Filbert’s Newsletter: July 2006 Issue 8

Welcome to the Filbert Splosh Newsletter. Your comments, suggestions or contributions are welcome.

Inflation

Unfortunately, it is a fact of life. From the end of September the cost of my courses will rise to £50 for a day course and £95 for a weekend course, the first rise for more than two years. They will of course, still offer great value and hopefully lots of inspiration, but material costs and hire fees etc. make the rise inevitable. However, as a subscriber the Filbert’s newsletter you may well be interested in this month’s special offer. See the end of this newsletter for details.

Why bother looking at Art?

Have you ever wandered around an art gallery and wondered what art is all about, or even why the art works were actually there at all? It seems the days of the heavily carved gold frames and dark, varnish encrusted paintings have long since been replaced by beds, dead animals, endless videos and even lumps of elephant dung. Should we not blame the artist, after all they can hardly be classed as ordinary people can they? Normal individuals don’t chop up cows and call it art, cut off part of their ears, or spend years of their life on their back painting ceilings.

Yet these strange individuals have changed our world. Damien Hirst with his famous cow and sheep sculptures has made us re-consider our treatment of animals in a fundamental way. Van Gogh, despite giving part of his ear to a prostitute and spending time in a mental institution before committing suicide, gave us paintings that explore the human condition in a way no other artist has managed. Michelangelo, who had an aversion to washing and often wore his leather breeches for six months at a time - he smelt awful and his breeches had to be cut off him, pulling his skin off in the process - gave us the sublime masterpiece that is the Sistine Chapel.

Why should we see art as important? Why should we bother with the outpourings of these strange individuals, these artists and their art? This is simple. We look at art because it is endlessly fascinating. It makes us think and it challenges our ideas and beliefs. Whether we are looking at a Rembrandt portrait or Tracy Emin’s bed there is always something to discuss or argue about. We should remember that art is not created simply to be enjoyed by the viewer, to fill that gap on the wall in the lounge, or be accepted as art because it is popular. There is a bit more to it than that.

Art reflects life; it can be wonderful, frustrating, beautiful or ugly. It can have a deep philosophical meaning, or it can be fun and frivolous, strongly political, or morally uplifting. It also reflects the society in which it was produced, which is why art produced in Nazi Germany is so different from that produced in France during the 1870’s.
Judging or appreciating paintings is a subjective process, but it can also be seen as an exciting journey through the life and times of artists. If we are prepared, with a little background knowledge and understanding of the elements of art, our journeys will much more satisfying.

What is Art?

Art is what artists produce. All artists are human beings, but not all human beings are artists. So what is it that makes a human being an artist? And what is it that they produce? These simple questions are the basis of endless debate so lets break it down into simple chunks.
There seem to be three common threads running through all definitions of art:

· We expect to see some form of manual or technical skill, something we are not ourselves capable of, or which we aspire to. We can see this in lots of walks of life, sport, the arts as well as painting, drawing and sculpture. However, it is important that we do not see this as the most important or sole criteria.
· We also expect to encounter some form of intellectual challenge, something that confronts our ideas and thoughts, but has no definitive answer. It is very much like a political or religious discussion.
· Finally, we should see some form of personal or public expression that communicates what the painting is about. When we hold a conversation we express our ideas and thoughts, it is the same type of process.

The three points mentioned above describe a lot of things humans produce so there has to be something else we need to understand to define what art is? We could start with the word Art itself? Art is related to the word artificial in the sense that art is not naturally occurring like a tree, man creates art. It does not follow that anything man produces is Art. Why is this?

There seems to be something different, more profound about Art than compared with what is simply manufactured by man. To see how this might be, let’s compare a sculpture of a human figure with a manufactured nail. The sculpture can tell to us something about the human form or condition, where as the nail is simply a functional object with little or no real significance. On the other hand a nail is a very useful object where as, in a practical sense, a sculpture is not. So art seems to be a group of objects, ideas or activities, which it could be argued are useless in practical terms, yet are different or significant in a way that a nail or painting a window frame is not.

Art constantly changes and as each century passes by, artists change the direction of art, or in some cases redefine it altogether. In the early 20th century the artist Marcel Duchamp invented the ready-made, a work of art created from found objects, and made us look at everyday objects in a quite different way. Artists such as Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky choose to reduce the world to series of lines, colours and shapes and invented abstraction with its consequent effect on design, architecture and fashion.

It is not just artists that change art; technology has also made its mark. Without the invention of the camera obscura (the simple pin-hole camera) some artists would have struggled to create their topographical paintings. Luckily the paint tube was invented before the 1860’s; otherwise the ability of the Impressionist painters to work outside would have been diminished. Today we see the computer influencing everything from animation to special effects and generating new forms of art at the same time, just as the invention of photography did in the 19th century.

We have established how art is different from the other products and activities of human beings, what is it that the artist actually does and what does it mean to be an artist? Next month we shall delve a little deeper.

Filbert Splosh’s News

Filbert exhibits at The Gallery, High Street, Leintwardine, SY7 0LQ
Filbert will be showing a number of new paintings inspired by local beauty spots such as Bircher common, Clee hill and Leintwardine itself. The exhibition along with four other artists runs from 13 June until 8 July.
Eastnor Castle: Family Drawing Day
Filbert will be showing people of all ages how to draw lots of things around Eastnor Castle.
Broadfield Court 7th to 10th August : Herefordshire Painting Holiday
Broadfield Court, near Bodenham, just south of Leominster is a 16th century building with many out buildings. It is a working vineyard and has wonderful flower gardens and great views. This four day holiday is ideal for those wishing to explore drawing and painting in the surroundings of a wonderful vineyard, plus the odd glass of the best English wine. Accommodation can be arranged as required. For more details click here.

Forthcoming Events

This month’s courses
Super Duper Drawing Course, 10/11/12 July at Cradley Village Hall
Drawing for Absolute Beginners, 17/18 July at Cradley Village Hall
Beginners Watercolour Weekend, 22/23 July at Aston on Clun
Portrait Drawing Weekend, 29/30 July at Leintwardine Village Hall

Special Offers

· As described above the cost of courses is to rise as from September, however, as a subscriber to the Filbert Splosh newsletter I am able to offer you any of my current course(s) booked before 31st December 2006 at the old prices. Just quote “NewsSub” when booking.

Regards

Filbert Splosh