Michell where is your painting? Ulyana I like the perspective and viewing angle of your flowers and plant paintings. Your plant painting impresses me the most with all the angles of all those leaves are just right. It is pleasing to my eyes. I am glad you are still well, I was worried because I didn't see you. Winn

   Hi yall,

First of all, I wanted to tell you sorry that you couldn't see my works on time but I still believe you can watch and comment them.

Secondly, thanks for having this wonderful class. I really enjoy having these talented classmates next to me. Your critiques and comments were important for me. I improved my art skills and english as well just because of you all.  

And Hagit, I liked you as my art teacher even though I got unexpected grade. I cannot imagine another instructor but you. You helped us to look into a painting with thoughtful meanings from tiny details to painter's love. Thank you so much.

Artist Statement

     I wanted to create something that I’ve never done before, so the flowers appeal to me as a subject. Hmm, flowers? We have huge diversity in the different kind of flowers, almost 260,000 species in the world. And here I was asking myself what kind of them is related to me that I could be inspired of. The tulips came to my mind - favorite flowers of my grandmother. This is how my first painting “Tulips” appeared. In my second painting “Cacti” there is the flower called Xanthium Spinosum (that is not kind of cactuses, as I learned later). However, when I looked at its picture first, it seemed to me a cactus. It attracted me by having the combination of these long sharp spines with tender green leaves that I can see in my grandmother as symbol of endurance and warmth. 

    The style that I used in my work “Flowers” is abstract realism. Painting the flowers, I used the different dark and light colors side by side to create depth and the technique of smooth transition from one color to another on the background to make it lighter. On my painting “Cacti” I expressed the natural color of a cactus using the green color as major on the background and partly on the flower. My painting “Tulips” expresses the love to my grandmother. The reason why I chose the orange tulips is a symbol of a perfect love.

Hey guys! I just read over some of yall's artist statements and I also looked at yall's paintings, and wow they are good! I am proud of yall and I reallllllyyyyyy hope to see you guys again in the future! Love, me!!! :)

A Few Thoughts

To everyone I wanted to say that I really enjoyed meeting you. We have had alot of laughs and probably exasperated Hagit from time to time. What happened to the rest of the class? There are a few artist statements missing. I was emotionally moved by Mark's statement. To Mark I will say that you are a strong person and you have already created a few treasures in class and I expect you will in the future.

Artist's Statement

Artist's statement

Gwendolyn Moore

They Call me Beautiful-Qualities that please the eyes and senses.
My paintings are Beautiful and timeless. They can take you back a thousand years are bring you into your present are future. It gives you an illusion of tangible touchable ornaments an array of jewels and diamonds never seen before ,it takes you to a destination of pleasure and joy My Ingenuity is something not seen everyday for l"am intrested in only the Sunny side of life and all it's hidden Beauty and Treasures.

My Paintings are Magicial in that it lets your Imagination sore to endless Heights of Infinity.It is a Table that says Reserved and Art that is only for one who trutly loves the Best that Beauty has to offer. For my Paintings will bring you Gifts from far Away and Quiz your mind to the Opilance of Style and Grace for it will take you on a Journey of Emerils and Satfire and serve you up Beautiful and Unforgettable colors that will sooth your Soul With Intricate Detaile and Decorative Style for Beauty is l and l am Beauty.

Gwendolyn Moore

Artist Statement

Arts 2316Painting

Room Fac 205

Instructor Hagit Barkai

FOR THE LOLZ

theres a really cool quote, i dont know who said it, but it goes "art is whatever it is that makes you feel less alone", which i find very moving. another quote i would like to mention is from a poem titled "solitude", by ella wheeler wilcox that says "laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone." when combined, these quotes perfectly encompass everything i try to do artistically. i like to laugh, and i like to make others laugh. im no comedian (though im cynical like one, comedians are miserable people), but i do try to inject a certain wit in my art. i usually dont mind if a painting comes off as uneducated, as long as ive connected with someone, or at least got my joke across. ill probably never do any art about politics or religion, or like, feelings. im not sure how this is viewed in the professional art world, ill dont think ill ever be taken seriously as a painter. but thats fine i suppose, ill just keep doing it, FOR THE LOLZ.

im a graphic design major, my canvas is usually a computer screen. i explore bold lines and bright colors, though i dabble in other mediums, i generally stick to software and painting. in painting, theres no edit/cut/copy/paste, and on a computer, you cant put your hands in paint and feel the texture of a canvas. i need to work on marrying the mediums.

i was recently asked if i was an artist, and for the sake of brevity, i said yes. i used to answer no, im not an artist, i just make things. its a loaded question with a loaded answer, the label 'artist' implied i was good at something, which im certainly not. but im beginning to think an artist is just someone who thinks differently, and then chooses to act or express, and if thats the case, then there are many people who could be artists, but just havent met themselves yet. as silly as my subjects are, im still passionate about them, and ill keep painting as long as inspiration keeps happening. heres some jokes:

how many artists does it take to change a light bulb?
ten. one to change it, and nine to reassure him about how good it looks.

how many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
two. one to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub with brightly colored machine tools.

vincent van gough walks into a bar, and the bartender asks him if hed like a drink.
"no thanks," says vincent, "i've got one 'ere."

get it? ear? here? haaa

Artist Statement

In my last class painting I am trying to convey a feeling of connectedness with positive overtones. I was casting about in my mind for something to say in a painting that would have real meaning for me. I was visiting my neighbors on their porch and it dawned on me that this experience has real meaning for me. Therefore I wanted to share this feeling in a painting.

This painting which I am naming "Porch Cocoon" is acrylic on canvas. I endeavored to use techniques I learned in class. It seems that I am drawn to unification and monochromatic aspects in paintings. I endeavored to work color and looseness into this painting.

My wish is that I have conveyed a feeling of a warm, safe and cozy place where friendships happen.

Autumn

One day, looking out the window in my third floor apartment, I saw leaves waving in the wind. Colors of these leaves were changing as much as the weather was. It represented the autumn was coming. I used to live in tropical country Vietnam; therefore, I rarely observed anything like this before. That is the reason why I made the picture about the color changes of the leaves. Before making the picture, I asked myself some questions. For example, which color should I use for the background? Or how can I express what I want to emphasize in the picture? It was hard at the beginning.
First, because I wanted to emphasize on the leaves and mix between abstract and real life, I planned to make the background white or black. Then, I have thought about some pictures that I saw in the Rothko Chapel. I decided to paint the picture into three pieces. In each piece, the background had different colors but with the same dark tone to make the leaves more attractive. Beside the colors of the background were warm. The picture is mixing between the warm and cold. It sounds like autumn, which is the mixing between summer and winter.
Second, because of dividing the picture into three pieces, the composition of the leaves was my other consideration. I wondered how to make the picture balance. Then I thought about one piece for still living leaf, one for dead leaf and one for the tree body. I painted the picture piece by piece. Therefore, at the end, I made the adjustment for these three pieces.
Third, to show the change in colors of these leaves, I had to make the smooth transition between dark and light. As taught in class, I imaged which are dark or light small boxes and then paint from dark to light. I wanted to control the color transition. That was not an easy task. The first leaf is the most vital. Therefore, I made a half of the first leaf look more real by choosing green and light yellow. However, I painted the other half with middle dark yellow. The rest leaves are almost dead. I painted the dark yellow for these leaves. In these leaves, there were some areas already dead. I used my finger to paint those dead areas.
Fourth, I intentionally made strong highlight in my picture to bring life into leaves and the tree. Because of the dark background, my yellow leaves are standing out from the picture. Moreover, I used little white spots along the tree to create the three dimensions for it. I copied the style in one of the picture I saw in Museum of Fine Art. I used the dark background combine with the highlight color. The viewers could feel the depth of the picture, and the main points were becoming more attractive to the viewers.
I put many efforts to bring the autumn into the picture. When looking at the picture, it made me remember the article “The last leaf” that I read since I was high school. Moreover, I wanted to keep a moment about autumn in the U.S.

Artist Statement

My artwork is something that just makes me happy. I have no true meaning behind it. I love whimsical paitings and bold colors, greens and blues being my favorite. I tried to use those.

During this class I have went from being a stick figure painter, to a "what is that?" painter to someone who can actually paint something have other people A) like it and B) know what it is that I actually painted. I am proud of this. In the future I hope to get better at painting with better measurements.

P.S. TO THE CLASS--- I have loved meeting all of you! You guys are awesome and I hope to see you all again sometime. I am on Facebook so if you are too just email me at michellelinn83@yahoo.com with your email so I can add you. (You can't add me because I have everything set to private...sorry.)

To Hagit! Thank you soo much for being an awesome teacher. I have enjoyed you and have enjoyed being your class. Thanks again!

Written Assignment #3-The Student Statement

Well, this semester has been a whirlwind of emotions and deadlines. The picture on the bottom reflected that as it was done in the moment of it all. I wanted to make that statement bigger, so I tried to recreate it on a bigger medium and it became something very different, as it is illustrated in the picture on top. It looks like the cleanup after the storm and that's okay. The emotions subsided as did the chaos and i guess my mood with the paintbrushes lead me to this. That's one thing I like about art: when you're in a mood or a moment the artist side takes over and when you're done "mooding" or "momenting" you have this visual memory of it and maybe have a discussion about the story behind it. Sometimes it's a good story or sometimes it's just a "this-was-how-my-day-was-going" kind of thing. I really learned a lot in this class and hopefully I'll incorporate those things in future works and my style will evolve and techniques will be more defined. Who knows, maybe I'll finally master the lights and darks :-).

Quick reminders about last project:

1. Personal statements about the last projects are due in the blog on Thursday by 5pm. No Later. Sooner will be appreciated.

2. If you were not in the last class, please add to the post a picture of the artwork that the statement is written about.

If you are running into difficulty, send it to my email. If you are stuck and didn't get hold of materials received in class, take a look at this, or make other searches.

3. I will follow up soon with end of course materials

4. If you signed up for the trip to Forth Worth - Let me know if you did not get a respond by the end of the week and I will contact them.

5. Good luck - 6. enjoy. 7. Hope you had a good semester 8.

Gwendolyn's statement

Artist's statement

Gwendolyn Moore

They Call me Beautiful-Qualities that please the eyes and senses.

My paintings are Beautiful and timeless they can take you back a thousand years are bring you into your present are future. It gives you an illusion of tangible touchable ornaments an array of jewels and diamonds never seen before ,it takes you to a destination of pleasure and joy My Ingenuity is something not seen everyday for l"am intrested in only the Sunny side of life and all it"s hidden Beauty and Treasures.

My Paintings are Magicial in that it lets your Imagination sore to endless Heights of Infinity.It is a Table that says Reserved and Art that is only for one who trutly loves the Best that Beauty has to offer. For my Paintings will bring you Gifts from far Away and Quiz your mind to the Opilance of Stly and Grace for it will take you on a Journey of Emerils and Satfire and serve you up Beautiful and Unforgettable colors that will sooth your Soul With Intricate Detaile and Decorative Style for Beauty is l and l am Beauty.

Gwendolyn Moore
Artist Statement
Arts 2316
Painting 1
Room Fac 205
Instructor Hagit Barkai

Free trip to Forth Worth museums.

GCIC Fort Worth Art Museum Bus Trip

Deadline to RSVP: January 14, 2010

Trip: Friday February 19, 2010

Amon Carter Museum

Freedom Now: Tamarind Lithography Workshop

This exhibition of prints from the 1960s explores the international call for social and political justice and examines how a handful of artists addressed these themes through irony, satire, allegory, and stark realism. Showcasing seven artists who held fellowships at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles during the 1960s, the small exhibition from the Carter’s permanent collection includes works by American artists Leon Golub, James Strombotne, H. C. Westermann, and Spanish artist Rafael Canogar.

Kimbell Art Museum

From the Private Collections of Texas: European Art, Ancient to Modern

The Kimbell plays host to 100 of the most important European paintings and sculptures ever held in private collections in Texas. Most of them are works normally hidden from public view, ranging from glorious Impressionist paintings that once decorated ranchers’ homes in West Texas to gems of Renaissance and Baroque art owned by the great collectors of Dallas and Houston. Since first coming into wealth on a national scale in the 1920s, Texans have continued to assert a record of art collecting of the highest discernment. Over 40 collectors will be represented, and among the artists to be featured are Guercino, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Mondrian.

Modern Art Museum Of Fort Worth

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade Andy Warhol:

The Last Decade is the first U.S. museum survey exhibition to explore the work that this seminal American artist produced during the final eight years of his life. Warhol entered a period of renewed vigor and enthusiasm in the 1980s that resulted in what was arguably the most productive period of his career. The exhibition includes approximately 55 works lent by private collections and institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Along with an introduction to Warhol, it is divided into thematic sections based on significant Warhol series: abstract works; collaborations (featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat); black-and-white ads; works surrounding death and religion; self portraits; camouflage patterns; and a concluding section of the artist’s Last Supper series. The exhibition is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Plus The Permanent Collections Of Each Museum

Lunch will be provided at: Café Modern Located in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

To sign up - email dixon.bennett@sjcd.edu or mary.smith2@sjcd.edu

or let me know that you are interested

(comment here, email hb@hagitbarkai.com or tell me in class),

The bus will leave the San Jacinto College South Fine Arts Building at 7-7:30 am and will return the same night. Parking passes will be provided with campus police monitoring the vehicles