First Thursday at Pioneer Square

Ok.  I went to the art walk at Pioneer Square here in Seattle, WA this week.  It's similar to Sacramento, CA's "Second Saturdays" where you just walk around the galleries and there's tons of art.  I went with a couple coworkers, just to get inspiration and motivation to get myself pushing my artwork into galleries, and also to see what the art market looks like these days.

The first thing I saw, I had to stand in front of and say under my breath out loud, "Be open minded, Shannon.  Be open minded."  This was poorly curated, too, and very confusing.  The painting looks like a dog with socks on, and a horn like a unicorn or a goat.  I was totally open to give it a chance and not jump to judgement, so looked for the description next to the painting.  It had the name, which was non descriptive, and on the opposite side of it was another name, as if the name of the group of works as a whole.  It wasn't.  I was confused now by the two titles, and the work surrounding it being completely different from one another.  Also, if you can't justify your work, or say what the hell you were thinking when you did it, don't show work that looks like a toddler doodled it.  It's a waste of perfectly good canvas.  But- to each their own.

This gallery was cool.  It had works that were painted, and were open to several interpretations, so I remained curious the entire time.  Here's what I saw (images to the left, right, and below):

 (Images to the left, right, and below)

(Images to the left, right, and below) 

(Images to the left and right)I kept walking around and saw in a very tight, small and confined room with little light and space.  It caught my eye because it was so painterly, and very focused on using color to paint light and shadow, rather than any interesting specific subject- this is something I have personal interest in, so I'm biased.  Here's what I saw:

Once I went to the next gallery, I found myself staring at a piece of art called "Red Envelopes."  I loved it so much; it had some kind of dramatic effect on me, making me stand there staring at it.  What makes someone stand there and linger, feeling the desire to look at it longer?  I thought about these questions but could not find a definite answer- that in my opinion is a successful piece of art.

At this same gallery, we saw a bunch of people wearing costumes, like armor, as if they were medieval knights or something.  It was weird, but funny and exciting at the same time- plus the environment was very laid back, almost like a dance club.  Imagine a huge dance floor, a DJ playing dance music, free alcohol with a bartender, and all the walls were exposed brick.  It was pretty awesome.  All the work in this area I spent most of my time in, had photos of people wearing armor like the costumed people walking around.  I couldn't identify any of them as the people in the photos, though, so it must have just been for a dramatic effect.  I have to say, it could have been pushed harder than having just a few people dressed this way, and the effect would have been better and really brought these photos to life.  Not to say that they weren't already so lively- they were on wood panels so they all had shadows cast behind them as they stood a few inches from the brick walls, and they were completely covered on the surfaces with a resin, so they were very shiny and the color was very enhanced and rich.  I was stunned by their beauty and stood here most of the time.  It was pretty crowded so only got this one photo:

 

The next pretty cool thing I saw that intrigued me, was at a quilting shop where they were showing some quilts and selling a bunch of materials to make them.  I liked this little area I saw, in a corner, where thread was getting the dye sucked out and into a jar for recycling, or, maybe the string was setting in dye and getting its color right in front of my eyes?  I couldn't tell for sure, but it sparked my creativity which I liked.

Walking down some more streets, it was definitely feeling like Seattle, and I had only visited here a few times ever for vacation before moving here and actually living here.  Since I moved here, I hardly make time to do things that make it feel like Seattle, but this night was pretty cool.  I love how there is art to be seen everywhere, versus Sacramento where I'm from, where art just isn't a big deal unless you're in a super busy area like San Francisco, CA, which I never made my way out to since it was so far.  This was definitely a good experience for me, and we still had more to see.

At the final galleries we attended, we saw a lot of generic art, that was just paintings of beaches and people swimming, all in pastel colors, feeling like they were meant for beach condos or something.  I was not impressed, neither were my friends, so I knew I wasn't just being an arrogant asshole.  I was attracted to the more painterly of things, like this:

And definitely drawn to some abstract works, like this:

I'm definitely doing some more art walks soon, and asking around for galleries that show work like mine, to see if they're interested.  Till then, I'm applying to a few international contests- wish me luck!

Dark Stuff

I have this new energy about social justice lately.  It started last week, and since my partner is a social worker and I used to study Criminal Justice, it seems fitting, actually.  I have been getting a lot of flashbacks of my childhood lately, mostly memories of an abusive foster home, and it has created a negative energy that I'm channeling into my art, and creating more expressive work.

This made me actually understand what it means when other artists say to find my "voice" and that we're "storytellers".  This story, of my past, I haven't been able to tell anyone with my voice, because it would hurt people if names were named.  So, here is my voice for now.  The work is dark, but effective.  I did a painting last night that I have yet to photograph, and I'm not sure how I feel about the result, but the process was extremely emotional and I believe it shows.  Here are some sketches I've done this week:

Seattle Life- Inspiration from Interior Design

Living up here in Seattle, WA  has been an entirely new experience for me.  There are so many art opportunities for me, and I've been working as a Design Consultant for a slab and tile company Showroom since I moved here.  I am becoming extremely inspired by the different slabs, it's a new type of art for me.  my work has become more fluid, expressive, and free.  I've been exploring the landscapes in my mind, and painting them without thinking throughout the process.  I'm trying to keep my former professors' words of advice in mind: "Shannon, don't fully neglect drawing and painting to explore 3D art.  Do both simultaneously, and let them compliment and influence each other."  Working full time has lowered my energy stamina, but my drive is still the same.  I have updated photos of my newer work on my website: shannonstarv.weebly.com, so please check that out.

I have been entirely unimpressed with the art I've been seeing in cafes, restaurants, and galleries here.  The museums are sort of a disappointment, too.  I must say, it looks as though art is becoming lazy, rather than truly conceptual.  I do have to say though, my work is non-representational most of the time, and I am trying to be open-minded, especially since I'm trying to allow my work to reach a large audience.

I found an artist named Alex Turco.  He is what's called an "interior design artist."  He creates large panels, as large as I'd love to work if my studio and storage space would allow, and they look like precious stones, some are dripping, and they're all created using different elements and minerals like graphite, apoxy resin, aluminum, etc.  I'm going to explore this as well because- let's face it- artists are THIEVES!  With pride, right?  This will be an excellent way to utilize the skills and knowledge from my interior design job, while maintaining productivity in my medium.  I am curious to see the outcome- it's difficult to find my niche, but then again, the saying goes, from all well-established artists I've met such as Ann Weber, Steve Kaltenbach, and a few others, "It takes a decade after graduation to find you voice as an artist."  Beautiful, tragic, depressing yet inspiring, and, I'm sure time will come to reveal- TRUE.

Here's some of Alex Turco's work:

Well that's it for now, next show I go to and next research I do, hopefully will inspire my new work even moreso!  I'll be posting about this new experimentation once I've got a finished result to show for it.

Mary Goodwin: A Lecture About Maria Sodi de Ramos Martinez

Mary Goodwin

     Assist. Professor of Art History

    University of Alaska Fairbanks

   Printmaking in LA and Role of

    Maria Sodi de Ramos Martinez

My favorite lecture at the Festival of the Arts (10th Annual Art History Symposium), was by Mary Goodwin.  She told us all about how she grew up looking at this painting by Maria Sodi de Ramos Martinez, who was a family friend to her mother and even her as a child.  She said she would go to her gradmother’s house, and that she had the same painting.  She started to look closely at them and noticed that they both had no sign of being reproduced by a printer or photocopier, and that each painting had different brush strokes and colors on it, but they still looked the same.  That is when she started studying about Maria to find out that when her husband (the real painter) Alfredo Ramos Martinez died, she wanted to be able to sell his work to people for affordable prices.  She started mass producing these by hand, making each one a little different, and making several copies of each one and painting over them, and sold them for about ten to fifteen dollars each.  This made it so that his name would still carry and people could own his “original” works, and would not have to spend a fortune on them. 

At the end of the lecture, I asked Mary Goodwin why this was not considered plagiarism.  She said that it was a common practice and still is to this day, and it is not plagiarism because Alfredo did in fact have his signature on the paintings and received full credit for them.

Slides shown by Mary Goodwin: "Arte popular ("art of the people")" left
 and "Arte culto ("fine art")" right

Festival of Arts Symposium April 12, 2014

John Byck, Ph.D. Candidate,
Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
The Ship Engravings of Master W
with the Key as Cultural Crossroads

I arrived at the Symposium at 2:00 PM, which was perfect timing because a short reception took place soon after arrival, and snacks and refreshments were available!  I really enjoyed the opportunity to gather with several classmates but mostly the staff of my former and present professors that I engaged in conversation with about topics brought up by the speakers.  I enjoyed all of the lectures for different reasons  I felt that John Byck was enlightening us of a controversy- who really invented what style?  Was it Master W, or not?  

Pamela A. Ivanski, Ph.D.,
Independend Scholar, NY
about Printmaking by
Mary Cassatt 90-91 works

I also enjoyed Pamela Ivinski's lesson about Marry Cassatt and telling us all about her works that she made since the beginning of her career, and her journey through.  I liked learning about how everyone interpreted her work differently.  I could not believe that a scholar or critic actually said that they believed Cassatt painted "ugly women" because pretty women did not deserve the attention.  How close-minded can you be?  These works are all beautiful, so that critic can suck it.  I think my favorite thing about her lecture overall, was her fascination with talking about Mary Cassatt's work.  I think it is wonderful to have a favorite artist who is a master that you know everything you can about.  It is a great passion to pursue especially if you are not an artist yourself and cannot create artwork under their inspiration.

Louse Siddons, Ph.D.
Assist. Professor of Art History
Oklahoma State University
About cross-cultural modernity
painted photography by
Bertha Lum

Next, was Louse Siddons.  I was almost star-stricken by all of these experts around me at this point.  After the reception, I actually sat in the front row next to the presentors on purpose, so that I could get the full experience and have first opportunity to ask them questions and see their reactions to what everyone else said.  I was interested by this speaker because I had never heard of anyone painting over photographs before, or etching and using the piece of wood, like a stamp, but keeping the stamp as the actual piece of work and painting it.

Mary Goodwin
Assist. Professor of Art History
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Printmaking in LA and Role of
Maria Sodi de Ramos Martinez

My favorite lecture was by Mary Goodwin, but that's a separate blog ;)

SACTO Community Art Exhibit on CSUS Turf!

This is the coolest show I have ever seen on campus.  It usually takes quite a bit to impress me- a lot of people being able to do a lot of things that I can not do.  Well this show made me extremely inspired to be better at everything that I do in my work.  

I really enjoyed the group of work as a whole- it was overall very colorful, intense, interesting, yet serene and something new to look at around every corner.  There was always something to make me linger and stand there longer saying "OOH!" and "AHH!"  

I would have to say that my first favorite, would have to be the watercolors done by Margaret Pollan.  She must be reputable and talented for a lifetime now because this little painting sold for $700!

Counter Point,  1990
Watercolor
Margaret Pollan

Just looking at this photo-realistic but yet fantasy-like work, made me realize how much time and effort she has dedicated to the crafting of watercolor over the years.  She has truly mastered the technique.
Another one of her works that mesmorized me was Last Leaves.

I could not believe how realistic-looking she got these paintings!  Especially since they are so painterly-treated and watercolor technically is a drawing medium.  I know firsthand to respect this kind of talent because watercolors are very difficult to get this range of values that Margaret was able to achieve.  The level of accuracy, composition, color, and contrast is amazing!  I read about her and learned that she supports the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, as does her husband.  They both volunteer a lot to help the Center and Margaret has served as several high titles, such as president of the board, and Facility Chairman.  She creates art while she remains an active volunteer, and continues making huge generous contributions.

The work was all displayed beautifully, placed next to work that was similar, then transitioning to very different work.  

Brain Washed Man
Cast alloy (lead) welded steel
Ken Potter

This piece was very interesting to look at and interpret.  Its meaning could be several, but all of them are very clear.  There are so many thoughts one automatically gets when they see a human head figure, and then to have half of the head in wire and empty, could be widely open to interpretation even further.  I believe that this piece is about what we would be without our brains- or what we have become once our brains have been successfully manipulated over our lifetimes.  The title makes us think that he is brain washed, so maybe he went through a traumatic experience and his whole life is changing.  I love works that are visually appealing but also terrifying- it adds a tension that is enjoyable and keeps us hooked.  This is hard to achieve, but Ken Potter did it!  And I certainly would spend the $10,000 on this piece if I won the lottery.

Me writing: "It's amazing how talented the artists are.  I wish I was surrounded by, or more exposed to, more experienced and successful artists.  I could learn even more from them by talking to them.  - Shannon Veach

When I was exiting the show, the receptionist asked me to write a few comments I may have had about my experience, which was nice.  I definitely had to write about how inspired I had become (my comments are typed in the caption under the picture above), and how I wished I could have attended the upcoming reception had I not had to work that night.  I went home afterwards and created several inspired pieces, and carry that inspiration and fire inside me hoping it will show in all of my work from now on.

Let's Talk About U-NITE at the Crocker...

The video above is my favorite moment at U-NITE.  I walked in and saw many of my peers and CSUS Art Department staff- most of my instructors were actually there.  I felt like this night was off to a very fun start!!  Well I walked in and saw everyone and said a quick hello, then drums started playing.  I went to look, and I saw these men in very colorful African costumes beating these drums feverently!  It was so exciting, loud, and catchy.  My attention was all theirs for the next few moments, then a girl in the crowd started dancing, and danced her way up onto the stage!  It had me in awe because her moves were free, and impressive- it was like she was truly moved by the beating of their traditional drums.

Next my attention was directed outside, where I could just make out through the clear glass wall, a bounce house?  I got a little closer and finally made my way out there.

What... was... this?  Well, someone walked up to me and said something like, "thank you for your patronage!  Please write all your medications on this balloon, and release it inside the brain."  Um, I'm sorry- what?  So I walked up to my friend Faith Sponsler who was there, and I said hi to her.  She said her name was not Faith, but was Leslie Harper.  Ok, this was pretty strange.  Then I noticed all my classmates who were there in suits, like Faith and the lady who gave me the balloon, were wearing name tags with strange names on them.  I laughed at the absurdness and walked inside this giant brain-shaped inflated dome (which I still think looked like a bouncy house).  There were at least a hundred balloons differently colored with legible medications written and drawn on them!

The deal was, as far as I could tell, you walk in the brain and release your meds, and you are letting go of your stress and need for the medication.  I am not certain if that is the point of the brain thing, but that is what I got out of it. (Needless to say, when I released my balloon that I had written "Excedrin" on, I instantly got a headache).

After a while, these creatures came out of nowhere next to the brain, and went inside to dance.  They were a line of marching and dancing costumed students, and it was very interesting!  One looked like Jack-In-The-Box, and was probably my favorite.  (This turned out to be my teacher).

That was pretty much my whole experience there.  Also, at the end of the night when the brain released all of the heavily medicated balloons!

SAM: Art in Seattle - Fun But Boggling

I went to Seattle for a week's vacation, and that means of course visiting any and all museums and galleries there!!  I look for art displays, works, lectures, prints, and fellow artists EVERYWHERE I go.  This museum, was the Seattle Art museum.  This is the one I will be writing about in this particular paper.

Where to start...

Well, when my partner Kayla and I walked in, we were expecting extraordinary works of art, like this painting I saw soon after walking in:

Big Blonde in the Weeds, 2001
Oil on linen
Lisa Yuskavage
American, born 1962

Or we were looking forward to seeing more amazing and interesting sculptures such as this one we saw:

Woman on a Bed, 1963
Plaster and metal
George Segal
American, 1924-2000
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright, 77.42

Or even a cool display like we saw wen we first walked in:

Well, we did see all those cool works and all, but the further we walked inside, we both had to start thinking more with our brains than with our eyes.  We did see a really cool painting that Kayla kept telling me she wanted me to buy for her.  I walked over to it, and I loved it too!  The only problem was, she does not know who the artist was: a Mr. Jackson Pollock.  She couldn't figure out why I laughed and walked away without trying to purchase this painting.

Sea Change, 1947
Artist and commercial oil paint, with gravel, on canvas
Jackson Pollock
American, 1912-1956
Gift of Signora Peggy Guggenheim, 58.55

We kept walking on and found a ton of minimalist and conceptual art, which neither of us have ever learned to appreciate or understand.  We both struggled a lot with a particular gallery's work, in the Theater of The Absurd Exhibition.  That is mainly what I will speak about in this paper.  It represents the absurdity of human existence from the 50's and the 60's, and they deal with violence, trauma, or anxiety.  The works span five decades and alternate from psychological states of mind and depictions of violence that serve as universal metaphors for personal and interpersonal tensions.  The earliest work in the gallery, painted during World War II, is Willem de Kooning's Woman, who appears in a state of high agitation, while George Segal's solitary seated woman conveys passive introspection.  Reactions to racism and violence permeate the work of Glenn Ligon, Philip Guston, and Leon Golub, while Katharina Fritsch captures fear and noise in a nightmare-like sculptural vision.  I chose this particular exhibit because it was the most confusing, and made me offended (which meant I was reacting to the work).  

I would like to start by discussing the first of these works that really caught my eye- and not in a good way.  Woman, by Willem de Kooning, shows a woman with frizzled hair and an extremely ugly face that looks terrified.  It was painted with only red and green it looked like, and it was very unimpressive and displeasing to the eye.  What in the heck is so special about this piece of art that could have been painted by a child?  

Woman, 1943
Oil on board
Willem de Kooning
American (born the Netherlands),
1904-1997
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright, 76.46

Well, as I stood there looking at it, I figured something out.  I figured out that this artist has other works like charcoal drawings and paintings, and probably went to school and/or studied art in daily life, just like me.  Also, he could probably create photorealistic paintings and drawings if he chose to, just like me.  Among several more of these compelling thoughts, was one: He had an idea, a voice to be spoken, just like me.  Well, he expressed not only his voice in this painting, but other people's voices who were experiencing the terrors of living around this time, and expresses a psychological state of mind, if not many.  In this painting I could tell how the Woman was feeling, and de Kooning completely ignored the idea of creating any sort of resemblance to the actual woman, (if she really existed).  This means all of these works succeeded in telling their stories, of how people feel and deal with violence, trauma, anxiety, personal and interpersonal tensions- the list goes on and on.  Now, it is usually very hard for me to be so open-minded and understand or interpret conceptual art, and art that is displeasing to the eye and does not appeal right away.  But although I prefer attractive art, this appealed to other senses- I felt a certain shock and relief when I began understanding this series.  A series I hated at first glance and giggled at in my head.  Now, I connected with it, and reacted to it.  I even wrote about it.

I walked into a separate exhibition, in the Barney A. Ebsworth Gallery.  I found a bunch of minimalist artwork, all paintings.  They were titled things like, "Yellow X" and "White Curve V".  Well, the paintings were of exactly that!  Pretty much, they were nothing more.  They had no deeper meaning to me and served no function.  I stood and sat there for a LONG time trying to figure out what was the purpose of these works, and I gave them a lot of thought- but got nothing back.

The Yellow X, 1965
Acrylic on canvas
Al Held
American, 1928-2005

This yellow X painting, along with the others below, were very confusing to me.  I understand that minimalist art exists, but I have to have it explained to me by the artists for each individual painting to make sense, otherwise I simply do not get it.  Are these just supposed to look pretty?  Did the artist perhaps zoom in very closely to some object and paint it large scale and that is the abstract shapes we see here?  I do not know, but that was the only idea I had to explain them.

White Curve V, 1973
Oil on canvas
Ellsworth Kelly
American, born 1923

Sabra I, 1967
Acrylic on shaped canvas
Frank Stella
American, born 1936

Now Sabra I made a little bit of sense, because although I still did not understand its reason for existing, I could see that the process of making this piece was significant.  The artist either had the canvas made specially for him and perfectly sized and shaped to what he wanted, or he created the shape either before or after the paint fell into place.  I could see this painting going two different ways: One way, would be that the canvas shape was random and he just painted shapes that corresponded;  The second way, would be that he either sketched it out or had a set and specific idea of the painting, and made the canvas to fit it.  I suppose I will never know for sure, but it is interesting to think about.

Me sitting in front of Hold, ca. 1974
Acrylic on canvas, by Helen Frankenthaler
American, 1928-2011
and
Wolfeboro III,  1966
Fluorescent alkyd paint on canvas
Frank Stella

Wolfeboro III,  1966
Fluorescent alkyd paint on canvas
Frank Stella
American, born 1936

The above images are all works I did not understand or connect with at all.  I honestly do not see what is impressive about them.  They are simple-looking and there is little to no level of painting skill shown.  The aspect I thought was interesting, however, is how the canvases are shaped so spontaneously.  I am used to seeing canvases that are squares and rectangles- I do not think I have ever even seen a circular one.  These are interesting to me in that aspect and that aspect only.  I do not see any significance or skill otherwise.  This work would require an artist's description for me to understand their explanation for why it exists and why it is hung in a museum.  This trip to this museum taught me that I am very quickly becoming aware of different types of artwork, and that I am slowly but surely becoming more and more of an understanding for different types of artwork- which is the big challenge for me.  But if I want people to respect my work one day, I need to do the same for them and be as open-minded as humanly possible, in today's art world.