Still Life with Dial / Still Life, Red / Still Life, Brown
Stuart Davis, 1922
Oil on canvas
In the gallery... | Philbrook organized a wonderful Modernist Exhibit from the Vilcek Foundation Collection from New York City . According to Vilcek's policy certain artworks in the exhibition were not allowed to be photographed, including the three Stuart Davis paintings we looked at during this months session. That is why the paintings are blurred out in the photographs in this post. |
When I woke up this morning the clouds were heavy and a light rainfall played a soft tune outside my window. The first thought that went through my mind was, "I wonder if anyone will come to Art Focus!"... okay, the real first thought I had was, "I'm sleepy and want an extra hour under the covers." After forcing myself out of bed I went to the grocery store and picked up the refreshments for the program and arrived at the museum to set up the studio space and gallery chairs with the help of a wonderful program assistant, Brie. An hour later, to my surprise, 23 people arrived at the museum for the program, even though the weather was still dreary. (See September 2014 post)
Once everyone arrived I led the participants into the gallery where Brie and I had set up seats divided into three groups (one group for each painting on the wall.) After saying my quick welcome I paused and asked everyone to stare at the paintings in front of them while I introduced the From New York to New Mexico: Masterworks of American Modernism from the Vilcek Foundation Collection, exhibit. Addressing the paintings I told the group that today is different because instead of looking at realist works of art, we're exploring art that is more abstract or art with unrecognizable imagery. With that in mind I told the group to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable and asked them to be curious with their thinking.
Dividing the group into three groups and assigning each group with a painting I asked them to describe to the people in their group what they are seeing in the painting. After, I asked each group to share with all the participants what they saw and invited people from the other groups to jump in if they agree, disagree, or have any other comments.
Laughter is what I took away from today.I will admit, at first everyone seemed a little apprehensive to trying to describe the large abstract imagery before them. Some people said...
Judging the room I asked a broader question. "Can someone describe one of the paintings to me as a whole?" Everyone looked around in silence. Then |
finally, a participant in the front row sighed and then yelled out, "A GIANT MESS!" and everyone laughed.
The laughter seemed to inspire some while for others laughter broke a barrier wall blocking their confidence to say what they were really thinking. For the next ten minutes, we laughed. "It looks like the artist was off his meds!" / "I see a nun bending over backwards because she fell down the stairs" / "She was probably trying to sneak a sip of that wine!" Laughter.
The laughter seemed to inspire some while for others laughter broke a barrier wall blocking their confidence to say what they were really thinking. For the next ten minutes, we laughed. "It looks like the artist was off his meds!" / "I see a nun bending over backwards because she fell down the stairs" / "She was probably trying to sneak a sip of that wine!" Laughter.
Now, I'm not saying that all the previous sessions were filled only with serious conversation and profound observations, no, their has always been a lighthearted approach to looking at artwork. However, today, this laughter that was first inspired by confidence of being uncomfortable with the artwork not only encouraged more participation but eventually led to curiosity as to why the artist chose to create the artwork. Soon the question was asked... "Did the artist actually set up a Still Life and draw from what he saw? Or did the artist just use his imagination?"
In response to that question I asked for a volunteer to sit in a chair upfront facing the group. I then passed out a pen and a sheet of tracing paper attached to a board to three participants sitting on different sides of the room. I asked these participants to draw the woman sitting in the front of the room. When the drawers finished I placed all three drawings of the woman on top of each other so each drawing could be seen. This process created an image of one woman drawn from three different perspectives. I passed this image around to the participants and asked if anyone was familiar with the term Cubism. In the studio... |