Experimental Collaboration  and Interaction with fellow Albuquerque artists

Betsy Greenlee                                                         Leila Hall

Gaye Garrison (& Dan too)

   Jaci Fisher

Fred Yost

Jeanine Allen 

  Elaine  Scott

                                     Jeff Potter      

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Experimental Collaboration  and Interaction with fellow Albuquerque artists

Begun in the Spring of 2007, we (Betsy Greenlee, Fred Yost, Jaci Fisher, Leila Hall, Jeanine Allen, Elaine Scott, Gaye Garrison and Jeff Potter) were inspired by previous artist/ writer collaborations, most notably the "Scribes Eight" and we strive to explore artistic genres we generally have not thought about attempting.  Abstract art came to mind and we chose to meet every six weeks and share our individual efforts at "making" abstract art from a commonly agreed "project" scope discussed at the previous meeting.  Herein describes our journey.

Below is a chronological listing of web pages made from our past meetings. 

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Previous - 4-28-07 Art Group meeting

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Previous - 8-26-07 meeting

Previous - October & November 2007 Meetings

Previous - January 13, 2008 meeting

Current - March 9, 2008 meeting

Project - choose any animal and create and series of progressive steps towards abstraction of the animal form.

Elaine Scott Project     Elaine's notes (3-9-08):  "I chose His Master's Voice as the famous painting as the basis for my painting towards abstraction.
Looking at some of the names you proposed for the group I identified with the term 'distraction' as it seemed my path to abstraction came by way of distraction!
Being unsure of which direction to take I experimented in several different directions. The result is that I did not follow one path but took several paths toward abstraction.  I struggled to break away from the original form and yet keep some dimensions, especially with shadows. My first attempts were using dark shadows and similar colors but then I broke from that by using white as the shadow areas and using what seemed to me to be unexpected colors. I think number 7 came closest and yet feel I could have taken it further into abstraction."

Elaine Scott images 1 - 7

Gaye Garrison Project     Gaye's notes (3-9-08):  ""

Gaye Garrison

Fred Yost Project 3-9-08  Fred's Notes "Fred’s Elephant - Whereas this was an assignment that I provided I felt that I totally failed to reach a successful abstracted image. The assignment was to take an image (well known or not) and transform it to abstraction in one or more steps. I started with Rembrandt's drawing of an elephant. First, I attempted to repeat the image without too much copying. Then I began to see masses and emphasize those. The masses then began to separate, at least in my mind, so I followed that path. However, no matter what treatment I chose to follow up on I never got beyond separate parts of the elephant. While I had plenty of time to choose other paths to an abstract image I never got the energy or the inspiration.

Fred Yost 1 - 3

ii Fred Yost 4 - 6

  Fred Yost 7

Jaci Fisher Project 3-9-08  Jaci's notes: " Jaci’s Rhinoceros - Our latest project was to take an animal drawing or painting by a famous artist and redraw or repaint the image, then in several steps abstract that image more and more . I selected Albrecht Durer's rhinoceros print, redrew it in graphite and then in the following images added color and simplified the rhino image as well as the writing just above the original image and the line delineating the ground. My abstracting steps were subtle in the next three sequential images - generally less and less line and more subtleties in colors, but the image of the rhino remained fairly realistic. In the final piece, I worked to make the rhino abstract, but still retaining the image or feel of the animal. The final drawing is bold scratchy lines that trace only what I thought were the most important lines of drawing and the rhino and then added color in the abstract blocks and shapes that emerged. In general the drawings seemed to work - although the steps to abstraction seemed more difficult than I expected or what I was willing to do at first. I hung on to that rhino image too long before it was totally abstracted. Even the final drawing should have another final abstract step to truly evolve to an abstract piece. This process has opened up for me other drawing possibilities for the future - not so much in that very abstract image, but in the abstraction of color and line."

Jaci Fisher 1 - 3

Jaci Fisher 4 - 6

Leila Hall  project 3-9-08  Leila's Notes: "My bulldog's shape was irresistible; I couldn't really get away from it, so got a bit exuberant with gold and silver pastels to accentuate her brindle coat, and then wrapped her in gold ribbon. The constellation was a silly departure from the rest."

  Golden Bulldog         The Small Dog Constellation

  Dog Abstract         Gold Ribbon Dog
 

Betsy Greenlee  project 3-9-08
     Betsy's Notes (3-9-08)  "

  I decided to use cats for my subject, since their forms are so graceful. The first image is a rather tight, quite realistic line drawing using markers. I did several more drawings of cats in various poses using charcoal, which gave a looser, more gestural effect, but they were still essentially representational."

Betsy Greenlee IMAGE-1 

"This was an attempt to capture the graceful forms in a more generalized, more abstract way, though it is still obviously a drawing of a cat. I used oil pastels on cold press watercolor paper."

Betsy Greenlee IMAGE-2

"This drawing was inspired by Jasper Johns's Gray Drawings Series, in which he uses numerals as his point of departure and then obscures them by repeatedly erasing and redrawing until the original subject matter is nearly lost. I used charcoal and pastel on Rives BFK printmaking paper."

Betsy Greenlee IMAGE-3

This was another attempt at the same idea, using pastels on Wallis paper. At one time there were three or four other cat silhouettes which gradually became lost in the layers of pigment. Because I find it just about impossible to lose the subject matter entirely, my next thought is to isolate a section of this, as we did in an earlier project, and see if I can make it completely nonobjective."

Betsy Greenlee IMAGE-4

Jeff Potter Project 3-9-08 Jeff's notes (3-9-08):  "I thought that capturing a large bird in several positions of motion would lend more to the possibilities of lines, shape and kinetic motion that might give me more ideas for abstraction.  Thus, I started with a recent wood cut print I had done of three Sandhill Cranes silhouetted against the backdrop of the Bosque del Apache NWR - IMAGE 1.  This graceful birds in flight seem to appear awkward as they become terrestrial and also are known for their choreographed mating dances.  I decided to keep my sketches simple with just black felt tip pens on white paper.  IMAGES 2 & 2B shows the steps whereby I sought dominant lines and shapes.  IMAGE-3 then incorporated color to enhance a kinetic energy to the abstracted shapes I felt conveyed the bird forms and motions.  It was done with Oil Pastel on Strathmore Bristol Board."

Jeff Potter IMAGE-1

    Jeff Potter IMAGES- 2, 2B

   Jeff Potter IMAGE-3

 Our next project is to choose any human architecturally-designed  structure such as a building or bridge and create an abstraction.    Next meeting is Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 1 PM.

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