Artist Interview

Mary's Studio and Artworks 3

With her husband, Leo

Painted cute refrigerator

Against the Iraq War ( Whitney Museum)

Artist Interview

Mary's Studio and Artworks 2

No War and More Education

"Persephone" (Terracotta, 1985-1987)

The photo of her son and daughter that she lost

Artist Interview

Mary's Studio and Artworks 1

Figures on the wall

Paintings on the floor of her studio

Painted staires in her studio

Artist Interview

Artist Interview

Mary Frank (America, 1933)

Mary Frank is an American contemporary sculptor and painter living in Chelsea, Manhattan. She was born in1933 in London. Her mother was a painter and father was a musicologist (the academic study of music and its history). When their home was bombed during World War II, Mary and her mother moved from London to Brooklyn, New York, where her maternal grandparents lived, in 1940.

After moving to New York, Mary became interested in dance and studied modern dance with Martha Graham. However, she realized the limitation of her talent for dance and began to carve wood. At eighteen Mary married a photographer, Robert Frank, and had a son and a daughter. Being young, an only child with a husband that did not help raise the children, Mary found it difficult to interweave raising children with executing artworks.

Mary has never been to college or Art school. She mostly studied art by herself drawing in the Bronx and Central Park Zoo and botanical gardens and briefly took Hans Hofmann’s drawing class with Max Beckman in 1950. Mary has been influenced by Henry Moor, Giacometti, Brancusi, Pierre Bonnard, and Edgar Degas and also was inspired by the ancient art of Japan, China, Greece, Egypt and Africa (Carlene Meeker).

I really like her drawings, prints and sculpture of figures, especially “Persephone” that I feel is her best work. The exhibition, “Mary Frank: Persephone Studies”, opened at the Brooklyn Museum in 1987. Mary’s artworks unites “the real with mythical” and her vision is between “the natural world and the world of the imagination” (Jacki Lyden). Her figures give me feeling of humanity, passion, and power. Mary talked about “the observing heart”, which becomes her creations and shared with me her interesting poem, “There is no way to make art. I can only make palpable experience”.

Mary is also an “active” social activist that has protested against war and made an interesting poster against the Iraq War. The poster’s message is clear; “No War and More Education”. Mary is greatly concerned about the future of society in the U.S. and supports the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement down town and has herself march around Chelsea. She claims that everyone should be aware of a sense of crisis and conscious of what our government is doing.

It was a very interesting interview and I had a great experience and time. Mary told me to enjoy the class, Art in NY and when drawing I should use my body to do it and not to worry about if I am good at it. At the end of my interview, Mary gave me a message for young artists. The message is that artists and young artists not only work in studio, but also speak up to support our society through artworks.

Works Cited

Akagawa, Masako. Personal interview. 19 Nov. 2011

Lyden, Jacki. “Artist Mary Frank Mingles the Real with the Mythical”. NPR. 29 Dec.2007. Web. 3 Dec. 2011.

Meeker, Carlene. "Mary Frank." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2011.

"Bad" Drawing

Defomation of the figure

Woman VI  (1953) Willem de Kooning

Art resource

Japanese Helmet  (Edo period, 19th Century)

Non-art resouce

Scissors

Fantastic content

Italian Burgonet with Angel (Ca 1545-50)

9/11 Memorial

9/11 Memorial

The New York World Trade Center site has had a rebirth through tragic loss. The twin memorial reflecting pools, “Reflecting Absence” (The National September 11 Memorial & Museum), are surrounded by the names of the 2,983 people who were murdered in the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Pools are constructed on the footprints of the original twin towers (9/11 Memorial Guide). The pools were selected from nearly 5,200 proposals submitted in a competition and was designed by Michael Arad, an Israeli-American architect and Peter Walker, a native Californian landscape architect (9/11 Memorial Architect Discusses Vision for Landmark).

The reflecting pool looks like a majestic square waterfall or cascade with the water flowing into a smaller square hole in the center of the pool. The memorial inspires my imagination into thinking that the hole is bottomless and the water eternally falls into the universe. The sound of the water is calming and comfortable because it eliminates noisy sounds of down town Manhattan. The space is very healing. In Addition, the park also has 200 oak trees and it will have 400 in the near future (9/11 Memorial Architect Discusses Vision for Landmark).

I also found interest that there is a narrow and shallow pool under the stone frame that has the name of the September 11 victims and Arad hopes that “each person who visits touches the water, touches the panels, and finds his or her own way to connect” (9/11 Memorial Architect Discusses Vision For Landmark). In addition, according to Arad, the arrangement of the names was created by “grouping them by tower, business, friendship, or requests from the families” (9/11 Memorial Architect Discusses Vision for Landmark). I like the arrangement because the families or friends can visit the memorial and find them together in one place.

In Conclusion, I found that the 9/11 Memorial succeeds at making visitors aware of the tragedy, remember the victims, respecting people who risked their lives to save others, and recognizing people’s sorrow and endurance. It is a good environment for sitting down on the bench and reflecting.

Works  Cited

Arad, Michael. Interview by DuDois, Maurice. “9/11 Memorial Architect Discusses Vision for Landmark”. CBS Local Media, adivision of CBS Radio Inc. CBS New York. 9 Sep. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

“The Memorial Names Layout”. Memorial. National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy

David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy

David Smith (1906-1965) a great American sculptor who executed constructed sculptures using industrial materials. He is also presented as one of the Abstract Expressionist of the twenty century. Smith was influenced by Pablo Picasso and Cubism in the 1930s and used geometric forms in an effort to achieve pure objection.(Whitney Museum)

First of all, I am interested in the way he presents his art works. Michael Brensen, art critic and writer, comments that “Smith never explained his works which means that he ideologically committed to the freedom of interpretation of people in front of his works"(Whitney Museum). Therefore, we can use our imagination to see his works and enjoy them. My interpretation of Smith’s art work, “Untitle (Candida)(1965)”, is that each metal plate is connecting one to another and forming a circle, which reminds me of a tree that is growing in the forest.

Smith’s latest masterpiece, “Untitle (Candida) (1965)”, is the flattest sculpture he has ever created, with a depth of only three inches. However, it looks like a cube that has deep depth and the surface of the metal pops up because the surface of the metal has a special polish that make it look 3D. I really like the special effects and texture of the material that Smith created. Even though the sculpture is made of metal, it does not give me a cold metallic feeling. I feel the warmth of wood from it. 

In Conclusion, Smith persuade geometric form and nature in order to express his idea of aesthetics and emotion in constructing abstract sculpture. It is very powerful and impressive.

Works  Cited

“David Smith: Cubes And Anarchy Audio Guide Playlist”.Watch And Listen 2011. Whitney Museum of American Art. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.