Well it's already nearly Fall break (O.O omg... time goes fast) and I feel I have just barely begun getting my stuff together and preparing to pump out work for my senior seminar. But worry not dear readers, I am on my way.
First of all, I have studied up on Braille (which in case you didn't know is a kind of writing for the blind ... examples). Braille is a totally awesome form of writing, consisting of raised dots placed on a 2x3 layout per letter. The reader is supposed to run their fingers over the letters to read them. Its also very beautiful in both its raised patterns and shapes visually as it is in a kind of language metaphor. What I personally find so great about Braille is that most people don't know how to read it and as a visually able person I feel it is a sign of a veiled secret, almost sacred language; a barrier of language and communication, not because its not readable, but because people wouldn't stop to understand. I feel this also happens a lot in my poetry. I write poetry to explain and display my innermost thoughts and feelings, but they often are unheard or not understood by others. In my senior seminar I will play with these ideas by making works with Braille in them.
Secondly, I have begun trying to inspire myself daily. I have started looking at sites such as http://500photographers.blogspot.com/ http://abduzeedo.com/ and http://www.artistaday.com/. These are both really great sites for learning about other artists, what they do, how they do it and why. One example of someone I found on Artist A Day is Amy Shackleton. This artist is from Canada and makes paintings with an unusual technique of squirt bottles and letting the paint drip down the canvas in a controlled manner (see the video about her). Shackleton's work usually contains a mix of the urban and the natural. I really enjoyed learning about her and seeing how she made her work.
Also while doing this sort of online searching I find articles about how to succeed at being an artist. This one in particular seemed like a good idea of how to get your work displayed.
And the final thing for this post is that much of my poetry is about my struggle with mental illness. So, because I'm using my poetry for the Braille writing in my art, mental illness is also a theme in my works for this semester. I found this cool article about a woman who makes art as a kind of therapy for her mental illness.
...and that being said I thought I would just include a link to the site I use to publish my poetry online, here.
I will be posting about some of my finished artworks soon!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Artist Post #50: A collection.
For this post I'm going to do a overview on multiple artists (mostly because while being very contemporary, they have not been featured nationally or internationally, but they are influential to me and interesting and wonderful so here they are).
____________________________________________________
Spike Mafford is an artist from Seattle Washington who does photography. He has been featured in the Seattle Times newspaper and some local art exhibits. It not really that his photographs in particular are pushing boundaries, but his exhibit Braille does. The exhibit was in 2006-2007 at the Francine Seders Gallery in Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The installations included his photography with braille text. His landscapes and skyscapes, accompanied by the textural quality of braille text is beautiful. His work allows both the sighted and the blind to enjoy art in a whole new way. The text is written by Lisanne Dutton, Peter J. Vogt and Spike Mafford in a descriptive yet abstracted way and is allowed to be touched. The images and info are from Mafford's website.
__________________________________________________________
The next artist I wanted to talk about was actually featured in The Virginian Pilot for her paper works. Ruth Knowles Scarlott was self taught and created art for herself expression. Her work was briefly exhibited in The Charles H. Taylor Arts Center in July of this year. Scarlott's art is a mix of media, paper making, assemblage and collage. She was inspired by poetry and writing and the people in her life. Some of Scarlott's art was deffered from specific poems and conversations with her daughter about them. Her works themselves are very poetic with layers of meaning and texture. The article can be read here.
________________________________________________________
Next artist is Natasha Sazonova who is from Ukraine but now lives in the US. She studied at the Fine Arts Studios at the University of Engineering and Architecture in Ukraine and later recieved her BA from the University of Connecticut in 2000. She now has a masters from 2008 in Graphic Design. She has done many exhibits in the United States in the Northeast. Her work is mostly composed of portraiture (of herself and others). They are beautiful, colorful works and her website has a lot more information about herself and about her art.
_________________________________________________________________
I've fallen for another artist, called Know Hope, who does graffiti type work. Here's a website and facebook. Its hard to find any specific information about this artist but I'll go ahead and show you one of my favorite works by Know Hope. >.> You'll notice... more braille.. i think it reads "relieve".
______________________________________________________________
Another self-taught artist with a etsy page who also does things with braille and paints beautifully. The site is here, again... no info, but inspiring.Her works have a lot of color and texture which make them visually and tactically interesting.
______________________________________________________________
Anton Parsons is an artist from New Zealand who graduated from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1990. He works in large sculpture with exagerated size of a concept. He likes using physical space that people have to navigate around creating a giving the installation a silent kind of stance in occupied space to enforce their meaning. His works have been displayed around New Zealand. Information was taken from his website and the images of "Invisible City" are taken from this blog.
___________________________________________________________________
The next artist interests me because of her concepts on mental illness and how stigmatizing it is and just the overall suffering of it is hard, but there is relief from it as well. Amber Christian Osterhout, who intended to become a doctor received BS degree in biology from Le Moyne College in New York. She then felt the need to express herself and returned to school to study art and graphic design, earning an associates degree from Sage College. She currently works as an art director at Shannon-Rose Design. When her brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia she created a body of work about his trials through the disorder. Her website with her information and images can be seen here.
________________________________________________________________
Okay. Last one, I promise!
For this I'll basically just say that this is some collaborative work from artist Janet Manalo, and poet Suzanne Bruce. Also, that I want to do something like this with my work because I write and do visual art and will try in my senior seminar work to do something similar. Anyways, here's two collaborations by Manalo and Bruce and their website.
____________________________________________________
Spike Mafford is an artist from Seattle Washington who does photography. He has been featured in the Seattle Times newspaper and some local art exhibits. It not really that his photographs in particular are pushing boundaries, but his exhibit Braille does. The exhibit was in 2006-2007 at the Francine Seders Gallery in Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The installations included his photography with braille text. His landscapes and skyscapes, accompanied by the textural quality of braille text is beautiful. His work allows both the sighted and the blind to enjoy art in a whole new way. The text is written by Lisanne Dutton, Peter J. Vogt and Spike Mafford in a descriptive yet abstracted way and is allowed to be touched. The images and info are from Mafford's website.
 |
| "Mt. Vesuvius" Spike Mafford ultrachrome ink jet print, 2005 |
 |
| Erin Lauridsen, blind since birth, touches and reads the art installed at Francine Seders Gallery |
 |
| Reading "Smokestack" |
The next artist I wanted to talk about was actually featured in The Virginian Pilot for her paper works. Ruth Knowles Scarlott was self taught and created art for herself expression. Her work was briefly exhibited in The Charles H. Taylor Arts Center in July of this year. Scarlott's art is a mix of media, paper making, assemblage and collage. She was inspired by poetry and writing and the people in her life. Some of Scarlott's art was deffered from specific poems and conversations with her daughter about them. Her works themselves are very poetic with layers of meaning and texture. The article can be read here.
________________________________________________________
Next artist is Natasha Sazonova who is from Ukraine but now lives in the US. She studied at the Fine Arts Studios at the University of Engineering and Architecture in Ukraine and later recieved her BA from the University of Connecticut in 2000. She now has a masters from 2008 in Graphic Design. She has done many exhibits in the United States in the Northeast. Her work is mostly composed of portraiture (of herself and others). They are beautiful, colorful works and her website has a lot more information about herself and about her art.
I've fallen for another artist, called Know Hope, who does graffiti type work. Here's a website and facebook. Its hard to find any specific information about this artist but I'll go ahead and show you one of my favorite works by Know Hope. >.> You'll notice... more braille.. i think it reads "relieve".
Another self-taught artist with a etsy page who also does things with braille and paints beautifully. The site is here, again... no info, but inspiring.Her works have a lot of color and texture which make them visually and tactically interesting.
 |
| "Joy" 16x20inches |
 | ||
| Walking Alone 18x24in |
Anton Parsons is an artist from New Zealand who graduated from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1990. He works in large sculpture with exagerated size of a concept. He likes using physical space that people have to navigate around creating a giving the installation a silent kind of stance in occupied space to enforce their meaning. His works have been displayed around New Zealand. Information was taken from his website and the images of "Invisible City" are taken from this blog.
The next artist interests me because of her concepts on mental illness and how stigmatizing it is and just the overall suffering of it is hard, but there is relief from it as well. Amber Christian Osterhout, who intended to become a doctor received BS degree in biology from Le Moyne College in New York. She then felt the need to express herself and returned to school to study art and graphic design, earning an associates degree from Sage College. She currently works as an art director at Shannon-Rose Design. When her brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia she created a body of work about his trials through the disorder. Her website with her information and images can be seen here.
Okay. Last one, I promise!
For this I'll basically just say that this is some collaborative work from artist Janet Manalo, and poet Suzanne Bruce. Also, that I want to do something like this with my work because I write and do visual art and will try in my senior seminar work to do something similar. Anyways, here's two collaborations by Manalo and Bruce and their website.
Artist #49: Joan Snyder
 |
| New Moonfield, 2008 acrylic, burlap, silk, cheesecloth, wooden beads, paper mache on linen 54" x 78" |
 |
| My Work, 1997 etching and woodcut 22.25" x25" |
 |
| Life of A Tree, 2007. Oil, acrylic, cloth, berries, paper mache, glitter, nails, pastel, on linen 48" x 68" |
Artist #48: Arman
 |
| Brooch/pendent big violin in white gold, 2004 |
 |
| Transculptures: Untitled, 1998 |
 |
| Torso, 1972, cast acryllic resin and plastic dolls. Photo by me from the VMFA. |
Artist #47: Frida Kahlo
 |
| Henry Ford Hospital 1932 Oil on metal 12 1/4 x 15 1/2 in Collection Dolores Olmedo Foundation, Mexico City |
 |
| What the Water Gave Me 1938 Oil on canvas 38 x 30 in Isadore Ducasse Fine Arts, New York |
 |
| The Two Fridas 1939 Oil on canvas 68 x 68 in. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City |
Artist #46: Anne Harris
 |
Portrait (Old Neck) 2001 Oil on Linen 12 x 13" |
 |
Angel 2007 Oil on Linen 44 x 30" |
 |
Portrait (Pigtails) 2002 Oil on Linen 12 x 13" (approximate) |
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Artist #45: Viktor Koen
 |
| Toy No.04 Lamda print on Duraflex 25" x25" 2006 edition of 5 |
 |
| Vanity Study No.16 digital C-Print on paper 18" x 24"2005 edition of 5 |
 |
| Vanity Study No.45 digital C-Print on paper 18" x 24" 2005 edition of 5 |
The other collection of work I love is from “Dark Peculiar Toys” (statement) (which reminds me of Peter Tansill's work but in digital form) because of its use of doll parts to create strangely manipulated "toys"...whose purpose is perhaps best left unknown... I'll post pics from both bodies of work (all of which are from Koen's website.)
 |
| Toy No.16 Lamda print on Duraflex 25" x25" 2006 edition of 5 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)