Viola Frey altered how people today look at art and made sure to leave a tremendous impact on the art community throughout her lifetime. She carried a bold and innovative approach to ceramic sculpture, which allowed her to transcend traditional boundaries and help redefine the possibilities held within ceramics. Among her large collection of notable work stands her “Grandmother Figure” which is a piece that encapsulates her distinctive and thematic style. Here, we will dive into the artistry of Viola Frey and the meaning of her “Grandmother Figure.” Frey grew a love for art at a very young age. Her interest in art was so passionate that she decided to pursue schooling within the subject. She continued to attend the California College of Arts …show more content…
This “Grandmother Figure” was a large and tall sculpture that showed how the human body sparked Frey’s creative instinct, and what it means in different cultures. Viola Frey's "Grandmother Figure" is an astounding work of art that explores shape and feeling. It’s quite large and holds lots of small details. The figure stands quite tall, making her large size hard to miss. The face of the figure holds a story, containing eyes that appear wise and experienced and a mouth that displays determination and strength. Bright and vivid colors such as red, blue, green, and yellow help the sculpture become more eye-catching. The “Grandmother Figure” shows just how much talent Frey holds within the world of ceramics and what amazing works of art you can create with the material. The inspiration behind Frey's "Grandmother Figure" stemmed from a deeply personal place within herself. Drawing from her own experiences and observations, Frey wanted to dive deep into the complexities of familial relationships and the role of the matriarch within society. Through her art, she aimed to challenge prevailing stereotypes and redefine notions of femininity and …show more content…
Overall, the "Grandmother Figure" represents a multifaceted exploration of themes ranging from power and authority to love and resilience. By presenting the figure of the grandmother in such a monumental and commanding manner, Frey challenges conventional notions of gender roles and societal expectations. Through her art, she invites viewers to reconsider their preconceived ideas about aging, femininity, and the stereotypical dynamics within a family. Moreover, the "Grandmother Figure" holds a special resonance within the broader context of Frey's body of work. It encapsulates her ongoing exploration of the human condition and her commitment to pushing the boundaries of ceramic sculpture. As a pioneering artist, Frey paved the way for future generations, demonstrating the transformative power of art to provoke thought, evoke emotion, and effect social change. In conclusion, Viola Frey stands as a visionary in the realm of ceramic sculpture, whose legacy continues to inspire and captivate audiences around the
One can immediately see the involvement of age in this sculpture because of her hunched back, bone structure, wrinkles, baggy eyes, saggy breasts, and all the other imperfections, but also shows that she has some kind of background history. She is also missing her arms, which one would be carrying a basket with fruits or vegetables, and the other could be carrying a chicken. Her dress, slipped off of one shoulder, epitomizes women of age during childbearing years had
Her work resembles fossils and botanical illustration pages at the same time. Her simplicity and willingness to give back to her community is also an attribute I admire of her. Her work is important because of it has been used a medium to convey precious memories through the preservation of flowers. This artist inspires me because of her mastery of such a simple technique to create beautifully simplistic, yet intricately detailed works. This is an aesthetic I hope to achieve in my personal work because of my love of detail and organic shapes, such as flowers. It is amazing how she has achieved such wonderfully detailed and organic shapes using a medium that I never thought to be used in such an organic
Karlsen further describes her theme along with a wonderful exhibiting connected with outlining this time for the portrayal of women. Specifically, she em...
The exhibition of recent stoneware vessels by Peter Voulkos at Frank Lloyd Gallery featured the sort of work on which the artist established reputation in the 1950s. The work was greeted with stunned amazement. However now it is too, but it's amazement of a different order -- the kind that comes from being in the presence of effortless artistic mastery. These astonishing vessels are truly amaising. Every ceramic artist knows that what goes into a kiln looks very different from what comes out, and although what comes out can be controlled to varying degrees, it's never certain. Uncertainty feels actively courted in Voulkos' vessels, and this embrace of chance gives them a surprisingly contradictory sense of ease. Critical to the emergence of a significant art scene in Los Angeles in the second half of the 1950s, the 75-year-old artist has lived in Northern California since 1959 and this was his only second solo show in an L.A gallery in 30 years.”These days, L.A. is recognized as a center for the production of contemporary art. But in the 1950s, the scene was slim -- few galleries and fewer museums. Despite the obscurity, a handful of solitary and determined artists broke ground here, stretching the inflexible definitions of what constitutes painting, sculpture and other media. Among these avant-gardists was Peter Voulkos.” In 1954, Voulkos was hired as chairman of the fledgling ceramics department at the L.A. County Art Institute, now Otis College of Art and Design, and during the five years that followed, he led what came to be known as the "Clay Revolution." Students like John Mason, Paul Soldner, Ken Price and Billy Al Bengston, all of whom went on to become respected artists, were among his foot soldiers in the battle to free clay from its handicraft associations.
Gardner, Helen, and Richard G. Tansey. Gardner's Art through the Ages. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College, 1996. Print.
The painting depicts a mother and her four children, who are all leaning on her as she looks down solemnly, her tired, despondent expression suggests she felt trapped in her roles as being a mother and a wife. The woman and her children are clearly the focal point of the artwork as the bright colours used to paint them stand out impeccably against the dull, lifeless colours of the background. This painting appears to be centred around the ideology that women are home-keepers, whose main role is to satisfy and assist her husband while simultaneously minding the children and keeping the home tidy and ready for his return. The social consequences of this artwork could have been that the woman could have been berated for not taking pleasure out of being a mother and raising her children, as a woman should. She could have been made redundant as her husband may have felt as though she is no longer useful if she couldn’t adequately adhere to her roles as a mother and a
“Introduction to Modern Art.” metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 18 June 2009. Web. 25 Sep. 2009.
Elizabeth Catlett is widely known for her politically charged print and sculptural work during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Catlett is both a sculptor and printmaker and was born in Washington D.C in 1915. She obtained an undergraduate degree in design, printmaking, and drawing at Howard University followed by a Master’s degree in sculpture from the University of Iowa in 1940. Catlett studied sculpture and painting along with Grant Wood; upon graduating she became the first student to receive a degree in sculpture from the University of Iowa. After leaving Iowa, Catlett moved to New Orleans and became chair of the Art Department at Dillard University in 1940. Then she continues her postgraduate studies in ceramics at the University of Chicago in 1941. By 1944, she had married and relocated to Harlem where she taught dressmaking and sculpture. In 1945, Catlett applied for and received the Julius Rosenwald Foundation Grant. After her successful completion of a series of prints paintings and sculptures, she was able to renew this grant, which allowed her to continue her work in Mexico City. While in Mexico City, she continued her studies in painting, sculpture, and lithography and eventually worked with the People’s Graphic Arts Workshop; which was a group of printmakers who created art to promote social change. Eventually she settled in Mexico as a permanent resident where she taught sculpture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City until she retired in 1975.
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
...owing us with her great works. She has led a driven and captivating career. While she has received much controversy in her time she has managed to continue creating great works. She is widely acknowledge, and so far through out her life, has made quite an impact. Her love of nature and in it’s importance is rippled through out all her work, mostly in the freedom of her later works. Her ability to maintain balance between her love for architecture and art, has helped to make her stand out in both crowds. Her sculptures will please viewers for centuries to come.
The Art Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 176-185. (College Art Association), accessed November 17, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049368.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York: Prentice Hall Inc. and Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1995.
Feminist issues have played an important role in creating ideas for female artists to use in their work. Putting out controversial themes such as this promotes individual thought on the topic of feminism. Kruger and Höch both took it upon themselves to put out these ideas through many of their key artworks. In 1920, Höch came out with her photomontage, Das Schöne Mädchen (The Beautiful Girl) (Fig. 1), which at the time was one of very few photomontages that Dada artists had included female figures in. (Hemus, 104). In this particular work she puts together many different images that create a certain meaning that the viewer is left to interpret. She uses a fema...
One of the most influential and inspiring feminist artists to produce work, Judy Chicago was able to (how she changed the world) through her work including ‘the dinner party’ (1979).an instillation completed after 5 years of development. Triangular in configuration, equilateral in structure, reflecting the goal of feminism, an equalized world. Completed using ceramics, needle and fiber techniques as well as china painting. The table holding 39 place settings each commemorating a mythical or important woman or historical figure. Beneath the table was 2304 handmade porcelain tiles, 999 of which were inscribed of other important woman’s names. In her artwork the dinner party Judy Chicago gave recognition to woman both achievers and oppressed. In this way she gave a voice to the duality of woman’s issues, not only was she advocating for recognition of woman’s achievements but she was also bringing to the forefront the concept of inequality. Judy Chicago‘’ had been trying to establish a respect for woman and woman’s art; to forge a new kind of art expressing woman’s experience’- challenge and redefine conventions of gender’’ The fact that the names of woman were placed on a high end table setting challenged gender equality in itself as tables like this had previously been only acc...
There are ways you can tell the difference between a primary and secondary source. A primary