Creative Though & Artistic Process Gilliam
ÒTHE ACCIDENTAL MASTERPIECE: On the Art of Life and Vice
VersaÓ
by Michael Kimmelman
Our
first unit of the investigation probes how artist think and how they produce
art within the Visual Arts.
Michael KimmelmanÕs book, ÒThe Accidental Masterpiece,Ó will provide us
with insights on these and other questions. He has written 10 essays Òabout how creating, collecting and
even just appreciating art can make living a daily masterpiece.Ó The text could
serve as a centerpiece for an entire semesterÕs study. As we want to consider other
disciplines, we will use the class to help illustrate KimmelsmanÕs ideas as
follows:
You
are to select three essays from the text that appeal to you. Email your first, second and third
choices to Stephen Brown by Tuesday, 1/27. In a sentence or two, explain why you selected these
particular essays. We will divide
you into 4 groups, each focusing on one of KimmelmanÕs essay. Depending on how
your responses play out, we will endeavor to use your choices in the creation
of the groups.
On
February 10 and 12, your essay groups will present the selected chapters as
lessons for rest of the class.
Each presentation should be 20-minutes in length. After your presentation, your group
will engage the class in a discussion of the concepts you present. You will be
graded on both your comprehensive treatment of the text and on your
presentation. Consider visual
arts, music, creative text and drama as you present KimmelmanÕs essays to us. Engage us in your subject matter.
This
presentation is not an outline of the chapter. Rather you are to identify the themes and conclusions
Kimmelman presents. Use some of the artists he mentions to help
illuminate his conclusions. We
want you to go deeper in your study.
FOR EXAMPLE, as you consider artist Yoko OnoÕs work, for example, what
inspired her to create? What music
did she listen to? What other
visual arts were on the Òin sceneÓ at the time? Who were the poets or writers that she must have read? What plays were on Broadway, Off
Broadway, in Regional Theatres and at Fringe Festivals, which she might have
seen? What was happening in
politics at the time? Fashion?
Popular Art? Create a
collage understanding the atmosphere in which Yoko expressed her performance
art?
Not
all the essays will allow an investigation as suggested above. How you ultimately present your essay
is up to you. Framing it and
dealing with the concepts will be an interesting exercise in itself. We will have time in class to address
your questions as you prepare for the presentation. Each group will have a mentor for assistance.
Everyone
is required to read Chapter One, Introduction. In it, Kimmelman discusses how the artist Pierre BonnardÕs
relationship with his reclusive, fragile, and suspicious wife and model,
Marthe, inspired his work giving it an unique standing in the history of art.
For me, to ground and illuminate the text, I did a web search of BonnardÕs
work. I encourage you to use the
internet to visualize the artists and movements discussed in the text.
Pierre Bonnard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Bonnard
http://www.bertc.com/g5/index.htm
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Art/Bonnard/Bonnard.shtml
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bonnard.html
Phil
and I have prepared a Keynotes Response to the essays in the book. You may find them of interest as you
make your selections.
1. The Art of Making a World
Everyone
should read the Introduction.
We will study this as a
group so it should not be one of your three chooses.
2. The Art of Being Artless "Happy little clouds," painting by numbers, and personal
cameras gave amateurs entry into art.
What is the function of art?
Do amateurs create art? This
essay focuses on the following to
explore questions: Kodak, Bob Ross, Churchill
3. The Art of Having A Lofty Perspective What is art?
How about a urinal? Duchamp
proposed it as such! Step away
from the norm and figure out what art is to you. This essay focuses on the following to explore questions: Duchamp,
DADA, Cezanne
4. The Art of Making Art Without Lifting a Finger Ray Johnson committed suicide at the age of 67 (6 + 7 = 13). The night before his death he stayed in room 247 ( 2 + 4 +7 = 13) at BartonÕs Cove Inn (the name contains 13 letters) and made his last contact with the world at 3:55 pm (3 + 5 + 5 =13). He jumped off a bridge to drown himself at 7:15 pm (7 + 1 +5 = 13) in Sag Harbor Cove (13 letters). Johnson did some odd things in the name of art! This essay focuses on the following to explore questions: Ray Edward Johnson, Yoko Ono
5. The Art of Collecting Lightbulbs Do you
collect things? Coins? Stamps? Teaspoons? Hugh
Francis Hicks collected light bulbs.
In fact, he had 75,000 of them.
For some people it is making, for others it is having. This essay
focuses on the following to explore questions: Hugh Francis Hicks, Charles
Willson Peale, Wonder Cabinets
6. The Art of Maximizing Your Time ÒArt, not unlike raising a child, may entail much
sacrifice and periods of despair, but with luck, the effort will produce
something that outlives you.Ó This
essay focuses on the following to explore questions: Jay DeFeo, Eva
Hesse, Charlotte Salomon
7. The Art of Finding Yourself When You are Lost Do you ever wish that you could separate yourself
from all the distractions so you can get things done? Frank Hurley was able to do thatÉsort of. He took some of the most astounding pictures
of Antarctica, but he and his shipmates were stranded in the Antarctica without
hope of rescue. His intense
experience inspired his art. This
essay focuses on the following to
explore questions: Frank Hurley,
John Tracy, Ray
Materson
8. The Art
of Staring Productively at Naked Bodies ÒThe
dancer Twyla Tharp wakes up every morning at 5:30 and take a cab to the gym
– a trite ritual but, as she has written, Ô a lot of habitually creative
people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to
start their day. By putting
themselves into that environment, they begin their creative day.Ó This essay
focuses on the following to
explore questions: Philip Pearlstein, Hirschfeld, Chopin, Beethoven
9. The Art of a Pilgramage Have you traveled to a different city to see a touring exhibit in a
museum, a first class theatre production, or taken a road trip to see your
favorite band. ÒThe pilgrimage
itself can be part of the experience of a workÉ the time spent looking and
thinking about a work is often proportionate to the effort made to get to it.Ó
This essay focuses on the following to explore questions: Walter de
Maria, Nancy Holt, JamesTurrell, Donald Judd, Michael Heizer
10. The Art of Gum-Ball Machines, and Other Simple
Pleasures When you think of art what do
you think of? Monuments? Depictions of great human emotion? Sometimes art is focused upon simple
joys, like gum-ball machines, cakes É,This essay focuses on the following to explore questions: Horace
Pippin Ellsworth Kelly, Chardin, Thiebaud
Assignment Due Dates:
T 1/27 Essay
Choices DUE to Stephen Brown.
W 1/28 Essay
Groups will be assigned.
T 2/10 GROUPS 1
& 2
R 2/12 GROUPS 3
& 4