Grad Crits, Revisited

At semester's end, students and faculty gather together to reflect, ponder, critique, kick some serious ass and, apparently, sometimes confuse the graduate students. It's an entirely useful process, but also difficult and a rite of passage. If they survive they get to come back in the spring for more!

For my current UConn colleagues, and our students... can you find yourselves here?

Fuzzy Man

Calvin, our itinerant Cairn Terrier for these last 14.5 years, is "The Fuzzy Man" at our house. He's ever cheerful, a lover of life, a true companion. He never asks for much. Instead, he holds up his end of the bargain- companion, watchdog, friendly boy, kibble aficionado.

He is much older now. And, in passing, has had his share of health crises in the last year or so. Tonight was no exception. Rushed again to our ever-compassionate vet practice, at night, they set him right, to some degree. We continue to nurse him at home. So, as I lay with him on the kitchen floor (he, on a comfy bed, me on a smelly old carpet scrap next to him) I want to say, "Here's to you, Calvin. The Fuzzy Man. The Maitre d' of 147 Mansfield Road (houseguests, you know what I'm talkin' about))." God bless you.

Grad Crits, Midterm, Fall 2013

A subjective record of the conversations/interactions/trajectories of our MFA in Art crits. It's true:
1. There was no heat (brrrr)
2. There was coffee
3. There was art
4. Artists (faculty and students) really do work hard (crits are an all-day Saturday event)

Dr. Richard Shiff- Modernist

I enjoyed his lecture at the recent National Council of Arts Administrators conference in Richmond, VA (VCU, host). 9/24-9/28/13. So, he ended up in my sketchbook.

That's some serious art nerd awesomesauce, right there!

From the UT Austin website: "Richard Shiff is Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art at The University of Texas at Austin, where he directs the Center for the Study of Modernism. His scholarly interests range broadly across the field of modern and contemporary art."

http://www.utexas.edu/finearts/aah/about/people/richard-shiff

Ghost Leaves

 I always love the ghost images that fallen leaves make this time of year on concrete walkways. These images are progressive- some taken during the day, some at night. Traveling between the Art Building and the William J. Benton Museum of Art on the University of Connecticut campus, pausing to take in these ephemeral moments is a nice "anti-venom" to the blah, blah, blah of time spent in depressing meetings (otherwise known as "time out of my life that I can't ever get back"). There is something about these "leaves/not leaves" that always interests me...

Snack Foods, Investigated

While out drawing on-site with my students the other day (trying to encourage the "sketchbook habit," don't you know), my own entry included the following. Maybe a good example for the students about challenging their notion of what proves to be appropriate or valuable subject matter? Or, maybe just the mundane, banal musings of an illustrator on the loose in a town with a Subway, and not much else. Enjoy?

Airport Ambience, Sketchbook Style

Who among us does not like to travel? The sights! The sounds! The overwhelming feeling of needing to be somewhere on time, or risk hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars, paid in advance, to travel by train, plane, boat, etc.! There, I've piqued your interest. My tale is not so interesting- went to a conference recently. But the airport cacophony was, indeed, something for my sketchbook, as was the condition of my seat-mate on the first leg of the journey. Yes, Purell® was involved...

Fun Fact: This is the spread I was working on in my sketchbook in the photos from the "Mid-Air Inking" post. Ok, maybe not so fun. Just click on the image if you'd like to see a larger version.

Mid-Air Inking...

So, often I find myself working in a sketchbook (or on professional work, of course... shhhh...) in random places (hotel rooms, trains, subway, the back yard, and so on). This is really not unusual for any professional illustrator or artist, but there are some interesting challenges. For example, in the "tray tables up" position, at night, you are relegated to holding your sketchbook in one hand, inking with the other, in piss-poor light, negotiating the lumps and bumps of turbulence, along with a seat-mate who won't stop talking.

Wikipedia (I know, a decidedly unreliable source, and, yet, so 21st century...) defines turbulence as "characterized by chaotic and suspectedly stochastic property changes." This is reflected in my inking. Fo' shizzle.

I recently had some fun decorating an air sickness bag, and then leaving it for the next (un) lucky traveler...

Exercise... and "Silence of the Lambs"

This recent page, from my sketchbook, details an oddly beautiful but scary sight. There were so many vultures, all perfectly still and silent. Birds are omens, aren't they? There's something about seeing this many carrion-eaters while you're exercising that says, "Maybe I should hurry up?"

Heat Wave, and Then Some, or, the Trials of a Hot and Humid Homeowner

We've had some unbearable heat lately. And the humidity to go with it. Like downtown Manila. So, what better time to go up to the sweltering hot second floor and attempt some simple home repair? There IS no better time! At least not if I want new sketchbook material as a result.

Afterward, I watched a few reruns of "Breaking Bad." It seemed the right thing to do after such traumatic, but ultimately successful, DIY.

Summer Skin

Summer is upon us, along with its attendant beauty! Who can deny this? Well, maybe me. Another in a series of iPad explorations.

Travel Advice

From my sketchbook, just prior to an international trip a little while back. And for my friend, Terri, who is traveling later this spring. Time to update the "international symbols" on the package of live typhoid vaccine...

The Society Does Not Censor

Generally, I have reserved my blog for my own work. At this time, however, I feel compelled to make an exception. This event (read below) underscores the power of images to communicate. And, further, points out the important role that visual communication occupies globally. Images are powerful. Images matter. Images inform and liberate. Let's never forget this.

Read the original article on the Society blog here: Society of Illustrators Annual tale

After much delay, the Society of Illustrators’ 54th Annual of American Illustration has reached the US and is now available in our Museum Shop and online. We wish the delay in receiving Illustrators 54 was a simple printing error or even a problem in customs, but the story goes deeper.

 

Without our consent or knowledge, the printer we sourced from China omitted an illustrator’s work, Alex Nabaum’s ”The Evolution of China”, an Uncommissioned piece (see below) and printed the book with a completely blank page. The refusal to print this illustration was justified by the printer because Chinese Government censors deemed the image to be “disrespectful to Mao Zedong.” Of course, in no way was this justification for us. The Society of Illustrators does not censor, nor do we accept it. We fought the removal of this illustration and ultimately decided to right this wrong. Alex’s image has been added by a second printer from Hong Kong.

 

We apologize for the delay in production of Illustrators 54 but are proud we took a stance in the name of free speech and illustration.

 

Illustrators 54 can be purchased on our online shop by clicking here.

©Alex Nabaum