Home Fest at Community Book Center in New Orleans, LA during July 2013
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On Saturday June 15th at 11:00 a.m., I will give a children's art workshop presented by Community Book Center on 2523 Bayou Road in New Orleans. It is sponsored by the Joan Mitchell Center on 2275 Bayou Road. It will be open to children ages 7 to 12 years old.
It's more about finding your niche audience than about compromising your work. There's a big difference between the two. This is what I have learned after taking business classes and putting my learning into practice for over a year now.
As a child, I believed in creating what was from pure inspiration and not changing just to fit in a box. Not much has changed in my rational. There are people who are looking for art that speaks to their unique values and experiences, but have trouble finding it. This is precisely why it's important for an artist to create work from his or her own unique vision. Many galleries and art institutions only cater to a segment of the people. Also in 2013 of this Information Age our place in the culture as individuals is changing. Because of the Internet, anyone with access can have a voice and make an impact. As a culture, we used to have to wait for approval from authorities to publish a book, exhibit our art, get an education, get funding, and the list goes on. Over and over we see that everyday people publish a blog or video and change the course of events in a major political election or a talent search, etc. With this in mind, let us all continue to make our unique contribution. Amy Bryan I got my first smart phone in 2009 after noticing, while teaching Art History at Dillard University, how students were able to use them to find class images. For example, one student found an image of the Rosetta Stone. Since I had very small classes, students would pass around their phones after finding the images. Since then I have encouraged students to use their smart phones in class for that purpose. I decided I had to get one too, mainly for educational purposes.
I became interested in the iPad during fall 2011 when I was teaching as an Adjunct Instructor at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. A colleague and a student talked to me about the wonders of the iPad for doing art. My colleague said she loved doing iPhone painting and she really wanted an iPad. The iPhone helped her as a busy working mother to still do her art. She could use it while her kids were in dance class, for example. Although her true love was painting, the iPad was close enough to it to bring some satisfaction. The only problem was that it was too small and the iPad was a better size. That semester a Graphic Design student in the drawing class I was teaching also talked about how there where a lot of iPad apps. one could download. Then I was sold on getting one. In March 2012 I bought an iPad and I have been using it for doing art ever since. I use Brushes, Procreate, Ukiyoe (my favorite), and other apps. It's like playing a game and so frees me from those art rule voices associated with the academic art world. I started out with images from my "Ghana Series" and have now moved on to my recent interest,"Portraits". On Easter Sunday I looked around at church and and was amazed by all of the beautiful pastel colors people were wearing. I immediately thought about how I would like to draw those scenes in colored pencils. That is when I realized how much I loved colored pencils. When I was a high school student at an intensive half-a-day art school, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, I was assigned projects using colored pencils. At the time, I tried to use them well, but I was frustrated; I wanted to use paint or pastels. A lot of my art now involves colored pencils. I use them in drawings, assemblages, hand-pulled prints, and in the future, I will embellish my digital prints with colored pencils too.
Ms. Joy Slocum and Ms. Mia Rivarde guided their elementary school students to create this door design at Benjamin Franklin Elementary based on my artwork. For Black History Month, the classes designed doors that celebrated the work of New Orleans artists and their designs were entered into a school wide contest. Ms. Slocum and Ms. Rivarde's door won second place. It's amazing how much they captured about my work and it allows me to think about it in a new way. They were influenced by these types of pieces:
I thank Ms. Slocum, Ms. Rivarde, and their students for this enriching experience. I hope it was just as enriching for the students as it was for me.
Image of "Blessed Frances Gaudet"-African American prison reformer, missionary, and seamstress2/26/2013 "Blessed Frances Gaudet" Frances Joseph Gaudet was an African American prison reformer, missionary, and seamstress. She was instrumental in starting the Juvenile Court in Louisiana and founded Gaudet School for Black Youth in 1902. She was born in Holmesville, Pike County, Mississippi, in 1861. She is now venerated as a Saint in the Episcopal Church. Here is my version of her portrait. Ukiyoe iPad app 2/25/13 The exhibit is on the first floor lobby at 650 Poydras St., New Orleans, LA, 70130. It is free and open to the public 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. I hope you can make it.---Amy
Interesting New York Times article about how African art was viewed by Modern artists:
"A Continent’s Art on a Long American Journey‘African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde’ at the Met" |
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