Frida Kahlo

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Diego Rivera

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20th century artist Picasso

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Basic art with Betty Berry / lesson #1 The color wheel

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Henri Matisse

Matisse says, “What I am after, above all, is expression…I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it.”  

Henri Matisse was a French artist recognized as a leading figure in modern art in the 20^th Century along side Picasso and Duchamp.  He is known for his use of color.  His subjects most frequently painted were still life and women, and he painted from nature and not from the imagination, he would place his subjects in real interiors.  I have two of my favorite works by Matisse here to discuss.

Lets take a look at: “Interior with a Violin Case” 1918. Oil on Canvas

In this painting you see the colorist painter in Matisse, also see that he used bold outlines around his shapes.  In this painting you look into this room and carry your view out of the window, then back into the room where you see no person, but you notice the violin case on the chair, and it is empty, where is the violin?  With no human subject in this artwork you cannot help but wonder if the sound of the violin can be heard through the open window.  You wonder, has the owner of this violin opened his case and escaped to the streets below to play his instrument, the open case allures us to think or wonder where the violin could be and why the window is open.  The room seems freshly lived in rather then still with no life.  The sun is piercing through the window, the streaming light fills this room with life.  Matisse interacts with the viewer here and gives us a full escape into this painting. Do you feel the life in this painting, and does the room seem to be occupied?  How does this painting make you feel?

My number favorite painting by Matisse is his Oil on canvas, Dance (1) 1909.

In this favorite painting of my, I admire the movement is this painting, and the joy and fun that is relays to the viewer.  These five ladies are on a high grassy knoll, with blue sky behind them and they dance with hands joined, or almost joined.  If you notice the fingers on the bottom center is almost touching, while reaching for the other figure on her left, and this slightly breaks the chain.  She extends toward her companion to her left, as she simultaneously pulls hard on the hand of the figure to her right, now notice the legs of this figure in the front they are off balance while she reaches, and the two on top of the hill have their knees bent and their shoulder raised forming this circle that our eyes follow round and round.  Dance has movement and beautiful bold colors that give the viewer the sense of joy and fun time. 

Matisse died in 1954, with a title as one of our greatest.  

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera, the Mexican Muralist had star power in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  He was a communist who painted murals for the great capitalist of his day; he expressed the epic view of history and a cosmic vision of the human potential.  Other then being married to his third wife Frida Kahlo, the fresco painter is well know in Mexico and the United States for his works.

Of course Rivera is best know for is Mexican murals that can be seen in the Ministry of Education and

His staircase paintings at, The National Palace

Diego Rivera is considered the greatest Mexican painter of the twentieth century, he has a profound effect on the international art world, and he is credited with the reintroduction of fresco painting into modern art and architecture.  Frescos is a type of mural painting done on plaster on walls or ceilings, the art was popular in the Renaissance that lost popularity but had a somewhat come back in the 20^th century.  He had an Aztec influence with bright bold colors and simplified figures.  Most of his painting were controversial and reflected his beliefs.  Rivera was a rebel and his fresco mainly dealt with Mexican society and depicted the country’s 1910 Revolution.

Diego made several trip to America that would change the course of American painting.  In 1930, he began work on two major American commissions: for the American Stock Exchange Luncheon Club, in New York City, and for theCalifornia School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, both incorporated Rivera’s radical politics.  Later, at the height of the Great Depression in 1932, at the request of Henry Ford, Rivera painted a Fresco at the Detroit Institute of Arts that gave praise to the American worker, it depicted industrial life in the United States, with reference on the car plant workers of Detroit.  With his radical political and independent nature this work began to draw criticism in America, Ford’s son defended it and the work remains Rivera’s most significant painting in America today.

Diego did several other painting in Mexico and America before he died on November 24, 1957.   I solute him on this anniversary of his death, and may his influence in the arts carry on.

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, and her self-portrait make her one of Mexico’s most famous 20th century female artist.  She is best know for self-portraits, 

and she painted most of them on her back from her bed.  Kahlo’s paintings are remembered for its “pain and passion”, and depictions of her beloved country, Mexico with its intense and vibrant colors.  

Kahlo suffered lifelong health problems, many which started from a tragic traffic accident early in her life.  Most of her works show her pain and how she suffered, and when you view a Kahlo painting you will feel the pain and struggles she underwent.   

Frida, has over 200 paintings, drawings and sketches relating to her experiences in life, including her volatile relationship with Diego Riviera.  Of all her paintings she painted herself most often.  When asked why she painted herself so often, she replied: ”Because I am so often alone… because I am the subject I know best.”

Yes, I did say her relationship with Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican Muralist.  He was 20 years older then Frida, and she married him at the young age of 22. This marriage was anything but lovely.  The relationship was stormy and passionate, with infidelities, divorce, remarriage, Frida’s bi-sexual affairs, her health and the worst for Frida was her inability to have children.  She was known to say, “I suffered two grave accidents in my life…one in which a streetcar knocked me down and the other was Diego.”  The Streetcar accident left her crippled physically and Rivera crippled her emotionally.  Frida Kahlo was an emotional artist and when you view her works you can feel her pain.  

Diego was always on her mind, till the day she died, July 13 1954.

Halloween

It's time to be creative, this halloween put your creativity to the test.   Come up with your best costume and share with us.  I am excited to dress up tonight and share pictures later. Have fun tonight and everyone be careful, NO DRINKING AND DRIVING!

AVARD FAIRBANKS:

Today’s featured artist Avard Fairbanks is a 20^th century American sculptor from Provo, Utah.  Fairbanks has several sculptors all over the country, Three of his sculptors can be see in the United States Capitol and the state capitol in Utah and Wyoming.  He is not just know for his Sculptors, in 1918 he and his brother worked on the Friezes (an architectural term, meaning decorated with reliefs) for the Laie Hawaii Temple, and on the Harold B. Lee Library on Brigham Young University.  

Possibly his most well know contribution; he designed the ram symbol for Dodge (the auto maker).

I became interested in this artist actually at my doctors office in Salt Lake City.  His office is like a tiny museum and it houses several of Fairbanks sculptors.  One of my favorites is, Chief Joseph the detail in his sculptor is amazing and the work that goes in to a sculptor is tremendous.

Check out some of his work I get to enjoy often.

art or not

we have talked about street art and I have gone out and shot a video and would like for you to take a look at it and tell me what you think.  All the images came from Salt Lake City, and there is a lot of art shared on the streets here, is this art and what is the difference in this and Graffiti.

 

The art with food

This week I have been talking about unusual mediums in art.  Food is another way to express your creative juices.  From cooking a rack of ribs, throwing together a pot of soups, or baking bread, just following the foundation of a recipe is just the beginning to create your very own masterpiece.  A good cook tries different ideas and may take several attempts before perfection is found. 

Pumpkin bread I made this week created the idea for this blog.  I had many different recipes to make pumpkin bread, some had nuts in it, one used real pumpkin, and another used pumpkin puree, and I had one that used apples and another that used raisins. So, I put together what I like to taste and come up with my own creation.  I was wonderful, but there are some modifications I will do next time, like add vanilla and leave out the golden raisins. 

HERE IS THE BASE FOR THE BREAD IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY FOR YOURSELF

EXTRAS I ADDED: one large bag of chopped walnuts, ½ cup of golden raisins, and ½ cup of apple sauce (I use applesauce to help the moisture)

Ingredients

            1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

            4 eggs

            1 cup vegetable oil

            2/3 cup water

            3 cups white sugar

            3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

            2 teaspoons baking soda

            1 1/2 teaspoons salt

            1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

            1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

            1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

            1/4 teaspoon ground ginger                 

 Directions

1.              Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.

2.              In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

3.              Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Creative foods are fun to prepare too. Food for kids, there are many different ways to help you kids enjoy eating healthy foods. Kids like to spend time in the kitchen with their parents, and the kitchen is a fun place to learn life skills while spending time with family.  I hope we can all remember baking cookies and decorating them. Making a cake and required reading and measurements, while licking the bowl and adding letters to spell a message.  

Art of Hair

Different mediums of art thrive across our planet.  I like to bring different types of art to our attention.  Now, saying that I ask, have you ever thought of your hair as being art?  Also, do women use their heads more the men? 

I have found that each time I have been to my hair stylist he/she takes their job very serious. I look at cosmetologists more as scientist then artist till here recently, when asked to pick my favorite hair creation on a website called thehairartnetwork.com.  In the competition there were stylist as well as barbers.   The art of hair is way beyond color and style.  Stylist used different materials, extensions, clippers, and other techniques to create their masterpieces.  Check out some of these styles, what do you think about the art of hair?

Street Art

STREET ART

To be street art the art has to be created in a public space, usually in the streets.  Though this art is usually frowned upon like graffiti artwork, today it is becoming more popular and accepted.  When we think of street art today do not just consider graffiti, there are cities today that hire artist to decorate city streets and the side of buildings with historic or colorful paintings and murals.  Traditional graffiti artist primarily used spray paint and free hand to produce their works, but today there are many techniques such as posters, stencil art, murals, and wood blocking.  Practically all-large cities in the world host street art but some are responsible for the movement of accepting this type of work such as Berlin, Germany, London, England, Paris, France and Los Angeles, California.  Do you have street art in your town, I would love for you to share with us is so post a photo and share.

Dada

"Dada is a state of mind... Dada is artistic free thinking... Dada gives itself to nothing... ." This is how André Breton describes it, but Dada did not like labels or to be defined, that was the point.  Out with realism, beauty, and everything thought to be art.  Dada was bold, hard to understand and made the viewer think about what was going on.  You did not just look at this new style of art with an eye of beauty; you had to look deeper into the meaning and the expression of the artist.  There were times that you would question what the creator was thinking and how could that be considered art, and if the artist achieved this type of thinking from its viewers then there was Dadaism.  

Dada began as an anti-art movement; in the sense that it rejected the way art was appreciated. Out with everything we knew to be art and tired of the sense of contemporary art.  Several different mediums participated in this movement, painting, poetry, and theatre to name a few, and there were time mediums were coupled together. Merz performance is an example, this is the philosophy that any sound or unscripted words can be incorporated as material into a performance, a concept we found in the visual Dadaist’s, "ready-mades", or the use of "found objects”. The poetry was alive, and anything but we had ever read or heard before.  There are several examples of these reading, and you might be interested in, "Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales (Oddly Modern Fairy Tales), written by, Kurt Schwitters in the 1920's.  This style you could find strange and unusual.  A bit on the odd side but a fun read to explore and share with your mind.

Dadaism

Dadaism is a cultural movement that began during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922 and concentrated on anti-war politics.  Dada opened the door for abstract artist and influenced pop art and laid the foundation for surrealism.  The Dada Manifesto is the international expression of our times, the great rebellion of artistic movements. 

Marcel Duchamp was at the forefront of this movement. Duchamp was not really interested “retinal art” or art that was visual he was more of an expressionist.  He is most know for his readymade, and ready-mades can be defined as an ordinary object elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of and artist.

 

“Fountain”, by Marcel Duchamp 1917.

This piece he made use of an already existing object, a urinal and he titled it “Fountain” and signed it “R. Mutt”, the art show he submitted the piece stated that all works would be accepted.  This piece, Duchamp used the manufacture’s name as the artist, and everyone was ready to meet this new unknown artist not knowing the art was signed by Duchamp with a name that was on many urinal where urinal were on display where they were not considered a piece of art. 

Duchamp was defiant and had a sense of humor, we can see this in another piece he is know for.

 The famous Mona Lisa that has hung in the Louvre museum in Paris since the 1500’s painted by Leonardo da Vinci it was altered with the humor of Duchamp.    

Duchamp in 1919 drew on her face and Wrote L.H.O.Q.Q Phonetically: “Elle a chaud au cul”, or “She’s got a hot ass.”

The Dada period was defiant and Duchamp led the way opening doors for artist to express himself or herself in a way that shocked people. It made others look at art with an eye of not just, “beauty.”  Does art have to be beautiful, to be considered art?  The beauty is in the eye or sometimes the hand of the beholder.

Land Art

Land Art, Earthworks, or Earth Art are types of art created by artist with natural/ organic material gathered by the artist and used to construct the artist’s vision.  Artist such Andy Goldsworthy use materials such as leaves, stones, ice, twigs and branches what ever is available at hand given from nature.  Land art is typically ephemeral, and becomes part of its surroundings, and as the surroundings change so does the created art leaving it to erode under natural conditions or disappear all together.  Most of the time land art is photographed or recorded so to document it ever existing.  In the art world artist say that creating the art is part of the art itself.  What I mean by this is: the feeling and the process all become the art.  I want to know how you feel about this type of art or is it art?

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is the most popular viewed monument in the world, it is located in England, and it is believed to be erected around 2500 BC.  The Ditch and Banks are thought to be dug as burial grounds, the banks being the chalk from the ditch.  The mystery is how the hugh stones were brought there and erected into what we think to be, Sun Worship Temple, Healing Center, or even a huge calendar.  What do you Think about Stonehenge?