May Newsletter

--Dan Cummins (Board President)

BREAKING NEWS

The ArtiFactory has space of its own!

Effective May 1 The ArtiFactory has leased space at 120 N Dubuque St (lower level of the Wesley Center). We are very excited to begin offering a variety of programming (classes, exhibits, Life Drawing, etc.) over the next few months. Keep your eyes open for additional information coming soon. We also have several small art studios available for rent. Please contact us for additional information.

This is a big step towards a community art center. But, this can not happen without your support. Please volunteer or make a donation.

Claire Thoele is an illustrator and graphic designer who enjoys working in a wide variety of media, including watercolor, pen and ink and in the digital realm. Claire loves exploring new techniques and is constantly pushing her own boundaries. Her illustrations have been seen in the Little Village, as band posters at Gabe’s and the Yacht Club, and on t-shirts.
Follow On: clairethoele.com, Etsy Store & Instagram.

Art in the Afternoon is a showcase of local artists usually held on the third Sunday of the month. It is an opportunity for the community to discover their journey and see the artwork they have created along the way. Look back at the list of presenters.

Jump to:

New Ways to Connect Through Art
Art Musings
Exploring the Online World of Art
Artists in the Movies
Art in the Afternoon
Art in the Afternoon on YouTube

Please Tell Us Your Views

--Beppie Weiss

Dear Art Friends

Its official! We now have a space, and the ArtiFactory will have a physical presence at last. We have , keys, a lease agreement, and we are down town. We have rented the lower level of the Wesley Center on Dubuque street, former home of PS1, free lunch, and free medical clinic.

I mentioned in our last letter that Phil Dorothy, sponsor and host to a life drawing group for many years, had died. His daughters have generously offered to donate all the stuff from his studio to us to create the Phil Dorothy Drawing Studio in his memory.

This weekend we will begin by moving the things from Phil studio into our space. Over the next few weeks we will be busy setting up a drawing/painting space and when that is done we resume our regular weekly drop in drawing time and set up some classes.

No longer will you have to beg your kids or spouse to pose for you.

Gallery walk is coming up on Saturday, June 5th. Unlike other years, it is going to be a daytime event. The artists on the board of The ArtiFactory (Arts Iowa City) will be exhibiting at “Ginsberg’s” on Washington Street from 10 am.-2 pm. Come by and see what we have been doing. Some of us will be there to talk with you. Masks Please.

And last but not least, all you painters who like to work “en plein aire”, don’t forget the event hosted by Gallery Domestique in Washington on the following weekend, June 11. Go to their web page for details.

So this is all from me this month.
Please send any news you would like to share to me by clicking here. Keep a sketch book with you and fill it. You never know when it will come in handy.

Beppie

Forward

--John McGlinn

Precious Weaving at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London

A stunning journey of craftsmanship in Japan that is nearing its end. Beautiful materials, rare and skilled artisans, end-of-the-line equipment make for a revealing treasure not long for this world.
V&A Precious Weaving

Contemporary dance in Shanghai's minimalist art museum

A short, wonderful 3:25 minute dance performance perfectly contrasting her dynamically expressive moves with hard, tight architecture enhanced by unique music. Not to be missed.

If I may, beyond its immediate enjoyment pleasure, it reminds me of the Merce Cunningham Dance Troup at the University of Colorado in 1965, and a dancer that I befriended. For a summer architecture class we asked her to dance a short piece that we helped choreograph with/between/among vertical strings. Quite the shock for our professor, and for us also to see what she made of our “environment”.

Modern Dance in Shanghai

Finally a Clear, Lucid Explanantion of Abrstraction

I agree with his very important distinction between abstraction and non-objective art. It is so easy to lump both together when they are not the same. In my opinion so much non-objective artwork is just bad: formless, skill-less, not ground-breaking, and not really as expressive as the artist wishes they were. This presenter is specific as no one else I have ever heard. As we know, distinctions are very useful, and his help.

What is Abstraction?

Forward

--Phil Beck

Cassatt & Dali

Mary Cassatt was an anomaly in the best sense of the word--an American woman who exhibited her work with the French Impressionist painters of the late 19th century (the only American artist to earn that distinction). Born near Pittsburgh to a prosperous middle-class family on May 22, 1844, she spent many of her formative years traveling and being educated in Europe, before enrolling in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In her twenties she moved to Paris to take up the life of a painter, an uncommon, though not unheard of, decision for a woman at that time. She lived there for most of her remaining life, moving in circles that included Impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro. Edgar Degas was an early champion who became a close friend and sometime collaborator.

Cassatt is probably best remembered for her sensitive studies of women in daily life or private moments, such as “Tea” or “Woman Bathing,” as well as her depictions of mothers tending their children (“The Child’s Bath.”) A lifelong champion of women’s rights, she never married, and is celebrated today for her fiercely independent spirit as much as for her sublime talent. In 1999, HBO presented the short film Mary Cassatt: American Impressionist as part of its series aimed at introducing famous artists to child viewers. In this charming piece, the young Cassatt (winningly played by Amy Brenneman) is trying to establish herself as a painter in Paris when her life is turned upside down by her nephew and two nieces, who come to stay the summer. Mary copes with their distracting presence by painting them, commencing the discovery of her identity as an artist.

For more traditional fare, there’s the imaginatively titled documentary produced for public TV in 2002, Mary Cassatt: A Brush with Independence. While again short (56 minutes), this film gives a good overview of her life and art, as well as thoughtful commentary on the qualities that made her unique. You can find it on YouTube.

May is also the birthday month of the Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dali (May 11), a memorable figure in his own right. He makes a brief “cameo” appearance (portrayed by Adrien Brody) in Woody Allen’s 2011 romantic fantasy Midnight in Paris, but otherwise his cinematic presence is exclusively behind the camera. In collaboration with film director and fellow Spaniard Luis Bunuel, Dali created one of the most famous short films of all time, the Surrealist masterpiece Un Chien Andalou (1929). Chock-full of shocking and scandalous imagery, such as ants crawling out of the palm of a hand, dead mules changing into priests, and the infamous shot of a straight razor slicing through an eyeball, Andalou remains as provocative and exhilarating (or exasperating) today as it was when it premiered nine decades ago.

In Hollywood in the 1940s, Dali created the surreal dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Spellbound (1945). Reportedly, neither was completely happy with it, but I couldn’t tell you why. It looks pretty cool to me. Check it out, as well as Un Chien Andalou. Both are readily available on the internet.

Seen any of these films? Tell us what you think of them, or suggest others not covered in the newsletter. Click here to contact Phil Beck with your movie comments or suggestions.

Cassatt on Film: