How long did you stand in line before you got your diploma?

Now, let’s speed things up a bit.
You’ve worked hard, for many years, to achieve this moment. You and your colleagues are in your robes, and those ill-fitting mortarboard hat things, and you’re all in line. Your family and friends are in the audience, waiting to cheer for you when your name is read and you walk across the stage to receive your diploma. The music starts, and of course, it’s Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1“. Your administrators, teachers, and fellow students begin to march to your seats. And let’s face it: this process Takes. For. Ever. 
The video I linked to is a performance by a full orchestra. These kids are doing a nice job with this piece, even with the little blue lights in the audience. This was a concert, not a graduation ceremony, so the kids could just play the piece. Often, because schools have a lot of people to get to the seats, the music goes back and repeats the main sections as many times as needed to get everyone in their places. It goes on. And on again. And on. And it’s usually not an orchestra, because they’re too expensive. It’s usually an organist.
I know many people like organ music. I confess, I find it tedious. Especially over and over.  I know many people favor tradition over shaking things up. But let’s think about what’s really important here. You, your family and friends, did not come to this event to hear an organ recital, especially a repetitive one. They came to celebrate this major accomplishment. Your graduation. Your transition from a student to a young professional. You, starting a new life.
So, I offer this modest proposal: Do the processional march to a different tune.  Let’s not drag this out.
Envision this: everyone marching into the auditorium to Edvard Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt. This performance is two minutes and 33 seconds. It starts out slow, for the senior members of the faculty and administration to get to their seats, then speeds up as the junior faculty and students start to come in. Everyone could be in their assigned places, ready to be seated, and you only have to play the piece once. The climax is self-explanatory. Everyone clearly knows when it’s over and it’s time to sit down. It would be choreographed beautifully, dramatic, and much more exciting than Elgar.
And NOW, we proceed to the event we came to celebrate: the accomplishment of four (or more!) years of hard work, hard study, and this major transition in your lives: moving from the status of a student to a colleague. Your teachers have acknowledged you as ready to move out into the world. They have spent these years showing you wonderful things. Now it’s your turn to show them wonderful things. Start it off with some flair.

“Spring Wildflower ABC”, Peter and Donna Thomas, 2006 | SC 702.81 | 2009.37

Now that the weather is warm and the flowers are blooming, I want to share a spring-themed artists’ book with you.

“Spring Wildflower ABC”, detail

Spring Wildflower ABC (2006) is a miniature book by Peter and Donna Thomas, a husband and wife team from Santa Cruz, CA. Technically, miniature books should not measure more than 3” high or wide. This book stretches that a bit since it folds out much longer than that, but we’ll count it as a miniature anyway. Donna did the original watercolor paintings (reproduced digitally in the book) and Peter made the paper.

All of the artists’ books in the Sabatini Art Gallery’s collection are listed in the online catalog and are available to view by appointment. Just let me know what you’d like to see and we’ll set up a time.
Brea Black | bblack@tscpl.org

Want to learn more about miniature books? Try these titles:

Curate This! 2013

What Does a Curate This! Teen Curator Do?

To begin, the participants decide on a theme or main idea.  By looking through the artworks in the Sabatini Gallery permanent collection (things we own), they select pieces which best fit their theme and help tell their story.

The guest curators research our records and use the library resources to create text for the exhibit.  This includes information for the artwork labels – the artist’s name and the title of the piece, for example.  They also write a curatorial statement.  This statement relates the story or idea around which the exhibit is organized.

Teen Curators learn to mat and frame artworks as needed.  Deciding where each of the pieces and text will be placed is an important part of the lay out process.  Finally, the artworks are hung with careful measuring and leveling and the cases are arranged.

Voila!  It is a finished exhibit.  Join us next year!

For more information:   http://tscpl.org/gallery/exhibitions/curate-this-the-genius-of-our-age/

Teens have worked for months to put together The genius of our Age: A Focus on the Individual, an exhibit using the library’s permanent art collection that might just appeal to the “i” generation. Teens had to write text including curator’s statements, labels, preparing walls, matting and framing art.

Teen guest curators are Anna Ahrens, Shannon Hayden, Kelsie Middaugh, Erika Spaulding and Sarah Sutterfield. They were led by Betsy Roe, associate curator at the gallery.

“How does he do it?” this is the question I have been asked the most since Consumed opened at the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery. Today I am going to let you in on the two different processes Justin Marable uses in his art.

The first process is called serigraphy, but is also known as silk-screen or screen printing. This is a stencil process where the stencil is affixed to a fine mesh of silk or other fabric, known as a screen.

Waste not Mystics, underlying stencils before the final layer of image and ink

So how does this work with Justin’s work? Let’s take a look at Waste Not Mystics. The first step is to create the sky, which in turn sets the tone or feeling of the print. Justin places various colored inks on the screen. He then mixes them so when he pulls the ink across the screen, the night sky he anticipated is created. Next Justin creates an underlying stencil that blocks out the color and space before he prints the final layer. This final layer of the print has all the photographic detail.

Uprise on the Meadow, photo transfer, screen print, acrylic

The second process is photo transfers. The transfer method allows for you to transfer an image from one source to another, like a photograph to a piece of wood. There are many different ways to create transfers, some easier than others.  (DIY sites and Pinterest are full of examples!)

Here is my quick explanation of how transfers are done. First you need to find an image that you want to transfer. (The image needs to be either a photocopy or a Laser printer.) Next you cover the image with a coat of Modge Podge or Acrylic Gel Medium in Matte. Place the image face down, smooth it out, and apply pressure using your fingers, a bone folder or the back of a spoon. Let it all sit for a few hours or overnight. (This is the hardest part – the waiting!) When the piece is dry, take a sponge and wet the paper. Then carefully start to rub away the paper, re-wetting when needed. Be careful not to rub too hard! When the paper is removed…you have created a transfer!

Here is a link to the handout (pfd) our Museum Educator, Betsy Roe, created for our most recent art class, World Art & You: Mixed Media with Justin Marable.

Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (Taxidermied horse skin and fiberglass resin); Art Basel, Switzerland; Takashi Murakami; a scene from an auction at Sotheby’s.

“It’s like having your own spy in the art world. Thornton parachutes the reader into the fascinating nitty-gritty of how it all works.” – Alan Yentor, BBC creative director

Although I work professionally in the arts, I feel somewhat removed from what I would describe as the epicenter of the art world. I’m not sure exactly where that is, but I associate it with auction houses, international art fairs, and living superstar artists who fetch millions of dollars for their work. I also associate it with enormous amounts of stress, competition, money, and drama.

What I do feel connected to, however, is a momentous shift in interest in art making, art seeing, and art buying, just in the ten years since I started working at the Sabatini Gallery. In Topeka alone, there are more people than ever calling themselves artists. Studio spaces are popping up all over town, and the list of participating venues in the First Friday ArtWalk seems to grow each month. We even have two official arts districts: one in North Topeka (NOTO) and in the Potwin area for Fiber Arts.

So, I was really excited to discover Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton, because I wanted to know what life is like where the heaviest of hitters live and if my typical day is anything like theirs. Oh my goodness, it is not.

Based on hundreds of hours of research and being allowed in to participate, Thornton was able to get behind the scenes of seven high-energy, high-stakes art world environments.

Beginning with a day at Christie’s auction house in New York City, Thornton breaks down the hierarchy and social structure of how people behave at this unique art auction, who the players are, what happens when, and watches the jaw-dropping purchases from unseen buyers reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Thornton then attends a seemingly endless art critique at CalArts with Michael Asher, where students talk about their and others’ work for 48-hour stretches. Next she flies to Basel, Switzerland for one of the most prestigious art fairs in the world. Here she tags along with world-renowned gallery owners and art patrons competing like crazy for the next big purchase, and discovers the social dos and don’ts of art buying.

She hangs out with four former Turner Prize nominees—Britain’s most prestigious contemporary art prize—and witnesses first-hand the stress involved from just being nominated. She visits the magazine offices of Artforum International, the studio of Takashi Murakami (one of the most sought-after living artists today), and wraps up this tour de force at the Venice Biennale, one of the major art exhibitions in the world today.

Seven Days in the Art World is an absolutely thrilling journey, and oddly enough, familiar to a certain extent. I started this book feeling quite separate from Thornton’s experiences, but what I took away from it are that ambition and stress are universal. So is the desire to make art that matters. And the love of owning an original creation.

Topeka, Kansas is the art world. The only real difference is in scale (and maybe nicer shoes.) 

An antelope on what’s left of its environment symbolizes human impact on habitat. What do we do to our own habitat?

Irrigation systems inspired Marable to think about farming and water use. This piece was his first test of the photo-transfer process in many of the works.

What does that mean? Here are some questions people have asked us about this work, and my interpretations.

What’s the meaning of the different dinosaurs and how do they relate to the machines?  The dinosaurs represent the past. 150-65 million years ago, the Midwest was covered by an inland shallow sea. The mosasaur (Juniper’s irrigation machine in front, and Justin’s piece Black Magic from Below) was one of the creatures who lived in that sea. Both artists read Oceans of Kansas as part of their research. The author talks about the different species that are found in Kansas fossils, especially in the salt and limestone deposits in central Kansas and western Kansas. The pterodactyl was a flying lizard that flew over those waters. The plants and animals that lived then became the oil deposits we pump now.  The past is connected to the present. The artists represent the present through the machinery – the oil derrick, water irrigation system, solar panels.

Why are the bison and calf part oil derrick?  In my humble opinion, Juniper is using the bison, which was once nearly extinct, as a metaphor for the dwindling oil supplies we use for energy.  The movement of the derrick is combined with the movement of the bison’s head, up and down, to graze. We consume the oil, the bison consumes grass. Ultimately, both are threatened by things changing. For the bison, it was loss of habitat and overhunting. The oil deposits, because people use it up, and using it (consuming it) is causing carbon buildup, climate change, and pollution. Neither are sustainable without intervention. People had to work to save the bison, after having nearly hunted them to extinction, exhausting a resource. Now, we’re consuming oil for energy, exhausting that resource.

Using recycled corrugated plastics, Tangpuz mixes technologies. An old-style gas pump mixed with a contemporary windmill presents two alternatives to energy.

How does the title “Consumed” relate to the exhibit?  Both Justin and Juniper have talked about conservation, land use, energy use, food production, and the use of space. As we use those resources, we consume them. The definition of “consumed” is to use, to eat, or to use up. The ‘consumed’ title relates to that use, and people and animals HAVE to consume to survive. How do we do that? Do we use it up, or do we change our behavior so that what we consume, we consume in a sustainable way? Justin uses the elk, bison, antelope, and coyote as species whose environments have been changed by people. We consumed their environment, putting them at risk. The dinosaurs obviously weren’t affected by people, as we hadn’t evolved yet. But their environment was radically changed by the processes of nature. Continental drift pushed the plates of North America up, into the Rocky Mountains, which raised the Midwest up above sea level. The sea drained away, those animals and plants that lived in that environment died our or moved to other waters. Eventually, the world changed enough that the dinosaurs went extinct. (Most of them, anyway.) Then, a new environment developed, which ultimately became the prairies of the Midwest. New animals evolved. New species arrived. Then we got here and changed it again.

The combinations of the periods of history take time out of the equation. What if all of those species, and all of those environments, could exist at the same time? What would a pterodactyl do with 21^st century technology? What forms are similar to each other, like the mosasaur skeleton, and the water irrigation machine? As we change the environment, we change the animals that live in it. Hence, the combo bison and oil derrick.  What else will we change? Will we make it better, or worse? What other things can we develop that would be better uses of energy, resources and land? How does government policy affect how we use our resources?

Come in and see a selection of children’s work depicting their favorite stories. Their visual stories were created as part of an initiative to educate students and bring art to public spaces. Washburn University Catron Professor of Art Jennifer Marsh organized The Dream Rocket project. These young Topeka artists are among thousands of students nationwide who collaborated with Marsh to create 2’x2’ patches. Ultimately, Marsh hopes thousands of these colorful squares will wrap the Saturn V Moon rocket, on permanent display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Participating Schools:
North Fairview Elementary School, 48 students, 2 classes, Kindergarten, Teacher: Emily Ruby
Pauline Central Elementary School, 131–236 students, Teacher: Katie Morris
Shaner Elementary School, 30 students from their art club, Teacher: Mehlina McEntire
Meadows Elementary School, 20 students from 5th grade, Teacher: Diane Pomeroy
McCarter Elementary School, 100 students from 5th grade, 4 classes, Teachers: Jenny Lee and Erin Schramm
Tecumseh South Elementary School, 488 students, 23 classes, Teacher: Reagan Tofflemire
West Indianola Elementary School, 41 students, Kindergarten, Teacher: Emily Rudy
Rochester Elementary School, 39 students, Kindergarten, Teacher: Emily Rudy
Pleasant Hill Elementary School, 37 students, Kindergarten, 2 classes, Teacher: Emily Ruby
Quincy Elementary School, 25 – 50 students, after school art program grades k – 5, Teacher: Darlene Regnier
Washburn University, 58 art students, 3 classes, Design One, Professor: Marguerite Perret, Christa Dalien, and Clinton Ricketts
Washburn University, 15 students, 1 class, Art & Civic Engagement, Professor: Jennifer Marsh

Best in Show:

“The Dream Machine” by the Herreman Family

1st Runner-Up:

“The Great Penguin Rescue” by Nancy Overmyer

Best Play on Words:

“Go, Dog. Go!” by Madeline and Samuel Lempe

Most Likely to be Devoured:

“The Restoration of Christian Culture” by Mary Ann Tardiff

Congratulations to the winners! You can see all the 2013 edible book entries on our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/topekalibrary/sets/72157633175951586/

Thank you to all of our edible book artists, visitors, and voters. It’s audience participation that makes this event so much fun.

Also, a special thank you to Chef Mike Davis for his Thai Fruit Carving demonstration.

Want to participate next year? Mark your calendars for the 2014 Edible Book Festival on Friday, April 4, 2014.

Rust Red Hills, Georgia O’Keefe
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/georgia-o-keeffe/rust-red-hills

A New Day, A New Artist,  A New Art Medium

This week in Art Club at Lowman Hill the third graders were introduced to the finer art of watercolor.  This art medium takes a lighter approach and finer motor skills which the students have been working up to all year.

O’Keefe and Texas by Sharyn Udall

The Master Artist we looked at was Georgia O’Keefe.  Specifically, we looked at her Southwest landscapes in watercolor.We talked about the visual differences in the mountain peaks of that part of the United States contrasted with our own flat-topped Flint Hills in Kansas created long ago by the inland sea.

Taos Mountain, New Mexico by O’Keefe
http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/collections/overview/americas/northamerica/uscanada/painting/earlymodern/P99362.html

Group discussion included how to create a unified composition using a color scheme, patterning and visual space.  We  talked about how different colors make us feel and how this relates to warm and cool colors.  One student pointed out that summer is red…red hot!

First Step – drawing with pencil

Patterning and visual space was related to photographs of the Flint Hills as well as landscapes by O’Keefe.  They examined the use of overlapping lines to develop a foreground, middleground and background giving the illusion of receding space.  Repeated colors and shapes provide a sense of movement and unity.

Second step – Draw over lines with black crayon for resist

Begin painting (perspective learned earlier this year)

Working with Art Club throughout this year has been amazing.  The students are so eager and willing to learn and experience the world through art. They have developed confidence, problem-solving skills and creativity. They now love to talk about their artworks in front of the group.  I am grateful to be part of this outreach program and excited to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Wet-on-wet technique

Great use of color. Definitely a Modernist influence like O’Keefe but more Rothko!

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