John murray classes Wed. Jan. 19 and Mon. Jan 24

Happy New Year.
I have a model Wed. afternoon next week and also all day (both classes Mon. the 24th). I was unable to get a model for wed morning, so please be prepared to work from your sketchbook or imagination.
I will try to get a model for Wed. mornings.
See you next week. john.

John Murray Classes week of Dec.13, 2010

All classes:

This is the last week of the term, if you want to bring work for crit, please do.

Otherwise try a work based on the Winter Solstice, which is only a week away. Having the Sun at its lowest point on the horizon has always produced some strange human behavior (not the least of which is Christmas!). Try a painting, assemblage or sculpture that conveys the darkness of the days and nights this time of years or go in the opposite direction as the woman above did. See you next week, john.

John Murray Classes week of Dec.6, 2010

Identity: name and attitude:

try a few small (14"x20"?) paintings around your name, face or other identity ideas you have about yourself. Here are 2 of mine. One of the great things about making art is the opportunity it gives you to indulge and explore yourself in fresh and unique ways. Try different techniques:

transfer a photo of yourself, do a loose poured acrylic version of your name? See you next week. john.

John Murray classes week of Nov. 29, 2010

All classes:

Try a dead-pan holiday greeting-card painting or ironic decorative object.

Use the medium you're working in a

studied obvious way.

see you next week, john.

John Murray classes Monday Nov. 22

Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday classes only this week.
The NewArt Center is closed all day on wednesday.
Acrylic and Oil Workshop and Post Modern Assemblage:
try developing an image based on the Northeast American Indian. For instance, the Wampanoag people from their postmodern casinos back to Metacom and King Philips War to the tribal culture before European contact...
a tragic and fascinating history full of objects and carvings of great power.
see you Monday...john.

John Murray classes week of Nov. 15, 2010

All classes this week: Matisse again.

i can't get enough of this brillant artist, a constant inspiration to me.

His "French Window at Collioure" from 1915 is a redux of a 1905 painting, "Collioure", which is full of color and redolent with a rich range of floral and nautical Fauvism.

In this work he discards all romance and decorativeness for stark mystery and viewer participation. This work predates the Minimalist paintings of the late 1960's and 1970's by more than half a century.

Try taking a complex decorative recent piece you have done and strip it to its essence. See you next week, john.

John Murray classes week of Nov. 8, 2010

All classes:
Consider the psycholgical evidence
available to you in your work.
Not in content, but in the process of painting, drawing and assembling the work.
Witness this great Matisse picture, Portrait of Olga Merson from 1911:
here Matisse used layering, scraping, scumbling and bold line to reveal his
mental state and feelings about the subject, a woman with whom he had been in difficult relationship.
Try a work yourself, any subject or an abstraction and stay aware of the medium as language and signifier.
See you next week, john.