I thought, unknown… MC Escher woodcut?.. then looked up Mesquita. He taught MC Escher!
Though maybe not ALL of the time.
Yep, which leads to RULE 11: Be wary of your co-workers and their opinions; they do not always represent what is right and good.
While I’m here, if you like the work of MC Escher, I enthusiastically recommend M.C. Escher, Journey to Infinity, by Robin Lutz and Steven Fry (Kino Lorber) It’s a proper (and clever) documentary of his life, art, and the influence he had on pop culture starting in the 60’s. There is another documentary out there… but avoid it. It’s atrocious even w/o comparing it to the Kino release.
this was pretty much the method used when I was in art school in the 90s. you’re not necessarily graded on the work, you’re graded on what happens in crit (critique day.) you make as much stuff as you can and everyone hangs it up and everyone reacts to all of it. your criticism of your peers is just as important as the work you do. the teacher only chimes in at the end if they feel something was left out, but they do it socratically.
in the next class, the teacher shows a bunch of slides relevant to the next assignment: examples of work that succeeded in solving whatever problems were needed to convey the intended meaning (keeping in mind that meaning is always subjective, which is also discussed then and during crit, too.) everyone discusses the examples until the ideas are understood. you make stuff outside of class for a couple weeks, with more class time on the topic, and crit again. (studio classes are 3 hours long and you work on subjects in class usually for multiple days but you still do a crit at the end)
this is also how we learned to write in high school. the first draft is just “get some ideas on paper even if it’s just free-from.” then work it into a more coherent structure. peer editing helps the student you’re editing see their flaws and blind spots; but it helps you more, because you can then avoid problems in your own work and self-edit more effectively.
My crits in the 80s were run along pretty much the same lines. except we had presentations to make too. We did not put up everything, the stuff you left out wasn’t thrown away but generally used as supporting work to explain why we had made certain decisions to reach the presentation work. The communication and responses were part of the process. This was more of a graphic design course than a fine art course. One of my rules (and one encouraged by the tutors) was to try to make use of all the equipment and facilities available. My favourite of Sister Corita’s is Rule 8 when I am drawing for myself.
A profile of artist Luigi Serafini that describes his art-filled home as well as his book, Codex Seraphinianus. It also covers why his home is at risk 
:
So how much does an average fine artist make? Here are some figures
Median income for a fine artist: £12,500 per year .
Median total income (including supplementary work): £17,500 per yearThe UK median wage is approximately £34,963, indicating that many artists earn significantly less than the average worker.
If you’re a painter it’s bleaker still, with median earnings of £7,500 per year.
A Woman? Female artists earn around 40% less than their male peers, lower socio-economic groups have a similarly tough time.
To top it off, since 2010 artists’ incomes have decreased by approximately 40%. We’re all doomed!
So how do they survive? Multiple income streams is the key. That might mean having a day job but within the arts sector here’s how it breaks down.
Direct art sales (20–40%),
Gallery representation (10–30%)
Grants and public funding (0–20%)
Teaching and lecturing (10–40%)
Commissions (10–25%)
Prints and merchandise (5–20%)
Residencies (0–10%)
Art fairs and markets (0–15%)
Licensing and royalties (0–10%)
Crowdfunding and patronage (0–5%)
Freelance creative work (5–25%)
Awards and prizes (0–5%)You can begin to see why your parents may have tried to nudge you towards accountancy or medicine.
But, we never did it for money did we? We paint for more mysterious reasons, if we had all the money in the world we’d still be painting, for many of us it is the very best use of our time, whatever the cost.
Extract from a newsletter I get from one of the painting/drawing groups I sometimes attend
I visited the British Museum yesterday. Maybe it was fatigue, but I saw this, read the placard, and just started weeping.
“Thanks for the dirt from your little island. We’ll just add it to our collection.”
For fuck’s sake, give it back
It’s really beautiful work. However, I was looking at this page, and noticing the press using the title “Lonesome Legends” above an image of cowboys correctly depicting them working in a group. That’s the part of the “mythology of the Western” I really wish would die in a fire.
Your post reminded me of stories like this one about women in music struggling to survive / fight back against forces designed to reduce what little income they get:
Artists deserve better than to be treated like this. We need to push for systems that guarantee a minimum quality of life for all professionals.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guerrilla-girls-40th-anniversary-2624211
No preview, sorry.
Here’s some of their recent(ish) work
If you’re in NYC…
She had a remarkable eye for the extraordinary and intimate.
Not sure how I would feel about that hanging system, maybe wear bright colours and go as a Mondrian? Seriously, it does look like it would work better than densely packed walls.
17 years old, just look at the roiling sea.
I can see how it fits with the name of the exhibit; “Constellation”, though. You can see off into the distance through the rack arrangement. It would have been even more apt to put the most recent works at the front, and gradually go back in time to the earliest ones at the end, as we see with photos of the universe.
The display system is reminiscent of the racking system used to store framed works.
ETA, and of course, the male curator gave her male mentor pride of place, displayed prominently above all her other works.