Author: jhancock

May Light Perpetual Shine Upon Them

I created this piece at the end of last year as part of a local “artivism” project in my hometown of Kokomo, IN. Local artists are taking target practice sheets and creating pieces with the goal of speaking non-violence in the midst of our nations complicated relationship with guns and resulting gun violence.

This piece helped me explore a lot of new techniques and art ideas so I’d like to talk about the process.

Years a ago, I had welded these lotus flowers as a part of another art piece that has since been disassembled. I decided to incorporate them into this new piece. I created wooden support and drilled holes for the welded piece and dowel rods.

At this point, I spray painted everything black and affixed the target.

I had been interested in sculpting with artist epoxy, but I was impatient and decided to try the epoxy you can buy at your local hardware store designed to fill in large wooden holes. The only problem with this is that it sets up in a matter of minutes rather than the hours you have to work with the artist version. Once it did set up I used a Dremel tool to carve in some more details and create this “Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

I painted it and with a combination of acrylic paint and black ink and attached it to the target.

Next, I began using the Dremel to carve halo lines radiating from the target’s head (which I then painted black).

From there, I began experimenting by adding black paint using a brayer roller. I had taped over the “body” of the target to protect it during this time and when I began removing it there was tearing. I like the result and continued manipulating the tearing as I worked my way around the piece. The brayer and tearing created a nice texture that I furthered by doing some washes of watered down ink (gray).

I went back into the halo and the Sacred Heart flame and added some gold colored acrylic paint.

Finally, I created a hand reminiscent of Jesus’ hand after the crucifixion. The hand is blessing all who view the target (both unarmed and armed). The text written over the target is the Litany in the Wake of a Mass Shooting by the Bishops United Against Gun Violence.

“May Light Perpetual Shine Upon Them”

2019

Wood, Acrylic, Epoxy, Colored Pencil, Ink, Paper

Ethan’s Church Abstractions

I usually bring some art supplies and sketchbooks to church to help my little ones be engaged and have fun while sitting in the pews (actually…I bring them for myself, but it benefits them as well). The last three Sundays I’ve been collaborating with my 4 year old son Ethan. His style usually involves a lot of “scribbling,” but his mark-making has actually been teaching me a lot. His marks are very spontaneous. They are “randomized” in a way that is very difficult for an artist used to control to mimic. In fact, I was unable to come close to mimicking his marks until I payed close attention to how he was holding his pencil or pen. His mars were being made by his whole arm…his whole body even. It was only after gripping the pencil with my fist in the middle and moving my whole arm that we were truly able to collaborate.

Portland Museum of Art (Maine)

Mindy and I had the opportunity to go to Maine for the first time and we decided to check out some art from the amazing Portland Museum of Art. We were immediately impressed with the quality and breadth of their collection.

When we were there, they had a show up about the Haystack School located in rural Maine. I was immediately drawn to the work created at this innovative school which began in the 50’s. I was drawn to the beauty of the work, the beauty of the natural setting the work was created in, and the beauty of the radical arts community that coalesced around the school. It was the kind of experience that makes you want to sell all that you have, move in with other artists, and dedicate yourself to communal creation. If you are unfamiliar with the Haystack School, I would definitely recommend you check them out.

Below, you will find a collection of images (including many details) from the museum. The bottom three images represent work specifically from the Haystack School.

Cardboard

This is a demo I did for “observational painting” in my Painting I class. I wanted to show them how to paint like they would in a sketchbook and be less attached to the end product, to work quickly, and to be engaged primarily in the process of looking and painting. I usually get more out of these exercises than my students, and I ended up enjoying the texture and feel of this piece painted on corrugated cardboard.

Self-Portrait Gouache Demo

I did this gouache self-portrait as a demo in my Painting I class. It’s very small (it was done in my sketchbook). I’m posting two process shots to show the underpainting and layering that I did leading up to the final project.

Rust

I was inspired watching the amazing multimedia illustration work of Bill Sienkiewicz yesterday so I wanted to try some. This has lots of layers of ink, dye, and gouache between gloss medium and I even tried some bleach (to very little effect). But here’s to experimentation and pushing a painting till it’s “injured” as Bill was talking about in his video.

Mixed Media Demo

I made this as part of a mixed-media demo in my Painting class.
Acrylic paint, wax, ink, rice paper, sharpie, gel pen, charcoal, gel medium, collage, and colored pencil.