THE THINKING MAN'S ART

CONCEPTUAL ART

Conceptual art is just that, it is based on a concept or idea. For many years I was not sure how to define myself or my art until I read about conceptual art. I have always been a teacher and a researcher.  I have loved both and often one generates the other.  I love thinking about how to relay an idea or concept to others.  Though much of my art is done intuitively that only happens when I get to the actual act of putting the material together.

Rene Magritte, Surrealist  

 Actually much research and thought goes into my art, as if I were writing a paper to present, or a class to teach.  I love learning and sharing what I have learned.  Being an art teacher for 37 years I do a good bit of both.  I learned early on the more I researched a lesson or a unit to teach students the more excited I was and the more the enthusiasm carried over to the students.  My research and my act of learning excited them and made them want to investigate and create.  

Ai Weiwei   Chinese Conceptual Artist
 from google image for  educational purposes

For all the years I taught I was an artist before and after, it was essential to me to always do art and share what I made. Working with conceptual art let me go back and forth between my world of teaching and my world of being an artist.  So I learned what I was doing was called Conceptual art and the realm I was working in was Surrealism.  These two areas gave me the path to doing intellect based art.  I could never be nor want to be a representational artist.  
Below are pictures form the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.  The architectural firm that designed the new Dali museum incorporated his interest in the double helix that is often found in his paintings. But the building design only allowed for one helix though.  

Of the last three conceptual art pieces I have done, one was 2 dimensional and two were  3 dimensional assemblage.  Both were created working from a theme for art membership shows at the Morean art center and one for the Dali Museum for a benefit. The piece for the Dali was done with Dali's complete history of Surrealism and his different periods in mind.  The theme was "Liquid Desires" working off many levels of meaning.  I responded with a piece named "Wet Dreams".  Freud's psychological theories were very prominent in the work of the surrealists. And in the piece I entered I included many symbols that would trigger unconscious meaning in the viewers mind. 

details of  assemblage "Wet Dreams"

The present piece I am working on will be conceptual and have multiple levels of meaning as well.  I am beginning with an African head and headdress base and then moving into universal themes and present day issues.  At least that is where my mind is now.  I am working with a sub theme of aphasia in on a personal level and on a universal level of the challenges of communication. The head itself lends one to think of speaking, communication, and reasoning.  African headdress often convey additional meaning in the details of what is woven or sewn or sculpted into the headdress.    Bits and parts of pieces of everyday life, a bit of a metal tag, a piece of cloth, a watch band, bullet casings, and what ever seems of value or to be honored.  It is a part of the celebration of life in the African culture where art is not a separate entity unto itself.  
I have been very interested in the concept of the brain, its function and how the separate parts of the brain can work independently when damaged.  My Mother had a stroke at 90 and had been having small TIA's for a few years before, my Grandmother also had a stroke and had brain damage.  In both cases I was and am intimately involved.  In addition half my career dealt with teaching special education with multiple handicaps and levels of thinking.  How the human brain functions is of great interest to me and I am in awe of how complex an organ it is.  
The piece I am working on now will at some level respond to all of  these issues.  It is still forming in my mind until it begins to form a shape and gel.  How will I work in all the ideas I have in mind and on all the varying levels at this point is still a mystery to me.  I would would like to incorporate a video loop somehow and/or layers of transparencies of images. The pieces below are the beginning of the collection of items I have collected or bought that I will be working with.

Head for designing hats

Antique Gas Mask

Ship building molds

*all highlighted areas are to click for more information

LADDERS AND CONSTELLATIONS

MIRO

Elizabeth Gordon  at Miro Museum in Barcelona      

         photo by Ann Suggs

 Miro is one of many artists that didn't capture my attention in college like some of the rock star artists of the era. I wasn't much enamored with Dali or Picasso or the Surrealist.  Perhaps it was because art history was so boring and taught so poorly.  I am not sure, but memorizing 200 or more slides a week, with a test at the end of the week with 25 or more unknown to place in a style and time period, wasn't my cup of tea.  Yes, I can recognize many art works and artists, but what can I tell you about their lives and what influenced them to paint in their day.  Art history should be taught in a much more interesting and connected way.  I have hear there are programs like that, just not where I attended.  There was once a program on Public Broadcasting called Connections, and it did just that, it connect political, social, environmental and commercial influences on art.  It was fascinating and the way I had wished I had been taught in art history.  
Later as an art teacher I would do more and more research on artist when I was teaching different units for my students.  A double learning took place, one for them, and another for me.  I love learning and I love research, so it was a win-win situation.  
The more I learned about Miro, Picasso, and other artists I had not studied in depth about in school, the more I wanted to know more.

Ann Suggs and Elizabeth Gordon         Barcelona   Gaudi's House

On a trip to Barcelona, I visited Gaudi's architecture that changed the way I viewed the way I thought building must be designed like.  I did not know they could look as if they were melting, and did not have to have hard angles. 

 On the same

trip, I discovered there was Miro's Museum  sitting there on a high hill overlooking the harbor and city. It such a magnificent view and reminded me so much of my home, Tampa.  It is a city on a bay as well.  I thought it would take an hour or two max to see the museum but

, I stayed there all day and left at closing.  I was blown not away by, not only, Miro's art, but also his thinking about art and creativity.

Below is a video from you tube about Juan Miro you may enjoy.

Today a friend sent me this link to a slide show walk through of Miro's museum and work.  I thought I would include that here for you.  Take a walk with Miro, look at his work, listen to his discussion of his artist process.  Look at the time he, Picasso, and Dali lived in, all working in Southern Eastern France and North East Spainish during relatively the same time period  in an area called Catalonia.  Click on this link now for your tour.  

Miro, Picasso, and Dali lived in the same area and painted at similar times.  Miro and Picasso lived through the Spanish Civil War, WWI and WWII.  At different times they fled Catalonia for Paris and then when the Nazi's occupied Paris, back to Spain.  

Guernica by Pablo Picasso                    from google image for educational purposes only

Picasso's Guernica was painted in response to the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil war. 

One of the series of Constellations by Juan Miro  
   from google educational purposes only

 The painting became an iconic statement for peace.  Miro hid in his imagery of his Constellations and Ladders references to war the times.  That is why it is so important to look at all the influences of a given era that art is produced in and what effects the artist.  In some eras it could be the invention of a new art media like acrylic paints, or the extinction of a mollusk that once thrived in Europe, or the inability of flax to grow in England.  

Transitioning

TRANSITION IS A FACT OF LIFE AND ART

Mixed Media by Elizabeth Gordon   sold at Dali Museum auction Liquid Desires
now in the private collection of an Orlando Physician

                     

IT IS AN ART ELEMENT

Mixed Media by Elizabeth Gordon

IT IS A WAY WE MOVE FROM ONE DIRECTION IN ART TO ANOTHER

IT MAY BE THE WAY WE SEE OUR ART AND THE WORLD AROUND US

TRAVELING ALWAYS BRINGS ABOUT THE THOUGHT OF TRANSITION TO ME:
LEAVING ONE ENVIRONMENT FOR ANOTHER, ONE LANDSCAPE FOR ANOTHER, ONE SOCIAL WORLD FOR ANOTHER

COUNTRY FOR CITY
QUIET FOR SIRENS AND CAR HORNS
FALL FOR WINTER

TRANSITIONS MOVE US FORWARD, WE CAN NOT STAY WHERE WE ARE, WE MOVE ONWARDS AND EXPERIENCE NEW AND MORE 

LIFE CHANGES FORM AND WE CHANGE WITH IT



AND AS A RESULT OUR ART CHANGES ALSO
IT CANNOT HELP BUT BE SO, FOR WE ARE NOT STAGNANT BEINGS NOR IS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.  

Mixed media by Elizabeth Gordon

AND AS WE CHANGE, AS WE TRANSITION, WHAT WE EXPRESS AND SHARE CHANGES AND WHAT WE REFLECT TO OTHERS  

Mixed media by Elizabeth Gordon

I OFTEN THINK OF TRAVEL AS TIME TRANSITIONING
IF WE STEPPED INTO A PORTHOLE AND TRAVELED THOUGH A WORMHOLE IN THE UNIVERSE AND APPEARED IN A DIFFERENT PLACE AND ERA. 
 ART ALSO DOES THAT FOR US. 

 


 IT IS A VESSAL THAT INHABITS TIME AND CULTURE, IT TRANSITIONS US FROM ONE TIME TO ANOTHER, TO ONE MIND SET TO ANOTHER.
*all photo's are the property of Elizabeth Gordon

COLLAGE IN MOTION!

The Incredible Moving Collages of Hilary Faye(click)

All of Hilary's Art is shown with her permission.

Hilary Faye is an artist from Melbourne, Australia.  I first saw her collages on Hyperallergenic.  I was immediately mesmerized by her work in collage, especially, the moving collages made with bits of film complied in pieces and bits the same way a regular collage would be except in film.  I took experimental film as an addition to my masters and for continuing education points toward my teaching license in the 90's.  I was fascinated with the creativity one could achieve in film.  Dali's surrealistic clip( un chien andelou) that begins with the cutting of an eye and continues is Dali's style with ants crawling out of a persons mouth and nose was just captivating with what one could create using film as an art  form.

But Hilary's work was even more interesting in that it was like a paper collage, but it moved.  It is only done in short clips of time and that even makes it more effective as a piece you are viewing like a wall collage.  I think you will find them as amazing as I do.

Hilary's background is in design and photography. This however, is a very nice direction she has taken and new to the world of collage and art.  
I wanted to use her images, but as I do most always I wrote and ask her permission which she gave very generously so I could share them with you.  One of the real perks in writing this on line art advocacy magazine for you is that I am getting to meet more and more artists through the process of researching the articles. I hope you find Hilary's work as fascinating as I did and the art magazine Hyperallergenic did also.  Treat yourself and check out the work of Hilary Faye!

Uniqueness of An Artists Vision

NO GREAT ARTIST SEES THINGS AS THEY ARE, OR THEY

WOULD CEASE BEING GREAT ARTIST.  oscar wilde

Dali Museum St. Petersburg Florida photo by elizabeth gordon

The Man Who Controlled the Weather: ART AND SCIENCE

 Berndnaut Smilde 

Recently a friend sent me a forward about an artist that I was not aware of, who had created a cloud in his studio.  By controlling humidity and temperature in a controlled environment Berndnaut was able to create a cloud that was sustainable.  Now this brings up the relationship that I have thought about all my years as an artist, that of science and art.  First lets look closer at Berndnaut and his art work. Below is a video from you tube that shows his process of creating and documenting a cloud as art work.  It is fascinating to watch.  

from you tube

Smilde is interested in the transient nature of things which he documents through photography. He uses a fog machine and moisture and lighting to create a floating cloud indoors. 

“I imagined walking into a museum hall with just empty walls. The place even looked deserted. On the one hand I wanted to create an ominous situation. You could see the cloud as a sign of misfortune. You could also read it as an element out of the Dutch landscape paintings in a physical form in a classical museum hall" 

Smilde Berndnaut      Creation of a Cloud                                                   from  google image for educational purposes only

I have long thought as an art teacher and artist that there is a direct correlation between science and art, as there is with music and mathematics.  I think my own interest in art came from my Mother who was a science teacher and creative thinker.  The scientific theory calls for experimentation and inquisitive thinking.  I can remember in middle school when I was introduced to the scientific theory, it was like a magic formula to me.  I thought with this I can do anything, it makes so much sense.  As an artist I discovered the artistic process is identical..it calls for discover, experimentation, and trial and error.  If one thinks about it art and science are natural compatibles...color theory in art and science, how light effects color, the chemical make up of the world and materials, the re-creation of visual elements, the creation of the idea of perspective, and the experimentation of thought processes in a visual way.

Dali was friends with the most accomplished scientists of his day.  His art often includes scientific theory and thought.  The double helix is in many of his works of art and the inner design of the stairs at the new Dali Museum in Florida.  

Photo by Elizabeth Gordon    Dali Museum,  St. Petersburg, Florida

photo by Elizabeth Gordon             Dali Museum

NAME YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS OR ART WORK

Lets start the new year naming our favorite artists or art work. 
 I will go first, then you can add yours.

Charles Demuth       Engine Number 5

Rauschenberg  Monogram
Claus Oldenburg  French Fries
Van Gogh        Starry Night
Calder             Circus
Cornell            Everything he did
Monet             Water lilles 
Duchamp         Re Mutt
Dali                 Psychedelic Toreado 
Picasso           Bull with Bicycle Handlebars
Demuth          Engine Number 5
Johns              Orange and Green American Flag

HAPPY NEW YEAR AROUND THE WORLD TO YOU ALL! 


MAY 2013 SURROUND YOU WITH ART!

DALI MUSEUM                                                   ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

A Huge New Benchmark Approaching for Rabbit's Moon.

Philadelphia Museum of Art  Steps famous for Rocky Scene...Photo by Iirraa from goole image

A New Benchmark approaching for us!  We are at 48,000 plus hits since starting August before last.  Soon we will hit 50,000 hits.  It is still amazing to me and I thank you all for your loyal support and readership.  Mostly I thank you for your love of art and sharing it with others!  Help put us over the top and share with your friends.  Don't forget to join.  Don't forget to join and you will get a daily blog sent to your mail box!! and you will get a daily blog sent to your mail box!!  On the left is a section that says join this site and members you can sign up.   You can also join anonymous I have blogged almost everyday for two years, rarely missing a day.  I am also glad to have guest artists, and guest writers.  Let me know what is going on in the arts on your side of the world in your community and I will be glad to share it with others.  I am an artist, educator and art advocate!  I am passionate about how art helps all people.

Test Tiles for Transfers on Ceramics

Test Tiles for Mixed Media Art Project

These are not decals, this an actual printing on clay using a ceramic ink on raw clay, then fired. It has taken us much practice and experiments to get this to work. In these pictures you will note the image looks pixilated, it is due to the canvas the clay was rolled out on. There are many variables that effect the look of the image.

I am working on a project that will use images and thoughts from my Mothers life, as a type of portrait and honor to her, but in general to all women of my Mothers generation who survived two wars and a great depression-they are made of stern stuff, but who also wore there badges with grace and compassion. My Mother was beyond a sewer, she was a seamstress, a tailor, and artist with cloth and needle. She also was a science teacher majoring in biology and chemistry. Her love of nature and science was passed on with great love to myself and my brother, and like a stone dropped the ripple effects go on to our whole family. Now her grandsons hunt fossils and points with great glee...a gift given from another generation. At almost 99 she still is a presence in my life, even with the effects of a massive stroke 9 years ago, she can still communicate love, grace, compassion and determination. I am always in awe of her being and thankful for the gifts she has given me and others. So it will be in an art piece, perhaps many, that I will honor her as Mother, as Earth Mother, as life giver, as woman, as love....it will be a theme in my art to honor these gifts. As Dali, Jasper Johns, and many other artists develop a symbology of language that reappears in their art, my art is developing its own language, its own alphabet. So these test tiles are the beginning of a mixed media piece in the making. As the piece progresses I will share it with you.

The Calling

The Calling

What is your life calling to you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside,and the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul?

In the silence between your heartbeats hides

a summons Do you hear it? Name it, if you must,

or leave it nameless, but why pretend it is not there?_The Terma Collective. The Box: Rembering the Gift

(Gaudi in his elder years still fighting for his calling)

Each one of us has a calling!

Each of these artist heard the calling and answered.

There were people who believed buildings should be square and rectangular, professional who scoffed a Gaudi's vision of architecture. Craftsmen and masons said it was impossible to craft.

Miro, did odd shapes and talked of wonderful theories, he hid symbols and ideas, but the critics may have said it just little shapes, it makes no sense, it is not a pretty picture.

And Dali, what a mad man people thought, how odd are his ideas, flamming giraffes and melting clocks!?

Believe in your calling, no matter what friends, family or critics say...it is your calling not theirs! And what ever your calling is, it is your passion, your being, your experiences, your background, and your expression of yourself-there is not another you out there. Do you have to be a Dali or Gaudi or Miro, no you do not. All you have to do is listen to that small voice inside that says oh I so want to do this. Listen, listen with your heart and give it life!

Dali Museum/St. Petersburg, Florida/A Must See!

Salvador Dali Museum/St. Petersburg, Florida

There are two museums dedicated to Dali's work, one is in Figures, Spain and the other is in St. Petersburg, Florida. Both are excellent and contain a large collection of his work. Having been to both, I can highly recommend each for different reasons. The museum in Figures, Dali designed himself, so walking through the museum is like walking through a piece of Dali's work. It is unpredictable, dramatic, and highly creative. The new Dali Museum in Florida is stunning. The architecture is creative, dynamic, and awe inspiring. The architects also designed the glass triangular structure that is part of the Louvre.

The new Dali is designed by internationally acclaimed architect Yann Weymouth of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Inc. (HOK). He worked alongside architect I.M. Pei on the renovation of the Louvre in Paris.

The helix designed stairs are a favorite part of the new architecture for me. Originally they wanted a double helix, as in Dali's art work, but structurally it was best to have one.
Dali's work shines in this museum, all of his collection can be shown at once.

In the old museum, only sections of his work could be seen at one time, and the whole collection had to be rotated. There is only one disappointment for me in the new museum, and that is where the large master works hang. In the old museum they had a large venue and viewing area on two levels, outside light poured in from the ceiling making view with natural light possible. Now each is boxed in separate sections and one can not have the distance to view them nor sit and contemplate them for longer periods of time. No matter how many times I see the master works I still see new things in them every time.
I would suggest making it a priority to visit St. Petersburg, Florida and seeing this Dali Museum.

You will not be disappointed and you can also view the only Dale Chihuly Museum besides the original in Seattle, Washington. Not to mention St. Petersburg is a beautiful tropical beach area for a vacation.
Photos by Ann Suggs