January 16, 2010, Michaele Harrington

Michaele Harringon was our guest speaker at the Senior Artists Alliance meeting on January 16, 2010.

Over 40 SAA members attended.
She talked about "critiquing your art work".  Members who wanted to have their paintings, photos, prints or sculptures critiqued brought a work of art to the meeting.

 
All participating members joined in the discussions.  This was a very interesting session.
 

The speaker, Michaele Harrington, is best described is a practicing fine artist and art educator at colleges in the Baltimore-Washington area.  She has exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally and conducts workshops in experimental water media.  Her own work explores two and three dimensions, which express her interest in psychology, archetypes and personal symbolism. 

 

Best described as an "eclectic artist," Ms. Harrington presented a format with which to critique art using: five ELEMENTS OF DESIGN:  LINE   SHAPE  VALUE  TEXTURE and  COLOR.  She then discussed the Organization of these design elements into the PRINCIPLES OF HARMONY and PRINCIPLES OF VARIETY.  Principles of Harmony include Repetition, Rhythm, and Visual Links while Principles of Variety include Factors, Difference (light/dark), Contrast (large/small areas) and Elaboration (detailed/simple).  Ms. Harrington suggested deciding on a focal point and orchestrating a crescendo around your focal point (rest place) to hold people's attention (squinting helps to select that point).  She mentioned that one should avoid putting the focal point at the edge of the work.  Another aspect of creating art is the POINT OF VIEW which includes Balance, Proportion, Dominance, Movement, Economy (strip to the bare essentials), Space (generally avoid dividing in half), and Unity.  Ms. Harrington noted that when all of the above elements work together to create a space, you have unity.  This is the technical aspect of the art.

 

To Ms. Harrington's mind, creating art is a conversation between the developing art and the artist.  She feels you reach a point where you must be willing to let the work exist on it's own.  For her, a painting is never finished.  She leaves a work alone for a couple of months, after it is 80% complete, and then looks at it again.

 

The members present then had an opportunity to present one work each to Ms. Harrington to critique jointly with the audience using the principles discussed earlier and how they viewed the art..

 

The afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed by all present as indicated by the rapt attention , participation, and questions.

 

Submitted by Arlene K. Polangin

November 14, 2009, David Pellish

SAA member David Pellish discussed his unique kinetic art., 2:00 at the Davis Library.  

 

He got our attention!

Introducing a New Direction in Contemporary Art - David Pellish   Sixty years ago when I was in graduate school, I experimented with various materials and techniques to produce a sense of motion in art. Since my retirement in 1994, I have returned to focus on technology and tools in order to update my original concept. The results have been artwork that incorporates dynamic designs creating visions in motion. Traditional wall art is static and the artist uses color and designs to develop an imaginative work.  For example, in landscape images the artist leads the viewer's eyes down a path or brook within lines merging towards the horizon. Sculpture is three dimensional and the viewer moves around the piece to gain different perspectives on the work of art. My goal was to add the element of motion to engage the observer into interacting with my wall art. I achieved this goal without the use of mechanical devices.  The motion is created when an observer moves his or her head slightly from side to side. Dave emphasized several times during his presentation that his goal is to inspire people to think of motion as another aspect of contemporary art.  After his degrees in art and architecture, although he loved art, he practiced architecture with several government agencies emphasizing Bauhaus architecture, which eliminated any unnecessary pediments and fripperies, that is, free of unnecessary embellishment.  He also explained the process he used to create this more intimate connection between the observer and the art.

His joy comes from watching individuals interact with his art.

October 10, 2009, Bruce Blum

SAA member Bruce Blum, "Photographs on Canvas - Amplifying Quality Snapshots".

Bruce Blum is in his seventh decade of photography -- always an amateur.  He started to exhibit again in 1990, and has done well.  Always a black and white photographer, he expanded to color in the mid 90s and used Photoshop to print his color images.  He started shooting in digital around 2000, moved from small point-and-shoot to an SLR, and turned exclusively digital several years ago.  He will give a short and a long answer, the latter including more than you may want to know about digital printing.

Click for Bruce Blum's web site.

September 12, 2009, Nannette Blinchikoff

The Business of Art with Nannette Clapman Blinchikoff

Attention Artists: If you want to learn how-to promote yourself and how-to market your art in today’s arena, this is the lecture for you! Nannette is a sculptor and author of Promoting Art with Integrity. She uses her Five Steps of Promotion to offer perspectives from both the artist and gallery point of view; and provide countless ideas, practical exercises, and ways to adapt mainstream sales techniques to help the artist become more professional. Books will be available for purchase at the event ($20).

Nannette Clapman Blinchikoff finds her self-worth through her art. She has created it, taught it, critiqued it, lectured on it, and wrote books about promoting it. This part of her identity is both invigorating and fulfilling.

Her sculpture can be found in public and private art collections and has been seen in numerous local, national, and international exhibitions, since 1972. She began researching promotional options for artists in 1983. Her business-of-artbooks, lectures, workshops, and private-tutoring sessions are useful tools for artists interested in marketing their art. After earning her Bachelor of Science (1975) and Master of Education (1984) degreesfrom Towson University, she used her master thesis as the basis of her Promoting FineArt books.

Promoting Art with Integrity, Nannette's most recent book, offers perspectives from

both the artist and gallery point of view, while providing countless ideas, practical

exercises, and unique methods to adapt mainstream sales techniques to help artists

become more professional.

Visit Nannette's web site at www.ncbenterprises.com  to see excerpts from Promoting Art with Integrity.

July 22, 2009, Murray Stein

MURRAY STEIN WAS BACK IN TOWN FOR THE SUMMER AND DEMONSTRATED HIS TECHNIQUES FOR PRODUCING HIS AWARD-WINNING SEGMENTED WOOD BOWL TURNINGS.

As an artist, Murray says multi-colored wood is his palette, his chisels are his brushes and his lathe is his easel.   During his talk, he passed around partially assembled pieces of segmentation, so the class could see the steps taken in building up these unusual vessels. 

The  technique lends itself to replicating Native American pottery, which are his favorites, but he also has a collection of hi-tech UFOs equipped with electronics, as well as an ‘International Collection’ consisting of replicas of vessels from all over the world.

June 20, 2009, Bonita Tabakin

Since 1982 Bonita Tabakin-Latterner has exclusively studied color, shape, and contour figures. In 1965 she interned with Picasso who caused this path.  Later she exclusively focused on where Color lives and how it moves in the universe under L. Colbert Dubois and has intuitively worked with pure color to advance healing. Her extensive research reflected famous scientists, medical doctors, and surgeons proved her intuition and experiences accurate.  Through an interactive presentation, she's inviting us into the whirling swirling irresdescent jeweled luminous soft 4rth world creations which have sparked her recovery and turbocharged others.  All adults are welcomed.  She's invited a scientist who is also a journalist in this field and a medical doctor involved with building a $39 + million facility for advancing supplemental healings under one roof to assist in the question and answer phase of this knowledge.

May 2, 2009 Sam Noto

At his home in his sculpture garden  

417 Hillmoor Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20901

 (301) 593-8546, FAX (301) 593-0426, Cell (240) 893-7827

 samnoto@aol.com        www.samnoto.com

"The struggle with limits is actually the source of creative productions" - The approach to making sculpture that serves me best is one of sensing and evolving an idea. My intuitive approach to sculptural form, design, and content usually results in a more direct expression of my vision.   I am a maker of objects. The materials I choose that respond to any space my be metal, stone, water, or light. I strive to establish a stable intimate garden presence, a point of interested, intended to act as a visual settling point from nature’s chaos. My desire is to design and develop objects that establish a visual relationship with the surrounding environment. In the making, the practical aspects are taken into consideration that is low maintenance and reasonable rates.