Possibilities

I had a great conversation with Tony Janello today, who teaches in the Illustration Department at RISD, and who was also my former professor many years ago. Tony has been working on these extraordinary heads, using paper mache and wax.  He gave me these two heads today so I could investigate his process further and get a better sense for how he constructs these heads.  Although both of these pieces are still in progress, they still have a striking presence to them which is powerful and deeply emotional with their contorted forms and expressions. I’m constantly in complete awe of the work.

His technical process is remarkably inventive; the head seen below is constructed out of cardboard coffee cup holders, cardboard tubes from paper towels, and sonotubes.  He’s been trouble shooting and experimenting with paper mache for many years now, and it’s amazing the kinds of results he’s able to get with such low end materials. The head above is a wax piece that was cast from an alginate mold. As a result of our conversation, my head is now spinning with all of the different possibilities, and it’s possible I might give paper mache (yet another) shot.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

The catalog for my upcoming exhibitions is moving along nicely: My husband is designing the book, I’m doing the photography, and RISD Printmaking Professor Andrew Raftery is writing the catalog essay. In about a week or so I’ll start my massive PR campaign for these exhibitions.  It’s exciting to see everything coming together at this point.

As I think about ways to approach these portrait sculptures, I’ve been looking a lot at the works of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, a late 18th century Austrian sculptor. He created a number of pieces called “Character Heads” which represented anguished, distorted expressions.  They’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and there are so many similarities to the portrait drawings I’ve been doing.

A Clear Mind

(above) Self-Portrait No. 50 (detail)

I took some time for vacation over the past week, which for me is a rarity.  It sounds ridiculous, but I was actually stressed out at first about taking a vacation; I worried that if I was away from the self-portraits for too long that I would lose my momentum, forget what I was doing and loose the fluidity that I had been starting to gain in my drawing process. Time away turned out to be wonderful, and I came back into the studio today really well rested and refreshed. Contrary to my earlier concerns, I picked up right where I left off and was able to finish a redo of No. 10 and No. 50.  (no, I’m nowhere near finished, I’m working on the self-portraits out of order)

(above) Self-Portrait No. 50

I actually left a lot of the etching ink of No. 50 untouched; the nose has some articulation with cross hatching, but I largely focused on the eyes to get tons of detail involved.  Most of the area around the mouth is exclusively etching ink.  I enjoy this balance of details versus less articulated areas, and have been thinking about how to get them to contrast yet work together at the same time. People always seem to think that the details are the most difficult part of the image; for me it’s actually the opposite. Details are so straightforward in that you carry them as far as you can and there’s a certain goal in mind.  I find the less articulated areas really tough to call: left too muddled the areas can come across as sloppy and unfinished.  Yet there’s that magical balance you can hit where the areas are on the verge of being unfinished but hold an assertiveness and place in the piece that is absolutely vital to the entire work.

Someone who I think balanced detail masterfully was John Singer Sargent.  In some areas of his paintings the detail is so visually striking and tight, but in others the paint dissolves into muddled areas. In this painting below the eyes of the child in the foreground are full of lively details and yet when you see in the rug in person and look at it on it’s own, the rug is actually very crude and primitive by comparison.

(above) John Singer Sargent’s Daughters of Edward Darley Boit

(above) Self-Portrait No. 10, redo

I’m pretty satisfied with this redo of No. 10.  Out of all of the portraits, this one is probably the most complimentary to my model, so it sticks out as a distinctive work in the body of pieces.

Studio Visit with John Udvardy

As Gallery Director of the Jewett Art Gallery at Wellesley College, I’m constantly looking around for potential artists, themes, and ideas that can be assembled and brought together to form future exhibitions and events at the gallery.  I look specifically for artists who I think would be a good fit for the intellect, diversity, and range of ideas in the Wellesley College community.  One of the most exciting and stimulating parts of this process is doing studio visits with artists.  Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to visit John Udvardy’s studio in Warren, RI.  Udvardy taught Three-dimensional Design in the Division of Foundation Studies at RISD for 34 years, and retired from teaching in 2008.  Since then, he’s been working steadily on his sculptures in a space that used to be an auto repair shop that he’s converted into his studio space.

Put simply, Udvardy’s studio represented a lifetime of collecting objects:  Udvardy explained that he’s on a constant search to find and collect objects for his “palette”. What astounded me was the incredible range and quantity of objects in his studio, and his choices and selections.   Many of the objects were clearly recognizable:  a gourd, a spoon, the leg of an old table, a piece of scrap wood, part of a fence, a branch, etc. What especially intrigued me were the objects that were not instantly recognizable, that ask you to question what their original purpose was and what kind of history they visually demonstrated.  At several points during the visit, I would pick out an object and ask Udvardy what it was, to which he would reply that he had no idea. As diverse as all of the objects were, it was clear that they all demonstrated a passion for surface, texture, and form which was beautiful, subtle, and bold. I was amazed at what Udvary saw in each object, that in a piece of old broken rusted metal that most of us would toss into the trash, Udvardy saw a form ripe for placement in one of his sculptures.

Seeing Udvardy’s tools was a wonderful way to get insight into his work process, which is driven almost entirely by the use of manual tools.  Looking at his collection of tools, it seemed that every possible tool or adhesive that one could possibly harness was available to him. The enormous range of materials and objects that he works with requires him to be very innovative and creative in terms of the putting the sculptures together.  In his tools and sculpture, it was clear the profound understanding and sensitivity to materials and tools Udvardy commands in creating his work.

One room was entirely dedicated to cast iron objects that Udvardy has collected over the years.  The cast iron works are done separately from the other objects because they have to be welded together.  Udvardy has welding equipment that he uses outdoors to create cast iron sculptures.

Cast iron objects, waiting to be assembled into a sculpture.

To view more images from my studio visit with Udvardy, visit the Jewett Art Gallery’s Flickr page. For more information about John Udvardy and his work, visit his website at www.johnudvardy.com

“Transformations”: Installation, Opening, & Gallery Talk

Last week was a busy week at the Jewett Art Gallery at Wellesley College, where I’m the Gallery Director: on Monday and Tuesday we installed the exhibition “Transformations”, Thursday was the opening reception, and on Friday we had a gallery talk with Ken Takashi Horii and Thomas Lyon Mills.

(left to right) Thomas Lyon Mills, Gallery Director /Curator Clara Lieu, Nathalie Miebach, and Ken Takashi Horii discuss the installation plan.

(left to right) Thomas Lyon Mills, Gallery Director/Curator Clara Lieu, and Nathalie Miebach discuss options for how to install the exhibition.

Figuring out the layout for the exhibition was complicated due to the fact that every artist had both two-dimensional and three-dimensional work. All of the exhibitions we’ve mounted since I started directing the gallery in 2008 have largely featured two-dimensional work, so this was a first for the gallery to have so much three-dimensional work in a single show. Other important considerations were how to distribute and balance color throughout the gallery. Nathalie Miebach and Thomas Lyon Mills both had works which were heavy in color whereas Ken Takashi Horii and Anthony Crudelle-Janello had largely black and white or monochromatic works.

Left: Nathalie Miebach and a student gallery assistant work to assemble her sculpture into the gallery space.
Right: Ken Takashi Horii works on assembling his large sculpture “Of Mind and Matter”.

Each artist had their own pre-determined system for hanging and arranging their works in the gallery.  In Ken Takashi Horii’s case, his large sculpture arrived in several pieces and was installed piece by piece into the wall. Nathalie Miebach had sculptures and also several audio components which went along with her musical scores. Thomas Lyon Mills had a simple and effective hanging system for his paintings which allowed them to hang on the wall unframed. Anthony Crudelle-Janello’s sculpture was  constructed on a set of wheels, allowing it to be wheeled right into the gallery.  Crudelle-Janello’s photographs were hung on the wall using strips of velcro stuck to the back of the photographs.

The opening reception was well attended by both members of the Wellesley College community as well as several people from off campus, many of whom were visiting the gallery for the first time. A live jazz performance with piano, flute, and bass was provided by the Wellesley College Music Department.

The following day the gallery hosted a gallery talk  by Thomas Lyon Mills and Ken Takashi Horii.  Hearing their insights and thoughts about the work provided a whole new level of depth and understanding of their work in the exhibition.  View all of the photos from this exhibition and events on our Flickr account.

Studio Visit with Tony Janello

This past Friday afternoon I drove to Rhode Island for a studio visit with Tony Janello.  He is one of the four artists exhibiting in an upcoming show that I’m curating, titled “Transformations”.  This exhibition is coming up in March 2010 at the Jewett Gallery at Wellesley College where I’m the Gallery Director. We first met in 1998 when I was a student in his painting class in the Illustration Department at RISD during my senior year.  I now teach Drawing at RISD in Foundation Studies and he’s continued to teach Painting and Drawing in the Illustration Department since then.  We’ve kept in touch over the years since I graduated, and it was very exciting to visit his studio and get some insight on his thoughts and creative process.

Janello’s process involves many phases and transformations in a range of media. He creates essentially paper mache sculptures which are then lit and photographed, with the sculpture as a means to the photography. The role of photography as the final result allows him tremendous visual flexibility with the sculptures that he would otherwise not have. I was impressed by how much his photographs looked like paintings; they had an incredible atmosphere and depth that transcended the sculptures themselves.

What is astonishing about these sculptures is how low-tech they are in terms of construction and materials. For the interior structures of the sculptures, he uses sonotubes, which are extremely strong cardboard tubes that are used in construction for pouring concrete columns.  You can see in the photo below on the sculpture on the far left an example of one of the sonotubes that he’s sawed into a ring to hold the sculpture up. On top of the sonotube structure, he uses paper towels dipped in elmer’s glue to sculpt the heads into more detail. These materials also allow the sculptures to be highly durable, yet lightweight at the same time.

Below is an example of how Janello uses backgrounds and creates sets for his sculptures.  The backgrounds are created from thin sheets of plywood which are then painted to reflect surface, texture, and writing. Several of his backgrounds feature the visual look of a chalkboard which has writing layered over itself continuously.

Below are some experiments for adding yet another phase in his process: after he photographed the sculptures, he drew on the digital prints using crayons.  In this series below, there is a progression in the images where he is “healing” the “injury” in the sculpture’s head by drawing with cross-hatched marks on the images with crayon. Janello was a portrait painter for many years , and it seems like this is a perfect way to work in his experience in drawing into his current work.  These pieces above are still very early in their development, but we discussed the possibility of creating works with this process for the “Transformations” show.

The back of this sculpture seen in the photo below reveals the interior structure of the sculptures, created from sawed up strips of sonotubes.

Below is a close up view of one of his sculpture heads, where the painting process and surface texture of the sculptures is apparent. For more information about Janello’s work, you can visit this previous blog post from the Jewett Gallery’s blog which features his artist statement. To see more images from Janello’s studio, visit the Jewett Gallery’s Flickr page.

“The Brilliant Line” at the RISD Museum of Art

Last Friday I took my Drawing I class from Wellesley College on a field trip to the RISD Museum of Art’s current exhibition “The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver“. Emily Peters, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the RISD Museum and Andrew Raftery, Associate Professor of Printmaking at RISD led a gallery talk at the exhibition for my Drawing class. Their combined expertise in the many layers of engraving: the technical process, historical context, etc. made for an exciting talk.

What struck me as wonderfully unique about this exhibition was it’s ability to reach both ends of the spectrum in terms of an audience.  One could attend this exhibition with no knowledge of engraving and come away with a deep understanding of the medium.  At the same time, people who are highly knowledgeable and experienced in printmaking will find extraordinary depth in the exhibition as well.  The exhibition is accompanied by a terrific interactive exhibition website which features Raftery’s analysis of line systems and divergent styles of the engravings in this show. Display cases were featured throughout the exhibition showing the tools and materials involved in the engraving process.

Towards the end of the gallery talk was an amazing selection of prints by French engraver Claude Mellan and an astonishing portrait by another French engraver Robert Nanteuil. Mellan’s work seemed particularly distinctive within the context of the exhibition, his work was as much about the lines he chose as areas of negative space.

Albrecht Durer, Madonna with the Pear, 1511, engraving

Jessica Straus at Boston Sculptors Gallery

I made a trip to the SOWA District in Boston today to pick up my exhibition postcards at Bromfield Gallery and also to attend a reception for my friend Jessica Straus‘ solo exhibition, “Fittings and Findings” at the Boston Sculptors Gallery.

Postcard for my upcoming exhibition at Bromfield Gallery. Nancy Diessner, who is exhibiting in Gallery I at the same time as my show has her work on the left of the postcard.

I met Jessica at my first teaching position after I finished my MFA in Sculpture back in 2004.  I was a sabbatical replacement at Concord Academy in Painting and Drawing, and Jessica taught Sculpture and Drawing in the Art Department. Jessica has been a wonderful resource and mentor for me in terms of my work as a teacher and artist.   I’ve always been thankful to have had the opportunity to work in the same department with her, even if it was only for one year. We’ve stayed in touch since then, and it’s always a treat to see her shows.

Jessica’s sculptures are created from both hand carved pieces of wood as well as an assortment of found objects.  She combines the various materials seamlessly into a single object which makes sense within itself. The installations for her sculptures are always very involved, and I think this exhibition was one of her best yet; she really understands how to get the work to interact with the space and surface planes of  the wall and floor in a manner which compliments and highlights the work very successfully.  Another aspect of her work I’ve always admired is the way her sculptures are reminiscent of toys, gadgets, organic materials, and tools, and yet they always manage to escape being labeled any of those items. Her sculptures walk a fine line between all of these associations and result in quirky, whimsical and odd objects which are visually engaging and thought provoking.

Visiting Artist Andrew Raftery

Andrew Raftery, a professor of printmaking at RISD and my former professor was on the Wellesley campus today as a Visiting Artist in the Art Department. Andrew is one of the very rare and few contemporary artists who specializes in the technique of engraving.  He gave a lunchtime gallery talk at the Davis Museum on their current exhibition Prints in an Age of Artistry which features 16th and 17th century Italian prints. The gallery talk was a wonderful intersection of commentary which involved discussion of various printmaking techniques, the diversity of the subject matter, and history all in one.

After the gallery talk, we headed over to my Life Drawing class for a demonstration and lecture.  My Life Drawing class just started a unit about cross-hatching techniques, so it was perfect timing to have Andrew visit and talk about some of the research and visual analysis he’s been doing with cross-hatched prints.  He’s been breaking down the multiple layers of hatching from historical prints on separate sheets of acetate to demonstrate the process and motivation behind the hatch marks.  Andrew then did a demonstration on how to cut goose feathers into quill pens, which students then proceeded to create and cut with exacto-knives. The quill pens were then used to do a small cross hatched portrait from a model for the rest of the class. At the end of the class students had the opportunity to view his two engraved projects “Suit Shopping” and “Open House” which was recently completed last year.

Chinese Calligrapher Mike Mei

I attended a lecture at Wellesley College on Tuesday night by Chinese Calligrapher Mike Mei.  My mother has studied Chinese calligraphy with him, so I know him through her and invited him to do a lecture and demonstration at Wellesley. I’ve had a long term interest in Chinese calligraphy because I think there are many strong correlations between Chinese calligraphy and drawing that are surprisingly similar despite how different they can seem at times.  The lecture was great to attend, as it filled in a lot of blanks for me about how Chinese calligraphy works.

Mike’s lecture centered around comparisons between ancient traditions of Chinese calligraphy and the innovations he has made himself based on these traditions as a contemporary calligrapher. He explained that there are 5 generations of Chinese calligraphy, each with its own distinct look and set of (or lack of) rules. For example, in the first generation of Chinese calligraphy, the characters all fit perfectly within a verticle rectangle and are comprised of strokes which lack emotion due to the consistency of each stroke.

Mike Mei shows a slide which demonstrates 4 styles of Chinese calligraphy for each character.

The generation that he discussed which I was most fascinated by was the 5th generation, or the cursive style of Chinese calligraphy. In the cursive style, one continuous brush stroke is applied to write either a many stroke character or to even write many characters all at once. He explained that many people see Chinese calligraphy as Chinese abstraction: the cursive style is so free and extreme that the majority of the time the characters become completely illegible, even to someone who reads Chinese fluently. This was such an interesting idea to me- the entire purpose of characters is to communicate language, and yet here is an art form which denies you that ability.

After the lecture, I requested to Mike to do a demonstration of the cursive style, and I was astounded by the extraordinary balance of complete, uninhibited spontaneity and absolute control and focus.  Watching his brush move across the page, every kind of rhythm was there: soft, slow, fast, bold, etc.

Mike Mei demonstrates the cursive style of Chinese calligraphy; he uses 2 continuous brush strokes to write 10 characters.

Some concepts he discussed which I found really interesting was about  the rhythms that happen during the act of writing: the brush moves slow, then fast, and then becomes dramatically heavy. I asked him about what kind of preparations he does to create a piece, and he talked about creating a feeling of strength within yourself and investing in a specific feeling or emotion. Both of these concepts have their correlations in drawing; the idea of rhythm can be see in terms of gesture and making marks while having a strong and confident mindset is essential to creating an effective drawing.