Art

Welcome to Naper Art Class!

Chuck Close is the first art unit of the school year.  He is best known as a photorealist painter, who paints portraits in massive-scale.  Chuck Close grew up in Washington State where he found school to be a struggle since he is learning disabled, but that did not stop him from continuing his education.  He went on to college and then received a scholarship to attend Yale University's graduate school.

The students learned and applied the technique that he uses which is a grid.  His assistants help him create the grid since he is paralyzed.  He has a paint brush strapped to his hand.  He begins by painting medium range colors that vary in value into the grid squares then he adds layers of other colors in organic shapes.  From a distance his paintings look like photographs, while up close you can see the various organic shapes that are repeated in order to create unity.  He also creates unity through his color use.  He achieves balance with color as well as with the grid.  Artists have been using grids since Ancient Egypt which was about 5,000 years ago.

The students made a comparison between Chuck Close the first unit of the school with Georges Seurat who will be the artist for the second unit of the school.  Chuck Close uses a grid while George Seurat uses dots to apply color.