Gary Stephan is an American painter working in an abstract style. Gary Stephan was born in Brooklyn, New York in the year 1942.
Stephan is well schooled having studied at the Art Student’s League of New York City, Parson’s School of Design, Pratt Institute, and the San Francisco Institute of Art. The artist enjoyed the works of abstract painters Jasper Johns and Richard Diebenkorn.
Stephan is a past recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In this clip we catch up with our artistic amigo James Kalm and visit a show featuring artist Gary Stephan:
In addition to being a painter, Stephan is an prolific printmaker. He works in very large sizes with some works having sides measuring more than 80 inches.
Harry Bertoia was a wonderful painter, furniture designer, printmaker, and kinetic sculptor. Bertoia was renown for working with metal wire and produced many smaller kinetic sculptures which resemble plants and trees.
These wonderful objects are brought more to life by a gentle breeze of wind. The period of time that Bertoia began to work with wire was in the 1950s when it was a brand new item.
Harry Bertoia was born in San Lorenzo, Pardenone, Italy in the year 1915. The artist first came to the United States when he was fifteen years old to visit a brother. The artist enjoyed the States so much he decided to stay and finish high school in the States. Bertoia attended the College for Creative Studies located in Detroit, Michigan.
In his works dealing with sound sculptures Bertoia was trying to capture the sounds and lines of nature. Here we take a closer look at some of his sound sculptures. This is a fantastic clip as it contains vintage footage of Bertoia playing his sound sculptures:
Price range information: Works range from $5,000 for prints to $250,000 for a large sound sculpture.
Here we check out some furniture designs by Bertoia. His most famous work in this area is the famed “diamond chair.” Bertoia gained a great deal financially from the production of his furniture designs.
Evelyne Boren is a wonderful painter working in an Impressionist style. Evelyne Boren was born in Munich, Germany in the year 1939.
Boren is renown her paintings of vacation beaches, flower markets, and landscapes. The artist works in watercolor and oils.
Boren has lived an extraordinary life and has travelled the globe and also used to be stuntwoman acting in movies featuring the international spy James Bond.
Her story is so unique that when she appeared on popular American game shows of yesteryear such as “To Tell the Truth.” This was an older game show that featured guests with unusual jobs and celebrities that would try and figure it what their profession was. Her job was so unique, no one was able to figure what she did for a living. Her title was underwater stuntwoman.
In this clip we view a great scene, the artist at the opening of a very recent show. In it she talks about her past and her paintings:
Boren began painting in the 1960s.
Born has two studios that keep her busy. One studio is located in Sante Fe and the other in Mexico.
In this clip we view a montage of works by Evelyne Boren. My favorite works of the artist are her marine/ sea paintings. What a great sense of design and color:
Mokha Laget is a contemporary artist renown for abstract works using basic geometric shapes. Mokha Laget was born in Algeria and was educated in the Africa, France, and the United States. Her father was an international diplomat. For her collegiate education Laget attended the Corcoran School of Art earning a B.F.A. Laget went on to earn a M.F.A. from Georgetown University.
Laget is a mixed media master! Most works are made with acrylics, clay pigment, and uniquely shaped canvas.
The artist is now based out of Sante Fe, New Mexico.
It must be the clay based paint that gives the viewer such delightful color combinations to take in. The color and use of angles to make shapes have dimension is also great quality of her work.
Street artist 1010 was born in the country of Poland and makes fantastic works of art that showcase his tremendous use of color. 1010 uses simple geometric and organic shapes to make animals and also wall relief style works that emphasize color.
1010 made his work graffiti type work in 1993.
He uses the nickname he was given my a journalist who photographed his work and gave him the name. 1010 enjoys working with numbers and code.
Here we view an urban art show from 2011 that featured artist 101o and others including Rebelizer. This clip shows 1010 birds and earlier works that involve light and far different from his output now:
Sister Mary Corita Kent was a fantastic artist and educator. Sister Mary Kent was born with the name Francis Elizabeth Kent in Fort Dodge Iowa in the year 1918. Kent’s favorite medium was the silkscreen. The artist had a wonderful sense of color and used her outstanding drawing skills to produce some of the happiest art found in the 1960s and 1970s.
Kent attended the Chouinard Institute located in Los Angeles, California and earned a BA from the Immaculate Heart College also located in California. The Immaculate Heart College was a private Catholic Institution that has been closed for quite some time. Kent was also a teacher at this institution for periods of time.
Kent went on to earn an MA from the University of Southern California.
Something I am sure the Pop Artist Robert Indiana took note of, Sister Mary produced the first LOVE stamp in 1985. Indiana is renown for his work with letters and also has created large sculptures using the word love.
Kent quit teaching and also her order of nuns in 1968 to become a full time professional artist. At this time she relocated from Los Angeles to Boston, Massachusetts on the east coast of the United States.
In 2009 a documentary film was made about Sister Mary Corita Kent. Here we view a short excerpt from this movie which includes original footage of the artist at work in the 1960s:
Price range information: Works range from $400 for a screen print to $4,000 for an original watercolor.
As an artist she worked painting murals, illustrating book covers, posters, and her own serigraph prints. In her own prints the artist often mixed popular consumer slogans alongside her own thoughts and beliefs.
Kent is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum which are both located in New York Ciy.
Sister Mary Kent passed away in 1986 at the age of 67 years of age.
I enjoy the warm and positive feelings I get from looking at the work of Sister Mary Kent. In this clip a great interview with the artist just four years before she passed away from cancer:
Walton Irrigoo was born in Gambell, Alaska, United States in the year 1962. Walton Irrigoo represents the Yupik people of Alaska.
The artist was born in his grandfather’s house. He credits his father for his artistic talents and learned from him as well as other relatives.
Irrigoo enjoys working with owls and figure.
Price range information: Works range from $1,000 to $5,000.
I enjoy the patterns depicted by the artist. He carves wonderful feathers that give a great sense of life to his birds. In the Yupik culture, tattoos are a big part of the culture. Irrigoo adds ink to many of his works, thus giving his owls each a more individual look.
Moving feathers also give a sense of life to his sculptures showing shaman transformations which show both a human and bird combined into a very unique masterpiece of art.
Ralph Steiner was a fantastic American photographer renown for his photography. Ralph Steiner was born in Cleveland, Ohio in the year 1899. Steiner was also a filmmaker and produced works that dealt with water reflections, simple machines, and things most people mast pass by without examining closer.
Steiner attended Dartmouth College where he studied chemistry. After this he found work with a local master photogravure who was based out of Ohio.
Steiner briefly worked in Hollywood, but did not enjoy it and returned to focusing on his growing freelance photography business.
In this clip we view a short from a longer work by Steiner that shows up close views of mechanical objects. The movie was made in the year 1930:
Steiner passed away in 1986 at the age of 87.
Price range information: Works range from $1,000 to $25,000.
What I enjoy most about this artist is his use of shadows. Before the days of photoshop and home editing every thing must have been placed perfectly. In all of his still life arrangements the cast shadows are almost as much fun to look at as the subjects!
John Piper was a British artist renown for his abstract and landscape paintings in addition to designing theater stages and sets. John Piper was born in Epsom, England in the year 1903. The city is within 20 miles of London, England. Piper also worked with stained glass and was an avid printmaker.
A wonderful montage of works by John Piper set to relaxing music:
The artist began collegiate studies hoping to become a lawyer. After failing his law exams and the passing of his father (his father opposed his decision to become an artist)Piper gave art school a try. Piper would attend the Royal College of Art and the Richmond School of Art.
Piper served in World War Two was made an official war officer from the years 1940 to 1942.
The artist had two children who also became artists.
Below is a clip from a documentary featuring John Piper:
John Piper passed away in 1992.
Price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $500,000.
Bill Plympton is among the best and most successful animators on the planet. In some animated movies Plympton drew all of the frames himself, one of few artists to do this huge task.
Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon in the year 1946. The artist attended Portland State College before transferring to the School of Visual Arts located in New York City.
The artist has been nominated for Emmy and Oscar awards.
Here we view a short animated movie style that has become the artist’s trademark. A man imagines what could be in his pool:
To finance his longer movies Plympton will create a comic book version he sells first.
What I enjoy most about this artist is his attitude. I was reading a book about Plympton recently and he stated he turned down the opportunity to work for Walt Disney. Disney sent an expensive lawyer to tell Plympton he would be paid one million dollars for his services. Plympton turned this opportunity down be, cause he wanted the freedom to create as much as he wanted. If he would have signed with Disney, the Disney Corporation would own everything he created.
I found this fascinating because I also recently saw an interview with Stan Lee and he was asked if he was mad about not owning character rights for his characters he had created. Stan Lee said no he wasn’t mad, that was the terms of the contract.
Below a wonderful interview with Bill Plympton talking about his very successful animation career:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Here we view a wonderful short that explains how Belly Button lint occurs:
And last we view a work featuring musician Kanye West. What a great job Mr. Plympton did on the caricature. Plympton often draws himself in funny situations!:
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