Lessons From Caravaggio

The Entombment

(Detail)

1602-1603

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

"The artist is not a special kind of person.

Every person is a special kind of artist."

Eric Gill

1882-1940

"What I can say- and what I have observed in the process of painting- is that once finished, a picture becomes autonomous, and then belongs as much to the spectator as to its author."

Corinne Vonaesch

Process- both a noun and a verb. Our final lecture before Christmas Break looked into the life of Michelangel Merisi da Caravaggio, a man skilled in the process of oil painting. He was also filled with passion for his craft. Process and passion... our key discussion words in art. Now the Art Room is silent, brushes are stilled,

and Mechal's oil painting is curing. 

Here are a few recent pieces from Trinity artists:

Emma Stojancic

Serigraph

Andrew Trump

Serigraph

Sara Cazorla

Serigraph

Sebastian Bienert

Serigraph

Mechal Harward

Oil on Canvas

Eric Loytty

Manipulated Photograph

Jack Higdon

Manipulated Photograph

John Chirchirillo

Manipulated Photograph

R J Villoresi

Manipulated Photograph

Mike Guin

Manipulated Photograph

Cyanotype

from Pinhole Camera

Cyanotype
from Pinhole Camera

Cyanotype
from Pinhole Camera

Cyanotype
from Pinhole Camera



And finally,
this year's Photo Class Poster

For a Hi-Res file you can have a poster printed from
email me:
mcarter@trinityprep.com

A Call To Remember

"Lend me your eyes I can change what you see
But your soul you must keep, totally free"

Awake My Soul

Mumford & Sons

G.K. Chesterton said, " All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful moment we remember that we forget.” The Renaissance was a time of remembering forgotten things. This week's Thursday Lecture focused on Jan van Eyck, painter extraordinaire of the Northern Renaissance. The northern painters' passion for detail, as seen in the examples below, is exemplified in the work of van Eyck.

Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

Angels, Upper Left Panel with Detail

Jan and his brother Hubert's crowning achievement is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also known as The Ghent Altarpiece; a monumental painting on twelve Oak panels, measuring more than 11' x 15' and weighing nearly two tons. 

Note to students- I incorrectly told you that van Eyck worked on this panel two years. It was closer to six! (A classic example of what happens when you give a discourse without notes). My apologies. 

The attention to detail in the altarpiece is staggering. One fifteenth century writer said that van Eyck's landscapes seemed to stretch "for fifty miles." For van Eyck, no part of a composition was insignificant. Notice the hi-lighted square in the lower central panel below. 

Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

Hubert & Jan van Eyck

Completed 1432

Here is the same area, cropped.

Detail

And here, cropped further (magnify by clicking on pictures).

Greater Detail

The paintings of Jan van Eyck remind us that there is more to our world than meets the eye. Robert Hughes said, "By such means of vision and symbolism, Jan van Eyck temporarily did away with the division between secular and religious works of art. All nature is sacramentalized by the sheer intensity of his gaze."

Jan van Eyck's 'call to remember' is still heard by painters today. One such painter visited the Art Room this week, Mr. Greg Card. Mr. Card has been featured in numerous national publications, including ARTnews and ARTFORUM, and has exhibited from New York to California. He is currently exploring a series on recycled materials, Viz. cardboard.

Greg Card demonstrating Interference colors

Greg Card works with a special type of paint called Interference Colors, manufactured by Golden Artist Colors. Here is a description from Golden-

The GOLDEN Iridescent and Interference Colors achieve their reflective properties by synthetically reproducing several natural phenomena-the nacreous, or pearlescent, qualities found in fish scales or the dust of a butterfly's wing, and the shiny and reflective qualities found in certain metals and minerals.

I wonder what Jan van Eyck could have done with Interference paint?

Greg Card reminded my students that there is wonder to be found in a drop of paint, if we will but look. Thank you, Greg.

Student Work from this week:


Pinhole Photography

Generosity

"Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need, the remainder is needed by others."
Augustine of Hippo

One of my favorite questions is, "Can you use this?" I almost always answer, "Yes," even if I am not sure what the this is. This makes for a hodge-podge of materials or, as one person said, "Wow, this art room gives new meaning to the word organic!"
And then there are those who have treasures to share- people like Shelly Bluhm. Shelly recently asked if I could use her potter's wheels (two kick-wheels). Of course I said yes.

The hands of a young potter

Jason and Gaines

Dueling potters

Gaines at the wheel

John at the wheel

Another parent, Dennis Rayfield, mentioned having an antique camera and wondered if I wanted to show it to my photography class. Again I said yes.

Chris behind Dad's camera

5th Period 
4x5 view camera
(5 second exposure @f/128) 

pinhole cameras 

negatives drying


Thank you Shelly and Dennis! Your generosity makes the Trinity art experience even better. 


And now, a couple of my favorite photos from this week-

Will on the scaffold

Megan blocking a silkscreen

Third Quarter Begins!

'In omnia paratus'

(Ready for anything)

Motto of the United States Army's 18th Infantry Regiment

Third Quarter is underway and the Trinity ArtRoom schedule looks like this:

First Period- Web Design/Yearbook

Second Period- Painting

Third Period- Sculpture, with emphasis on clay

Fourth Period- Creative Writing

Fifth Period- Photography

Sixth Period- Sculpture

Seventh Period- Photography

Here are a few of the photographs students made with their pinhole cameras-

Jason Lu

Lee Blackwelder

Maddie Keller

Emma Carter

Davis Martinec
The ArtRoom- 45 minute exposure

Sam Carter

Austin Carpenter


And, a few additions to the wall-

Bob

Serigraph

Megan Bennett

Watercolor

Sam Carter

Watercolor

Alec Salmen

Some of the guys and me