Hello to everyone out there in the Do Art Nation! We hope you’ve been having an amazing summer, and that you took some time to enjoy the holiday weekend. Consider this yourl reminder: dare to be inspired by the world around you!
I recently took some time off between workshops to visit one of my favorite places: the Art Institute of Chicago! It seems like every time I’m there I see something that jumps out at me, and challenges me to think about the limits of creativity and the ways that we as human beings communicate through art to those around us, to people we have met and people we will never meet.
It’s also an opportunity to see some of my favorite pieces. Certain works of art stand out in the imagination, and you greet them like old friends as you revisit the same galleries again and again. One of these paintings, American Gothic by Grant Wood, has become a particular source of fascination for me. An Iowa native, Grant Wood painted his most famous work using a home in Eldon, Iowa for the background. If you visit the town in Iowa you can see the house, and even pose in front of where Grant Wood’s wife and dentist posed for his painting. When I was in Independence, Iowa for a recent digital art Workshop, I was surprised to see that they had an original pencil drawing by Grant Wood, signed by the artist in their program space. Doing a workshop with new technology and fresh young minds in the same room as a work of art by one of America’s great painters was something extraordinary for sure!
I also got visit the new exhibit of Willem de Kooning’s paintings, which highlights his background as a professional illustrator before moving to New York City and becoming a painter affiliated with the abstract expressionist movement. The paths that we take as artists are often uncertain, and with painters both famous, infamous, and unknown, it is inspiring to see people experiment with different media, unorthodox styles, and bold attempts to reimagine what creativity means to them. In the case of de Kooning, this meant using traditional commercial painting techniques applied to fine art, including canvas isn’t a truly monumental scale.
I also got to visit the modern wing, where I saw this painting that combines traditional oil paint with sand and even pieces of string: Peau de Soleil by Alice Rehon. The result is a kinetic and tactile piece, which comes to life as you look at it.
Whether you’re a kid picking up paint for the first time, a passionate hobbyist, or the creator of a famous masterpiece, human beings make art out of the world around them. That was the thought that I carried with me as I left the day as the museum was closing. Whenever I walk out those doors, I am always invited to see the world around me in a new and fresh way, and I’m excited to bring that energy to the art that I make, and the art that we create together at workshops all over the country.
Have you seen a work of art recently that has inspired you? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to keep creating!
