Clara Lieu's Blog, page 15
August 16, 2016
Drawing Again After a 2 Year Drought
by Clara Lieu
It’s been 2 years since I made any artwork. I promised myself that I wouldn’t make any artwork until I really wanted to, and when it would be fun again. I never suspected it would take 2 years to get me back into my studio practice, and that certainly is the longest hiatus I have ever taken from my studio work. Part of me felt terribly guilty for not producing any artwork for so long, but I really needed that time away to reset. Turned out it was worth the long wait, because as I had hoped, an idea for a new drawing series naturally emerged this past June.
All I know at this point is that I want to do nude drawings of elderly bodies. Sometimes I have a strong idea for a project, and I have to work hard to find the right images to communicate that idea. This time, I know what the images are, but I’m not sure yet what concept is behind this series. I am trusting that the ideas will eventually reveal themselves as I continue to draw and learn more about my subject.
Eventually, I want to collaborate with local nursing homes on this project so I can draw people from life, but it’s so early in this series that I need to experiment and sketch for a while before I get to that point. I just needed to get my feet wet first, so I started by working with Sheila, an artist model at RISD who I first met as a freshman in 1994. Sheila and I become good friends my senior year at RISD, and we stayed in touch for many years before I returned to teach at RISD in 2007. Today, she models for my classes at RISD, and I cherish our conversations. So it was so lovely to have a reason to draw Sheila again.
I’m using graphite powder, 6B and 9B woodless pencils, a kneaded eraser, and an eraser stick to draw on tissue paper. I’m surprised that I chose pencil; in general I don’t care for pencil much because especially with my students, people stiffen up a lot when using a pencil. My way around this is to begin the drawing by digging my bare hands into graphite powder, and then pushing the powder into the surface of the drawing with my fingers. The graphite powder is horrifically messy, but it allows me to cover large areas of the drawing very quickly, and then go back in with the woodless pencil to solidify details.
I chose tissue paper because of how thin and fragile of a surface it is, and I liked that it could crumple, much the way that elderly skin does. At first, I was frustrated with the tissue paper because it was so fragile that I felt like I had to walk on eggshells as I drew. I am usually pretty physical and aggressive when I draw, so it felt strange to draw on a paper that I knew could fall apart at any second. I could feel myself holding back my drawing process, which I knew wasn’t going to get good results.
Last night, I realized that if the tissue paper wanted to tear during the drawing process, I should just let it tear. When your materials want to do something, you should let them run their natural course, at the very least to give it a shot and see what happens. Not only was the drawing process much more lively, but I think the rips in the draw contribute to the overall atmosphere of the piece. The drawing also has an irregular shape, which I’m surprised I’ve never done before.
The practical aspect of these drawings helps too: the supplies are minimal and not hazardous, so I can easily work at home. These sketches only take about 1 hour to create, so they are not too time consuming to create. Given that I have crazy amounts of work to do on Art Prof everyday, that’s a huge difference.
These drawings remind me why I wanted to be an artist in the first place, something I haven’t felt for several years. For the first time that I can remember, drawing is fun again.
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
August 15, 2016
Crit Quickies are Back!
Crit Quickies was on temporary hiatus while we ran our Kickstarter campaign. Now that the campaign is over, Crit Quickies are back! Crit Quickies are 1 min. audio critiques on the Art Prof Instagram. Submit! Post your art on Instagram w/ @art.prof, & #critquickie. Watch more Crit Quickies in this playlist on our Youtube channel.
We accept submissions from artists in 8th grade and up. If you’re an art teacher, you’re welcome to submit on behalf of your students!
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
August 14, 2016
New Video: 4 Critiques
A few months ago, we did giveaways for a free audio critique pack, which allowed an artist to receive audio critiques from 4 of the Art Prof staff on one of their artworks. Today I cut a video which features all 4 critiques along with the painting. My video editing skills went from non-existent to “not terrible” in 2 months, so I’ll be creating videos for the other 3 artists who received an audio critique pack. Hope you enjoy this new format for these audio critiques!
Below is information on the critiques in the above video and the artist and their artwork.
Jeff Wrench
“Chelsea Rose”, acrylic paint on wallpaper and paint chips, 11″ x 17″
Critiques by: Lauryn Welch, Casey Roonan, Sara Bloem, Clara Lieu
“This painting is from an an ongoing series of portraits on wallpaper and paint chips, based on my snapshots or (in this case) photos provided by someone I’ve met online. I’m trying to paint intuitively and quickly. I am interested in rough, semi-abstract marks and colors that still converge into convincing and recognizable images. The found background is another source uncertainty in the process and opportunity for happy accidents. If successful, I think such an painting can ‘vibrate’ in the viewer’s mind, and maybe excite the imagination in ways that a realistic rendering would not.”
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
New Video: 1 Artwork, 4 Critiques
A few months ago, we did giveaways for a free audio critique pack, which allowed an artist to receive audio critiques from 4 of the Art Prof staff on one of their artworks. Today I cut a video which features all 4 critiques along with the painting. My video editing skills went from non-existent to “not terrible” in 2 months, so I’ll be creating videos for the other 3 artists who received an audio critique pack. Hope you enjoy this new format for these audio critiques!
Below is information on the critiques in the above video and the artist and their artwork.
Jeff Wrench
“Chelsea Rose”, acrylic paint on wallpaper and paint chips, 11″ x 17″
Critiques by: Lauryn Welch, Casey Roonan, Sara Bloem, Clara Lieu
“This painting is from an an ongoing series of portraits on wallpaper and paint chips, based on my snapshots or (in this case) photos provided by someone I’ve met online. I’m trying to paint intuitively and quickly. I am interested in rough, semi-abstract marks and colors that still converge into convincing and recognizable images. The found background is another source uncertainty in the process and opportunity for happy accidents. If successful, I think such an painting can ‘vibrate’ in the viewer’s mind, and maybe excite the imagination in ways that a realistic rendering would not.”
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
August 11, 2016
New Video Critique: Art School Admissions Portfolio by Rachel He
For those you applying to art school or college this year, this new video critique of Rachel He’s portfolio for college admission will be a useful resource! Preparing a portfolio for art school or college admission is a huge undertaking, and it’s really helpful to see another student’s portfolio and hear constructive comments on their pieces. We are frequently amazed that many high school students have little help, or are completely on their own when preparing their portfolios, so these video critiques are one way to get help. Don’t wait until the last minute to start preparing your college portfolio, it’s a time consuming task that can take months to complete, start now!
Below are more resources on our blog that will help you with the college admissions process. For more information on how to purchase a 30 min. video critique on 8-20 artworks from RISD Adjunct Professor Clara Lieu, click here.
Playlist of video critiques of college admissions portfolios
“Ask the Art Prof: What should you include in an art portfolio for art school or college?”
“Ask the Art Prof: What are common mistakes in college portfolio submissions?”
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
August 10, 2016
Art Prof Intern: Anna Campbell
by Clara Lieu
There are many high school students who have strong drawing skills, but few know how to think critically and speak articulately about their artwork and the artwork of their peers within the context of a group critique. The vast majority of students who I have taught at RISD Pre-College have never experienced a group critique before, so I know it’s my job to introduce the students to the idea of a group critique. Group critiques are an exercise that takes a lot of getting used to, and even then, it’s still challenging for many students for several reasons. Critiquing artwork is a skill that takes time and experience to develop, and every single critique is completely unique.
Presenting and speaking about your artwork in front of the entire class can be really nerve wracking, and discussing the artwork by your peers is tricky. I know that many students worry about the social backlash that can sometimes occur if someone doesn’t take a comment in the way it was intended.
Anna Campbell was one of the rare students I’ve had in my Pre-College classes who was able to dive right into group critiques and offer helpful, constructive comments to her classmates. She was encouraging and supportive of her classmates, but was also candid and honest. Anna’s presence during group critiques was very important to the class: I thought about her as an “engine” who set a serious, focused tone to the conversation and who also inspired other students to participate at the same time. She offered thoughtful and clear ideas during group critiques, and was able to provide helpful suggestions for her peers with enthusiasm.
On top of her terrific critique skills, Anna was also extremely versatile in her artwork. In my Design Foundations course, she was just as confident creating work in a bright, graphic style (as seen in her playing card designs below) as she was creating dramatic, foreboding images by drawing with color. Anna combined her techniques with innovative concepts as well, something few students in high school think to do. The drawing above was her depiction of how she organizes her friends in her head. The image she developed had an unusual, surrealistic look, and portrayed her concept effectively.
Let’s hear from Anna now:
Hi! I’m Anna, freshly out of high school and about to move from Chicago to Providence to attend RISD this fall, where I hope to study illustration. In addition to being an artist, I’m an avid reader, collector of odd words, and ice cream enthusiast.
Though I’ve always expressed myself via drawing and faithfully filled sketchbook after sketchbook, I didn’t really think of art as a viable future option until my junior year of high school, when I began probing my interests and researching more.
Click to view slideshow.
It was my amazing experience at RISD Pre-College in the summer of 2015, where I studied under Prof Clara Lieu, that solidified my decision apply to RISD. (I wasn’t accepted to Hogwarts, so I figured art school was the next best thing) The mix of constructive criticism, skilled professors, and fellow artists I found there made for an incredibly stimulating learning environment and one of the best experiences of my life. I’m excited to share that same mix of awesome with others looking for educational art resources through Art Prof!
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
August 9, 2016
Art Hack #3: Black Paint
A terrific tip about black paint from Art Prof Intern Julia Orenstein! See more Art Hacks from our staff in this playlist on our Youtube channel.
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
August 1, 2016
“Should We Protect Arts Education?” in Education Week
I recently wrote a guest blog post for the Leadership 360 blog in Education Week titled “Should We Protect Art Education?” Thanks to Jill Berkowicz, and Ann Myers for inviting me!
The article talks about my work with students in the RISD undergraduate program and RISD Project Open Door. Working in such contrasting programs (one a degree program, one a free community outreach program) has led me to believe that the vast majority of the time, art education is a simple matter of access. In my opinion, it shouldn’t be that way, which is why Art Prof is an important initiative towards equalizing access to high quality arts education.
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
July 30, 2016
Coming soon: Staff Blog Posts
Prof Clara Lieu and Teaching Assistant Casey Roonan
Now that our Kickstarter is over, we are entering a new phase here at Art Prof. While we prepare for our launch, we’ll keep releasing new Crit Quickies on our Instagram, new interactive video critiques and tutorials on our Youtube channel, and also blogging regularly here. For many years, this blog was written only by Clara Lieu. In this new phase, our 6 Teaching Assistants will start contributing blog posts. We hope you enjoy getting to know all of us in the near future!
Rodin, The Helmet Maker’s Wife
by Clara Lieu
I’m just now starting to “recover” from running the Kickstarter campaign. I know that I have a monumental work ethic, but this campaign pushed the limits of that. This was definitely the most intense amount of work I have ever done since my freshman year at RISD-except that now I have a family to take care of and a full-time job.
So today I had my first day off in months, I went swimming for the first time this summer. You would think on a day off I wouldn’t want to think about work, but I did. Not Art Prof, but my own studio practice, which has not been active for 2 years while I developed Art Prof. As I floated on my back in the water, I started anticipating a drawing project I first thought of back in June. The project is going to be drawings of elderly nudes. When you consider art history, the elderly nude is rarely portrayed. The only pieces from art history that come to mind are The Helmet Maker’s Wife by Rodin, (see above) and the Old Market Woman from Hellenistic Greece. You can read more about my inspiration for this project here.
I set up a time to work with an artist model next week, which got me really excited to start considering how these drawings might come together. A huge part of my practice has always been a long, comprehensive search for the right materials to match the project. I am sure this project will be no different. My first thought was graphite, which struck me as odd because out of all the drawing materials out there, graphite is probably my least favorite drawing material. However, in order to show the textures and surfaces of an elderly figure, I’ll need a drawing material that can achieve a high amount of detail and refinement.
Actually, what takes much longer for me to determine is the drawing surface. I want the drawing surface to be slightly translucent and also quite thin and frail. Perhaps tracing paper, tissue paper, or even a thin fabric like silk could be really interesting to draw on. In the past, all of my two-dimensional work has been the traditional rectangle shape, but I like the idea of torn edges or even fabric with frayed edges so that the drawing is an irregular shape. Just thinking about doing some small studies on these various drawing surfaces is wonderful, I can’t wait to get started.
A pencil drawing of Pearl I did when I was a senior at RISD in 1998. Pearl was an artist model when I was a student. She was 85 years old at the time, and was incredible to draw. Pearl is one of reasons I want to make these drawings.
ART PROF is a free, online educational platform for visual arts for people of all ages to learn visual arts in a vibrant art community. Imagine all of the resources here on our blog, except exponentially bigger, in greater quantity, and in more detail. Our Kickstarter campaign hit its $30k goal on July 19! Get info on our future launch by subscribing to our email list.
July 25, 2016
THANK YOU for Your Support!
THANK YOU to all our incredible supporters from Art Prof for helping us reach our $30k goal on Kickstarter!! I was so excited that I actually DANCED on video. (although, I think I am going to seriously regret this later…) You know your work is meaningful when you are willing to subject yourself to endless humiliation on behalf of your project.
Building a project like Art Prof from scratch truly takes a village. Art Prof would not be where it is today if it weren’t for the scores of people who posted, tweeted, and spoke about Art Prof on our behalf during our campaign. What truly took me by surprise was the many people, some of whom I have never met before in person, and several who I barely knew at the time, who went out of their way to help us. Here are some comments from our audience:
“I’m an art teacher working in Argentina and I find your videos and posts really useful. I’m so glad I’ve found your site. I love learning from other teachers, and you’ve become my new (far away) teacher. “
“Clara, this audio critique was great for someone like me — I’m not in school and I haven’t really found a way to get thoughtful input on my art. And mostly when I’ve found someone who I trust to give input, it’s been about the actual painting process — while much of the input here was about concepts. So that was new/surprising/interesting to me. Many of the critique comments highlight things I hadn’t explicitly thought about, so I am excited that pursuing these ideas may lead me to some interesting development. Thanks to all four of you!”
“I just wanted to thank you for the resources that you have created and put online. Since graduating from college, I have had a hard time making art. A year ago, I stumbled upon your blog and it has encouraged me to start make work again. It has been incredibly helpful to me to read and hear the questions of other young artists.”
“You are like my guru. I can’t wait to use your awesome Crit Quickies as class starter discussions in my AP Studio Art classes in the fall. Thank you for continuing to post it’s keeping my interest levels high during summer break so that I can build an even stronger program next school year!”
Coming soon: Interactive video critiques with student Monika Hedman
Preparing for our launch is going to take a few months, but we will continue to generate new content in the months prior to our launch. Give us a few more days to recharge our batteries, and keep an eye out for brand new Crit Quickies on our Instagram, interactive video critiques, and an upcoming gesture drawing tutorial!
To receive notification of our launch, subscribe to our mailing list. (we will only email you when we have big news)
