When it comes to art, a lot of the time people are hesitant to want to get involved.

It’s art. And especially with high art that sells for millions of dollars or is displayed in museums, it can be an intimidating task to observe the paintings and…understand what exactly you are supposed to be looking at.

That’s why everyone needs an art nerd for a friend 😉

You all know Andrew Wyeth’s artwork…he painted Christina’s World.

I absolutely love Wyeth’s work because of the use of Magical Realism he incorporates into his compositions.

Real quick: “ Magic Realism is a type of realism using contemporary subjects, often in cool detachment and sometimes injecting an eerie atmosphere. Juxtapositions of sharply rendered and detailed elements, both in the foreground and background, are used to develop an air of mystery or ambiguity. Although the paintings may incorporate everyday objects, their objective is not to appear dull or banal . Instead they attempt to show us the everyday world in new and unfamiliar ways. They remind us that there are still many mysteries in life. (source)“

What I love about Magical Realism is the profound in the mundane; the extraordinary in the ordinary. It is interesting in Christina’s World that Christina is looking in the same direction we are looking…which makes the audience wonder if she is observing her world in the same way we are observing our world?

Anyway, amazing paintings and fascinating artist.

And then I discovered this:

Seattle Art Museum, Wed Oct 25 

Wyeth Film Sprint: Kickoff Session

As Andrew Wyeth was inspired by film, SAM invites local filmmakers to create short films inspired by Wyeth’s paintings in a weeklong sprint. This kickoff session will provide interested participants the need-to-know details of the competition. A public screening will held November 8.

 

If you think that when I found out about a short film contest, which must feature a Wyeth painting, and is totally free and open to anyone who wants to participate, that I would say, “Naahhh, I’ll pass,” then you haven’t been paying attention.

Because I registered Team Rockwood immediately, and we were at the orientation meeting last night, and we are doing this.

I am so stupid excited about this because I love Andrew Wyeth’s work, and I love art community outreach programs, and I love short projects that don’t involve a ton of work…this is perfect!

 

All in all, This is going to be a pretty easy project…it needs to be 3-5 minutes, and it must feature one of Wyeth’s paintings that we have chosen. I chose Winter 1946.source: Wikipedia

So here’s what we’ve done so far!

First we showed up to the meeting! It was a lot more people than the organizers expected, which is great. This means people are excited about art, people want to be involved with art, and there is enough communication to get the word out. I love it.

So, we attended the SAM meeting last night, made sure our team was registered (it was!!) and selected the painting we wanted to use!

We got all the information we needed in order to fulfill the requirements for the contest…

And then we hit the pub down the street to brainstorm. Because everyone had a million ideas for what we could do!

And we got on the 10:05pm ferry, which means some of us were super tired.

….next post: STORYBOARDING!