Artist Profile

Diane Arbus, American Photographer (1923-1971)

Diane Arbus, born Diane Nemerov in New York City on March 14, 1923, is considered one of the pioneers of a “new” documentary photography style, displaying everyday life and people in what is considered a ruthless and unrelenting manner.  Of her work she said, “What I’m trying to describe is that it’s impossible to get out of your skin into somebody else’s.  That somebody else’s tragedy is not the same as your own.”  This concerned the fact that many of her human subjects were physically unusual, and about that she said, “Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience. (These people) were born with their trauma.  They’ve already passed their test in life.  They’re aristocrats.”

Diane Arbus was raised with all the privileges of wealth and had lived in an environment of richness (Central Park West), attending the best progressive schools in New York.  (Among her classmates was photo-historian Naomi Rosenblum.)  Despite her life of privilege, Diane was overshadowed by her brother, poet Howard Nemerov, well known in the world of writing.

Diane rejected the safety and security of her comfortable upbringing.  At 14 years of age, she fell in love with Allan Arbus, who at the time was 19.  Against her parents objections she continued the love affair until her 18^th birthday.  Days later the couple was married.

To fulfill his military obligation, Allan Arbus was a photographer with the New Jersey Signal Corps and attended photo school.  At night he came home and told Diane what he had learned; and like many beginners in photography, they set up a darkroom in their bathroom.  After the war ended, Allan and Diane started a business together as fashion photographers. Allan was the photographer, while Diane acted as stylist.  She soon garnered a reputation for being one of the best in the business.  Allan was unwilling to let Diane develop her own recognition by taking her own photographs - he being of the school that believed women should be wives, raise children and support their husbands.  Diane began to develop her style and take her own photos only after her marriage to Allan began to disintegrate because she needed to find a way to support herself and her two children.  By 1958 she was seriously pursuing her career and began her series of portraits of people on the fringes of society.

It is these photographs for which Diane Arbus is most remembered.  Her experience as a photo stylist and her keen eye for drama and visual excitement played vital parts.  She always printed her images in full frame, often with messy edges to emphasize the fact that the images were not cropped.  Arbus interacted with her subjects to achieve a unique closeness, something not done by any of her contemporaries.  She documented the forgotten persons, those ignored by most, often with a bleakness and realism that was frightening.  Her empathy gave her access to the usually unapproachable: transvestites, dwarves, prostitutes, nudists and the everyday ugly.

“I work from awkwardness.  By that I mean I don’t like to arrange things.”  This is evidenced by the images of common items in common settings that seem surreal.  She was a pioneer in the use of flash, choosing to photograph subjects where she found them...bars, on the streets or in clubs. Her technique used flash to discreetly illuminate subjects from their backgrounds, which is now a standard of press photographers.

Throughout her career as photographer for magazines, fashion and ending with art photography, Diane Arbus used her unique view of people and their surroundings.  She chose as her instrument a square medium-format camera rather than one that is held to the eye.  This allowed a casual observation of the subject, perhaps even during conversation, and the ability to select the very second when the subject revealed a moment when he/she looked somehow different or peculiar.  Arbus used a type of post-modern strategy of placing subjects central to the format, ignoring the rules of the time.  “There’s a kind of rightness and wrongness and sometimes I like rightness and sometimes I like wrongness,” Arbus said, and “I don’t know what good composition is....sometimes for me composition has to do with a certain brightness or a certain coming to restfulness.”

And so it was with Diane Arbus.  Despite the intimacy and cooperation she attained with her subjects, despite the success and recognition she had and the fact that her work was in demand, she suffered from deteriorating mental health—serious depression, for which doctors and friends could do nothing.  On July 26, 1971, she took her own life at age 48—a tragic end to a gifted and respected photographic artist.

Just one year prior to her death, Arbus had brought out her first limited edition of 10 pictures.  She had been in three major museum group shows including one at the Museum of Modern Art’s influential exhibition about the “new social landscape” of the 1960's.  Arbus was the first U.S. photographer to be shown at the Venice Biennale (one year after her death) and was considered by critics to be one of the most influential American photographers of the late 20^th century.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, has acquired the complete archive of Diane Arbus and will be the permanent repository of the artist’s negatives, papers, correspondence and library.  The entire collection – which will be preserved, fully catalogued and eventually made available for research to scholars, artists and the general public – will be known as The Diane Arbus Archive.

The Artist’s Marketplace

Cretacolor Aqua Brique from Savoir-Faire

Cretacolor’s innovative Aqua Brique is a watercolor block that can be used for a variety of drawing, painting and mixed media techniques:  watercolor painting, sketching, sgraffito, blending, frottage, monoprints and more.  Convert these into liquid watercolor with a few drops of water; drag a wet brush over a dry drawing to create a wash; or produce bold fluid strokes by drawing directly with a wet Aqua Brique.  These are great for large-scale drawings and can be used on a wide range of surfaces:  paper, canvas, wood, plastic, glass and more.

Special pigments guarantee brilliant colors and excellent water solubility, and they have exceptional lightfastness. These are available in sets of 10 or 20 Briques, including a mixing palette and water-soluble Monolith graphite pencil.  Or, if your retailer has an open stock display, you can also choose from 20 colors to create a personal palette of Cretacolor Aqua Briques in a 10 or 20 set tin.  See your retailer for this unique product and visit www.savoirfaire.com.

In the Spotlight:  General Pencil Company
Working with Water-Soluble Colored Pencils

General Pencil Co. is one of the premier pencil manufacturers in the United States.  For over 108 years they have been making superb quality writing, drawing, watercolor and multi-use pencils for generations of artists, draftsmen, craftspersons and more.

One of their most successful and dynamic products is their line of Kimberly© Watercolor Pencils.  These high quality pencils are made from the finest artist pigments.  They are ideal for colored pencil drawings as well as adding a wash look when massaged with a wet brush.  All one has to do is practice with a few lines and then gently scrub across those lines with a moderately water-charged brush to see the quick and easy results: softened watercolor tones like those of the traditional watercolorist.  What could be easier?

Kimberly© Watercolor Pencils are great for fine art on a number of quality surfaces.  They are easy to apply to paper and are great for back-to-school, too.  Rubber stamp artists find them fun and useful for multi-color applications in their stamping art.  Other paper crafting artisans find the rich colors and easy application useful, too.  Scrapbook work can be dynamically changed with color additions, and watercolor pencils make it fast and clean to do.

For graphic artists who work on paper, particularly watercolor paper, there is no faster way to create color interest than with water-soluble watercolor pencils.  By evenly coloring in an area, you can use them like colored pencils.  To soften and draw out colors in ever-lightening shades, watercolor pencils are tops.  When rich tones are needed, simply apply the pencils in heavier layers to create those.  By over laying colors, you can create a unique and inspiring look.  Once dry, you can add more color and repeat the process.  For a very special project see General Pencil’s website:  www.generalpencil.com. Go to Products and explore “Kathy’s Korner.”  She shows how to create a beautiful shadowbox mat using Kimberly© Watercolor Pencils, even the colors she selected.  This should get you interested in some of the projects on which you could use watercolor pencils.

If you work on any of the supreme Ampersand (www.ampersandart.com) Claybord panels or old-fashioned canvas panels, you have the perfect ground on which to use watercolor pencils.  The firm backing on these materials makes watercolor pencils easy to apply and rework.

Kimberly© Watercolor Pencils come in sets of 8, 12 and 24 assorted colors.  Additionally, specialty sets are color themed into primary, cool, warm, earth and vintage color palettes.  These unique sets are organized in groups of eight.  When you pick the colors you like—and whether you use them, share them or teach—30 colors are available in dozen boxes.  So whatever way you choose, you can have the exact palette and combination you want.

Art Competitions

—The Artist’s Magazine has issued a call for entries for the 25^th Annual Art Competition.  The competition is open to artists anywhere in the world and only original artwork will be considered.  Work done in photography, digital or computer-generated artwork and sculpture are not eligible.  Five categories of competition include Portrait/Figure, Still Life, Landscape/Interior, Abstract/Experimental and Animal/Wildlife. http://www.artistsnetwork.com/upload/images/competitions/25thAnnualEntryForm.pdf.  Deadline:  May 1.

—The American Academy of Equine Art 2008 Fall Open Juried Exhibition and Sale opens on Sept. 20 at the William Kenton Gallery located at the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, KY.  The competition is open to all artists over the age of 18, and art must be original work depicting the horse in any setting.  Categories include oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, drawing and sculpture.  www.aaea.net.  Deadline:  May 12.

—The National Watercolor Society 88^th Annual Exhibition will be held August 30 – November 1 at the Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California.  It’s open to all artists, and paintings—completed within the last two years—must be primarily water-based media on a paper surface and unvarnished.  Awards total over $25,000 in purchase, cash and merchandise.  Download a prospectus at www.nationalwatercolorsociety.org; 909.626.1122 (Pacific Time).  Deadline:  May 24.

—The Rosa Parks Sculpture Design Competition, to be administered by the NEA, is open to U.S. citizens.  Interested artists should submit an application, including a proposal for the sculpture and work samples that demonstrate their ability to cast large-scale bronze sculptures and to work in the portrait mode.  The statue of this civil rights pioneer will be placed in the National Statuary Hall in the U. S. Capitol.  A commission of up to $250,000 will be awarded the selected artist to create the bronze statue and pedestal.  Download info at www.arts.gov/grants/apply/RosaParks.html; 202.682.5573.  Deadline:  May 30.

Artists’ Brushes

Alternative Uses – Great for More than Painting

As artists and creative folks, we all probably have a collection of brushes that likely range in price from very inexpensive to high cost.  The care of these brushes and the way we store them can often be directly related to this initial cost, but every one of them is of value.

Some large-scale abstract artists use massive brushes, perhaps house painting quality—boar bristle or synthetic—and a few smaller sized—imitation sable.  The latter are used for more controlled detail work and signatures.

Some artists have also discovered uses for paintbrushes that do not have anything remotely to do with painting.  Many brushes are great for removing crumbs from any drawing/sketching surface.  They are soft enough to remove eraser debris without dislodging any of the graphite lines and details.  They are also flat and easy to transport.  The most effective use of a brush for this duty is one in the two- to three-inch size.  Any soft hairs are good, from quality bristle marine finishing brushes to low cost stain brushes.

Probably the lowest cost brush is constructed with a wooden handle and a sponge applicator.  These brushes hold a good amount of paint (or other fluids), are of such low cost that they are often tossed when finished, or they can be washed easily and reused if desired.  They are also great for oiling the surface of garden tools after season’s end.  Just wash off any soil attached to the blades of trowels or shovels, allow them to dry, and then apply a light coating of cooking oil with a sponge brush.  This will prevent rusting and will also keep the surface clean and ready for the next gardening workout.

When spritzed with a dust inhibitor or product such as Armor All, brushes make great hard surface crevice-cleaning tools.  One such location a brush is indispensable is the dashboard of your auto.  Dust collects and lingers in very difficult to reach slots and creases of the radio and instrument panel.  A quick swish of a brush and the dash is clean as a whistle!  Use caution on areas with clear acrylic covers such as gauges so scratches do not occur.  The softest brush you have, used with care, should do the trick.

For those of us who have caught the digital photography bug, a brush can be of huge assistance in the removal of dust particles and debris from photos.  When you decide to put your photo under glass and into a frame you don’t want dust to mar the look of the photo.  Simply dust with a soft brush (a good place to use imitation or real sable) to remove the particles from the slick surface of the photo.  Better than blowing off dust, the brush will attract and carry most dust away with one gentle stroke.

Women can use fine quality brushes to apply make-up.  The range of sizes and lengths of hairs in artists’ brushes make for a great selection. Guys can use them to clean machine parts or grit and grime from almost any metal surface.  Add solvents to the mix and cleaning becomes super simplified.  Or keep a brush at your computer work station to dust the keyboard.

So, when you look at a jar of artists’ brushes next time, let your mind drift; maybe there are additional uses that the brushes could be put to.  And dedication of old or inactive brushes might save time on other projects.  I guess we’d call this thinking outside the “jar.”

See your retailer for all your new brush needs and visit www.fmbrush.com.  You can choose from hundreds of types of artist brushes from around the world, some with unique handles and others with different kinds of hair.  F. M. Brush Co. also carries a full line of educational brushes for schoolroom needs as well as a line of additional accessories.  (And their line of cosmetic brushes comes in an extensive variety of colors, handles, hair and shapes!)

Art Events

Washington, D.C. – At the National Cherry Blossom Festival, young artists ages 8-16 can capture the flowering of the cherry trees in Drawing from Cherry Blossoms workshops led by Corcoran College of Art & Design faculty members.  While being introduced to botanical art, students will use pencils, ink, charcoal and oil pastels to improve their drawing skills as they create studies and finished drawings.  April 5 and 12 at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  Fee.  To pre-register, call 202.639.1770. http://www.corcoran.org/programs/dspProgramSearch.asp?Event_type_ID=23

Miami – Join the Masked Parade on the Plaza at the Miami Art Museum’s highly anticipated annual Family Festival, Cultural Center Plaza, on April 12.  This year’s festival commemorates Wifredo Lam with Caribbean-inspired art activities, music and games.  Participants will create masks to wear as the afternoon’s fun culminates with the grand finale parade.  305.375.4073. www.miamiartmuseum.org.

Milwaukee – Art in Bloom will be held April 10-13 at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Forty lavish bouquets created by top floral designers will be placed next to the works of art in the Museum’s collection that inspired their eye-catching arrangements.  You can participate in workshops and presentations and a marketplace will be featured, as well.  414.224.3200. http://www.mam.org/calendar/calendar_detail.asp?ID=1976

Boston – The 32nd Annual Festival of Fine Art and Fresh Flowers, Art in Bloom, will be presented by the MFA Associates of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Objects selected from the museum’s collections are interpreted in flowers by 63 New England garden clubs. From April 26-29 you can select from a variety of programs and special events.  www.mfa.org/calendar/calendar

Airbrush

Airbrush Occupation #1 – Fabric Painter

The airbrush has been used to paint and decorate fabric since its early days.  This tool is ideal for the application of fabric paint, dyes and stains, since the surface being painted is neither touched nor disturbed by a heavy buildup of paint.  Airbrush fabric painting quickly brings to mind the T-shirt industry. But today, above and beyond T-shirts, airbrush artists decorate a multitude of objects such as umbrellas, curtains, pillows and decorative items, scarves, sneakers, hats and jackets—just about any item made from fabric can be decorated or enhanced with the airbrush.

And, yes, T-shirt painting is still popular at fairs and festivals, boardwalks and beaches and resort areas throughout the world.  The quality of the work and design ranges from basic to highly elaborate and is influenced by the artist’s skill/ability, sophistication of the audience/locale and the price point.

To outfit yourself and learn how to airbrush on fabric is pretty straightforward.  But, as in all areas of art, professional equipment and practice are required.  Following are some hints and suggestions:

The most suitable airbrush for working on fabric is a bottom feed, internal mix, dual action airbrush such as the Iwata Model HP-BC Plus (www.iwata-medea.com).  This type of airbrush produces a soft spray, allows you to adjust the paint without stopping the movement of your hand and utilizes a bottle attached to the bottom of the brush as the paint reservoir. Artists have a number of bottles containing a variety of colors that allow for quick color change while working.

A compressor is usually used for an air source (www.silentaire.com).  Piston-operated compressors are the most durable and the larger, the better.  An airbrush requires at least ½ cubic foot of air (cfm) at 50 pounds per square inch (psi).  The fabric painter works at a higher air pressure than an illustrator, for example, to allow the paint or dye to penetrate the surface of the fabric.  A 1/2HP compressor or larger is recommended.  Of course you will need an air hose to attach the airbrush to the compressor as well as an airbrush holder to hang up the brush when not in use.

A recommended paint is Medea Textile Colours by Jurek, a pre-reduced and sprayable paint that is designed for fabric.  Note that these have been newly reformulated for use on leather, gessoed canvas, wood and metal, as well.   However, on fabric, paints must be heat-set for permanency.

Once you have decided to pursue airbrush fabric painting, you must practice.  It’s best to begin on an inexpensive soft paper such as newsprint. (See your retailer for Borden & Riley’s #NNP Novel Newsprint — www.bordenandriley.com; and Strathmore’s 300 Series Newsprint — www.strathmoreartist.com.)  Start with basic spray techniques such as dots and lines; move on to doing vignettes (gradations); and then practice what is called the dagger stroke, a line that begins thin, becomes wider and then ends thin.  If you are interested in T-shirt painting, you should also practice alphabets.  A customer will often request his/her name, a saying, etc., painted on the souvenir T-shirt or object.  Once you feel comfortable with the airbrush, buy a length of cotton fabric, stretch it on a wall and practice to get the feel of working on fabric.

After you’ve mastered the use of the airbrush and feel comfortable applying paint, you will be able to work on any fabric object either freehand or with stencils/templates or a combination of both.

Airbrush Newsletter – Visit www.airbrushtalk.com for the new FREE issue of this bimonthly publication for airbrush enthusiasts.

ArtPourri

Biennale Artist Named – The Philadelphia Museum of Art is pleased to announce that Bruce Nauman has been selected as the artist to represent the U.S. at the 2009 Venice Biennale.  The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs selected Nauman following the unanimous recommendation of the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions that reviewed proposals received through an open competition. Curators Carlos Basualdo and Michael Taylor will serve as the U.S. Commissioners and will organize the exhibition from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Charity Auction a Success – The (RED) Auction of contemporary art recently held at Sotheby’s raised $42.58 million to fight AIDS.  Proceeds will go to the United Nations Foundation to support HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa conducted by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Records were set for 17 artists.

Arts for Seniors Promoted – New York City’s Departments for the Aging and Cultural Affairs have launched a $1 million city-funded initiative to bring cultural organizations and senior centers together to enhance senior participation in the creative life of the city.  Through SM(ARTS):  Seniors Meet the Arts, 57 cultural organizations will partner with more than 150 senior centers in neighborhoods across the five boroughs to provide a variety of hands-on programs.

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Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 18 No. 6 — April 2008