The Artists Magazine - May 2018

ALL NEW!
Art sts
ARTISTSNETWORK.COM
Magazine
Art& Invention
From Renaissance Classics
to High-Tech Aesthetics
FUEL YOUR
INNOVATION
Learn the Basics Here
i ANATOMY
i PERSPECTIVE
i DESIGN
Save the Art

The Do's and Don'ts of Conservation
+ SEE ROME IN 3 DAYS

AN ABRIDGED HISTORY
OF THE BAUHAUS MAY 2018
" THE TRUE WORK OF ART
IS BUT A SHADOW OF THE
DIVINE PERFECTION."
M I C H E L A N G E LO
Illustration by Ben Copperwheat

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Contents
Volume 35 | Issue 04
MAY 2018
80
72
56
Compositions
56 72 90
MICHELANGELO: THE BAUHAUS EFFECT EVERY WHICH GRAY
“MORE THAN MORTAL” A single German art school Artists Magazine salutes the
An exhibition unravels the myth invented much of the look of the winners of the sixth annual
behind the unrivaled modern age. Shades of Gray Competition.
draftsmanship of one of the
greatest artists of all time.
80
64 HIGH-TECH
AESTHETICS
SAVE THE ART Invention and innovation have
Conservator Suzanne Siano cares always been key components of
about the preservation of artworks as creative expression—and the
much their creators do—if not more. digital age is no exception.
2 Artists Magazine May 2018

28
16
36
Prime Build Outfit

8 BIO 36 TUTORIAL 102 DO NOW
Roy Lichtenstein Drawing the Hand
104 INDEPENDENT
10 COLOR STORY 38 ART HACKS STUDY
Sepia Spring Fling
105 APPLAUSE
13 SPACE 40 LESSON
Space to Animate Putting Things in 106 SHORT STORIES
Perspective
16 VOYAGE 108 RETREAT
Rome, Italy 46 PROMPTS Tuscany Calling
Creative Breakthroughs
20 WELLNESS 112 LASTING
Away From It All 48 WORKSHOP IMPRESSION
Multi-Figure Composition
24 CROSSROADS
A Model Marriage 52 GENESIS
28 ALCHEMY
In Glowing Terms
4 EDITOR’S NOTE
33 THE ASK
ON THE COVER
Ben Copperwheat’s re-imagined version of
5 CONTRIBUTORS
Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam V1 VISIONARIES
Artists Magazine (ISSN 0741-3351) is published 10 times per year (January, March, April, May, June, July, September, October, November and December) by F+W Media Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Suite 300, Cincinnati OH 45242; tel: 386/246-3370.
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ArtistsNetwork.com 3
From The Editor Art sts Magazine
CONTENT STRATEGIST + EDITOR IN CHIEF
Michael Gormley
MANAGING EDITOR Austin R. Williams
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dean Abatemarco
ART DIRECTOR Amy Petriello
SENIOR EDITOR Holly Davis
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Michael Woodson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Mike Allen
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been associated with the ability to express oneself VP, GENERAL COUNSEL Robert Sporn
through the inventive use of available materials. VP, HUMAN RESOURCES Gigi Healy
In this issue, we salute artistic innovators. VP, MANUFACTURING & LOGISTICS Phil Graham
The cornerstone of our celebration is VP, CONSUMER MARKETING John Phelan
undoubtedly Michelangelo, whose majestic NEWSSTAND SALES, CONTACT:

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(detail)
MICHAEL GORMLEY by Dominic Harris
PRIVEEKOLLEKTIE
Content Strategist + Editor in Chief CONTEMPORARY ART | DESIGN ArtistsNetwork

Contributors
Contributors to this issue of Artists Magazine include …
ALLISON ROBERTO MANUEL

MALAFRONTE OSTI RODRIGUEZ
“MICHELANGELO: TUTORIAL: “SAVE THE ART”
MORE THAN “DRAWING THE
Photographer
MORTAL” HAND”
Manuel Rodriguez
Allison Malafronte Roberto Osti’s art was raised in
has been writing has been widely Bogotá, Colombia,
about fine art for exhibited in and settled in
nearly 15 years. galleries and New York City in
The former senior museums in the 1994. He lives in
editor of American United States and Lower Manhattan
Artist magazine and editor of Fine Art abroad. He teaches figure anatomy and loves to eat and travel. After
Today, Malafronte was also the author and figure drawing at the New York working in fashion, he moved on to
and editor of the Florence Academy of Academy of Art, the University of the film production, and finally fell in
Art’s 25th-anniversary book. Today, Arts and Pennsylvania Academy of love with lifestyle photography. His
she writes about fine art and design, the Fine Arts, in addition to clients include top lifestyle and
manages editorial and curatorial workshops at Townsend Atelier and interior brands. Find him online at
projects for various organizations, various universities. His book, Basic manufoto.com or follow
and gives educational lectures through Human Anatomy, has been recently @manufotomanu on Instagram.
her company Art Independent LLC. released by the Monacelli Press.
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Live an Artful Life
From meditations in the studio to trending colors, urban sketchers and Renaissance
masters, Artists Network connects you with the artists, ideas, inspiration, and skills
that encourage art making and living an artful life.
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N E O N ’ S AT T R I B U T E S
MAKE IT DESIRABLE FOR
ARTISTS GOING AFTER
A S P E C I F I C E F F E C T.
ITS CONTINUOUS,
U N W AV E R I N G L I G H T A N D
AMPLE COLOR CHOICE
O F F E R W H AT O T H E R
M AT E R I A L S C A N ’ T.
Siren
by Kate Hush
animated; 8mm neon
glass filled with argon and
120-volt power supplies,
60x22x4½
Prime BIO

Roy Lichtenstein in his
New York studio in
1968
ROY
LICHTENSTEIN
Pop Star
A pop art pioneer combined skillful picture-making
with canny appropriation.
r oy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) is not an artist whose work waits

patiently for you to notice it. With their replication of commercial
printing processes, unadulterated primary colors, large scale,
melodramatic flair and unsettlingly incomplete narratives, his
paintings reach out and grab you, whether you’re ready for them or
not. A painting by Diebenkorn—to name a near-contemporary with a
similarly distinct sensibility—sits outside on the porch, waiting for you
to stroll over and share the view. A painting by Lichtenstein calls you
up in the middle of the night and hysterically sobs that it can’t live
without you, Brad.
Raised in New York City, Lichtenstein studied at the Art Students
League of New York and Ohio State University, and as a young artist he
worked in expressionist and abstract modes. In the early 1960s he
began painting images derived from comics—dialogue bubbles and all.
He painted them on a large scale, making the dots used in commercial
printing individually visible. His subjects were melodramatic in the
extreme, taking cues from dime-store fiction, advertising and
Surrealism in roughly equal measure. These paintings shot Lichtenstein
to national prominence, and he became, along with Andy Warhol, one
of the foremost practitioners of pop art. In subsequent years his prac-
tice evolved to include other interpretations of mass-produced imagery
and modern culture, and he also produced significant bodies of work in
printmaking and sculpture.
Lichtenstein’s style is so distinctive and his work so immediately
identifiable that it can be easy to overlook his craftsmanship and his
skill at composition. His paintings offer bountiful visual rewards, guid-
ing our eyes with swooping contours and tightly defined, dynamic
JACK MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES
shapes. For paintings that trumpet their own artificiality, they possess
a remarkable sense of motion.
In Lichtenstein we can celebrate an artist who took what he wanted
from art, from mass media and from the world around him and used
this to invent a visual and emotional universe unmistakably his own.
His paintings are dispatches from a world that is pure pop. More
important, it’s also pure Lichtenstein. —AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS
Prime COLOR STORY
Sepia
Seeing Sepia
This earth tone has one foot in the past
and the other in the future.
When you think of sepia, what comes to mind? Would it be ink drawings by
Leonardo da Vinci? Maybe you think of aged photos or the opening scenes
in The Wizard of Oz? What about home décor and off-the-runway wardrobe? Or perhaps it’s all of
the above?
Nestled between raw umber and sienna, sepia transcends time and artistic expression, infusing a
sense of history into almost any piece. Consider The Boulevards of Paris by William Henry Fox Talbot.
We see a busy 19th-century Parisian street, with several horse-drawn carriages in front of stately
homes. It’s a photo, which in the 1840s was a new technology. The subjects captured in the shot The Boulevards
establish a certain moment in history. But at least to the modern eye, the sepia tone reinforces the of Paris
by William Henry
sense of time passing, of a moment not to be forgotten. Fox Talbot
That timelessness makes sepia a classic color for contemporary culture. From fine art to film, from fash- 1843; salted paper
ion to home furnishings, sepia adds a level of sophistication to everything it touches. —MICHAEL WOODSON print, 6⁹⁄₁₆×6¾
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, D.C.
SPONSORED BY
FOLLOW @ARTISTSNETWORK ON INSTAGRAM AND SHOW US YOUR SEPIA!

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#ARTISTSNETWORK_COLORSTORY

WATERCOLOR: GETTY IMAGES; MODEL: ANTONIO DE MORAES BARROS FILHO/GETTYIMAGES; CUTTLEFISH: ETHAN DANIELS/GETTY IMAGES; BROWNSTONES: BUSÀ PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES; BAYON TEMPLE: PAUL BIRIS/GETTY IMAGES;
Sepia ink was traditionally made from

pigment taken from the ink sac of the
FIFTY SHADES common cuttlefish, and the word
OF BROWN “sepia” is itself derived from the
There are more than 50
colors in the brown family. Greek for “cuttlefish.”
What better way to explore
brown’s diverse offerings
than by pulling out those
watercolors of yours and
SEPIA IN THE CITY
Take a stroll in the Fort
letting them run?
Greene district of Brooklyn,
New York, and feast your
eyes on the elegant
brownstones.
DOWN TO EARTH
Relax in a Midcentury
Modern leather chair from
West Elm; keep it earthy
in Max Mara’s brown line;
accessorize with the best
of them with a leather bag
from Frye.
CHAIR COURTESY OF WEST ELM; BAG COURTESY OF FRYE
NOT A DAY OVER 900

Centuries may have worn down the faces on
the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom, in
Cambodia, but it’s still a powerful sight.
SPACE Prime
Space to
Animate
Matt Christensen and Steve Girard
create stop-motion animation with ABOVE LEFT
lights, cameras and a whole lotta’ Still from
Floaters Dot Com
painstaking action. by Steve Girard
ABOVE
w e generally associate animation with Saturday

morning cartoons or feature-length films. The glare
emanating from such blockbusters as Frozen blinds
us to the more humble origins of animation—an
art form that arose from the genuine desire to imi-
Christensen's set suggests
a digestive canal.
LEFT
Worm head
by Matt Christensen
tate life with moving images. In its earliest

iterations, animation depended upon skilled draw-
ing, painting and sculpting practices—albeit aided
with stop-motion cameras. As with most modern
enterprises, the forward march of digital technol-
ogy has impacted the field, supplanting handmade
images with computer-generated ones.
Today we have a complicated relationship with
technology; we like our smartphones all right—but
we also appreciate the subtler nuances of home-
brewed beer. “Craft” is no longer a dirty word—in
fact, it defines a new worldview. Similarly, we’re
drawn to low-tech animation; the computer simply
ABOVE
Creative clutter of an
animator
LEFT
Faces with interchangeable
nose
FAR LEFT
Camera set with side lighting
Prime SPACE
LEFT AND BELOW

A dolly allows Christensen and Girard to
pull the camera in an out smoothly with
calibrated movements.
cannot re-create the personality and imperfect charm of

the handwrought.
Matt Christensen and Steve Girard built animation
studios from scratch in a large shared space in the
Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. Steve notes, “We
moved in so we wouldn’t have to work out of our bed-
rooms.” Although they may have abandoned their
bedrooms, the studio retains the ambience of bed-quilt
forts and the inventive (and decidedly irreverent) play of
youth. The two artists create elaborate stage sets, tented
beneath ceilings hung with blackout curtains. To shoot
their stop-motion films, they jockey cameras positioned on
miniature dollies jerry-rigged from skateboard parts.
Christensen is currently working on a three-part film;
one part stop-motion, one part live-action and one part a
combination. The stop-motion part is about a dying worm
that confronts an old flame for ignoring him. The worms
are tunneling through what appears to be someone’s body. ABOVE
He starts his projects by creating a rough story outline. Is the hand real? Only the animation artist knows for sure.
We won't ask about the "spare parts" on the right.
“I drew storyboards, timed the storyboards out in a rough
animatic and built the puppets and sets,” he says. “I try
out things until they stick. I sketch out drawings of char- BELOW
acters, as well as plans for the sets. When you come up Face and hand—just hanging out, so to speak
with an idea for a film, the next step is figuring out how to
make it. Every film is different; every idea presents its
own challenge.”
Girard is doing postproduction for a film combining
live-action and animation. Titled Floaters Dot Com, it’s
about a company that turns people into free-trial CDs.
“For three years the ball has been in my court” he says.
The artists agree that animation is a slow process, and
getting to a satisfactory finish is their biggest challenge.
“Seeing the result is really exciting,” says Girard. “It's how I
imagine God feels each second. To get the right results, you
have to redo stuff and stay patient, which can cause suffer-
ing. I compare animating to being a whale constantly. You
go underwater for hours, and when you come up for air
people go, 'Oh!'” —MICHAEL GORMLEY

Changing Seasons, 36x24, Oil — Kevin Macpherson
2018 SEDONA WORKSHOPS
Emphasizing Abstraction
Stuart Shils, April 27–29
The Perceptual Moment

Stuart Shils, May 1–3
Plein Air in Sedona

Bill Cramer, April 28–29
Dusty Trails Pastel Immersion

Christine Debrosky, April 30–May 4
Wet and Wild

Julie Gilbert Pollard, May 4–6
Texture|Color|Feeling
Jan Sitts, May 7–9
Vivid Florals in Oil

Jody Florman, May 7–11
Colored Pencil Adventure

Richard Drayton, May 12–13
Abstract Figurative
Robert Burridge, May 14–18
Grand Canyon Plein Air

Chinese Characters Exhibit Bill Cramer, June 8–10
Colored Pencil Adventure

Kevin Macpherson Richard Drayton, June 9–10
A Breath of Fresh Air Loosen Up!
Sedona Workshop, May 29–31 Tim Jaeger, July 27–29
Summer Colony Workshops
Sedona Summer Colony Contemporary Mixed Media

Joan Fullerton, July 16–19
Individual Artists Residencies
The Magic of Surrealism
Libby Caldwell, July 16–19
July 21–Aug 11, 2018 Hopi Pottery Experience
Rachel Sahmie Nampeyo
Plein Air to Studio
Matt Sterbenz, July 16–19
The Spoken Word
Thomas Anderson, August 6–10
SedonaArtsCenter.org
SedonaSummerColony.org
928-282-3809 / 888-954-4442
Prime VOYAGE
Rome, Italy
text and illustrations by Stephen Harby
Pantheon Exterior
graphite and
monochrome
watercolor wash on
paper, 5x13
r ome is overwhelming—it offers unbelievable artistic riches, but it can be
genuinely daunting to visit. It’s been said that it takes a lifetime to experi-
ence all that Rome has to offer. If you try to see “everything” during the
length of a typical vacation, you’ll only leave frustrated. And getting around the
city can be confusing for a first-time visitor. The metro system is only so useful,
consisting of just two lines, which don’t serve many of the areas of interest to
sightseers. Figuring out the more extensive system of buses, meanwhile, will
take longer than your stay. But by starting with the basic structure of the city,
and by doing lots of walking, you can accomplish a lot in a few days. You can gain
a strong impression of the city’s layout and visit high points of three important
periods in Rome's history: antiquity, the Renaissance and the Baroque.
To better understand the layout of Rome, think about the challenge that
faced Pope Sixtus V, who reigned from 1585 to 1590. At that time, Rome had

SAMPLE
THREE-DAY
ITINERARY
No single itinerary will
suit every visitor to
Rome, but supposing
you had three days to
spend there, I would
suggest dividing them
as follows:
DAY 1
Walk around the city’s historic
core, seeing Piazza Navona, the
Pantheon, Piazza di Sant’Ignazio
and Piazza di Spagna at the foot
of the famous Spanish Steps. At
the end of the day, stroll some of
the city’s main axes, or hire a cab
and ride along them.
DAY 2
Visit the Vatican
Museums (find
out when it
opens and get
there early) and
Saint Peter’s
Basilica. Then
head to San
Pietro in
By starting with the Montorio, a
basic structure of the church in whose courtyard you
can see the Tempietto—a small
city, and by doing lots masterpiece of Renaissance
of walking, you can architecture. Close to this is the
Fontana dell’Acqua Paola, where
accomplish a lot in you’ll also have a great
only a few days. panoramic view of the city. If
time allows, descend to the
picturesque Trastevere district,
cross the Tiber, and walk through
ABOVE old Jewish quarter.
TEMPIETTO: ANGELO HORNAK/GETTY IMAGES
Schematic Map of Rome (detail)

graphite and monochrome watercolor wash
on paper, 11x9 DAY 3
RIGHT Visit the Colosseum and the
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Dome Roman ruins in the Forum, then
graphite and monochrome watercolor wash visit the Michelangelo-designed
on paper, 15x12 Piazza del Campidoglio. Other
sites to try for are the Palazzo del
FAR RIGHT
Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio Quirinale and the Quattro
graphite and watercolor on paper; 10x7 Fontane, or “Four Fountains.”
Prime VOYAGE
You can gain a strong impression of the city’s LOCAL PICKS &
layout and visit the high points of three INDULGENCES
important periods in Rome's history: antiquity,
the Renaissance and the Baroque.
RESTAURANTS
Da Fortunato (Via del Pantheon 55)
La Campana (Vicolo della Campana 18)
Trattoria Al Moro (Vicolo delle Bollette 13)
When in
Rome ...
eat pizza!
already become an important pilgrimage destination Foro

thanks to the great monuments and relics of Saint Peter’s Romano
TRATTORIA: ANKNET/GETTY IMAGES; PIZZA: DORLING KINDERSLEY/GETTY IMAGES; GIOLITTI: LISA NOBLE/GETTY IMAGES;
Basilica and the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore and San graphite and PIZZA AND SNACKS
watercolor on Pizzeria la Boccaccia
Giovanni in Laterano—not to mention the ruins of ancient paper, 9x12
Rome. But the city was still a medieval jumble of incoher- (Piazza Pollarola 29)
ent alleys and mud paths. The pope’s idea was to establish Roscioli (Via dei Giubbonari 21/22)
a series of streets that would function as axes, connecting
the major gates and key monuments and serving to con-
duct the crowds from one place to another in a suitably
grand manner. His main contribution was to re-erect a
series of obelisks, which were in abundant supply from
antiquity, in key nodal points, such as Piazza del Popolo,
Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano and Saint
Peter’s Basilica. These points anchored a web of axes. For
instance, links from Piazza del Popolo extend to the
Pantheon, the Campidoglio and Piazza di Spagna; another
axis connects San Giovanni in Laterano to the Colosseum.
These nodal points and their connecting axes became the GELATO
basis for what followed for centuries. Giolitti
It was a clever move on Sixtus V’s part. If you do noth- (Via degli Uffici del Vicario 40)
ing else but follow these straight streets, walking from
ESPRESSO: JEREMY YAP/UNPLASH
Piazza del Popolo in the north to San Giovanni in Laterano

in the south, you can see a lot of Rome—and understand COFFEE
its structure—in the span of a short holiday. Sant’Eustachio
il Caffé
Stephen Harby is an architect, watercolorist, faculty member of (Piazza di San
the Yale School of Architecture and founder of Stephen Harby Eustachio 82)
Invitational, which organizes travel opportunities for small groups.

TAnhe Art of the Portrait®
International Portrait & Figurative Artist’s Conference
WASHINGTON, D. C. ~ A pr i l 19-22, 2018
Join us in celebrating our 20th anniversary of he Art of the Portrait, April 19-22, 2018 in Washington,
DC. he conversations and camaraderie will begin on hursday evening during the ever popular
Face-Of demonstrations and low throughout the weekend with a diverse array of demonstrations,
illustrated lectures, portfolio reviews, Art Materials room, the 6x9 Mystery Art Sale, the
International Portrait Competition paintings … and so much more.
2018 Distinguished Faculty
Leslie Adams, Anna Rose Bain, Wende Caporale, Judith Carducci, Rick Casali, Casey Childs, Michelle Dunaway, Rose Frantzen, Daniel Gerhartz, Daniel Greene,
James Gurney, Jeffrey Hein, Quang Ho, Edward Jonas, David Kassan, Daniel Keys, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Robert Liberace, Michael Shane Neal, Ricky Mujica, Paul
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CONFERENCE TUITION: $495 MEMBERS ~ $595 NON-MEMBERS
Toll-free 1-877-772-4321 info@portraitsociety.org www.portraitsociety.org

Prime WELLNESS
Away From It All

ILLUSTRATION: CAMELIA DOBRIN/GETTY IMAGES
Stepping back from the demands of everyday life can inspire leaps in creativity.
by C.J. Kent
“Unfortunately you are in a hurry, in a hurry, no doubt, to go and do things

which you would much better leave undone. People are always in a hurry,
and leave at the moment when they ought to be arriving.”
— M A R C E L P R O U ST, R E M E M B R A N C E O F T H I N G S PA ST, VO L . V: T H E C A PT I V E

here!” upon his arrival at Worpswede, Elaine de Kooning, and Cy Twombly.
the artists’ colony founded in the Feeding off one another’s conversa-
German town of that name only a tions and schemes, few ever wanted
year earlier. That same year, the to graduate. Their relationships and
now-famous artists’ residency Yaddo, shared projects inspired works for
in Saratoga Springs, New York, decades.
declared its mission to provide “rest
and refreshment [for] authors, paint- WORKSHOPS: CHANGE
ers, sculptors, musicians and other
artists both men and women.” These
AND EXPLORATION
retreats offer a quiet space for artists Destination workshops can offer a
to do their work without the demands similar opportunity to work on proj-
i n the bustling helter-skelter of

21st-century life, endless errands
and innumerable emails demand
our attention. Bells and alarms chime,
telling us to do this, while lists, silent
of even so much as cooking a meal.
Able to think only about their particu-
lar pursuit, artists have the freedom
to explore without mundane
constraints.
ects and hear the ideas of other
committed artists over meals and
drinks. A novel environment allows
different perspectives to arise. New
friends with similar passions provide
and stern, require that we do that. We Black Mountain College offers support. An instructor helps guide
schedule breaks with family and another model for retreat. Founded ideas to life. A couple of weeks in Italy
friends between demands, nearly in 1933 on the holistic educational or a few days in a nearby community
relaxing in that brief allotment, principles of John Dewey, which can invigorate creative channels dried
before dashing to the next expecta- emphasize democracy, a generation of by daily toil. A change of air refreshes,
tion. The winter wind hurries us. The artists developed there, including while a different altitude or latitude
summer sun compels us. The spinning Josef and Anni Albers, Willem and reveals new qualities of light. The
mental wheels, managing ever more
material, wear thin and squeak the
need for rest—but who has time? LEFT
The Artists Barn at the merit-
In Remembrance of Things Past, based Djerassi Resident Artists
Marcel Proust’s great tome about the Program (California) has studios
creative life, memory is a key theme, for visual arts, dance and music
and reflection is presented as a neces- composition, plus a darkroom.
sity for art. The often deplorable
BELOW
Baron de Charlus wisely castigates the
DJERASSI ARTIST BARN: PHOTO BY ANTHONY LINDSEY; DANIEL EDUVIJES CARRERA: PHOTO BY PAULA BULLWINKEL
Daniel Eduvijes Carrera, media

narrator, who is restless to leave; artist at the Djerassi Resident
there are experiences missed in Artist Program (2017)
always rushing and advantages in tak-
ing time, in being present. The
narrator is young and won’t heed this
advice for many pages and years, but
the advice remains, waiting for the
stillness that will recognize its value.
Artists need time to withdraw from
the hustle of life in order to attend to
the needs of the creative voice within.
That time apart provides the platform
for individual ideas that lead to new
visions.
RETREATS:
SPACE AND TIME
Artists’ retreats began to appear at
the turn of the 19th century, as if in
response to the growing urban cen-
ters, the rumble of industry and the
increasing pace of life. In 1900, the
German poet Rainer Marie Rilke
wrote “How large the eyes become
Prime WELLNESS
The Shenandoah Art

Destination (Virginia)
attracts artists of all
skill levels and allows
them to work on their
own or in groups.
Instruction, offered in
drawing, painting and
printmaking, is
individualized to each
participant’s needs
and goals.
strains in the turmoil of tasks and oneself again: to re-treat. When the
jobs—is a challenge because of the world is a bother, a quiet refuge to
commitment it entails on the artist’s make art is better than ice cream. A
life. Others may not understand, and retreat, therefore, can fill a spiritual
their responses feel belittling, but the need while also permitting a per-
walls of the studio become thicker sonal indulgence, revealing that
with time and criticisms less mean- only through tending to the self can
ingful. The slow and steady work artists produce the work they offer
chance to get away allows the eyes to accumulates. Projects grow. Skills the world. It may be five minutes,
widen and review what is possible. develop. Persistence permits us to five hours or five days, but only
For some, a seasonal or annual ref- become present. through retreat can someone stop
uge is necessary. As people meet and rushing to the next thing and take
connect at workshops, they form com- the personal time necessary to
munities and encourage one another.
GIFT TO ONESELF arrive as an artist.
They often insist upon a regular The concept of retreat stems both
retreat; some groups have reunited for etymologically and spiritually from C.J. Kent is a freelance writer and editor.
decades. Both the location and the the need to pull back. No doubt, this She’s also the founder of Script and Type
participants protect the artistic spirit is the first and most valuable under- (scriptandtype.com), which helps people
against the demands of daily life that standing, but I also like to think of express themselves efectively, in writing
make that spirit easy to ignore. Other the word as an opportunity to gift and in person.
artists may find they prefer solitude
and seek out retreats that foster intro-
spection and quiet reflection.
MACDOWELL STUDIO: PHOTO BY JONATHAN GOURLAY
SOLITUDE: RETREAT FINDER

QUIET AND FOCUS The Alliance for Artists Communities
(artistcommunities.org) provides a wealth
The creative voyage, however, need of information about residencies, colonies
not require a trip. The spirit of retreat and retreats for artists seeking a period to
is there when we carve time to be dedicate to their work. Location and
alone. Whether in the studio or on a studio needs, among other criteria, are all
walk, time apart fosters the energy a part of their search engine, which helps One of 32 studios at
and drive to produce work. To insist artists find specifically suited options.
MacDowell Colony (N.H.)
upon a period away from the requests
of others—from the hassles and

I D Y L L W I L D A R T S
PAINTING & DRAWING

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Constance Mallinson • David Reid-Marr
Jesse Reno • Margaret Scanlan and more!
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Use the PROMO CODE: TAM2018 for $25 off of Idyllwild Arts Summer
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Prime CROSSROADS
A Model Marriage
Timothy Richards re-creates architectural
wonders as small-scale models from his
workshop in Bath, England.
by Allison Malafronte
n early 30 years ago, British artist Timothy Richards found him-

self in the unusual position of creating a building for the
second time. His small-scale architectural models—made
primarily of plaster or bronze—have since become treasured collect-
ibles among private collectors and public institutions worldwide.
Through these models, Richards and his team, located in an old
schoolhouse in Bath, England, re-create both iconic and lesser-known
buildings, using time-honored techniques and materials, as well as
occasional modern approaches for contemporary projects.
These models speak to more than just the external structure of a
building. They are sculptures that contain power and presence. “I’m
not interested in mimicry in model-making,” says Richards. “I want to
get to the core of what the building represents, its fundamental lan-
guage. Buildings are like humans; they contain the physical scars of
life, and they carry incredible memories from generations past.
<
FORMING A
STRUCTURE
A member of Richards’ team
implements the final stages of
making the mould.
< ALL HANDS ON DECK

The team assembles plaster on the
exhibition model for the Bath
Preservation Trust.

< SMALL IMPACTS
The finished model of the
Pantheon in Rome
“Buildings are like humans; they

contain the physical scars of life,
and they carry incredible memories
from generations past.”
—Timothy Richards
Through this process I get closer to that history and to the

craft and minds of the genius architects and builders who
made that possible. I then give the structure a voice
through a new medium, in this case, plaster, to help people
see the building from a new perspective.”
Creating these scale models takes significant time and
planning. The preliminary stage involves visiting the
building for research and investigation, locating the origi-
nal architectural plans (when possible) and creating a
master model from which to work. When it comes to
actually building the structures, Richards has a deep rev-
erence for his materials and says that the material is
always in control, especially plaster. He talks enthusiasti-
cally about the properties and patination of British
gypsum plaster and the unyielding alchemy of lost-wax
bronze casting. As much as he respects his media, how-
ever, the materials are in service to the subject. The artist
describes plaster as having natural empathy with the archi-
tecture, allowing the viewer’s eye to move past the surface
material directly to the deeper meaning beneath. Put sim-
ply, plaster is the perfect medium to express architecture.
Richards’ models fall into two categories: commissions
from major institutions and universities, and personal
projects. As the artist explains, great buildings make great
models. “It has to have incredible design and engineering,”
Prime CROSSROADS
A ROYAL HONOR
His Royal Highness Charles,
Prince of Wales (right), received
the 2012 Richard H. Driehaus
Prize, a bronze model of the
Tower of Winds, created by the
Timothy Richards workshop. Also
pictured are Driehaus (middle)
and Dean Michael Lykoudis of
the University of Notre Dame
School of Architecture (left).
<
he says. “What makes a building great? In the history of
architecture, there are iconic buildings and there are piv-
otal buildings. An iconic building, such as the Chrysler
building, is a bright, shining star of one. But a pivotal
building—the Pantheon in Rome, as one example—is a
game changer. The world of architecture was never the
same after that building was created. Why are these
buildings so pivotal? It’s an interesting question to
investigate.”
Richards and his team have completed numerous
models of classical structures, such as the Palais Royale
SER LOOK in Paris and the Pazzi Chapel in Florence. They also work on more contempo-
r it’s big or small, the
Pazzi Chapel in Florence is a rary projects. One such example is a model Richards produced last year for
feast for the eyes. real-estate developer Alchemy Properties, in New York City, in partnership
with Robert A.M. Stern Architects. These models were used to help sell the
plan for a multimillion dollar apartment complex, and they included state-of-
the-art technology, such as touch-screen lighting inside the structure.
“Tradition and the technology of the digital age are working together,”
Richards says. “We need both living in the same space, and this project proved
that. Here we are with our centuries-old medium of plaster, and it’s holding

LE TAKE
rior of Richard’s model of the
its own with contemporary media. In fact, it’s often preferred because of the Pantheon is as meticulously detailed as
humanity of the material.” the outside.
With numerous awards, honors and achievements to his credit, Richards is
showing no sign of slowing down. He is, however, shifting gears as he moves
into the most important years of his career. “I spent the last 30 years being all
things to all people, but now I’m putting the shutters up,” he says. “Instead of
just responding to commissions, I’m going to create the models that I really
need to create and that no one else will make.” Richards explains that the reason
companies are commissioning him and his workshop is because they realize the
need to tell their own stories, both to their staff and to a changing world. The
models allow them to negotiate change. Richards puts it simply: “If you know
where you’ve been, you know where you are. And if you know where you are,
you know where you’re going. And that’s our story.”
Allison Malafronte is an arts and design writer, editor and curator based in the
greater New York City area.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TIMOTHY

RICHARDS AND HIS WORKSHOP, VISIT
TIMOTHYRICHARDSCOMMISSIONS.COM.
Prime ALCHEMY
In Glowing Terms
Neon artists bend light to their own designs.
by Samantha Sanders
n oticing light at play on an object is an early challenge many artists

encounter. Their first furtive trees float in space until shadow grounds
them and sunlight offers dimension. The interpretation and replication
of light is a pursuit that has obsessed artists from the time of Leonardo da
Vinci’s forays into chiaroscuro to the Impressionists’ elevation of light from
technique to subject.
But in the 1960s, some artists shifted from trying to capture light within
two-dimensional work and instead began using it as the medium itself.
Minimalist sculptor Dan Flavin was among the first to incorporate commercially
available fluorescent lights in this way, and in the decades since, countless other
artists have influenced contemporary culture through light-centric art. There’s
Jenny Holzer, with her text-based work popping up as a Twitter background
image. Then there’s Drake with his “Hotline Bling” video—a straightforward (if
verging on replication) take on James Turrell’s atmospheric lighted installa-
tions. In New York, neon now seems as likely to be found in an art gallery as
lighting up a bar. Is it my imagination,
or am I seeing neon everywhere?
WHO YA’ GONNA CALL?

“We were the first neon gallery in the
world and, like anything else, neon
goes up and down, but we’re making
more neon now than we’ve ever made
before,” says Jeff Friedman of Let
There Be Neon, a Manhattan-based
neon signmaking outfit that’s been in
business since 1972. In addition to
ABOVE
their commercial work—for clients Sediments
that range from Bloomingdale’s to by Iván Navarro
pizzerias—the shop also does exten- neon, cherry-wood
sive fabricating for some of box, mirror, one-way
mirror and electric SEDIMENTS:PHOTO BY THELMA GARCIA, COURTESY OF IVÁN NAVARRO AND
contemporary light art’s biggest
energy; 51x75½x11½
names, including Tracey Emin, Doug
Wheeler and Iván Navarro.
LEFT
To better understand what an artist Siren
might expect in working with a fabri- by Kate Hush
cator, Friedman walked me through a animated; 8mm neon
typical collaboration with Navarro, a glass filled with
argon and 120-volt
Chilean-born artist known for his power supplies,
sociopolitical works. “Iván is some- 60x22x4½
body with a very clear vision,” says
Friedman. “Because he often has dif- OPPOSITE
PAUL KASMIN GALLERY.
ferent materials, his drawings come to Impenetrable Room

us almost from an architectural stand- by Iván Navarro
neon, aluminum,
point, with the neon already figured mirror, one-way mirror
into his structure. So with Iván, we get and electric energy;
the sketch and fine-tune it. He comes 72x72x30

IMPENETRABLE ROOM: PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER STACH, COURTESY OF IVÁN NAVARRO
into the shop and we figure stuff out—really small

details, like what size support posts should be and
where the wiring goes.”
Despite the technical challenges of working in
neon, its attributes make it desirable for artists going
after a specific effect. Its continuous, unwavering
light and ample color choice offer what other materi-
als can’t. As Friedman explains, “If you’re looking at
a piece of neon and an incandescent bulb, the light is
different; neon is much warmer and LEDs are cold.
Neon is an even glow of light, without hot spots.”
Before I ended my call with Friedman, I wanted to
know if he had any advice for aspiring neon artists.
AND PAUL KASMIN GALLERY
Does the shop, I wondered, ever work with absolute

beginners? Artists who have no idea what they’re
doing with neon?
His reply: “All the time. Someone comes in and
says, ‘You know I’ve never worked with neon, but I
have this idea ...’ We get that a lot.”
Prime ALCHEMY
Kate Hush bending

glass tubing
Bending pattern
ARTIST
PROFILE:
KATE HUSH
Inspired to work with neon?
You might look to the work
(and grit) of artist Kate Hush,
whose neon career was
launched by taking a
weekend workshop just five
years ago.
ARTISTS MAGAZINE (AM): How does
a piece begin for you?
KATE HUSH (KH): The neon process
starts with an idea that is then “NEON IS STILL SUSPENDED IN THIS
translated into a bending pattern,
which, simply put, is a line drawing. STIGMA OF KITSCH WITH GALLERIES AND
But it’s not your typical gestural or
wispy sketch. The lines need to be ART INSTITUTIONS, AND I CAN’ T WAIT
broad and precise. That’s because U N T I L I T F I N A L LY F I N D S I T S W AY O U T.”
they’re the blueprint for the glass
that your design will eventually be — K AT E H U S H
made of. Each stroke needs to match
the tubing as precisely as possible. If
the glass tubing (like a long drinking Once the drawing is finished, I flame of the torch, slowly going back
straw made of glass) is ½-inch wide, print the pattern onto a special and forth until the glass heats and
the lines that make up your design bending cloth and place it on a bend- becomes malleable. When the glass is
also need to be ½-inch wide. To ing table (a wooden table—nothing just soft enough, I remove it from
achieve this, I draw all of my pat- high-tech or glamorous). Next, I grab the fire and quickly place it on top of
terns on the computer. This gives me my glass and light the gas-and-air- my drawing on the table. Then I bend
total and unwavering control over powered torches. I then take one of the glass to mimic the exact lines I’ve
the line width. the tubes and hold it within the drawn. When all the tubes are finally

bent into a complete pattern, the last AM: Do you have any advice for an Trust me, these shop owners love
step is to seal one end of the tube, fill artist who wants to experiment with showing off their skills. I’ve never
the open end with neon gas and seal neon? come across one that doesn’t.
that opening, which traps the gas. Sometimes you can’t get them to
Then you hook the tube up to a little KH: Take a neon workshop. There stop.
power supply and light it. are so many happening globally
right now. If you can’t find any near Samantha Sanders is the event content
AM: Do you think the way the you, grab a group of people that are director for Artists Network and a writer
general public sees neon is catching also interested and demand it at the whose work has appeared in Catapult
up to the way the art world sees it? closest neon shop you can find. and he Awl. She lives in New York City.
KH: I find that the general public
appreciates neon artistically more so LEFT
than the art world. I would even say Point of No Return
that neon is still suspended in this by Kate Hush
6 mm and 12 mm neon
stigma of kitsch with galleries and art glass filled with argon,
institutions, and I can’t wait until it 120-volt power
finally finds its way out. I say this supplies; 31x25x2
because I have encountered galleries
TOP
that have straight up told me they You Can Relax
want to hang neon in their space Around Me
because people love to take pictures in by Kate Hush
front of it, not even considering what 6 mm and 12 mm neon
it is that’s been bent. glass filled with argon,
120-volt power
supplies; 26½x45x2
AM: What do you feel you can
achieve in neon that you couldn’t do
in another medium?
KH: I’m not sure my work would be as
impactful if it was a painting or a
drawing. I also think that the limita-
tions brought on by the restrictions of
what you can do to the glass can make
the work more interesting. I’m some-
one who can easily go over the top—
but the obstacle of having to keep
everything as simple as possible can
lead me down a road of creating
something more interesting than the
piece I’d originally intended.
Benzimidazolone?
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LESSONS IN MASTERFUL PORTRAIT DRAWING

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V4 V10
Dorian Vallejo Gigi Chen

F O R S T R AT H M O R E FOR DERWENT
V6 V12
Melanie Vote Ethan Murrow

FOR RICHESON F O R L E G I O N PA P E R
V8 V14
Daniel Zender Guno Park

FOR ARTOGRAPH FOR PENTEL ARTS
V3
A R T I S T S N E T W O R K .C O M / V I S I O N A R I E S
Dorian
Vallejo
F O R S T R AT H M O R E
Dorian Vallejo’s Between Realms offers a wistful rendi-

tion of a tale about love and time. One hundred years
have passed, and la belle au bois dormant dreams on and
on in her castle keep. Turreted towers overgrown with
thorny brambles, indicated here with washes of color
and floral sprays, symbolize an impenetrable limbo
devoid of love. Yet coming upon her, we are struck by
her radiant beauty.
“I often depict the modern woman as I envision
her—complex, beautiful, playful and contemplative,”
Vallejo says. “I don’t restrict myself to any media or
technique but instead employ anything that I feel
might best express what I’m trying to convey.
“Increasingly, the practice of being an artist means
paying attention to the beauty life presents us,” the
artist continues. “Whether it’s a few quick lines or a
fully resolved painting, the expression of visual poetry
is something I always try to hold in mind. In its highest
form, art has a civilizing effect on society. It helps us to
remember what makes life worth living.”
“
In its highest form, art has a civilizing effect
on society. It helps us to remember what
makes life worth living.
SPONSORED CONTENT
Between Realms (detail), mixed media on paper, 12x18
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V5
Vısionaries A R T I S T S N E T W O R K .C O M / V I S I O N A R I E S
Melanie
Vote
F O R J A C K R I C H E S O N & C O.
Melanie Vote is a naturalist to the core. Mother Nature
is her greatest lure and muse. Painting in the landscape
is where she is happiest, and she starts every painting
possible from life, in the tradition of the greatest plein
air painters.
A testament to Vote’s skill and vision is that nature’s
siren song stays just that—it doesn’t turn into a bom-
bastic chorus. The allure of the landscape’s sky and
enthralling light don’t drown out the much quieter,
more haunting stories the artist proposes to tell. That’s
because with Vote, the natural world is never consid-
ered in isolation. As she steps into the landscape and
observes the trees and plants and minute signs of life
around her, she is always accompanied by a question:
What is our place here?
Vote declares herself a visual scavenger, but an arch
collector is more like it, as she weaves together intri-
cate layers of place with experience and personal
touchstone. The resulting works are lovely but
startling, arranged with clarity but always intricate.
The artist is a naturalist and, even more than that, a
arching humanist.
I prefer oil to other media because it is the

most forgiving and sensual of all types of
paint I have tried.
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V7
Daniel
Zender
FOR ARTOGRAPH
Daniel Zender’s painting Memory makes us wonder,

“What’s going on here?”
Keep looking. What at first glance appears to be an
abstract composition turns out to be a playful exploita-
tion of figure/ground relationships to create perceptual
ambiguity—a modern take on Rubin’s vase. Do you see
two or more profiles? They’re both present, and they
seem to fluctuate back and forth.
To create his images, Zender employs light boxes
and projectors to distort photo references.
Symbolically, his illusion suggests compelling insights
into human relations—particularly those that cause us
trouble. How many times have you “merged” with
another only to lose yourself in the process?
“I was very lucky to receive a gold medal from the
Society of Illustrators this year,” Zender says. “I’m an
illustrator first and painter second, so my artwork is
informed by illustration and cartooning but with a
healthy dose of nightmarish influence. The goal with a
lot of my work is to find some sort of middle ground
between humor and terror.”
“
I’m most interested in how people react to my
work, which can either be with laughter or
fear, depending on who it is.
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Gigi Chen
FOR DERWENT
Only a true artist understands how deeply love is

linked to labor. Gigi Chen could be the poster child for
that adage. After 13 years of showing with galleries,
the last eight of them without the security of a full-
time job, Chen knows success and the fruition of
artistic dreams aren’t the stuff of fairytales. It’s about
the real-time pursuit of the work.
“People think being an artist is so romantic and free,”
says Chen. “That we are somehow magical because we
can make things. That we thrive on having a perfect
inspirational moment. The reality is being an artist is
just like any job. You need to show up and work.”
Hundreds of hours go into the paintings and draw-
ings Chen creates. Her latest works are incredibly
detailed, ornate depictions of bowerbirds in highly cho-
reographed settings. With each piece she pushes to see
how far she can take the work visually—in its composi-
tion, color palette, narratives and themes.
For Chen, the whole artistic process is incredibly
satisfying and one she genuinely relishes. “In the end,
fine art is made with our hands,” she says. “Like weav-
ers and furniture makers, we are all laborers and
workers. My favorite thing to do is to load up my old
iPod with nerdy podcasts, plug in my earphones and
work.”
Artists and bowerbirds are so much alike.

They gather materials and create beautiful
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Ethan
Murrow
F O R L E G I O N PA P E R
Ethan Murrow’s vision is a little warped, and he likes it
that way. His skewed view is the perfect partner for the
subjects he likes best—fraught, problematic and
downright corruptible iconographies and stereotypes.
“My drawing, video, sculpture and installation projects
delve into the idealized and uncomfortable ways histo-
ries are told, retold and molded into grandiose
narratives,” Murrow attests. The larger-than-life sto-
ries and images he appropriates for his large-scale
drawings often center on the United States, particu-
larly the ways Americans position themselves in
relation to land and place.
Take the legends of the American Cowboy and the
history of the West that influence a recent body of
work. “We have built the Cowboy up into a white,
macho, brooding power figure,” says Murrow. That fig-
ure “bears little resemblance to reality yet links to all
kinds of real and extraordinary histories and disasters.”
But Murrow isn’t necessarily interested in righting
historical inaccuracies. Instead he explores how to
make or add to the fiction of what is so often perpetu-
ated as fact. By paralleling the bait and switch of
history, perhaps new truth will out.
“
Art made in vacuums will always be stuck in
the bag with the dust motes.
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V13
Guno Park
FOR PENTEL ARTS
Guno Park’s Octopus is a sincere, delicate and

fleeting representation. The image is realistic, but
rather than recalling murky ocean depths, it sur-
prisingly reminds us of the tracery and movement
of Gothic architecture and medieval ornament.
When asked about the meaning behind his draw-
ing, Park quotes his hero John Ruskin, a
Victorian-era visionary who said, “There is no
wealth but life.”
Ruskin championed art as an expression of
individual craftsmanship and man’s moral charac-
ter at a time of rapid industrialization and
urbanization. Park, like Ruskin before him, is
passionate about drawing and has deep interests
in nature and realism. He aims to enrich our lives
by calling attention to the beauty that surrounds
us through drawings that are aestheticized repre-
sentations of the natural world.
“I use pen and paper to draw the things around
me,” Park says. “I draw every day because it is pure
fun. I love re-creating the things I observe in my
surroundings. I draw to progress, to improve and
to clarify my existence.”
“
The dichotomy of using very simple tools to
create highly complex drawings intrigues me.
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V15
WIN A
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Entry forms available in Artists Network and MacPherson’s booths.
THE ASK Prime
“A S I A N WE ASKED...
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WENDY SHALEN
ARTIST What type of non-
“The so-called
Western artwork
‘Benin Bronzes’—many of
which are mostly brass—
do you wish more
that originally adorned
the Oba’s palace in Benin American artists
City, in present-day
Nigeria. The figures were familiar with?
depicted on the plaques
have amazingly intricate
details and symbolism;
their clothes, jewelry and
weapons are surrounded “Hokusai’s
by geometric shapes of
all kinds. I encourage
“Khmer Sculpture, sketchbooks are full of
wit, wisdom and
people to stand in front examples of artistic insights that
of one for five minutes
(which you can do here, which you can see American artists might
enjoy, if they’re not
at the Indianapolis
Museum of Art).
at the Philadelphia already familiar with
them. He did far more
I guarantee you’ll begin Museum of Art.” than The Great Wave.”
to notice things that you
never expected to see in ELIZABETH OSBORNE JAMES GURNEY
ARTIST
a centuries-old ARTIST
decorative work from
West Africa.”
KJELL M. “I THINK WE AMERICAN ARTISTS SHOULD
WANGENSTEEN FA M I L I A R I Z E O U R S E LV E S W I T H I S L A M I C
ASSISTANT CURATOR OF A R T. I T ’S M A D E U P O F C O M P L E X
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INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF A B S T R A C T PAT T E R N S : G E O M E T R I C ,
ART AT NEWFIELDS PLANTLIKE AND CALLIGRAPHIC.
U N D E R S TA N D I N G T H E M U S L I M C U LT U R E
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“Japanese basketry.” WOULD INFORM AND BENEFIT OUR
CHERYL K. SNAY C U LT U R E I M M E N S E LY.”
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Bu ld
“ THE ORGANIC FORMS

OF THE HAND CAN BE
REDUCED TO BASIC,
ESSENTIAL VOLUMES, MAKING
IT EASIER TO CAPTURE THE
ILLUSTRATION: ROBERTO OSTI
H A N D ’ S S T R U C T U R A L A S P E C T.”
R O B E RTO O ST I
Build TUTORIAL
DRAWING THE HAND
ROBERTO OSTI helps us get a grip on

a tricky part of the body.
The hand is a marvel of functionality and aesthetics.

The complexity of its forms and its inherent mutability
make it a challenging but extremely rewarding subject.
This complexity can be better understood by
conceptualizing its forms. In my anatomy and
figure-drawing classes, I teach my students to focus
on only a few essential characteristics of the hand at
any given time, limiting its complexity. This method—
which can be applied to other subjects as well—was
developed during the Renaissance and has been
further refined since.
ANATOMY
Here we’ll focus less on anatomy than on the volumes and
proportions of the hand, but it’s important to know the basics of
the hand’s structure. As we see in figure 1, the skeleton of the
hand consists of eight carpal bones (blue), five metacarpal bones
(orange) and 14 finger bones, or phalanges (yellow).
Figure 1
Figure 2 Figure 3
PROPORTIONAL
RELATIONSHIPS
Looking at the back of the hand (figure 2), we see:
● The hand is about twice as high as it is wide.
● The length of the middle finger is the same as the length of
the back of the hand.
● We can detect patterns created by the alignments of the
knuckles and of the finger joints.
Looking at the front of the hand (figure 3), we see:
● The curve created by the tips of the fingers is short and
FIGURE 1: COURTESY OF THE MONACELLI PRESS
steep on the thumb side and long and more gradual on the
pinkie side.
● The base of the fingers forms a curve where they stem from
the palm of the hand.
● The various segments that compose the hand get shorter as
they move toward the tips of the fingers; the palm is the
longest, and the phalanges at the tips of the fingers are the
shortest.
● The base of the thumb, where it meets with the first metacarpal
bone, occurs about halfway up the height of the palm.

Figure 7
ESSENTIAL VOLUMES
The organic forms of the hand can be
reduced to basic, essential volumes,
making it easier to capture the
hand’s structural aspect. Figures 4
and 5 show the hand as an
assemblage of relatively simple
volumes, such as cylinders and
boxes. We can judge each of these
segments by considering its height,
width and depth. This makes it easier
to create foreshortenings, to overlap
volumes, to draw dynamic poses and
to better understand the effect of
light on its forms, leading to more A B C D
convincing and realistic drawings
(see figure 6).
Figure 4
THE WAY YOU THINK
AND THE WAY YOU DRAW
The sequence in figure 7 shows a process for analyzing the volumes of
the hand:
A. Begin by drawing the palm of the hand, the length of the middle
finger and the thenar eminence, at the base of the thumb.
B. Add lines indicating the remaining fingers.
C. Shape these lines into basic volumes.
D. Working from those basic volumes, draw the organic forms of the
hand.
This approach is like a reversed dissection. After having isolated and
described the components of the hand in their essential
Figure 5 characteristics, we reassemble them.
This will not necessarily be the way you draw every hand. I
recommend you first practice drawing the hand reduced to geometric
volumes, and then, after you’re comfortable constructing the hand’s
forms, move on to a more direct approach.
Figure 6
LEARN MORE
Basic Human
Anatomy
by Roberto
Osti
Build ART HACKS
Spring Fling
Improve your plein air experience with these handy tips.
–COURTNEY JORDAN
body of water or painting poolside.

This will protect your gear, but your
camera feature will still be usable,
so you can snap any reference shots
you want.
Don’t Forget the Munchies

Yummy trail mix is only a few handfuls
of goodness away—no recipe
required. Just stick with dry
ingredients and combine equal
portions of salty, sweet, chewy and
crunchy. Here are a few inspirations
for each:
Gear Up, Weigh Down ● Salty: Pretzels, crackers,
You may want to invest in a tripod popcorn, sesame sticks Add sea salt
stone bag—this accessory hooks ● Sweet: Candy-coated morsels,
onto the legs of your tripod and chocolate chips, marshmallows or spices for
weighs it down. You can fill it with ● Chewy: Candied ginger, even more
stones (hence the name) in windy coconut flakes, any dried fruits
conditions to keep your easel from ● Crunchy: Seeds, granola, nuts, flavor!
tipping, and it doubles as a handy wasabi peas, dried cereal, coffee
pouch to store odds and ends. beans
A Cold One Mint Kit

If you’re new to plein air and you want
The frozen Reaching for your water bottle and
to start small, think “fresh breath” and
getting a lukewarm sip is the worst.
half will act The night before you’ll be painting,
you’re halfway there. Empty an Altoids
tin and a packet of Dentyne Ice gum.
as a giant ice fill your bottle halfway and freeze it
Put the plastic gum tray inside the tin,
on its side. When it’s time to set out,
cube. pull it from the freezer and fill it the
and voila! You’ve just created a
miniature painting palette and easel.
rest of the way with your favorite
beverage.
Bringing Out the Beige
Bugs Begone Wear neutral colors when painting
PLEIN AIR: MEREDITH HEUER; LIME, NUTS: GETTY IMAGES
outdoors. Sunlight reflects off your

The last thing you want is to come
clothes onto the canvas, so wearing
home from a painting excursion with
bright colors can skew your color
bug bites galore. Create an easy,
perception.
natural bug repellent by cutting a
ripe lime in half and studding it with
cloves. Bugs hate it, and it actually SEND US YOUR ART HACKS
smells good! Spill your studio secrets! Email your favorite hacks
to info@artistsmagazine.com with the subject line “Art
Safety Sealed Hacks.” Each edition of Art Hacks will feature a winning
reader’s art hack and a prize. Next month, we’re giving
Put your phone inside a clear zipper
away a one-year subscription to Artists Network TV.
storage bag when you’re close to a

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Visit www.southwestart.com for complete guidelines and to enter today!

Build LESSON
DRAWING
Putting Things
in Perspective
PATRICK CONNORS breaks down the basic principles of linear perspective,
a crucial but sometimes intimidating topic.
PHOTO BY NATIONAL MUSEUM & GALLERIES OF WALES ENTERPRISES LIMITED/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
A Corner of the
Artist’s Room
in Paris
by Gwen John
1907–09; oil on
canvas, 12¼x9¾
NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF WALES

PHOTO BY LEEMAGE/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
Linear perspective—or simply “perspective,” as it’s

often called—has long beneited artists in the depiction
of all manner of subjects, including still lifes, igures, inte-
riors and landscapes. Leon Battista Alberti called it a
“delightful and most noble art.” But perspective also has a
history of frustrating artists, and in this lesson I hope to
increase the number of artists who beneit from linear
perspective and decrease those frustrated by it. We'll
begin with an overview of some basic perspective princi-
ples, and we'll end with a drawing exercise to practice
what we've learned.
INTUITION AND CONFIDENCE

PHOTO BY DEAGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES
When one looks at a painting, it’s not always readily

apparent that the artist has used perspective. For exam-
ple, Gwen John’s A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris
(opposite) may not seem at irst glance to be an example
of perspective. he interior’s quietude and intimate atmo-
sphere belie its perspective foundation. However,
perspective is not only present but contributes signii-
cantly to the stillness and mood of the painting. For
instance, if we look at the tabletop, the arms of the chair
TOP
or the open window, we ind that John used the perspec- Perspective Study of The Adoration of the Magi
tive principle of parallel lines that seem to vanish to the by Leonardo da Vinci
same point. ca 1481; pen-and-ink traces of silverpoint and white on paper, 6⅛x11½
John probably did not make a perspective drawing UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE
prior to executing her painting, but like many artists,
she had an intuitive understanding of linear perspective. ABOVE
Design for The Adoration of the Magi
Her intuition may have been founded on formal train- by Leonardo da Vinci
ing—she attended the Slade School of Fine Art—or by 1478–81; pen-and-ink over silverpoint on paper, 11¼x8½
informal training, perhaps in discussion with colleagues. THE LOUVRE, PARIS
Build LESSON
PHOTO BY VCG WILSON/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

Jacob and
Esau Panel
(from Baptistery
East Doors,
San Giovanni,
Florence)
by Lorenzo
Ghiberti
1425–52; gilt
bronze, 31⅛x31⅛
MUSEO DELL’OPERA
DEL DUOMO, FLORENCE
hat informed intuition not only helped shape the expres- we learn how perspective can help not only in giving a
sion of her own individual poetry but also gave her the sketch a unifying depth but also in the arrangement of
conidence to carry out that expression. his is the value the composition.
of becoming comfortable with perspective, and under- Perspective’s beneits are not limited to painters and
standing it will aid your endeavors with whatever you drawers—they apply to sculptors as well. Consider
wish to render. Lorenzo Ghiberti’s celebrated doors for the Baptistery in
Some artists may feel, quite correctly, that making a Florence (above). In these relief sculptures, Ghiberti
perspective drawing is a lot of work before one begins a made use of the new art of perspective to arrange his
painting. I agree, and I wouldn’t advise you to construct a igures in architectural settings and landscapes.
perspective diagram each time you wish to paint, draw or
sculpt. An understanding of perspective enables you to SIGHT AND LIGHT
work intuitively—plausibly placing the component of a
composition in space, even without a projection diagram. Perspective functions on one foundational principle:
hat being said, in many cases artists have employed understanding how people see. Simply stated, beams of
careful perspective diagrams. For example, by looking at light emit from a single light source, strike an object and
Leonardo da Vinci’s perspective study for The Adoration relect back to the viewer’s eye (see igure 1, opposite).
of the Magi (previous page), we can see certain perspec- Several common perspective terms, such as eye-level line,
tive principles in practice. Comparing it to another vanishing point and cone of vision are drawn from this
Leonardo drawing of the same subject (previous page), visual experience.

FIGURE 1
Principle of Vision
FIGURE 2
Principle of Vision With Picture Plane
Build LESSON
FIGURE 3A FIGURE 3B
Skull in Two-Point Perspective Portrait Detail
Perspective developed from the study of optics, the

science of light. In fact, the Latin term for “optics” is ars
Perspective gives artists a
perspectiva, from which the English term linear perspective means to study, analyze and
derives. Perspective gives artists a means to study, analyze
and depict light by introducing an imaginary picture plane
depict light by introducing
to the principle of vision (see igure 2, previous page). an imaginary picture plane to
You may be asking yourself, if perspective is about the
study and depiction of light, how does it give depth or the principle of vision.
space to a picture? Human beings perceive light as several
diferent qualities: color, value, temperature and space. In
regard to the latter quality, not only do we perceive light
as space but our depth perception is uniquely human—no
other mammal has the visual acuity for perceiving space
that we do.
In the same way that we perceive light as space, we also
understand perspective renderings as pictures of space.
For this reason, it’s helpful to think of a perspective
drawing as a depiction of the space displaced by the
model rather than a depiction of the model itself. For
instance, look at igure 3A (above left), a drawing of a
skull in two-point perspective. It can be helpful to think
of this as not simply a depiction of a skull but as a depic-
tion of the area the skull occupies in space. By the way,
drawing a skull or any model in perspective makes an
excellent preparatory study for a painting or sculpture,
such as the portrait seen in igure 3B (above right).

E
EXERCISE: WINDOW DRAWING
FIGURE 4 T better familiarize ourselves with the way perspective
To
fu
unctions, let’s make a drawing. For this exercise you’ll
w
work not on paper but directly on a window as you look
outside.
Find a window with a view of something that shows
depth, such as receding rooftops. Select a marker that
w draw on glass but can be cleaned of afterward.
will
Stand at the window, and draw a red dot on the glass,
directly across from your eye (see igure 4, left).
Still drawing directly on the glass, trace the contours
of what you see out the window. Position yourself like
th
he woman in igure 5 (left). Stand in one spot, keeping
th
he same distance from the window and keeping your
eyye at the same level as your initial red dot.
he resulting drawing will be rough, but it should
FIGURE 5 sh
how the view from the window in perspective, with a
seense of space receding into the distance (see igure 6,
below). Note that if you adjust your position, for
in
nstance by bending your knees, the drawing will no
lo
onger appear aligned with your subject (see igure 7,
bottom), so it’s important to stand still as you work.
FIGURE 6
PATRICK CONNORS is a painter

who lives and works primarily in
Philadelphia. A graduate of the
Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts and the University of
Pennsylvania, his artwork has
been exhibited internationally
and is featured in private and
PHOTO: CRYSTAL NARONE
public collections. Among the institutions where he

has lectured or taught are the Yale University Art
Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the New
York Academy of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of
the Fine Arts and the Institute of Classical
Architecture & Art.
FIGURE 7
Build PROMPTS
Creative Breakthroughs
How inventive are you? The following projects highlight inventive
solutions developed or adopted by artists. They’ll test your
ingenuity and may involve a little research—but that shouldn’t
stop a creative problem-solver like you. —HOLLY DAVIS
IAIA OF CYZICUS: FROM THE VISUAL ARTS: A HISTORY, BY HUGH HONOUR AND JOHN FLEMING (PEARSON/PRENTICE HALL, 7TH EDITION);TURMERIC, PAPERS, FIBONACCI: GETTY IMAGES
John Goffe Rand patented the metal tube for oil paint in
1841. Today, there are so many tube paints on the market,
the problem is deciding which to buy. Time was when
artists made their own paints. The Lascaux cave painters
probably even found their own pigments. Try creating a
painting without tube paints.
3
Pulp-based paper was
invented in China about
2,000 years ago. Now it’s
ubiquitous—and you can create
2
The earliest known depiction of an artist’s palette
awesome handmade papers
for art projects from
recycled waste paper.
appears in the book De Mulieribus Claris (On Famous
Women) by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75). The artist in
the picture is Iaia of Cyzicus (116–27 B.C.). Are you 100
percent happy with your palette? If not, design one.
Make it as practical or funky as you want.
Iaia of Cyzicus
by Master of the Coronation
of the Virgin 5
The Fibonacci spiral,
frequently found in nature, is
4
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446)
based on a number sequence
worked out by mathematician
Leonardo Pisano (ca 1170–
1240). The spiral is often used
is credited with the development of linear as a tool for creating eye-
pleasing compositions. If
perspective. Draw the same building in one-, you’ve never applied this spiral
two- and three-point perspective. Too easy? to an art project, try it.
Try four-, five- and six-point perspective.

6
The first graphite pencils
7
Paintbrushes of some sort have
were made in 1564 after the been used for millennia, but
discovery of a large graphite around 300 B.C. the rise of
deposit in Borrowdale, calligraphy in China brought
England. Create a work in about brushes that resemble
honor of the pencil. Depict it those that artists use today. What
or use it as a medium. Or you if all paintbrushes disappeared?
could carve a sculpture from Would you use a toothbrush or
a pencil, build something scrub brush instead? Maybe a
with pencils or make a pencil stick with a frayed end or a
of your own design. sponge would work—or your
hand. Create a painting without
using paintbrushes.
8
Check out the first animated
London Wallpaper
by Ben Copperwheat
cartoon, Humorous Phases of

Funny Faces, released by its
creator, J. Stuart Blackton,
in 1906 (bit.ly/first-cartoon).
Try your hand at creating a
cartoon character. Develop
the character by redrawing it
in various positions and
with different expressions.
GRAPHITE: NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES; TOOTHBRUSH: GETTY IMAGES
Have you devised an

inventive or innovative
solution to a problem in your
artmaking? Share it with us on
Instagram:
@artistsnetwork
9
#artistsnetwork_prompts Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry developed
the first electronic digital computer (the Atanasoff-Berry computer—or ABC)
in 1937. It was a far cry from a laptop or tablet. Today you can use computers
for everything from buying art materials to creating art itself. Create an
artwork using computer technology in a way you haven’t tried before.
Build WORKSHOP
COMPOSITION
Multi-Figure
Composition
NOAH BUCHANAN breaks down the complicated process of arranging
multiple figures into three stages.
A multiple-igure composition is widely consid- more. What is the appeal of the value pattern
ered one of the most challenging types of images throughout the picture? Does the balance of
to construct. Beyond the conceptual-narrative light, dark and middle tones create a visually
content of an artwork, an artist has three major engaging abstract image? Do the tonal relation-
objectives: linear composition, tonal composi- ships support the intended mood or drama?
tion and color composition. I recommend Color Composition: What is the broad color
focusing on these three aspects of composition scheme across the image? Do the colors feel sup-
in this order. portive of or related to one other? hat is to say,
Linear Composition: his step requires you is there color harmony?
to conceive the poses and how they interact with An effective strategy for each of these con-
one another and their environment. Ask your- cerns is to begin by working very small. This
self, how is the eye led through and around the enables you to quickly and easily see if your
picture? What is the gesture of the composition? broader decisions are working. Once you’ve
Your early planning is based on artistic inven- found appeal in the initial thumbnail sketch,
tion, rather than observation of models. his you can move through several drafts, with
encourages dynamic events to take place within each drawing growing successively larger to
the composition, free from the limitations of allow for the development of finer aspects of
the studio model’s pose. Once the linear compo- the image.
sition is found, working with models will enrich his is a challenging endeavor, full of many
and improve the drawing. obstacles. Remember, even the masters faltered
Tonal Composition: his stage is about on some issues of composition, but it didn’t stop
making decisions toward “keying” areas as them from making the picture—neither should
bright, dark, high contrast, low contrast and it stop us.
NOAH BUCHANAN earned a B.A. from

the University of California, Santa Cruz,
and an M.F.A. from the New York
Academy of Art. He has exhibited in
group and in solo shows in New York,
Pennsylvania and California, and abroad
in England and Scotland. He’s won
numerous awards, including a Stobart
Foundation grant and a Chancellor’s Award from the
University of California at Santa Cruz. For more information,
visit noahbuchananart.com.

Triumph of Bacchus
oil on linen, 80x62
Build WORKSHOP
Linear Composition
STEP 1 STEP 2
I began the process of developing this painting with a I then made a few larger rough sketches. This second
thumbnail sketch. The sketch is small, and the ideas I round of sketches shows improvement on the first,
presented were approximate. There is an emphasis on but it preserves the compositional flow from the
the larger flow and rhythm of the composition at this initial thumbnail.
stage, accompanied by writing to investigate concepts.
STEP 3 STEP 4
After these sketches, I was ready to hire models. I Next, I created a collage from several different poses in
laid tracing paper over my previous sketches and order to maintain the flow and rhythm introduced in my
reconsidered my earlier drawings from observation original thumbnail sketch. I edited each individual pose,
of live models in my studio. adjusting where the figures are placed, enlarging or
decreasing as needed.

Tonal Composition
STEP 5 STEP 6
I applied a harmonic armature—a grid based on compositional I reduced the cartoon again, this time to
rhythms—to ensure strong placement of the figures. I also used this about 5x7 inches, and made a rough tonal
opportunity to slightly refine values and forms. The cartoon was now compositional study.
established. The image was ready for transfer to the canvas, but there
were still a few things to consider before creating the actual painting.
Color Composition
STEP 7 STEP 8
I was now ready to consider color. I used Finally, I made individual renderings for each figure to resolve
my reduced cartoon to develop a rough any lingering drawing issues before I began painting. I applied
color study. these improvements to the cartoon, and at that point I was
ready to begin painting Triumph of Bacchus (page 49).
Build GENESIS
How Would YOU

Have Painted This?
Raphael depicted the fathers of Western philosophy in School of Athens. Think about
some of the teachers and mentors who helped shape your understanding of the world
as you imagine how you might have painted the scene. –MIKE ALLEN
Raphael’s fresco is 25 feet long and more than

Size/Location
16 feet high. It was painted to decorate in Pope Julius II’s

library. How big do you imagine your painting? Where will
it be displayed?
Is your eye level even with your subjects, or are

Perspective
we looking up at them? Or maybe they’re looking up at us?
How are your figures positioned? What

Composition
groupings best represent your personal canon? What

poses, gestures and props communicate the personality
and role of each mentor?

School of Athens (detail)
by Raphael
1509–11; fresco, 200x300
CAMEO APPEARANCES
Raphael’s depiction of Heraclitus (the figure
sitting pensively in the foreground, his elbow
propped on a marble block) greatly resembles the
artist’s rival, Michelangelo. Raphael also inserted
himself into the painting, among the group of
astronomers on the far right; he’s the only person
looking directly at the viewer.
Meditations NEWBURYPORT, MA
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RE GIS T E R
ArtistsNetwork.com/Retreat-Newburyport-2018 Suzan Colón
THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH OF
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SPIKED A DEMAND FOR
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SPECIALIZED TECHNICAL
AND ART HISTORICAL
TRAINING.
PHOTO: MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
MICHELANGELO
Archers Shooting
at a Herm
1530–33; red chalk,
8⅝x12¹⁄₁₆
ROYAL COLLECTION
TRUST/©HER MAJESTY
QUEEN ELIZABETH II,
2017, ROYALCOLLECTION.
ORG.UK
“More Than Mortal”
An exhibition unravels the myth behind

the unrivaled draftsmanship of
one of the greatest artists of all time.
by Allison Malafronte

M
ichelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475–1564) accomplishments are considered by many to be among the
crown jewels of human creative achievement. Both his contemporaries—who gave him the formida-
ble moniker Il Divino (“The Divine One”)—and scholars across the ensuing centuries have
confirmed his prodigious talents and monumental creations as little short of miraculous.
Michelangelo’s life and art have been exhaustively studied and debated, but further enlightenment
is achieved by Carmen C. Bambach and the curatorial team at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who
organized the recent exhibition “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer.” Eight years in the
making, the show shed new light on Michelangelo’s legacy through more than 200 works, some well-
known, others relatively obscure. Included were 133 of his drawings, his earliest surviving painting
LEFT
Female Figure Seen in
Bust-Length From the
Front (Cleopatra)
1530–33; black chalk,
9³⁄₁₆x7³⁄₁₆
CASA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE
OPPOSITE
Unfinished Cartoon for
a Madonna and Child
1525–30; black and red
chalk, white gouache, and
brush and brown wash,
21⁵⁄₁₆x15⁹⁄₁₆
CASA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE
and three marble sculptures, as well as architectural chaos occur in our immediate world. … At a time when
designs, poetry and more. It was the largest group of draw- much of our visual experience as students, scholars or the
ings by Michelangelo ever assembled for public display. general public is inundated with digital images, it may be a
Considering how few drawings by Michelangelo are held rare privilege to see so many original works of art by such a
in permanent collections in the United States, the exhibi- great master of the past. We are gathered together for close
tion (and the thorough catalog accompanying it) offered a looking, contemplation and even reverie.”
rare viewing opportunity. It was notable not only for the
T
quantity and quality of the works presented—taken from he exhibition was arranged in chronological
some 50 European and American collections, including order, charting the major chapters in
Casa Buonarroti, in Florence, and the Ashmolean Museum, Michelangelo’s personal and professional life.
in Oxford—but for the infrequency of their exhibition. His extraordinary drawing abilities began to
Many of the drawings are kept in vaults to protect them reveal themselves from an early age, and they
from light damage, and several hadn’t been displayed in are visible in the copies of works by elder masters
decades due to their delicacy. Masaccio, Giotto and Donatello that Michelangelo drew
“The towering genius of Michelangelo can remind us during his training as a teenager in the workshop of
that art is timeless and larger than ourselves,” said Ghirlandaio. The show then moved through his major
Bambach, speaking about the exhibition in November. “It career milestones, including the creation of the David, the
nourishes the spirit. Art can provide solace in grief and planning of Pope Julius II’s tomb and the painting of both
instill a sense of hope in humanity when tragedies and the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the accompanying

Young Archer
ca 1490; marble, 37x13¼x14
LENT BY THE FRENCH STATE, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AND EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Last Judgment fresco. (The presentation of the Sistine communication; it offered great potential for thinking
Chapel drawings was particularly dramatic, with with the hand,” she writes. “It was also a powerful means
Michelangelo’s studies for the ceiling displayed beneath a for self-expression. His eye as a draftsman was primarily
photographic reproduction of the ceiling suspended over that of a sculptor. … Many of Michelangelo’s exploratory
the gallery at one-quarter scale.) The show finished with drawings bring to mind the physical vigor with which he
works from his last decades in Rome, including architec- worked the chisel on his marble figures. His drawings,
tural drawings, a three-dimensional model for the vault of like his sculptures, often exude a certain autobiographical
a chapel and the enormous cartoon he prepared for the intensity of feeling.”
Crucifixion of Saint Peter fresco in the Vatican Palace.
D
Michelangelo’s mature drawings are celebrated for uring the Florentine Renaissance, disegno was
their anatomical precision and natural grace. He consid- considered the foundation of artistic output
ered himself first and foremost a sculptor in marble, and in the great trinity of Italian art-making:
his drawings reflect a sculptor’s three-dimensional think- painting, sculpture and architecture. Disegno
ing and structural understanding of form. In a catalog encompassed both skilled draftsmanship and
essay, Bambach points out that it was rare for a a broader sense of design or intellectual conceptualiza-
Renaissance sculptor to also be a habitual drawer. “For tion. According to Renaissance writer and artist Giorgio
Michelangelo, more than for most artists, the act of Vasari, perfection was achieved in painting through cor-
drawing served as a uniquely personal language of rect drawing and the use of contour, light and shadow so
as to attain relief. In sculpture and
architecture, perfection was reached
through sound judgment that resulted
in artworks and buildings that were
“comfortable and secure, healthy, pleas-
ing to look at, well-proportioned and
richly ornamental.”
From almost the start, Portrait of
Michelangelo was Andrea Quaratesi
1532; black chalk,
acknowledged to have
16³⁄₁₆x11½
perfected these skills in BRITISH MUSEUM,
drawing, painting and LONDON
sculpture in a manner
that superseded artistic precedents. His
architectural skills were not immedi-
ately infallible—some of his early
projects, such as the tomb of Pope
Julius II and the facade of the church of
San Lorenzo, suffered from incorrect
spatial assessment and scale. But he
quickly mastered the art of converging
design and construction, as seen in the
designs of the New Sacristy built to
house the Medici family tombs, the
Laurentian Library and the Reliquary
Tribune in San Lorenzo.
Michelangelo completed the Pietá at
age 24, the David at age 29 and the
Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes at age
37. By the 1520s, when he was in his
40s, he had achieved fame and respect
among both fellow artists and his
patrons, which included popes, nobles
and monarchs. He was in such demand
that the rival cities of Rome and
Florence battled heatedly over who
would win the master’s talents and
time. Other great artists competing for
major commissions watched his career
with both astonishment and envy.
T
hrough the exhibition catalog we learn the buried in Santa Croce church in his beloved Florence, the
political, religious and personal backdrop of city he referred to as his patria, or “homeland,” despite
Michelangelo’s story and how these factors spending the last 30 years of his life in Rome. Allegedly, his
helped, and in some cases forced, his hand. The will was only three short sentences, leaving his soul to the
account includes his notorious rivalries with hands of God, his body to the earth and his property to his
men such as Pietro Torrigiani, Leonardo da Vinci and nearest relatives. At his funeral, members of Florence’s
Donato Bramante; the love and loyalty he had for his family, academy replicated Michelangelo’s personal emblem of three
especially his nephew Lionardo Buonarroti; his reticent and intertwined circles, using three intersecting laurel wreaths,
tumultuous relationship with Julius II during the design of to indicate that the “crown of human perfection was justly
the pope’s tomb and the creation of the Sistine Chapel ceil- due to him.” While giving Michelangelo’s eulogy, the poet
ing; and the few but seminal loves of his life. Benedetto Varchi quoted a poem written by Ludovico
As Michelangelo reached his final decades, fresh life was Ariosto about Michelangelo when the artist was 31.
breathed into his art and poetry by his close friendship with Translated, it includes the lines, “And he who equally sculpts
two people. One was Vittoria Colonna, a celebrated poet and and paints / Michel, more than mortal, angel divine.”
the marchesa of Pescara. She and Michelangelo formed a
profoundly deep, platonic bond and exchanged many letters Allison Malafronte is an arts and design writer, editor and
discussing spiritual subjects. The second was the young curator in the greater New York City area.
nobleman Tommaso de’ Cavalieri,
whose beauty, intelligence and vigor
Michelangelo admired as he himself
began to age. Some of Michelangelo’s
finest surviving drawings were created
for these and other friends.
Regarding Michelangelo’s person-
ality and temperament, we learn that
Il Divino was not necessarily saintly
in demeanor. In fact, his terribilità
(terrifying awesome-
Michelangelo
ness, in both conduct
Buonarroti
by Daniele da Volterra and artistic expres-
ca 1544; oil on wood, sion) included a
34¾x25¼ temperamental and
THE METROPOLITAN fiercely competitive
MUSEUM OF ART,
NEW YORK nature. Peers referred
to him as un amatore
della difficulta, or “lover of difficulty,”
because of both his personality and
his eagerness to take on exception-
ally challenging projects.
But his letters and poetry also
reveal that Michelangelo possessed a
sensitive spirit. He loved and revered
God, whom he considered the
bestower of his talents. He fought
great conflicts and battles within
himself and experienced bouts of
insecurity, despite his extreme
self-assurance, which further fueled
his desire to attain perfection and pre-
serve his legacy. Shortly before his
death, Michelangelo burned hundreds
of his drawings, sketches and car-
toons—a self-inflicted bonfire of
mediocrity—in an effort to conceal
the ways in which he labored to
realize his genius.
Michelangelo died just two weeks
shy of his 89th birthday and was

“Michelangelo:
Divine Draftsman and
Designer” was on
view this winter at
the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, in
New York. The
exhibition catalog
features more than
200 drawings and
other works. A
substantial amount of
content relating to
the exhibition can
be found at
metmuseum.org/
michelangelo.
Cartoon With a Group of

Soldiers for the Crucifixion of
Saint Peter
1542–46; black chalk and
charcoal, 103⁹⁄₁₆x61⁷⁄₁₆
MUSEO NAZIONALE DI CAPODIMONTE,
NAPLES
S AV E T H E A R T
Conservator Suzanne Siano cares about the preservation of artworks
as much as their creators do—if not more.
by Michael Gormley
photography by Manuel Rodriquez

uzanne Siano always knew she
wanted a career in the arts; her
mother was a painter, her father
was in the fashion industry, and
visits to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art (the Met) and
the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) were routine family
outings.
“We loved art,” says Siano. “I didn’t feel a compelling
desire to create new art; rather, I liked making copies of
famous artworks and was fascinated with art materials and
techniques. Growing up in New York City exposed me to so
many artistic periods and styles that I was equally passion-
ate about contemporary artworks and Old Master paintings.
Becoming an art historian seemed the right path to follow.”
RISING TO THE CALL

While studying art history at Barnard College in New
York, Siano visited the Paintings Conservation
Department at the Met, an experience that altered her
career trajectory. “I knew immediately that being a paint-
ings conservator was what I was meant to do,” she says.
She continued her art history studies abroad in Florence
and began working closely with master conservators.
Suzanne Siano, director of

Modern Art Conservation
“I wanted to stay and work in Italy,” says Siano, “but I was paintings conservation. Dianne Dwyer Modestini,
encouraged to return to the States for my formal renowned restorer of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator
conservation training.” Mundi, and her husband, Mario Modestini, master
There was a time when one might conceivably have restorer of the Samuel H. Kress Collection, gave me the
prepared for the profession by apprenticing in a studio practical expertise and ethical base for the challenges I
with a master. When Siano began training, however, the subsequently encountered once I began conserving
conservation field, along with the greater art world, was modern and contemporary paintings.”
rapidly changing—and in many respects expanding. The Credentials in hand, Siano began her professional
explosive growth of the art market, especially in the career in 1994 when she joined the Paintings
United States, and the concurrent rise of experimental Conservation Department at MoMA, training under
materials spiked a demand for conservators who had eminent conservators of modern and contemporary
specialized technical and art historical training and who paintings Anny Aviram, Michael Duffy and Jim
would adhere to professional standards and ethics. This Coddington. She continued at MoMA until 2009, also
increased the responsibility of the conservator and ele- working part-time with conservators in private prac-
vated the profession’s status. Benchmark practices tice and learning the business of art conservation. In
required graduate-level courses in art history, chemistry 2006, Siano joined the faculty at the Conservation
and conservation techniques. Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York
“I was accepted into the conservation program at University, as an adjunct professor, and in 2007 she
New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts,” says launched Modern Art Conservation (MAC), a private
Siano. “There are very few conservation training pro- practice offering consultation, treatment of paintings
grams, and I was fortunate to attend one that had an and training for museum and gallery staff, among
incredible curriculum for students specializing in other services.

Annika Finne, conservation
assistant, working on
Contamination Anxiety, 2010
by Donn Davis
Siano explains that conservation involves a lot of research
CONSERVATION PAR and experimentation—particularly with modern and con-
EXCELLENCE temporary works, in which nontraditional materials and
techniques are often employed. When the artist is still liv-
Siano was soon recognized as a leader in the conservation ing, the conservator can sometimes confer with him or her
of modern and contemporary paintings and mixed-media directly on their materials and working processes.
artworks. As director of MAC, she oversees one of the Re-creating the processes employed by deceased artists is
larger practices in the United States with a team that more problematic, requiring an in-depth knowledge of art
includes conservators from around the world, preparators, materials and a combination of educated decisions and
a conservation photographer, a registrar and conservation guesswork. “We always try to get an early photograph of the
students and interns. “You need a talented team to find work.” says Siano. “Sometimes the piece we’re working on
creative solutions and bring the best minds and hands to has had multiple restorations that aren’t easily reversible
the artworks we care for each day” says Siano. from the artist’s original work. In other instances we may be
The MAC facility occupies an entire floor in a former asked to alter something in an artwork that appears to an
warehouse in New York City’s West Chelsea art district. untrained eye to be deterioration or damage but, in fact, is
Comprising 7,000 square feet of space, with three walls of an intentional part of the work. Our goal is to understand
floor-to-ceiling windows, it’s a real-estate coup. In this set- what the artist’s intent was, what has altered that along the
ting, the effect of watching the team at work restoring way, and how we can get back to that intended appearance
blue-chip art is cinematic. while keeping in mind that materials change over time.”
That wow factor is fully intentional. Not everyone gets Once Siano has outlined a treatment plan, the proposed
invited to the MAC studio; the experience is a rare peek interventions are often vetted on test materials. Through
into the upper reaches of the art world. “We do a lot of her years of practice, Siano has developed an extensive
sale-related treatments and condition reporting for galler- archive of these materials—including support samples,
ies, private collectors, auction houses and museums,” says paints and binders—the most extensive being the
Siano. “Given the potential impact on the art market, our materials of Andy Warhol. “Foremost, our aim is to stabi-
work is kept from the public eye.” To that end the space is lize the artwork and prevent further deterioration,” says
divided into quadrants to guard client confidentiality and Siano. “The prescribed treatment must also be reversible
safely store valuable works undergoing treatment. and inconspicuous. A work should neither look as if it was

“Art changes over time
and is impacted by the
environment. Material
and technique choices,
temperature extremes,
moisture, dust and light—all
can have deleterious effects
on the life of a work.”
restored nor necessarily look as if it just left the artist’s

studio. We work with the knowledge that art materials
interact with the environment and change with age.”
DON’T TRY THIS

AT HOME
Conservation treatments include setting down flaking paint,
repairing tears, inpainting losses and cleaning of discolored
varnishes, accumulated nicotine or dust. Cleaning art might
strike one as a simple process, but Siano reports that cleaning
can be the most challenging and irreversible treatment. In
older works, subtle glazes can be intermingled with a varnish,
which can limit cleaning. In more modern works, where the
surfaces are often unvarnished and the paint layers matte and
underbound, just touching the work incorrectly can cause
damage. “People see a conservator dusting a painting or using
a damp swab to clean and think, I can do that,” says Siano. “But
a good conservator will have examined the work, perhaps car-
ried out discreet tests, gained an understanding of the
materials and chosen the right solvent or tool.”
When someone untrained attempts cleaning or other res-
toration, the results can be disastrous and largely
irreversible. “The point of many contemporary and modern
paintings is the paint itself rather than an image,” says
Siano. “Any damage or alteration can be difficult to hide.
Working with trained conservators specializing in these
types of works is the safest and surest way to preserve the
artist’s intent and the artwork’s cultural and financial value.”
Extreme damage, such as that from fires or floods, calls
for special diligence and outreach. “Damage to unvarnished
ABOVE paintings from fire often results in total loss,” says Siano. In
Mock-up of painting by Dan Colen to test an effort to save more of these works, MAC established a
various methods to set pigment
relationship with NASA personnel who had developed an
TOP oxygen bonding process that lifted carbon particles from
Test samples of soot reduction in damaged works. “The results were truly amazing,” she says.
collaboration with NASA “The NASA process offered us a way to remove the black soot
TOP
Director Suzanne Siano
with a collection of samples
provided to MAC by artists
and mock-ups made by
conservators for
pretreatment testing
BOTTOM LEFT
Pamela Johnson, assistant
conservator, examining an
work by Andy Warhol with a
stereo-binocular microscope
BOTTOM MIDDLE
Travel frames stored while
art undergoes treatment
BOTTOM RIGHT
Mock-ups for fade testing
of fluorescent paints and
bubble gum—materials
used by artists

without touching the work with swabs or brushes. With the
soot removed, we could carry out further treatments with-
out driving the soot into the paint layers.”
Equally dramatic was MAC’s work related to the aftermath
of Hurricane Sandy, which caused flooding in and around
the New York metropolitan area in 2012. “We worked with
an emergency network of art-world professionals to salvage
works that were either on display or stored in the flooded
Chelsea art-gallery district,” says Siano. “The studio became
a local triage center where water–damaged works would be
cataloged, assessed and treated. The danger of mold, which
is difficult to eradicate, required urgent care. Conservators’
collective efforts paid off, and we were able to save hundreds
of artworks—many by working directly with artists who
have studios or exhibit in galleries in the neighborhood.”
BE GOOD TO
YOUR ART
Siano notes that artists and collectors need to think of
themselves as stewards and learn best practices that ensure
an artwork’s preservation well into the future. “Art changes
over time and is impacted by the environment,” says Siano.
“Material and technique choices, temperature extremes,
moisture, dust and light—all can have deleterious effects
on the life of a work.”
Siano and her conservator colleagues have increasingly
focused their efforts on disseminating preventive mea-
sures to makers, dealers, curators, collectors and art
handlers. “More and more we are working as a technical
resource for professional artists, providing materials and
technique recommendations, and helping with problem
solving—while trying not to change the artist’s intent,”
says Siano. “Some artists don’t care if their work falls apart
after a few years (some even intend for that to happen),
but those who do care need correct information about
practices that will ensure the longevity of their artwork.”
Likewise, collectors can take into consideration the interac-
tive and fragile nature of art materials and then employ
preventative measures in displaying and storing artworks.
Prevention is key—and DIY art conservation is not a
good idea. So if there’s an issue with a cherished artwork in
your possession, by all means, consult a professional.
Michael Gormley is the content strategist + editor in chief of

Artists Magazine.
FIND A CONSERVATOR
To locate an art conservator in your area who is
right for your needs, visit the website of the
American Institute for Conservation of Historic
and Artistic Works (conservation-us.org).
Between the great wars of the
20th century, a single German
art school invented much of
the
the look of the modern age.
by Daniel Maidman
b auhaus
effect
CHAIR: VIEW PICTURES/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Wassily chair, a Bauhaus classic

The material challenge of mass
beautification was equally daunting.
The objects produced by the new LEFT
breed of artist-designer should, The Bauhaus building
in Dessau, Germany,
ideally, be available to the common designed by Walter
person, yet the skilled craftsmanship Gropius, housed the
that had always defined quality goods school from 1925 to
placed their prices out of reach. In 1932.
halting steps, the processes of indus-
trial mass production were applied to
humble utilitarian purposes.
Machine-shaped metal and glass
replaced hand-carved wood and stone.
The beautiful object lost its hand-
made individual charm, but it became
accessible to the general population,
whose alienating urban landscape
demanded it.
World War I devastated Europe.
Until the war, a refined high culture
still helped to define aesthetics and
moderate the winds of change. After
t
four years of brutal mechanized war-
fare, the delicate Old World lay in
ruins. A reeling continent was ready
and eager to explore radical new
he Staatliches Bauhaus opened in 1919. It design theories and products. It was
was shut under pressure from the Nazis in 1933. against this backdrop that architect
Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus,
In the years between, its teachers synthesized a in Weimar, Germany, in 1919.
profoundly influential ethos of the well-
designed, mass-produced object. Even as The Vision
Bauhaus aesthetics have receded into the past, The Bauhaus followed a utopian con-
the Bauhaus outlook has renewed and expanded cept, a mission to completely design
and define modern life. Its doctrine
itself in the near-century since its birth.
SCHOOL: JENS SCHLUETER/GETTY IMAGES; GROPIUS: NEW YORK TIMES CO./GETTY IMAGES
Bauhaus Backstory
Several historical factors converged in the Bauhaus.
Industrialization and the emergence of the “mass man”—
huge urban working- and middle-class populations—gave
rise in the 19th century to the desire for beautification.
Material progress was outpacing livability. City life was
often banal and ugly. Artists and designers reckoned with
the problem of adorning the homes and lives of the swell-
ing urban masses. This problem contained both aesthetic
and material challenges.
The aesthetic challenge was that of style: What kind of
beauty suited modern life? Initial answers were nostalgic,
yearning for idealized rustic, medieval and folk styles.
These resulted in factions such as the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood and the Arts and Crafts Movement. Later,
Art Nouveau began to integrate backward-looking themes
with the sinuous lines of the Machine Age. Art Deco fol- Walter Gropius,
lowed, celebrating industrialization itself in its imagery founder of the
and motifs. Bauhaus, ca 1930
T he Bauhau s Effec t
RIGHT went beyond the integration of form
Poster from a and function, seeking to fuse all
1929 exhibition in
Basel, Switzerland branches of art and design into a
seamless, harmonious whole. In his
founding manifesto, Gropius wrote,
“Let us … create a new guild of crafts-
men without the class-distinctions
that raise an arrogant barrier between
craftsmen and artists! Let us desire,
conceive and create the new building
of the future together. It will combine
architecture, sculpture and painting
in a single form, and will one day rise
toward the heavens from the hands of
a million workers as the crystalline
symbol of a new and coming faith.”
Yet there was no architecture class.
Gropius’ gigantic ambition was ridicu-
lously mismatched with the resources
available to him; the school suffered
the poverty of defeated Germany in its
early years. When it opened, the
students were starving and the class-
rooms had no desks. They squatted on
the floor in unheated studios.
Undeterred, Gropius designed a curric-
ulum and assembled a set of teachers
to execute it.
In its Weimar period, the Bauhaus
had between 150 and 200 students.
High proportions of women and
non-Germans were admitted. There
were no academic requirements to
enter the basic course, an introductory study of materials,

although passing that course—a requirement for progess-
ing further—was difficult. The teachers of this curriculum
over the lifespan of the Bauhaus did much to set the tone
POSTER: FINE ART IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES; ITTEN: SERGE LACHINOV

of the school during their tenures.
Playing Up Strengths
The first of the basic course instructors was Johannes
Itten, a Swiss artist trained as an elementary school
teacher. He was a follower of the ideas of Friedrich Fröbel,
the “inventor of kindergarten,” who had proposed the
then-radical idea that children learn and thrive through
play. Itten applied this concept to his course, introducing
gymnastics, meditation and breathing exercises into the
Johannes Itten
(in 1921), the first classroom. Actual work involved “playing” with pieces of
instructor of the basic wood and metal, glass and stone, clay and cloth. The play
course at the involved transforming and assembling the materials with
Bauhaus: During the aim of discovering their properties individually and in
Itten’s tenure, the
student body also
conjunction with one another. Itten guided the play to
tended to shave their teach his students principles of form and color and to help
heads and wear robes. them focus on the specific media to which they were best

adapted. He saw his job as transmitting concepts and Vision, From Material to Architecture
practices of art and design to his students while simulta- he described his approach to the
neously encouraging and developing their individual Bauhaus basic course: “Their training
creativity and expression. this first year is directed toward sen-
Itten was deeply skeptical of modernity. In the intro- sory experiences, enrichment of
duction to his book, Design and Form: The Basic Course at emotional values, and the develop-
the Bauhaus and Later, he wrote, “The terrible events and ment of thought. The emphasis is
the shattering losses of the war had brought in their wake laid not so much on the differences
confusion and helplessness in every walk of life. … I between the individuals but more on
became aware of the fact that our scientific, technological the integration of the common bio-
civilization had reached a critical point. I did not believe logical features and on the objective
that the slogans ‘Back to the Crafts’ or ‘Unity of Art and scientific and technical facts.”
Technology’ were capable of solving our problems.” Itten In actual practice, Moholy-Nagy’s
found his answers in Eastern philosophy, Zoroastrianism course was not that different from
and early Christian theology. His mystical leanings gradu- Itten’s, although it involved more
ally brought him into conflict with Gropius, and Itten left collage. The difference in effect
the Bauhaus in 1923. derived from Moholy-Nagy’s concept
of the goals of his lessons and the
Integration of way he explained to his students
what they were doing in his class.
Ashtray, ca 1926, by
Marianne Brandt,
who studied at the
Disciplines Bauhaus and
With Itten’s departure, the expressionist period of the

Artist- became the head of
its metal workshop
in 1928
Bauhaus came to an end. Henceforth, students were not
to be encouraged toward the extremes of personal vision
Craf tsman BAUHAUS-ARCHIV,
MUSEUM FÜR
and idiosyncrasy. Rather, they were to be indoctrinated in
a more universalist set of ideas and practices. Gropius
Fusion GESTALTUNG
(BAUHAUS MUSEUM)
found in Hungarian photographer and painter László Moholy-Nagy shared

Moholy-Nagy a partner in this program. Moholy-Nagy direction of the prelim-
was a communist and shared the technological optimism inary course with
of communists of the period. He wholeheartedly believed Bauhaus graduate
in the marriage of art and technology, in service to the Josef Albers, who
creation of a healthy human future. In his book The New took it over entirely in
ASHTRAY: DEAGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES ; EXHIBITION: PETER MACDIARMID/GETTY IMAGES
A visitor looks at
tables and chairs on
display at the 2012
“Bauhaus Art as Life”
exhibition, held at the
Barbican, in London.
T he Bau hau s Effec t
BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES
In 1937, former Bauhaus instructor Moholy-Nagy (lower right) started a design school in Chicago
named the New Bauhaus (now the ITT institute of Design). In this photo, Gropius (beside
Moholy-Nagy) and students stand on the circular staircase of the school’s first headquarters—
originally the Marshall Field mansion.

Hungarian photographer and painter Designs
László Moholy-Nagy was a communist
and shared the technological
for Mass
optimism of communists of the Production
Under political and financial pressure,
period. He wholeheartedly believed the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to
in the marriage of art and technology, Dessau in 1925. Gropius designed the
new school building, a masterpiece of
in service to the creation of a healthy Bauhaus modernism.
The architect Hannes Meyer
human future. replaced Gropius as director of the
school in 1928. Under his direction,
the school increasingly focused on the
problems of design for the age of
mass production and produced work
that constituted a significant income
stream. He enthusiastically embraced
the school’s wallpaper program,
creating student competitions for
inclusion in the official Bauhaus wall-
paper collection. Of all the utilitarian
designs the school produced, the wall-
papers were the most profitable. The
school finally began to run in the
black in 1929.
Political
Challenges
In 1930, the architect Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe replaced Meyer, shut-
ting down the school’s manufacturing
activities in order to make teaching
1928 when Moholy-Nagy departed the school. Like more central to its program. When
Moholy-Nagy, Albers subscribed to Gropius’ utopian- the Nazis took over the Dessau city
fusionist design doctrine, shaping his teaching around the council, they moved against the
centrality of marrying properties and uses of materials. school. Two main sources of animus
Other notable artists who passed through the Bauhaus fueled the consistent opposition of
during its short but intense existence included Paul Klee, the Nazis to the Bauhaus: On the one
Wassily Kandinsky and Oskar Schlemmer. hand, the Bauhaus provided a friendly
Schlemmer’s work and teaching ably demonstrate the environment for communists, whom
impulse of the Bauhaus to cultivate universalism in art and the Nazis detested; on the other hand,
design: He taught wall painting; stone, wood, and metal Bauhaus aesthetics reflected a cosmo-
sculpture; and life drawing. He produced significant work politan modernism, which the Nazis
as a graphic designer and adman, yet a key passion for him railed against as “degenerate” and
was the stage. He designed and choreographed ballet, “un-German.”
EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
worked with Stravinsky and directed the national tour of The city council ordered the Dessau
the Bauhaus stage program in 1928 and 1929. He exempli- campus to shut down.
ABOVE LEFT
fies the universal Bauhaus “artist-craftsman.” In 1931, Mies paid out of pocket to GAL AB I
But the advent of Nazism broke his spirit. His friend Max rent an abandoned telephone factory by Laszlo
Bill wrote that in Schlemmer’s last 10 years it seemed that a in Berlin as a new school facility. Moholy-Nagy
“curtain of silence” had descended upon him. He died in During this short final period of the (oil on galalith,
21x16½)
hospital in 1943. In this too, he exemplifies the Bauhaus. It Bauhaus, students and teachers on display at
existed on borrowed time, weathering constant attack from worked together to redesign the inte- Sotheby’s,
proto-Nazi and Nazi factions until its premature demise. rior of the building. Little further New York, 2013
T he Bau hau s Effec t
Oskar Schlemmer, work was done before the Gestapo the cylinder and the sphere—and a strict analysis of the
who served as shut the school. Although the decision minimum design requirements of the job of the object.
Master of Form at
the Bauhaus was rescinded, the administration Their very sternness reflects a nearly comical hypermodern
theatre workshop, decided to dissolve the Bauhaus, and flair. Architecture produced by the Bauhaus has the same
painted this mural the experiment in art education came quality: spare, logical, rectangular structures involving a
in 1923 at the to its close in 1933. great deal of steel and glass.
Weimer location of
the Bauhaus (now
Given its brief life and relatively small output, the
Bauhaus University,
Weimer).
Continuing Bauhaus has had a massively disproportionate impact on
all fields related to its work. Itten’s original pedagogical
Impact template, which accessed creativity by applying the kinder-
garten concept of play to adult materials and
SCHLEMMER: LOOP IMAGES/UIG/GETTY IMAGES
During its 14 years of operation, the considerations, defined not only the preliminary courses
Bauhaus produced a small number of taught by his successors but many of the basic assump-
iconic designs, among them Marianne tions of art education afterward. The clean, unadorned
Brandt’s ashtray (page 75) and coffee/ look developed by Bauhaus designers spread everywhere in
tea set, Marcel Breuer’s tubular-steel modernist design. Cities around the world, from Chicago
and fabric “Wassily chair” (page 72), to Tel Aviv, began to show Bauhaus influence in their archi-
Josef Albers’ stacking tables (page 75) tecture as refugees from the school spread across the globe.
and, of course, the wallpapers. These Today, almost a century after it was founded, the Bauhaus
objects were distinguished by a reliance has sometimes been supplanted as the key influence in archi-
on basic geometric forms—the cube, tecture, industrial design, typography and many other

LOVE IT … LOVE IT NOT
As an art critic, I find the Bauhaus is almost
tragically frustrating. I adore every single thing
about the school: its fractious, brilliant faculty,
its fanatical student body, its radical sense of
play and experimentation. I admire the
willingness to take risks, to try anything, to
tackle everything, to challenge inherited
assumptions about all rules of aesthetics. Yet I
can hardly stand a single Bauhaus object.
I find the Bauhausians’ sense of design clunky
and irritating. The colors and shapes are
overstated to the point of being grating. The
so-called utility of their objects involves design
parameters so extreme as to render the objects
unpleasant to actually look at or use. Their disciplines in which it once held sway.
buildings strike me as mechanistic and vaguely Yet post-Bauhausian work in these disci-
hostile to the people who actually have to occupy plines exists, at least in part, in response
them. Their zeal for elimination eliminated, to the Bauhaus. It is such a pivotal part
above all, every gentle touch that makes bare of the history of aesthetics that its prin-
ciples must be answered even by those
functionality endurable. who disagree with them. We all live in
Still, they will not be denied. I wear a watch the shadow of the Bauhaus.
transparently ripped off from Max Bill’s designs
for Junghans. I love those clocks. Daniel Maidman (danielmaidman.com)
is an artist, writer and art critic who
lives in Brooklyn, New York.
TEL AVIV (BOTH IMAGES): IAISI/GETTY IMAGES
ABOVE
A Bauhaus-style
building in the White
City area of Tel Aviv
LEFT
A Bauhaus-style
building on HaYarkon
Street in Tel Aviv
HIGH-TECH
80
AESTHETICS
Artists Magazine May 2018
Invention and innovation
have always been key
components of creative
expression—and the
digital age is no exception.
by Michael Gormley
W E A S S O C I AT E A R T M A K I N G
with restless experimentation and originality. Some
practitioners single-handedly spearhead cultural
advancement. Filippo Brunelleschi, the dome-building
Renaissance Florentine, changed the world with his
rediscovery of linear perspective. Others seize upon
discoveries in sister disciplines and make them their own.
For example, the strides made in the field of optics
during the 19th century laid the groundwork for the
Impressionist movement. The digital revolution, which
has touched every aspect of contemporary life, can be
similarly associated with aesthetic exploration.
NAM JUNE PAIK

In 1974, the pioneer performance artist Nam June Paik
(1932–2006) coined the term “electronic superhighway”
to describe a future telecommunication network that
would connect distantly separated cities such as New
York and Los Angeles; he also imagined what he termed
a “video common market” that would disseminate
ABOVE videos freely.
Untitled (Robot), 2005
by Nam June Paik Paik had originally studied music and subsequently
single-channel video in robot-shaped assemblage of moved to West Germany, where he met the composer John
televisions, radio parts, library stamp and metal hardware, Cage and a number of conceptual artists, including Joseph
with additions in paint; color, silent; 36x26⅜x11¾ Beuys, who were members of Fluxus. Participants of this
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM, NAM JUNE PAIK ARCHIVE
(NJP.1.PS.97); GIFT OF THE NAM JUNE PAIK ESTATE
international, cross-disciplinary and experimental art move-
ment, active in the 1960s and 1970s, staged radical
TOP RIGHT performance events that shared an anti-commercial and
Zen for TV, 1963, 1976 version anti-art sensibility.
by Nam June Paik
Fluxus members are credited with debuting new art
manipulated television set (black-and-white and silent),
19x22½x18 forms, including multimedia, conceptual art and, in the
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM; © NAM JUNE PAIK ESTATE; GIFT OF case of Paik, video art. In his performances, Paik began to
BYUNGSEOL AND DOLORES AN, 2006.20 experiment with altering image transmissions on television
sets, using magnets—as seen with Zen for TV (at top).
OPPOSITE
NYC (Color) When Sony introduced its first portable audio and video
by Ben Copperwheat recorder in 1965, Paik began creating and showing his own
digital, 25x25 video imagery in multiscreen sculptural installations.
LEFT
Untitled (Robot), 1992
by Nam June Paik
single-channel video in robot-shaped
assemblage of televisions, radio and
stereo-system parts, and metal hardware, with
additions in paint; color, silent; 42x27⅞x14⅝
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM,
NAM JUNE PAIK ARCHIVE (NJP.1.PS.59); GIFT OF THE
NAM JUNE PAIK ESTATE
BELOW
Untitled (Plaster Man With Sony
Watchman Head), 2005
by Nam June Paik
painting plaster, wire and Sony Watchman
portable television; 15¾x6⅞x7⅛
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM,
NAM JUNE PAIK ARCHIVE (NJP.1.PS.80); GIFT OF THE
NAM JUNE PAIK ESTATE
OPPOSITE
Technology
By Nam June Paik
1991; three-channel video installation with
custom-made cabinet (color, silent,
continuous loop), 127x51⅞x75⅝)
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM; MUSEUM
PURCHASE THROUGH THE LUISITA L. AND FRANZ H.
DENGHAUSEN ENDOWMENT, 1994.29
His robot series, grandchildren of Duchamp’s ready-mades,

are assembled from old TV sets, transistor radios and por-
table phonographs. They have a funky and playful robotlike
appearance—modern day Pinocchios fashioned from the
obsolete flotsam and jetsam endemic of a fast-moving
industrial economy (see Untitled (Robot) 2005, page 81;
Untitled (Robot) 1992, above; and Untitled (Plaster Man With
Sony Watchman Head, 2005, right).
Technology (opposite) is, by comparison, sleek, steely
and manufactured. Here a bank of monitors is stacked
into a temple or thronelike structure—replete with
gothic peaks and spires. The design recalls the retro
futurism of Flash Gordon comics and suggests a digital
world that’s not entirely benevolent but worshipped
nonetheless. Standing where we are today, with our faces
glued to our smartphones, the prescient allusion to Big
Brother and mind control doesn’t seem far-fetched.

BEN ABOVE
David Bowie
by Ben Copperwheat
COPPERWHEAT
Without Duchamp and the disruption of the ready-made,
digital print diptich, 40x40 panels
BELOW
Pigs
there would not have been Paik. And without Paik’s forays by Ben Copperwheat
into video art there would be no Ben Copperwheat. This digital, 11x8½
artist would have felt right at home at a Fluxus cross-
disciplinary performance event. Like Paik, Copperwheat
has been eager to incorporate the latest technological
advances in his art and design work.
As an undergraduate, Copperwheat studied both fine art
and textile design. The potential for creative crossover
excited him. He says, “I was obsessed with repeat pattern
and screen printing; it should come as no surprise that
Warhol’s Marilyn is the first work of art I fell in love with.”
Later, while in graduate school at the Royal College of
Art, in London, Copperwheat began exploring digital
media (primarily Adobe Photoshop) to create designs and
repeat patterns for silkscreen and textile printing. “I’d start
by hand drawing on paper,” Copperwheat explains. “Then I
would scan the drawings into the computer and, in
Photoshop, merge them with found and created photo-
graphic images. Photoshop is wonderful; it gives me the
ability to change color and layout multiple times.”
The artist’s initial designs were printed on plastics
and metals for interior-design projects. Later he began
to print directly onto garments and, subsequently, launched
his own fashion line. More recently he has focused on fine
art prints (see The Making of a Queen, opposite) and
limited-edition wallpapers. To create his vibrant screen
prints, Copperwheat uses MagnaColours inks, which are
water-based gels mixed with high-concentrate pigments.
Whether creating multiple prints, paintings or one-off
fashion pieces, Copperwheat’s imagery aims to be

THE MAKING OF A QUEEN 1
Copperwheat’s process is well illustrated with the fine art print Queen
Hillary. The compositional design for Hillary Clinton’s portrait is
borrowed from a 15th-century painting of Queen Elizabeth I (1).
Copperwheat completes a sketch from a photograph of Clinton and
scans that drawing into the computer (2, 3). In Photoshop he collages
layers of the Queen Elizabeth I portrait with his drawing and adds his
own decorative elements (4, 5, 6) to create a richly layered and
color-saturated image, reminiscent of 1960s psychedelic graphics.
For designs intended for clothing or wallpapers, Copperwheat can
create variations in Photoshop by repeating all or parts of an image or
by altering colors.
2 3 4
Queen Hillary
5 6 by Ben Copperwheat
digital print on
canvas, 72x46
Bloomed Wall: 17th
Century (2017)
by Dominic Harris
8+2AP+2P edition; 65-inch
4K UHD glass screen,
multi-point IR touch
overlay, three-dimensional
sensors, bespoke software,
sound system, industrial
computer, steel, acrylic;
58½x33½x7⅓ (medium
format)
PRIVEEKOLLEKTIE CONTEMPORARY
ART | DESIGN

provocative and subversive. Music has had a significant
influence on his work, specifically the development of punk
and the dystopian fantasy immortalized by such iconic stars
as David Bowie (page 84), Michael Jackson and Madonna.
DOMINIC HARRIS
Rivaling Copperwheat’s hallucinogenic reveries, Dominic
Harris’ touch-activated digital animations, virtual vitrines,
holograms and minimalist light sculptures are cabinets of
curiosities for the digital age. A unique conflation of art
and technology, Harris’ artwork reiterates the immediacy
and interactivity initiated by Paik in his live performance
and video installations from the 1970s.
Harris’ love for all things digital dates back to his child-
hood. “My parents gave me a ZX Spectrum hobbyist
computer for my 8th birthday,” he say. “I became fascinated
with code and was soon harnessing the creative potential of
software and electronics.” He originally trained as an archi-
tect at the Bartlett School of Architecture, in London. He
harbored the dream of being a fine artist, but his training at
Bartlett didn’t go to waste. “I am passionate about architec-
ture,” he says, “specifically the fabrication process, the
interplay of electronics and physical materials and, most
Nixie Tube (10), 2017 (two full views plus a detail) importantly, the relationship of design to the individual. It’s
by Dominic Harris a complex process—like choreographing a ballet. Producing
8+2AP+2P; blown glass, stainless steel, acid-etched
cathodes, Dibond, aluminum, infrared acrylic, line-folded artwork expanded my capacity to deliver on those aims.”
acrylic, time-of-flight sensors, bespoke electronics; Today Harris maintains a sizeable studio in London, where
11⁴⁄₅x30½x5⅓ he employs a team of digital programmers and engineers. He
PRIVEEKOLLEKTIE CONTEMPORARY ART | DESIGN notes that the art produced in his studio has evolved beyond
the work of any one person. “It’s become its own living entity,”
he says. “It’s a playground of crazy experiments, works in
progress and technology. To an outside observer, it’s loud and
might appear chaotic, but to me, that’s the reassuring har-
mony of my unconventional studio whirling away.”
Ruffled 2014, 2017
by Dominic Harris
edition of 8+2AP+2P for each bird; blackened aluminum, custom
electronics and software, industrial LCD screen, time-of-flight sensor;
13½x11¹⁄₅x2⁴⁄₅ (small), 16x13¹⁄₅x2⁴⁄₅ (medium), 20⅓ x 17½ x2⁴⁄₅ (large),
45x28½ x2⁴⁄₅ (extra large)
PRIVEEKOLLEKTIE
CONTEMPORARY
ART | DESIGN
IN FINE FEATHER
Viewers who approach the multibird installation Ruffled 2014, 2017 (above) set off sensors that seem to
bring the birds to life as they preen, hop and even walk away. The peacock, being the largest bird on display,
puts on an appropriately impressive performance (see stills, below). View a video of all the birds in
movement at dominicharris.com/ruffled.

Harris’ Ruffled and Bloomed Wall
series are exemplars of his interactive
works. The four industrial LCD screens
that make up the Bloomed Wall series
(produced as limited editions in vary-
ing sizes) project imagery that’s
activated with custom electronics,
software and sensors to produce what
Harris refers to as “scenes”—a catalog
of hidden movements and unexpected
events. “I use a wide range of materials
and equipment, and a lot of bespoke
software,” says Harris. “It’s a strangely
abstract process, as the visual charac-
teristics and behaviors of the resultant
artworks are created in what to me are
poetic lines of handwritten code.”
Bloomed Wall: 17th Century (2017),
page 86, offers a surrealist update on
the classical vanitas still life.
Fluttering butterflies and wind-tossed
blossoms are revealed by touch-
response and hand waves. In Bloomed
Wall: Petals (2017), left, Harris
becomes the lost-to-love neophyte,
plucking petals from the bloom.
Highly sensitive to the viewer’s pres-
ence, the cascading petals whirl up
into tornadoes of pulsating color.
In Ruffled (2014, 2017) (see In Fine
Feather, opposite), Harris creates a vir-
tual aviary displaying a cast of rare
feathered specimens that come to life
as the viewer approaches the work.
Each bird charms with its unique per-
sonality. Some are bashful and dart
about nervously. Others, like the pea-
cock, perform like seasoned troopers.
Harris’ wizardry is both commend-
able and hard won. “The development
process on any given artwork is
lengthy—and expensive!” he says. “I
spend an inordinate amount of time
developing each concept, sketching
out the narrative and interaction, and
creating visual mockups. I work
closely with my team on evaluating
how far we can push the software and
technology aspects. Only when I have
a clear route forward will I commence
Bloomed Wall: Petals (2017) the production stage of the pieces—
by Dominic Harris and even then, it can be a bit of a
8+2AP+2P edition; 65-inch 4K UHD glass screen, multi-point IR touch
overlay, three-dimensional sensors, bespoke software, sound system, rollercoaster ride as I push the tools
industrial computer, steel, acrylic; 58½x33½x7⅓ (medium format) to their limit.”
PRIVEEKOLLEKTIE CONTEMPORARY ART | DESIGN
Michael Gormley is the content
strategist + editor in chief of Artists
Magazine.
Every Which Gray
Artists Magazine is proud to present the winners of the sixth annual
Shades of Gray Competition, which challenged artists to submit their best
drawings composed entirely of black, white and gray tones in any media.
Grand Prize
Anselmo Swan
VA N C O U V E R , B R I T I S H C O LU M B I A
Home was inspired by my evening observations of homes

from surrounding neighborhoods. I contemplated houses and First Place
trees becoming silhouetted against evening skies as sunlight Jeff George
began to decrease. Homes grew dark except for the light in L A S V E G A S , N E VA D A
windows and at the door. The sky and cumulus clouds in this
drawing symbolize peace and order. The trees symbolize life, Sometimes it’s not what
and they surround the home, almost becoming part of it. The is included in your art
home represents a bastion of protection, safety and belonging but what is absent from it
in the approaching night. It was a vision of serenity. These that provides impact. The
observations inspired in me a longing for a true home; a absence of color, superfluous
place of perfect belonging and acceptance. It’s an idea that I background elements,
have also come across in works of literature and in songs—it people, wildlife and activity
seems to be a universal longing. all helped with the narrative
of this silent and mysterious
home in rural Washington.
Home
graphite, oil-based pencil and
Conté on toned paper, 15x11¼
The Last Day of May
colored pencil on gray
paper, 18x24
Second Place
Maria Jiménez
N E W YO R K , N E W YO R K
The subject of Mishnah is technology addiction. As an educator

at the High School of Art & Design, I’ve observed my students’
constant use of their cell phones. Through research, I’ve
discovered teenagers are particularly vulnerable because their
brains are wired in what psychologists call “seeking behavior”
when they are exposed to screen time. I was inspired to draw
Mishnah in an arresting moment, as if having a conversation
with the viewer, because she represented the current cell-phone
culture. The cell phone is part of her being; it’s her identity
online and off.
Mishnah
charcoal on paper, 22x30

Third Place
Sue Bryan
N E W YO R K , N E W YO R K
Trees, woodlands and forests have long since fascinated me.

In an overdeveloped world, it’s easy to forget the influence
of these dark and quiet places. I approach my tree drawings
as I would portraits, with each “creature” developing its own
personality as the work evolves. My process is one of building
up tones and textures using a combination of charcoal and
carbon, which yields a wonderful range of blacks and grays
that vary in density and transparency as much as in tonality. I
find it fitting, almost cyclical, to render these tree creatures on
paper with the char of organic matter.
Urchin
charcoal and carbon on paper, 22½x25
Honorable Mentions
Gayla B. Salvati
P E R RY, O K L A H O M A
On a reference-photo trip, I watched this Grevy’s zebra in

quiet repose, and I was struck by how the shape and curve of
his stripes completely defined his body and gave it dimension.
The visual success of this piece is independent of color or even
much shading. It’s made pleasing just with the composition and
the stark contrast of the black and white stripes as they bend
around his form. As a graphite artist who usually depends on
interesting textures to dazzle the eye, I found this drawing to be
a nice departure toward something new.
Study in Stripes
graphite on paper, 11x14

Irvin Rodriguez
J E R S E Y C I T Y, N E W J E R S E Y
I met Laura through a mutual friend

when I was living and working in
Bogotá, Colombia in 2017. She’s a
writer and was in the middle of her
university studies when we met.
We bonded through our common
interest in painting, art history and
music and became good friends.
Laura Ortega
charcoal and Conté on toned paper, 19x12½
Roger Schmidt
K I TC H E N E R , O N TA R I O
Elsa is an aspiring musician and dancer and

a family friend who has a unique style and
personality. She describes herself as “formed by
my experiences, those I love, my faith in God,
my First Nations ancestry and the way the wind
rustles the leaves.” For Portrait of Elsa, my
principal interest was to capture this essence.
Using a single light source, I settled on a pose that
would create a balanced composition, including
both of her hands and feet, all of which lead
toward her fixed gaze that directly meets the
viewer’s eyes.
Portrait of Elsa
black and white charcoal on panel, 36x25
Kelli Kaye Fountain
VA L E N C I A , C A L I F O R N I A
Myles is the son of a close friend. An

astute kid, he is approaching the age of
self-awareness. For him, everything is
important and matters deeply, which is
reflected in his face. I am privileged to
watch him grow up. This inspired me to
capture this pivotal moment in his life.
Myles
charcoal on paper, 12½x9½

Janice Evans
NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Black ink and the shape of the

paper convey the complexity
of an approaching storm at the
end of the day, with dramatic
contrasting tonal values. Besides
this immediate interpretation,
the image could be a seen as
an abandoned, broken piece of
farmland or perhaps wasteland
from the Battle of Dieppe. It’s
interesting to think that the
art can conjure up all kinds of
wonderful interpretations—all
in the eye of the beholder and
what is in our hearts.
Broken Fences Coming Storm

ink on paper, 9x28
Stephen Sebald
B AY C I T Y, M I C H I G A N
For this drawing, which is based

upon the folklore of John Henry, I
used a pair of my old work boots and
gloves with a well-worn hammer to
represent an homage to the working
man. I hoped to convey respect for the
human beings that do, and have done,
work that has benefitted us all. It’s
commonly thought that machines—
whether the steam drill of John
Henry’s time or the interconnected
devices of our current phase of
electronic autonomy—can complete
tasks more efficiently than humans.
But I believe that the spirit of John
Henry shows that people have the
will and ability to outperform the
machines of their day.
John Henry
charcoal and pastel on paper, 22x16
Andrius Balnionis
S T. K I L D A E A S T, AUS T R A L I A
I started drawing 3 years ago, in my early

50s, with no formal art training. I’ve found it
most interesting and challenging to draw with
white pencil on black surfaces, focusing on the
play of light and trying to convey a gradation
of tonal values. Flag (2016) references Jasper
Johns’ iconic flag paintings, which inspired
me to consider the symbol of the American
flag in the context of the seismic events in
the United States in November 2016, which
were felt even here in Australia. At that time
I had been doing some drawings of gauze
cloth—depicting fraying fabric to suggest a
shroud or gauze bandage—and I felt that this
technique could be used to depict the flag in
an interesting way.
Flag (2016)
white pencil on black paper, 30x22½
Stan O’Dell
OX F O R D,
MISSISSIPPI
This painter’s
features instantly
captured my
attention. His
gesture reflected
how totally focused
he was on the
model he was
painting. The light
perfectly carved out
his face and hands.
It was one of the
easiest and most
fun drawings I’ve
done.
The Painter
charcoal on paper, 22x30

Eleanor Goldstein
HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON,
N E W YO R K
I’m captivated by the continual

motion of light as it meets the
urban landscape. The subject
of this work is a New York City
construction site, loosely adapted
from a location off the West Side
Highway at 57th Street. The
dramatic triangular shape of the
building against the sky inspired
me, and I incorporated elements
of the surrounding architecture
to serve the composition. For me,
this work reflects how New York is
constantly evolving—and there is a
power in that.
Construction Site, NYC

monoprint on paper, 35x24
Gustavo Ramos
S A LT L A K E C I T Y, U TA H
“It was clear to me in Gustavo’s

early years at Southern Virginia
University that he possessed a
tenacious determination to do things
for himself,” says Barbara Crawford,
a former instructor of the artist
at Southern Virginia University.
“I offered, and we completed,
six semesters of independent
study where he developed skills
and a work ethic unique for an
undergraduate. I feel that this
spirit is evident in his self-portraits,
especially in the quiet confrontation
of Self-Portrait in Black.”
Self-Portrait in Black
graphite and white chalk on toned paper, 14x11
You don’t need a stack
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anatomical figure.
JUST TAKE IT
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step-by-step instruction to teach you to
draw the human figure and the anatomical
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HOW TO DRAW PEOPLE by Jeff Mellem
Book • R6650 • 9781440353161 • $22.99
To learn more about the full range of Artists Network

products, including North Light books, visit
Artistsnetwork.com.
SNAPPING A PHOTO
C A N ’ T R E P L I C AT E W H AT
I T M E A N S T O F U L LY
LIVE IN A MOMENT AND
CAPTURE A PLACE, NO
M AT T E R H O W A M A Z I N G
T H E L O C AT I O N O R H O W
F L AT T E R I N G T H E F I LT E R .
GETTY IMAGES
Kathleen Exhibitions, events and other items of interest
HUDSON
Creating Dramatic
1.
2.
Atmosphere In Landscapes™
1. THE TUB BY EDGAR DEGA; 1889; CAST 1919–21; BRONZE; NORTON SIMON ART FOUNDATION 2. SOMETHING ON THE EIGHT BALL BY STUART DAVIS; 1953–54; OIL ON CANVAS, 56X45; PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART; PURCHASED WITH THE ADELE HAAS TURNER AND
DO 1. Degas
NOW
Sculptures
2. Modern
Times
3. Chicago
NEW Imagism
California “Thoroughly Modern: Women in 20th

TONY DEGAS SCULPTURES Century Art and Design” brings atten-
PRO NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

tion to the women who helped to build
the Modernist movement in Europe
Secrets Of PASADENA, CALIFORNIA and the United States. It focuses on
Expressive Portraits™ 626-449-6840 • NORTONSIMON.ORG the work of women artists and design-
THROUGH APRIL 9 ers active in the early-to-mid-20th
Though he exhibited only one sculp- century, whose work was often over-
ture during his lifetime, Edgar Degas shadowed by male contemporaries.
sculpted throughout his career. In Some stopped making art due to the
“Taking Shape: Degas as Sculptor,” we pressures of society. Others switched
see the only set of bronzes cast from to traditionally feminine media such as
the artist’s original wax and plaster needlework, but their significant con-
statuettes. The exhibition focuses on tributions have been overlooked. This
the instinctive and improvisational exhibition.
nature of Degas’ process and reveals
visual references works, which not Minnesota
only functioned as visual references for
John
paintings or pastels but also as
finished pieces in their own right.
SCIENCE IN
THE PARLOR
MACDONALD
BEATRICE PASTORIUS TURNER MEMORIAL FUND; ESTATE OF STUART DAVIS; LICENSED BY VAGA, NEW YORK
California MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART
Creating Dynamic MINNEAPOLIS • 888-642-2787
Landscapes™ ARTWALK ARTSMIA.ORG • THROUGH APRIL 15
SAN DIEGO • 619-615-1090 England in the early 1700s: a time
ARTWALKSANDIEGO.ORG • APRIL 28 & 29
when the discussion and practice of
Mission Federal ArtWalk will take place science wasn’t confined to the labora-
over 17 blocks in San Diego’s Little Italy tory nor made off-limits to women.
neighborhood. In addition to plentiful For “Science and Sociability in 1700s
opportunities to view and buy artwork, England,” the Minneapolis Institute
attendees can enjoy music, dance and of Art has transformed their Living
interactive art experiences. Rooms arrangements, paying homage
to the spaces where aristocratic men
Kentucky and women would gather to discuss
natural philosophy. The exhibition
WOMEN IN ART features drawings and embroideries,
through which women honed their
AND DESIGN ideas and perceptions. The Queen
SPEED ART MUSEUM • LOUISVILLE, Anne Room (ca 1730) features works
KENTUCKY • 502-634-2700 on paper, as well as textiles made by
1-877-867-0324 women. The Georgian Drawing Room
SPEEDMUSEUM.ORG • THROUGH JULY 1
LiliArtVideo.com (ca 1740) is decorated for a science

3.
party, featuring tele- York and London coun- “Modern Times: American Art 1910–
scopes, microscopes terparts by employing a 1950” examines art that was inspired
and other tools. more lighthearted and by the great social and technological
humorous tone in their change of the early 20th century. See
3. UNTITLED, 1973 BY ROGER BROWN; ACRYLIC ON WOOD, 21⁹⁄₁₆X31⅝X5⅝; PHILIP HANSON COLLECTION
New York works. Featuring works how artists Georgia O’Keeffe,

by Don Baum, Ray Marsden Hartley, Jacob Lawrence and
CHICAGO Yoshida, H.C.
Westermann and Red
others created bold new works in
response to uncertain times.
IMAGISM Grooms, as well as
THE FRANCES YOUNG members of the original Tennessee
TANG TEACHING Imagist groups, this
MUSEUM AND ART
GALLERY AT SKIDMORE
exhibition examines the
relationship between
NEW MEDIA
COLLEGE • SARATOGA Imagist artists and HUNTER MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
SPRINGS, NEW YORK CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
objects. On display are
518-580-8080 423-267-0968 • HUNTERMUSEUM.ORG
found objects, works in papier-mâché, THROUGH APRIL 29
TANG.SKIDMORE.EDU • SEPTEMBER 8 sewn fabrics and printmaking, as well
THROUGH JANUARY 6, 2019 as paintings on shaped canvases. “New Media, New Millennium:
It’s not too early to plan for “3-D Digital Art From the Thoma
Doings: The Imagist Object in Pennsylvania Foundation” explores how artists
Chicago Art, 1964–1980,” which are adapting to an increasingly digi-
showcases the sculptures and dimen-
sional paintings of a generation of
MODERN TIMES tal world. This exhibition features
works that are time-based, dynamic
Chicago artists who invented their PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART and interactive. It includes the work
PHILADELPHIA • 215-763-8100
own brand of Pop. The Chicago of digital pioneers such as Jim
PHILAMUSEUM.ORG • APRIL 18
Imagists, whose influences include THROUGH SEPTEMBER 3 Campbell, Leo Villareal and Jennifer
Surrealism, differed from their New Steinkamp.
A GOLDEN
OPPORTUNITY.
Become a GOLDEN Artist Educator!
We’re looking for artists actively teaching workshops
with a consistent workshop history over the last
for the Artist, Maker three years – ideally 12 or more per year, with 10 or
more adult students in each class. Our next training
& ( forever) Inspired session will be in New Orleans September 30 through
October 5, 2018. For more information and to apply:
Artist Network goldenpaints.slideroom.com
is with you every step of your art journey.
Come have fun with us! Come make art with us!
www.artistsnetwork.com
©2018 Golden Artist Colors, Inc., New Berlin, NY 13411
Independent
Study Resources to inspire
and build skills BY HOLLY DAVIS
For Designing Minds

You don’t have to be an architect to enjoy the 75
challenges in Steve Bowkett’s Archidoodle City:
An Architect’s Activity Book (Lawrence King).
Via di Monte Giordano
Stretch your imagination as you consider how by Michael Reardon
you’d lay out an urban space, design a storefront
or a bridge—or maybe alter a city skyline. FROM THE
GROUND UP
Are you looking for clear instruction on
one-, two- and three-point perspective?
ROAMING ROME Then Scott Maier’s video Perspective
Drawing: Understanding Linear
Take a tour of 33 buildings in Rome Perspective Course (Artists Network) is
through the eyes of three for you! Grab a sketchpad and a few
architects and Rome Prize winners. simple drawing materials, and you’re
In Robert Venturi’s Rome (ORO ready to go.
Editions), Stephen Harby and
Frederick Fisher revisit Venturi’s Drawing buildings is one thing; creating
city scenes is another. Learn how to
profoundly influential views,
handle composition, lighting effects and
published in 1966, on the color-value shifts with Michael Reardon’s
interrelated aesthetics of video workshop Watercolor Painting:
architecture, landscape and art. Light and Color in Cityscapes (Artists
Harby’s watercolors give a fresh Network), available as a DVD or digital
view of Rome’s iconic architecture. download.

APPLAUSE Outfit
Competition Spotlight
Finalist artwork from Artists Magazine’s 2017 Annual Art Competition
The best advice I can give other

artists is to only compete with
yourself. It’s useless to compare
ourselves with others, as all of
us have a different path,
different abilities, different
circumstances and different
opportunities.
Lorena
Kloosterboer
ANTWERP, BELGIUM
t he main inspiration for Tempus ad Requiem XV
came when a friend shared a wonderful photo-
graph of a pigeon with me. I used my
computer to pair the pigeon with one of my
ceramic pieces and to figure out the composition.
Tempus ad
Requiem XV
acrylic on panel, 12x12
My favorite aspect of painting is working

ART-LORENA.COM
out the color scheme. I tend to use a lot of
analog colors, and they need to be balanced.
My pigeon became much bluer than it is in real
life. I even added touches of purple—one of
the joys of having artistic license.
short stories Brief reflections on notable
exhibitions BY AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS
“Bob Dylan” Poster
by Milton Glaser
1966; offset lithograph from an ink
drawing with a Cello-Tak overlay
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART
present. So is architect and industrial

designer Eero Saarinen, through
photographs of his design of the orig-
inal TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy
Airport, in New York—an icon of the
jet age. The decade is also represented
musically through psychedelic record
covers such as the Jimi Hendrix
Experience’s Axis: Bold as Love,
Cream’s Disraeli Gears and the Rolling
Stones’ Let It Bleed.
The Revolution Will Be Colorized

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART • PHILADELPHIA • PHILAMUSEUM.ORG
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 9
Take a trip to a psychedelic chapter of through the culture, capturing its exu-
design history with “Design in berance, the horrors of war and civil
Revolution: A 1960s Odyssey.” Items strife, as well as the myth of progress,”
on display range from pop-art-inspired says Juliana Rowen Barton, the exhi-
tableware to the original bean-bag bition’s organizer. “These artists take
chair to vintage rock ’n’ roll posters, us back in a kind of time travel. At the
such as Milton Glaser’s famous illus- same time, they offer us, perhaps,
tration of Bob Dylan (above). refreshing ways to reflect upon our Woman’s Long Dress
by Rudi Gernreich
“The 1960s reshaped American life own time with new eyes.” late 1960s–early 1970s; wool knit
and represented an extraordinary The exhibition covers considerable with knit appliqué and trim
moment in which the arts proliferated ground. Op art and pop art are both PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

Proposal for a Campus of Monuments to All of the
Wars and Interventions of the United States
ink on paper, 47x87
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KOPLIN DEL RIO GALLERY, SEATTLE
Sandow Birk’s Monumental Satires

PROGRAPHICA/KDR • SEATTLE • PROGRAPHICADRAWINGS.COM
CLOSED FEBRUARY 24
The work of Los Angeles artist “American Quran,” which constitutes

Sandow Birk is unapologetically ambi- a hand-drawn transcription of the
tious, squarely taking aim at broad entire Quran, juxtaposed with scenes Rediscover the
and complex social, cultural and polit-
ical issues. He creates intricate
of contemporary American life.
“Trumpagruel” is a more recent series
MAGIC that is
drawings and prints that investigate
the paradoxes of contemporary life
of lithographs inspired by the work of
the medieval writer FranÇois
WATERCOLOR
with Gordon Mackezie
and often shine an uncomfortable Rabelais—a satirist extraordinaire
spotlight on hypocrisy. Recent work who worked on a grand scale and may
by the artist was on display this win- be something of a kindred spirit to
ter in the exhibition “Monumental.” Birk. The series “American Procession”
Birk generally works in series, and consists of three massive woodblock
the pieces on view spanned several prints measuring as long as 17 feet,
projects. One of these was “Imaginary showing allegorical processions of lib-
Monuments,” an ongoing series begun eral and conservative figures from
in 2007 depicting fantastical monu- American history. The series is a col-
ments inspired by real-world texts of laboration with his wife, Elyse
historical significance, ranging in Pignolet, also an artist.
scope from the Constitution to the Birk is a graduate of the Otis-
Miranda warning. The drawings pos- Parsons Art Institute (now Otis
sess a scathing sense of injustice and College of Art and Design), in Los
irony, which comes across in titles Angeles, and is the recipient of a
such as Proposal for a Monument to the Guggenheim Fellowship and a
Prison Industrial Complex and Proposal Fulbright Fellowship, among other
for a Monument to American awards and grants. His work is found
Sanctimony (The Slaves’ Petition). in the collections of the Museum of R2336
9781440348778
Large and immensely detailed, the Modern Art, the Metropolitan
drawings evoke Old Master etchings Museum of Art and the Los Angeles To learn more about the full range of Artists Network
by artists such as Albrecht Dürer and County Museum of Art, among oth- products, including North Light books,
Jacques Callot. ers. More of his work can be seen at visit Artistsnetwork.com
Other series represented included sandowbirk.com.
Outfit RETREAT
Tuscany Calling
w hat does it mean to “capture” a place? Often, words

fail. If you’ve ever tried to explain what’s so great
about your hometown to someone who’s never been
there, you know how tough it can be. Maybe that’s why we’ve
become so reliant on Instagram to document our day-to-day
experiences. But there seems to be a growing awareness that
snapping a photo can’t replicate what it means to fully live in a
moment and capture a place, no matter how amazing the loca-
tion or how flattering the filter.
That’s why we’re so excited to begin a new series of Artists
Network Retreats. Not only will you get to immerse yourself
fully in your work but you’ll also truly get to know a place. We
SUNRISE: DOUGLAS PEARSON/GETTY IMAGES; UFFIZI: HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES;

begin our international series with a Retreat to Tuscany this
GELATO: EDUCATION IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES; VESPA, FLORENCE: GETTY IMAGES

September 16 to 22, a weeklong art pilgrimage to the Italian
For more information
countryside and Tenuta di Spannocchia, an 1,100-acre organic
about the Retreat to
farm and historic estate nestled in the Tuscan hills.
Tuscany, visit
Join watercolorist Thomas Schaller and oil painter
ArtistsNetwork.com/
Melanie Vote in this unique location to deepen your skills
retreat-tuscany-2018.
and revitalize your painting practice. You’ll connect to the
natural world and see your willingness to explore and to be
challenged reflected in your work. As Schaller writes, “As art-
ists, I believe it is our job to learn how to see; how to identify
what it is that will result in the best possible paintings; paint-
ings that tell the stories we wish to tell.”
Vote explains that her group will “focus on capturing the spe-
cific allure of Spannocchia’s environment. Students will explore
the landscape in a slightly different fashion by creating a
portrait of Spannocchia.” Once attendees have soaked up the
sun and serenity in the countryside, the final day of the trip
takes the group to Florence for dining and sightseeing in the
playground of the Old Masters.
Instead of just going somewhere for a vacation, why not
make the decision to fully experience a place, all while deepen-
ing your skills and your love of painting? Tuscany is waiting.

SPANNOCCHIA | SEPTEMBER 16-22, 2018
INSTRUCTORS
Immersive. Transportive.
Restorative.
Join Artists Network for Retreat to Tuscany, a
weeklong art pilgrimage to the Italian countryside.
Two celebrated painter-instructors, Melanie Vote
and Thomas Schaller will mentor you toward the
creation of your best work during intimate oil and
watercolor workshops that will take full advantage
of the gorgeous surroundings and rustic setting.
Thomas Schaller
Space is limited to the first 20 registrants.

Register today!
RE GIS T E R
ArtistsNetwork.com/Retreat-Tuscany-2018
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ARTISTS MARKETPLACE
KALINE CARTER • KALINE.CARTER@FWMEDIA.COM • 505-506-7698 | MARY MCLANE • MARY.MCLANE@FWMEDIA.COM • 970-290-6065
Wildlife Exhibition July 21 - August 26, 2018. This DEADLINE: JULY 15, 2018
Canvas Floater Frames juried exhibit features 2D & 3D original works of fine THE PHILADELPHIA WATER COLOR SOCIETY’S 118TH
Best Quality - Selection - Price art depicting the beauty and diversity of the natural ANNIVERSARY INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF
world, incl. landscapes, plants, birds, wildlife, etc. WORKS ON PAPER, October 14 - November 24, 2018,
Service - Low Wholesale Prices All media. No giclees. $5,000 in awards; $2,000 top Wayne, PA. Juror of Selection - Alan Wylie. Judge of
NO MINIMUM - FREE SHIPPING prize. Entry fee: $45 for 3 images. Contact Awards - Alvaro Castagnet. Over $8,000 in prizes.
ON SELECT SIZES - Plein Air 904/824-2310. Apply online www.staaa.org PWCS accepts the following mediums on paper:
Frames too - custom sizes ok Watercolor, pastel, charcoal, graphite, colored
DEADLINE: JUNE 11, 2018 pencils, gouache, pen/ink, acrylic and hand-pulled
framersoutlet.com 800.228.8527 PASTEL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. THE 46TH ANNUAL prints. On-line submissions accepted beginning
OPEN JURIED EXHIBITION: Enduring Brilliance! April 1 through July 15, 2018. For prospectus and
at the National Arts Club, New York City,
C a l l Fo r E n t r ie s September 4-29, 2018. Soft pastels only. More
than $40,000 in awards. Online digital entries only.
additional info: www.pwcsociety.org
DEADLINE AUGUST 6, 2018
DEADLINE: BI-MONTHLY Download prospectus after March 15th at NEW ORLEANS ART ASSOCIATION NATIONAL
IVORY AND LEAD ONLINE ARTIST COMPETITION is www.pastelsocietyofamerica.org or send SASE OPEN JURIED EXHIBITION in New Orleans, LA.
for artists working in traditional 2D media. Contests (#10) to Pastel Society of America, 15 Gramercy Park October 1-29, 2018. Juror and Judge Qiang Huang.
run bi-monthly with a grand prize of $1,000 and South, New York, NY 10003. Info 212/533-6931 or Over $5,000 in cash awards, $2,500 1st Place. Qiang
many other prizes totaling nearly $3,000. One- psaoffice@pastelsocietyofamerica.org Huang will conduct a 3 day workshop October 2-4.
time registration fee of $25 and a $15 fee per entry See www.noartassoc.org for more information.
(unlimited). Check out the prospectus, current DEADLINE: JUNE 13, 2018 Prospectus and registration/entry at
deadline, and current juror at IvoryandLead.com Showsubmit.com
LOUISIANA: 49TH ANNUAL RIVER ROAD SHOW.
DEADLINE: MAY 1, 2018 A national juried exhibition sponsored by Art
ART AT THE OPOMAC 2018 NATIONAL COMPETITION.
For 2 & 3 dimensional art. Enter through
Guild of Louisiana (formerly Louisiana Art and
Artists’ Guild). Open to all U.S. artists 18+ (except Wo r k s h o p s
onlinejuriedshows.com by May 1 for June 22 - July 31 photography or digitally enhanced). Work must be ALABAMA
show and sale at the Old Post Office Museum & Art original and created within the last 2 years. Juror:
Center in Graham, TX. Best of Show prize: $2,500. Iain Stewart. $40 for first 3 entries (maximum 10). Huntsville Museum of Art
Juror: Gay Faulkenberry. Prospectus available at $4,000+ in cash and merchandise awards. Exhibit 5/3-5/6/18, HUNTSVILLE. David Dunlop, Natural
www.opomac.net is September 4-27 at the Louisiana State Archives Elements; Painting with the Masters, Old & New
Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA. Prospectus on website; Techniques.
DEADLINE: JUNE 1, 2018 artguildlouisiana.org/river-road-show. 6/1-6/2/18, HUNTSVILLE. Alan Shuptrine,
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF EXPERIMENTAL Contact: Claudia LeJeune, 225/292-2004 or Realistic Watercolor Landscapes.
ARTISTS 27TH ANNUAL JURIED EXHIBITION, rrs@artguildlouisiana.org 8/16-8/18/18, HUNTSVILLE. Keith Andry,
September 4 - October 29, 2018. OCCA/VAC Strong Design & Bold Strokes in Watercolor.
- Runyon Gallery, Newport, Oregon with an DEADLINE: JUNE 28, 2018 10/18-10/21/18, HUNTSVILLE. David Shevlino,
educational symposium to be held in the same 50TH ANNUAL WATERCOLOR WEST INTERNATIONAL Alla Prima Clothed Figure & Portrait Painting.
location September 21-28, 2018. Juror: Ruth JURIED EXHIBITION. Call for Entries. Online only. 11/9-11/11/18, HUNTSVILLE. Lian Quan Zhen,
Armitage. $10,000 in awards. Digital entries Juror: Katherine Chang Liu. Approximately $20,000 Watercolor Painting: Let the Colors Paint
accepted April 1 - June 1, 2018 on CaFE’: Themselves.
CallforEntry.org, search ISEA. ISEA members $30; Cash and Merchandise Awards. Entry Fee for 1-2
nonmembers $70. entries is $50 Members and $60 Non-Members. Only 11/15-11/17/18, HUNTSVILLE. Perry Austin,
Transparent Watercolor on Rag Paper. Exhibition Painting the Landscape in Oils.
DEADLINE: JUNE 4, 2018 from October 13 - December 16, 2018. City of Brea Contact: Laura E. Smith, Director of Education/
ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. The St. Augustine Art Art Gallery, Brea, CA. Visit www.watercolorwest.org Museum Academy, 256/535-4350 x222
Association presents the 9th Annual Nature & for prospectus and information. lsmith@hsvmuseum.org or hsvmuseum.org
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ARTISTS MARKETPLACE
KALINE CARTER • KALINE.CARTER@FWMEDIA.COM • 505-506-7698 | MARY MCLANE • MARY.MCLANE@FWMEDIA.COM • 970-290-6065
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Norcross, GA – Apr 11-14 Montgomery, NY – June 2-3
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Weeklong classes in painting, Perry, IA – May 15-17 Boone, NC – Aug 20-24
drawing, mixed media and more. LAUTERBRUNNEN, SWITZERLAND - June 17-27
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Lasting impression
Doppelgänger
#13-37
by Lynn Stern
photograph,
22x24
Relentlessly focusing on the skull as an abstract thing in itself as

well as a memento mori, Lynn Stern’s photographs remind us of skulls’
absurd beauty and ominous import. She fearlessly looks into the skull’s
hollow eyes and caresses its firm surface, absorbed in the dialectic of its
concavities and convexities, even as she reminds us that it is the most
lasting part of our bodies. Covering a skull with a scrim—a semitransparent
shroud—lighting it in various ways and sometimes elevating it on a
pedestal, as though it was a sculptural idol to be worshipped, Stern shows
her obsessive fascination with light and shadow, their subtle, changing
interplay being the expressive and aesthetic substance of the photograph.
However artfully staged and however much we know there is no life in
them, Stern’s skulls bristle with raw power and inner life. There is nothing
like them in the history of photography (or painting). They are a major
achievement, each one making a lasting impression on us.
D O N A L D KU S P I T
historian and critic

A-; Art Materials are still
In an era when most artist materials are

being made in China, Wisconsin Crafts-
men still make every BEST™ Oak
Easel by hand, tenon every BEST™
Stretcher Bar, mill every Richeson
Oil Paint and Richeson Casein
Paint and construct every Richeson
Gessoed Panel with care so that you
can be confident that your artwork will
last and that you command the price
your artwork deserves.
Call 1.800.233.2404 for your nearest

Richeson Art Materials dealer.
www.richesonart.com

The Artists Magazine - May 2018

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The Artists Magazine - May 2018

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ALL NEW!

Save the Art

+ SEE ROME IN 3 DAYS

Illustration by Ben Copperwheat

2 Artists Magazine May 2018

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The cornerstone of our celebration is VP, CONSUMER MARKETING John Phelan

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4 Artists Magazine May 2018

ALLISON ROBERTO MANUEL

It’s back! Cobalt Teal

In 2012 GOLDEN genuine Cobalt Teal was removed from all

8 Artists Magazine May 2018

r oy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) is not an artist whose work waits

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, D.C.

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10 Artists Magazine May 2018

Sepia ink was traditionally made from

NOT A DAY OVER 900

w e generally associate animation with Saturday

tate life with moving images. In its earliest

LEFT AND BELOW

cannot re-create the personality and imperfect charm of

14 Artists Magazine May 2018

The Perceptual Moment

Plein Air in Sedona

Dusty Trails Pastel Immersion

Wet and Wild

Vivid Florals in Oil

Colored Pencil Adventure

Grand Canyon Plein Air

Colored Pencil Adventure

Summer Colony Workshops

Sedona Summer Colony Contemporary Mixed Media

16 Artists Magazine May 2018

Schematic Map of Rome (detail)

already become an important pilgrimage destination Foro

Piazza del Popolo in the north to San Giovanni in Laterano

18 Artists Magazine May 2018

CONFERENCE TUITION: $495 MEMBERS ~ $595 NON-MEMBERS

Toll-free 1-877-772-4321 info@portraitsociety.org www.portraitsociety.org

Away From It All

“Unfortunately you are in a hurry, in a hurry, no doubt, to go and do things

20 Artists Magazine May 2018

i n the bustling helter-skelter of

Daniel Eduvijes Carrera, media

The Shenandoah Art

SOLITUDE: RETREAT FINDER

22 Artists Magazine May 2018

PAINTING & DRAWING

n early 30 years ago, British artist Timothy Richards found him-

< ALL HANDS ON DECK

24 Artists Magazine May 2018

“Buildings are like humans; they

Through this process I get closer to that history and to the

26 Artists Magazine May 2018

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TIMOTHY

n oticing light at play on an object is an early challenge many artists

WHO YA’ GONNA CALL?

ferent materials, his drawings come to Impenetrable Room

28 Artists Magazine May 2018

into the shop and we figure stuff out—really small