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

An Article by Friend and Artist Martin Stynes After His American Visit

“OK, let’s do it!

Martin Stynes   British Abstract Landscape Artist
Photo by Nathan Mark Phillips 

by Martin Stynes

Often this is the simple response to an invitation to meet for a coffee, but in this case they were the final words in a two year long conversation between myself and Betsy Gordon.

Martin Stynes,  Reflection

Our conversation started in facebook; I don’t think this networking site ever envisaged its participants taking their contact from the realm of cyberspace into the real world. But in our case this is exactly what transpired.

Early on, Betsy was encouraging me to exhibit my work in the United States and through her mentorship and contacts in the Florida art world, I did just that at the Morean Arts centre in St Petersburg Florida in 2012.

Charleston, S.C.

Pretty soon the idea of actually visiting Florida then took centre stage. At first it seemed just wishful thinking, but obstacles were steadily dismantled until the point came when it was time to fix a date and book the flights.

The moment we all met at Orlando airport, it was clear that we were all just as we expected. Sharing the same interests and passions, having a mutual respect and interest in each other’s cultures and traditions, were just as we anticipated.

This set the scene for what I consider to be my best overseas trip ever. Yes we shared meals and riveting conversations and visited places of mutual interest, but mostly we talked of art and what it meant for each of us.

South Carolina BBQ 

We visited galleries in Florida and later, on our way to Asheville NC, in Charleston SC and later in Asheville itself. 

Seeing the incredible variety of works and the plenitude of exhibition spaces in these places was a feast for an artist. It also gave me much inspiration. So much so that, at Betsy’s invitation, I started painting in her Asheville studio. This painting was inspired by my time there and is now on its way to the Dunedin Fine Arts Centre for jurying at their annual show.

photo by Martin Stynes

Betsy Gordon is the most generous person and artist. Generous in her time, support and encouragement. She spent her life educating people in the wonders of art and is still performing this task, but now on a global scale through her blog, Rabbit's Moon Studio. It has a huge audience now and an impact that will only become evident in time to come. She brought me to America - and my work to a worldwide audience, and for this I will be eternally grateful. 

But more than this, I am grateful for our friendship. A friendship that is still going strong even though I am back in chilly Manchester UK. And with good fortune, I hope to be able to reciprocate when Betsy visits us here in the Spring of 2014.

That will be just the next step in this fascinating world of opportunity opening up before us all through the internet. 

THE BRITISH ARE COMING! GET YOUR BRUSHES OUT!

MARTIN STYNES

British Abstract Landscape artist Martin Stynes is on his way for a visit to the United States.  He will visit galleries and museums in Florida and North Carolina. Martin will be sharing his ideas with artists in the Tampa Bay area and Asheville, North Carolina. Martin is already a member of the Morean Art Center and participates in their exhibits.  He is looking forward to networking with a variety of artists in this area and well as to experience the 
rich culture of the South and Mountain Highlands.  Rabbits Moon Studio will host Martin and his wife for part of their American stay.  

Martin Stynes   British Abstract Landscape Artist

We will be sharing our experience with Martin on his USA journey and with you.  It should be an exciting and creative trip.  Get ready for frequent articles and updates regarding Martins visit.  One of our first joint artist events will be an art party in Martins honor hosted by Mark Philipps, Lyman Zobell, and the studio's of Rabbit Moon.  There will be a variety of well known Tampa Bay area artists attending, networking and sharing.   There will be an array of Southern Food to introduce Martin to the culinary experience of the American South.  Art across the Ocean, what an exciting time!

The Joys and Fears of Showing Your Art

Photo Elizabeth Gordon of my Assemblage "Home"

I don't care whether it is Monet or Rembrandt or Picasso or Rauschenberg or Da Vinci or Van Gogh when you show your work you are filled with fears and doubts.  Even the greatest artist or the largest ego has to reckon with the praise and criticism of sharing ones work with others. 

You are sharing the most intimate vulnerable part of yourself when you share your art. It is your creation, your child, your being that is being tossed out to adorning public or to the wolves....or so it seems.  I  remember once an 

artist saying they would rather 

Science vials with cocoon, leaf bug, and cicada 

receive an A or an F in art class and nothing in between.  An A would show success and an F would show an extreme reaction which is what artist want one way or another, but to be ignored, well that would be the worst!

There is a great joy walking into a gallery or show and seeing ones work displayed surrounded by other work.  It is creativity come alive.  So many thoughts artists have, so many ideas that may or may not come to fruition, but those that do become a physical reality in the world. In essence they are born.  

detail with statue of Liberty transfer, home lettering, and Turkish beads

In earlier post I took you through the creation of this assemblage called Home. That was the theme of the Morean Art Center Show this year.  The actual title is Home in many languages.  I talked to you about my thought processes as an artist and decision making along the way.  Every artist works differently, some intuitively like myself, and others that plan every move, cut and stroke.  But we all start the same, with an idea that is vague and begins to take shape and form in our minds.  I think it is the same for writers and musicians and actors and all creators.  The idea is the seed and must germinate in a form.  We, the artist, are the conduit that brings the form alive.  

Assemblage by Elizabeth Gordon "Home"

Assemblage by Elizabeth Gordon "Home"

porcelain glove mold hand, rusted disk and metal ribbon

Hornets nest, letter of home in different languages and rusted disk

When I walk through a gallery I think about how people may react and whether I may see someone look at my work. 

My work is not easy to come to, not like a painting of a person or flower or image. I ask you to think and experience.  

I put symbology of all kinds, as if a language to help you enter the piece and interpret from your paradigm.   I am a Surrealist at heart and I love the artifacts of our culture and time.  I am a frustrated anthropologist at best and at worst a collector of refuse.  I will fight you for a piece of rust!  But I come by all this very honestly.  

Morean Members Art Show 

My Mother loved science, nature, and biology.  We hunted fossils as long as I can remember and studied ancient cultures.  I think my Mother was the original recycler...she was green before people knew what green was.  There was nothing to be thrown away, a depression baby, all had to be reused.  I was an alley rider and trash hunter by 7 years old and never stopped. Symbols and hidden meaning became more and more important to me as I traveled the world and lived in different cultures.  So now you can see how I began to develop as an artist and person.  

An Artist in the Making

The Education of Quinton Merada, An Artist

Quinton and his Mother, Denise

I first heard Quinton's name from my elementary art teacher friend Maryanne Hamilton.  She had this wonderful student who had a great family she told me about.   She also told me he was very talented. Through the years she stayed friends with Quinton and his Mother, Denise.
 Quinton we on to an art magnate middle school where another friend of mine was an art teacher.  Julie Smith is an exceptional middle school art teacher. So I continued to hear  about this talented fine young man through time. 
  And this past week I ran into him again with his Mother and friends at his senior art show at the Morean Art Center with his art magnate high school (Pinellas Center for the Arts).  It is adynamic show with all of the art teachers showing their work with a student senior show. 

Colored pencil drawing  by Quinton

Quinton had some of the finest art teachers one could have from a public education system that supports the arts.  He was fortunate, not all school system support the arts and many talented artists do not receive the education and support they need to succeed.    
His work is exceptional, his talent outstanding and his skills polished by fine teachers and a supportive family and community. 

UPDATE: Out of 200,000, Quinton chosen among top students for National Scholastic Award of Arts! A Trip to NYC for Award!

A NIGHT OF ART, A SUPER NIGHT OF ART!

The Art Walk

The Glass Art of Steven Rolfe Powell

I promised you pictures and here they are.  It was a super bowl night of the arts in St. Petersburg!  Dale Chihuly spoke, Morean Art show of master teachers from the Pinellas Center for the Arts and students was a block buster, Michelle Tuegel's gallery opening, the Train Depot Pottery complex, and Duncan McClellen's huge fancier than ever, studio and ever expanding hot shop!!!  Duncan had two visiting artist that knocked it out of the park with their collections and demonstrations : Steven Rolfe Powell and Joseph Cavalieri. 

Stadium Seats to View Art!!!  That is Big!  

You would think it was a rock star, but no, it is a glass star!!!  Steven Powell is a start in the glass blowing world and here he wows the crowd with his awesome talent.  I am trying to think when I ever saw stadium seats set up for the viewing of art. It is just so impressive there are almost no words.  If you doubt for one minute the power of art, the just look at these pictures. Now imagine what your community might do.  This was once a dream in Duncan Mc Clellen's mind...only a thought, only an idea.  But then with vision and leadership he made it a reality.  It is evidence of what one person can do, when they have passion and persistence.  Of course there are many others supporting and helping, many who have become partners along the way...but first there must be the spark that catches flame.  I am not sure how this community will ever thank Duncan for all he has done.  I hope you have a Duncan in your community or perhaps, with his example, you will become a leader of the arts.

Pack crowds, standing room only left!

The fire is roaring hot, the glass is molten, art is about to
happen!

Steven describes the process of glass blowing

Viewing Joseph Cavelieri's Awesome stained glass art

Stunning Decks at Duncan Mc Clellen's Studio

The night is set for art and the crowds are coming

Duncan has a flare for style with his designs etched on the bar!

Studio living Room and hall gallery

Entering the huge doors of Duncan's expansive studio

The Value of An Art Center in a Community

Building Art in a Community

As an art advocate and a person who has spent many years lobbying for arts education and community arts I can tell you the value to an area is ever reaching.

The Morean Art Center began its life as the St. Pete Arts Center. It provides exhibitions, classes, member shows, and residencies for visiting artist. It is rare to have an art center of this magnitude in a city the size of this one.

How does an art center add to the value of a community?

An art center helps to bond and build a sense of community. It offers a creative vision to an area that it would not normally have. It helps to build a creative base in the surrounding population and offers a place where creative learning can happen.

Art is expression, self expression and it can also be a community expression and identity.

New York, Chicago, Paris, Barecelona, Madrid, Florence, London, etc. are not only know for the uniqueness of place, but the art museums and galleries and architecture they contain. So ask yourself how did art begin in that community, and what made it prosper. There has to be a learning base, something that draws artistic creative people to the area and then supports them.

We are all artist

We are all artist and creative beings. Now, I hear the chorus of "not me" being said by many who are reading this, but it is true. You also are a creative being. We may express our creativity in a myriad of ways, from writing, dance, acting, sculpture, film, design, architecture, film to everyday things like creating a special room in a house, designing a structure for a business model, to coming up with the best recipe for a family dish, to building your own deck or redesigning an old antique car....there are thousands and thousands of ways we are creative, but we think creative,"not me". My 37 years in teaching children and special needs students taught me all people not only are creative, but need to express that creativity to feel whole within themselves.

This is a story about my cousin. He is retired shoe salesmen, a father , and grandfather of a shoe bunch of grandkids. He would not think of himself as creative, but one day he picked up a camera and started taking photos of family and nature around him. Then he bought a bigger camera and started taking more and more nature shots. Then he discovered photo shop and photo programs on the computer. He also loves old cars and trains. Now he takes the most beautiful photo's of birds in Arkansas, old cars at car shows, and old trains. On the most basic of arts reason for being is there any thing better than this...that someone finds value in their life and way to express it. We can look at Leonardo, Picasso, Monet and masters artists and think we all need to be like them, but I would say art can be in everyday life for everyday people. So we should offer a place to help them do that and an art center does that...if offers classes on photography, clay, watercolor, adobe photo shop, printmaking, painting, jewelry, glass, and much more. It offers children's programs and summer camp for kids. It gives a chance for everyone in a community to find a path to expression.

The Value of Art in A Community

One year during art awareness week in the schools I took down all pictures and any kind of pictorial visual on the walls of the school. You can imagine what happened, it turned into a bland, boring, blank, depressing space. And the point was obvious, with out art in our world and visual creation little would exist and our world would be worse for it. But the point had to be made, for as much as I may advocate for the arts, people would nod and agree, but when it came time to support the school budget or scheduling time for art classes their was always the battle of what is most important in the curriculum. I think after that year people thought back to that day with nothing on the walls or in their wold and reflected.

Close you eyes, and think of no art, no design, no visuals in your world, in your city...art effects everything from advertisements, to the design of cars and everyday things we use, to the shape of buildings and roads and sidewalks..someone had to design these things and create them. Now with a ever increasing visual world on the internet and social media we are more a visual society than ever before. There is more to design and create than ever before in our history.

Now how does that effect your community and why would an art center help? Vision in a community strengthens each and every member of that group. That group becomes a village, a community or city. The more you invest in the people in your area the stronger the group becomes. In the creative world I know surgeons who are artist, and mathematicians that play instruments in a symphony orchestra. I know dentist who sculpt. The act of creation builds a community and makes it stronger and provides for the need to express our souls.

Build it and they will come/Build an Art Center in Your Community

Find a space, any space, bring people together. Find a teacher, an artist, put out some paper and easels and just start. It can happen. In many communities there are grants and city funding, in some communities businesses will help if you show them how it helps the community and them. Bring in kids from the area, give them something fun, positive and constructive to do. You community and city will be richer for it. You will be richer for it. If you are not sure where to start google art centers like the Morean or others, look at how they started, how they operate. Call people, visit centers and get a couple of friends to help. That is how it all starts, with one or two people with vision and persistence.

Morean Art Center Members Show

The Alter of the Lost Earring

This mixed media piece by artist, Ann Suggs is an interesting piece. It is found object art with high relief. Ann has a wonderful sense of humor and conveys that in her art. Women lose earrings all the time, and when we do we don't want to throw the left over one away, so then we have a drawer of one piece earrings waiting to find its mate. Sort of like the sock drawer! The copper and gold leaf add to a richness of the piece.

In the photo you see friends Monica and Brian. Monica is an art historian and artist. She is from Lima, Peru. Also in the photo is artist Ann Suggs who is an artist and Suncoast Hospice Counselor.(Ann created the art work above, Alter of the Lost Earring). Laura Morris, who is to the far right is a career art teacher, Mother, and fine person.

Donna, has been taking private and college art classes.

Her work has a fluid soft movement that is very engaging and appealing. Some people in clay prefer wheel throwing and others hand building. Donna likes hand build, as do I. I think for us both it has a more sculptural feel. The clay body is a darker brown and the glaze takes very nicely to the shapes and form of the pot.