在希尔玛·克林特的家乡见到她

2016年我休完产假回来的时候, I checked in with my students to find out what they wanted to learn during the second semester. Many students wanted to learn basic skills like watercolor or oil 绘画. A few of the girls surprised me: they wanted to learn how to paint abstractly. 他们指着墙上我的画作为例子.

I planned the coming months, 但 abstract art did not make it into the schedule. When I tried to think of how to teach what I paint every day, I got stuck. I wasn’t even sure where the shapes and colors in my work were coming from or how I was to dissect what I do into teachable
 parts. All I knew was that ever since
I started 绘画 abstractly,
 I was in love with 绘画.
我内心的东西和
我所创造的东西，感觉
是一致的. 这是一种奇妙的
感觉. 这不也是，最终
我希望我的学生?

让我们回到2013年. 
我喜欢带回家和
浏览旧的 艺术
论坛 杂志. One day,
I came across a tiny article
about an artist, Hilma af
 Klint. 当我看到她的作品时，
看起来就像我的作品. 我
把文章贴在冰箱上
，发誓要研究她. My husband reminded me every once in a while, and, eventually, I did some research. Thank goodness, because Hilma’s life is the perfect case study for the foundations of abstract art. 从那时起，我就被吸引住了，开始了解她神奇的故事.
 我的建议是 Paternotte格兰特帕特诺特家庭教师旅行和学习捐赠基金, 由Nancy Brewster Paternotte于1965年创立, supports faculty professional development in the form of summer travel. 来自她的故事. I wanted to go to Hilma’s homeland to learn what inspired her to work abstractly and to learn what inspires current abstract 艺术家 in Sweden.

当希尔玛·克林特长大的时候, her artistic talents were clear from her days at the School for Girls in Sweden (I already like her!), and her family arranged for her to attend the Royal Academy of Fine 艺术. Hilma excelled in the traditional techniques of the times and was awarded a prized studio space. After completing school, she was able to make her living by 绘画 in a naturalistic style. While creating this work, Hilma began to work—secretly—on a new series. 基于她的自动绘图, 对科学的热爱, 以及她内心的精神生活, she started to develop her own visual language in which shapes and colors had meanings. This divergence resulted in 26,000 sketchbook pages and over 1,000 绘画s.

希尔玛去的地方有
没有路线图吗. 当时没有人创作抽象作品. 每一天, 她会买鸡蛋, paste together her paper into massive surfaces that measured up to twelve-by-fifteen feet, 混合她的蛋彩画颜料, 和工作. 不可否认，她是一个勇敢的女人, driven by her conviction; her belief that what she was doing was important.

This story led me to the question that framed my conversations with every person I met while on my trip: How do 艺术家 form the conviction they need to create? 我知道我应该打开抽象艺术的包装, 但, 而不是, the question of the origins of abstract art naturally led to this question—which made people’s eyes light up. This is the question that the Hilma af Klint family asks all the time. And, I thought, if I can try to answer this question, then maybe I can teach abstract art.

I spent my time in Sweden in Stockholm and on the island of Helgö in Lake Mälaren. 以其维京遗迹
而闻名, Helgö is a tiny island where Swedes would typically visit their summer cottages. My research goals were to understand how Hilma af Klint was inspired by her homeland; to learn more about what inspires me when I paint abstractly; and to discover how to teach my students
to create their own abstract art. 我的研究采取了多种形式——参观画廊和工作室, 博物馆, 艺术家团体, 思考, 绘画, 为我的澳门威利斯网站做计划, 和阅读.

瑞典人非常友好，喜欢谈论艺术. 
我很快就和策展人建立了联系, 画商们, 艺术家, 以及希尔玛·克林特基金会. 我们把希尔玛作为讨论艺术的跳板. The more I learned about Hilma, the more I became interested in her daily habits. As the daughter of a nautical mapmaker, she made her work in a very disciplined way. 对我来说，这是她的一大谜团.

我把她的艺术生涯分为六个部分. 受到这个具体计划的启发, I organized my life in Stockholm in this same way: I kept
a sketchbook, 会见了一群艺术家, 在我租来的公寓里开了个工作室, 参观美术馆和博物馆, 和工作. 这听起来很简单，但很有效! 这种安排时间的方式给了我目标, 驱使我前进, 并帮助我找到了我所做事情的信念.

在瑞典的研究让我
找到了新的方向, 对教学和艺术创作过程有更大的想法. 我回到了美国, feeling like I had dedicated three weeks to my growth as a teacher, and I was excited to see how it would play out for the students’ experience in my classroom. I decided to frame my teaching that year using the same six components 
of Hilma’s work. 同样，这很简单，但很有效.

我很快想出了
，提出了几十个创新, from individualized sketchbook assignments and mini-studios for upper level students, 把更多的时间用来批评我们的工作, 看看其他艺术家的作品, 并讨论
艺术创作的过程. 结果是, I am excited to see what these shifts can do to foster the students’ work and conviction.

此外，我还想再看看抽象艺术. 这就是斯德哥尔摩的艺术界真正帮助我的地方. 我看到了这么多艺术作品，我开始把它们分类. Each artist I talked to arrived at abstract art from different approaches and for different reasons. 我从学生那里学到了这一点, 我可以提供各种抽象方法, 然后帮助他们注意到一些有趣的东西. The moments between the “interesting” places can be scary—and even less clear with abstract art—但 strategies for dealing with this time can be taught, 太. 自从我的研究
期间的E.E. 福特学院研讨会, I have been helping students expect—and even look forward to— these moments of not knowing. 在一起, we have developed a language of talking about the
artistic process and are able to support each other in a safe and inspiring way.

我可以指导学生制作抽象艺术的技巧, 但如何
我教他们如何把自己投入到他们的艺术? helma解释说, “此时此刻, I have the knowledge that I am an atom in the universe that has access to infinite possibilities of development. 我想逐步揭示这些知识的可能性.“答案是，这需要时间. 没有路线图来了解你的艺术自我或, 此外, 你自己, 但, I do know that art is one of the greatest 太ls for learning more about yourself, and the Elizabeth Gatchell Klein 艺术 Center is the perfect place to embark on this journey.

我们为什么要创作艺术? 我为什么要教艺术? 为什么我们都应该为
创造力寻找出口?
我的
瑞典之旅给了
我许多
答案
这些问题. When 
we find a
way to take
what is in
our mind
and put it on
paper, 用小提琴演奏,
或者在舞台上跳舞, 
这可以
描述为

世界上最好的感觉之一.

One of my goals as a teacher is to help students have the time and space in this hectic world to start—or continue—letting their creativity out of them. 正如你们许多人已经知道的那样, 一旦创造力开始成为生活的一部分, 不断创造变得越来越容易. 这对每个人来说都是独一无二的吗. 对我来说，这是一种抽象的绘画. 对希尔玛来说，这是一种新的绘画方式.

至于一些具体的建议:

• 找到你心目中的英雄并研究他们.

• Keep a journal or sketchbook to understand your growth and to celebrate it.

• 还有，永远把灵感放在冰箱上.