This is only a lead in to my point I want to make today. Now, I know it has been awhile since I have posted, but I'm sorry this post has little to do with how awesome it is to be in Southern California teaching. Ok, now let us go back to post-impressionism. Oh, hello Cezanne. Mr. Van Gogh, so nice of you to drop by.
Let me again state how in post-impressionism is more than just about an image, but it involves feelings and a very considered manner in how the paint was applied. I want to specifically address divisionism, or pointillism, the style of post-impression that was most widely used by Georges Seurat.
Let me give you a little history of what Seurat was after according to a slide from one of my professor's history of post-impressionism.
"Although short-lived, Seurat’s technique of Pointillism was his personal expression of the hope that modern science would modernize art. He was interested in the study of optics, and in placing dots of pure color next to each other, he felt that the blending of them in the viewer’s eye would make the image more natural and vibrant. This technique is very defined in The Seine at La Grande Jatte as the variations of light on the water, the banks, and the tree give luminosity to the work."
Sorry I do not have a picture of the work. Maybe, I'll post one later...I probably won't.
What you will notice about that description of Seurat's work is that no where does it say that seurat was after making pictures look like they had a bunch of dots so that one day a teacher could simulate his work by coloring on sand paper and ironing it to a piece of paper.
Ok, so here's the deal. I took a marvelous class with a marvelous professor called content area literacy. This professor was very concerned about finding cross disciplinary ways of teaching. However, she gave a demo one day in class where we were supposed to create a work of art like pointillism by using crayons to color on sandpaper...and then...iron it...to another piece of paper.
This idea is so far from Seurat's idea that I have no question that his corpse vomited in his grave and then rolled over in it.
AHHHH!!! Seriously? Ironing a crayon drawing and pointillism have nothing in common. Zero.
It almost makes me want to cry how absurd it is to say we are going to (and I cringe as I type this) create works of art like Seurat by ironing a crayon drawing to a piece of paper. I cannot get over this project, and I never shall. It would have been different if we were using this method for something else not connected with Seurat, but I do not think we should be tricking any age student into thinking they are creating like Seurat when his ideas were so well thought out and pure, and imitating this idea with crayons and irons is not pure. Seurat did not seek to have us optically mix colors by ironing a crayon drawing on a piece of sand paper to another piece of paper.
Now, in student teaching one of my teacher's has suggested I do a water color making Mondrian-esque compositions. Am I an elitist when I think this idea is also absurd. The idea is not to use primary colors or even large blocks of color, but to just tape off a geometric patten then water color and call it Mondrian inspired. I feel like Mondrian's corpse is crying a little bit.
Maybe, I can go the synesthesia route with a lil Wassily Kandinsky.
Ok, that's all. bye from California.
yeah california
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