Wednesday, May 26, 2010
‘The Art of Gaman’ at the Smithsonian Museum
The Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian has an amazing new exhibit of works by Japanese-Americans interned during WWII. Under these bleak conditions people - not necessarily artists - coped by gathering found materials and creating beautiful objects. Carving birds, ships, shrines, building furniture and landscape painting & photography all became part of biding one’s time there. The word gaman means “to bear the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” A slideshow of some work can be seen here. More information about the exhibition here.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Are You on Facebook or Twitter? Join Us!
The 21st Century has welcomed us with open arms. We’ve got a Facebook page that you can become a fan of here if you are already a Facebook member. If you don’t want to join a site you can still follow our “tweets” on our Twitter page here. These sites have been a great way to talk not only about FAS, but about current events in art and more. We hope you’ll join us!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Famous Artists Course Becomes Creative Art Course
Recently a blog reader queried about our new updated course so I asked the lovely Magdalen what was going on. And here’s what she had to say: “The new Creative Art Course is a revised, reorganized, and updated version of the original Famous Artists Course. Approximately 80 percent of the material in the new Course comes from the original Course. There is more color throughout, and more examples of art by the masters. Instead of having two separate Courses, one focusing on painting, the other on illustration and design, the new Course offers Foundations of Art, a core of basic study (10 Chapters and Assignments), followed by Elective Courses (each with 14 Chapters and Assignments) in the three specialities: Painting, Illustration, and Design. The Course will be offered for downloading online, in DVD format, and in print. Students can choose the format that suits their needs. ” The bold is my doing because, well, that’s the exciting part, right? Magdalen also assures us that, as with the current courses, all assignments will still be 3-D (meaning not virtual) and get mailed, as per usual, to the School for Instructor critique. The only bad news is that you’ll have to wait a few more months before the update is complete. We promise to keep you posted!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
FAS Alumnus: Andries Hartholt
We just added another profile to our alumnus page, Andries Hartholt. Among the many insightful comments Andries says about Famous Artists School is, “Every time I received my assignments back, it was a great surprise to see how much my paintings had been improved through the visual suggestions from my instructor Mr. McLaughlin. I was also glad that I was not pushed to paint in a certain direction or style.” This sentiment is often echoed by other students, that our instructors do not try to push a particular style or direction upon the students, but rather guide them into their own expression. A quick look at our alumnus page will attest to the diversity of work produced by folks who have taken our courses. By the way, if you are an alumnus with a web page or digital images of your work please do send us the info. We love to see what you are all up to!
Monday, May 03, 2010
The MOMA & Technology
A recent article in the NY Times discusses a website created by the MOMA called ‘Studio Visit’ which is a place for artists (sadly only in NYC) to rise above the internet fray by uploading info about their studios and work. ‘Studio Visit’ includes “images and video of the artists’ works — an image of each artist’s studio building, a brief statement by the artist, images of the studio’s interior and a satellite map showing the location.” Apparently the MOMA uses the site to keep up with emerging artists. They even have a ‘curators’ picks’ section. According to the artists involved their websites and studios have seen huge increases in traffic. I love the idea of our institutions getting involved in helping artists highlight their work and not get lost in the maelstrom of information on the web. Just another way that technology can help artists do what they do best - make art!
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