herakut in rochester, day 3.
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| how lucky that he has gotten to watch this all happen before his eyes. |
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| face, pre-eye rendering. |
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| had a great conversation with akut. josh was so excited. |
herakut in rochester, day 2.
today was the first full day of herakut's mural painting in rochester. josh and i went down to watch them in action. it was very interesting and so inspiring. hera and akut were in separate cherry pickers and had free range of motion all over the face of the building, and they operated the machinery (which josh loved just as much as the paintings) like they were extensions of themselves. its hard to describe until you see them in motion... but watching hera with her long-stemmed paint roller applying washes of paint and akut doing highly detailed spray painting on such a large scale, from about 20 feet from the wall was really great... and in typical rochester style, only about 5 people were there at any given time.
check out some pics from our visit - more to come tomorrow.
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| josh sizing up the mural from afar |
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| hera brushing on the expressive base coat |
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| akut working on the hand detail |
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| 2 dudes enjoying art and heavy machinery |
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| progress as of 5pm |
herakut "the giant storybook project" comes to rochester!
herakut is one of my favorite contemporary artists. well, its actually two artists: hera is a classically trained painter, and akut is self-taught. together they create some of the most intriguing and compelling mural/'street' art in the world. i stumbled upon them back in 2009 in juxtapoz magazine and immediately went online to find out more.
i first posted about them that day, after finding some great youtube videos. i admired the style in which they worked - the imagery, the materials, the spaces they used and HOW they used them. i missed painting and working in collaboration with my mentor, bill stephens, and this just made me love herakut even more (incidently, you can see bill's and my doodles here, although they are far less interesting and compelling than the work of hera and akut).
they have put out a few books that are worth checking out. i have 'after the laughter' and its a wild ride through their installation and mural work... layed out like a scrapbook or artists' sketchbook.
anyway, the point of this whole post is that herakut has a new project that they are working on with jim carrey (yes, that jim carrey) called "the giant storybook project". they are travelling all over the world painting large scale murals that will be used to create a children's book. the idea is fantastic and so creative, and the work thus far is just what you would expect from these artists.
the best part of this project is that its coming to ROCHESTER! im not sure exactly how we swung this one, but in my mind its a pretty big 'get'. we are the 5th stop, following lexington (kentucky - 2 murals), eresing (outside of munich, germany), montreal, and toronto. (you can click on the city name to see a photo gallery of each mural).
the murals in rochester will be painted at 208 andrews street (between clinton and st. paul), and 480 west main street (just west of 490). the second piece will be a smaller scale and started once the first is completed.
and on top of all of this, hera and akut will be giving an artist talk at RIT on wednesday from 6-8. more details here.
you should stop by and check out their work - they encourage kids and pets. i'll be bringing josh and hopefully some of my students.
check out the video and pictures to see what the whole project is all about. or find our more on the project's facebook page.
Herakut from Bullhorn on Vimeo.
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| lexington 1 - the beginning |
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| lexington 1 - finished product |
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| lexington 1 - elementary class visit |
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| lexington 2 - finished product |
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| lexington 2 - in progress detail |
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| eresing (st. ottilien archabbey) - finished product |
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| montreal |
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| montreal - detail |
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| toronto - finished product |
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| rochester - getting started! |
AP art friday afternoon.
a room full of wonderful working artists.
love this room, love this crew.
(click to zoom)
artist(s) of the week :: the gryllus
the gryllus an artist duo, similar to (in idea, not in style) herakut. it represents the collaborative paintings of cara thayer and louie van patten. this duo pushes the envelope with dynamic, in-your-face close up composition of faces and other body parts. they are interested in exploring surface and expression - bringing the viewer right into contact with the subject.
also, check out the direct application of paint (also known as a la prima), full of marks and strokes.
you can find out more info on their blog or at bluecanvas.
artist of the week :: sean cheetham
heres another new master of contemporary realist portraiture.
its always interesting to me to see contemporary artists working in traditional styles but with subject matter that is current.
see more of his work here
and check out this video of sean painting a portrait:
artist of the week :: christine wu
theres been a lot of double exposure type paintings popping up lately in contemporary art... one of my favorite painters exploring this recently is christine wu. check out her work and find out more about here on her blog.
i think i am drawn to her work because of the surface treatment - and the fact that the works are not totally photo realistically rendered... they're perfectly drippy and surreal.
RIT artist/teacher art show
join us from 6-9pm on thursday, may 24 at gallery r for the opening reception for the first ever RIT MST program artist/teacher show, taking place alongside the MST program capstone student teaching show.
i will have 3 pieces in the show, alongside other local artist/teachers including bill stephens, luvon sheppard, amy bonner, andy reddout, and others.
jillian erhardt :: alum :: rockstar designer
Jillian Erhardt is a graphic designer living and working in Baltimore City. A graduate of Webster Thomas High School in 2006 (where she rocked AP Drawing), she went on to get her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art where she studied graphic design and took a particular interest in social design. Her work has been featured in HOW Magazine’s International Design Annual AIGA awards and the Art Directors Club.
While at MICA, Jillian worked to engage the community in Baltimore through her work, creating posters that highlight the cities in which she has lived, a business package and promotional poster for the Baker Artist Awards and an educational campaign to promote Social Design.
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| Jillian's social design work |
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| Jillian's Baltimore print |
Presently she works as an in-house graphic designer for Ayers Saint Gross, a multi-disciplinary design firm where she has continued her social design work on projects such as the Baltimore Design School cafeteria renovation. This project was recently awarded an AIGA 50 award, a juried exhibition that showcases 50 of the strongest examples of design produced in the Baltimore/DC region as well as a the PRINT + HOW Color in Design Award sponsored by two of the largest graphic design publications, Print Magazine and HOW Magazine. Click the link to find out what the award was all about!
The 1950s cafeteria of the Baltimore Design School now provides sixth- and seventh-graders with plenty of food for thought. The makeover is part of a pro bono overhaul of the public middle school by local Baltimore design firms. With just a few weeks to design and install the solution, Jillian and her team approached the project through low-cost, low-tech enhancements. Typographic statements stenciled onto walls, framed posters and original sumi ink drawings (created by her sister Hannah Erhardt, another Webster Thomas High School and MICA Alumni) on Pantone sheets invite students to learn about typography, color, line and shape.
These girls are awesome, and both of their works blend together perfectly to create an inviting environment to eat and learn.
Jillian - I am proud of the work you continue to do - using your powers for good!
artist of the week :: caitie thornton
i am so lucky to have so many awesome alumni who leave thomas and go on to bigger and better things. one of these alumns is caitie thornton (class of 2009). she is currently a junior at RIT in their NEW MEDIA STUDIES department. this is a unique and totally awesome program that we are lucky to have so close to us. it is finding connections between graphic design, web design, interactive media, and basically anything else technologically new and advanced. check out some of the student work from this department here.
caitie has been getting into more complex 3d work in her junior year and after seeing some of it, i felt compelled to share it with the world.
check this stuff out - she rocks!
(see more work and info on her website)
shepard fairey studio visit video
shepard fairy recently finished a residency at pace prints in NYC, culminating in an exhibition of new works entitled 'Harmony & Discord' (see show card below).
this video is an 8 minute interview/studio visit with shepard where he talks about the new print processes that he has been able to experience while at pace, and about the works that will be featured in the show. get more images and info from the visit here.
pretty awesome.
contemporary narrative artists for drawing 2
we had a great discussion about some contemporary narrative artworks this morning in my drawing 2 class.
here are some of the artists we looked at, with links to find out more about them!
students... dont forget to start brainstorming your bob dylan lyric-inspired ideas for wednesday's class.
lyric choices
clive smith (see more here)
david bowers (see more here)
edgar jerins (see more here)
joan mateu (see more here)
john hardy (see more here)
david kassan (watch an interview here)
istvan sandorfi (see a video montage of his paintings here)
community arts day 2012!
another year, another great display of webster's artistic 1st-12th grade students at community arts day.it all goes down tomorrow, but i shot pics today as i got set up. i am constantly amazed by these kids and their work!!!
artist of the week :: alyssa monks
want to know how to paint figures in water?
just check out the paintings of alyssa monk.
large scale paintings of figures floating in or immersed in water, emerging from fog, pressed against shower plate glass, and abstracted against the forms of the moving water.
visit her website for more info and a vast amount of paintings.
the black keys x shepard fairey
sometimes great things happen... the collision of two of my favorite artistic entities. shepard fairey designed two posters commemorating the black keys first headlining dates at madison square garden.
super sweet.
AP art show 2012
on monday night, march 12, webster thomas high school's AP ART class will be hosting an opening for our art exhibit, which will take place at the owl house.
we would love if it you would join us for a night of great art, food, and company.
new work by audrey kawasaki
audrey kawasaki is one of my favorite contemporary artists. her soft attention to color & form juxtaposed with heavy black outlines, use of the wood painting surface, and creative figurative elements make her work visually arresting to me.
here are some of her new works. these are interesting because they show a definite van gogh inspiration.
you can find out more here.
