Criticizing Art

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I just finished a 12-week course titled "Critical Studies 1" at the Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) in Victoria, BC.

This course introduces students to approaches and methodologies of visual literacy as they pertain to Western art. Focus is on studying a range of artworks, both historical and contemporary, through slide lectures, field trips, readings and discussion. Students develop the tools to analyze art works in aesthetic terms as well as understand the importance of social and historical context. 

This intensive studies course was taught by Wendy Welch  the Director of VISAwho is always well prepared and  knowledgeable on contemporary art issues. Wendy created an excellent program.

Textbook: Criticizing Art by Terry Barrett (1999 or later) Second Edition or  Third Edition 

Amazon.ca describes the book: "Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary takes readers inside the world of contemporary art and shows them how to think, write, and talk about art. Throughout, the principles of art criticism are presented and applied to contemporary forms of American art giving students of art and art history a solid framework for critically considering contemporary art through describing, interpreting, evaluating, and theorizing".

Throughout the 12 weeks we discussed art, artists, critics, read reviews, viewed many slide shows and videos. We developed an understanding of subjective responses to art work; went on 2 field trips to local galleries; studied and discussed Modernism vs. Postmodernism; looked at the many types of contemporary criticism such as: Marxist, Psychoanalytic, Feminist Aesthetics, Multicultural Aesthetics and Postcolonialism criticism.

We read and discussed not only the chapters from the book "Criticizing Art" but also supplemental readings posted on our class blog; discussed how to develop powers of observation; how to see and describe what one is looking at, talked about formal considerations; how to interpret art;  how to write about looking at a work of art using description, interpretation and judgemnet.. 

During one class local poet Carla Funk joined us for an hour talking about "Ekphrastic writing"...the creation of original poetry and prose in response to works of visual art. Carla viewed  "Art Incognito"  a fundraising art show held in September at VISA, at that time she selected 6 works of art for inspiration and used ekphrastic writing to create poems that she read to us. It was an excellent lecture and a real delight to see images of the paintings projected on the screen as she read her poetic responses to each painting.

We had a very interesting assignment from Wendy in response to this lecture; having to choose from one of two long poems. "The Man with the Blue Guitar" by Wallace Stevens  based on the painting "The Old Guitarist" by Picasso, or "Self portrait in a Convex Mirror" by John Ashbery, based on the painting by 16th century painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari. Our assignment was to read and analyze the poem based on certain criteria. What a learning experience that was!

This was an excellent class and I look forward to "Critical Studies 2" which is described this way in VISA's program guide:

In the second part of this course, students engage in a more conceptual and philosophical discourse surrounding visual culture, in particular, how it pertains to contemporary art. Slide lectures, readings, field trips and discussions introduce students to a more thorough understanding of the art world and the economic and social forces that shape visual art today. While looking at art is a fundamental part of this course, students are also challenged to develop a broader understanding of the way contemporary artwork relates to language, history and politics. Textbook: Artists, Critics, Context: Readings in and around American Art Since 1945 by Paul F. Fabozzi. 

"The Palouse" in September

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In early September Paul and I had a photography holiday in "The Palouse" located in southeasternWashington, this area combines 208 miles of rolling hills and farmland with a rich history, small town charm, spectacular scenic vistas and outstanding recreational opportunities.

The weather was fantastic  the time we were there. It was 95 - 102 degrees Farenheit. We loved it! It was great to have such hot weather after our cold and hardly there summer on the West Coast.

All phtographs below by Jill Ehlert 

At 3614 feet at sunset and moonrise - how cool is that!

Sunset and moonrise on top of Steptoe Butte at 3,612 feet.

Sunset and moonrise on top of Steptoe Butte at 3,612 feet.

3,612 feet at the summit of Steptoe Butte; this shows the shadow of the butte  on the wheat fields below as the sun is setting.

3,612 feet at the summit of Steptoe Butte; this shows the shadow of the butte  on the wheat fields below as the sun is setting.

Panorama - at the top of Kamiuk Butte  - 1000 feet - a hazy day from fires burning in Idaho

Panorama - at the top of Kamiuk Butte  - 1000 feet - a hazy day from fires burning in Idaho

Kamiuk Butte - a hazy day - fires burning in Idaho

Kamiuk Butte - a hazy day - fires burning in Idaho

Topnotch Cafe in Colfax, WA - This was a panoramic image, so there is movement in this image. 

Topnotch Cafe in Colfax, WA - This was a panoramic image, so there is movement in this image. 

"Dahmen Barn" in Uniontown, WA 

"Artisans at the Dahmen Barn" is a  non-profit organization that cultivates creativity on the Palouse by providing studio space for working artists. The state-of-the-art facility has been transformed from a former dairy barn. There is over 1000 iron wheels in the fence.

Dahmen Barn - Uniontown, Washington. This is now an artists co-op.

Dahmen Barn - Uniontown, Washington. This is now an artists co-op.

This is a double exposure.

This is a double exposure.

Drawing classes at the Vancouver Island School of Art

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I was very lucky to participate in 3 different 5-day drawing classes July/August at the Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) with Wendy Welch. Wendy is the director of the school as well as a gifted teacher who gives so much. She has the most creative ideas for the classes that she teaches.

Ornament and Decoration:

"Often more associated with design and craft, ornament and decoration is increasingly part of the vocabulary used by many contemporary artists and illustrators. This workshop focuses on how the decorative can be both surface and content. A range of imaginative approaches to creating designs from doodles, making patterns based on geometry as well as free-form organic designs are covered. Materials used include pencils, ink, watercolours and gouache". (VISA)

These are the artists work we looked at during the slideshow.

William Morris, Gustav Klimt, Terence LaNoue, Dijanne Cevaal, Dtienne Zack, Gene Davis, Joyce Kozloff, Judy Pfaff, Robert Kushner, Robert Zakanitch, Dan Bennett, Sandra Cinto, Laura Ownes, Sigmar Polke, Lecia Dole-Recio, Valerie Jaudon, Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, Jennifer Bartlett, Terry Winters, Random graph paper art, Lorenzo Duran.

In progress

In progress

More progress - detail - Jill Ehlert

More progress - detail - Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Language of Mapping:

"Maps are a visual representation of specific places. Early maps were made by artists who often had no hands-on experience with the location depicted in the map; they were made through the testimonials of others and the imagination of the artists. This workshop uses the language of mapmaking to explore other terrains such as the imagination, memory and space". (VISA)

Artists work we looked at:

Landon McKenzie, Nancy Graves. Hirokazu Kosaya, Jeff Woodbury, John Hurrell, Kristin Bly, Adolf Wolfi, Clodagh Emoe, Dannielle Tegeder, tilbor kalman, Howard Horowitz, Irwin Morgan, Mark Bradford, Simon Evans, Susan Hiller, Susan STock well, val Britton, Jasper Johns, Guillermo Kuitca, Sara Fanelli, Nina Katchadourian, Kelvin Wilson, Harry Allen, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Paula Scher, Kim Dingle, William Wegman, Chris Kenny, Joyce Kozloff, Julia Ricketts, Quentin Blake, Mark Bennett, Julie Mehretu

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert

Jill Ehlert ©

Jill Ehlert ©

In progress

In progress

"New" - Palouse sketchbook "Mapping the trip"

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Here is a sampling from the "map journeys" book I created while on this trip to the Palouse area of SE Washington.

Alaska in May

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I was truly blessed to be able to go with friends on an Alaskan cruise for two weeks the end of May. It was absolutely awesome, the scenery was out of this world. The "Island Princess" was a fabulous ship. Here is a few photos to give you an idea of the scenery. Look at the colours in the water around the glaciers.

New Paintings in Abstract Paintings Album

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Drawing ! and 3 were done in the Steven Aimone Workshop "The Spiritual Language of Art". The Middle drawing was done in my studio.

Jill Ehlert - 48" X 48"

Jill Ehlert - 48" X 48"

Jill Ehlert - 36" x 48"

Jill Ehlert - 36" x 48"

Jill Ehlert - 48" x 48"

Jill Ehlert - 48" x 48"

These are a few examples of the paintings that I have done recently.

There are 28 paintings in my new Abstract Painting album.  

Joan Mitchell

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JOAN MITCHELL 1925 - 1992

JOAN MITCHELL - 1950's

JOAN MITCHELL - 1990's

The Joan Mitchell Foundation writes on their website that:

Joan Mitchell was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1925 and died in a Paris suburb in 1992. Her expatriate years began in the late 1950s and continued uninterrupted until her passing in Vetheuil, France. She occupied a celebrated stature in the generation that succeeded Pollock and Rothko. 

She declined the theoreticism of her European counterparts, and remained throughout her career the empirical American, personally accountable for her memories and emotions. 

Her work is characterized in many developments from the 1950s to the early 90s shortly prior to her passing. 

She usually worked on multiple panels or large scale canvases - striving to attract a natural rather than constructed rhythm from the composition, a rhythm emanating from the expansiveness of the gesture or from the unrestrained use of color and the pervasive luminosity. 

The titles of her last paintings suggest the abstract valleys and empirical fields of her beloved French countryside. 

In speaking of Mitchell, others tell us of her physical materiality - how she exudes the visual sentiments of nature - the objectivity of her painting, devoid of anecdote or theater and in her own words "to convey the feeling of the dying sunflower." 

Joan Mitchell as an abstract expressionist composes with long curvilinear strokes or broad stains of color, contrasting warm and cool, often on unprimed canvases. Her perceptions enrich her work with a fascinating sense of the unfinished. Joan Mitchell demonstrated in painting just as in life, anything can happen.

Ambiguous Abstraction

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The following images are by Mark Bradford

Recently I received an email from  VISA (Vancouver Island School of Art) advertising a series of workshops titled "Painting Today". There were a couple of workshops that really caught my attention. One was a workshop called  "Ambiguous Abstraction" which they describe like this: 

"Ambiguous Abstraction refers to a kind of abstract imagery that opens up the question of the painting's content to a range of (often provocative) meaning and associations. 

In opposition to ‘pure abstraction’ where the subject of the painting is its own form, Ambiguous Abstraction flirts with personal and political content, and “can also embrace broad topics such as memory and presence, materiality and transcendence, and the flattening of high and low culture. Following are a few of the artists that paint in this style" Mark Bradford, Fabian Maracaccio, Terry Winters, Ingrid Calame, Ian McKeever, Beatriz Milhazes, Arturo Herrera 

In furthering my search on "Ambiguous Abstraction" 

I came across "Painting Today" by Tony Godfrey 

Painting Today by Tony Godfrey: Book Cover

"Painting Today"  presents an international roundup of the best painters of the past 40 years. 

Written by Tony Godfrey a 20-year veteran at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the volume begins with a look at the Global Scene. Further chapters explore the neo-expressionist movement of the ‘80s, photorealism and the use of photography as a point of departure for painting, pure and ambiguous abstraction, history painting, painting space, and installation painting, as well as the requisite review of the figure, landscape, and still life. Chapters on Death and Life, the Leipzig School, Post-feminism, and Painting Tomorrow round out the beautifully designed, dynamic 448-page book, which includes 550 illustrations, artist biographies, and a chronology of painting since 1968." 

For a more in depth look at this book with links to many of the artists in this book check out the blog: Flavorwire.com

Helen Frankenthaler

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HELEN FRANKENTHALER

"Mountanins and Sea" 7' X 10"

"Frankenthaler's career was launched in 1952 with the exhibition of Mountains and Sea. This painting is large - measuring seven feet by ten feet - and has the effect of a watercolour though it is painted in oils. In it, she introduced the technique of painting directly onto an unprepared canvas so that the material absorbs the colors. She heavily diluted the oil paint with turpentine so that the color would soak into the canvas. This technique, known as "soak stain" was used by Jackson Pollock and others; and was adopted by other artists (notably Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland) and launched the second generation of the Color Field school of painting. This method would sometimes leave the canvas with a halo effect around each area to which the paint was applied but has a disadvantage in that the oil in the paints will eventually cause the canvas to discolor and rot away".  Quote from Wikipedia

Frankenthaler said "A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked, and you can read in it—well, she did this and then she did that, and then she did that—there is something in it that has not got to do with beautiful art to me. And I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute." (In Barbara Rose, Frankenthaler (New York:Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1975, p. 85)