Helen Hardin

Helen Hardin  or Tsa-sah-wee-eh, "Little Standing Spruce"

 May 28, 1943 – June 9, 1984



Helen Hardin





Changing Woman part of The Women Series



Helen Hardin, Bird, Oil on Board, 18" x 13"



                                                                  

Listening woman, part of the Women Series

A quote by Helen about the above painting - "Listening Woman is the woman I am only becoming now. She's the speaker, she's the person who's more objective, the listener and the compassionate person."

 Medicine Woman, part of the woman series created during her illness



Metamorphasis



 Helen Hardin, Blue Corn Maiden, Acrylic on Panel, 10" x 6"




Helen Hardin, Mimbres Fish, circa 1983, Acrylic on Panel, 9" x 9"

 



                              

Changing Woman, Life and Art of Helen Hardin
Biography



Pablita Velarde, Helen Hardin's mother, who was also a well know artist. However, she was never as famous as her daughter in the art world.

Old Father Story Teller, Pablita Velarde
Very traditional depiction of Native American culture. A contrast to Helen's cubism style

Pablita Velarde



Helen and her daughter Margaret







Margaret Bagshaw, Messages
Margaret is Helen's daughter who is also an artist. She has a gallery called the Golden Dawn Gallery showing the works of her mother, grandmother and her own works







Fun with Japanes Prints

I've always been a fan of Japanese prints. They are simple yet incredibly complex at the same time. They are simple in that the blocks of color are bold and the images and their message pretty straight forward. However all the work that went into creating them makes them incredible complex. Making the prints was a group effort requiring precision and editing by all involved.

Buntsu, Cherry Blossoms 1960

To create a print the artist would initially create a painting and would then have to translate the painting into a way of printing many copies of it. If the painter would try to paint the same painting over and over, it would most likely turn out different each time. However, creating prints ensured exact replication.  By creating prints, the artist would be able to have his work seen and owned by many.

Yoshu Chikanobu

A Lady in Waiting Hands The Noh Mask to an Actor in The Chiyoda Palace, 1895

The print by Chikanobu, shown above, shows how complex the prints can be. Each block had its own color and had to be lined up exactly to create the replica perfectly. If only one block and color were off, even just the slightest, the entire painting would be ruined. This was all done before computers and modern technology. It is just amazing to see how exact each artist and block maker had to be in order to create each print. The prints are even more stunning than an actual painting once you realize all the work that went into its creation.

Collage Art

I really enjoy collage art because of the interesting ways things that are separate and have nothing to do with one another can come together to make an interesting single peice. When you look at a collage, you can see the big picture but you can also see cool stories and smaller works of art in the smaller peices making up the big picture.
This collage is by Romare Bearden and is entitled Mysteries. The different angles and faces create an almost alien like being. The peices come together in almost a natural way but remain slightly mismatched to create interest in the peice.
This type of graphic collage art is my favorite. I love how the individual tiny peices create shadow and color blocks in the piece. I love the ones that are made up of hundreds of photos to create one larger image. The time and effort that goes into these peices to create the perfect color and scheme is amazing.
The photo is made up of hundreds of smaller images to create a picture with some what of a Monet quality to it. It's fun and interesting even though it may be considered a bit cheezy, I still like it a lot.

The Obama collage is pretty interesting and also delivers a strong politcal message without any words or offensive images.

Campus Art Field Trip

Walking around campus last Tuesday evening was a lot of fun. On a scavanger hunt for artistic happenings in cement and iron campus was pretty cool. There was a lot more beauty and "art works" than I expected to find.

My personal favorite was the tire tracks on the sidewalk with the slash going through it. It was bold and told a story that had feeling behind it. Those tracks weren't made on purpose and most likely could not have been created to look as cool on purpose. Knowing that the tracks were made by cop cars made the art work even more bold.

I also liked the rock tree near the art building. I walked by it a few times the past year and I would notice changes in it, but never gave it much thought. But after seeing it up close and talking about it, I see that there are actually more stones on the iron portion of the tree than before. I'm not sure why there are, but there are definately a few more added since last semester. I wonder if a stone is added with each graduating class? Maybe a continuing sculpture that will be full of rocks and stones in a few years. Pretty cool.

Kathe Kollwitz

Kathe Kollwitz's work is very haunting and bold. Her work captures the emotion of her subjects with such realism that one can almost feel the pain and suffering radiating off the pages.

She sufferred many tragedies in her life, including the death of her son, grandson and younger brother. These deaths seemed to have definately had an impact on her work as it is usually the subject of her drawings and prints.
In this drawing, she is showing a happy moment between mother and child, rather than horrifying and sad moments as she would usually create. The happiness seems almost fake and does not have as much impact as her drawings portraying a darker subject. Did she intend to make the feelings of the above drawing fake? Or did her feelings of fear about death have a greater impact on her psyche and thus make her drawings about death more prominent?
Here in The Sacrifice, a mother appears to be sacrificing her child. Given the time it was painted, she may have been referencing the sacrafice of her children to war.
As a mother myself, the thought of loosing a child is my worst nightmare and biggest fear. I can see how the worry of Kathe Kollwitz over loosing her children and seeing the impact the loss of a child has on a family influenced her work.

French Graffitti Artist Bansky

The pioneer french graffitti artist Bansky has done some amazing work. While I do not condone defacing public property, I do enjoy his work.  His impromptu use of existing common objects and fixtures in the environment is witty and comical. There is also a message ingrained in his artwork that speaks volumes without being openly or so "in your face" as other graffitti messages. The satire and dark humor in his work is brilliant and so well executed, that it is sometimes difficult to be offended by it.

He started off making small rats stensils along the buildings in Paris and from there began creating more intriquete and larger stensil paintings.
His paintings were usually directly corelated with an issue pertaining to the building or area he created them on. This one for example is on a Sexual Health Building. The art work was not deamed offensive and the public enjoyed and supported it, so it was not removed. It's a very cheeking message and a bit commical portrayal of a serious message. It definately gets ones attention.
 This painting is near Bethlehelm, which is a stark contrast to what life is like for children there. The choice of art and where he chooses to create is what demonstrates his messages so well.

Graffitti vs. Artistic Expression

I enjoyed the movie Bomb It watched in class the other night. It really offerred some insight to the culture of Taggers and Graffitti artists.
In my opinion, tagging is vandalism. Graffitti art that is commissioned or desired on a piece of property is art. While art has always been considered controversial, I don't think vandalizing someone's property is ever ok. This image of graffitti is actually pretty cool. I like how the stairs look like they are actually floating across the platform. However, someone is going to have to clean this off the subway platform which will be using tax payers funds. Those funds could definately be going towards something more useful to the public than cleaning up someone's artistic expression.

There are some really offensive tags written in public places. Also, tagging is usually connected to gang activity and crime. There is a big difference between artstic expression and pure vandalism.

Last week traffic was backed up on Katella because the right lane needed to be closed while the graffitti clean up crew worked on removing some tagging on a wall. What a waste of time for all of us commuters. I'm sure the tagger was enjoying the mess he created, which is part of the rush of tagging.