Randy is a Choctaw Indian sculptor specializing in turtle-storyteller images made from ceramic. He began this creative focus in the 1980s when he was an art student at the Institute of American Indian Arts. The turtle is symbolic to his heritage as one of the three sacred animals. The other two are the bear and the raccoon. These animals are often the focus of stories that the Choctaw Indians tell to recount their origins and honor heroes in their clans.
Of his work it was written: "The turtles' popularity is, in part, a reflection of Chitto's own cheery charisma. Each has a flirtatious smile and totes a miniature medicine pouch that dangles from its rotund body. Inspired by the Choctaw story of warriors who placed dirt in their pouches so their spirits could find the way home if they died in battle, Chitto often stuffs each pouch with a tiny ceramic shard from an early sculpture that broke in the firing."
Randy Chitto was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi to Choctaw parents, and as a toddler, moved to Chicago, Illinois. He was an avid baseball player and early thought he would be a baseball player, but was directed to art by being around a friend's father, who was a commercial artist for the Wrigley chewing gum business, and by his mother, who was an amateur beader. Chitto was fascinated by the art supplies and by the processes he observed.
He enrolled at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, a city he found quite primitive compared to Chicago, but he grew to love it. He eventually married, had two sons and settled into his home and art career there."
It's always interesting to take a look at the pieces of art that sell for record high prices at auction. Below is a list of the top selling sculptures ever sold. What's most interesting to me is that most of the sculptures have a primitive feel to them :
Alberto Giacometti's L'Homme qui marche I 104.3 million in 2010
Guennol Lioness $57.2 million in 2007
Alberto Giacometti's Grande Tete Mince $53.3 million in 2010
Amedeo Modigliani's Tete $52.6 million in 2010
Nu de dos, 4 etat by Henri Matisse $48.8 million in 2010
Constantin Brâncuși's Madame LR $37.6 million in 2009
Pablo Picasso's Tete de femme (Dora Maar) $29.1 million 2007
Artemis and the Stag (Artist Unknown) 1920s $28.6 million 2007
Constantin Brâncuși's Bird in Space $27.5 million 2005
Grande Femme Debout II by Alberto Giacometti $27.4 million in 2008
For the Love of God $100 million 2007 ??
"For the love of God" by Damien Hirst, made with 8,601 perfectly cut diamonds, allegedly sold for $100 million in 2007. However, the sale has not been officially confirmed. Some have suggested that the sculpture was not actually sold. Some say that the claims of it selling were a publicity stunt to generate interest in the artist and his work. If the sale is confirmed, it would become the highest price ever paid for a piece of art by a living artist.
What does chocolate have to do with art, you might ask? Well, many people consider culinary arts to be a form of artistry. I have to agree.
Last Wednesday, a friend and I were lucky enough to be invited to an evening of chocolate and wine parings at Piece, Love and Chocolate. It was a night I won't forget. What I absolutely loved, aside from all the wonderful flavors I experienced, was meeting so many passionate and warm people.
Ready to sample good things!
The event started with an intelligent lecture on how chocolate affects the senses, including how it affects brain chemistry. There's no doubt that chocolate makes us feel good. There are three areas of the brain that are stimulated when we eat it. Of course, the centers of the brain associated with pleasure are activated after eating chocolate, but, in addition to that, both the motor cortex and the prefrontal cortex are as well. The prefrontal cortex is the same area of the brain associated with learning but also with the development of addiction. Chocolate also increases serotonin levels in the brain, especially in those who tend to have certain kinds of depression e.g., SADS or atypical depression. LeeAnn, a clinical sexologist, explained how all the senses can be involved with taste. After the very interesting discussion about the senses, a nice warm towel was handed to each of us, and Sarah took over the lecture. Sarah is the chef at Piece, Love and Chocolate, and this lady knows chocolate!
The cocoa pod, where it all starts
I'm always impressed to meet anyone who knows all about chocolate--the history, the details of the chocolate making process and the properties of the yummy stuff. There is so much to know! There are certain areas in the world that employ unethical methods to gather and process cocoa beans, so it's important to know the origin of chocolate too. Here's a quick little video about that:
Sarah took us on an enchanting little journey filled with mouth-watering desserts, delightful wines and enjoyable conversation. I had a hard time being patient, because everything looked so tempting! I wanted to dive right in, but I was glad I waited, because Sarah had much to say about how and why the different wines were paired with specific sweets. What was most interesting to me about that aspect was learning more thoroughly about how the taste buds work. Most of us know that different areas of the tongue have different receptors that respond more or less to the four different flavors: sour, sweet, bitter and salt. Pairing a wine that stimulates the same receptors as the dessert can enhance the experience, but pairing a wine that stimulates a different area of the tongue can also be a good match, depending on how much the general flavors are alike. Of course, a few of the desserts stimulated two different parts of the tongue without any added help. Probably the best example of this is the dark salted liquid caramel nugget of goodness by Piece, Love and Chocolate. Holy cocoa bean! I can see why this is a best seller. Flavor explodes all over your mouth in a wonderful contrast of salty sweetness, and there is an equal blast of different textures as well with a hard outer shell, liquid caramel and crunchy salt on top. We were told that the best way to eat it is to bite the gorgeous little dark chocolate ball in half, take some salt and sprinkle it on the caramel in the remaining half and pop that into your mouth just as you are finishing the first half. Mmmm That was a good suggestion.
Chocolates at Piece, Love and Chocolate
As we moved through bite after bite of so many incredible chocolate works of art, I came upon my favorite, and I think a few others agreed based on the yummy noises floating about the room. It was the Raspbeverly cake, a flourless chocolate extravaganza with both a texture and flavor that people associate with "killer" chocolate. My oh my was that dense little square of indulgence something else. That's the stuff I dream about when it comes to chocolate. Woooaaa. It was good! I'm not even a huge fan of raspberry and chocolate, but this was sheer perfection on a plate. I bet I would like their plain flourless chocolate cake as well, and I can't wait to try it!
So many wonderful treats!
I won't go into each piece of chocolate we tried, but I will mention a few more stand-outs. There was the PLC sesame cut ganache with a very strong sesame flavor that blended well with chocolate, A PLC basil cut ganache that had quite a punch of basil flavor, the chocolate Linzer torte, a chocolate bar made with goat milk that had a wonderful little kick of tang at the finish, a creamy white chocolate cheesecake, various truffles and a lovely little lemon square with a chocolate crust. Before getting to the end of my plate, I hit maximum chocolate capacity and had to stop. Fortunately, I was sent home with a doggy bag.
I am hoping to participate in some of the other classes that Piece, Love and Chocolate offers. They have a wonderful selection of classes available. There's another class just like the one I mentioned taking place on March 7th: Chocolate Lab for Lovers... of Sensual Chocolate & Wine
Art is often considered a serious subject. It can be intimidating, especially for those who haven't had a lot of exposure to it. However, many artists both past and present have created works that reflect having a good dose of humor. People are more familiar with cartoons and satire when it comes to humor in art, but there are also works in fine art that reflect true humor. In general, humor can be seen as something to be celebrated. Mark Twain once said, "Humor is mankind's greatest blessing." The joke need not be blatant or outrageous. Subtle humor that brings a smile can be very satisfying. In reality, artists often attempt to find humor in painful situations in order to better endure hard times, and then reflect that humor in their work. Of course, there are other artists who happily reflect joyous times and experiences in their work as well.
SmithKlein Gallery has quite a few artists who like to toss humor or whimsy into their works. Below are just a few examples in various mediums.
Fly Boys by Diane Naylor (oil)
dancing tortoise by Pokey Park (bronze)
Wild Wild West by Dwight Davidson (bronze)
Sheepdog in Door by D.D. LaRue (mixed media)
Tennis Turtle by Randy Chitto (clay)
All Together Now by Guiseppe Palumbo (bronze)
And just for an extra laugh, here are a few art jokes by Jim Lane:
If you've ever cleaned your fingernails with a palette knife--you MIGHT be an artist.
If you choose a wine with an eye toward using the bottle in your next still-life--you MIGHT be an artist.
If you've ever rinsed your watercolour brush in your coffee--you MIGHT be an artist.
If you've ever drunk the rinse water instead of the coffee--you MIGHT be an artist.
If you've ever painted an abstract and decided it looked better upside down--you MIGHT be an artist.
If your cat has chrome oxide green paws--you MIGHT be an artist.
If you've ever gotten cookie crumbs in the Titanium white--you MIGHT be an artist.
If you can spell phthalocyanine, you MIGHT be an artist.
If you've ever scrubbed a hole in a watercolour--you MIGHT be an artist.
What is known as black and white in art is not necessarily limited to strictly those two colors. It's not uncommon to see shades of grays, tans and even browns in a black and white piece. Though the term is generally associated with photography, it is used when referencing television, movies, printing, drawing and even painting. Often Op Art relies on black and white to create a sense of movement to the viewer, though color is sometimes used too. It's important to note that the foundation of nearly all great works can usually be broken down into black and white.
Most of the best painters rely on good drawing and sketching skills. They work in tones before adding any color, focusing on obvious shadows and light areas. Tone usually implies that there is no color, and artists tend to use the term hue when referring to color values. Once the basic light and dark values have been noted, various colors and hues are addressed.
A great example of the progression of working from sketches to applying paint is Mark Lague's technique. He breaks it down into six steps:
Sketch by Mark Lague
1. The base drawing- Mark focuses on abstract shapes rather than actual objects. He sketches the largest and most significant shapes first.
2. Establishing the values- In the next stage of creating a painting, Mark will apply washes to establish the tones or values of the piece. The values, which remain as they are at the final stage of the painting, are applied in a thinner wash. The values are simplified and smaller shapes are kept to a minimum at this point.
Some color added to the painting by Mark Lague
3. Integrating light and dark- When the base paint is dry, Mark begins to add full color. He uses contrasting thick impasto painting with thin transparent passages in what he calls a "wet-on-wet" technique.
4. Completing the focal area- Unlike most artists, Mark will work section by section to finish the piece. He is careful to avoid adding too much detail.
5. Establishing depth- Once the focal area is completed, Mark addresses the remaining values of the piece, working on any background areas that need to be developed.
6. Finishing- In the last stages of painting, Mark will incorporate small shapes, but he is careful to edit himself. He feels it is critical to know when to stop adding detail.
The final piece by Mark Lague
More works by Mark Lague:
Haight Ashbury Light by Mark Lague
Hotel in Rome by Mark Lague
Chicago Afternoon by Mark Lague
Three Cabs by Mark Lague
Somewhat off the topic, but here's a cute little video about the color Pink!
