Paper and Threads

I returned to the National Museum of the American Indian (NYC) last Wednesday to again see the T.C. Cannon exhibit which closes on September 16th.  There are so many paintings, prints, and drawings that I wanted to add to my sketchbook, just to capture what I loved about the exhibit.  These are 3 very small images from the massive mural he painted 1 year before he died:  Epochs in Plains History: Mother Earth, Father Sun, the Children Themselves.  My photo of this painting appears below.

The images that I painted are in the very center of this massive painting which covers one wall of a Gallery.  

There is an entire corridor of smaller drawings, paintings, prints in the exhibit and I chose this one to remember this part of the exhibit.  I learn so much from drawing other artists work and looking through my sketchbooks brings back so many memories of these educational gallery visits.  He did a quick pen drawing colored with markers, I used watercolor.

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Finally, a thunderstorm was forecast, but I visited the TC Cannon exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian and Figure Al Fresco in Battery Park City again.  It rained the last 3 Wednesday afternoons, but yesterday the rain held off until dinnertime and figure drawing was possible.

These are two of the drawings I did of Marilyn at figure drawing.  This one was a 20 minute sketch and since I get bored after 10-15 minutes, I sketched a little of the background.

My favorites are usually 5 or 10 minute poses because I work quickly and still have time to use a waterbrush for shading.

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It is almost time for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Annual Fashion Show to close.  I wanted to go through it very quickly, even though I wasn't sure what "Camp" fashions would be like.  This is a dress designed by Paul Poiret and I immediately decided that I wanted to draw it, but never wear it.  I loved many of his fashions in the Poiret show at the Met in 2007 and was happy to see one of his designs again.

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Figure Drawing:  We were rained out for another week in Battery Park City, but managed to go to another site yesterday to draw.  These are 5, 10, and 20 minute poses using a GENERAL Sketch and Wash pencil and a NIJI large waterbrush to spread the graphite for shading.

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After seeing this exhibit presented on a PBS NYC show, I wanted to see it.  TC Cannon grew up in the 1950s, and translated his native culture to the world in which he was growing up.  He was an artist, a poet, and a musician, and all of these aspects of his work are presented in the exhibit, including him singing a song from Bob Dylan.  He died of a car crash at age 31, but he made an enormous contributon to Native American Art in his short life.  My friend and I both loved the exhibit which will close on September 16th,.

https://americanindian.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item?id=968 

This is a woodblock print he did of his paternal Grandmother, when she was pregnant with T.C,'s father.  I love drawings of pregnant women, so it wasn't difficult for me to select the art I wanted to copy in my sketchbook to remember this exhibit. 

A wonderful website with an extensive essay about TC Cannon, and lots of art from the exhibit, is at this site.

https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/art-revolution-tc-cannon 

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