Arte Latino Sculptures - Part II [1]Art EssayMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below posts in this series:
Arte Latino Textiles
Arte Latino Prints
Arte Latino Sculptures - Part I
Arte Latino Sculptures - Part II
Arte Latino Paintings - Part I
Arte Latino Paintings - Part II

Arte Latino Sculptures - Part II[1]

Artist and Title of Work: Gloria Lopez Cordova, Our Lady of Light (1997).
Technique and Materials: Aspen and juniper.
Size: 64.1 x 32.4 x 15.9 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase through the Julia D. Strong Endowment.
Comment[1]: In Our Lady of Light, Lopez Cordova decorates the elborate crown with diamond shapes and motifs that represent the region's flowers. A decorated arc with nine lighted candles echoes the shape of the large crown, with its alternating triangles and finials carved from light-colored aspen and dark-colored juniper. Deeply incised chip carving and intricate patterns unify the work, including the sturdy circular base on which Our Lady of Light stands. The saint's hands and head are simply treated, her hair a ribbon-like pattern, and her face a combination of abstract shapes and forms.

Artist and Title of Work:Ramon Jose Lopez, Liturgical Cross (1998).
Technique and Materials: Silver, mica and pigment on wood.
Size: 89.6 x 63.2 x 5 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase made possible by William T. Evans.
Comment[1]: New Mexico artist Ramon Jose Lopez worked for a few years in construction before beginning his career as a jeweler and silversmith. The grandson of noted santero Lorenzo Lopez, he uses many of his grandfather's tools in his work. Ramon Lopez has said, "My traditional work [lets] me see how influenced I really was by my heritage, my history. It showed me my roots [and]...opened my eyes. I want to achieve the level...of those old masters...what they captured...emotions, so powerful, so moving." Lopez researches traditional methods and materials and masters them in his contemporary silver and gold jewelery, hollow ware, painted hides, reredos, escudos(reliquaries), and blacksmithing. In addition, he also produces ecclesiastical vessels, chalices with patens, pyxes, rosary boxes, furniture and architectural elements.

Artist and Title of Work: Emanuel Martínez, Farm Workers' Altar (1967).
Technique and Materials: Acrylic on mahogany and plywood.
Size: 96.9 x 138.5 x 91.4 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Gift of the International Bank of Commerce in honor of Antonio R. Sanchez Sr.
Comment[1]: Chicano artist Emanuel Martínez was about twenty when he created this altar to commemorate the workers' cause. Perfectly formed grape clusters evoke fruit that still today is boycotted by many Latinos as a symbol of conditions that inspired the farm workers' movement. On one side of the altar four hands of various shades grasp the vines - a symbol of unity, strength, and dignity in labor. Their secure grasp repeats the hands of the crucified brown-skinned Christ on an adjacent panel. A stylized black eagle flies proudly in front of an emblazoned red circle, the symbol of the United Farm Workers, the union that Cesar Chavez founded with Dolores Huerta and others. On the other side, a woman holds grapes in her left hand and corn in her right. Around her neck she wears a peace sign, in keeping with Chavez's practice of non violence. Overhead a large round sun contains a significant cultural icon: the mestizo tripartite head, a powerful symbol of the mixed heritage of many migrant workers.

Artist and Title of Work: Jesus Bautista Moroles, Georgia Stele (1999).
Technique and Materials: Granite.
Size: 208.3 x 31.1 x 520.3 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Gift of artist.
Comment[1]: In boyhood and young adult life, Jesus Bautista Moroles worked during summers with an uncle in Rockport, Texas, where he gained a strong foundation in stonemasonry. A series of courses taken at North Texas State University strengthened these skills. During 1980 the artist worked in a foundry at Pietrasanta, Italy, learning European sculpting techniques. On his return to Texas, Moroles started producing monumental granite sculpture for which he is well known today.

Artist and Title of Work: Jose Benito Ortega, Our Father Jesus of Nazareth (ca. 1885).
Technique and Materials: Painted wood and cloth with leather.
Size: 76.2 x 23.8 x 23.8 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill Jr and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson.
Comment[1]: Ortega carved, Our Father Jesus of Nazareth, from boards discarded by lumber mills, which explains its flatness. The figure's small size and supporting wooden slats suggest that it was dressed and carried in Holy Week processions, probably by members of the Penitentes. These supporting slats - which help stablize the figure as it was carried - would normally be concealed under a garment when the figure was on display. Ortega's works are said to resemble people whom the artist used as models. This powerful image successfully conveys Christ's suffering through the downcast eyes, solemn face, exposed palms, and the graphic representation of bleeding. Ortega was among the early itinerant artist's working when mass-produced plaster statues began replacing traditional, hand-carved santos. Shortly after 1907, Ortega stopped carving.

Artist and Title of Work: Pepon Osorio, El Chandelier (1988).
Technique and Materials: Chandelier with found objects.
Size: 154.6 x 106.7 cm diam.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchased in part through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquistion Program.
Comment[1]: Walking through Spanish Harlem and the South Bronx, where he now lives, Osorio noticed that nearly every apartment had a chandelier. For the artist, these "floating crystal islands" were symbols of cultural pride in Puerto Rican neighborhoods. El Chandelier is fantastically - indeed excessively - decorated with swags of pearls and mass-produced miniature toys and objects, including palm trees, soccer balls, Afro-Caribbean saints, cars, dominoes, black and white babies, giraffes, and monkeys. The objects are metaphors for the immigrant popular culture of the 1950s and '60s, when islanders moved to the US mainland in significant numbers. At night the chandelier sparkles and, as a child once suggested, the multifaceted crystals recall the tears of the community.

Artist and Title of Work: Luis Tapia, Death Cart (1986).
Technique and Materials: Caspen with mica and human hair and teeth.
Size: 130.2 x 81 x 137.2 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase made possible by Mrs Albert Bracket, John W. de Peyster, and Mrs Herbert Campbell.
Comment[1]: A native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Luis Tapia is a self-taught contemporary artist. Like many of his generation, who grew up during a time of cultural homogenization - as well as the emergence of movements for civil rights and social consciousness- Tapia was determined to learn more about his culture. He began carving santos, studying them in churches and in collections at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Around the same time, he helped found La Confradia de Artes y Artesanos Hispanicos, which has been instrumental in the contemporary revival of Southwest art.

Artist and Title of Work: Unidentified Artist, Christ Crucified (ca. 1820).
Technique and Materials: Painted wood with hair.
Size: 133 x 93.3 x 17.5 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase through the Smithsonisn Institution Collections Acquisition Program.
Comment[1]: In this wooden sculpture, human hair falls limply over the Savior's scraggy shoulders, emphasizing the figure's lifelike presence. The gaunt, skeletal Christ grimaces not only in physical pain from asphyxia, but also in spirtual pain for humanity. His emaciated body and sunken chest combine to produce a powerful image. The ribs are formed by an abstract, chevron-like design that hovers over a protruding navel. Although blood oozes from wounds, the skin looks desiccated, much like the cross from which Christ hangs. Christ's attenuated limbs are countered by a strong, straight torso that tapers to thin, bony legs and nailed feet.

This significant work, remarkable for its pathos, is related to a long tradition of New Mexico carvings of saints' images. A smiliar crucifixion, perhaps carved by the same artist, is still venerated in a chapel in Cubero, New Mexico.

Artist and Title of Work: Unidentified Artist, Nuestra Senora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows) (ca. 1675 - 1725).
Technique and Materials: Painted wood.
Size: 37.8 x 18.4 x 14 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Teodoro Videl Collection.
Comment[1]: Carved in a highly dramatic style, this early Puerto Rican figure is reminiscent of 17th century Spanish baroque sculpture found in the island's Catholic Churches. The dynamic tension and energy of the Modonna's dark billowy robe symbolizes the grief of a tormented mother who has lost her beloved son. Deep pleats lead the viewer's eyes to her clenched hands. With her head mantled, her sorrowful eyes leads ours in the same upward gaze.

Artist and Title of Work: Horacio Valdez, Nuestra Senora La Reina del Cielo (Our Lady, Queen of Heaven) (1991).
Technique and Materials: Painted wood with metal and silver.
Size: 79.4 x 24.1 x 19.1 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through Luisita L and Franz H Denghausen Endowment.
Comment[1]: This Virigin Mary wears a deep blue bodice with a bright red collar. A blend of colors, curves and contours, the figure is exquistively carved and painted, in acrylics rather than natural pigments. In a more traditional carving the Virgin Mary would be holding the Christ Child and a scepter. In Valdez's version, however, she wears a silver crown with a bright red accents and holds a palm frond in her left hand. The large stylized dove is a symbol of peace and the Holy Trinity. Her image, based on a passage in the Book of Revelations, La Reina del Cielo, or Our Queen of Heaven, offers protection from preternatural dangers.

Reference:
[1] J. Yorba, Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York (2001).

Lin OnusArtist ProfileMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts on Australian aboriginal textiles and artwork.
Untitled Artworks (Exhibition - ArtCloth: Engaging New Visions) Tjariya (Nungalka) Stanley and Tjunkaya Tapaya, Ernabella Arts (Australia)
ArtCloth from the Tiwi Islands
Aboriginal Batik From Central Australia
ArtCloth from Utopia
Aboriginal Art Appropriated by Non-Aboriginal Artists
ArtCloth from the Women of Ernabella
ArtCloth From Kaltjiti (Fregon)
Australian Aboriginal Silk Paintings
Contemporary Aboriginal Prints
Batiks from Kintore
Batiks From Warlpiri (Yuendumu)
Aboriginal Batiks From Northern Queensland
Artworks From Remote Aboriginal Communities
Urban Aboriginal ArtCloths
Western Australian Aboriginal Fabric Lengths
Northern Editions - Aboriginal Prints
Aboriginal Bark Paintings
Contemporary Aboriginal Posters (1984) - (1993)
Aboriginal Art - Colour Power

Lin Onus[1]
Yorta Yorta painter, sculptor and activist, Lin Onus developed a distinctive visual language from a combination of traditional and contemporary Aboriginal imagery. He is a prominent Koori artist in Melbourne, Australia. He is largely self taught, yet his style and mastery of the medium of painting have ensured his central position among contemporary Aboriginal painters.

Fruit Bats - close up (1991).
See last image of this post for the complete sculpture.
Courtesy of NSW Art Gallery.

Lin Onus was unjustly expelled from school on racist grounds at the age of 14, yet later attended university. He worked as a mechanic and spray painter, before managing his father’s boomerang workshop in Melbourne. Onus forged a brilliant career and held exhibitions throughout the world.

Title: Fish and Lillies (1987).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 90 x 122 cm.
Courtesy of reference [1].

For several years he worked as a motor mechanic and then with his father, Bill Onus at his shop making art and craft souvenirs in the Dandenongs (Victoria, Australia). Over many years, interstate well-known Aboriginal visitors such as Albert Namatjira and actor Robert Tudawali, would stay at Onus' family home. The family was closely associated with Aboriginal welfare and social development.

Title: Road to Redfern (1988).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 60 x 120 cm.
Courtesy of reference [1].

Linus Onus had his first exhibition in 1975 at the Aboriginal Advancement League, Melbourne, and has since held regular one-man shows in Sydeney and Melbourne and has contributed to joint shows within the Koori community.

Title: Frogs (1988).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 115 x 240 cm.
Courtesy of reference [1].

Onus’s political commitment was inherent in his work. His Scottish mother was a member of the Communist Party, while his Aboriginal father, Bill, and uncle Eric were leading lights in the Aboriginal rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Title: Wirrirr Wirrirr - Rainbow Birds (1988).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 115 x 240 cm.
Courtesy of reference [1].

After a visit to Maningrida in 1986, Onus began his long and close association with the late Djinang artist, Djiwul ‘Jack’ Wunuwun and other central Arnhem Land artists, including John Bulunbulun. Onus then developed his signature style of incorporating photorealism with Indigenous imagery.

Title: Fish & Ripple - Dingo Springs II (1985).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 115 x 240 cm.
Courtesy of reference [1].

It is a virtuoso effect, in which the landscape is overlaid with traditional Indigenous iconography, reflecting his strong ties with his father’s community at Cummergunja Mission, on the Murray River. Onus’ works from this period often have a riddling, Magritte-like quality. A memorable motif in his work is the breaking up of a seamless surface into jigsaw puzzle pieces – a metaphor for the sense of dislocation he felt, caught between black and white, urban and rural, worlds.

Title: Gumingi - Magpie Geese (1987).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 120 x 267 cm.
Courtesy of reference [1].

In Onus’ sculptures, irony, wit and whimsy are the predominant features. Fruit Bats, 1991, is made up of a flock of fibreglass sculptures of bats decorated with rarrk (crosshatching), hanging on a Hills Hoist clothes line. Beneath this icon of Australian suburbia are wooden discs with flower-like motifs, representing the bat droppings. In this powerful installation, the sacred and the mundane combine. The work was inspired by Murrungun-Djinang imagery, which Onus was given permission to use. In Fruit Bats, the artist shows a head-on collision between two contrasting sets of values, and throws in a few inversions of his own. The backyard – suburban Australia’s haven of privacy – becomes spooked by the formidable presence of these noisy animals. The pre-colonial bats seem to have taken over and reclaimed their place, in a story worthy of Alfred Hitchcock.

Title: Fruit Bats (1991).
See first image of this post for a close-up of one of the bats.
Courtesy of NSW Art Gallery.

Reference:
[1] Aboriginality, J. Isaacs, University of Queensland Press, Queensland (1989).

Yoruba Lace WeaveArtClothMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist

Yoruba Lace Weave[1]
The Yoruba are a highly fashion-conscious people. A well to do Yoruba woman swarthed in a matching waist, breast and head cloth is a sight to behold.

Yoruba woman's wedding outfit worn by an Australian woman, Clare Maguire, at her marriage to Abiola Buhari at the Registry Office in Lagos, Nigeria,1997. Clare wore a matching tunic, skirt, shoulder cloth and head cloth.

This man's wedding outfit was worn by Abiola Buhari, a young Nigerian Yoruba man, when he married Australian Clare Maguire (see above) at the Registry Office in Lagos, Nigeria, in August 1997. The heavy cotton material used to make their matching wedding clothes is known as 'asa-oke', and is woven in long narrow strips by Yoruba men. This particular style of fabric is typically worn by Yoruba people.

Although the cloths worn are traditional in shape, size and manufacture, colors can change from season to season and such non-traditional fibers such as lurex can be introduced into the stripwoven cloth. A common form of decoration in Yoruba stripweaves is to introduce rows of holes along the length of the strip. This method is akin to the open technique referred to as 'Spanish lace.'

Yoruba woman's stripwoven cloth.

Lateral rows of four to six tiny holes are spaced every 5 cm (two inches) or so down the strip. A supplementary warp thread is drawn from hole to hole down the length of the strip, giving an almost lacy effect to the cloth. This effect can be achieved in a number of ways. The more prestigious and more expensive method is to incorporate a series of long, slightly thicker and stronger threads that for most of the woven strip lay along its surface.

Yoruba woman's aso oke cloth from Ilorin.

When the weaver wants to introduce a row of small holes into the strip, supplementary yarn is laid in the shed at intervals. These yarns are woven back and forth three times and then carried on the face of the cloth until the next set of holes is to be woven. The structure differs from Spanish lace openwork as the yarns used are supplementary, rather than part of the plain weave ground. Alternatively the weaver can stop adding the regular weft and instead take the floating warp threads, already mentioned, and use them to bind around, and pull apart the regular warps. In the process a new row of holes is formed.

Aso oke woman's strip woven cloth.

A quicker, less expensive and less prestigious method is to introduce a piece of thick, barely malleable wire, the width of the strip bent into the shape of a fine knuckle-duster or jumping jack firecracker with a width the same as the strip and then weave around it. When the knuckle duster is removed, it leaves a row of holes that lack the definition and permanence of the former method. These techniques are used to decorate popular sets of women's clothing consisting of one lager and two smaller wraps.

Yoruba woman's cloth with supplementary weft float decoration and lace weave.

Reference
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).

Painting Art - Part III[1]Art ResourceMarie-ThereseWisniowski

Preamble
This is the fourth post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments

There have been one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics.
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio.
(iii) Color theories and color schemes.
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials.
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V.
(vi) Protein fibers.
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers.
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers.
(ix) Fabric construction.
(x) Techniques and woven fibers.
(xi) Basic and figured weaves.
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics.
(xiii) Napped fabrics, double cloth and multicomponent fabrics.
(xiv) Fabric finishes.
(xv) Schrinkage, durable press and wash-wear finishes.
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends.
(xvii) The general theory of printing.

To access any of the above resources click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link highlights the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous Art Resource series.

There are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely: (1) the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms; (2) Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff; (3) A Fashion Data Base; (4) the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins; (5) the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns; (6) Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements; (7) Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms; (8) Glossary of Scientific Terms.
Note: From time-to-time all the above data bases will be updated.

If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g., click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (e.g., click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or any of the other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.

The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember, these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student. Undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and whilst other parts may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). Hopefully, the trade-off between these two extremes will mean that the Art Resource posts will be useful in parts to most, but unfortunately, may not be satisfying to all!

Painting Art - Part III[1]
Adhesion to Surfaces
In the discussion on the role of oil as a paint vehicle a distinction must be made between its function as a binder of pigment particles into a continuous film and its function as an adhesive in securing or anchoring the coating to the surface to which it is applied.

Definition of a binder.

Difference between a "good application", an "adhesive failure" and a "cohesive failure."

Each vehicle that has been handed down to us from the past is a survivor of the test of time and a vast amount of experience gained through trial and error; the same properties which make it a successful paint binder also make for good adhesion and usually, if ingredients are properly compounded and applied, for facility in manipulation.

The science of adhesion.

The ability of a paint film to remain securely attached to its ground is, of course, one of the basic considerations of permanance. Several properties contribute toward permanent adhesion; these include the natural adherence or gleyness of the fluid material, the nature of the surface to which it is applied, the elasticity of the dried layer in following the movements of expansion and contraction, its toughness, its impermeability and resistance to chemical attacks, and its ability to retain such characteristics with a minimum of deteriation upon ageing or exposure to external forces.

Paint is made of a pigment, a binder, and a solvent. The binder holds the pigment together; the solvent turns the binder and pigment into a thinner, easier-to-spread fluid.

In the wet stage of painting, adhesian can be promoted by the use of fresh materials, which will behave in a way in which they are supposed to function, by proper application, and in the selection of faultless grounds with the correct degree of absorbency and tooth.

Note: Tooth in art refers to the grain of canvas or paper. In general, the more tooth, the more rough the texture is. Tooth is what allows paint, pastel or whatever to bind to the surface.

Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer, (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).