Hi there, this is Fiona from IELTS with Fiona and the Members Academy.
In this podcast, we're going to focus on the topic of art and the arts.
I've been updating my vocabulary course with the most recent readings, listenings and writing questions, all related to the arts.
So I thought that was a great time to focus on this reading.
It's about an artist called georgia o'keefe.
It's a recent book, 20 passage, one academic reading, and and i think it's a really useful one to start with, because it does cover a lot of the topics we're gonna talk about today for example, how to describe a painting that you like.
That comes up in speaking part one and part two.
There are also lots of readings about artists, so remember art and the arts.
It covers a lot of artistic fields like sculpture, and we've got a reading about henry moore And also writing.
So there's a reading there about scary fairy tales.
In the listening test there are often part four and part three texts about writers such as Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo.
But listening also covers the other aspects of the arts, such as Heather's pottery class or learning origami.
And there are quite a few about libraries and theatres.
So the topic of art and the arts is a really important one in IELTS.
And hopefully today you'll get some ideas of what you can talk about, what you can write about.
Writing.
Task two, for example, is often about what can the arts tell us about life that science cannot?
The importance of art and the relevance of art.
This comes up in Speaking Part 3 as well.
Questions like, should the government provide support for art and cultural activities?
Should children study art at school?
So let's get started with this reading about Georgia O'Keeffe, who was an important American artist known for painting nature in a bold and unusual way, especially large flowers and landscapes in New Mexico.
She became famous in New York through the support of an art collector called Alfred Stieglitz, who she later married despite ill health in later life.
Her 900 works left a lasting artistic legacy.
So you can see that this reading goes in chronological order.
It starts with where she was born in 1887.
And what she studied.
So there are lots of dates and numbers that can really help you find information quickly.
She moved to New York.
She married this chap Stieglitz.
And then there are dates in the mid 20s.
She painted the skyscrapers of New York.
Then in 1929, she went to New Mexico.
And she painted a lot there.
She found new inspiration there.
The landscapes, rocks, cliffs, mountains, rivers.
She owned two homes in New Mexico.
And then in her later life, so that's the 1950s to the 70s, she travelled widely and flying in planes made her paint other things.
And then she became quite ill and died at the age of 98, but she left 900 paintings.
There are two sets of questions.
The first one is gap fill and the second one is true, false, not given.
So we've quickly skimmed the text for those dates and those places.
Now let's look at the summary gap fill.
The title is The Life and Work of Georgia O'Keeffe and we've said this before about passage one.
The gaps can be spread throughout the whole text.
They're not necessarily focused on just one or two paragraphs.
That tends to happen in the more difficult tests and we can see that Here.
The last bullet point says travelled widely by plane in later years.
So we know that's going to come at the end of the text.
The gap fill will be in that last paragraph.
So everything will go in order.
That makes it easy.
Try to guess the gaps so you know what you're looking for.
The first one says she studied art.
And then worked as a something.
So, we're looking for a job after she studied art.
So, quickly go to the places where she studied art.
Chicago, 1905.
New York, 1907.
Training College.
She became an art teacher.
So, that is the answer.
But you're only allowed one word.
Always check that.
So the answer is she worked as a teacher.
Number two, she created drawings using something which were exhibited in New York City.
So you skip a few lines and get to the paragraph about New York.
So we're looking for something she used for her drawings at that time point, and when i look at the first mention of new york, i'm looking around this to find what she used for these drawings.
So you may need to go back a little bit, but we can see it very clearly here, creating abstract compositions in charcoal.
Now, you may not know the word charcoal, you may know coal, but that's the answer.
It's a kind of burnt wood that you can use for cooking like on a barbecue, but also for drawing.
Number three, she moved to New York and became famous for her paintings of the city's something.
So we need to find where she actually moved to New York.
And it says she arrived in New York in June 1918.
What did she become famous for painting?
It says, by the mid 1920s she was recognised as one of America's most important, successful artists, widely known for the architectural pictures that dramatically depict the soaring skyscrapers of New York.
Now, if you were going to guess anything about that, what would she draw in New York?
I would say either the people or the buildings.
So I was looking for a kind of building And it says the skyscrapers of New York.
So that is the answer.
Make sure it's plural with the S on your answer sheet.
Next, number four.
She produced a series of innovative close-up paintings of something.
Innovative close-up paintings of something, something it says most often.
She painted botanical subjects inspired by her trips to the family summer home.
In her magnified images depicting flowers, she brings the viewer right into the picture so magnified.
There is a synonym for close-up, And the close up paintings were of flowers.
Notice this word depicting flowers.
It's used twice.
We had depict the skyscrapers of New York and depicting flowers.
So that's quite a useful word.
It's quite a formal word, meaning when a painting shows you something.
So you could use that word describe a painting in your speaking.
So the answer for number four is paintings of flowers.
Next, she went to new mexico.
So we find that in the next paragraph, in 1929, she made her first trip to the state of new mexico.
So what's the gap?
She was inspired to paint the many somethings I guess plural that could be found there.
So what could she find in New Mexico that she painted?
It says over the next two decades, she made annual trips to New Mexico.
There O'Keeffe found new inspiration.
So that's what we're looking for.
She was inspired.
She found new inspiration.
At first it was the numerous sun bleached bones she came across that sparked her imagination.
It gives examples of a cow skull.
But bones is the answer.
And maybe it helps us that something that could be found there came across is a phrasal verb, meaning you found something by accident.
So the answer there is bones.
In six she continued to paint various features that together formed the dramatic something of new mexico for over 40 years now.
I i don't know what goes there.
It's quite difficult to guess.
I think i'm looking for a synonym for dramatic and i can see the region's spectacular landscape, so i'm guessing that landscape is the answer.
Features that formed the dramatic landscape make sense to me.
But I'm still looking for the 40 years just to confirm.
Ah, here we have it.
That held the artist's imagination for more than four decades.
So 40 years, four decades.
The answer for six is landscape singular.
Last one when she traveled by plane in later years, she painted pictures of clouds and something seen from above.
So imagine she's in the plane, she can see clouds and something.
So we're looking for two things she can see from the plane.
So we're nearly at the last paragraph.
Flying in planes inspired her last two major series.
Aerial views of rivers and expansive paintings of the sky viewed from above the clouds.
So those are the two things, rivers and clouds.
So the answer for seven is rivers with a S at the end.
All right, let's move on to true, false and not given.
Again, it is spread throughout the text because it's a short text.
So I remember in the first paragraph, it said something about her style.
And this is question eight.
Her style was greatly influenced by the changing fashions in art over the seven decades of her career.
So I'm going right back to the introduction, where it said what was different about her was that she remained independent from shifting art trends.
So she was not influenced by them.
So the answer for eight is false.
Nine.
When O'Keeffe finished teaching high school, she had already made her mind up about the career that she wanted.
So I'm going back to where she was in high school, and it says by the time she graduated from high school in 1905, she had determined to make her way as an artist.
So yes, She had made up her mind when she finished high school.
So number nine is true.
Now, number 10 is this photographer and art collector.
Alfred Stieglitz is mentioned in the text.
It says he first discovered O'Keeffe's work when she sent some abstract drawings to his gallery in New York City.
So question is did she send him abstract drawings?
Let's see.
So the first mention of him is this sentence she sent some drawings to a friend in new york who showed them to art collector and photographer alfred stieglitz.
So Did she send some drawings to him?
No, she sent the drawings to a friend in New York.
So 10 is false.
Number 11.
O'Keeffe was the subject of Stieglitz's photographic work for many years.
So they got married and then the ups and downs of their relationship were recorded.
In Stieglitz's celebrated black and white portraits of O'Keeffe taken over the course of 20 years.
So yes, 11 is true.
12.
O'Keeffe's paintings of the patio of her house in Abikuyu were among the artist's favourite work.
So you find her house in Abikuyu, which I can't pronounce, but it's easy to find because it's a very unusual spelling.
It's quite a bit further down and it says she owned two homes in New Mexico.
We want to know if the paintings of her patio were her favourite.
So it says a lot about the patio.
Doesn't say, though, that it was her favourite.
Again, it's an emotional question rather than a fact.
So they are usually not given.
And I guess after true, we've had two true, two false.
The last one is not given.
So I'm going with that.
And lastly, 13, O'Keeffe produced a greater quantity of work.
During the 1950s to 70s than at any other time.
Well, again, this comparison is always a red flag.
It's a danger for true, false, not given.
Is there a comparison in the text?
So if we go to 1950s and 1970s, we can see that she painted a lot of things.
But there's no mention that she did more than at any other time.
So that answer is false.
So we mentioned that this text was quite useful for a speaking topic about art.
And it does talk a lot about her style.
It was abstract, not realistic.
It was modernist and innovative, so it had new ideas that were original and creative.
It also talks about landscape painting, a painting of natural scenery, or portrait paintings, which are paintings or photographs of a person.
It talks about her technique and composition, how she liked to paint things close up and magnified and the things that inspired her.
That was quite important, and you might be asked to talk about an exhibition you went to or a gallery or a painting that inspired you and sparked your imagination the vivid colours and so on.
That's all in the text And I've got a full list of those for you on my website and in the Members Academy under the vocabulary section.
So that's it for today.
Thanks ever so much for listening.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Go and check out some of the paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe and see what you think about them and let me know.
Thanks for listening.
Bye bye.
