blog reflections

1)  My expectations for this course were that it would open my eyes to different works of art so that I can educationally look at a piece and have an appreciation for it.  I feel that this course has helped me do that because now I can look at a work and kind of understand what is being said by it.

2)  Art is anything that one can appreciate on their own individual level.  This is the exact same thing that I stated in my first discussion.

3)  As I first stated I do not have a favorite artists.  I also stated that by taking this course that it might be able to allow me to find a favorite artist.  However I still have not found my favorite artist but I have seen a lot more artists that I previously had not.

4)  I feel the same as I previously did about taking an online course.  I enjoy online courses because it allows more freedom and you can work your schedule around what you need it to be for the class.  This is a very similar answer that I gave the first time.

self portrait

Ellen Carey
UNTITLED (1978)
silver print and acrylic
20” x 16"

Jean Dubuffet
SITUATION LXXVII (1979)
black felt-tip pen and collage on paper
13.875” x 10”

Allison Saar

Mavis from Skillet Studies, 1999

 Painted iron skillet

10.5” x 7” x 1.5”

Photo of me

Self portrait in pencil



Reflection

1)  The three works that I chose were chosen because of their uniqueness.  Not every piece is a cut and dry drawing of a person but they are representations.  I found several of the pieces very interesting including the one on the skillet.

2)  The media that I chose to use to create my self portrait was the most common that I have.  I am not the best artist therefore using a pencil allowed me to change or alter my mistakes as I was making them.

3)  In creating my self portrait I wanted to make it very representative of me.  However I am not the best artists therefore I settled for making a representation as well as I could of what I felt I looked like.  Key features such as the scruffy face made it seem more representative because I didn’t shave this morning.

4)  As I already stated this piece shows me by the shirt that I am wearing as well as the scruffy face.

5)  The lines that I used for my facial features and the amount of color used to emphasize the features are different than the exact representation that one would expect from a self portrait.

6)  This project was fun to work on.  I think if I was a better drawer I would have enjoyed the project a little bit more.

7)  My final artwork is definitely not a million dollar piece but I enjoy it because it does represent me in my eyes when I look at it.



Project 5 reflection

1)  I reviewed the two projects that were posted when I did the article.  The first project was Labruna’s and the second was Collins.

2)  The reason I selected Dan Collins exhibit is because it was very similar to mine.  I wanted to compare my exhibit to his.  Surprisingly we did not have a single repeat in artworks.

3)  I did not have too many challenges in writing the article.  The hardest part was to find something I would have changed because I enjoyed Dan Collins exhibit so much.

4)  Providing a critique for my peers I feel is very beneficial.  By seeing how an outside person views your work you can get a better idea to see if your opinion came across the way you wanted it to.

5)  If someone critiques my exhibit I would love to see what they wrote.  By seeing an outsiders comments you can see if your work was understood the way you wanted it to be.

6)  I would rate my article as a 7 on the scale.  This is because I didn’t have too much to add to it because of how well it was done.  I provided positive criticism but very little negative criticism.  I know that will make the curator happy but they may have been looking for advice that I was unable to provide.

7)  This project was good to work on.  It really gave me a better idea on how curators work and how the critics think when they view the works.

week 16 video review

1)  In the Greenberg on Art Criticism: An Interview by T. J. Clark video I found it interesting that Greenberg thinks that writing about visual art is tougher than writing about literature or music.  I would have thought writing about music would have been much harder than the rest.  In the Greenberg on Pollock: An Interview by T. J. Clark I found it interesting that the painters of the Pollock era were extremely motivated by fame and money.  This is a huge motivation for most people however; sometimes I think the best works are created by people who work for their own satisfaction.  In the An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance (Giorgio Vasari) video I found the Donatello sculpture David very interesting.  Many art forms that involve the human body in its natural form are the best works I have ever seen.  In the The Critics: Stories from the Inside Pages video I found it interesting at how much influence a critic or group of critics can be on artists.  In the The Colonial Encounter: Views of Non-Western Art and Culture video I enjoyed seeing he Dahome art in all its form whether it was considered art or craft.  In the Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T. J. Clark in Conversation video I found it interesting how they discuss Pollock’s works in a historical perspective.  There are many ways to discuss Pollock’s works and the historical one is very interesting to listen to.

2)  I feel that the videos relate to the art criticism project in many ways.  For one there was a video that talked strictly about critics and how they affect artists.  By understanding how to look at works, interpret them, and to understand them the way the artist intended is a great benefit.  These videos talked about all these topics and emphasized this in many ways.

3)  As with all of the videos that we have seen they are very beneficial to our learning.  By seeing the way that criticism works, its affects, and what it means we learn a lot.  Everybody has their opinion on criticism but to see and hear it in action on the artworks helps to strengthen our knowledge on the subject.

Project 4

This project was not super hard for me to complete.  It was quite time consuming finding all the works and the ones that would fit into the exhibit.  One of the hardest parts for me to do in this project was to find the order in which I wanted to display the works.  Many of the works can be moved around based on color, size, artist, or what is depicted inside the work.  However, I believe I have found the best order and flow of the artworks that would make a person happy to look at what I have put together.  Hopefully everyone who looks at the exhibit will enjoy what they see and feel the connection with nature that I felt while putting it together.

week 14 and 15 video post

1)  From The Lowdown on Lowbrow:  West Coast Pop Art video I liked seeing the Zap comic works of art.  These comic books are very well drawn in my opinion and fun to look at.  In the Displaying Modern Art:  The Tate Approach video I learned that the museum was very popular and that they did not charge for admission.  After opening, about 4 million people had visited the museum in the first year.  With the Bones of Contention:  Native American Archaeology video I found it interesting how much these collections of bones really affected people.  It really does seem that we did not have any regard to any other human life than our own.  In the last video George Eastman House:  Picture Perfect I learned that the George Eastman collection has about 14,000 photographers displayed. 

2)  All of these videos relate to our project.  Each one has a main subject that they focus on and they can back up with sources.  These collections are much larger than the one that we will be making but this is a great start to help us in our ideas.

3)  By getting different perspectives we learn a lot more about the subject.  They also give us other ideas that we can us in our project.  We are not setting up the project for display but rather putting it in a PowerPoint.  I noticed that the display of the works is also a huge aspect on how one relates to them.  These videos were very beneficial to me while creating my project.

week 13 video post

1)  I decided to watch the Abstract Expressionism and Pop:  Art of ‘50s and ‘60’s video because I find this time period in the world to be interesting and wanted to learn more.  The second video I chose to watch was the The Power of Art:  Rothko video.  This is because I found the title unique and was wondering what the power of art could be and was hoping to find out.   The next video I watched was Hockney on Photography.  I chose this because photography is very versatile and can be used so many ways.  The final video I watched was Andy Warhol:  Images of an Image.  I chose this video because I find Warhol interesting.

2)  In the Abstract Expresionism and Pop:  Art of the ‘50s and ‘60s video I realized I still have difficulty understanding abstract art.  However listening to the speaker helps me to understand works much better.  One work that sticks out to me is De Koonigs’s work titled “Morning:  The Springs”.  In the The Power of Art:  Rothko video I found it interesting that when commissioned to provide paintings for a restaurant it would be worth $2.5 million today. In the Hockney on Photography video I found the collage to be very good works of art.  In Andy Warhol:  Images of an Image video I enjoyed watching and learning more about the process of silk screening.

3)  All of the videos that I watched were very similar to our readings for this week.  All of these videos elaborated well on the topics discussed in our textbook.  Some provided very good view points on the topics that were not discussed in our readings.

4)  By getting different perspectives we learn a lot more about the subject.  You cannot rely on one source for all of your opinions on topics because your ideas will end up being biased.  Sometimes if you rely on just one source that source may be incorrect and that would make your conclusions incorrect.  That is why having the videos in our week are essential to our learning.