Grief and sorrow - Expressionism.

Kathe Kollwitz - "Woman with Dead Child", 1903, etching

Mary Wigman - Hexentanz

Mary Wigman - "Hexentanz" (choreographed 1914, filmed 1930)

A couple of weeks ago while teaching Expressionist theory, well before the unimaginable tragedy in Newtown, CT, I realized there were connections to be made between the figures in Kollwitz's etching and Mary Wigman's "Hexentanz" (Witch Dance).  Both women sit on the ground.  Kollwitz's woman, with dancer's feet, could be the performer in Wigman's film, and vice versa.  In the etching, the mother looks part lioness, just as Wigman's 'witch' is animal-like.  Gesture in both pieces, so similar, expresses the innermost feelings of primal, intense grief, loss, anguish.

Hope to see you!

Recent Cut Paper Drawing with various other 'sketches'

"Vine Lines I" (Santa Monica Series) - 11" x 17"

O P E N
  
S T U D I O


Saturday, December 8th, 2012
1:00 - 5:00 p.m.


ez Storage Studios
4303 Rhode Island Ave.
Brentwood, MD 20722

more info

a Limited Edition

of ArtWare:

Nature- and Photo-Based Placemats that bring the Landscape to the Tabletop

Schlemmer's Energy Fields

Oskar Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet, etc.

Judith Braun's Fingerpaint Drawings

Thanks, Madeline (See Yourself Sensing), for telling me about Judith Braun's work.
Mind/Body symmetry projected into architectural space.

Black Shapes on White Ground

 "Grounding"

More Plant Drawings

Leonardo da Vinci (of course)
There are many more plant drawings
I'd like to collect and share;
I'll be pinning them here:
http://pinterest.com/leslieaberns/plant-drawings/

Kelly's Plant Drawings

"Castor Bean"

"Wild Grape Leaves II"

I remember seeing Ellsworth Kelly's plant drawings for the first time years ago.  His abstract minimal paintings were more familiar to most people.  I thought the plant drawings shined a light on just where his sensibilities were rooted (no pun intended;-).  We share a love of shapes (and plants, and painting, not necessarily in that order).

First Post!

I've decided to start a blog to document my art practice and to comment on works of art, many that I show in the Introduction to Art Theory class I teach at the University of Maryland.  Here's a view from the studio - I'll be showing the photographs in the foreground (and others not seen above) in the Dept. of Art Faculty Exhibition, INFORM, at the University of Maryland Art Gallery through October 5th, 2012.  Reception: Wed., September 5th, 5-7 p.m. Hope to see some of you there! 
click here for more info