Clara Lieu's Blog, page 19
June 6, 2016
Audio Critique Winner #3: Eloise Shelton-Mayo
Eloise Shelton-Mayo
“Bends & Bridges III”, oil and cold wax painting, 12″ x 12″
“I’ve been interested in how we define spaces in our lives, some chosen and some not. There’s a dialogue between the shapes that reads like a kind of topographic map with a history, a story. The Bends & Bridges Series of which this piece, No. III is a part of, began out of an exploration of shape and color using the medium oil and cold wax. Creating contained shapes and those that blend into other ones started out intuitively but became more deliberate as certain ones were covered and others isolated. My fascination with what separates and connects is evident here and the boundaries of those spaces, like the connections appear changeable.”
Sara Bloem, Multimedia Artist
“The textures are really working for you. I love the oil and cold wax technique, it makes me crave to see the person in real life, up close.”
Mentioned: Richard Diebenkorn, Cityscape #1
Lauryn Welch, Painter & Performance Artist
“I just want run my hands over your piece, I love seeing the little scratch marks in the surface.”
Yves-Olivier Mandereau, Designer & Ceramic Artist
“I really appreciate the vibrancy of the color, and the liveliness of the painting.”
Clara Lieu, Fine Artist & Adjunct Professor at RISD
“Be more assertive about what you’re going after in terms of the color scheme.”
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Sneak Peek #3: Vine Charcoal Drawing Demo
Quick preview of a small slice of a vine charcoal drawing demo-another tiny morsel before our gigantic art education project arrives in on June 14! If you can believe it, this video was made way back in October 2015, I’ve been jumping out of my skin for practically an entire year to release content from this project. Naturally, now that we are just 8 days from release, I’m absolutely terrified! But too late now… the wheels are seriously turning!
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June 5, 2016
Crit Quickies: Before & After Crits
Now that I’ve done 10 Crit Quickies on my Instagram, I’m going to add follow up crits called “Before & After.” So, if you get a Crit Quickie from me, you can work further on the artwork I critiqued. Then, post your revised artwork w/@art.prof, #artprof & “Before & After.”
Looking forward to seeing what you do!
Subscribe to my email list! There’s a big announcement coming on June 14 about a major art education project that you won’t want to miss.
Follow the Art Prof on Snapchat!
Want to REALLY go behind the scenes of a RISD professor’s existence? Follow me on Snapchat @art.prof! See the actual blood, sweat and tears that is my life as an art school professor and visual artist. It’s only going to get more gory as we get closer to June 14, our huge release day! Subscribe to my email list so you don’t miss the big news.
June 4, 2016
A Burst of Artistic Inspiration for the First Time in 2 Years
I’ve been absolutely consumed with my art education project that is being announced June 14, (subscribe to my email list if you want to know what it is!) so for the past 2 years, I haven’t produced a single piece of artwork. In 2014, I had simultaneous solo exhibitions at the Trustman Gallery at Simmons College and the Mazmanian Gallery at Framingham State University of works from “Falling“, a series of drawings, prints, and sculpture I worked on from 2010-2014 that explored my personal experience with depression. I was so stressed out from the year leading up to those exhibitions that consequently, I lost my drive to continue producing artwork. I knew this was a serious plateau I had reached because I knew that no matter what project I did next, it would be absolutely nothing like my previous projects, (Wading, Waiting, and Digging) all of which followed relatively similar paths.
I’m absolutely floored by this complete halt of creating artwork, and that it’s lasted 2 years. I was initially horrified that I had no motivation to make artwork-there’s nothing more terrifying than feeling the drive you’ve devoted your entire life to drain away from your mind and body. Then my art education project started to take off, and my passion directed itself elsewhere in a new and different form. At that point, I stopped feeling guilty about not making artwork the way I had in the past, got really excited about the possibilities for my art education project.
But then, just a few hours ago, an idea for a series of drawings slapped me in the face, really hard. I felt the first explosion of passion and inspiration that I haven’t felt in 2 years. Simply put, I want to create a series of nude drawings of the elderly. When I think about it, there are so few images of elderly nudes in history, the only two that are prominent are the “Old Market Woman” sculpture from Hellenistic Greece, and Rodin’s “The Helmut Maker’s Wife.” There are also 3 major sources of inspiration I can point to for this project idea:
Atul Gawande’s book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Happens in the End”
Roz Chast’s memoir “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?”
Pearl, an 85 year old artist model who worked at RISD when I was a student.
Gawande and Chast’s books were fundamentally about the same subject of aging, but were incredibly different in terms of both the articulation of the subject and their point of view, Gawande as a doctor, Chast as a cartoonist. I found both books absolutely riveting and remember reading Chast’s book back to back in one sitting. In Chast’s book, there’s a section where she explains that in the moments immediately after her mother passed away, she says “I didn’t know what to do, so I drew her.” Chast’s drawings of her mother were some of the most intimate, powerful drawings I’ve ever seen and I found myself emotionally moved by her drawings in a way that I rarely experience.
This drawing of the artist model Pearl reclining is one of my favorite drawings I did my senior year at RISD. I have no idea why she put a tissue over her eyes that day when she was posing in class, but it made for a striking set up that no longer looked like a drawing class exercise. Drawing Pearl was an extraordinary experience. Because she was 85 years old, the physical aspects of her body were like nothing I had ever seen before, the sagging and stretching of her tendons and muscles, the texture of her skin, and her awkward physical movements were completely mesmerizing. She would sit in a chair for literally 4 hours straight. Every now and then, her head would drop down, as if she had fallen asleep, and then 20 minutes later, she would slowly bring her head back up in to the exact same position she had been posing in.
With my major project coming June 14, there’s no way this project is going to start even within a few months. However, already, my mind is racing about all of the possibilities, and I like the idea of letting a project concept simmer slowly in my head over a long period of time before starting. I can imagine already there are going to be major logistical hurdles I will have to clear in terms of finding people who are willing to participate in a project like this, but that’s exactly why it’s good for this project idea to sit in my head for a few months before I take any action.
A sculpture of Pearl I sculpted based on my memory of her figure in 2002.
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June 3, 2016
The Crit Quickies are Pouring In
Crit Quickie #8 by @tea_for_jbass
Over the last 48 hours, Crit Quickie submissions have started pouring into my Instagram!
What I’m most excited about is the extraordinary range of different artists and artworks that people are sending me. Crit Quickie #3 was by a retired art teacher, and #9 (below) was a painting by a 9th grader that was submitted by her art teacher. #8 (above) is by a freshman in art school. With so many submissions, it is going to take me some time to get to yours, so please be patient. If the volume of submissions gets to the point where I’m not able to critique every piece, I will have to critique only select pieces. Keep those submissions coming! Post your art w/ @art.prof , #artprof & “Crit Quickie.”
We accept submissions from artists in 9th grade and up. If you’re an art teacher, you’re welcome to submit on behalf of your students!
These Crit Quickies are little nibbles compared to the major art education project that is arriving on Tuesday, June 14. If you like Crit Quickies, our Audio Critiques, Ask the Art Prof Live, my Portfolio Video Critiques, our in person Portfolio Review events, (June 19, not too late to sign up!) then you’re in for an artistic banquet of a lifetime! Don’t miss the banquet and subscribe to my email list today.
Crit Quickie #9 by @colleenkr
Crit Quickie #9 by @dbgossett
Subscribe to my email list! There’s a big announcement coming up on June 14 that you won’t want to miss. I send announcements only a few times a year.
Reddit AMA #3 (Ask Me Anything) with the Art Prof
This week I did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) in the subreddit /painting. Below are some of the questions people asked, and you can read the entire thread with my (very long) responses here. Some really great questions in this AMA, I really enjoyed it!
“I have a BFA and I produce a large volume of work, but I haven’t been able to transition into a career or make any real money doing it. What advice do you have for somebody looking to make a living doing art? should I get into galleries, do freelance work, and how do you get your name out so more people know about you? I feel like I have the technical skills to make money doing art, but I don’t know how to get more commissions or get into more prestigious galleries.”
“How much has a Masters degree advanced your career? Would you recommend more education for someone like myself, (I currently have a BFA) who has no business/sales skills?”
“I read your blog post about selling art online. You mentioned that most of your artwork is found via searches on Etsy, but also that you promote it. Can you be more specific about ways you’ve promoted your shop that were successful? I’m also wondering if you feel like your store recommendations are more important than promotion.”
“I’m wondering if drawing came naturally to you and if you just kept working hard at perfecting your skills? Did people ever discourage you when you told them you were pursuing art?”
“I was wondering how you found art school, and any advice you would give to someone trying to get in.”
“I’m mostly a self taught artist and I work full time as a graphic designer. I have a hard time coming up with ideas for art projects and I can’t seem to make myself sketch as much as I need to. Do you have any advice?”
“My question is all about the art you love! Who are your favorite artists who influence your work- what kind of work inspires you and are there any artists we may not know of yet (via Hyperallergic and other blogs) that we should be paying attention to?”
“A lot of advice for getting started seems to rely on going to artist talks or conferences, emailing art directors directly, etc, but how does a person even find those people to begin with?”
Subscribe to my email list! There’s a big announcement coming up on June 14 that you won’t want to miss. I send announcements only a few times a year.
A Major Art Education Project is Coming June 14!
A thin slice of an interactive video critique and a charcoal drawing demonstration. This video critique and demo are just two tiny parts of a huge art education project that will be landing full force on June 14!
Don’t miss the big announcement by subscribing to my email list.
Coming June 14!
A thin slice of an interactive video critique and a charcoal drawing demonstration. This video critique and demo are just two tiny parts of a huge art education project that will be landing full force on June 14!
Don’t miss the big announcement by subscribing to my email list.
June 2, 2016
Audio Critique Winner #2: Heidi Neff
Heidi Neff, “Untitled (Resistence)”, acrylic paint on canvas, 9″ x 16″
Visit Heidi’s website
“This painting is a part of a larger body of work which investigates the relationship between the virtual and the physical and how that relates to profoundly personal experiences such as love, sex, motherhood, loss, illness, physical injury and spiritual connections. In my work, paint acts as metaphor for that which is messy, physical and real in an increasingly detached, virtual world.”
Yves-Olivier Mandereau, Designer & Ceramic Artist
“If you’re talking about the physical and virtual world, I want to see in your work what is the relationship between two systems.”
Annie Irwin, Weaver, Textile Artist, Painter
“In terms of what’s happening in the background, I think you could achieve more space and depth by trying to further your experimentation with materials.”
Alex Rowe, Book Illustrator
“The really nice, subdued blue is really making all the oranges and the yellows, and the reds pop.”
Clara Lieu, Fine Artist & Adjunct Professor at RISD
“Specificity is really helpful. When people try to take on too many subjects all at once, they find they just can’t get specific enough and the audience gets lost.”
Mentioned: Frank Auerbach, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Soutine
Subscribe to my email list! I send announcements only a few times a year. There’s a big announcement coming up on June 14 that you won’t want to miss.
