Art Talk Podcast: Studio Ramble to Ron

The Golden Palm Tape Network was a 1980s precursor of podcasting, where a small group of far-flung artists kept in touch by recording circulating ideas and readings via tape cassettes. (Video link) 

This one is addressed to my friend Ron Harris of southern California, a comic artist, collector, and art historian who still comments on this blog.

Sandor Bihari -- Before the Judge

Listening to the tape is a reminder to me of how it was in the 1980s. Discovering obscure information required sleuth work at libraries and used bookstores, plus the cooperation of friends with similar interests. 

The primary members of Golden Palm Tape Network were: 

Ron Harris 

Paul Chadwick 

Tom Kinkade 

Bryn Barnard 

James Warhola 

Here are links to some of the books and artists referenced.

Books (links mostly go to Amazon)

Some Call It Kitsch: Masterpieces of Bourgeois Realism 

Genre Painting in the Hungarian National Gallery by Supka 

American Boys' Handy Book 

Joaquín Sorolla

Edwin Austin Abbey by E. Lucas 

Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen by Joseph Pennell 

Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur Guptill 

Mastering the Craft of Painting by Angelo John Grado 

The History of Modern Painting by Richard Müther 

The Ulysses Voyage by Tim Severin 

Mural Painting in America by Edwin Blashfield 

William Bouguereau, 1825-1905 (Exhibition Catalog) 

The Life and Work of Jean Léon Gérôme by Gerald Ackerman 

Artists Mentioned (links mostly go to Wikipedia)

Heinrich Siemiradzki 

Simon Hollósy 

Sandor Bihari 

Mihály Munkacsy 

Joaquín Sorolla 

Edwin Austin Abbey 

Haddon Sundblom 

Mike Jittlov 

Frank Reilly 

Fred Fixler 

Domenico Morelli 

Stanhope Forbes

Frank Bramley 

Ilya Repin 

Edwin Blashfield 

Frank Millet 

N.C. Wyeth 

Vladimir Peter "Bill" Tytla 

Kay Nielsen 

Maxfield Parrish 

Frank Frazetta 

Moebius (Jean Giraud) 

Hal Foster 

Alex Raymond 

Austin Briggs's Philosophy of Illustration

(Link to YouTube)
Here's a vintage reading of a 1952 essay by Austin Briggs about the profession of illustration, from The Famous Artists Course.

This recording comes from a cassette tape which circulated among a group of friends in 1986. Please excuse the poor audio quality from this old cassette tape, as well as the male-only language of Mr. Briggs.

Topics covered by Austin Briggs
1. What it takes to be a success as an illustrator.
2. Why fun is important in illustration.
3. Avoiding formulas and injecting novelty.
4. How to improve your technical abilities.
5. Having something personal to say.
6. Developing an original approach.
7. Where to get inspiration.

Plus, readings from Henry James on the importance of experience:

"Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue."

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Previously on GJ:
Austin Briggs's Artistic Revival, Part 1 and Part 2
Purchase the original Famous Artists Course Lessons 1 - 24
Austin Briggs Flickr set by Leif Peng
Briggs Flickr collection by Matt Dicke

Podcast: 1986 Readings on Gerome, Repin and Shishkin

In 1986 I was part of a group of friends called "The Golden Palm Tape Network" who shared art-talk via cassettes. I thought some of these recordings would be fun for you to listen to in the form of a podcast on YouTube. 

Let's start with a fairly typical one called "Academic Chatter," a combination of readings and commentary. (Direct link to podcast on YouTube).

Topics include: 

• Gérôme, realism, and art politics—a reading from The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme by Gerald Ackerman.
• Russian artists Ivan Shishkin and Ilya Repin—a reading from "A History of Modern Painting" by Richard Muther.
• Concerns about masonite as a painting surface.

The nucleus of the G.P Tape Network was a small group who knew each other at the Art Center College of Design. We first met each other at the Golden Palms Apartment in Highland Park, California.

The artists involved included Paul Chadwick, Bryn Barnard, Thomas Kinkade, Ron Harris, Richard Hescox, Tom Kidd, David Mattingly, James Warhola, Brad Teare, and Barry Klugerman. All those people were (or are) brilliant and incisive and funny, and I owe who I am to what I learned from them.

There were hundreds of tapes, most of which were recorded over again with new stuff. But I still have a lot of these. If you enjoy this one, let me know, and I'll share some more.

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Jean-Léon Gérôme on Wikipedia

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