Mohair Bikini and the Making of Icons

The joys and mystery of developing a unique presence is all about the photo shoot.

A big influence on our style was in part from the fashion industry.  Rebecca worked on the Joan Vass fashion line in 2005-2009, in New York City, which gave her the background on how to run a fashion photoshoot. ” I would help style the photo shoots. My office mate was the designer, Michael Cunningham. We would discuss some of the direction and which outfit the company would use for a photo session,” Klementovich said.

“What I loved about Joan Vass was her original way of thinking,” Klementovich explains. “Vass designed a Mohair bikini, that type of designing stands alone for originality,” Rebecca said. In the New York Times article about Vass “She broke every rule of the business.”

The big lesson while working on the Joan Vass line  was how to visually make an icon. The icon is where the direction of the presence begins. Fashion uses icons to direct who wears their clothes, and who is buying the product.Besides the image of the Icon, Rebecca saw the importance of the “front color” meaning the outfits were in the front of the photo, and how they worked with the “back color” the background. “For example when Kristen and I do a photoshoot, we think of the what are the colors of where we are going to photograph. If it is bright green summer forest, we will wear pinks and oranges which are the contrast colors.Using the opposite colors pushes the intensity of the photo. We also bring  a trunk load of clothes because you never know when just a hint of a certain color in a dress, scarf, or accessory will move the photo to the next level,” Rebecca said.

This photo really proves this point.   Here the foggy background softens the backdrop, so we use the red and peach colors of the shirt and scarf to push us to the front. The black shapes of our hair and shirts add to the rhythm of movement in the photo. The drinking of tea in the forest while painting adds to the silliness of the shoot

. PHOTO by Orion Kugel. Orion has a wonderful awareness of subtly in capturing color and design. 

Two years as a Curator at the Rochester Fine Arts Museum,in NH

I just received this email

-Our August meeting is our first meeting of your second year in your current term, by Esther Turner, at the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts! 

I am so honored to be a part of this grass roots museum that is taking off in the best way.

ART FOR EVERYONE is the Museum's main goal. And what a goal it is.

http://www.rochestermfa.org/committee.html

Argentine Tango and how dance affects Brush Strokes

A few years back, in midtown Manhattan, I was taking tango lessons from Musa. What I learned from dancing was- it is a lot like painting. When you push the floor with your feet, it is the same movement of the pushing of the brush against the canvas. They both use friction to make the movement.

Kline was painter. He understood movement. You can see by the energy in his work, he took huge chances with his brush strokes. His massive strokes of paint must have been done with a forty five dollar large brush that would later take an hour to clean.

Here in this tango video, Musa and I must have danced a good 400 hours to get to the quality of these dance steps. The small circles of movement by the toes, the tango wraps, the kicks and the WALK are all brush strokes in my world. Pushing, sweeping, gliding, and listening are the elements for not a good brush stroke but a fantastic brush stroke. The same for the dance step, you can take a halfhearted step or you can take a large, broad step. It is in the detail of quality of the movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb945h6JfSs

To watch Tango as spoken in the blub find it from the above link.

Motherwell, Klementovich, Pobatschnig

Motherwell, Klementovich, Pobatschnig

When you enter Jeannie Motherwell’s studio, the large expansive abstract paintings

really grab your attention. She grew up in a home of abstract painting with the influences of her father, Robert Motherwell and step mom Helen Frankenthaler.  Yet her own work is strong and bold with rich dark colors and a splash of cadmium brights.

Her own artist’s statement says this, “I am amazed by the images and mysteries of creation — like the oceans and skies in changing weather, Hubble-type images of the universe, and my own physicality during the painting process.” When you see her work, it feels oceanic. It is true, Kristen and I can contest the ocean feel of her work.

Our visit to Motherwell’s studio was inspiring as you can see her raw talent and perseverance. Jeannie, told us that Helen Frankenthaler never put being a women as an obstacle she just painted, and kept at it.

We send a special thanks to Jeannie Motherwell for being an abstract artist and showing the way.