John Murray classes week of March 3 2014

The best “Art Review” I’ve read in many years:

Greil Marcus in the March issue of ARTFORUM reviewing the Coen brother’s

“Inside Llewyn Davis”.

Marcus reveals the structure of art, experience and sincerity under the guise of a movie review. Digging into American folk music like a hungry Beatnik, he strips away the veneer of technique and slickness that has pervaded all art in the last 70 years and lays bare the beautiful bones of authentic expression.

Don’t miss this piece. I’ll make some copies for the classes, but look on-line and read it on your own. 

Or buy a copy of March ARTFORUM. Please.

ALSO; Wednesday classes will have a model next week.

See you next week, john

John Murray classes week of February 24, 2014

Snow cancellations, holidays and vacation week, the Winter term has felt fragmented to me.

Above is a painting of mine that feels about right for this period of time and below a poem on the same topic:

Chapter-What-the-Hell

Bleak day afternoon
a name for late winter
smattering of wan Sun
bare trees cold still
patches of snow dead
leaves
Even more the feel of death
struggle beneath the soil
the promise of ice after sunset
chill beauty of a blue treeline:

Stravinsky is the best resource for this
-John Murray   

Next week try an abstract painting and a poem
to help you through Winter.

See you next week, John.

John Murray classes week of February 10, 2014

We missed Wednesday classes on the 5th because of more damn snow!
So with the realization that we are maybe living in the Artic Circle, I thought that it would be appropriate to use an Inuit object to inspire us next week. Above is one of my favorite objects of all cultures: snow goggles carved from walrus bone by an unknown Inuit craftsman.
I first saw one of these 40 years ago in the New Bedford Whaling Museum and never forgot them.
Like a vintage Porsche or a Ferrari California coupe, these seem to me a profound solution to travel (in this case in blinding snow). Beautiful, personal and ingenious.
Try a minimal painting or plaster and paper assemblage, that takes its concept visually from these.
Don't forget my Winter Abstract/Figure/Landscape on Saturday the 8th from 1 to 6 pm.
See you next week, John.

John Murray classes week of February 3, 2014

The week of the figure.

This week is all about the figure in the studio:
Monday classes:
two performance artists, Regina Parkinson and Beth Liebowitz will visit both Monday classes and interact with artists.
All classes are welcome to come and participate, they will arrive at 11 am and work with artists until 2:30 pm.
Think Yves Kline with a feminist mind:

Wednesday (Feb. 5) classes will have a model all day.

Bring plenty of canvases and paper.

Saturday February 8 is my Winter Figure/Landscape workshop!

GREAT WEEK TO DEVELOP YOUR FIGURE WORK .

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.  JOhn

John Murray classes week of January 27, 2014

Art making , mark making week.
My friend and coworker, Bill St George called me the other day to tell me about an article
in the December issue of Vanity Fair called "Who is the worlds greatest living artist?".
Among those ambitious and talented people was Richard Serra.
The above picture of Serra making one of his signature black oil stick drawings answered a question that has long puzzled me: how did he do it?...get that impasto, thick, incredibly rich, black circle without a sense of filling in...without the gesture of the hand.
The Vanity Fair photo shows how:
he cut a semi-circular wooden shape with a handle attached to ease picking it up and moving it, and ground, mashed, squashed  the oil stick into the paper with his feet with the wooden semi circle defining and controlling the edge. The photo also shows some of these finished drawings on the wall behind the smiling, dancing artist.
Great postmodern art requires extreme originality.
let's see what we can come up with in our own art next week.
I mean in terms of approach/process.
See you next week. John.

John Murray classes week of January 20, 2014

No classes on Monday the 20th...Martin Luther King day.

For Wednesday the 22nd., please continue with your personal approaches to painting.

Dr. King was one of my heroes, even though I usually suspect religious people, his amazing courage in the face of almost certain death was truly inspiring to me as a young man.

See you Wednesday.
John.

John Murray classes week of January 13, 2014

January Thaw Project

Next week try a painting/assemblage/drawing/print or sculpture that considers the return to warmth after the last few weeks of freezing weather.

Any media. Any form.

But also try and remember:

"Art is an investigation into its own possibilities"

See you next week, John.