February 13, 2013

Cloudy and clearing early, now about half blue the rest thinning to the gauzy curtain stage.  At school this morning, I noticed there were a lot of crows out.  Here, don't usually see so many, they appear to be fairly solitary of come mostly in pairs, but this morning one of the bare trees across the road was festooned with crows, and they were very noisy.  When the students came in this morning, they had a LOT in common with the crows, about the noise level anyway.  They are working on cards in the style of one of their favorite artists.  It seems to require a lot of discussion.  I believe a lot of the kids only know one artist . . . Van Gogh.  Out of sixteen at least six are doing cards in the style of this artist . . . it should be interesting!  Last year it was Monet.  I'm surprised no one did Michelangelo, or Leonardo da Vinci, or even Georgia O'Keefe.  One student has a father who is an artist, and she chose to work in his style, and unusual choice but understandable.  It's always fascinating to see what they choose and how they approach doing cards in the style of their artist. 

Van Gogh painted two chairs:  one chair in the daylight, his chair, one in the night, Gaugain's. 

Two Chairs 

Your chair in the sunny day

the light everywhere bright and full

the straw of the seat, wood frame,

red tile and oceanic walls,

simple pleasures

rest and a pipe

a blue door to open

escape to beauty 

Gaugain's chair, dark and rich,

deep brown, with blue curves

brooding green seat

wide and comfortable

novels stacked up

candle and gaslight

no sunshine   no door

no escape here 

S. Crowson 

There are many ways to interpret any work of art.  When I look at these two paintings, I see they are as different as day and night, portraits of the artists, and their work.  Given the stormy relationship the two artists had you can still see it was important to Van Gogh, that he was trying to come to some understanding.  I don't know if he ever did, but the work was undoubtedly a way to make that relationship visible. 

I look forward to seeing how my students make their relationship with the artist and the art visible.

 

Now the clouds are vanished and the sky is full of light.  Too soon the dark will come, and still I will see Van Gogh lighting up the starry night!

 

See the two paintings at www.vggallery.com