Over the past 2 years, have been figuring out what my life as a painter looks like by learning as much about painting as I can. I have admitted to myself that painting is somewhat of a calling....
In fall 2018, I started taking oil painting classes at MSSU which has meant a twice-weekly checkin at the college for instruction and critique. Last summer, I spent a week at the KCAI art educators lab and had the incredible instructor Jonah Criswell. In the fall of 2019, I continued painting through an oil painting class at MSSU with my awesome professor Kyle Mckenzie and started meeting up with the MSSU plein air society for painting around the community. We painted at a 3rd thursday event and we've gone to parks and the falls in Joplin. Just painting, isn't enough...I find myself wanting to connect with other painters....I found an incredible podcast called the Savvy Painter, it is an amazing resource to connect with other artists. Through the podcast, I have started following tons of contemporary painters on instagram. One of the artists I follow is Jordan Wolfson. Last week, I noticed that he was hosting a Zoom webinar over the work of impressionist Paul Cezanne. I had never done a zoom conference at that point, but I decided to tune in and wow, it was an amazing discussion. There were over 40 other people taking part in the discussion. Some things I jotted down: -If I think when I paint, it all goes to pieces. --The fleeting and the changeless. --Cezanne--constant change --objective--proportions could change, look into the motif and give it attention --Wasn't making things up, but interpreting what was there based on the needs of the rectangle --Dynamic equilibrium ---Nature, rectangle, and himself ---traditional/light/topography/form/space ---Making a painting of his visual experience BOOK: Earl Lorain's book on Cezanne's composition Today, Jordan hosted another webinar and it was incredibly powerful. I took a whole lot more notes and I want to write down my thoughts while they are fresh in my mind. Searching for Presence in Giacometti's paintings. In a documentary, Giacometti sculpted throughout the whole interview and when asked why, he said: "It keeps the fear away." Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor and painter (did a few surrealist sculptures in the beginning), but eventually went to Paris and continued making work during the Nazi occupation of Paris. That notion of keeping the fear away definitely helped Giacometti to grapple with his experience. Still life--record of his engagement with the world in front of him, questioning his space....record of him grappling with his experience through his perception. Coming to terms through the painting. The fear falls away, when we are in the moment of 'being'. There is no fear, an experience of just 'being' places us in our now...fear is in the future...but just being allows us to be fully present in the moment. Jordan read from the book Keeping a Rendevoux by John Berger. Reading from a section called 'being seen' he honed in on the section about how Corbet's painting wasn't only about 3 fish hanging, it was about the light energy---the reflection---which becomes the true subject of the painting. Painters search for messages which come from beyond the visible. Behind a given set of appearances, and are rewarded with a kind of truth because painters look so hard at what lies beyond. Through mark making. To draw is to receive, it is not just about measuring and looking. In the present confusion of the day we are living in, it is important to find a sense of being, in the present moment--to find relief. Tera management--the existential absurdity of we are all going to die, but finding peace in the collapse of the subject/object relationship---finding beauty, the dropping into the sense of 'being' through perception or the experience of beauty. (Look up rupert spina) As makers we are given the gift to transform into 'being present' and we are able to step into an eternal moment and find relief from the anxiety of the fear of whatever is in the future, beyond this moment.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Mrs. Mitchell
This is my 'slice of life' blog. Archives
March 2020
My Art Teacher Blog:
This Little Class of Mine CategoriesOther Slice Blogs:
For Good I Like Big Books Life is a Slice The Cardinal Way KochUnaSlice YouWannaPieceofMeBlog Dr. Zornes' Slice of Life Sunshine Rays Two Writing Teachers Favorite Everyday Writer: Reesie Writes |