Some Student Artists in the Ohio Schools Will Apprentice This Summer

With all the education budget cuts during the past decade and a renewed focus on reading and mathematics, the arts have seen many cutbacks and even programs eliminated. Though educators recognize that the arts is an important subject for graduating well-rounded students, the new government requirements do not leave any time or money to underwrite the programs needed. Thus, students who wish for a career in the arts are the ones now left behind, unless their parents recognize their children’s talent and can afford to send them to private schools. Additionally, students with latent artist abilities may never recognize these skills, since they will not have the opportunity to experience the arts firsthand in the school environment.

In the Ohio schools, some students are being given a helping hand. Every June for one month, a few Ohio schools secondary students are given the opportunity to apprentice with a professional artist, actually working on a commissioned project.

The program is called Arts LIFT (Lola Isroff Fund for Teens). The Ohio schools teens are selected from the Akron high schools and spend three days at the Cuyahog Valley Environmental Education Center for a retreat. Then, they work under the direction and tutelage of the professional artist.

This year, ten Ohio schools teens will be apprenticed under Akron artist and professional ceramist Beth Lindenberger. After their three-day retreat, the Ohio schools teens will create large-scale, permanent ceramic sculptures at the University of Akron’s Myers School of Art. The artwork will be installed at the Environmental Education Center at the end of June. A public reception follows in July at the Art School. Throughout the Ohio schools teens apprentice period, exhibits of artworks from their personal portfolios will be exhibited at the Art School in the Emily David Gallery, Folk Hall. Each student receives a stipend for their participation.

Arts LIFT won a Collaborative Project Award from the Akron Area Arts Alliance in 2005. The apprentice program was conceived and is directed by Elisa Gargarells, a University of Akron art education assistant professor.

The purpose of the program is to give Ohio schools students in Akron a chance to work with and see professional artists in the context of using their talents for hire in the real world. The program also seeks to connect Ohio schools students with institutions that deal with conservation and environmental issues, as well as real ecological efforts. The desired outcome is for Ohio schools students to see that their artistic talents are marketable as a career, as well as being able to help the community and environment.

Previous Ohio schools students in the program have created:

• Large hanging, stained glass butterflies for the Corbin Conservatory at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in 2004;
• About 40 ceramic sculptures for the Crown Point Ecology Center’s perennial garden in 2003; and
• An animal habitat-themed mural for the Akron Zoo’s educational outreach van in 2002.

Though cutbacks and educational refocusing have severely hurt the arts program in the Ohio schools, some students in Akron are getting the encouragement they need and deserve.

Art Schools, The Artist’s Choice!

Is Art School necessary to be a good artist?

Being creative or artistic is truly a gift, a talent. But as with any talent, it needs to be tempered, honed, and optimized. Without proper training, one might never achieve the potential he or she was born with. And to help you hone your talents, you will need a good Art school!

Any educational institution that offers training in the arts may be called an art school.

They may offer vocational, undergraduate, or graduate and even post-graduate courses.

These schools focus their trainings on the visual arts such as illustration, painting, advertising design, graphical arts, photography, sculpture, and other artistic expressions. In the last few years, even game design has become institutionalized. This means that the art of designing game graphics has become serious business.

If the college is accredited it will grant you a Bachelor’ degree in Fine Arts or a B. A. in Fine Arts or some other certification and degree.

A successful future in the Arts industry depends on choosing the right school to hone your talents. When choosing an Art school, consider the following factors.

What Can You Benefit from an Art School?
You may be tempted to think you will be able to wing it through a career without any formal training. That is possible. However, since industries are constantly looking for professionals who can abide by industry standards, those with Art degrees get a competitive edge. Also, in Arts school you learn from other professionals what these industries expect of their artists. This helps you be more prepared for work with professional companies.

Art school will also benefit your art technique. Your innate talent will benefit from the proven concepts and techniques you can learn here.

Art school also develops in its students a love and appreciation for the different forms of art. It opens to the student new vistas of learning and expressing. Even if only for that reason, Art school would be worth every penny paid to it.

What You Won’t Learn at Arts School
Art school, however, will not teach you passion and drive. You must have both and mix them with your innate talent and hard work. You have to develop an intimate relationship with your profession to be able to maximize your potential.

Choose a School
Different schools have different strengths, find a school that plays to your strengths and has specialization in the field of your choice. Some will have a style of teaching that maximizes your skills. Some will expose you to techniques that will make you twice a better artist than you already are. They key here is for you to know yourself. Know how you learn, what interests you, what your tendencies are. This will help you visualize how you will react when faced with the rigors of school.

Meet New Friends!
Do you know that at art school, many of your colleagues will go on to be successful artists? Everyone at your school will have varied skills and different strengths. Use your time as school wisely so that you get to meet these people and learn from them. They could learn a thing or two from you too!

School is an excellent place to build professional relationships. When you all go out into the industry, your connections and friendships will be instrumental to your success.

It would do no harm to start looking at the educational background of your admired artists. Checking out the schools they came from will give an idea of the sort of training these artists went through. From here, you may make decisions as to whether you would like to choose the same school as they did.

The Verdict? Sign Up for an Art School Today
Your choice of school is an investment that will last you a lifetime. Proper care and investigation in choosing such is truly important. When you are comfortable with your choice of design school, you can now chart your path towards a successful career.

Art school might be the most important decision you will make. Without proper training, your chances at success are greatly diminished. With Art schools you can be assured of a brighter, more artistic future!

How To Make Money By Re-Selling Oil Paintings?

Here is a great opportunity to make money just being home. Earn up to 25% of the money made by selling Oil Paintings. Here is how it is done, its easy, enroll in a reseller program by contacting the site owner of Oil Paintings, open your very own reseller site. Sit back and let the money flow in.

Look for established sites that sell Oil Paintings, contact by email or through their contact form to make your request for becoming a reseller. With minimum effort you could be seeing enormous cash flow. But you may ask why Oil Paintings? Well the answer is simple, because material of art hardly needs marketing. People buy the Paintings for the quality work done.

Once you own a painting it is yours!!! You may not be able to reproduce the art, but you can sell it for whatever you want, I do all the time!! If you can sell it for more than you bought, more power to you. I see most artists not being able to sell their material and end up getting a cheap bargain. With the right kind of strategy you could be selling the same piece for five maybe ten times what you bought it for.

You could even auction it off in ebay because once the Oil Painting is bought by you; there is no royalty over such material. This is how paintings of famous artist such as Van Gough are sold for millions by the rightful owner, which is what you could be.

By far reselling is one of the best business practices wherein the returns are far higher to what the investment is. Reselling is legal whereas just making multiple copies of the work of art without the permission of artist and selling those is going to land you in trouble. When an artist sells you a work of art he/she has to provide you with rights for reproduction of original copy. Unless such clear agreement is made it would be a crime to make copies.

If you decide you have the killer marketing skills, you could even go in for wholesale purchase of paintings and turn them into your gallery wherein you could start building your own purchase of Oil Paintings and make profitable income.

I heard an artists once say “If he sold a picture for say $50, and the buyer then resold it for $500, then lucky for them.” An artist once sells his Painting to a person, he is entitled to sell it to others, but not make copies of it.

To begin with look for a site where you could purchase paintings that you feel can fetch you good market value. It is always advisable to start with popular items. Once you get a foot holding in the market arena then you could trade multiple Paintings after wholesale purchase.

These are just a few pointers towards making a successful career out of reselling paintings. Please remember this fair warning to read through the Copyright laws before you decide to market material that you have purchased.

Free Ways To Gain Exposure For Your Airbrush Art

Getting known in any industry will take time but you have to get your work out there in front of people. It is only after you have people looking and admiring your work will you finally start to become known. There are several ways that you can get your airbrush art seen. Most of these ways will actually cost you nothing. The use of the internet has made it where you can show your work to the world for free.

Almost everyone on the internet has started using a blog. Well you should be no different. Get yourself a free blog and start showcasing what you can do. Don’t just put up pictures of your work though. Make sure to actually talk to your audience. Tell them about yourself and your passion for airbrush art. Show some pictures of your work and tell your audience how you created that design. Talk about the paints that you use, the types of airbrushes and so on and so forth. By discussing your techniques and sharing your insight you will show your audience that you are an artist that knows what they are doing.

Once you have a couple of post up telling about yourself and showing off some of your work then you are ready to get your blog seen by the world. Some blog sites such as Shout Post and Tblog actually show your blog posts off for you to other bloggers. This helps to get your blog some traffic. If you choose a blog host that does not do that then you should look into some blog traffic exchanges. After all what good is the blog if no one is seeing it? So find a couple of blog traffic exchanges and register your blog. A good traffic exchange if Blog Explosion. This exchange allows you to not only surf other blogs for traffic but lets you put your blog in the Battle of the Blogs for a chance to win traffic as well as ranking. Either way you are getting your blog seen and this means your airbrush art is getting seen.

Another ways to get your airbrush art seen is to take a look at some airbrush art websites. A lot of these websites offer a gallery that artist can upload images of their work onto for free. This gets you seen by the webmaster of the site as well as other artists. Your work will be put up there for the sites traffic to see and thus getting you known in the industry. Take the time to submit several pictures of your work to several website airbrush art galleries. Don’t depend on just a couple of pictures on one or two sites to get you known.

Myspace is also a great way to get seen and gain some exposure. With myspace you can create a profile that is dedicated to you as an artist. Upload pictures of your work and take the time to create a couple of videos as well. Create the videos so that they show you in the act of working on your airbrush art. Make sure to use good lighting so that your videos truly capture the art of what you are airbrushing. With millions of users on myspace you are sure to get yourself seen by people who are interested in your work.

Outstanding Contemporary African Artists Following Old Traditions Of Tribal Art

Africa is a huge continent with many different peoples, groups, cultures and tradition. This diversity is seen even in the artistry that it presents to the world in the old african tribal art. Modern African art has a very strong, storied and personal history. Their beautiful and coveted African masks were created to honor their ancestors, to ensure a healthy and plentiful crop, to celebrate, to mourn, to be used in initiation rituals. There work was deliberately and purposefully created to meet the spiritual needs of the tribe. They were infused with spirituality and served a functional purpose. These African masks were used primarily to communicate, seek advice and please the ancestors. The spirits and ancestors were even believed to have inhabited the African masks after special and specific rituals were performed.

African Figures and fetishes, another popular artistry of this continent, were also strongly connected with the supernatural, and were again created to commune with the supernatural world. The artists of Africa, especially beginning in the early 20th century, greatly inspired the art of the West, energizing great artists such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Modigliani. Their organized forms, spirituality, abstraction and imagination, helped to free Western artists from their restraint.

Today, the torch has been passed to a generation of African contemporary artists, artists such as Efiaimbelo, Fanizani Akuda, Frederic Bruly Bouabre Prince Twins Seven-Seven, and Reinata Sadimba. These artists have striven and continue to strive to uphold the excellence of the artistry of their forefathers. Classic African tribal art had a mystical element. African tribal art pieces which were prized, were those who had spiritual significance and those which were actually used for mystical purposes. African tribal art techniques and their significance to the tribe and to the African people, were passed from generation to generation and the function and purpose of the art was much more important then its’ aestheticism. These pieces were actually used in ceremonies, at funerals at initiations and at rites-of-passage ceremonies.

As times as changed and as African people have moved out of villages, into the cities and as dependence on the tribe is now not as strong, these classic pieces of African tribal art are still widely respected, and intertwined in some way in contemporary life of the African. However, artists and artistry of later generations has evolved. The new art is influenced by today, by the world and art is crafted just because and no longer has to serve a spiritual or mystic purpose.

Below, we will discuss 3 contemporary and outstanding African artists. These artists are introducing the world to the new Africa, its new artistry and forms. And while sometimes ignored and ridiculed for not living up to the standards of the past. They are seeking to create their own standard. Now you can find individuals and groups who will mass produce cheap African tribal masks and figurines that many people around the world still expect to come from Africa, but this is often for profit. Real African artist are serious about their craft, and their work is of the utmost craftsmanship and is inspired from someplace real.

1. Efiaimbelo: African contemporary artist Efiaimbelo (born 1925-2006, Androka, Mahafaly Land, Madagascar) created most of his outstanding art in the South West portion of Madagascar. Efiaimbelo’s work was inspired by his Mahafaly ancestory. This group of people are known for their creation of funery steles or aloalos, which are used to mark graves at the site of tombs. It is a craft which has been passed down from father to son for many generations. These funery steles (aloalos) are crafted to celebrate the memories of the deceased and also are tributes to particular eras of time. Aloalos are placed or planted around the strucuture of the tomb in a the shape of a square.

Efiamibelo has expanded the artistry of the aloalos. He was one of the first artists to paint aloalos exclusively for decorative appeal. He begin using acrylic colors and adding new and excited images to the aloalos.

Efiamibelo’s work was also later influenced by the West and he subsequently incorporated Western themes into his art work. Efiamibelo was a sophisticated African artist, who did much to champion and move forward his genre.

2. Fanizani Akuda: African contemporary artist, Fanizani Akuda (born1932-, Zambia), is one of the legends of first generation Zimbabwe sculpting. He also became a member of the world renown Tengenege -Art-Community in the 1960’s. His work commonly features “slit eyes”, people and animals interacting together, happy people and families. Akuda’s artistry has taken him all over the world, from Germany, the United States to Australia plus many more countries. His work has been exhibited in some of the finest museums in the world and he continues to be one of the most respected artists in the world and a true master at his craft.

3. Frederic Bruly Bouabre: African contemporary artist Frederic Bruly Bouabre’s (born 1923-. Zepregue, Cote d’Ivoire) life’s work became inspired from a vision he experienced in 1948. In that vision, he saw in the heavens, seven colorful suns which created a beautiful circle around their Mother sun. He that became Cheik Nadro, ‘He who does not forget.’ From that point on, Bouabre began to study and become increasingly knowledable about such subjects as poetry, arts, tradition, religion and philosophy. He became a great scholar and champion of his Bete people.

In the decade of the 1970’s, Frederic Bruly Bouabre began using ball point pen and crayons to create small, postcard-like drawings. He titled these drawings Connaissance du Monde. Bouabre continues to be inspired by science, tradition, dreams and signs. This quote by Bouabre, “Now that we are recognized as artists, our duty is to organize into a society, and in such a way to create a framework for discussion and exchange among those who acquire and those who create, From that could arise a felicitous world civilization,” expresses his feelings of responsibility he believes are attached to artists and their lives work.

Visionary Landscapes book review featuring the art of Justin Michael Jenkins

Visionary Landscapes, the long awaited coffee table style book featuring thirty-one hand selected master drawings by the artist Justin Michael Jenkins, has been in the works for quite sometime. We are now proud to offer the world this 160 page full color published book through the independent publishing source, Lulu. Our vision for this exclusive volume edition was to have a high end collector style book that features many drawings from the chess, anatomy, mind, spiritual, and abstract collections. We decided on a 7.5″X7.5″ format that is suitable for many table styles including most coffee table settings. We have published this through our publishing division at Imaginative Pencil called Imaginative Pencil Publishing.

Visionary Landscapes fuses the insights, critiques, and reviews from various artists, critics, and scholars from all over the world with the intimate perspectives of each work by the artist himself. We collected numerous sources from around the world with regard to the style and approach of Justin and organized the book in such a way as to portray each drawing from various perspectives and also do a complete analytical reviews of the entire range of thought behind all the works. The goal of this exclusive edition is to give hidden insights that would otherwise go unnoticed by many viewers and create a collection of reviews and critiques by selected artists and scholars with a large portion of the deeper understanding coming from the artist himself. We want each reader to explore this large selection of drawings that span many collections and ranges and to become more aware of what the artist is trying to achieve both in meaning and message. Our hope is that readers will be rewarded with not only the secrets of how the artist came to certain conclusions and how he acheived them and why, but essentially the core meaning of each work will be revealed in the simplest terms by showing each drawing as a seperate analysis within the overall meaning of the book. The intimacy of the book centers on the artists deep ciritques and view points of each drawing featured which gives the reader access to the artist on a more personal level like hes in front of them explaining each work.

Book Preface

This first volume will approach the latest drawings from the studio of award-winning artist Justin Michael Jenkins with an analytical, fresh, and insightful point of view. With the help of the artist, we have compiled a small volume that will contain thirty of his most recent drawings taken from five unique collections. The artist will give us his insight into each work of art and the hidden meanings behind the symbolisms and objectivity that lie beneath the color and forms.
This book attempts to give viewers, collectors, scholars, and historians an ambitious and fresh examination into the mind, soul, and overall vision of the artist. We have collected various critics, essays, and feedback from numerous people about the approach and style of artist Justin Michael Jenkins and organized it in the pages ahead along with a gallery of works. We hope this book will give each reader a broader understanding of what the artist is trying to accomplish within the bold shapes, twisting forms, and surreal settings. We also want to shed light on the message his work tries to convey to the world.
Now that you have a basic understanding of what this book will attempt to accomplish, let’s begin our journey and exploration into the surreal, visionary, and inventive world that lies deep in the corridors of the artist’s mind with the hope of finding the truth and inspiration behind his style.

Imaginative Pencil Publishing came to Lulu because the company wanted to be in control of the publishing process and found Lulu’s print-on-demand tools to be fast, easy and, most importantly, free. Visonary Landscapes is available for purchase at www.lulu.com, in a marketplace filled with other unique and wonderful surprises. “Independent publishing and print-on-demand is the wave of the future, and the future is now,” said Michael from Imaginatvie Pencil Publishing. “The Lulu process allows me to cut out the middle man (i.e. a separate publisher) and get my work out there the way I want it. Our book, Visionary Landscapes, is much like Lulu itself—it puts control of your destiny in your own hands.”

ABOUT AUTHOR

Imaginative Pencil is a company founded in 2004 that specializes in the sale, distribution, and exhibition of the visionary and surreal pencil art of Justin Michael Jenkins.

Justin Michael Jenkins was born in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. to George and Carole Jenkins. Besides his professional status as a full time artist, he is also a writer, designer, and webmaster. His hobbies include studying the game of chess and collecting Civil War memorabilia.

ABOUT LULU

Founded in 2002, Lulu is the world’s fastest-growing print-on-demand marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers. Please see www.lulu.com for more information.

For more information about selling this book in stores or to order a copy for yourself, please visit our book website at Lulu or contact Michael Retla at publishing @imaginativepencil.com or call 1-304-376-0762.

Buying Watercolor Paintings

I’ve been buying watercolor paintings for decorating jobs. I’ve found some really nice pieces on eBay. I recently bought a watercolor painting by an artist named Y. Gianni. The painting was produced in 1890 and depicted an Italian village. It was very vivid and pleasing to look at.

I was trying to find just the right watercolor painting for a client when I came across one by an artist named William B. Gillette. The colors were pastel, ranging from soft greens, browns, blues, purples and peach. The scene was that of a pebble beach and crashing waves. The hills on one side gave the beach a feeling of privacy. It really spoke to me and my client loved it.

There was a cabin that I was decorating for a discerning client that needed one more piece of art to complete the look I was going for. I found a wonderful watercolor painting that fit just right. It had a lot of mossy green colors and there was a lake with a lake house. The artist turned out to be Charles Dickens Wader. He is a well known artist from New York.

I have a client that collects art from Romeo Tabuena. I was fortunate to find two watercolors that the owners had purchased directly from Tabuena in the fifties when they lived in San Miguel. The owner settled with me for an even thousand dollars. My client was thrilled.

A lawyer friend of mine hired me to redecorate his office. I had a lot of fun putting in things that reflected his interests and tastes. He loves polo and I found a wonderful watercolor painting of two polo players on horses. My friend liked the paintings and they have become a conversation piece in the new office.

My friend’s dad liked the office I decorated so much that he commissioned me to redecorate his office. He is a hunter and I found a really nice watercolor painting of several mallard ducks flying above a marsh. The painting was done by Jim Killen and he has painted for Ducks Unlimited. His work is well known and respected. My friend’s father really liked the find and proudly hung it in his reception area.

I was really unsure where I was going to find suitable art for the program director’s office at a local radio station. When I went to visit with him for a consultation, his office was absolutely stark. I like watercolor paintings and that is my first choice for buying art. I found a fantastic watercolor painting of Bob Marley surrounded by sunflowers. It was awesome and perfect for this job.

There is a musician that I was working for a couple of years ago that wanted their studio decorated with paintings from the artist Raoul Dufy. Raoul Dufy made a whole series of paintings called Hommage to Mozart. I was able to purchase three watercolor paintings in this series. I have always been on the lookout for more paintings to purchase for this client.

A friend of mine asked me to find a watercolor painting to give to her mother. I found one by Henry H. Parker that was of cattle in landscape. The frame was what caught my eye at first because it is heavy gilt. It would never hang in my house, but it looked great at my friend’s mother’s house.

Palazzo Fabroni & Contemporary Art In Pistoia – Tuscany

From 1990 to 2004 Palazzo Fabroni, building of the 18th century in the heart of Pistoia (Tuscany – Italy), had an important role in the planning of exhibitions of both Italian and international artists, like Roberto Barni, Enrico Castellani, Giuseppe Chiari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giuseppe Uncini.

After few years of works of renovation, from 2004 to 2007, Palazzo Fabroni has now reopened and houses the exhibition of Claudio Parmiggiani, supervised by the art historian Jean Clair; the exhibition goes over the artist’s International experiences and represents one of his highest achievements.

Many and meaningful have been the intuitions which, from the mid 60s, have been connoting in an early, very original and innovative way his research; as well as obstinate has been his determination to pursue independence within the Italian artistic context, in a lonely path, intentionally out of any group or classification; however this has not meant estrangement and has not prevented him from crucial encounters with other protagonists of contemporary art. With them he shared that path which, from the zeroing of the representative painting, has led through different ways to a new art grammar. His language comes out from associations of images, able to provoke real mind short-circuits.

During the years, side by side with extraordinarily powerful and evocative works which have been object of lectures and critical essays by well known personalities from different fields, philosophy, art history, literary, he alternated with works of absolute radical vision and environmental dimensions.

The Delocazioni (from 1970), works made by using fire and smoke, are his most powerful images of absence; Terra (1988-89), a huge terracotta sphere with the artist’s hands imprinted on it, given back to the earth and buried in the cloister of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, is a tragic and desperate gesture; Il faro d’Islanda (2000), the tall, solitary, radiant steel tower, a metaphoric self-portrait of the artist, erected in the desolate and deserted land of Iceland, a light of hope in its immense geographical remoteness.

In many occasions Parmiggiani has also created works for public areas, museums, galleries, religious buildings. In the twelve rooms of palazzo Fabroni Parmiggiani he shows twelve new works, specially made and created through an extraordinary free use of materials which contribute strongly, in a real inner journey, to perceive them as a unique great work, as a unique mental object. The itinerary consists of a succession of spaces and the artist gathers the diversity of each one and creates new and vital connections with his work.

The works exhibited are visible only in conditions of natural light, since artificial lighting has been purposely abolished in order to highlight in the space that particular feeling and that particular emotion only the slow passing of light and shade on things can create when observed.

Until 23.03.2008
Palazzo Fabroni
Arti Visive Contemporanee
Via Sant’Andrea 18, 51100 Pistoia (Tuscany – Italy)
Tel. 0573 371817 – Fax 0573 371838
Official Website: www.parmiggianiapistoia.it

Opening times:
Tuesday-Saturday 10.00-16.00
Sunday and holidays 12.00-16.00
Closed on Monday

Tickets:
€ 6.00 full price
€ 3.00 reduced price

The Art Of Realism

The style of realism is just that point blank, real. What the artist sees in their eyes, there is no interpretation or adding of anything. It is the capturing of people or objects as they really are with no flourishing. The attempt of the artist is usually to capture what the subject or object in a very real, direct way. No abstraction and imagination just figures and objects doing normal everyday things that they do even if it was a rather grim or ugly picture.

This is in opposition to idealism which tends to create a scenario of what life and situations should be like in an idealistic world. Idealism added what the artist or imagination thought the world could be like with some improvements and embellishments. Realism is the total opposite and sometimes does not paint a pretty picture of the world but rather a real sometimes ugly portrayal of life where only truth of exactly what the eyes see is portrayed quite often commonplace subjects.

During the mid 1800’s realism grew in popularity, not just in painting style but in literature as well. There are strong ties to political reform throughout the time period and can be linked with the social atmosphere of the times. Ususally with realism there is a moral or social message in some of realism depictions of life. It was art of the common people in a straight forward depiction of their lives, so to speak

Realism actually came about long before the 1800’s as far back as 2400 BC in a broad sense and started once again in the early 19th century but the era really did not come into play as an art movement until the mid 19th century. Artists then became somewhat disillusioned with the more romanticized depictions of life that had been portrayed before hand. Formally the realism art movement is credited to have emerged in the country of France during the 1848 Revolution.

Gustave Courbet in 1855 rather scandalized the world with his exhibits, his art was thought to be somewhat shocking with its blatant truthfulness. Until then the world had been exposed to art that was steeped in Romanticism or the ideals of the Old Masters.

Rembrandt is one of the most famous realism artists. Craftsmanship and staying true to colors is a trademark of realism. Technical skill is adhered to because the paintings subject must be easily recognizable. It must stay as true to life as possible even if the subject matter is far less then pretty.

Realism is still very much alive in our modern times. Cinema, television, photography are all examples of realism. There have always been the art forms that show the world in a divine and imaginative way of how things should be. There have also been those that strived to keep art as a true depiction of life. In today’s world you will still find both but basically we have come to a balance of the two worlds.

Preparing for the Art Appraiser’s Exam

• Locate all items in advance of the appraiser’s arrival and make them accessible.
• Share pertinent records about when and where items were purchased, including their receipts. Receipts often have a painting’s title, which may or may not appear on the back of the frame or on an attached plaque. Art works without a title may be determined if the artist is still living. Unfortunately, some artist’s do not remember titles or record them in a permanent ledger. Not all art bears the date or dates it was completed. The date of the receipt could assist in dating the artwork. The goal is to create as complete a record about the artwork as possible. Don’t slow the process down or create an opportunity for the document to be less complete by holding back information.
• Allocate enough time for the appraiser to carry out the inspection and the photography. Appraiser’s typically need about 15 minutes an item for both activities. While the appraiser often enjoys visiting with clients, he or she must focus on the task at hand in order to not take additional time or overlook pertinent information.