Barry McGee: Graffiti AND Gallery Artist

Barry McGee is a contemporary painter and graffiti artist, who also often goes by the tag or name "Twist." He grew up in California tagging and doing graffiti, and eventually went to San Francisco to study art in college. Since graduating, he has become a successful artist, with shows in galleries and museums across America. Although McGee could easily go on, working only as a professional artist, he says:

"Whenever I do stuff indoors, I always feel like I have to do 110% more stuff outdoors to keep my street credibility. It's probably the audience that I'm most worried about, like the graffiti kids who are really doing stuff. And I'm always weird about how I sit in the eye of like, a 12 or a 13 year-old kid, like how do they think of me." He wants to know if those same kids think "Oh, that guy - he sold out."



This is a clip from a documentary about McGee and other artists called art:21. To watch the full episode, go to http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mcgee/

These are some of McGee's works:

McGee is an example of someone who has found a way to combine their street art with life as a professional artist. Do you think he has the best of both worlds? Or do you, like McGee, worry that he's "sold out"?

The wonders of stop motion animation

Sometimes a blog post can do no justice to the enthusiasm - the improvisational dances and giddy cheers - that accompanies the joy of discovering a new creative process. And certainly, for most of us, the concept of making our own stop motion animation was entirely new and enchanting. Our first tries are, well, awkward, raw, and full of inspiration (for us to do bigger and badder things). We kind of love them. In an obsessive we-can't-wait-to-make-more sort of way.

It is strange and intriguing to see almost anything -no matter how mundane or simply drawn - be transformed into the magical by taking a series of slightly altered stills and speeding them up.

The interrelationship between fine or two dimensional art and this new media is fascinating.

Rome and Burlington?

What do ancient Rome and 21st- century Burlington, Vermont have in common? More than you think.

Columns often help to support a building or structure, but they can serve a decorative purpose as well. Architects and builders in ancient Rome and Greece had three specific styles of columns and capitals (the uppermost part of a column) that they chose to use.

This picture highlights the capital.

The first of these capital styles is called the Doric Order. Doric columns are often wide and sturdy, and their capitals are round, but mostly plain. The massiveness of Doric architecture can often give building a stable, but heavy, appearance.

The second style is known as the Ionic Order. Ionic columns were more slender and tapered than Doric columns, and their capitals were more decorative. Often, an Ionic capital will have decorations that look like two scrolls coming out from the top - these are called volutes.


The last style is known as the Corinthian Order. Corinthian columns are usually even thinner than Ionic or Doric columns, and their capitals are highly decorated, and often incorporate leaves, flowers, or other plants. The Corinthian was considered the most ornate of the capital styles.

Often, architects chose one order of columns and capitals for the whole building. However, there are still some structures, such as the Colosseum in Rome, that were built using all three. If you look closely at this photo, you can see that the first level uses Doric capitals, the second uses Ionic, and the third uses Corinthian.

What does all of this have to do with Burlington? Well, every day you see buildings that were highly influenced by this kind of architecture, and you probably never think twice.

For example, the Lambda Iota fraternity house on Pearl St. uses Doric columns and capitals.


And the First Congregational Church on South Winooski St. has Ionic capitals on its main level, and Corinthian capitals in its steeple!



It's true - much has changed since ancient times. But in many ways, we are still looking at the same things Romans and Greeks did over two thousands years ago.

Monsters

Today we asked each other, should we paint?  Should we draw?  Instead we broke out a modern version of puffy paint - perfect for making window decals - a mix of the two mediums.  It was a blast!  We'll see how they come out - takes 24 hours to dry.  The theme was definitely monsters:

What Not to Do When Paper Marbling...

Okay, so I admit to a certain resistance on my part to reading directions. I mean, then you know where you're going, and, who likes that. This did color our paper marbling experience to some degree but it was still a blast if utterly (almost) unsuccessful. One bucket, some water, the colors of the rainbow, and a handful of excitable artists set the scene. First we just dropped some colors in and watched them spin in dizzy mystical patterns right to the bottom of the bucket (not what it's supposed to do). Ooh. Harry Potteresque? We loved the organic movement, the colors, but, well, the colors were kind of supposed to stay put on the surface of the water. That's when Faith, who had actually been reading the directions while I gave this ill-conceived demo, said we were supposed to touch the dye to our fingertips and touch the water. This technique yielded slightly better, but still woeful, results and most of us went back to squeezing random colors in the water to see the swirly patterns. This is when we first introduced paper into the paper marbling process and, well, you can see the results...

Not good. And, what's worse, it ruined our bath of beautiful colors and turned it into a muddy mess. Faith, undeterred, continued to read the directions.








Oil! Use a small amount of oil (What is this an Italian recipe? Where's the precision?) and add it to the water. Yes, brilliant, we thought, because oil sits on the surface of water and then our dyes, accurately dropped onto the oil beads, will also remain on the surface of the water.

No. I mean, it does have that cool, I dropped my pizza on this look, but come on, what were they thinking?

This went on. In the end we had a handful of entertaining/strange creations and a fiery determination to actually learn how to paper marble, or better yet, purchase the brand that actually works. Boku-Undo Innovative Marbling Dye - what's up? Your pointers and techniques failed us. I will have to resort to that busted up old box of marbling dyes in the print studio.

-Melissa

A Friend in Bead is a Friend Indeed

Today in the studio we made paper beads! BCA received a TON of donations for MLK day, and we used the wrapping paper to make beautiful beads! Paper beads are so easy to make! Check out this how-to video (by Mzuribeads)!

Take a look at our beading in action:

This is Faith wearing her necklace.

Glitter, Burgers, and Stop Motion Animation

Sparing a quick moment at my lonely cubicle, I wanted to share some of the highlights from our Youth Studio (which is 4 days old today!). 1. You can tear down homes to build burger joints. Fun and educational. Right upstairs from our studio, the Firehouse Gallery is in the midst of an awesome show called Game (Life). This show highlights indie video games and you can play them! The McDonald's game was the entertaining hit. Swing by the gallery (135 Church St, Burlington), or check out more info here: http://www.burlingtoncityarts.com/firehousegallery/

2. Stop motion animation rocks. We're hoping to do some of our own but check out this mind-blowing video if you want to be inspired/intimidated:


3. Glitter, music, and cat tails (and ears) were also a definite highlight. Hopefully there'll be more of that today!

4. Thank you August First, Mirabelles, City Market, Kiss the Cook, and Marianne for some good eats.

I've got to run so I can get some cubicle work done before running off to the studio. Cheers, Melissa