The feedback from my students was overwhelmingly positive - they want more! And I was paid by the Kapiti Womens Centre to run the course. BONUS :-)
The course was great fun to run and I was lucky to have a delightful group of women who were very engaged in the art and the history surrounding Picasso and the modern to post-modern art movements. Picasso is one of the too small minority of artists who was a success early in his career and painted prolifically throughout his lifetime. He helped develop and inspire new art styles and aesthetics. And when he grew rich and successful he bought a huge house and filled the rooms with paintings stacked by the hundreds up against the walls. Last year - 2013 - one of his paintings sold for $155 million!
We looked at his paintings from different experimental phases in his career and also the works being created by other artists and groups around the same time. We studied colour theory and produced a 'mood' work with a limited palette, line and composition, depth and shading, politics and philosophy in art. We tried analytical and synthetic cubist works and produced a collaborative group mural inspired by Guernica (a work protesting war and violence painted in 1937).
It was a turbulent time - 100 years ago. People were fighting for equal opportunities... women for votes, workers for decent wages and conditions, many countries for independence and freedom from Western Colonisation. Racism, poverty, violence and inequality... we humans are making gains but need to keep working and fighting towards a world where the needs of every person are respected and met. NEEDS as opposed to selfish and greedy wants that hurt other people and the environment - the world - we live in. I loved discussing these issues with my students and hearing all the issues that are FIRING them up TODAY! Cant wait to offer the course again :-) And a new one focused on female artists like Frida Kahlo and Rita Angus...
Here are some pics xxx
