Education

Not unlike the vast majority of OPA members, I displayed a talent in drawing and painting at a very young age. My earliest training comprised drawing from life, learning perspective, shading (value studies) and composition. All of which were based on fundamental principles necessary for artists who wish to depict the natural world. For almost four decades I painted the natural world in Alla Prima methods, however in the desire to broaden my knowledge and artistic skills, I enrolled at age 40 in a BFA program at the State University of New York. Once I was immersed into the studio program, I recognized that few of my fellow students had any comprehensive art training. More surprising was the realization that there were also art professors who lacked drawing skills and a fundamental ability in drawing from life. Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Photography Departments echoed a familiar instructional refrain, “Be free to express yourself.” Instruction stressed conception, not perception. I modified my work in order to comply with their modern vision for art but the BFA program only served to raise more questions. Namely why Modernism elicited such a strong emotion against academic training and the premise on which this new art movement was inspired.
The answers were forthcoming when I became a Graduate Art History student. The culmination of this two year research program resulted in my thesis. It was entitled “CHILDREN’S ART; an Analysis its Relation to Creative Expression within Twentieth-Century Art”. The following is merely a broad over-view, but it may help to shed light on the logic behind Modern Art and its various movements.
During the centuries preceding the Impressionist Movement young apprentices developed their artistic talents in guilds under the rigorous instruction of a Master Artisan. Academies opened and attracted greater numbers of artistically talented people, primarily men. This mass enrollment resulted in a highly competitive and politically influenced atmosphere.The societal climate during the mid 19th Century was evolving from a two-class system based on monarchies. Those in the church and wealthy landowners comprised the upper class while the masses of the working class poor made up the lower class. The 1848 revolution began with the overthrow of the French monarchy. This eventually resulted in a mindset that the art academies were corrupt and complicit with the suppression of the lower class. Thus the art academies lacked relevance in this new socio- political environment. Furthermore, with the rise of the Industrial Revolution people could earn a living wage and pursue opportunities previously unavailable to them. These opportunities meant that those who desired to pursue a career in the visual arts could do so and without the influence or restrictions of the state, church, or an art academy.
Many factors have provided the stimulus for the various Modern Art Movements. These factors included African Tribal Art, Freud and Jungian Psychoanalysis, Asian Culture, Revolutions, and Wars. For the purpose of this article my focus sheds light on children’s art, specifically from age two until the reasoning age of seven. At the start of the 20th Europe and America, educators were curious and explored the developmental processes of children, specifically why children identify with making marks vertically; due to their upright physical condition. Also why the circle is the first enclosed form they make; it represents a wide range of objects from Century in their environment, i.e. Sun, faces, and bodies.

The Modernists were not intent on copying children’s art. Rather to adopt many of the insights that child psychologists – such as Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist and philosopher – had uncovered in their research. Paul Klee looked to his three year old son’s drawings to influence his paintings. Jean Dubuffet felt it was abnormal for an artist to devote too much time in studying an object for the sole purpose of representing that object in its exact proportions. Studying the drawings of children, he found inspiration for his own art. Mark Rothko taught children’s art classes and found inspiration in their primitive markings, which influenced his own paintings. However, there were much larger catalysts influencing these artists in adopting a child-like style, and those catalysts were the first and second World Wars. Having witnessed firsthand the horrors of these World Wars, early Century Modernists used their art as a protest platform. 20th Not only did their art reflect the horrors of war, but they also drew upon childlike innocence, reminding the human race of the innocence which remains deeply within us all.

With Dave and Jim Fidler, owners, Classic Gallery Frames and OPA President Neil Patterson OPAM

TYPES OF FRAMES:

There are a number of different types of frames.  The Hudson River School has an ornamental and gilded appearance.  The Whistler style has fewer lines.  Both of these styles are price prohibitive.  Currently many people use the Plein Air style which has closed corners, is simple and reasonable.  They are Asian or Canadian made.
SELECTING A FRAME:
Selecting frames differs in various regions of the country.  A recent trend has been to the dark frames.  Frequently a painting with red will work with a gold frame.
Don’t overwhelm the art with the frame.  This can happen by color using a black frame with a soft image or a heavily ornamented frame with a busy painting. A smaller painting calls for a less ornate frame while a large painting can use a more ornate frame.  The frame and painting need to work together. Try to pull one or more subtle colors in the painting into the frame.
Linen liners, sometimes with a gold fillet, give visual relief.  In California, people found that the liners got dirty from the smog.  Liners are generally more contemporary.  There seems to be regional preferences for liners.  Sometimes a fillet is used instead of linen.  This adds another design element and adds to the appearance of the art.
A shadow box (floater frame) can be used to display an object.  These floater frames are shipped with fasteners.  If planning on using a floater frame, the artist should paint the edge of the painting and be sure the canvas staples are on the back, not on the edge.
The current trend is for gold frames.  The galleries love them and they go well on the walls and pick up warm tones.  However, the Expresso (dark) frames are also very popular.  Many galleries like to mix gold and dark frames on the wall.
A ¼” edge is lost on the painting when framed.
Sometimes frames are made by stacking moldings, combining two different types.
An illustration was shown placing a painting in three different frames: wide liner, gold plein air, dark, and floater.
Closed corners are more professional in appearance than joined corners.  However, they generally come in standard sizes.  The joined corners are more flexible in that they can be made to custom sizes.
MAINTAINING A FRAME
Spots on liners may be removed using white bread, rolled up or a sketching eraser.
Sometimes a closed corner opens.  To repair this, the artist can use cans of black and gold and Elmer’s filler.  Fill the crack with filler and sand down.  On the whole frame spray with black (matte) paint.  Then lightly spray gold paint over the frame.  An option would be to just spray the black and gold paint on all four corners.
An alternative method to repair a damaged frame would be to use modeling paste, texture with a brush or sponge and spray with acrylic enamel paint.  The preferred paint would be matte black.
If the artist can get the gallery to buy the frames, they will be more careful.
SHIPPING A FRAMED PAINTING
Place poly stretch wrap around the painting.  Then add the cardboard corners and apply stretch wrap again.  The artist can also use a plastic bag and then add the corners.  The stretch wrap can usually be purchased at a stationery store.    It should be three or five inches wide.
Another method would be to use foam core with rubber bands.  A carpet underlay may be used rather than bubble wrap.
Once the painting is wrapped, place it in a box.  It is best not to ship on a Friday to avoid the painting sitting over the weekend.