A Collage of Experience – The Work of Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden was born on September 2, 1911 to (Richard) Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1914, they moved north to Harlem, New York, joining millions of other African Americans in the Great Migration, looking for greater racial equality and more financial and educational opportunities. They lived there as the Harlem Renaissance…
September Artist of the Month – Romare Beardon
Romare Beardon was an artist that could do anything. He drew cartoons, painted, collaged, designed costumes, wrote songs, and authored books. Beardon used his art to challenge the idea that black artists should only create art rooted in their own culture. He explored ways to depict the daily lives of African Americans in the rural…
Art for KjARTan’s Sake?
Sorry for the cringy title. I put it down as a placeholder figuring I’d come up with something better by the time I got done writing this. You know what else was hard? Coming up with a project for Kjartan Slettemark! He was edgy and political. As much as I admire his work, political is…
Of Passports and Performance Art – The Work of Kjartan Slettemark
The first thing I noticed when researching the life of Kjartan Slettemark is that there aren’t many sources to reference. He was such an interesting artist – how can this be?? We’ll dive as deep as we can in this post, but it’s worth checking out the sources and seeing what else there is. If…
Innovation and Controversy – August Artist of the Month
Kjartan Slettemark was a name I’d never heard until a month ago when I was asked if I would cover a Nordic artist. As soon as I began reading about him I wanted to know more and he’s now our August Artist of the Month! Information about him is a little light, but he was…
A Woman’s Perspective in Baroque Art
(Artemisia Gentileschi, Part II) What is Baroque Art For the last two months I’ve been talking about Baroque art this and Baroque art that, but what is it really? This little blurb sums it up better than I could in an entire blog post: “The Baroque artists were particularly focused on natural forms, spaces, colors,…
Artemisia Gentileschi, Part I
Female Strength in the Baroque Period Early Life Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome on July 8, 1593 to Prudentia Montoni and Orazio Gentileschi. Her father was a painter that was friends with and closely followed Caravaggio**. Despite his attempts to put Artemisia in a nunnery (it was exceedingly rare for a non-aristocratic woman to…
July Artist of the Month
I’ve been waiting for this one all year! She is one of my favorite artists EVER. I even wrote my senior thesis on her. Her dad was friends with Caravaggio and she was the center of a rape trial that treated her as property. Sadly these things sometimes overshadow her artistic career. We’ll talk about…
Digitizing a Master’s Technique
Technique is something we haven’t talked about enough for Artist of the Month. Lucky for us, Peter Paul Rubens is a *fabulous* master to study when it comes to materials and application in painting! The man was able to finish a masterpiece in a matter of hours thanks to the media and techniques he used.…
Peter Paul Rubens! (and HER)
Peter Paul Rubens was born on June 28, 1577 in Seigen, Westphalia. His father was a lawyer from Antwerp that was “banished” for having an affair with the wife of a powerful man, forcing the family to leave. When Rubens was 10, his father died and his mother took the family back to Antwerp. I…
