A book that is really fascinating and well worth reading. Passion, friendship, envy, ambition, betrayal, angst and genius: eight artists about whom we all know something but will learn a great deal more in this book.
Read MoreDella Robbia Delights /
The della Robbia family created extraordinary polychrome, lustrous terracotta sculptures, tondos, freizes and other architectural ornaments throughout the 15th century in Renaissance Florence. Three generations, Luca, nephew Andrea and his son, Giovanni, ran a workshop famed for their innovative techniques of glazing terracotta pieces, deemed a “new, useful, and most beautiful” way of adorning buildings sacred and secular. Many of their pieces grace museums around the world; they are a delight to enjoy.
Read MoreDiscovering Hyman Bloom /
Whether it is depicting a “Still Life with Squashes”, a synagogue chandelier, rocks or stones, dissected cadavers, fishes, brides, wrestlers or elderly women, Hyman Bloom is a masterly painter and draughtsman who achieved a high level of success in his adopted home of Boston. He has been “overlooked” in recent years, but his work is well worth seeking out - you will marvel at it.
Read MoreBelonging to Country - a Western Australian Artist /
Lance Chad, Tjyllyungoo, a Nyoongar Aborigine artist, exhibiting in Perth’s Western Australian Art Gallery, reminds us of our vital spiritual and literal connections to County and Land. We all belong somewhere, and the underpinning natural landscapes that have sustained generations of humans, animals and plants are ever more vital to us all. Lance Chadd’s art is a wonderful tonic and incentive to think and, ideally, celebrate our world.
Read MoreArt, Science and Politics equal Western Australian Beauty /
Western Australian artist, Philippa Nikulinsky, is not only a superb botanical artist, but allies science, dedicated field observations and enormous skill to a passion for celebrating all the ecosystems of Western Australia. Her long years of art-making allow her to record the ever-changing landscapes, flora and fauna in a fashion that goes beyond environmental issues and political concerns, ultimately to achieve an incredible body of beautiful work that enriches Australia.
Read More"The longest threads" /
How do I, as an artist, select “the longest threads” to represent the whole, complex tapestry of a piece of the natural world? Perhaps the only way I have found is to draw from life and learn, learn and learn some more of how nature is organised,
Read MoreHans Hoffman - an Artist in Constant Evolution /
From his early exposure to Cubism and Fauvism, Hans Hoffman evolved through a lifetime of experimenting in painting to an extraordinarily inventive approach to creating art that is often as relevant today as it was when it was created in the 1960s. Seeing his evolution in the large exhibition, ”Hans Hoffman - The Nature of Abstraction” at BAMPFA, Berkeley, reinforces my own belief in each artist’s need, and capacity, to remain open and flexible to growth and change.
Read MoreHow a New Display can Transform Art /
Staying at The Chetwood, an artist’s residency in Oakland, California, and evaluating my art with fresh eyes as it hangs at Subrosa Coffee, also in Oakland, is an interesting process. It is all thanks to photographer, Terri Lowenthal, who has hosted me here at The Chetwood.
Read MoreRevisiting Earlier Drawings /
The tang of mint, the fragility of a lily - botanical drawing teaches about so many aspects of plants. Yet it is interesting to measure that as I have evolved as an artist, those earlier drawings have led me on to learning so much more about trees, rocks, environments, places. Seeing two exhibitions of my botanical metalpoint drawings up now in Berkeley and Oakland at the same time is both a celebration and a realisation of how the world can teach us artists so much more, all the time.
Read MoreFastening your robe, 17th century style /
As I looked at portraits of 17th century Spanish royal ladies in the Prado, they suddenly offered a fascinating sampling of how women fasten their dresses. Not for them a simple method of closing their dress. Rather, the fastening became part of the bold, imaginative design of the gown, part of the message of power, wealth and circumstance that was so dazzlingly recorded in paint by Court painters.
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