original watercolors by Leena Iso-Ahola

"Birds over water"


"Winter Birches"

Leena Iso-Ahola's Finnish landscape paintings have been showcased internationally. She has held exhibits in her native Finland as well as in the United States. Her work has been featured in Finnish and Finnish American newspapers, including New World Finn, Amerikan Uutiset, Sampo, Jokivarsi, and Pyhajokiseutu. She has been a member of the Capital Hill Art League and presently with the Southern Maryland Art League.
Mrs. Iso-Ahola first started painting and exhibiting over twenty years ago. Her work can best be described as impressionistic and mostly she works with watercolors. Her work has been displayed in many places including the Single Artist Exhibit at the Washington Court Hotel, The Estonia House in Baltimore, Maryland, The Moravian Christian Church Children’s Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and also exhibits abroad in Haapavesi and Jamsa in Finland. Her work is an expression of tranquility and harmony of Finnish nature and landscapes. Her paintings give the viewer a bit of the vastness of nature that can be experienced in Finland’s pristine wilderness.

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Modern Art Vs. Contemporary Art

The success of a piece of art depends on how deftly it connects with the audience. If an artwork successfully communicates its message, it is considered to be a masterpiece. Some of the most artistic works of art began flowering in the 19th century till 1970. The flowering of modern art thus began in this era consequently leading the artists to move away from the traditional practices and emphasize more on portrayal of emotion on canvas. Post 1970, modern art preferred being called contemporary art. This includes any art that has been created after 1970 till the present age.

Modern art is not synonymous to contemporary art. The former encompasses only those works that have been created in the first half of the 20th century. Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism- they all form a part of modern art. Contemporary art, on the other hand, signifies those works done at the present time or in the very recent past. The best thing about today’s art is that it is bound by no rigid tradition and has the liberty to experiment with various styles.

Ever since the two world wars took place, there has been a surge of art movements- Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Post-modernism, Minimalism, and Feminist Art. The number of art movements has grown in numbers in recent times. It’s now common to come across avant-garde movements surfacing with new names every year. The one movement that created quite an uproar in recent times was that of Abstract Expressionism. The followers of this movement believed that art was created just to convey their own feelings and had no relation with the external world.

However, there is a section of people who does not consider modern art as art in the true sense of the term. Many people consider landscape and nature portrayals as the true art form. When modern and contemporary artists create something that challenges their imagination, they question the idea of their being an art.

As a matter of fact, abstract art needs proper understanding and intellect to decode its hidden meaning. Understanding the concept of the artist and appreciating the work on that basis lays the foundation for a successful modern art representation.
Suzanne Macguire is an expert writer and art connoisseur. Her articles have covered a lot of information on fine art and abstract art gallery.

Writing - Is it a Craft Or an Art?

There has been a quiet debate among writing teachers for a long time about whether writing is a craft or an art. That is not a simple question to answer because writing, as with most subjective endeavors, has aspects of both. In a way, the writing instructor, whether teaching in a storied MFA program or at a community creative writing seminar, is letting themselves off the hook if they come down too far on the "writing is an art" side of the debate.

Yet there is a measure of truth to the argument of writing as an art that is nearly impossible to teach. Some things, such as what the writer brings to the page from their personal history and inner life, cannot be taught. It is just who they are. For instance, being a physician in rural Russia in the 1800s is what made Anton Chekhov, well Checkhov. he would not have been able to write the short stories and plays he wrote without those experiences. Flashes of imagination may come to one writer more readily than to another, but even ways to heat up the imagination can be improved with some teachable techniques.

The craft of writing is more about the tools a writer will use in drawing the scenes and images to bring his imaginings and experienced stories to life. This is the process of actually building the cathedral that the builder imagined when his patron stopped by and said, "Build me a grand cathedral that will inspire men to greatness."

Having an idea or a vision of what you want to create is crucial, but it is only the first step. To take the cathedral analogy a step further, once the vision has been found... "A grand cathedral to inspire greatness..." then the builder has to sit down and think about where to build this cathedral and what specifically building it will entail. That is where his skill and experience as a builder comes in. This is the craft part of writing that can be taught and honed through practice.

While it is fine for a writer to think, "I want to create memorable and believable characters," it is understanding and applying the craft of writing that allows a writer to create the characters and stories of his or her imagination. Can craft be taught? Yes, I believe it can be taught and that a good writer is both an artist and a craftsman. In the best writing the craft is so well done that the reader loses themselves in the story and enters what John Gardner called "the fictive dream" in his book, "On Becoming a Novelist". A writer who is an expert craftsman has a robust and well-stocked tool-chest from which to create that dream and draw the reader in.

Don't accept the argument that writing cannot be taught. You can improve your writing craft through determination and commitment to the path of writing.

My name is Rocky Cole, and after a career as an intelligence officer I created http://www.colewriting.com to follow my passion for writing full-time. Visit my website for more tips on fiction and non-fiction writing, as well as tips on freelance writing and writing-productivity.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rocky_Cole

Art Deco Movement - The Foundation Stone of Modern Art

'Art Deco' was a mainstream international design movement, spreading over a span of fourteen years, from 1925 to 1939. It played a crucial role in the development and the progression of Modern Art. The Deco Movement embodied a blend of the different modern decorative art styles, largely from 1920s and 1930s. These styles were the derivatives of several state-of-the-art painting philosophies of the twentieth century, including 'Neoclassical,' 'Constructivism,' 'Cubism,' 'Modernism,' 'Art Nouveau,' and 'Futurism.' The Deco movement influenced various decorative arts, such as architecture, interior designing, industrial designing, and visual art forms like fashion, painting, graphic arts, and cinema.

The term 'Art Deco' was coined in an exhibition, 'Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes,' held in Paris, in the year 1925. The exhibition was organized by some French artists to promote the creation of a new genre of art, adapted to the contemporary lifestyle, a distinct sense of individuality, and fine workmanship. The organizers of this exhibition were the members of the society, 'La Societe des artistes decorateurs,' including, Hector Guinmard, Eugene Grasset, Raoul Lachenal, Paul Follot, Maurice Dufrene, and Emily Decour. The term 'Art Deco' however, gained widespread recognition only in the year 1968, when art historian Bevis Hiller, came out with his popular book, 'Art Deco of the 20s and 30s,' and organized an exhibition, 'Art Deco,' at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

This movement was distinguished for its abstraction, manipulation, and simplification of defined geometric shapes, and a vivid use of colors. The bold color schemes and blending curves were the focal points of the true 'Deco' creations. The so-called 'ancient arts' of Africa, Ancient Egypt, and Aztec Mexico, prominently inspired this movement. In the age of machines and streamline technology, the use of materials, such as plastics, enamels, harden concrete, and an unusual type of glass, 'vita-glass,' greatly affected the movement. There is sufficient evidence to indicate the employment of materials, like aluminum, stainless steel, lacquer, inlaid wood, along with exotic materials, like zebra and sharkskin.

The Empire State Building, famous for its pyramid-like structure, and the Chrysler Building, known for its multi-arched dome, are the living examples of the 'Deco' style. The movement even outlined the fashion industry of Paris in the 1920s. The dresses sported large chromium buttons, head-hugging cloche hats worn with huge fur collars, dangling earrings, and so called 'bobbed hairstyles,' all amounting to completely new and revolutionary look. The BBC Building in Portland Place and the basement of the Strand Palace Hotel, London are the examples of the pure 'Art Deco' style. The popularity of this movement took a beating during late 30s and 40s, but regained its lost sheen with the surge in the following of 'graphic designing' in the 1980s.

Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of Labedzki.com. An online art gallery featuring her original art.

It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Please visit the website at http://www.labedzki.com

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Should Art Express Emotion?

One of the most common misconceptions about art today is that the purpose of it is to express emotion. Despite what your teachers, some artist, a philosopher, or anyone else has told you, this is not the case. We can determine what the purpose of art is by looking at reality and history; what other people have said doesn't really matter.

Is it really so hard to believe that art wasn't created so that people could express how they feel at a certain time? Does it really seem important that someone be able to express that they feel sad through a painting? We have to assume that if art is about expressing emotion then it is the artist's emotion we are talking about, so why should I care how an artist felt while making a work of art? Or are artists just expressing random emotions from other people and other times?

The truth is that art is not such an arbitrary thing. Art expresses much more than emotions. After all, emotions come from somewhere; they come from our evaluations of situations and actions, and if you try to divorce emotion from any cause then it becomes meaningless. So to say that art is supposed to directly express emotion is to say that it expresses something meaningless and without reason.

Where people go wrong is thinking that a side effect of art is the purpose. Art should illicit emotion in the beholder, but it's a side effect, not the purpose. Art expresses judgments and evaluations of the artist, if it is art, and these in turn illicit emotions based on what the beholder thinks of those judgments.

This becomes clear when you look at the first works of art: cave paintings. Did the early humans draw pictures on the wall that expressed their emotions? Of course not, what would be the point of that? They didn't paint emotional abstractions, which modern artists always claim to be important. They painted things that were essential to them: animals and themselves hunting animals.

Being able to hunt and eat animals was everything in their world. Their lives depended on it. When they spent the time to paint animals on the wall it was because they were proclaiming them as important; they were judging and evaluating something. Animals were such an important part of their lives, such a constant fixture in their thought, that they were driven to express those ideas. They were not expressing their happiness or sadness; they were expressing their evaluations on what was important in life.

Modern art makes the mistake of holding emotion to be the purpose of art, and because of that you have artists splattering paint on a canvas and calling it art. It is a philosophical misunderstanding that should be corrected. Paint splatter does not express values or judgments, and can never be art. It can only be a pretentious waste, and we need to call it that. Art is too important to let people take over and turn into fashion. We need to reclaim art and tell the modern world that it's not just whatever they want it to be.

Look for more information about the trends in modern art painting that should be reevaluated, and those interested in philosophy related to art might want a philosophy t shirt.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Randal_Stevens


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