Week 1 Recap

"The Quad" (our studios and class space)

Wow. This is Day 11 already. Now having been here a week, I've begun to settle into the rhythm of this new place, but wow ... it is going fast. I have a feeling I will go to sleep tonight, wake up tomorrow and find that it is suddenly our last day here, time to pack up and head home. But, before I get ahead of myself, here's the outline of the last nine days: 

• Sun, Day 2: Studio lottery, gallery shows, dorm meeting. 

My studio

• Mon, Day 3: Drawing Marathon Part I

Drawing from Drawing Marathon with Ying Li

•  Drawing Marathon with Don Kimes, Ying Li (landscape painting), Sam Van Aken (sculpture), Tom Raneses (printmaking).

• Tues, Day 4: Drawing Marathon Part II

• Drawing Marathon with Audrey Ushenko, Frederick Bartolovic (ceramics), Polly Martin (ceramics), Joseph Ryan (instructor for Chautauquans). Signed up for classes. Felt really torn about that (more to come). Evening Lecture: Showing of "The Madness of Art"

• Wed, Day 5: First Day of Classes. 

Figure Drawing with Audrey

• For me, Seminar in the morning (a critique class) and Drawing in the afternoon. During out seminar class we went to see the shows in the galleries, and Don shared a lot of interesting stories and insight about the abstract expressionists (one of the shows is a collection of abstract art from the 1950s/60). We were also assigned to bring a completed work for Friday. Started freaking out about this ... 
• Drawing in the afternoon with Audrey.
• oh, and we also had a picnic with our "adoption parents."

• Thur, Day 6: Second Day of Classes. 
• Open time in the morning. I attempted to paint outside here in the quad. It's been three years since I've painted. Too long. I hope to get into it more. Printmaking was in the afternoon. I got pretty excited. Tom (the professor) is laid back and flexible, but also eager to get us going and bring on the challenges. I think I looking forward to working with him. 
• One of the shows here is a print exhibition; it's a really great show -- and diverse. There's a work by Paula Schehr, a piece by Alex Katz, a couple woodcuts by an artist named Charlie Hewitt who spoke at the film screening on Tuesday (apparently he started print shop here at Chautauqua), and some interesting etchings by someone named Karla Hackenmiller (among other works). I think the etchings by Hackenmiller were my favorite, but I don't know anything about her, so I'll have to look her up. 
• In the show there are also two pieces by Katja Oxman, the professor whom Tom studied under. At first they didn't strike my interest, but after learning more about the process from Tom, I've become intrigued. Both her prints are three-plate aquatints. Each plate is a different color (red, blue, yellow), and when overprinted, the places that overlap become new colors, so your end result is a six-color print. Having seen the intricate details and patterns in Oxman's prints, there's is an instant sense of awe that results. It hurts my brain to think about how she does it. But it looks like my brain will just have to deal, because that's my first project. I had been experimenting with color overlap a lot with my own square cracker prints, so it seems like this could be a natural next step. I guess we'll see ...

• Fri, Day 7
• Seminar Crits
• Drawing
• Dinner with my "official" Chautauquan parents (I have two sets of parents. Having one set is a little weird to begin with, but two is weird and unusual ... but I'll explain more on that later).
• Evening Lecture: Sam Van Raken. It was great!

• Sat, Day 8 



"The Holy Land" Drawing I (6" x 9")



"The Holy Land" Drawing I (6" x 9")

• Most of the day I drew by the lake. The drawing will hopefully be what I used for my 3-plate aquatint print. (Cross your fingers.) I still have no idea how this is going to work, exactly. Have a feeling it will be complicated.
• It turns out the area I've been drawing is an outdoor, 3D model of the "Holy Land." I find this kind of interesting. And funny. I learned some interesting facts while tour groups wound their way around. Every foot is the equivalent to a mile of the actual land. (Is this really true? I wonder.) It's also a favorite place for kids to play. Two five-year old boys started a "quest" from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Mostly this involved jumping around rocks and throwing sticks. It was pretty great.
• Wasn't very happy with the way the first drawing turned out. (It looks a little better online, so don't trust what you see here, it's different in person.) I used some watercolor pencils and misjudged the vibrancies of their colors -- so when I added water to the places I had used the pencil, suddenly EVERYTHING became neon green. It was super annoying.
• I did another quick sketch (Drawing II) midway through Drawing I to try to figure out the planes and color space. I think it's better. Maybe even better than the one I did the next day.
• Also saw the symphony perform at the amphitheater. It was fabulous.

• Sunday, Day 9



"The Holy Land" Drawing III (6" x 9")

• More drawing out by the lake, swarmed by Hebrew School children. They were fascinated by what I was doing. Asked lots of questions and gave me lots of compliments. Super cute and funny. Unfortunately, they were so fascinated that I eventually gave up working. It was probably time to go anyway, though.

• Monday, Day 10: Happy Fourth.



Figure Drawing From Class: Ink, Charcoal & Pencil

• Seminar: people showed slides of recent work. 
• Drawing: More figure drawing with Audrey. Used ink and charcoal. I liked it.
• Dinner with "unofficial" Chautauqua parents. It was a good time. They also had over one of their friends, Eva, an older Jewish woman who is very interesting ... and very opinionated. But very warm and kind, like Tom and Linda, who also have a boat, it turns out. So I will learn to sail!