Art in San Antonio

I visited San Antonio from February 9 to 12. I have been there several times, but this time I became very interested in their art.

JW Marriott where we stayed had southwest decorations everywhere. I was most interested in the color combinations of the floor carpet.   Blue, orange and tan are the main colors, representing sky, sand, and flowers (or sunrise/sunset).  Each color changes from light to dark with a few green and brown shapes here and there in a sutle way.  Somehow I was very impressed by the way the colors were mixed.  Shades of blue even reminded me of Hiroshige's blue.  Then I saw a sunset which was just like this carpet.

The hotel was also decorated with pottery; I learned the pottery is called Mexican Talavera pottery.  Talavera pottery was introduced to Mexico by Spanish people in the 16th century. About the same time the Spanish came to Japan and introduced their art to the Japanese.  By the way the first western people who came to Japan was the Portuguese in 1492.  Then Spanish and the Dutch.  As Talavera was Mexicanized, so are all the European potteries in Japan.  However, at the museums in Japan we can often find pottery which is just like original Talavera.

Japanese pottery is influenced by Chinese and Korean pottery, especially Korean when Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea in the 16th century.  They brought back Korean pottery makers so that they would make Korean pottery for them.  Korean pottery makers were forced to stay in several places in Japan, and eventually influenced Japanese pottery.

Hokusai and Hiroshige influenced the impressionists in the west.  Any culture does not stand by itself; they influence each other producing better art.

I also visited San Antonio Museum of Art. It has an extensive collection from around the world.  Their permanent collections include Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, Asian art, Latin American art, American paintings and contemporary art.  I really enjoyed visiting this museum although I always wonder how these precious items from all over the world have become their permanent collections.  I wonder who donated them, how these people (foundation) used to own them. Did they purchase them while they were in foreign countries?  Right after the WWII when Japan was suffering from poverty, a lot of art items were sold by Japanese to Americans.  I have seen some of these arts at several museums. I enjoy visiting museums, but I cannot but think how and why these foreign art items have come to the possession of the museums. 

Kappazuri-e: Stencil Prints in Japan

I am still trying to find what kind of stencil prints have developed in Japan.  I finally hit a couple of decent informational websites. 
http://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/topictexts/artist_varia_topics/stencil3.html
http://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoetexts/ukiyoe_pages/nagahide4.html

Stencil printing is called kappazurie in Japan.  "The paper most widely used in Japan is called shibugami, made from several layers of kozo paper laminated with persimmon tannin."  We still use this kind of paper; actually I have a fan made from shibugami.  They make several screen prints just like woodblock prints according to how many colors they'd use.  They print from lighter colors to darker colors, and then the key impression stencil is used on the colored paper.  "If the stencil pattern has thin lines that can be reinforced with silk gauze." I reinforced thin lines by adding another sheet of paper. Information from the second website says stencil prints were used because they were less expensive and faster than the woodblock prints. It is hard to see the difference between stencil prints and woodblock prints!

By the way, I totally failed in the last try of the stencil print.  I was going to use the bubbles over the fall scene, but the bubbles wouldn't print on the painted eagle.  Also I somehow thought I could use the same bubbles, but the while acrylic on the bubbles came off and got stuck on my eagle.  If I had time, I will redo it, but (sorry) Sears repair men are coming with compressor on Tuesday, so I have to stay home again.  I liked the way the last stencil work turned out, so I will do it when I have time; I won't use the bubbles for the retry.

Yoshitoshi Mori

Mix media

We finished the first project, stencil.  I really enjoyed mix media.  In my mind, each medium used to be separate, and I have never thought about mixing them.  I had some resistance against mix media when I was working on watercolor last semester; however, with Dustyn's advice, I added acrylic to one paint and sumi to another one, and the result was so interesting.

In this class this semester, my first try on mix media was stencil.  Since I saw the result of mix media last semester, I didn't have any hesitation in mixing spray paint and acrylic on stencil (also sprinkles of silver dust).  We used all the requirements in this project, and the result was very satisfying.  The mix media give us a lot of freedom in expressing ourselves; I don't feel confined.  Mix media is freedom to the outside world whereas sigle media is freedom within the medium.  (Do I make sense??)

I went to an art show while in Japan, and most of them used mix media.  Since there was no explanation, I was not sure what they used.  I can now guess; oil paiting with spray paint and silver dust for one art.

I found a very "Japanesee" stencil as below.  I don't know who did it, but the color and design are definitely Hiroshige's.