Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...
Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
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Loryn Spangler-Jones
"Ecstasy. This piece was incredibly transforming for me. A self-portrait in a sense of me coming out of my shell creatively and really breaking down walls."
Anne Bagby
"I rather like this piece because it sat around my studio and I just layered and layered onto it. It started out as a Lynne Perrella inspired, but unused, piece for a magazine article. Then Kari Holbrook sent me a package of bits and pieces and I stuck them on and painted over everything. Then her husband, Mike, showed me how to cut the 'frame' and it became a shadow box. In New York I picked up some more pieces and added them. THEN I pulled off the top layers and started over. I added more and glazed over them. By the time I stopped I was rather fond of this queen."
Adrienne "Dree" Berry
"Fire. I did this with a gathering of women. I had been encouraged to paint in front of these women but was too scared. But this one time I finally got the courage to do it and this is what came forth."
Theresa Plas
"This piece is from a class taught by Pam Carriker at Art and Soul in Hampton, VA. It represents the first art retreat I participated in. I drove solo in my white pick up truck from Southeast FL to VA and experienced so many wonderful things along the way as well as superb classes."
Nelda Ream
"I named this piece Sister Bird because I was meditating on how connected we are to nature. The 'nest' of hair on the woman points out how much we are all universally alike (I hope)."
Cathy Minerva
"Haze is one of my favorite pieces as it evolved on a rainy day in Georgia. Having all afternoon to myself and finishing a piece in one session is huge to me. I love the texture and movement of this piece as well as the melancholy feeling of a rainy day."
Donna Louise Rodgers
"In Life I am using colour to express volume but it was the pose that really moved me. Men are often portrayed as strong and somehow overbearing to women - which I find distressing. Here you can see the masculine strength but the pose expresses tenderness and vulnerability. I was hugely flattered that the model said that he recognized himself in the image, not just in the likeness of the physical reproduction of the seen object but in the mood too. That's what does it for me - capturing the person as well as what they look like."
Marie Otero
"This piece is a digital composition created using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It was born as a response to some rather troublesome issues I was dealing with at that time and at the end of the day this was my reaction to what I was thinking and feeling. It expresses the conclusions I had reached by the time I had sorted everything out in my head."
Jane Royal
"I started sketching portraits in May of 2007. It took a while but this piece was the first to be an accurate likeness of the model. It was a 'breakthrough' piece for me and a big confidence booster."
AnTonia Griva
"Almost Steady Going Nowhere is one of my favorites and it is actually a picture of one of my moments in tranquility time."
Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
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Loryn Spangler-Jones
Anne Bagby
Adrienne "Dree" Berry
Theresa Plas
Nelda Ream
Cathy Minerva
Donna Louise Rodgers
Marie Otero
"This piece is a digital composition created using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It was born as a response to some rather troublesome issues I was dealing with at that time and at the end of the day this was my reaction to what I was thinking and feeling. It expresses the conclusions I had reached by the time I had sorted everything out in my head."
AnTonia Griva
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, September 2nd.
15 comments:
Such diversity. It's fun seeing what others consider their favorite, or break-thru moment. Really enjoying this latest series as it it even more mind and thought provoking.
It's very inspiring to see the different interpretations and to learn the meaning of each piece.
Another outstanding post of creative and talented works with the special connection to the artists inner thoughts on them!
The personal stories connected to these pieces reveal the honesty and integrity of the portraits. Great collection, my favorites so far!
been enjoying this series seth!
It's awesome to see what these artists feel is their favorite work. Thanks again for opening the art community to me!
Had trouble accessing some of these links Seth. Hope it's not a permanent glitch.
This is so enjoyable and interesting. It is wonderful hearing from the artists themselves-their thoughtnprocess and feelings. Thanks so much for this. And thanks to the artists willing to share.
What a wonderful collection. I'm off to click on links!
Your work is simply wonderful~!
Hey Seth- I love that you have grouped a number of portraits together for your 2nd post in "Playing Favorites," just as the 1st post featured a collection of abstract, or non-objective pieces! It makes for some visually interesting comparisons. Fascinating, too, to read the artist's own thoughts on a favorite piece. Loryn Spangler-Jones' work, "Ecstasy" has a Paul Klee aesthetic, and simplicity that I love. Wonderful visual dynamics created by the opposing arrow forms in the layered background! Anne Bagley's "Queen" is a lovely incredibly multi-layered study in variations on white and grey. The cutout frame creating the shadow box effect is, in my opinion, simply superb! I also find very interesting AnTonia Griva's "Almost Steady Going Nowhere:" a strong vertical composition with wonderfully subtle, light-to-dark modeling on face, neck, and torso, and an unusual use of simple, strong colors. An artist's thought processes while creating a given piece can be quite revealing. "Playing Favorites" gives us a little look behind that "curtain!"
So many talented artists and the variety of mediums is a feast for the eyes!
So pleased to be in this post! You're the best Seth! Enjoying all the words as well as the art.
So pleased to be in this post! You're the best Seth! Enjoying all the words as well as the art.
Seth, it's always a treat catching up with your site. I love these and the attention that's paid to them here.
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