On Loneliness and Love By Max Blue, WTP Guest Writer One speaks often of the feeling of being alone in a crowd, but rarely of keeping company in solitude. Sometimes, I think my whole life has been a slow adjustment to an acute sense of alienation toward the world around me, an experience of having…
Category: on art
The Limits of Likeness
Art and Visual Processing By Carolyn Anderson, WTP Guest Writer In 1954 ethologist Niko Tinbergen noticed that herring gull chicks instinctively pecked at red spots on their parents’ bills to beg for food. At the time, the dominant idea in animal behavior was that learning was more important than instinct. Tinbergen argued that animals are…
The Traditional as Modernist Approach
Modernism in a Post-Modern Era By Martin Mugar, WTP Guest Writer There was a good deal of enthusiasm surrounding the late Andrew Forge’s exhibit this summer at the Betty Cuningham Gallery in New York City, but its title “The Limits of Sight” seemed mistaken. My first reaction was, whoever titled this show was making the…
The Healing Art of Pottery
“The pottery is my refuge.” By Kate Charlton-Jones, WTP Guest Writer There is intense joy and anticipation in opening a kiln that’s been firing and then cooling for twenty-four hours or more: you never know quite what you will find. Have all the pots made it through, without cracks and blemishes? How have the glazes…
The Painting and Its Frame
A New Perspective on Framed Art By Amy Nawrocki, WTP Guest Writer As an art lover, I like when I’m challenged to see something new. I like to think of myself as open-minded and open-eyed. But sometimes even the most enthusiastic viewer—never mind how knowledgeable she is—has to admit that the element she missed was…
Innocence in Art
“Innocence is the ground of art, its very foundation” By Martin Mugar, WTP Guest Writer Recently, one of my paintings was included in a curated show at an art center in Vermont. I had no great hopes for the work being purchased or written about, as it was too far from the art circles of…
Jodi Colella’s FiberLAB
Experimental Fiber Art Workshops By Jennifer Nelson, WTP Feature Writer A native of Massachusetts, Jodi Colella creates provocative, tactile artwork that often includes public participation and uses a broad range of materials. She has exhibited widely and has been featured in Huffpost Art & Culture, Artscope, The Boston Globe, Harvard Crimson, 500 Felt Objects, Boston…
An Anatomy Lesson
The Master’s “Mistake” By Rebecca McGraw Thaxton, M.D., WTP Guest Writer I am a general practitioner and my husband is a surgeon. One morning at breakfast I placed a picture of Rembrandt’s “Anatomy Lesson” in front of him and said, “What do you think?” His eyes went immediately to the dissected forearm, and he reflexively…
A Writer Learns From Wyeth
Andrew Wyeth Offers a Master Class in the Literary Arts By Beth Kephart Beth Kephart, a National Book Award finalist, teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of twenty-two books. A partner at Juncture Workshops, she has recently published the illustrated memoir workbook, Tell the Truth. Make It Matter. More about Beth,…
Environmental Painting as Landscape
“To simply paint a beautiful image to sell in a gallery, no longer satisfies.” By David D’Agostino See his work in WTP Vol. V #2 The natural landscape never extends beyond the immediate view of the observer. It is always framed, sometimes by a physical intervention like a window, but often by the more psychological design…
On Your Mark
“What habits, routines, and rituals do artists need before they begin work?” By Jean Eng A poet has this quirk where she will only write with black pens. If she finds one without a cap, she will seek another “whole” one, and if she suddenly realizes there’s a blue pen in her hand, poetic license…
Breaking Rules
“When does rule-breaking or rule-keeping become an asset or liability for the artist?” By Jean Eng While surfing the internet for information on an artist whose work I happened upon and liked, a glowing review of one show described her paintings as “unabashedly narrative.” Oh hello…The phrase made me pause, piqued my curiosity. It sounded…