Funding the Arts; musings on an evening with Robert Lynch

I've been very lucky. Privileged, even. I've had a great career as an engineer, building the city of Columbus. I've designed apartments, Distribution Centers for the Limited, Research Greenhouses for Ohio State, and hospitals all over the state. After having cancer, I am healed, and have even been privileged to start another career as a part time engineer and full time artist. Maybe that's why some of.  The inequities bother me. Maybe , it's much, much simpler than that, and this is just wrong. Please read the open letter below, and make up your own mind. Once your. Mind is made, though, please act:

May 1, 2014

Mayor Michael Coleman

City of Columbus

43

Anytown,

Dear Mayor Coleman,

I was privileged to be a part of the crowd for the Arts mean Business discussion. As an artist, I have long been extremely gratified by the arts focus of your administration.  The presentation last night should add much to the creative fire of this City.

I  have been a Columbus resident for almost 35 of my 53 years. I’ve worked as a Professional Engineer for 28 years, and have been taking Sculpture Classes at the Cultural Arts Center for most of the last 13 years. I’ve been fortunate to watch the Sculpture Department at the Cultural Arts Center grow into what I would consider to be the premiere program in the City. Many involved in last night's presentation, yourself included, appear to  be as committed to the faculty, and the arts in Columbus, as I am.

Yourself, Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson, and Alan McKnight made a compelling case for the arts, and funding the arts, before Mr. Lynch even made the stage. I made note of your references to the role of artists as the "Marines of Economic Development", as well as by the statistics related to the dearth of arts education in our schools and communities. You announced a new executive order, funding the arts. Mr. McKnight commented on the Center's world class teachers. As Mr. Lynch indicated, attendance AND income for the arts have risen of the last few years.

All of these statistics seem to fly in the face of recent developments at the Cultural Arts Center. Walt Herrmann, whom one would think would be the pride of the center, recently had his contract not renewed. This is an instructor, who, along with Ric Stewart, has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of sculpture at CAC. He has created one of Ohio's largest arts organizations, The Art and Artists of. I have known Mr. Herrmann for 8 years, and consider him a friend. I’ve found him to be thoughtful, articulate, and extremely talented, as well as an exceptional teacher who has inspired a huge cross section of this City who take classes at the CAC. 

I was there the day that Walter was informed that his Contract would not be renewed. I was also there on an evening when one of the CAC staff told incoming students that it was a mutual decision. I've since heard it characterized as a firing for cause, and a unilateral decision by the Director. Not having heard the conversation, all I can say is that is odd that so many different stories seem to be coming from staff. The real issue for me, however, is that the void left by his departure. To terminate Walt with no plan for his replacement is unconscionable. 

I would also like to comment about some recent staff contract discussions that I've recently gotten wind of.  My understanding is that the teaching staff is simply looking for a living wage, and to get paid for the time they spend improving the brand of  the center. and teaching Columbus residents the fine arts. I'm told that teachers at this center are paid for the three hours of class only, and any time spent burning out molds, or firing sculpture,or pouring. Bronze,is simply donated. Perhaps your administration has not been made aware of this situation, as so much has been made of arts education, and the arts focus of your staff,  that I have. A hard time believing these situations to be real. Perhaps, in your zeal to address the myriad issues involved with your vision for the arts, these apparent contradictions to the vision of the arts. In Columbus have yet to be addressed. 

Hence, the reason for my letter. If,as you promote, the arts in Columbus are to fulfill their role to improve so many aspects of our community, we need to give some love to the artists. If, there is any interest in shoring up our eroding arts education, it is time to focus on staff retention. If, in the bright shiny vision of Columbus arts, we expect the artists to be the Marines of economic development, they do need to be paid a living wage. The timing could not be better to act. If, we intend, as a community, to do more than talk, it is time.

Sincerely yours,

Ken Goodson

Engineer

Columbus resident

Artist

Colors

I've got a confession; Color, to me, can be a pretty random thing, in terms of how different people seem to relate to it. Maybe  I'm a pop artist, but for me, it's more about how the color makes the painting feel, than the actual real life color. My goal, most of the time, is to try to capture a moment in time. If I'm plein air painting on a flat grey day, with the cooler colors, comes off that way from my palette. That warm,sunny day may get some fluorescent green, bright orange, making the finished product just flaming hot.

As I've been working with a couple of other artists on a weekly basis, I've. Been rethinking some general notions of composition, or hacks. An example is how I represent grey with green, blue, purple, or brown; or in a more classical model, how the renaissance painters would underpaint with greys, blacks, sienna, to render such brilliant work. 

it's worth looking a the same piece, done one Saturday morning, from each of our  perspectives. I'm just going to set the stage this way: is it setting the scene? Does it capture an instant?

The first:

Definitely like the contrast here. Good color rendering, seems pretty accurate.

The next:

I can see this piece going a lot of directions, just from its final presentation. How it's framed could change the mood of this piece, or the artist could keep working layers, and make a totally different piece.

Last:

Three grey outhouses in the snow. Three different points in time, from the use of color. These are the things I do love about painting...

Art or not

I've been thinking about the notion of art a lot lately. Really, I should say the notion keeps coming up and making me think about it...there was a recent art show, "You call that art" , commemorating, I believe, the 100th anniversary if a show bearing the same name. Loved the idea of this show. Loved the effort of the Center in doing the PR for this show. Still loving the idea of someone asking "is it art?"...

From a totally different angle comes the continuing artistic development of my dude, Stuart. He and I have been getting together and painting for a few months now. Amazed at how much talent he has. How well he takes to the paints. Fish to water comes to mind... 

The carpent who worked on my house; fitting pieces of clapboard into the existing siding of my 100 year old house. What an art.

Whatever you call this:

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/rex-and-front-shade-nasher-sculpture-center-with-surya-11-13-2013/

This notion is drawing some parallels to work in progress as well. "dancin' in the sun" is basically finished, but I'm working on bow ties to place in the cracks on the base in order to "call it art"ful...just how I'm rollin'.

Then there are the quick pieces. I posted a few on my page, and I've been working on a few more for the holidays; pieces that I spend about an hour on that I can still call art...this is also one, I hope:

I definitely am thinkin' it's seasonal. Hope you enjoy.

Art alanche...

Over the last two and a half weeks, somehow, I've managed to get a sculpture almost finished, and 6 paintings complete. It's not that I planned an art avalanche, but it did start with Plein Air Saturday a couple of weeks ago. During that day, while I didn't finish that painting, I discovered that with a few hacks, I could capture the essence of a piece much faster than I had been. I'm just going to throw them out, use or discard as they may or may not apply. Also, it may be worth repeating, I'm no trained artist. These little nuggets have been painstakingly mined over 35 years of work, and are probably well known by most fine artists. The list:

    Loosen up- studying the works of renowned painter George Bellows made me realize that there is a definite place for the quick study approach, outside of the area you, as the artist,  consider to be the focus of the painting.

Consider priming the entire canvas with you base colors, thinned out with turpentine. Using white or yellow for areas I want to pop. Purple or blue for areas I want to be darker and richer, has. Given some of these pieces a much better sense of depth, and highlighted the foreground better than adding highlights at  the end.

Step away. If you're like me, you may never like certain pieces. Realizing I'm not the final judge let me ask for feedback, before I added that extra brushstroke that leads to hours of fine tuning...

Normally, at this point, I'd be posting images as examples. This time, I'm just going to point you toward my portfolio. See for yourself. The last two weeks vs. many years of work.

Www.facebook.com/kengoodsonart check out the photos in the portfolio folder. This commercial message brought to you from my couch...

Plein Air Saturday

If you were passing by Cup A Joe in the Short North, you may have seen a distinguished, silver haired gentleman painting a scene on the west side of Hight Street. That would not have been me. You may have also seen a dude in a sock hat with paint all over his jacket making a freak show on canvas. That would have been me. 

I've always claimed that everyone's an artist, it's simply a matter of finding your amuse, and following it. Yep, simple...sounds like I'm making jokes, But what else would you call it? If you've experienced art, up close and messy, when you're doing it to the best of you're ability, it sure feels simple. I've maintained that the only thing to do to let it out is to get the F out of the way. 

That's what I witnessed on this excursion, on this thing another friend calls Plein Air Painting. This thing I would have much preferred to experience in CBus when it was warmer...or on a beach in the Caribbean. But, the experience is part of the art, right? My friend and I had made a deal; he'll teach me to play guitar, and I'll do whatever I did...I'm not gonna call it teaching; let's call it getting out of the way.  

A lot of folk I talk to had an art class at one time or another. My friend, whom I'll just call DG,since he's got no idea I'm posting about him, is typical in that regard. What is atypical is that he is another engineer, besides being a musician. Two so called left brained types making art in the street, one who's been doing this as long as he can remember, the other, basically, changing instruments, and getting the F out of the way...

I am going to show you his painting so far, with out his permission, hop I don't get sued. Just keep in mind that neither piece is complete. So, DG's progress:

Nicely done, DG...shows a fine eye. A good start at perspective. Great use of color. 

Then, the freak show:

'Nuff said... Maybe I'm a better teacher than I am a painter.

To be continued...

Studies and styles

I went to see the George Bellows exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art. mr. b is not only a Columbus product, but a New York artist as well. In every sense an extremely technical, polished painter and drawer. Amazing show, but that's not what this post is about.

I've been going back to my roots over the last few paintings. I had an art teacher in College, Babette duSang Jones, who taught  introduction to Painting. She had us pick up oil sticks and we would work them on newsprint. Mostly forgettable paintings, from me, anyway, but she would pile up desks, tables, whatever she had in the studio, and we would do our still life sketches and paintings. I recently decided to do some still life studies of my own. Wild flowers from my yard, arranged in a cool vase, resting on my messy sculpting bench. 

I'm not gonna lie, I am not crazy about either one of these paintings, but they did their job, there are usually many lessons in going down memory lane, but this one was about painting curvy glass, making actual straight lines, and painting the light

The first one, I managed one out of three, maybe two:

I'm going to call the next one a success, I've finally seen the light:

Spinning wheels

I've been struggling of late with what is worth posting. Not that I'm not being productive, mind, but maybe too productive...I've been on site for the AMA Hall of Fame Museum Motorcycle days, I've been in the bronzecasting studio twice a week, painting and sculpting at home, and getting out in the local arts scene; most recently at Urban Scrawl. That is a must see event if you haven't checked it out, and 400WestRich is going to be huge.

I'm working on a million pieces, and I've shown some level of progress on this site for a lot of them. Progress on an art piece can be so incremental, at times, that I'm hard pressed to see it from one set of progress photos to another. So, I've procrastinated posting them. I've decided to break down the wall, to some extent, anyway, and show you the mess my studio is in at the moment. I hope you enjoy it as much as I making this mess: