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The magical effect of spring on artists

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Although the weather is lagging a little, spring is definitely all around us. Beautiful pink and white buds are appearing and then blooming so quickly, leaving a beautiful blanket of colour on garden beds. The trees are transforming with abundant new growth and the birds are becoming louder each morning. This is such a fleeting time of this season, so we thought we would showcase some works that depict spring and rebirth in different ways. We hope this time of the year is also inspiring you, too!

Claude Monet, Springtime, oil on canvas, 1875

Claude Monet was one of the most prolific French Impressionist painters. Through Monet’s works, some of which were the same scene painted at different times of the day and year to reflect the changing light and seasons, you can clearly see the approach of capturing one’s perceptions before nature. In this painting, Springtime, you can also imagine Monet setting up with his easel in the fragrant, warm countryside capturing the early blossom of spring.

Sandro Botticelli, La Primavera, oil on canvas, c.1482

La Primavera literally translates to the season of spring. This masterpiece was commissioned by Lorenzo Pierfrancesco de’Medici and now hangs in the Uffizi in Florence. Venus stands in the centre of the canvas in a lush orange grove on a beautiful carpet of wildflowers. It is a celebration of the return of spring and the ripeness and fertility that the season brings as it awakens the world out of its cold, wintery slumber.

There are a number of interpretations of this work. Some believe that the woman in the foreground of the painting represents Primavera, the embodiment of spring. Others believe the figures on the right to be Zephyrus grasping at the nymph Chloris. According to myth, he married her and she was transformed to Goddess of Spring. And some see the figure with roses as representing the metamorphosis of Chloris to Flora.

Mary Cassatt, Spring Margot Standing in a Garden (Fillette dans un jardin), oil on canvas, 1900

Mary Cassatt produced many studies of young girls during the early 1900s. The child featured in this work is Margot Lux, from the village near Cassatt’s country home who modelled for Cassatt in more than fifty of her works. This image captures a fleeting instant of play suggested by the movement of Margot’s clothes slipping from her shoulder and bundling her dress in both hands – perhaps before or after running. The striking, pink flower in her bonnet and the warm background portray this beautiful moment on a spring day with soft application of paint and sensitive detail.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Spring, oil on canvas, 1622-35

This work celebrates the preparation of the land as spring nears. It shows the community working together to prepare the soil, sow seeds and plant crops as the world itself wakes up from a cold, Flemish winter. Brueghel would take his father’s sketches and drawings (Brueghel the Elder), and would execute them in paint, and many of these works detailed the lives of Flemish peasants. This particular piece is a re-working of his father’s drawing of 1565.

Katsushika Hokusai, Fuji from Gotenyama near Shinagawa on the Tokaido, colour woodcut, 1830-1835

Hokusai was a ukiyo-e painter and printer of the Edo period in Japan. He was inspired by Mt. Fuji and produced a series of thirty-six woodcuts depicting different viewpoints of the impressive volcano, entitled Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji. This work is part of that series and celebrates not only Japan’s national icon but its most revered season. Springtime is so heavily celebrated throughout the country that they have blossom reports on television during the weather report, complete with maps of Japan, which slowly turn pink as the whole country blooms. In Hokusai’s work, you can see the couple on the hill on a picnic blanket underneath the cherry tree; this is still a popular activity around the country and is the traditional way to enjoy the blossom in Japan. The other figures are dancing and celebrating the arrival of this vibrant and important season for Japanese people; not only is it meaningful for the farmers, the joy of spring is culturally ingrained

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Spring Bouquet, oil on canvas, 1866

Renoir’s work is absolutely bursting with colour, vitality, and spring. This is one of Renoir’s earlier works, as you can see the precise rendering of reality (although there is an apparent looseness), painted before his great Impressionist works of the 1870s. This wild work lends itself to a country garden in spring. The brightness of it, glowing with light and colour indicates that Impressionism is just around the corner.

Alfred Sisley, The Small Meadows in Spring, 1880-1

Sisley was there at the beginning of Impressionism with Pissarro and Monet, and a pioneer of the plein-air method and the movement’s aesthetic. Sisley’s work took on a new vitality when, due to financial reasons, he was forced to leave Paris and move to the countryside in 1880. He loyally worked en plein-air, which can be felt in his work, The Small Meadows in Spring. You will notice that there are no hints of spring blossom or wild flowers in this piece. It is his daughter painted in the foreground who represents the image of spring and new life.

Vincent van Gogh, Almond Blossom, oil on canvas 1890

The almond tree is one of the first to bloom in the southern regions of France and is a symbol of spring which can arrive as early as February. This beautiful, Japanese-inspired work was a gift for Van Gogh’s brother, Theo, whose wife had just given birth to their first child. The painting was meant to hang above their bed and represent new life.

Claude Monet, Springtime, oil on canvas, 1872

We had to include a second painting of Monet’s in this list, because this piece captures such a beautiful moment of solitude, in nature, and also reminds us how important it is to disconnect and be outside. Featured in this painting is Monet’s first wife, Camille Doncieux, who, before they were married, was his model in the 1860s and 70s. It has been claimed that she also modelled for Renoir and Manet.

This serene setting, with the dappled sunlight dancing on her dress through the canopy of trees, the wildflowers in the foreground and patches of warmth in the background magically captures a special moment in spring.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Primavera, oil on canvas, 1894

Dutch-born Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was infatuated with Rome and the ancient world. A classicist painter, in this work he portrays the annual Victorian custom of sending children into the countryside on May 1, however, the scene is placed in Rome.

In this impressive work, he used his extensive research of the ancient world to depict the dress, sculpture, architecture, and musical instruments. The procession of figures adorned with spring flowers, playing musical instruments, and surrounded by townspeople above celebrating spring renders a spectacular and captivating scene.

Margaret Olley, Ranunculus and pears, oil on canvas, 2004

Margaret Olley is a widely-recognised figure of Australian art and is one of the most significant still-life and interior painters. Ranunculus and pears is one of many Still Lifes she painted in her home, from which she drew inspiration. Many of her Still Lifes evoke the warmth and colour of spring. She also found beauty in the everyday objects she gathered around her, and most of her works feature pottery, art and exotica of her travels. She acquired many, many objects over her lifetime and her bulging studio almost became as famous as the artist herself! To outsiders, her house appeared chaotic, but Olley had actually arranged it like a Still Life.

Written by Lauren Ottaway.

 

 

Introducing Michelle Zuccolo – our new teacher

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We are excited to introduce to you a new artist, and teacher who is joining our group of master teachers here at MAC – Michelle Zuccolo!

Michelle Zuccolo

Michelle will initially be teaching our new Introductory Watercolour Course and our Studio Art Course for Teenagers – two art classes which are in high demand.

Michelle Zuccolo (MA (Visual Arts), BA (Fine Art), DipEd, IB cert., not only brings her extensive training to MAC, she is also an extremely accomplished, practicing artist who has maintained an ongoing exploration into the human form and its depiction in art.

Her work is underpinned by an interest in the human psyche, expressed in related portraiture paintings, life drawing and sculpture. She has been a finalist in many awards, including:

  • Portia Geach Memorial Award, E. H. Erwin Gallery, Sydney in 2011, 2013 and 2014, represented each time with a self-portrait.
  • In 2015 and 2016 she was a semi-finalist in The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.
  • Five times in the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing.
  • Two times finalist in the Spring Festival of Drawing, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.
  • Two times finalist in the ARC Yinnar Drawing prize.
  • Finalist in the Castlemaine State Festival Dominique Segan Drawing Prize.
  • She has also been represented in the Australian 7th Drawing Biennale held at Drill Hall.
Michelle Zuccolo, Whispering, pencil on paper

Michelle was also a recipient of the ISS Italian Services Institute International Fellowship in 2013. There, she was fortunate enough to been able to conduct research in Italy and Austria, studying classical and medieval art forms. Inspired and enriched by this experience, her artwork continues to reference and celebrate the human form and architecture, with symbolic and religious undertones.

Michelle has taught Visual Art for over twenty-five years at various levels of education including Secondary and we are very fortunate to have her join us at MAC.

She will be taking our Introductory Watercolour Course beginning on July 21, and her Teens’ Studio Art Couse in August.

Van Gogh’s Still Life

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Still Life with Apples and Pumpkins, Vincent Van Gogh, September 1885, oil on canvas, Nuenen

Van Gogh and the seasons has been the fastest selling show in the history of the National Gallery of Victoria. Over 150,000 people visited the exhibition during the first month. There have been a number of people comment that they had expected to see Sunflowers, or Starry Night, and they were surprised by his darker work. As Van Gogh’s artistic career only spanned 10 years, only finding his most well-known style two and a half years before his death in Arles, we are taking a closer look at his earlier works. The years of study preceding the painting of Still Life with Apples and Pumpkins in 1885 play an important role in the establishment of Van Gogh’s dynamic style and the paintings that have become household names.

Under Anton Mauve’s short-lived tutelage, Van Gogh was introduced to still life objects. Normally a painting teacher would make their student study the work of another artist before they began their own compositions. Mauve, however, set up still lifes for Van Gogh, including apples, pumpkins and cabbages. This appealed to Van Gogh because, for him, they symbolised the harvest, and peasant life.

Van Gogh was living in Nuenen at the time he painted Still Life with Apples and Pumpkins. This was a particularly prolific period of his life; he produced 195 paintings, 313 drawings, 25 water colours, and 19 sketches in his letters to his brother Theo. [1]

Studying still life was not only cheap for Van Gogh (he did not have to pay for a model to sit for him), it also provided exercises in exploring light and how it affects colour. His palette was fairly limited, with mainly earthy tones, particularly dark brown. You cannot see any indication that this young artist would paint with such vivid colours, only two years later!

Van Gogh was aware that still lifes did not sell very well, however he wrote to Theo, “it is damned useful, and I shall continue to paint them this winter.” [2] You can see how Van Gogh has used the painting above as a very effective exercise in light and shadow.

Van Gogh also used still life to learn how to represent form using colour on the canvas. He applied varying tones of a limited number of colours to depict how the light fell and turned on the surface of objects to create planes, and form. Writing about his piece below, Van Gogh explained to Theo that he tried “to express the material in such a way that they become heavy, solid lumps – which would hurt you if they were thrown at you, for instance.” [3]

Basket of Potatoes, Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas, 1885

Only a year after he painted these still lifes, Van Gogh moved to Paris to live with his brother, and these dark colours were flushed out of his paintings and were replaced with the growing spectrum of Impressionist colour.

Written by Lauren Ottaway

[1] http://www.vangoghvillagenuenen.nl/van-gogh_eng/van-gogh-in-nuenen_eng.aspx

[3] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 425 to Theo van Gogh. Written 4 September 1885

[3] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 425to Theo van Gogh. Written 4 September 1885

Fractured Dwellings: Rosi Griffin

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Paintings that describe fragmented domestic spaces populated with disintegrating walls, are timely. They come when the industrial spaces around Rosi Griffin’s Collingwood studio are rapidly transforming with new developments continually springing up for a swelling inner city population. They come at a time when massive rises in Australian house prices have turned property development and residential renovation into a national sport when glossy magazine style layouts of idealised domestic spaces cloud our image of that the home has been for most of us.

Fragmented Dwelling, Rosi Griffin, acrylic on canvas, 122x91cm

The paintings, Fragmented Dwelling and Urban Transformation, describe this time as the disintegration of the domestic space. Not only is the possibility of ownership becoming more remote for emerging generations but for those that have a home, the domestic space is now set in the context of surrounding development and unattainable images of perfection. The domestic space is being threatened on many levels as materialistic impulses cloud out communal and familial impulses. The stability and viability of that space is being torn, dislocated and shredded like the walls in these paintings. We can no longer claim to be escaping the slums, as Modernism claimed almost century ago, rather, it is now all for the sake of the new and the ideal as dictated by fake images of domestic perfection.

Urban Transformation, Rosi Griffin, mixed media on board, 60x50cm

Walls create a space that not only protect, but also provide a known place, and in that place gradually builds a narrative of belonging. The experience of a neighbourhood, the identification with a place are held by familiar walls. The walls of our home, the walls of our streets, are pages on which our stories are written. Without them we fall into a a perpetual present with no past, perpetual change eroding a language of belonging. Language of home gradually disintegrates and becomes abstracted until all that we have in its place are traces of memory of what was. As in Build after demolition, we no longer have identifiable walls, just the trace of walls that define a present space with no history and no story. Edges without containment and protection.

Build after demolition, Rosi Griffin, acrylic on canvas, 112x140cm

Opening Friday 2 June, 6 pm to 8 pm at St Heliers Street Gallery, Abbotsford Covent, 1 St Heliers Lane, Abbotsford.

Written by Marco Corsini

Shepherd and his Flock, Vincent Van Gogh

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Shepherd and his Flock, Vincent Van Gogh, September 1884, oil on canvas on cardboard, Nuenen

Van Gogh lived with his parents between 1883 and 1885 in Nuenen. During his time there, he met Antoon Hermans, a successful, retired goldsmith, with whom Van Gogh wanted “to remain on good terms if possible”. [1] From Van Gogh’s perspective, Hermans was “rich and has built a house that he’s filled with antiques again, and furnished with some very fine oak chests. He decorates the ceilings and walls himself, and really well sometimes.”[1]

Hermans was also an amateur painter, and Van Gogh took him on as a student. This may come as a surprise with the knowledge that Van Gogh began pursuing his artistic career only four years earlier. Van Gogh had previous teaching experience after taking up a position at a boy’s school in Ramsgate, England after he lost his job at Boupil & Cie, the Art Dealers in Paris in 1876. He really enjoyed his time teaching, so much so he questioned it, writing to Theo, “These are really happy days, the ones I’m spending here, day after day, and yet it’s a happiness and peacefulness that I don’t trust entirely, though one thing can lead to another.” [2] There was also material motivation behind Van Gogh teaching amateurs how to paint, as he told Theo, “I have a plan, though, to gradually get people to pay something — not in money, however, but by telling them ‘you must give me tubes of paint.’ [3] Van Gogh taught Hermans whilst he lived in Nuenen, and he also took on tanner Anton Kerssemakers and telegrapher Willem van de Wakker as students. Van Gogh taught them general painting techniques and how to paint still lifes.

Hermans was a particularly interesting student, because he wanted Van Gogh’s help to paint the interior walls of his house. Hermans had already painted flowers on twelve panels of his dining room, and he wanted Van Gogh to help him design images of saints for the remaining six panels. Van Gogh thought that scenes depicting the four seasons would be more suitable, and Shephard and his Flock above, is one of the images that Van Gogh created for Hermans to enlarge. This painting represented autumn. He has created a strong feeling of an oncoming stark winter with the angular, leafless trees. The contrast of the bright pasture and flock of white sheep against the dark, looming clouds and night setting in, vividly creates the feeling of a cold autumn evening.

As with a lot of Van Gogh’s work, Jean-Francois Millet’s influence can also be seen:

Jean-François Millet – Shepherd Tending His Flock, oil on canvas, 1860

Van Gogh also used this project to improve his drawing of the human figure, as he engaged various models to complete the painting studies. He initially sketched an ox-cart in the snow (which was later replaced with wood-gatherers in the snow), a ploughman, a sower, a grain harvest, a potato harvest, and the above sower. He then created oil paintings from the sketches. Van Gogh made an agreement with Hermans that he would create six compositions for him to reproduce onto his walls, only if Hermans returned the paintings to him. It is unconfirmed if Hermans ever returned his paintings, or paid Van Gogh for the work.

Written by Lauren Ottaway

[1] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 229 to Theo van Gogh. Written Monday 4 August 1884

[2] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 229 to Theo van Gogh. Written Saturday 6 May 1876

[3] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 229 to Theo van Gogh. Written Monday 17 November 1874

Van Gogh, The Sower – a closer look

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The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh, December 1882, pencil, brush and ink, watercolour, The Hague

After following his brother Theo’s advice to pursue art, Van Gogh went to study anatomy at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1880. He returned to his parents’ home in 1881, where he focused heavily on drawing, and thus begun his serious artistic exploration.

Van Gogh greatly admired Jean-François Millet’s and his work had a profound influence on the emerging artist. Millet, who had quite a modest background, created nostalgic tributes to farmers, and Van Gogh identified with them and recognised the compassion in Millet’s work, which he highly valued.

Van Gogh began studying Millet’s work and produced drawings in order to learn how to paint. He drew The Sower (after Millet), pictured below, which was based on a black and white print of the painting. Van Gogh’s interpretation of the monochrome reproduction led to some interesting, minor inconsistencies; the grains that Van Gogh’s sower is scattering behind him were actually birds in Millet’s work.

That year Van Gogh also travelled to The Hague to try and sell his work, and to also meet with his second cousin, and successful artist, Anton Mauve. He returned to The Hague to study under Mauve a few months later after working in pastels and charcoal as Mauve had instructed. However, after a short month together, and a strained relationship, they had a final falling out about drawing from plaster casts. “First and foremost, I had to draw from plaster casts. I utterly detest drawing from plaster casts – yet I had a couple of hands and feet hanging in the studio, though not for drawing. Once he spoke to me about drawing from plaster casts in a tone that even the worst teacher at the academy wouldn’t have used, and I held my peace, but at home I got so angry about it that I threw the poor plaster mouldings into the coal-scuttle, broken. And I thought: I’ll draw from plaster casts when you lot become whole and white again and there are no longer any hands and feet of living people to draw.” [1]

The Sower, which Van Gogh produced at The Hague, is particularly poignant to the body of work on exhibition at the NGV, and Van Gogh himself, because it is a depiction of the seasons and the people who toil in order to maintain a meagre life. Van Gogh had lived in many rural areas and was captivated by the sowing of the wheat, the harvest, the sheaves of wheat in fields, and the haystacks, which you see increasingly in his later work in the late 1880s. The sower, amongst other working-class figures engaged in the field, formed a body of work ‘from the people for the people’, which Van Gogh thought ‘would be a good thing – not commercially but as a matter of public service and duty’[2]. He planned to produce thirty low-cost prints to create this body of work. Van Gogh sent photographs of four of his drawings of people working in the fields, including the Sower, to his brother (first image above). This is how he described the work to Theo, “Then a second Sower, with a light brown fustian jacket and trousers, so this figure stands out light against the black field, bordered by a little row of pollard willows. This is quite a different type, with a clipped beard, broad shoulders, rather thick-set, somewhat like an ox, in that his whole frame has been shaped by his labour in the fields. Perhaps more of an Eskimo type, thick lips, broad nose.’ [2]

Van Gogh wanted to show these figures in action – not at rest, because ‘there is more drudgery than rest in life.’  He worked on these series of working-class drawings because he tried ‘to work for the truth.’ [2]

The Sower (after Millet), Vincent Van Gogh, Oil on canvas, late October 1889, Saint-Rémy.

Millet’s influence on Van Gogh was clear during the early stages of his career. When he was living in Paris in 1886-87, his focused shifted from the fields to the Parisienne cafes. However, the countryside returned to his work when he moved to Arles in 1888, and then over three months from late 1889 to early 1990, Van Gogh produced twenty-one copies of Millet’s work. During this time Van Gogh was in the asylum at Saint- Rémy, and he described to Theo his own interpretations of the Millet’s works. ‘If someone plays Beethoven, he adds his own personal interpretation; in the music, especially in the singing, the interpretation also counts and the composer doesn’t have to be the only one to perform his compositions. Anyway, especially now I am ill, I am trying to create something to comfort me, for my own pleasure. I put the black and white by or after Delacroix or Millet in front of me to use as a motif. And then I improvise in colour […] seeking reminiscences of their paintings; but the memory, the vague consonance of colours while are at least correct in spirit, that is my interpretation.’ [3]

Written by Lauren Ottaway

[1] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 229 to Theo van Gogh. Written Friday 21 April 1882

[2] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 291 to Theo van Gogh. Written 3-5 December 1882

[3] Vincent van Gogh. Letter 607 to Theo van Gogh. Written 19 September 1889

Vincent Van Gogh’s works at the NGV

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Over the three months that Melbourne is home to an awe-inspiring collection of Van Gogh’s works spanning his life and representative of the seasons through which he viewed and painted the world, we will be taking a closer look at some of his works at the NGV.

Avenue of Poplars in Autumn, 1884, Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas, 

In October 1884, Van Gogh sent a letter to his brother Theo, along with some small photos of his recent works, so that Theo (who was an art dealer) would have something to show of his work, if the opportunity arose. In the letter, he described Avenue of Poplars in Autumn as “The last thing I made is a rather large study of an avenue of poplars, with yellow autumn leaves, the sun casting, here and there, sparkling spots on the fallen leaves on the ground, alternating with the long shadows of the stems. At the end of the road is a small cottage, and over it all the blue sky through the autumn leaves.”[1]

From this passionate and intricate description alone, you can get a real sense of Van Gogh’s love for Autumn. It was his favourite season, and he wrote in 1882, “I sometimes yearn for a country where it would always be autumn, but then we’d have no snow and no apple blossom and no corn and stubble fields.” [2]

Van Gogh was living back with his parents in Nuenen, in Norther Brabant, at the time he painted this work. A few months earlier he had been living alone in northern Netherlands, and, driven by loneliness, moved back to his parents’ house. Van Gogh was drawing and painting fervently at the time and the darkness in this image would carry through to his future work.

He began painting in oils in the early 1880s and really enjoyed the medium. You can see the liberal application of the paint in the details of the textured lines used to create the tall poplars and the woman in the foreground. The vibrant Autumn colours and soft graduated sky, combined with the tall, dark shadows, create an undisputable feeling of the season – something which Van Gogh, over his short ten-year career, translated onto the canvas with genius.

The melancholic interpretation of the painting inspired author Greg Bogarerts to write Avenue of Poplars in Autumn, a tragic story of the lone figure in the painting.

[1] [2] Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written late October 1884 in Nuenen.

Written by Lauren Ottaway.

 

 

Creativity and Ageing – a Reflection

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Written by Jude Sullivan – guest blogger

Jude, a current MAC student, recently completed a short course with UTAS called Creativity and Ageing. It introduced existing research on the benefits of engagement with the arts during the process of ageing, and included the role of creativity in reducing risk factors for dementia.

 Throughout the course, Jude was able to explore, develop and reflect on her own creativity and has generously shared her experience with us.

According to Geoffrey Petty, the creative process consists of six working phases, inspiration, clarification, distillation, perspiration, evaluation, and incubation. He suggests that the term “creative” is used broadly, to include the creative arts as well as invention, design, problem solving, writing, and entrepreneurial initiatives to name a few. I approached the Creativity and Ageing projects loosely following this model.

My inspiration for my projects was based on the familiar leading to the unfamiliar. Initially I took inspiration for my first piece from a poem written for me on the day of a friend’s funeral.

 “Pure clean water of Life

pours over the stones of our past years”

 Excerpt from Water of Life Roger Lovesey, (2016)

This idea generated as I reflected on the poem and was inspired by the idea of running water for the setting. Through writing and drawing in my journal, I was able to experiment, take risks, use spontaneity and intuition to developing my creative thoughts.

During this stage I was inspired to include bird-like images which are connected to feelings and memories of my mother who I lost to dementia the previous year. This idea set me off to research doves and peacocks. The symbolism of vision, royalty, spirituality, awakening, guidance, protectiveness and watchfulness connected to the peacock, and in Roman mythology, where the tail has the “eyes” of the stars excited my feelings and the idea of a background of peacock feathers evolved. I was developing unconscious, emerging images, in the way Francis Bacon displayed in his art work. The area of intention was related to my instincts, or as Francis Bacon referred to as “a cloud of sensation“.

During the process, following the inspiration phase, I clarified my goals where I constantly referred to the purpose to enable me to achieve the outcome. At the same time, I was critical of some of the ideas and processes that I had thought about. It was becoming complicated and these critical thoughts changed my approach and helped me to complete the piece. It was time to leave it for a few days or so.

Following the final painting stage, I added some more elements of mixed media. I loved the process of creating the painting and was committed to it. This stage is most satisfying to me when it all comes together.

“The outcomes of creative activities can provide a sense of artistic accomplishment, and growing self confidence due to finding solutions to a challenge and the self-control practised in the process of creation”. (Cohen)

Jude Sullivan, mixed media

I selected collage for the next piece to challenge me, as it involved using skills and processes which are unfamiliar to me. It was a different experience in that there was no structure to the brief, apart from linking the theme to a feeling, emotion, or sensation. Joyfulness, colour, and spirituality were my guide and the suggested artists such as Henry Matisse and Fred Tomaselli inspired me.

The experimental stage was just that; playing with the medium, being messy, switching between wanting to clarify and continue to experiment. The best ideas were chosen for further development, and finally the light bulb moment happened. From that point on I felt in tune with the paper crafting and my connection to the work; it was therapeutic and I was happy with the final piece.

Jude Sullivan, mixed media

For the photomontage, I had a vision of a woman flying on the back of a mythical bird. I was inspired by the artist Wangechi Mutu in the way she splices things together and creates in different ways. The creative process flowed from being inspired, to clarifying where the idea could take me, building on it as I went and thoroughly enjoying the process. Leaving the art work alone for a few days or so, reflecting on the image followed by adding more to complete it, worked for me.

Jude Sullivan, mixed media

Finally, the Herbarium was my choice as a different way of creating. Again there was a link to many aspects of my life; I am connected to nature, photography and art, but I have never approached the pressing of plants, the recording or research involved as in this project.

Jude Sullivan, pressed plant

The choice and collection of many samples, finding the best plant to select for the study and developing a creative response was the brief. The process of pressing the plants and classifying them was quite scientific and easy to follow and was necessary to achieve the best result and the process suited my organised approach to documenting the plant. I experimented with different types of indigenous flowering bushland plants and discovered that some pressed easier than others.  Choosing one which had a connection to the idea of food providing plants for native birds and insects became my inspiration.

Once pressed, mounted, classified and labelled, I planned the creative response. I decided to use a photocopy of the pressed plant, cut it out and mount it onto the paper including a painting or oil pastel of the native bird, though this was not as simple as I had imagined. I ignored the experimental process, and started assembling the cut-out piece.

Jude Sullivan, mixed media

I was rushing ahead without much clarification or evaluation of the process. The journal paper was not an effective basis for the pastel work which is a new medium for me, and I neglected to block in the background first. This made the process less satisfying but I persevered, learning from my hurried, non-strategic approach.

During this course and the creation of these works, I have discovered some insights into my way of creating which has given me a better idea of how my mind operates and creates.  All aspects of the study have opened my mind to how we can become more experimental, and try new things as we age.

“Late-life creativity reflects aspects of late-life thinking; synthesis, reflection and wisdom” (Adams- Price).

References:

Geoffrey Petty “How to be Better at Creativity“, (1996)

 Cohen, G. et al. “The impact of professionally conducted cultural programs on the physical health, mental health, and social functioning of older adults” The Gerontologist 46 (2006): 726-73

Adams-Price, Caroline E. ed. Creativity and Successful Aging. New York: Springer, 1998.

The Life of Francis Bacon Documentary – YouTube

▶ 52:38

 

 

Seeking expressions of interest for our new art studio space in Melbourne

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We are looking to bring our artistic community closer and create a communal art studio with individual storage, and an exclusive mentor program.

From 2017, our additional space will have both teaching studios and a communal studio. We are so excited about creating a space for artists to create, connect and even collaborate.

To make this happen we are seeking expressions of interest from individuals who would like to be a part of our communal studio. As we get an indication of the interest, then we can further clarify exact costs and location.

Why join our shared studio space?

  • Our communal studio offers a cheaper alternative for artists than a rented private studio.
  • You will be able to connect with different artists and be a part of a new, creative community.
  • You will have 24-hour access to the studio and your personal storage space.
  • You will receive a 10% discount on all MAC courses whilst you are part of our communal studio.
  • You can also receive one-on-one art tuition and mentoring from our teachers.

 What is the communal student studio?

A communal studio which is available for individual use.  Each artist would have access to personal storage space.

Proposed Timing: 24-hour access

Cost: Approximately $30-$50 per week

In addition to this, Melbourne Art Class will also be offering one-on-one art tuition and mentoring in this space.

What is one-on-one mentoring?

One-on-one meetings with your tutor (one of our experienced artists/instructors), in the communal studio.

Proposed Timing: Twice weekly, about half an hour each session.

Cost: Approximately $50-60 per week

If you are interested in being a part of our communal studio, or have any questions or feedback, please email Lauren at hub@melbourneartclass.com and help our new project begin!

 

How can paint hold such suffering and still remain paint?

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George Gittoes: Rwanda

I’ve never really forgotten George Gittoes’ Rwanda series of works from the mid 90s. They describe the sort of thing that one can’t forget. Gittoes was present the year after the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 and witnessed the retaliatory genocide at the largest camp for internally displaced persons, Kibeho, in south-west Rwanda.

Charles Nodrum Gallery, almost opposite our studios on Church Street, Richmond has been showing some works from that series and I had to see them. This was the first time I have seen them as a group of works, consisting of some large paintings, photo-based works and drawings.

George Gittoes. Blood & Tears, 1997. Oil on canvas
George Gittoes. Blood & Tears, 1997. Oil on canvas

I didn’t really look at the photos; at a glance I knew what I would see there. I went to see the paintings. While they seem to screen the intensity of the violence in expressionist swathes of colour, they simultaneously are a study of violence, of suffering and of what remains afterwards. They are entries into the shocked immediacy of the victim’s experience while bearing traces of the artist as witness. Mine was a quick visit, but it left me reeling for the next couple of hours.

Strange really, because art does not normally effect me much. I have a love for art that seems to exercise itself in front of the simplest of works such as a student’s painting or a child’s drawing, but I don’t know if I believe in art’s capacity to change the world anymore. I was once a believer, the idealism surrounding the art I had seen as a boy, had never left me, The hand of Christ from Michelangelo’s Pieta (another victim) fascinated me. How could something be living flesh and marble at the same time?

When Gittoes made a choice to draw survivors that had been attacked with machetes and knives, he made a very brave call. There in the midst of the carnage, with many needing help, he drew. He had decided that his role as witness and art’s ability to translate and broadcast what had occurred was of primary importance. I’ve asked myself if I could do the same, could I live with the consequences of that decision? The haunting afterwards? While I am strangely overwhelmed by the work, I have wondered whether I believe in art that much.

I cannot resolve another thought. How can paint hold such suffering and still remain paint? What intensity of suffering does it take to spill so searingly through that object on the wall that we put a price tag on? How does a painting hold and yet not hold this unanswerable suffering?

The act of painting and the intense focus on the survivors of the violence moves us from the typically documentary style representation of the crime as we see it in the media, to a more transcendent meditation upon that which lies within ourselves. We recognise perpetrator, victim and witness within ourselves and hopefully we build a greater awareness of ourselves. Gittoes has frequently ventured into violence and human suffering. He has embraced the darkest corners of our humanity and held it up to us. We need a witness to bring about justice and Gittoes’ work has been in a sense, an optimistic, possibly redemptive act in the role of that witness.

Exhibition details:

George Gittoes: Rwanda

2 – 25 June

Charles Nodrum Gallery

267 Church Street, Richmond

On the final day of this exhibition from 4pm-6pm, you will be able to hear the artist recall his experiences of the Rwandan Massacre in 1995 and how he translated these events into the paintings on the gallery walls.

Charles Nodrum will also say a few words, and both will take questions.
George’s wife Hellen Rose will perform two songs in the traditional Afghan folk style.”The Gambler” & “Black Dress” are bilingual – in Pashto and English – and are collaborations with local women of Jalalabad who work with both Hellen and George at The Yellow House.

Written by Marco Corsini