Abstract with Red Splotch and Little Green Seeds

More street art, where the red splotch

took on a batch of tiny seeds,

reminded me of the work of abstract-

expressionist artist Robert Motherwell.

Maybe its appropriate, because

I was just leaving the Herron School of Art

when I saw this tiny bit of color

on the granite steps to the building.

Beside the Sea, no. 45. 1967
Acrylic and ink on paper

Blue Rectangles and Concentric Arcs with Scraggly Winter Stuff Between

I must be getting a bit of cabin fever:

While visiting the Marsh Gallery at 

the Herron School of Art,

I looked out the window to notice 

the ribbed sculpture at the front of the school. 

It seemed to pair with the blue rectangles

of the windows across the street,

making a nice contrast with the bare 

tree branches between.

A bit to the left, winter had scrawled

similar scribbles across the exterior 

of the IUPUI Library.

"Oh, Yeah!": This Guy's Good

While the drawings and imagery seem child-like, 

the installation and design of artist Chris Dacre's exhibit, 

"Oh, Yeah!" at the Gallery of the Herron School of Art 

is sophisticated and dramatic.

To me, it is less about war than it is about, 

as the artist states in his remarks about this work, 

how our society, particularly men, 

are conditioned by the near-continuous

onslaught of movies, video games, books, 

and advertising glorifying war, 

inuring us to its murderous reality.

The drawings have a perspective that seems

like those of a child's version of planes.

The kites are printed with profiles of bombers

and fighters, sweeping across the sky.

There's a campground of small tents, backed

by battleground videos. At the other end of

the gallery, a boy's bedroom is shown, his little jammies,

printed with angry-faced men brandishing bayonets, 

lie on bed sheets printed with images of HumVees.

The nightmare is coming through the boy's wall, 

a tank ready to run through and over

everything and everyone. At the window, fatigue-clad 

"soldiers" have cartoon animal heads, but are 

carrying weapons. They are strung like marionettes

so that, no matter who you decide the enemy might be,

you know that both sides are being controlled by

outside interests that have nothing to do

with religion, moral or ethical concepts, or even politics -

just by the desire by someone to have absolute 

control over every one and every coin ever minted.

Like the artist, I am not so naive to believe that war 

will ever be abolished. People will never just 

kiss and make up to live in a Utopia of candy and kindness.

However, we do need to be able to discern between 

a war that's being run for the benefit of arms dealers 

and manufacturers, and religious nuts proselytzing their

particular brand of hatred and bigotry.

Yep, I am a confirmed gatherer of nut and berries,

but there surely has to be a better way

for our men to confirm their masculinity than

by shooting some poor fuck who's been

turned into a convenient caricature of evil.

Pin Lights

One might think this display case at the Herron School 

of Art is empty. Not so. The LED lighting and 

pushpins created their own art display, casting shadows 

on the neutral gray board.

Staying Connected

The title of this show in the Marsh Gallery

at the Herron School of Art and Design is 

Connection: Exploring Interpersonal Communication.

I had seen some of the artists installing the exhibit

a few days earlier and was glad I returned.

The theme of their work was based in their attempts 

to gain an understanding of the ways people 

interact with each other, specifically through 

social media, e-mail and text messaging. 

What I found fascinating, and ironic,

was much of the exhibit was hand-made.

While the artists definitely used electronic imaging

and printing for elements of their exhibit,

a lot of the pieces were hand-cut, the colored thread

used to create connections was pinned by

industrious hands, and the notes left by visitors

were virtually all hand-written.

The immediacy of the hand-made conveys 

an intimacy that is lost in the electronic media. 

While we may communicate with thousands 

of folks each day, people tend to feel

a certain safety, an anonymity in e-messages

that has proven to be illusory: people write 

mean and hurtful things on the social media, 

things they would not think of writing on paper.

Conversely, folks who develop on-line ties

very often exist in comparative isolation, unable to engage in 

actual interpersonal action, a lonely existence, for sure.

I wonder, however, whether anyone will read

all of the notes that have been left?

Will they be able to categorize and form

any conclusions from the little pieces of paper?

In the Stacks

Before swimming on Monday night, 

I stopped in to visit the Herron School of Art library.

Would you be surprised to know that I was looking at books 

on the use of patterns as design elements?

The Light Turned On

Umm ... Books, and all of them about art.

 No silly magazines ("Sixty-Nine Things You 

Can Do to Get Your Man Really Hot"), 

no celebrity rumor rags, nothing about over-

commercialized sports franchises. 

Nothing. Just art books. 

A Herron student was in the stacks, looking for 

a book as I walked by. Lamps on the tables 

had been turned on, adding to the inviting 

atmosphere of the library.

Still Life/Still Life

Disparate items line the shelves of this closet,

hidden at the end of the second floor hall

in the Herron School of Art and Design.

Items from the shelves are used to make up

the still lifes for the drawing and painting classes.

I've used them myself for classes I've taken,

but usually found the items too picked over

to make up a coherent grouping.

As they sit here, however, the items

make an interesting tableau of

color and shape.
And here's a picture of another
work in progress,
long distance swimmers Jim B. and
Victoria R. practicing at the Natatorium.

October Theme Day: Movement

Movement.

Did you see it? No?

Well, stick around a bit.

This sound sculpture, Prairie, by Shawn Decker

was designed to evoke a grassland, with sounds 

of birds, insects, and tree frogs peeping and chirping.

The rods bend and vibrate from time to time,

as though a late summer grasshopper has landed

on their stems. The sounds are overlapping,

twenty movements controlled by a computer

installed under the window. The chirps and swaying

are created by cell phone speakers and vibration

motors on each of the brass stems.

Sit a while, watch and listen, and the piece

will take you to a wide open field, maybe even 

allow you to imagine that the brass rods

smell of  grasses on a warm day.

On the first day of each month, the members of

the City Daily Photo blog portal use a scene 

from their cities to describe a theme. 

Today's theme was/is Movement.

I'm a city girl, so my "movement" is a bunch

of brass rods, some of which bounce and vibrate

as though a bird has alit on their stems. 

 To see other images those nice folks from CDP 

have chosen, click the link above or 

the badge to the right of this post. 

In the Library

It's a quiet place,

but it speaks to me.

When I was little,

time in the library was

an adult privilege, 

one I first enjoyed

when I got my very own

library card, when 

I was five or six.

A few months ago,

I got a card for the Herron

School of Art Library.

I felt the way I did when

I got my first card.

The words and the pictures

showing the artists' 

works and their lives

are all murmuring ...

inviting me into their world,

helping me to shape my own.

And this simple arrangement 

on a side table added

to the welcome.

Along the Gray Divide

As the sun rose over Indy on Saturday, I walked in the shadow 

of the Herron School of Art, where the rift in the sidewalk reminded me 

of a map of the Mississippi River. Or maybe, looked at horizontally, 

it could have been the remains of ocean waves, 

breaking onto the sandy beach. Or not.

Maybe one side was just shiny, while the other was not.

Waiting for Art

Left behind, forming something of a statement about 

what had been there, while waiting for the next display 

of student art, I found these push pins

making their own little exhibition.

I was visiting the Herron School of Art,

which is next door to the IUPUI Natatorium 

where I swim during the week.

In particular, I went to see on of the school's current

exhibitions, Combat Paper, which is well worth

looking at, both for the drama of the images,

as well as the words of the military men and women

whose experiences form the basis of artwork.

Blushing With Effort

The rain earlier this week ended around mid-morning.

I'd gone to the Herron School of Art & Design on business,

 where I saw these white tulips outside the entrance.

The blooms were so big they'd nearly overwhelmed their stems. 

When the rain collected in the blooms, the flowers

just laid down their burden to wait for drier weather.

April Showers ...

After a winter that lasted much longer than anyone wanted, 

April eased into spring living up to its couplet,

"April showers bring May flowers."

The flowers have started to show, but I'm hoping their

best show will start later this week, with May.

This grouping of umbrellas hangs in the hallway

of the Herron School of Art and Design.

They appear to be motorized, although I don't

think I've ever seen them move.

The weather was dreary all day yesterday,

began raining in the afternoon,

continuing throughout Sunday. The rivers are

swollen and overflowing, an astonishing difference

from last year which saw a drought that had

begun with winter and lasted into fall.

The Herron umbrellas seemed an appropriate

expression for the outdoor mood.

Art Where You Find It

Student projects are displayed throughout the halls 

and galleries of the Herron School of Art and Design. 

The swooping, dipping swags

 and shadows along one wall caught my eye. 

Draped paper was anchored by black dots 

and cylinders undulating like a broken necklace, 

beads held only by the links of string.

It must have been the result of of a "Design in

Materials" class, inspired by generations of graduation

pranks just about everywhere.

Other than for its intended purpose, I don't think

I've seen toilet paper put to better use.  

How Cubism Was Invented ...

...The model moved.
For several weeks I attended a painting class that was divided
into sessions for still life and portrait painting. I hated the first sessions;
I spent four years in high school art classes drawing still lifes 
and swore I'd never do another one. The ones set up for the little class 
were nothing I'd have chosen for myself; I was neither stirred 
nor motivated by them. 
I also did four years of drawing portraits where I showed 
a knack for distorting the features of my subjects. 
Over time, I learned to draw them "correctly,"
but at the cost of individuality, of any distinct personality of line.
So I was torn when I drew this young woman, between the need to 
regain that ability make the painting "look like" my subject
and just painting for the love of color. 
Yep, she sure is crooked, but she resembles her real self, too.
I hadn't painted a human from life for, like, forever, and it shows, 
but I am happy that I just chose to let the brush sort of
fall where it wanted, to let the color do its job.

The Color of Clouds

For the past several weeks, I have been attending a small painting class downtown 

at the Herron School of Art and Design, on the IUPUI campus.

It has been interesting to see the displays of student projects that have

been hung in various spots throughout the building.

Among the ones I saw tonight was this project that I assume was meant

to  demonstrate the effect of reflected light on a surface.

I couldn't see inside the cones other than for some bits of solid color

at the scalloped edges of the shapes. The color inside each reflected 

a pastel version of itself onto the cone above.

As pretty as it is, it could make a really stunning effect

if enlarged to spread over a bigger surface.

This is to prove that digital images can be grainy. 

The photographer (me!) insisted on recording for posterity 

the reflection of moonlight on the edges on clouds.  

It looked to me like a milky streak in a chunk of blue agate.

Watcha Doon?

I caught my classmate Dorothy as she was rummaging through her purse. 

We were waiting in the IMA lobby for the other members of our group

with the intent of checking out the museum's still life paintings,

primarily those done by artists from the Impressionist period.

Most of us come from some sort of professional background 

and enrolled in a painting class for various reasons; 

Ms. Dorothy was recently widowed and felt she needed 

to begin to meet people, one man is an aeronautical engineer, 

while I am looking for feedback as well as

contact with people who share my interests.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art seems empty in this photo.

In fact, people were continually moving in and out 

of the galleries, as well as this lobby.

Textured Tuesday: Cut Paper

There is an exhibit at the Herron School of Art and Design called 

Papercuts: The Art of Contemporary Paper Cutting.

Curated by Reni Gower, the works show various methods 

of cutting paper to create art - cutting, piercing, die cut,

sewing - the pieces will remind the viewer of curtains, 

doilies, pieced quilts and cut lace. 

Some are humorous. And every one is beautiful,

each piece reflecting the patience of the artists to bring

to life with an X-acto knife their particular 

vision of shadow and color. 

Yellow and Black

It rained nearly all day yesterday, bringing a chill wind 

to blow the leaves down. This yellow tree looked bright and 

impressive against the dark overcast. Its tiny leaves

were strewn on the wet, black granite benches surrounding

this pyramid fountain.