Folk Art

A Little History:
Anna Mary Robertson 1860-1961

Grandma Moses was one of America's best known and most beloved folk artists. She became famous for her curiously primitive style and her ability to enliven the rural scenes and activities of a simpler, now vanished period of American life. Because she did not begin to paint seriously until she was well into her seventies, she became known as Grandma Moses.

Grandma Moses' art derives much from her early work in textiles. In her day, farm women commonly practiced sewing, quilting, embroidery, and rug hooking. Her painting technique reflects her background in needlework, with brush strokes resembling stitches and compositions reminiscent of quilts.

Her landscape works are perhaps the most popular of Grandma Moses' subjects. In them she captured the land she knew and loved in many moods and seasons, often employing it as a backdrop for family and community activities. Her rural farm life that was lived close to the land provided her with limitless inspiration.

Holidays, fantasies, and historical events also provided source material for Grandma Moses' unique imagination. Legends, nursery rhymes, Thanksgiving, and Christmas were a few of her favorite subjects, and she produced many engaging variations on all of these themes. Moses' historical paintings, while fewer in number, are equally charming, sometimes containing delightfully amusing anachronisms.

Grandma Moses was born Anna Mary Robertson on September 7, 1860 in Greenwich, New York. She was one of ten children, five of whom died in infancy. Life on the farm was demanding on everyone so Anna received very little formal education. Instead, her early days were filled with farm chores such as tending the animals, gathering food, making soap, and dipping candles.

When not working, Anna often used her free time to make pictures. Since she had no access to art supplies, she instead used house paint, scraps of colored paper, wild berry juice, and even laundry bluing for pigments. As an amateur painter, Anna spent most of her life creating these little pictures for Christmas and Birthday gifts.

By age 12 she became too busy to draw or paint and became a "hired girl" (or servant) on a nearby upstate New York farm. She worked for many years in this capacity until she met a local farmer named Thomas Salmon Moses. They courted and married in 1887 when Anna was 27 years old.

Early on, the Moses traveled and worked farms in Virginia and Vermont but eventually settled in Eagles Bridge, N.Y., in 1905. It was here that they made their home as they worked and raised a family of their own. Before long they had established a working farm and raised ten children together. In January 1927, Anna became a widow when she was 67 years old.

Life went on for Anna and her children as everyone continued to help run the farm. By the time she was in her mid-seventies, Anna became unable to perform heavy farm chores because she was suffering severe arthritis in her hands. Unable to work, she started painting pictures with oils to pass the time.

With no formal training, Anna initially painted reproductions of Currier and Ives prints and picturesque postcards. As she progressed, she started painting original farm scenes and landscapes. Anna painted mostly from memory, either from scenes she'd recently seen or from those she remembered from childhood.

Her subject matter typically included farm scenes, small villages, picnics, ice skating, or scenes from Christmas time. As a keen observer with an instinctive feel for color and composition, her paintings were charmingly simple, and the colors were bright and cheerful.

One of her paintings that captured the beauty and simplicity of the rural American landscape is titled "Look, It's a New Little Colt" (1945). In it people are watching a new-born colt standing in a field next to its mother. In another, titled "Sugaring Off" (1943), she illustrates people collecting sap from sugar maple trees and boiling it down to make maple syrup and maple candy. Both paintings are typical of her folk art style.

At first, Anna exhibited her paintings along with her preserves at local county fairs. She also displayed her works at a drugstore in Hoosick Falls, N.Y. It was there that a vacationing art collector discovered her work around 1938. He was impressed with what he saw, approached the artist, and arranged to exhibit her work.

Some of Anna's works were shown in 1939 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1940, she had a one-woman show at the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, which quickly brought her international acclaim. During her life, she had the opportunity to see her works exhibited in the major cities of America and Europe, and honors were heaped upon her as she became a celebrated figure known as Grandma Moses.

During her career as an artist, she painted over 1,000 pictures all in her own inimitable style. Her works and personality had so captured the public imagination that a documentary color film was made about her work, and she published her autobiography, titled My Life's History (1951).

Despite growing fame and fortune, Grandma Moses remained a modest, unaffected woman, as unique in her art as she was in her life. She died on December, 13 1961, at age 101 in Hoosick Falls. Although she lived an extended and celebrated life, she never quite left the magical and colorful world of her early rural childhood.

The Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT, houses the largest public collection of works by Anna Mary Robertson Moses. Included among the 28 examples of her work are a tilt-top table which Grandma Moses decorated in the 1920's with six rustic scenes and used as her easel. Exhibited there in the relocated one-room 1834 schoolhouse that Grandma Moses and other members of her family attended in Eagle Bridge, New York, are artifacts and documents recording her life and achievements, including popular reproductions of her work.

YOUR AD HERE Please e-mail us if you are interested in advertising with ARTtalk.

Opportunities

Excellence in Art Purchase Awards

Artists who demonstrate excellence in the creative use of color, concept and media done extensively in acrylics have an opportunity to win part of more than $12,000 in cash and products from the Liquitex Excellence in Art Purchase Awards program. Residents of the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec) may submit a maximum of ten slides to be postmarked by September 7, 1999. Submissions will be evaluated by a juried panel of artists, art educators, and art community leaders. One artist will receive a cash purchase award of $5,000 plus $1,500 in Liquitex products, and four artists will each receive a cash purchase award of $1,000 plus $500 in Liquitex products. Purchased artwork will become part of the corporate art collection of Binney & Smith, and selected artwork will be published in the December issue of Art in America magazine and featured on the Liquitex Web site--www.liquitex.com. For more information, visit the website or call 1-888-4-ACRYLIC.

Employment Opportunities

Tallix Art Foundry, Beacon, N.Y., is currently looking for skilled artisans and technicians for the following departments: casting, enlarging, fabrication, finishing, gating, mold, patina, restoration, wax, and wax rework. Send a resume and cover letter by mail or fax to Tallix, 175 Fishkill Ave., Beacon, NY 12508; Fax (914) 838-2071.

Leon Loard Portraits, Inc., is looking for new artists to work in the Montgomery, Alabama, studio. The work involves painting certain types of portraits: The Gallery Canvas, The Studio Painting, and the Commissioned Oil on Canvas. Moving expenses will be paid. For more information, call 1-800-235-6273.

Classes/Grants/Interns

Several opportunities are available at the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, N.Y.

--A series of intensive studio art classes for adults are hosted each year from June through November. Two-, three-, four-, and five-day workshops are offered in papermaking, printmaking, photography, book arts, fiber arts, textile, and clay.

--Two Artist-in-Residence Education Grants are being offered for ten-week residencies (Fall 2000 and Spring 2001)for artists to create an artist book in combination with teaching in WSW's art-in-education program. The focus of this award is to engage artists from different cultural backgrounds and/or geographic regions. Deadline is July 1.

--Applications for Studio Arts Interns - Fall Session must be postmarked by July 1 for those beginning in September. Interns work alongside the staff and with visiting artists learning about papermaking, print media, book arts and art administration.

Both men and women are encouraged to apply. For more information, see the website at www.wsworkshop.org or call (914) 658-9133.

Summer Course

The Tougaloo Art Colony, Tougaloo, MS, is offering a week-long indulgence in the visual arts for artists, art educators, and art students. Courses include "Artist to Artist, Structured Critique"; "The EBU at Tougaloo"; "Practicing Awareness--Color and Light in Nature"; "Figurative Expression"; and "Painting with Mixed Media." For further information, call (601) 977-7839; www.tougaloo.edu/artcolony.

New Art Institute

The new Provincetown International Art Institute in Provincetown, MA, will offer courses that concentrate on intensive individual portfolio development and an exploration of new media and images. Courses will be offered primarily in Fall, Winter and Spring. The fall curriculum includes drawing, design, studio fundamentals, painting, printmaking, sculpture, non-darkroom photography, and graphic design. Deadline for Fall classes is August 15. For more information, see website at www.piai.org; or call (508) 487-1750.

Art Reveiw

by Janean S. Thompson

"Matisse and Picasso - A Gentle Rivalry"

On exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth, TX, through May 9 is an incredible collection of works by Matisse and Picasso. Called "A Gentle Rivalry," the exhibition contains 100 paintings, drawings and sculptures gathered from public and private collections around the world. This exhibit offers an invitation to witness the evolution of work produced by Matisse and Picasso, like an ongoing game of chess. It focuses not on the intense early relationship between the artists, but the 20 years after Picasso left Paris and their continuing friendship.

A most enjoyable experience, the exhibit is arranged in a way that offers counterbalance between Matisse and Picasso. Whenever one example by either artist is given, an immediate "answer" is shared from the work of the other. This "rivalry" seemed to feed and enhance each artist's work and to lead them into new and exciting territory.

What might appear to the viewer is more a collaborative than competitive nature to the works. During this period, Picasso began to use richly patterned surfaces to embellish his paintings, a direct connection derived from those same types of designs in the works of Matisse. And the angular works of Picasso can be found mirrored in several of the works of Matisse. This pendulum seemed to swing from one to the other.

The documentation accompanying the artwork shares with us the habit of bartering between these great artists. Matisse seemed to initiate this by gifting a work to Picasso. Later these exchanges became trades. A work by one of the artists was offered, either accepted or rejected, and then countered with work from the other artist. Throughout the years, the paintings chronicled the diverse and splendid use of each other's designs and incorporated Picasso's and Matisse's personal statements.

Without these direct, side-by-side comparisons, the similarities would not be nearly as profound. They seemed to fuel each other's fires of creativity, and it is well documented that the death of Matisse had an extreme effect on Picasso. For years after, his work was influenced, with much of it centered around the studio he rented. Most works were somber and dark, lacking the brilliant colors for which he had become known. The incredible sense of design remained, as well as the style and intensity and the patterning he had borrowed from Matisse; but most were done in remorseful tones of brown and black, very much like the colors of mourning.

"A Gentle Rivalry" ends May 9 and does not travel. It should have been seen by every fan of Picasso or Matisse.

Kids' Korner

Simple Sculpturing Materials

Remember how much fun it was as a youngster to form, manipulate and create with papier-mache or plaster? It is still great fun, and your kids, young friends, or students would love to try it. There are many products available, most of which are either premixed or easy to mix--usually requiring only water. They offer safe, creative possibilities for inventive young minds.

Papier-mache can now be purchased as a finely ground, easy to model, lightweight material, eliminating the need for strips of newsprint and drippy glues or wheat paste. After mixing with water, it is ready for immediate use and starts to set up in about 30 minutes. Smoothing the surface as it sets can create a sleek finish. When dry, its white surface can be sanded, drilled, sawed or decorated with any type of paint. It can be applied over an armature or can be shaped on its own. This material is not suited for contact with water. Seal the surface against wear with a clear water-based sealer such as acrylic medium. Also, new to the market is a ready-mixed, pourable papier-mache for casting into forms. It is fiber-reinforced for strength.

Plaster-style materials are available that mix easily with water to create a white modeling material that sets up in about 30 minutes. These products do not shrink, so they will adhere to almost any material: wood, cardboard, crumpled newspaper, wire, and even glass. There is no fear of cracking. This type of material can also be cast into rubber, latex, plastic or plaster molds. After setting up, the surface can be carved, sawed, sanded and finished with paint. Sealing the surface is necessary only if a shiny appearance is desired. For objects designed to hold water, apply the material around a glass, bottle or vase.

Plaster cloth, similar to the bandage-type material used in arm or leg casts years ago, is now a great creative product. Simply cut the plaster-infused gauze into strips, wet with water and place over an armature (wire, cores--like crushed newspaper or Styrofoam). Once dry, the surface can be sanded and painted with acrylic or tempera paints. This technique works well for large-scale forms and items that need to be thin but strong. For mask making, use a Styrofoam wig form or embellish a simple commercially made mask.

Animals, aliens, creatures and creations of every size and shape will come to life with these easy to use and easy to find materials. Explore the young creators' aisle at your local art supply store or check out their mail-order catalog for these and other materials.

Name That Color

Because of confusion by some students, Crayola will be changing the name of its "Indian Red" crayon. Students thought the color was associated with American Indians, but it was based on a pigment used by fine artists in oil paint that was commonly found near India. Suggestions for a new name are being requested; and the winning name will be featured on millions of crayons in the new millennium, plus the winner will receive an assortment of Crayola products and a "Certificate of Crayon Authorship." Submit suggestions by June 10 to: Crayola Color Change, P.O. Box 3546, Easton, PA 18043-3546, and include name, age, address and telephone number; or online at www.crayola.com.

New Products

Recently introduced products for children from Klutz are Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered by renowned illustrator Quentin Blake and John Cassidy and Create Anything with Clay by Sherri Haab and Laura Torres. "Drawing" includes a wire-o bound sketchbook with artist quality watercolor pencils and pen. The margin of each page contains inspirational artwork, helpful technique tips and plenty of "what to draw" ideas. Yes, you can draw, and it is fun! And, inspired by the intense popularity of polymer clay, the authors of The Incredible Clay Book have returned with an entire new bouquet of projects and techniques in Create Anything with Clay. Included with the 64-page wire-o bound book of ideas are eight 10oz. blocks of Sculpey polymer clay. Sculpt on!

Artistry

Outdoor Art Festivals

With spring here, your plan to consider large-scale exhibition of your work might include local and regional outdoor art festivals. Many of these festivals advertise in artists' magazines and include contact information, sometimes fee structures, and other pertinent facts. Other artists can be great sources for information about sales and festivals, often sharing tips and experiences that can save you work and money.

Festivals offer a variety of special opportunities. The exposure your work can get with perhaps hundreds of visitors (potential buyers) who attend a strong art festival is one very good reason to consider participating in a fair or festival. It may offer the most visibility your work will receive.

Most art festivals are advertised and promoted for months in advance--advertising and promotion the individual artist could never afford. Besides the sheer volume of visitors and "viewers" this scope of advertising draws, consider the possibility for public interaction. Actually meeting/talking with the purchaser of a piece of artwork can be a treat for you and for the buyer. Artists are "star quality" people in the eyes of those who do not create artwork. The public really enjoys meeting the artists whose works they are considering, and it is an honor to be asked questions by those buyers. Building even a simple rapport with the client could add future sales and help establish a lifelong collector of your work.

All of this may sound enticing, but let's examine some of the actualities of art festivals. To start with, most shows have some sort of jury process. This is usually done with submission of slides. Sometimes there are fairly substantial entry fees. But, before consideration of these two hurdles, one must first decide if he/she has the number of pieces, the sheer volume of work, that would be necessary to create a pleasing exhibit. A weak booth, or one that is unprofessional, can be ignored by the crowds as they scour the grounds.

After the jury, payment of fees, and volume of work are considered, there are still a few vital points to take into account. The method of display (tables, easels, racks, stands, panels, pedestals for 3-D work) and all the other little necessities for sale of your work (wrapping, padding, bags, receipts, etc.) must be addressed. Additionally, you need somewhere to sit and a table/stand on which to conduct business. Design of your booth space should also consider some storage areas--perhaps under the display racks/tables or under the check-out table.

Some sort of tent or canopy to protect your work is very advisable. Most festivals make it clear that all displays are to be weather- and crowd-safe. This means that tents and displays have to be sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of contact by the hordes and can stand up to wind and rain. Canopies that are easy to open and set up can be purchased from a number of sources. Try to choose one that can be set up alone, since you may frequently find yourself setting up (and breaking down) your display without assistance.

It should now be apparent that while there are many good points to outdoor art festivals, the participant has many responsibilities as well. It should also seem logical that, because of the amount of preparation, an artist would include several fairs and festivals in his/her plans in order to make the investment in equipment worthwhile.

Once outfitted, you enter the show "circuit." It is one of the most unique and rewarding experiences artists can have. Meeting and mixing with the public and "talking art," selling your work without commissions or additional fees, befriending other artists and craftsmen as they offer their works, networking about other opportunities and building friendships that last a lifetime can make for a grand experience. Plus the fun of planning, following through and completing such an event can be some of the facets of art festivals that keep so many participants involved year after year.

Check out the fairs and festivals in your area. See what it would take to be a part of these fun-filled, interesting, entertaining and possibly financially beneficial events. Once you are set up to do one, you are set up for as many as you care to do. Sell art, meet new people and have fun! (Remember, Grandma Moses began by displaying her art at a local fair.)

TIPS:

--If you have any extra space around your exhibition location, consider setting out a couple of extra folding chairs. People will stop to rest, and what better view for them to study than your work? A large umbrella is a nice touch too.

--If electricity is available, add lights to the interior of your display space and a fan to move the air around. Simple things like improved lighting or a breeze can make your space more inviting.

--Always anticipate possible bad weather and pre-plan ways to protect your art and yourself.

--Weights tied to the corner supports of a booth/tent/canopy can help make your space more weather-safe.

--Carry sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, a small first aid

kit with aspirin, and bring water. Be prepared for whatever may arise.

NOTE: Sunshine Artist magazine contains thousands of listings and hundreds of reports about arts and crafts shows, festivals, and events all over the U.S. Reports cover real experiences, and you'll see all the information you need to plan entries, inventory, displays, marketing, and travel. The top shows are selected annually by subscribers. For 1998, the top five shows in the Fine Arts category were Sausalito Art Festival, CA; Wyandotte Street Art Fair, MI; LaQuinta Arts Festival, CA; Pacific Northwest Arts Fair, Bellevue, WA; and State Street Area Art Fair, Ann Arbor, MI. See Sunshine Artist online at http://www.arttalk.com/boutique/boutique.htm.

Airbrush

The Universal Tool

The airbrush, like the paint brush, has limitless applications and can be used wherever a fluid needs to be applied in a mist or spray (without brush strokes and without touching the surface). It is thought of as the artist's tool for illustration, acrylic painting on canvas, renderings on a flat, two-dimensional surface, or T-shirts. However, once an artist gets his or her hands on an airbrush, it can be used for many different applications; so many, in fact, that it makes the airbrush an essential tool in the studios of all artists, no matter what the discipline. Some examples follow:

Framer--The airbrush can be used to paint frames, apply varnish to frames, repair scratches and dings in metal frames, customize mats to specific colors or designs, add stenciled images to mats, or paint on the glass.

Sign Painter--Vinyl lettering has become extremely popular in the sign industry, and the sign painter has discovered how he can customize vinyl lettering with the use of an airbrush, making standard colored letters appear to be wood or chrome or neon. The airbrush is used to work on wooden, plastic, and metal signs, glass signs, and signs on the sides of trucks and buildings. The size of the sign determines which spray tool is used. Sign painters utilize an array of airbrushes plus various sizes of spray guns.

Hobbyist--Life for artists doesn't always begin and end at the easel. Most have hobbies. The airbrush is used in modelmaking to paint plastic models from Creature Features to Star Trek; toy train fanciers use the airbrush to develop not only dioramas, but individual train pieces as well to impart a realistic appearance of soot and rust. Remote-controlled airplanes and boats are also ideal objects for airbrushed designs or embellishments.

Silk Painter--The delicate spray of the airbrush is well suited for the spraying of silk dyes and can be combined easily with brush and resist techniques. Most silk dyes come in a state that makes them easily sprayable.

Wood Carver--The airbrush is a handy tool for the woodcarver, especially one that carves decoys. The luminosity of the Mallard duck's neck is developed with overlapping airbrush passes of metallic colors. When done properly, it is indistinguishable from the real thing. The carver who does fish decoys or bald eagles may have an airbrush at hand to aid in the development of realistic color or for clear coating an unpainted carving.

Sculptor--On metal, the airbrush is used for patina; on plastic, for color; on clay, for glaze. The airbrush lends itself to painting three-dimensional objects and will apply materials to these surfaces so their appearance is equivalent to those factory produced.

Printmaker--Whenever an even coat of ground needs to be sprayed to a plate, an airbrush or spray gun can be used. Stippling techniques can be employed to develop a pointillist effect. The airbrush can be used to spray tusche onto a lithostone or a silkscreen or to spray paint or ink through a silkscreen to add a vignette or create a monotype appearance.

Photographer--And let's not forget photo retouching and photo restoration, the original reasons for the invention of the airbrush in the 1870's. In today's world, a digital photograph can be taken, downloaded into your computer, manipulated and printed out on a color printer, enhanced and retouched with the airbrush, scanned back into the computer, and put up on the Web for viewing.

Once an artist knows how to use an airbrush, and it's easier than some may think, he or she will discover many uses for it; and none of them will be perceived as "airbrush art!"

For a complete tutorial on the basics of airbrush technique on the Internet, go to AirbrushTalk at

http://arttalk.com/airbrushtalk/airbrushtalk.htm.

ArtPourri

Debut Scheduled--MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the U.S., will officially open to the public the weekend of May 28-30, 1999, in North Adams, Massachusetts. There are more than 220,000 square feet of galleries, theaters and art fabrication spaces. In celebration of the opening, the museum will offer free admission to the public during opening day, Sunday, May 30. For more info on opening events/tickets, call (413) 664-4481.

Milestone--Helen Aberson Mayer, author of the children's story that inspired the 1941 Disney cartoon, "Dumbo," has died at the age of 91. Harold Pearl illustrated the book and was listed as co-author when it was published in 1939.

Garden to Open--On May 23, the National Gallery of Art will open a dynamic outdoor sculpture garden designed to offer year-round enjoyment to the public in a preeminent location on the National Mall. The landscaping of the 6.1 acre space provides a distinctive setting for nearly 20 major works, including important new acquisitions by such internationally renowned artists as Louise Bourgeois, Mark di Suvero, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, and Tony Smith. The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is given to the nation by The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Admission is free. (202) 737-4215.

Exhibitions:

Washington, D.C. - National Gallery of Art through May 31 - From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art focuses on 20 to 25 flower still lifes, including those by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Jan Davidsz de Heem, and Jan van Huysum. Related paintings and drawings by these and other 17C. Dutch and Flemish masters will also be on view, along with books and manuscripts. Passes not required for entry.

New York City - Museum of Modern Art through June 1 - The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect includes almost 200 paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, prints, videos, sound recordings and installations by some 60 artists (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Christo, Joseph Cornell, Marcel Duchamp, etc.) that take on the museum--its concept, function, nature, methods, and relationship to art.

Boston - Museum of Fine Arts through June 6 - Ancient Gold: The Wealth of the Thracians, Treasures From the Republic of Bulgaria includes 200 gold and silver objects dating from 4000 B.C. to 400 A.D. never before displayed outside Bulgaria.

Houston - MD Modern gallery through May 29 - The Figure features works by Will Barnet, Timothy J. Clark, Lorrie Goulet, Philip Pearlstein, and Charles Schmidt.

Greenwich, CT - Bruce Museum of Arts and Science through June 13 - Linda McCartney's 60's: Portrait of an Era includes 50 photographs of rock musicians by the late photographer. This is the first stop on their first American tour.

Atlanta - High Museum through May 16 - Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums includes 60 works by Cezanne, van Gogh, Manet, Renoir, Cassatt, and others from 39 collections in 13 countries. Travels to Seattle Art Museum (June 12 through Aug. 29) and then to the Denver Art Museum (Oct. 2 through Dec. 12).

May Birthdays:

  4    Frederic Church

13    Georges Braque

20    William Thornton

22    Mary Cassatt

23    Franz Kline

31    Ellsworth Kelly

.com ...the link between you, the visual artist, and the manufacturer of art materials. Established 1990

SIGN UP - FREE ARTtalk e-Newsletter©
Search all of ARTtalk!!

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 9 No. 7 -- May 1999