Showing posts with label Krista Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Krista Smith. Show all posts
Coming to an end…a short but sweet look at the week: Leipzig Residency - Part 6
By Krista Smith (MFA 2014)
The past couple of weeks here have flown by. Between painting, panting in our stifling rooms, and making quick escapes to the lake, we managed to put together a great end of summer show. We all crawled out of our studios to help clean and hang the work alongside Kristina and Mareika (interns of LIA) without any air-conditioning in a room I have now re-named “the easy bake oven”.
After the set up, all of the artists from LIA headed for dinner with Anna where she described to us her first experiences in Leipzig here at the Spinnerei and how she came to start the LIA program. Following this we opened our doors to start the show at seven o’clock where Anna caught us off guard with the amount of patrons who showed up and turned the spotlight on us to say a few words about our work.
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On May 31, four Academy students arrived in Leipzig, Germany, to start a two-month residency hosted by the Leipzig International Art Programme. Alicia Brown, Tim Buckley, Krista Smith and Shangkai (Kevin) Yu (all members of the class of 2014) will share their experiences here throughout the summer!
The past couple of weeks here have flown by. Between painting, panting in our stifling rooms, and making quick escapes to the lake, we managed to put together a great end of summer show. We all crawled out of our studios to help clean and hang the work alongside Kristina and Mareika (interns of LIA) without any air-conditioning in a room I have now re-named “the easy bake oven”.
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| Tim is a master mopper, you should see his happy wiggle dance while he does this |
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One of the few precious fans that help relieve us
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| Alicia setting up her studio |
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| Kristina curating the show |
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Cold beer and salad break with Barbara
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| Last minute touch ups |
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Shoeless Tim
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After the set up, all of the artists from LIA headed for dinner with Anna where she described to us her first experiences in Leipzig here at the Spinnerei and how she came to start the LIA program. Following this we opened our doors to start the show at seven o’clock where Anna caught us off guard with the amount of patrons who showed up and turned the spotlight on us to say a few words about our work.
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Anna speaking about Kevin’s portrait of Tim
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| Alicia speaking about the differences in hair culture in Jamaica compared to Germany |
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| Pretty much the theme of our time spent here |
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| LIA guests |
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| Our girl Hannah, she was the intern here last year |
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| Prost! |
See you on the other side very soon!
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On May 31, four Academy students arrived in Leipzig, Germany, to start a two-month residency hosted by the Leipzig International Art Programme. Alicia Brown, Tim Buckley, Krista Smith and Shangkai (Kevin) Yu (all members of the class of 2014) will share their experiences here throughout the summer!
Cospudener & The Bauhaus: Leipzig Residency, Part 5
By Shangkai (Kevin) Yu (MFA 2014)
It is my feeling that it would be important to make a post
that reflects our time here accurately. Beer drinking, sausage eating, lake
swimming, grass and beach napping, museum visiting, and painting are our life
in Leipzig.
Before going on to the museums and general art talk, here
are two pictures that sum up our leisure time:
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| Tim sleeping on the grass at Cospudener Lake |
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View of the canal on our bike ride home from the lake.
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In the past two weeks, the two most memorable things for me were the visits to Das Bauhaus in Dessau and the Museum der bildenden KünsteLeipzig.
I am going to dispense with the description of the Bauhaus
architecture we saw in Dessau, and just have the following three photos sum up
our visual experience there.
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Another view of the Bauhaus building.
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| One of the Masters’ Houses built for the instructors, which include Walter Gropius, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. |
The highlight of the day at Bauhaus for me was not really the architecture that seemed all too familiar to us by now, but the original documents of the institution on display in the exhibition space.
Among them was Walter Gropius’s “Lehrschema, 1922” (instructive schematic):
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This is the original German version of the Lehrschema
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Here is the English version of the schematic.
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Having been to two different towns outside of Leipzig for
art sightseeing, Tim and I finally, in the third quarter of our stay here, went
to see our local Musem der bildenden Künste Leipzig.
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A sculpture by Neo Rauch in the Musem der bildenden Künste
Leipzig.
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The gem of the day at the museum for me had to be one of Werner Tübke’s paintings “Chilenisches Requiem.”
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“Chilenisches Requiem” by Werner Tübke
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The surface of the painting took me by surprise. Tübke chose to describe most things in this painting with the exact same technique. Viewing the painting at an arm’s length, this decision creates a strange effect, where the flesh transitions seamlessly into the garment, the pebbles into flesh, and the mountain range into the tree trunk. Everything in the painting seems be frozen.
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A detail shot of the painting, taken by Tim Buckley
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Both Tim and I had difficulties deciphering the technique Tübke used in this piece. The scintillating texture on the forms seems at once strangely familiar and foreign to me. By chance I spotted the texture of the orange rind in a Dutch still life painting, and found the likely source of this peculiar form description in Tübke’s painting.
There are only eight days left till our final show here at LIA. We have decided to buckle down in our studios for the time being, and hopefully we would be able to channel some of the inspirations we got from seeing the many incredible paintings in the museums.
On May 31, four Academy students arrived in Leipzig, Germany, to start a two-month residency hosted by the Leipzig International Art Programme. Alicia Brown, Tim Buckley, Krista Smith and Shangkai (Kevin) Yu (all members of the class of 2014) will share their experiences here throughout the summer!
The Leipzig Residency is--as we would say in Jamaica--‘irie’ (great!): Leipzig Residency, Part 4
By Alicia Brown (MFA 2014)
It has been 34 days since we entered the gates of the Spinnerei, and every day from that moment has been a pinch-me experience. Waking up in the mornings to the sound of Neo Rauch working in his studio (located above the large studio space I share with Krista Smith) is definitely my alarm clock to start the day.
Studio Visits...
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I was pleased with the works on view at the museum. One of my favorites was an installation piece by internationally acclaimed artist Rosalie Gascoigne entitled Landscapes of Melancholy. Dedicated to Richard Wagner, Max Klinger and Karl May. The piece is an audiovisual, kinetic light installation; in the centre is a piano that plays the piano sonata no.3. The piano is kept in motion by kinetic actuators that are triggered via contact sensors when visitors walk on the floor that is covered with dark leaves made from spun rayon.
Happy (belated) Fourth of July from all of us in Leipzig!
It has been 34 days since we entered the gates of the Spinnerei, and every day from that moment has been a pinch-me experience. Waking up in the mornings to the sound of Neo Rauch working in his studio (located above the large studio space I share with Krista Smith) is definitely my alarm clock to start the day.
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| Talking to students from the international school in Leipzig about my work |
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Krista Smith talking to students from
the international school about her work
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Working in the large studio is rewarding, but at times we
just want to step outside and unwind, clear our heads and look at art. One of
the benefits of being in a residency at the Spinnerei is the fact that it is
home to a large artist community. Nestled within this large factory complex are
approximately 14 galleries and about a hundred studio spaces that are mostly
occupied by artists.
Gallery Visits in the
Spinnerei
On June 23, all the galleries opened their doors for a
tradition of Summer Exhibitions. The Spinnerie was abuzz with both local and
foreign visitors, including us from the Academy and Anna Roland (director of LIA
residency), who came from Berlin for the event.
On view at the Werkschau Gallery is the first exhibition in
Germany of paintings by British artist Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002). Robert is
a postwar British artist; his paintings are sociological inquiries in the lives
of what he has called "invisible people"--vagrants, addicts, the elderly and those
with disabilities. It was great to have the opportunity to see his works in
person. As I found out later after the opening from one of the assistants
involved in getting the show to Germany, this was the first time Robert’s work have been shown outside of London.
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The Painter with Mary in Newspaper Magi-fool’s hats, 1981
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Studio Visits...
In addition to our studio visits inside and outside the Spinnerai, we were surprised by a visit from the
mayor of Leipzig, who seemed very pleased when we mentioned that we were
students from New York Academy of Art.
More recently we visited the studio of artist Titus Shade. A former student of Neo Rauch, Titus creates paintings that merge flat geometric architectural shapes with three-dimensional organic forms such as clouds and trees. The juxtaposition with the flatness and illusion of form in his paintings is an interesting shift from the more figurative representation that is present in the works of other artists from the Leipzig school. Titus visited our studios as well.
More recently we visited the studio of artist Titus Shade. A former student of Neo Rauch, Titus creates paintings that merge flat geometric architectural shapes with three-dimensional organic forms such as clouds and trees. The juxtaposition with the flatness and illusion of form in his paintings is an interesting shift from the more figurative representation that is present in the works of other artists from the Leipzig school. Titus visited our studios as well.
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On our way to Titus Shade’s studio with
Tim Buckley,
Krista Smith, and Shangkai Kevin Yu.
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Titus Shade in his studio talking to us
about his work
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| Titus Shade and me in my studio |
Another artist who came to
visit our studio is German artist Sven Braun. Sven is a painter who also has
his studio in the Spinnerei.
Visit to Museum der Bildenden Kunste Leipzig
The Museum of Modern Art Leipzig is home to a collection of works by the forefathers of German art and younger artists who continue to work and live in Leipzig. Among the forefathers are Max Klinger, Richard Wagner, Max Beckmann and Werner Tubke to name a few. The modern collection was interestingly represented by a few young artists such as David Schnell and Martin Kobe. This, in my estimation, is quite an accomplishment for these young artists (and others who are not mention here).
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Krista smith, Sven Braun, Kristina (LIA)
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Visit to Museum der Bildenden Kunste Leipzig
The Museum of Modern Art Leipzig is home to a collection of works by the forefathers of German art and younger artists who continue to work and live in Leipzig. Among the forefathers are Max Klinger, Richard Wagner, Max Beckmann and Werner Tubke to name a few. The modern collection was interestingly represented by a few young artists such as David Schnell and Martin Kobe. This, in my estimation, is quite an accomplishment for these young artists (and others who are not mention here).
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I was pleased with the works on view at the museum. One of my favorites was an installation piece by internationally acclaimed artist Rosalie Gascoigne entitled Landscapes of Melancholy. Dedicated to Richard Wagner, Max Klinger and Karl May. The piece is an audiovisual, kinetic light installation; in the centre is a piano that plays the piano sonata no.3. The piano is kept in motion by kinetic actuators that are triggered via contact sensors when visitors walk on the floor that is covered with dark leaves made from spun rayon.
Happy (belated) Fourth of July from all of us in Leipzig!
On May 31, four Academy students arrived in Leipzig, Germany, to start a two-month residency hosted by the Leipzig International Art Programme. Alicia Brown, Tim Buckley, Krista Smith and Shangkai (Kevin) Yu (all members of the class of 2014) will share their experiences here throughout the summer!
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