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| Mist by Donalee Nelson |
Some Thoughts on the Creative Process
I remember watching an interview with Maya Angelou
after she had delivered the poem she had written for Bill Clinton’s first inaugural.
She and the interviewer were discussing what an honor it was, and Angelou
commented that if she had had more time it would have been better. The
interviewer took that to mean that she would have added more and the poem would
have been longer. Ms. Angelou corrected her saying that the poem would have
been shorter. I understood what she meant. Being able to make a point with
fewer words is an art and has more impact. The same is true with painting and
sculpture. Years before, I had seen a series of drawings of a woman’s head by
Matisse. As he progressed the artist used fewer and fewer lines for the
portraits, though it was easy to see that they were of the same model. I seem
to remember a series of sculptures of a woman’s head by Picasso that become
simpler and simpler as they progress. These two series are just examples of
works in museums that demonstrate this way of working. Both artists worked in
series, especially Picasso, and many artists paint the same subject over and
over again. Manet painted a beautiful series of floral bouquets near the end of
his life. Of course, Monet’s haystacks are unforgettable as he painted them many
times while experimenting with different light and color. An artist I know
paints, works with stones and currently is working primarily with wood. As a
master craftsman he continues to make a series of boxes. None are the same, but they are all of wood and they are all boxes. Another
friend who is a printmaker drafts many versions of the same print, moving various
elements around until she is satisfied. Most great artists are inventors and
their work changes the way we see things. It stands to reason that by repeating
a process new discoveries will be made and work simplified. Like everything in
life, artistic experimentation is just plain hard work albeit joyful, tempered
with inspiration, chance and just doing it…over and over again.
Where you can see my
artwork
Check out my artwork at Rons. For further information
call the shop at 805.489.4747. Rons is located at 850 W. Grand
in Grover Beach a few blocks from the train station, a golf course and the
beautiful Pacific Ocean. For more information go to Rons website at www.ronsingroverbeach.com or find
him on facebook.
Highlight
In
1962 Mark Rothko was asked to paint six murals for Harvard’s penthouse dining
room at Holyoke Center. He took no payment but asked that the murals be
displayed together and that curtains be drawn to preserve the color of the paintings.
Only five were ever displayed and apparently the request for drawn curtains was
ignored and partiers added to the damage by splashing drinks on the canvases.
Hence, by 1979 it became apparent that significant damage had occurred. The
damage was so complete that the murals were taken down, could no longer be
displayed and traditional restoration techniques were of no help. Finally,
after twenty years of research and new technology a unique restoration process
was found. The original colors have been digitally projected onto the canvases
where they are being displayed in the Harvard Art Museum. Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals will be open now through July
2015. Details are available at www.harvardartmuseum.org
right now.
Not To Be Missed –Museum
Exhibits
California: The Golden Years is an ongoing exhibit at the Bowers Museum in
Santa Ana. Featured are 22 paintings done in the late 19th and early
20th century by some of the best California artists. Included are
Elmer Wachtel, William Wendt and Gardner Symons. First Californians features the museum’s vast collection of
Native American art and is also an ongoing installation. Information is
available at www.bowers.org
Marsden
Hartley: The German Paintings 1913-1915 features twenty-nine paintings by this
American modernist artist. These years spent working in Berlin were profoundly
impacted by World War I and reflected a change in Hartley’s style as he
incorporated many military and Native American symbols in his work. The exhibit
marks the first time in thirty years that the artist’s work has been seen in
Southern California and coincides with the centennial of WWI. It is currently
at LACMA through November 30, 2014. Details can be found here at www.lacma.org
Andy
Warhol: Shadows is now at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (Grand Avenue)
through February 15, 2015 and is the first West Coast showing of this monumental
work. The painting, comprised of 102 parts, was done in 1978-79. The series was
conceived as one work with two different compositions that are variously silk
screened or hand painted. Much of it is repetitive and varies from somber to
electric. What a treat to see it as Warhol intended…together in one space. Also
at MOCA (Pacific Design Center) is Songs
for the Witch Woman which is on view through January 11, 2015. Cameron,
the artist, became the link between the Los Angeles spiritual and art worlds as
she explored mysticism, the avant-garde and beatnik film movement. She painted mythological figures influenced
by works of Latin American and European surrealists. It should be an interesting show. Check out www.moca.org for information on both shows.
Come January next year Pepperdine’s Weisman Museum
of Art will host Chuck Close, Face
Forward through April of 2015. Close changed how portraiture was done
with his large scale paintings of faces. He has continued to experiment using
not only traditional printmaking methods but has been innovative using tapestry
and rubber stamps for instance. This should be an exciting exhibit and one to
look forward to. Go to
The
Art, Design and Architecture Museum at the University of California at Santa
Barbara features a retrospective of the work of architect Barton Myers through
December 12. Barton Myers: Works of
Architecture and Urbanism follows the fifty year career of the famous
architect. Best known for his glass and
steel pavilion structures, the exhibit also features his prolific theatre
design work. His most recent theatre design opens in Orlando, Florida on Myers
80th birthday in November. www.ucsb.edu
has more details.
When Art Rocked: San Francisco Music Posters
1966-1971 is currently at the
SFO Museum at San Francisco’s International Airport. The exhibition presents
art and artifacts from the 1960’s San Francisco music scene. An amazing amount
of work, particularly posters, was produced at the time. There are 150 posters
as part of the exhibit. The display is open to all airport visitors through
March 22, 2015. More information is available at www.flysfo.com/museum where you can
also see the exhibit on line.
Nearing the end
of its run at the Seattle Art Museum, From
Abstract Expression to Colored Planes focuses on the juxtaposition
between the expressive abstract style of earlier artists such as Hoffmann,
Gorky, Frankenthaler and Pollock and the later hard edge abstraction practiced
by Stella, Kelly and Held. Obtain more information at www.seattleartmuseum.org before the
show closes November 9, 2014.
The War Begins: Clyfford Still’s
Path to Abstraction begins
October 10 and runs through the middle of January next year. At the Clyfford
Still Museum in Denver, Colorado, the exhibit marks the third anniversary of
the museum’s opening. The 65 works
created between 1939 and 1945 have never been viewed publicly and mark a major
change in the artist’s work. He is a favorite artist of mine and this should be
an exciting exhibit. Currently the museum is hosting The Art of Conservation: Understanding Clyfford Still. Check out www.clyffordstillmuseum.org for all the
details.
Currently
at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri is The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth
& Sky. This promises to be a wonderful exhibit. I have an
incredible catalogue that is from an exhibit they did in the 1970s called
“Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art.” This exhibit
which opened September 19 will bring together Plains Indian masterworks
gathered from European and American collections. With over 140 pieces
representing many nations from Arapaho to Quapaw and a wide array of painting,
drawing, clothing and sculpture it is a massive collaboration between the
Nelson-Atkins, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musee du quai Branly in
Paris. The exhibit closes January 11, 2015. Check out www.nelson-atkins.org
for more information.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C has the
largest collection of existing wax sculptures done by Degas. His paintings of
the ballet and its dancers are iconic. Degas’s Little Dancer highlights
one of his most popular sculptures. Little
Dancer; Aged Fourteen was groundbreaking when first shown in 1881. It is
the only version done by the artist’s own hand and the only sculpture he ever
showed publically. The sculpture was not carved but wax was added over a metal
armature and bulked up with wood, rope and old paint brushes. The dancer wears
a wig of human hair and was clothed in a tutu of silk and cotton. The exhibit
also includes 14 other works such as monotypes, smaller statues, the pastel Ballet Scene and the oil painting The Dance Class. The show concludes
January 11, 2015. The gallery’s website at www.nga.gov
has more information.
After World War II it seemed that portraiture was
dead. Many abstract painters did continue to paint portraits and Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of
Abstraction covers the period from 1945- 1975. Works by de Kooning,
Close, Pearlstein and the famous portraits of Jamie Wyeth of Warhol and of
Wyeth by Warhol are included in the exhibit at Washington D.C.’s National
Portrait Gallery. It goes through this year into the first few weeks of
January. Check out http://www.npg.si.edu
for more information.
Story Book:
Narrative in Contemporary Art is at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in
Madison, Wisconsin through July 1, 2015. Curated by Dr. Rick Axsom, the exhibit
draws from the museum’s permanent holdings and focuses on the diverse ways that
artists tell stories. Traditionally, many visual artists based work on
religious, mythological or historic subjects. Many have told a story in a
single work while others have used multiples to get a tale across…still others
have continued to focus on a single subject their entire careers. Some artists
explored a single literary work, like Colescott who took on Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice and expressed his take
on the famous work with his painting called Venice.
This exhibit explores the relationship between visual art and the narrative and
the diverse ways that various contemporary artists choose to incorporate
storytelling in their art. Story telling through images remains as viable now
as it has in the past. For more information go to www.mmoca.org.
An exciting exhibit at the Detroit Institute of
Arts features a virtual who’s who of painters. Ordinary People by Extraordinary Artists: Works on Paper by Degas,
Renoir and Friends opened September 19 and goes through March 29, 2015.
The show features works by these artists as well as Lautrec, Manet, Gauguin,
Bonnard and others. It focuses on the drawings and renderings made by these
artists of ordinary people, many of which were studies for larger works. It
should be a stunning as well as interesting show. If you are in town be sure to check it out. www.dia.org has all the information.
The New Whitney will open this spring and has many
wonderful exhibits set for the inaugural year in its new digs. I’m looking
forward to Frank Stella; A Retrospective
set to open in the fall of 2015. The show will feature approximately 120 works
covering the career of one of the most important contemporary artists of our
time from the ‘50s through his current works. Check www.whitney.org for all the details.
Henri
Matisse: The Cut-Outs was conceived when one of MoMA s prized cut-outs
needed conservation to bring it back to its full beauty. MoMA owns the only
cut-out that Matisse conceived for a particular room, his dining room in Nice. The Swimming Pool which has been the
subject of conservation is the centerpiece of this exhibit along with over 100
other pieces. This is the largest exhibit of these pieces ever mounted. Along
with it the museum also presents MoMA
Studio: Beyond the Cut-Outs which allows exhibit goers to learn by doing
and seeing. The exhibit runs through February 8, 2015. Go to www.MoMa.org for further information.
Picasso
and the Camera is the featured exhibit for the current season at the Gagosian Gallery
in New York. Curated by Picasso biographer, John Richardson, the exhibit runs
through January 3, 2015. The focus of the exhibit is how Picasso used the
camera in his work. As he worked on sculptures he chronicled changes he made by
taking photos to see the work at different angles. The photos helped him to
conceive of changes he might make. He also photographed the friends and women
in his life that were his models. Check www.newyork@gagosian,com for
details.
The Albright Knox Gallery is a little gem of a
museum in Buffalo, New York. If you are in the area be sure and check it out. Love
this gallery. There are many fine exhibits here but I am looking forward to Giving Up One’s Mark: Helen
Frankenthaler in the 1960s and 1970s which runs November 9, 2014 –
February 15, 2015. It focuses on her transition from the use of oil to acrylic
paints and from gestural abstractions to images of consolidated color. She is
an all time favorite of mine. All the details are at the website www.albrightknox.org so be sure and
take a peek.
Thomas
Hart Benton’s America Today Mural
Rediscovered will be at the Metropolitan Museum in New York from September 30 – April
10, 2015. The mural was donated by the AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company. It
was painted for the boardroom of New York’s New School for Social Research and
the setting for the ten panel mural has been replicated by the museum. An
adjacent gallery features drawings and character studies that the artist
completed as he worked on America Today. Another
gallery includes works from the museum’s collections which are relevant to the
mural. Jackson Pollock was one of Benton’s students so some of his work is
included. He also served as a model for the mural. Pollock once said that it
took him a long time to shake off Benton’s influence on his work. Now at the
Met also is Cubism: the Leonard A.
Lauder Collection. Shown in public for the first time, the collection
features eighty paintings by Braque, Gris, Leger and Picasso. What a
treat. Check out www.metmuseum.org
for more information on both exhibits.
Jasper Johns is featured with an exhibit at The Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston. Jasper Johns: Picture Puzzles is
there through January 1, 2015. It features 22 works including prints, drawings
and relief sculpture. Also on display is the first retrospective of works by
artist Jamie Wyeth. Featuring
many of his portraits and preparatory drawings, the show goes through December
28. The museum’s website, www.mfa.org will
provide more information.
Simply the Best:
The best place to find books on the arts, Arcana, is a very special book
store located in the Helms Bakery complex in Los Angeles…It’s wonderful! I have
known owner Lee Kaplan for decades and his selection of books is as superb as
his taste is impeccable. Arcana: Books on the Arts is at 8675 Washington Boulevard, Culver
City, CA 90232. For information go to http://www.arcanabooks.com
or call 310.458.1499.
Michiko
Jewelry Design is
an incredible jewelry store in downtown Seal Beach, CA, featuring excellent
one-of-a-kind gifts. The shop owner and artist, Carol Matsumoto, custom designs
beautiful pieces. Michiko is
at 228 Main Street. Call 563.431.3237 for more information or check www.michikojewelrydesign.com
Places to go, People to
meet
The ultimate Holiday Party happens every year at
Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Take a walk in the past as Hearst Castle puts on its annual Christmas show and decorates
the castle as it might have been seen in the 1920’s and 30’s. Christmas at the Castle also
features docents dressed in 20’s and 30’s garb at night and visitors are
encouraged to do the same. Decorations are up through the month of December and
reservations are recommended. Go to www.hearstcastle.org
or call (800) 444.4445 for all the information.
The
Ojai film Festival starts the holiday season off with great films, shorts, animated films
and documentaries. Venues vary throughout Ojai from November 6 – 10.
Opportunities to participate in filmmaking seminars and interact with filmmakers
and celebrities are part of the festival in this beautiful rural area. www.oaifilmfestival.com or calling
(805) 640.1947 will provide information about this event.
In a drive through the area around Lompoc you will
see beautiful rolling hills and if you are fortunate to be there at the right
time of year you will be treated to the stunning show of color from the area
flower and seed farms. Known as the flower and seed capitol of the world, there
is much more to see in Lompoc. The city is home to several boutique wineries
and boasts over 100 murals on
its structures in the heart of the city. If you are headed this way be sure and
take them in and check out http://www.lompocmurals.com/
for more facts.
If you like my website be sure and check out the services offered by Sandy Crespo at www.designscrespo.com. Not only is Sandy easy to work with but her experience provides clients many options. These include freelance design and production of websites, web graphics, logos, CDs/DVDs, posters, t-shirts, stock and fine art photography, photo treatment/digital restoration/retouching, business cards, brochures, copywriting, custom greeting cards, postcards and flyers.
If you like my website be sure and check out the services offered by Sandy Crespo at www.designscrespo.com. Not only is Sandy easy to work with but her experience provides clients many options. These include freelance design and production of websites, web graphics, logos, CDs/DVDs, posters, t-shirts, stock and fine art photography, photo treatment/digital restoration/retouching, business cards, brochures, copywriting, custom greeting cards, postcards and flyers.
HAPPY
HOLIDAYS AND BEST WISHES FOR A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!
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