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Peter Paul Rubens! (and HER)
Peter Paul Rubens was born on June 28, 1577 in Seigen, Westphalia. His father was a lawyer from Antwerp that was “banished” for having an affair with the wife of a powerful man, forcing the family to leave. When Rubens was 10, his father died and his mother took the family back to Antwerp. I…
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June Artist of the Month
I’m talking thicc boat this month, people. We’re exploring the life and art of none other than Peter Paul Rubens. Maybe you know his art for his Rubenesque women or maybe even the drama-filled Marie de Medici cycle. Did you know he was also a successful diplomat that spoke several languages and painted for some…
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Art Deco Prompts
Art. Deco. Prompts. When the idea hit me I thought it was brilliant! Then I asked myself what kind of masochist I really am… but that’s how it is with prompts. My poor little brain rides a rollercoaster every single time. In the end it was the perfect solution to the lack of a project…
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Tamara de Lempicka – There is Only What You Make
Let me start by saying the Tamara de Lempicka is a LOT. She has a riches to rags and back to riches story that took her from Poland to Paris to the United States; she went around the world several times and eventually ended up in – a volcano? Seriously, she did. She was…
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May Artist of the Month – Tamara de Lempicka
The May Artist of the Month is Tamara de Lempicka – a Polish artist that painted in the Art Deco style. I don’t know much about her or Art Deco, but I feel like I’ve seen her work before. After a few quick reads it was clear that she led a fascinating life that I…
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Does Op Art Need Shading?
So far this month we’ve explored the work of Op Art painter Bridget Riley. She spent decades exploring perception and the viewer’s gaze. Is that something I could even begin to touch in this quick project? I decided to keep it simple and do a project I remember from middle school. Only this time I…
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Bridget Riley: It’s Not Art Without the Viewer
Bridget Riley is our artist this month. She made major contributions to the Op Art movement in the 1960s. It’s a style that we all recognize, but what is it really? What is Op Art? Op Art is short for optical art. Considered an abstract style of art, it became popular in the 1960s. There’s…
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Op Art April
Have you been wondering when we’ll talk about an artist that’s still alive? Then April is your month! We’ll be taking a look at the life and art of Bridget Riley. She was a prominent artist in the Op Art movement of the 1960s, first exploring geometric patterns in black and white and then moving…
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Androgyny for the Gods
Instead of doing a biography, we’re talking androgyny today. Documentation on Michelangelo Buonarroti’s life and work is plentiful (seriously good reading), so we’re going to look at one of my favorite topics: Why do his women look so masculine? Three Examples of Michelangelo’s Women Night Michelangelo was commissioned to create sculptures for the Medici Chapel,…
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March Artist of the Month – Changed!
Originally I was going to write about Francisco Goya for the March Artist of the Month, but there was one problem (at least to me). We’ve spent the last two months in the late 19th and early 20th century and Goya’s work is only slightly earlier than that. We need to break at least a…
