Tonight! Brian Berger, Kirkwood Stair

Best wishes for 2012 from the Artisans' section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild! The next section meeting is Thursday, January, the 5th. Our speaker will be Brian Berger, the owner of Kirkwood Stair. Please invite friends that might enjoy the presentation about engineering and creating complex staircases. As always we meet the 1st Thursday of the month at The St. Louis Artist Guild at 7 pm at 2 Oak Knoll Park Clayton, MO 63105-3008 (Click here for website)

In memory of Bill Vann

It is with great sadness and grief that we share that our good friend, Bill Vann has died. There aren't enough words to detail Billy's legacy and work, his teaching and mentoring and just being a good and devoted friend. He will be missed.

We will have a rememberance at the Guild this Thursday night, Dec 8, from 6pm to 8. Bring photos and stories to share. Food would be nice also. Anyone wishing to donate to the Guild in Bill's name would be appreciated. Let's celebrate in Bill's memory!

Image, R.J. Shay: Bill Vann celebrates with fellow artists Deanna, Lisa & Henryk after they completed four paintings in one evening to benefit the St. Louis Artists' Guild at the party marking the conclusion of the Guilds' 125th anniversary year.

Hanukkah Lamps, Maurice Sendak Remembers

The renowned illustrator Maurice Sendak has curated an exhibition of Hanukkah lamps for The Jewish Museum, NYC. Many of the pieces have not been exhibited previously. Hanukkah begins at sundown on Tuesday, December 20 and continues until sundown on Wednesday, December 28, 2011. There are images of Sendak's work, image galleries of the exhibition and more information about Hanukkah at The Jewish Museum web site at www.TheJewishMuseum.org/Hanukkah2011.

Image:Hanukkah Lamp
Karl Hagenauer (Austrian, 1898-1956)
Vienna (Austria), designed 1919-28
Copper alloy: cast
7 1/8 x 8 x 2 1/2 in. (18.1 x 20.3 x 6.4 cm)
The Jewish Museum, New York

The Art of Rugs

Beyond Rugs! is the title of a new exhibition at the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME, that is receiving international attention and the subject of a recent post on Art Knowledge News. A design by the innovative modernist, Marguerite Zorach, introduces selections of artists from throughout the country who set the pace today with hook and fiber. "Beyond Rugs! explores the way the traditional art of hooking is evolving. No longer destined for the floor, hooked rugs today may be wall hangings, sculpture, or components of mixed media."

The Farnsworth Art Museum: Current Exhibitions

Image: Margurite Zorach, The Snake And Bird, Wool and linen, 1937, Art Knowlege News

There are many shades of green.

From The Bellefontaine Times, Fall 2011

What is a Green Burial?

"There are many shades of green. For some it means a burial in an undisturbed landscape with no coffin or marker. But going mostly green isn't hard. Many people think that state regulations require embalming, concrete vaults and caskets. In fact that is rarely the case, though a cemetery may impose such requirements, often for greater ease of maintenance and perceived customer safety, as internments without vaults or caskets are more likely to subside. Bellefontaine(Cemetery) does not require any of these. An old fashioned pine box or shroud is acceptable. Our new Master Plan is also looking for ways to incorporate more natural landscapes with less memorialization for those preferring "truer green."

This information is posted in support and concurrent with the exhibition "Sustainability and the Built Environment of the St. Louis Region" now at the St. Louis Artists' Guild, Two Oak knoll Park, Clayton, MO, 63105 through Jan 7, 2012.

Congratulations Sustainability Award Winners!

Richard Reilly, Christopher Manzo and a team from the Missouri Botanical Garden each received juror awards for their interesting exhibition projects in the Sustainability show! Congratulations from the Artisans' section!

http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/sustain

Sustainability Panel Discussion

When: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Admission: Free and Open to the Public

The St. Louis Artists' Guild will host a panel discussion, moderated by Jean Ponzi (host of Earthworms on KDHX 88.1), further exploring the themes of the Aggregate Exhibition Series.

Panelists include:
Tom Bradford, Culver Way Eco villageJohn Wagner, FOCUS St. LouisDr. Tim Keane, St. Louis University Sustainability DepartmentBob Hansman, Washington University Architecture DepartmentCharlie Vinz; ReBuild FoundationMarc Lopata, MicroGrid EnergyTony Sirna, Dancing Rabbit Eco Village

St. Louis Artists' Guild
Two Oak Knoll Park
Clayton, MO 63105

Next Artisans' Meeting, Thurs Nov 3, John Mangles, British car expert

John “The MG Doc” Mangles specializes in the mechanical and body restorations of MGs, Triumphs, Austin-Healeys, as well as other British cars. John can handle anything from a simple tune-up to a full-blown restoration and has completed multiple MGB V8 conversions. John will bring his famous MGA V8, truly a piece of rolling sculpture, to the next Artisans' section meeting at the St. Louis Artists' Guild on Thursday, November 3, 7pm and answer the question: Can this MGA be saved? This program is of special interest to all sports car enthusiasts and auto aficionados.

All St. Louis Artists' Guild members and guests are invited to attend this free event.

To see more of John's fascinating work visit http://www.themgdoc.com/

Photos courtesy John Mangles

Artisans' section meeting, Thursday, November 3, 7pm

St. Louis Artists' Guild, Two Oak Knoll Park

Clayton, MO 63105

For more information contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

In The News, Artisans' section member Michael Wheelehan

Michael Wheelehan is the subject of an appreciation of his culinary skills, artistic endeavors and his Granny in a post by Pat Eby on stl.today.com Be sure to click through the great photos of his wonderful food artistry.

Artist improvises in the kitchen, pays homage to Granny
BY PAT EBY • Special to the Post-Dispatch
Posted: 10/04/2011 6:00 AM


Mike Wheelehan lives to put things together. Custom-made artwork and objects for commercial and residential interiors, displays and exhibits keep him gainfully self-employed, but his creativity doesn't stop at the studio door.
He cooks with a what-if attitude, discovering new dishes and rethinking standards. "My daughter loves a hash-brown casserole, so I made it, but with signature ingredients from Greek cooking like kalamata olives, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce," he said. "I discovered chocolate as a savory eating Mexican food in mole sauces."
He's been curious about food since he was a Boy Scout. "I'd get up early on our camp-outs and gig frogs so we could have frog legs," he said.
He learned to cook from the best, his granny. "My maternal grandmother —we called her Granny — ran a boardinghouse near the tracks in Poplar Bluff for Missouri Pacific Railroad workers. She'd get up all hours, whenever the men came off the train, and cook: Simple things, Southern-style, fried. Read more...

Photo: Chris Lee, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Next Artisans' meeting this week, Geoffrey Seitz, Violin Maker

The next meeting of the Artisans' section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild will feature a presentation by violin maker Geoffrey Sietz. His shop supplies fine stringed instruments to players of all levels, from novices to virtuosi, from amateurs to professionals, catering to symphony professionals, community orchestra members, teachers, students, classical players, jazz players, congregational musicians, country fiddlers, occasional hobbyists, and the merely curious. Geoff will discuss his his work along with a slide presentation on constructing a violin.

Please note the change in our meeting schedule: Artisans will now conduct their meetings on the first Thursday of the month at the Guild. Our next meeting date is this Thursday, October 6, 7pm. All St. Louis Artists' Guild members as well as the public are invited to attend this free event. A brief business meeting for section members will be held after the featured speaker's presentation.

Hand Crafted, an exhibition of works by section members, is currently on display in the Members Gallery. This is an ideal opportunity to view the exhibit and meet some of the creators of works in the show.

Next Artisans' section meeting, Thurs Oct 6, 7pm

St. Louis Artists' Guild, Two Oak Knoll Park

Clayton, MO 63105

for more info contact: mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

Visit Geoffrey's website here.
Photo courtesy of Geoffrey J. Seitz

Abraham Mohler at Historic Shaw Art Fair 2011

If you are planning to attend the Historic Shaw Art Fair this weekend be sure to look for the work of sculptor Abraham Mohler. Abe's sculpture "Aria As David" is included in the current Hand Crafted exhibit at the St. Louis Artists' Guild. Other local artists too look for are FOM Kathy Gomric, Susan Rogers, Joyce Yarbrough, Shawn Cornell, SLAG friend Marilynne Bradley and new fave Mark Hurd.

Message from Jerry Cox, Artisans' section chair

To all Creative Artisan members and fans.

I hope you all had a great summer and are enjoying the cooler weather. We will be meeeting this Thursday, September 8th at 7pm tostart up our get together again. This month will be mostly a social event to talk about what's been going on while the group was taking a summer break.

On the agenda for the evening:
We will be giving each member time to talk about what they are working on at present and if they submitted a work for the Artisans' showcase, Hand Crafted, time to talk about their piece(s). There will also be some open discussion about direction for the group this year and who we would like to hear speak.

Please invite any artisan friends you have to our meeting this week, this would be great time for someone to get to meet a cross section of the Creative Artisans' group. I have always felt that the group should be a resource to refer someone you can trust in an area of expertise other than your own, so evryone should bring 12-15 business cards so we can share and have that info at the ready for when you are with a client that might be able to use those services. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Jerry Cox

Next Artisans' section meeting, 7pm, Thurs, Sept 8
St. Louis Artists' Guild, Members Gallery, 2nd Floor
Two Oak Knoll Park, Clayton, MO 63105

Photo: Marmarino, Margaret Von Kaenel

Hand Crafted is part of Intertwined exhibitions.

Here are a few more photos of some of the objects and art from Hand Crafted, part of the Intertwined series of exhibits that opens on Sunday, 1-3pm at The St. Louis Artists' Guild. Hand Crafted is the first time the Artisans' of the Guild have exhibited as a group since forming as a section in 2007. Other exhibits in the series include Among Friends, Quilted Equations, Convergence: New Works by Carlie Trosclair and Works from the St. Louis Artists' Guild Summer Classes.

Photos: Carved basswood, Boris Khechoyan; Veneers, wall sampler, Helmut Feller; Art Glass window, Chris Cosby; Empire chair, carved walnut; Boris Khechoyan, Acrylic on wood painting, Michael Wheelehan.

Hand Crafted Opens Sunday September 4, 1-3pm

The installation is now complete except for a few small final touches. The show is a collection of intriguing objects presented by the Artisans' section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild. More photos to follow. Sunday's opening of the new Intertwined exhibition series promises to be a blockbuster!

Exhibitors:
Boris Khechoyan
Michael Wheelehan
Jerry Cox
Bon Rasmussen
Alan Rhodes
Helmut Feller
Phil Haskins
Abraham Mohler
Vlad Zhitomirky
Michael Anderson
Margaret Von Kaenel
Jack Barlow
Mikhail Matveyev
Chris Cosby

Photo: Michael Anderson

Hand Crafted art work installed!

Thanks to all the Artisans who brought their art to the St. louis Artists' Guild on Saturday for the installation of "Hand Crafted". Thanks also to Michael Wheelehan for taking the iPhone photo seen here. Exhibit opens Sunday, Sept 4, 1-3pm. Sure to be a blockbuster. More photos to come!

Hand Crafted - Artisans' Section Exhibit, Setember 4 Opening

Members of the Artisans' Section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild will display works in wood, metal, stone and paint in a group exhibition, Hand Crafted, at the St. Louis Artists' Guild with an opening reception on Sunday, September 4, 1-3pm. Artisans' section members specialize in fine crafts and decorative arts. While most of their work is created to fulfill commissions for their patrons' homes and offices this event will be an opportunity to view their rarely exhibited creations. Hand Crafted is their first exhibition at The St. Louis Artists' Guild and will run through the end of October. All members of the St. Louis Artists' Guild and guests are invited to a gallery talk to be be presented as part of their monthly meeting on September 8 at 7pm. There is no cost to attend.

Hand Crafted, Opening reception, September 4, 1-3pm

September 4 - October 29, 2011

Gallery Talk, September 8, 7pm

St. Louis Artists' Guild, 2nd Floor Members' Gallery

Two Oak Knoll Park, Clayton, MO 63105

See the Creative Artisans' Section website here.

Pictured: The Dial, Jerry Cox, wood sculpture Spalted maple, Honduras Rosewood, Paduke; Carved Grapes, Bonnie Rassmussen; Walnut Table, Phil Haskins; Folding Screen, Michael Wheelehan, Mixed media. All photos courtesy of the artists.

City Wide Open Studios This Weekend!

St. Louis artists throw open their studio doors this weekend to art lovers, collectors and friends. Download the Contemporary Art Museum pdf map with all the artists' names & locations here. My fom picks for artists that you check out are Saturday: Vic Barr, Carol Carter, Janet Fons, Kathy Gomric, Jennifer Roussin, Janice Schoultz-Mudd, Abraham Mohler, Garry McMichael, Diane Tesssman, Bryan Walsh. Sunday: David Coblitz, Sheldon Johnson, Claire Hyman, Ron Flier, Daniel Fishback. Thx, Mike A

Artisans are on vacation!

The Artisans' section of the St. Louis Artists' Guild does not meet in July or August so that members can take some much deserved and needed time off. The next meeting will be September 8, 2011, 7pm. The presentation will be a gallery talk by members exhibiting in their first show at the Guild which opens Sunday, September 4, 1-3pm. Have a great summer everyone!

Recumbent Stag, Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, MO

I have always liked the pair of elegant stag sculptures that flank the Magnolia entrance to Tower Grove Park. I spent about an hour doing this small watercolor sketch of one of them last weekend partly because Vlad Zhitomirsky, the sculptor who repaired this storm-damaged piece, will speak about his work with the VMD Sculpting Studio this Thurs, 7pm, at the Artisans' section meeting at the Saint Louis Artists' Guild.

More about VMD Sculpting here. I have posted another watercolor sketch from Tower Grove Park done the same day at Sketching St. Louis.

Artisans' section meeting: 7pm, Thurs, 6/9/11

Saint Louis Artists' Guild

Two Oak Knoll Park

Clayton, MO 63105

For more info contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

Vlad Zhitomirsky, sculptor, Next Artisans' section meeting, June 9, 2011

Vlad Zhitomirsky, co-founder of VMD Sculpting, a St. Louis foundry & studio located in the Soulard neighborhood will discuss his work at the next meeting of the Artisans' section at the St. Louis Artists' Guild, Thursday, June 9, 7pm.

Vlad describes VMD Sculpting as a "family business" specializing in sculpting original art, working with custom-made sculptures by others as well as repair and restoration. The firm's client list includes Boston College, Missouri Botanical Garden and the St. Louis Cardinals. Visit vmdsculpting.com for more information and photos.

The presentation is free and all are invited to attend. Members of the Artisans' section will conduct their monthly business meeting afterwards.

Photos courtesy VMD Sculpting.

Artisans' section meeting, 7pm, Thursday, June 9, 2011

Saint Louis Artists' Guild

Two Oak Knoll Park

Clayton, MO 63105

For more information contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

Walter Benjamin & Facebook

Walter Benjamin and Facebook links to a seminal essay by Benjamin and a few paragraphs by yours truly. I'm working on some stuff on photography inspired by Roland Barthes Camera Lucida as well. Maybe in a week or so.

Synthetic Cubist Still-Life

Here is a little something I wrote back in the day:

A Brief Meditation on Existentialism and Modern Art
The period from 1880 through World War I was filled with “…sweeping changes in technology & culture.” (Kern 1) Books like Stephen Kern’s The Culture of Time & Space document the advances as well as the losses from this rapidly changing era. In William Barrett’s Irrational Man it is noted: “In losing religion, man lost concrete connection with the transcendent realm of being; he was set free to deal with world in all its brute objectivity. The loss of the church was the loss of a whole system of symbols [and] images…” (Barrett 25) This ‘brute objectivity’ is a world not governed by reason or intelligence; per Nietzsche, ‘God is dead.’

Living in this period of great flux and change artists created new forms that would keep them connected with their artistic traditions while articulating the experience of a new perspective. This perspective is “…not simply an external and quantitative change in the number of forms an artist can assimilate, it is also, and more profoundly, an internal and qualitative change in the spirit with which the artist appropriates these forms.” (Barrett 47)

The works of art produced from this perspective are part of man’s effort to utilize his new found condition as well as an attempt to reinvent a meaningful set of symbols and images which would reconnect him with the “transcendent realm of being.” The transcendent is no longer simply associated with rising to ‘new heights’ heavenly or otherwise but also refers to going beyond, to exceed or outdo. It is much more like the Latin word: alto which can mean both ‘high’ and ‘deep.’

These works became a part of an existential symbol structure – a body of work full of images dealing with the problems of being and the new articulations of the artists’ conceptions of their relationship with the world – an understanding of which is essential in comprehending “…the new turn in the human spirit…” that helped define modern man. (Barrett 49)

“Existentialism,” “Art” and “symbol” are crucial, plurisignitive terms and for the purposes of this paper here is the context, background and definition for them.

From dictionary.com:
existentialism (ɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃəˌlɪzəm)
a modern philosophical movement stressing the importance of personal experience and responsibility and the demands that they make on the individual, who is seen as a free agent in a deterministic and seemingly meaningless universe

Philosopher Antony Flew defines existentialism as “ a view that the problem of being must take precedence in philosophical investigations. Being cannot be made the subject of objective enquiry; it is the fact of the individual’s presence and participation in…[the] world? (Flew 107)

I turn to Martin Heidegger to define ‘art.’ He uses the Greek word ‘techne.’ For Heidegger: “Techne means neither art nor skill to say nothing of technique in the modern sense. We translate ‘techne’ by ‘knowledge’ but this requires explanation. The knowledge meant here is not the mere result of observations concerning previously unknown data. Such information, though indispensible for knowledge, is never more than accessory. Knowledge in the authentic sense of ‘techne’ is the persistent looking out beyond what is given at any time. The Greeks called art ‘techne’ because art is what most immediately brings being (i.e. the appearing that stands there in itself) to stand, stabilizes it in something present (the work).” (Heidegger 159)

Heidegger’s ‘techne’ is art that reveals. It is a kind of ‘know-how.’ It is looking out beyond the superficial without losing sight of what appears to the senses. It is art that fully embraces the breadth & depth of human experience while recognizing perceptive ability and human creative potential.

I now turn to Paul Tillich to discuss the concept of a ‘symbol.’ For Tillich, “The first function of a symbol…is the representative function. The symbol represents something for which it stands and in the power and meaning of which it participates. So, why don’t we have that for which it stands directly? This is the main function of a symbol – the opening up of levels of reality [/experience] which are otherwise hidden and cannot be grasped in any other way.” (Lowe & Wainwright 481. Paul Tillich. Religious Symbols and our Knowledge of God) To achieve this level of expression art relies on symbol (the method by which hidden levels of reality – transcendent levels – are uncovered) while often becoming symbolic in and of itself.


A potent segment of these newly emerging sets of symbols in the synthetic cubist still-life work grandly exemplified by Picasso’s Still-Life with Compotier, 1914-15 as an early example and Still-Life with Grapes, 1927 as a late example by Georges Braque.

                                          Still Life with Compotier

                                          Still-Life with Grapes

In this paper I will examine some of the strengths and weaknesses of synthetic cubist work and defend the view that this work maintains a powerful, life-affirming value as part of the creation of a new set of symbols directly linked to changes of perception and understanding of the world brought about by new technologies and the philosophy that would come to be known as ‘existentialism.’

Post-Impressionists, Fauves, Futurists, Expressionists and the Cubists all emerged from this tumultuous era of change, discovery and creativity. Cubism evolved and spread in response, not just to the changes in the art community but, to changes in how the artists perceived the world at large.

In the early stages of cubism (as opposed to synthetic cubism) the artist’s palette was dominated by ochres, grays and blacks. Also, it seems as if “…the painters had begun with a more or less naturalistic image which was then fragmented and analyzed (and thus to a certain extent abstracted) in the light of the new cubist concepts of space and form. Now [in the work I’m most concerned with] the process was reversed: beginning with abstraction the artists worked up towards representation.” (Stangos 66 Cubism by John Golding) This reversal was a positive act of creation rather than deconstruction by analysis. This positivity along with the subject matter is what gives synthetic cubist still-life its existential punch.

The artists also began to employ an expanded color palette including greens, blues and oranges along with techniques from other schools of painting and the decorative arts to go along with their creation of the collage. (See collage appendix after this paper.)

The dotting techniques the cubists appropriated from the pointillists will provide an example of a process employed, with varying degrees of success, in synthetic cubist still-life painting. The masterpieces of this style are not the product of arbitrary gestures, but the thoughtful, skillful use of techniques to demonstrate new concepts of relationships between space and object. The method was used “…to enliven surfaces, to evoke a play of light, to counteract the monotony of planes of one color [and integrate their union] and create a decorative effect.” (Cooper 194) It is a tool that calls for a balanced use so its significance and value are not diluted.

Louis Marcoussis, in his Still-Life on a Table, 1921 has most of the surface covered with dots making it difficult to discern any descriptive function. Instead of breaking up monotony they create it by covering 90% of the surface. They provide little to no sense of depth or light.

                                                           Still-Life on a Table

In a painting such as Picasso’s Still-Life with Compotier, 1914-15 (seen earlier) however, the technique, through changing color points, helps make plane transitions while the pointillist planes themselves add a greater sense of depth to the whole composition. The planes that compose the ‘easily readable’ objects in the painting are on a horizontal and vertical orientation while the dotted planes enter the composition diagonally and if they were diving into and extending from the picture surface. This sense of depth is further accentuated by the use of shading behind the pointillist planes.

As can be seen, the paintings are built up with planes, interlocking and overlapping as the form an integrated environment on the picture surface. It is this concern with integration that inspired Georges Braque, in a statement of 1917 to say: “the subject is not the object, it is a new unity….” (Chipp 260) This integration is uniquely different from that pursued during the Renaissance; it is not primarily a visual recreation but a conceptual one.

And while Braque may have had a more abstract subject in mind, in the still-life work the objects and their interrelationships embody the new unity. Most of the things – bottles, glasses, fruit, musical instruments and newspapers are the everyday objects of the artist’s life and, as such, have been the classical subject matter of the still-life genre.

                                          Still Life with Plums

These are the objects Apollinaire called “impregnated with humanity” - objects that illustrate, with cubist treatment, a basic unity within man’s environment. (Stangos 61) Objects created by man and for man and infused with the human touch from creation to utilization. This demonstration of object leading into object and plane into plane is one of synthetic cubism’s greatest strengths.

The foremost criticism of cubism centers around the question of accessibility when trying to ‘read’ a cubist work. Contemporary critic Donald Kuspit considers a “will to unintelligibility” to be the desired end of all modern art, including cubism. (NAE 26) He contends that modern art seeks to exist as mystery rather than reveal any mysteries or noteworthy spatial or conceptual relationships, and that if the mystery in a modern painting is uncovered it will “lapse into the banality of outspokenness.” Also, after hundreds of years filled with art subject to “certain methods of representing a three-dimensional object or a particular volume of space on a flat or nearly flat surface” it may be difficult to look at space and object rendered in a new way,” (Lucie-Smith 145), a way other than that developed in the Renaissance.

Yet, if we take a deeper look into art history and examine the work of the middle ages as well as other cultures we might find ourselves in agreement with Guy Habasque:
If we grant that a painting (and art in general) is a visual concretion of our knowledge of the outside world and expresses, not an immutable reality, but our conceptions of a reality that is forever changing (or anyhow gives us this impression, since we are continually discovering new aspects of it) and once we admit that the artist’s choice of plastic means is determined not by their purely imitative qualities but their adequacy to the results of his observation of the world around him and the values created by his cultural environment, then, surely, it is easy to see that cubism, far from distorting nature, provides a new interpretation of it, equally realistic, [valid] though other than that of the Renaissance. (Habasque 62)

With these words in mind let’s consider that to the modern/contemporary viewer the still-life work of Chardin may be, in some sense, more abstract than those of cubist painting. In such works as Attributes of Music, 1765 and Clay Pipe and Earthenware Jug, undated, Chardin uses most of the same objects revered by the cubists such as musical instruments, pipes, sheet music, cups and fruit dishes. Chardin place the objects on a table but basically minimizes background and foreground space, leaving the objects in a somewhat suspended state, idealized perhaps, but out of reach – not quite connected.

                                          Attributes of Music

                                          Clay Pipe and Earthenware Jug

The traditional presentation/perspective of the objects in Chardin’s work is, nevertheless, beautiful, especially in historical context. In modern art however (and by extension for modern man), “…organic forms have disappeared, and with them has disappeared the idealism which is always connected with organic forms.” (Tillich 94) Tillich is concerned with an idealism built around Renaissance views of a relationship with art and science and man and God that don’t exist anymore.

At issue, for me, (and I understand that this is deeply personal) with Chardin’s work is not concern over the ‘beauty’ of his paintings, but rather the lack of existential power his work has for this modern viewer. It seems more of a record or artifact then something providing a direct connection with the objects, space and meaning of our times.

I have chosen Georges Braque’s 1918 masterpiece Café-Bar as the quintessential synthetic cubist still-life and will now concentrate on an analysis of it and the new description of the relationships of space and object it provides.

                                             Café-Bar


First of all, the symbols inherent in still-life painting are generally the objects making up the composition. They can be a potent reminder of our mortality, as in a ‘vanitas’ (a painting, often with a skull), as well as a celebration of the joys of life with the depiction of objects that provide simple pleasures.

In synthetic cubist still-life work such as Braque’s Café-Bar not only are the objects symbolic emblems of the senses and emotions, but space and the relationship of space and object are articulated in a symbolic manner. This is the ‘new unity’ referred to by Braque.

Café-Bar centers around a café table viewed through a street front window. The table top is tilted – one of many facets evoking multiple perspectives. It is painted in expressive, muted greens and contains commonplace objects such as a fruit bowl with pear and grapes, a pipe, sheet music, a newspaper and a loosely constructed guitar.

In this painting Braque utilizes almost everything from his painterly bag of tricks. Trained as a decorator, Braque creates texture by adding sand to paint, combing (a wood graining technique) and faux bois. These methods help bring an earthy, impasto-like texture to an otherwise flat surface.

The border on the window serves as the frame of the composition as it ties in with the diamond-patterned floor. The floating letters that spell ‘café-bar’ suggest they are being seen from a distance, though the objects on the table appear to cross in front of the window sign. Considering, too, the clarity with which see the objects, a compressed, wide-angle view is suggested. By this I mean that a spatial distinction between background and foreground is difficult to distinguish even though, through the interlocking planes, the composition maintains an acute sense of depth. This paradox, and the work to see how it functions, is crucial to understanding cubism.

A gray-green plane with orange dashes weaves in and out of the composition only to be broken itself with a shadow effect created with a mottled gray-black that seems to quickly diminish as if the light source was somewhat direct.

The movement of the planes in white serves to help construct the fruit bowl and sheet music as well as to unify the feeling of ‘connectedness’ in the painting with the implied continuity of line behind planes which seem to cover it. In other words, the planes weave in and out from foreground to background.

The guitar is of particular note as Braque was very passionate about music and because it is not merely composed of planes, but a combination of planes that give it a floating airiness and solidity simultaneously.

In the bottom right-hand corner is a white silhouette of light on glass that seems to be caused my some sort of reflection, yet its vertical line immediately leads into an interior plane. The reflection picks up the pattern of the border and floor and supports, still more emphatically, the linear, planar, integrated aspects of synthetic cubism. ‘Reflection’ itself becomes a symbol of what is going on here, as does the glass window with its dual function as barrier to the elements but not the eyes.

In Café-Bar there is an astounding conceptual depth revealed in both the objects and space when they are given a flat, planar representation. It is a depth that is at once physical and spiritual. Physical in the sense that we are called to reexamine not only the relationship between object and space, but the objects we’ve surrounded ourselves with as well. Also, there is a spiritual depth, the depth Tillich calls “numinous realism.” He sees cubism as nothing else than an attempt to look into the “depths of reality.” (Tillich 95) Tillich is speaking of a realism, of a validity of experience that can only be encountered through the use of symbol. A spiritual realism as well as something living up to Heidegger’s sense of art as ‘techne’ looking out beyond mere appearance to explore relationships between things that may be easier to feel than see. The integrated relationships between space and objects in Café-Bar are an example of the effort to communicate this feeling – to make it visible.

The objects of these still-lifes are as basic to our existence as our existence is to us. The guitar that inspires, the fruit that sustains, the newspaper that informs, the pipe that soothes are made real in a numinous sense by being presented in a manner other than traditional perspective and woven into the fabric of space as perceived by Braque. There is an interdependence and connectedness in the construction of the composition that illuminates the firmly rooted and unified relationship of space, object and existence – firmly rooted in each other.

Although the cubists knew little or nothing of existentialism as a philosophical movement in the first 2 decades of the twentieth century, they surely spent plenty of time reflecting on their “own unique and concrete existence in time and space.” Works like Café-Bar are the evidence and fruit of these reflections; what they found. They were able to recognize a unique relationship with space and object that was basic to their “participation in the world” as visual beings.

For these artists this new ‘reality’ had come home. The world in all its ‘brute objectivity’ became man with the ability to respond to all the stimuli in his life, including the transcendental realm of being. The loss of belief in a responsible party with powers greater than their own and the consequent loss of the symbol structure erected and associated with these beliefs did not leave these men floating aimlessly in an abyss. They were breaking new ground, discovering how firmly rooted they are with this earth. They rediscovered the power of their humanness and demonstrated this power, symbolically, with their treatment and representation of commonplace objects and the space that surrounds them in an integrated fashion. This is the metaphysical ‘terra-firma’ of the early moderns, because like Apollinaire, they recognized the humanity in the objects they chose to celebrate and elevate to this level.



Appendix: Papier Colles and Synthetic Cubist Still –Life

While my paper is not directly concerned with collage I should not that with its re-invention by Braque and Picasso what we know as synthetic cubism might not have come to exist. For “it was only when Braque and Picasso understood more fully the significance of their discovery [of papier colles] the they began to translate papier colles into terms of oil paint…” (Cooper191) Papier Colle in many ways mark the onset of the stylr I’m most concerned with in this paper.

It seems important to note, too, that the materials they used/borrowed from reality such as sheet music, calling cards, packaging and newspaper are imbued with a significance that exists on several levels.

First of all, from Jack Flam’s essay in Robert Motherwell’s Collage Prints

“…these objects are man made, and for the most part industrially manufactured rather than hand-made objects. Thus collage as a medium is very much an industrial medium – one that was viewed at the time with a sense of promise. Still, the objects used give us the sense that they were not only made for some other reason, but,, by their age [worn, yellowed newsprint and sheet music for example] seem to actually have been used for something else. It is this second hand aspect which posits them as fragmentary reminders and remainders of the passage of time – tangible evidence not only of past experience, but the notion of passing time. These tokens of the past (sometimes even dated) are understood as implicit symbols of the existence of time itself.

The papier colles affirms the existence of the real world, of the artist having passed though it. And in doing so, they [the objects] almost seem to affirm the notion that something like an objective reality might also exist.”

This affirmation is still further support of my thesis of synthetic cubism’s value as an existentialistic symbol. That we are firmly grounded in some sort of ‘objective reality’ and that there are relationships between space and object worthy of our consideration and worthy of artistic illumination can be seen as a pictorial contribution to our investigations into the problem of being.

Rose Wilde & Heather Haymart, Next Artisans’ section meeting, May 12

Rose Wilde is the founder of Wood Icing, "The Great Cover Up" which is a faux finishing product and technique used for furniture and cabinetry. For the last 10 years Rose has traveled all around the country teaching her technique to decorative painters and has always had an online presence selling Wood Icing products.

In the mean time her daughter, artist Heather Haymart, found the product to be very compatible with acrylic paints when used in her unique way of creating abstract paintings. They seemed to find themselves in two different worlds that were really not that far apart from each other. In 2009 the two decided to come together as a team in one location. Heather directs the gallery at the Wood Icing Retail center in the Artopolis area of Chesterfield Mall. Heather creates her beautiful artwork, Rose creates designs for furniture/cabinetry and they both teach their crafts at the studio in the center. Rose and Heather will discuss their work and gallery along with a digital slide presentation as well as answer questions about their respective roles in the Wood Icing success story.

The public and all members of the Saint Louis Artists’ Guild are invited to attend. There is no cost. The Artisans' section members will stay on to conduct their regular business meeting after the presentation. Agenda items will include voting for the 2011-2013 officers and more info about Creative Artisans’ exhibition in September 2011.

Creative Artisans' section meeting,

Thurs, May 12, 7-9pm

Second Floor Members Gallery

St. Louis Artists' GuildTwo Oak Knoll Park

Clayton, MO 63105

For more info contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

Images courtesy of Rose Wilde, Wood Icing.

Art and Sustainablity, Next Artisans’ section meeting, April 14

Richard Reilly’s thoughts and actions as a builder blend into everyday engagement with art and sustainability. He started keeping journals as a teenager. He says “If I put them all end to end, it’s about 17 feet long.” Richard will discuss the evolution of his journals, photography and collage art at the next Artisans’ section meeting at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Thursday, April 14, 7pm.

Currently the Director of Operations at Trumpet LLC, Richard Reilly has spent 30 years in the high-end residential construction sector; rising from carpenter to operations director. He has been a LEED AP since 07. He is a specialist in low cost sustainable housing. Richard was a St. Louis Business Journal Heroes of the Planet Finalist in 2008 & winner of a St. Louis USGBC Growing Green Award in 2009. He is a sought-after speaker on environmentally responsible construction. He volunteers his talents with Habitat for Humanity, and has donated time to help design a building for trade-school students in Tanzania. He is the chair of the Architecture section of the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Richard posts his photos and commentary about art and building on his blog The Art of Construction.

Following Richard's presentation members of the Artisans' section will conduct their monthly business meeting.

Creative Artisans' meeting, Open to all, no charge

Thursday, April 14, 2011 7pm Members Gallery, 2nd Floor St. Louis Artists' Guild

Two Oak Knoll Park, Clayton, MO

for info contact: mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

Images: Richard Reilly

No Artisans' section meeting March 10

Please note that the Creative Artisans' section will not meet on March 10. The next scheduled meeting will be April 14.

The Building Arts and Preservation

http://architecturesection.blogspot.com/2011/02/baroque-preservation-english-mansion.html
to my creative artisan friends - I insert his link to start a discussion. When does preservation start? When is it cannibalism? What is the function of museums in preservation and presentation of architecture?
Just thinking out loud tonight.

The Sudan Canvas Project

Artists can make a contribution of art to raise awareness of the genocide in Sudan as well as fund trade education for the women of Ariang and surrounding villages. Follow the link for information about how to participate in The Sudan Canvas Project.

Read more about Hope for Ariang.


Image: Stephanie Davis, Trumbull, CT
Thanks to Margaret Von Kaenel, decorative painter, for information about this opportunity.

R. Crumb "the greatest of them all"

"Hogarth, Grosz, the Fleisher brothers, Tex Avery, Charles Addams, et cetera are great artists. And so is R. Crumb. In certain ways, he may be the greatest of them all."

—Jim Jarmusch, The Life and Times of R. Crumb (St. Martin's Press)Robert Crumb (b. 1943) is considered the premiere underground comix artist of his generation.

With only a smattering of issues and titles such as Zap, Motor City, Head Comics, and Despair, Crumb deconstructed the american comic book, revolutionizing the form forever. Over four decades later, his impact continues to be felt worlwide. This retrospective, curated by Monte Beauchamp, editor of The Life and Times of R. Crumb (St. Martin's Press), presents key pieces culled from the underground art collection of Eric Sack, with contributions from Paul Morris and John Lautemann.

American City, St. Louis Architecture: Three Centuries of Classic Design

DailyRFT.com reports on a new book by Robert Sharoff, journalist, and William Zbaren, photographer, that features examples of St. Louis architecture that reflect the city's classicism. "St. Louis is one of the most classical cities in America," Sharoff says. Zbaren describes the Eads Bridge as "the Eiffel Tower of the Midwest." The coffee table book is reported to be the first monograph on St. Louis architecture since the 1920s and is now available at Left Bank Books.

Photo: The intake tower at the Chain of Rocks bridge serves as the cover image for Robert Sharoff and William Zbaren's new book about St. Louis architecture.

Next Artisans' meeting, Jim Motto, Feb 10

Jim Motto began his career as a photographer. He became a wood-worker 12 years ago. Now much of his work is custom cabinetry: bookcases, kitchens, entertainment centers, vanities, tables, desks, and credenzas. Jim Motto also carves wooden vessels that feature exquisite ebony black finishes as well as wooden boxes and candle holders. Motto states “I made my first box years ago from a small piece of cocobola that caught my eye at the local hardwoods dealer. Now, many boxes later, I am still intrigued with their blend of whimsy and mystery.” Jim’s craftsmanship and artistry are evident in all his work. He will speak about his wood-working at the next Artisans’ section meeting, Thursday, Feb. 13, 7pm. All are welcome to attend this free event. Join members of the Artisans’ section as they conduct their monthly business meeting after Jim’s presentation. Visit Jim Motto’s website to see more of custom furniture, cabinetry and carved vessels.

Creative Artisans’ meeting, 7-9pm, Thurs, Feb 10, 2011
Members’ Gallery, 2nd floor
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Two Oak Knoll Park, Clayton, MO 63105

Contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of Jim Motto
Contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com for more information

Cubism, Construction and the Love of Art

In the 80s I fell in love with Cubism, especially with cubist sculptures of musical instruments. It seemed a perfect marriage of my interests, skill set and the kinds of things I wanted to learn about. I used this infatuation as a springboard to expression and a hands on method of studying via the actual experience of construction. I made a large number of instruments over the years most of which were sold or traded to other artists. I have a couple left around the house along with one of my few forays into forgery.

Salvaged and scrapped building materials became the 3D assemblages that I made as a means of meditation on cubist sculpture. It was a really absorbing and positive experience.

The piece on the left (immediately above) is Picasso's Mandolin and Clarinet, from 1912. One day in my studio, looking at a pile of scrap I 'saw' the Mandolin and Clarinet in a pile and allowed myself this indulgence.

In February there is a new show opening at MOMA called Picasso Guitars. Finding out about this is the inspiration for this post. In 1989, thanks to the generosity of some friends and some hard work I was able to spend a weekend at the Pioneering Cubism exhibit at MOMA. I also saw the big Jenny Holzer exhibit at the Guggenheim...but that is for another day.

Today is Worldwide Sketchcrawl #30

Artists from Austin to Oslo and 130 other cities are on location sketching today! You can view sketches from across the globe and upload your own sketch book pages to the Sketchcrawl forum here. Urbansketchers.com posted a great ink and wash sketch from Singapore by Don Low here.

Keep sketching!

Creative Artisans' Section Members Demo at Blick

St. Louis Artists' Guild Artists' Demo Day at Blick

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
1pm to 7pm

Members of the St. Louis Artists' Guild will be doing free artist demos at Blick Art Materials on Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 from 1pm to 7pm. Come by to learn new techniques and see these St. Louis Artists' Guild's artists in action:

Kathleen Barnes: Art Journalling
Debbie Dirckx-Norris: Collaborative Painting
Michael Anderson: Ink line drawings
Amy Firestone Rosen: Potato prints
Boris Khechoyan: Woodcarving

Blick Art Materials,
6300 Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63160
website

Snow Day Suggestion: Virtual Paint Out

The Virtual Paintout gathers artists together in one area of the world, virtually, once a month to paint or draw a scene within a predetermined area using scenes generated by Google Street View. The city that artists are sketching and painting in January is Boston. Previous cities that have been listed as sites for paint outs include Florence, Paris and San Fransisco.

Participation is open to all levels of artistic ability. Artists can submit up to three paintings per month and a new location with an interactive Google Map is posted the first day of the month. Google's Maps Team allows artist usage of images from Google Street View as reference for creating paintings and drawings, and artists can sell these works.

"NOW LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!" - The Virtual Paint Out

Image: The Virtual Paint Out, Anne C Campbell" Boston Boats - Interstate 93 - Boston, Mass., USA "Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 9.25" x 8.5" (Approx.)

Web Urbanist, Plywood & MDF Architecture

Birch plywood and medium density fiber board are building materials usually covered up during construction by more finished goods. Many artists and sign painters use these materials as substrates for their finished works. Web Urbanist profiles projects that exploit the inherent design possibilities of these basic building products.

Birch plywood was used to completely transform an abandoned bank building into Banq Restaurant in Boston. "The design is like an enormous wave undulating from one side of the room to the other, dripping down in columns to the floor. The resulting wood ‘canopy’ hides unsightly elements like mechanical equipment, vents and plumbing." In another project a seemingly fluid free-form bookcase is both functional storage and sculptural art piece in a Washington, D.C. apartment. "MDF is an ideal material for digitally fabricated furniture, which is designed and cut using computer programs." - Web Urbanist

See the entire post here.

Banq Restaurant(images via: freshome)

MDF bookcase(images via: design milk)