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Archive for October, 2011

Meet Daniel Flores

Posted in Artist Interviews, Sculpture, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , , on October 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Daniel Flores

Daniel Flores

Daniel Flores is working with the concept of line …

Daniel Flores "Blue String"

Daniel Flores "Blue String"

he has explored line in his studio with blue string, cleverly stretching it to form a shape across his studio, and with crayons …

Daniel Flores "Crayon Lines"

Daniel Flores "Crayon Lines"

he lined the crayons up on a piece of board, glued them on, and then used a heat gun to melt them, thereby producing lines of each color …”I try to produce straight lines”  he said. “It is not easy.”   We all know what a line is … don’t we??  A straight line might be “a mark which lies evenly with points of itself. ” Once we try to define it … it becomes complicated!

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3-D Class

Posted in My Sculptures UTPA MFA, Sculpture, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , , on October 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Here is the assignment in 3-D class: Make a free-standing sculpture, as tall as you are, and out of indigenous materials. In this case indigenous includes anything found around the studios.

Mary P Williams "3-D Palms"

Mary P Williams "3-D Palms"

For my person I did a representation of my painting with colorful “painters hands” using a mop, styrofoam, and paint.

Jill Carpenter "3-D Quinceanera"

Jill Carpenter "3-D Quinceanera"

Jill did a Quinceanera, or “Sweet Sixteen” figure, with all the Mexican symbols, as it is done here in the Rio Grande Valley.

Manuel Lince "3-D Torso"

Manuel Lince "3-D Torso"

Manuel surprised us all with a cast of a friend done in ground up corn husks which he mixed with glue, layered on her body, and sand-papered to finish it.(Sand-papered the white cast – not her body!)

Erika "3-D Robot"

Erika "3-D Robot"

Finally, Erika came up with an endearing Robot … out of items discarded by her teenage son … it was made of shoe boxes, cereal boxes, and old toy boxes. Very fanciful !

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Meet Alex Macias

Posted in Artist Interviews, Paintings, Sculpture, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , , on October 26, 2011| 1 Comment »

Alex Macias

Alex Macias

Here is Alex … He is good!

Macias Paper Sculptures

Macias Paper Sculptures

His paper fox figures are visually arresting … as are his wolf paintings.

Macias Wolf in Sheeps Clothing

Macias "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"

One is titled “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” … a play on words … I asked him if he had ever seen a real wolf and he answered “No!” with a twinkle in his eye.  He was busy texturing the canvas so it had a rough, raised surface which works well conveying the wolf fur he is working on.

Macias Wolf

Macias Wolf

A different way of telling the viewer “this is fur.”

Alex Macias drawing

Alex Macias drawing

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Meet Janett Pena

Posted in Artist Interviews, UTPA MFA, tagged , , on October 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Janett Pena

Janett Pena

Jannett says in her “Artists Statement” that she desires to convey her symbolic interpretation of life by painting on a canvas.  Her explanation is “the usage of wood, plexiglass, nails, wires, and anything else I can obtain can be used within my artwork.  Even found objects can be used to perceive an idea and create.”  Jannett has painted the best frog I have ever seen … see it below!

Janett Pena Frog

Janett Pena Frog

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Thoughts about the Mid-term Critique …

Posted in Art Theory, My Paintings UTPA MFA, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , on October 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Thoughts about the Mid-term critique … The students assembled at 8:30 to upload their USB’s into the computer for projection and around 9:30 some of the faculty drifted in and we began.  A timer was set to limit each persons time and an “Artists Statement” was distributed to the faculty to read.  Then they made comments on the art work and asked the artist about their “process.” Each student was to have one or two physical artworks available for the faculty to see and a set of digital images to project on the screen. Richard Phillips, art historian, often named a few artists the student could reference which pertained to the style of work the person was doing. Other faculty chimed in with remarks on style, process, and relevance to contemporary art work being done around the world. Since my painting was 4′ x 10′ I set it up during lunch break.

Drought in Texas - Climate Change

Drought in Texas - Climate Change - Are We Caring for the Planet?

All my time was used on the painting and so none of my digital photos were projected on the screen. It was a tedious process and faculty changed all the time with a few faculty staying the whole time.  We wound it all up after 4:30 and one student told me we would be getting a written evaluation at some time in the future.  Did I learn anything?  A little … and most of that listening to the review of other students. Wonder what the Final Critique in December will be like?

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Meet Ricardo Benevides

Posted in Artist Interviews, Drawings, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , on October 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

Ricardo Benevides

Ricardo Benevides

Ricardo is a teacher and father of twin one-year-old babies … Art?  Who has time for that??  However, he does make time for it and here are the works themselves.

Benevides Drawing

Benevides Drawing

He said “My work deals with violence and the flow of people back and forth over the border we live next to … I draw poor people, prostitutes, beggars, and ordinary folks and try to make a statement about how society treats them.  I have been drawing since I was a child and it comes naturally to me … just something I do.”

Benevides Drawing

Benevides Drawing

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Borders … The River of Blood

Posted in My Paintings UTPA MFA, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , on October 14, 2011| 1 Comment »

Borders ...The River of Blood

Borders ... The River of Blood

Ah, the critique! Everyone was nervous … I was first and we had a heated discussion of “Borders” and of  immigration and of the stereotype of  “white and brown” … a couple people found the painting offensive in its state of brown/white and all agreed I should try a yellow/purple combination which might unload all the race connotations … I said “Will the concept be clear to everyone if I do that?”  The group thought it would be clear that a river of blood runs between the two countries on the border.   So I re-painted it … and here it is …

Borders ...The River of Blood II

Borders ... The River of Blood II

What are your thoughts on this? Does it work?

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Meet Alex Coronado

Posted in Artist Interviews, Sculpture, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , on October 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Alex Coronado

Alex Coronado

The studio of Alex Coronado houses many sculptures.  They range from recycled styrofoam, cleverly crafted together, to massive stone sculptures.  He has lots of maquettes (small scale models) lined up to look at … a way of exploring a concept before executing a large scale model.  One of them, which is 8 feet tall, deals with Green issues and use of recycled materials.  I will certainly bring him all styrofoam objects which come my way … what he does with them has changed my mind about that material. Apparently, if heat is applied (using a heat gun), the tiny balls which styrofoam is made up of expand … change shape … Lots of possibilities!

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Palms and “palms”

Posted in My Paintings UTPA MFA, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , on October 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Palms and “palms” … Pun intended! Working bigger and enjoying it more! I am beginning a series of paintings featuring trees.

Palms

Palms

The special trees (and palms) of Texas … The UTPA campus has many unusual trees hidden here and there.

Palms ... Painting Hands

Palms ... Painting Hands

The painting of the woman has a hand of red, orange, and yellow and a hand of green, blue, indigo and violet. They are “painting hands” covered with color … utilizing the tools of our trade.

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Meet Jill Carpenter

Posted in Artist Interviews, Sculpture, UTPA MFA, tagged , , on October 3, 2011| 2 Comments »

Jill bikes around, stopping at coffee shops and other public places where her interest is people and their preoccupations and gestures. She records what she observes … then re-positions them in new scenes and environments … in oil … on canvas … a reinterpretation of the meaning of their behavior.  This could produce some wild paintings!

Self Portrait with Dog

Self Portrait with Dog

Go Jill!

Close-up of  One of Jill’s Sculptures:

Jill Carpenter Sculpture

Jill Carpenter Sculpture

Jill shares her studio with Rena Vela. Here is their studio door:

Studio Door

Studio Door

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