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Currents Teacher Resource Packet

Louis Zoellar Bickett, Curator

September 6th- October 20th

This Women’s Work, Aurora Parrish, wax cake molds, 2013, courtesy of the artist.

“Currents is a new exhibition series of work by local artists curated by local artists. As a

leader in the Lexington arts community, LAL envisions Currents as a way to connect artists

to each other, inspire dialogue regarding art and meaning, and elevate appreciation for

artists and the work they do.”

-Becky Alley, LAL Exhibitions and Program Director

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Dear Educator,

LAL is delighted to offer this valuable resource that connects art,

artists and art making to the classroom. The Teacher Resource

Packet creates meaningful connections between the art in our

exhibitions and the core content of the K-12 visual arts curriculum.

The content and images included can be enhanced through

interactive classroom visits to LAL’s Loudoun House exhibition space.

This packet includes curricular connections that implement topics for

arts discussion and hands-on activities that introduce the key

themes and ideas of our exhibitions.

Sincerely,

Colleen Toutant Merrill

LAL Education and Community Outreach Director

To schedule an interactive classroom visit, contact Merrill at:

ctmerrill@lexingtonartleague.org or 859.254.7024

For more information on our educational programming visit:

www.lexingtonartleague.org

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Table of Contents

Introduction 4

The Artists

Aurora Parrish 5

Aaron Skolnick 6

Clint Colburn 7

Guy Mendes 8

Phillip March Jones 9

Haviland Argo 10

In the Classroom: Lesson Plans 11

K-6th grades- R. Clint Colburn

Hidden Image Paintings 12

7-12th grades- Louis Z. Bickett &

Guy Mendes, Capturing People &

Place 14

7-12th grades & foundations

Phillip March Jones: Daily

Workbook Collages 16

Webography 17

Class Visits to Lexington Art League 18

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Currents Teacher Resource Packet

Louis Bickett, Curator

September 6th- October 20th

Introduction

Currents is a new exhibition series of work by local artists curated by local artist. Louis

Zoellar Bickett, a Lexington-based and internationally-exhibited conceptual artist and

photographer, is best-known for his practice of collecting.

Since 1972, he has been building The Archive, an installation of cataloged items from his

life. Recently he added Project Lexington, a photographic survey of his hometown that

captures daily life in such a way that it challenges the status quo, to his Must Do list.

Bickett's obsession with collecting, archiving, documenting, and preserving has extended

beyond things to include people. Throughout his experience as a self-taught artist, Bickett

has met, befriended, and accumulated relationships with extraordinary artists. These

relationships have informed his own art making and influenced that of others.

For the first time ever at LAL, this exchange between artists will be examined in an exhibition

curated by Bickett and featuring the work of five artists who have ties to Lexington: Aaron

Michael Skolnick, Aurora Parrish, R. Clint Colburn, G. Haviland Argo III, Guy Mendes, and

Phillip March Jones.

Above Left: Cultural Memorabilia Volume #10, Ticket Stub from a performance by

Karen Finley, University of Kentucky Memorial Hall, Louis Z. Bickett, March 29, 1992

Above Right: The Lexington Project, Lexington 4th July Parade, Louis Z. Bickett, 2008,

Courtesy of the artist.

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The Artists Each contributing artist in Currents practices visual art in Lexington, KY. The themes and

images in this packet are connected to their past ideas and art works. To see their most

recent work included in Currents, please schedule a classroom trip to LAL’s Loudoun House.

Aurora Parrish

Parrish is an installation and performance artist who lives

and works in Lexington, Kentucky. She has earned top

honors for her piece Fragile Becomes You in University of

Kentucky’s annual Carey Ellis Juried Student Art Exhibition.

Parrish has also exhibited in Expanded Music Project and

was featured in a solo exhibition This Woman's Work at Land

of Tomorrow. She currently lives in Lexington, KY.

Themes

Ritual

Domesticity

Fantasy

Labor

Fragility

Narrative

Materials

Fabric

Feathers

Thread

Paper

Graphite

Process

Sewing

Drawing

Installation

Performance

Above: This Women’s Work,

thread on paper, 2013.

Left: music, To Fill a Vacancy by

Neva Geoffrey, antique case,

watercolors, scotch tape, wire and

headphones wrapped in string,

2010, courtesy of the artist.

For more art images visit:

http://www.aurorachilds.com/a

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Aaron Skolnick

Themes

Iconic Imagery

Popular Culture

Identity

Memory & Nostalgia

Propagation

Repetition

Materials

Graphite

Ink

Paint

Mylar

Process

Drawing

Painting

Performance

Photography

Skolnick’s meticulous graphite and ink renderings depict iconic

imagery and uncanny-self portraits. Through examining ideas of

the “American Dream” he explores the real or “thingness” of

the reality around him. Skolnick maintains a consistent daily

artistic practice that exerts time limits, physical constraints and

drawing imagery from memory. A recent Bachelor of Fine Art

graduate from the University of Kentucky, he has exhibited

at Land of Tomorrow in Lexington, Louisville and St. Louis, Mo.,

and at the Rare Gallery in New York. He currently lives in

Lexington, Kentucky.

Above: Jackie O II, ink on paper, 2012, courtesy of

the artist.

For more art images visit:

http://www.aaronskolnickstudio.com

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R Clint Colburn

For Colburn art is a means for examining the subconscious. His

meditative paintings, drawings, and sculptures are packed with

dense and colorful imagery. Through obscured text and playful

visual juxtapositions, they explore the nature of symbols and

question their related associations.

Colburn attended the University of Kentucky and has exhibited

throughout the South and Midwest, as well as in London, Los

Angeles, and New York. He currently lives in Lexington, KY.

Themes

Subconscious

Symbolism

Faces

Patterns

Fantasy

Materials

Ink pen & marker

Paint

Paper & Canvas

Clay

Mixed-media

Process

Collage

Drawing

Painting

Text

Intuitive

Guy Mendes

Above: Gautcuff Series Below: Kiavs’ Voice, courtesy

of the artist.

For more art images visit:

http://www.rclintcolburn.com

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Guy Mendes

Guy Mendes is a well-respected photographer in Lexington,

Kentucky, capturing the essence of place and person through

traditional darkroom techniques. Mendes’ timeless images capture

the unforeseen, figures and landscapes found in unexpected

positions and situations. Mendes is interested in what can be

learned from the unexpected, its’ loss, longing and desire.

His work has been widely published in books and magazines and

his prints are in many public and private collections.

Themes

Unforeseen

Portraits

Place

Signs

Wonders

Narrative

Materials

Photography

Silver gelatin print

Digital archive print

Publications

Process

Darkroom

photography

Digital photography

Black & White

For more art images visit:

http://www.guymendes.com

Above: Cow Rags above Marble Creek, silver gelatin print

Below: Jimberly's Ride, silver gelatin print, courtesy of the

artist.

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Phillip March Jones

Themes

Place

Paradox

Loss

Time

Materials

Workbooks

Ink on paper

Found imagery

Polaroid

Publications

Process

Drawing

Writing

Collage

Photography

Documentation

Phillip March Jones is an artist, writer and curator living

in Atlanta, GA and Lexington, KY. His vibrant paintings

and drawings are reminiscent of journal entries, often

completed in large series or within a meticulously

rendered workbook. Most recently, Jones has

documented a series of Polaroid photographs of

southern roadside memorials published in a book and

exhibited at 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY.

Jones is the founder and creative director of Institute

193 and has a small company called March Projects.

Untitled, Roadside Memorial Composite, n.d. courtesy

of the artist.

For more art images visit:

http://phillipmarchjones.com

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Haviland Argo

Themes

Architecture

Universe

Cosmos

Unknown

Fragility of Life

Materials

Drafting

Drawing

Painting

Light

Mixed-media

Process

Architecture

Design

Installation

Haviland Argo III is an architect who grew up in rural Kentucky

and is presently living and working in Durham, NC and Lexington,

KY. Argo’s Currents’ site-specific installation explores themes of

artificial nature constructs by creating an immersive environment

of laser beam and terrariums. Argo is interested in being able to

blur the line between art and architecture at the right moments.

With Gray Construction and the McCall Group, he has played

major roles in the construction of 21C Museum Hotels in

Louisville, Cincinnati, Durham and Lexington. He has a degree in

architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate program and

University of Kentucky’s College of Design where he was a Gaines

Center for the Humanities fellow.

Courtesy of the artist.

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In the Classroom Below are three lesson ideas for incorporating the content of Currents into your

classroom curriculum.

Guy Mendes, Dogwood from Rock Bridge, courtesy of the artist.

Core Content Standards

Kentucky Department of Education standards achieved with the below lessons.

1.13 Students make sense of ideas and communicate ideas with the visual

arts

o identify a variety of subject matter in visual artworks (representational –

e.g., landscape, portrait, still life, nonrepresentational – e.g., abstract,

non-objective)

o compare and explain purposes for which visual art is created

(ceremonial, artistic expression, narrative, functional)

o create new, choose and experience artworks created to fulfill a variety

of specific purposes

o demonstrate behavior appropriate for observing the particular context

and style of the artwork being viewed; discuss opinions with peers in a

supportive and constructive way

o describe personal responses to artwork; explain why there might be

different responses to specific works of art

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K-6th Grades

R Clint Colburn: Hidden Image Paintings

R Clint Colburn, The Body, 18 x 11.5 inches, courtesy the artist.

“I basically let my

hand guide my mind. I

start to see things, it

becomes an intuitive

conversation, a lot of

faces come out,

patterns, I try to let go

enough to be able to

let whatever wants to

come out, come out.”

-R Clint Colburn

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See & Discuss K-6th Grades

Describe what you see in Colburn’s painting, The Body:

Explain the colors, how do they make you feel?

Find and point out a pattern

Identify shapes in the picture

Explain what images you see…a face? An arrow?

o What is the artist expressing with these images?

o How does that person in the painting feel?

Express the movements the artist made

o Are the brush and drawing strokes fast? Slow? Dizzy?

o How do those movements make you feel?

Make & Do Colburn paints shapes, lines and colors first and then finds hidden

images in his compositions and emphasizes them. His fast and

erratic lines and strokes create an energetic feeling for the viewer.

Materials:

Paint, ink, graphite, charcoal, oil pastel on paper

Step 1

Students will create shapes and lines using a variety of colors and materials

o Talk to students about how different materials (paint, oil pastel etc) have

different textures

List emotions for students to convey with their drawing (for example, “create a shape

that looks excited, angry, ecstatic!), continue to list emotions as the students draw

Another option is to use music, students listen to different types of music (fast and

slow in tempo) and to create brush or drawing strokes that convey the feeling of the

beat

For the paint and ink, use non-traditional paint tools like sponges, hands, balled up

paper, etc.

Step 2

Students hang their compositions up on the wall and take time to look

During reflection students can write down or draw hidden images from their

compositions

o A good analogy is looking for pictures in clouds, or for younger students make

it an “I-Spy” game

Demonstrate strategies for “Emphasis” to the students such as: highlighting,

outlining, color, texture, contrast

Using any material, challenge students to “emphasize” the images they find

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7-12th Grades

Louis Z. Bickett & Guy Mendes: Capturing People & Place

Photography Project

Louis Z. Bickett, Jefferson Street & Vicinity, June 18th, 2013.

Guy Mendes, Georgia Henkel, silver gelatin photograph, courtesy of the artist.

“…sometimes you can see it

better in the photograph as a

whole then when you are

standing there in real life

because in real life you are

racking your focus. Your eyes

are focusing on the tree, on the

far or in between, but you never

see the whole picture, the finite

detail that some lenses,

cameras and film can render.”

-Guy Mendes

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See & Discuss 7-12th Grades

Describe what you see in Bickett’s and Mendes’ photographs:

Identify differences between using color and black & white prints

o Does either approach change the overall mood of the composition?

Describe the compositions

o Explain the type of balance utilized

o What type of perspective is used in the composition?

o How do lines, shapes and balance lead your eyes around the composition?

Analyze the meaning

o What is the photographer expressing to the viewer?

o Both artists use one point perspective, does that affect the images meaning?

o Describe any text, symbols or imagery that gives meaning to the image

Make & Do Louis Bickett and Guy Mendes both agree that the best photographs occur on your daily

excursions and to never leave the house without your camera. Bickett’s series The Lexington

Project is a daily exercise to document the essence of Lexington, Kentucky. Mendes on the

other hand prefers to photograph environments that are unforeseen and places and people

of interest and wonder.

Materials:

Digital camera, smart phone or manual camera, computer screen or dark room

Step 1

Reflect upon Louis Bickett’s and Guy Mendes’ photographs. Decide which

photography approach you prefer as an artist; are you more of a documenter like

Bickett? Or do you seek out unusual places and people like Mendes? Write a brief

summary describing which method you prefer and how you would implement that

method as a photographer.

Step 2

Walk around your school and surrounding neighborhood or take a field trip downtown

Photograph people, places or objects that you find engaging or interesting

Consider your point of view: where are you photographing from? Above? Below?

Both Bickett and Mendes stress the importance of light in their photographs: identify

your light source, is it the sun? Indoor light?

Step 3

Reflect upon your photographs in a group critique

Analyze and examine your photographs using the questions from “See & Discuss”

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7th-12th Grades & foundations level art in college

Phillip March Jones: Daily Workbook Collages

Phillip March Jones, 2003-2005 Workbook, courtesy of the artist.

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See & Discuss 7-12th Grades

Describe what you see in Phillip March Jones’ daily workbook:

List the materials/methods Jones used in his collage

o Photos, drawing, painting, ink, text, etc.

Describe the imagery you see in the workbooks

o What does that imagery tell you about the artist?

How can a daily workbook become a springboard for inspiration?

o Could the collected imagery and information be a starting point for other art

projects?

What type of imagery or text would you put in your own daily workbook?

o Found images, drawings, paintings, poetry, stories, lists

Make & Do Phillip March Jones’ workbooks document his thoughts and visual inspirations within the

form of a book that becomes its own visual art work. Looking into Jones’ workbooks is

almost like a preview of his unconscious mind. Whether with imagery, drawings or writing

artists have been producing similar books dating as far back Leonardo Da Vinci.

Materials:

Sketchbook or handmade paper book (simple construction with staples is

affordable), magazines or old pictures for collage, glue, markers, ink, paint, graphite,

stickers and other mixed media

Step 1:

Collect or draw imagery of inspiration everyday and incorporate it into your workbook

o Magazines of interest, photos from Facebook, family photos, stickers, doodles

Gather text that you find interesting or write your own

o Poetry, stories, inspiring quotes, names, titles, lists, song lyrics

On a daily basis, spend time incorporating these “inspirations” into your workbook,

begin to analyze if any of the imagery you choose has a common theme, aesthetic or

other visual similarity

Step 2:

Analyze the ideas and imagery from your workbook

Could any of your compositions turn into larger art projects?

Take time to look over your classmates workbooks, discuss the similarities and

differences in your collages

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Webography

Lexington Art League http://www.lexingtonartleague.org/

LAL Learning Resources & Teen Class Schedule http://www.lexingtonartleague.org/learn

LAL Exhibitions http://www.lexingtonartleague.org/exhibitions

Louis Z. Bickett Artist Website http://www.louisbickett.com/

Aurora Parrish Artist Website http://www.aurorachilds.com/a

Aaron Skolnick Artist Website http://www.aaronskolnickstudio.com

R Clint Colburn Artist Website http://www.rclintcolburn.com

Guy Mendes Artist Website http://www.guymendes.com

Phillip March Jones Artist Website http://phillipmarchjones.com

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Class Visits to Lexington Art League

About:

LAL is located in the historic Loudoun House in Castlewood Park and is central

Kentucky’s oldest and largest visual arts organization. LAL presents original,

creative and accessible programs, with a reputation for thought-provoking

content, that illuminates the role of visual art in contemporary life. LAL affirms

its commitment to art’s transformative power, artistic freedom, exploration,

risk, learning and growth, and responsible leadership in the visual arts.

Vision:

The Lexington Art League envisions a world where art, artists, and art-making

are central to human inspiration, self-realization, and meaning.

Mission:

To challenge, educate, engage and enhance our community through visual art.

Class Visits:

Lexington Art League offers interactive tours for elementary, middle school,

high school and college students. Tours can be in line with our Teacher

Resource Packets or your specific classroom curriculum. Tours are free and

limited to one class at a time. Class visits are available anytime of the year

during gallery hours.

To schedule a class visit please contact LAL’s Education and Community

Outreach Director, Colleen Merrill at Ctmerrill@lexingtonartleague.org or

859.254.7024