Self-Portrait 1
Charcoal on paper
38 x 25 1/2 inches
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| First initial stage. |
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| Dirty hands at lunchtime. |
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| 2 1/2 hours into it. |
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
In progress, Self-Portrait in charcoal
Self-Portrait 1
Charcoal on paper
38 x 25 1/2 inches
Monday, November 19, 2012
Visiting Israeli Artists at UMass Lowell
Last week I had the pleasure of working with two artists, Esther Yaloz and Lital Gold, from Israel that attended the same school. They both now live and work here in the United States, one in upstate New York and the other in Philadelphia. Both work in the textile industry as designers.
They came to our school as a part of a larger group of faculty and students from their home school to work with our students. So Lital and Esther had my students create stencils that were used to help create a 'wreath' printed with inks and paint markers onto some rough cut wood I had kicking around the house cut to roughly 8 x 10 inch dimensions.
The stencils created by my students were placed over stencils Lital and Esther created and were pieced together in a wreath orientation. The students enjoyed getting a little dirty in class and saw how layering could make for some great results. Now that the pieces have been printed, I will be trimming them and puling the entire wreath together a little bit more to be displayed in an exhibition at school.
It was a pleasure to work with Lital and Esther. They both inspired my students and myself!!
They came to our school as a part of a larger group of faculty and students from their home school to work with our students. So Lital and Esther had my students create stencils that were used to help create a 'wreath' printed with inks and paint markers onto some rough cut wood I had kicking around the house cut to roughly 8 x 10 inch dimensions.
It was a pleasure to work with Lital and Esther. They both inspired my students and myself!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Posting work on dailypaintworks.com
Orbital Symmetry
Oil and ink on canvas
8 x 13 inches
2006
Today I've been posting some of my older work on dailypaintworks.com in hopes of sparking some interest. These paintings seem so old to me, yet they were done just a few years ago. Amazing how so much can happen in such a short amount of time. I posted a painting that was almost done just before the fire and I came to look at it recently with a new found meaning for myself. It was inspired by the book 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. The title of the painting is 'Lennie's Dog' and depicts a cocker spaniel. I was trying to show life and death at the same time. The character in the book was a large man who had a predisposition to soft things. He liked to pet them, so much so that they would be crushed by his love for them. He loved them too much (something I am finding in my own life). Anyway, here it is.
Lennie's Dog
Acrylic on canvas
13 x 21 inches
2012
Have a great day. More paintings to come. -Mike
Powhida: CynicalAdvice 2012
Words to live by? Maybe. -Mike
Sunday, November 11, 2012
I'm back!! And with new stuff in the works.
8 X 10 inches
Acrylic on canvas
2012
$50.00
Well, its been a long time since I've been on here to post anything and I've decided to make this blog more about the art I'm making than about art made by other people. I will however post from time to time about work that inspires me.
Anyway, here is my first painting in a series I am working on that will have a similar theme. Fruit still-lifes. This was a lot of fun and really forced me to remember some basic tenants of painting that I had long since forgotten.
This painting and the rest of this series as well as any other whim that comes along can be seen at Daily Paint Works. Here's the link: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/michael-roundy-3348
I've also been more active on my page at Facebook so take a look at that: www.facebook.com/michaelroundyart
Have a great day.
-Mike
Monday, May 9, 2011
With cuts to the arts, what will we have lost? | Concord Monitor
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In the neighborhood where I grew up we all knew what it meant when someone talked about Art. Art was the guy who lived across the street from my family's house. He had a small contracting company that specialized in concrete projects - sidewalks, driveways, floors and that sort of thing. My older brother worked for him during the summer months. And in the summer of my 17th year, I did too. It was the summer I learned about jack hammers, steal-toed shoes and concrete forms and even got to drive a dump truck once in a while.
I occasionally wonder about some of the projects I worked on back then. How have they weathered through the years? There is a lasting quality to concrete, so I suspect that many have endured. I don't suppose I can take much credit for them - all I really remember doing is busting up what was there before, maybe setting up some forms and shoveling wet concrete around to where it needed to be. As a 17-year-old kid, only on for the summer, I didn't do much of the final trowel work.
Art died years ago. Too many cigarettes looking over his work finally caught up to him. Yet I am sure that there are many places around my hometown where he lives on in unsuspecting ways. Such is the nature of construction. Such is the nature of concrete. Such is the nature of building things that last.
Theaters, books, quilts
Today, when someone mentions "art," I don't think of the guy across the street. I think of galleries, concert halls, books, theaters, symphonies, colors, quilts, pirouettes and hundreds of hundreds of other things that enrich my soul. Like concrete, they provide a base of strength that I walk upon to get through the challenges of a day.
So it should be no surprise that I find deep sadness in knowing that the New Hampshire House voted to eliminate the state Council on the Arts. Of course, lawmakers voted to eliminate or cut back lots of things this session. And given the choice between eliminating the arts council or some of those other things that have been put on the table, I could almost understand the argument. And I can certainly understand why the arts are an easy target.
Beauty can be a frail thing. It is not suited for political combat or taking precedence over other needs. At times it is that very frailty that makes something of beauty a thing to behold. They are things that exist in their vulnerability, like a soap bubble or blown glass or the pointed toes of a ballerina fleeing across a stage. With a pop, or a drop, or a slip, they fall, they break, they disappear.
When things of beauty no longer exist, the emptiness they leave can be difficult to measure. It is not like money in the bank, or the state budget. So to justify its importance will always be a mismatched struggle.
Only sadness
Perhaps then, there is no argument to be made. There is only sadness to express. But in that sadness there also needs to be a hope that our state budget negotiators will come to a broader understanding about the long-term impact of their decisions.
Without art, a piece of paper will always remain just a piece of paper. A stage will just be a floor with lights that shine on it. A theater, just an empty room with a bunch of empty seats. A piano will become a group of hammers and wires that eventually go out of tune. The arch in front of the State House will go back to being a slab of stone, and gold domes will become simple canvas tarps that keep out the rain.
Without art, sidewalks would just be mounds of rough hardened concrete. Because in its broadest sweep, art is that thing that calls us to do our best, to use our talents and make the world a more beautiful place in whatever way we can.
I believe my old neighbor Art did that every time he took trowel in hand. He didn't see himself laying the floor at the Sistine Chapel, and I am sure he never thought of himself as an artist.
But he did take pride in what he was leaving for the future, and understood the artistry of his profession.
Wrong question
Should the arts council take precedence or importance ahead of health care for children, services for people with disabilities, plowing snow from our highways or any of the other things being scaled back by legislators?
I would suggest that that is not the question to ask. It distracts from the true reality, like a lubricant to an easy decision.
The arts council is in many ways a metaphor for all that is up for elimination. It is a delicate example of the many and subtle ways things impact our lives. In this example it is the arts. But that pervasiveness is equally true for most agencies and departments of our government.
When the budget debate becomes focused on what we need to eliminate, it tends to ignore what truly will be lost. By the time we finally come to see that whole picture, and the cutting has been done and gone, it will be too late for anything but regret.
The question that needs consideration is how will the decisions made today impact on the future, and who will suffer along the way.
It is kind of like what my old boss Art did. He would take a look at the concrete in the truck before the pour. Was it too wet? Was it too dry? How was the mix of gravel. Sometimes it meant sending a load back to the concrete company because the mix wasn't good enough.
That is why today, more than 40 years later, you can still walk on his sidewalks.
(John Gfroerer of Concord runs a video production company.)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Stops Along the Way- Paintings by Bob Larson
Bob Larson, formerly a Concord lawyer, has been painting for years and has long been a patron of the arts, curating exhibits at his former law firm Sulloway and Hollis in Concord as well as sitting on the board of the University of NH Art Museum. My first introduction to him came through a mutual friend and stone artist, Chance Anderson of whom the two collaborated on several sculptural pieces depicting the plight of Earth's global warming crisis. I'm hoping to make it to the opening tonight (March 11th) at McGowan Fine Art on Hills Ave. in Concord from 5-7pm. Hope you can make it too.
Here's the announcement from the McGowan Fine Art blog:
Mr. Larsen’s paintings are readily recognizable by their strong shadows and frequent use of reflections in windows. Attention to detail is his hallmark. In “Ministry” his close up of an historic window in the Ministry Building of Canterbury Shaker Village depicts the distorted images of other buildings, distant landscape and the shadowy image of a bowl and ewer sitting on the sill- effectively rendering three different worlds. “These paintings take me quite a bit of time to work out” says Larsen. “They might take a month a piece and I am a ruthless cropper. The painting generally starts off quite a bit larger than the finished piece. As I finish up I start to distill it down to the final composition.”
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Measuring Up: New Hampshire Arts Education Data Project
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Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Future of Art, an immediated autodocumentary
Great thoughts on the output of art in this information driven time. What is the right tool for the job? Do traditional arts fall by the wayside because of so many new tools? Making art within a group? How does one find a voice in the cacophony of voices already singing? Great video. Enjoy. -M
The Future of Art from KS12 on Vimeo.
The Future of Art
an immediated autodocumentary
What are the defining aesthetics of art in the networked era? How is mass collaboration changing notions of ownership in art? How does micropatronage change the way artists produce and distribute artwork? The Future of Art begins a conversation on these topics and invites your participation.
This video was shot, edited and screened at the Transmediale festival 2011 in Berlin, Germany.
Conceived and Edited by Gabriel Shalom
Produced by KS12 / Emergence Collective
Executive Producer: Patrizia Kommerell
Assistant Editor: Clare Molloy
Production Assistant: Annika Bauer
The Future of Art from KS12 on Vimeo.
The Future of Art
an immediated autodocumentary
What are the defining aesthetics of art in the networked era? How is mass collaboration changing notions of ownership in art? How does micropatronage change the way artists produce and distribute artwork? The Future of Art begins a conversation on these topics and invites your participation.
This video was shot, edited and screened at the Transmediale festival 2011 in Berlin, Germany.
Conceived and Edited by Gabriel Shalom
Produced by KS12 / Emergence Collective
Executive Producer: Patrizia Kommerell
Assistant Editor: Clare Molloy
Production Assistant: Annika Bauer
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
An artless redefinition of adequate - NashuaTelegraph.com
CONCORD – It’s not every day you get a Grammy-nominated artist testifying against proposed legislation in the state capital. But when Goffstown singer-songwriter Judy Pancoast heard about a bill that would make music education optional in the state’s public schools, she wanted her voice to be heard.
Pancoast, nominated this year for her children’s album, told members of the House Education Committee on Tuesday that music was the only thing that saved her from a childhood filled with torment from other students because of her weight. Thanks to the support of a music teacher, she gained the confidence to sing a solo in the spring concert, sparking her career in music.
“To me, music was not just a core curriculum subject; it was the core curriculum subject,” Pancoast said.
Pancoast was one of dozens of education leaders, current and former teachers, and arts advocates who expressed fierce opposition to a local state representative’s proposal to strip subjects such as art, world languages and technology from the state’s definition of an adequate education.
About 150 people turned out for the Education Committee’s hearing on HB39, sponsored by Rep. Ralph Boehm, R-Litchfield. The crowd was so large that committee Chairman Rep. Michael Balboni had to move the hearing midway in, from a small meeting room in the Legislative Office Building to Representatives Hall in the Statehouse. Before it was moved to the larger room, people were sitting on the floor and a long line of those hoping to get in wrapped through the hallway.
The bill, filed earlier this month, would strike arts, world languages, health, technology education and information and communication technologies from the list of subjects defined as an adequate education by the state. That would leave English language arts, math, science, social studies and physical education as the only state-mandated subjects. The state established the current definition of an adequate education in 2008.
While recognizing the value of the subjects he proposes to remove, Boehm, vice chairman of the Education Committee, said the total cost goes beyond what the state is providing in funding. Keeping them in the definition would continue to force unfunded mandates upon local school districts, he said.
“The state pays $3,430 or so per student for a so-called adequate education. But we all know that the school districts’ cost per student is more than $10,000,” Boehm said. “It looks like this was another downshifting from the state.”
Boehm said his legislation intends to be more realistic about what the state is actually paying. If local taxpayers are going to pick up the tab for additional subjects, they should get to decide what is taught, he said.
In a conference call Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Terie Norelli blasted Boehm’s proposal. She argued an education without critical subjects such as art and world languages is anything but adequate. Removing them would downshift millions of dollars to local taxpayers and would undoubtedly send the education debate back to court, she said.
“This irresponsible legislation would tear at the fabric of what makes our education system the envy of other states in the nation,” Norelli said. “If these subject matters are not part of an adequate education, then the next generation and our generation will suffer greatly.”
At Tuesday’s hearing, speakers railed against the proposal, arguing that lifting the requirement to teach critical subjects would give local school boards the opportunity to remove them from the curriculum, putting students in those communities at a disadvantage. Boehm stayed to listen for part of the testimony, smiling while opponents spoke.
Representatives from many of the state’s education associations and organizations spoke out against the bill. Mark Joyce, executive director of the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, said while it’s clear the cost of teaching all subjects included in the definition exceeds the state’s contribution, simply eliminating them does not solve the problem.
“While we respect the notion of resisting unfunded mandates, we support the continued inclusion of art, music, technology and world languages as essential basics that compose the foundation of adequacy,” Joyce said.
Dean Mitchner, director of governmental affairs for the New Hampshire School Boards Association, also testified against the bill, as did Rick Trombley, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire National Education Association. Trombley pointed out that Republican leadership has recognized arts as an essential part of an education.
“The education of our future professionals begins somewhere, and that’s in the classroom,” Trombley said. “We run a tragic risk if the only thing we understand is the cost of some things, but the value of nothing.”
Maryanne Irish, president of the New Hampshire Music Educators Association, said while the legislation doesn’t prohibit schools from teaching the arts, removing them from the list of mandated subjects “would make the reduction of arts an easy and quick fix” for school boards looking for places to cut back.
“It makes education the scapegoat for a larger financial problem,” Irish said. “It is a wrong and disproportionate response.”
Applause broke out several times after speakers argued against the bill. Several times at the hearing, Balboni had to ask the audience to hold its applause.
Boehm’s bill would also require the Legislature to approve the state’s adoption of the Common Core Standards. Last year, the state Board of Education approved adopting the set of national standards in principle, but Boehm argues the board did not have the authority. Full implementation of the new standards is not expected for several years.
Kathleen Murphy, director of the division of instruction for the state Department of Education, said adopting the new standards would be in the best interest of New Hampshire students and teachers. Murphy said the department does not have a position about Boehm’s proposal on subjects included in an adequate education.
No action was taken by the committee Tuesday. Because of the financial implications about state funding of adequate education, the House needs an initial vote on the legislation by Feb. 17. That would mean the committee needs its recommendation by Feb. 10 at the latest. It would also need Senate approval, as well as the support of Gov. John Lynch.
Michael Brindley can be reached at 594-6426 or mbrindley@nashuatelegraph.com.
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