BEYE Discovery: Inspiration from the MCA: Minimalist Art Past and Present

Hi Families,

In February, we looked at a number of minimalist artists on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art. These included Jason Dodge, Alan Sonfist, Carol Bove, Leonore Antunes, Charlotte Posenenski and others. We also watched a short video of Scott Reeder creating his large scale "spaghetti painting" on site at the MCA. To create the work, Reeder began by making a huge canvas that sprawled the floor. A low rolling platform to support Reeder was used to paint areas that couldn't be reached from the perimeter of the canvas. The base layer was painted with a large flat paintbrush in shades of blue. Then Reeder laid spaghetti somewhat randomly on the canvas and airbrushed charcoal colored paint to create an effect somewhat similar to a erased chalkboard with new drawings on top. Although this painting is much more powerful when viewed in person, do check out the link below:

http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/past/2011/289

The spatter paintings created by the students below were inspired by Reeder's painting described above. We provided a number of items that could be used as a "negative stencil" to block the spray of paint and to create abstract or representational imagery. It was messy business and worth every bit of over-spray onto everything outside of the painting! Our tools were toothbrushes and our items to block the spray of paint included "woodsies" (small wood shapes), ribbon, straws, sequins, etc. Sooooo much fun! Do take a peek below : )

Sydney and Daysha

Norah and Leila

Mathew

Brody

Daysha

Sydney's completed artwork!

Hayden

Porter

Joseph

Norah and Emily with Hata


Hayden

Our next project was inspired by the work of Leonore Antunes, Carol Bove, and Franz Erhard Walther: In this wall installation, students used rings of knit fabric that they looped and knotted together to create organic and ever-changing shapes and forms. The positive forms and the negative shapes they create have equal importance. While the installation is currently fixed, this work can be de-installed and re-configured in an unlimited number of ways, on or off the wall. Charlotte Posenenske, another artist we studied the following Friday, made this an essential aspect of her work, where a limited number of materials could produce the possibility of endless change!

Jessica

Daysha

Leila

Aidan

Dexter

Dexter teaching Suzanne

Joel

Emerson, testing the dimensional possibilities

Hugo adding loops

Sam testing his design

Leila

Matthew next to his design

Jessica next to her design

Left Panel, complete

Right Panel, complete

The students’ artwork above, in its current configuration, may loosely resemble a night sky filled with constellations or random geometric shapes, moving playfully across the wall. What do you see?

Below are the minimalist forms inspired by the work of Charlotte Posenenski: We used cardboard boxes from food items and turned them inside out, not to be influenced by advertizing and imagery. The students worked in groups of 2 to 3 and created configurations that ideally contained a minimum of 5 forms. The forms are attached with brass fasteners, so they may be easily rearranged into other configurations at a later time. On a practical level, this speaks to designing everyday objects more mindfully, so that they may have a new life or purpose when their original use comes to an end. After completing their minimalist artworks, students shared them with the class. A bonus feature is that many of the student's designs contained an interactive component!