University Art - Newsletter

The Community Artist

University Art Newsletter Vol. 6 Issue 5, May 2007

ART ORGANIZATIONS SPOTLIGHT

Just in time for the Avartfest, we make a visit to The Alliance of Visual Artists. AVA, as it is more commonly known, has been promoting the Arts in the South Bay for many years now. They sponsor a huge annual art show at the Triton Museum of Art every year, the previously mentioned AVARTFEST. In each of the last four years this juried fine arts show has attracted over 200 artists from all over the Bay Area. The show is the first weekend in June each year (this year June 2 &3) , has free admission and parking, and features food, art and music the entire weekend. For more details try the website at www.avartfest.org. Don’t miss it!!!

COMING SOON

Bob Semans,
Fundamentals of Drawing
University Art Center San Jose.
Monday Mornings 9:30-12:30.
Call (408) 377-8562 for details

Triton Museum of Art
Claire Verbiest
New Works,
and
Louis Gutierrez,
Passion, Evolution, Liberation.
5/1 – 6/30
1505 Warburton Avenue Santa Clara, visit
www.tritonmuseum.org

Joyce Faulkner Workshop
6/18-6/22
Hoover Theatre rooms A & B
1635 Park Avenue San Jose
for more details try:
www.scvws.org

TRIVIA AND STUFF JUST FOR FUN

May Apple or American Mandrake, is a common plant in the North Eastern United States. Some of the plants bear only one large leaf, some have two, the ones with two can blossom showy yellowish flowers with six to nine petals. This odd plant can also bear acidic sour/sweet fruit and the large bulbous root has been an American Indian medicinal remedy for centuries. Botanists and Horticulturalists also use the plant to affect mutations in other plants. Overdosing on Mandrake can be extremely painful and even lethal.

ASK BRAMSCHANDOZ

Q: How is an oil pastel different from an oil bar ?

A: Oil bars are artist’s pigments and linseed oil mixed into a solid or stick form and they used to be very popular. They could be laid down on board or canvas, thinned with mineral spirits, and stored easier and cleaner than tubes. One major drawback to oil bars is that they would continue to dry out over time (just like oil paint) and essentially become useless before you had the chance to use it all. Oil pastels on the other hand have a non- hardening chemical added to them so that they remain soft and buttery. They also tend to be a lot smaller than oil bars. An exception is the “Grand” line of oil pastels by Sennelier, oil bar sized, giant oil pastels; the best of both worlds if you will. I hope that helps you out.

JEFF'S TIPS

This month I have a real basic tip for all of you who stretch your own canvas: leave enough room around the outside of the image to do the stretch. Many artists simply do not leave enough blank canvas around the edge which causes them to stretch into the image a bit. Unfortunately this can cause the pigment to crack where it is stretched over the bar. In some cases, those crack can expand and travel right across the canvas ( just like a crack in a windshield); the paint can even fall off!!!

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