Ana Rodríguez Castillo
“It seems plausible, and perhaps almost obvious, that someone who is trained to see, and who thinks about the process of seeing, sees more and sees better.”
– Epstein & Gladwell, The Temin Effect, Ophthalmology, 2017
Ana Rodríguez Castillo is an artist, designer, art educator, and, in general, a highly inquisitive person. She received her MFA from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, where she was born and raised. She began her professional career as an art educator and then transitioned to working as a creative designer and copywriter for several marketing and communication agencies. Later she worked as a cultural project manager and producer for private and public institutions. After years of working in Madrid, Ana moved to Lima, Peru, where she worked at the Ministry of Education in the division of Art, Culture and Physical Education and coordinated several national educational initiatives. She moved to Pittsburgh approximately five years ago and was employed in the History of Art and Architecture Department at the University of Pittsburgh working as the coordinator for the Collecting Knowledge Pittsburgh project and as part of the curatorial team at the university Art Gallery. Currently, she is the Arts Project Coordinator at The Frick Pittsburgh museum. In addition, she is herself a practicing painter and jewelry maker, and arrives at her art from a very historical-based perspective. In particular, she is interested in historical artists’ materials and techniques and the social history of colors. To this end, she works in her home studio pounding and soldering metals and reproducing historic recipes for making pigments and paints while trying not to poison herself (or her husband) in the process.
Beyond Looking
This series of talks unites my interest both in Art history and the artist’s practice. I have a very eclectic professional and educational background and I am convinced that a broad knowledge base and intrepid curiosity in various fields is key elements for the creation process. For me, creativity is not only what is built with imagination but also the capability of identifying exceptional and novel connections between ideas.
In these sessions, my first aim is to make the art field approachable for an outsider. After setting a basic conceptual framework for guiding the interpretation of an artwork, my goal is to describe processes or codes for transmitting ideas and knowledge that can be applicable for many fields other than art.
Beyond Looking: an introduction to perceiving and interpreting art
Art tells a story, but it is a story we need to figure out ourselves. To be able to embrace and dig into an artwork, we first need to accept the complexity of this task. There are numerous layers but also endless points of view and paths for interpretation. Before laying down a framework to view, contemplate and interpret a work of art, I will present a list of concepts to keep an open mind and reject some clichés.
Group exercise: In advance of the presentation, I will send the participants a specific artwork and ask them to contemplate the subject matter and the content of the painting. I will ask everyone for their initial thoughts and then we will examine the artwork together and walk through it using the steps described previously.
How is this made? Retracing the artwork
The resources and the techniques and technologies we use impact the final result of an artwork and these can limit, enhance, and deeply influence the creative process from the initial concept to the final execution of an artwork. Becoming knowledgeable of these issues helps to interpret an artwork more accurately. It gives us the tools to value, appreciate and even capture more layers to the work.
Group exercise: I will ask participants to use anything in their kitchen pantry to create their own artwork. This can be a figurative or an abstract work of art. We will then discuss the process and the results. E.g.: Did you first have in mind what you wanted to do and then tried to find materials that would make that possible? Or, did you start by finding materials that you thought would work for painting and drawing and then based on their performance you decided what you would do?
Perceiving the Intangible: the artist’s path towards abstraction
The dictionary defines abstractions as:
- the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events. something which exists only as an idea.
- freedom from representational qualities in art.
- a state of preoccupation.
- the process of considering something independently of its associations, attributes, or concrete accompaniments.
The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century brought many social, scientific and philosophical breakthroughs that changed the world and impacted art so deeply, that new codes had to be invented. Abstraction isn’t a style or movement and it can be a part of every artwork to a certain degree. It is also often misunderstood and perceived as being too intellectual and inaccessible. In this session, I’m going to set the context that fueled this change and will try to clarify misconceptions that often push people away from appreciating abstract art. After a condensed historic trip through the path towards abstraction we will have a conversation around a specific artist and the creative process that led his body of artwork to become more non-representational.
Group exercise: In advance of the presentation I will send a PowerPoint with 10 artworks painted by Piet Mondrian between 1911 and 1921. They will be randomly placed on the slide and the goal will be to arrange them chronologically. This will give us the opportunity of thinking about this artist’s creative process and evolution of his artwork.
Symbolism and iconography: the unwritten language
Whether as a naturalistic form or as an abstract graphic depiction, signs require an agreement within a group or culture in order to become established as a symbol and be easily interpretable. Our cultural background has equipped us to accurately interpret some signs while misinterpreting others. Some concepts have a higher dimension beyond their literal meaning and we can miss layers of this complexity and significance when we don’t understand the code.
Group exercise: In advance of the presentation, I will send a color survey to the participants and we will comment on the results towards the end of the presentation. E.g.: Do we agree on which colors transmit the notions of cold and hot or good or evil? Do we all read color in a similar way?