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UndergroundArtSchool.com

10.1.09 New Site

Next Thursday, October 1st, we will be unveiling our new website. The theme of our next issue is Simplicity and with having a blog and separate "official" site, things just seemed too complicated. It was time to walk the talk and simplify.

It will be a really easy and painless transition, we promise. All of our current blog series will be there [Art Schooled, Student//Teacher, Q&A's]. If you're a recent graduate or just beginning your career in an art related field, there's a sweet addition for you! Fiona Clark will be contributing posts about the applied arts sector of the art world. Put that degree to work!

You'll have an opportunity to design our banner and share with our community your gallery/thesis shows and events. Plus, there will be lots of hand drawn typography which makes us cry tears of awesomeness just thinking about it.

We really hope to see you there.

Student//Teacher: Irana Douer

We know a lot of students worry when they don't have a visual identity by the time they are seniors [particularly in the applied arts]. We know this because we were one of those students! Spend less time worrying and more time understanding the materials you feel comfortable with, the subject matter that excites you, color palettes you see before you begin, and artists you feel some weird connection towards.

Maybe not having a face becomes your identity. Just look at the many faces of Argentinian based artist Irana Douer. If you're committed to your art, you'll figure out what you look like.

Student//Teacher: Jessica Wohl

Jessica Wohl is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Georgia [lots of excellent work coming out of there!]. Jessica's series; Multiplicity, caught our eye because of the weirdness we felt looking at it. Turns out, that was what she was striving for:

Families are strange, and I'm interested in why we try to pretend like they're not. Dressed in matching attire, we coif our hair and smile for the camera, knowing images of our perfect family will soon grace fireplace mantles and refrigerator doors, proving that through it all, we are a wholesome, happy family. We’ve attained the American Dream. There is security and comfort in these alluring visuals that we create, surround ourselves with and ultimately believe, but what do these images of staged perfection truly reveal? There is a familiarity we seek and feel with commonplace portraiture, and I investigate methods of making these familiar images seem oddly unfamiliar.

Pass a Note! Share the Links!

Want to pass a note along? Share us with your friends by putting Underground Art School on your blog. Just choose your fav, copy and past, or drag the images to your desktop and upload onto your blog! AWESOME! Hi-5! If you need the HTML code to make an image as a link, click here.

Student//Teacher: Paul Wagenblast

The work of Paul Wagenblast, a recent grad from Portland Northwest College of Art makes us want to cry. We were going to write "unbelievable talent" but that's not quite it. It's more like believable talent causing unbelievable emotion from just one image.

Art Schooled: How to Survive Foundation Year

How to Survive Foundation Year

Remember Britney Spears in her "crazy" days? Foundations Year can feel a lot like those wild nights shaving hair and piercing umbrellas through paparazzi car windows. Some nights you will find yourself sipping on a Red Bull trying to stay awake to finish a 2-D project due the next morning. Due to the caffeine shakes you won't be able to fall asleep when you finally finish and wind up having a mere two hour window to nap before class. Don't sweat, we've all been there before-you can and will get through this! Here's my guide to surviving your foundation year:

Defend Your (Good) Ideas

One of the hardest parts of foundation year is being told “No” to an idea that you think is awesome. Sometimes the way you explain your best ideas make them an easy target to be shot down. Learn how to explain the most important parts of your ideas with confidence, and when you are met with resistance, learn how to defend your ideas with persistence if they are, in fact, a good idea. This leads me to my next point…

Don't be Afraid to Throw Away an Idea You’re Invested In

Art school is about learning how to come up with a vision, following it through, realizing it’s awful, understanding why it’s awful, and tossing it to the side. You will have a lot more awful ideas than good ones when you start, you will spend a lot of time trying to make these awful ideas into good ideas, and you’ll be hesitant to cast them off due to the amount of time you’ve invested. Chalk it up to experience and move on. It is OK to have a bad idea. The best part about a bad idea is it always leads you to something better. Art School teaches you how to weed out those bad ideas from the first seed.

Critique Without BSing

Nothing is worse in foundation year than staying up all night, putting your blood, sweat, and tears into finishing a project due the next morning and then you get to class and have to listen to a bunch of timid students either say nothing in response or bs about your work.

“I really like that you used green. It’s very organic”—that is not a critique, it’s a comment, and the word ‘organic’ is possibly the most overused word in the average art student’s critique lexicon. Don’t be that student. It's OK to have an opinion in a critique, we’re not here to rub noses, we’re here to offer our honest opinions on the work presented and offer ideas on how to make it better. I remember being nervous in my foundation year that if I was to say anything too harsh that it would make it harder for me to make friends (as I would be labeled as ‘that bitch in critique this morning’). Don't take critique comments as being a jab at you, the artist, the student. You are learning skills in foundation year, these skills and how they are applied are being critiqued. In the same vein, learn how to critique your own work in the same way.

Learn How to Generate Ideas

Always, always, always idea-generate before starting a project, regardless if it's an applied arts or fine arts class. Even if you think you’re dead set on your initial idea; sketching, envisioning, and talking over other options might help you to make that first idea stronger or realize that there is an entirely different route you should be taking. The ideas you come up with when you are pushing yourself to brainstorm oftentimes can be the best ones. Make lists, write word associations, flip through books at the library, sketchbook, learn how to make time to explore.

Save your Unused Ideas

I always wrote down lists in my sketchbooks of ideas that I—someday—wanted to pursue. Occasionally I’ll go back and read lists from freshman year and I’ll say “Wow that’s brilliant.” But more often than not I’ll say, “What the hell was I thinking?!!” No matter how small, write down your ideas that you haven't used just yet, you’ll never know when they’ll come in handy, and if anything, they will show your progression and commitment to your art.

Kathryn Proulx is a Senior at Parsons The New School For Design. Kathryn is studying Communication Design and runs a blog, Faux-Beau, where she writes about art school, breaking into the design industry, inspiration, and about her own experiences as a young designer. If you'd like Kathryn to answer your question about art school in a future post, please email her at kathrynproulx[at]gmail.com

Student//Teacher: Brian Hitselberger

It's interesting to see when an artists work translates from the 2D realm to 3D such as the work of University of Georgia -Athens MFA Candidate Brian Hitselberger. I always wonder what the transition is like, and when does one know to make the choice to move?

Student//Teacher: Evgeniy Sunik

Evgeniy Sunik is a 24 year old photographer studying at Fresno City College. Here's an introduction to what he has to say about his on going photographic series The Infinite of Finite:
"The work explores the unique quality of the medium of photography to record the infinite number of the states of the world. The length of every act of photography is finite. However, the act is essentially is the effect of the infinite number of the states existing during the process of taking a picture. The nature of the film and the sensor allows to accept the non-discreteness of the world."

Student//Teacher: Fay Elizabeth Heffer

Beautiful black and white images from Fey Elizabeth Heffer, a recent graduate from the Norwhich School of Art & Design in the U.K. Experimenting with illustration, lighting, and photography? Yes, please!

Underground Notes: Need to Know

We decided a few weeks ago that we need to learn html and php in order for Underground Art School to exhibit the connection part of our mission statement. We were thinking a lot about how html was nice to know a year or so ago, but now it's need to know.

Then we put it into the context of the magazine. While what we have been doing with the magazine and blog is nice, has it been need to know?
Now it is.

We're extending the mag into a pdf download option that includes a resource 'zine called Context headlined by our friend Michael Nobbs. While there are hundreds and hundreds of resources in the art genre available to you, we'll narrow it down for you, on a need to know basis.

Lastly, as you may tell from the new visuals, our blog is being re-vamped to help you. Here is a preview of our new blog features:

Weekly we will be featuring the work of an art student, recent graduate, and/or emerging creative. Send us an email or Twitter us your links and artwork if that could be you!


Nicole will bring you more artist interviews for a little perspective on the real world way of staying creative. Patrons don't let creativity stop at graduation!

We're insanely excited to present to you Art Schooled! It is a new weekly feature brought to you by the lovely Kathryn Proulx. She is a visual communications design senior at Parsons The New School for Design. She will be discussing EVERYTHING there is to know about art + school.

Making this magazine and blog has been an education for the Underground Team. We thank you for continuing your efforts to learn and grow creatively together!

Underground Notes: Raise Your Hands

Oh hello! A very important update is about to happen!

I [Racheal Anilyse] have been ill this summer. I have been unable to draw or use my hand for 2 months. This is not good when you are the person designing a magazine that often uses lots of hand drawn elements! Although I've outsourced doodling as much as possible, and I am feeling much better now, the magazine unfortunately has taken a back seat.

Image: James MitchellSo, there are new changes on the horizon. Underground Art School Issue 4 will now be released as the fall issue on October 9th! Plus, there will be more news about Issue 4 next week [and what's going on with this blog]!

I deeply apologize for the delay and I thank you for your patience.

To all my creative peoples with carpel tunnel and/or tendinitis: RAISE YOUR HANDS UP!!!

Release the Pressure Sketch

The only real problem is using a sketchbook: Makes me feel like I'm gonna mess up and ruin the book.

This was a recent message I received via Twitter [name removed to protect the innocent] and I found it to be important because maybe I did not get my point across as clearly as had hoped in Issue 3. Get over the pressure to sketch [and I say that with love and encouragement]! Now, if you've ever read one issue of Underground Art School you'll note we are so very fond of hand drawn typography and sketchbook art so it's legit when I write my next statement: thank goodness sketchbooks are sometimes considered low brow art. Make nasty ugly art in them...it's acceptable. Making pretty art is acceptable too. No one is stopping you except you.


If you're still having trouble [or maybe are bored this summer], sign up for Art House's Sketchbook Project, join a Moleskine Exchange, post your work on 'Skine Art, start an Urban Sketchers group, challenge the concept of what a sketchbook is, just do something!

And for the love of your art, let the fear of screwing up a sketchbook go!!!

Image: Vaughn Fender!!!

Art Journaling with Dawn DeVries Sokol

Dawn DeVries Sokol is an author and artist. She is an advocate of art journaling and will soon be teaching a workshop devoted to teaching and inspiring others to create a personal art journal. Issue 3 was all about letting the sketchbook work for you. We talked with Dawn who has done just that; and made a career out of it!

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How have you been able to parlay what you love into a formidable career?

I actually started out with a journalism degree and moved by luck and chance into art direction. I think I've always had luck on my side, that, and perseverance. I can be aggressive if I really want to achieve something. I became an author because of my love of books...I was able to finagle my way into it through book design. Seems like all I've done so far has come full circle.

Do you have themes that you explore that evolve and take on a different form than you initially imagined?

As a designer, I've created with having something in mind and producing that. Through my art journals, I've learned how to let go and let the paint and pens take over. I still art journal sometimes with something in mind and I've created art journal covers with themes.

You have a style that is reminiscent of childhood and as an adult. It intertwines gracefully. How is the child different from the adult; how are they similar?

I think the child and the adult are one in the same. I still feel vulnerable and uncertain with my art journaling, and I always think back to when it was implied that I wasn't an artist. I was the "writer" in the family. I really didn't start creating for myself until well after I worked as an art director and book designer. I've never thought of how much I use my childhood photos...I just like to use photos of me and my family, past and present. It makes my art journals more personal, more me.

Your book, 1000 Artist Journal Pages, is quite an inspiration to artists who could use some help with sketchbooks and journaling. How long did it take to complete?

It took about a year. I've never been involved in the book process from the VERY beginning to end. A client will come to me when they have the text and art gathered already, and then ask me to design it. This project was definitely an eye-opener, to be the author and then designer. It was a little odd to worry about satisfying just the publisher and myself.

What was the most challenging aspect of it?

Probably the publisher's expectations of me as an author. I know there were a lot of things I fumbled through, so that was nerve-wracking!

What did you take away from your experience as an author that was different from other artwork you have produced?

The true feeling of giving (hypothetically) birth to a project and the wonderful generosity and excitement of the contributors. I also definitely enjoyed choosing the art journal pages. I used to art direct magazines and LOVE the concept/illustration phase of designing publications. I don't get to do that as often as a book designer. I selfishly wanted this book to be one that I would turn to if I needed inspiration, so I simply chose what inspired me.

What is your favorite tool for drawing?

I love to use Pitt pens but I also want to start working more with calligraphy pens and nibs. I love color, but deep down I prefer black and white. There's something so simple but intricate about it and I love it's starkness.

How do you feel about sharing your process online?

Honestly, I've found that my readers know when I'm holding back. Sometimes I think it would be better to pull back, but it's much more satisfying to share with others and hear from them that I've inspired them or answered a question they had about process. I still struggle with how much to share because working in the field of graphic design is very competitive. I've been burned in the past. But I've also learned that art journalists and artists are different. Sharing is an important part of learning. I've learned SO much from other artists that are free with their information. I feel I need to give some back.

You are preparing to teach an amazing 10 week online workshop in August. Can you give us details?
The Art Journal Stimulus Project resulted from a down economy. I kept seeing all these people so depressed. I've found that art journaling helps me to let all those crummy feelings out, so I wanted to help others do the same. The $15 fee is part of the "stimulus" idea. I wanted to make it more affordable.

How much time do you devote to art- and what other artistic endeavors do you have going on?

Art can be 24/7 with me, if I let it in. I'm always thinking about design, art, and creativity. I have tried to work in collaboratives, but I seem to fumble in those kinds of projects. The only one that's worked for me is the Traveling Journals Project. My journal returned to me a few months ago and it is wonderful. I have a couple more journals to work in and just received one a few days ago.

How does journaling benefit you and your art?

Art journaling has opened up so many avenues for me. I wouldn't have authored a book like I did, which has brought an opportunity to do a kids' book. I've become focused on the lettering because of journaling, and that will hopefully lead to illustrations with typography. I'm also looking into licensing opportunities. I do get stuck often and just let it ride. It's hard to not get frustrated or depressed during those times. This is something I struggle with. I know that a lot of creative people deal with ruts, so I'm in good company!

Website | Art Stimulus Project | Twitter | Journals