Art Work by Rich Wagner
  • Great Artists
  • Art Museums
  • Art by Rich Wagner
  • Art reviews index
  • Beyondships Art Blog
  • Beyondships Cruise Destinations
  • Art by Valda
  • Beyondships cruise ships
  • Notices
  • Privacy Policy
  • London Art Roundup
  • Stephen Card Exhibition
  • Visiting Exhibitions
  • William Benton Museum
  • ASL 2024 exhibition
  • Magritte Museum
  • Old Masters Museum

Beyondships Art Blog

Art classes on queen mary 2

9/16/2017

 
During a recent voyage on Queen Mary 2, I participated in two art programs that were part of the ship's onboard programming. Although the programs were very different, I found both rewarding.

On Queen Mary 2, as on a number of cruise ships, watercolor classes are a standard feature of the programming.

The classes are held twice a day when the ship is at sea. Most of the guests participating in the classes on this voyage came each day to the morning class or each day to the afternoon class. However, you could attend a morning class one day and an afternoon class the next day. There was also no requirement that you come every day. Whether to come, when to come and how long to stay was entirely up to each guest.

Limited to 25 guests, participation is determined on a first come, first served basis. On this voyage, the guests were a broad cross section of the passenger list. They came from several nationalities, were of different ages and included both men and women.

There was a $35 one-time fee to cover the cost of supplies. In exchange for this fee, each guest received a set of Winsor & Newton watercolor paints, three Winsor & Newton brushes, a pad of Winsor & Newton watercolor paper, a Conte a Paris drawing pencil, a sharpener and an eraser. Nice quality materials.

The instructor on this voyage was Susan Klibanoff. Ms. Klibanoff is not a permanent member of the ship's company. Rather, she is an artist with a background in a number of art forms including Chinese and Japanese painting, textiles and jewelry making. Once or twice a year, she teaches classes on cruise ships.

Her approach was easy-going and informal. Once the participating guests assembled, she would give a demonstration explaining how she painted a particular subject such as a sunset, birds or sunflowers. The guests would then return to their tables and create their own versions of the subject Ms. Klibanoff had painted.

After the guests had worked for awhile, Ms. Klibanoff would come around to each guest offering comments, suggestions and encouragement.

The classes were geared toward amateur artists. Some of the participants were novices but others had substantial experience with painting or other art forms. There was some conversation as the participants worked. However, most seemed absorbed in their work. Several participants said that they found the process relaxing.

I have done quite a few paintings over the years. Nonetheless, I found the classes worthwhile. The style I normally use is different than the style that was taught in the classes and it was good to explore a different way of doing things. Also, just having a set time each day dedicated to making art was enjoyable.

On the final day of the voyage, there was no afternoon class. Instead, there was an exhibition of the guests' work. A guest could submit as many works as he or she wanted but there was no requirement that a guest submit any work. The exhibit was announced in the daily program and all guests were invited to attend,

I also participated in a workshop on fashion illustration taught by fashion historian and artist Colin McDowell, MBE. This workshop is not a feature on every QM2 crossing. Rather, it was a special program, part of the second annual Transatlantic Fashion Week.

Having attended Mr. McDowell's workshop during the first Transatlantic Fashion Week in 2016, I was looking forward to attending the 2017 workshop. Mr. McDowell is a person of great intelligence and wit and I found his insights valuable not just with regard to fashion illustration but as to drawing and art in general.

There were to be two workshops during this transatlantic crossing, limited to 20 participants each. On the first evening of the voyage, I went to the Purser's Desk to sign up and was startled to find that the first workshop was already closed. Word about the value of these workshops had clearly gotten out.

The participants who I spoke with were quite serious about their art. Several had exhibited works ashore. However, there were also people who were just interested in the topic and looking for a rewarding experience.

Mr. McDowell went through a series of slides of works by some of the great fashion illustrators of the past, commenting on their works.

Using markers and paper supplied by Cunard, the participants did drawings from two live models. Mr. McDowell pointed out the shadows and points to emphasize in each model's pose. He also went around the room commenting and giving encouragement to each student.

The final task was to take an illustration done by Mr. McDowell and make it into your own. Thus, the object was not to copy his drawing but to change and personalize it so that it was a new work.

As with the 2016 workshop, I found this class both energizing and inspiring.


Art class on Queen Mary 2
​Above: Materials for the watercolor class on Queen Mary 2.
Art by Rich Wagner
​Above and below: Watercolors done during the watercolor class.
Art by Rich Wagner
Art by Rich Wagner
Colin McDowell, MBE, on Queen Mary 2
​Above: Colin McDowell conducting a workshop on fashion illustration aboard Queen Mary 2.
Art by Rich Wagner
​Above and below: Drawings done during the fashion illustration workshop on Queen Mary 2.
Art by Rich Wagner
Art by Rich Wagner

Exhibit Review: “Drawing On Style: Original Fashion Illustration” on the queen mary 2.

9/9/2017

 
Picture
It is not unusual to find an art exhibition on a passenger ship. Most cruise ships have an art gallery that sells prints and original works of art. What is unusual is for a ship to host a preview of an art exhibit that will be seen on land in a major city.

As part of its 2017 Transatlantic Fashion week, the ocean liner Queen Mary 2 held a preview of “Drawing On Style: Original Fashion Illustration.” This exhibition was a preview of a larger exhibition held at the Gray MCA Cheryl Hazon Gallery in New York City.

The preview presented 21 works by 10 artists. It was held in the annex to QM2's permanent art gallery.

Until fairly recently, illustration was a somewhat disparaged stepchild of fine art. In part, this was due to the fact that illustration has commercial connections. It is often used in advertising to sell a product or service. Also, illustration was often used in conjunction with a book or a story to elaborate on an idea or a point made by the author of the book or story. In such situations, it was argued that the illustration is subservient to the book or story and not a stand alone artistic concept.

The old view of illustration lost ground as people came to realize that a good illustration can stand on its own without regard to the product or story it was commissioned to serve. Indeed, at this exhibit, it is hard to detect what fashion designer's conept the works were originally intended to illustrate. It s only by reading the signage that you find that a given work was done for one of the great fashion houses or a well-known fashion magazine. In other words, the works stand on their own.

The works on display were drawings, often pen and ink with a brushed wash but also some graphite works and some watercolors. They were not traditional drawings. Rather, like the Mask paintings of Henri Matisse, they distill the subject matter to its essential lines.

Colin McDowell, fashion commentator and one of the artists whose works were included in the exhibit, explained: “In fashion illustration, you are creating a mood, a feeling and you can do it in very few lines. Elimination, just get the essence.”

In his remarks opening the exhibit, Mr. McDowell pointed out that fashion illustration reahed its zenith with the fashion magazines of the 1930s and 40s, which were aimmed primarily at upper class ladies. As the demographics of their readership changed in the 1950s, the publishers began to favor photographs over illustration in order to appeal to a younger and broader audience. By the end of the century, photographs had all but replaced illustration in the fashion magazines.

The exhibit chronicles this period with examples of works from throughout this period. It includes several works by Kenneth Paul Black, who Mr. McDowell called “the last of the great fashion illustrators.” However, I was most attracted to the works of contemporary British artist Jason Brooks because of the emotion he conveys in a minimum of lines.

It was an exhibit rich in fashion history. But the pictures were not just of interest for their historical value. They were good pictures.

Queen Mary 2 in New York City

    Author

    Rich Wagner is a writer, photographer and artist.

    This blog presents reviews of art exhibitions and art collections as well as articles on art and art technique.

    Archives

    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All
    Alexander Calder
    American Art
    Anthem Of The Seas
    Art
    Art Analysis
    Art Classes
    Art Review
    Art Technique
    Asian Art
    Asia Society Museum
    Auguste Rodin
    Charcoal
    Claude
    Claude Monet
    Colin McDowell
    Contemporary Art
    Corner Of A Cafe Concert
    Cruise Ship Art Class
    Cruise Ship Art Collections
    Cunard
    David Hockney
    Drawing
    Edouard Manet
    Exhibition Review
    Fashion Illustration
    Fashion Week
    Fine Art
    Folk Art
    Frederic Remington
    French Art
    Guernsey Museum
    Gustav Klimt
    Henry James
    Holland America
    Illustration
    Impressionism
    Indian Art
    Irish Museum Of Modern Art
    James McNeill Whistler
    Jason Brooks
    John Constable
    John Singer Sargent
    Joseph Cornell
    Juan Gris
    Kenneth Paul Black
    La Grenouillere
    Leon Golub
    Lucian Freud
    Manet
    Margret Clarke
    Matisse
    Matisse In The Studio
    Maud Lewis
    Max Ernst
    Metropolitan Museum Of Art
    Milk Fixative
    Modern Art
    MOMA
    Morgan Library And Museum
    Museums
    National Gallery Of Scotland
    National Portrait Gallery
    Neue Galerie
    Ocean Liners
    Painting
    Pastel Portraits
    Pastels
    Perez Art Museum
    Peter Le Vasseur
    Picasso
    Portraiture
    Poussin
    Queen Mary 2
    Rembrandt
    Review
    Royal Academy
    Sculpture
    Self-analyis
    Sketching
    Smart Phone
    Stephen Card
    Susan Klibanoff
    Victoria & Albert Museum
    Watercolor Class
    Whitney Museum Of American Art
    William McTaggart



    RSS Feed

Beyondships Cruise Destinations
(Travel articles about and profiles of destinations). 
Beyondships Cruise Ship Profiles
(Information about cruise ships)
Beyondships Cruise Ship Pictorials and Reviews
(Photos, videos and reviews of cruise ships)
Beyondships LLC 
Notices
Privacy Policy 
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Great Artists
  • Art Museums
  • Art by Rich Wagner
  • Art reviews index
  • Beyondships Art Blog
  • Beyondships Cruise Destinations
  • Art by Valda
  • Beyondships cruise ships
  • Notices
  • Privacy Policy
  • London Art Roundup
  • Stephen Card Exhibition
  • Visiting Exhibitions
  • William Benton Museum
  • ASL 2024 exhibition
  • Magritte Museum
  • Old Masters Museum