LIST OF LECTURE OFFERINGS:

The following university-style, fine art lectures are designed to be both entertaining and informative for a wide range of audiences: working artists of all media, art appreciators, art students, and fine arts educators. Each PowerPoint presentation is given by artist and renowned teacher Steven Aimone, author of DESIGN! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople (Lark Books, 2004), and each is available for arts groups and institutions everywhere. Lectures run between 1 and 1 ½ hours, and additional time is set aside for an interactive question-answer session. Fees for the lectures are determined on an individual basis; lodging and travel expenses are additional. Combine a lecture with a workshop offering for increased cost effectiveness. Contact us for more details.

1.  THE SPIRITUAL LANGUAGE OF ART
A challenging and engaging introduction to the language of non-objective design. Simply put, the question posed is this: what can art do when it’s not describing appearances or telling stories?

The answer put forward by this lecture is that art can speak of realities that are internal and/or transcendent. The audience is encouraged to

• Consider visual elements (such as line and shape) as animate entities that stand as surrogates for animate entities in nature
• Discover how visual relationships such as rhythm and equilibrium speak as metaphors for internal and spiritual realities.

This PowerPoint presentation includes images of work, and quotes by, master artists of the 20th (and 21st) Century including Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Hilla Rebay, Jean Arp, Arshile Gorky, Joan Miro, Hans Hofmann, Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollack, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Agnes Martin, Susan Rothenberg, Terry Winters. General audiences will come away with a better understanding and appreciation for “abstract art.” Art-makers will gain a broader understanding of the creative potential of non-objective arrangement, and understanding that underlies all design (regardless of style, medium, or subject).

RECENT AUDIENCES for this lecture include:

• Florida Watercolor Society, 2007 Annual Convention, Daytona Beach, Florida
• Fiber Arts Study Group, Textile Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Society of American Mosaic Artists, 2007 Annual Conference, Mesa, Arizona
• Aimone Art Workshops, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida and Monhegan Island, Maine
• Dunedin Fine Art Center, Dunedin, Florida
• Universalist Unitarian Church, Ormond Beach, Florida

2.  DESIGN: A LIVELY GUIDE TO DESIGN BASICS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE
Lecture in conjunction with the publication of Steven Aimone's new book, by the same name, published by Lark Books/Sterling Publishing. This down-to-earth, interactive lecture and discussion covers the purposes and processes involved in design, and on the six basic principles of arrangement (repetition of motif, rhythm, symmetrical arrangements, asymmetrical arrangements, focal emphasis, and underlying shape structure) used to hold designs together. Features examples of great design from the arts, the fine crafts, and from everyday life, and shows how the same principles apply in all these areas.

View book content on our website

RECENT AUDIENCES for this lecture include:

• Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida
• Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design (University of North Carolina), Hendersonville, North Carolina
• MountainMade Foundation, Thomas, West Virginia
• Society of American Mosaic Artists (annual conference, 2006), Chicago, Illinois
• Stetson University, DeLand, Florida