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Archive for March, 2012

Music and Art

Posted in Art Theory, Music and Art, My Paintings UTPA MFA, My Sculptures UTPA MFA, tagged , , , on March 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A last burst of creativity before the semester ends:  Chad Farris gives us a list of bands and tells us to “pick a band and do a piece using each song on the CD”. My pick is GRAILS …”Grails is the premier instrumental rock act of the Northeast Portland area. An emerging new artist, ready to take the word by storm.” And they do! Just check the title of the CD I bought: “The Burden of Hope”. Then the titles of the songs they collectively wrote: Canyon Hymn, White Flag, Broken Ballad, Space Prophet Dogan, Invocation, In The Beginning, The Deed, and Lord I Hate Your Day. Yes, they are inventive with their words … words used carefully with lots of connotations.

My sculpture/painting used each song as one of the torn, painted pieces of watercolor paper covering a wooden base and crowned with a glistening seashell … three cheers for music and mystery!

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Art and Authors

Posted in My Paintings UTPA MFA, Paintings, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , , on March 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Here are 4 pieces of “art” relating to various authors …an assignment in 2D class.

Read their books and produce a visual piece relating to each author was the assignment .. .so here are Anais Nin, then Allen Ginsberg, then Ai (Florence Anthony) and finally Jack London. Having visited the house Jack London lived in, I chose to paint the California hills around his house.  Ginsberg was intense and somber so hopefully his painting reflects that … Anais was flamboyant … Ai was all “heart”.  A tribute to them all!

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Olga Escobedo … new work …

Posted in Paintings, UTPA MFA, tagged on March 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

Olga Escobedo "ojo de venado"

Olga Escobedo "Ojo de Venado"

The first painting is of a child with a pacifier and features a bracelet (or amulet) against the evil eye.  She called it “ojo de venado”.

Olga Escobedo "Ill Child"

Olga Escobedo "Ill Child"

The second painting is of an ill child who has been given a healing herb … a plant to heal fright.  They are doing a ritual to banish fear.

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Aesthetic Categories Tea Service

Posted in Art Theory, My Sculptures UTPA MFA, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , on March 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

After perusing the Fall 2011 issue of Cabinet magazine (a magazine of Art and Culture) I was tempted to visualize the categories Professor S. Ngai discussed in her article. The words used to discuss art was her topic. They include Cute, Disgusting. Zany, Merely Interesting, Interesting and Sublime … sorry, no discussion of Beautiful. I could not resist the temptation to pick out some bowls, which were to be discarded in the ceramics lab, and paint them and arrange them as a Tea Service … in a portable tray … to deposit on a table with a pot of hot tea. Prof. Hyslin had instructed us to use the Majolica glaze and produce some objects.

"Aesthetic Categories Tea Service"

"Aesthetic Categories Tea Service" with Cabinet Magazine

Here it is!!  Tea in aesthetic bowls!! The kewpie doll in the magazine also illustrates the “cute” category.

"Aesthetic Categories Tea Service" close up

"Aesthetic Categories Tea Service" close up

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Here is one corner of my studio with my version of the world of Palms …

Posted in My Sculptures UTPA MFA, Sculpture, UTPA MFA, tagged , , , , on March 1, 2012| 1 Comment »

Palms in the wind! Palms with icicles!

Here is the corner of my studio dedicated to the idea of palms … great colors and very sharp spines up and down the stem.

Gingerly is the way to handle the fronds. In the wind they spiral down to clonk you on the head … when they are covered with ice they fall from 30 feet up and impale flowers, dogs, and people. Wear a hat!

In the last four years that I have been in the Rio Grande Valley two years had a couple days of icy weather. We cover all the flowers and shrubs with plastic and cross our fingers. As dawn rises the palms are coated in ice and shine and sparkle. As the sun comes up the ice coating begins to slide off the palms as they are 40 feet in the air and then watch out!! A sliver of ice could be six inches long and sharp as a knife … it simulates the edges of the palm frond. How exhilarating to watch them descend as you hop around to avoid a hit!

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