Joe Murphy, Fine Artist and Illustrator visits

It’s been a while since Joe Murphy graduated from SU, but he got some quick attention passing a sheet of his  X-Men trading cards around the circle of students, and a drop-jaw reaction to his own fanciful painting of a dog in a wizard’s hat. 

As a kid, Joe was intrigued by his realization that something that wasn’t real (X-Men, perhaps) could be painted to appear to be real, and that this is a way to tell a story.  That’s how he got hooked on art.

Walking examples of his work along the circle, Joe described some of the media and techniques he uses: a glow of watercolor floats over a detailed pencil drawing of Lubin House in New York; a meticulous drawing, in minute pencil dots, of another view of the same building took our breath away; we recognized SU’s Hall of Languages in the same style (“Whoa!  That is great!”); an acrylic painting of Godzilla, ponderous under the palms; Joe’s ever at-hand sketchbooks, to capture visual notes and ideas.

A small metal suitcase turned out to be Joe’s portfolio: he had gutted it, and created a wooden interior designed to resemble a tackle box, with straps and compartments for examples of his work, including his card, slid long and narrow into the plastic sleeve containing 3 fish hooks. 

Already inspired, the students were drawn to the old lantern that Joe illuminated from behind, in red.  He pointed out the varying light, shadow, reflections and colors on the black metal and glass object (or, the following day for a second group, on the colorful fruits and vegetables before them) then demonstrated dry (moist brush to paint to paper) and wet (water to paper, moist brush to paint to wet paper) techniques, which the children used in their own wonderful paintings.

Artist Susan Keeter Visits

Illustrator and fine artist Susan Keeter, SU graduate and Syracuse resident, opened her workshop with a reading from the lyrical Honey Baby Sugar Child, by Alice Faye Duncan, while walking her illustrated pages around the circle of children.

Susan then enlightened our young artists about the glories of Cray-Pas as a convenient substitute for oil paints, with the capacity for blending and layering. She demonstrated the versatility of the medium in doing a portrait sketch of Syris before our very-amazed-eyes. She elicited the students’ knowledge of light and color, while guiding them into new knowledge and observation.

The teachers arranged a rich variety of objects, flowers, feathers, cloths into complex still lifes, each for a small group to draw with the brilliant colors of Cray-Pas. It was fascinating to note how each child approached the work uniquely, and all with strong focus.

Susan gave appreciative feedback at our concluding circle, noticing how students experimented with technique, selected different aspects of the still life and background for their composition, and approached the use of color and pattern.