Ed Clark died recently.
You might ask who is Ed Clark?
His name was not familiar to me either
until I read his obit in the NYTimes.
until I read his obit in the NYTimes.
As an abstract expressionist, Ed Clark created sweeping works with vivid colors that hint of imaginary landscapes. As an African American, he moved to Paris to avoid discrimination in the U.S. He joined with other African Americans, such as James Baldwin and Haywood Bill Rivers, who went abroad for the same reason. After success in Europe, Clark returned to New York City to find that white-owned galleries still would not represent him because of his color. He found other galleries to exhibit his art instead. He became well-known on the East Coast partly because he was the first artist to create a shaped canvas, which inspired other artists to follow his lead.
What touched me about Ed Clark as an artist was his favorite tool, a broom, which he began to use as a struggling artist as a way to lay down the large swathes of color that he liked to create. His paintings are full of energy, imagination, and power. Ed Clark is someone to look for the next time you visit the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Art, or the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Ed Clark came a long way from his modest beginnings scraping by with a janitor's broom to have a place in museums around the world.
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| Ed Clark, courtesy of Art Pulse Magazine |
That broom made me think of the various tools that I've relied on in my artwork. During Inktober, I used mostly a pen and ink but also experimenting again with other tools such as pieces of bamboo, wooden toothpicks, and twigs.
David R. Hayes made my latest brush. The brush is meticulously made from a large twig, a piece of flexible metal, and twine. Hayes sands the knots on the twig handle, wraps the bristles in a bronze piece of metal to hold the bristles securely, and covers the other end carefully in twine. Handmade work such as this reminds me of the care that Japanese toolmakers take in creating their tools.
All of these tools make me think in different ways. You can see the possibilities even in my demo of the lines each tool makes. Contrast the precise line of the Rotring ink pen with the wrapped bundle of delicate twigs. How would your writing differ with each of these tools? What would a different tool do for the expression of your ideas? Does writing with one tool make you feel freer or does another tool make you feel constrained? Try a broom and let your inner Ed Clark out.
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| Made with twigs, bamboo, and brushes |
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| The collage I made of my Inktober drawings & calligraphy |
Take a look at Ed Clark's work:
You can find Heywood Bill Rivers here:
Heywood Bill Rivers's paintings
David Hayes has a blog and Etsy shop:
Beautiful portrait of an inspirational artist. And your question about tools made me think. I seem to be able to write poetry only with a pencil and a LOT of paper. I wonder if I tried a pen, or a typewriter. . .
ReplyDeleteTeresa, thank you! And do try other tools. It's amazing to use something unfamiliar -- like a stick and a large piece of paper to write. Can be very freeing to dance across a page.
DeleteWow, i want to play. I love the idea of the janitor's brush, that Ed had. Your tools are too cool. My fingers seem to play a role on my work. Playing catch up with your blog postings, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think "finger" painting is one of the best ways to work. Thanks for your comments, Christine.
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