John Murray classes week of October 28, 2013

Last week's found object challenge went well; above is what I did around a crushed piece of drain pipe and some burlap fabric.

Friday's Times had a great review by Blake Gopnik of a show at the Hirschorn Museum in DC of the Destruction Movement in art in the 60's and 70's.

I will see the show in November when I go to Washington... but the review mentioned a piece by Robert Rauschenberg, included in the show, that is his famous erased Dekooning drawing. 

This inspired next week assignment: I will setup a still life for you to paint draw or otherwise replicate and then ask you (or your neighbor) to destoy, erase or obscure in an interesting and graphic fashion.

See you next week, John.

John Murray classes week of October 21, 2013

Next week find an object (above is my flattened drain spout) and work from that piece in some way: paint it attach it, draw it, deconstruct it, photocopy, photograph  it, build an altar for it.

Picasso turned a bicycle seat into a bull's head!

See you next week, john.

John Murray classes week of Oct. 14, 2013

No class on Monday, the 14th, Columbus Day.
Remember that the native population dropped by 50% within a few years after European contact.

Wednesday classes please continue with work on previous assignments and your own experiments.

John Murray classes week of October, 7, 2013

Good work by all artists the last two weeks.
I loved the cardboard surface paintings and assemblages!
Let's keep the work rolling next week.
Find an older photo of yourself and deconstruct it in a painting, drawing, assemblage or combination of all mediums.
Likeness is not the point of this assignment...find a plastic approach and see if it leads to a higher truth about yourself and nostalgia for the past...sort of a Proustian exercise for painters/artists.

 See you next week. John.

John Murray classes week of September 30, 2013

Next week let's work on corrugated cardboard and see how that effects our vision.

A cheap and beautiful surface for experimental painting, many artists have used it with strong results.

Robert Rauschenberg's  work on cardboard used the material with logos, stamps and tape very unprocessed and fresh...others have applied paint, cut, folded and sprayed. 

What will you do? Please bring in boxes and pieces of any and all cardboard that you like.

Also, we will assemble the right-brain, non-dominant hand paintings and drawings that we did last week and see what was created and what we can make of it all. 

See you next week, john.

John Murray classes week of September 23, 2013

Second week of the Autumn Term!
Last week was exciting for me: new artists in class, fresh ideas and approaches.
NEXT WEEK: I would like to try a series of drawing/paintings on paper by every member of the class, which can be assembled into a single work the following week.
Every piece should be done with the artist's non-dominant hand!
Let's see what the collective unconscious of a class of artists looks like.

See you next week, john.

John Murray classes week of September 16, 2013

WELCOME TO OIL AND ACRYLIC WORKSHOP, POSTMODERN ASSEMBLAGE & PAINTING AND SUPERCHARGED PAINTING!

I appreciate your interest in my classes and passion for Art.

The Autumn 2013 term offers an opportunity to struggle with the daunting task of self-expression and plastic

investigation: you must have both to truly become an artist. If one had to ignore one of these however; I  would say skip the self -expression for awhile and pour yourself into material investigation. 

With that in mind I would like to offer an assignment for the first few classes: bring in a substance that you have never worked with before and see where it leads you (or doesn't).

See you next week, John