ABS Art for August Inspiration
Lansford, Pennsylvania
24 x 48 in. :: Oil on Masonite
American Folk Art Museum, gift of David L. Davies, 2008.4.16
About the Painting
Pennsylvania artist Jack Savitsky's Sunrise is dominated by a glorious golden sun whose deeply textured and patterned rays occupy three-quarters of the composition. In the balance of the work, Savitsky painted a town much like his own—twenty-six identical dwellings laid out in a row and bounded at each end by a church and a school. In the foreground, a symmetrical band of grass sways toward a central axis, and a ribbonlike procession of figures—old and young men and women, along with children and a few dogs, all in profile—follows a man in a horse-drawn wagon. This painting exemplifies the artist's mature style—a cartoonlike shorthand of outlined forms in pencil, pen, and paint filled in with clear, unmixed colors—which evolved from an earlier, more naturalistic mode of expression. Savitsky's terse inscription on the back suggests that narrowness of routine in Lansford: "Sunrise in the coal region. / I went to school. / I went to work. / And on pay day, I went out and got drunk."
About the Artist
Savitsky was born in Silver Creek (now New Philadelphia), Pennsylvania, to immigrant parents from Russia and Poland who settled in eastern Pennsylvania in the latter part of the nineteenth century. His father worked in the rich anthracite mines, and for Savitsky life was difficult, dirty, and dangerous from an early age; he started work as a slate picker at the age of 12 and joined the miners soon thereafter. After years of labor in the region, he settled in Lansford, where he eventually found work in the No. 9 Coaldale Colliery. He saved enough money to purchase a red brick house, where he lived with his wife, Mae Spack, and their son, John Jr. Over the course of thirty-two years underground, he developed many ailments—black lung and emphysema among them—and when the mine closed in 1969, he retired. While he always had an interest in art, it was only during his retirement that he began to draw and paint, first as recreation and later as a way to make money.
The Prizes:
Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on September 1st.
Our sponsors this month are sponsors: Bead-of-Clay, and Gardanne Beads please visit us tomorrow to see the prizes!
Featured Designer of the Week:
From all the entries during the month, an editor is going to pick their favorite design to be featured every Monday here on the ABS. We want to give our participants more time in the spotlight! Our Featured Designer will be this Monday, so get those entries in soon.
How to enter the Monthly Challenge:
1. Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork.
***Beads by themselves and beads simply strung on a chain, wire or cord will not be accepted.***
2. Upload your photo to our flickr group. Detailed instructions can be found here and click here for a tutorial for sending your picture to the group.
Please add the tag or title AUG ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.
Deadline is August 31st. Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 photos a day.
What is an Art Bead?
An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.
***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.
Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***
p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness.
9 comments:
Ooohhh..I like this one!
At first I thought this painting had minimal color--until I took a closer look.
It makes me think of my childhood--everything in a row - a neat, plain, solid, sameness.
My dad's family were coal miners, a hot, long, dirty job. More died from illnesses contracted while working there than injuries.
Nice choice
I am sorry, I didn't understand. Is sunrise theme af the august challenge?
Wow, this piece is rather interesting. I was studying it before I read the details of the work and artist. The object that could be viewed as a sun has similar characteristics of an ovum. When viewed as an ovum it appears as though it is rejecting fertilization and therefore rejecting new life. But then again, a cigar is sometimes just a cigar. =) Very powerful piece of folk art.
Yes, Dinni, it is.
Very interesting!
I already have ideas stirring for this...Hmmmm.
I *just* found this blog through Lori Anderson's blog. So glad I did!
This painting is wonderful, and I wish I had seen this challenge sooner. Can't wait to see the next challenge so I can participate!
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