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 Tuesday, April 28, 2009
George Tooker retrospective
We're sending the July issue of The Artist's Magazine to the press this week, and one of the artists in the issue is George Tooker, an egg tempera painter and Magical Realist. (The issue goes on sale June 6.) The Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art is showing a retrospective on Tooker starting May 1 through Sept. 6. The CMA also released a mini-documentary about the artist. You can watch the first part below and see the rest on the CMA's YouTube page.
By Grace Dobush | Exhibits | Notable Artists | Videos
4/28/2009 1:38:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Monday, April 27, 2009
Extreme plein-air painting
 Check out these adventurous plein-air artists based in Minnesota. In the dead of winter, Mike Rada and Scott Lloyd Anderson like to paint and do a little ice fishing simultaneously. All looks well above, but Mike recounts a time when tragedy struck in the frozen tundra. He was trekking across a lake with his painting gear when suddenly he heard a loud crack and plunged through the ice. Fortunately, his backpack caught on the ice and it stopped him from going totally under. Mike managed to crawl away on his stomach but his clothes were soaked. Determined to paint and still bring home the catch of the day, he shed his wet overalls and hung them out his car window until they were frozen solid. Then he slid the frigid duds over his dry clothes. The icy overalls served as a top-notch windbreaker. "As long they're frozen, you're warm enough to paint," Mike says. Read more about this intrepid duo and six other plein-air painters in the June issue of Southwest Art magazine. —Bonnie Gangelhoff
Learn more:
Dispatches from the West
4/27/2009 12:34:04 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, April 24, 2009
My kind of tea party
 Zach over at Portland Studios is experimenting with tea painting. After early attempts were too washed out, he bought an economy pack at Dollar General and made "The Tea of the Hundred Bags." I think the art turned out lovely! (Reminds me of the coffee painters from a while back...)
By Grace Dobush | Cool Web sites
4/24/2009 9:32:06 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tip file: Exaggerate for Impressionism
From Hilda Neily, in the June 1990 issue of The Artist's Magazine: When you're just beginning to paint in an impressionistic style in oils, it's useful to exaggerate the color somewhat. On a sunny day, for instance, make the light places brighter than you think they are, then bring the work inside and see whether it looks like a sunny day. If not, exaggerate the color some more.
Learn more:
By Grace Dobush | Tips
4/23/2009 11:14:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The art of Rust Belt cities
We're wrapping up the July/August issue here at The Artist's Mag HQ, and I'm especially proud of a story I wrote on how Rust Belt cities are redeveloping themselves as grassroots art hubs. Lo and behold, the Wall Street Journal wrote on the same topic just a few days ago. (It's hard not to curse the production gods when I get scooped!) WSJ mainly focuses on the art revitalization happening in Cleveland; my story examines equally projects in Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Here's a little taste: "There’s a challenge of rebounding from economic disaster and from people moving away after the collapse of the steel industry," says Curt Gettman of Pittsburgh's Sprout Fund. "But what was left was a really great infrastructure, a lot of assets, and a city that understands the value of art and that quality of life isn’t necessarily measured in dollars and cents."
Read the whole story in the July 2009 issue of The Artist's Magazine—on sale June 9 and shipping to subscribers around May 20.
By Grace Dobush | News | Random Thoughts
4/22/2009 9:34:38 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Bill Cone show in SF
 Iceberg Outlet (pastel, 10x10.5) by Bill ConeBill Cone, the pastel artist behind Pixar movies such as Cars and A Bug's Life, sent us the beautiful painting above and this note: "I am about to have my first one man show in San Francisco of four years of work from painting in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The show is at the Studio Gallery in San Francisco, and runs April 15-May 10. I have also put together a catalog of work from the show, which will be available at the gallery, and through my blog."
We wrote about Bill in the March 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine—it's worth digging through your stacks of old magazines to find! Learn more:
By Grace Dobush | Notable Artists | Shows and Events
4/21/2009 2:17:33 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, April 20, 2009
The fish, the polar bear and the Coke can
 One of the pleasures of my Monday mornings is sifting through the weekend email and discovering an utterly intriguing image.  Call it a good omen for the week. Reef Madness (above) is such a piece. Dawn Siebel, a painter based in Boulder, CO, sent along this bold, hyperreal painting as an example of a fresh direction in her work. The brilliant colors belie a subtle, provocative message. The eye travels around the lush fish and coral underworld until it finally rests on a discarded Coke can. Trash amid the beauty. "My new paintings are all rooted with an environmental commentary but it is oblique or even humorous," Siebel says. A few months ago Siebel sent an image of a polar bear ( Afloat, at right) as one of the very first examples of her new direction—an image that still haunts me. The animal appears to be in shock or hollering in a fashion reminiscent of Edvard Munch's The Scream. "Help. My home is melting," the bear cries. Siebel says that although her paintings are full of commentary, it is up to the viewer to interpret the meanings. What do you think about the fish, the polar bear and the Coke can paintings? And is it my imagination or are there more and more messages of concern for the environment popping up in artwork these days? —Bonnie Gangelhoff
Dispatches from the West | Notable Artists | Random Thoughts
4/20/2009 10:55:54 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, April 17, 2009
Cash for art
I think you can tell we're in a recession simply by the number of we-buy-houses signs and trade-in-your-gold ads you see. I don't want to post the actual video in this post, lest it seem like an endorsement by me, but here's a link to an ad so ridiculous, it's practically self-parodying. (Actual quote from MC Hammer: "I can get cash for this gold medallion of me wearing a gold medallion!") But this is a new one: Cash For Your Warhol. No one can help you sell your Warhol fast like Cash For Your Warhol™! Sell your print or painting for cash regardless of the size, price, or condition. Cash For Your Warhol™ has been in business for several months so you can concentrate on moving on with your life.
ARTINFO reports the site is the creation of Boston artist Geoff Hargadon, who's made a point of hanging the signs around Brandeis's Rose Art Museum, which announced plans to sell off its collection earlier this year.
By Grace Dobush | News
4/17/2009 2:12:45 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Loving papercuts
 Via Craftzine: Papercut artist Michael Velliquette creates intricate, zany tableaux of creatures that would surely scare me should I happen to find them under my bed. At right: a detail of Weepers and Floaters (cut card stock and glue on paper, 32x40).
And I heard that another awesome papercut artist, Béatrice Coron, is holding some workshops next month in New Jersey. (You likely saw her work in the April issue!) The workshops are crazy cheap; wish I lived nearby! Learn more:
By Grace Dobush | Shows and Events
4/17/2009 11:52:48 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, April 16, 2009
April Artists Network News is live!
By Grace Dobush | News | Videos
4/16/2009 11:43:27 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tip file: attracting wildlife
From Cathy Johnson, in the June 1991 issue of The Artist's Magazine: A great way to study wild birds and animals at close range is to attract them with feeders or salt blocks. At my cabin I have both hanging feeders and a platform feeder. These have provided opportunities to sketch hundreds of birds: Goldfinches, purple finches and grosbeaks have all joined the regulars at the feeders. Carolina wrens, summer tangers, indigo buntings and other visitors that aren't even interested in the feeders seem to be drawn by the activity.
Learn more:
By Grace Dobush | Tips
4/16/2009 9:19:06 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Artist draws newspaper's front page
 Turkish artist Serkan Özkaya drew the front page of the April 10 edition of the Louisville, KY, Courier-Journal by hand. It was part of a partnership with a local arts organization and took a crew of art students. "After Courier-Journal
designers finished the page, Özkaya and his volunteer team of five
University of Louisville fine art students—Hallie Jones, Roea
Wallace, Alexia Serpentini, Seth Farnack and Collin Lloyd—went to
work with pencils and tracing paper to copy every word, image and
headline. Özkaya recreated most of the photos himself. The hand-drawn
page was then scanned to a metal printing plate and sent through the
presses in the usual way. So
in truth, the replica page is art, but not an original. It is a copy of an original that is itself a copy of another original."
See the full page here, close up.
By Grace Dobush | News
4/15/2009 10:56:47 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Develop film using coffee and vitamin C
 No, seriously. The blog Photojojo explains in great detail how you can develop black-and-white film using instant coffee and vitamin C powder to create a MacGyver-style photo studio. The results are grainy and artsy—isn't that what you were going for? There's even a home-developer group on Flickr where you can see other people's results. Learn more:
By Grace Dobush | Photography | Projects
4/14/2009 10:31:53 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, April 13, 2009
The Quang Ho Show
Blue Monday by Thomas William Jones. Below right, Yellow Tulips and Daffodils (oil, 30x24) by Laura Robb.If you live in the Denver area and paint or collect art, you've heard the name Quang Ho. The respected teacher and painter extraordinaire seems to be one of those people whom everyone knows or claims few degrees of separation from.  Well now Ho, the master artist (and everyone's BFF), has assembled a blockbuster show that features 50 of the top representational artists in America with styles ranging from traditional to highly expressive. Art America 2009 is on view April 24-26 at Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art in Tuscaloosa, AL, a hidden gem of a museum with works by John Singer Sargent, Albert Bierstadt, and Winslow Homer. But Ho's hand-picked A-list spotlights living legends such as Burton Silverman, Kevin Macpherson, Laura Robb, Thomas William Jones, Richard Schmid, Clyde Aspevig, C.W. Mundy, Dan Gerhartz, and David Leffel. Tuscaloosa may not be the first city that springs to mind as an art destination, but Quang Ho hopes to bring some attention to the museum, which is home to the collection of Jack Warner, who has been quietly amassing what's considered one of the world's largest cache of historical American art. —Bonnie Gangelhoff
Dispatches from the West | Notable Artists | Shows and Events
4/13/2009 10:32:43 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, April 10, 2009
Kevin Macpherson at Middletown Art Center
In recent years, many artist-poets (such as David Lehman) and painters (such as Duane Keiser) alike—have taken a stab at writing or painting every day and collecting the unpredictable and often stunning results in either a book or an exhibition. Several years ago The Artist's Magazine's contributing editor Kevin Macpherson resolved to paint the landscape outside his home in Taos, NM, every day for a year; the 368 paintings that followed have never been exhibited east of the Mississippi until now. From May 15 to June 15, the Middletown (Ohio) Arts Center will host "Reflections on a Pond," a show of Macpherson's expressive, painting-a-day landscapes. Adding to the excitement of the show will be a series of events that include a Children's Paint-Out (May 12) and a concert by the Middletown Symphony Orchestra (May 16). Kevin will give a lecture (May 16) and conduct a painting demonstration (May 17). Eric Camper of ArtistsNetwork.TV and I plan to go to
Middletown to see the show and to film an interview with Kevin next month, so stay
tuned. Kevin is the author of the best-selling Landscape Painting Inside & Out and Fill Your Paintings with Light and Color, both from North Light Books. To sign up for the lecture and/or demonstration, download a schedule here. Learn more:
By Maureen Bloomfield | Shows and Events
4/10/2009 10:01:33 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, April 09, 2009
Tip file: Getting down to business
From Sally Prince Davis, in the March 1992 issue of The Artist's Magazine: For every hour devoted to painting, set aside an hour for business. Unrealistic? No, because "business" includes stops at the art store, phone calls to a gallery, research trips to new outlets, days spent at booth shows and trips to the printer for new business cards. Business hours don't have to equal painting hours on a daily basis, but you should pay some attention to business every day.
Learn more:
By Grace Dobush | Tips
4/9/2009 10:08:34 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, April 08, 2009
80 artists at the seder table
Beth Grossman, We were once slaves in Egypt (wood burning on wooden turntable, leather, matzah, gold leaf).
"The suitcase symbolizes the historical baggage that holds both memories of our Exodus and hopes for a better future. Into each suitcase on the seder plate, I have tucked a piece of matzah lettered with a word representing some of the essentials we truly need to carry with us—intelligence, memories, courage, relationships, fertility, and faith."
The traditional seder ceremony centers around a plate that holds food that symbolizes the holiday, one of the most important in the Jewish calendar, which begins tonight. The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco called on artists from around the country to create seder plates in its Dorothy Saxe Invitational. The results range from the utilitarian to the utterly fanciful. The plates are on view through June 2. 
Grace Hawthorne and Phoebe Streblow of ReadyMade magazine, Seder-Made (mixed media).
"ReadyMade magazine borrows Marcel Duchamp's 'Jedi mind trip' of recontextualizing ordinary objects into extraordinary design. In an effort to create familiar and comfortable access points within the context of such a celebrated formal holiday, we constructed a seder plate out of common everyday objects that one could find around home or office."
By Grace Dobush | Exhibits
4/8/2009 9:35:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Digital camera buying guide
Occasionally, we get questions from artists wondering what digital camera is best to photograph artwork with. Over at pica + pixel, Ana posted a layman's guide to buying a digital camera that I think will be useful for any non-photographer trying to find the right camera. Here's a quick rundown of her tips: - Photography is both a craft and a tool.
- Start small—physically and/or financially.
- Stick with the big brands.
- Fight the urge to think bigger.
- Do your homework.
- Hold it in your hand.
- Buy from reliable sources.
- Learn how to use it.
Read the full descriptions on pica + pixel.
Advice | By Grace Dobush | Cool Web sites | Photography
4/7/2009 12:18:05 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, April 06, 2009
Edward Hopper Meets T. Boone Pickins
 Above: Wind Engines on Horizon (acrylic, 12x30). Below: Farm House with Wind Engine (acrylic, 24x24)Check out these paintings of wind turbines in California. I think they're pretty cool. A few days ago California artist Melissa Chandon sent them along as examples of her recent work. To me, the images are a great reflection of the evolving American landscape.  About the "new energy" in her art, Chandon says: "Recently, I have been thinking about the opportunities that exist in a changing economy. We have the ability of seeing the possibilities of change in new and creative ways. I think there is a bit of inventor in all of us. As for me, I have started working on a series of paintings exploring the unseen beauty that lies in the addition of alternative energy sources in the landscape. Consider Edward Hopper in conversation with Melissa Chandon." Or T. Boone Pickins. Chandon's got a point. When seen from afar these elegant, kinetic structures resemble giant white birds reminiscent of Alexander Calder's mobiles. In painting this new American scene, Chandon says she is tossing around some questions. For example, what will happen to gas stations when all we need is an electric plug? How will our landscape change visually? What do you think? —Bonnie Gangelhoff
Dispatches from the West | Notable Artists
4/6/2009 9:44:41 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, April 01, 2009
The Artist's Magazine goes MTV!
PRESS RELEASE NEW YORK—MTV said it is preparing to air "Edit Review," a new reality series conceptualized and produced by The Artist's Magazine editor Maureen Bloomfield. The 10-episode series will follow the lives of staffers at The Artist's Magazine in Cincinnati, Ohio, as they produce an issue of the leading fine art magazine. It's
set to debut April 1, 2010. MTV
described the show as a combination of "The Real World" and "Devil Wears Prada," with a touch of "American Idol" for additional drama.
"Magazines around the country are slashing budgets," Tony DiSanto, head of MTV
programming, said in a statement. "In 'Edit Review,' that financial component will be used to our advantage. Editors who don't meet their budget quotas will be put on the chopping block—we expect the call-in voting to blow 'Idol' out of the water." "We are so excited to get in on the reality TV craze," added Bloomfield, the show's
co-creator and executive producer. "'Edit Review' is sure to join the ranks of great reality shows such as 'Kid Nation' and 'I Love New York.'"
By Grace Dobush | News
4/1/2009 10:05:36 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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