – UT
Deadline: May 10, 12. The Park City Public Art Advisory Board seeks qualifications from artists interested in creating a mural within the Deer Valley Drive Pedestrian Tunnel in Park City, Utah. An electronic copy of this RFQ can be obtained at www.parkcity.org listed under Doing Business, Current RFPs. Budget for project is $8,000. Questions can be submitted to Sharon Bauman via e-mail: [email protected]. How to Apply: All details are listed in the RFQ. Please review carefully.
“Look Attractive” – MO
Deadline: October 1, 12. UMKC Gallery of Art is seeking new work that addresses attraction. Attraction has as much to do with physical appearance as is does with biology, culture, environmental factors, and societal influence. Human courtship rituals evolve as standards of beauty and attraction change, but the basic biological behaviors that guide mate selections remain hardwired in our biology. Flirting, staring, and physical responses to beauty are biological behaviors that nature instills in us to ensure our selection of a mate. Could these same principles be at play when viewing art? Is there any similarity between our physical reaction to humans we find attractive and artwork we find attractive? What catches our eyes, what lures us in, what causes us to stop and stare when experiencing visual art? How does your art attract or depict attraction? The UMKC Gallery of Art is the public exhibition space of the College of Arts and Sciences and located in the Fine Arts Building at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. This exhibition is curated by the Davin Watne, Amye Metcalf, Amy DeSitter and Logan Chermack. Qualifications: Conditions of entry: Open to artists over 18 years of age, no geographic restrictions, and all mediums as long as space allows. How to Apply: Images must be submitted in JPG format at 72dpi emailed to [email protected]. Artists can submit up to 3 images. http://cas.umkc.edu/art/gallery-contact.asp Continue reading Artist Opportunities Around the US
Calling all bookworms: The Art League has some upcoming book-related events and reminders to share — please read on and join us!
Art League instructor Nancy Johnson will be offering a free bookmaking activity in the Torpedo Factory on Mother’s Day. The Art League Book Club is also getting started, and the gallery wants to remind you about all the great resources in its library! Details are below.
Bookmaking Activity for Kids During Spring Open House
Art League instructor Nancy Johnson will conduct a free bookmaking activity for kids during the Torpedo Factory Art Center Spring Open House on Sunday, May 13, 1:00–4:00 pm. Participants will have the opportunity to make accordion fold books to give as gifts to their mothers since it is also Mother’s Day! This activity is free of charge and is available on a first come, first service basis.
Announcing The Art League Book Club!
Are you interested in books about art and artists? Art League member Rebecca McNeely is organizing our new Art League book club. Our first book will be Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg by Calvin Tomkins. This easy-to-read book is a fascinating view of the New York art world from the ’50s to the ’70s.
The first meeting will be Tuesday, May 22, 1:00 pm in The Art League Gallery. This meeting will include a discussion of the book and planning for future meetings. Bring books and ideas for future selections. If you’re interested in joining this group, please contact [email protected] or call 703-683-1780.
The Art League Gallery Library
As Yun Choi, our intern from George Mason University, has been reorganizing our library she’s noticed that many books are never checked out. In an effort to boost usage of our art library, Yun will be setting up a small display on the library shelves in upcoming weeks and she has written some book reviews. Books in our library range from biographies of artists, general art history books, books on technical skills in varied media, museum and exhibition catalogues, framing, and color mixing and theory. These books are a great resource! Books can be checked out at no charge for two weeks at a time. You may browse our collection of titles online at www.librarything.com, user name: artleague, password: library.
Here are a couple books that Yun has recommended:
1) The Decorated Page: Journals, Scrapbooks & Albums Made Simply Beautiful, Diehn, Gwen, 2002, Lark Books.
One of the good ways to find inspiration in daily life is to keep a journal. Not a plain journal, but a decorated journal full of artistic creations. This book provides step-by-step instructions on how to keep your personalized scrapbooks and journals. Each section of the book, which covers materials, techniques, and applications, provides insights from the author who helped many to make both verbal and visual records of their experiences. It’s a great book to get your journal going!
2) Ideals of Beauty: Asian and American Art in The Freer and Sackler Galleries, Raby, Julian, 2010, Thames and Hudson.
Washington, DC is a great place to be for museum visitors. This guidebook provides a brief description of historically significant works from the Freer and Sackler. There are more than one hundred masterworks from the collections of both museums. Besides providing a history of each work, the colored pages could serve as inspirational images for jewelers!
