Week 11: the final final blog posting

Okay so I forgot that we had to blog about our self-portrait so this will be the official last blog of the semester. 

First we have to upload a picture of our self.  Here I am in all my glory:

We also had to select three inspiration  pieces for our self-portraits. 

I selected this image because I like the way it looks.  I love the geisha make-up and how the focus in on her one eye.

I selected this image because it's obvious that she is having fun at her own expense.  Even though she is distorted you can see she is beautiful.

I love how the the self-portrait is made of up individual camera shots.  Very clever.

So what media did I choose to try to make my self portrait.  I chose soft pastels.  I thought they would be fun to work with.  I started by doing my hair (brown and curly).  This was the easy part.  Then I tried to do eyes.  They were horrible.  Looked like an alien and I couldn't get them erased so I had to start over again.  The hair unfortunately didn't come out as well the second time and then I sat looking at the blank face (a look I'm told I give my husband on many occasions) and couldn't come up with a way that I could get a decent looking face on it.  Then it hit me, I chose to cut eyes (hazel), nose and mouth from the internet and then paste them to the picture.  Does it look like me?  Not one bit, well...except the hair. 

I always think the projects are going to fun until I sit down and try to accomplish them.  Growing up I left the artistic things to my mother.  As for my final project...at least I'm happy to say it's done and now I can enjoy a couple of weeks of down time before the next semester starts!

Week 11: The final blog posting!

As the final blog entry, we were asked to reflect about the slideshows put together by our fellow classmates.  I chose to review Nicole Bossert’s “Snapshot Reflections”, Samantha Ramsey’s “Time” and Lauren McGowan’s “A Worlds War”.  While each was great, I ultimately chose Samatha’s to write about.  I selected her project because I liked the pieces she chose.  She didn’t just decide to show 20 pictures of clocks and say they represented time.  Instead, she chose pieces that represented time, had time in the title, showed progressions of time and such.  Most of the pieces she chose I had never seen or heard of either so that made it more interesting.  I am not the best writer.  I was unsure what direction I was to take.  Should this be written as if I was writing a magazine article to convince the reader that they should choose to see this exhibit, or was I supposed to critique the art that was chosen to represent the title of the exhibit.  In the end, I decided to combine the two.  I don’t like to critique or be critiqued so I found this assignment to be challenging.  I love the fact that we got to see what our classmates put together.  I would have just enjoyed that.  Having to say what one I like more than the others and why I like it was difficult.  I really don’t want to know how my peers felt about my project.  I think if I was in a studio class, I wouldn’t mind the feedback but this type of critique is subjective.  Since I have to rate my finished article myself, I would say it’s about an 8.  I can honestly say I did not enjoy having to write a critique.  The curator project was hard enough. 

Week 11: Video Review

This week the videos we watched were about art criticism.  We had to choose three to watch.  I chose Greenberg on Art Criticism:  An Interview with T.J. Clark, Greenberg on Pollack: An Interview by T.J. Clark and Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T.J. Clark in Conversation.  I enjoyed this weeks videos and learning about art and art criticism.  Since Pollock is my favorite artist, I enjoyed the discussions about his work.  I found Greenberg to be an interesting individual and have started doing internet research.  I am debating on doing the extra credit on him.  Prior to this weeks videos, I hadn't thought much about how to be critical of art.  I'm not sure that the videos helped in my art curation project because I didn't get as good of a grade as I would have liked.  I think I got off track in finding the most bizarre artwork.  I know that I am more critical of myself and my work so I'm not looking forward to critiquing a classmates project.  I did however like watching the videos.

Week 10: Project #4 - Art Curator Exhibition Slideshow

I was so over my head with this project.  Even though the unit was opened early, with a project that counts for so much of our grade, it would have been nice to have a couple weeks to work on it.

I settled on my theme and concept pretty quick.  I chose surreal art because the entire semester it is the art that I've been drawn to the most.  I think because it's so "out there" and that it is open to interpretation by the individual viewer.  I also knew that I wanted the exhibit to be different as well.  I chose to have the rooms different colors. 

I spent several days searching the internet for the most bizarre art and saved them in a file on my computer.  I chose probably 75-100 pictures.  My family kept telling me I was nuts but I found myself getting so intrigued by the art.  Why would an individual produce that type of image?  I was also stupid and didn't keep good information while I was finding them.  I had to go back and find the required information.

Once I was able to narrow down the art,  I am a power point novice so it took FOREVER for me to get the slides in a format and get the information into the slides.  When I say forever, I mean it.  I probably spend 15-20 hours working on the slides.  Again, I had my family teasing me all the way.  Even as I type this I can hear them saying...aren't you done yet!

Week 10: Video Blog

According to the professor we're in the home stretch.  This week we had four videos to watch.  Since we had finished the textbook last week, these videos were geared more towards our project this week which is to curate and art exhibit.

The first video is called The Lowdown on low brow:  West Coast Pop Art.  This video was very interesting.  It gave us a glimpse into the definition of "low brow" and what it means to individual artists.  According to the video, the definition of low brow is "a person regarded as uncultivated and lacking in taste."  I don't see that this applies to this type of art.  It may be off the beaten path and the artists may be unique but I don't see that the definition fits. 

The next video was really helpful for the project this week.  Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach showed how Tate Modern sets up an exhibit.  Instead of chronological like most museums, Tate Modern uses themes.  This makes sense to me. 

The video I was really interested to watch is Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology.  This video talks about bones that have been removed from ancient Indian burial sites and housed in different museums.  It talked about one women's, Maria, fight with Iowa to get bones release.  I have ways been interested in native american culture and have the opportunity to visit Mesa Verde and other indian ruins.  I understand the need to know about their culture.  I was unaware of the 1976 law that protects indian burial sites.  I want to do more research about this.

The last video is about the George Eastman house which is located close by in Rochester, NY.  Entitled George Eastman House: Picture Perfect it talks about Eastman and the large collection that is housed there.  I was totally unaware and I would love to add this to my agenda of things to see in NY state.

Overall the videos this week were good.  I know I'm getting antsy to get this course over with.  It seems like it's been forever and this is only week 10.

I think the video that helped me the most for my exhibit was the one on Tate Modern.  My concept is to have 4 rooms with the walls painted and a statue in the middle.  I'm doing it on surreal (or bizarre art) vs. modern art but the concept is kind of the same.  I haven't decided if I want each room to represent a different color, different artist or different theme.  We'll see what the project is finally done.

Week 9: Modern and Post Modern Video Review

I chose Andy Warhol: Images of Images and Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of 50's and 60's as the videos to blog about. 

I have always been facinated with Warhol.  I was a fan of the Velvet Underground and I knew that he discovered them.  What I really enjoyed about this video was watching the silk screen process in action.  They took a photograph of Warhol and explained how he created his work.  It was also very interesting to have the Ten Lizes analyzed.  After having things pointed out, I wondered why I hadn't noticed them in the first place.

The video on the art of the 50's and 60's was a bit dry but I liked again how it was broken down into the individual artists so that I could watch each as a separate segment.  I really liked De Koonigs work.  I think I like the colors.

I also was embarassed to know that the Girl with Hair Ribbon was done by Lichtenstein, not Warhol.  I don't know why I always thought it was him.

Week 9: The Modern World 1800-1945 - Video Blog

...and we're in the home stretch.  This week we finished reading the text book and to support the reading, we are doing two video blogs.  This first blog focuses on two videos of our chosing about the modern world.

The first video I chose was a comparative video of the artwork of Matisse and Picasso.  The video was aptly named Matisse and Picasso.  I loved this video because it included actually footage as well as first hand insight.  I love the contrast between the two artists.  Matisse being more rational where Picasso was more impulsive.  I loved learning about their style and continued to do research by checking several sites on the web.

The second video I chose was about Expressionism.  The video focused on the works of several artists and the way the video was set up, you could go back and just watch the parts about the individual artists you wanted to focus on.  This video was a little dry but I did enjoy seeing the work of the different artists.  I found it interesting that Anselm Kiefer called his "Interior" a work of mourning.  This picture depicts the Mosaic Room (in Hitler's Reich Chancellery) merged with the room from Davinci's  "Last Supper."

I wish the videos had been a little shorter in length as I start to lose interest at about the 40 minute mark. 

Week 8: Art Exploration - Mask Making

Okay so this week has been hectic and I let the time click ever so close to the end (something so unlike me).  I seem to procrastinate the most on the project that require creative thinking.

This week we were tasked to create a mask.  We were suppose to do internet research to find masks that we found inspirational.  I loved doing this.  It amazed me how many cultures use masks and to find out what they were for.  I found myself drawn to highly colored masks or masks where their colors meant something to the wearer.

The first mask is from the Chinese theatre:

I know after saying I like lots of colors, one of the masks that I really liked was mostly black.  What I really like is that in Chinese Opera, black stands for strength.  I also like the pattern and lines.  It keeps your eye drawn to the mask.

The next mask is beaded and is Egyptian.  I was reading about funerary masks and that were explaining how ornate they were but that type of mask was not the only one used in Egypt.  The priests also wore brightly colored masks.

The masks that I am really drawn to are are native american.  I love how unique they are.  Last week when I had the opportunity to go to the Fenimore Museum and see the Thaw Native American Exhibit, there were several beautiful masks.  Of course, their masks are very elaborate and detailed.  Some are carved from wood and most are painted.

Of course I don't have time or the patients to create an actual native american mask and I now have my 15 year old sitting next to me laughing hysterically at my lovely art work but it's a mask none the less.

I was going to use straw from our goats for the hair because a lot of the masks I looked at had used it but I didn't have a way to make it stick.  With this blasted heat, I'm lucky what I did stuck at all.  I used brown napkins and cut them to make the hair.  I was trying to make a nose that stuck out much like the beak in my inspiration picture but that was a big fail.

I wanted to use a plastic spoon but that didn't work (again it was too hot for glue).  My daughter had a big box of left over card stock from when she creates cards and I just went through the box and picked out several colors to make the mask lively. 

I know I'm not artistically inclined and really don't enjoy it so that's why I'm a business major and not an art major.  I'm just glad to have learned a bit about different mediums for creating art.





Week 7: Video Review

It's that time again.  Video review time.  This week we read three chapters in our text book and the videos that were selected to watch went perfectly.  We were asked to watch 4.  The ones I chose were:  The Great Wall (Japanese Art), Chinese Art: Treasures of the National Palace, African Art and Buddhism.  These videos were well put together and very informative and helped give meaning to the readings.  I chose the video on the Great Wall because I actually lived in Japan for 3 years and...I bought a print of this because I loved it so much.  I enjoyed learning more about it.  I really love Japanese art and bought several watercolors/paintings while there.  I selected the Chinese Art video because I was intrigued as to what the 33 items were and the museum itself.  I did some internet research and I can not believe how huge the collection is.  This is definitely a place I would love to visit for it's rich history.  I then watched the video on African Art.  I enjoyed understanding more the symbolism.  Finally I watched the video on Buddhism.  I chose this video because I have always wondered what their beliefs were.  I lived in Utah prior to moving to NY and there was a Buddhist Temple that I would drive by on a daily basis.  I would see the monks out in their beautiful robes.  It's interesting to see the architecture. There are only 3 more chapters left in our textbook so it will be interesting to see what videos we will get to watch to go along with them.

Week 7: Art Gallery Visit #2

This weeks assignment was to visit an art gallery and critique the exhibit itself instead of the artwork.  Because I was out of town for work, I wasn't able to visit the Albright-Knox, but it turned out to be a good thing because I visited a "gem" of a museum in Cooperstown called the Fenimore Art Museum (http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/).  There were two reasons that I was really excited to visit.  First, the Fenimore houses the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection which is one of the nation's premier collections of American Indian Art.  This is an 18,000 square foot area.  I did take some pictures of the layout however, because of the lighting, they didn't look good and so really are of no use.  You are able to see the items from the exhibit at this link http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/files/fenimore/collections/thaw/exhibit1/vexmain1.htm

The reason I was so excited though was the traveling exhibit called: Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nikolas Muray. Nearly 50 photographic portraits taken of Kahlo comprise the exhibit.  The photographs date from 1937 to 1941 and explore Muray's perspective.  During this time he was Kahlo's friend, lover and confident. Muray never displayed the pictures.  They were found in 1993 when Muray's daughter found the negatives and decided to have the negatives printed.

I loved the way the exhibit was set up.  You enter through glass doors and the walls are a pale blue.   As you entered the area, the first few photographs were of Freda and Diego.  These allow the viewer into their private lives.

The exhibit continues to the right and photographs are individually lit.  A temporary wall has been placed to the left to as to be walking down a corridor.  Pictures are on both sides of the wall in sets of 3 with descriptions and time period.  There are even copies of love letters that Kahlo had sent to Muray. All the photographs are framed. No other materials were used in the exhibit.  It was as if looking at photographs hanging on a wall in a home.

As I continued through the pictures, I can see that Muray captured his love for Kahlo through the lens.  I also see a very beautiful women.  Kahlo's self-portraits are very deceiving and if this is truly how she saw herself, she was way off base. 

The collection ends as his affair with Frida ends. 

I was very impressed with how the gallery set up the exhibit.  I asked if the curator was available to talk with however they were actually have a gala that evening and they were tied up with that.  I did speak with a docent however she could give me awesome information about the permanent collections but not this one.  What I wanted to find out was if the museum has creative rights to set up the collection or if it had to be set up a specific way.  Since this is a traveling exhibit, if I were to view it at a different museum, would it be set up the same.

If anyone is every in Cooperstown, I highly recommend going to this museum.  What I really liked was that it was in a former home and so there was warmth to begin with.

Week 7 - Art Making/Material Exploration Drawings - Exploring Line

This week we had to draw our hands, first with our dominate hand  (for me, right drawing my left hand) and then non-dominate hand (left drawing right).  First off, drawing with either hand is not my forte so just getting the shape of the hands was hysterical.  I ended up tracing them to get the shape.  I think the outline of the left looks much better than the right.  I chose to use pencil because I felt I would make a mess with charcoal.  I started first with my dominate hand because I felt it would be easier and then do the opposite hand.  I really didn't have a problem using my hand as the subject matter.  Would I ever think of using my non-dominate hand to create art...NO WAY!  Then again, I wouldn't use either hand.  I'd rather buy art, or admire art then c reate. I believe when you look at the picture, you can tell which was done with the dominate hand without me even telling you which one it was.  It also took me a lot longer than I thought the project would.  I spent more time on the non-dominate hand because I had to work on how to hold the pencil to make it work the way I wanted it to. 

I've attached a couple pictures because they are a little hard to see.  I'm in a hotel room this week and it's midnight so it's hard to get good lighting:

Try not to laugh when you look at the right hand...you can really see that I couldn't get it to look right.

Week 7: Video Review

This week I had to watch 4 videos.  I hate to admit, but I chose what I was going to watch based on how long the video was.  I am getting pretty burned out on watching videos and I’m out of town for work so my time is limited.  The two shortest videos were Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master and Velazquez.  Both of these video focused on the artist themselves. 

Durer was a German painter most noted for his  self-portraits.  Below are Durer at age 22 and age 28.  I love both these paintings especially the detail of his  hair.  Durer was greatly influenced by his father .  He also paints landscapes.  What I found most intriguing was the way he signed his name.  Almost looked like a symbol vs. his initials.

Durer at age 22

Durer at 28

Diego Velazquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas.

I then watched La Primavera (Botticelli).  This painting is also known as  Allegory of Spring.  It  is a tempera panel painting.  I didn’t know what “tempera” meant until watching the video.  They egg yolk is used as the binder for the paint.  This painting has been greatly debated.  While most critics agree that the painting, depicting a group of mythological figures in a garden, is allegorical for the lush growth of spring, other meanings have also been explored. In the textbook, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus is shown.  This is also what prompted me to watch this particular video.  I really like that painting so I wanted to know more able him.

The last video I watched was The Night Watch (Rembrandt).  I really liked this video and learning about the painting.  Rembrandt is a famous painter so I didn’t really want to watch something about him.  The painting is famous for three elements: its colossal size ( 11ft  x 14ft), the effective use of light and shadow (also known as chiaroscuro), and the perception of motion in what would have been, traditionally, a static military portrait.  I was surprised to learn that the painting was coated with a dark varnish which gave the incorrect impression that it depicted a night scene.  That’s how the name The Night Watch came to be.  I was also amazed to hear what the painting has been through.   This picture shows the original size of the painting.  The white lines represent the portion that has been cut away.

Week 6: Video Review

For week 6 we were required to watch a video called "More Than Human."  I found this video to be very good and enjoyed watching it.  I especially liked seeing the gull experiment that was talked about in a previous video.  It's interesting to see how the body was depicted in ancient times.  Next we had a list of videos to choose from and we were required to watch three.  The first video I chose was "A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript."  This video explained how monks would write the word of God.  It was really up to the monks to record history. Since they couldn't talk, they left notes in the margins.  The monks did transcription until the printing press replaced them.  The next video I chose was "Cairo Museum."  I really enjoyed this one as it detailed the artifacts that are kept at the museum.  I was surprised to find out that not all items are on display.  Some are housed in the basement.  At the time of the video they were trying to determine what to display for the centennial celebration.  The final video I watched was "The Measure of All Things:  Greek Art and the Human Figure."  I chose this video because I believed it would tie in nicely with the first video we were required to watch as well as the readings.  I was right.  I was not aware that a lot of poetry was found.  For this week I thought the video enhanced the chapters we had to read and I really enjoyed watching them.

Week Five: Art Making/Material Exploration #3: Installation

This week we were tasked to create an installation art piece.  I found this assignment to be very challenging.  First off, I don't really understand the concept of installation art.  Why is it that a person can place objects randomly and it's considered art.  I struggled to get this assignment done all week.  I'm on vacation visiting my family and my mother is very artistic and I even asked her for suggestions and she drew a blank.  I spent time looking through the internet.  Because installation art can be created with any type of material about any subject, that wasn't much help.  We did have to watch a video on installation art but I didn't feel a connection with any of the work.  I really like the work of Dale Chihuly.  He is famous for the glass flowers in the Bellagio in Vegas but he also did an installation piece for the 2002 Olympics that we held here in Salt Lake City. 

I knew for my piece that I wanted to use nature or the environment.  I'm currently staying in the home that I grew up in and my mother has a beautiful back yard to I chose to install my artwork there.  I wasn't sure what type of materials I was going to use so I went to a local store called Hobby Lobby hoping for some inspiration.  As I walked around, I was getting more and more overwhelmed and then it hit me what I wanted to do.

I purchased several items from the craft store including a floor dust mop, 2 hand dusters, googly eyes, bandannas and duct tape.  I used trash from the house.

My piece is entitled:  Distracted (2011)  In my piece, the mop (young girl) is responsible for cleaning up the trash that is littered around the yard, however she gets distracted by the butterfly that lands in her hand. 

I didn't enjoy this project at all.  I don't feel very creative and art may come naturally to some in my family (my mother and daughter) but it skipped a generation.  I don't know how artists come up with their concepts.  I was telling my mom about the boats sculpture in front of the Albright-Knox and trying to determine why that is considered art.  I guess it falls back to beauty...or art in this case, is in the eye of the beholder.

Week Five: Video Review (Architecture)

Chapter 13 in our textbook was about architecture.  We were actually given 7 videos and had to choose 2 to watch.  From the first section I chose the video on Prairie Style.  The reason I chose this video is purely selfish.  Prairie Style architecture is my favorite.  I recently had the opportunity to tour the Martin House.  I was disappointed as the house is under construction so I felt that I didn't really get to experience the essence of Frank Lloyd Wright so being about to watch this video and how Wright’s Prairie Style, with its floating horizontal planes and organic relationship to natural surroundings, changed architecture.  I also enjoyed seeing Dan White’s house in Vancouver, and the Donald Fraser residence in Ontario.   In the second grouping of videos we had to chose from, I wasn't familiar with anything so I asked my art history major daughter who just took an architecture class who I should learn about.  Her suggestion was I.M. Pei so that is the video I watch.  I was called I.M. Pei and the Mathematics of Architecture.  I found this video to be very interesting (although this was a long video).  Just reading Pei's biography is impressive (looked on the internet).  I didn't realize that many of the buildings that I am familiar with were his.  I also found it interesting to find out that not all building designs work as planned.  The Hancock tower had problems during construction when a wind storm hit causing many of the glass panels to crack or break.  Some fell to the ground.  Fortunately no one was hurt but Pei was shunned as a designer after that for a period of time.    This video helped with understanding the construction process.

Week Five: Video Review (Sculpture, Ceramics and Installation)

Section Four of our textbook is about three-demensional media.  Chapter 11 focused on sculpture and installation. As part of the learning process, we were given a video called Through the Eyes of a Sculptor to watch.  I found this video to be a bit long and not very exciting to watch however what I liked the most was that I was able to see the processes explained on page 241 of the textbook being done.  In this video we followed sculptor Emmanuel Fillon as he develops a statue.  What I found very interesting is how a sculptor knows if a piece of limestone is "good."  Fillon explained that it is the sound and he show us by pounding on a large piece of stone.  It made me think of people in the store thumping on watermelon or cantelope to determine if it's good.  Installation Art was also discussed in this chapter and we were able to watch a video called Installation Art.  This was an interesting video although I'm not really enjoying the narrators with foreign accents.  It makes it harder to understand.  This video talks about installation art as well as performance and conceptual art.  Installation art is defined by several individuals as artwork that takes over a space or defines a space or as sculpture in the round, it's all around you.  This type art is the one I'm having the hardest time see as art at all.  In our text book we see Thomas Hirschhorn's Jumbo Spoons and Big Cake.  This to me looks like a jumbled mess.  Even after reading the artist's explanation, I still don't see it as art.  This is also an assignment for this week and will be a blog posting later.

The next video was entitled Glass and Ceramics.  This one I found more interesting although the music was a bit campy.  This video was to enhance the learning in Chapter 12 on pages 261-265.  In this video we learn about about glass blowing and stained glass as well as industrial ceramics and architectural glass.  This video was quick paced which was nice.  I was unaware of all the uses of industrial ceramics, especially the use in the automobile industry.  Ceramics offer many advantages as they are harder and stiffer than steel.

In my opinion, we had too many videos to watch in a one week time period along with the projects and reading. In all we had 5.  While I understand that they me visualize the concepts, they also take extra time to watch.

Week 4: Art Making/Material Exploration #2 Logo Design

I can't believe we're already 4 weeks into this summer semester.  I wish I could say that I really enjoyed this project.  What I found out is that I am not creative and definitely not a graphic artist. 

So, what was the process that I went through to try to come up with something.  I first started by writing words that described me and what I enjoy.  I grew up in Utah and moved to Grand Island, New York.  I play the flute and love birding and love pelicans and blue herons.  I am chase crew for hot air balloon.  I collect moose.  I was trying to figure out a why to incorporate this into one logo.  This was my stab at it:

When I showed it to my family.  It got booed. They understood what I was trying to do by taking a flute and making it in a shape of a U to represent Utah and then adding the antlers and my initials to make the face of a moose. 

My hubby made a comment about a hot air balloon because we love ballooning and I could add the other items:

So I looked online for some hot air ballon pictures and some other online graphics:

Okay...guess you have to stand on your head to see this one. 

I liked this so I started working on it.  I decided that I wanted to use watercolor but then I changed my mind and decided to use color pencils.  I added my designs to the panels.  Then I got frustrated because it wasn't looking the way I want.

I hate to admit that I gave up.  I think if I had more time I probably could have come up with something else. 



Project #2: Art Gallery Visit #1

This week was our first visit to the art gallery for class.  Unfortunately the upstairs was closed because they are putting in new exhibits however they did give me a return ticket to use before October so no problem there.  I decided too that it would be fun to take my fifteen-year-old daughter with me.  She really enjoys art, especially watercolor so I thought she might offer some opinions on the art.

The first question we were asked was about which artworks make an impact or impression me and why.  The first painting I like is Georgia O'Keefe's The Green Patio Door. I really like the simplicity of it.  The painting consists of three horizontal bands.  The top band represents to sky, the middle band the house with a green door and the bottom the ground.  It also makes me think of New Mexico.  I have in-laws that live in Albuquerque and I love southwest art.  I believe in another life I was Mexican and lived in southwest.  Obvious to me is that this is a painting of an adobe home.   Here is a picture I took:

I also really like a 3D art piece by Long called Hum.  I sat intently looking at the art to determine if there was any pattern to the wires.  I try to imagine his sitting there and plugging and unplugging the wires until he had achieved the look that he was going for.  My daughter though it was a bit creepy.  She said it was watching her.  Here’s a picture of that piece:

The final piece that made an impression on me is Le Carnaval d’Arlequin by Miro.  I love the whimsy as well as the color purple that he used.  I try to imagine what the artist was thinking.  According to the Albright-Knox website, Harlequin was a common theatre character who usually was the victim of unrequited love and frequently played the guitar.  In this painting, Harlequin IS a guitar and seems very sad.  Here’s Miro’s art:

The next question we were asked was what artwork do you feel a connection with.  There were several pieces so it was hard to narrow them down.  The three pieces that I felt the most connection to were Convergence (Polock), Fragment 2 For Composition VII (Kandisky) and Pictograph (Gottlieb).  Why?  The first two pieces are very chaotic, yet full of color.  This is the way I see my life right now.  I am a wife, mother, student and work full-time.  Sometimes I don’t know which direction is up.  You can turn this paintings any which way and you’d get a different perspective.  Even though things seem out of sorts, my live is very vibrant and full-filling.  I wouldn't change a thing.  What drew me to Gottlieb’s painting was the southwest colors.  Looking at the lines I see an arrow pointing up telling me that once I graduate, the sky is the limit.  In the right corner I see an outline of an owl.  My husband and I love to bird watch and I remember an outing to see the owls.  I like the geometric designs also.  Here’s the three pictures I mention:

Convergence (Polock)

Fragment 2 for Composition VII (Kandisky)

Pictograph (Gottlieb)

Finally, the last question asked was which artwork would you like to know more about.  I already knew from my last visit to the gallery.  La Jeun Bonne (Modiglliani) is a very eerie painting.  The painting is of a female servant, dressed in black with no eyes…just sockets.  She looks very sad.  The painting that impresses me the most however is The Marvelous Sauce (Vibert).  This painting was done in 1890 and is oil on wood however you would swear it is a print.  There are no brush strokes.  I would like to know how the artist was able to paint with such precision.  Finally the last artwork I would like to know about is Young Franklin at the Press (Perry).  This is oil on canvas done in 1876 and again…looks like a photograph.  Amazing!  I did end up getting a post card of my favorite painting because we really couldn’t get a good picture without casting a shadow. 

La Jeun Bonne (Modigliani)

The Marvelous Sauce (Vibert)

Young Franklin at the Press (Perry)

After my visit, I realize that I like more abstract art but I have a very hard time understand how or why certain pieces find a place in an art museum or gallery and other’s have a hard time selling?  Perhaps by the end of this course, I might be able to answer that question.

Art Material Exploration #1: Exploring Value and The Subtractive Color Theory

This weeks project was actually fun.  First I had to create a value scale.  I knew it went from black to white but getting the subtle change between squares was harder than I thought.  At the craft store I had bought a pencil kit and that helped.  Also having a daughter that took drawing last semester also help and she critiqued my chart and told me where she though it could be tweaked.  Overall, I think it turned out pretty good. 

Here's my first try at a value scale:

I then had to do a color wheel.  I had more fun using this medium.  I watched a very interesting video about the real primary colors that finally helped me understand why the professor had us by yellow, magenta and cyan paint and not red, yellow and blue.  I had fun mixing the paints however after taking the picture I can see that my purple really doesn't look like purple, it almost looks black, but I assure you...it is purple.   I really had no idea that by mixing magenta and yellow you would get red. 

Here is the color wheel that I created:

I also had the opportunity to watch several videos for this project.  I found them to help me out when I had to do the project myself.  I probably could have muddled though, but it helped seeing the steps for myself.

Project #1: Elements and Principles Slideshow

Wow!  I finally got the project done for my art class.  I thought it would be pretty simple.  I have a digital picture and I like to take pictures.  It's different though when you HAVE to take them.  My girls are more into photography.  I tend to use photos to document events.  I found it challenging to make sure I had covered all the elements and then I found myself doubting myself.  Was this picture really this element or should it be this?? 

Using a new program was a bit of a challenge as well.  I've never used Photobucket but once I got the hang of it, I think I did okay.  I'm going to post the link for viewing me slideshow.  Here's crossing my fingers that it works.



Slideshow

Week Two: Color Theory and Emotional Effects

This week we are learning about the visual and design elements are art.  One visual element is color.  Color is defined as light reflected off objects. Intensity, hue and value are the three characteristics that make up color.  Different colors have different affects on our emotions.  We as humans know we are attracted to color.  How are we affected?  Colors in the red part of the spectrum (red, yellow and orange) tend to be stimulating while those in the blue/green part tend to be more calming.

I’ve always been fascinated with the use of color.  I know that research has been done on what color makes people want to shop more or spend more money.  What color makes people hunger or vice versa.  What I’m really interested in is if our favorite color and what it means really reflective of ourselves.  For example, is a person who wears all black (my son) a dark, depressed person or does he just “happen” to have more black shirts because his favorite bands shirts are black.  I myself love the color purple.  It makes me think of spring and when the lilacs start to bloom.  I love, love lilacs. 

Also this week we had several videos to watch.  One called “Feelings: Emotions and Art” discussed the idea of using art to explore the human condition.  I found myself getting side tracked and having a hard time staying focused during this one.  The other, “Color” was a bit more interesting.  In this video, artist June Redfem wants to travel to Venice to see the “Assumption of the Virgin” which happens to be her favorite video.

We also get to become digital photographers this week.  I’m not very good a digital pictures but I think I can do this.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get some really cool pictures.

Week One - Blog: Video Review

I apologize for this blog entry being so late.  I had a death in the family and my mind was somewhere else.

This week's assignment was to watch two videos.  Aesthetics:  Philosophy of the Arts and CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics.  The first video was in documentary form and discussed different philosophical thoughts regarding art.  Arthur Danto and Alkexander Nehamas were the leading experts in explaining some of the concepts.  There were some interesting theories presented.  Aristotle talked about the three unities; unity of action, unity of time and unity of the play.  I'm not sure what philosophers theories I thought were the most important, but did find a quote from Friedrich von Schiller interesting.  He said "when we develop our aesthetic capacities, we develop our moral capacities, so much so that aesthetic education renders moral education superfluous."

The second video we watch was a lecture about the scientific view of aesthetics and art. The first presentation was by Jean-Pierre Changeux.  He talked about rules and contraints of artistic creation.  I struggled with his presentation because of his accent.  I had a very hard time understanding him so I couldn't/didn't really gain anything from it.  The second presenter was Vilayanur Ramachandran.  He was engaging and presented an interesting concept called neuroaesthetics.

Ramachandran presented his 8 Laws of Artistic Experience and briefly gave some examples for some of them.  One that I found interesting is grouping.  He presented a black and white picture that looked like a bunch of random spots on the page.  However, once you started to focus in, you realize that there is a picture of a dog. 

I enjoyed watching the documentary more than the straight lecture however as I said, I did find Ramachandran engaging. 

First Posting

This should be an interesting process.  I've never used a blog before. 

As for the questions/answers:

1.  How was the process of creating the Gmail account and setting up the Blog?
          I think the process was pretty easy.  I have a personal Gmail account so setting up that was easy.  The blogger was a little different.  I forgot to write down my URL so I hope I can figure out what it is.

2.  What do you expect to learn from this course?  
         I hope to appreciate and understand art more.  I have a daughter that just graduated from Buffalo State with a degree in Art History so I hope to be able to have knowlegeable discussions with her. 

3.  How do you feel about taking an online course?
        Summer semester is the first time I've taken an online course and I'm actually taking two.  I'm taking an this class that runs though August as well as one that is 4 weeks long.  Since I work full-time I thought this would be a good way to earn credits.  Hopefully I'll be able to take more in the future.