Post-Impressionism – Restless Ink

"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream."

Vincent Van Gogh

A Little History on MY History (Feel free to jump ahead;)

In college, I have to say, I was NOT a fan of Art History. Then again, I wasn’t a fan of any class I had to sit in a lecture among 100 other students while listening to the monotone drone of the instructors boooooring lecture flooding the audience of students with various names, titles, years – embedded in . Slide after slide after slide of artist’s work I had no interest in & no understanding of WHY I had to listen & memorize all this stuff when all I really wanted to do – besides hang out with my friends & find the next party – was to get my hands dirty in the studio.

After many years of being away from academia, working in the professional world as a graphics/web designer, I finally GET IT. I get now WHY the history of art was so important to learn while studying this craft.

The fact is, in order to create GOOD art, you must be educated in it’s history. Art, photography, fashion, music, movies would not be what they are today if it wasn’t for artists, musicians, designers, & events that shaped all the different artistic mediums. Learning they WHY’S of brush strokes, colors, & lines – the HOW’S of thinking outside-the-box, thinking beyond the canvas – gives the work of an artist-in-training: substance.

Long story long: Art History is important! And in today’s class, we got a little taste of it.

Our Last Class

In our last class, I wanted to break away from the realism & technical drawing techniques we had been focusing by expressing feelings through art. The students were to draw pictures & use colors, shapes, or imagery to express 1 or 2 emotions.

Finally…Today’s Class!

This led us to today’s class where we spent a little but of time looking at Post-Impressionist Art. Thanks to YouTube, I found the video to the right to introduce this artistic movement.

And then we had an awesome discussion about these well-known pieces. I was so impressed with what each of the students had to say as they all had great insights & comments, plus really understood the whole concept of what post-impressionism was.

The Project

After the discussion, I gave the students 2 options for their OWN Post-Impressionist/Expressionist piece.

Option 1: To replicate one of the above pieces.

Option 2: Pick a song & express it through art.

They all picked Option 2. I was again impressed, as this I think would be far more challenging. I then had them plan out their pieces. Next time, they will be able to finish the amazing work they all started & I will keep you all posted on the progress!

That was it for today! 🙂

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