Phil Latimer Dike

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Phil Latimer Dike
1906-1990
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Life of Phil Dike

• 1906 - Born in Redlands, California April 6th
• His grandmother , Eliza Sophia Twigg was a
  painter
• Attended Redlands High School in California
• 1924 - Won a scholarship to Los Angeless
  Chouinard Art Institute
• 1928 - Attended Art Students League in New York
• 1930 - Attended American Academy of Art at
  Fountainbleau near Paris
• Traveled through Europe and North Africa
• 1931 - Traveled to Arizona during the Depression
• Taught at Chouinard Art Institute
• 1934-1944 - Worked at Walt Disney Studios (1st
  artist to put color)
• 1938-1939 - President of California Water Color
  Society
• 1940 - Returned to Chouinard to teach (taught
  for 20 years)
• 1950-1971 - Member of the art faculty at Scripps
  Claremont Colleges

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Work at Walt Disney Studios
Story Development Toccata and Fugue in D
Minor Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria
Background Artist Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs
Color Consultant The Three Caballeros
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COPPER, 1936
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About the Work

• In the early 1930s, Dike traveled to Arizona,
  which like the rest of the country, was feeling
  the effects of the Great Depression. As the
  demand for consumer goods decreased, so did the
  need for copper. After seeing the effect of the
  Depression on the Arizona mining industry, Dike
  was inspired to create Copper, an oil-on-canvas
  painting.
• The artist combined elements of two townsJerome,
  north of Phoenix, and Miami, east of the cityto
  make reference to the two types of mining in
  Arizona. Underground mines are found in rocky,
  mountainous areas like Jerome, where the desired
  material lies deep under the surface. Open-pit
  mines, like the one in Miami, are more common if
  the material is closer to the surface.

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About the Work

• In Copper, Dike uses lines formed by roads,
  buildings and natural formations to lead our eyes
  to the copper plant. The light-colored pit and
  factory, an ominous sky surrounded by darkened
  houses, and dramatically lit rocky cliffs further
  indicate the importance of this central area of
  the painting.
• Of Copper and its sister painting, Inspiration
  Copper, Dike said These pictures represent a
  culmination of feelings and experiences in the
  copper mining towns of Arizona prior to and
  during the Depression, of that period which
  influenced me greatly.

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Discussion

• Encourage students to describe the work of art
  (What do you see in this painting?).
• Use and/or explain the keywords perspective,
  color, and light in your discussion.

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Perspective

• Dike uses lines and overlapping shapes to make
  you feel distance as if you are seeing into the
  painting
• The vantage point that the artist chose is
  slightly above the town. Where might the artist
  have worked ? on another mountain, in a hot-air
  balloon or an airplane, in a house further up the
  hill?

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Color

• What colors do you see? How do the colors make
  you feel?
• Think of the colors of some objects that contain
  copper pennies, the Statue of Liberty, the dome
  of the old Arizona state capital, or brass
  instruments. Which of these colors did Dike use
  in Copper? (all).
• What mood do the colors create? How does that
  help us understand what life was like in the
  Depression in an Arizona mining town?

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Light

• Is there light in the painting?
• Which direction is it coming from? How can you
  tell?
• What kind of day or weather does the light
  suggest?
• Describe the weather conditions in Copper. What
  kind of feeling does this weather give to the
  painting? If the weather progresses, how might
  the town look 10 minutes in the future?

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Arizona Mine
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Perspective
Perspective (from Latin perspicere, to see
through) in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is
an approximate representation, on a flat surface
(such as paper), of an image as it is seen by the
eye. The two most characteristic features of
perspective are that objects are drawn Smaller
as their distance from the observer increases
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Emboss vs. Deboss

• Embossing

• Debossing

• pushing the image up above the paper

• pushing the image below the level of the paper

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COPPER

• Copper is the oldest metal used by man. It was
  used for farming tools and weapons more than
  10,000 years ago. Today, copper and its alloys
  (for example, brass and bronze) are used in
  electrical systems and electronics, computers,
  home appliances and fixtures, plumbing, keys,
  coins, and many other products.
• The early formation of Planet Earth left copper
  deposits deep below what is now Arizona. In the
  1800s, mining companies were established in
  areas where copper-rich ore (metal-bearing rock)
  appeared on or close to the grounds surface.
  Copper mining soon became one of Arizonas most
  important industries.

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Example of Copper Art
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Activity

• Materials Needed
• 5 Copper Foil squares/1 per child,
• stylus sticks or heavy toothpicks,
• 5 squares of white paper for rough drafts.
• 6 square piece of black paper to mount completed
  tooled artwork.

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Process

• Brainstorm different types of Arizona landscape
  scenes with students. (The desert with cactus and
  a coyote. Desert hills with a lake and
  sailboat, ranches, citrus groves, old west town
  etc.)
• Pass out 5 squares of white paper.
• Students should plan their scene on paper. Each
  scene should include a background and a couple
  detailed images in the foreground. Remind
  students to keep it simple.

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Process

• Pass out one copper foil square and stylus to
  each student. Also, handout 6 square black
  paper.
• Students will use the stylus stick to impress the
  planned scene onto the copper foil sheet.
• For Best Results Have student place black paper
  under foil sheet as they work. This will allow a
  softer surface and allow the impressions to be
  deeper into the foil.
• Remind students to carve their names in the
  bottom corner of the copper square.