Don’t Mess with Texas Art Contest for Kids →

What:

Texas elementary school students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade are invited to participate in the Texas Department of Transportation (“TxDOT”) and Keep Texas Beautiful (“KTB”) (collectively “Sponsors”) Don’t mess with Texas® Elementary School Art Contest (“Contest”) to create artwork for the 2016 Don’t mess with Texas Calendar.

Entries will promote the Don’t mess with Texas and/ or Keep Texas Beautiful litter prevention slogans in order to encourage the protection of our Texas roadways and environment. The purpose of the Contest is to inspire our future leaders to refrain from littering, advocate litter prevention, and keep Texas beautiful.

Designs will be judged based on creativity and uniqueness, inclusion of a litter prevention message and interpretation of theme, overall visual appeal, composition, and age appropriateness. Winners will be announced online in May 2015.

Students who create the top 13 winning designs will have their artwork assigned to a month, or placed on the cover of the 2016 Don’t mess with Texas Calendar. Each will also win an iDeaUSA 8 tablet donated by H-E-B and Central Market. All student winners and runners-up may be showcased on the Don’t mess with Texas and Keep Texas Beautiful websites and social media sites, at the 2015 Keep Texas Beautiful annual conference, in media announcements, and through other means, as appropriate.

Teachers representing students who produce the top 13 designs will each win a $100 H-E-B and Central Market gift card. See Contest Official Rules for details (PDF, 115 KB).

When:

The contest begins January 12, 2015. All entries must be submitted by April 18, 2015. Winners will be announced in early May 2015, and prizes will be distributed by May 22, 2015.

How:

Elementary school teachers across Texas should set aside class time for their students to create artwork appropriate for the 2016 Don’t mess with Texas Calendar. This project can be completed in one day or several days to give students enough time to finish their design. After the students’ artwork is submitted, it will be judged by Keep Texas Beautiful affiliates, teacher volunteers, and graphic design professionals.

Download the full Contest Official Rules (PDF, 115 KB) and Contest Entry Form and Agreement (PDF, 238 KB) for students and parents/guardians, and display a flyer (PDF, 2.5MB) in your classroom or school hallway to create buzz!

Why:

Did you know that Texans ages 16 to 34 are the most likely to litter? We need to do all we can to motivate young Texans to keep our environment free from trash. This contest is a great way to share the Don’t mess with Texas and Keep Texas Beautiful messages with your elementary school students so that they learn good habits from an early age.

The purpose of the contest is to encourage our future leaders to prevent littering, protect our roadways, and keep Texas beautiful. Download a Litter Fact Sheet (PDF, 124 KB) to use during class discussion.

Questions?

Call Keep Texas Beautiful at 1 (800) CLEAN-TX or email info@ktb.org.

Visit the Keep Texas Beautiful website.

Egypt conservationists to sue over 'botched' Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun mask repair →

A picture taken on January 23, 2015 shows the burial mask of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt from 1334 to 1325 BC, at the Cairo museum in the Egyptian capital. An Egyptian conservation group said it would sue the antiquities minister over a 'botched' repair of the mask of Tutankhamun that left a crust of dried glue on the priceless relic. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED.

An Egyptian conservation group said Friday it will sue the antiquities minister over a "botched" repair of the mask of King Tutankhamun that left a crust of dried glue on the priceless relic.

The golden funerary mask, seen Friday by AFP at the Egyptian Museum, showed the sticky aftermath of what appears to have been overzealous use of glue to fix the mask's beard in place.

A museum official, who spoke anonymously to avoid repercussions, told AFP the beard had fallen of accidentally when the mask was removed from its case last year to repair the lighting.

Museum head Mahmoud al-Helwagy denied that conservation workers had damaged the mask

"This is illogical and inconceivable," he told AFP. "These are conservation workers, not carpenters."

Antiquities Minister Mahmud al-Damaty also denied that the 3,000-year-old relic was treated carelessly.

"The job was done correctly," he told AFP, without explaining why curators needed to fix the mask.

Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist who inspected the mask, said what she saw had so shocked her that her group was taking the matter to the public prosecutor.

"We are presenting a complaint on mismanagement to the prosecutor tomorrow," said Hanna, from Egypt's Heritage Task Force, which has long battled mismanagement and looting of Egypt's legendary ancient artefacts.

According to the museum official, "there seems to have been a lapse in concentration and the mask hit the case and almost fell" when it was removed from its case.

"So (the curator) grabbed it in his arms to break the fall, and the beard separated," he said.

The long braided beard fit into the mask with a peg, and had been separated before, the official said. 

"This mistake can happen. But what caused it to get worse? The curator was scared and he fixed it hastily."

The epoxy glue dried very quickly, said the official. 

"You should use material (that dries slowly) and then support it, maybe over several hours or 24 hours, so you can fix mistakes," he said.

"Renovation work needs an adhesive that is easy to remove in case there is any damage, without leaving any traces."

Museum director Helwagy told the official MENA news agency that epoxy glue is used internationally to fix artefacts.

The death mask of the enigmatic boy king is one of the crown jewels of the museum, which also houses the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II.

The museum used to attract millions of tourists before a 2011 revolt -- centred in nearby Tahrir Square -- brought down president Hosni Mubarak and unleashed four years of tumult.

Meet Your Latest Art Auction Start-Up: FAB →

Goodman. COURTESY LINKEDIN

In the Financial Times today, Georgina Adam reports that there’s a new “game-changer in the field of auctioneering” headed our way.

Fine Art Bourse, or FAB, is an online auction house founded by Australian Tim Goodman, formerly a major player in the Australian auction business, and has raised $2 million for the venture. It launches next month.

From the FT:

His company is based in “humble” (his words) premises in London’s Finsbury Park, and similarly low-cost offices will be opened in New York, Hong Kong and Beijing over the next 18 months. Consultant specialists around the world — there are already 21, a number Goodman says will grow to 60 by this summer — will source, value and catalogue the works, with just a small team of executives running the company. And there will be no weighty catalogues thudding on to doormats: “It is ridiculous, they cost a fortune and are terrible for the environment.”

These economies will enable FAB to offer pared-down fees of just 5 per cent to buyers and sellers, plus 1 per cent for insurance and a flat charge of $330 for photography, cataloguing and so on ($1,000 for items worth more than $100,000). The auctions will be run out of Hong Kong (“No sales tax, no resale royalty, no copyright fees”); buyers can browse offerings online and then have a 30-second window to bid. The firm offers a five-year money-back guarantee in case of problems.

Sounds feasible, but then what doesn’t these days? Goodman joins Paddle 8, Artnet, Auctionata, eBay, and Sotheby’s in trying to reinvent the online auction game (and I think I’m probably forgetting a few).

Introduction to Japanese Calligraphy →

Gyokusen-jo Via Google

The art of writing, or calligraphy, as it is commonly known, is an ancient art form that originated in East Asia. Today, many of us are familiar with the calligraphy of Japan; therefore, this article intends on outlining the provenance of that particular artistic sect in addition to describing its idiosyncrasies. 

Japanese calligraphy owes much of its existence to the Chinese. In the twenty-eight century BC, Chinese officials began to use pictographs as a means of record-keeping. Prior to this, the said characters were for religious purposes. As the need for a standardized method of archiving became apparent, Li Si, the prime minister during the Qin Dynasty, created a set of rules for calligraphic writing. The rules are as follows: 
 

• The script must be based on squares of uniform size and shape.
• All characters must be able to be written from eight strokes.
• Horizontal strokes are written first.
• The script is to be written from left to right and top to bottom.

This system worked out fairly well, as the method for writing was largely based upon the ideal of scraping a sharp object against another, softer object in order to leave a mark. However, many of Li Si's guidelines were ignored when paper, brush, and ink came into widespread use. While the block form and eight strokes method were retained, the writer was now able to express himself through the use of curves and graceful form. It was around this time that the Chinese brought paper, and the art of calligraphy, with them to Japan. 

As time progressed, Japan refined the Chinese style into something that was uniquely their own. Few works from the early times of the art are still in existence; many were destroyed during the Tang Dynasty's rule during the seventh century. However, some copies have survived; these include works by Wang Xizhi, a Chinese man who is referred to as the 'Sage of Calligraphy' because his bold style has had such a great influence on modern calligraphic technique. 

Like many other arts, Japanese Calligraphy had its own so-called Golden Age; this is when a particular art form flourishes, and many advances are made in its methodology. From 794 to 1185, Japanese calligraphers vigorously worked to shed off the Chinese techniques, but Wang Xizhi's remained the authoritative figure during the time. That is not to say that no progress was made, however, because the now traditional Japanese style of calligraphic writing emerged under the reign of one Emperor Saga. An 'assistant' of his said the following: “China is a large country and Japan is relatively small, so I suggest writing in a different way.” Before this time, Japanese calligraphers wrote in Chinese for the most part, which was not very convenient. Soon, this new style of writing was used for official record-keeping and became the primary writing style taught at calligraphy schools. 

As the Golden Age came to a close, the Japanese government was largely taken over by a military regime. Despite this, the arts continued to flourish. New, much less rigid styles of writing developed, and calligraphy became appreciated as an art form by the masses. Two-hundred and fifty years of peace followed; this time is known as the Edo period. A policy developed in which the country isolated itself from outside influences; this allowed the previously conceived forms of calligraphy to mature into their own. During the middle of this time, the Japanese government relaxed the rules regarding isolation, and various forms of Japanese calligraphy were exported around the world, thus introducing the art to Western cultures. 

Today, calligraphy is still a thriving art form. The basics of the art are taught in elementary schools, and students may continue with it if they choose upon reaching high school. Also, some universities offer programs in calligraphy so that the handicraft can continue on to future generations. All in all, calligraphy is a unique East Asian art with a relatively simple history. The art has and will continue to fascinate people from around the globe, and offers a rich view into the culture of traditional Japan.

Art forever changed by World War I →

A scene from “All Quiet on the Western Front” from 1930. (Universal Pictures, Universal Pictures)

Along with millions of idealistic young men who were cut to pieces by machine guns and obliterated by artillery shells, there was another major casualty of World War I: traditional ideas about Western art.

The Great War of 1914-18 tilted culture on its axis, particularly in Europe and the United States. Nearly 100 years later, that legacy is being wrestled with in film, visual art, music, television shows like the gauzily nostalgic PBS soaper "Downton Abbey" and plays including the Tony Award-winning"War Horse," concluding its run at the Ahmanson Theatre.

"It created an epoch in art," said Leo Braudy, a USC professor of English and author of "From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and the Changing Nature of Masculinity." "The question is, what was on one side and what was on the other?"

The simple answer as to what lay on the near side of World War I is Modernism, that slippery but indispensable term denoting a wide range of new sensibilities and aesthetic responses to the industrial age. Modernism took shape decades before World War I, but its clamorous arrival was vastly accelerated by the greatest collective trauma in history to that point.

From the fiction of Hemingway, Virginia Woolf and John Dos Passos to the savagely critical paintings and etchings of George Grosz and Otto Dix, World War I reshaped the notion of what art is, just as it forever altered the perception of what war is. Although World War II racked up more catastrophic losses in blood and treasure, World War I remains the paradigmatic conflict of the modern age, not only politically but also culturally.

"Of all the wars, that is the one that seems to explain us best," said Michael Morpurgo, the English author of the novel "War Horse," about a Devonshire farm boy's death-defying bond with his noble steed Joey, on which the National Theatre of GreatBritain'sproduction is based.

Particularly in his country, he said, World War I resonates louder than the even greater cataclysm that followed it 20 years later. "The First World War for British people is very much a part of who we are," Morpurgo said during a visit to Los Angeles. "It's so deep in us; the poetry, the stories, the loss, the suffering is there in every village churchyard."

During and after World War I, flowery Victorian language was blown apart and replaced by more sinewy and R-rated prose styles. In visual art, Surrealists and Expressionists devised wobbly, chopped-up perspectives and nightmarish visions of fractured human bodies and splintered societies slouching toward moral chaos.

"The whole landscape of the Western Front became surrealistic before the term surrealism was invented by the soldier-poet Guillaume Apollinaire," Modris Eksteins wrote in "Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age."

Throughout Western art, the grim realities of industrial warfare led to a backlash against the propaganda and grandiose nationalism that had sparked the conflagration. Cynicism toward the ruling classes and disgust with war planners and profiteers led to demands for art forms that were honest and direct, less embroidered with rhetoric and euphemism.

"Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene besides the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates," Ernest Hemingway wrote in "A Farewell to Arms," his 1929 novel based on his experiences in the Italian campaign.

Other artists clung to the shards of classical culture as a buffer against nihilistic disillusionment. "These fragments I have shored against my ruins," T.S. Eliot wrote in "The Waste Land" (1922).

In "The Great War and Modern Memory," Paul Fussell argued that the rise of irony as a dominant mode of modern understanding "originates largely in the application of mind and memory to the events of the Great War."

Irony and dissonant humor permeated the music of classical composers such as Alban Berg and Benjamin Britten, a pacifist who parodied marching-band pomposity in his Piano Concert in D. In his 1989 film "War Requiem," based on Britten's non-liturgical Mass, British director Derek Jarman suggested a parallel between the indifferent slaughter of World War I and the neglect of AIDS-infected young men in the 1980s.

Introduction to Cityscape →

Within the context of art, a cityscape is a work that showcases aspects of cities. It is often known as the urban equivalent of a landscape. Cityscapes are reflected by such mediums as paintings, etchings, drawings, or even photographs. Cityscapes are differentiated by town or village scenes that are less urban in nature. Cityscapes reflect various aspects of cities including (but not limited to) buildings, urban parks, city skylines, and city streets. 

The city in art has a long history. Some early works date to ancient Rome, for example.  The Baths of Trajan, for instance, depict a bird's-eye view of the city. Cityscapes were also created during the Middle Ages; however, these works often served as backgrounds for views of portraits. By the seventeenth century, cityscapes became a celebrated genre of art, particularly in the Netherlands. A famed work from this era is the View of Delft painted by Johannes Vermeer between 1660 and 1661. Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Haarlem were also featured during this period. 

During the eighteenth century, cityscapes became popular in many other European nations, especially in the Italian city of Venice. Some of the most celebrated cityscapes date to eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, groups like the Impressionists experimented with new techniques to showcase views of the city. The common thread between the various artistic genres in cityscape works is the representation of the city's physical aspects. 

The cityscape as a popular genre declined considerably during the nineteenth century as more abstract and works of modernity took center stage. Even so, some modern artists continued to reflect the city in their works. A few celebrated painters like Edward Hopper continued to incorporate cityscape elements into their works. Some contemporary artists focus on the city as the subject matter of their art today. For instance, Stephen Wiltshire is known for his panoramic city views. The artist Yvonne Jacquette is celebrated for her aerial cityscapes. 

The cityscape genre has been favored by many historic painters during their era such as Alfred Sisley, James McNeill Whistler, Childe Hassam, Giovanni Canaletto, and John Atkinson Grimshaw. While there is a plethora of world-renowned cityscape works collected by museums today, some particularly celebrated works include City by the Sea (c.1335 A.D.) by Ambrogio Lorenzetti; Paris Street, Rainy Day (1877) by Gustave Caillbotte; and Moscow (1911) by Mikhail Belyaevsky. Although cityscape paintings have declined in popularity during the past century, photographic cityscapes have become a popular genre of the art form.

Bronze: The History and Development of a Medium →

Rosetta "The Lion" Bronze 7" x 11.5" x 5.5" Edition of 100

Tin-based bronze came into existence late in the third millennium B.C. Bronze is a metal alloy that consists mainly of copper though other elements such as tin are added along with aluminium, phosphorus, and manganese. It is characterized by its hardness, but was known to be brittle. Its use became so widespread that the period of antiquity known as the Bronze Age was named for this metal alloy, a period of time particularly known for its skilled metalwork. Before bronze copper was the metal of choice, but the addition of tin gave way to the much stronger new metal. 

Bronze was used to make weapons, tools, and armor, but it was also used extensively in the creation of art; and indeed, even functional bronze items were often treated to artistically rendered decoration. The earliest tin-bronzes (an earlier bronze was composed with arsenic) originated in Susa and other nearby cities of Mesopotamia. Trade helped nurture the production of bronze since copper and tin ores were seldom found in the same areas.  

As an artistic medium, bronze was extensively used by artists and artisans. Bronze was famously employed in sculpture. An early example of bronze statuary comes from India’s Chola Empire in Tamil Nadu. Africa’s Kingdom of Benin famously produced bronze heads. The Greeks, Egyptians, and Chinese of antiquity are also revered for their sculptures as well as other bronze art works. The use of bronze became widespread and the Bronze Age chiefly lasted until 1200 B.C. Many cultures influenced bronze casting with advancements during this period which also increased bronze usage for artistic purposes. 

Ancient bronze art is known for its great beauty. Many bronze artifacts were once used ceremonially especially in places like China. One early example of a Chinese bronze is a vessel that may have been created as early as 722 B.C. and depicts a pattern of interconnecting dragons. Other beautiful and intricately carved bronze vessels are some of antiquity’s best known works of art. As a medium, bronze allowed for great detail and sophisticated artistry. 

Although iron eventually supplanted bronze in many industries, bronze remained an important art medium. In fact, some of the most famous bronze art works date to the artist Rodin who lived from 1840 to 1917. While the ancients knew of a wax process used to mold bronze, it has been lost to time, but the production of bronze art works has continued into the present making the most of new technologies. Contemporary artists continue to produce bronze objects of art in all manner of artistic styles. 
 

Jim Carrey Is . . . a Painter? →

Jim Carrey in his studio.
Photo: Jim Carrey via Vulture.

Jim Carrey: actor, comedian, and…painter?

Recently Vulture published an article about Maurizio Cattelan's LA Art Tour. To artnet News' surprise, one stop he took was at Jim Carrey's painting studio. Who knew that the bona fide comedian is also an art lover?

Indeed in an interview with David Letterman, the actor says he owns a cabin in Canada with a "barn full of skulls…cause I do my arts and crafts up there, I make lamp shades. It's all organic."

The actor may or may not make lamp shades, but either way, Carrey has been drawing and painting since he was a young child. According to Vulture, the actor's studio is filled with portraits of women, self-portraits, and images of pop culture icons such as James Dean. He employs a technique in which he applies wet paint on top of an old layer that has dried, and then he scrapes off the new layer to create a silkscreen illusion. After that, the expressive Carrey slashes the canvas and sometimes stitches it back together.

Like a true entertainer, Carrey also sculpted a puppet of his Dumb and Dumber To co-star, Jeff Daniels, in his studio, and used the puppet to debut his ventriloquist skills on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show.

10 Tips for Choosing Artwork for Your Home →

1.  Buy Art that You Love.  Whether or not it has the potential to rise in value, it should be something you will enjoy having in your home every day.  Remember, the art is for you.

2.  Be Open to Different Mediums.  Why always pick a painting? Find the type of art that will work best for your space.  Paintings will add a broader swathe of color.  Sculptures will add depth to the room, and mixed media pieces add texture or a mixture of visual elements.  Which medium will have the greatest impact on enhancing your room’s decor?

3.  See What’s Out There.  Get out and see the art being exhibited in your area.  Great local and original art is displayed everywhere from coffee shops and colleges to galleries and restaurants.  If you can’t find a piece thats the right size or with matching colors from a local source, a quick search online should direct you to affordable art that matches what you need. 

4.  Pick the Right Size.  Measure your wall’s dimensions and bring pictures of the room with you. That way, when you are out looking at art, you will have a better idea of what space you have to work with and can imagine how the art will look in your home.

5.  What’s the Focal Point? A room can have more than one area that draws your attention. Are you looking for a single point that will define the room, or some decor pieces to complement your overall color scheme? Make sure all the room’s design elements have some breathing space to avoid a cluttered look.

6.  Color is key.  Pick artwork that contains some of your room design’s more attention grabbing colors.  A piece with similar or complementary colors can work great as well. Take into account your wall color, furnishings, pillows, throws and curtains to create a palette of colors to look for in your artwork.

7.  Content Matters.  What does the artwork depict? Do the waving lines in the painting mirror your curved coffee table? Does the tropical pattern of your upholstery reflect the theme of the painting? Depending on the mood and shapes in the work, select imagery that will harmonize best with the room's contents.

8.  Or Does It?  A traditional interior does not always require traditional artwork.  A showstopping contemporary piece can make an impressive statement above a mantle in a traditionally styled living room.  Sometimes a contradiction is exciting and new. Think outside of the box.

9.  Hang it right.  Make sure the artwork is hung at the correct height.  It should be approximately eye level.  Try following the art gallery standard, which means the center of the painting should be about 60 inches from the floor.

10.  Light it Up.  The importance of lighting your artwork can not be overemphasized.  Dimly lit artwork will lose impact and look dull and muted.  Great lighting will make your artwork pop and contribute to the mood of the room.

Quote of the Week: Henri Matisse

“Creativity takes courage. ”

— Henri Matisse

Public Art Installation at NorthPark Brought To You By San Francisco Artist Jim Campbell →

Jim Campbell's “Scattered Light" installation, originally commissioned for Madison Square Park in NYC in 2010, is coming to the outdoor garden at NorthPark Center in Dallas.

NorthPark's manicured CenterPark Garden will play host, starting November 25, to this very popular outdoor installation, which most recently appeared in Hong Kong. It's made up of 1,500 suspended LED lights that look like old-school incandescent bulbs, which are staggered and programmed to blink in such a way as to animate a moving image of human shadows walking across and through the light field. Here's a link to a short video to better illustrate what I mean. It's pretty cool.

By photos posted online of its previous installations, it looks as though viewers are also invited to walk and sit among the lights.

The installation will go up in time for the holiday season but stay at NorthPark through the spring. NorthPark, known for its architecture and art displayed throughout, was built by the Nasher family and showcases work from the Nasher collection (and visiting public work) with a program independent of the Nasher Sculpture Center.

This post originally appeared on Glasstire, on Thursday, November 13, 2014.

Famous Artists: Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) →

Image via Google

Georiga O'Keeffe

Born on November 15, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O’Keeffe was a female artist and icon of the twentieth century. She was an early avant-garde artist of American Modernism. Her life spanned 98 years, and her portfolio includes many works of American landscapes. She received early art instruction at the Art Institute of Chicago (1905-1907). In 1907, she moved to New York City and studied under William Merritt Chase as a member of the Art Students League. Her early career led her to further studies at Columbia University Teacher’s College and educational posts at the University of Virginia and Columbia College. 

In her New York years, O’Keeffe created works described as examples of avant-garde Modernism, abstract, Minimalist, and color field theory. Two of her paintings demonstrate her lifelong skill with color regardless of the subject matter. In 1919, O’Keefe created “Blue and Green Music” and became prominent with support from Alfred Stieglitz. This abstract piece is a beautiful work of rhythm, movement, color, depth, and form. She echoes this work again in 1927 with “Abstraction Blue.” When O’Keeffe painted in watercolor or oil, she also captured beauty and emotion. In later works, O’Keeffe continued this tradition, including famous pictures of flowers and New Mexican landscapes. 

O’Keeffe developed a powerful relationship with the wealthy and famous photographer, Alfred Stieglitz. The two were quite a power duo. Stieglitz is remembered as the first photographer to be exhibited in American museums, the power behind Modernist artists with his gallery 291 in New York City, the person who brought Modernism (ala Picasso) to America, and an artistic influence on artists like Ansel Adams. Although their friendship began in 1917 while Stieglitz was still married to his wife, O’Keeffe married Stieglitz in 1924. 

When Stieglitz died in 1946, O’Keeffe moved from their home in Manhattan’s Shelton Hotel to New Mexico. She divided her time between a home called Ghost Ranch (frequented since the mid-thirties and purchased in 1940) and a Spanish colonial at Abiqui (purchased in 1945 and occupied in 1949). In her “Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II” (1930), O’Keeffe again depicts movement, beauty, volume, and depth, especially in brilliant blue forms of New Mexican mountains. O’Keeffe’s work reflected other travels and influences, including a friendship with the Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. 

Georgia O’Keeffe’s cultural impact is preserved by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This museum offers the only research center in the world devoted to scholarly study in American Modernism. A visit to this museum or another venue where her work is shown suggests why she was the first woman to have a solo exhibition in 1946 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. O’Keeffe died on March 6, 1986.

Introduction to the Artistic Style of Conceptual Art →

Image via Google

Beginning in the 1960s, conceptual art was described as anti-establishment. First, picture the commercial images of Marilyn Monroe popularized by Andy Warhol. Realize that some artists were opposed to the concept of getting rich through commercial art sales. Conceptual artists wanted to make the masses think instead of giving them plastic art to consume. 

As a movement, conceptual art creates disharmony in society, jarring people out of their traditional understanding of art. According to the “Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” “Conceptual art, it seems, is something that we either love or hate.” A piece of conceptual art challenges the viewer to defend the work as a true piece of art instead of something masquerading as art. Thinking about the artist’s deeper meaning in a conceptual art piece helps the viewer understand an important statement about society.  

George Brecht (1926-2008) was the son of a flutist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1961, Brecht performed his conceptual art piece entitled “Incidental Music.” This performance art can only be described as Brecht stacking up toy blocks inside a grand piano. In his obituary, George Brecht was described as a “provocateur” by the “New York Times.” He belonged to an international collection of artists called the Fluxus, mainly conceptual artists like him. Brecht died at the age of 82. 

A different consideration is the artist Joseph Kosuth (b. 1945). His composition, “One and Three Chairs” (1965) consisted of a plain, beige wood chair sitting next to a life-sized photograph (black and white) of a wood chair. Taken out of historical context, “One and Three Chairs” does not appear to be art at all. However, taking something as plain as a chair captured on photo paper and positioning it next to a real chair suggests simplicity or absurdity depending on your point-of-view.  

The peak of conceptual art occurred from 1966 to 1972. Artists reacted to the art critic, Clement Greenberg’s narrow definition of Formalism. According to Honour and Fleming (2005), Greenberg “saw the art object as being essentially self-contained and self-sufficient, with its own rules, its own order, its own materials; independent of its maker, of its audience; and of the world in general.” 

Even the artist, Marcel Duchamp, a young friend of Dadaism and Surrealism decades earlier, created a piece of conceptual art in the final twenty years of his life – “Given: 1. The Waterfall 2. The Illuminating Gas.” This piece included part of a nude woman made of leather and other pieces of found art. The viewer had to look through a peephole to see this shockingly erotic composition. In “Given” (1968), Duchamp bridged the thirty-year chasm between Surrealism and conceptual art. While conceptual art occurred in the U.S. in the context of civil rights, the same movement abroad bucked all of the traditional notions of the art establishment.

What is Scratchboard? →

The term scratchboard refers to the surface. A scratchboard (aka scraperboard or scratchpaper) is a surface which has been coated with a layer of white clay. This backing can be a hard board (masonite) or a thin paper. I use a scratchboard made by Ampersand — it is prepared on a masonite board, so it does not bend or crack and the layer of clay is thicker than on paper. Scratchboard can be purchased with just the smooth white clay surface or prepared with a layer of black ink.

The basic materials I use are black waterproof ink, a paintbrush, pigment pens, and a fine craft knife with a #11 blade. The above image shows a piece that was started on black scratchboard. These are the quickest as you can start scratching immediately.

Working a white clay surface requires a bit more patience as you have to wait for the ink to completely dry. This is the basic process when starting on a white clay surface.

1. Paint ink onto the surface in the outline of subject

2. Use a fine blade to scratch away the ink.

3. Continue scratching away details with the blade. 
You can add other details with a fine black pen or brush.

Last year I wrote a demonstration article for Artist’s Palette Magazine about how I create a illustration on white clayboard. You can view a PDF of the article here.