Lynden teacher-in-residence Sue Pezanoski Browne has created a blog for her art room at La Escuela Fratney, one of our education partners. We will be reposting her projects here.
This project was inspired by the quilts made by the women who live in Gee's Bend, a small rural community in Alabama.
This project was inspired by British sculptor and photographer Andy Goldsworthy, whose work asks us to find the beauty in nature and show care for the environment.
This project was inspired by Milwaukee artist (and Fratney parent) Lane Burns, who upcycles materials in her work.
This project was inspired by Mexico City-based artist Paul Fuentes, who makes art that surprises us by combining two different things in a way that we would not see in real life.
This project was inspired by many talented graffiti artists, including Iranian-born artist and teacher Shamsia Hassani, whose motto is "Art is stronger than war."
This project was inspired by artist Liza Lou's life-sized installation, Kitchen, in which every surface is composed of glass beads.
This project was inspired by the artist books of Evelyn Patricia Terry, who has been practicing her art in Milwaukee since the 1970's. Terry recently had an exhibit at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, titled America's Favor/Guests Who Came to Dinner (and Stayed!). Her exhibit included artist books made from a variety of mixed media surfaces.
This project was inspired by a group of women who live in Uganda and work together in a collective business using recycled paper to make beautiful paper beads and jewelry.
This project was inspired by the surrealist artist Max Ernst. Ernst developed a technique he called “frottage,” from the French verb frotter, meaning “to rub.” He began much of his artwork by using charcoal pencils to make texture rubbings from different surfaces, including metal machine parts, wood, and other natural materials.
This project was inspired by Sadako Sasaski, a Japanese girl who was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Ten years later, Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia. She remained hopeful throughout her illness by folding paper cranes because of a Japanese legend that your wishes will come true if you fold 1,000 paper cranes. Sadako’s memory lives on as an example of keeping hope in times of adversity.
This project was inspired by Margaret Fish, an art teacher at Wedgewood Middle School in Milwaukee Public Schools.
This project was inspired by Raubdruckerin (which means”the pirate printers”), a collective of artists based in Berlin, Germany who travel around Europe using an art-making technique known as guerrilla printing. They use interesting patterns on manhole covers, public utility boxes and other surfaces to create prints on t-shirts and canvas bags.
This project comes from theartofeducation.edu.
For this project, you can use the watercolor crayon resist paper made during Project #9 - Texture Walk (Inside) as origami paper.
Los ojos de dios, or god's eyes, originate from pre-Columbian cultural and spiritual practices in Mexico. They are hung in homes, work places or placed along paths of travel. Some think they represent the power to see things that are unseen with our eyes, or that they offer protection.
This project was inspired by abstract expressionist painter Perle Fine. Fine liked to collage different materials into her paintings, and work on different surfaces, like wood and metal. Some have said that her artwork reminds us of our interconnectedness to nature and to each other.
This project was inspired by Frank Stella, an American artist best known for his use of shape, color and pattern. His earlier works were traditional rectangular paintings of geometric forms and lines. Over time, he experimented with changing the normal shape of his paintings, instead using organic shapes with more and more texture. Eventually, he broke the painting surface into a combination of separate shapes connected at different angles in space. By doing this, his painting became sculptures. Frank Stella said that he composed shapes and colors to tell an abstract story.
This guest post by Bri Sayeg, Fratney student art teacher and pre-service participant in the Innovative Educators Institute, was inspired by Milwaukee-based artist Colin Matthes. Matthes, a 2018 Lynden artist-in-residence at La Escuela Fratney, works on collaborative projects with Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative as well as his own projects. Learn more about his project Total Essential Knowledge here.
Examples of macrame are seen in many different cultures around the world and date back to ancient times. It is believed that the word macrame comes from the Arabic word "miqramah" which translates into "striped towel" or "embroidered veil". Others suggest it comes from the Turkish word "makrama", meaning "napkin" or "towel". These words all appear to be cognates, words that are similar across different languages. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of the use of traditional crafts amongst contemporary artists. Ernesto Neto is a Brazilian artist who uses macrame and crochet to creates large scale works of art. Many of his art works are large interactive environments that people can enter into.
This project was inspired by Romare Bearden, an important American artist for many reasons, including his use of collage to depict aspects of black culture. Romare grew up in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and his art is often compared to jazz music. His artwork communicates powerful themes of social justice and community.
This project was inspired by four artists from the history of art, who are very well known for their groundbreaking use of a specific approach to painting: Henri Matisse (Impressionist), Georges Braque (Cubist), Roy Lichtenstein (Pop Art), and Gabriele Munter (Fauvist).
This project was inspired by Ana Serrano, a first-generation Mexican American artist who is inspired by her dual cultural identities. In much of her work, she uses bright colors of cardboard and paper to create buildings inspired by Latino neighborhoods across the US and in her hometown of Los Angeles. She looks at details of places and how people decorate their homes and businesses. Visit her website to see examples of her work.
This project was inspired by Curiot (Favio Martinez), a Mexico-city based painter and street artist that creates vibrant mythical creatures that are part animal and part human. Much of his work can be found in large murals on the street. His creatures are inspired by Mexican folklore and traditions, including tribal art, Day of the Dead, and geometric designs.
This project was inspired by a book titled, Family Pictures /Cuadros de Familia by artist and author, Carmen Lomas Garza. In this book, and many others, she illustrates the everyday traditions of her Mexican-American family growing up in South Texas.
This project was inspired by Swiss painter and sculptor Albert Giacometti. He is best known for his thin elongated figurative sculptures. These figures have a dreamlike quality, evoking feelings of quiet and solitude. Giacometti's models for his artwork were members of his family. Before Giacometti made these large thin sculptures, he many many miniature sculptures that were only a couple of inches tall.
This project was inspired by artist Kathy Boyland. She preserves nature through pressing flowers, leaves, and other nature items into clay. Sometimes, she fires them in a kiln
This project was inspired by Christopher Wool, an artist who uses many different styles to create art, such as spray painting, screen-printing, lithograph printing, hand painting, and other methods. He often paints in layers and uses strategies to show gestures, depth, and flatness. He often experiments in his artwork processes.
This project was inspired by Corwin Clairmont, an artist who grew up in the Salish and Kootenai cultures. He began winning awards and being recognized for his art talents as a young teenager. Later, he went to art school. Now, he is part of a group of Native American artists who use their art to speak out about political issues and cultural identity. Corwin Clairmont uses collography and other printmaking techniques in his art, as well as photography and collage.
This project was inspired by Annie Katsura Rollins, a Chinese-Japanese-American puppet and theatre creator who was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After studying Theater Arts in college, Annie spent some time traveling in China to study the ancient traditions of shadow puppetry. She spent time in small villages where the whole community gathered to create and enjoy storytelling through elaborate shadow theater productions. Now Annie lives in Montreal, Canada where she works creating shadow puppets and theaters. She also works to educate people about the history and beauty of the Chinese traditions of this art form.
Click here to view this project.
This project was inspired by Jim Golden, a photographer who specializes in still life and products. He has worked in New York and Portland. He believes that collecting is human nature. He thinks that it is important to find things that you like, hang on to them, and enjoy them.
Today's inspiration is the art of Cecilia, a middle school student who loves all kinds of art making, including the design and making of clothes. Cece's interest in design began when she was in K-4 and would dress her dolls with fabric and ribbon. As she got older, she would cut and glue stuff together. Eventually, she learned to use a sewing machine. Cecilia says the thing she enjoys the most is being inspired by the right fabric and trims. The most challenging is when her fabric doesn't work out, because it shrinks or falls apart. In the future, Cecilia would like to learn how to make shoes, so she can make them to match her clothes.
This project is inspired by Vincent Bal, a Belgian artist and filmmaker. One day back in 2016, while working at his desk, he noticed that the shadow of his teacup looked like an elephant. He enjoyed that discovery so much, that he decided that he'd do a new shadow drawing every day! He calls this style of drawing "shadowology". You can find his shadow drawings on Instagram and on YouTube.
We have seen superheroes in movies, like Incredibles 2. There is a lot of work behind creating superheroes for the movie screen. Teams of artists do sketches, paintings, and digital drawings to design outfits that think about character powers. They work together as a team to create concepts for character design and development in order to create the digital work scenes for the movie. Check out some Incredibles 2 design work here, and more on this website.
The people of Milwaukee are the inspiration for this post. The power of the people.