Chuck Close inspired Fingerprint Portraits

Blind students use hot glue lines and their finger prints to fill in the value for their portraits

There's more than one way to build value on a drawing. Graphite and charcoal are the popular ways to draw value, but why not follow the example of a young Chuck Close and use fingerprints. 

Studying Chuck Close is especially meaningful to my students because he is an example of someone who never let disabilities get in the way of making Art. When Edgar Degas and Georgia O'Keefe lost their sight, they just changed their medium. Chuck Close turned to Art when his learning disabilities kept him from exeling academically. He tackled his Face Blindness head on, by actually painting the heads of people he knew to flatten them out make them more recognizable. When he became paralyzed, he strapped a brush to his hand with a velcro brace. He stopped climbing ladders, and instead inserted a slit into his studio so that the canvas could be lowered into the floor for him to reach all parts of the canvas from his wheel chair. his hyper realistic style changed, to something more colorful and abstract, but it was still quality representational art, that allowed him to be Clinton's Presidential Portrait artist. After watching a PBS video of him telling his life story while completing a self portrait over the course of the month, we made our own fingerprint portraits in his early style. All you need is an inkpad and a piece of paper. It helps to have a black and white photo to trace and replicate the value. Start with the darkest parts and then as the ink lightens move to some lighter areas before dabbing the ink pad again for dark ink. The biggest issue I saw, was students going directly from the ink to a light area and making a dark mark. It can't be erased. With that warning, try this project on your own and see what you come up with!

I also showed this video of Chuck Close writing a note to his younger self. He died three years ago, but the advice he gave to never let anyone define what you are capable of. "Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us show up and work," he explained. And he teaches you don't have to invent the wheel every day. You just keep doing what your doing and you'll eventually get somewhere. After seeing this, a few students wrote a letter to their younger selves, and I did too. It's a powerful exercise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxR3ELuZjLw

Transfer Drawing Portraits

I have loved making transfer drawings for decades, since I discovered Paul Klee and his art. I like to use a breyer and relief ink to create a tacky surface on paper, which I then flip, ink side down onto my artwork. I draw onto the back of the inky paper, to transfer the drawing onto the final surface. It works like carbon sheets, but it has a lovely speckled texture and ephemeral aesthetic. I didn't have any relief ink, but I had some oil paint and I thought I could paint that on a surface to create a similar affect.Above are my first two attempts at this process, as I took a planning period to figure out the process to teach my students.

Instead of having students pick something to draw, I printed out pictures of them, a family member, or celebrity. This took the subject mostly out of the equation. We were staying in our "Portrait Unit" perimeter, but focused more on media and process then anatomy.

student self portrait

Most of the drawings were hidden in the dark mass of transfered brush strokes. It looked like the project was going to have to be trashed, but I realized that edges could be defined and harsh lines softened by using oil pastel. 

Painting a piece of paper to transfer, left bits of paper sticking to the final product. Likewise, using scrapbook or decorative paper for the base was also problematic as it would tear as we pulled the tacky paint off. Ultimately painting on a piece of laminating plastic and transferring to wall paper samples worked best.

I love the distressed, unfinished look with the vintage wall paper patterns peeking through. It's just another tool in the box of how to make an image.

 

Kehinde Wiley Art Project for the Blind

Visually Impaired Middle and High School Students' attempt at portraits in Wiley's style

Kehinde Wiley is one of the great portrait artists of a generation. He takes every day people and elevates them to classical aristocracy of the 18th century. He draws inspiration from Ingres and Jaque-Louis David, and their work. 

The first Wiley paintings I saw was in Detroit

His subjects are graceful and commanding, but they share the viewers attention with the pattern that fills the background. In fact, sometime's the pattern competes to the point that it creeps into the foreground. Even the presidential portrait of Barrack Obama has the leafy background come forward to cover some of Obama's legs. Studying Wiley is a great way to teach students about negative space,  figure-ground relationships, activating the background, and creating figure-ground confusion. These can be tricky concepts even for people with vision, but it's an extra challenge for my students who are are working with little to no vision.

Students started with a drawing of a person. Some used waxy-strings for their drawing to make it tactile.

I traced the Wiki-Stix with hot glue to make a more permanent way to feel where the lines are. Then they painted the background. Some low-vision students asked that I trace the lines with paint so they could see the shapes better and stay in the lines.

Once the background was dry, students picked out a stencil or two and a color of spray paint. They would decide how to space the stencils and then came the magic of activating the background. The figures were then painted in the foreground with as much value as each student could figure out. 

I used painter's tape or paper stencils to help protect the background for some students. A big part of my job is providing accommodations for each child to work as independently as possible.

Bits of pattern coming to the foregroun

The final part of the project was making the back ground a little more busy: adding colors and shapes so that it held more visual weight than simple wall paper. And of course, students had to find a way to bring some of that pattern in front of the figure. Most students used paint pens to add more colors and complexity. I offered simple stencils for those who needed help making pattern by hand.The students were all very happy with the added pizzaz the pattern brought to their paintings and I think they have more respect for Kehinde Wiley's style and message as a result.

Inktober 2024

sketch for prompt "trek"

sketch for "exotic"

 Every October, my husband try and I try to participate in Inktober. It's a great creative exercise to see what you can come up with, given prompts that you didn't choose yourself. It's a great way to keep up with or sharpen your drawing skills, specifically ink skills. It's also a great way to be part of something bigger than yourself join with thousands of other artists in tackling this project in tandem.

Each day, I post a drawing, even if it's rushed and not great just to check off that it was done. There's something motivating about the accountability from friends telling me that they were looking forward to seeing my sketches, so there was another layer of motivation. The joy of just sitting with a sketchbook is motivation enough. I forget how relaxing and fun it is to draw if I go too long without doing it. So pick up your sketchbook, give yourself 15 minutes of mindfulness therapy, and remember how fun it is to doodle.

Art in Paris

For decades, it's been a dream of mine to make it to Paris. The Louvre feels like a a pilgrimage for many artists, and I am no exception. So when my artist husband and I found a good deal we booked a trip and grabbed a couple of our grown children and flew across the ocean to check out the art in person.

First stop was D'Orsay. The Museum Orsay has a wonderful Collection of Impressionism in the amazing refurbashed train station. Three hours is probably the right amount of time to spend there. The cafe at the top boasts the giant clock from Hugo, which you can look through to see the city. I can't tell you how happy I am that my children love art appreciate art museums even more that they've had history of civilization and art history classes in college. It also helps that they've been visiting museums and galleries since they were born.

family Portrait with Winged Victory

Next, the Louvre. We were coming in tired, and I didn't want to be too worn out for this exhausting museum, with miles of walking. We went right after lunch and practically ran through in a few hours to see our "must see" list, which I had actually written down. If I had it to do over, I'd have waited until the 2nd or 3rd day of the trip, and gone Thursday evening when things start to clear out. They're only open one evening a week, but I hear that it isn't so busy at night. I'd intentionally decided to avoid the Mona Lisa with it's crowds, but since so many of my favorites were right by the room where she hangs on the wall, I stuck my head in. No regrets.

Modonna on the Rocks, looking dark

I was sure that my favorite DaVinci was "Modonna on the Rocks, but it seemed very dark in person. Maybe it would brighten up with a cleaning, but his Madonna with St. Anne, was very vivid, so until the restoration, St. Anne is getting my vote. Reproductions are important, but seeing real work in real life provides surprises. The texture, the size, the depth, the frame: There's nothing like the real deal.

The Palace of Versailles is packed with Art. Ceilings were covered with views of heaven and historical scenes painted by artists who probably needed massages or a good chiropractor at least once a day.

The Pantheon isn't an Art Museum, but it might as well be with so many enormous painted panels covering the walls. One of my favorite walls portrayed the story of Joan of Arc. Tres French!

And as a TVI (Teacher of the Visually Impaired) I was happy to discover the final resting place of Louis Braille in the basement, along with other notable French men and women (Marie Curry, Victor Hugo, Voltare).

Our trip included other treasures, but I could have spent an entire week in Art Museums alone. Next time maybe. 

 

Glass Blowing for the Blind

Glass paper weights my students made in a hot shop

 I was so impressed on our recent field trip to Louisville, Kentucky, with a glass blowing studio called Flame Run. There, employees was able to help my students, who are legally blind, create paperweights from glass. 

Each student chose two or three colors that they wanted to use in their piece. The hot glass was "dipped" into trays of specks of each of those colors and heated again. Then students used tongs to pull and twist their glass to create swirls of color. The staff guided hands of students who needed a little extra help for the first few tries.

The colors that are chosen don't look like the ones that are placed on the hot glass. It isn't until the process is over and the chemical process is complete for the desired colors to show. The pieces needed to slowly cool in a kiln to prevent cracking. Sweet, Meg Outland, from the American Printing House for the Blind, picked the finished paperweights up, after they had cooled, and shipped them to Georgia, where my students could finally feel the forms and grasp the process. It's not enough to read about or discuss the process, my students need to experience these kind of things first hand for all that we learn in class to make sense.

APH Insight's Art Contest Awards

The Insights Art contest had 400 submissions this year from across the country, 90 of which made it into the exhibition. There were first and second place winners from about 7 categories, and a few of my students were chosen as winners, in the 10-12th grade category.  In fact, of the eight winners who showed up to the American Printing House for the Blind conference in Kentucky, to receive their awards, four were my students. All four sold their artwork.

The thrill of the airport train

I'm always overwhelmed with the responsibility of taking other people's children out of state. In the planning stages, I wonder if it is worth the effort, but once we are there, I get to see one life changing moment after another. Three of the four students had never flown before, but were willing to face their fear and get on the plane. 

a student describes her painting process

My students navigated 30 foot escalators (which can be more scary than planes), moving sidewalks, automatic rotating doors, and city streets. They shook hands with the president of APH, stayed in a fancy hotel, mingled at the reception, stood in front of hundreds of strangers at the awards ceremony and were interviewed by a podcaster. I'm hoping that by doing worthwhile things despite being afraid, students will take courage later in life, and venture out to live more fully, despite being blind.

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (KMAC) had free admission and we always get an outstanding audio description tour. Art is for everyone after all, and it's nice to get some insight into not only what the artwork looks like, but the processes and intentions of the artists.

The Louisville Pumpkin Spectacular staff were also very accommodating, allowing us to enter the wooded park trail to see thousands of jack-o-lanterns 15 minutes before the crowds. The smells, and music in each section made it a multi-sensory experience. 

There are hundreds of real pumpkins, at the Spectacular, that artists have to re-carve every several weeks because they start to decay. I loved that they had a section jack-o-lanterns of famous art portraits, like the ones we had just studied in class.

Weeks after we got home from the trip, a couple of my students made sure I knew that they would never forget the experiences they had that special weekend. I'm grateful I could be a part of that memory for them.

I'm so grateful for my friend and co-chaperone for sharing the adventure.