Creative Inspiration 

Over Father’s Day weekend, Pasadena, California, set the Guinness World Record for the Largest Display of Chalk Pavement Art during its 18th annual chalk festival. More than 600 artists worked together to create 179 chalk murals on a background of cement. The street-fair attracted more than 100,000 visitors who looked on as artists made use of 38,000 sticks of pastel chalk.

As someone who only thinks of jumping through a sidewalk with Mary Poppins when chalk art is mentioned, I was intrigued by this event. Is chalk art really that popular and what are people doing with it? After a little online research I was surprised to find so many artists who use chalk as their medium of choice.

One artist in particular grabbed my attention: Julian Beever. He has become famous for his artwork, which appears to jump out of the sidewalk at you, or descend beneath your feet. Photographs taken of people interacting with his work make the drawings appear to be three-dimensional. From one side, his creations look like stretched out drawings, but when viewed from the correct angle—it’s magic. Sidewalks all over the world have served as canvases for Beever’s work.



Julian Beever’s Swimming-Pool in the High Street.
Go to  http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm to see more.

 

Other street artists use 3-D effects as well. Tracy Lee Stum, who holds the record for the largest street painting by an individual, often does commissioned works for advertisers, events, and other sectors. To see some samples of her work, go to www.tracyleestum.com.

Salt Lake City, Utah, also held its annual Chalk Art Festival last weekend, with more than 100 artists and 20,000 visitors. If you want to attend one of these events there will be many more this summer. Check your local listings and remember to bring a camera!

Across the country, the art community is reacting to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by rendering clever and sobering images reflecting the state of the Gulf’s environment.

A gallery in the New Orleans Art District aims to aid the Gulf with money raised at its fundraiser from June 17-19. The exhibition will feature the work of 25 Louisiana artists reacting to the spill. The art will remain on display throughout the summer.

High school students in Moorestown, New Jersey, are collecting donations through art as well. They painted a whimsical mobile mural and then covered it with hundreds of oil drop-shaped pieces of paper. They remove one droplet for every dollar donated.

Other art forms are being employed to create awareness as well. Students at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts wrote and performed a play titled “Da’ Spill.” Characters acted out included a pelican, President Barack Obama, a fisherman, and a BP executive.

Many artists are simply venting their frustrations with the spill through the Huffington Post blog, which is currently featuring spill-related art. Some of the art from this site is shown below. Click on the following link to see how other artists are seeing this tragedy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/13/anti-bp-art-the-best-visu_n_609660.html#s99401

 

This print by Krista Jurisich will be on display at the New Orleans fundraiser. Photo Courtesy Jonathan Ferrara Gallery.

 

 

Like most writers/editors, I have a deep love of language. And since English is my first—and sadly, only—language, this love is for my native vernacular. So one of the first things I do when I start my day is read Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day, which, true to its word (no pun intended), is faithfully delivered to my email inbox every morning.

Now, I would love to say that I’ve mastered the art of using every unfamiliar word that M-W sends my way, but this is far from the case. For one, using new words competently takes practice. I don’t go to many parties where I might potentially dazzle new acquaintances with my command of the language; my family gives me a hard enough time about the words I already use in my daily discourse; and the dog doesn’t seem to care whether I tell her she looks “slovenly” when she tramples through the bushes or “ambrosial” when she’s sleeping. In fact, I’m forced to bribe her with a biscuit just so she’ll sit long enough to listen to me impress myself. So, when I’m actually able to use a new word in my vocabulary, I get pretty excited.  

Take, for example, the word “fugleman.” According to Merriam-Webster.com, fugleman (pronounced FYOO-gul-mun) means “one at the head or forefront of a group or movement.” This word has been idling in my inbox for weeks now, just begging to be borrowed. And, by golly, I think I’ve finally found an occasion to use it.  

As a writer/editor, few things are better than to have a network of friends who also are writers, editors, and fellow word geeks. But as a writer/editor for an art-book publishing company, it’s professional nirvana when a writer/editor friend is also married to an up-and-coming artist, or, in my opinion, a sort of fugleman.

The fugleman of which I speak is Mark Mendez: a young, extremely gifted artist whose thought-provoking works are especially compelling for their socially, globally, and environmentally relevant messages. Although Mark has previously had his works on display in other forums, he just wrapped his first “real” show at the Hibbleton Gallery in downtown Fullerton, California, where he exhibited with fellow artists Camilo Bejarano, Chris Leavens, and wotto. The joint exhibit, titled “01100011 0110111,” featured a dynamic presentation of all-digital artwork that was nothing short of a kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes.

In keeping with the exhibit’s theme, Mark created all of his images digitally and then had them printed onto what are essentially giant stickers; he then adhered the images to cuts of wood that he treated, sanded, and stained. “I mostly work on wood because I love vinyl [records],” Mark says. “Vinyl has so much of a warmer feeling than a CD or Mp3. I feel the same about wood. I felt that the contrast between a newer, digital medium and presenting [the images] on something as old as the earth itself would have a great impact.”

Impact indeed. For in addition to integrating wood into the work, the art reads like the front page of a newspaper, with revealing headlines of the oft unpleasant though truthful stories of global concern we aren’t always so sure we want to hear.     
    
“Social and global issues have been a huge part of my life for quite awhile now,” Mark says. “The passion I have…has allowed me to create art that can be just as thought provoking as it is enjoyable to look at.” But irrespective of his personal convictions, Mark believes his art can mean “something different to everyone.”



Whether one agrees or disagrees with Mark’s artistic statements about the conflict-diamond trade in Africa, the war in Iraq, or the corporate machinations of big oil companies, for example, it cannot be denied that his art packs a powerful punch. And I have a hunch he’s on the cusp of something huge. Not because he’s the first artist to weave his moral convictions into the fabric of his work, but because of both his attitude and the artistic methods he employs.

First, he’s humble almost to a fault. “I wasn’t worried about selling my work,” he says of the Hibbleton show. “I was more afraid people wouldn’t like and/or get my work.” Second, his art is neither pretentious nor gratuitously esoteric—a lead some other artists of his generation could stand to follow. “I work in flat, normally one-color iconography,” he says. It is, in fact, the understated nature of Mark’s style that not only gives his work its integrity, but adds to its greater significance. And this is what puts Mark Mendez at the forefront of a new generation of socially conscious artists. He is an artistic fugleman.

And for a first show, he didn’t do too poorly, either. “I sold six pieces,” he says.  



Mark Mendez
http://markerarts.com
mark@markerarts.com

Hibbleton Gallery  
112 West Wilshire Avenue
Fullerton, CA 92832
www.hibbleton.com

Many years ago, long before the Internet and Google ever existed, I bought Walter Foster books. They are fascinating  instructional materials for student painters and art enthusiasts as well.  Photographs of oil on canvass come in whole pages of 10” x 14” size so you can actually see the texture of the brush strokes and palette knives. I regarded the photos and the personal notes of the artists as priceless treasures.

I would look at those photographs and just fall in love with them – particularly on still life with floral subjects.  There was this one edition authored by an American female artist who picked fresh roses, arranged them on a vase and quickly painted them before the petals wither.  I do not remember her name anymore. I reproduced one of her works. I did my best to copy it down to the last detail. There  was a drop of water on the white petal but when I restored the painting a decade later, I have forgotten to put it back.  The one below is my very first oil painting done more than twenty years ago and still hangs in my family’s ancestral home.



From another Walter Foster book is a painting of flowers that are of great similarity to Carnation cuttings.  The vase is a traditional glazed pot widely used in the Philippines.  I remember refining the details and strokes more than what is visible from the photograph. I also added more highlights and shadows to make it more vibrant. I made the painting as a gift of love to Severina Kasilag Francisco, a most beautiful person and fine lady greatly loved by all those who knew her.  My reproduction hanged in her living room for twelve years until she passed away in the year 2000.  It has been a witness to the many stories that have been shared in that living room. Still in its original wooden frame that I bought in 1988  at Bacolod City, the painting is now a memory lane by itself.



While looking for old magazines one day, I found a pile of canvass covered with dust. One of them had pencil sketches of a bouquet.  I remember wanting to paint it as a wedding present to my sister, Cristina. Shortly after the wedding, she would  live abroad with her husband. It was a busy time. I designed a fully beaded wedding gown for her which mother wonderfully put together.  The list of preparations never seem to end. While in the midst of all the chaos and excitement,  I got a job which included a lot of travel. It was a good time for everyone. We were all young, hopeful, and healthy.

The pencil sketch on canvass was done  just halfway from completion.  Maybe if I could find enough paint, I could spend the whole day to finish it. And I did.

Finally, I can show you an original fine art done with no photograph or reference to copy from. By instinct, I used an impressionist style.  I used less linseed for the opaque look and opted for palette knives and flat brushes. When completely dried up, I rubbed oil pastel (crayons) to add texture.

I like the challenge of reproduction because it takes some technical discipline to apply the same strokes and hues.  However,  doing an original piece gives me the freedom to experiment and do as I please.



I have mentioned to my family and friends that someday, when I retire, I would live in a small cottage surrounded by a bed of blooms throughout the year.  Let time stand still – I can paint for love the rest of my days.