artamaze by Katherine Hilden

www.katherinehilden.com

Inventing an Alphabet

Posted in abstraction, Achievement, Imagination, inspiration, Semiotics, tagged analysis, From Dawn to Decadence, Jacques Barzun, judging, Karen Gerrard, standards, stencil, writing on January 19, 2017| 3 Comments »

In my peripatetic reading, some years ago, I came across this suggestion about how to look at art: Instead of thinking you’re going to judge the painting, stand there and imagine that the painting is judging you.

That may sound ridiculous. Try it anyway.

You can start with this painting. How is this painting judging you?

When the tables are turned this way, you’ll notice that you’ve been judging art by rather arbitrary, inherited standards; that you like it that way; that these standards make you feel smart; and that this realization is embarrassing.

Currently, I’m reading From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun. In this section (p. 167) he’s mainly talking about writing in the 17^th century, but what he says applies to the visual arts, too.

The first modern critics did not spend all their time discussing tragedy. Other forms of poetry enjoyed their minute attention, most often in the light of Horace’s precepts. Applying such pre-existing standards was the very definition of criticism until the 19th century. The process was analytical and judicial. A sort of stencil was laid over the work and the places noted where the right features showed through the holes. The more points scored, the better the work.

Now, ANALYSIS, the breaking of wholes into parts, is fundamental to science, but for judging works of art, the procedure is more uncertain: what are the natural parts of a story, a sonnet, a painting: The maker’s aim is to project his vision by creating not a machine made up of parts but the impression of seamless unity that belongs to a living thing.

Painting by Karen Gerrard, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 40”

www.katherinehilden.com

Planes in Space

Posted in Achievement, Color, Composition, Imagination, Seeing, Technique and Demo, tagged Karen Gerrard, planes, space, spects, trees on November 2, 2016| 2 Comments »

What’s going on here? Why is this image intriguing?

There are three elements in this image. The most basic one, if you isolate it, is the round form in yellow, which is near-centered, near-symmetrical, vaguely suggesting something with a head. The second element, the black, by weaving in and out of the first, negates its organic illusion. The black lines branch off and suggest tree-like growth.

The third element is the specks of color that appear to be floating through the pictorial space. Your mind wants to simplify them and therefore assumes they are all the same size in that space. Since they are actually of three different sizes (on the canvas) you make sense of them by seeing them as floating in three different planes. The smallest specs, for example, are interpreted as being farthest from the viewer and the large specs are on the plane closest to you as you look at the painting.

If the specks were of fifteen different sizes, or sixty two different sizes, your brain would not be able to organize them and you would, therefore, not perceive spacial depth in the painting.

The painting presents a puzzle, but not a puzzle that you solve. Once you see how you project your expectations into the painting, you haven’t solved anything. You’ll still be floating in that space.

Karen Gerrard, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”

www.katherinehilden.com

http://www.evanstonartcenter.org/exhibitions/sketches-studies-studio-gallery

Studio Gallery: Drawings

Posted in abstraction, Achievement, Composition, faces, Imagination, inspiration, Life drawing, literalness, Negative space, Seeing, Still life, Surreal, Texture, Upside-Down Drawing, tagged Ale Podestá, Cynthia Bold, drawing, Evanston Art Center, exhibit, Gabrielle Edgerton, Karen Gerrard, Linné Dosé, Maggy Shell, Studio Gallery on October 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Now it’s my drawing students’ turn in the Studio Gallery. There are thirty-three drawings on exhibit, grouped by artist. The work stretches over a two year period. You’ll see a variety of styles, in both still life and head/figure studies.

Drawing is an intimate medium. You can’t look at a drawing from across the room. You have to get up close and personal. This is the medium that gives you the feeling that you are entering another mind as it tries to grasp the complexities of perception. Drawing is closest to my heart.

Thanks to Cynthia Bold, Linné Dosé, Gabrielle Edgerton, Karen Gerrard, Ale Podestá, and Maggy Shell for submitting your work. Thank you, Ale, for helping me with hanging the show and applying your good eye.

The work is for sale, at negotiable prices. The show closes Oct 27.

Drawings are hard to document by camera. You’ll just have to come in and see. Here’s the notice from the Evanston Art Center web site: