BENCHES ON PARADE
Realistic distortion
My name is Lawrence Seil. I'm an artist participating in the Benches on Parade. I'm painting a bench for my sponsor, WROC-TV, just your basic ol' painting, nothing much more fancy than that, although it is fair amount of work. It's a picture of two people sitting on a normal, park-like bench and the trick is to render the 2-D image on this surface that obviously has other things going on with it than your basic blank flat canvas.
I'm working to depict the two people "realistically," although a fair amount of distortion has to come into play to allow the image to make sense from various angles, most particularly where the seat of the actual bench has to correspond with the rendering of the people's legs. It also incorporates the skyline of the city of Rochester on the back side, which is also a challenge to render realistically and/or recognizably.
I would love to hear from other artists, through the comment section or the Facebook site, on successes and issues they have come across.
Video Blog: Philip Burke Paints Chuck Mangione for Benches on Parade
The Colors of Philip Burke
The Benches on Parade team is so excited for Philip Burke's visit tomorrow, we can't wait to see him painting LIVE at Nazareth Arts Center. In the meantime we wanted to share a little bit about Philip in preparation for his visit and share some of his recent work!
Internationally renowned artist, Philip Burke, has been capturing the minds and hearts of rock and roll and movie fans, sports enthusiasts, politicos and the general public for more than 25 years. Burke’s unique style, using vivid colors, sparing brushstrokes and sharp lines, has set him apart from all other contemporary artists. His work has adorned the pages and covers of Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, GQ Vogue, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and most other nationally and internationally circulated publications.
Philip creates stimulus explosion, uncovering the attitude and emotion in the personality of his subject. Leaving nothing out, he works wholeheartedly, painting intensely and vigorously, making sure to capture his subject’s psyche or aura.
“A face, particularly the eyes, is an expression of the soul,” states Philip Burke. He works on a deeper, internal and spiritual level, seeing in his subjects what others do not. It’s easy to see why so many of his subjects have Burke creations of themselves hanging on the walls of their homes.
Remember to free up some time tomorrow, Jan. 28,; check out Philip working live at Nazareth Arts Center 2:30-4:30 and 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Benches on Parade Unveils First Completed Bench at RazorSharks' Home Opener
It was an exciting weekend at the Blue Cross Arena for the Rochester Razorsharks and Benches on Parade! The team took to the court for the season’s home opener with a new addition to the roster, the RazorSharks’ bench.
A local family that lost their home to fire last week was chosen to sit courtside on the bench to enjoy the game. This tradition will continue with a lucky family or fan pack of four receiving seat upgrades to sit courtside, in the shark’s mouth!
The bench, designed by Chris Pallace and Kevin Serwaki, features a large shark taking a bite out of a basketball. The back of the bench was built up to emphasize the power and strength of the top-performing team.
It was truly a momentous day to unveil the first bench, watch the RazorSharks raise the Premiere Basketball League championship banner, and have the team go on and win their first home game!
Look What We Saw!
Dixon Schwabl client, Crystal Icing just sent the Benches on Parade team two great photos of the last shipment of benches. Crystal Icing was on their way back to Rochester from Pittsburgh and saw this on the way! It's so exciting. The benches arrived today and are safe and sound. The last group of artists are picking them up and getting to work.
We can't wait for spring to see all of them on parade. The first completed bench will be unveiled this weekend on Saturday at the Blue Cross Arena just before tip-off at the Rochester RazorSharks' game. Check back here to see the photos or come meet us at the game!
The Road to Success is Literacy
As part of Benches on Parade teaming up with the Rochester Literacy Movement, John Marshall High School students are designing a bench around what literacy means to them. John Marshall student Amanda states, "Our work is really connecting our inspiration to the opportunity to share with others. Through the process we had to switch up our design so everything could fit and work together. We are excited to inspire others with our artwork and our view of literacy."
The bench design focuses on the road to success and the students of John Marshall High School believe that the road to success is literacy.
Video Blog: Creating Texture Using Liquid Latex
Liquid latex creates varying textures, dries really fast and is easy to paint over. In this video blog Kevin Serwacki is illustrating how he is using liquid latex to create the dimples and texture of a basketball for the RazorShark's bench. The black lines of the basketball are already painted and taped over, so the texture will not mess with the heavy lines of the basketball. After Kevin applies the liquid latex and it dries, he will use a Woolie to create the color gradient of a basketball over the latex, creating the perfect basketball. This bench will be unveiled this weekend at the RazorShark's home opener! Check back to our blog and Facebook page to see photos of the unveiling.
Art & Soul
Meet Joanne Sharpe, Benches on Parade artist and owner of Art & Soul Studio in Fairport. Sharpe is a graduate of Nazareth College and is thrilled to be working as an artist on a project that will give back to a school that gave her so much. Pictured below, Sharpe is working on a bench for Unity Health titled, Happy Place. Taking inspiration from Romero Britto's work, another Benches on Parade artist, Sharpe is using a lot of color mixed with black and white.
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