Indholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2024 i Artists Magazine

The figurative paintings of Australian artist Loribelle Spirovski are profoundly shaped by some of her earliest experiences in life. “I didn’t meet my dad until I was seven years old,” says Spirovski. “My dad is Serbian and Macedonian. He and my mom, who is Filipino, were living in Belgrade, Serbia, when the Balkan Wars broke out. So my mom went home to the Philippines, where I was born, and my dad got a job in Australia. Because he wasn’t a citizen, it took nine years before we could join him there.” It proved to be a defining experience. “Everything I do now in my work is based on those formative years and the sense of never really being comfortable where I was,” Spirovski says. “My mom and I were always…

Plenty of wildlife artists venture out to locations where their subjects live, taking photos of the animals and making sketches and notes for later. Matt Patterson takes this to a whole new level. He’s happiest when submerged waist-deep in water, often somewhere that’s oppressively hot, holding a huge turtle and wearing a wide grin. “Most of the big expeditions I’ve gone on have been with the Turtle Survival Alliance,” says the New Hampshire-based artist. “It’s comprised of scientists and researchers, people who are studying or working with these animals.” Patterson’s focus and dedication to turtle conservation and illustration has earned him the nickname “The Turtle Man.” “Basically, I tag along and help out in any way I can,” he says, “and I get to observe and learn.” The conservation efforts…

November 24, 1824, was the day that The Brooklyn Apprentices Library—the first free circulating library in New York City—was incorporated. It was here that the proverbial seeds were planted to create a grand museum with a focus on the borough of Brooklyn. That modest beginning bears little resemblance to the Brooklyn Museum recognized today as a full-fledged institution—and the second-largest exhibiting museum in The Big Apple. Still, the story serves as a reminder of what can be accomplished through the perseverance and talents of motivated citizens who never lose sight of their collective vision. This fall, the museum marks the date and celebrates its bicentennial with festivities extending through 2025. BUILDING A FOUNDATION In the course of the past 200 years, there were many iterations, expansions, mergers and political controversies…

Cindy Rizza chooses subject matter that juxtaposes a natural landscape with manufactured forms. “I love the contrast of neutral browns and earthy greens with bright domestic items that you’d usually find in a living room,” she says. She may, for instance, find inspiration in the contrast of a bright pink, yellow or orange against the more neutral colors one might find in a field or forest. “It creates a feeling of misplacement when my colorful subjects are presented outside of their traditional, interior habitats,” she adds. “The visual contrast helps that feeling and keeps me inspired.” THE RIGHT SUPPLIES To capture this creative vision in her paintings, Rizza depends on quality supplies. “I choose professional, artist-grade paints,” she says, “which offer dense, pure pigment with less filler, so I often…

Artists talk to their audiences with pictures rather than words. What’s important in a painting or drawing can’t be verbally explained, so artists rely on graphic pointers to do the speaking for them. While color, value, lighting and composition are a few of the methods artists can employ to get their visual conversations started, perspective also has a long history as an effective tool for creating an implicit dialogue with viewers. Almost from the outset of linear perspective’s invention, Renaissance artists went beyond its three-dimensional benefits and used the process to guide observers toward key components in a scene. (See Making a Point With the Vanishing Point, page 16.) It was discovered early on that perspective’s “center of vision”—originally seen only as an anchor to the rules of drawing—could also…

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART SEPTEMBER 8–JANUARY 19, 2025 NGA.GOV A definitive moment that changed the course of art history took place in 1874, when an exhibition focusing on the effects of light; on painting outside, in nature; and on rejecting establishment conventions opened in Paris. The group associated with this seminal event—including Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir—are today among the best-known artists in the world; 150 years ago, however, they were considered radicals. Following its splashy opening at the Musée d’Orsay, “Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment” opens at the National Gallery of Art, in September. The exhibition provides a visual and social context for this turning point in Western art, at which visitors will discover the origins of the French art movement, learn about the art norms these…

I think I’m happiest when I’m sitting alongside a lake, pond or stream, or on a beach or near a waterfall, sketchbook in hand and brushes at the ready. Each body of water offers its own unique sketching opportunities. On a windless day, for example, there’s a quiet serenity to the reflections in a mirror-still lake. In early spring, after the snow melts, there’s nothing more absorbing than trying to capture the movement of rushing water. And I love the challenge of trying to simplify the shapes of falling water with just a few strategic strokes. The first thing I do when painting scenes like these is to observe the color of the water, which often includes a slightly darker reflected sky. In that case, I’ll paint water and sky…

The best still lifes are like haiku poems—limited in subject to inanimate objects, but unlimited in their capacity to hold beauty and meaning. Traditionally, still life has been considered the humblest of the two-dimensional genres, gathering less attention than figures and nudes, history painting, portraiture and landscape. One explanation offered for this is that still life is often used as a vehicle for teaching beginners. Another points to the fact that the genre had once been the domain of women artists, who were excluded from attending academies and painting from nude models, and who seldom had dedicated space to paint. I strongly disagree with this diminishing view of the genre and proclaim still life painting to be both important and relevant. THE OBJECTS WE LOVE Many of the last 30…