Featuring Gage teaching artists as well as art historians from the Seattle art community, these lectures feature an intimate look inside the artists and movements that helped shape art from the Renaissance through the 20th Century.
Register online for a single lecture, a quarterly series or the entire 2017-18 program, and delve into the techniques, ideologies and personalities that define art in our world. This year's series is really interesting and will rang from a variety of topics from Medieval through Modern. The series will start off with a look at Giotto and end with an overview of Op Art. There is more information on each along with info on the artist or art historian below.
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| Lamentation of Christ, Giotto, c-1305, fresco, Arena Chapel, Padua |
Oct 18 – Rob Prufer – Giotto and the Arena Chapel
Local art historian Rob Prufer will discuss this important work of early Italian Renaissance Art. Prufer is well known for his popular Loggia Lecture series on art and art history at the Bellevue Arts Museum.
The Arena Chapel’s frescoed interior transports you with its ultramarine vault of heaven and its earthy embrace of human experience. Giotto’s use of gestures, glances and fleshy postures infuses the Christian story with a gravity and a levity that were astounding 700 years ago—and still resonate today.
Local art historian Rob Prufer will discuss this important work of early Italian Renaissance Art. Prufer is well known for his popular Loggia Lecture series on art and art history at the Bellevue Arts Museum.
The Arena Chapel’s frescoed interior transports you with its ultramarine vault of heaven and its earthy embrace of human experience. Giotto’s use of gestures, glances and fleshy postures infuses the Christian story with a gravity and a levity that were astounding 700 years ago—and still resonate today.
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| The Chess Game, Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555, Museum Navrodwe, Poznan, Poland |
Oct 25 – Carol Hendricks – Italian Renaissance Women Painters
In addition to my art history blog and working at Gage Academy of Art I also enjoy lecturing on a variety of art history topics and am looking forward to this topic.
In addition to my art history blog and working at Gage Academy of Art I also enjoy lecturing on a variety of art history topics and am looking forward to this topic.
The Renaissance provided new opportunities for women in the arts, though they remain less well known. Several talented painters such as Sofonisba Anguissola, Marietta Robusti, Lavinia Fontana and Fede Galizia made important contributions to painting in the 16th century.
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| David, Michelangelo, marble, 1501-1504, Accademia Gallery, Florence photo- © Rico Heil / public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Nov 1 – Gary Faigin - Michelangelo’s David
Join painter, arts writer and art history Gary Faigin to learn more about this masterpiece. One of the world’s most famous works of art, Michelangelo’s David is not as straightforward as it might seem. We’ll learn about the fascinating and surprising backstory of this monumental masterpiece – why it was commissioned, how it was carved, and its complicated life after its completion.
Join painter, arts writer and art history Gary Faigin to learn more about this masterpiece. One of the world’s most famous works of art, Michelangelo’s David is not as straightforward as it might seem. We’ll learn about the fascinating and surprising backstory of this monumental masterpiece – why it was commissioned, how it was carved, and its complicated life after its completion.
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| The Virgin of the Rocks, Leonardo da Vinci, 1483, Louvre |
Nov 8 – Jim Phalen – Chaos vs. Control throughout Art
Jim Phalen is a painter who says this about his work-
"I am committed to the practice of working from life. I seek to capture the integrity of experience through seeing. Without nature there is no conversation. For me painting is a physical manifestation of the act of seeing- a manifestation capable of deep emotion."
Phalen will be discussing an overview of painting with a really interesting viewpoint-
Through the history of painting there has been an ongoing tension between the desire to control the process and a willingness to let go and allow the material to fully express itself. From da Vinci to Titan, from Ingres to Gericault and from Chuck Close to Lucien Freud, the back and forth continues.
Jim Phalen is a painter who says this about his work-
"I am committed to the practice of working from life. I seek to capture the integrity of experience through seeing. Without nature there is no conversation. For me painting is a physical manifestation of the act of seeing- a manifestation capable of deep emotion."
Phalen will be discussing an overview of painting with a really interesting viewpoint-
Through the history of painting there has been an ongoing tension between the desire to control the process and a willingness to let go and allow the material to fully express itself. From da Vinci to Titan, from Ingres to Gericault and from Chuck Close to Lucien Freud, the back and forth continues.
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| The Last Supper, Tintoretto, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, 1592-94 |
Jan 17 – Charles Emerson - Renaissance Painting and the Roots of Abstract Expression
Popular Modernist painting and instructor Charles Emerson wants to explore how the Italian Renaissance had a direct influence on Abstract Expression in the 20th century.
An artist’s personal expression and passion is sometimes revealed more clearly when we have caught up aesthetically with them, now able to appreciate the often surprising results that perhaps hold more resonance for our time than theirs; often anticipating future developments while still being relevant and exciting.
An artist’s personal expression and passion is sometimes revealed more clearly when we have caught up aesthetically with them, now able to appreciate the often surprising results that perhaps hold more resonance for our time than theirs; often anticipating future developments while still being relevant and exciting.
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| Homage to Delacroix, Henri Fantin-Latour, 1864, Musee D'Orsay, Paris |
Jan 24 – Larine Chung – Henri Fantin-Latour
The most celebrated 19th-century French painter of flower, still life and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers, Fantin-Latour was among the first artists who started the art movement of Impressionism.
Join painter and art instructor Larine Chung for her insight into this famous painter.
The most celebrated 19th-century French painter of flower, still life and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers, Fantin-Latour was among the first artists who started the art movement of Impressionism.
Join painter and art instructor Larine Chung for her insight into this famous painter.
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| Larine Chung, Aqua, 2016, oil on canvas |
Jan 31- Terry Furchgott – Gustav Klimt
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| Terry Furchgott, On The Other Side, 2014, acrylic on paper |
Terry is known for her large scale work with pastel and acrylic, she has had a number of important public art commissions and is represented by Harris Harvey Gallery in Seattle. Gustav Klimt is one of her favorite painters.
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| Gustav Klimt, The Kiss, 1907-08 |
Gustav Klimt, Austrian Symbolist painter and founding member of the Viennese Secession, is known for the decorative opulence of his surfaces, rich use of color, and sensual beauty of his women. We will explore the elegant portraits, intricate landscapes, and vibrant eroticism of this most unique artist.
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| Poussin, Arcadian Shepherds, 1650 |
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In this lecture we will explore how Cezanne was influenced by the works of Poussin and Delacroix in his rigorous attempt to unite form with color. We will consider how each of these artists sought a new unity, a new visual paradise, to express the truth of their experience.
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| Kimberly Trowbridge, Arcadia Wheel, Oil on Canvas, 64" x 60," 2013 |
Kimberly Trowbridge is a painter, a musician, an instructor and an art historian.
She writes-
"Painting is how I stay awake. It is how I cultivate and arrange my thoughts. It is how I come to understand the relationships between things, through rhythm and color.
I gather information from the visual realm and compose the parts into an articulate expression of my experience. This is the practice I have developed through painting. I use this method both on and off of the canvas: I paint images, construct theatric installations, layer video footage, compose music, and perform my body through space all through the language of painting."
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| Emperor Justinian and his Attendants, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, 547 AD, mosaic |
April 11 – Kathleen Moore – The Enigma of Byzantine Art
The Byzantine empire started in antiquity and lasted for a thousand years. Best known for their glittering mosaics in Ravenna and Istanbul, their art continues to fascinate contemporary audiences.
What secrets are those wide-eyed Byzantine figures keeping from us? Come with painter, instructor and art historian Kathleen Moore on a journey into the ancient world to find out!
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| Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, c-1660 |
April 18 – Tenaya Sims – Vermeer’s Milkmaid
Come here painter and Atelier instructor Tenaya Sims talk on Vermeer's Milkmaid and the Camera Obscura controversy.
Vermeer's compositions are legendary, and the painting, 'The Milkmaid' is a hallmark example of his expertise. Does it matter if he used optical technology? If so, was he limited artistically by these tools?
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| Käthe Kollwitz, Die Mütter (The Mothers), Plate VI from the series Krieg (War), 1922-1923, Woodcut printed in black on Japan paper |
April 25 – Rebecca Albiani – Käthe Kollwitz
A graphic artist in the tradition of Goya and Daumier, Kollwitz worked in Berlin through two world wars, depicting starving children and grieving mothers. Through her powerful imagery she had hopes of promoting social change.
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| Jeffrey Simmons, Strength of Strings, 2016 |
Abstract painter Simmons will discuss this key 20th century painting movement. Jeffrey is represented by the Greg Kucera Gallery and started teaching abstract painting at Gage this past summer.
The Op Art movement, typified by the works of Bridget Riley, Jesus Rafael Soto, and New York-born Seattle resident Francis Celentano, had its fascinatingly brief moment during the 1960's, when it influenced fashion and contributed to the popular perception of what "modern" painting looked like. Well received by the public but occasionally derided by critics as mere gimmickry, the movement has been the subject of an ongoing historical reevaluation and has become a source of inspiration for recent generations of artists.
