Chiascuro...What I learned and how I can make it fit into Calculus, English, Spanish, History, Algebra, Biology, PE,,,,

Death of Marat 1793 (Jacques Louis David

Chiascuro: light and dark, MODELING CAUSED BY LIGHT THAT SHINES ON THE FACE, NOSE, LIPS, 

VALUE, SHADING, SHADOWS,

MINIMALISM, ABSTRACTION, BEGINNINGS OF MODERN ART

CHIASCURO AS AN ABSTRACTION, PLACED OUT OF CONTEXT, SUCH AS IN ANOTHER SUBJECT MATTER: CALCULUS

=GIVE EXAMPLES OF CHIASCURO IN ONE OF YOUR OTHER COURSES.

-CONCEPTUAL ART (idea over product)

-DEFINING DRAWING AS CONCEPTUAL IDEA AWAY FROM A PIECE OF DRAWING

 PAPER.  CREATE A 3-D DIMENSIONAL DRAWING, AN EPHEMERAL DRAWING

ASSIGNMENT: 

1. STATE THE QUESTION-DO I UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION?

(IE: How does the concept of chiascuro that is used on a painting or drawing get redefined in Calculus?)

2. Make a connection with the concept.  What knowledge or information can I bring to the question?

3. How can I solve the problem at hand? 

Option: 

How does Chiascuro fit in my house?

light, dark, abstraction, minimal, focus, modeling

Candlelight and fire from the hearth

Dining table with candlelight and electric light and street lights

Mini-altar with candlelight and  electric light

Mini-altar with candlelight and electric light

Mixed lighting

Lewis Jorge chiascuro

student chiascuro

History of Weaving-Spirituality-Nature-Animal Healing

Weaving is acknowledged as one of the oldest surviving art / craft forms. The tradition can be traced to the Neolithic period (new stone age) approximately 12,000 years ago. The basic principle of weaving was applied to interlacing of branches and twigs to create fences, shelters and baskets for protection.

In India the "warp" (the foundation) is known as the male energy /vertical/strong/unyielding. The "weft" (horizontal) is known as the female energy because women are considered mercurial (thermometer with mercury/hot/cold) - always changing.  The weft contains the various colors and patterns added to the warp.

The Native American Medicine wheel which consists of the four directions, uses animals around the wheel for their energy, healing properties, prophecies, messages, and advice.

The Spider is associated with "weaving" energy and is intertwined with the origins of weaving. The spider and weaving is related to creativity and release of human limitations.  The web of fate represents a wheel of life which does not look at alternatives or solutions.  Humans that look at life as good or bad fortune can get trapped instead of realizing that they can change their life at anytime instead of getting "caught" in a web of fear and limitations. 

Humans can weave a peaceful life bringing beauty, wealth, abundance and love into their lives.

"Spider wove the web that brought humans the first picture of the alphabet.  The letters were part of the angles of her web. Deer asked Spider what she was weaving and why all the lines looked like symbols.  Spider replied, " Why Deer, it is time for Earth's children to learn to make records of their progress in their earth walks. " 

The humans had their petroglyphs, symbolic imagery.  The spider felt they needed more symbols to complement their growth.  "The spider wove the first primordial alphabet, as Spider's dream of the physical world had come to fruition millions of years before."

The Spider's body looks like the symbol 8, it is the symbol of infinite possibilities of creation. (/infinity symbol) Its 8 legs represent the four winds of change and the four directions of the medicine wheel.

The Spider web is symbolic of webs of fate and destiny.  If you get caught you may become its dinner.  This is similar to humans getting caught in the web of illusion in the physical world and neglecting to see beyond the problem into other dimensions. 

The web represents the wheel of life which sometimes does not include solutions.  Polarization, dualism, right and wrong, good and bad is a human condition that creates limitations, getting "caught" and living in our fears and limitations.  

The Spider medicine says to create in all respects, create new alternatives, don't get trapped in weaving the same patterns.  Pay attention to new patterns outside your web. Keep weaving new webs.

The Spider is also female energy the weaves beautiful designs. 

Before answering the two questions below, think about messages and symbols you may have had today or recently that you have ignored or brushed away.  (ie: Have you ever walked into a spider web by mistake only to recognize by the shreds of spider web on your arm or leg etc.?) Were you conscious as you walked down the street? What were you thinking about?

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1. Choose 5 messages/dreams that you would include into your new web pattern. 

2. As you were selecting your messages/dreams what kind of interference did you encounter with yourself in making your choices? (What does it mean when we feel that we are asking for too much?)

Weaving assignments:
4" plastic canvas (coaster) weaving,

 cardboard loom (bookmark size of 12-14 strands- approx 5" wide by 12" long),

 plastic square loom 8"x8" square (loops as a warp and weft, create a potholder) 

basket weaving minimum size 6" diameter 6-8" (plus) height (seagrass cord and raffia)

Drawing/color pencil/of a medicine card with information (12"x18" paper, medicine animal on half the paper about 10" diameter.

A brief explanation of the medicine the animal represents.  (rabbit=fear, deer=gentleness, frog=cleansing, hawk= messenger, )

Chiaroscuro and modeling Georges de la Tour

Georges de la Tour "Joseph the Carpenter" 1645

Georges de la Tour " Mary Magdelan Watching the Flame 1640

Georges de la Tour " The Tears of St. Peter"

The Italians call the effect of light and shade in art as "chiaroscuro".  This term as it applies to the general effect of light on the noses, lips, eyes, drapery folds, natural forms, and objects is called modeling. Chiaroscuro always refers to light and dark.  In drawing it is the light and shade effects.

Chiaro = light  scuro= dark

Georges de la Tour (1593-1652 France) was a painter that was known for using candlelight or torches to create the effect of chiaroscuro on his subjects.  The simplification of the human forms in is paintings gives a modern appearance. 

1.How does the absence of light on the figures add to the stories in three paintings?

 (stories:  (a)Joseph and Jesus- a son in his father's workshop. A carpenter and protector of carpenters and technicians, babies, immigrants, unborn babies. Perhaps was only with Jesus until he was 12.  Not at the crucifixion. 

   (b) Mary Magdalene looking at the flame.  Flames do not last forever, what does she see in the flame? Mary Magdalene was one of the 3 Mary's that walked with Jesus and was there for his crucifixion and resurrection.   She is considered an apostle to the apostles.  The symbol of the colored Easter eggs can be related to Mary Magdalene. She placed eggs at the bottom of Jesus's feet during hos crucifixion and produced red eggs with his blood.  

 (c) The Tears of St. Peter One of the 12 apostles-near Jesus.  Fisherman, protector of fisherman, heals feet...crucified upside down because he felt he wasn't worthy to be crucified like Jesus. -He has to make decisions-He lets you in the gates of heaven.-What happens when he says "no"?

2. What does the selective candlelight add to the paintings?

 (a. face of Jesus as a young man-sweet, innocent, curious..

.(b) Mary Magdelene is holding a skull that is not really illuminated.  Most of the light is on her upper body near hear heart.

 (c) St Peter shares his light with the lantern.  The light seems to be equally distributed.

ANIMAL ACTIVIST CLUB LIBRA ACADEMY HUNTINGTON PARK, CA

Max Ernst (1891-1976) Frottages ("to rub")

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF DRAWING?

(WRITE A 100 WORD ESSAY-CONTAINING WHAT YOU KNOW AND WHAT YOU LEARNED AFTER THIS PRESENTATION.)

This drawing technique was developed by Max Ernst in 1925.  He was inspired by the ancient wooden floors in his studio that had been worn from years of scrubbing.  The patterns on the floors made strange images. He created this images by placing sheets of paper on the floor and rubbing it with a soft pencil. 

Ernst was considered a Surrealist.  The Surrealist group of artists began in the early l920's in Europe. The goal was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality." Interpretation of dreams on to canvas or paper dealt with images and scenes that seemed illogical but because of the realistic rendering the appeared to be part of reality.  Dreaming is part of a human's "reality".  

They dealt with tapping into the unconscious mind which is part of the dream life.

"Frottage" and "automatic drawing" were techniques used by the Surrealists to tap into the unconscious and retrieve images and feelings that can be re-interpreted in visual art and writings such as poems and literature. The "real" functioning of thought is the main thesis of Surealism. 

Thinking, taking time to think, visiting the two hemispheres of the brain and interpreting the visit is important to Surrealists.  As in dreams time is spacial not linear (meaning the whole span of your existence and being is not rated/calculated/documented by numbers/dates.

Also symbolism as in dreams is defined and interpreted.

Frottages can be viewed as 2-D experiences with 3-D thought.  As in sculpture you are subtracting and adding to a form to create a visual 3-D experience. (pushing and pulling forms)

Max Ernst 1891-1976 (Germany)

Joan Miro (Automatic drawing)

Joan Miro (1893-1983)

Joan Miro

Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali 1904-1989

Salvador Dali

Meret Oppenheim 1913-1985

Marina Abramović e Ulay - MoMA 2010

KEITH HARING

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RADIANT BABY

Andy Warhol and Basquiat

Madonna and Basquiat

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Andy Warhol and Keith Haring

Haring -Mouse for Warhol

Keith Haring (May 4, 1958-February 16, 1990) American artist and social activist whose work was part of the New York street culture of the l980's.  His work expressed the ideas of birth, death, sexuality and war.  He was around during the crack epidemic and the rise of AIDS.  

He was born in Pennsylvania and raised by his mother Joane and father Allen Haring, an engineer and amateur cartoonist. He was interested in art at an early age and studied commercial art from l976 to l978 at Pittsburgh's Ivy School of Professional Art.  He lost interest in commercial art and moved to New York to study painting.  He was behind in credits during his junior/senior year. His professors could not give him credit for his loose style and political themes.

His attention with the public began when he started painting on the subway walls.  (l980). The "Radiant Baby" became his symbol.  His theme of life and unity was combined with bold and bright colors.  He also pasted photocopies of provocative collages throughout the city. 

He was friends with other emerging artists of the time like Jean Michel Basquiat and Madonna. He was also friends with Andy Warhol who helped him to become successful. 

His "Radiant Baby" along with other of him iconographic images have been used for the AIDS campaign.  Haring died of AIDS in l990.

His work continues to impress art collectors for its simplicity, graphic imagery and direct messages for family, economy, the disenfranchised. Additionally, one of Haring's desire to bring art to the public has come true.

1. "Radiant Child" has been used as a symbol for the AIDS campaign along with Haring's concern to make the public aware of the AIDS epidemic that began in the early 80's.  What are some of the reasons why you think this image has been part of the AIDS campaign?( hint: what does "Radiating" imply? "a baby" ?)

2."Crack is Wack" l986 was a painting that was designed to be seen by the FDR freeway. How does this painting stress an "urgent cry" of awareness to the public? Breakdown some of the images to describe the urgent need to act by the public.( money $, skeleton, crowds, pipe, color...)

3. Why do you think that many of Haring's figures are faceless and asexual? Or are they asexual?

4. What are the similarities of Basquiat and Haring's work?  How are their messages similiar and how do they differ?

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