Visit #1 With my Artist Mentor, Daniela Rivera 

August 17th

I had the most wonderfully insightful first meeting with my artist mentor, Daniela Rivera on August 17th.  She gave me a plethora of information, things to consider and most importantly, candid feedback.  I am so excited to see where these new directions may lead me.

Daniela’s observations and questions...

The lack of shadow on Neema & lack of detail in the clothing, is reading as an erasure of identity.

• My intention was to leave the time and location ambiguous, but is it a problem that it is being read differently? 

Do these paintings need to be icons of particular children? Or representative of childhood in general?

Artists & Practices to research...

Russian Icons

- How are they built?

• How are they painted?

Abby Child [films]

Judith Black

Sally Mann

David Kelly

Glenn Ligon

Gerhard Richter [Atlas]

Marlene Dumass 

Kathe Kollwitz 

Alice Neel

Things to avoid & be aware of...

Cropping

• makes the use of the photograph more evident [more obviously mediated]
• disconnects the image from referencing the icon

Things to try...

Work from life, sketching quickly, and building a vocabulary of line

- school

• parks etc.

* use these life drawings as the impetus for painting

Center the figure [directly referencing the icon]

Erase not only the clothing, but the entire figure, refilling the form with a stand in, such as the pattern of the child's blanket etc. and/or create a painting completely void of the actual figure.

Collect images of children form advertising etc. [Gerhard Richter’s Atlas]

Experiment with size- either life size and/or miniature; push in either directions or both.

3 Areas of Focus & Experimentation Moving Forward

1. Portraiture
2. Icon
3. Works from Life

These areas may eventually overlap, or fall away, but in the meantime they should exist independently to see where each may lead.