Category: Events

This week’s session was about trauma and art, and Joyce led us through various artists who have had trauma in their lives and have used their art to heal.

First she spoke about Jackson Pollock and his psychoanalytic drawings he did in therapy for his alcoholism. She spoke about how you can bring out your subconscious through art. While he was sober, Pollock did drip paintings, which was considered abstract expressionism, and he flung the paint onto the floor and released his energy. He and his wife Lee Krasner were action painters.

Krasner dealt with Pollock’s tragic death with her art, and she used her whole body in a sort of rhythmic dance while painting while she created. She said that you can’t have a plan or control it, and that the art is like a force or energy that moves through you. It’s a form of surrender.

Hilma af Klint, a Swedish artist, used to paint landscapes and portraits. Then she loses her sister and began to make abstract art after this trauma. There were seances that were performed around Hilma, and she did paintings that came automatically through her while she painted without questioning anything.

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who does everything from fashion to mosaics to performance art and paintings and drawings. She was unfortunately abused as a child; her mother asked her to spy on her father while he was cheating on her mother. Her mother also made it known that she didn’t approve of Kusama’s art and often tore it apart. Kusama had a psychotic break as a teen, and began seeing dots, which she incorporates into her art. She now perminantely resides in a mental health facility in Japan and creates art in a nearby studio.

Frida Kahlo had a bus accident at the age of 18 and a metal rod went through her pelvis. She had 40 surgeries throughout her lifetime, and died young. She was able to paint in bed while she was healing.

Pablo Picasso created art that showed the suffering of the world. One of his paintings is of the Weeping Woman, which showed what the world is feeling, and another is his famous Guernica, which shows the horrors of war.

For this event, Joyce spoke about the challenges of being an artist when one has a physical disability, especially in the artist’s older age. She mentioned for example, that one could make adaptations such as using a thicker paintbrush if one needed it. Or, if an artist had Parkinson’s disease and their hands shook, they could create completely different art, and it would come out abstract, instead of how it usually did.

Joyce also spoke about many different artists with physical disabilities and how they were still able to make art.

Lee Krasner
Lee had a brain hemorrhage in 1962, and later arthritis. She used the working fingers on her right hand to guide her left hand so she could still paint. She also made collages of her already-made paintings and drawings. She was an “action painter,” meaning she used her entire body when she painted; she even figured out how to do this in her later years.

Edgar Degas
Degas was an impressionist painter who had visual impairments. A lot of his subjects were about sight. Artist Mary Cassatt also suffered visual impairment.

Frida Kahlo
Kahlo had a bus accident at the age of 18 and as a result, needed a metal rod in her spine. She painted many self-portraits from her bed. This period in her life is actually when she realized her talent and love for art.

Claude Monet
Monet was an impressionist who painted light and color. He painted the same objects in different light on purpose. He then loses his ability to see color and light because of cataracts. The surgery was very new at the time, so he was afraid to have it done, but later he did have it done in one eye. Before the surgery, the paintings came out more abstract and darker. He also suffered from depression as a result of losing his son and second wife. After the surgery, Monet painted the famous water lilies in his later years.

Chuck Close
Chuck Close was famous for creating faces that look realistic from far away. He had an aneurism in his spine and lost mobility of most of his body. Also, from boyhood, he couldn’t recognize faces.

Matthew Raynor
Raynor suffered a horrific diving accident that left him as a quadriplegic and paralyzed from the chest down. He couldn’t move 85% of his body, was in the hospital for 3 months, had to move back in with his mother in his 20s and needed her help to pretty much do everything. After he recovered, he discovered an old hobby – photography – and figured out how to do it with a drone, which gave his life direction and purpose again. You can visit him at www.matthewraynor.com.

Joyce told us about a movie called Imber’s Left Hand, about an artist named Jon Imber who had ALS and had to learn how to paint with his left hand.

I am looking forward to attending next week’s art talk!

This was the third in this library program series that I attended with Joyce. She spoke about various famous artists and their work, as well as her own experiences. Next, she educated us about the ways artists make money from selling their work.

First, Joyce repeated her quote: “as we think, we become,” and reminded us that “actions will follow thoughts.” She said that Theo Van Gogh supported his brother Vincent’s art. She mentioned the book Dear Theo by Irving Stone. This also reminded me of when I read the YA book Vincent & Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman. It makes me want to give that one a re-read. It was also apparently made into a movie, upon further research.

Marc Chagall was a painter who blended this sense of purpose and his spirituality with his art. He made stained glass and murals. I love the quote that Joyce shared from Alexander Calder: “Above all, art should be fun.” I went to this talk, even though I don’t really plan on selling any of my current art. Who knows? Maybe I will in the future.

Joyce told us how Jackson Pollock’s wife, Lee Krasner, promoted his art. Pollock had the highest selling painting at $8,000 which was really great because it was before 1950. Lee Krasner faced sexism, being called “Mrs. Pollock,” and never promoted herself when Pollock was alive. Lee then created the Pollock-Krasner Foundation through Pollock’s estate, and gave back once she could. You can visit it at PKF.org.

Yayoi Kusama was a very interesting artist to me, because she was a Japanese artist who dealt with mental health issues, and saw dots. She then created most of her art with dots. She’s also met with sexism and racism. A male artist copied her and got three times the money and got very famous for it. However, in the 1980s, she was the highest selling female artist at the time. She’s also known for doing a collaboration with Louis Vuitton.

Alma Thomas was an African American woman who did the painting “Resurrection” in 1966. She started her career in her late 60s. She has a one-woman show at the Whitney Museum at the age of 81.

Here are some ways for artists to make money from their art:
-Have an art rep who can sell your work to collectors
-Get public commissions/grants with the state/locality
-Ask for help to approach or negotiate with people
-Artists have a second job a lot of the time such as being a teacher/professor of art

Art Galleries
-Commercial
-Artist-run gallery (co-op)
-Vanity gallery
-Exhibition spaces (non-profit)

Exhibition Spaces
-Restaurants
-Community centers
-Libraries
-Etsy
-Social media
-Studio visits

Marketing
-Email list
-Website
-Social Media
-Networking
-Word of mouth
-Printed materials
-Advertising
-Art rep
-Document/photograph your work
-Artist statement
-Resume/CV

Agreement With Gallery
-Get it in writing
-Read it carefully
Hire a lawyer when needed
-Get it signed!

Two last inspiring quotes from Joyce:
“Art can transform great pain into great prosperity.”
“You don’t have to be a trained artist to sell art!”

This was the second session of this virtual library series that I attended, and it was great! First, the presenter, Joyce, gave a talk on modern art and tapping into your inner life using art. We discussed expressing what’s inside yourself, your feelings and emotions and your inner child. Joyce said what you create mimics what’s within.

The first artist we examined was Van Gogh and his famous “Starry Night” painting. In it, he exaggerates emotion and projects his inner turbulence. Then she also pulled up “The Scream,” by Edvard Munch, whose painting was ridiculed at the time for being too dark. Joyce mentioned that artists play with the theme of perception, and that we see everything from our own lens.

We also examined the works of Picasso, Marc Chagall, children’s author and illustrator Faith Ringgold, Frida Kahlo, and Andre Masson. Joyce also mentioned Dali, Roberto Matta and Hilma af Klint, as well as Pollock and Krasner.

Joyce then invited us to pick a technique (such as surrealism, impressionism etc.) and try it out for ourselves.

Below is the drawing I made during the program, and I call it: “Anger.” I made it using the “automatic drawing technique,” where you just let the art flow from your pencil.

Reflection:
I personally love Georgia O’Keefe’s art, specifically her colors, and I plan on getting some art books out of the library so I can look at them more closely as soon as I can. This is my favorite painting of hers:

Dried Flower Bookmarks

I went to a dried flower bookmark making program at the library. We used card stock for the bookmark canvas, and put dried flowers onto the card stock. We could also add stickers or draw on the paper. Then we put contact paper over it so that it stayed together and had the shiny look of a bookmark. We also were able to add tassles to the bookmarks using a hole punch to attach them.

I made two bookmarks, one long and one short, and I did dried flowers on one side of each, and flower stickers on the other side of each.

Reflection:
This program was simple yet brought out the joy of the spring! Some people made a few bookmarks, and intended to give them as gifts to their friends and family. I never did this before, and don’t think mine came out that good, but I think it was still fun.

Mindful Art Workshop

This was a very chill art program with all kinds of art supplies. I used writing tools called “gelatos” and they were kind of like crayons, except more creamy. You could spread and blend them with makeup sponges and also add water to make them like water color paints. I thought it was very cool! We spent a good hour doing that, and I came away with two pretty art pieces, if I do say so, myself.

Reflection:
I thought this program was very relaxing, and I’m thinking about buying myself some gelatos and sponges so I can do this at home whenever I want.