Art Appreciation

[paper-wonders-blog]

Week 16

Upon starting this class, I thought I had a very open mind to the different possibilities relating to art. I now understand, I thought I had an open mind, but it was actually quite closed. In the beginning I had the ability to appreciate and understand things which I initially thought were beautiful. The things I thought were beautiful still are very beautiful, but I dismissed many great works as strange, therefore not good. This course has brought me to the appreciation of things I find strange, sad, or even gross. My mind has been opened to the fact not all good art is visually pleasing, sometimes the most meaningful art makes us feel something.

This week’s readings didn’t follow the norm for what we usually read. I felt Sister Corita Kent’s, “Ten Rules for Students and Teachers,” was something we all could use when creating, learning, and appreciating. In a way, it is a guideline to live our lives- in that at some point in each of our lives we are either a student or a teacher. Marina Abramovic’s, “An Artist’s Life Manifesto,” was very well done. Even Though I didn’t agree with every single statement, there was certainly a lot of truth to her words. I appreciated the format of her writing and her use of repetition. The readings for this week are ways we all strive to live our lives with more open and free minds.

If this course has taught me anything, it’s to keep my mind open. I will always keep my eye out for beauty in the world. I will try to find the meaning behind pieces before judging them. When looking at art, I will try to relate to the artist and understand why and how they created them. In many different forms of art the beauty is in the process rather than the finished product. In the future, when viewing art I will strive to create a meaningful opinion and reasons for liking or disliking the piece. And most of all, I will look for art in the most unlikely of places because art is everywhere.

[noahbarklow-blog]

I agree with the starting paragraph of your post for this week.  Without taking time to appreciate all art, some pieces are set to the side and are not appreciated.  Also, I liked your views on this weeks’ readings.  I thought that both of them had sound advice and rules throughout, but in “An Artist’s Life Manifesto,” I thought that some things mentioned didn’t fit with what I like.  Lastly, I thought that you final reflections on the class about open-mindedness were spot on. 

[noahbarklow-blog]

Closing Week

o Your reflections on the readings

o This last week’s readings were very interesting.  The both consisted of lists that everyone should take the time to read, especially aspiring artists.  The reading of the ten rules for students and teachers, gave really good advice about how school and life should be addressed.  The other reading an artist’s life manifesto, gave some deeper thought into life compared to a more school centered list from the other reading.  Throughout this second reading you could replace the word artist with other professions, and it still could make sense.  The portrait at the beginning of this with Marina Abramovic with a scorpion on her face, brings a darker theme to the list.  The manifesto talks about depression and suicide but clearly states that they are bad for an artist.  It also talks about suffering, which at first glance should be a bad thing, but is represented as a good thing in this manifesto.  From suffering comes an artist best work. 

o Your overall experience in the course—please get more specific than "I liked it," or "it changed how I look at art,"—tell me why.

o Overall I thought my experience with the course was okay.  I started with no background in art, so in the beginning the class was not my favorite.   Later through the semester, I began to enjoy it more, and started looking at art differently.  Every week sitting down and typing my reflection on the art works that I viewed that week was relaxing at times.  I can now better distinguish different art styles and techniques, and adds something to everyday life.   

o How art has been a part of your life prior to this class, and how you anticipate it will play a part in the future. (I'm not just looking for feel-good responses here; I'd love to know, honestly, how much or how little this course will impact your future engagement with the art world).

o Art was not a huge part of my life prior to this course, and probably will not be after.  Before this class and currently I sketch things all the time, be it shapes or random objects I am thinking about that day.  Throughout grade school I remember that art class was one of my favorite times of the day.  This lead me early on to think that I might want to go into architecture.  I have since changed my interests to engineering, but I still have plenty of time to change what I want to major in.  I also had the idea for the summer to maybe learn how to paint, due to the amount of time I will have on my hands.  A major reason that I thought about doing this was watching the artist Bob Ross and his son paint nature scenes on YouTube.  This class could have pushed for the decision to paint, but it is beyond me.  I am not sure if this will push me to look into the art world, but I will enjoy art more and more often.  

[molly-gardner-blog]

Digital Art

This week is about digital art. This chapter was interesting. I learned that the original method of using the computer for drawing purposes was to type out mathematical formulas programs in order to communicate with the computer and printer. Art is created by numbers and it takes a lot just to draw a line. Some of the drawing formulas allow artist to work father drawing by hand, they use an electronic stylus on a digitizing tablet that transfers their markings to a computer screen. The grid has points that are called pixels. The computer assigns mathematical references to points on the image thus digitizing them so that they correspond to the numbered grid of pixels on the screen. It didn’t surprise me when I was reading those artists are now using computer technologies that the touch of the human hand is disappearing from much of today’s artwork. That made me sad in a way because it seems to me everything is becoming technology instead of doing it how people did years ago. I love looking at artwork that people do by hand instead of artwork that was created on the computer. I think artwork that artist do by hand can have more meaning behind it. Computers also can now create a painting by manipulating a scanned in photographic image for painterly effects. They simulate brushstrokes; produce an image in a particular style such an impressionist, rotate and wart and stretch the image with any hands on work that needs to be done by the artist. It was neat to see some pictures done with digital art. Computers can be in three dimensional arts. It is crazy how far technology is coming along. I feel like someday down the road creating art by hand may be a thing in the past because so many people computers.

The relevant artist that I picked this week was Rick Silva. Rick Silva subjects and processes landscapes through a digital lens creating abstract and sometimes animated three dimensional digital paintings. Rick Silva has a background in experimental filmmaking and Net Art and has been creating GIFs since he was an undergrad in 2003. It is through the creation of GIFs that he came interested in looping. Rick Silva is experimented with live DJ/VJ remixes of landscapes using google earth for a project titled “Satellite Jockey.” Rick Silva has had several gallery and museum exhibitions including at the BronxArtSpace and at the University Of Michigan Museum Of Art.

The video this week was about Tabaimo in “Boundaries.” Tabaimo’s drawings and video installations probe the unsettling theses of isolation, contagion, and instability that seem to lurk beneath daily existence in contemporary Japan. Tabaimo draws aesthetic inspiration for her animated videos from a combination of Japanese art forms while she sets her layered surrealistic narratives in domestic interiors and communal spaces. It was great to learn about this chapter and know that digital art can be one of the easiest forms of art to experience in person. Some of these are designed to be viewed on a computer screen rather than presented in a gallery.

[noahbarklow-blog]

I also thought that this weeks was very interesting.  I liked how you went into detail about how the computers display what we create on them. You also mentioned how artist use digitized tablets to create their art. I personally have a drawing tablet that I can connect to my computer to use, and have found it really enjoyable.  Rick Silva seemed to be a very interesting artist, and ii may have to take a deeper look into his work.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 14

o Your reflections on the reading

o Digital art has become one of my favorite types due to many reasons.  One of them is that the art, being digital, has endless possibilities.  You may say this for all art, but there are limitations to what you can do with physical art.  On the other hand, computers are getting more and more complex pushing digital art to one of the most viewed types.  We are exposed to so much digital art today that it’s hard to avoid.  There are also so many little subcategories of digital art.  If anyone wanting to look into art, I would probably tell them to start with digital.  One of the subcategories that the book talked about was virtual reality.  I find virtual reality to be really interesting, and have even had the chance to experience it.  When I used it I played a scary video game with headphones on, and needless to say I was terrified.  

o Your reflections on the videos/media

o Tabaimo as a person and artist seemed to be very interesting.  I applaud her for painstakingly drawing each scene frame-by-frame, and scanning each drawing onto her computer.  I somewhat like it that way though, she has total control of her art.  One of the pieces she mentions is Guignorama (shown below).  Tabaimo said that the video represents the sensation she gets from her atopic dermatitis.  The colors she used on the hands brought the sensation to life for me.  Also another video Tabaimo explained was Public Convenience (shown below).  I thought that the reasoning for the parts of the video were really interesting, and I enjoyed that she related it to her life.

   o Connections/comparisons you find between the two

o There was a lot little things that I could go over comparing the two.   I big subject that I could talk about, came from the book.  One of the titles for a section of the reading is “The Computer as a Unique Art Medium.”  The way Tabaimo and all digital artist use the computer to create the image they are thinking of is truly amazing.  

o Connections to another artist's work from the "Relevant Artists" section of the course content

o For this week, I chose Cory Arcangel as my relevant artist.  His seemed was simple and I enjoyed just about every piece I saw of his.  His first pieces I saw was Super Mario Clouds (shown below).  It is a deconstructed picture from the game Mario, of which shows only the background.  I thought that it was perfect, due to it involving two things I enjoy, video games and simplicity.  Another piece of his (shown below) shows again how simple some of his work is.  It is really just the color spectrum revolving in a circle fitted to a canvas.  Overall I enjoyed just about everything Cory Arcangel had to supply art wise.  

[paper-wonders-blog]

Week 14

When I first saw we would be learning about sound this week, I got really excited because I thought we would be covering music. As soon as I read this week’s assigned reading, I knew this week we were covering sound in a broader context. Until reading this chapter, I never thought as sound being specifically made as a form of art expression and not just made for music.

The article this week really got me thinking deeper about sound and not only as a type of art. I liked how the article had very basic information, and facts. It talked about how sound is not a substance or a mass, but how it is a process. Even though this seems like common sense, it is a concept which makes me think about how I almost never acknowledge sound. The article also talked about how we refer to certain sounds by the object which makes them and not the actual sound itself. Again, this is a basic concept, but one which isn’t thought about very often.

Tim Hawkinson seemed to see the world in a very interesting way. I could tell he was a naturally intelligent man. He seemed to know and understand exactly how allo of his pieces worked, but he just didn’t know the technical terms for all of the parts. Everything he has made he has taught himself. He thinks a lot like an engineer rather than an artist. I thought it was cool how he said he normally doesn’t do primary drawings because he can’t always see his finished piece in his mind. This shows how much of his work reflects the process rather than the original idea. I think the piece he did in the warehouse was really neat, and the sound aspect of the piece added to the level of intensity. My favorite piece of his was the dripping water. I loved how he added rhythm to it. I often find myself listening to the rain and feeling very calmed by it. When rhythm is added to this sound, it only creates a greater effect.

I really liked Marcus Fischer’s work. His music seemed to be both music and sound art combined. The music he creates is very peaceful. It’s the kind of music I would listen to in order to meditate or relax. In my band class right now we a currently working on a very slow song. My conductor is working with us on pushing from one phrase to the next phrase. I found Fischer’s work does just that. Perhaps it is what makes his sound so peaceful.

https://marcus-fischer.bandcamp.com/track/the-one-that-went-with-the-film-of-the-trees

In conclusion, sound is an art form which appeals to your ears rather than your eyes. Because of this, it has a very powerful effect on our emotions and enables artists to use this to there pieces advantage. I think sound can be a powerful force on its own, but when it is added to a visual element, each can benifit and increase the intesity of each other. Whether sound is created naturally or unnaturally it has its own unexplainable way of connecting with human emotions.

[noahbarklow-blog]

I was also pretty excited about this week thinking it was about music.  You also mentioned how the reading was defining sound art, and I agree with your understanding of what it said.  I really enjoyed how you described Tim Hawkinson’s work and him as a person. I thought the art work that you provided with your picture was quite intriguing.  You featured artist Marcus Fischer, had some really great sound art and music.  I agreed with how you described him and his work.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 14

·       Your reflections on the reading

o   Once again, this weeks is not out of the book, and it somewhat made me enjoy the reading a little more.  Sound art itself seems very interesting, and I think that it has endless possibilities to where it can take an audience.  In the beginning of the text it states “…you cannot hold it, you cannot touch it…”  This intrigued me, though I already understood this, and I think that is why I find it so interesting.  Sound waves bounce of object all around to and are funneled into your body by your ear. These sounds than can evoke any of our emotions, producing a response.  The artists that partake in sound art can manipulate the sound to attempt to make us think a certain way.  All of sound art is simply fascinating, and I appreciate how artist have used it as their medium of expression.  

·       Your reflections on the videos/media

o   The video segment was said to be on Tim Hawkinson, but the clip was about Edgar Arceneaux. Though Edgar Arcneaux’s “Until, Until, Until,” and is other art was not sound art I still found what he did interesting.  I really enjoyed his small drawn piece of the work truck crashing into the side of a church.  I was interested with his technique of using the triangle, like some architects, to assemble the church and truck.  I just enjoy simple straight lines of the work, and his meaning behind the work was also interesting.  He began to go into his philosophy background explaining the work, and I thought that it was a great way to look at the work.  Also his other bigger work, the “Library of Black Lies,” where he crystalized the books, was quite intriguing.  Edgar said that he it was a library and a labyrinth.

      Connections/comparisons you find between the two

o   The two didn’t have much connections, due to it being the wrong clip, but I will do my best. With all of Edgar’s work you will still be hearing whatever is around you.  This will affect how you take in what the piece means, and changing what the art is.  

·       Connections to another artist's work from the "Relevant Artists" section of the course content

o   For this week I chose Marcus Fischer, who is a musician and a multimedia artist based out of Portland, Oregon.  His seems to be a very busy artist, and has even done some scores for some short films. One of his works that stood out to me what SIX.  SIX is an annual six-speaker surround sound performance series.  In 2015 he teamed up with Portland State University’s School of Art and Design, and I thought this was great that he gave the opportunity to art students.  I also listened to his work called “Twine,” and thought was an eerie but interesting clip. The video that was with the clip was of tapes playing, and I thought that it added to how eerie it was.  

[briggcaa-blog]

Week 13 Social Practice

This week’s chapter was about social practice. When I first read that the first thing that came to my mind was, “What is it?” So I of course googled it. Google didn’t really give me a good definition in my opinion, but the article called “The Introduction to Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice” gave me the best definition I thought from Casey, and another from Albert. Casey quoted, “do regular stuff, only it’s art” and Albert defined it as an ethically motivated garage sale. Basically what I got out of this is that people and objects of everyday life is the medium used. I’m still a little confused as to how it’s art, but again I know and feel that everyone has a different interpretation. 

The question of what’s the difference between social practice and social work was answered for me in video of Tania Brugera. First, social practice is where the artist is intending and believing for what she does to be art, while social work just merely an act to help a person or a person’s situation. I think Tania seems like an amazing person. She truly believes in her work, in the social change it is motivating, and the kind of political power it is showing. Watching her pieces in the museum, I couldn’t help but to think who couldn’t be inspired by that. I understand that some people don’t like artwork that sort of pushes others’ beliefs on someone, but I think art is meant to get a reaction out of its observer so I 100% stand by Tania’s. 

This week I chose Tom Rollins and the KOS (Kids of Survival). Tom graduated from art school in New York, and later started teaching art for middle school students in the Bronx. A few years later he started the Art and Knowledge workshop, with a group of at-risk kids who called themselves the kids of survival. Tom combines lessons of reading and writing with the making of art. One student would read aloud, while the rest of the students would draw on the reading, relating to their own personal experiences. 

If you look closely at the photo above, you can see underneath the pieces of the reading. I think this is beautiful. The photo below this text I am finding myself enjoying a little bit more, probably because of the color. There’s something I find inspiring about the story of kids in middle school creating a big piece of work like this one, by just reading a piece of literature. 

All in all, I’m still not sure if I fully understand the entire projection of social practice as an art form, but when I think about how anything can be considered a piece of art as long as the artist believes it is,  I do just a little bit more. If I’m out walking down the street and pass by something projected as a piece of social practice, I’m not sure I could recognize it. However, something about what I do in everyday life could be considered a piece of artwork by someone else is kind of cool. 

[noahbarklow-blog]

I agree with a lot that you had say this week, especially with your favorite definition from Albert.  “An ethically motivated garage sale,” and also I mentioned this in my post.  It may not be necessarily close to the real definition by technicalities, but I feel that it was the most creative way to explain it.  When you began to mention Tania Brugera, I began to intertwine your beliefs about her work into mine.  Your definitions of social practice and social work, were generally close to what I had learned.  I also like how you mentioned your stance in regards of Tania.  I could also say that I stand by what she stands for, and how she executes her art style.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 13

• Your reflections on the reading

o This week’s reading was very interesting.  I personally enjoyed how it started with the question of “explain ‘relational aesthetic/social practice,’ using only common language (no artspeak) , and without bringing up Thai food. Go.”  Then with tens of responses that gave insight into what social practice really is.  I really liked Alber Stabler’s response of “making a blog about an ethically-motivated garage sale,” and I thought his phrase could have some its parts interchanged.  The blog part could be really anything that involves you/someone discussing something, in this situation the ethically-motivated garage sale.  Now onto the ethically-motivated garage sale, I decided to brake it into two parts of the ethical motivation and garage sale.   Ethical motivation could be interchanged with many things that include social problems.  The garage sale can be multiple things, like Tania Bruguera’s exhibit Art Utile where there were multiple different parts including the shop ran by amateur artists.   • Your reflections on the videos/media

o Overall Tania Brugueras’ works that were shown throughout the video held my interest, and I enjoyed most of the outcomes she was able to produce.  Mentioned earlier, the small art shop where amateur artist provided pieces that they had produced, I thought this was a great idea.  Having a room where art pieces, that would otherwise go unseen, are able to be appreciated.  Another example of her work that was shown in the video was Tatlin’s Whisper #5.  I felt that it was able to make ordinary people feel oppressed, and show them how others are treated that are in the minority.  

• Connections/comparisons you find between the two

o In the reading, Meg Duguid responded with her definition of social practice being “the composition of moments and actions that shed light on a concept.”  Tania Bruguera in the video interview said her job as an artist was to initiate the conditions in which art happens.  As the reader, you can somewhat draw conclusion to the relations of both of them.  Meg says, “the composition of moments and actions,” and these are what Tania refers to as her job as an artist.     • Connections to another artist's work from the "Relevant Artists" section of the course content

o For this week’s relevant artist, I chose Tim Rollins & K.O.S. (Kids of Survival).  He created a curriculum that incorporated art with reading and writing for students that were academically or emotionally “at risk.”   He would combine the English lessons with the creation of art, and again this reminds me of the art shop that Tania created.  Though personally I think that Tim’s Kids of Survival is more of an important project.  Being able to helped under-privileged children is very important, and it allowed them to express themselves.  Below is one of their pieces Kids of Survival produced, and I feel that it is supposed to be I’m.  Maybe it is saying I’m this or that, interchangeable with what the kids want to be and not what other want them to be.  

[soundsofanerd-blog]

Week 12

Your reflections on the reading

I really learned a lot this week. I did not know much about performance art until this week’s readings and video. I figured performance art would be dance, theatre/drama, etc. Performance art is really body art, action, happenings, endurance, and ritual. Performance art can also be combined with other types of art to create something completely new. It was surprising how much performance art ties into history. Performance art really entwines traditional aspects and other art and still represents performance art.

Your reflections on the videos/media

I feel as if I would not understand Janine Antoni’s work without her explanations. Even then, some of them are confusing. The cow pieces were confusing in the aspect of the point behind them. The picture of the cow drinking from the tub is an interesting idea but I feel as if I need more background information. I think the ideas behind her work is really interesting and how she got to the final piece. I like how she started out with a simple thought that escalated into these major pieces. I really enjoyed Moor and Touch. Moor is interesting because she took things from the important people in her life and entwined them to create her lifeline. It is obvious the work is very important to her. She knows where each piece came from and seems to have a story for each piece, too. I feel as if a lot of information was presented with Touch. A lot if left up to interpretation with the video but I think I understood a lot more because of the reading. I really liked Touch but the photographer in me feels as if the meaning behind the piece could be enhanced. I think if she had done it at sunset or sunrise the horizon would be more pronounced. If she then made herself into more of a silhouette it would further enhance the sky and walking on the horizon. However, that is just my opinion and it still turned out great the way she did do it.

Connections between the two

One of the two readings were on Janine Antoni, as well as the video. The reading really added an extra layer of understanding to Janine Antoni’s work. I read the reading before watching the video and I think it would have helped me to watch the video first. That way I could accurately picture what she was describing.

Connections to another artist’s work from the “Relevant Artists” section of the course content

I decided to have Carolee Shneeman for my relevant artist. I did not necessarily enjoy any of the relevant artists this week. We all have our type of art and mine is not nudity and revealing messages through one’s own body. I believe everyone should be able to express themselves how they wish but that does not mean I cannot be blissfully oblivious to some aspects. Anyways, Carolee Shneeman was born in 1939 in Pennsylvania. Her art focuses on visual representation of the body, sexuality, and gender. I think the meaning behind her work is important, which is to be comfortable with your body.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Overall I agree with your understanding of performance art, and enjoyed your perspective of it. Also, I agree with what you said in relation to the meaning of Janine Antoni’s work.  When you look at it yourself it can be quite confusing, but Janine explains the piece everything starts to come together.  When it came to your relevant artist, Carolee Shneeman, you seemed appalled with her presence of nudity in her art.  I agree and disagree with this, due to it being her art, but I can see how many could dislike how she presents her art.

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 12

When starting the reading for this week, I was relieved to see that it was not out of the book.   This isn’t me saying that the book doesn’t do a good job, but being able to look at a different perspective seemed beneficial.  Reading about the beginnings of performance art was actually not as interesting as I thought it to be.  It was said that performances of Italian Futurists read their manifestos before they made any paintings, during the early twentieth century.  During the rest of the explanation of the beginnings of the art form, the reading showed how movements shaped the section of art into what it is currently.  It even mentioned how the Vietnam War shaped performance art by providing artist against the war with material.   When we are presented the video, it starts with multiple pieces of Janine Antoni.  To me all of her art that was shown was weird, but I thought they seemed very interesting.  Then throughout the video each piece that we saw is given a background, and an explanation to what it means and/or how it was created.  Her first piece that was explained was the rope made of different fabrics.  When showing how she makes some of it, she shows us that she learned to spin hemp into thread.  I found it admirable for her to go to the length of controlling every process to create her rope.  This rope she is making also relates to a future work she plans to construct.  A good chunk of the video talks about how she is diving into tightrope walking.  She also later explains, that this future piece is going to involve a tightrope, but all the attention of the piece is going to be directed towards the fall of the walker.  For me the idea seemed to be a bit off, learning all the skills to create a rope from hemp just for it to be main part of what people are going to admire.  Overall, she seemed very dedicated to what she does, and I can’t personally judge dedication as I do art.

In the reading, it mentions some concepts and styles, and body art is given some explanation.  Janine Antoni did a decent amount of body art, an example is when she casted herself in the lard bathtub.  I thought this was somewhat weird, with the bathtub of lard in all, but she did give some good background on why she did it.  Also, Janine did the painting where she used her hair to paint the floor of a room while people watched.

For this week’s relevant artist, I chose Yoko Ono.  She did a performance where she allowed bystanders to cut pieces of her clothes of her.  I thought this quite interesting, letting complete strangers slowly removing her clothes.  I also learned that she did an internship with John Lennon, and is his widow.  I think that is possible that her art presence in his life probably effected his music in some way.  All in all, she is an interesting artist and deserves the recognition she has received.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 11

Upon entering this week, and seeing we were going to review architecture, I knew that this week was going to be more enjoyable compared to others.  At an earlier part of my life I was leaning towards a career in architecture, but have now set myself into the path of engineering.  I enjoyed learning about all the aspects of architecture that the reading went over.  For example, the book gave some insight on arch and vault construction.  I thought it was interesting how the Romans used arches to construct their aqueducts that still stand today.  In general, Roman architecture was ahead of its time.  Also when I was reading, I saw the name Frank Lloyd Wright mentioned.  I have actually seen a couple of the homes he has created and really enjoy them.  One of them is relatively close, and is located in Spring Green, Wisconsin (Pictured Below).  

The video about this week’s featured artist, Maya Lin, was very interesting.  I thought that her architectural sense that was put into the park was well thought out.  I enjoyed how she involved the stars into the ice-skating rink, and how she used the three phases of water; gas, liquid and solid.  Some of her other works including the large mound of what I think is blue broken glass, also caught my eye.  The mound of glass intrigued me the most, the way the glass cascaded down, in somewhat avalanche fashion, was very enjoyable to watch.  I am not sure if that was an intended part of the piece, or it was still being constructed, which is more likely.   This week my approach to the post was to watch the featured artist video first, and then make my way into the reading.  When I was done with the video and moved onto the reading, I was able to make some connections that really helped with the learning process.  The reading showed that there are a large amount of aspects to architecture.  One of them that I thought was interesting was compressive strength.  Compressive strength is the ability of certain materials to support a certain amount of pressure.  Maya Lin most likely had to work with this, using certain materials to construct the building she created for the parks.  She and many other architects have to deal with compressive strength, and I went to a local architecture/engineering company for insight on its employees’ jobs.  I was able to see one of their engineers working in a simulator testing joint and beam strength, and I was quite amazed.  

For this week, I chose Buckminster Fuller as my relevant artist.  When I first saw his name, it reminded me of chemistry is high school, due to a structure of Fullerene, a molecule made of carbon.  The structure of the molecules are similar to geodesic domes, which was popularized by his work (Pictured Below).  

[pereza2611-blog]

Week 10

The book talks about all craft media. It starts off with clay. I personally loved working with clay, it was about the way that clay worked around the hands, pinching was a way to work with clay. I remember learning about making a pinch pot. Coil building was another way I had worked with clay. I honestly thought that it was somewhat hard in a way that it was building with coils and stacking them to make a pot. When it came times to glaze the pot, it was a fun step because after it was heated in the fire in the kiln, it came out with a glassy texture. I have seen many metal handcrafted objects. I have seen many people but handmade crafts that are made of metal and they are so wonderful. The skill and patience to work with metal to make the tiny details and I would think that with wood and glass would be similar too. Stain glass for example it is colorful glass that with detail it would be put together, heated together. Some quilts are made to stay in tradition and stay with the family. They are colorful and creative because it can be made of “using scraps of old work clothes, cotton sacks, fabric samples and handkerchiefs (page 372)”.

The video of Kimossoja, she described herself as a needle in the middle and the people passing was like them weaving through and making the art there. I think that the video describes a way that craft can even be crafted onto something else. I don’t understand how this was connected to the crafts chapter we had to read about.

In the article, it talks about the different crafts that were room size as big and different crafts being on display for people to come to the museum and see them. The relation to the craft chapter is how this museum brought many artists together so they could share their different media of crafts. It kind of just gave more information about crafts and tying up the reading and the video together so it all connects in a way.

This week I picked, Tilleke Schwarz, her thread work is amazing. She is inspired by cats, daily life, and mass media. Her work can be understood like poetry. She started her training with drawing and then switched from crayons and paper for the thread. This next two pictures are a way to interrupt the visual poetry. They have a story that we, the viewer, make up one of our own. The third picture is an example of how she is inspired by cats. At first I would have thought that there were drawings but I would love to see them up close to see the thread weave together to make the picture. From afar they do look like drawings anyone could do but the details are what matter.

http://www.tillekeschwarz.com/about/

[noahbarklow-blog]

I thought it was very interesting that you have so much expertise with clay craft, and how you applied it to this week’s post.  You also mentioned how Kimsooja described herself as a needle weaving through the passing people.  You also said that you didn’t understand how it was connected, and I was also confused at first.  For your chosen artist, Tilleke Schwarz, you talked about her thread crafts.  You compared her work to poetry, and I thought that It was a great way to understand the artist.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 10

This week’s reading was somewhat a look into our past.  We analyzed crafts that were more prevalent in the earlier human history.  By the reading, and from basic knowledge, we know that today most things are constructed with machines.  This is compared to the times where everything was made by hands, and artisans were able to put their own touch into their work.  When looking at the examples given in the book, you see that older pieces tend to be more extravagant and required meticulous hand work.  The newer examples seem to be more simplistic and show how, we as humans, may not have the patience to complete something as detailed as the plate shown below.  

This week’s featured artist, Kimsooja, had a very intriguing approach to crafts.  As said by Kimsooja in the video, she doesn’t actually make the bottaris, but takes pictures and videos of them.  I found this very interesting that she can classify it as a craft, due to it straying from the usual clay, metal, wood, glass and fibers. I then later considered, that she is making art from capturing the crafts in specific orientations, lighting and etc. that she favors.  She continuously, in the video, compares how she presents the crafts and her standing on crowded walkways to working with fibers.  She also made the area in the building where it played a track of her breathing, and the floor was a large mirror.  I thought this was kind of weird, but in a sense made the room alive.  

I couldn’t necessarily compare much of what the artist to actual craft that the books presents, but I’ll try to compare it conceptually.  Kimsooja compares her work to the fiber section of craftwork.  In the book, it states “This broad category (fiber crafts) includes everything made of threadlike materials, usually woven or tied into larger wholes.”  Kimsooja said in the video that she can’t complete her work, and that she has to continually make the videos of her.  If you switched out threadlike materials with her videos, you could make it seem to be that she is trying to complete a larger whole with her art.   

For this week’s relevant artists, I chose Piper Shepard.  Piper’s work caught my eye the most out of all of the artists to choose from.  The piece that a favored was presented on her website, Chambers.  There are a couple of things, that I can pinpoint, that I liked about the piece.  First, was probably how it looks as if it is free standing, and is made of something other than fibers.  Another one I can think of, is somewhat a continuation of the previous one.  The work to me resembles a castle, and I feel that the name given to it really fits.  Lastly, I thought how it was constructed was a large factor in my liking of the piece.  The way it is loosely woven, and you can see through it, but as stated earlier, it looks solid.  

[brylynclute18-blog]

Week 9

This weeks reading was a little hard for me to understand. I read over the reading about three times and still don’t understand all of it. I found this week very informative because I’ve never heard of the art “Installation.” I’m glad the reading this week gave some history about installation because if it didn’t I would be completely lost with it. One thing that I learned is that this art came into use recently and that’s probably why I haven’t heard a lot about it. I liked how in this section of reading it gave different types of installation and also it gave examples to match it so you can see the difference in each.

I found Do Ho Suh artwork very odd but at the same time interesting. I really loved looking at his outside sculpture that he made with the little people holding up a mini building it looked like. The other thing that I really liked was when he printed out all these faces of people and put them around a wall. I loved how the camera zoomed in with the pictures and slowly started to zoom out and you couldn’t even notice there were people on the wall.

I think the artist fits with this weeks reading but I’m not a hundred percent sure because I’m not for sure if I understand installation. By the teacher’s definition, installation doesn’t have an exact definition but it’s a sculpture that is connected to a place. So I think Do Ho Suh’s artwork that he made outside fits with installation.  

The artist that I picked for this week is Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson was born on February 5, 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Eliasson is an artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art using the materials of light, water, and air temperature. The first picture is an artwork of Eliasson and I find this piece of art very interesting. It has many colors and it looks like the hallway is getting smaller the more you look into it. You can walk inside the hallway that is made of glass and it’s very shinny in my eyes. When I look at it, it reminds me of an aquarium because of the different color of blues and purples and the reflection off of the glass. The second picture is another of Eliasson’s artwork. This artwork is located in a park where everyone can view it. I find this artwork really cool because it’s made out of logs but it keeps getting deeper and deeper when you look inside it. I think this art would take forever because you need to have the right angles for each log so it stays where it needs to be. I think his idea for this art was trying to make you look at it like it’s an whirl pool going around in the circle but it’s made out of logs. Do Ho Suh and Eliasson are similar because they both do artwork dealing with installation but I think Do Ho Suh does more of it than Eliasson and puts more time into it. Eliasson does more colors with his artwork and does more with glass then Do Ho Suh does. Do Ho Suh really thinks outside the box and does a lot of things in broad colors.  Overall this week was a little hard to understand I learned a lot from it.

[noahbarklow-blog]

I also found this week’s reading to a little confusing.  I also agree that the history of this type of art helped somewhat as context for us, the reader/students, to better understand the its meaning and/or purpose. As you said, Do Ho Suh’s installation work is very interesting.  At first glance, you may not even recognize that there is an artist at work, an example you mentioned was the piece with the printed out faces from old yearbooks.

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 9

o Your reflections on the reading      o I thought this week’s wiki page reading was really informative, and set the boundaries for installation art.   It did not necessarily give an exact definition, but sort of gave restrictions which are quite useful.  Though art is always changing and these boundaries will probably soon be broken, I was able to use the information provided for this blog post.  I was also surprised that there was a variety of types of installations, such as interactive and immersive virtual reality.  The immersive virtual reality is the type that caught my eye the most.  The reading gave an example picture, shown below, of this type, and it seemed to be just a projection that fills the room.  The text stated that it is “the most deeply interactive form of art,” and I feel that this is true due to our advancements in technology over the years.  

o Your reflections on the videos/media      o This week we looked into Do Ho Suh’s life, and his installation works.  What I found interesting about a couple of his pieces were that they were composed of miniature human figurines.  An example is his piece “floor,” which is composed of hundreds of miniature human statues that have their arms extended upwards to support a large glass pane.  The piece was subtle and did not immediately catch your attention, yet really interesting when you looked closer.  He also applied this technique to an outside monument that he made.  Pictured below, it shows people coming together for a common cause, in this case to hold the weight of the upper part of the monument.  

o Connections/comparisons you find between the two      o The reading gave a couple of types of art installations this week, but most of Do Ho Suh’s work in the video tends to be just normal installations.  They were not necessarily interactive, and definitely not virtual reality.  The definition the reading gives says that installation art transforms the viewer’s perception of a space, which is evident in most of his pieces.  

o Connections to another artist's work from the "Relevant Artists" section of the course content

     o Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field is located in Catron County, New Mexico, and consists of 400 stainless steel poles arranged in a 1 mile by 1 kilometer grid.  It is considered a land art, which is an outside installation piece.  You would think it is used as a lightning rods, but in reality, the amount of lightning strikes in the area are very low.  I thought the piece was really interesting, due to the fact of its sheer size.  Also, when reading about the work, I have found out that it has been very costly to maintain.  In 2012 alone, $400,000 was put together to do a reinforcement of the structures.  

[mandab97-blog]

Week 8

Your reflections on the reading

Again, I learned a lot reading this week’s chapter on sculpting. I learned that there are four traditional ways of sculpting; carving hard materials, modeling soft materials, casting molten materials that will harden, and assembling materials that can be joined. Then there’s even more ways, like using light and shaping the earth. I didn’t realize all the different ways and work that went into sculpting. I took a clay class in high school, but we didn’t learn too in depth about the different techniques. I also used to work a lot with polymer clay, which is a form of clay that can be baked in the oven! I used to go all out with it, buying gloss finishes and a little hand crank machine that flattens the clay into sheets, though I never made anything too big or took it too seriously. I enjoyed it though, and still would, I just have not used it for quite a while because of school, work, and other priorities.

Your reflections on the videos/media

I thought the video on Kara Walker was very interesting because of the work and thought that goes into the pieces, as well as simply how much she cares and enjoys her artwork. There’s a lot I want to say about the video, but mainly I was surprised by how much research she did, and how many initial sketches and sculptures she created. Like in previous weeks, the amount of research, time, and effort put in by her and some of her helpers is something that always seems to amaze me. I never realize just how much time and work goes into these pieces until it is shown. I think it adds an extra layer of understanding and appreciation when I look at the art created. It was clear how much she loves her work and enjoys the process. I thought the clip where she was blowing and sprinkling the powdered sugar on the slave sculpture making little changes was very genuine and especially showed how much she cares about her work. I think it was clever that she used the subtlety technique, the use of sugar in sculpting for royalty, and sculpted an African woman and slaves collecting sugar. I also thought it was clever that she centered all her work in this abandoned sugar factory that still had molasses dripping down. I love the ephemeral aspect of this artwork, and other artwork in general. 

x

Connections/comparisons    

I think Walker’s work is a bit of a mixture of ways of sculpting. They carved the sculpture out of hard materials, as well as modeled the soft sugar over it. She also created her sculpture to be temporary, or ephemeral. The book mentions wood workers laminating layers of wood to and I think this work is similar to what Walker was doing. They are both temporary, but still have layers that may preserve the shape for the most part. It is mentioned in the chapter that preserving the art is an issue that curators and conservators worry about. I think creating Walker’s sculpture inside a building was a good decision, because I would think it would help ease this problem of preservation, as well as the curator’s questions of how and when they should show it. I think this because, being inside, wildlife and weather would not affect it as easily. Of course, I imagine it would still “decay” after some time, but I think being protected from outside forces and being built on top of something a little more permanent would make it last a long time.

o    Connections to another artist’s work

I chose Robert Smithson as my relevant artist this week. Looking through his art, I was really intrigued as to how he makes his sculptures. He uses mirrors in the majority of his work, creating illusions or simply making a small pile of material appear to be a big pile – to the point where you don’t realize immediately that there even are mirrors. He uses a variety of natural materials like soil and shells. He also does a lot of earth work, even going as far as to create a floating, travelling island! I enjoyed looking at these earth works, particularly the ones that are such large scale sculptures. Smithson seems to use natural materials and utilize the earth in much of his work. Again, showcasing the ephemeral aspect of art, like Walker’s sculpture. Though, Smithson doesn’t seem to be as concerned with the longevity of his earthwork. Regardless of how long they last, I think his work is very worth it and is still beautifully done.

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[noahbarklow-blog]

As you mentioned in your blog post that you learned a lot, as did I.  Your clay class seemed very interesting, and seemed like it would be a fun high school class.  When you where giving your reflections toward the video you mentioned that you were surprised how much research Kara Walker did.  When I watched it I was also surprised on how in depth she went to give meaning to every aspect to her art.  

[noahbarklow-blog]

Week 8

             Learning about sculptures this week has been very interesting.  As the other chapters of our reading this one explains the processes used before, during and after the actual sculpting.  With the understanding of some of the processes, I began to better appreciate the artist who create such large pieces.  An example of the art is Michelangelo’s unfinished “Atlas” Slave, where you can see some of the remains block of stone that the sculpture is derived from.  I thought that all of this works art was relatable to my career of interest, engineering.  Throughout the chapter, it mentioned tensile strength, knowing the capabilities of certain material, and being able construct larger pieces with supports could be a possible path in my search of a career.  

             Overall, I did enjoy getting to know Kara Walker, and studying her work.  Her giant sculpture was very complex not just in construction, but in its background. Kara delved deep into the production of sugar to help her add details to the sculpture to make it feel complete.   She would look through books about sugar production, and she ended up adding figures made of sugar to the area around the sculpture.  I thought that the background research Kara did was needed to truly make the piece truly great.  Personally, I thought that the completed sculpture was done very well and probably enjoyed by many.  She also had another piece that was talked about in the interview, Gone, An Historical Romance of Civil War As It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of Young Negress and Her Heart.  It has its roots in the book Gone with the Wind.  Kara as an artist seems to be very organized, and tries to extract as much meaning out of all of her art.  

             When Kara was planning her sculpture, she used a clay model.  In the reading, I learned that its technical name is maquette.  I feel that it allowed Kara and her “helpers” to see the piece as a three-dimensional model; furthermore, it helped the workers translate Kara’s picture of what the final piece would look like to its physical form.  You can tell that most of the piece that she created in the video was done by sculpting the foam, and seems to be very common in today’s contemporary art.  Also, the workers used 3-D modeling to transform the model into pieces and enlarge them to create foam blocks.  I thought was a very intuitive way of approaching their problem.  For this week, I chose to analyze Anish Kappor’s work.  He is most famous for his work Cloud Gate, better known as “the bean.”  He has also done many other works that show his sculpting capabilities.  He seems to use a varied amount of techniques mentioned in the chapter and showcases them all throughout the world.  I was surprised to see that he even has a concept for a 2017 Holocaust Memorial sculpture.