Progress Post #19 - January 25th, 20191/25/2019 This week, we did critiques! I was very satisfied with my critique because I definitely feel like I improved. Although I do need to work on a couple of things like matching colors and painting hands properly. You would think that I would have a good understanding of hands after I drew 230948239084 of them in my sketchbook last year, but I am still incapable of properly capturing their complex shadows and curvature in paint. I am looking forward to starting my next project because I have so many ideas! I think I am going to continue this series and explore body image because it is something that is very near and dear to my heart, and I believe I could make the most powerful art out of works on this topic.
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Awareness #2 - Catherine Graffam1/24/2019 Catherine Graffam is an artist, curator, and educator who is based in the Greater Boston Area. She received her BFA from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. She specializes in self portraits with oil paint documenting her emotions and her experience as a queer transgender woman. Her work is almost entirely figurative with a motif of portraiture. She has exhibited her work in museums and galleries across the world and was named one of 2017's "Remarkable Women" by NH Magazine. She is currently an Exhibitions Manager at Gallery 263 in Cambridge MA and adjunct faculty at Lasell College, New Art Center, and New Hampshire Institute of Art. She has had three solo exhibitions: Identity Online (Montreal, Rats 9, 2014), Trans-Pose (Concord, McGowan Fine Art, 2016), and Cowboy Take Me Away (San Antonio, Mantle Art Space, 2019). She has exhibited her work in the 11th Annual Minumental Exhibition, Exploring Gender, Reflections: Self Portrait Show, Annual Student Exhibition, Mangitude 7, Minis on Main, 2nd Annual Self Portrait Show, Queer, 1st Annual Figure/Portrait Competition, 12th Annual Minumental Exhibition, Art PM, Who Might I Be?, Small Works Exhibition, 2nd Annual Figure/Portrait Competition, We're Here: A Queer Exhibition, Art and Bloom, Trans/Draw, You think It's ________ But It's Really _________, Gender Unbound, The Other, 3rd Annual Self Portrait Show, Plenty, Inertia, Gender Unbound Art Festival, Right Side Out, TDOV, and Teenaged. She has exhibited numerous times at Verge Gallery in Manchester NH and the NHIA in Manchester NH. She has been published in magazines like NH Magazine, Yes! Magazine, Everyday Feminism, The Jealous Curator, the Huffington Post, The Hippo, Supersonic Art, Feministing, Mineral Magazine, and Artful Undress. She is represented by McGowan Fine Art in Concord NH and 13FOREST in Arlington MA. Her website is organized with her paintings organized by theme and series on the side and three thumbnails of some of her works on the side. She features her instagram, twitter, and email and a place to sign up for her newsletters on the left bar. She also sells prints and originals on her website.
I love her work for the way she manipulates realism in such brushy ways. She is not afraid of adding streaky lines to her beautifully rendered portraits, and I respect her for that. I also love the colors she uses and the power behind her strokes. They are frenetic but purposeful, and she has a highly developed concept and content. I want to pursue portraiture the way she has with its powerful lines, strong colors, and interesting compositions. Experience #2 - Kirk O'Brien1/24/2019 Although I was unable to attend the actual talk, I really enjoyed Kirk O'Brien's talk about censorship in the comic world. I watched Kirk O'Brien's lunchtime lecture online through Facebook. This talk taught me so much about censorship in comics and the comic code authority and how it changed over time. My favorite aspect of the talk was when O'Brien showed images of old comics and talked about them. Comics were so morbid in the past, but I also understand why the comic code authority was considered ridiculous. There was definitely some crazy explicit content that I would not show my own children, but banning this content instead of just rating it is absolutely ridiculous. Just like films, comics are purchases that a consumer makes based on the information provided. If a rating system was created versus just an outright ban, then a child or a parent could know what comics are appropriate for them and what comics are not appropriate. The comic code authority also had crazy strict rules that censored things that made no sense. I understand censoring sex or gore or morbid content, but banning werewolves and vampires? That's just putting a cap on creativity and doesn't even work to create a more modest society. I also found how certain artists dealt with the comic code authority and rebelled against it incredibly interesting. Working against the system like that is what creates great artists and entrepreneurs. In conclusion, this talk gave me a lot of insight into the world of comics in the late 20th century.
I had a couple of questions that I could not ask because I did not attend the lecture. In particular, I was wondering how comics may be censored today? I don't read comics often, so I was wondering if there was a sort of standard today or can anything be published? Also, how has comic censorship been changed by the internet and the fast pace at which we innovate? Comics are so cool, and this lecture makes me want to read comics and invest time in understanding how they are created. Being able to create an entire world and mythology is so remarkable and requires such talent that I am in awe by the complexities of comic making. I want to try to make a comic one day or at least, write the plot to one. Furthermore, this talk gave me some insight into censorship and how artists deal with censorship. If I am ever censored, I want to be brave enough to just reject the censorship and publicize my artwork anyway. Progress Post #12 - January 18, 20191/24/2019 I finished my project this week! I did two whole paintings this quarter which is super exciting and crazy. I had no idea I could finish two (thank you snow days!). I want to continue to explore this concept and finish this series once and for all this next quarter. I have lots of collected makeup wipes that I am excited to experiment with (I'm thinking embroidery). I am sort of satisfied, but I would definitely fix some stuff. Progress Post #11 - January 11, 20191/12/2019 I started working on my third project! I am going to be finishing the series I started last week. I began on my third canvas and it's going okay so far. I think it's a lot more gestural and abstract than my previous one, and I sort of messed up with my colors. The proportions are also a little off, but I am planning on fixing that when I paint. I think this composition is a lot more interesting and the facial expression is more active. I am trying to think of ways to incorporate different materials into the canvas. I look forward to continuing this canvas.
author.jacqueline. she/her. senior. virginia, usa. art v. archives.
March 2020
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