A view "through" - Brief Article - Column

Arts & Activities, June, 2002 by Geri Greenman

Oftentimes, when I get a serious bunch of painting students--those that are going on in art and the few that want to become art teachers--I like to have them examine the "everyday" and create art from the mundane.

It takes people with a unique vision to find beauty in images that aren't necessarily "picturesque." That's why choosing something that many might consider less-than-worthy of being subject matter for a painting is, in and of itself, a real challenge.

This semester's painters were terrific. They were on-task, willing to learn and up for experimentation. I also had four students who would be majoring in art education in college.

They had a few assignments working with oils, and really took to the medium beautifully. By completing the preliminary form-study, the students learned to move the paint around, apply it, mix color and clean up properly.

They did a great job on a very difficult assignment having to do with combining an under-painting with surface imagery. Waiting in the wings, following this assignment, was a practical final exam (and, in this course, a written final of painting terminology as well).

I hoped that looking at the works of "The Eight"--Robert Henri's Ashcan School of Art, the core of which comprised Sloan, Bellows, Luks and Glackens, as well as the works of Edward Hopper, one of my personal favorites, with his city streets and seemingly staged lighting that lends a "set-like" emptiness to his urban scenes--would encourage them to see something special in the ordinary.

We looked at how those artists painted their interpretation of urban realism, along with a less-than-romantic, unflattering pictorial of urbanization. No glorification here!

To serve as an example, I painted an old water tower, circa 1920s or `30s, with the too-bright green of a new expressway's overpass in front of it, along with the drooping telephone wires hanging from lopsided poles. It made for an almost sad statement of old versus new, and rural areas as opposed to urban.

The students didn't appear too excited about the subject, but I assured them that they would be able to find areas in town that would make a statement like that of Robert Henri's students. I challenged them to paint an urban scene looking through something--a window, door, through a hallway or down a street. I also encouraged them to add a little humanity in order to give their painting some life. Most students did add human interest, but several chose to do that in a very clever way by alluding to mankind through graffiti and other things people leave behind.

They used the up-and-coming weekend to draw sketches and take photographs of areas that were of interest to them. Several students combined areas and images; one used an abandoned factory for some very nice compositions.

Pleased with what they had accomplished, I gave them the go-ahead to continue. I had them tone down their painting ground (they worked on gessoed canvas), and then draw with their paintbrush rather than a pencil or charcoal. A few added local color, while most got right into painting alla prima.

They did a very nice job of taking the mundane and making it fine art. Many glorified the areas around town, and numerous passersby stopped to discuss the locations with the young artists. They looked and saw through to what lies beneath and makes where we live interesting and not so boring after all.

Geri Greenman is the head of the art department at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Ill., and is a Contributing Editor for Arts & Activities. Photographs by students, Elaine Jackson and Jen Cacioppo.