artroom playlist for this week

in ,

curious what you've been hearing in class this week?

dawes - nothing is wrong
the delkany string quartet - haydn's string quartet in c major
the head and the heart - s/t
jose gonzalez - in our nature
junip - fields
moby - play
tuatara - breaking the ethers
the wooden birds - magnolia
zero 7 - simple things
zero 7 - when it falls
the hunger games soundtrack
my 'wayfarers' mix
my 'first sun again' mix

adam milne game. be there!

in ,

so my basketball experience is not that deep. i mean, gym class in school, HORSE in the driveway, and most recently some razorsharks games.
this friday night I'm taking my skills to the court (for the second straight year) as WTHS teachers take on IHS teachers in the annual adam milne game.

it is a great event that raises (a lot of) money for the leukemia and lymphoma society. i designed the tshirts this year. bring in $5 and join TEAM STAHL. you'll have to cheer extra hard because i'll probably only be playing for about 5 minutes.

friday night - 7pm - webster thomas high school

empathy and creativity

in ,

this website was just brought to my attention, and it has really inspired me... so much so that i want to share it with all of you.

here is his bio, from his blog:

Seung Chan Lim, better known as Slim, holds a BS in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University where he studied under the late Dr. Randy Pausch. He also holds an MBA from Point Park University and has recently graduated with an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
For nearly a decade he has worked as both a Human-Centered Design consultant and a Software Systems Researcher. He has helped numerous fortune 500 companies design innovative products and services, and have authored papers on software systems and human-computer interaction.
Products he have helped design have won a number of awards including the AIGA 365, CES Innovation award, EC&M Product of the Year, and Infoworld Top 100 IT Project of the Year.
In his spare time he directs dance performances, and mixes, remixes, composes, produces, and performs electronic music.

pinterest

in ,

are you on pinterest? well, if you're not... you should be.

pinterest is a great new site that allows you to make virtual 'pinboards' that allow you to categorize and save any image that you find on the internet... your favorite things, stuff you want to remember, or whatever else you choose.

you can follow me here.

i love pinterest because it allows me to save all the great art images that i find on the web. it then allows me to not only immediately share those images with my friends and students, but they can share their inspiration with me.

here are a few of the many images that i have pinned.

new work by audrey kawasaki

in , ,

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.

visit from sari

in , ,

local portrait artist and all-around awesome lady sari gaby came to do a workshop for my drawing 1 class yesterday. as always, it was informative, fun, and inspiring for my students and myself. if you are interested in finding out more about sari or her workshops, contact me or check out her website.

here are some pictures of the workshop, as well as the most recent works of my junior student hannah as well as the display board with work on it from all my current classes. 
great stuff happening in the art room right now.

artist of the week :: guy denning

in , ,

check out the painting of british artist guy denning.

i think he describes his work (and the process of painting) the best:
I think that painting is a focusing; a process of exaggeration and editing of a suggestion of reality. I can start with a skeleton, like a foundation illustration, perhaps taken from a life study or a photograph and then I start to manipulate that framework. All the time I am hoping for accidents with the paint as the accidents are usually the source of greatest productivity. Perhaps the accidents of paint give me a similar perspective as the viewer to the finished painting: the surprise at something fresh or something that is not immediately understood in its construction. This aspect of painting is like, perhaps, finding the uncontrolled intention. 
I know when it’s right or, at least, tending towards right but I don’t know how to do it. If I knew how to do it, that there was a predetermined and guaranteed method, then it wouldn’t be the challenge that forces me to paint continually. 

check out his: 
website
drawing-a-day blog
writing blog

thanks to amy bonner for the heads up on this great artist

artist of the week :: carne griffiths

in , ,

carne griffiths' paintings and illustrations are energetic and controlled all at once.
he drips and controls ink washes and applies marks with pen and pencil - all creating atmospheric portraits full of emotion - specifically strength and poise. the women he paints are typically juxtaposed with natural elements (leaves, feathers, tree branches, etc), showing woman's communion and connection with nature.
check out more about him and his art here.
(thanks to brienna wirley for the heads up on this great artist)