A Day with Andy

 

I spent most of the day with Andy (Andrew Wyeth) at the Seattle Art Museum today. The exhibit is a retrospective of over 100 paintings done throughout Andrew Wyeth's life of 91 years.

On the steps at Seattle Art Museum for the Andrew Wyeth Exhibit

Some of my students from north of Seattle carpooled to join me. What a wonderful group with whom to share such an inspirational experience! Not to mention a delicious lunch at the museum cafe, Taste.

And, at first, I thought Helga had stopped in for a visit as well!

A Celebration of Spring on the 10th Anniversary of USK

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Urban Sketchers worldwide. As we met at Seattle Art Museum on Sunday morning, I knew several of my fellow urban sketchers would stay in the lobby to draw the new installation of John Grade's "Middle Fork". In the spirit of group reportage, I decided to make the short walk up to Pike Place Market and find something iconic and celebratory to commemorate the first weekend of spring. Winter was finally over in the city where Urban Sketchers was founded.

The Gum Wall, the Balloon Man, an abundant display of cherry blossoms--all seemed a celebration of the first  weekend of spring.

Everybody says "Ewwwww!"
  
The gum wall was my first destination. After a steam cleaning in November of 2015 removed 2,350 lbs of accumulated gum, for the first time in 20 years the brick walls in Pike Place Market's Post Alley were clear. I thought it was about time to see how the "mural of gum" looks now. Jackson Pollock would be proud. I doubt, however, that his work was usually greeted by exclamations of "Ewwww!" and warnings of "Don't touch it!" as people do when they first encounter the gum wall. But then you can't contribute to one of Pollock's compositions either. And it reminds me of a freeze frame photo of confetti and fireworks!

At the corner of 1st and Pike
 Farrell Thomas The Balloon Man, aka Twister Thomas, is one of the colorful denizens of the Pike Street Neighborhood. Balloon animals are quite festive aren't they? Thomas has a spot by the information booth. Brass hoof prints at his feet lead to another market icon, Rachel the pig. A few drops of rain fell from the overhang I was using as cover and blotted my sketch of his face a little, but I think it just gives more character to the quick study.

As it continued to rain, I retreated further under the shelter of the entryway of DB Laurenti's on the corner of 1st and Pike. I considered sketching the iconic news stand, but the full blossoms across the street looked like puffy pink kernels bursting out of the top of the trees like movie popcorn. A celebration of spring!

I finished my sketch of the cherry trees and the street corner. By now it was time for me to walk back down two blocks and meet with Seattle Urban Sketchers at the SW lobby of SAM to share our sketches. We covered the entire Pike Street Neighborhood, the museum and more.

As you can see by other posts on the subject, it was a great turnout for our first weekend of Spring!

I saw wonderful sketches of the installation "Middle Fork", the stone sculptures of camels on the stairs, street views up and down the block, the "Hammering Man" and examples from various exhibits that were personally chosen by each artist. It turned out to be a celebration of Seattle, urban sketching, reportage and spring!

A Special Trip to "Seeing Nature"

Here we are under John Grade’s large-scale sculpture, Middle Fork, which echoes the contours of a 140-year-old western hemlock tree located in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle. It's suspended over us in the main lobby at the Seattle Art Museum.

Beginning by making a full plaster cast of the living tree, the artist and a cadre of volunteers used this mold to recreate the tree’s form out of thousands of pieces of reclaimed old-growth cedar.

Clean, bright and white on white, even the carafes, condiments and recyclable utensils are artfully inspired. We're making our selections from the appetizing menu at "Taste", the museum cafe. Anticipation for the upcoming tour of "seeing Nature" was one of the main topics of conversation at lunch.

This was one of the top favorites in our group probably because, of all the oil paintings, it most resembles watercolor.

It's not everyone who can say they have a Monet, Cezanne or Manet in their private collection.

I particularly liked this Venetian painting by Eduard Manet. It reminds me a lot of John Singer Sargent's work.

Edward Hopper's gigantic panorama of the Grand Canyon features arresting colors. I could "feel" the heat! See how such a thin strip of sky is used to enhance the feeling of vast depth in the canyon.

We all stood on the steps with the sculpture for one more photo. I trust you are encouraged by this small selection of the artwork to visit the collection and enjoy a guided tour for more insights. The show goes through May 23, 2017.

An Unexpected Detour at SAM

The 4th floor display of world art at the Seattle Art Museum cannot fail to impress. A visit on Sunday afternoon reaffirmed my resolve to return more often. Although I came to view paintings in the landscape exhibition, I found myself returning to this exhibit for a second and third time. There is so much to see and so much to learn by reading the description on each piece. 

The clothed mannequins and tall sculpture pedestals beyond the escalators seem to populate a village with their masks, shirts, coats, dresses and headdresses from Congo, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Guinea, and other west African nations.

Eventually, museum goers became an almost inconspicuous part of the tableau. 

Is it true that we exist in a series of parallel universes? It seemed as though a momentary time lapse occurred in a quiet corner of the gallery.

Amanda, five-minute sketch

We were at the market on a very busy weekend day, we were in a workshop being instructed by Gabi Companario, we were given just five minutes to do a live figure study and the time starts now!

 

This was my 5 minute sketch done on location at Pike Place Market, just inside the flower stalls. Amanda, a fellow workshop participant, was in a hurry and got tangled and twisted with her shoulder bag and jacket. I was struck by the similarities and comparisons of the girl, the bucket of paper wrapped flowers and the column. Sort of a transition of static to lively, masculine to feminine, and all "wrapped" around in a way. 

Since my drawing was only allowed 5 minutes' time, I felt it only fair to do the color in equal time.  It's not meant to be a finished piece, obviously, but I feel I caught the wrapped up quality of the moment. 

USk Workshop at SAM and Pike Place Market

My friend, Judy, and I attended a fantastic workshop today: The Urban Sketchers Workshop in partnership with the Seattle Art Museum. The event is tied to the exhibit Modernism in the Pacific Northwest featuring the work of the late Seattle artist Mark Tobey and other leading figures of the modern art movement that took place in the Northwest in the late 1930s and 1940s.

The workshop began with a tour of the exhibit, then lunch followed by a hands-on field sketching session at Pike Place Market led by Urban Sketchers instructors Gabriel Campanario, Frank Ching and Gail Wong. During the workshop, participants gained valuable sketching tips to draw on location —from perspective and composition to figure drawing basics— and channelled Tobey's spirit of sketching at the market.

Sketchbook sponsors: Stillman & Birn.
Pencils and 66 Watercolor "Try it Color sheets": Daniel Smith

Gail Wong, Frank Chin, and Gabriel Campanario were our Instructors.

We were divided into three groups and then rotated among the locations where each instructor gave their part of the program.

This was the plan.