Wednesday, December 14, 2005

done!


Done! I finally posted my statement and paper #2. Feels good...

Anyhow, Joel, thank you for the opportunity to be in your class and giving me the freedom to explore and learn. I have gained a great amount of knowledge from you, especially from my fellow print classmates. Thank you guys/gals! Good luck on your journey!!! One more thing Joel, is there anything else you need for me to do for writing emphasis? Was it just the two papers, the statement of intent and the blog? Let me know. Also, I promise to continue updating my blog even though I won’t be in printmaking anymore with you. I will be posting up some of my prints on my blog once I find my digital camera. I think my sister took it and left it at my grandma's...

paper # 2

Mai Chang Vue
12-13-2005

Paper #2

Much of my work was influenced by my own culture and wanting to learn more about the possibilities of what I could do to represent Hmong people, more specifically Hmong children. My source of motivation to get me started on my series of prints of Hmong children was through performing research on my people and simply looking at photographs I could find in books or the internet. I found great photos in books and on the internet, but I just did not feel the connection and just was not happy. It was when I went to my family and relatives to see if I could look through their albums was when I felt more at “one” with my people because the pictures were of my family so I felt a closer tie.

Anyhow, after looking at all these photos I still was not able to get started. When I came across Helen Hydes’ work in my search for an artist to write my first paper on was when things finally fell into place. Her ability to capture women and children in the form of prints was heart-warming and uplifting. Knowing simply that she was an American women who was in terest in Asian people compelled me to get the rolling press rollin’.

While working I thought and tried to be painterly like Helen, but trying to did not feel satisfying because I wanted to restrict myself to being more linear and controlled. Because of this, I started looking at Rembrandt’s and Durer’s work. I liked the linear and detailed quality of their prints so combined their techniques with Helen’s to create what I came up with for my series. I tried to work details but kept things simple like Helen to capture a mere glimpse or moment of Hmong children on print.

I am quite happy with how my prints turned out. If not for these influences I would not be where I am with my prints. Seeing how successful I was this first time working with intaglio make me regret not getting into intaglio earlier in my college education. I will just have to find other opportunities to allow me to create prints. In the mean time, I will continue doing research and looking at other printmakers so that the opportunity comes up I will be ready to make prints like crazy.

STATEMENT of INTENT

Mai Chang Vue
12-13-2005

Statement of Intent

Looking back at my work and other people’s work, I think of Art as a “universal language” that speaks of things that are difficult or simply inexpressible in words. Art not only touches the hearts of everyone, but reflects our shared humanity. This view of Art is the approach I take in the creation of my works. Most of my artwork reflects my journeys through life, my family and friends and the environment in which I live in. Currently my work is a reflection of my Hmong culture and my Asian background.

I have learned through my college Art education that my vision of Art is not about the technical skills associated with Art, but the ramifications of my works. I usually do most of my planning in my head; oftentimes just creating as I go along with things. Usually I know a piece is done when I can appreciate it for how it looks and the sensation it sends me when I look at it. When my work is going well, I am persevered to continue working that I frequently lose track of time.

Most of my work is inspired by the moving human figure and the human figure locked in space. By creating sculptural pieces and paintings, I have been able to explore the body’s motion, strength, sensuality and expression. This investigation of the human form has led me to creating abstract representations of the human figure.

Other influences of my work is Asian Art; more specifically, Hmong, Japanese, and Chinese Art. Currently I am researching and learning about my culture in order to understand my people. I am exploring the different types of Hmong Art and textiles. I just recently learned that Hmong textile is actually embedded with the Hmong language. A long time ago when the Hmong and Chinese were at war, all of their books, manuscripts, etc. were slashed and burned; the only way they were able to preserve their language without it being destroyed was by secretly sewing the letters as part of their clothing. Knowing this has motivated me into doing more research so that I can better represent their work in my future paintings, drawings and possibliy prints.

When people see my work, I would like for them to find their own meaning and purpose of the work(s). I am more than happy to explain my work, but I believe my work is not Art unless the viewer interprets it for his or her understanding and satisfaction. The purpose of my work is to create reactions; therefore, the viewers’ interpretation is what helps to complete my artwork. As an artist, I strongly hold Art to be a human activity in which both the artist and the viewer are artists. The measure of a successful piece of work derives from how the shared wisdom comes into being in the life-practice of both the artist and viewer. For this reason, I believe true beauty is when viewers and I find the meaning of a work together because all of us have something to learn and all of us have something to teach. This belief is one of the reasons why I want to become an Art teacher.

My goal in becoming an Art teacher is nearing as I am going to be student teaching next semester 2006. My ambition to become an Art teacher stems from my direct involvement and interaction with people, especially students. The exhilaration I feel when students discover they can draw or produce something out of nothing is an indescribable event that compels me to become an Art teacher. I want to teach Art because I want to demonstrate that Art is more than simply coloring between thin lines or copying a photograph. I want to show students that Art is intrinsically valuable and useful and it is a method of connecting their past with their present and future. Like many Art teachers, I have a vision with a final product in mind. In my vision there is a canvas –a canvas full of potential. As a future Art teacher, my students would be my masterpiece; they are the ones I hope to shape and bend to become promising Art appreciates, artists or perhaps Art teachers.

During my years here at UW-La Crosse I felt forced to find an emphasis in Art. This has been a difficult journey for me because I wanted to be good at everything and I liked all the different forms of art –sculpture, ceramics, painting, drawing, photography and printmaking. Going to be graduating in the spring 2006 I feel closer to who I am becoming as an artist. As much as I enjoy creating 3-D sculptural work, I believe I stand in the 2-D painting, drawing and printmaking world because of having had more success in this realm of Art. I would like to continue exploring Hmong History and People until the point of exhaustion in order to find happiness in my work. Like I said in my last day of printmaking at UW-L, "one cannot find true happiness until one knows who he/she is...to feel at peace and one with themself". Anyhow, regardless of how random or bizarre my work may be at times, I think it is okay. This arbitrariness is who I am and I do not plan to change my way of thinking and doing things because in the end I want to be my true self, which is spontaneous and unpredictable.

wow...it is actually coming to an end...

I can't believe it, today is my last day of Art classes here at UW-La Crosse. It has been a great 9 semesters of art....next semester I will be student teaching and am extremely excited to instill knowledge, skill and love for Art in my students. I am not sure where I am placed yet...I have to go check with the SOE tomorrow.

(Joel, sorry I haven't posted my 2nd paper and statement of intent up yet. I have been so busy with my prints and paintings that I haven't had the chance to come on here to do anything. I promise to put it up asap!)

Mai Chang

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Senior Exhibition

Wow! The show looks amazing! I am impressed with all the works this year. There are such a great variety of talent! Anyhow, it was a pain getting ready for the show. First it was a matter of deciding what and then a matter of getting my prints done and ready for the show. I am happy with what I have in the show, however, I think I could have done more....I felt there was something missing...not sure what though...anyway, great job everybody on the show!!!!

Mai Chang

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

SO SOON!

I can't believe that the Senior Exhibition is coming up. I am not even ready for it. I have nothing or I don't know what to put in it. There is a painting, but it is not fully complete. There are these prints that I am working on for my series but that is not complete also. I have about a week to get everything all completed. It is going to be one fun holiday break for me...I will be working away....

Mai Chang

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Helen Hyde



Mai Chang Vue
Art 418: Advanced Printmaking –Elgin
November 12th, 2005
Paper #1

Helen Hyde

Helen Hyde is internationally one of the best known and outstanding printmakers of the early twentieth century. She exhausted most of her artistic career producing woodblock prints using Japanese methods, and was probably one of the first American artists to use this technique.[1] She was one of the first Western artists and American female artists to study Japanese Printmaking in Japan, which influenced many other artists to go study there.[2]

Hyde was born in Lima, New York in 1868.[3] Two years after she was born, her family moved to San Francisco, California where she began to study art. At the age of twelve she studied under Ferdinand Richardt, a realist painter from Denmark who moved to San Francisco to further his career.[4] In 1882, when she was fourteen, her father died and she and her mother and sisters moved in with her wealthy Aunt, Augusta Bixler,[5] who supported and encouraged her artistic education.[6] After graduating from Wellesley School for Girls, she went to the California School of Design in 1866. Between 1888 and 1894 [7] she studied in New York City with Kenyon Cox, in Berlin with Franz Skarbina, and in Paris with Feliz Ragamey. Ragamey, a French painter and teacher, influenced her significantly and pushed her to go towards “Asian” art. While in Paris, she was inspired by the works of American Impressionist Mary Cassat who paints women and children. Cassat’s influence is evident in Hyde’s work because much or her subjects in her prints are of children, specifically Japanese and Asian children which are because of her Japanese influences.[8] Also, in Paris, she was educated by instructors from the École des Beaux-Arts. However, since she was a woman and a foreigner, she was never acknowledged as an official student of the academy.[9]

In 1894 Hyde returned to San Francisco where she sketched women and children in Chinatown and eventually joined the Sketch Club, which was a professional women artists association. Josephine Hyde, whom she met through the Sketch Club, encouraged her to etch and together they played around with color etchings.[10] In 1895 she bought her own printing press[11] which allowed her to experiment some more with etching and printing. She continued working in Chinatown showing her etchings through William Macbeth and producing illustrations for a volume of children’s verse, Moon Babies, until 1899 when her mother died.[12] After her mother’s death she went to Japan to study brush painting and etching.[13]

Hyde’s concentration in color woodblock printing was a result of her stay in Japan where she learned how to prepare blocks and print them on paper.[14] By 1900 she was producing her own etchings and woodcuts in Tokyo where she met Ernest Fenollosa and Emil Orlik.[15] Orlik, the first European to have traveled to Japan to become skilled in the printing technique, supplied her with her with her first tools and taught her how to cut blocks.[16] When she was able to master the technique she developed her own studio and hired artisans to work for her. [17] Kano Tomonobu was a Japanese printmaker with which she studied closely.[18]

Hyde traveled to a large extent to promote her work and. In 1901 she returned to the states to meet with many dealers in New York and Boston and then she returned to Japan, which became her adopted country, in 1902. She traveled extensively from her main studio in Tokyo from 1903 to 1913 to China, India, and Mexico. Some of her works depict the women and children from the places she visited, but still remained true to her Japanese in style and subject matter. In 1914 she permanently returned to the United States after fifteen years residing in Japan. She won a Bronze Medal in 1915 when she exhibited her prints at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition. She had a solo show in 1916 at the Chicago Art Institute when she moved to Chicago. Helen Hyde died of cancer at the age of fifty-one in 1919 in Pasadena, California where her sister Mabel Hyde lived.[19] Her family and friends took great care in preserving her prints, documents, letters, and printmaking tools during the next decade in which many saw her work as “sentimental and lacking in boldness.” Today her prints are under careful examination as part of the new interest in the history of American printmaking, female art worlds, and the influence of Asian art and customs to the Americans. [20]

Examining Hyde’s work, it is evidently a world “inhabited by women and children…a world without men. Her infants are under the control of women. They are washed, patted, [and] carried about…provided…physical and emotional needs.”[21] In her works of just children, they are either portrayed individually or playing with other children. She does an astounding job depicting captivating descriptions of children; she is able to obtain the shapes and size of Japanese children as they play and frolic about.[22]

In Hyde’s other prints, “women are shown at work, without children …the space is women’s space. The very absence of men grants these women greater visual space…[and] the viewer must concentrate on the women’s world, whether domestic of public.[23] While the Japanese women are retiring, even [though they appear] shy, they are not there for the male to gaze.”[24] Hyde best puts it in one of her conversations: “[though] we may like men we don’t need them and … there is nothing we can’t do for ourselves except bring children into the world…women…pretend they are they are helpless even if they are not, to give men something to do, to make them feel worth something.”[25]

A remarkably devious palette of colors that include beautiful mauves, soft greens, and delicate yellows[26] helps emphasize the women and children she creates prints of. Her fine treatment of colors are similar to earlier Japanese masters and her use of “white light,” and profoundly rich green and rose are carefully manipulated. Many people like the flat, decorative effect she was able to achieve by not having shadows. In her work titled Baby Talk, a mother and child are depicted completely occupied with one another. Shown in the back is a painted screen of vines and flowers mimicking the natural world. The colors used are faint grays, browns, violets, and yellows.[27] Below are examples of Hyde’s work for you to take a look at and examine her vigilant printmaking skills.


A Taste of Helen Hyde’s Work:

Baby Talk, 1908
Color woodcut on paper
11 3/8 x 18 1/2" (image); 14 3/8 x 21 1/4"(paper)









A Day in June, 1910
Color woodcut on paper
14 1/2 x 6 1/2" (image), 18 1/2 x 10 1/4" (paper)
















Moon Bridge at Kameido, 1914
Color woodcut on paper
13 3/8 x 9" (image), 16 x 10 1/4" (paper)
















Hide and Seek, 1987
Color etching on paper
5 7/8 x 7 1/4












The Bamboo Fence, 1904
Color woodcut on paper
5 1/8 x 11 1/4





* All images taken from: Smithsonian American Art Museum, http://www.americanart.si.edu/


References:
[1] Mason, Tim, and Lynn Mason. Helen Hyde. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1991. pg 11.
[2] Castle Fine Arts: Biography Pages: Helen Hyde http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 2 retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[3] Castle Fine Arts. Biography Pages: Helen Hyde, http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 1, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[4] Ferdinand Richardt, http://www.northpointgallery.com/browse/fr/, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[5] Castle Fine Arts. Biography Pages: Helen Hyde, http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 1, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[6] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 1, paragraph 2, retrieved Nov. 7th, 2005.
[7] Castle Fine Arts. Biography Pages: Helen Hyde, http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 1, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[8] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 1, paragraph 2, retrieved: Nov. 7th, 2005.
[9] Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee, Helen Hyde. http://www.union.wisc.edu/art/collection/artists/hyde.html, retrieved: Nov. 10, 2005.
[10] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 1, paragraph 2, retrieved: Nov. 7th, 2005.
[11] Castle Fine Arts. Biography Pages: Helen Hyde, http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 1, retrieved: Nov.8th, 2005.
[12] Helen Hyde Biographical Information. http://www.Wolman-prints.com/pages/artistbiog/all/h/189.html, retrieved: Nov. 11, 2005.
[13] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 1, paragraph 3, retrieved Nov. 7th, 2005.
[14] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 2, paragraph 3, retrieved Nov. 7th, 2005.
[15] Castle Fine Arts. Biography Pages: Helen Hyde, http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 1, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[16] Helen Hyde Biographical Information. http://www.Wolman-prints.com/pages/artistbiog/all/h/189.html, retrieved: Nov. 11, 2005.
[17] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 2, paragraph 3, retrieved Nov. 7th, 2005.
[18] Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee, Helen Hyde. http://www.union.wisc.edu/art/collection/artists/hyde.html, retrieved: Nov. 10, 2005.
[19] Castle Fine Arts. Biography Pages: Helen Hyde, http://www.castlefinearts.com/fs_biography.aspx?page=/Japanese_fine_arts_woodblock_prints/Helen_Hyde_Biography.aspx, pg 1, paragraph 1, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[20] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 5, paragraph 2 & 3, retrieved Nov. 7th, 2005.
[21] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 4, paragraph 1, retrieved Nov. 7th, 2005.
[22] Helen Hyde. http://www.davidsonggalleries.com/artists/hyde/hyde.html, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[23] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 4, paragraph 1, retrieved Nov.7th, 2005.
[24] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 4, paragraph 2, retrieved Nov.7th, 2005.
[25] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 4, paragraph 2, retrieved Nov.7th, 2005.
[26] Helen Hyde. http://www.davidsonggalleries.com/artists/hyde/hyde.html, retrieved: Nov. 8th, 2005.
[27] Joan Jensen. Women Artists of the American West: Helen Hyde, American Printmaker, http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/Hyde.html, pg 3, paragraph 2, retrieved Nov.7th, 2005.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

?

Okay...I don't really understand the process of using the "magic joel" solution. I think I messed up. Hopefully someone is in the shop later to help me.

Oh...my paper is moving on really slowly. I think I should just stick to one artist.

Mai Chang

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Alice Fong Yu




Wow! Alice Fong Yu was the first Chinese-American public school teacher. She taught 44 years at the Sanfrancisco Commodore Stockton Elementary School which is now named after her for her wonderful service. Reading about her and knowing more about her gives me inspiration to continue on my path to become an Art teacher.

Mai Chang

Monday, November 07, 2005

Well.... I finally have the first print of my series printed...it isn't the greatest but it will do. I have to reaquatint some parts because they don't show up well on either paper. Probably too light. Oh...there are several printmakers that I would like to write my paper on. I am thinking of just writing on several rather than one. Hope that is okay with Joel.

Mai Chang