Who are your art influences? Kirsty Hall

Kirsty Hall is an artist and freelance curator based in Bristol, England. She writes a blog, Up All Night and also worked on a year long project called The Diary Project.

"Capturing the traces left behind by events and finding ways to embody memory within objects are central concerns in my art. My work involves the accretion of large numbers of small objects – pins in fabric, knots in string or hundreds of envelopes – to make sculptures or performances that deal with fragility, decay, loss, repetition, obsession and time. My work is never fabricated by teams: when I burn 3,533 matches, tie thousands of knots in string or repetitively pin a length of material, it is my time and work that is being measured."

Drawing Statement: A few of the tiny drawings I've been doing lately. I'm restricting myself to pencil and gesso on pads of A6. I like working on this small size with such a restricted palette. It frees me up to work fast and loose in an uninhibited fashion, which is what I need right now.

3 Score & 10 String 2003 - 2005


3 Score & 10 is part of an ongoing series of work exploring the meaning and measurement of time. The knots represent the number of days (including leap days) that you would experience if you lived to your biblically allotted 70 years. It contains 25,568 knots and took just under two years to complete.

"Wow, my art influences - hmmm, that's a tough one because there's so many.I've gone for a mix of background stuff that's been a general influence and artists who've either had a long lasting affect or who were incredibly pivotal at specific moments in my artistic development."

In no particular order, apart from the first one:

1. Eva Hesse - absolutely top of my list and it definitely shows in my work

2. Paul Cezanne - it probably doesn't show in my work now but when I was just starting out, he taught me how to see.

3. Folk Art and Outsider Art

4. Giorgio Morandi - I find the quietness and paleness of his still lives very compelling.

5. Ben Nicholson - for his use of white and the way he isn't afraid of emptiness. He's someone I come back to time and again.

6. Petah Coyne - I strongly relate to her use of accretion and obsession.

7. Helen Chadwick - the first contemporary artist I fell in love with, all the way back in the 80's. When I saw her work, I realised for the first time that art could be more than realism.

8. Ann Hamilton - for her poetic narratives and also because she's one of those artist who regularly makes me think, "damn, I wish I'd made that!"

9. Tom Friedman - I love the way he sets up projects with very defined rules and sees them through to their ultimate conclusions. The way he combines humor with intellectual rigor is very inspiring to me.

10. Ernst Haeckel - a very big influence on my drawing. I love those crazy Victorians!

11. Museums and Cabinets Of Curiosities

12. The Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi

13. My granny on my Mum's side - she was my first model for what a creative woman looked like.

Scatter Statement: February 2006 Pins, fabric, wood

At what point does a labor of love become a futile obsession?

Scatter took 31 hours 24 minutes to make, spread over a period of 8 weeks. Altogether I pinned 280 rows and each row contained either 46 or 47 pins, which means that I put at least 12, 880 pins into this piece of fabric. However, because of the inherent fragility of the work very few of those pins now remain in the piece. With each row that I pinned more of the previous pins would fall out: in effect, the making of the piece also proved to be its unmaking. So my many hours of work have become almost invisible. Indeed, you only have my word that I did the work at all, although the tiny snags and pinholes in the material also bear witness to the thousands of missing pins.

What artists have influenced you ? Diane McGregor

Diane McGregor is an artist who lives and works in Santa Fe.
She is currently in a group show of 5 abstract painters, that opened
July 10th and is up through Sept 27th, at The Preston Contemporary
Art Center in Mesilla, NM. You can see more work at
her blog Working Space.



Conferring with the Moon, 2009, oil on canvas, 30x30 inches

Here is what she says about her work:


"My work is informed by Nature—specifically the landscape, the weather, the seasons. These images are not literal representations of a place or environment, but a synthesis of shifting viewpoints and moods. Painting is my way of going beyond the arguments of the conscious mind, allowing the brushstroke to be a quiet reflection of each moment. The painting, then, becomes a record of a solitary, contemplative practice that is both private and shared.

I begin each painting by methodically weaving together horizontal and vertical brushstrokes. This repetitive technique generates a grid-like structure during the very earliest stages of the painting. I use fan brushes, which lend a delicate, complex weave to the webs of color and light. As the composition gradually emerges from the matrix of layered brushstrokes, a subtle balance of form, color, and texture is intuitively recognized and responded to. Some areas of the composition are carefully blended into luminous color fields, while other passages remain more painterly and spontaneous. The process is extremely meditative, taking me back and forth between emptiness and fullness, surrender and control."

Sensing, 2009, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches


"Crossing," 2009, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches


Here is my list of my top 15 artistic influences (not in any particular order):

1) Rebecca Purdum - contemporary artist who I've been following since the 80s - ethereal abstraction (shows at Tilton Gallery, NYC)

2) Sam Scott - my professor at University of Arizona, initiated me to the true painter's life and art

3) 12th Century Chinese Southern Song painters - poetry of nature and the seasons, veiling and unveiling of forms, contemplative technique

4) Georgia O'Keeffe - paint handling, morphology of forms (the major influence upon my early work)

5) Agnes Martin - repetition, natural order, poetry of painting, the grid

6) Mondrian- composition, subtle balances and rhythms within geometric structures

7) Jackson Pollock - the spontaneous gesture; the importance of psychology and the unconscious

8) Rothko - the luminosity of color

9) Bonnard - light and color, paint handling

10) Turner - abstraction of landscape, use of thick and thin paint, use of light and dark

11) Kandinsky - for the spiritual in art

12) Cezanne - the importance of the underlying structure of a painting

13) Monet - the way he perceived light and color, the broken brushstroke

14) Donald Judd - clean lines, no-nonsense Beauty, repetition, transcending the grid

15) Joan Mitchell - abstraction of nature, luscious use of paint, use of the white ground, importance of the single brushstroke

Thanks for the opportunity - this was a fun and challenging project!

Butterfly's Dream, 2009, oil on canvas, 24x19 inches

Waiting

Taking the time to watch what is going on in my Lilac bush.........

Here they are


All photos by Jay Rosenblatt @2009

What artists have influenced you ? Rebecca Crowell

Rebeccca Crowell is an artist who lives and works in the midwest. She is represented by Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe; Circa Gallery, Minneapolis; Wilde Meyer Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ; Grace Chosy Gallery in Madison, WI and Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor (Door Co.)WI.

Slate Cliff, 60"x36" oil on panel 2009


I like what she says about her process:

To explain the process in a bit more detail, all of my paintings are carried out in an intuitive manner, with one thing leading to and suggesting another. I begin with a broad question or idea, which sets off a chain of events in the work-for example, I might start with a range of colors, certain kinds of marks or a compositional idea, but then allow each step along the way to influence my next move. I have my more cautious days when I do a lot of sitting and contemplating various possibilities, and also my more adventurous and impulsive days, when I might make a really radical shift or completely paint over or wash out whole areas. That is exhilarating-to get rid of something that wasn't working well, or was just "OK" in search of something truly good. After many painting sessions of all sorts, in the end I have made something I never imagined or envisioned. It's always like that-I end up in a very different place from where I started. My initial ideas were just jumping-off points for the journey that followed. At the same time, this process is not as random or unstructured as it may sound. I work within parameters that I've discovered over years of making art, that suit me--the individualized abstract language that I have developed, certain art materials and techniques that define my work as mine. These form a steady base from which I make my explorations.

Stones Along the Path 10" square, oil on panel Rebecca Crowell

"A few years ago I tried to pin down what has influenced my work, as part of an online art writing course. I started by randomly listing memories of exhibits, books, and speakers and people whose work I have been drawn to, and then I added other long-standing interests in my personal life, looking for what connections there might be. I learned that my influences have been far-ranging--from various media, styles and eras of art history—and that I have tended to be drawn to something for awhile and then move on. However, certain aspects of my various interests have continued to resonate for me, and have become part of an ever more complex mix. After sifting through all of my notes, I settled on a few general categories. This was helpful not only for seeing influences, but for defining some aspirations and goals for my work. A short version of my conclusions follows. (Artists and works of art listed under one topic often cross over into other categories.)


Warm Wall Outside 42 x36 oil on panel Rebecca Crowell

I’ve been influenced by:

1. work that is highly personal, idiosyncratic, or autobiographic. This includes many of the abstract impressionists, and the quilters of Gees Bend. Earlier on, I was very interested in artists like Frida Kahlo, Jonothan Borofsky, Phyllis Bramson, the Chicago imagists, and William Wiley. These artists influenced me more in their willingness to follow a strong inner vision than through their imagery or style.

2. cultures and situations in which art is intrinsically connected with spirituality, such as the Dreamtime paintings of Native Australian painters, ancient Egyptian art, cave paintings, petroglyphs, sculpture from various African cultures, and medieval illuminated manuscripts. I don’t claim to understand the complex cultural backgrounds of these influences but their power and presence is inspiring. I also respect the spiritual importance of the subconscious and attempt to allow this into my work.

3. the landscape, both as it has been depicted by many painters and photographers, and also as it exists before our eyes. The texture of lichen on a rock, the shape of clouds and flocks of birds in the sky, the ordered chaos of a patch of weeds—all kinds of images from nature influence my choices of color and texture and the degree of complexity I seek in my work. Specific artists that continue to inspire me include Andy Goldsworthy , many photographers of the American Southwest, and 19th century landscape painters such as George Inness and Corot.

4. in recent years, since my work has grown increasingly abstract and minimalist, I find myself appreciating simplicity and a certain spare quality more than in the past. For example, I like Cy Twombly, Agnes Martin, Martin Puryear, James Turrell, and Antonio Tapies."

What books about the process of artmaking are on your shelves?

The Story Begins 26 x 28 mixed media 2007 L Pressman


I am trying to organize my books that are everywhere: the office, the bedroom and the studio.The dust is settling on the pile of philosophy and psychology of art books. I haven't even begun to collect the catalogs and individual artist books. I am looking forward to seeing what is up in my attic.

This week I have been looking through the creative process books ...here are several I have found so far. Always looking for new ones to add.

Have any suggestions?..............Maybe we could start a list of the essential creative process books.
Anais Nin: all the journals
Twyla Tharp: The Creative Habit
The Artists Way: Julia Cameron
The Writing Life :Annie Dillard
Daybook: Anne Truit
May Sarton: The Journals of Solitude ( Marie-this one is yours-I will bring it back)
Centering: M.C. Richards
Spirit Taking Form: Nancy Azara
Trust the Process Shaun Mcniff
Art and Soul: Audrey Flack
Concerning the Spiritual in Art Kandinsky

Reading now or on "the list" to read:

deKooning An American Master Mark Stevens and Annalyn SwanOn Writing Stephen King
The Extreme of the Middle:Writings of Jack Tworkov JackTworkov; Edited by Mira Schor

What are your influences? Lisa Adams

"A Mechanism of Harbingers" 2008, oil on panel, 48 x 72" Lisa Adams

Lisa Adams is a painter and public artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.She is represented in LA by Lawrence Asher Gallery and in San Francisco by Michael Rosenthal Gallery
Check out her work and her influences-I had a blast looking at her choice of artists. It is a west coast view!!


"Next Services 264,458 Miles" 2008, oil on panel, 72 x 48" Lisa Adams

"The long, meandering, and challenging process that brought me to art making involved a never-quite-fulfilled reclamation of my own freedom as a woman living in the world today.

To do so my paintings must ask difficult questions of both me and of the viewer. These questions fuse my personal feelings of joy, sadness, rage, and despair – things I am often afraid to look straight in the face - with larger concerns of spiritualism, pathos, and the strangely complicated and enigmatic discourse between human beings.

The images that appear and reappear in my work stem from a desire to suffuse sources of inchoate matter – the formal elements, the grist of art – with a deeply felt, psychologically-charged world-view, which in turn allows my personal integrity to merge with larger, more universal concerns, cathartic to me, accessible to the viewer

In my most recent work, I create a negotiated reality forged from the world of the imagined—images of a Ground Zero (rather than Edenic) natural world with urban artifacts--to create a largely graffiti-free netherworld, animated by a tension between the unexpected and the predictable. By creating a “safe” space for myself in which to imag­ine, I offer the viewer an opportunity for Koan-like contemplation, a moment not Here nor There but somewhere In-Between."

"Everyone Talks' 2005, oil on panel, 30 x 34 Lisa Adams

Here is her list of 10 influences:

1) Nature--just being out in nature to experience a world of beauty and tragedy beyond my control.

2) Birding--watching birds in their natural habitat. It allows me to sit still and put my attention on silence and minutia, much like a meditation and I just love looking at the colors and hearing the sounds of songbirds specifically.

3) Film--so many films inspire me in different ways depending on mood. Film is my great escape. For me any of the films of Werner Herzog remain the most meaningful and inspiring.

4) Meditation--a dedicated practice of simply following the breath.

5) Travel--having traveled extensively throughout the world alone, there are so many places that have stayed with me but the most profound places are in the Nordic countries, the very top of Norway and Finland where the Sami people reside.

6) Other painters--again there are so many painters I take great inspiration from. Here are a few: Kristen Calabrese. She is a big inspiration and seeing her work in the studio always makes me want to paint better.
Also the work of Lucian Freud, Kiki Smith, Mathew Barney, William Kentridge, John Currin, Susan Rothenberg, Jeff Wall, Robert Gober, Amy Sillman, Llyn Foulkes, David Amico, Tom Wudl, Tomory Dodge, Joshua Aster, Kim Dingle, Samantha Fields, Cole Case, Andre Yi, Marie Thibeault, Joe Biel, Ann Diener and many dead artists such as Max Ernst, Philip Guston, Jay Defeo, Henri Matisse, Van Gogh, William Blake, the Pre-Raphaelite painters, and many more.

7) Imagined Apocalyptic Events-- mostly these come to me in dreams though I do have conscious anxiety about apocalyptic events. Perhaps this is the result of being the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Though these events frighten me they also give me energy and provides me with one extreme scenario against which I can weigh the other extreme of beauty, stillness and feelings of well-being.
8) Natural Disasters — love watching floods, fires, earthquakes, Tsunamis, etc I think it’s the out-of-control aspect of these events that capture my imagination.

9) Surrealism— my first love in painting was surrealism. At age ten I saw a reproduction of Dali’s painting “The Persistence Of Memory” and a knew I would be an artist, though I didn’t know what that really meant at age ten. As I later came to learn, it was the notion of the subconscious that drew me in.

10) Psychotherapy— having had many years of psychotherapy, it’s clear that this investigation has had a profound influence on my life and my work. The realm of subconscious material, unlocked memories and childhood trauma have tacitly informed my work and offered both and personal associations to my audience.

________________________________________

The Eye Doctor

Tink 12 x 12 oil 2006 LPressman

Chapter 4 24 x 18 2007 LPressman

I have been wearing glasses since I was five. A while ago, I went to the eye doctor. He is an older guy, in his seventies, and he asked me as he was looking at my prescription, "what do you do?" I told him I am a painter. He said: " What do you paint?" I said: "I am an abstract painter."

He said "I can absolutely see why you paint abstractly." He went on to tell me it is related to my eyesight. I have severe astigmatism/near/far and now the bifocal thing ....whatever....it is bad.
Time Piece 30 x30 encaustic 2007 LPressman

It was an Ah ha moment- the idea that the ophthalmologist could understand what I paint through my prescription was something that had never occurred to me. He then preceded to tell me about being at a conference where he and other ophthalmologists visited a museum to look at Matisse, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and others and diagnosed their eye conditions.

Interesting articles on the subject here at the Science Geek Girl blog and here.

I retold this story recently-taking off my glasses. When I put them back on, it occurred to me that my original vision is one of blurred distorted shapes, colors, values, shadows light.......


Time Travel 38 x 41 encaustic L Pressman



and the correction by my glasses creates a focused magnified view.

Another ah ha moment!

I flip back and forth between the two when making art- Welcome to my Macro/ Micro world!


The Microscope 16 x16 encaustic 2007



Linking 3 24 x 24 encaustic 2009 LPressman