July 24, 2017 – The Art League

In this edition of Artful Links: saying goodbye to a digital art program, identifying that cloud you’re trying to draw, and exhibits to see around DC.

Things to read

Time to say your farewells to Microsoft Paint, that beloved pixel-art software that comes free with Windows. (The Verge)

Update, 7/25: Microsoft announced Paint will be moved to the Windows Store, where it will continue to be available.

The application has been added to a list of “deprecated” features for the next update to Windows, meaning it will no longer be supported or updated — but it isn’t quite gone yet. Instead, Microsoft is throwing its weight behind a pretty-much-completely-different version of the program, Paint 3D.

While Paint — unlike its namesake — was not fully embraced by the fine art community, there were exceptions:

Hal Lasko, a graphic artist who turned to the accessible Paint when macular degeneration took his eyesight
Pat Hines, who illustrated his graphic novel with Paint

(We run on Macs and Photoshop here at The Art League, but our heart goes out to all the Paint fans out there.)

If Paint’s exit from the world stage leaves you in need of a new medium to explore, may we suggest … bacteria? (Smithsonian Magazine)

Things to bookmark

Here are a few resources for artists we’ve run across recently:

Painting en plein air but can’t name that cloud in the sky? Knowledge is power, and the Cloud Atlas isn’t just a very long movie. You can use the online version to identify clouds using a flowchart, and learn more about the individual types. (Above: Cumulonimbus.)
The Red Dot Blog solicited input from artists on their strategies for naming artwork. What works for you?
This one goes a little over our head, but digital artists out there might want to explore it: ExtraFile promises new file formats beyond .jpg, .tiff, .gif, and .png (seven and counting).

For more, don’t forget to visit our Artful Resources archive.

*Bullets Revisited #20*, chromogenic print mounted on aluminum, by Lalla Essaydi. 2014. From “Revival” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Credit: Courtesy Miller Yezerski Gallery; © Lalla Essaydi

Things to go see in DC

There’s a new gallery in SW devoted to digital art, and Hyperallergic wrote up a review of their first exhibit, the interactive “XYZT: Abstract Landscapes.” (ARTECHOUSE, through September 3)

Also on our to-see list: “Revival” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Here’s the review from Washington City Paper. (National Museum of Women in the Arts, through September 10)

And, finally, not to forget ourselves: you should come see our exhibits before they close! (The Art League, through August 6)

It’s amazing how much creativity can be contained in one building. (OK, sometimes we go outside, too.)

We’re reminded of that fact every summer during Art Camp, which is in full swing now at The Art League! We dropped by our Madison Annex classrooms to see some of what our campers are up to:

Creatures

In Paper Mache for Teens, students work on animals great and small:

Paper mache, if you don’t know, starts with a wire frame, which is then pasted over with paper and painted.

And check out these egg people from Fiber Camp! They’re created by felting:

Creations

We’re really digging these vibrant still lifes campers were working on:

And taking a turn at the potter’s wheel is always a blast. Here are Ceramics Campers getting a demo and working on glazing their creations:

About Art Camp

Summer Art Camp runs weekly through August 18, 2017 at The Art League’s Madison Annex in Old Town Alexandria. In our regular art camp, each day brings a new project that may include drawing, painting, printmaking, or sculpture. Our specialty camps, like Drawing Camp or Painting Camp, focus on immersion in one particular medium.

For full details and to register, see our Art Camp page.

Day: July 24, 2017

A Farewell to Microsoft Paint, & More Artful Links