Vance Kirkland
American Painter,
1904-1981
Vance Kirkland
Dots - Dots
and more dots
• His earliest dotted paintings of 1963-66 were created by dropping discrete
quantities of paint from various distances so they would spread to form
imperfect circles.
• He flung his paint in such a way that it splattered to form discs of color.
• The artist himself called his work discs or circles, but he accepted the
word dots to describe his paintings.
Painting number 10 ~ 1964
later “DOT” WORK
became
very controlled dot
patterns
1970--1971
Combining both concepts 1977
• Kirkland was only 5'3" and his paintings were so large
that he could not reach the center of the paintings from
the sides of his worktable. So he suspended himself
above.
• Setting above the paintings enabled Kirkland to, in a
sense, submerge himself in the creation of his works.
• The techniques he developed required his canvas to be
laid flat on a table top so that he, and not gravity, could
control the flow of the paint.
• He poured and spooned the mixtures from baby-food
jars and moved them with rags, mopping up the water
when it had deposited the paint just where he wanted it.
• He placed each dot with a wooden dowel, dipped once in
color and dabbed two, maybe three times before it
required a refill.
Sadly, Kirkland was never
photographed at work in his
straps. His assistants staged
and photographed a re-creation
of the scene using fresher and
narrower nylon slings to help us
imagine the artist at work.
Everyone who sees those nowempty straps must wonder, if
just for a second, what it feels
like to fly with a paint-loaded
brush or dowel in their hand.
Kirkland floated mixtures of oil paint & water to onto the
canvas ~ then added dots of different sizes and colors
meticulously on the painting using wooden dowels
Close up
Enlarged area of- Blue mysteries near the sun ~ 1976
Examples of the size of his canvases
1974 -Celestial Mysteries
Vance Kirkland first
arrived in Denver at the
age of twenty-four in
1929, when he became
the founding director of
the Art School at the
University of Denver;
after graduating from
Cleveland Institute of Art .
He stayed at the school
until 1932, when he got
into a dispute with the
university. They weren’t
willing to give BFAs to the
art students.
He instead opened the Kirkland
School of Art. The first art
school in Denver.
Kirkland worked with University of
Colorado in Denver to
exchange classes with CU. Art
students at Kirkland’s school
then could apply their credits
towards a university degree.
Kirkland School of Art did so well
that Kirkland was rehired in
1946. Kirkland eventually
returned to the University of
Denver (DU) as head of the art
school and chairman of the arts
& humanities dept.
Kirkland remained until 1969.
Kirkland at age 76
"The Dot Paintings"/Energy in Space Abstractions 1980
Final painting- Kirkland died the next year- 1981
Student examples
Painting with dots: Kirkland style
• Goals / Objectives:
• To study Vance Kirkland’s style of painting
• To compare and contrast Aboriginal styles
to Kirkland’s style
• To study pointillism and other painting with
dots in art history
Process
• Students will paint background on heavy paper or canvas paper. May be
solid or patterned.
• While paint is drying- students will sand their tools.
– Students need to sand the ends. Get various diameters of wooden dowels –cut to 3
inch (2.5 cm) lengths- and have them sand them. If you use Q Tips- cut off the cotton.
(Keep reusing the Q Tip- as the extra paint “build up” on the end adds dimension to the
dotting)
• Take a large card board box and place painted paper inside. Mix paint to
heavy cream consistency and with a water color brush (it holds more
paint) splatter paint on background. Carefully remove.
• Mix colors and put into little containers. Start dotting creating form and
lines. The painting is made up of little dots with large dots only for
accents.
• Dots must be tight and close together to create form and lines.
• Color scheme and values add expressive lines and emphasis.
Vocabulary
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Abstract Art – art that is geometric in design or simplified from its natural appearance;
abstract art does not need to look like anything real.
Abstract Expressionism – two phases: Early c. 1930-45 and Classic c. 1946-60;
stresses spontaneity and individuality; famous examples are Kandinsky and Pollock;
paint techniques might include throwing paint; interpretations are highly imaginary.
Frank Mechau painted in this style as well.
Avant-garde – forward-thinking, futuristic artists who were ahead of their time in their art
work.
Biomorphic – shapes that appear organic, from nature.
Canvas – fabric stretched over a wood frame to paint on; often refers to any surface on
which paintings are created.
Resist – a painting technique where one art medium resists the other; wax resists
watercolor paint, for example. Kirkland mixed oil paint and water-based paint to create
his abstract paintings.
Surrealism – (1924-1945) an era of art expressed by fantastic imaginary thoughts and
images, often expressing dreams and sub-conscious thoughts as part of reality. The
most famous surrealists are Chagall, Magritte, Oppenheim, and Dali.
Watercolor – thin, transparent water-soluble paint; comes in children‘s watercolor
boxes, in squeeze tubes, and in dry blocks; when mixed with water, thins and is used as
paint
Pointillism: Creating works of art using dots.
Painted with dots examples
Aboriginal Art
• History of Aboriginal Dot Paintings
While northern Australia is known for its excellent rock art, many of
which were done in the famous X-Ray style, the people of central
Australia and western deserts were known for their desert sand art.
They used to clear a piece of land, and “paint” a story on sand, using
small rocks, flowers, feathers and seeds. All the different shapes in
Aboriginal dot paintings had a meaning, and as the elders were painting
pictures they sang a Dreamtime song. Young clan members were
watching and listening, and learned the story from it. Sand paintings
were also used during spiritual ceremonials and other religiouus rituals.
Paintings on the sand didn’t of course last for long, so what there was to
learn from them had to be done instantly.
Examples