NICC ART

[macaulipirillo-blog]

Week Fifteen- Sound

I had never heard of sound art before reading this. Robert Worby was right when he started off by saying sound is very strange stuff. I had never really sat and thought about sound and how it works. It’s weird how we do focus on the objects that make the sound and not the sound its self. Because like Worby talks about there literally is no words for sound other than sound. I find the whole idea of sound art to be interesting, odd, and intriguing. I don’t know that I believe some of the things Robert Worby was saying. I do believe and understand that sound can be art but I just find it so odd that Performances like Hugo Ball, being in a ridiculous outfit and slowly babbling like a baby is art or like the ‘4’ 33” when John Cage had a performer sit in the middle of the sage and was told to “be silent” and the only noises around him for four minutes and thirty three seconds was the sound of the audience and the random noises that filled the auditorium. That’s something that happens often when you go to a show or are sitting in some kind of auditorium, is that considered sound art or no becomes no one is leading that? I don’t know maybe I just really didn’t understand the reading, but this really left me kind of confused and surprised.

Tim Hawkinson was interesting. The sound he made from the rain and the way he controlled the way the drops sound from all them gears and electronics is insane! I liked the way the sound made, I think it kind of made a cool beat and it honestly really made me think of a horse galloping. The drawing he made by twisting the pencil with the drill was neat as well, it’s a different idea that I had never seen or thought of. The fact that he was able to use all those inflatables to make that strong of a sound is crazy too. He’s definitely a very creative man.

I really loved One Square Inch of Silence. In fact, I was working on homework with a friend and we both sat and listened that the entire time. I would love to one day have the chance to visit that park and experience it in person. I found it to be very soothing and relaxing. I will mention that for some reason it made me picture rain hitting pvc.

For my relevant artists this week, I listened to Amenta Abiota. I don’t really know how I fell about it. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I’m a fan of it. I just don’t think I found it to be something that I personally would enjoy sitting and listening to. Is music considered sound art? I don’t recall reading anything about this in the reading. But because I feel like a lot of what I listened to her was music more than sounds. https://amentavera.bandcamp.com/ 

Keep reading

[maddywaters-blog1]

Hi Macauli! I agree, I also thought that it was very interesting reading about how people focus on the object creating the sound, rather than the sound itself. I even found myself to do that as well, especially when listening to One Square Inch of Silence. I thought to myself, “Alright, now I can hear rain,” but once I thought that I had realized that I was hearing the sound the rain made on the object that it was falling on. I found that interesting, especially because I realized how frequently I must say that.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 15- Sound

This week’s reading was interesting. First I would like to apologize because I couldn’t figure out how to download the sounds, so instead I shared the links to the YouTube links. 

 I found it neat when the article “An Introduction to Sound Art” said that because sounds of instruments have no name, we often refer to the object producing it and sounds become things. I found that part of the article really pertains to my own life. In music class, the teacher would play a sound and we would have to say what it was; we never said “the sound of a guitar”, but “a guitar”. I found that neat because I had never realized before that it wasn’t a guitar, or a trumpet, or a violin, it was the sounds of those objects. It was also interesting reading about the differences of hearing and listening, and how the questions we ask ourselves about the pieces shouldn’t just be about what produced it, but about what we are hearing.

“One Square Inch of Silence” was very soothing to listen to. I think that it really represents how much of this world we take for granted. It’s so beautiful to listen to, and it’s right outside. It reminds me of playing outside in the woods with my brothers because the trees were so thick that they collected the leaves when it rains, and standing on our porch feeling the mist of the water whip against my face. I love running in the rain and coming inside drenched. I also love thunderstorms because they are such an amazing phenomenon to watch and listen to.

This week’s video was on Tim Hawkinson, a guy who built a machine that uses drips of rain to create music. Even though I feel I can consider things art more than most people, I definitely have not thought of a machine as one of them. It really changed the way that I defined art. It was interesting listening to how the channel changes the man’s expression, and it was really cool to listen to. Back to the rain drop machine, I think that this could be a very controversial topic. I think that the sound of the water hitting the drum is definitely considered art, but I wonder if he wanted the water spout to be considered art. I could see it being art because I don’t see how it is any different than many of the other pieces that we have read and learn about. However, I feel that many people could consider it a mechanic. Thinking about this it really gives me a new interpretation of how I visualize art.

The piece that I found neatest in the Hawkinson video was the uberorgan. It was so cool that the machine read the letters, and it was cool that it that people could place their hand over the organ to get it to play their own notes.  I found this really cool and a great way to get the viewers and listeners interacting in his piece. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D5aOUJ0QXM

The artist that I chose to write about this week was Bethan Kellough. Kellough’s art piece “An Opening” is very eccentric in my opinion, and reminds me a lot of the part in a horror movie right before the character is about to be killed. At first, it started with this loud, obnoxious shrieking sound that was eventually drowned out by an ocean water sound. It was very interesting to listen to because what would have seemed to have given me nightmares eventually calmed my fears with the water at the end. I think that I was waiting for a noise to be heard the whole time, and it really reminded me of how sometimes things that seem like they may be bad aren’t, and you just have to stay with it long enough to find out. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwyMORRRRkg

Online Sources:

http://contemporarysupplement.blogspot.com/2011/07/tim-hawkinson.html 

[vogtc-blog]

Week #13

This week, learning about social practice wasn’t my favorite. It’s an art medium that focuses on social engagement, inviting collaboration with individuals, communities. Even though it wasn’t my favorite to learn about I think the concept of it is intriguing.

This week’s video on Tania Bruguera was probably my least favorite video. For me it didn’t catch my attention like other ones in the past. I do though like that she explores the relationship between art, activism, and social change I think that those things are very important in today’s world. I do like how she says at the end of the video that “Art is not for the museums it’s for the street and for people’s life.

Harrell Fletcher is an American Social Practice and relational aesthetics artist. One of my favorite projects he has done is called The Best Things in Museums Are the Windows. I didn’t understand this at all when I first read it, but after learning about it and seeing that he said, “The idea that you go to a museum and look at the paintings- which is great- but then you look out the windows and see how you can apply what you’ve learned in the museum to the world outside”. I really like that and feel that, that should happen with more than just art. Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian Performance artist, Photographer, and Painter. I love this piece by her. You can tell by her face that she loves those two babies. To me in a way she kind of looks like an angel that is protecting them, and looking out for them.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Hi Caitlyn! I enjoyed reading your blog post, and I too agree that social practice was not the most enjoyable week. I think that Vanessa Beecroft was a very cool artist to read about, especially the piece that she mentions. When someone looks at the picture they might think that there is something strange about it, being that she is Caucasian and these are two African-American babies. It really reminded me of the issue going on today, people assume that even though a child has been adopted doesn’t mean that he is any less loved than those related by blood.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Blog Post - Week 12

Performance is not something that I think of when art comes to mind but after looking at this week’s material I have a deeper appreciation for it.  I like the fact that performers are able to portray many emotions and tell a story.  Originally I thought acting was the only type of performance art.  Boy was I wrong!  Although many performances have a meaning, some are also just for fun.  A fun performance that comes to my mind street performer painted all one color as they stand as still as a statue.  After looking at the reading, I found out this is a type of body art.  

The performance that caught my eye most in the first reading was the One Year Performance.  For this performance, two artists, Linda Montano and Tehching Hsieh, were bound together with an eight foot rope.  They were to exist in the same space, but not touch, for a year.  To me, the meaning of this piece was to show how closely we work with those around us.

The video this week about Janine Antoni and her art brought me mixed emotions.  Whenever she started talking about a new piece I looked at it and thought, well that’s really weird, why would anyone ever do that, what’s the point of that?  But after Antoni explained herself I found myself appreciating her work more and even liking it.  One of my favorite pieces of her’s in the video Moor.  Moor was one of my favorite pieces because it has so much history behind it.  The rope contains a little piece of many of Janine’s friends and family members.  I think the little strands of fabric represent all the people in Antoni’s life.  Together they represent all the people that make Janine who she is today.  Additionally, without Antoni explaining this piece, I wouldn’t understand the meaning of it.  That is where the performance ties into this piece in the way I am viewing it.  Just imagining this personalized to my life makes it even more meaningful.

Another performance I enjoyed was Touch which Antoni performed in her home country, the Bahamas.  As stated in the “Touch and Moor” article, Janine practiced for about an hour every day and after about a week, she wasn’t more balanced, she was just better at not overcompensating.  Antoni said she was learning the bottom of her feet in a way she never had before along with other body parts.  In that article, Janine also said that she thought the meaning of Touch was to show how every time she took a step her foot touched the horizon.  To her, the horizon is a place that you can’t go, but it does signify where she wants to go.  Her view is very similar to my view on this piece.  The rope slacking under the weight of her foot and touching the horizon tries to prove that anything is possible, even if it seems impossible.  This performance of Antoni’s is an action performance, which we read about in the first reading.

Personally, I don’t really think of Bree Newsome’s climb and temporary removal of the Confederate flag as a type of performance art, even though it probably can be categorized as one.  To me, performance art must be very well planned out and I kind of think Bree’s “performance” was more of a spur of the moment thing.  Should every time a person does something be considered a performance?  If I were to go outside now and plant an American flag in the ground, would that be a performance?  These were the questions that were going through my mind when I read the article and to me these answers are both no’s.

The artist I found most relevant to this week was Francis Alys who is a performance artist that works out of Mexico.  My favorite performance of his was Watercolor.  In this performance, Alys simply takes water from the Black Sea and pours it into the Red Sea.  I think this goes to show even though we think two things are very different, when you put a little of one into a lot of the other, they aren’t that different.

[maddywaters-blog1]

I feel like it is always a sensitive topic talking about the Confederate Flag. I think that it could be considered a performance just because she was doing it so that she could get people’s attention on something that she believes that is right. I believe that it is all based on perspective because I feel that placing the flag on the ground also could be considered a performance. It is all based on perspective, which applied to all different forms of art. Great blog post!

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 12- Performance Art

This week’s media was on performance art. Performance art always seems to be a controversial art; you can always find someone who doesn’t think it is art, and someone who does. To me, it is all based upon your own opinion on what is considered art. I personally find performance to be a true and unique art form.

This week’s reading on performance art seemed a little bland. I definitely think that there could’ve been a better way of writing about such a neat art form. Reading about how women used art during the 1960s-70s to case their frustration was pretty interesting, however. Yves Klein’s art, to me, was very intriguing, yet strange. Most people feel like they need to hide their bodies (myself included), but we all have one. When looking at his work, and seeing how descriptive the works are, someone might judge how provocative and revealing it is. Later, when reading about the story behind it and the fact that it was influenced by the prints found after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki truly changed the way I saw the piece. Innocent people just in their everyday lives and bodies, killed by a disagreement that wasn’t their cause. It was a beautiful way of appreciating those who lost their lives.

Reading about Bree Newsome’s courage to take down the Confederate flag was inspiring. People have a right to protest, but must accept the consequences of that action. I found it very hard to decide whether or not I would consider it a work of art. I think it depends on what Newsome meant with taking down the flag. If she did it for others to see, then I definitely think it can be considered art. However, if she did it just to take it down because she doesn’t like it then I think it would just be considered protest. It is a very controversial topic; on part of me wants the flag to be kept in order to remember the rich history and never forget, and the other is disgusted by the flag and what it means. I think that it is fine to hang it in history museums and things similar, but not on state buildings.

This week’s video was very odd, yet even more so interesting. It was interesting that Janine Antoni talked about how the rope was like a lifeline, and being that she used many different things from her life like parts her grandmother’s dress, her friend’s piece was made of hammocks, and more. They all have different stories, which is cool how personal they are. Later, when she talked about how she named one of her pieces “eureka” after Archimedes realized that the volume of water displaced is equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. It’s really cool how in this video, the reading, and even performance pretty much all together is focused in on the body. Her piece 2038 I also found different, but still cool because it appears that the cow is drinking from her which is like a reverse effect. 

The relevant artist I have chosen to write about this week is Carolee Schneemann. Because the videos I could find of her work online were blocked, I have chosen to talk more about her and her paintings. Schneemann’s work usually consists of the exploration of body, sexuality, and gender. In her generation woman were definitely considered lowered in scale to society than men, so I feel that she is trying to show her own thoughts on suppression. Looking at her artwork, as well as all the other pieces has definitely made me feel differently on how performance is art. I’ve always considered just plays and musicals as performance arts, but not necessarily such a wide variety of different performances.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/331647960039921991/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/06/28/who-is-bree-newsome-why-the-woman-who-took-down-the-confederate-flag-became-an-activist/?utm_term=.de9c1de54f4d

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/carolee-schneemann

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/171910910748778199/

https://www.albrightknox.org/artworks/rca19408-carnaval-darlequin-carnival-harlequin

[jdanielsus-blog]

Week 11

The chapter on architecture didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the reading that we have done in this class.  The video of Maya Lin though brought the subject back pretty well for me although Maya seemed to be divided between her architecture work and her art.  She even was thought of as a monument maker before really being given credence as an artist.  This separation makes it hard for me to put architecture completely in the art basket.  I can see the beauty of the buildings, the use of the building blocks of art but there is a disconnect there for me.  The one thing that really stood out to me is that this is definitely a team effort yet for other forms of art there is a discussion about what is acceptable when employing a team to create art.  

Maya Lin creates a connection between natural phenomena and her architecture.  Bringing the water back to Grand Rapids was the artistic connection that stood out for me.  The project was still underway when this was filmed so I am attaching one photo of the misting fountain that was mentioned but not in the video.  I think that having all three states of water present in the park brought the idea full circle.  Even though the water was rerouted around Grand Rapids the park would keep that part of its history alive.  I really enjoyed the lights embedded in the skating rink as well.  Blending the ice with the sky through fiber optic lighting I thought was really genius.  The subtle details is what really made Maya’s architecture really stand out to me.

For this week’s relevant artist I chose Zaha Hadid.  The first piece of architecture that struck me was the JS Bach Music Chamber Hall. The hall seems to just flow to the front with the curving architecture drawing the audience in to the performer. The look of it is amazing and then to think about how the acoustics had to play a factor in the design as well makes this hall a marvel.  The modernity of this place actually screams art because it is so much more than what I have known as a theatre.  The beauty in architecture is taking something that we use every day for our shelter and workplaces and transforming then.  The quote at the end of the chapter I believe said something very similar to this. Zaha’s first building was the Vitra Fire Station which is a completely different look and feel from the music chamber. The linear lines are much harsher creating a different look and feel.  This difference is impressive to me because they seem so far removed from one another.  

My favorite part of the chapter was how architects can incorporate green systems into the buildings. My first look at the bank complex was that it is an ugly building.  It looks like a mask of buildings that have no flow.  The design incorporates many features that are good for the environment and bring down operating costs like solar panels, which explains the odd look of the buildings.  The “flow forms” that channel and purify rainwater are great ideas.  The expense may keep others from using these design features but I think the function is the best part of these designs.  I look at the buildings differently after seeing how they are designed to be more socially responsible.

[maddywaters-blog1]

 I really liked reading about your take on Zaha Hadid and her work. Hadid’s music chamber hall looks truly fascinating. It looks so crisp and clear, like a dream. The man at the piano looks as if he’s playing the piano way in a faraway dream, when really, he is very close to the viewers. It was so interesting reading about how architectures incorporate acoustics into the design of different performance areas in our book, and it’s cool that you mentioned it in your post. It would be so cool to go to a performance there.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 11-Architecture

This week’s content was on architecture. I have always found architecture very interesting. It is so cool to see complicated blueprints become huge, beautiful buildings. I love making huge buildings in the game Mine-craft, and especially like planning out the different rooms inside, so architecture is especially interesting to me.

This week’s reading was very interesting. One piece that really stuck out at me this week was Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House. Besides the Sydney Opera House being amazing as it is, one big memory of it in my childhood was in Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo is probably one of my favorite Pixar films of all time. When Nemo was abducted by sea divers, Marlin was forced to travel to find his son. When one of the diver’s goggles are left behind, Marlin’s friend, Dori, was able to read it and tracked them back to Sydney, with the Sydney Opera house representing the city. One thing I really like about the Sydney Opera was how there is rhythm, along with repetition. The roof is just kind of a wave. Reading about how the roof actually resembles a ship’s sails was very, very interesting, because it just connects back to the ocean and Finding Nemo. If there was one place in the world I want to visit the most, it would probably be Sydney, Australia.

This week’s video was very interesting. I liked how Maya Lin said that the stars were drawn into the ‘pool’ of water and reflected off, and solids, liquids, and gases were all included in the park. I think it is cool how science, or “naturally occurring phenomena” is included in Lin’s work. Despite the fact that I have never ice skated before, I think that it would be so much fun to skate both above and below the stars. It was also very interesting when she said that she had thought that she would’ve been called an artist five years sooner had she not done the Vietnam Memorial; people just said that she made monuments.

Some similarities that I found between the two was probably connections with a liquid that is the basis of most organisms, water. The Sydney Opera House’s roof represents the sails of ships, and how I saw it as a wave, it just screams the ocean and water. Maya Lin’s park consists of the element water in all three forms, liquid, solid, and gas.

The relevant artist I have chosen to talk about today is Richard Buckminster Fuller. Fuller’s work, mostly consisting of geodesic domes, is art that I don’t think could be described as anything lower than amazing. The fact that he used many different of the same shapes to make spheres and half-spheres in his work is so fascinating. I think that it would be so cool to learn about the math, but I’m not sure if I could fully understand and wrap my brain around how everything works. Finding the different angles, degrees, areas, etc., would be very exciting, confusing, and frustrating all at the same time, but watching it come together in the end would definitely be worth it. Whenever I went to the babysitter’s house, there was a miniature version of the geodesic dome in her yard. It was so much fun to play on, even to look at. My brothers and I would always feel so accomplished with ourselves when we could climb on it.

I really liked this week’s content because it uses lots of math to create the art. I’m not saying that any art not falling under the architecture category doesn’t use math, it’s just that architecture uses probably the most. This has given me a great interest in architecture, learning about all of the different ways it is used. Thank you for reading my blog post!

Sources:

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/fuller_buckminster.html

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/587615803981955075

https://sydneyexpert.com/best-places-to-photograph-the-sydney-opera-house/

https://art21.org/read/maya-lin-grand-rapids-ice-rink-and-park-project/

[cammiecakes-deactivated20180109]

Week 10 Chapter 11

Chapter eleven was Craft Media. Craft Media is created out if clay, metal, wood, glass, and fibers. Norma Minkowitz’s Collected was beautiful and strange. Upon viewing her other work, I really see her connection with nature. Her work is very organic and earthy, even down to the colors. In the picture I have chosen for her work you see a human in a nest. You get the feeling she is growing with the nature around her.

Another piece I enjoyed was The Unicorn in Captivity from the Unicorn Tapestries. You see this animal constrained inside a tiny fence with a rope that you think is tied to a tree. If you look more closely you see the end of the rope isn’t tied to anything. Whom ever made this clearly wished for the animals escape, as the fence is low enough to jump from. That made me think about how we sometimes use failure as an excuse to stop from trying. Sometimes you have to jump over those hurdles and try again to achieve your goals and dreams.

This weeks additional reading, Wondering about the future of the Smithsonian’s craft Museum. I thought it was interesting that many different artists shared such a huge space for their work. I would have to say I disagree with the writer who said the artworks didn’t talk to one another. I thought they did. I found them all to resemble nature in some way; rock formations, rainbow, vines, trees, bright flowers, and one even resembled a desert storm. I like that each room you would walk into the artists view on nature. I thought it was neat. The connection between the chapter and additional reading was of course nature. These artists really brought their view of it to life in some form.

Kimsooja’s video Needle Women. I found her perspective with people intriguing to watch. You see how she stands still with the fast paced lives moving around her. Most of these people were in just a hurry to get to point A to point B that they did not notice her standing there. She’s the needle and the people are weaving their way through her. I really like that she incorporates people into her work. With the lotus flower lanterns and the chanting through the train station, I liked that she gives these people a sense of peace in their everyday hectic lives. Kimsooja’s work is very peaceful and realaxing. I like that.

For the relevant artist I chose Beth Cavener Stichter. She was born in Pasadena California. Her mother was a ceramicist and her father was a molecular biologist. You really see how much of an influence her parents were in her art. Her  scluptures are insanely detailed and beautiful. She uses controversial subject matter in the shape of animal form. In the photo below, “The Adoration” you see a lamp hung up bleeding from its neck with a glass to collect the blood. It reminds me of how easy it is for people to kill these beautiful creatures. I think this is a great way to remind people that these animals do not deserve to be slaughtered and how ugly human beings can be.

The next piece from Stichter I really liked was “The Questions that Devours.” You see the big bad wolf about to devour a small rabbit. This made me think about people and how some will do anything it takes in this life to help themselves. People steal, hurt, murder, etc, to move up in life. Some will “devour” others in order to do so. I thought this was a very powerful piece of work. Her work really resembled a lot of other artists I mentioned today. They all used nature in their own way, whether it’s to talk about controversial subjects, or just to show beauty in the world.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Cammie, 

When watching the video on Kimsooja, I had not thought of how the name Needle Woman related to the video. Then, you said that she is the needle, and the people who are moving are weaving their way through her. I guess that I was being just like the people in the video, too hurried to get things done that I did not appreciate the video like I could have. Thank you, and great blog post!

-Maddy Waters

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 10 - Craft Media

This week’s reading was on craft media. There are many different types of mediums used for craft media, but some of the most commonly used ones are clay, metal, glass, wood, and fibers. I love textures so it is really cool reading about the different tools and materials used to create them. During fair there were always two different groups that you would consider “art”, which were crafts and arts. This year it is just one group, art. I am really happy that they consider crafts a type of art now, mostly because many of my projects worked for both and it was hard to decide which class to exhibit it in.

One piece that I found really cool in the reading was called Flower of a Wave, which was made by Monden Kogyoku using bamboo. This piece is neat because it uses the traditional basket look but adds a twist to make it easier to perceive as artistic. It is also very cool to look at because it’s not necessarily perfect, but flows in the same way. This may sound weird, but I really just want to rub my hand with the twigs because it looks so smooth.

This week’s video was on Kimsooja, a South Korean needle worker who lives and works in New York and Seoul. I think that it was really cool when she talked about how it wasn’t to show her identity, and that the camera lens is her eyes that sees her back, and the other people in front of her. She then went on to talk about how her work is never just one piece, and always in motion. I could really tell that art makes her happy when she was talking about her childhood and how she would scratch at the frost on walls. This video really made me appreciate art more than the others. I feel that for me it is either easier or harder to understand an art piece listening to their stories, and that there is never an in between. What I mean by this is I’ll think I know what they’re saying, but then the artist will say something different, or I’ll have no idea what they’re saying until I hear their story, which I guess is all on perspective.  

The artist that I chose to write about this week is Piper Shepard. Piper Shepard is an American-born contemporary artist who cuts cloth into lace like patterns. Reading about Shepard’s art piece called Screen (Detail), I was very amazed to see how much detail she really puts into her work. It reminded me of my mom’s story of a lady who she did therapy with at a nursing home. The lady was crocheting a banner for some people with the last name Johanningmeier. When she was about halfway done with the letters, she messed up and redid it all. Even though nobody else good see the mistake, she could so she couldn’t give it to them, despite the fact that she had already put in so much work and it was such a big name. I guess that Piper Shepard’s art just reminded me of the lady’s, there’s so much hard work and dedication put into art.

One thing that I found neat about all of these is the way that they connected. They all seem to fit into lots of other categories in the book. There are so many different things that fall into the craft media.

Sources:

http://www.kimsooja.com/

http://www.pipershepard.com/about/

http://kangeugene.blogspot.com/2010/04/kim-sooja.html

[shaferbailey-blog]

Week 9 - Installations

The reading this week about installations was very interesting for me as I never really knew what this was before.  My favorite forms of installation that I read about were interactive installations and immersive virtual reality.  I think immersive reality is very cool because it incorporates modern technology.  These two were probably my favorite because viewers don’t just view the art, they can also interact with it.  I think this kind of art is getting more popular because nowadays people are more hands on than we used to be.

The Art Review article was very interesting for me to read.  As I don’t recall being to an interactive art exhibit (although I’m sure I have been to one), it was fun for me to read about different installations.  All five installations I read about were very interesting but the Rain Room installation (below) was most fascinating for me.  It is amazing to me that through cameras and sensors one can go into this rain room and not get wet!  I think the London group’s point when creating this installation was to make people in the installation feel like it is a rainy day, but also to encourage human interaction with the environment.  This installation connects art, technology, and the environment, which are three completely different things but are brought together by this piece.

Richard Serra’s sculpture, Tilted Arc, is surrounded in controversy.  In my opinion, the government should have been more careful when granting Serra permission to install a piece in a public plaza.  The least they could have done was inform the public on what was happening and what was going to be installed, but it would have been even better had they taken the public’s opinion into consideration.  Although some people may disagree, I think the government should not sponsor controversial pieces of art.  The government is in place to keep the country safe and make laws, not to stir up controversies.  If one wants controversial art or art the public may not like displayed, they should seek someone other than the government to sponsor them because that is not the point of the government.  If the government does choose to sponsor a piece of art, they should have a say in what the art is.

This weeks video on Do Ho Suh’s installations was very interesting for me to watch.  I thought much of his work shown in the video was very meaningful and I connected with it well.  It also reflected parts of his life, which I though was very cool.  My favorite piece of his was Floor.  This piece has hundreds of different (but similar) figurines holding their hands up.  Glass rests on their hands, giving people the ability to walk on the installation which makes it an interactive exhibit, I mentioned liking this earlier.  I think the meaning of this is to show that although we may think we are different from those around us, we actually are very similar and we are all going through the struggles and joys of life together.  We are all holding the weight of the world together.

Walter de Maria’s Lightning Field is a very interesting idea.  My first thought was, should this really be classified as art?  It is created with 400 steel poles with solid, pointed tips to attract lightning and is located 7,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of New Mexico.  After thinking about my original question more, I figured, yes the poles can be considered art but the main point of Lightning Field is to harness a natural phenomena.  Because of this, I would not only consider Walter de Maria the artist that created the field, but also the inventor and engineer that helped create the field.  I don’t think I can really say whether this is art or not.  It may be for some and may not be for others.  Some, like me, may not know whether it is art or not, but know that it is a very cool idea no matter what it is.

(with lightning)

(without lightning)

[maddywaters-blog1]

Bailey,

I really liked your opinion on Do Ho Suh’s art piece Floor. I think this piece is such a good piece to write and read about on other peoples’ blog posts, it certainly has helped me. It was cool that you wrote we are carrying the weight of the world together. The lightning field was very intriguing as I had never heard about that and it would be such a cool thing to watch live. This has really opened my eyes as to what I can classify as art.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 9 - Installation

This week, we learned about installation. I think that installation is a lot like architecture. Installation can be almost anything, but is usually large enough for use to enter our whole bodies in the pieces. One particularly interesting art piece I read about in the readings was about James Turrell, a man who has spent 39 years hollowing out the inside of an extinct volcano that is called The Rodin Crater. Turrell uses light like no one else, and it is both hard to explain and even understand. I think it is very cool how he uses light to show different parts of the volcano. Looking at pictures it makes me feel like I’m looking at the planet Mars and a colonization.

In the video, Do Ho Suh talks about how he wanted to carry his house with him, like a snail, which leads to him talking about how made a house out of fabric. He can literally put his house in a suitcase and move it to a totally different place. It sounds amazing, but to me, it also sounds overrated. In my opinion, that just sounds like a more efficient tent. My family moves our tent from outside to inside in the fall, and then put it back outside in the summer the next year. People have been doing this for forever, one example being nomadic farmers and Native Americans. The only thing that I found very interesting was the dedication he had in making it look more like a tent, and less like a house. This was one of his art pieces that I didn’t like as another.

However, I feel differently about one of his other pieces, which I have seen many times before. One thing that really stuck out when he was talking was when he was talking about the meaning. He said that they don’t have a particular meaning, that it’s all up to the viewer. In my opinion, I think that it is saying that many people are supporting you and holding you up, and that if you don’t ever pay attention then you will never notice them.

One of the biggest similarities I found between the readings and the video was probably the vast majority of differences. Installation seems to be anything and everything, and it has very few limits. Installation has gotten very popular recently, and reading about this material has made me realize that so many more things are art than I realize.

The relevant artists that I chose to write about this week are Christo and Jeanne Claude. One of their pieces, which we have read about earlier this year, is called the Running Fence. The Running Fence was made of 2,152,780 square feet of heavy woven nylon fibers. After 14 days they took it down and all materials were given to ranchers. I think that this would be beautiful to look at, as well as drive next to down a road, like it was made for particularly. On the other hand, I also think that it was a huge waste. I think that there should be a point where art goes a little too far, and where it becomes terrible for the environment. Although they did give the material to the ranchers on which the materials were on, I still think that it was a bit too much of a waste. Others may think differently but that is just my opinion.

Sources:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/164311086375518127/

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/roden-crater

http://calitreview.com/8512/running-fence-christo-and-jeanne-claudes-masterpiece-revisited-at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum/

[craftystarlightwombat-blog]

Week 8-Sculptures

I enjoy the art style of sculpture because it can literally be made out of almost anything and everything. I personally cannot sculpt to save my life. In middle school I made a sculpture of a squirrel and some kid told me it looked like a hamster. So, sculpting is definitely not my calling, but it is definitely something I really enjoy viewing. One of my favorite sculptures that I have actually visited in person was up in Madison, WI. I don’t quite remember the name of the piece, but I do happen to have a picture of it. However, I will not post the photo because it might be slightly inappropriate. One of my favorite types of sculpture would have to be wood carving. I like the way that different types of wood create different colors and there’s a lot of depth in wood carvings. However, I think my favorite sculpture of all time would have to be the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington D.C. That sculpture I have also had the honor of seeing in person.

I really enjoyed watching the video this week of Kara Walker. The idea to create a sculpture out of sugar is very unique and also a fun idea. Watching the video made me realize how intensive and complicated it actually is to create such a piece out of sugar. She said something in the video that really stood out to me; “I think it was very important to me to have figures made out of a substance that is so temporal…so subject to change.” I like how her pieces are literally dripping and literally melting. Her largest piece is incredible. So much time and dedication was put into that piece. I appreciate her as an artist because she openly accepts change, which is why I believe she chose sugar as a sculpting model.

I know we are to choose one relevant artist, but I honestly couldn’t choose just one this week. The first artist I chose was Anish Kapoor. I chose Anish because of his piece in Chicago the Cloud Gate. The Cloud Gate is also known as “The Bean.” I find myself more able to appreciate certain artists and their work when I have actually seen their work in person. There’s a different sense of respect and appreciation to the work when viewing it in person. I like how Anish works with a lot of reflective materials in his art. I feel as if it’s almost giving a different perception on the things that surround you. The other relevant artist I really enjoyed looking up was Damien Hirst. Now this guy really has some interesting work. I love his pieces of the animals inside those tanks! However, my favorite piece is his piece called For the Love of God. This piece is a human skull created with platinum and over 8,500 diamonds adorned to it. I have a love for skulls and to me this is just a beautiful piece. What I wouldn’t do to be able to own it!

[maddywaters-blog1]

Hello Katie! 

I had never thought of the U.S. Marine Corps in Washington D.C. as a sculpture. I think that is very cool as I never think about the artist with those things. I guess that I had always seen it as a memorial. When I was in school, my teachers would always just say “just imagine if you were those soldiers”, but I guess that is also what the author is trying to do. Thank you!

[bigmayne92-blog]

Blogpost Week 7

I want to start off by saying that photography/film-making are wonderful forms of art that - in my opinion - are centered around capturing a moment or a theme. In connection to our assigned videos, I felt like they were effective in doing so. 

In Short Film: Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please, by Jillian Mayer, I felt like she greatly depicted how sex is something that humans gravitate towards. Fruit flies are attracted to sweet things such as banana and peaches . For them that’s their source of energy. This video is simply simplifying life and how sex is something that humans gravitate towards. The girl in the video is like a banana. Although the theme of this video is very simple The next is quite opposite.

In Short Film: Belly, by Julia Pott, the theme was much more complex. I had to re-watch this film a few times. Initially, I was just confused, deciding that the film was just weird with unique animations, but ultimately I decided that it outlines the complexities of different individuals. Contrasting the defining principles of empathy and care. Pott primarily used 3 different characters in order to ouch her theme: Oscar - little brother and owner/friend of “The Beast”; Alex - Typical teenager and Oscar’s older brother; and lastly “The Beast” - Oscar’s pet and best friend. For me, Belly retains it’s mystery. 

The first couple short films are much different than Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road. In my opinion, Thunder Road begins in a funeral that quickly goes downhill when Jimmy Arnaud - main character - decides to give an unprepared speech at his mother’s funeral. The speech quickly turns into a comical dance recital in which a family member in the front pew begins to record on Snapchat. A couple themes from Thunder Road are love your mother while you still have time, and don’t proceed to publicly “reminisce” at her funeral if you didn’t!

I Chose Wolfgang Tilmans’ Peas as my Relevant Artist Piece. This short film most resembles the “hot” babe film by taking a simple and natural approach to providing mental stimulation. As the peas boil, the bubbles fade creating a oddly stimulating moment.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Hello, Jay!

I enjoyed reading your thoughts and opinions on many different topics throughout the photography/film-making week. One I found particularly interesting was the Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please. The only reason I could think of for the artist to objectify herself in such a revealing video was to show that people get click-baited from stuff like women in bathing suits, nudity, misleading titles, etc. When I read about what you saw in the video, it really opened my eyes to a different way to think about things like this.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 7- Photography/Film making

This week’s reading was on Photography and Filmmaking. When I first started reading this week’s content I didn’t think it would be quite as interesting as it was; photos have never really interested me. One photo that really stuck out at me is Migrant Mother by Dorothy Lange. 

In the reading it talked about how she was a 32-year-old who had seven children and was camped on the edge of a pea field where the crop had frozen and failed. The tires had just been sold off of their car so that they could buy food. As I read this I was brought into reality of how bad the Great Depression was. Once she has sold the tires, how will she provide for her family? Just by looking in the mother’s eyes you can feel her sad, worried, and lost look. That is why I love this photo so much... It really brings to light the Great Depression and peoples’ struggles. 

One of this week’s videos was called “Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please”. I wasn’t sure about the title when I opened the link, but I soon realized what the message was trying to say. Many people are lured by misleading titles, fake news, and inappropriate content online, which people make to gain views and get a hold of private information. I feel that this piece was a very good way to bring to light click-baiting and to not just click anything that pops up on your page. 

I think that Julia Pott’s heartbreaking video “Belly” is an unusual or unthought-of way of representing maturing and that loss of childhood innocence. Oscar is an example of that coming-of- age stage where he has to leave something very meaningful to him behind. Alex, Oscar’s older brother, tries to put Oscar in his place by telling him he can’t go swimming with him, only to find himself in trouble and in need of Oscar’s help. Oscar’s friend goes along with Oscar to help save Alex, but in order to gain the maturing experience Oscar experiences loss, too. Many parts in the short film make my spine crawl, but the message she was trying to get across dawned on me on probably the third or fourth time watching the video.

The short film that stuck out to me the most, however, was Thunder Road. In Thunder Road, the main character, Officer Arnaud goes up to give his eulogy for his mother and ends with dancing, a boombox, and Bruce Springsteen. I haven’t decided if I see it as a comedy or a pitiable display of cringe-worthy grief. What I am sure of, however, is that it is probably the best short film I have ever seen. Most short films don’t contain such good acting, or use different feels in the same video, which is laughter or remorse, depending on the way you look at it. 

 A connection I found between the reading and the videos was probably Headspring, a Flying Pigeon Interfering, and Thunder Road. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want them to. In Headspring, a Flying Pigeon, the man intends to do a film of a headspring, but as he starts a pigeon runs in his way, making the film imperfect, but real. In Thunder Road, the main character Officer Arnaud dances to his mother’s favorite song, and though his intentions were good, it was not appropriate for a funeral and turns the video into a cringe-worthy comedy film. 

This week’s relevant artist that I chose to write about was Sally Mann. Sally Mann is an American photographer who is best known for her black and white photographs, usually of her own children. One of her photographs that really stuck out at me is called The New Mothers. In the image, it shows one girl holding a cigarette in one hand and a baby doll stroller in the other, and another girl holding a baby with one arm and her other hand on her hips. I think that this image is referencing to how society rushes children in growing up.

One connection I found between this image and the book was Migrant Mother, as mentioned above. In my opinion, both images are showing children being pressured by society to mature instead of being kids. They have totally different backgrounds, but in the end they are being asked the same thing, which is to grow up all too soon.

Sources:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2014/4/14/migrant-mother- dorothea-lange/

https://learningarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/a-flying- pigeon-interfering/

http://www.animationmagazine.net/events/sundance-to-distribute-new-shorts-collection/

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/sally-mann-the-new-mothers

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/2016-sundance-film-festival-short-904099

[cammiecakes-deactivated20180109]

Week 6 Chapter 6+7

This week we watched a video on John Baldessari. I like how his art is based on a form of communication. He uses the power of language to communicate with his audience and I found that intriguing and it makes you wonder, what are these artists trying to tell me? I liked it when he said, “When you are looking at two things, don’t look at them look between them because that is important too.” These videos really open your eyes to new ways of looking at art. It really made me think about how these artists are trying to tell us something instead of show us something. He chooses photos of people that he said, “Were making decisions that probably affect me and I wasn’t doing anything about it.” He puts colors over their bodies and faces to say now you are just like me, now I have a say in what you’re doing. I really respected that. I also found his work to be very reminiscent of one of our relevant artists, Andy Warhol.

Week six we were also told to read chapter 6, print making, and chapter 7, graphic design. In chapter six, Mary Frank’s untitled really captured my attention. It just reminded my of the abyss. Things floating around with no where to go, like being trapped in Limbo. People trying to escape the life they once had.  Another favorite on chapter six was Antonio Frasconi’s, Portrait of Woody Guthrie. You see a man playing his guitar but in his face you can see how much he feels it in his soul. I think most people feel that way about music and I think that is what Frasconi was trying to convey with this piece.

Chapter seven did not have much art that caught my eye but I realized how much graphic designs art is around me everyday and I never noticed it. It is on makeup, food, movies, music, shampoo bottles, etc. I decided to google graphic design art to see which one(s) I liked and the picture below caught my eye.

It made me think about how much cigarettes have consumed us and were a huge part of our past. Women were and still are told if you smoke than it will suppress your appetite so we wont eat. So we stay skinny. They become a part of us, like the picture below shows us. We let the addiction take us over. It is amazing how much we can let something take over our lives. The connection for the videos and the book was from chapter seven. I really saw how chapter seven used language, much like Baldessari’s work.

The relevant artist I chose is Swoon. Swoon is a contemporary American artist. She was born in New London and lives and works in Brooklyn New York. Her signature work include life size human forms from recycled newspaper. Upon looking through her art you see the image of everyday women and children. The picture below is of a strong women growing into her own. Straying away from what society wants you to be. The people around her remain colorless. I think this is a powerful image that I can relate to. Stepping away from society to be the person you want to be, not what everyone else wants you to be. I think that is what this artist is saying and it is a great way to live life.

I provided the website to the cigarette image I found online.

https://keskejefouici.tumblr.com/post/87581233468/music-mr-riens-tracks-httpswhydcomrien

[maddywaters-blog1]

Hello Cammie,

I enjoyed reading your blog post this week! When you showed the picture of the graphic design you found, I found that really neat. Most people think that they’re “just” smoking a cigarette and that they have complete control over their bodies. What this image is saying, in my opinion, is that you aren’t smoking a cigarette, the cigarette is smoking you.

Your relevant artist was also another part of your blog post I found interesting. If I had not chosen Xu Bing (I chose to write about his artwork because of his art piece The Tobacco Project, who used around 500,000 cigarettes to make a tiger rug, I definitely would’ve chosen Swoon. Her art is very fascinating to look at, and your translation of what it met really hit home. She looks to be breaking free from her negative surroundings and straying from what society wants you to be, just like you said. Thank you, and again, I really enjoyed reading your post this week!!

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 6-Printmaking/Graphic Design

This week’s reading was over Printmaking and Graphic Design. One concept in the Printmaking section of the book that interested me is what is called intaglio. It was so interesting reading about how artists used the burin and made each individual line with their hands. 

Looking at the detail of the waves from Joseph Mallord William Turner’s Snow Storm: Steamboat off a Harbor’s Mouth, it looks much like the tip of your finger does after you color it with a marker. It is mesmerizing, and at the same time, gives me goosebumps. It is so detailed and intricate that each line must be placed in the correct spot to give it the feel of an ocean’s wave. The piece as a hole give me a lonely and lost feeling, but at the same time it clears my mind and fills it with fear all at once. 

One concept in the Graphic Design portion that interested me was the typography portion. One piece made by Albrecht Durer, which can be found on a page in the book Underweisung der Messung, relates each letter to a square and uses circles to curve each end of the letter.

This week’s art21 artist was John Baldessari. I actually thoroughly enjoyed this week’s video; usually by the end of the content I have spaced off, this week I was disappointed when the video stopped. I thought it was funny when the girl in the video talked about how she was excited to have a job from him only to find out it was just walking his dog (who was super cute). Anyways, I loved how he went about his art, and how he wasn’t exactly sure of what he wanted to do. His gradual working with facial features like noses, ears, and eyebrows was interesting. My favorite part is when he started to talk about how he covered up peoples’ faces with different colors to not as much show who they were, but what they were doing.

One similarity I found between the book and John Baldessari was Henri Matisse’s Young Woman, Goldfish, and Checkered Cloth and John Baldessari’s Noses and Ears, etc.: Blood, Fist, and Head. Although there wasn’t much similarity shown in these pictures, I saw them as not giving much information yet giving lots at the same time. Although Henri Matisse’s artpiece shows lots of negative space, and doesn’t offer many lines or shapes, you can still clearly see a woman gazing at her goldfish on a checkered cloth. Likewise, John Baldessari’s artpiece of the two men in a fight doesn’t show as much but you can still tell what is going on; clearly, a man has been punched and got a bloody nose, with the other man’s fist still present to show what has happened. They both show very little information, but just enough to inform you on what is going on, while still wanting more information.

The artist I chose to write about this week is Xu Bing. Xu Bing is a contemporary artist who creates pieces anywhere from printmaking to his creative way of using words. One of his pieces that I have chosen to write about today uses about 500,000 cigarettes to make a tiger rug, or The Tobacco Project. Xu Bing has never smoked, but his father was a heavy smoker who eventually died from lung cancer. I feel that Bing created this piece to show how fierce cigarettes really are, and with it being a rug showed how ugly they really can be. I also feel that he personally views his father as a tiger whose life was taken and evolved around cigarettes, and it being a rug symbolizes how his father was killed and made up of them.

Sources:

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/62197?locale=en

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/297659856607381284/

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/ruskin/empi/notes/gsoil20.htm

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/541206080197519171/

http://mymodernmet.com/tiger-rug-500000-cigarettes

[shaferbailey-blog]

Week 5 Blog Post

 Before reading this chapter, I (probably like many of my classmates) thought painting was a pretty straightforward form of art.  I thought it is always on a canvas, it is usually done by the same materials, and most of it looks the same.  Boy was I wrong!  Some of the earliest forms of paintings were done on caves with dyed clay and mud!  One of my favorite paintings of all time is The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh.  I know that is a favorite of a lot of people, but I like this piece because it is very pretty and it is fun for me to try to understand.  To me, Starry Night looks almost like the Northern lights although it is very unlikely van Gogh ever saw them as he lived in Northern France.  It could also be the night sky from the eyes of a dreamer.  

The type of painting that caught my eye this week was watercolor paintings.  I think watercolor nature paintings are really fun to look at because the more subdued colors make the painting look very realistic.  None of the watercolor paintings in the book really caught my eye so I found one by David Taylor called Catching the Morning Light.  I think this piece is very beautiful, realistic, and fun to look at.  It reminds me a lot of a spring morning that I have gone for a little hike in nature.  

Below : Catching the Morning Light

After reading about the Tibetan sand art, my first thought was it seems like a lot of work to just ruin the painting in the end anyways, but for Tibetans the process of making the sand paintings are more important than the painting itself.  I watched a video about how the monks made this as I couldn’t picture the process from reading the book.  I found it very interesting and amazing to watch the monks work.  It made me sad when they swept up the sand, but knowing the backstory I can appreciate why they do that.

Julie Mehretu’s artwork was fun to look at but also was very meaningful.  My favorite piece of hers is Stadia II.  At the top of this painting, I see flags from different countries while at the bottom I see confetti and streamers.  I feel as this represents how the countries seem different, but when you get down to it, they are all the same.  On the other hand, my sister saw a  crowded town square in the painting.  She said she thought the bottom of the painting looked like town squares from Italy, and the triangle flags represented the square in festival time.

Below: Stadia II

I like the idea of having different people working on the artwork, but it makes me wonder why should Julie Mehretu get all the credit when her team did a lot of the work?  They probably have an arrangement that makes this fair and the other members of the team get credit, but it made me wonder.

Julie’s artwork and the Tibetan Sand paintings reminded me of each other because they are both very colorful and have similar shapes and designs.  I’m fairly certain Julie uses synthetic media, more specifically acrylic paint because the colors she uses are so bright and the paint doesn’t spread, unlike oil paint. 

Waterfalls are my thing about nature, so I had to pick the artist that paints them, Hiroshi Senju.   Senju paints his world famous waterfalls using the Nihonga painting method.  Paintings done in this style are made using traditional Japanese techniques and materials.  I enjoyed looking at Hiroshi’s paintings because they are very realistic and are very relaxing to look at.  The paintings are so realistic I can almost hear the sounds of a waterfall while looking at them.  If you ever make it to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, a few of his paintings are featured there.  I would guess a lot of Hiroshi Senju’s work is inspired by waterfalls in Japan as it is a very beautiful place.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Hello Bailey!

I really enjoyed reading your blog post this week. Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is probably one of my favorite paintings, too. I love how the sky looks as if it is always moving. To me it makes me feel like he is saying that our world is very small compared to the world around us. It looks like I’m looking at an image through water close up, but when I take a step back it looks a lot like the night sky. It is a very eerie painting, and the town has a very cool and lonely feel. I think that the painting is symbolizing how the town is to the world and shows that the artist sees this.

I also enjoyed you stating that you and your sister both found different things in the image, Stadia II. As people have different experiences and views on life they most likely view different things in art. I think it’s cool that your sister saw totally different things in the art piece than you, and even me. Again, I enjoyed reading your post!