In a Blue Bottle Insiders thread, Phyllis and I went down a rabbit hole about illustrator N.C. Wyeth and how he treats light and value. I started that thread because watching the documentary “Wyeth” sparked much conversation here at home and hours of thought as I considered the paintings and what was/is unique and significant about these paintings and body of work. I could geek out about this for hours, and not just about the Wyeths. Don’t get me started on Edward Hopper.
That little foray got me thinking about how we talk about art. Not just “fine art”, but our own art, too. I think most of us appreciate fine art and do enjoy a wander through a museum. But I think that our appreciation of art tends to focus on our enjoyment of the emotion or the decorative aspects of the art. Do we know how to talk about…do we even have the words to discuss…the deeper layers of the way light, value, narrative, historical influences, allegory, trends, etc. affect us? And when we don’t have words to discuss them, and therefore the inability to compare impressions with others, do we even see them?
I don’t want to start a rant about our education systems. But my goodness, why didn’t we learn this in school? I had an excellent art education as part of my regular education, so I consider myself blessed. Plus my mother made sure I was immersed in this stuff (more on this later). But even so, my education centered mainly on how to use art materials. We tend to think the most important things to learn about polymer clay are things like baking, paints, and sealers. But what about light and how it changes the meaning of something? What about learning to see layers of meaning?
These art masters have much to teach us, and not just about the obvious. I would love to dive into it, but I’m not sure how. I’m not sure I have the words to share my thoughts about things that are so intangible and subjective.
And what is my point in bringing this up? I think it’s just that there are layers of our own art and creative process that we most likely don’t have language and development to talk about. I mean, how can you describe a dream you had to another person? Some things we just don’t have the language for. Most of us most certainly were not brought up to have the skills to do what we’re doing as we pursue our artistic growth.
EXERCISE: Compare these three paintings, all of which are quite representative of each artist. Look at the way each artist handles light, the way they use value to separate the figure from the background, the way the background is textured to make it unimportant (yet provides context). Look at the way each shows motion (or lack of motion) and how that makes you feel. What role do the shadows play? And finally…what lessons do these observations teach us about making our own art? How would this translate to a brooch, for example?
