Somerville Open Studios

[juldea]

So, I attended Somerville Open Studios today. Well, parts of it. Check out the map I made - the purple I added yesterday to signify studios I wanted to visit, the black I just added to signify where I made it. Not even CLOSE to half! And I really was out for the entire six hours. My legs are about to fall off, too.

So, let's get things over with here. Please read this if you are a friend of mine. Last November, I attended another open studios, at the Joy Street Studios. There I saw a quilt artist who had a quilt that I stared at for a good 10, 15 minutes. This quilt caught me the way that art is supposed to catch someone, I suppose. It was too expensive for me. I went back there today. She is still there, and that quilt is still there. I talked to her about it. It is still too expensive for me. I asked her, in a very awkward way, if there was a way she could make a smaller version for a price that I could afford; say, under $200. She said she could probably do $350 for a small version. That is still too expensive for me. Therefore: I am not asking for this. It is an expensive, useless item. However, if my friends and family ever want to get together, pool money, and buy me something that is beautiful but I don't need, this is it. I am informing you now. (Useful: she has a picture of the quilt up on the SOS page this year. Here it is: View From the Hammock by Joyce Hanlon.)

Aside from that, let's talk about art! After seeing a lot more painting/drawing/etc in 2D, I think that it's safe to say that I just have a very narrow view of what good 2D art is. In my opinion, 2D art is what people did before they had photographs so that they could capture, as best they could, what something looks like. Portraits and whatnot. Therefore, to me, if a piece isn't trying as best it can to capture what something looks like, I just don't like it. Plain and simple. There was ONE painter that I saw today that did this in a manner I liked. And of course, I can't find any of his stuff online. Pooh. However! I have a scanner now, and I grabbed a free postcard from him (sadly, not of one of my favorite images, but still of something neat.) So, it's not the best quality, but look: Wish, by J. Jones.. It's just a painting of some things in real life (oil on canvas) but it's - it's brighter. It's crisper and more real. That is what I like.

So, there. Art.

Comments

[kishpa.livejournal.com]

Wow - that's beautiful. I could stare at that for hours...

[etherial.livejournal.com]

How come the quilt is high art for you? It's (from this distance) completely nonrepresentational.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Not only from this distance/photo quality, but from the flatness of the 2D, its translation to a computer screen, etc etc. It definitely loses its magic as a print.

In 3D, it's something completely different. *shrug*

[ddrpolaris.livejournal.com]

actually, alot of "2-D" art has the same quality as the quilt. It might seem ordinary as a print, but if you see the actual painting itself, with layering of brush strokes and textures, it's alot different. The impressionists are actually really great examples of this, especially van Gogh. But that might just be me. I <3 quilts btw. Let me know if you ever want to do a group quilt project, or even have a quilting circle. I do have teh math and geometry skills, even if my sense of aesthetics is sub-par.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

You say that, but even when I see 2D art in real life, in 3D if you will, those layerings are lost on me. They don't affect me like, say, a quilt does. I see them an appreciate them, sure, I did a lot of touching on the acceptable-to-touch artwork this weekend. But I don't really consider that giving it any extra information... *shrug*

I have no experience in quilting. Maybe we need a quilting day!

[goldbug.livejournal.com]

How much is the full-size quilt?
And, hey, maybe you should take up quilting!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much the full-sized one is. Probably around $500. :(

And I don't have enough time or space for another crafty hobby! ;)