St. Ambrose University Art Club

08/17/2017

The St. Ambrose Art Club will be led for the year of Fall 2017 - Spring 2018 by Megan Peterson - If interested in participating in Art Club as a leader or member, please reach out to her through email: [email protected]

Happy art-making!

03/23/2017

The Last Watercolor Night!

Join us tonight in Galvin 131 8pm-10pm for watercolors and whatever art you'd like to do. There will be snacks!

It's also my last night in the Quad Cities - so if you want to say goodbye, please join us :-)

Cheers,
John

03/01/2017

Come support Art Club in Rogalski tomorrow! There'll be free-will donation works (mostly drawings) and many fairly priced original paintings for sale!

02/27/2017

Hi there artists,

It's the start of a fresh new week and it's time to put your art out there for sale and/or in Quercus.

Tonight, we'll meet for a final time in Galvin 131, where we'll have our final art collection for the Art Sale tomorrow / Wednesday as well as table duty. We've been offered up to 4 tables, 2 carts and 12 easels for the sale. So we'll have plenty of space to show your stuff!

Pricing is completely up to you, but for reference, I'll be attaching on a reasonable hour rate to my more intensive pieces, and then doing a free-will donation for stuff that I just need to get rid of because I don't have space for it.

The deadline for Quercus is Wednesday! Don't miss it. If you need more information, contact Emma Hubner @ [email protected]

Please reach out with me any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
John Wray

02/27/2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POKRU4A6Fl8 Here's an amazing video of oil painting techniques.

http://art.webartacademy.com/join-the-club Oil Painting Techniques Dead Colours "Dead Colours" layer is the part of an underpainting. The name "Dead Layer" c...

02/24/2017

Here's some inspiration for the weekend:

In her book, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, author and American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron writes, “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.” These words may, on the surface, seem to have nothing to do with those choosing to make a living in the arts, but in fact they apply not just to this circumstance but to practically everyone. The concept of ego is central to the teachings of Buddhist philosophy. Specifically, letting go of the illusion of who we think we are as a way to move past self-deception and discover our true heart and mind. Doing this isn’t easy, and it requires the willingness to let go of the mythology we build around our own identities.

In order to even begin down the path of letting go of ego, it is important to understand exactly what we mean when we use the term. Ego encompasses all those things that make us go through the day without really seeing or hearing what is going on around us. This is not to say that we are intentionally avoiding reality, but most people tend to look at the world through a pair of self-focused lenses. We have a natural ability to nuance the truth in order to suit our own narrative. It becomes a habit to see things as they fit in with our picture of the world rather than seeing them as they are before us. Much like any addiction, the first step is to admit that we have a problem. In this case, the problem is our own need to cling to self-preservation. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “for things to reveal themselves to us, we must be ready to abandon our views about them.” We must abandon our views about who we have created as ourselves in our own minds in order to see who we truly are.

Buddhism often speaks to the need for continual death in order to achieve an open heart and a clear mind. This is not to say that one should continually fail, rather it means we must acknowledge that every single day we are exposed to all sorts of situations that make us feel uncomfortable. Every day we do fail at things and that’s OK. Rather than gloss discomfort of any kind, ignore it and carry on as before or simply distract ourselves from the feelings, it is important to look it in the eye. Pema Chodron suggests noticing the little things we do when we feel uncomfortable. A flick of the eyes or a small, forced yawn—the little gestures and movements we have subconsciously developed to work around discomfort. She does not suggest that we seek to actively alter these things, merely know them at first. In this way we begin to see our own habits.

For artists, every day is not only an opportunity, but a battlefield of sorts. Artists are left open to slings and arrows on a regular basis just by virtue of the work they do. It is easy to hide behind an ego, a false image of self, in order to preserve ourselves from the suffering we experience when faced with criticism. The fact of the matter though, is that no one has ever learned a thing who wasn’t willing to fully embrace criticism. Artists face a dozen or more no’s for every yes. Rather than let that harden your heart and make you believe that the world is out to get you personally, let it soften your heart and let these experiences in. Look at them and learn from them. Consider why you may have received a negative response. Be bold and inquire. Be prepared to listen, truly listen, to the answer.

Letting go of ego is a tricky sort of business. There is a fine line between letting suffering in and letting it stop you in your tracks. Buddhist teachings often talk about being nailed to the spot. This does not mean that we should find ourselves frozen with fear and depression about the tribulations of life in the arts. To be nailed to the spot means that we have accepted all the ways in which we habitually gloss our way out of an uncomfortable moment and made an agreement with ourselves to get rid of these tendencies. Instead we let the moment in. We let it be a teaching moment. We approach ourselves with tenderness and allow an honest look at our own heart and mind.

Letting go of ego isn’t about becoming someone else. It isn’t about reaching some imagined pinnacle of self-awareness. It is a constant evolution. The word practice is used to define the Buddhist path for a reason. It is the process of letting go of rehearsed notions about who we are and being brave enough to look truth square in the eye.

Sincerely,

Brainard Carey
Praxis Center

02/19/2017

02/16/2017

If you're interested in selling your artwork for either of these days, please contact John @ [email protected].

We prefer you are there to sell your own artwork, but we can sell it for you at a donation to Art Club, or we can connect you to potential buyers without selling your work.

02/14/2017

Let your art influence your business, not the other way around. Here's another great read.

It’s a fact about all of us on this great big blue marble, we gotta eat. Not only that, we need a roof over our heads and the resources to get through this life in one piece. Like it or not, the only way to provide these things for yourself and the people you love is to earn money. While it is lovely to imagine a utopian society where we work together to ensure that all are provided for, we need only look to the utopian societies described in literature of the early days of the American Experiment to see that this model has a way of slipping sideways fast no matter how well intentioned. For pretty much everybody, earning is linked to career and that is that. There is no stigma attached to receiving a paycheck in pretty much every field. Art though, is a bit different. Not only has the myth of the romance of the starving artist permeated our culture, there is also a strong and entirely understandable aversion to the idea of “selling out.” This fear can be so strong that it actually inhibits an artist’s ability to develop a successful career and begin to thrive financially. It is critical that we examine these myths and fears in order to unpack some of the details and begin to see that money making and art do not need to be mutually exclusive.

As we go about our days, do we ever really question that the people providing goods and services to us are being paid for their work? Ask yourself how many times you’ve quietly admonished a bank teller for collecting a paycheck every couple of weeks, or when you’ve rolled your eyes at the thought of your child’s teacher earning income from his or her important work. It just doesn’t happen. Sure, you may find it hard to understand their particular lines of work, but it’s unlikely that you actually hold the fact that they get paid against them. So why on earth should this be any different for artists? Part of the reason may lie in the myth of the starving artist.

In 19th century Paris, author Henri Murger published a booked called Scenes de la Vie de Boheme depicting the allegedly romantic existence of impoverished artists in the Parisian art scene. This was the beginning of the Boheme trope which glorified the concept that artists should live a meagre existence despite the reality behind the mythology. In fact, many artists succumbed to disease and malnutrition, living out short and desperate lives without achieving any sort of notoriety for their work until after their untimely deaths. These are the unfortunate trappings of poverty, even to this day. Being an artist in no way insulates one from this reality. Perhaps to some there is merit to this sort of short and unpleasant life, but if we remove the myth from the actual reality we can easily see that there isn’t much that’s enviable about the often tragic lives of these artists.

Throughout many courses and blog posts we have offered, and will continue to offer, ways to turn your passion and calling as an artist into a career that can eventually sustain a comfortable existence or supplement your existing income. Of course, throughout we have also made sure to emphasize that your art should come first and business later. To delve a bit deeper into this point, it is critical that you allow your artwork to inform your business model and audience and not the other way around. Producing art intended to reach a market you may deem potentially lucrative or creating something that sits far outside your personal aesthetic or ethos because it fits in with a particular business model is a very real way in which artists can sell out, so to speak. If you are true to who you are and always have been as an artist, if you present your work honestly to the right market, you will find that sales will come.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with expecting to earn a living as an artist. A career in art may take considerable time and patience to build and you may find the need to supplement your income at times with other work, but if you are persistent and savvy and stick to who you are as an artist, allowing that to dictate the shape of your business, you will find a following. Read the case histories of two real life artists who, through honest work and solid dedication, turned their art into thriving business models. Listen to them tell their stories in their own words and hear how they have been able to provide a roof over their heads and put food on the table while still maintaining the integrity of what they do. There is no reason that making money cannot go hand in hand with being an artist. As in any field, it merely takes good business sense and a solid understanding of who you are to build a strong and respectable brand.

Sincerely,

Brainard Carey
Praxis Center for Aesthetics

02/09/2017

Watercolor Painting night tomorrow! (Friday) @ 7PM in Galvin 131! We'll have pizza!

02/02/2017

Here's some beautiful wisdom worth spreading:

“Build your self-esteem by not thinking about it.” So tweeted Yoko Ono recently and it got me thinking about the trap of confidence and self-esteem. For everyone, and perhaps for those in the arts especially, self-esteem and confidence can be fraught topics. Artists spend their lives exposing that which is innermost and personal. Not only do we put the depths of our being out into the world, we also open ourselves up to judgment by all who encounter this very personal work. Together, these things can make for a harsh environment at times.

It is easy to get caught up in a cycle of constant worry about self-confidence and self-esteem. We feel as though we must focus on these things in order to be sure they are up to the task of protecting us from the slings and arrows of the every day. Like anything, the more we dwell on these things the less we allow ourselves to truly live. It is all too easy to get caught in the trap of inner monologue and forget that there is a whole world happening around us.

How do we break the cycle then? Is there a way to simply stop worrying about whether we are confident enough to handle the world around us? Another quote by a brilliant woman goes like this, “only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.” Pema Chodron, the American Buddhist nun, is responsible for these words and they also have the ring of truth.

It is no easy task to face the world as an artist every day, but we do it. Even the simple task of telling people that you are an artist opens you up to all sorts of questions and judgment. Surely it’s only a hobby. You can’t make a living as an artist. Do these sound familiar?

As an artist you are demanding a heroic act of yourself on a regular basis. The easy thing would be to forget all about it, turn tail and run, put down your paintbrush, pack away the sculpting tools, find a safe job behind a desk where no one will make personal judgments about your work. But is this the life that will make you feel fulfilled? Of course not.

Artists must expose themselves to annihilation again and again. That is not to say that they must constantly face harsh criticism for their work. Of course this is always a possibility, but when we refer to annihilation here we mean simply the very act of exposing our work to the world. This is how we escape the trap of constant worry about confidence and self-esteem. This is how we build it by not thinking about it.

Just like any habit, the key is to take action (or indeed to cease action) in order to break it. No one gives up smoking by simply thinking about doing it. It is the act of putting down the pack of ci******es and not picking them up again that leads to success. It isn’t an easy thing to do, and similarly breaking the habit of worrying about our own self-esteem isn’t an easy thing to do. We must take action in order to build ourselves up. We must fly in the face of self-doubt and do it anyway.

At first it may feel strange or even overwhelming to go against the little voice that holds us back but, over time, these actions will replace old habits of constant worry. In this way, we begin to develop a natural confidence and self-esteem rather than a forced sense of these things. We do this in our lives all the time without thinking about it really. Rarely do many of us consider the inner dialogue when we go about our daily lives but there was a time when everything we do so routinely was new and intimidating.

The bottom line is that we do not need to understand the root cause of every single feeling and action. Rather we need to discontinue the behavior, in this case a rotating inner dialogue about our own worth and abilities, and replace with action. For those of us in the arts, this could feel entirely counter-intuitive. An inward focus is part and parcel of what we do so letting go of this can be a struggle. It takes intentional action to remove ourselves from the whirlpool of self-doubt that can cause us to ultimately freeze up. By taking small actions every day, exposing ourselves, despite the fear, to those situations that push us outside our comfort zone we begin to build new habits. This is one way of interpreting the words of Yoko Ono. This is one way to “build your self-esteem by not thinking about it.”

Sincerely,

Brainard Carey

02/01/2017

There's an art show in the Morrissey Gallery today. Go check it out and gain some wisdom from the artist herself at 4pm!
http://www.sau.edu/News_and_Events/E170110_Dawn_Wohlford_Morrissey_Exhibition.html

Hand cast paper forms by local artist Dawn Wohlford.