Digital Art

I enjoy working with a variety of media. I think most of the work in this blog does a pretty good job of showing that. That interest is more obvious in my paintings as they are almost all constructed using a variety of media. I've come to find that one advantage of an art education major is the variety of classes that are aplicable to the course of study. I could take everything from drawing and painting classes to basket weaving and jewelry design and it would all help me acquire units for graduation. This interest in multiple media compliments my appropriation of different sources for information and meaning.

In a discussion with one of my students about her artwork she mentioned the fact that she liked working with a digital drawing tablet. I've seen them in Fry's and often wondered how they worked for making artwork. I figured in order to continually improve my ability as a teacher I must be prepared to discuss work in a greater variety of media so I bought one.

The one I bought was relatively inexpensive but effective. It works well with Photoshop but I couldn't get the pressure settings to work in GIMP though they are supposed to. To make an exceptionally long story short it is a lot of fun to use. I am able to scan things in on a whim, reproduce images endlessly, and apply the human contact present in conventional media through the drawing tablet (that contact is at least as close to the final image as possible given the media- not quite like smudging with your finger tip, but you get the point).

These are a couple of samples of the work- just sketches from a couple of evenings in the studio.

Artist's Community: Work space

When building an artists' community the first thing artists need is space to create. Most call this a "studio" though I don't think an artist needs to go that far in order to get work off the easel. This "space" must have access to the requirements of the media (the materials an artist uses to make his or her art) as a minimum, and a means of reasonable security: An artist must be able to lock up and walk away without fear of damage to the work or loss. This space need not be an elaborate thing as one might think having watched enough television to assume the workspace must meet some visual definition of a "studio" or "must inspire" the artist. Artists can take their inspiration from a number of sources; scenic views, the city, people, stories, almost anything! (Besides, I'd be a little suspicious of the merit of an artist's work that found its only inspiration from the working environment.) Ask anyone who is sick of their cubicle at work- work still gets done, though I will admit, it is probably not as enjoyable as completing the work in an office with a view. Studio needed? No, just work space. If we do not call this space a "studio" other opportunities open.

The reason for pointing out exactly what kind of space an artist needs is that many communities overreach when they consider providing space for artists placing unnecessary burden on both the community and the artist. Communities often approach this by offering a large building constructed or redesigned specifically with artists in mind. Small, blank workspaces grouped together with other small blank workspaces with an office space mentality. As I've mentioned, artists need work space not a studio, there's a difference! Another common mistake is to think about artist spaces as apartments- make them small, sterile, and ... oh ya, charge rent. Then they can say, "see, we are providing space for artists," and pass financial burden on to the shoulders of the artist and increase the artist's risk or need for commercial success. Not to mention the risk shared by the community if the space go unused without the rent to pay back the taxpayers. Because artists need low risk workspace much less is required and desired by the artist.

Look, as I've already written, a small space (about 13' X 20' floor space) - enough for a couple of easels, a flat file, and a cabinet for supplies is enough space for an artist to get started. How many streets are lined with nice restaurants below an empty second level with 85% of the shades drawn over the windows with the rest revealing "bookshelves" (this is the name that is given to refuse containers used for self deception) full of things no longer needed? How much room is "used" way in the back of the shop for items of little or no value? This space is wasted space, this wasted space is artist's space that could be made available through the help of the community to the artist.

I propose civic organizers simply coordinate unused space in businesses already active and successful in the community! Coordinate the space as a donation from the business, offer some tax breaks or advertising perks, and an artist has workspace risk free- or at least the risk is shared by the community. I mean really, imagine how many store fronts have "storage space" filled with boxes and unused office furniture that would much rather get a tax break (not to mention a free rotating art collection) for letting an artist use the "storage space" as work space? Any community incentive for the business would surely help reduce the risk inherent in establishing an artist at a very small price. The price might simply amount to collecting an inventory of available space and presenting it as available to artists: "Artists wanted- free studio space, visit the chamber of commerce website," - space made available, coordinated through the city, artist community started! No new construction, no financial risk, no contributions needed, just a community working together as a community for the sake of a community (and, of course, art).

The artist's community is started but not finished. More on that in future posts...

Portraits, one of the artist Saelee Oh

'Thought I'd post a couple of sketches completed the 17th of February. That evening I felt like drawing but had little specific inspiration so, on a whim, I thought I'd work a bit on a couple of portraits. Both are fine examples of why a person should check their proportions before working through the drawings! Oh well, lesson learned (and likely doomed to be repeated as some point in time). The first is a generic soldier as the war in Iraq is seldom far from consciousness and the second is a portrait of Saelee Oh taken straight out of an edition of Juxtapoz magazine. No particular reason for choosing that picture for a study other than the overall color of the photograph.

The artist's community

I've been mulling over some ideas about artist communities and how I think they should be established. As I work to get my own studio off the ground while earning a regular salary as a high school teacher I wonder how difficult it must be for those fresh out of college. Where would one start? "Flip burgers" or work an empty job just to pay the student loans seems to be the common path though I would propose that the frustration faced by the average artist must be exacerbated when also faced with a dead end job where time spent does little for the future. A far greater guarantee seems to be some sort of parental support or other means of income such as that enjoyed by Cezanne or Frankenthaler. This kind of security appears to allow a certain amount of freedom as both Cezanne and Frankethaler were able to pursue new ways of making art without initial commercial success. I can't help but wonder if Frankenthaler might not have painting happy little trees in an impressionist manner if she depended on the sales of her work for the food on her table. If that were the case she may have stayed "safe" rather than risk being sorry for her large color stain paintings. (I don't think she was "sorry," probably just the opposite, I am just trying draw attention to the risks an artist faces when exploring individual expression.) Now if security is not available from some preexisting source as in these last two cases it must be made up by the first, that is unless the community is willing to accept some of this risk faced by artists.

Why would a community even want to accept some of this risk? I mean, does the accept any risk for its other members? Sure it does! Tax breaks are often advertised to businesses to relocate to a community. Local newspapers promote new business as if they were real news items all the time. These are just a couple of examples of the risk as it is accepted by the community for the sake of its members. Of course it is the community in general that benefits from the acceptance of some of these "risky" endeavors: Jobs are created, the tax base is expanded so additional services and civic works can be completed, and of course citizens hear about a lot of tasty new restaurants that open up.

"What about art?" you might ask. Why would a community accept the risk inherent in any new art form? Why should we care if an artist sinks or swims? The answer to that lies in humanity itself- that is the big answer- in that as human beings we derive a large part of our lifes quality from the things we see around us. Proof for this can be found in the cars we drive, the shoes we wear, and the shape of the cell phone we keep on our being at all times. "Sure." you might say, "but those are things we need and as we all know "art is useless." (I'm not saying that, Andy Warhol did- besides that would contradict myself- ooh, sorry, almost another quote, I'll try to stop myself) "Form always follows function" you might say but I say, "function fills a need that's true, but form sells- form is what we want!" So, in short, by having artists around we get what we want and that promotes a greater quality of life. (Was that too much of a jump to the simplistic? Probably.) Therefor, most artists need communities and communities want artists.

Now it is important for me to admit ignorance on the details of many communities though I am familiar with a few and I have, at least a bit of information on a number of civic programs to promote the arts in communities in my area of the United States. Artists need three things for initial establishment assuming, of course, their work is of reasonable merit (this is not required, however). I think I'll focus on these three things in my next few posts: I want to look at each one in some depth to explain what I think is needed and what a community can do to promote a healthy environment for the arts to develop.

Wounded Knee

I am currently finishing up a couple of paintings on memory and how much circumstance plays a role in the recording of "facts." I am using the raven metaphorically to suggest the difference between two paintings on a visit my sister and I made to Wounded Knee in 2004.

In the painting I use text to recall the events as they unfolded that evening and how they have played a role in my appreciation for that place and the resistance of those that live on the reservation there. Many people might say that Wounded Knee has two histories, one in 1890 when the band of Lakota following Sitting Bull's brother, Big Foot, were massacred by soldiers under the command of Colonel James W. Forsyth. Another happened when members of the American Indian Movement held off federal forces for 71 days in 1973 . I say the history of that place is a continuous one that runs uninterrupted through the present day; an embarrassing one of religion, culture, government, and money. My experience there is one of a drive through desperate poverty in the middle of the American heartland overlooked and unnoticed by many.


Of particular notice for me was the graffiti on the gate to the small chapel on the hill where someone expressed their loss and remembrance of those held dear to them. A subtle but poignant note from a person searching for a voice that will carry in the winds of South Dakota.

The place stood in sharp contrast for me to the Little Bighorn memorial in Montana, which I visited earlier that summer on my way to the studio in North Dakota. Although the "the Custer Battlefield" shared the raw history and timelessness of the prairie the headstones, sidewalks, gift shops, and visitors were quite different from that faded blue-green sign that insufficiently tells the tale of Wounded Knee.

The sketch

I have always been interested in the sketches of the masters- da Vinci, Michelangelo, it didn't matter; I found the raw idea very interesting, perhaps even more interesting than their finished paintings. A sketch carries a sense of freshness, an urgency or a moment in time unencumbered by refinement and rethinking. In many ways there is a purity in a sketch that is difficult to express in a finished painting. I beleive that same freshness is much the same feeling the German expressionists like those in the Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke tried to present in their work. Naturally context for painting has changed from Europe between the wars as has the subject matter but the essence- human emotion, response, and discourse has not.

In my work I try to reverse the painting process, so to speak. You see, it is my understanding that paintings usually begin on a piece of scratch paper, on a napkin, or in a sketchbook somewhere. Then it is refined, edited, paired down to simplest terms, and put onto canvas in paint or collage or whatever. I do this too, but in my work the painting usually begins with the idea written into my sketchbook and several sketches added of how the idea may be represented visually or metaphorically. Following this I collect additional material like newspaper articles or research on the subject to flesh the idea out a bit more. Then I set up some problems to be solved on the canvas like the devision of space, relationship of the elements, ect. by painting a few of them on the canvas then adding or reducing as need be. Lastly I try to add once again the sketch right out of my sketchbook onto the top "layer" of my painting. An example of this may be "Repetitive Pump in Purple". In a way I want to invert a painting so others can see the process the idea goes through in the work. I hope this last sketch carries the freshness or urgency of the original idea in some way.

The Raven

In Norse mythology Odin has two pet ravens: Hugin and Munin- thought and memory accordingly. Each day they leave Odin and return from "Midgard," (literal meaning: middle enclosure) the mortal realm. The only historic pictures I've found of this show Hugin (thought) on Odin's right shoulder facing him and Munin (memory) on his right.

The Quran tells of a raven teaching Cain how to bury Abel and Native American traditions from the pacific northwest see the raven as both a creator and a "trickster" god.

The cross cultural significance of the raven is quite amazing but I find the Norse representation as the most interesting mostly for the news or information being that of thought and memory- very different from our understanding of it in contemporary culture. In the Norse mythology the "news" is understood to be subjective- interpreted through thought and memory.