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.

Stencil

I am behind in posting a blog.  I went to the first class thinking dropping it because of other projects I need to complete this semester.  However, when the plan was laid out, I became so interested in stencil and other projects I deciced to take the class.

I think I did stencil when I was a child; every child is exposed to some sort of cutouts.  However, what we are doing in class is absolutely reviving my brain to a new world.

As an image, I thought about a dragon (dragon year) and an eagle competing to go up the sky.  My second thought is to concentrate on the eagles.  The reasons are dragon images tend to be cartoonistic since it is an imaginary animal.  There are a lot of dragon images in Japan, but it might be a challenge to use them as a stencil.

When I moved to Batesville, I saw so many Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures.  I mistakenly thought they were bald eagles; I tried to find white head, but no avail.  I started surfing the web, and found out they are not bald eagles.  The place where we live was not called Eagle Mountain; the real Eagle Mountain is on the east side of this mountain.  There used to be a lot of goats on this mountain.  Lyon College used to own this goat mountain, but when it was developed for houses, they changed the name from goat to eagle; I guess eagle is more attractive than goat.  I'd say goat mountain is cuter, though. 

Bald Eagles can be spotted along the White River where not so many people live.  Bald Eagles migrate from north to south in winter; the closest place we can observe them is around Bull Shoals west of Mountain Home.

Anyway, I'd like to use eagles as an image for the stencil project.

Preparation for the upcoming presentation

I have been working on the upcoming presentation.  The posts on the blogger are very useful.  I saves all of them in Word; 18 pages in total.  I am also putting together artwork I liked in books, online, and art galleries; after all these works have shaped my work this semester.  Come to think about it, it seems the artwork I saw in galleries have been influencing me since I started taking art classes a couple of years ago.

Book reviews we did, individual and group critiques, and critiques by Dan Hernandez and art students are very important assets to my work, too.  Hopefully I can include all the sources to my presentation.

Tools

I am so happy that the art show downtown was so successful.  Congratulations to Dustyn and all.

I learned how to use tools such as the drill and drill bits this time.  When I opened the package from the American Frames, I just thought all I had to do was to lay the plexi glass, watercolor, mat board, and the styrofoam board in order.  When I read the instructions, I learned I had to use a drill to put spring clips.  I went to Wal-mart to find the drill, but I didn't even know what the drill looked like.  I tried to find a store attendant who could help me in vain.  Then I went to Home Depot where I could get a decent help.  The attendant took me to the right place and started explaining the tools, so I said all I want is a tool to put the frames together.  I got the drill; I asked him several times how to use it.  He said there are two screws, plus and minus (of course, these are my terminology), so I said I need something to make a hole.  Then he realized I need a drill bit.  I practiced how to drill a hole on a board; the drill bit wouldn't go in, and eventually I realised I turned the switch to the wrong direction, so instead of making a hole, the drill bit kept coming out. After several trying, I could put all frames and pictures together.

Monday night we hang pictures; Dustyn let me know sawtooth hangers are pulling the frame; the frame will eventually snap.  So I had to go to Home Depot and bought hanging wires and wire cutter.  Even at Home Depot a female store attendant didn't know what a wire cutter looked like, and she took me to a metal cutter section.  I said to myself if I had to use these huge cutters to cut the hanging wire.  She asked for another help.  Finally I could put all the wires on the back of the frames.

What a joy to see the pictures hang properly, and I did all by myself!  I can order more frames for the artwork I have done in the past couple of years.

Sunrise

One of my four titles in my art project was the sunset.  The sunset is often associated with death as Turner and many other artists imply.  Just because I saw a beautiful sunset, I was going to use it as one of the themes, but I decided to try the sunrise instead as it implies the beginning of new life.  One of the art students suggested I use the ocean since I crossed it to come to the States.  I have seen both the sunrise and the sunset from the plane many times, but since my topic is "Big Sky" in the States seen from the ground, I decided to search an image of the sunrise at the Mississippi; I have crossed it many times.  This weekend I am working on this sunrise, and hopefully it will turn out as I hope.