In the interview below, you’ll also see mention of “Ekphrasis.” In the days where each Thursday painter gave a brief presentation to the class, Skillman inspired us all with her presentation about ekphrastic poetry – a poem based on a work of art. In an ekphrastic poem, the writer describes the work of art, and may extend into the work’s underlying story or significance. One of the earliest examples is in the Iliad, when Homer describes Achilles’ shield. Another is John Keats’ poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Some day I hope to post a V. Note on ekphrastic poetry, but today I most wanted to share this book and her interview.
Interview: Judith Skillman and Carol Smallwood on Ragazine
Smallwood:In Premise of Light you dedicate the collection to your mentor in art and your first poem mentions a famous artist. Please expand on your art study and the cover you did for this collection:
Skillman: I began taking art classes in fall 2014 at the Pratt in Seattle, and stumbled into Ruthie V., a wonderful teacher. Because my first major was visual art, the study of painting has been a gift. Ruthie V. is a talented painter and an excellent teacher. She is thoroughly versed in art history. I found I could employ Ekphrasis while learning about Lucien Freud, Édouard Vuillard, Emil Nolde and the myriad other artists who came alive through a mere skim of their lives, subject matters, and techniques.
The cover art comes from a small oil painting I did as an attempt emulate the work of an artist I love—Joan Eardley. This piece was a pass at her “Seeded Grasses and Daisies, September“. In visual art the student is encouraged to copy, unlike poetry, where both teachers and students consider it plagiarism to imitate another writer.
To me this disparity seems flawed, as the act of copying or modeling one’s work after an artist or a writer one admires may be one of the best ways to learn craft. That said, I did not in any way capture the essence of Eardley’s painting. What happened was more like translation, in which a different version appeared, barely recognizable as the original.
Wallace Stevens’ essay The Relations Between Poetry andPainting, printed in pamphlet form after his talk at Museum of Modern Art in 1951, reinforces the similarities between writing a poem and painting a picture. Both require composition and execution. Neither writing nor art ‘happens’ from inspiration alone. Both require forethought, planning, and then abandonment to the creative process—followed of course by revision.
Read the full interview here: https://www.ragazine.cc/2019/03/carol-smallwood-interviews-judith-skillman/
If you’re looking for a painting class with solid techniques balanced with 1:1 direction to help you develop your own personal style, take Thursdays. No one paints the same way in Thursday class. We’ve got 2 Thursday shorties for spring, and a coupon. Join us!
[image_with_animation image_url=”7165″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Quilled brain by Sarah Yakawonis With some activities, I get a voice telling me it’s a waste of time. Usually this voice comes up loudly in the first 5 minutes of making art. Somehow, it doesn’t come up much when I watch tv. Unlike watching tv, I feel better when I …
Every quarter I teach figure drawing on Sundays. No class is ever the same, which means that every artist gets to experience different ways to approach the figure. Each comes with a specific challenge that teaches a skill, and I hold the artists to that challenge, but individual styles are celebrated, as you’ll see in …
I’ve been teaching an expressive portraits class on Friday nights. In the first few classes we talked about common pitfalls including the blueberry pancake effect of features floating in the middle of a round face shape. We practiced how to measure proportions quickly, how to see the three dimensional aspects of a face, what makes …
I’ve been talking about the the idea that shapes in a composition can be activated to hold each other in place. In this way, there is no background and no object, there is only the interaction of shapes on the surface of the canvas. Everything in the picture holds everything else in place. Intervals I’d …
Judith Skillman; interview on poetry, painting, and the League
Poetry and painting by Judith Skillman
In the interview below, you’ll also see mention of “Ekphrasis.” In the days where each Thursday painter gave a brief presentation to the class, Skillman inspired us all with her presentation about ekphrastic poetry – a poem based on a work of art. In an ekphrastic poem, the writer describes the work of art, and may extend into the work’s underlying story or significance. One of the earliest examples is in the Iliad, when Homer describes Achilles’ shield. Another is John Keats’ poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Some day I hope to post a V. Note on ekphrastic poetry, but today I most wanted to share this book and her interview.
Interview: Judith Skillman and Carol Smallwood on Ragazine
Smallwood: In Premise of Light you dedicate the collection to your mentor in art and your first poem mentions a famous artist. Please expand on your art study and the cover you did for this collection:
Skillman: I began taking art classes in fall 2014 at the Pratt in Seattle, and stumbled into Ruthie V., a wonderful teacher. Because my first major was visual art, the study of painting has been a gift. Ruthie V. is a talented painter and an excellent teacher. She is thoroughly versed in art history. I found I could employ Ekphrasis while learning about Lucien Freud, Édouard Vuillard, Emil Nolde and the myriad other artists who came alive through a mere skim of their lives, subject matters, and techniques.
The cover art comes from a small oil painting I did as an attempt emulate the work of an artist I love—Joan Eardley. This piece was a pass at her “Seeded Grasses and Daisies, September“. In visual art the student is encouraged to copy, unlike poetry, where both teachers and students consider it plagiarism to imitate another writer.
To me this disparity seems flawed, as the act of copying or modeling one’s work after an artist or a writer one admires may be one of the best ways to learn craft. That said, I did not in any way capture the essence of Eardley’s painting. What happened was more like translation, in which a different version appeared, barely recognizable as the original.
Wallace Stevens’ essay The Relations Between Poetry and Painting, printed in pamphlet form after his talk at Museum of Modern Art in 1951, reinforces the similarities between writing a poem and painting a picture. Both require composition and execution. Neither writing nor art ‘happens’ from inspiration alone. Both require forethought, planning, and then abandonment to the creative process—followed of course by revision.
Read the full interview here: https://www.ragazine.cc/2019/03/carol-smallwood-interviews-judith-skillman/
See more of Judith Skillman’s poetry: http://www.judithskillman.com/
Don’t you just want to eat this painting?
Thursday Class
If you’re looking for a painting class with solid techniques balanced with 1:1 direction to help you develop your own personal style, take Thursdays. No one paints the same way in Thursday class. We’ve got 2 Thursday shorties for spring, and a coupon. Join us!
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ABSTRACTING FROM AN IMAGE
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