Clara Lieu's Blog, page 21
May 19, 2016
Crit Quickies on Instagram
“Crit Quickies” are 30 second art critiques on my Instagram, @claralieu. To submit, post an artwork on your Instagram and put @claralieu and “Crit Quickie”in the text of your post. Winners will get their Crit Quickie posted on my Instagram feed with their Instagram profile in the post!
Video Critique Program
I offer 30 minute video critiques on 8-20 artworks for aspiring/professional artists working on a body of artwork, and for students working on a portfolio for college admission. Watch sample video critiques and get more info here.
Subscribe to my email list! I send announcements only a few times a year. There’s a big announcement coming up in a few weeks that you won’t want to miss.
May 16, 2016
Giveaway #2: Free Audio Critique Pack
We’re doing another giveaway! This week, one lucky person is going to win an “Audio Crit Pack,” a 2 minute audio critique from myself, and artists Yves-Olivier Mandereau, Annie Irwin, and Alex Rowe on one of their artworks. (total critique time is 8 minutes) Getting feedback on your artwork can be challenging if you’re not in school, and here’s a unique opportunity to get trusted advice from not one, but four professional artists!
To enter, do one of the following by Wed., May 18, 11:59pm EST:
Subscribe to my email list
Post my Ask the Art Prof page to your Facebook status; be sure to use #artprof and make your post public so we can find it.
Like my Facebook page.
Retweet my tweet about this giveaway.
Reblog my Ask the Art Prof page on your WordPress blog.
I will email/message the winner this week with directions for how to submit their artwork and a text statement (maximum 100 words) or an audio recording (maximum length 1 minute) to accompany their artwork. The artwork is due Monday, May 23. If the winner doesn’t submit their artwork by that deadline, we’ll pick another winner.
Please note that if you win this giveaway, your artwork and audio critiques will be posted here on my blog. You can have your artwork posted either 1) anonymously, 2) with your name or 3) with your name linked to your website.
Below is a sample Audio Crit Pack:
25″ x 15″, cut paper collage on mat board
“’I wear makeup because I hate my face,’ is a truth that drives my lengthy morning ritual. I used collage because I wanted to mimic the mishmash of packaging in my makeup bag, and to give the piece a graphic style reminiscent of magazine advertising. I used a clear paint medium on paper to create glossy lids, a razor blade to score ridges, and experimented with translucent paper. I recreated my makeup collection, complete with labels explaining the true intention of each product, instead of its actual labeling.”
Casey Roonan, Illustrator & Cartoonist
“You could think about it this way: What role are these elements playing on a metaphorical level?”
Mentioned: Maira Kalman, Claude Cahun
Sara Bloem, Multimedia Artist
“Use your materials to show that tension more clearly. Let your materials tell the story too.”
Mentioned: Louise Bourgeois
Yves-Olivier Mandereau, Designer, Ceramic Artist
“This piece can definitely resonate with a lot of different people.”
Mentioned: Barbara Kruger, Mickalene Thomas, Cindy Sherman
Clara Lieu, Fine Artist & Art Prof
“What’s so striking to me about this piece is the absolute, brutal honesty of the text statement.”
Subscribe to my email list! I send announcements only a few times a year. There’s a big announcement coming up in a few weeks that you won’t want to miss.
May 13, 2016
Ask the Art Prof Live #6: Teaching High School Art, Teaching Color
00:34
What are the most important things a high school art teacher can do to help their students?
03:16
The importance of instilling enthusiasm for visual arts at the high school level.
07:43
Teachers need to establish trust with their students
08:48
A high school student’s story: Teacher “A” and Teacher “B”
11:18
Keep the classroom mood light, celebrity gossip and the Kardashians
14:36
How do you approach color? How do you teach color?
16:45
Color is about relationships
17:53
Colors are like people
20:23
Light and dark contrast in color: Edgar Degas
21:26
The importance of muted colors
23:57
How I learned to really mix colors: three colors for an entire college semester
The next live video broadcast will be Thursday, May 19 at 9:30pm EST. Like my Facebook page, and you’ll get notification when the live video begins.
Ask the Art Prof Live is a weekly live video broadcast on my Facebook page where I provide professional advice for art students and professional artists. Ask the Art Prof began as a written column in 2013 and was featured in the Huffington Post from 2013-2015. See the full archive of columns here. Ask me your questions by commenting on the live video post as the video streams, and I’ll answer right away. I’ll discuss being an artist today, art technique & materials, work strategies for artists, career advice, teaching art, and more. Like my Facebook page and you’ll receive a notification when each live video begins.
Related Live Videos
#5: Starting Art School, Avoiding Cliches
#4: Oversaturation, Brainstorming, Beginning a Series
#3: Personal Themes, Never Too Late to Start Drawing
#2: Aches While Drawing, Professional Artwork vs. Student Artwork
#1: Graduate MFA Programs
Subscribe to my email list! I send announcements only a few times a year. There’s a big announcement coming up in a few weeks that you won’t want to miss.
May 12, 2016
Reddit AMA #1 (Ask Me Anything) with the Art Prof
Last night I did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) in the subreddit /ArtCrit. Below are the questions people asked, and you can read the entire thread with my (very long) responses here.
“How did you sell your work when you were first starting out as an artist? I’d like to sell my work, but I don’t want to under price or overprice myself.”
“What does it take to get into RISD’s MFA program?”
“How important do you think painting classes and instructions are in regards with improving one’s skill? can one improve skill mainly through practice and self education? What would you suggest for a person who have not any formal visual art education but merely like sketching and painting?”
“What advice do you have for someone who wants to improve their art, that’s not ‘keep practicing?'”
“Are there any unusual art styles that you’ve come across in student artwork that stood out to you? What made them stand out?”
“As an art student currently studying painting, what is the most valuable piece of advice for a young artist looking to make a successful career from art?”
“What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being an art professor?”
“What would you say to those with the opinion that art cannot be taught?”
“Could you be happy teaching high school, middle school, or grade school art? Or, is there another way you would choose to make money if you weren’t a professor?”
“Did you ever doubt your decision to pursue art as a career? Or, did you ever have to decide between art and a career field that was a close second?”
“How do you make practice count?”
“How can we properly study from the old masters?”
“Is it more important to be extremely good at a certain aspect like landscapes, or focus on as many of them as possible? If so how?”
“Is the art world becoming highly competitive?”
“If we can’t get life drawing from a class/studio setting and live in a pretty barren wasteland/small town what would you suggest to practice?”
“Are there any living masters today?”
“In my country the art programs are not very good, so while I am studying, I also want to take matters into my own hands. Do you have any books or online classes you would recommend? Also, how do I know when I am ready to start showing my work?”
Subscribe to my email list! I send announcements only a few times a year. There’s a big announcement coming up in a few weeks that you won’t want to miss.
Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Art Prof
Last night I did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) in the subreddit /ArtCrit. Below are the questions people asked, and you can read the entire thread with my (very long) responses here.
“How did you sell your work when you were first starting out as an artist? I’d like to sell my work, but I don’t want to under price or overprice myself.”
“What does it take to get into RISD’s MFA program?”
“How important do you think painting classes and instructions are in regards with improving one’s skill? can one improve skill mainly through practice and self education? What would you suggest for a person who have not any formal visual art education but merely like sketching and painting?”
“What advice do you have for someone who wants to improve their art, that’s not ‘keep practicing?'”
“Are there any unusual art styles that you’ve come across in student artwork that stood out to you? What made them stand out?”
“As an art student currently studying painting, what is the most valuable piece of advice for a young artist looking to make a successful career from art?”
“What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being an art professor?”
“What would you say to those with the opinion that art cannot be taught?”
“Could you be happy teaching high school, middle school, or grade school art? Or, is there another way you would choose to make money if you weren’t a professor?”
“Did you ever doubt your decision to pursue art as a career? Or, did you ever have to decide between art and a career field that was a close second?”
“How do you make practice count?”
“How can we properly study from the old masters?”
“Is it more important to be extremely good at a certain aspect like landscapes, or focus on as many of them as possible? If so how?”
“Is the art world becoming highly competitive?”
“If we can’t get life drawing from a class/studio setting and live in a pretty barren wasteland/small town what would you suggest to practice?”
“Are there any living masters today?”
“In my country the art programs are not very good, so while I am studying, I also want to take matters into my own hands. Do you have any books or online classes you would recommend? Also, how do I know when I am ready to start showing my work?”
May 9, 2016
Giveaway #1: Free Audio Critique Pack
This week, one lucky person is going to win an “Audio Crit Pack,” a 2 minute audio critique from myself, and artists Sara Bloem, Casey Roonan, and Lauryn Welch on one of their artworks. (total critique time is 8 minutes) Getting feedback on your artwork can be challenging if you’re not in school, and here’s a unique opportunity to get trusted advice from not one, but four professional artists!
To enter, do one of the following by Wed., May 11, 11:59pm EST:
Subscribe to my email list
Like my Facebook page
Share any post, video, or photo from my Facebook page
Follow me on Instagram
Retweet my tweet about this giveaway
Reblog my Ask the Art Prof page on your WordPress blog.
Reblog this post on my Tumblr.
I should be able to message the winner via one of the sites above, but just in case, you can check here when I announce the winner on Thurs., May 12. The winner will receive directions for how to submit their artwork and a text statement (maximum 100 words) or an audio recording (maximum length 1 minute) to accompany their artwork. The artwork is due Monday, May 16. If the winner doesn’t submit their artwork by that deadline, we’ll pick another winner.
Please note that if you win this giveaway, your artwork and audio critiques will be posted here on my blog. You can have your artwork posted either 1) anonymously, 2) with your name or 3) with your name linked to your website.
Below is a sample Audio Crit Pack:
25″ x 15″, cut paper collage on mat board
“’I wear makeup because I hate my face,’ is a truth that drives my lengthy morning ritual. I used collage because I wanted to mimic the mishmash of packaging in my makeup bag, and to give the piece a graphic style reminiscent of magazine advertising. I used a clear paint medium on paper to create glossy lids, a razor blade to score ridges, and experimented with translucent paper. I recreated my makeup collection, complete with labels explaining the true intention of each product, instead of its actual labeling.”
Casey Roonan, Illustrator & Cartoonist
“You could think about it this way: What role are these elements playing on a metaphorical level?”
Mentioned: Maira Kalman, Claude Cahun
Sara Bloem, Multimedia Artist
“Use your materials to show that tension more clearly. Let your materials tell the story too.”
Mentioned: Louise Bourgeois
Yves-Olivier Mandereau, Designer, Ceramic Artist
“This piece can definitely resonate with a lot of different people.”
Mentioned: Barbara Kruger, Mickalene Thomas, Cindy Sherman
Clara Lieu, Fine Artist & Art Prof
“What’s so striking to me about this piece is the absolute, brutal honesty of the text statement.”
Art Supplies that Change Your Life
When you’re an artist, the tools and materials you choose to work with are so critical that they can make or break your experience creating an artwork. You would think that choosing what tools to use would be obvious, but the vast majority of the time, it’s not. Often times, the only way to really know if a tool is going to work or not is to buy it and try it out. I’ve gone months and years banging my head against the wall trying to accomplish a very specific task, because I had no idea a particular tool existed that would have made all of my problems go away in a heart beat.
I was really interested in casting with plaster my freshman year at RISD, but I never got to take a class that focused specific on those techniques. Consequently, when I did create a plaster piece, I was constantly doing things wrong simply because I had the wrong tool. When you work with plaster, inevitably there will be some bump or surface in the piece that you need to get rid of. I tried everything I could think of to smooth out those bumps on my plaster pieces: all different grits and types of sand paper, drywall sanding screens, a surform shaver, and more. Every tool I used was either not strong enough and took forever to get the right surface, or it was too coarse and could end up creating dents and marks in the plaster that messed up the smooth surface I needed.
It wasn’t until I went to graduate school 10 years later that one of my friends introduced me to metal rifflers, which are these tools that have curved ends that have a coarse surface. Rifflers are absolutely perfect for shaving down the bumps on a plaster piece. The curved ends of a riffler fit perfectly on the organic surface of of a plaster sculpture. The coarse surface of that curved end does much more than sand paper, but isn’t so coarse that it digs too deep into the plaster.
TEN years to figure this out. If only there had been a resource where I could have asked a team of professionals what would be best tool for this particular purpose, or an art supply glossary where I could have looked this type of thing up…. Hint: if a resource that like would help you too, then subscribe to my email list today, and an announcement will arrive in your inbox in a few weeks that may solve this problem.
Want to ask me a question? Watch Ask the Art Prof Live. The next live video broadcast will be Thursday, May 12 at 9:30pm EST. Like my Facebook page, and you’ll get notification when the live video begins.
Ask the Art Prof Live is a weekly live video broadcast on my Facebook page where I provide professional advice for art students and professional artists. Ask the Art Prof began as a written column in 2013 and was featured in the Huffington Post from 2013-2015. See the full archive of columns here. Ask me your questions by commenting on the live video post as the video streams, and I’ll answer right away. I’ll discuss being an artist today, art technique & materials, work strategies for artists, career advice, teaching art, and more.
May 6, 2016
Ask the Art Prof Live #5: Starting Art School, Avoiding Cliches
00:00
“I got accepted into my top choice of art schools this year. I’m super excited, but I’m also really nervous and don’t really know what to expect. The art program at my high school wasn’t very good, and I’m worried that I’m going to be really inexperienced compared to the other students. What are your tips for starting art school?”
03:04
Work with other students on your art school projects, be a cheerleader for each other!
05:30
Talk to your professors, and ask for help.
09:08
Learn to separate yourself from your art in a group critique.
11:46
Start early, avoid the marathon the night before, spread out your work over several days.
15:15
“What are common cliches and design mistakes you see in students? How do you think those can be worked on or avoided?”
Mentioned: Leon Golub, Kathe Kollwitz, Delacroix
17:22
Research your art media
Mentioned: Rodin, Bourdelle, Degas, Giacometti
18:20
Get the cliches out of your system, and then eliminate them.
19:38
The “Layers” assignment in my RISD Freshman Drawing class.
21:20
Ask for feedback early on, several times, before the group critique.
22:53
A self-portrait becomes a penis.
The next live video broadcast will be Thursday, May 12 at 9:30pm EST. Like my Facebook page, and you’ll get notification when the live video begins.
Ask the Art Prof Live is a weekly live video broadcast on my Facebook page where I provide professional advice for art students and professional artists. Ask the Art Prof began as a written column in 2013 and was featured in the Huffington Post from 2013-2015. See the full archive of columns here. Ask me your questions by commenting on the live video post as the video streams, and I’ll answer right away. I’ll discuss being an artist today, art technique & materials, work strategies for artists, career advice, teaching art, and more. Like my Facebook page and you’ll receive a notification when each live video begins.
Related Live Videos
#4: Oversaturation, Brainstorming, Beginning a Series
#3: Personal Themes, Never Too Late to Start Drawing
#2: Aches While Drawing, Professional Artwork vs. Student Artwork
#1: Graduate MFA Programs
Subscribe to my email list! I send announcements only a few times a year. There’s a big announcement coming up in a few weeks that you won’t want to miss.
May 4, 2016
Recent Video Critiques of Student Art Portfolios for College & Art School Admission
Student Portfolio for college/art school admission by Emily Jiang
I’ve been doing video critiques on student portfolios for college/art school admission for a few months now, and just recently began doing video critiques for professional artists. Many people have commented what a great learning experience it was for them to listen to these critiques. For this reason, I’m now offering the option to have your video critique featured here on my blog, on my Facebook page, and on my Youtube channel. You can choose to have your critique featured anonymously, with your name, or to keep it private.
I’ve also had people inquire about purchasing artworks seen in the video critiques. I am happy to connect artists with anyone who is interested in their artwork. More information on my video critique program is here.
Student Portfolio for college/art school admission by Dessery Dai
For many students who begin art school, group critiques are an unfamiliar format of discussion that takes some adjustment. It’s quite common that the vast majority of students people make an initial assumption that the only interesting part of a group critique is when their own artwork is being discussed. On the contrary, pretty much all of my students talk about how beneficial it is to hear how someone else’s artwork is received and discussed. What’s especially interesting is to witness the range of reactions and feedback other artworks facilitate, this really can dramatically broaden your awareness as an artist.
One of the reasons hearing other people’s critiques is so effective is that when it’s not your artwork being discussed, you can listen to the critique much more objectively. I know for most artists, (myself included) at times we are so close to the artwork and stuck in our own heads, that it can be tough to distance yourself and absorb critical feedback.
More video critiques are coming soon, and they’re related to my big announcement which will be revealed in a few weeks. Let’s just say that these video critiques are a tiny appetizer compared to what’s coming soon. Don’t miss the big news! Subscribe to my email list today.
Related articles
“What are common mistakes in college portfolio submissions?”
“What should you include in an art portfolio for art school or college?”
“7 tips for surviving art school.”
“To what extent do grades define an academic career in visual art?”
“Should I drop out of art school?”
May 2, 2016
The Biggest, Scariest, Most Exciting Project I’ve Ever Worked on
Throughout my life as a student, professor, and artist, I’ve worked on numerous projects, all of which have challenged me in different ways. I’m always looking for new artistic initiatives that will build upon my prior experience, but that will get me to exercise new muscles and take on new risks that will stretch me to new places I didn’t even know existed.
My graduate thesis Digging was the first time I had considered creating an interdisciplinary project, where multiple bodies of work in contrasting media existed under the umbrella of one core concept. Wading was a project where I began to explore a new depth of emotion and atmosphere in my work that I had previously avoided. Falling was by far my most ambitious project at that point: the sheer quantity of drawings, prints, and sculpture that I produced, combined with the deeply personal subject of my long history with depression, demanded an immense emotional and professional investment that I had never experienced before.
My mystery project, which will be announced in a few weeks is a completely different beast than all of these prior projects. I see this new project as a culmination of literally every single experience I have ever had in my entire life. It encompasses the moment I was able to pick up a pencil and draw as a young child, the rush of joy working in my elementary school art class, my anger and frustration as a high school student desperately to find a way to rigorously study visual arts, the euphoria of attending art school, teaching studio art at the elementary, high school, and college level, working as a gallery director, and finally, my ongoing studio practice as a professional artist over the past 16 years.
The tasks involved in this project could not be more diverse and different than what I’ve done in the past: I’ve sifted through archives of photos I shot 15 years ago, revisited wrinkled paper handouts given to me by my professors when I was a student, rummaged into the corners of closets to find tools and art supplies that have been hibernating for years, reconnected with former students, colleagues, and friends, and asking for help and favors from people I’ve never met before-and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Inevitably, everything I take on asks me to draw from my previous experience in some form, but this project is on an entirely new scale that for me is completely unprecedented. In general, I have a monstrous work ethic, and I’ve always been known for attacking my projects and teaching with a feral vigor that can be intimidating for some people. Relatively speaking, the intensity and amount of work I’ve invested into this project makes it appear as if I’ve been slacking off for the past 20 years.
Sara Bloem • Casey Roonan • Annie Irwin • Lauryn Welch
Yves-Olivier Mandereau • Alex Rowe
Another major difference is that I’m not alone in this project. I have an amazing partner who I feel so incredibly fortunate to have met, an outstanding team of 6 former students, (see above) and a group of 9 interns. The extraordinary momentum that we’ve built together over the past year and a half has been tremendous. In my rough moments of doubt and worry, my team has picked me up and pushed me forward with their unwavering support and zeal. They have brought a range of expertise, opinions, and perspectives that cannot exist in one person. I’ve never experienced anything like this before, and I feel constantly energized by everyone’s collective passion and dedication to this project.
Don’t miss our big announcement in a few weeks, subscribe to my email list and find out what’s been happening over the past year and a half!
