ARTIST MARYNA BILAK NEWS: OPENING THE WALL SUMMER 2014 with Pamela Avril, Lee Tribe & William Tucker

This was an extremely intense course where I continued introducing myself to relief and at the same time space I entered fresco technique. Two weeks with Bill Tucker, Pamela Avril and Lee Tribe were personally productive for me.

On the first day Lee Tribe and Bill Tucker brought objects, which were put into bag. We weren't allowed to see the objects but just to touch them. Based only on textile experience we drew those objects and then modeled them in clay.
Some of the objects we were able to identify. For instance, this famous Venus figurine:

But most of the objects were total mystery.

As I discovered later this one was a sharpener in the shape of a nose:

I made my first casting.

Relief made in clay

Plaster and structo-lite on top of my relief

It is dry enough and the clay walls are ready to be broken

Final work

It is fascinating how casting creates an illusion and the viewer is not sure if he looks at the positive form or negative.

One day Lee Tribe came with a copy of legendary Three Graces

Our task was to use it as a center part of our own composition.
I ended up with three Evas and Three Adams:

Different people had different approaches.

Inspired by the Superstar Matisse “Back”

Two inches high head from memories

Fresco part of the course ended with a good number of work, but I don't think I got the true understanding of this way of painting. Most of the time I treated it as a watercolor technique, and as a result I ended up with impressionistic marks on sand and lime surface.

But I did fell in love with fresco on such a level, that I even worked after provided time and stayed in the studio until late night.
No one is really teaching fresco these days around New York. I found this technique quite contemporary looking and with such broad possibilities.