Paint Exchange Recipients 2003
Following are the latest winners of the Liquitex Paint Exchange Program. Our selection jury thought that they had good ideas and as the work is completed it will be hung in the Liquitex Art Gallery.
DECEMBER 2003
$1000 Paint Assortment
Adam Fotos
afotos@utk.edu
Senior at University of Tennessee
Art Professor: Michael Brakke
Project: “Anime Painting”
“Anime and Manga are a distinctly Asian art form, yet the cartoon emerged first in Western societies. The Japanese audience (post World War II) took to serial cartoon publications much more readily than American or European audiences. Birthed in Western societies, nurtured in an Asian society, Manga and Anime returned to American pop culture now that an economic market had been established. So now I am reinvestigating the system of cross-cultural exchange by plunging these Japanese cartoons into the modes of Western Painting, and I am seeing how the cartoons deal with my assumptions about art.
I plan using images pulled from a single Japanese Manga comic - Gagda. I have limited myself to a single issue of this. These images do not have meaning per se, but they have meaning in relation to the painting style. The paint creates space for the cartoons while the cartoons impose an order or structure onto the paint. Cartoons are fields of color butted up against each other with line to create the illusion of form. I want to disrupt the perception of a cartoon as a narrative, story-telling device.
In painting, the cartoon performs differently. Paint makes the colors and line physical and the physicality creates a tension between itself and the illusion the assembly conveys (i.e. image). A wave of paint running across a cartoon black line pulls that line out of the image. As a matter of replication versus singularity, a painting takes the cartoon out of the system of reproduction (printing multiples) and restricts the cartoon to being alone. Isolated, yet still in the circulation of the commodity. The cartoon must make do with the field of overworked paint in which it rests
I juxtapose image with brush stroke. A brush stroke ( pour, spill, or drip) can be read as a signifier, just as an image can be read as a signifier. A paint stroke can be image and an image can be brush stroke. I am interested in how an image can be itself a brush stroke, or a pour can be itself and an image. It’s a slipping of the nominal, a game that plays with the image’s or brushstroke’s ability to be named or to escape names.”
NOVEMBER 2003
$500 Paint Assortment
Jon Campbell
Saugerties, NY
jon@jcampbellart.com
Freshmen at Woodstock School of Art
Art Professor: Eric Angeloch
Project: Book Art Paintings
“The School of Visual Arts exposed me to "book art". Over the past year I've created a book full of collage work. The images are acrylic-based paintings with a special focus on composition and abstract ideas. The format of each two-page spread is approximately 10""x14"". These images are all done with Liquitex acrylic paint. I intend to make large-scale acrylic paintings (approximately 58'x66') based on these compositions.”$500 Paint Assortment
Rebecca Schiffman
New York, NY
Rebecca_Schiffman@hotmail.com
Senior at Cooper Union
Art Professor: Cecily Brown
Project: Portraits from video
“There is a noticeable difference between portraits painted from life and portraits painted from photographs. I would like to experiment by painting portraits from video. Video combines the two-dimensionality of the photograph with the movement of real life. For each portrait I will videotape someone standing or sitting still, up close or far away, for 10 minutes. I will then loop the tape, and set up a monitor in my studio. I will paint the person from the monitor. I expect that slight movements caused by breathing and blinking will add a vibrancy to the portrait not found in portraits done from photographs, while remaining flat on the screen. This project will also explore the impact of movement on depth perception. I plan to do several portraits of different people so that a common effect will emerge.”
OCTOBER 2003
$1000 Paint Assortment
Jean Burdick
Yardley, PA
just4jb@aol.com
Graduate Student, University of the Arts
Art Professor: Carol Moore
Project: Microscopic Patterns
Jean’s work concerns an ongoing investigation of patterns that exist at levels that are not visible to the unaided eye. By detailing elements of the natural world, Jean brings the fundamental workings that we take for granted to the surface for a closer inspection. The images reflect the universally shared aspects found in microscopic and macroscopic worlds. “Natural references have been a recurring subject in my drawings, prints and paintings. I am interested in how every part of our substructure combines to create a larger whole. As both a painter and printmaker, I integrate silkscreen printing with painted surfaces utilizing acrylic paints and mediums. Using extenders and retarders with acrylic paints enables me to modify the paint to created water-based silkscreen inks.”Jean will complete a series comprised of constellated panels of varying sizes. “In order to emphasize the tactile quality of my imagery, I would like to further my investigation using various texture mediums for background areas. Screening the images over applied textural areas enhances the illusion of microscopic enlargements. The gloss gel mediums will facilitate the integration of the printmaking process to further the macroscopic associations.”
SEPTEMBER 2003
$1000 Paint Assortment
Thaneeya McArdle
Palm Harbor, Florida
artist@thaneeya.com
www.thaneeya.com
Senior at University of South Florida
Project: Cross Cultural East-West Panels
This project involves a series of 28 paintings on 9x12” canvases laid out in a grid-like fashion – 7 across and 4 down. In these panels Thaneeya will explore her personal cross-cultural East-West involvement. The central 6 panels will mainly contain images of overtly Eastern origin that pictorially relate to the region’s spirituality. These images, including temple pillars and I-Ching coins, are superimposed and inserted into landscapes which metaphorically refer to the embodiment of the intangible consciousness of one’s mind being superimposed upon the outer world. The outer ring of paintings will incorporate imagery of the American landscape - suburbs and ice cream, power lines and televisions. Through the integration of these very different forms of imagery and their cultural references, Thaneeya intends to demonstrate the circumstance of living as a person whose outlook is strongly influenced by multiple cultural contacts and mind-sets.Each canvas is intended to be a world within itself, but also to connect with the others in both subtle and overt ways. Therefore the fact that these paintings hang separately, with a half-inch of space between each panel, is crucial to both emphasize a sense of separation, as well as to create a tension in which certain elements that are repeated across several canvases will pull the separate panels together. These paintings will primarily be composite images woven together in multiple styles: photorealism, surrealism, and abstract, as well as stylized images derived from Eastern cultures, such as Persian miniatures.
AUGUST 2003
$500 Paint Assortment
Stacy Tompkins
monarch_b9@hotmail.com
Senior at Midwestern State University
Art Professor: Elizabeth Yarosz-Ash
2-Dimensional Mural
Stacy will complete a four-piece two-dimensional mural rendered in “paint-by-number” style. Each piece will be painted directly on a gessoed wall using an analogous color scheme, and measure 3’ x 5’ in size. The images will be rendered from smaller depictions, enlarged and transferred using the grid method.The mural will consist of four individual portraits, each depicting prominent leaders from different ethnic backgrounds: Martin Luther King Jr.: symbolic of free speech and spiritual purpose, Frida Kahlo: representing powerful women in the arts, Marie Curie: idealizing modern medicine and Albert Einstein: a quintessential figure of science. “These leaders are role models of the 20th century represent immense social, cultural, and educational change.”
$500 Paint Assortment
Amy Fischer
ms_go_lightly@yahoo.com
Sophomore at Lansing Community College
Art Professor: Carolyn Shafer
The Wedding
Amy has designed the following project in conjunction with her painting instructor to help her to learn the techniques of the masters aid in developing her own style by applying new materials by old methods.The setting for the painting is wedding; specifically it is Amy’s wedding and what it symbolizes. This piece is intended to be the first of a series of three which will portray various moments in the ceremony. She was influenced by four primary sources:
First, the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, borrowing the technique of working on a pure white ground with glazes of pure color to create a luminous glow. “I would also like to adopt their unique color sense. Often their work evokes the sense that you are seeing a color from very close up under very bright light. They achieved this by making many small strokes of color, I want to keep the color but work in looser stokes, with a larger brush. Finally I will use their technique of balancing strong compositional lines with areas of pattern to keep harmony in a very visually 'busy' piece.”
Second, the work of Gustav Klimt. She would like to use Klimt’s techniques of converting figure to ornamentation and back again to successfully combine abstract and figurative elements for the piece. The use of flowing lines should also be predominate in the design.
Third, the Collage-paintings of Diane Brawarsky. Amy plans to incorporate gold leaf, beadwork and jewelry into the acrylic itself.
Fourth, the work of Modigliani. “I want my figures to come across as individuals yet universal, as his are.”
Amy will prime Masonite with 8 - 10 layers of Liquitex gesso for a pure white ground. Main composition lines will be drawn in with a brush and highly diluted neutral grey paint before the surface is sealed with a layer of varnish to prevent the gesso from absorbing the washes. Broken Glazes of pure color will then be applied to build the patterns and faces with the final glazes consisting of interference colors. The bottom portion of the painting will be built up using Blended Fiber Textured Gel and collage elements applied with varnish. Finally hand drawn stencils will be applied using faux gold leaf before the surface is sealed again with varnish. Read more about this project at http://www.geocities.com/Ms_go_lightly/.
JULY 2003
$250 Paint Assortment
Robby Beller
robby_beller@progressive.com
Lorain County Community College
Art Professor: Leslie Rose Jefferys
Self-Portraits
Robby proposes to do a series of three works, all self-portraits. Each picture will represent different aspects of his life. He’ll work from digitally manipulated photos, so that each canvas will consist of two repeated images. The first painting will be a frontal face, the second will be the entire body and the third will be a side view of an action pose. The theme of the work will display the individual aspects of character and the conflict that exists between emotions like happiness and sorrow, peace and anger, introversion and extroversion will represented with between 3 and 5 colors and assorted Texture Gels.$250 Paint Assortment
David Rocamora
drocamor@ringling.edu
Junior at Ringling School of Art and Design
Art Professor: Peg Trezevant
Self-Portraits
Throughout history artists have used self-portraiture as signatures, records, and tools for self-exploration. David will paint thirty, small self portraits in thirty days. By doing so, he hopes to improve his painting skills, experiment with techniques and materials and come to know himself better.$500 Paint Assortment
Carol Powell
pinkubu@earthlink.net
1st year MFA, California State University, Fullerton
Art Professor: Maurice Gray
Quilt Paintings
Carol has planned a series of quilt-like paintings with dolls. She’ll take scraps of fabric like canvas, sheers, cottons and upholstery, sew them together, to make a surface on which to paint. She’ll collage old valentines, postcards and photographs using Matte Medium and then proceed to applique them with abstract and representational shapes. Carol will then draw on the surface with pens, markers and pencil followed by paint and hand stitched text.
Dolls will accompany the paintings, representing the characters in the paintings and done in similar style. The bodies and faces will be painted, the clothing will be hand sewn, appliqued and drawn on, just as in the paintings.
JUNE 2003
$500 Paint Assortment
Kelly Anne Mueller
muellerkelly@hotmail.com
MFA program, Northern Illinois University
Art Professor: Katie Kahn
Image Repeatedly on End
"I begin my process with multiple color printouts from the computer of a singular image, typically related to domesticity. Once the image is duplicated in bulk and cropped, I assemble the copies into a helix pattern---turning the image repeatedly on end, and adhere them to canvas or panel with layers of acrylic matte medium. This manipulation creates an often-striking design, and the original image and associated meaning are lost in exchange for the decorative rhythm; to find the image again is a curious surprise.
Once the underlying pattern is in place, I pull further imagery and pattern (often borrowed from decorative interiors) over the top, creating layers of surface and depth which tease the viewer into several levels of conversation with the work. These upper layers, created with various acrylic mediums and gels mixed with acrylic color, allow for wonderful deviations between layers of transparency and opacity, matte and sheen.
My intent for these works is to confront the viewer's presence of mind, particularly in an increasingly cosmetic and consumer-driven culture where societal habits often dictate our actions and thoughts".$500 Paint Assortment
Julia Bell
wapher9@redhisft.com
Junior, University of California, Santa Cruz
Art Professor: Frank Galuzka
Restoration
Julia has the opportunity to restore a 1930's ceiling mural in the Del Mar Movie Theatre Santa Cruz, CA as an independent study in painting. The landmark building was heavily damaged by the 1989 San Andreas earthquake and needs work to resurrect the structural and aesthetic elements of the building. "I was selected for this project because my paintings are primarily executed in acrylic media, and my subject matter includes detailed, abstracted, stylized explorations of floral structure. I have selected acrylic artist's paint as the best media to use in the restoration and reinterpretation of the ceiling".
MAY 2003
$1000 Paint Assortment
Jennifer Reed
Senior, University of California, Santa Cruz
torsten77@hotmail.com
Art Professor: Jennie McDade
Project: Images of Children
Jennifer is a 25-year-old former oil painter who recently had a child. "Pregnancy forced me to confront change in many ways, and one of the greatest challenges that presented me was in my work. I could no longer work with oils, which left me deeply saddened. I went on strike from painting all together when I found out. After a significant amount of soul searching I came back to painting desperate to find a process that would help soothe my restless soul, and nurture my growing baby. I believe it was my nesting instincts, which called me to take up work with textiles. I began working on a quilt, when I had never sewn before in my life. In my work with the fabric and the sewing, I became keenly interested in the patterns and textures of different fabrics and had the idea to incorporate these elements in a painting. Curiously enough, I was also somewhat obsessed with images of children. I combined these interests into a series of paintings of children, using fabric in their clothing and backgrounds. I also brought textured paper and textured mediums into the mix. I was very pleased with the outcome, and my professors had noted the profound change in my paintings and in my person. I am now back in school after a brief leave of absence. I am re-entering the world of academia and creativity with bright eyes. I am more anxious to paint now than ever. I am anxious to bridge the gap between mother, artist, and individual. I would like to continue my Pre-Birth Project exploring the wide world of pattern, texture, and acrylic paint. My idea is to continue with the Images of Children, which I will paint in acrylic paint. I use a lot of gloss medium to thin out the paint for blending, glazing, and shading. I then fill in the clothing area with pieced together fabric, paint and medium. I like to focus on the print of the fabric on the clothing and some kind of texture in the backgrounds. For the background texture I have used various mediums with textures, such as Liquitex Resin Sand and Ceramic Stucco Texture Gel. I have also used textured papers and fabrics. I am very anxious to paint again and resume work on this project."
APRIL 2003
$500 Paint Assortment
Laura McWilliams
af2584@wayne.edu
Senior, Wayne State University
Art Professor: Peter Williams
Project: Gender Formation & Myths
Laura proposes to do a series of paintings using acrylics to create a layering effect much like that achieved with collage or digital imaging. Her current work deals with images taken from popular culture and my own life, and deals with gender formation and myths that influence daily relations with other members of society. Laura’s project will juxtapose images of women with pieces of advertising and objects from traditional "domestic" lives of women and men, such as sewing, cooking, and house care tools. She is interested in using acrylic paint for its quick-drying quality, and its ability to more quickly and clearly form collage-like effects. With this material, Laura will create tonal paintings that still elicit a sense of piecemeal creation so that that deeply embedded may be questioned.$500 Paint Assortment
Mark Kochen
bionicsixx@aol.com
Senior, Iowa State University, College of Design
Art Professor: Brenda Jones
Project: Interactive Abstracts
Mark plans to construct an 8 ft. x 8 ft. abstract painting that consists of sixty four 1 ft. x1 ft. works. He proposes to paint each of these small works separately from the entire body to create a dynamic not found in single, large works of art. Many varieties of surface textures and colored grounds will be used in these pieces. Mark expects them to be similar enough to one another to provide a consistent feel, yet different enough to provide tension and contrast. Each of the smaller pieces will be framed separately and be presented approximately 1 inch apart from one another. Mark will provide viewers of the work with an interactive experience, as he feels that viewer participation can be an important yet overlooked aspect of art. The project will be presented in a way that will allow the viewer to physically pick up, rearrange, and replace the smaller pieces that comprise the work. This involves the viewer in the creative process and allows the overall image to evolve.
MARCH 2003
$500 Paint Assortment
Aleshia Hutton
ahutton@elmira.edu
Senior at Elmira College
Art Professor: Marc Dennis
Project: Every Day Objects
Aleshia would like to do a series of 4 or more paintings that involve the examination of objects we see on a day to day basis. With perhaps the help of a digital camera, she will take a very small part of an object and blow it up to the point where it is almost completely abstracted and concentrate on painting the textures she find by doing so.$500 Paint Assortment
Nicole D. Brisco
nbrisco@pgisd.net
Teacher, Pleasant Grove High School
Texarkana, TX
Project: The Figure
Nicole is currently teaching students that are working paintings focusing on the sleeping figure, boxes throughout life, and abandoned houses in relationship to the human body, mind, and spirit. Student’s works range from small to five feet tall. Each student is working in acrylic paint and mixed media on paper.
FEBRUARY 2003
$250 Paint Assortment
Brooke Budner
Junior at Rhode Island School of Design
bbudner@risd.edu
Art Professor: Julia Jaquette
Project: Gel Transfer Garment
Brooke will create a sculptural piece using Liquitex Gel Medium to make photo transfers from photocopies and digital prints. "In my past experimentation with Gel Medium, transfers achieve an expressive quality that resembles a second skin". Once Brooke has made numerous transfer images, she will hand sow them together to create an non-functional but expressive, translucent garment.$250 Paint Assortment
Darcie Dean
Junior, Elmira College
darc3d@aol.com
Art Professor: Marc Dennis
Project: Liquitex on Plexiglas panels
Darcie plans to work with Liquitex Acrylics on 1/16"" Plexiglas to create a three dimensional piece titled, C'est La Vie. The three to four panels will incorporate figures, French text and be joined in all four corners.$500 Paint Assortment
Luis Maldonado
Senior at Northern Illinois University
luismaldonadoart@yahoo.com
Art Professor: Jeff Adams
Project: Mapping the World Within Me
Luis plans to create a series of paintings that deal with mapping the order and emotions that are within him. The shapes and forms that are created will act like symbols for images and objects that he has a strong connection to. His overall goal is to have these symbols create an intense energy that travels throughout the space of the piece. Luis will paint these symbols in a sprinkle effect similar to the way confetti acts when falling. They will contain bold colors to express certain emotions of agitation and excitement and use materials such as canvas, wood panels, cardboard and Styrofoam. The pieces will range in size from 3x 3 inches to 8'x 8 feet and be hung in a scattered format to create a sense of mapping along the wall.Paint Exchange Award recipients from 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002
