The Aesthetic Movement

IMAGE 2 TEAPOT: Teapot (American) - Manufactured by Chelsea Keramic Art Works - 1879-83 - Ceramic - 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkRebelling against Victorian materiality and modern industrialism (which often produced banal and repetitive machine-made designs of consumer products, Aesthetic artists placed a premium on quality craftsmanship in the creation of all art. Some even revived pre-industrial techniques in the process.

Aesthetic artists developed the adage "art for art's sake," divorcing art from its traditional obligation to convey a moral or socio-political message. Instead, they focused on exploring color, form, and composition in the pursuit of beauty.

They also maintained that art should not be confined to painting, sculpture, and architecture, but should be a part of everyday life. To this end, Aestheticism embraced not only what were once known as the "high" arts, but also ceramics, metalwork, fashion, furniture-making, and interior design.

It was during this time frame that the influence of Japanese art was most strongly felt, as seen in the piece featured here. Both its shape and the relief decoration embody the prevalent “Japonisme” of the era.

18th Century Gender Roles

Ruth Rogers - Embroidered Sampler - Embroidered silk on linen - 18 1/4 x 9 in. (46.4 x 22.9 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)

“In eighteenth-century America, a girl was expected to grow up, get married, have children, and take care of a home. Because of the limits of her sphere, a girl received a very different education from that available to a boy. Indeed, before the advent of public education in the mid-nineteenth century, in order to receive any education at all a boy or a girl had to be born into the middle or upper classes and have parents who valued education enough to pay for it. Usually, a boy would be taught traditional academic subjects, while a girl might be tutored in the barest rudiments of reading and arithmetic. Instead of academic studies, girls were usually sent to schools that taught an assortment of skills considered “female accomplishments”—music, watercolor painting, comportment, manners, and sewing.

As part of her preparation for the responsibility of sewing clothes and linens for her future family, most girls completed at least two samplers. The first, which might be undertaken when a girl was as young as five or six, was called a marking sampler.” (Met Museum)

Ruth Rogers produced the work featured here, at age 8, featuring Adam and Eve. It was made in Boston, Massachusetts.

The 2018 Living Art Event

The 2018 Living Art Event presented by Ossining Arts Council and Westchester Collaborative Theater will take place from March 2nd - March 24th.  The 2018 production of the highly acclaimed collaboration between Ossining Arts Council (OAC) and Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) will be held at the Steamer Co. Firehouse, 117 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Ossining, NY 10562. This is the fourth iteration of the Living Art Event. 

Docent-led tours will take place through the OAC gallery, full of artwork created by OAC members. When the tour, which runs approximately 90 minutes, reaches an artwork that inspired a WCT playwright, the short play based on that piece will be performed.

Plays this year include: The Bees Are Watching by C.J. Ehrlich; Friends by Choice by Howard Lipson; The Image of Women by Evelyn Mertens; The Loud Hours by Pat O'Neill; Mr. Green by Angelo Parra; and Clam Diggers and Mussel Suckers by Jane Ann Valentine. The ensemble of WCT actors includes: Enid Breis, Keith Bulluck, Michelle Daneshvar, Anne Glickman, Tom Lloyd, Sandy Oppedisano, Roberta G. Robinson, Dan Slavin and Jack Joseph Turell. 

Artworks included are by Keith Gordon, Judith Gordon, Liv Gus, Barbara Levine, Brynley Lazar, Margaret Zeitlin and more. There will also be an array of wonderful artworks featured in the OAC Steamer Firehouse Reception Area. 

Tickets are $20, discounts are available. The Thursday, March 15th performance is a special evening, Buy One Ticket Get One Free! No other discounts apply for this performance. Tickets for all dates are limited, so advanced purchase is highly recommended. Buy your tickets HERE. Access to the firehouse is via one flight of stairs. Elevator access is not available in this historic building.

Winter!

Bruce Crane - Winter Landscape - Watercolor and gouache on blue-gray wove paper - 10 7/8 x 18 11/16 in. (27.6 x 47.5 cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)American artist Bruce Crane (1857-1937) was born in New York City. He was educated in New York's public schools and was exposed to the city's galleries and museums by his father, himself an amateur painter.  By the age of seventeen, Crane had moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was employed as a draftsman by an architect and builder. 

He soon decided to devote his career to painting. In 1876 or 1877, he sought the guidance of the landscape painter Alexander H. Wyant (1836-1892), with whom he subsequently shared a close, lifelong friendship. Between 1878 and 1882, Crane attended the Art Students League in New York and traveled to Europe for further study.  In the United States during this period, he painted in New Jersey; East Hampton, Long Island; and the Adirondacks.

Donato Giancola: Fantasy Artist

Donato Giancola - Otherness - Cover for the novel Otherness by David Brin - 14” x 30" - Oil on Paper on Masonite - Collection of the artistAmerican illustrator Donato Giancola (born 1967) specializes in narrative realism with science fiction and fantasy content. He describes himself as a "classical-abstract-realist working with science fiction and fantasy".  He favorite artists include many of the old masters, along with such artists as Piet Mondrian. 

Giancola has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game and has been described as a cult hero among fantasy collectible card game players. In 2008, the Bennington Banner referred to Giancola as "...arguably the most popular and successful sci-fi/fantasy artist working today".

Although he hails from the state of Vermont, the artist currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife and family.