Part D

Arts Research

For this section, I have decided to research some famous artists, and also research some art careers I may want to peruse in the future. Feel free to browse through these.

Artists

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein was born on October 27, 1923, and passed away on September 29, 1997. Shortly after graduating in 1940, he studied painting and drawing from the model at the Art Students League of New York with Reginald Marsh. That same year he entered Ohio State University in Columbus in the College of Education. His main artistic idols at this time were Rembrandt, Daumier and Picasso. By the early 1950s, Lichtenstein began working in series and his iconography (the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation of these.) was drawn from printed images. He started some of his most famous work in the 1960s.

Lichtenstein was part of a group of artists called pop artists. They were known as pop artists, because they made art about 'popular' things such as TV, celebrities, fast food, pop music and cartoons. He took many inspiration for his art from comic strips, and uses a unique dot technique, to increase the range of colours available to newspaper printing, which was the only thing available at that time. Lichtenstein’s most famous painting is Whaam !, which he painted in 1963. He took his inspiration for this from a 1962 issue of DC Comics' All-American Men of War.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig is a Scottish painter who was born on the 17th of April 1959. He is most famous for his landscape work, inspired by his own itinerant lifestyle, and by the physical progressions of modern society. Although he paints from photographic sources, such as photos or magazine and newspaper cuttings, he uses them as a tool to create works that draw from both individual and collective memories of place. He does several types of landscapes, for example, urban, rural, and wooded. Nowadays, he has a studio in Trinidad, and also teaches painting at the School of Art in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Cat Croxford

While in Henley, I met landscape artist Cat Croxford. She agreed to do a short interview with me, and here’s what I found out about her.

Cat Croxford was born into an artistic family and was taught to draw and paint from a very young age. She grew up in the English countryside, and spent a lot of time in the woods, which she describes as ‘natural hideouts, dark places, kingdoms and fairylands, all places with an ambiguous sense of time.’ This became a great source of inspiration in her adult life.

Originally, she started as a portrait artist, as well as teaching art at her family's studio. She then decided to switch to landscapes, specifically woodlands that she had loved as a child. She described that ‘The woods still held the same allure, but with the perspective of an adult, discovering memories, capturing moments, with a better understanding of the complex network of trees and fungus that create a living breathing time-rich space.’

She described to me her process or work. First, she visits woodlands in the south of England and takes photos of places that she would like to paint. Then she comes back to her studio to start her painting. She first paints her whole canvas black and then builds up layers of acrylic paint, slowly building contrasts, shapes and light. She uses distinctive brushstrokes to create the impression of leaves. She describes ‘My ambition and reward is to create art to stimulate sensations and memories in other people, inviting you to step into the painting and stay there a while.

While reviewing these artists, I found that most of them had started studying art after graduation, but were always practising and immersing themselves in art. This means that if I too want an art career, I should try to immerse myself in art, and practise as much as possible.

Art Careers

Art Gallery Curator

An art gallery curator is someone employed by an art gallery to manage a collection of artworks. They will also arrange displays of collection and loaned works and interpret the collection in order to inform, educate and inspire the public. This job may also include researching the art they are curating, as they may need to give lectures or write articles about the artwork. They must also have a general knowledge of art, as well as an in-depth knowledge of art history, depending on where you work. For example, if you work in a Contemporary Art gallery, you would need extensive knowledge of contemporary art.

Artist in Residence

An artist-in-residence is when a museum or school recruits a person (or group of people) with a specific skill or attribute to produce work, provide advice, and/or promote the school or museum for a defined period. An artist-in-residence can help any organisation to gain new knowledge, ideas and products. For a school specifically, it can help the students to work flexibly with an artist to enrich curriculum delivery, support skills development and embed a creative culture across the school. For a museum, it helps visitors to enjoy the new displays, experiences, and approaches that are produced by the artist-in-residence.

Art Teacher

An art teacher is someone who instructs students on how to produce, appreciate, and understand the fine arts. The main aim is to help students discover and explore their creative sides and have more well-rounded personalities. Art teachers should boost creative thinking, impart artistic skills to students and make them aware of the social, cultural, political and economic factors that influenced art in both different historical periods and the modern-day. They should not only teach students about how to paint or draw, but also the history of art, and the impact it has made throughout history and makes in the modern day.

Art Technician

In a school, an Art technician's main responsibility is to provide support to teachers in the Art Department and to liaise with the other technicians to ensure the efficient running of the Art School's day-to-day programme of varied extra-curricular activities and timetabled lessons. This may be through helping students with difficult tasks, such as laser cutting or Gelli printing, helping the teacher to run lessons or generally helping around the department. In a museum, it involves safely packing, moving, unpacking, installing and reinstalling art without damaging the items, people or property.

Out of the careers I have researched, the most appealing to me is the art curator. Not only would I be able to learn about art, but about the history of art as well, which I find interesting. I also like the fact that you can share this knowledge with the public.

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