Artistic Inspirations

Alex Prager is a self-taught photographer and filmmaker. She was inspired to create work after she saw an exhibition of William Eggleston's photos. Her work has a classic Hollywood feel using highly saturated colors and most of her films feature female protagonists. The films in particular examine the emotions and feelings that go through our minds during different experiences and how we react to them. Many of her photographs resemble film stills (much like Cindy Sherman) and she gives the viewer just enough information to make up stories about characters in their own imaginations. Face in the Crowd is perhaps her most famous series from 2013. Prager depicts large crowds in separate locations, each individual person being a character that the viewer could write their own backstory for. Prager works with huge sets, hundreds of actors and extras, and lots of props and costumes to compose her photos and films. The accompanying short film stars Elizabeth Banks as a woman ...

I came across this infographic while scrolling through Pinterest that describes "The 10 Commandments of Typography." I thought it was a great way to not only to describe the general rules about typography but a great way to visualize them. https://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2018/09/21/website-typography-rules-infographic/ Definitions of Typography Terms for Reference  Serif Font - a serif font has a little line attached to the end of the letter and makes the type more legible. Sans-serif - does not have the line attached to the letter.  Slab-serif - fonts that are thicker than the average serif font. Typeface -  refers to specific characteristics of font, like bold, italic, condensed.  Font - refers to the specific member of a type family, like Times New Roman. Kerning - the spacing that can be adjusted between letters. Leading - is the distance between lines of text.  Points - the standard for measuring type. Picas - 1 pica is 12...

Hilma af Klint was creating abstract art long before the abstract movement in 1940s. She may have even been the first person to ever explore abstract art. Despite this work being made as early as 1906, no one had ever seen it until af Klint's first solo exhibition in the 1980s. She died in 1944.  Group IV, no 2. The Ten Largest, Youth, 1907 https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-swedish-mystic-hilma-af-klint-invented-abstract-art Her work is so unlike anyone else's, especially for her time period. She had studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, acquiring classical training such as painting landscapes and self-portraits. She created a group with four other women in the 1890s, named The Five. They met regularly and had séances where they attempted to communicate with spirits. During one of af Klint's experiences, she received a "commission" from a higher being to paint her abstracts. All of her work is spiritual and...

"One really beautiful wrist motion, that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it. It looks as if it were born in a minute."   -Helen Frankenthaler https://www.wsj.com/articles/growing-up-with-helen-frankenthaler-on-cape-cod Helen Frankenthaler has long been an inspiration to me. As I have have embarked on a journey of abstract painting, I have looked to her as one of the masters of abstract expressionism. Frankenthaler was born in New York City in 1928. She attended Bennington College and graduated in 1949. Her work was being shown in exhibitions almost immediately after graduating and she quickly gained fame in the art world. She is one of the pioneers of the Color Field style of painting.  Cool Summer, 1962, Oil on Canvas Frankenthaler is known for taking her paints and watering them down and applying them in a way that almost looks like a watercolor painting. In doing this, she is creating different tones of color in areas...