You have had the opportunity to use books, magazines, and curiosity spreads to learn about sculptors whose work may inspire your own. Maybe you found one at the Try-me Gallery? Hopefully you now have a list long enough to make a good choice. If not, keep looking and ask for suggestions!

If you HAVE found the sculptor with a direct connection to your SUBJECT, COMPOSITION, CONTENT, AND/OR FORM (style, medium, technique), then start working on your AWARENESS post ASAP.  

​DUE April 19th:

• Just as you did for your Old Master and for an AbEx painter, this is an opportunity to get to know about the artist's life, work, and process.
• USE this research to inspire you AND your classmates.
• Once posted, classmates will be assigned an artist(s) to investigate using the standard sketchbook "Artist Spotlight" format, including answers to the questions you have asked.
• SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR THIS AWARENESS POST CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Untitled (Soundsuit), 2011
Fabric, sequins, embroidery, mannequin
102 × 36 × 36 in. (259.08 × 91.44 × 91.44 cm)
(image from Try-Me Gallery; now at VMFA, a 2018 gift of Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr.)

As per Valerie Cassel Oliver, VMFA’s Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art:

• Soundsuits are elaborate and wearable sculptures that the artist began making in 1992.
• Comprised of a variety of materials that include fabric, sisal, human hair, buttons, sequins, feathers, wire and accumulated objects, these suits are made to be worn and their title relates to the noise made when they move.
• As a former dancer and choreographer, Cave has historically activated these objects through live and filmed performances.
• Whether static or in motion, the Soundsuits bear some resemblance to African ceremonial costumes and masks. 
• Although the Soundsuits appear vibrant and joyful, they began as a response to the police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1992.
• As an African-American man, Cave felt particularly vulnerable after this incident of police brutality and the first Soundsuits can be understood as a form of protective body armor.
• By 2011, when Cave made the Soundsuit that has been given to VMFA, these full-body outfits had become increasingly elaborate and exuberant. 
• VMFA plans to acquire more Soundsuits in the future, along with Cave’s videos of these human shaped assemblages in motion, so that this example can be placed in context and fully understood as both a sculpture and performative piece.

SEE MORE OF HIS WORK HERE: http://www.jackshainman.com/artists/nick-cave/

HEAR FROM THE ARTIST IN THE VIDEO BELOW:

Tom's
1974
Painted sheet metal
National Gallery of Art East Building

Sky Cathedral
1958
Painted wood
11' 3 1/2" x 10' 1/4" x 18" (343.9 x 305.4 x 45.7 cm)
MoMA, New York City

FIRST - Use these links to learn about the artist and to explore the style and media in which she and other artists worked:

• Louise Nevelson - biography and important works
• Assemblage - A Brief History and important artists 
• Abstract Expressionist sculpture​

NEXT - Watch these videos to make further connections:

THEN - Complete the following: 

1. List important facts about Nevelson's life and work.
​2. Investigate one or more of the artists (beyond Nevelson) included in the provided resources.  ​
3. What are your thoughts about Nevelson's work and/or the work of another assemblage sculptor? Make any connections between this artist(s) and what you've learned and experienced in art class (think back to Art 1!)?
4. Do you have any ideas for a sculpture after seeing Nevelson's and others' work (form, materials, content, etc.)? What found objects do you think you'd be drawn to? Why?

Complete the following: 

1. Choose a work of Puryear's to sketch, beyond the primary thumbnail you have already completed.  Feel free to look at images beyond those provided on the included website.  Include the credit line info. 
2.  List the important facts about Puryear's life, work, and his inspirations (so that you can better understand the content of his work and what makes him the artist that he is).
3. Explain your thoughts about his work and how you might be able to draw inspiration from it.

You don't live the in the 1940s as the Abstract Expressionists did.... neither does Mark Bradford... but the lessons are still there for the taking. See what Bradford has learned from AbEx and how he has developed his own style and process along the way. ​After reviewing the provided resources, write a response.

Go to the Student Websites page to access the AWARENESS/AS #8 post that you have been assigned. Follow the same directions as you would for any Artist Spotlight entry to complete AS #9.

2) DUE January 18th: For Artist Spotlight #8, create an AWARENESS post about the AbEx painter you have been assigned to investigate more fully. 

• Just as you did for your Old Master, this is an opportunity to get to know about the artist's life, work, and process.
• USE this research to inspire YOUR and YOUR CLASSMATES' painting process.
• Once posted, classmates will be assigned an artist(s) to investigate using the standard sketchbook "Artist Spotlight format," including answers to the questions you have asked.
• SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR THE AWARENESS POST CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Many important AbEx painters are featured in the above photo or listed below:

• Hans Hofman 
• Norman Lewis 
• Philip Guston
  
• Robert Motherwell

The following are all female painters whose work can be seen here: The Women of Abstract Expressionism: 12 Artists History Should not Forget (Hedda Sterne is not on this list but is linked above in the photo caption).

• • Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989)
  • Joan Mitchell (1925-1992)
  • Mary Abbott (1921-)
  • Deborah Remington (1930-2010)
  • Judith Godwin (1930-)
  • Lee Krasner (1908-1984)
  • Ethel Schwabacher (1903-1984)
  • Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011)
  • Perle Fine (1905-1988)
  • Grace Hartigan (1922-2008)
  • Jay DeFeo (1929-1989)
  • Sonia Gechtoff (1926-)

Watch this again if you need to.... it's a really good review of the AbEx movement that Franz Kline is associated with. Try to get a feel for the "mood" of the day and the role that artists like Kline took upon themselves. 

What should you know about Franz Kline's painting techniques? What ideas can you glean for your own work?

Read: Franz Kline Discussing Black and White (1960). After investigating color theory and simultaneous contrast - AND knowing the important role that color can play in a work of art.... consider why he took this achromatic approach. What approach might you take?

DEFINE:

• Gestural
• Iterative
• Action painting​​​
• Scumble

​AFTER CAREFULLY REVIEWING THE RESOURCES ASSIGNED ABOVE: Answer the following questions completely and with specificity to the provided resources, notes taken, personal reflection, and additional research as needed. Make sure to consider how this information is relevant to your current work and practice.

1. What were the Abstract Expressionists trying to express? 
2. How did Franz Kline arrive at abstraction in his work?
3. Why did Franz Kline like using house paint, an unconventional material for fine art?
4. Explain Kline's use of black and white. Will you use color or not? If so, which ones and why? If not, why?
5. Compare/contrast Franz Kline’s "Four Square" and Whistler’s "Nocturne in Black and Gold"

In the video below, watch the images as they move from real to abstract to non-objective... Piet Mondrian was mentioned in the first video and these are some of his paintings. ASK YOURSELF: At what point is the tree no longer the subject? Without a tree, what becomes the subject? How does this shift in subject affect the content of the work? How is this style similar to/different from realistic art? Think about these things are you prepare for your next project,  Abstract Expressionist painting!