What I'm Working On

Hi There!

Arnie

Colored Pencils and Pastel on Arches Watercolor Paper

11" x 15"

Just wanted to share my latest piece - a pet portrait for a good friend's father who is a golf pro. Arnold Palmer Steiner is a Shih Tzu who is a beloved member of the family.
Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts -

Denner

Monday History

                                                Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk
                                                        gelatin silver print, photomontage, 1932

This piece was used as an anti-Hitler poster in the 1932 election. It refers to the financial backing Hitler received from wealthy industrialists who feared Germany would vote for a Communist government. 

John Heartfield was a German artist whose politically charged photomontages were banned in his home country during the Nazi regime.

Heartfield was born in 1891 as Helmut Herzfeld. He changed his name in part as a way to protest World War I; he even feigned madness to avoid returning to the service. During the Weimar period he became a member of the Berlin DADA group. He used his collage work as a political medium, incorporating images from the political journals of the day. He edited "Der DADA" and organized the First International DADA Fair in Berlin in 1920.

Sharply critical of the Weimar Republic, Heartfield’s work was banned during the Third Reich, then rediscovered in the Democratic Republic in the late 1950s. Since then, his art has influenced generations of artists and graphic designers.

http://www.towson.edu/heartfield/art/art.html

Check out more of his work, write a brief description including some of his pieces discussing how you feel about his work.  Specifically, about how he was treated during the war, why you feel his work was so powerful, and whether or not you feel it deserved to be banned during this time.

Check This Out!

Alexandra Eldridge

I wish You Were Here

Oil & Collage on Board, 54" x 42"

Alexandra Eldridge presents these wonderfully layered paintings that tell a story with an huge emphasis on texture. I'm interested in your interpretations of this piece. What do you consider the intended message to be? How do you think she went about creating this illustration?

Answer these questions and check out more of her work - I want at least 5 examples from different categories. 

So what are you waiting for? 

Check This Out!

-Denner

Technical Tuesday

*On Wednesday...

 Gesso Transfer for Newspaper
This is another way to transfer an image. Check out this link for details on how to apply this technique in your workbook (this means try it out!).
Happy days are here again~!
-Den

Check This Out

You should all go to this and take notes! The show is up and looks fantastic - congratulations to all of the year 2 IB students for all of their hard work. The proof is in the pudding (so to speak) - awesome job!!!

Technical Tuesday

Tea Staining
Many artists manipulate their surfaces prior to drawing or painting on them in order to achieve a desired aesthetic. Above is one example - tea staining. I would like you to investigate how to tea stain paper and create a page in your workbook that shows the successful execution of this technique while doing something creative on top of it. Make sure that you give your paper time to dry prior to drawing on it, but consider media like graphite, ballpoint pen, crayons, colored pencils...basically, whatever you think might look cool. Have fun with this - I look forward to your results!
Keep your pencils sharp and your ideas fresh,
-Denner

Monday History

Elizabeth Catlett

Sharecropper 

Linoleum Cut Print created in 1958, published 1970

Elizabeth Catlett (1915 - Present)

Catlett is best known for her work during the 1960s and 70s, when she created politically charged, black expressionistic sculptures and prints. Catlett, a sculptor and graphic artist, was born in Washington, D.C. in 1919. She attended Howard University where she studied design, printmaking and drawing. In 1940 Catlett became the first student to receive a Master's degree in sculpture at the University of Iowa. In 1946 Catlett received a fellowship that allowed her to travel to Mexico City where she studied painting, sculpture and lithography. There, she worked with the People's Graphic Arts Workshop, a group of printmakers dedicated to using their art to promote social change. After settling in Mexico and later becoming a Mexican citizen, she taught sculpture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City until retiring in 1975. click here for full link

Based on the image above I would like you to further investigate the artist Hughie Lee-Smith and create a compare/contrast page for both Lee-Smith and Catlett. What was the main point-of-view for each artist? How does their work convey the intended messages? What are the similarities and differences between these two?
Happy Monday!
-Denner

Check This Out

Julie Levesque

Rise/Fall I (above)

Powerless Installation

I stumbled upon this artist while spending some time on artistaday.com and was blown away by her figure work. After viewing her website I found that she was primarily a sculptor, which blew my mind considering the awesome quality of these figure paintings. I could not find the media that she worked in on her site, so I will give extra credit to those who can find this as well. Enjoy the work - I know I did!

-Denner