The Origins of Pigment

Colour is a key component of a work of art, with specific hues selected for their decorative, symbolical or emotive qualities, but the properties and potential of pigments themselves - those ingredients bound together to form coloured paint or glaze - are sometimes overlooked in our age of standardised materials. Our panel illuminates the materiality of pigment from the point of view of the creator, the conservator and the curator.
Speakers:
Corrie Jackson, Senior Curator, Royal Bank of Canada
Larry Keith, Head of Conservation and Keeper, National Gallery
Kate Malone, Ceramic artist and ceramic stoneware glaze research expert
Moderator:Susan Moore, Art market correspondent and associate editor of Apollo

[@ltwig476]

Great conversations on pigments and color. As an oil painter, I constantly struggle with a shade I want to mix and it's stability over time. Ive gone to mixing my own pigments to have more control and understanding of their size and shapes of particles. Most pigments on the market today tend to be finely ground to match the needs of overall masses of applications. This leads me to search for smaller pigment producers who are not trying to necessarily match the overall market's needs. Modern day, there is much less guess work and more science in producers of high end pigments. Except, "get what you pay for" is a bit of a farce. It all depends. Way too much modern alchemy focusing on richness of color that can be toned down to fit most modern artist needs and less on translucency while still holding the raw colors hue. A shadow is not an object. Rather it's reflective waves of dispersed light passing over an object. Therefore the larger the particles, jagged and glass like achieves light reflecting in multi directions as opposed to finely ground spherical particles causing more opaque light reflecting in less direction. Then of coarse there is the play of dispersion of pigments through use of various oils. One oil or other emulsifiers never fits all when a painter needs to paint over a layer in a timely matter vs wet in wet or dragging a brush or knife for different effects. Yet personally, I found the studying alchemy is much less valuable than time spent playing with pigment and additives. Mistakes shorten the learning curve vs success lengthens the learning curve and too often thinking waste valuable time. As far as toxicity, I think it's become overly paranoid for the art world. Simple practices of washing your hands often, not breathing dust and good ventilation while working with pigments, mollifiers and vast chemical additives. Society should be much more paranoid about household cleaners stored under there kitchen sinks, the chemicals they breath daily from all their comfortable furniture, beautiful rugs, massive plastics and what's coming off from all those heated back-lit screens they spend mass hrs watching. The larger the corporation the less government controls, do to expensive corporate lawyers and vast powerful investment groups. So they pick on the smallest groups like the artist who are trying to make positive changes throughout humanity. The old masters sticking brushes in their mouths, eating with unwashed hands, pounding rock dust, were less concerned about long life because life was potentially much shorter. Today, yes we should be more concerned. Yet just not slam lead or other dangerous particles because of ignorant past human handling. Rather note the percentage of human exposure for its actual chance of becoming a health problem. I'm USA born and bred and yes, we value vibrancy of life lived over common sense more often than other western cultures. The question is "are all things being considered or just what a person or group limits of what is to be considered?

[@nullifye7816]

I don't really know what the point of this was or what I was meant to learn from it.

[@yvonnefarrell1029]

Wow what a great conversation. So many issues about color that never even came to the minds of us ignoramuses out here. Thank you!!

[@markellbeck6461]

My favorite video