Week Nine:Modern and Postmodern Video Review

The first video i chose to watch was Andy Warhol - Images of an Image. I chose this video because he is a very well known artist and i wanted to learn more about him. His works were printed on silkscreen and depicted iconic images. He is most famously known for his works like Gold Marilyn Monroe, Campbell's soup cans, and Ten Lizes featuring Elizabeth Taylor. He uses one image and copies the same image over and over within his work. He image seems the same, but has a slight difference like color or shading. I enjoyed this video it went along with what was presented in chapter twenty two of the textbook.
The second video i chose was Uncertainty: Modernity and Art. I really don't know why i chose this video, the title just seemed like it would be interesting. Art has its own memory of itself. Civilization alters itself, tries to be better than itself. Past works sence values that are carried on through art. This video takes us through questions such as : What are you now? What do you believe in? This video focuses on pop art, which is described in the textbook as a style of the 60s, depriving its imagery from popular: mass produced culture. Pop art focuses on the overfamiliar objects of daily life to give them new meanings as visual emblems. I did not like this video at all i thought it was boring and hard to follow.

Week Nine: Modern World Video Review

The first video i chose to watch was Matisse and Picasso. I chose this one because i have never really understood the works of Picasso and wanted to learn more about him. This video explains how Gertrude Stein was the first to recognize the talent of these two artists, and insisted that they meet. In 1912 Picasso created the first collage, and Cubism started to appear. His main influence for his works was life, mainly women within his life. Matisse did not find his talent until later on in his life. He uses anguish in his paintings. Matisse paints showing the progession of his work, whereas Picasso, paints over his works, sometimes there is more than 20 paintings in his final work. Matisse is organized while Picasso, draws on impulse. By their old age Picasso got into creating ceramics, and due to Matisse's cancer nd old age was unable to paint, he turned to collage.
The Next video i chose was Dada and Surrealism. I chose this video because in reading the chapters for this week, this movement stuck out and interested me. Dada was an international movement that appeared during world War I. Dada created an anti art that emphasized absurdity, irrationality, chance, whimsy, irony, and childishness. Surrealism was a movement that emphasized imagery from dreams and fantasy. Salvador Dali was the artist who drew my attention in this video. Like most surrealist artists, he was influenced by psychologist Sigmeund Freud.
I enjoyed these videos especially the one about Matisse and Picasso. They went with the reading perfectly. They added to the material covered in the textbook.  

Week 8: Mask Project

The first image i chose was the one of the drama masks. These are very well known faces and they have always interested me, especially the tragedy one. These images use balance, texture, color, and form to give the happy and sad feelings.

The second image i chose was the masks from teenage mutant ninja turtles. I grew up likeing them, raphael, the red one being my favorite, which is why i chose the red one in  my final drawing. These images use balance, shape, color, and emotion to give them their shape and meaning.

For the last image i thought i would chose one from a culture we learned about this week. My favorite type of ancient mask comes from the Aztecs. I admire their use of detail and designs, as well as known nose type that is seen in their masks. This mask uses texture, balance, and shape to appear in the traditional Aztec way.

This sketch was really bad, not what i wanted at all, but i thought i would include it here.

This is my sketch, which is not very good. I used the form, eyes and mouth of the tragety mask, the eye mask of the teenage mutant ninja turtles, and the nose and details from the Aztec.

This is what my final product did look like, so i thought i was done and took a picture. I then realized it seemed to plain and needed more detail. I used form, balance, color, and emotion to create my mask.

After relooking at the mask i creted above, i thought it needed more design and color to it. I used texture and line to add designs and shapes to the mask. I am happy with my design, and i enjoyed the project. I thought it went well with the reading from this weekd chapters.

Week 8: Video Review

For this week’s videos I chose to watch African Art, African Art: Legacy of Oppression, Buddhism, and Hinduism. I chose the two African ones because in my Anthropology classes I have learned a lot about Africa and find it to be really interesting. Next I chose Buddhism because I did not know a lot about this religion and feel a lot of people don’t, and yet you see statues of Buddha everywhere. The last video I chose was Hinduism because none of the other videos seemed interesting by name so I just picked this one. In African Art, they discussed mainly dress, costume, rituals, and performances. I found it really interesting learning about some of the symbolism behind African art, like why they wear certain clothes and masks in their rituals. Most of the masks in the video were designed for evil. I learned a lot of interesting facts in the next video I watched, African Art: Legacy of Oppression. I thought it was weird that a museum in Belgium is home to the world’s largest collection of central African art. I also found it interesting that one had to bring back the right hand of the victim for every bullet that was fired. I always heard about heads or scalps, but I never heard of this. I really liked the video about Buddhism. Like the museum in the African video being located in Belgium I found it interesting that the largest Buddha in the Western Hemisphere is located in a monastery in New York. I was also amazed by the temples and building in the video. My favorite was the Borobudux temple shaped like a lotus flower. I don’t like flowers at all, but if I had to pick one I like this one the best (we wanted to use it at our wedding in October, but cannot find any florist who deals with it so we chose one that looks similar).   The last video I watched was Hinduism. This video focused a lot on the Ganges River. I found it interesting that the river could represent life, death, and rebirth. Also I learned that a devote Hindu cannot touch a deceased body. An outsider or a non- devoted Hindu must remove and care for the body after death. Overall I thought this was one of the better groups of videos we had to watch. I felt I could relate it more to the readings than some of the previous videos.

week 7: gallery visit 2

I went to the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery to do this project since i was not impressed when i went to the Albright Knox. I have been to this art gallery before and i think it was better the first time i went, the whole first floo was pretty much projection screen, which did not interest me at all, so i did not even look at them. I chose the exhibt 3- D Wit for this project. The theme of this exhibt was humor and satire. Its main focus was being a pplay on words, or a pun, which to the creator of the exhibt has the greatest impact for its seemingly effortless consideration of philosophy and hidden meaning.
The lighting that was used was dim lighting with spotlights on the artworks. There was a skylight in the room which was covered to darken the room.The surrounding walls were white. Only one work is hanging on the wall, the rest are in cases or on stands throughout the room. The architecture used is drywall and white paint. The room has plenty of empty space to walk. On eartwork is toward the center of the room, and the rest are close to the walls .There was also a bench in the room to sit.
I though the organization was weird and poorly organized. Whereas most exhibts are organized by artist, this one was not, two works by the same artist were on totally different sides of the room. The artworks are all 3-D and were all created to "send a message." They differ in the types of mediums that are used and the styles in which the artist used to create them. I found one artwork called Swept Away, which i did not choose to analyze, because it made no sence to me why it was in the exhibt. I twas just a pile of broom handles on the walll. The artwork to me seemd out of place in style, medium, and position, it was the only artwork hanging on the wall. Some of the artworks are encased, and they are all on white platforms, with the exception of Swept Away. They are all labeled the same way. There is a plaque to the right of each artwork, far enough away so it does not interfere with the viewing of the artwork. The artworks are evenly spaced away, with enough distance in between so that viewers can walk around them and view them from all sides.

The first artwork from this exhibt i chose was Export Crop- Cotton Skiing and Export Crop- Sugar Cane in a convertible made of painted steel and mixed media by Christy Rupp in 1988. These were actually two related artworks in the same case. This artwork caught my eye right away for a weird reason (I call my son chicken wing and one of them was shaped like a chicken so it was funny to me) so i chose to pick it because it was interesting when i looked further at it. These two pieces come from a series called convalesing staple crops and recreational export crops that commented on the plight of American farmers who struggled financially during the 1980s. These people lost families as well as many other resources because exports were favored over domestic markets. The car with the Cane i see as representing the cane leaving. Ant the cotton- chicken skiing to me represents cotton going down due to inflation. The elements and principles used are balance, form, texture, line, and movement.

The second artwork i chose was Four food Groups by John McQueen in 2006. This artwork was made of sticks, strings, bundle ties and hot glue. The words were woven into the sculptor. And according to the information on it, it referenced early renaissance paintings, i dont see how. The birds block the words that are a symbol of contemporary memento mori- which reminds us that we all face death. The words are in the shape of the food pyramid and say bacon, beer, cake, and coffee. it seems to represent assembled crows who are disrupted from their feeding. The elements used are balance, form, and texture.

The last artwork i chose was by Wetley Olmstead created in December 1996 and it was called Skip and Joy. The work was made out of brazed metal parts, painted, and mounted on wood. There were two seperate sculptors that made up this artwork. Olmstead was in the army during the korean war. He was influenced by the art he saw in Europe. The works were assembled with objects that commented, American culture. He had another similiar artwork that used the same method and use of old typewriters and cash registers. The message espoused non violence and spiritual strenght in world chaos and war.The elements and principles used were balance, form, movement, and color. 

I enjoyed this art gallery visit a lot more than the first. I really learned a lot from this exhibit and looked at the surroundings and lighting in a way that i have never looked at before. Normally i just look at the artworks and pay no attention to the surroundings, but this project brought a new perspection to how to go about viewing an art gallery.

Week 7: Exploring Line

I thought this project was interesting, i remember doing this in school a few times( i was better then). I have never been good at drawing hands, especially when drawing people, I dont know why but it is the hardest thing for me to draw. I could not keep my hand still so i can draw it and hold the paper at the same time. I chose pencil, because it is my favorite media to work with, I hate charcoal it is my least favorite. Ever since i broke my left- non dominant arm i have had problems with it, so drawing with my left hand was difficult and took a lot longer than the right, i erased many times. I used to be good with my left hand, i could even write legible with it, but now i am horrible at it. I could barely hold the pencil with it, i felt like a kid learning to color, holding the pencil incorrectly. I actually cheated on doing the left hand- i traced my hand and filled in the details- which was still really hard. my right hand  was alot better in my opinion, but still bad because i am horrible at drawing hands. They do look somewhat worse and less detailed, because i had to retrace them, because they would not show up when i took a picture, and some of the details still didnt turn out. When i was in high school, i would have probably considered drawing with my non- dominant hand, but now i would definetly have to say no.

Week 7: Video Review

The first video i watched was The Night Watch. I chose this video because i enjoy the works of Rembrandt and wanted to know more about his works. The begining started out interesting with the preperation for the reenactment of his painting The Night Watch. This painting was very large in scale and weighed 337 kilograms. The painting people see today was not how the artist intended. The painting had been restored multiple times and is missing some of the features. It had damage from being moved 3 times during world war II. A school teacher slashed it with a knife. And a man poured acid on it, so it had to be diluted with water. This painting is the object for dutch pilgrimage and attracts millions of international visitors each year. This painting was different from normal italian works of this time. Most figures were posed, whereas in this painting they were acting.
The second video i chose was Leonardo Da Vinci: The mind of the Renaissance. I chose this video because i find Da vinci to be an interesting person. I was surprised to find out all of what he was. He was a painter, sculptor, architect engineer, and student of anatomy, botany, architecture, hydrodynamics, aeronautics and other disciplines. His works were normally representative of the emotions of the sole. Although somethings are false, just a persons view, and/or made for the movie, the Da vinci code movie and book have got me interested in his works. Although i knew it before watching this video that he used mirror writing, i thought the video explained it better than i had known.
Next I chose the video The Drawings of Michaelangelo. I chose this because i knew a lot of his works, but never knew anything behind them or about Michaelangelo himself. His most famous work was the Sistine Chapel and the works inside them. I learned a lot from this video that i had never known. one thing was he kept his artwork to reuse, and many of his drawings were destroyed by himself because of hesitation and second thoughts. Many have tried but no one has been able to master his designs. Michaelangelo taught himself to sculpt and only created one statue: David. This was the first marble statue to be carved in Italy since the period of antiquity. He also started doing artworks for a church owned by the Medici family. The family was forced out and michaelangelo never finished his work .one thing that the book talks about that relates to the movie is christianity. Christianity was important in the artworks of this time and was the driving factor behind Michaelangelo's works.
The last video i watched was La Primavera. This painting was done by Botticelli and also known as Allegory of Spring. The painting was a famous work ofo Western art and was done using tempera, and provide the audience with multiple interpretations. Some interpretations include: was it an allegory, a pageant of sexual permissiveness, or an emblem of Renessaince humanism and neoplatonism. This video ties in with the chapter on the renasissance and the ideas of renaissance humanism. Th epicture depicts the goddess of love, venus. Her son cupid, flies above her, blindfolded, holding a flaming arrow, aimed at a group of woman. Next to them is a young male, named mercury, who is the messenger of the gods.
Although i am getting very tired of watching videos, i think that this was my favorite set of videos i have watched so far.

Week 6: Video Review

The first video i watched, More Human than Humas, was required. Throughout history and even today, humans do not resemble the products in which they create. Human artwork is everywhere, from portraits, to self portraits, statues, photographs, etc. In history most artists chose to make humans non- realistic. Michelangelo's work was more human than human. Examples such as Venus of Willendroff, which is over 25000 years old and the Kritos Boy are examples of over exaggerated human figures. The second video i chose to watch was Late Gothic Art and Architecture. I chose this video because the architecture part seemed interesting to me. The main focus of this video was the church and the age of faith. Westminster Abbey in England, was considered the National identity and regionalism. Like the book also mentioned the Greeks used the Romanesque style, until the church was destroyed during reformation. Later the architecture and art moved toward the Gothic style. The third video i watched was- The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure. This video focused on Greek artwork, which was the most interesting reading this week for me, which is why I picked this video, to learn more about it. The Grreks like the Romans, wanted to portray humans in realistic ways. They were obsessed with perfection. In the 6th century sculpture was at the heart of Greek Art and Architecture. The final video i chose was The Cairo Museum. Being an anthropology major i have been to plenty of museums and enjoy learning about artifacts, so i picked this one to watch. The first time i went to a museum for school- and was actually old enough to realize what i was looking at- i found out like the video says that most artifacts are kept in the basements, or upstairs because they are too fragile to take out or simply because there is not enough room or need for them out on display. I went to the Buffalo Museum last semester for one of my classes, and i got a tour of one of the rooms where they keep all the extra collections. It was really interesting especially learning the ways how artifacts, like art work need special care to be preserved.

Mike Farrel:
The first comment i posted on mike's blog was to his gallery visit. Out of all the pieces we only chose one the same-Indefinite Divisibility 1942 by Yves Tanguy. I agreed with him that the piece was very interesting and how there was no limits. I think he chose this one as one of three that impacted/impressed him, whereas I chose it as one I would like to learn more about.
The second comment I posted was about project one. I did agree with his choices of pictures to match the elements and principles. I also saw how some could have more than one. The one I liked the most was of his dog, i would have never thought of choosing texture, i probably would have chose emphasis for that picture.  http://farrelmr01.blogspot.com/
Tracy- anne King:
The first comment i posted on tracy's blog was her art gallery visit, which i really enjoyed. She did her project at a gallery in NYC and i did my at the Albright Knox, so obviously we wouldnt have chose the same pieces. I did look at the pictures and then read the descriptions, and I would have agreed with alot of her reasonings, especially the walking stick.
The second comment i posted on her blog was to her project 1. I agreed with all of her choices, though i thought most i would have picked different elements or principles. i thought the chair or stool thing was a very different choice for line, it worked, but i never would have thought of that.
http://adventuresinart-tracy-anne.blogspot.com/
I think that reading other people's blogs open my eyes to more interpretations that i would never have seen on my own. I also thought that the comments were useful, they gave more explanations for some things i wouldnt think of such as, the canoe sculpture.

week 5: Art Making/ Material Exploration #3 - Installation

Step 3: Installation art is a form of art in which an entire room or similiar space is treated as a work of art to be entered and experienced. Any kind of materials can be used in installation art. Installation art started out and still remains today to be for more practical purposes than just art. For example the earthworks were made for religious or burial purposes, but today people see them as art. Andy Goldsworthy was the artist i found most interesting, and his work Reconstructed Icicles was my favorite.
Step 4: I really enjoyed the works by Andy Goldsworthy mainly because i feel a connection with them. I love being outdoors so his nature scenes are interesting to me. I chose to explore the nature theme in my installation. For materials I used trees(wood) and rope. Since I could not finish this project on time and i knew i would be at my fiances property in Cuba, NY this weekend, I chose to do  my installation there in the woods.

Step 6:
I chose to do my installation in the woods, because that is where i spend most of my summer, and i had help from my niece and nephews. They always ask for help making a fort but no one is ever willing to help, so i thought this would be a good project and it would be a good start for them. I did not complete it but it has a door and some sides. I used balance in centering the door in between two trees. I enjoyed this project it was easy coming up with an idea and it served as a purpose other than art. It is hard to see the picture t looks better in person. It is hard to tell what are actual trees and what is the front of the fort- but that is kind of the point of a fort it is supposed to be hidden. and art works are meant to have interpretation- so looking at this it would just look like trees if you didnt know the meaning behind it.