Luiz Rosa Nanini
Mr. Speice ISM 16 March 2017 Realization Mentor Visit Assessment 2 Mentor: Mary Vernon Profession: Professor of Art Location: Meadows School of the Arts, 6101 Bishop Blvd, Dallas, TX 75205 Date: March 06, 2017 Time: 3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Assessment: Painting can be weird at times; it is possible to enjoy and stress over a piece as one paints it. The process of learning something new is exhilarating, but its challenge can bring about some stress. I would not go as far to call it anxiety, but it is most definitely stress. In a way that is how most of my mentor visits have played out. I do not see that as a bad thing, however, because overcoming the difficulties of painting feels incredibly rewarding. During my most recent mentor visit I finally got the chance to paint a portrait. I have never painted as many portraits as I would like, but they are my one of my favorite types of paintings. They not only do they portray emotion in a dramatic way, but they are also one of the most challenging types of paintings. I desire to learn more about them and how to perfect them. Our assignment was to paint a plaster bust in two different ways: the venetian and and florentine. The first method involved painting a dark red imprimatura, the first layer of one color in a painting. (It usually gives it a distinct dark tone) One that is dry we had to paint an underlayer, so we could establish the dark and light values, of black and white. The second painting was a much lighter one. There was no imprimatura, instead we had to create the underlayer completely in green. Painting on top of the red imprimatura feels natural. I enjoy using the background as a source of color and painting with the white is exciting. It reminds me of a drawing, making the process feel familiar. On the other hand, painting an underlayer in one color is something I am used to doing. However, usually I am allowed to use white. Not this time; to make a lighter tone I need to use a thin layer of paint. The idea would be to embrace the white background as the lighter value. Even after three hours and many mistakes, I still was not finished. I found it difficult to paint the bust correctly. My proportions were off and I was forced to restart, but Ms. Vernon urged me to keep painting and improving. She explained that failure is part of the process, if not the most important part. I struggled to complete the painting, but I learned a great deal in the process. For one, I learned that painting value involves looking at the subject and its surroundings. Painting the background helps the artist get an idea of what the final piece will look like. Also, light and dark values, despite their contrast, depend on each other. Having a light value next to a dark one makes the light one stand out, and vise versa. Knowing this not only helps me gain a better idea of how to paint, but I feel that is not as important as the fact that I found painting this way enjoyable. Finding out what I enjoy most in painting will lead me closer to finding out my true passions in painting, which is something I have been trying to narrow down throughout my whole ISM experience. I will probably continue to do so as I develop as an artist. I believe that if I continue to practice these skills I will bring out more life in my paintings, and focusing on what I enjoy will allow me to pour passion into the painting with ease. Doing so, I believe, will make my paintings richer and will help me become a better painter. I will continue to paint like this by practicing more of this kind of painting once a week or so. Especially now that I have finished my one hundred paintings, I have more time to work on other things. It is encouraging to learn these different ways to paint. I feel like I am actually developing as a painter. I see progress, which I deeply cherish. In reality, I do not think I have improved this much in such a short amount of time ever in my life. I am proud of my initiative and I am motivated to continue improving. I know I can do so, all I need is to continue having the initiative to pursue my goals. Finishing the assignments I have been given by Ms. Vernon will be the best way to continue growing as a painter, but I cannot get too far ahead of myself. I still need to study some different art shows to apply to. I need to continue painting while also applying to art shows and making my documentary. Balancing all of that will be difficult, but necessary for my development as a painter. Setting Up Shop
Mentor Visit Assessment 1 Mentor: Mary Vernon Profession: Professor of Art Location: Meadows School of the Arts, 6101 Bishop Blvd, Dallas, TX 75205 Date: February 9, 2017 Time: 3:20 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Assessment: For my mentor visits, Ms. Vernon has allowed me to participate in one of her classes. They are in session every Monday and Wednesday for three hours, but I will only be able to go every other Monday consistently. However, this visit was on a Wednesday. I had originally not planned to go to this meeting due to another commitment, but Ms. Vernon recommended me to go. She explained this meeting would be important, so I decided to go. Admittedly, this was not my first visit. I did not write about the others because the first was simply a review on the Mentor Handbook, and the second was mainly focused on setting up the studio for Ms. Vernon’s class. In reality this was my the first mentor visit that centered on teaching me about painting. When I reached Meadows School of the Art I did not go to Ms. Vernon’s studio, but the two floors below hers. She was teaching the class how to set up for a critique. Setting up for a critique is quite similar to setting up for a showcase in a museum, which is exactly what a museum curator does. Curating involves someone deciding where to put a piece of art in a showcase. They have to take into account the lighting, spacing, and the pieces themselves. Do the colors match? Should they match? How should the pieces be spaced? By size? If so, should each wall start with the biggest piece, from the center, and then spread out? There are many questions to answer, and we, the class, attempted to answer these questions. We set up the pieces in three walls. Each wall started with a large piece, in the middle, that spread into smaller pieces. We also tried making the colors and lighting match. In the end it looked pretty nice. The most interesting part of this, however, was the purpose of this. Ms. Vernon explained we would have a critique towards the end of the semester, and each person will have to curate their own tiny space. Once I learned this I realized why Ms. Vernon recommended I come. I always show up slightly later than most people, which means I will, undoubtedly, get the worst spot to set up my pieces during the critique. I needed to know how to curate my own area, so that when the time comes I will be able to make the “worst” area the “best” one. This will be done by manipulating the placement of each of my pieces and the lighting. I also find that this knowledge can be incredibly beneficial in future endeavors. Artist have to showcase their artwork in local shows; knowing how to curate can help me truly stand out among my peers. Once we finished curating, we continued painting our last assignment, a beet. For that assignment Ms. Vernon taught me an amazing way to paint. Rather than painting an object and the background, this method involves painting both the background and object at the same time. It somewhat feels like carving the object through painting the background. Honestly, I genuinely enjoy this method. It feels incredibly efficient and fun because it allows me to mix colors in an incredibly interesting style. Another reason I am excited to learn this style is that it feels more natural than how I usually paint, which, to me, means it is closer to the style of painting I want to develop. Every artist needs to develop a unique style, this one might bring me closer to my style of painting and it could be invaluable in helping me paint my one hundred pieces, for my final product, more efficiently. Overall, I feel this visit was the first step towards my final product. I feel like a painter. My life has increasingly begun revolve around painting and, in the near future, I will get to explore the career in an incredibly different way than before. Not only am I taking a class in college specifically directed at painting, but I will also begin painting daily for ten days. I am incredibly excited to begin this next phase of my journey in ISM. Everything seems to be coming together, all my research, my interviews, my original work, and even this mentor visit seem to building up to my final product. I feel like my choices matter, and that I am actually building a foundation for my future; it feels incredible. Mary Vernon
Professor of Art Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Mary Vernon, Professor of Art and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at Southern Methodist University, teaches painting, drawing and SMU’s noted color theory course, Color and Meaning. She was born in southern New Mexico, educated at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Vernon is a Fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Her national service to the arts includes membership on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Arts Administrators, the Wishbone™ Educational Advisory Board, Advisory Board of the Texas Biennial and membership on the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Museum of Art. She has served as the U.S. State Department Visiting Artist in Chile (2003), has shown her work in France, Hungary and Kazakhstan, and is represented by Valley House Gallery of Dallas. |