Art Critique by Bud Edmondson

At the November Membership Association meeting for RRAA, the program that followed the business meeting portion was a critique of your artwork done by Bud Edmondson. Each member was asked to bring in a piece of their work for critiquing. Each painting or artwork was given a good 2 minutes in review.
Even though I did not bring anything in, I learned a lot about how I approached my art compositions and why some were more successful than others.
When Bud critiques, he looks for five things. He doesn't have to have any partiality towards a particular style of art in order to critique successfully. Here's my notes (I hope they're not too cryptic) from that night:

Five things assessed in each piece of work: 1) drawing 2) composition and design 3) values 4) color 5) edges

In respect to edges, sometimes they are too hard and sometimes they are too soft in the subject matter.
The center of interest in the composition should have the strongest value and contrast.
Do not put the horizon line and focal point of the composition dead center in the picture plane.
Atmospheric perspective is achieved by changes in value and have subordinate values and color.
Never (repeat never) use green right out of the tube for trees.
Avoid making the foreground subject matter overpowering. You need to provide a way within the image for the viewer to look past the foreground.
Remember that values can change and shift from side to side in the picture plane (and should in most cases).
Avoid having the same values throughout the painting. Values can be used to bring focus to the subject matter. The sky is always the lightest value.
A color can appear to be darker than what it is by making the subject next to it a lighter value.
Your darkest darks should be in the foreground.
A composition can get problematic and 'stiff' if the subject matter has equal space around it. Decide to make the subject higher or lower in the picture plane.
Shadows are a darker value of whatever it is cast upon. For example, a shadow cast on concrete should be of a darker value of that concrete.
I already have a few books on color theory. In light of this art critique session, I decided to seek out something more relevant. "Color in Contemprary Painting-Integrating Practice and Theory" by Charles LeClair is perhaps the most relevant book I've seen in regards to this topic. I highly recommend it. Since I work in multiple mediums, I also sought out a book specific to photography and composition. "The Photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman is spot-on and I highly recommend it. More detailed descriptions of these books can be found at Amazon.com

Santa Raffle

These are hand carved Santa's donated by artist Marilyn Meuret. Raffle tickets were sold at the Rio Rancho Arts and Crafts Fair on November 22nd at the Sabana Grande Recreation Center.

Marilyn's hand carved work is intricate, full of life and character and well executed. I dont' know if you've ever tried your hand at carving something from wood with hand tools. It is not an easy task in coaxing life out of a block of wood and translating it into something warm and humorous as Marilyn does. And, she does it well!

So, YOU can be the proud owner of one or both of these wonderful Santas. Just purchase one or many raffle tickets. Proceeds for this raffle will go towards building the Education/Scholarship Fund for RRAA. It is part of our community outreach effort (artists reaching out through art).

Branding and Fireflies

I have been working with Nina Baldwin and Paula Scott to apply a new logo to RRAA, and to create a branding that reflects RRAA, and it is a task that is giving me pause. The goal of branding an organization is to create something constant in everything you show that reflects what you are. Yet, to me, art is an every changing expression of the people creating it, the people viewing it and the society in which it is being viewed. So how can I presume to design something that reflects – constantly – a group whose existence is based on an ever changing process of creation?
I was thinking this over this last night as I looked out over the mesas. I flashed back to my life in the north east when I used to spend hours catching fireflies. You might see a single firefly flicker for a second and then disappear. You knew they were there, but you had to be so patient and search to find them. Every kid had an old mason jar with a perforated lid for catching them, and it would take all evening. But once there were ten or twenty or more in the glass jar you could suddenly see them all. They all flickered in their own time, but the light shared illuminated all of them, and created the most beautiful display. You held them there for just a bit then opened the jar to let them fly off in a flurry of magic and light. That is what branding an art organization should do. It should be the mason jar that for a moment brings all the light and magic together to make every artist shine brighter than they can alone.

Copyright and you: The basics Alan Mitchell

Intro

After the copyright talk I gave at the RRAA meeting in Sept. there were requests to have a brief summary put together at least of the high points. Well here it is finally. In putting this together I have added some thoughts on fair use and some excellent references on public domain that were not possible to go over at a talk. The best overall summary I have found is from site at Cornell University. The links are all shown below. At some point, and if enough people ask for it I will put the complete presentation on my web site. Hope you enjoy…

From the Copyright office web page:

"Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works."

So what happens with Copyright?

Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

• To reproduce the work in copies;
• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
• To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work

Fair Use

Fair use: “Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years” US Copyright office.

• This means that fair use to some degree is open to court interpretation.

“Various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.” Reference US Copyright office.

• No commercial use of a work would be considered
• If you take part or whole of another work and incorporate that into your art and then sell your art that would be a violation of copyright.
• “Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.” US Copyright office

One common question for visual artists is “How much do I have to change in order to claim copyright in someone else's work?” You cannot claim copyright to another's work no matter how much you change it.

Publication

Reference from the copyright office: “Publication is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.” This is important because if you offer for sale a work in a gallery it is considered published. Publishing a work prior to registering the copyright limits the possible court awarded damages. Always register your copyright prior to publishing or at least with 90 of the first date to ensure you maintain your right to full compensation.

References

Many questions come up on public domain: The best reference is http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/ the folks from Cornell have done a great job compiling many links to and defining public domain.

There are an excellent set of frequently asked Questions on the Copyright office web site. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

Lots of information is available at: http://www.copyright.gov/

Great basic Introduction: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

Alan Mitchell
www.alanmitchellphotography.com

Elliot Framan Exhibits at the Placitas Artist Series

Rio Rancho Art Association member, Elliot Framan was juried in to the Placitas art show for November as one of four to be showing. It will run from November 1 to December 5 at the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church, State Road #165 in Placitas. The Visual Art Exhibit is done as a part of the Placitas Art Series (click on the link for more information on the venue). He will have approximately 9 prints there.

This serves as a 'sneak preview' of the work he will be showing there.

There isn't a more beautiful time of the year to drive out to Placitas and enjoy world reknown music performed in not only an intimate setting, but acoustically sound!

Nina Baldwin Wins Poster Contest!

Kudos and congratulations to RRAA member, Nina Baldwin, whose poster design was chosen as the winning design for the 2008 New Mexico Conference on Aging.

Here is the artist statement for the image design that Nina provided for this post:

"This poster is a visual of the conference theme “A Diverse Community; Exploring Options, Expanding Horizons”.

Life is a journey. The ladders throughout the image symbolize the journey we are all on, starting with the ladder at the bottom of the poster the viewer is peering over…

The hill is comprised of many different fabrics representing the different cultures in New Mexico. Starting at the top of the hill, the Mexican serape, of course, represents the Hispanic culture, and going clockwise, the blue fabric with feathers stands for the Native American population. The Asian people are represented by the red fabric with flowers. Continuing clockwise, the African- American culture is illustrated with a bold geometric pattern. And completing the hill, the Anglo population is represented by a red plaid. The different colors and textures highlight the differences in our cultures, our “diverse community”, but united our cultures make a beautiful tapestry… TOGETHER WE ARE THE FABRIC OF NEW MEXICO!!!

At the top of the hill stands a pueblo scene with many buildings with many different colored doors…this illustrates the many options we all have as we explore the services, educational opportunities, agencies, social events, medical options and life-changing possibilities available to us as we age. Ladders assist us to even more exploration.

The clouds represent our expanding horizons as we take advantage of the options available to us. Can you see the ladders in the clouds? They assist us on our journey…to greater horizons! Truly, for all of us, “The Sky is the Limit”!

I am honored to have my artwork chosen for the 2008 Conference on Aging Poster! Thank you!"

WAY TO GO, NINA!!!

Plein Air by the full moon!

It was a harvest moon last night, I swear! You can click on the image to get a closer view. There was five of us that got together at Nina 's house in the early evening yesterday to do "plein air" painting. Well, Linda and I did photography, Nina played hostess and Joanne and Cecelia did the rest.

The light was ever changing and beautiful. Even with a camera, it was a chase to capture the moment. It seemed to change dramatically every 30 seconds. We did start off with a bit of wind and rain clouds around us. But, typical New Mexico weather, it all dissipated within the half hour.

Enjoy the slide show of the evening. I hope that more members from the Rio Rancho Art Association make more of an effort to come out to events like this. It's great chance to share comraderie, learn more about each other and enjoy the raw beauty and light that we all love about New Mexico!